This game was played during an « Epic gathering » in Lorient (France), where a dozen players from Brittany met for the first time… but hopefully not the last!  

We played two games of « Minigeddon » in the morning (1000 pts with only 2 objectives per side, perfect for initiation) and a 3000-pt game in the afternoon. I can’t remember the name of my opponent (shame on me!   )… all I know is that he was a really nice guy, relatively new to Epic but veteran gamer who really caught on quickly after I explained the numerous Tyranids’ special rules.

And... I was going to write a full batrep but as I browsed through my pictures just noticed my opponent had an illegal army (1 big but incomplete Guardian Warhost and 4 support formations) and he was a bit short on points as well (2850 by my calculations). So this sort of invalidates the report, I guess.  

Still, it was a nice battle so I'll post pics and a quick rundown of the battle.

TYRANIDS – 3000 POINTS



Attack Group 1
2 winged Hive Tyrants
5 Malefactors
3 Haruspex

Attack Group 2
1 Hive Tyrant
6 Carnifex
1 Malefactor

Assault Group 1
3 Tyranid Warriors
8 Termagants
8 Hormagaunts
4 Raveners

Assault Group 2
3 Tyranid Warriors


8 Termagants
8 Hormagaunts
4 Raveners

Harridan 1

Harridan 2

7 Genestealers

6 Meiotic Spore Sacks

3 Lictors



And the Eldar army... I feel stupid for not noticing the army was illegal!  

DEPLOYMENT



TURN 1

The Tyranids March a lot to close the distance.



TURN 2

Attack Group 1 is almost wiped out by the combined fire of the Cobra, Scorpion and Revenants.



They're avenged when Assault Group 1 destroys the Cobra and breaks the Scorpion in assault, putting the Malefactors back under synapse control at the same time.



The Swords of Vaul Sustain Fire on Attack Group 2, with devastating results.



End of turn 2



TURN 3

The surviving Eldar units no longer have enough firepower to keep the Tyranids at bay and, despite terrible losses and an assault lost against the Guardians, the bugs win the day.



TYRANIDS 3 (Blitzkrieg, Take and Hold, They Shall Not Pass)
ELDARS 1 (Break Their Spirit)

AFTER ACTION REPORT

Despite the whole "illegal" army problem, I was still able to try out a few things and to get a good feel of the 9.2.1 list.

SPECIAL RULES

Relentless
Again, +2 to Engage is wonderful and absolutely essential IMO, but +2 to Rally rolls is probably too strong. It makes sense that nids should be good at rallying, but seeing a Broken formation rally on 2+ feels... well, cheesy. Perhaps a +1 bonus and "Ignore the -1 penalty for enemy within 30cm" would be better... although it's pretty much the same thing, so I don't know.

1/2 casualties for Gaunts

It's perfect. Several times during the games, it made a difference. I narrowly won assaults that I would have lost against units that should be a real threat to nids in assault (Shields of Vaul, Engines of Vaul).

Nids often keep BMs and don't have many ways of putting some on the enemy; on the other hand, they often get the +2 bonus for outnumbering. So assaults are generally resolved by casualties alone... and nids die too easily to ever win that kind of fight.

All the other special rule (Swarms, Expendable, Mobility and Spawning) are really good.  

UNITS

Tyranid Warriors

They're great as LV. It feels right because the opponent has to choose between targeting the AVs/LVs in order to get at the Warriors (thus leaving the bulk of the formation intact and ready to assault) or targeting the Infantry in order to reduce the swarm's efficiency in assault.

As the cheapest and fastest Vehicle choice, Raveners are now a must-have to protect the Warriors. Perhaps too much so, but all in all I think it's OK.

All other units

Nothing to comment upon, all the units I tested feel balanced.

ARMY LIST

Not much to add here either, it's quite balanced.

Raveners may be a bit expensive at 125 pts, but they are good.

And even though I didn't use it this game: the Hierophant should cost 300 points.  

Nice battle report, and nice horde, too.

On relentless: I too find the +2 to Rally a bit strong.

On 1/2 casulaties for Gaunts:

I do not know about you, but I feel like cheating when rounding down casualties. You killed 3 gaunts, that is +1. I would prefer rounding up.

/Fredmans

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That would probably be better, yes. Turning 1 kill into 0 casualties for the 'nids feels a bit cheesy as well.

That was the original intention when suggested.

As a general rule in E:A, when rounding is needed, we rounded down.

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Pg 29 Special Rule- Rounding.

Seems to say otherwise.

Ah, but do you round up the half removed, or the half that remains

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Epic: Hive Development Thread

Thanks for the report, H!

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Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?