These are five short battle "stories" from the EEC, where I played NetEA Tyranids. These are mostly written from my POV, trying to explain what I tried to do, and how it went. Opponents' army lists can be seen in the EEC results thread.
Fredmans' Swarm, 3000 points
Hive Fleet Onachus Tyranids
NEXUS SWARM
Dominatrix, Termagant, Hormagaunt [390]
TYRANID SWARM (SMALL) [400]
2 Tyranid Warriors, 4 Termagants, 2 Hormagaunts, 4 Malefactor
TYRANID SWARM (SMALL) [350]
Hive Tyrant, Tyranid Warrior, 4 Termagants, 2 Hormagaunts, 2 Carnifex
TYRANID SWARM (SMALL) [375]
2 Tyranid Warriors, 6 Termagants, 3 Exocrine, Zoanthrope
TYRANID SWARM (SMALL) [300]
Hive Tyrant, 5 Termagants, Hormagaunt, Dactylis, Zoanthrope
TYRANID SWARM (SMALL) [250]
3 Tyranid Warriors, 4 Termagants, 2 Hormagaunts
HARRIDAN SWARM [150]
Harridan
HARRIDAN SWARM [150]
Harridan
BIOVORE SWARM [175]
6 Biovores
BIOVORE SWARM [150]
5 Biovores
GENESTEALER SWARM [150]
6 Genestealers
LICTOR SWARM [150]
3 Lictors
Game 1: Rug’s Eldar.
Rug had an extremely aggressive, mobile army. Revenants, 2 x mounted Guardians and one formation of mounted Aspects (mostly Dire Avengers IIRC). 4 Ranger formations for board control. He set up a Ranger chain, which I could not shift, despite my Biovores and Genestealers, so I was denied some key terrain and pretty much stayed on my half of the table while he set up a massive assault for turn 2.
In turn 2, he won strategy, used Command to include all three Serpent formations, annihilated my BTS, consolidated towards my Dominatrix which he assaulted with the Avatar, breaking it. Finally, he triple retained with the Revenants and used Falcon support to vanquish my Exocrine Swarm. I finally broke through the Rangers, and the remains of the army rushed up the table. Turn 3, he picked off my Dominatrix and secured the Blitz, while I cleared out his Blitz. It ended 2-1 to Eldar (Blitz and BTS vs Blitz), but it was a massacre.
Like Largo W said, this is the worst army possible for Tyranids. It could have been closer, but it is always going to be an uphill battle. Rug is a great player, and I admire his gutsy approach. When he intermingled three Serpent formations and rolled 1 for strategy, things could have gone bad for him, since I could have advanced with the Dominatrix and caught all three formations with a macro barrage. But it payed off. High risk, high reward. I hope we will meet again.
Game 2: Viper's Eldar
This was the complete opposite of Rug’s Eldar, a shooty Eldar army. 2x2 Void Spinners, Revenants, 2 Falcon formations, a Guardian Blitz guard and Shining Spears for offensive duties. I played on one of the Desert tables and had to make the most of the sparse terrain, but I knew I had to get forward. So I pressed up the table, made a denied flank on his Blitz flank and went for Take & Hold that I had set up on the other flank. I weathered the shooting, focused on his Shining Spears and Falcons to stop him from moving. By turn 3, I could make a lot of assaults. Most of his army broke and I could secure Defend the Flag and Take and Hold.
I must say that my opponent rolled exceptionally poorly, and I admire the way he handled it. He rolled quadruple 1s on two occasions. I want to take the opportunity to thank him once again for not letting it ruin the game for neither of us.
Game 3: Steve 54 Codex Astartes
Steve 54’s marine list was a drop and air assault army. Podding Devastators, two Thunderhawks, Terminators, 2 x Scouts, Land Speeders, 2 Warhounds and a BTS SC Tactical formation. I must say that I was a bit too clever, despite my misgivings. I set up the Blitz behind the hill, with the hope of him plotting his orbital bombardment there, which he also did. Then I set up the army on two flanks. But I had misgivings during setup and made one flank weaker than the other. I foolishly put my Exocrine swarm on Overwatch to deter him, but instead he pounced on it and as the game developed, he consumed that flank, whereas I forced my way up the other, but I lost more points in the process. His three air activations contributed a lot to sniping off formations and gaining VPs. My Dominatrix secured my Blitz, and he secured his with the Thunderhawk contesting ability. It was a 0-0 draw after four turns, with a 400 VP victory to Steve 54. I want to thank Steve for a fun game where we tried to get the upper hand in the end game. He played the end game a little better than I did, and rightly won.
I generally feel that Marines are ill suited to deal with Tyranid resistance. Their formations are not putting out enough kills to outright kill Swarms, so they come back, a bit like Marines formations refusing to die. But I am getting my gaunts back, whereas Marine formations get less and less potent.
Game 4: Magnus’ Necrons
Magnus’ Necrons contained 4 portal formations. A War Barque, 3 Monolith Formations, 2 Pylons, a Deceiver and three boosted warrior formations with Immortals and Pariahs. He set up corner-to-corner and set up two good fire lanes for his Pylons. I set up my Genestealers in an arc around my army. He teleported around my army. I stayed put and used my Biovores and Dominatrix for Overwatch, meaning that there were few places he could go to without his Warriors suffering Disrupt or MW fire before the assault. Since he was careful with his engagements, I spent most of the game breaking Portal formations. At turn 3, I had BTS (by Phase Out), and he had Take & Hold (since I raced a formation to the other side). I am not sure, but I guess I could have stretched the formation to contest an objective as well as reaching the other side, but we were hard pressed for time, so I did not think it through properly.
It was a fun, challenging game against a very nice opponent. We laughed at the fact that we were both constantly growing our armies back in a robots vs living flesh struggle. Both of us did good on saves. His portals survived, and I won quite many engagements due to the many 4+ RA saves in my swarms.
This is a tough match-up for Tyranids, but the Dominatrix and Biovores made it very hard for him to engage decisively. I sacrificed the Stealers on turn 1 and the Lictors on turn 2 to set up a scout screen, making it hard for him to strike without me getting to set up Overwatch support. In the end, it was a near complete draw (<50 pts of difference).
Game 5: Gazrak's Steel Legion
This was a defensive style Steel Legion list with two Infantry Companies, two super-heavy tank companies, 2 Manticore batteries, 2 Hydra batteries ,2 Rough Rider platoons, Sentinels and Thunderbolts. He set up corner-to-corner.
I once again did a denied flank and pushed up the flank where my Take & Hold objectives were placed. Due to the corner-to-corner set-up, and me choosing the longer route to his position (where I could use cover better), there was little action the first two turns. Turn 3, I won initiative and managed to break both his super-heavy tank companies in a retained assault with support. I had a little more luck and won both assaults, and after that, there was little my opponent could do, since I had BTS and Take & Hold and moved the Dominatrix into a position where it contested one of his T&H objectives.
This game was won on the Strategy roll in turn 3. My opponent was brave enough to play without Supreme Commander. It worked for 2 rounds, but then his army failed him in turn 3 when BMs were accumulated. Otherwise, it was classic shooting vs assault, where I made it into contact. Big thanks to my opponent for a good game that could have swung either way.
Edit: In all, a very good result. 2 wins, 1 draw, 1 VP loss and 1 loss. Most importantly, five nice, good players, and challenging tactical games filled with important decisions, rolls and a lot of fun.
I also got tied for Best Painted Army with Largo W, so a complete Tyranid dominance in that department
I have saved some general impressions for the development thread.
