|
Some more feedback from some of the guys I play with.
=================
We plan at least 4 games of which we have played 2. The opponents in order are SiegeMasters, Imperial Guard, Eldar (we plan on playing my tournament army), and Ork. The SiegeMasters is a heavy artillery list, the IG is a tank supported by infantry list with a lot of firepower, the Eldar is a firefight assault heavy list, the Ork is a blend of high firepower and CC assault heavy. This should give us a feel of how the army interacts with different types of armies. The Nid army was altered slightly between game 1 and 2 but will remain the same throughout the balance of games. The Nid army from game 2 forward is: 1 Dominatrix, 1 Greater Synapse Node, 1 Vituperator, 1 Hive Tyrant, 1 Group of 3 Tyranid Warriors, 2 Heirophants, 2 Lictor Swarms (3 each), 32 Termies, 18 Hormies, 9 Raveners, 4 Carnifex, 4 Zoanthropes, 5 Malefactors, 3 Hierodules, 13 Mycetic Spores. We will test the air later.
Now after reaching the half way point here is our results.
Game 1:
The artillery heavy army blasted away at the Nids killing about 10% to 15% of the Nids as they rushed across the table. Their regeneration repaired much of the damage to the titans and thus the SeigeMasters were unable to really hurt or reduce the effectiveness of the assaults when they came. There were enough MW or ignore cover units in the Nid list that the Siegemasters had little benefit from all their fortifications. The Nids had the ability to use their entire army in the charge and focus on one side of the table. They were able to leave their blitz completely undefended due to their ability to teleport a fearless WE to guard the blitz on the 3rd turn. They eliminated approx. 75% of the Siegemasters while having approx. 70% of their army survive. They captured all three objectives on the Siegemasters half of the table, and achieved the BTS. They also were able to contest their own blitz. In other words they achieved 3 goals to none and would have achieved a crushing win on points had they not won on goals.
Game 2:
The Guard army consisted of: 2 Infantry Co.s with fire support and Ogryns, 1 Leman Russ with demolishers and Hydra upgrade, 1 Shadowsword Co. with Hydra upgrade, 2 Rough Rider groups, 2 formations of Storm Troopers with Valkyries, 2 Sentinel Squads, 1 Deathstrike Battery, 1 Vulture group.
In this game the IG chose corner deployment in a city covered with buildings so the Guard had great cover from which they could maximize their firepower and defend well against the coming assaults. The tank units had great fields of fire. The guard were licking their chops at such opportunities to use their strengths.
The Deathstrike was the only real disappointment it fired on the first turn but failed to kill the Vituperator, the result was the Vituperator hid and regenerated and was back like nothing had happened by the 3rd turn and supported an assault as well as its own attacks, on the 4th turn it took the blitz objective.
The Shadowswords tried repeatedly to blow its way through the hierodule screen on the Dominatrix but failed and on the 3rd turn was forced to defend the Russ Co. by blowing away a hierophant.
The Russ Co. was able on the first turn to bring all its battlecannons and half of its lascannons on one of the hierophants, on the second turn it brought everything to bear on the hierophant. Despite good rolling on the hits the Hierophant shook off most of the hits and regenerated the rest nullifying an entire 2 turns of Leman Russ love. On the 3rd turn the Russ Company sustained fire into a mixed unit of armor and LV's and as you might imagine it shredded the unit killing over half of the units in the formation. But since the unit was not broken it joined a combined assault that intermingled an infantry Co. and the Russ Co. This was a real blood bath for both sides. After the first round of combat the resolution was a tie forcing another round of carnage. The IG had a couple less casualties in the second round and ultimately won the assualt. However, the Nids now have to make a withdrawal move with two units that are not broken and can go take objectives or support other assaults. This result has been common in both games.
On turn two a Storm Trooper formation moved up and fired everything they had at the Tyranind Warrior formation. Retaining one of the Rough Riders assaulted the Warriors with the Storm Troopers in full support. The Rough Riders emerged victorious winning the assault. Against any other army this would have broken the unit and reduced the activation count for the opponent. Not so against Nids. The Warriors made their withdrawal, repositioning themselves for a future activation. Later that turn they made an assault supported by the Dominatrix's group against one of the Infantry Cos. This same Infantry Co. was garrisoned and was able to make full use of its firepower sustaining for two turns before it was finally assaulted and driven out of its position.
After all was said and done, the IG took 80% casualties and the Nids were recovering most of theirs. The 2 Hierophants were killed and as such unable to regenerate. Leaving the Nid casualties at under 25%. The Nid player achieved the Blitz, Take and Hold, (would have achieved BTS except I got lucky and rallied the only two remaining Russ). The IG was able to take the Blitz but it required a Storm Trooper group surrounding the Greater Synapse node and shooting at it for one turn and then assaulting it the following turn. Even then it was a little lucky since I got a crit. If it hadn't gotten the crit the IG would not have taken the Blitz. Had the game gone to points it would not have been close.
Michael and I both are beginning to see some recurring problems but want to play out the remaining two games of our planned test before we make a final conclusion.
The biggest problems we have seen and agree on thus far are:
1. Regeneration of war engines is still too easy and makes them far too cheap and effective. For goodness sake the Shadowswords and Deathstrikes would have been more effective against a Warlord at 850 points. At least once hit the damage remains. The Warlord would not have been able to stand up to the kind of fire we pumped into the Bio-Titans.
2. The Spawning rates are still too high even with all the reduction the list champion has been doing.
3. The whole unbroken no blast markers creates a number of anamolies that break the game mechanics. Units normally broken and unable to activate still fight effectively. You literally have to destroy a formation to the last stand in order to prevent it from being used in token assaults, claiming objectives, etc.
4. Lictors combine several capabilities that in create game problems. Scout, Infiltrate, teleport, unstoppable. There needs to be some serious rethinking here not just point or unit number tweaks.
Question. Can a Vituperator or other transport spawn units already loaded into the transport? The rules do not say. If so, this creates an abusive advantage for a unit that wants to assault.
_________________
Neal
|
