Another game, Tyranids vs Borka's Tau. Again, apologies for the crappy cell phone camera. Will try to bring my camera next time.

Onachus Tyranids

Nexus Swarm – Dominatrix, Gargoyle, Termagant, Hormagaunt [415] BTS
Medium Tyranid Swarm – 4 Tyranid Warriors, 8 Termagants, 4 Hormagaunts [375]
Small Tyranid Swarm - 2 Tyranid Warriors, 3 Termagants, 3 Hormagaunts, 3 Haruspex, Gargoyle [375]
Small Tyranid Swarm – Hive Tyrant, 6 Termagaunts, 4 Zoanthropes, Exocrine [385]
Small Tyranid Swarm – 2 Tyranid Warriors, 2 Termagants, 4 Hormagaunts [200]
Hierophant Bio-Titan with Bile Pod [350]
4 Dactylis [300]
8 Genestealers [200]
Harridan [150]
3 Lictors [150]

10 Activations

Tau (from memory)

Crisis Battlesuits, Supreme Commander, Gun Drone, 1 Extra Suit [425]
Firewarriors A with Devilfishes, Skyray, Pathfinders, Bonded Team [475] BTS
Firewarriors B with Devilfishes, Pathfinders [350]
Kroot Kindred [175]
Stealth Suits [250]
Broadsides [300]
Recon [175]
6 Hammerheads (rail guns) with Skyray [400]
4 Hammerheads (fusion cannons) with Skyray [300]
2 Barracuda Fighters [150]

10 Activations

Deployment

Tau places Blitz center field
Tyranids places Blitz centerfield behind woods
Tau places T&H center and east of center.
Tyranids place T&H to east and west of center.
Tau garrison Kroot and Recon. Kroot on Overwatch. Stealth Suits in reserve.
Tyranids garrison Genestealers and Dactylis. Dactylis on Overwatch. Lictors in reserve.

Tyranid Set-up, top to bottom:


H – Harridan
SSA – Small Swarm A with Haruspex
SSB – Small Swarm B with Hive Tyrant and Zoanthropes
NS – Nexus Swarm
HBT – Hierophant Bio-Titan
GS – Genestealers
SSC – Small Swarm C
DS – Dactylis Swarm
MS – Medium Swarm
A – Blitz
a – T&H objective on Tyranid side

Tau Set-up, top to bottom:


FWB – Fire Warriors B
BS – Broadside Suits
HHB – Hammerheads B (fusion cannons)
R – Recon with 3 Piranhas and 3 Tetras
CS – Crisis Suits with Supreme Commander
K – Kroot Kindred
FWA – Fire Warriors A BTS
HHA – Hammerheads A (railguns)
B – Tau Blitz
b – T&H objective on Tau side

Turn 1 (forgot to take any photos)

Tau wins strategy, tyranids go first.

1 – Small Swarm C moves to eastern ruins
2 – Barracudas ground strike Genestealers, killing one
3 – Dactylii sustains at Kroot, hitting one, killing none.
4 – Kroot fails activation, regroups.
5 – Medium Swarm moves to eastern building.
6 - Firewarriors A doubles to eastern hill, shoots at markerlit Medium Swarm, killing a few gaunts.
7 - Hierophant doubles, lays barrage on Firewarriors A, destroying a Devilfish for a total of 3BM
8 – Hammerheads A doubles and fires at markerlit Hierophant, causing 1DC.
9 – Dominatrix advances, fires MW BP on Kroot in building, killing one.
10 – Hammerhead B pops up and advances, shooting guided missiles at Hierophant, causing no wounds. Hierophant has 3 BM
11 – Small swarm A doubles up behind center hill in cover of Haruspex
12 – Recon advances, shooting Guided Missiles at Hierophant, causing 2DC and breaking it.
13 – Small swarm B marches up north of Genestealer forest.
14 – Crisis Suits moves up, shoots AP at small swarm B, killing 4 gaunts, jet packs back behind building
15 – Harridan doubles towards center, lays a BM on something.
16 – Broadsides doubles up the field, shooting at small swarm A.
17 – Genestealers marshals, advances within range of the Kroot and sheds all BM
18 – Firewarriors B fails activation, regroups and sheds all BMs

End phase: Hierophant rallies. Small swarms spawn 1 gaunt each.

Turn 2 – no teleports

Tau wins strategy, goes first.


1 – Firewarriors A sustains at Medium Swarm, killing about 3 gaunts and a warrior.
2 – Tau retains, Kroot engages Medium Swarm in building, loses a 2-round assault and is wiped.
3 – Hierophant advances, shoots barrage at Firewarriors A, inflicting two casualties.
4 – Small Swarm C engages Firewarriors A, wins resolution after support fire from Hierophant and Medium Swarm. Fire Warriors A withdraw north.


5 – Hammerheads retreats to behind the hill, destroys markerlit Hierophant.
6 – Crisis Suits moves to 8 and destroys markerlit remains of Small Swarm C, jet-packing behind building
7 – Dactylii sustains on Recon and Hammerhead B formations, hitting two Piranhas, destroying one and hitting one Hammerhead, destroying it. Recon has 3 BMS, 5 units. Hammerheads has 2 BMs, 4 units.
8 – Dominatrix retains, fires MW BP on Crisis Suits, killing Supreme Commander and Gun Drone.
9 – Hammerheads marshal and moves west behind closest building, shedding all BMs
10 – Small Swarm B advances, shoots at Recon, destroying two and breaking it.
11 – Tyranids retain. Small Swarm A occupies building on hill, Haruspexes outside.


12 – Fire Warriors A double close to building occupied by Small Swarm A, killing gaunts and disrupting warriors.
13 – Broadsides sustain on Small Swarm A, killing a Haruspex, formation is one BM short of breaking.
14 – Genestealers marches into vacant Kroot palace.
15 (17 on third picture) – Harridan doubles forward within 30 cm of broken Fire Warrior formation, shoots at Hammerheads, laying a BM
16 – Medium Swarm marshals and spawns two gaunts, shedding all BMs

End phase: All tyranid formations rallies, only Small Swarm A has BMs, adds two gaunts.
Tau: Recon rallies, Hammerheads B and Fire Warriors A fail to rally.

Turn 3

Tau teleports Stealth Suits in circle around Dactylis, getting a BM.
Tyranids teleport Lictors in western jungle, no BMs
Tau wins strategy, goes first.

1 – Fire Warriors sustain on Small Swarm A, and is one BM short of breaking it.
2 – Tau retains. Barracudas ground strike Small Swarm A, managing to kill a gaunt and break the formation. Swarm withdraws to forest.
3 - Dactylii sustain on Hammerheads A, hitting 5, destroying two, breaking formation.
4 – Tyranids retain. Genestealers engage Crisis Suits, wipes formation.
5 – Stealth Suits engage Dactylis, killing one, losing one. Wins resolution by 1. Dactylis withdraw to south-east corner. Stealth Suits claim Blitz
6 – Tau retains. Recon shoots at Harridan, destroying it.
7 – Dominatrix advances, fires at Hammerheads B, killing one. Hammerheads have 3 BMs
8 – Small Swarm B doubles, lays a BM on Hammerheads, breaking it and contesting Blitz
9 – Broadsides fail activation.

Tau finally manages to break the Haruspex swarm clearly desecrating the Greater Good.


Tyranids will win 2-1. Blitz and Take & Hold vs Blitz.

This was my second game with the Onachus list. I'll let Borka add his own thoughts, if he spots this thread.

First of all, he was very unlucky on his activation rolls, failing a lot of times despite his Supreme Commander. When I took it out in turn 2, he kept failing.

Second of all, Cover saves and Expendable took the brunt of Tau shooting.

I'll add some thoughts in the v10 thread.

/Fredmans

Thanks for doing a report Fredmans, it was a great game.

You got the third turn somwhat mixed up. Here are some corrections.

______________________________________________________________________
Turn 3

Tau teleports Stealth Suits in circle around Dactylis, getting no BM.
Tau wins strategy, goes first.

1. Barracudas ground strike dactylis, putting a BM.

2. Tau retains. Stealth Suits engage Dactylis, killing one, losing one. Up by three
but only wins resolution by 1. Dactylis withdraw to south-east corner. Stealth Suits
claim Blitz.
______________________________________________________________________

so your number 3 never happened.





Did I really kill your Harridan? I actually think I never even shot it. It did something after my first two activation. I think it shot (broke?) the hammerheads (fusion). Sort of in self defense. They were in MW markerlight distance of the harridan and would have been my next activation so you made a preemptive strike.



That might have been turn 2 (I took a photo of this before the above start of turn 3 photo)?



My third activation were the FW and they broke (sustained on and markerlit) the small swarm in the forgeworld building, it was turn 2 were they were 1 BM short of braking them.


All in all a great game even though it was a bit frustrating with all the failed activation rolls on my part.

Some thoughts on the new nid list:

This was my first battle against the new nids and after playing 9.2.1 I was supprised at how "shooty" they were, considerably more BP shots. (not saying that's a good OR bad thing).
It was very hard to get to the synapse creatures without any BP attacks.
As the opponent I felt the +2 to rally was over the top together with the expendable rule and 1+ initiative. Shooting on swarms will usually only result in one BM, after which the tyranids autorallies and sheds it. This in turn makes the swarms able to autoactivate almost all of the time (which is very annoying when you fail a lot of your own ).

cheers

Thanks for the corrections.



Aye, then I must have broken your recon with the last push. I think I recall you moving them to contest your own Blitz as part of a Hold action, which would explain the 2 BMs. I was trying to sort it out.



No, I got this one right. Genestealers marshalled turn 1 since they had BMs and were a few cm short of engaging your Kroot, advanced in turn 2 and engaged turn 3.



I, too, feel a bit like cheating with the +2 rally bonus, which is not a good sign.

/Fredmans

Borka, I checked my "mental notes", and there is something wrong in your description. I know my swarm was broken in turn 3, because I had to avoid your stealth suits when I withdrew. Since you teleported them in turn 3, you had to break that formation first. I also know my Dactylis got their shots away before you assaulted them, so I think the turn description is more or less right as it stands now. The big question mark is the Tau recon and the Tyranid Harridan.

I have downloaded the battle log until next time

/Fredmans