So, I won roll-off for objective placement and since there were three objectives, got to 'stack' an area with more objectives. I placed the first objective in the middle of the board seeing as that is where my army is going regardless and my opponent placed one an extreme corner. The other objective I placed between them in midfield. My opponent then won the roll-off to go first and gave it to me. This allowed me to pick the better deployment zone and get shots off against non-Fortune targets but also allowed my opponent the last move in an objective game with tanks I am going to have a hard time stopping. Advantages for both sides.
I obviously picked the corner where all three objectives were. This forced my opponent to come to me (not an issue) but allowed me to not have to worry about crossing the board but rather holding the objectives. I deploy in such a way that my Tyrannofexes will be able to see the majority of his corner whilst my Hive Guard hide as much as possible. If he deploys aggressively they'll be able to get in range whilst if he deploys far away, they aren't going to be shot off the board.
Deployment
The Eldar then deploy as far away as possible to play a game of keep away. By doing this I can only shoot them with the T-Fexes in the early turns giving the opponent's tanks even greater survivability.
The Eldar list btw is 8 Warlocks, Yriel, Eldard in Serpent w/upgrades, TL EML, 5x Dragons, 2x5x Dire Avengers, 3x Falcons w/upgrades + EML, 4x Guardian Jetbikes. So very durable tanks...yay.
Tyranid Turn 1
Turn 1 was pretty simple. Move my army up to start controlling midfield objectives, keep gant line in-tact to generate cover for everything, move the Hive Guard so they can cover approaches to the objectives and move T-Fexes in range and with clear LoS. Fired the T-Fexes and immobilised two Falcons with Avengers in them - very lucky with holo-fields but now half of the problem of the tank shocks are gone though Eldrad can easily fortune both of the others now. One Tervigon spawns 10 Termagants.
Eldar Turn 1
With half of the tanks neutered, the Eldar mobility has been greatly restricted. Eldard casts some Fortune and Guides and moves the undamaged Falcon and Serpent around. The Serpent goes flat-out and plants itself in front of the Eldar tanks to generate cover for all whilst the Falcons open up on one of my Tervigons which suffers two wounds.
Tyranid Turn 2
I'm sitting in a nice position atm with only two tanks mobile, I can protect all of my objectives with only two being capable of tank shock contested. I just have to keep the Dire Avengers, Seer Council and Jetbikes off the final one. Once again I move my guys up though the Gants on the left have issue with the ruins and thus cannot move. The Hive Guard push towards the right flank in case my opponent tries to send the Eldar tanks that way whilst the Tervigons hide. The T-Fexes again push up to shoot at some tanks though with Fortune up now, this is a lot harder. Case in point, my shooting does jack diddly.
Eldar Turn 2
The Guardian Jetbikes come on and zoom up behind the bastion on the left flank, hiding out of view. I'll need to make sure they don't engage Gants away from Tervigons and tie them up away from objectives. The mobile Serpent and Falcon move laterally across the board, maintaining their distance from the Hive Guard whilst still coming closer. The Dire Avengers hop out of their striken Falcons and move towards the centre objective whilst the immobilised Falcons shoot one of the T-Fexes and do three wounds!
Tyranid Turn 3
Once again I move my line up to grab the centre objectives but unfortunately due to the poor rolling Termagants in the 'ruins', I either move up a fragmented line or shuffle forward. I take the later option to ensure the Tyrant doesn't get dragged into combat against his will - he'd like to try to cast Paraoxysm first and you know...get the charge. The T-Fexes shuffle around to protect the one on three wounds from further firepower whilst the Hive Guard move laterally left to target the Jetbikes. The wounded Tervigon spits out another Gant squad which camps on the home objective whilst the other squad moves up to block the normal movement of the jetbikes (i.e. turbo-boost or don't get to assault the Termagants on the objective).
My shooting sees two of the Jetbikes die as well as the Serpent being shaken. Fortune stops most of my shots in the tanks' direction.
Eldar Turn 3
The Jetbikes are in a meh position and cannot tie up any Termagants on the objectives so they high-tail it out of there whilst the Dire Avengers move + run some more. The remaining Falcon and Serpent go flat out towards my lines setting up a Seer Council assault next turn and for the Fire Dragons + Falcon to move into my back corner. Immobilised Falcons do no damage thanks to cover and BS3.
Tyranid Turn 4
With the Serpent finally committing itself, time to shore up my defenses! My Hive Guard move into range to try and drop the Serpent whilst the T-Fex line up shots on the Falcon (S10 please). The Termagants in the 'ruins' finally roll over a three and move down a level so the line can move forward. Too late to keep combat off the objectives though so the Termagants ensure the line is unbreakable and the MCs are protected. The right Tervigon spawns some more Termagants which move towards the central objective. The Termagants on the far left near my objective keep walling it off to keep infantry away.
My shooting sees the Serpent and Falcon shaken again and that's it. Catalyst was luckily cast on both the right Termagant squad and Tyrant squad. Really here I shouldn't have shot the Hive Guard at the Serpent but rather dropped the Dire Avengers. This would have nearly taken all of his ability to hold objectives away and freed me up in the middle quite a bit. Naughty me.
Eldar Turn 4
Judgement time! The shaken Falcon zooms down into my quarter but away from the objective – Star Engines ensure the rear armor is facing away. This sets him up to tank shock me next turn and leave the tank on the objective and to unload the Fire Dragons into my weakened Tervigon from a flank he doesn’t have cover. The Serpent drops the Council + Yriel with Fortune whilst Eldrad stays inside. The Serpent then tank shocks into the meeting point of the Termagant squads and with appropriate placement, the tank + Termagants still block the Tyrant squad from being assaulted.
The Falcons shoot the Tyrant squad and do one wound to both the Tyrant and Prime and then the Serpent uses Star Engines to move away from the Termagants and thus leaving a hole for the Seer Council to access the Tyrant squad. Woops!
The Council is able to multi-assault two Gant squads + the Tyrant squad which are able to drop five of the Warlocks but still lose combat thanks to the left Termagant squad completely dying. This kills the Tyrant Guard, takes the Tyrant down to one wound and leaves only a couple Termagants left from the right squad. Yriel moves into base to base with the Tyrant as combat continues on.
Tyranid Turn 5
Well that hurt, completely forgot about Star Engines! Good move by my opponent for sure and whilst the Seer Council isn’t as scary, my Tyrant is severely weakened. The Termagants on the left in the ruins move towards the objective near the combat (running as well) whilst a squad of Hive Guard, Tervigon and one of the Termagant squads move in to shoot and assault the Falcon in the bottom left. The right Tervigon spawns another large Termagant squad which moves up with the Tervigon to join the combat whilst the other Termagant squad on the right moves and runs towards the central objective. Hive Guard in the centre move up to target the Serpent.
Shooting sees jack all damage done to the Falcon (Fortune does that) whilst the Hive Guard in the centre are able to explode the Serpent leaving Eldard on foot. The Tervigon on the right manages to get Catalyst off again on far right Termagant squad and then a mass of assaults ensues. The Termagants + Tervigon assault the Council and end up killing most of the Warlocks though the Prime + Tervigon cannot kill Yriel which drops four wounds from the Tervigon. Gants die from Fearless wounds and combat goes on. In the bottom left the combined assault of Hive Guard, Termagants and Tervigon is able to immobilise the Falcon and thus render it useless in terms of objectives – the fire dragons are also stuck with the hatch facing the table edge.
Eldar Turn 5
With the Falcon being removed from the game essentially, the Eldar are going to not only contest one of the objectives in the centre but hold one of the others. A tall ask with Yriel stuck in combat for this turn but possible. The Dire Avengers move up again with the nearest squad moving through the terrain and fleeting towards the Termagants. The other squad hops out of cover to try and get clear shots on the Termagants whilst the Falcons shoot their pulse lasers + small blasts at them. Several Termagants fall but there are still around 10 left. The Jetbikes zoom to the other midfield objective in case the Termagants in combat die with Eldrad joining them for Ld10 and combat presence.
In combat Yriel explodes the Tervigon which kills quite a few of the Termagants around whilst the Prime + Gants kill the rest of the Warlocks. A couple of Termagants survive from the squad to ensure the middle left objective is contested. The Avengers take two losses themselves before killing a single Termagant but thanks to the Tervigon dying, the Termagants still lose combat and take several Fearless deaths but are still there to contest the objective.
The game ends on a 1 with Tyranids holding one objective and Eldar holding zero. The Eldar have killed around 300 VP more so get a bonus battle point resulting in a 14-6 win for Tyranids.
Conclusion
I got a bit lucky in this game immobilising two of the Falcons early which really helped considering I forgot about Star Engines and punching holes in bubble-wrap. Getting my Tyrant squad assaulted by the Council rather than the other way round hurt. Whilst Paroxysm was unlikely to work, the extra Warlock attacks + being able to engage two Termagant squads forced a lot of wounds on my Tyrant. Other than that though the Eldar army was always going to have a hard time clearing objectives outside of tank shocks. And whilst they were certainly a concern, particularly with such fast and durable tanks, I was bound to immobilise at least a couple of the tanks during the course of the game (as it was all four become useless). Not shooting the Dire Avengers with my Hive Guard was pretty silly as if the game wore on I would have needed to send something else to ensure that middle objective was contested and with Yriel still running around…
Regardless, it was an enjoyable game and Matt played very well and deserves big props from breaking the bubble-wrap =). Well played and good game! I was glad to come away with a win against what I would have considered a ‘Yellow’ army for mine to face. The team also won the round, barely, which was the important thing for this round as well! 1-0 NSW after round 1.
