Termagant's bugs vs Aegwymourn's Tau (complete)

Myself and Aegwymourn had a good, competitive bloodbath of a game today. This is my first attempt at a real BR with pics.

Mission: Purge the Alien (kp)
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil

My list:

Flyrant w/ lashwhip and bonesword, devourer w/ brainleech worms

3 Hive Guard
Zoanthropes
6 Ymgarls

25 Termagants
1 Tervigon w/ Catalyst
20 Hormagaunts

10 Gargoyles w/ toxin sacs and adrenal glands
3 Raveners w/ rending claws

Trygon Prime

His list:

Commander – Shas'o – Plasma Rifle; Missile Pod; Shield Generator; Iridium Armor; Hard-wired Multi-tracker; Hard-wired drone controller; x2 Shield Drones; Stimulant Injector; Hard-wired Blacksun Filter = 195

Ethereal = 50

Crisis Battlesuit Team – x3 Shas'ui – Plasma Rifle; Fusion Blaster; Multi-tracker; Team Leader; Hard- wired Drone Controller; Shield drone x 2 = 221

Crisis Battlesuit Team – x3 Shas'ui – Twin-Linked Missile Pod; Blacksun Filter = 138

Fire Warrior Team – x12 Shas'la = 120

Fire Warrior Team – x12 Shas'la = 120

Fire Warrior Team – x12 Shas'la = 120

Remote Sensor Tower = 40

Tetra Scout Speeder Team – Targeting Array = 55

Tetra Scout Speeder Team – Targeting Array = 55

Broadside Battlesuit Team – x1 Shas'ui – Multi-tracker – x1 Shas'ui – Team Leader; Multi-tracker; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Shield Drones x2; Hard-wired Blacksun Filter; Hard-wired Target Lock = 193

Broadside Battlesuit Team – x1 Shas'ui – Multi-tracker – x1 Shas'ui – Team Leader; Multi-tracker; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Shield Drones x2; Hard-wired Blacksun Filter; Hard-wired Target Lock = 193


I rolled to go first and deployed as such. I chose that centre piece to put my ymgarls in. I considered deep striking the trygon but decided not to.



1st turn:
I moved everything up. True to form, my hive guard tripped on a tree branch and got a 2 on DT check. I put FnP on hormagaunts and endurance on termagants, failing the psychic check on the latter. Flyrant flew up into broadsides faces and dropped some hurting on them. The raveners ran right through the centre terrain.



Bottom of first:
Tau fired on my flyrant en masse, doing 2 wounds total but failing to ground it. I considered this a moral victory, as it sucked up almost his whole army of shooting. Gargoyles took 8 casualties and fled.



2nd turn:
Flyrant assaulted broadsides, taking 1 wound from OW. He smashed both suits, consolidating into terrain. (first blood bonus to Termagant) Other stuff moved up. The ymgarls popped up, choosing to buzzsaw through the fire warriors with their ethereal. The raveners went after his Shas'o and shield drones. The ymgarls largely failed, doing only a few wounds. The raveners took out both shield drones, taking 1 wound only. They all held.

Bottom of 2nd:
Flyrant was shot down in a hail of fire, as well as the gargoyles. Termagant brood took a few minor wounds, and both Zonathropes went down as Termagant rolled 1 and 2 on Invul saves. Raveners put no wounds on the Shas'o and Ymgarls continued to rend away at the fire warriors. The etheral kept them there fearless.

Top of 3rd:
Ymgarls continued their futile battle as the dice gods abandoned Termagant for a bit. Raveners failed to finish off the Shas'o, but put 3 wounds on him with many 6's (rending). The rest of the swarm moved up without much note, and my shooting was largely ineffective

Bottom of 3rd:
Hormagaunts took some casualties from broadsides and missile pods. The fire warriors (2 squads) and deep striking suits put the finishing touches on the trygon prime, as the deep striking came on in a good location. I needed one more FnP roll to save him but didn't get it. The raveners finished off the Shas'o, consolidating up into the face of one of the fire warrior teams.

Top of 4th:

I moved the horde up, once again, doing little to no damage. My hormagaunts would need a roll of 9 on 2d6 to assault the broadsides, and also survive the overwatch shooting. I chose not to, firing on the sensor tower with hive guard to get an easy KP. The raveners failed their instinctive behavious, and it turns out it was a bonus (+1 more attack) moved up within 1 inch of the fire warriors. They took no damage to OW and swept the fire warriors off the table easily. However, their consolidate of 1 made them sitting ducks.

Another long battle ended, as the ymgrals finished off the ethereals. They consolidated into the cover. Two managed to get out of LoS of the missile pods and broadsides.

Bottom of 4th:

The raveners went down in a hail of bullets. The hormagaunts took some more casualties (down to 10) and all but one ymgarl bit the dust.

Top of 5th:

My last chance to get some points. My hive guard had an ineffective shooting phase. The remaining ymgarl went into the broadsides with hormagaunt support. They all pulled out their pillows and started a pillow fight, doing nothing at all. The gants and tervigon fired on the Tetra, taking off one hull point.



Bottom of 5th:

We started by counting KP and bonuses. It was determined, to my surprise, that I was up by 3 points. We analysed the board and it was determined that it was totally impossible for Tom to get 3 points in the last turn. We decided to call it there.


Victory for the Tyranids!!!!

Final count:

Termagant:

Shas'o
2 squads of fire warriors
Ethereal
Sensor Tower
Broadsides
+1 for linebreaker
+1 for slay the warlord
+1 for first blood

Aegynwourm:

Gargoyles
Flyrant
Trygon Prime
Zoanthropes
Raveners
+1 for slay the warlord
+1 for linebreaker

Was a really close and cool game. First time playing against Tyranids since fourth edition. They have a lot of new fun bugs compared to before. Was a nerve racking game trying to keep up with target priority. If the Flyrant had gotten grounded though might have been a totally different game sucker soaked a lot of fire. something like everything but the tetras one squad of fire warriors and one squad of broadsides. I look forward to a rematch!

In my own defense about rolling, a few other times I rolled pretty ass. The zoanthropes went down way too easily and the ymgarls in combat rolled well below average. We'll have a rematch sometime. Or maybe you would like to face my Orks?

I agree the dice were fickle for both of us. Either or would be a fun game. Haven't played orks since 3rd lol. Would be another fun learning game.

It'd be learning for me too. I haven't played Orks in the new edition.

Btw: Tom, it has come to my attention that Broadsides could not have fired overwatch, as they are slow and purposeful.

I don't think it was a gamebreaker, so meh.

I realized later my tactical error. I should have held off the devourer, gone in with the tyrant, probably killed your drones (no smash). Your broadsides likely couldn't beat the tyrant to death. I smash on your turn, consolidate, and get a fresh charge on something. Learning learning.

we'll have to set it up sometime. Tau and orks have some epic fights in the fluff. I wonder if it'd be as epic on the table.

Broadsides are only slow and purposeful if they take an "Advanced Stabilization System". Otherwise they are just standard infantry.

Indeed it is always tricky trying to get that turn of safety before a fresh assault. My black templars find it really tricky. I either smash them or get stuck far to long on a unit.