Baharroth v a Harpy, epic battle for the ages
After last week’s drubbing of Custodes with the new Tyranids Codex, I decided to pitch them against a more tricksy foe. Big monsters have always been good at killing elite infantry, so perhaps a more mobile and flexible enemy would be a better opponent. I also wanted to try out a non-Crusher Stampede list, just to see whether the Codex is leaning on it for power. To that end, Matt and I played a rematch, this time with him using a deadly Aeldari soup inspired by the list that won the Free State GT. Would the big monsters be able to bully the squishy Eldar, even without their Crusher Stampede buffs? Or would Baharroth and Eldrad lead the Aeldari to victory and vanquish the swarm?
Edit: I wrote up this report before the Balance Dataslate, but wanted to quickly push it out before it became totally irrelevant. Would the Dataslate have changed anything? Unfortunately, the answer is probably no.
Hive Fleet Leviathan
Nine big monsters in one list!
PatrolHive Tyrant with Gestalt Commander, heavy venom cannon and
Shardgullet 190
Neurothrope with Synaptic Tendrils 100
3 Warriors with deathspitters and dual boneswords 75
3 Zoanthropes 150
Maleceptor 170
3 Raveners with rending talons and deathspitters 90
2 Carnifexes with scything talons, enhanced senses and heavy
venom cannons 240
Patrol
Hive Tyrant with two heavy venom cannons, Strategic Adaption
190
3 Warriors with deathspitters and dual boneswords 75
2 Carnifexes with deathspitters, enhanced senses and heavy
venom cannons 260
3 Venomthropes 105
2 Harpies with heavy venom cannons, one with Synaptic
Enhancement and the other with Voracious Ammunition 365
Total: 2010
In a change from the last two weeks, I managed to make this
list ten points over by accidentally fielding two of the Carnifexes with
deathspitters instead of one. Apparently you should all take any statistical articles I post with a grain of salt!
This list has a similar core to last week’s, with some
Zoanthropes, a Neurothrope and a Maleceptor to output massed mortal wounds, two
shooty Hive Tyrants and Harpies to blast stuff and a bunch of Warriors,
Raveners and Venomthropes to hold objectives and kill chaff. Where the last
list brought two more big bugs in another Maleceptor and an Exocrine, this time
around I’m trying out the Carnifexes. Each is armed with a heavy venom cannon
and enhanced senses to turn them into a mini-Ravager, as well as either
deathspitters for more chip shooting or scything talons for a bit of melee
crunch. Again, the theory is that my shooting threatens to gun the opponent off
the board, while the mortal wounds attrition down anything that gets too close.
The final bit of excitement is that I’m running Leviathan
instead of Crusher Stampede. This is partly because I want to future-proof my
list a little (although I’m still using the Leviathan supplement, so not
entirely), but also because I think it might genuinely be better for this list.
A free reroll is massive for a force with this many heavy venom
cannon platforms, and Transhuman for Synapse creatures isn’t that much worse than
the Crusher buffs anyway. The only spot I’m really going to feel their absence
is on the Harpies, who will miss both the constant 5++ and the damage
reduction. But I’ll hit a lot harder than normal, which should hopefully make
up for it.
Edit: After writing up this report I've had another look and realised that Leviathan is just a hit re-roll, not a Master-Artisans-style reroll of either. That means it probably shouldn't have come up very often this game, and I would have definitely swapped it for a Biomorphology like Ambush Predators instead. Aren't new rules fun?
Ulthwe/Light Saedath Soup
Mobility, hitting powers and so many tricks: I can see why this list did well
Ulthwe Vanguard Detachment
Baharroth 140
Eldrad Ulthran Guide,
Doom, Executioner, Fate Reader 145
6 Dire Avengers with extra catapult and Stand Firm 94
5 Howling Banshees with mirrorswords and Piercing Strikes 105
5 Striking Scorpions with biting blade and Crushing Blows 105
Warlock Skyrunner with Protect/Jinx, Seer of the Shifting
Vector and Sunstorm 60
2 Wraithlords with bright lance, ghostglaive and scatter
laser 280
3 Shadow Weavers 135
2 Shadow Weavers 90
Wave Serpent twin shuriken cannon 140
Light Saedath Patrol
Shadowseer with Mirror of Minds, Fractal Storm, Webway Dance and Mirror Architect 125
2 Troupes, 1 with caress and embrace, the other naked 140
3 Voidweavers 270
1 Voidweaver 90
1 Starweaver 80
As someone who’s spent most of the past month playing
Harlequins, I can respect the raw firepower jammed into this list. Instead of
going all in on the Clowns though, Matt’s been inspired to try out an Ulthwe
contingent with a bunch of indirect fire, some excellent combat units, and two
Wraithlords. The Wraithlords are quite interesting, being potentially scary at
range and up close, and with a lot more resilience than most of the faction in
concert with Fate Dice and their Ulthwe 6++. Finally, Eldrad and a Warlock
provide excellent psychic support to back up the Shadowseer, while Baharroth
will aim to do Baharroth things. I’m not looking forward to seeing him get up
to his usual mischief against my slow and ponderous list.
Scenario and Secondaries
Lots of good cover on this board
This week we were playing Data Scry-Salvage, a mission that probably benefits Matt. With objectives all the way along the midpoint line, I’ll need to spread out a lot and leave my comfortable defensive auras behind. On the other hand, at least I’ll have the benefit of lots of angles from which to blast those tricky Aeldari.After a bit of thought, I opted for Warp Ritual,
Stranglehold and Grind them Down. Warp Ritual is risky against another psychic
army, but I measured and I can get my Neurothrope within 6” of the centre on
Turn 1. If it can just survive there and use its ‘3D6 pick the highest two’
buff on itself all game, then it should be able to power three casts through
Matt’s Denies. I almost took Investigate Signal to double down on my plan to
dominate the middle, but I realised that on this map Matt could have hidden
models on the other side of a wall while still being within 6” of the centre.
Instead I opted for Grind Them Down, hoping to kill more of those fragile Elves
than they can kill of my big stompy bugs. Finally, Stranglehold is in because
while the mission doesn’t really suit it, the matchup absolutely does.
Matt had an easier time picking his Secondaries. Bring it
Down was worth a potential 15 points to make it the obvious pick, while the
list is built around protecting Baharroth, Eldrad and the Voidweavers for To
The Last. Finally, the mission lends itself better to Engage than Retrieve
Nachmund, as Matt can get 10 points just by staying in his deployment zone! If
the Asuryani do start to dominate the meta like their cousins the Harlequins,
it’s going to be at least partly because of their excellent (non-unique) Secondary
options.
Deployment
Crafty Aeldari putting the gameplan of 'not dying' into effect
Unlike last game, this time there was a lot of terrain on the field. Matt was able to largely hide himself quite well, with just Baharroth and a Wraithlord out on the right flank to try and contest those two objectives. My deployment was quite constrained by the sheer mass of my army, forcing it to spill well out of cover. Oh well, if Matt wants to trade shots with me I can survive at least one hit.
Tyranids ready to make big plays Turn 1
‘Winning’ the roll-off to go first, I decided to redeploy
the Maleceptor and one Hive Tyrant forward on the right flank. With decent
advance rolls, the Maleceptor should be able to get into cover in position to
melt anything that touches the right two objectives, while the Hive Tyrant can
hopefully get LoS on the back Voidweavers. Matt contemplated using Phantasm,
before deciding there wasn’t any good way to avoid me getting at least one
monster shooting at them. Better to save the CP for more uses of Lightning Fast
later in the game.
Tyranid Turn 1, 19:25
My turn starts well, with my two key advances getting the
numbers I need to send the Hive Tyrant and Maleceptor rocketing forward. The
Harpies also swoop up, ready to add their guns to blasting the Voidweavers.
They also drop some Spore Mines, which themselves advance forward to explode
and take out most of the Striking Scorpion squad. I’m really loving those
flyers! Elsewhere, the big stompy beasts stomp forward, while the Warriors on
the far left successfully string themselves out to cover both objectives.
The swarm advances
My psychic phase goes excellently, with the Neurothrope easily getting off Warp Ritual and the remaining Striking Scorpions being evaporated by the Maleceptor’s mortal wound spam.
In shooting, the Hive Tyrant obliterates a Voidweaver with ease and a Harpy kills another, with the third using a CP reroll to avoid a similar fate. So successful are my first two monsters that the second Harpy is left with nothing to shoot!
The one Carnifex that could draw LoS to the Wave Serpent manages to wound it, before Matt casually spends a Fate die to laugh off my efforts. Damn.
Still, crippling
Matt’s best shooting unit and a TtL target turn one is a great outcome. I pick
up Stranglehold and the Tertiary for a solid 6 points, and I’m off to a solid
start.
Aeldari Turn 1, 22:28
Matt faces somewhat of a dilemma this turn. If he commits
his units to fire back at my Hive Tyrant and Harpies, then he risks getting
locked into a long-range shooting war he can’t win, especially as several
Carnifexes would also be able to get in on the action. On the other hand, if he
doesn’t commit there then the Harpies will be able to come and blast him
wherever he hides, so he needs to achieve enough damage that he isn’t being hit
by both them and a bunch of Carnifexes. In the end Matt decides to swing the surviving
Voidweavers to the right of his main building, hoping to gun down the Carnifex
he can see poking out of cover. The Wraithlord moves up to unleash its bright
lance as well, while Baharroth speeds over to try and flip the objectives on
his flank. On the left, a Troupe also dives in to flip two objectives with
their ObSec.
Aeldari begin their counterattack
The psychic phase is fairly uneventful, with most of Matt’s
powers out of range or without good targets. He contemplated committing Eldrad
or the Warlock more by moving out of cover, but decided he didn’t want to risk
either his TtL target or his lategame ObSec. Instead the Warlock attempts to
Smite the Harpy but is denied, while Eldrad fails to roll high enough on his
spells to get range on anything useful. Shooting goes somewhat better, with a
Carnifex being reduced to 1 wound but not slain, while the Shadow Weavers kill
a Zoanthrope from my back objective. The 4++ from the Zoanthrope Imperative had
paid off to keep that Carnifex alive and score me Grind!
Once again, Fate Dice are mean
Voidweavers fail to put down the Carnifex
In combat, Baharroth makes it into my Warriors but fails to wipe the squad, eventually opting to disappear back to Matt’s backfield rather than risk my nearby Carnifex shooting him then dealing mortal wounds on the charge.
The Troupe on the left bounces off the Maleceptor, which uses its sweep attack and the +D3 attacks stratagem to kill three of them in return.
This does
enough to pull them off the far-left objective, denying Matt a point for the
Tertiary. In hindsight it also should have denied him Engage points for the
turn, but we forgot about the 3-model-minimum rule and awarded it anyway. Edit:
I’ve subsequently realised that the +D3 attacks can only be given to Adrenal
Glands monsters, so would have been unavailable here. Oh well, those two mistakes probably balanced each other out.
At the end of the round I’m in a commanding position and looking to push my advantage.
Tyranids Turn 2, 36:18
Not a massive start to the game on Primary, but that's just a natural product of facing Troupes
This goes about how you'd expect it. Mortal wounds are good apparently
Shooting went excellently, with a Wraithknight being obliterated by the Harpy that had swooped down on it and the final To the Last Voidweaver being taken out by the two Carnifexes.
The Wraithlord is introduced to 6 S9 AP-3 D4 shots
Finally, the Voracious Ammunition Harpy targeted Baharroth with 6 heavy venom cannon shots, the Aeldari hero falling and failing to stand back up at the end of the phase.
Baharroth falls!
The
one low note was the Wave Serpent again laughing off extensive firepower, this
time surviving a Hive Tyrant’s firepower with only a single failed save. I’d
gotten pretty lucky to down Baharroth though, so I wasn’t complaining.
Aeldari Turn 2, 39:24
With a rapidly diminishing army and the big monsters closing in, Matt’s options are thin on the ground. He flings the last Voidweaver out to his right flank to claim that objective and score Engage, while the second Troupe goes darting in on his left.
Aeldari losing a lot of models, but still very mobile
Finally, his psychic and backfield models
prepare to blast apart the Harpy that had slain Baharroth. This they do with
aplomb, mortals stripping half of its wounds before the Wraithlord uses
Fate Dice to blast it from the sky. The Voidweaver manages to wound the other
Harpy as well, while gunning down the lone Warrior with its Shuriken Cannons. The
Shadow Weavers kill a backfield Warrior to put pressure on that objective,
while the Wave Serpent positions itself to discharge the Banshees or Dire Avengers
next turn. Finally, the Troupe does a few wounds to my Maleceptor after Matt
spends CP on their mortal wound stratagems, but its swings back kill another
two models to again limit them to flipping a single objective.
There are too many 'Nids alive right now
Matt has done some damage this turn, but there are still a lot of monsters on the board and the noose is definitely tightening.
Tyranids Turn 3, 58:24
A good scoreline that's about to get a lot better
I start my turn by flinging the Raveners and a Carnifex out to my leftmost objective, hoping to kill the Voidweaver sitting on it.
Time to use those scything talons on the Carnifex!
The
surviving Harpy flies over Matt’s large Shadow Weaver squad, inflicting buckets
of mortal wounds and killing one. My Gestalt Commander Hive Tyrant uses
Onslaught to advance up the centre, getting LoS on the Starweaver and preparing
to charge, while the wounded Carnifex also thunders up to target the
Wraithlord.
Tyranids going for the killing blow
My Psychic Phase is as reliable as ever (well, when I'm not playing Harlequins), with Catalyst and the
Leviathan psychic power going up to put a 4++ and 5+++ onto the last Harpy,
while the Maleceptor effortlessly blasts away the surviving Troupe members. Apparently
killing Aeldari from behind a wall is its thing this game! In shooting, I fail
to inflict any damage on the Voidweaver as it casually rolls 7 4++ saves, proving
that Harlequin vehicles are still incredibly annoying even when without Luck of
the Laughing God. The Hive Tyrant does put down the Starweaver however, while
the Carnifex blasts apart the Wraithlord with a trio of wounding hits. Finally,
the Harpy kills another Support Platform and obliterates the Warlock Skyrunner,
leaving Matt’s objective held only by a lone Shadow Weaver. The Hive Tyrant
then charges in, using Crushing Bulk to obliterate the final Platform and claim
Matt’s objective for myself! The one bright point for Matt is that the Voidweaver
uses the Light stratagem to dodge my Carnifex, and manages to resist the
attacks of the Raveners to give Matt at least one remaining piece in that table
quarter.
From here, the game is basically done, although we quickly play out two more turns to determine final scoring. Matt unleashes a range of shooting to finally down my wounded Carnifex for another Bring it Down point, before flinging everything into the Harpy and Hive Tyrant.
This Carnifex survived a lot, but it does eventually go down
Both are badly
wounded, but neither are slain, and my counterattack on the next turn sees
Eldrad and a lone Shadow Weaver as the only survivors of the massacre.
Hive Tyrant and Harpy both narrowly survive
Tyranids charge forward to save the Tyrant and finish off the Aeldari
Eldrad is defiant to the last (and To the Last!)
That gives a final score of 97:21 to the Tyranids!
Post-Game Analysis
Games Workshop often likes to use weapon metaphors to
describe its armies, with the Astra Militarum being symbolised by a
sledgehammer and the Aeldari a rapier. If Matt was using a rapier, then this
game felt like I was wearing full plate armour while repeatedly smashing him
with a brick. Those Aeldari just couldn’t punch damage through against my monsters,
while anything that got caught in line of sight or could be hunted down by my
Harpies was basically picked up immediately. The looming threat of my
Maleceptor and heavy venom cannons kept him pinned back while my bulky monsters
slowly plodded up the field, and eventually there just wasn’t anywhere left for
the Aeldari to hide.
Lots of Tyranids in the Aeldari deployment zone
I think getting first turn was more helpful than I would
have expected, as the redeploy and Onslaught meant it was hard for Matt to stop
at least one of my big monsters from shooting, and the Harpies were always
going to find an angle somewhere. Taking out those two Voidweavers put Matt
massively on the defensive, and really limited his ability to cut through my
defensive profiles. Matt definitely made some mistakes (not thinking to screen
Baharroth properly in his backfield being the big one), but ultimately I don’t
think this game goes much differently if Baharroth survives that turn.
I really liked my list, I felt like the combination of the
psychic threat to clear out chargers and the massive shooting output was really
strong. All those venom cannons might have felt a little like overkill at the
listbuilding stage, but they meant there was nowhere Matt could hide from me
without losing units. On that note, I really liked having the four Carnifexes
as smaller threats that Matt couldn’t ignore but didn’t want to have to burn
down; they helped a lot with holding my left flank together once all the big
monsters were committed on the right. I’m not sure I’d ever run a Carnifex without
at least one heavy venom cannon though: it’s pretty notable that only one of
them made it into combat all game, so it’s unlikely I’d have gotten much value
from a bunch of Screamer Killers. Yes, many attacks is good, but so is having a
threat range greater than ~18.
The only melee involving a Carnifex all game
Speaking of threat range, those Harpies continue to be
absolute all-stars. Between their incredible mobility, three excellent guns and
having the best bomb in the game, they are providing so much value every turn
that your opponent can’t afford to ignore them. But by positioning them close
to your other big shooty bugs, anything that commits to try and down them is
going to be blasted off the field by the rest of your list. So your opponent is
doomed if they do and doomed if they don’t, unless they can kill them both AND
survive all your Hive Tyrants and Carnifexes shooting back. I’m starting every
list with these two right now, they’re just so incredibly good. If I could
still run >2 flyers then a third Harpy would be an auto-include as well. If the Rule of Three went away, then I could seriously imagine fielding 9 of them with some objective grabbers. These
guys are bonkers.
The Hive Tyrants kind of do feel like worse Harpies, at
least as I’ve outfitted them. That’s not necessarily a bad thing (‘worse than
an auto-include’ is hardly a condemnation, and it’s not like I can replace them
with Harpies anyway), but I am considering replacing one with a Winged Hive
Tyrant with the Reaper. Unfortunately that probably requires me to bring along
some Tyrant Guard to protect it, so I’ll be losing a Carnifex for the pleasure.
The extra mobility likely will be worth it however, as having something else to
move up at pace would be a big advantage.
This combat would have certainly felt very different if I had a melee Flyrant instead of two HVCs
Finally, the obligatory ‘what about Crusher Stampede and the
Leviathan supplement?’ I don’t know whether I missed Crusher’s bonuses much
this game: it wouldn’t have helped me at all Turn 1, and probably wouldn’t have
kept the Harpy on the board in Turn 2. However, having access to Breaking
Through would have been a definite benefit at several points, so it might have
been worth it for that. On the other hand, the Leviathan Transhuman helped out
at several points, and the reroll massively helped against the tricksy Aeldari
vehicles. Being able to reroll a wound roll was incredibly useful against the
Voidweavers, as I generally wasn’t getting that many hits through to begin
with, and I imagine that would carry through into the meta more generally. (Edit: again, note the above misplay. The reroll is largely useless here, although probably still excellent against the rest of the meta). So
my personal jury is still out on whether Crusher or Leviathan is better for a
list like this one. Perhaps this game just ended up being too one-sided for Crusher to matter.
This turn definitely feels a lot worse if I don't have free rerolls
The Leviathan supplement was much simpler in its effect. The
redeploy warlord trait was quite useful this game, getting my Maleceptor and
Hive Tyrant into good positions to achieve their aims Turn 1. I didn’t use any
Leviathan-specific stratagems, but the prospect of me switching on ObSec did
repeatedly figure in Matt’s calculations, especially when he was stringing out
models to cover the two objectives near the Maleceptor. So while this list is
hardly sunk without the Leviathan supplement if that’s disallowed, its loss
would definitely be felt.
Without Leviathan Matt can hold both of these objectives thanks to ObSec
I hope you enjoyed this battle report, even if it was a
little one-sided. Next time around I’m going to be handing off the Tyranids to
Owen while I pick back up the Voidweaver-spam Harlequins, so it’ll be a real
clash of the titans there. As always, let me know in the comments what you
thought of the game, the lists involved and the new Tyranid Codex. Is Crusher
Stampede still the way and I’m just being deliberately obtuse? Let me know
below or wherever you find this!
Until next time, may your Spore Mines always roll sixes for their mortal wounds!
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