A real clash of the big 'uns here
For our second game with the new Balance Dataslate, we decided to test the Tyranids against a faction that received substantial buffs: Matt’s Grey Knights. With Armour of Contempt going excellently on Marines in cover, and Tide of Shadows giving everyone cover for free, it looked like a brutal combo. But will it be enough to overcome the Shadow in the Warp?
Hive Fleet Behemoth
I decided that what I really needed from the list was to be even more resilient
Patrol
Winged Hive Tyrant with Maw-Claws, lashwhip and bonesword 190
Neurothrope with Synaptic Tendrils 100
5 Tyrant Guard 200
3 Warriors with deathspitters and dual boneswords 75
3 Zoanthropes 150
2 x Maleceptor 340
1 Carnifex with heavy venom cannon, scything talons and
enhanced senses 120
1 Carnifex with heavy venom cannon, deathspitters and
enhanced senses 130
Vanguard
Winged Hive Tyrant with Reaper of Obliterax and lashwhip 190
3 Venomthropes 105
3 Pyrovores 90
2 Pyrovores 60
1 Pyrovore 30
2 Harpies with heavy venom cannons 340
Total: 2000
Pyrovores are secretly one of the most efficient units in
the Tyranid Codex, and perhaps the game. The issue is that if you want two Hive
Tyrants then you’re probably running double Patrol, and at that point once you
take the things you ‘need’ (1-2 Maleceptors, the Venomthropes and some slotless
Tyrant Guard/Zoanthropes) you’re probably only left with one Elites slot to
burn on Pyrovores. The solution? Turn the second Patrol into a Vanguard and
bring all the Pyrovores I want! It costs me CP, my second Warrior squad and a
Carnifex, but I’m hopeful that the wave of absurdly resilient flamer-beasts
will be worth it. I haven’t been getting that much value from the Warriors
anyway, so swapping out one squad seems very worth it. Otherwise, we’re still
playing the same hits as before (double Maleceptor/Harpy/Flyrant), all in Behemoth
for Lurk and thus ObSec. A tried-and-true list, let’s see how it goes against
Grey Knights!
Swordbearers
This army is looking vastly harder to kill than it would have last week
Battalion
Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight with guns, hammer, teleporter,
Servant of the Throne, Unyielding Anvil, Sigil of Exigence 240
Librarian with Psychic Epitome, Artisan Nullifier Matrix and
storm bolter 110
Techmarine 80
4 x Strike Squads 440
3 x Interceptor Squads 390
4 Paladins, one psilencer 185
3 x Nemesis Dreadknights with guns, swords 555
The core of this list is pretty classic, with lots of
Strike Marines and Interceptors to score objectives and threaten charges while
4 Dreadknights blow stuff up. The main tech pieces are a Psychic Epitome
Librarian, ready to prove he’s better than a Maleceptor at mortal wounds, and a
medium-sized squad of Paladins. While the latter have generally been accepted
as ‘worse than two Strike Marines in every way’, Matt hypothesised that
their ability to stack a sick 0+ armour save even without cover would be pretty
useful. Can’t say I disagree, I have no idea how I’ll deal with that. Generally,
it’s a fast list with lots of firepower and a lot of new resilience, and I
imagine its anti-psychic shenanigans will be a bit of a nightmare for my brain
bugs.
Mission and Secondaries
We’re playing Death and Zeal on a beautiful desert board,
with lots of difficult ground and sneaky hiding places. The mission is pretty
good for me, in that I’m well-equipped to get onto the centre objective fast
and pressure Matt early, but the distance to the outer objectives definitely
favours Matt’s teleporting Marines. Getting models onto the left objective will
mean slogging through difficult terrain, while going to the right will mean a
long time crossing very exposed ground. Tricky.
Secondaries were hard this game. Stranglehold is still a
lock because my army is great at it, and I still feel fairly certain I can keep
the Tyrants and their Guard safe for To the Last. Unfortunately I don’t have
many great choices for a third option. I genuinely consider Teleport Homers,
but I just don’t have enough Troops to pull it off reliably. Bring it Down,
Assassinate and No Prisoners would all cap at around 8 points, and that just
doesn’t feel worth it to me. In the end I go for Warp Ritual. I know, Warpcraft
Secondaries against Grey Knights are a classic trap. But even with Matt doing
his super ‘add one, roll 3D6 pick highest two’ denies I should still be able to
get 2-3 casts off on average dice, and at that point I’m costing Matt CP and
still equalling any of the killing Secondaries. I don’t feel great about it,
but it seems the best of a bad lot.
Matt has a much easier time of it. He picks Bring it Down,
because it can be maxed easily enough, then Purifying Ritual because it’s
awesome, then Stranglehold because it’s a good scenario for it. I was feeling
envious at this point.
Deployment
I deploy much more defensively this game, wary of Matt’s firepower. The Harpies are hidden securely at the back, while the Maleceptors, ‘Thropes and Tyrant Guard all take advantage of cover. Only the Pyrovores are left exposed; if Matt wants to leap forward and fire at my 30-point blobs of wounds, that’s fine by me. Annoyingly, the only way for me to get the left Pyrovores onto an objective Turn 1 will be a high roll on an advance, which means Stranglehold could be a challenge if I go first. Hmmm.
Some exposed Pyrovores, but the Harpies are safe. In this matchup that's worth more everything
Matt castles up heavily, not
wanting to risk giving my HVCs angles early on. One Dreadknight and two Strike
Squads are in reserve, waiting for a weak point they can drop down and pummel.
Tyranid Turn 1, 30:10
First turn is an annoyance here, as I’d love to charge something Owen moved onto the objectives. I go back and forth on popping Warp Shielding and moving up, but decide I want to play a bit more defensively early on this game and make Matt commit. My central Pyrovores move up, getting Catalyst cast on them as they screen for the Neurothrope. Warp Ritual is cast on a ten, but Matt easily denies it after he burns CP on Hexagrammic Wards. I’m already regretting this Secondary choice.
No! Grey Knight denies are just too strong
Stranglehold is also a chore, as
my leftmost Pyrovores fail to advance high enough to get onto the objective.
Annoyed, I flit my Maw-Claws Tyrant across instead, where he claims
Stranglehold before disappearing with Encircle the Prey. It’s a bit of a waste, but it
gets the job done.
Grey Knights Turn 1, 17:25
I haven’t given Matt many good targets, so it’s likely to be a quiet turn for him. Committing all the Dreadknights to kill Pyrovores isn’t exactly a winning trade, after all. One squad of Interceptors advance onto the rightmost objective, getting mostly into cover and casting Purifying Ritual. Another squad darts forward to huddle behind a wall, ensuring that the Librarian can safely stick his nose out.
Lots of mortal wounds, but only enough to kill one Pyrovore
He expends 3CP and blasts the central Pyrovores, killing one, while one Dreadknight edges out a little to put 3 wounds onto the lone Pyrovore. These little flamer-beasts are already proving their durability!
I'm starting to love Pyrovores!
Finally, a Strike Squad is Gated off to the left objective,
where they huddle behind the wall as much as possible and tick off Stranglehold
for the turn, though their own cast of Purifying Ritual is denied.
Tyranid Turn 2, 17:44
Hopefully I can get some good points before the Dreadknights blast me to pieces
In my turn, I decide to commit a little more. I know Matt will be bringing in a few reserves next turn, and I want to make sure I have Warp Shielding up on the turn they came in. So I pick that Imperative and fling all my Pyrovores forward, alongside both Carnifexes, the Harpies, a Flyrant and one Maleceptor.
Big movement all across the board
That Maleceptor advances all the way onto the objective guarded by the teleporting Strike Squad, where it blasts them for 3 mortals and generally stands there menacingly. A hail of mortals from the other Maleceptor goes irritatingly well, killing three Interceptors on the nearby objective and allowing them to get out of line of sight of some of my guns. The Pyrovore flamers then totally whiff, Armour of Contempt saving every hit. Thankfully they make up for it in combat though, dealing the requisite three wounds to wipe the squad.
AoC won't save you now!
Nearby, the two Harpies and one Carnifex can draw beads on the exposed Dreadknight, and promptly blast it to pieces in a hail of HVC fire. The Harpies also churn out some more Spore Mines to add to the 6 already littering the field.
Harpies casually obliterating a Dreadknight
Finally, the Reaper Flyrant has a disappointing turn. His attempt to Warp Ritual is comprehensively denied despite the Neurothrope’s buff, leaving me increasingly unlikely to max that Secondary.
Always sad to have a 0 on a Secondary at the end of Turn 2
He’s at least looking forward to smashing the nearby Interceptors and Overrunning to safety, but the central Pyrovores promptly wipe the whole squad with their flamers!
These 30-point models may be a little underpriced
That leaves my Flyrant feeling quite exposed, so he Encircles the Prey to
skedaddle into reserve.
At the end of my turn I’m scoring well and have good board
position, but those Dreadknights are about to hit me hard.
Grey Knights Turn 2, 25:44
A widening points gap
That’s more or less how the turn starts: the Grandmaster and the other Dreadknight move to their left to draw a bead on the Maleceptor, while the third drops down nearby to join in.
Methinks I might be about to lose my Pyrovores
The Grandmaster uses Psychic Channelling to ensure Gate goes off, but promptly fails to cast it anyway! A reroll does succeed, letting him jump him within 12” of the Maleceptor, but a second low roll to cast Empyric Amplification sees it get denied.
This basically sums up Matt's Psychic phase
The nearby
Strikes fail their Purifying Ritual, another Dreadknight fails to cast Empyric
Lodestone, and even the third Dreadknight’s Smite fails! The trend continues in
the centre, where the Librarian has almost all his casts either fail or be denied,
and on the right flank where a second squad of Interceptors fails to Purifying
Ritual. I might not be scoring my Warpcraft Secondary, but apparently neither is
Matt!
Second attempt from the Librarian is even worse than the first
With the failure of the Librarian to kill the central Pyrovores, a Dreadknight has to blast them to deny me those Primary points. But even that torrent of fire is insufficient, leaving one alive on a single wound!
Look at that cheeky little grin!
This forces the Grandmaster to split fire, gunning down the Pyrovore at last
before joining with the third Dreadknight to hammer the Maleceptor. I’d
foolishly chosen not to do Encephalic Diffusion with this Maleceptor last turn,
but thankfully Catalyst comes through to leave me at 8 wounds and still
controlling the objective. That conveniently denies Stranglehold to Matt,
making it a really big swing.
The Maleceptor lives!
The second squad of Interceptors charges my leftmost
Pyrovores, getting into combat safely after I rolled snake-eyes on my
Overwatch. In combat they succeed in killing one Pyrovore and wounding another,
while flipping the objective and only taking one wound back.
Interceptors begin an epic duel with my surviving Pyrovores
Nonetheless, things were looking good for the Tyranids.
Tyranid Turn 3, 25:57
Points gap continuing to widen, and now I get to do some damage
Matt pivoting to the right as I pivot to the left
Matt has exposed his heavy hitters now, so it’s time to strike back. That starts with the Spore Mines from last turn bombing the engaged Interceptor squad, killing two Marines, while this turn’s Mines manage to kill a couple of Strike Marines in Matt’s central castle.
Spore Mines are so good. Maybe I should bring some Biovores?
The leftmost
Maleceptor moves up to get in on the fun, blasting several Grey Knights through
the wall and even killing a Paladin, while the Maw-Claws Flyrant speeds forward
to try assassinate the Librarian. The Zoanthropes float onto the central
objective, the Carnifexes and Harpies manoeuvre for shots on the Dreadknights,
and the wounded Maleceptor moves into position to charge the lone Strike Squad
on her objective.
Time for the big push
Psychic sees the Flyrant denied on Warp Ritual once again,
which makes me pretty sad. At least it’s cost Matt 3 CP on Hexagrammic Wards so
far! The rest of my buffs go off, largely from the Neurothrope hiding outside
of deny range and bouncing them through the chain. A shower of mortals from all
the brain bugs wounds the Librarian, kills several Grey Knights from the
central castle and whittles down the Strike Squad on my far-right flank.
Maleceptor ready to do some damage
Shooting sees another Dreadknight fall to a torrent of HVC fire, but I make the mistake of shooting at the Grandmaster with my final shots of the turn.
Harpies pick up another Dreadknight
He promptly uses Sigil of Exigence to teleport across the board, ready
to take out my Carnifex and flip the left objective next turn. Lovely.
Whoops. Can you tell I haven't played much against Grey Knights?
In combat, my last two Pyrovores continue their dramatic duel with the final two Interceptors on the left flank, each side taking several wounds but continuing to stick around.
A true slugging match going on here
The Maleceptor and Strike Marines on the other flank also flail at each other, neither side accomplishing much of note. The Flyrant is more dramatic, killing the Librarian with Trampling Charge, before finishing off the last Strike Marine and wiping the whole Paladin squad in one go!
Well over 250 points killed in one combat
Matt had failed to cast the +1 save psychic power last turn, and a string of low rolls saw all three remaining Paladins obliterated.
Not the rolls you want to see when you're saving on fours
The Flyrant, now with 8 Bonesword attacks, uses Overrun to jump back to a more
defensive position. Good stuff.
At the end of my turn, Matt is left with a Dreadnight and
depleted Strike Squad on each flank, a Strike Squad in reserve and the
Techmarine and one final Strike Squad on his back objective. This turn needs to
go really well for him.
Grey Knights Turn 3, 37:57
If the Marines don't start catching up now they never will
To that end, Matt embarks on a series of high-risk/high-reward plays. He drops his final Strike Squad into my backfield, getting within 9” of my Warriors to try and flip my back objective.
9" charges, let's goooooooo
The Grandmaster moves forward to
smack the Carnifex and blast a Harpy, while the other Dreadknight aims to gun
down the Hive Tyrant and decapitate the wounded Maleceptor. The final Strike
Squad also charges forward, going for a long bomb into my Maw-Claws Flyrant to
try and deny me TtL points.
Things don’t start well, as while Purifying Ritual does go off twice, several failed attempts by the Strikes mean his Dreadknights have to use their casts to get it done. Shooting is also pretty desultory without any psychic buffs. One Harpy suffers a few wounds from the Grandmaster, and the hail of fire from the other Dreadknight sees my Flyrant reduced to 6 wounds.
Lots of guns do lots of damage, but not quite enough
The
Strike Squads manage to badly wound a Warrior and kill a couple Spore Mines,
then we’re onto the Charge phase.
This goes excellently for Matt, with a single CP reroll being enough to get all four of his charges off. First to swing are the Strike Squad attacking the Flyrant. They hit hard, but it survives on 2 wounds to take off half the squad on the retaliation.
Another successful 9" charge! Doesn't end well though
I interrupt with the Warriors into the Strikes, wiping 3 of them and consolidating to block them off my objective. Their remaining attacks see me lose a Warrior, but at the end of the fight I’m left in control of the point.
Potentially a very scary situation
Say one thing for Warriors, they're super good at killing Marines in combat.
The final Dreadknight and Strike Squad manage to
down the Maleceptor between them, with the Justicar inflicting the final wound
to bring down the hated beast.
The wounded Maleceptor finally goes down
That leaves just the two fights on my left objective.
Dramatic duels on this objective
The last
Interceptor strikes down a Pyrovore to be left in a one-on-one duel with the
other, but the Grandmaster is unable to bring down the Carnifex after it passes
a crucial 6+ save roll. It then swings back with its Scything Talons and
promptly inflicts 9 wounds on the Grey Knight leader. Raaaaargh!
Carnifexes are back!
With that, Matt’s third turn comes to an end. He’s scored
some more on Purifying Ritual and Bring it Down, but the failure to kill the
Carnifex means that objective is still contested and he doesn’t get
Stranglehold. Perhaps Engage would have been a better pick here.
Tyranids Turn 4, 37:70
Time to put the nail in the coffin
I start my turn by spending my one CP on regenerating the
wounded Flyrant’s wounds. I need anything but a 1-2 to get it back up the
critical bracket to fall back onto Matt’s home objective, so no one is
surprised at what I rolled.
Ah well. Matt deserves a bit of luck at this point
Otherwise, my turn basically consists of everything heading
towards the edges of the map. My Tyrant Guard stomp back to kill the Strikes on
my backfield objective, the Maleceptor and Venomthropes move to clear Matt off
the left objective, and the Harpies and Reaper Flyrant speed over to clear out
the right objective. Spore Mines across the battlefield also do their thing,
chipping down Strike Marines as some final insult to injury.
In the end, the sheer damage output of the Tyranids is too much. Massed mortal wounds kill the Grandmaster, which frees up the Carnifex to gun down the last Interceptor on that objective.
Grandmaster blasted to pieces
3 HVC shots was maybe overkill here
The Strikes engaging the Flyrant are also blown away by a Zoanthrope Smite, and the Dreadknight and Strike Squad on the right objective are hammered by HVC fire then cut to pieces by the Reaper Flyrant.
Reaper Flyrant trying to outperform the Maw-Claws one
The Tyrant Guard tear apart the last Strike Marines, and at the
end of it all Matt is left with just his lone Techmarine.
Chop chop, Tyrant Guard go chop
We quickly play out the last battle round for final scores, with the Techmarine scoring one more point on Purifying Ritual before being wiped out by Spore Mines in my Movement phase.
One final point for Matt
The end of the road
Warp Ritual finally goes off a
second time, and it’s a brutal 92:42 win to the Tyranids!
Post-Game Analysis
For all the people freaking out about Armour of Contempt
making Marines unkillable: don’t worry, the Swarm consumes all. Tyranids are
still much, much scarier than things like Grey Knights.
This game felt close at points, but ultimately it didn’t
feel like our armies were on the same level. AoC definitely made a big
difference, but by and large when I tried to kill something it died. At the end
of the game, Matt had killed one monster and 5 Pyrovores. That wasn’t for want
of trying either, he flung a lot of damage at my army. Tyranids are just so, so
tough.
I guess there are a lot of dead Spore Mines? Pity those were free
In saying that, Matt did have some pretty rough strings of
luck. His Psychic phase in Turn 2 was truly catastrophic, and meant that it was
basically impossible for him to bring down my Maleceptor that turn. On the
other hand, I’d already planned to lose the Maleceptor that turn: my theory was
that by making him commit heavily to my right flank I could keep him far away
from my Harpies, which would allow me to keep picking off his Dreadknights from
long range. It might have been better for Matt to go hard on my left flank to
try and take out a Harpy, rather than take the bait of the exposed Maleceptor.
On the other hand, I’d screened the Harpies relatively well, so maybe he would
have just bounced there and have ceded the other objective for nothing.
After all, it didn't go that well for Matt when he did commit to my left flank
As I knew they’d be, the Harpies were definitely the MVPs.
Spore Mines are so sneakily scary, and being able to casually flap around and
pick up a Dreadknight with 12 HVC shots is worth its weight in gold. I know
they probably only fit into monster-mash lists like mine, but they’re just so
good there it’s hard not to see them as oppressive.
I was also shockingly impressed by the Pyrovores. Their
speed was an issue, but those 150 points of junk managed to kill almost double
their points worth, all while soaking up a crazy amount of firepower, mortal
wounds and combat from the Grey Knights army. I’m really wondering whether
pivoting to a 3x3 block of them is the way to go, perhaps in Kraken for the
extra mobility. They’re just so
obnoxious!
My face whenever Matt failed to kill a 30-point piece of chaff
From Matt’s point of view, we agreed that the big mistake
was probably how he used his infantry. They by and large hung out behind LoS
blockers and didn’t do much, which made sense for how they’ve traditionally
been played. But realistically, there was nothing in my army that I wanted to
shoot at a Strike Marine (aside from the Pyrovores, which had plenty of targets
already) so Matt could probably have been a lot more aggressive with their
placement. The Paladins in particular should be able to laugh off anything
except mortal wounds or a Flyrant charge, and would have made a big difference
if they’d marched across to the Pyrovore objective and battled for it.
'Anything except a Flyrant charge, you say...'
As far as my own mistakes, I again played my Tyrant Guard
too defensively. Had they been placed further forward, they’d have been a
little more vulnerable but my Flyrants would have been much more effective
and/or safer. And if Matt had really committed hard on my Tyrant Guard, then
maybe I would have lost five points but he would probably have lost most of his
army. Tyrant Guard are a brick, and I keep playing them like they’re made of tinfoil.
I also maybe shouldn’t have picked Warp Ritual: it did its job and got me 7
points while costing Matt 3 CP, but that score could easily have been a 3 if I
hadn’t tabled the Grey Knights on the final turn. On the other hand, I’m not
sure I really had any better options. I don’t have enough units for most of the
action Secondaries, and Bring it Down was really gambling on a tabling as well.
I don’t think Secondaries are really a weakness of the army (having three solid
options against most opponents is normally all you need), but I definitely felt
the lack of action-monkeys this game.
How would this battle have been different before the Balance
Dataslate? Honestly, not much. There were quite a few times that some extra
Marines survived when before they would have been wiped, but it certainly
didn’t feel like the army was some fundamentally different beast now. If your
army killed Marines before then I feel like it will probably still kill
Marines, just… slower. That’s maybe not as true if you were relying on massed
AP-1 to do the job, but my Pyrovores still incinerated quite a lot of Grey
Knights with their AP-2 flamers.
Turns out Pyrovores are good at killing stuff too!
I hope you enjoyed this post-Dataslate battle report! The ‘Nids really seem on top of the meta at the moment, and it will be interesting to test that out against a few more recently-buffed armies over the coming few weeks. Spoiler alert: it doesn't all go the Tyranid's way!
What do you think of the Balance Dataslate? Are Marines stronger than
I’m crediting them with being? And are Pyrovores really as strong as they feel?
Let me know in the comments.
Until next time, may your monsters always survive on one wound!
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