Victory Pointless

Forces:

Tyranids (Me) – Assimilation Swarm & Ambush Predators – Priority Assets:  Swarmlord + 3 Tyrant Guard, Lashwhip Prime + 20 Hormagaunts, 10 Hormagaunts, 2 x Neurolictor, Biovore, 3 Pyrovores, 6 Von Ryan’s Leapers, 2 x 3 Von Ryan’s Leapers, Haruspex, Psychophage, 2 x Tyrannofex, 3 x Ripper Swarm

Astra Militarum – Steel Hammer & Bridgehead Strike – Purge the Foe: Baneblade, Rogal Dorn Commander, 3 x Leman Russ, 2 x Chimera, Taurox Prime, 20 Cadians, 10 Kasrkin, Tempestus Command Squad + 5 Scions, 5 Scions.

Battle

Final Result: Tyranid Victory, 56:48

Analysis

• This was originally supposed to be a more ‘casual’ game, so I deliberately toned down my usual ‘oops all monsters’ list, removing the Norns and Maleceptor (since for some reason people find them annoying…) and replacing them with squishier things.  I then showed up to find I was facing an ‘oops all tanks’ list.  The moral of this story is: never be nice.
• Tyrannofexes were by far the MVPs here, providing almost all of my major damage output.  Zoanthropes, on the other hand, continue to do very little.
• There were a number of rules errors made by my opponent in this game, some of which I let go, some of which I pointed out at the time and some of which I only realised later.  40k is a complicated game and as past entries on this blog will show I am no stranger to rules errors myself, but I do try to record them as a reminder for future games:
  • Failing to declare all shooting targets up-front and changing targets on some guns mid-sequence.
  • Charging a Baneblade through terrain without using the necessary strat.
  • Pivoting said Baneblade about a corner instead of the centre.
  • Trying to shoot through a wall with no line of sight (just because you’re in engagement range with something doesn’t mean you can see it).
  • The ‘On My Position’ strat does D6 mortals, not flat 6.
  • The Baneblade should’ve bracketed at 1-8 wounds remaining (it was on 6), being -1 to hit and reducing its OC to 4.  This one is especially egregious both because I queried it at the time and it caused an objective to be tied on OC when it shouldn’t have been.