What's up everyone, Chaplain Sam here. Chris and I have been playing and scheming a lot recently trying to get our lists finalized for TSHFT in January. I thought I'd share the result of our test games and which way our lists are headed. Quick Blood Angels update - I'm going to wait until I have my codex in hand before I start sharing my thoughts. There's definitely been a lot of change, so I want to make sure I get some games in before I finalize my opinions. Back to the bugs!
Game 1 - Tyranids vs. Space Wolves with Imperial Fists Allies
Tyranid List (Hive Fleet Detachment)
Flyrant
Flyrant
Flyrant
Malanthrope
Malanthrope
Venomthrope
10 Termagants
10 Termagants
10 Termagants
22 Gargoyles
2 Dakkafexen
2 Dakkafexen
1 Dakkafex
Breakdown - So with this list I wanted to try something I thought was a nice blend of competitive and fun. Carnifexes happen to be my favorite Tyranid unit, so I knew I was going to have fun with this list no matter what. It's not exactly a push over list either. The idea is to use the gants as a meat shield for a intervening model save for the Carnifexes, then boost it up to a 3+ cover save with the 'Thropes. Then just blast away everything with all that strength 6 firepower. Anything that isn't a good target for strength 6 shots, I'll send the gargoyles at to tarpit.
Space Wolves (Champions of Fenris) and Imperial Fists List
Librarian
5 Tactical marines with 1 meltagun in a pod
5 Tactical marines with 1 meltagun in a pod
5 Tactical marines with 1 meltagun in a pod
5 Legion of the Damned with meltagun in a pod
5 Legion of the Damned with meltagun in a pod
3 Centurions
Harald Deathwolf
3 TWC with 3 storm shield and 1 hammer
3 TWC with 3 storm shield and 1 hammer
Iron priest on a thunderwolf
Iron priest on a thunderwolf
Drop pod (for centurions)
Game Result - I basically tabled him. My dice were poor the turns 1-3, but on turn 4 I did more damage than the rest of the game combined. We called it after that as we had both learned all that we could from the game. Chris hit saves all day but it wasn't enough. It was a surprising result for both of us! I thought he should have played more aggressively with his wolf stars, but I'm not sure how big of a difference it would have made. Chris went back to the drawing board.
Game 2 - Tyranids vs. Grey Knights with Space Marine Allies (Draigostar)
Tyranid List - Same as above, except I dropped the third Canifex and the Venomthrope and picked up three Zoanthropes.
GK+SM List - Basically a Centurion-Draigostar with Loth and three Dreadknights and not much else.
Game Result - Going in I knew this had the potential to be a rough game for the Nidz. An invisible teleporting Centurion unit with Draigo tanking wounds is a tough nut to crack. To make matters worse, my list had very little AP2 shooting. The game ended up being the perfect storm! Worse than I predicted. Chris rolled and picked up Perfect Timing so all my cover saves were likely out the window. Then he won the roll off to go first, passed all his psychic tests and rolled a perfect deepstrike. He split fire and dropped 1 Flyrant and brought another to a single wound. In my own turn the Flyrant proceeded to kill himself in the Psychic phase. We played a couple more turns but that was the end of the game. In hindsight I wonder if I should have reserved my Flyrants, but I deployed in such a way that a scatter beyond 2-3 inches would have kept me safe. It's painful to keep Flyrants out of the game, I generally try to avoid it.
So, where does this leave us? Chris is happy with his Draigostar. He realizes it's a cheese bomb, but he wants to make some noise at TSHFT. As for me, I'll revise my list. There are a lot of directions I could go. More play testing to come!