Assault on Kokoytos - Tournament Results

The Skyshield is actually pretty integral to this list, so losing it was a big hit. I'm suddenly VERY vulnerable turn 1 if I go second, which I generally prefer because it helps so much late in the game. But, what the hell, let's roll some dice!

Flyrant

Flyrant

Flyrant

Malanthrope

Mucolid

Mucolid

Mucolid

Mucolid

Mawloc

Mawloc

Mawloc

Barbed Hierdule

Everything listed above had the usual upgrades. Well well well! Believe it or not but this is the first mirror match I have ever played in 40k. I was confident because I know Tyranids better than most armies. At the same time, I knew that killing three Mawlocs and a Barbed Hierodule would be a tall order with so little AP 2/3 in my list. I won the roll off and decided to go first rather than second because two of my Flyrants rolled Psychic Scream, which is particularly devastating against other Flyrants.

The power works as follows: Roll 2D6+2 and subtract the leadership of models impacted by the power. The unit impacted suffers wounds equal to the remainder with no cover or armor saves allowed. It's a Nova power so everything within it's 6 inch range is automatically hit by the power. What makes it especially deadly against Flyrants is Shadow in the Warp, which reduces the leadership of all psychers within 12 inches by 3. The average 2D6 roll is 7, add 2 and you've got 9. A Flyrant's leadership is 10, less 3 for Shadow in the Warp and you've got 7. That means with an average roll a Flyrant should take 2 wounds per Psychic Scream with no saves allowed. Awesome.

My opponent deployed the bulk of his army huddled up in or near the same ruin to benefit from the Malanthrope. After he deployed I practically started to salivate at the idea of what was about to happen. All three Flyrants were huddled up close together and within my 30" effective range (24" swoop + 6" Psychic Scream). With two Psychic Screams and average rolls all three Flyrants should be dead... All. Three. Flyrants. Should. Be. Dead. He rolled to seize and failed. Game time!

I flew up and threw a ton of dice at each Psychic Scream. That power was going off and I was going to make damn sure of it, Perils be damned. Both go off and two Flyrants are gone, one of which was his Warlord. I had less than average rolls, but who cares!?! He's down 500 points two minutes into the game and I just picked up First Blood and Slay the Warlord.

Game over right? Let's pack it up and proceed to round 2! Except that's not what happened. What proceeded was a torturous display of punishment from the dice gods. His Barbed Hierodule went on an absolute TEAR. He averaged 4 or 5 hits while snap firing and I failed 6 of 8 grounding checks. (an average roll would yield 2 hits). He killed a Flyrant a turn. The game went 6 turns and I just wasn't able to keep enough alive on the board to effectively contest objectives for the primary or the secondary. I went on to lose 3 to 8.

It was one of the most remarkable comebacks I have seen, I just happened to be on the wrong side! My opponent was a blast though and we both had a great time laughing our way through the game. I wished him luck and looked forward to redemption in the next round.

Pask + 1 Bodyguard Vanquisher

Enginseer/Tech priest thing

10 Veterans in a Chimera

10 Veterans in a Chimera

Vendetta

Hyrda

Avenger Strike Fighter

Shadow Sword

Vindicare Assasin

Aegis Defense Line

Bah! When I wrote this list way back when I remember thinking, "Eh I won't come across that much AV 13+". I was definitely wishing I had those damn E-grubs in that moment.  Oh well, I'll just fly behind them and shoot 'em in the ass. I lost the roll off and he chose to go first. I thought about keeping the Flyrants off the board, but I knew I would just be hemorrhaging kill points for the first few turns until they all came back in. I deployed right on the line, eager to get behind those tanks as fast as possible. He blasted my Warlord off the board pretty easily the first turn for First Blood and Slay the Warlord. My opponent was pretty content to sit back and shoot from behind his Aegis Defense Line rather than move up and contest objectives. It cost him the secondary quickly, by turn 2 or 3 he was behind more than he could make up. Once I was airborne it just a race for kill points. I tried to balance forcing his Flyers to Jink and wracking up as many kill points as I could. I decided to just ignore the Shadow Sword rather waste time and gun power trying to bring it down. The last turn of the game he D'd up a Mawloc picking up a lucky kill point and his Assassin managed to survive a full volley and a Psychic Scream from a Flyrant, costing me a kill point and tying up the primary. The game ended and I took a 5-2 victory. I felt a bit bummed that he managed to tie the primary in the last turn, but I also felt fortunate because I think that he probably could have won that game.

Dante

Astorath

Priest w/ jump pack (the Priest ran with the Sanguinary Guard and Dante)

Sanguinary Guard

Death Company w/ jump packs (large group with Astorath)

Death Company w/ jump packs (medium group)

10 Tactical Marines w/ max special/heavy weapons

10 Tactical Marines w/ max special/heavy weapons

Devastators w/ flak missiles

Stormraven Gunship

Yes!!! A fellow Son of Sanguinius. Blood Angels are in a bit of a tough spot right now, but his list had a decent amount of AA and enough bodies with 2+ or 3+ saves that I wouldn't be able to remove them all. I knew I needed to keep him off the Relic. I won the roll and chose to go second. I deployed all the Flyrants in a large ruin. His first turn was fairly ineffective. My first turn I grabbed First Blood. I kept dropping Rippers and Mawlocs in his deployment zone hoping he wouldn't be able to resist the urge to turn his Death Company and Sanguinary Guard around to smash something. He took the bait rather than pursuing the Relic. I was comfortable with the way the game was going so I decided to go for as many points as possible rather than playing it safe. I poured shots into Dante's unit and eventually only Dante was left standing. I was afraid that he would move Dante into another unit, basically saving him and costing me Slay the Warlord, but he didn't. I killed him the next turn. 10 - 0 victory.

Anytime I go to a tournament my goal is to win at least one game and preferably win more than I lose. I went 2 - 1 and placed 9th of 30. But most importantly, I had a blast so that's a success on all fronts in my book! But the biggest success of all was avoiding THIS:

That is the very same Necron Pylon that D'd up 2 or 3 of my Flyrants at TSHFT. I consider that game my greatest loss ever because it's a miracle I was able to take keep the game as close as I did (4 - 5 loss). Still, I wasn't particularly eager for a rematch so I was happy when I didn't see his name next to mine in the pairings. Fortunately, I won't be seeing that nasty bugger at anymore ITC events.

That's all for now, thanks for reading.

Chaplain Sam signing off.