Warhammer 40k Tournament Report - Battle for the Belt at Mugu Games

What's up everyone, Chaplain Sam here. I spent this past weekend up in Everett, WA for the Battle for the Belt tournament at Mugu Games. I, of course, brought my Tyranids. I'm committed to sticking with them for the entirety of the ITC season, though it would be nice to play something else at a non-ITC event. This was my 5th event of the ITC season and 6th in the calendar year, so I've exceeded the goal (4 events) I set for myself at the beginning of the year. Here is the list I brought to the event:

Tyranid CAD
Flyrant - E-grubs, Fighter Ace
Flyrant - E-grubs
Malanthrope
Venomthrope
Lictor
Rippers
Rippers
Mawloc
Mawloc
Mawloc
Bunker - Comms Relay

Tyranid CAD
Flyrant - E-grubs
Flyrant - E-grubs
Rippers
Rippers

1850 points of buggy goodness! Basically this list just served as a test for a few units and strategies I wanted to try. It's not the goal list I had in mind, but I was limited by the models I had painted and ready to go.



Round 1
Mission - Purge the Alien and Modified Maelstrom
Opponent - Imperial Knights + AdMech

My opponent was running three Imperial Knights as part of the Baronial Court formation and a bunch of Kataphron Destroyer/Breachers. The Knights were all kitted out for shooting, including Skyfire weapon options. I thought that this should be a pretty interesting match up because the mission was kill points, and I had significantly more squishy easy-to-kill units than he did, putting me at a disadvantage. On the otherhand, in the ITC you score 1 Maelstrom point for every 3 hulls points you strip off of a super heavy. That meant that I could basically focus on nothing but killing stuff and grabbing easy Maelstrom objectives as they came along. I wouldn't need to stress about grabbing and preventing every Maelstrom point, assuming I was able to put down a few or all of the Knights. My opponent won the roll off and chose to go first, fine by me. I deployed the Flyrants with the 'Thropes for cover and hunkered down hoping to avoid any significant loses in the first volley. Everything else was in reserves. With 2+ cover I only lost a few wounds. The next few turns I was able to fly pretty much unharmed and start knocking off Knights. The rest of his army was stuck in reserves and didn't come in until turn 4. He dropped them in next to the Lictor and opened fire, likely planning to easily remove it. I went to ground in ruins, so with the Lictor's Stealth rule I was enjoying a cool 2+ cover save. The Lictor lived! Next turn a few Mawlocs erased the Kataphrons thanks to the help of the Lictor guiding them in. That was pretty much game at that point. All in all a pretty one-sided game. I'm not above admitting that my opponent had below average dice rolls, but I think I played the scenario as well as I could have.

11-0 Tyranid Victory


Round 2
Mission - Scouring and Modified Maelstrom
Opponent - Chaos Renegades + Daemons

My opponent was running the Forge World Chaos Renegades with a Chaos Imperial Knight, hordes of zombies, two Soul Grinders, three Earth Shaker artillery units, a Harald and some Daemon infantry sprinkled in. The point of his list was basically to flood the board with cheap, cheap units (zombies are like 3 points and come with 4+ Feel No Pain), summon more units, and then run around an invulnerable Knight with some Soul Grinder buddies. The Chaos Knight comes with a 5++ daemon save and then he would toss Grimoire on it for a 2++ shield facing and a 3++ all around. Really, really nasty. Probably the point-for-point the most durable list I've ever faced.

His deployment was truly excellent. He stuck his juicy units in a corner, like his Warlord and the Herald with the Grimoire, and then a swarm of zombies or cheap Daemons with the Knight and Soul Grinders up front. He made sure that I didn't have a place to set my Flyrants down close enough to shoot anything of note. I was stuck shooting 3 point zombies or an invulnerable Chaos Knight. He also deployed the best targets on the second level of ruins and buildings so my Mawlocs would be of no help either. It didn't help that I lost two Mawlocs to the dreaded "1" on the deep strike mishap table. Then his giant swarm of bodies slowly moved forward and grew as he summoned more units. I kept it close in the Maestrom game by capitalizing on a few mistakes he made by leaving me enough space to sneak some objective secured rippers on some objectives, but other than that it was brutally one-sided. He was a great player and I tip my hat to him. He had a strong list, but he really beat me with his deployment and strategy.

0-10 Tyranid Loss

Round 3
Mission - Crusade and Modified Maelstrom
Opponent - Dark Angels Battle Company

This was my first opportunity to play against a Battle Company list. Good god! So many vehicles and units, it was pretty impressive. I think Battle Company lists are really cool because they aren't insanely "killy" and there aren't any death stars that are impossible to kill. It makes the game fun for both sides because everyone gets an opportunity to roll some dice and kill something.

My opponent reserved basically his entire army, which I thought was an interesting tactic. I get that it gives him the opportunity to flood the board late, grab objectives, and leave me little time to kill stuff. However, it also gives me the opportunity to combat his army piece meal, which isn't nearly as overwhelming as when the whole Battle Company is on the board.

I just focused on killing razorbacks are they came in, trying to pop them before they had a chance to move up the board so that the infantry inside would be stuck walking and therefore have little impact on the game. I also shot up the drop pods that landed next to objectives and ignored the ones that didn't. Surprisingly, I was up on the Maelstrom pretty much the whole game. The combination of the Rippers, Mawlocs, and the Bunker give me a pretty good ground presence that can get around the board. At one point my opponent rushed the Lictor camped in ruins but was unable to kill it because of the 2+ cover save. Just like game 1, the Mawlocs made him pay for it. By the last few turns the game was decided, but the final score was still in question. Unfortunately, he was able to tie up the primary mission in the last turn. The massive amount of objective secured units finally paid off for him! I snagged all three bonus missions and the Maelstrom secondary.

7-1 Tyranid Victory.

At the end of the day I finished 6th or 22 people. Not a bad showing!

Key Take-Aways

• Mawlocs - Overall, I think the Mawlocs had a solid showing. My best mission in all three games was the Maelstrom surprisingly, and the Mawlocs were a big part of that. It helped a lot just to have more ground presence. Their ability to deploy anywhere on the board by deep striking helped a lot too. They weren't especially lethal unless guided in by a Lictor, but their durability paid off in most instances. All in all, I think it was a solid performance by the Mawlocs. I will continue to build around them and the Flyrants.
• Lictors - My lone Lictor surprised me! They are actually pretty durable in cover with three wounds, built-in stealth, and the ability to go to ground. In two of my games my opponents underestimated the Lictor and it led directly to a face pounding by the Mawlocs. I also really valued the ability to infiltrate some units forward. I found it very useful to have some units mid-field early in the game. I ordered a few more of these guys. I'd like to try running 4+.
• Bunker - Surprisingly, the durability of the bunker was more useful than the comms relay, which is what I originally took it for. The venomthrope camped out in the bunker held the objective in my own deployment zone for 90% of the time throughout all three of my games. AV14 buildings are no joke and they have a tendency to last because they just aren't a priority for people to take out. I think I'll explore taking a Vengeance Weapon Battery because you can actually field two AV14 buildings and they can hold objectives without units camped inside.