Lizards vs. Bugs—Wrap-Up 
If you think that battle was exhausting to read, think about how exhausting it was for us to play it. Let's step back and review.

Post-Game Analysis by Patrick Eibel
Great googly moogly, that was fun!  Though the end result is pretty much what you would expect when you throw two Tyranid armies against each other.  I am very pleased with the outcome, as I had resigned myself to a loss when I realized how hard it would be to take down “Big G.” 

My strategy was to try and create mismatches where I could (like Carnifexes taking out Kenton’s Zoats.)  However, with our armies being so similar, there were many close combats that were just drawn-out scrums with attrition being the deciding factor.  I was particularly pleased with how the Hormagaunts fared against the Tyrannofex and Carnifex.  Toxin sacs really make your smaller creatures viable against high-Toughness opponents.

After the disaster of sending a lone Carnifex to slow down “Big G,” I was worried. How I would keep him from rampaging through my army?  I figured out that I needed to throw so many opponents at the Gargantuan Creature that he could not kill them all.  While I did not manage to kill him, I did manage to minimize his impact for the last two rounds, which allowed me to maneuver Troop units in position to claim or contest objectives.

Like Kenton, I completely forgot to use the Old Adversary rule for my Tyrants.  This may have had a real impact on the combat with “Big G.”  In the end, the game resulted in a tie, which seems appropriate under the circumstances.  The game was loads of fun and it was great to trot out almost my entire Tyranid army and mess about with all of the new rules.

Post-Game Analysis by Kenton Kilgore
As I expected, “Big G” whooped an awful lot of butt and shrugged off an awful lot of damage: the new versions of Warp Field (which grants a 3+ invulnerable save) and lash whip (enemy models count their Initiative as 1), really makes the Hierophant Bio-Titan worth every point. As for the rest of my army, wellllllllll…..

I liked how the Genestealers, Hormies, Raveners, and Shrikes did. Everyone else pretty much under-performed, but some of that was because I didn’t play those units correctly (forgetting my Hive Tyrant’s Old Adversary rule was a stupid mistake that I’ll never repeat), or because they were forced to do things they weren’t good at (Tyrannofexes in close combat with hordes of Hormagaunts). 

In particular, the Venomthropes weren’t that good, but I’m willing to give them another chance: I’m thinking that with their spore cloud and toxic touch abilities, they should nicely complement the Tyrannofexes. I really can’t blame the V-thropes for getting guished by Pat’s Carnifexes, because not much survives hand-to-hand with a Carnie. As for my Carnies, they didn’t impress me in the slightest; half rations for them until they improve.

Now that the battle is over, I have increased respect for Tervigons, and Hormagaunts with toxin sacs are awesome: I may have to steal those ideas from Pat. Like him, I, too had a lot of fun, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it.

Posted April 2010
 

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