Bat Rep: November 1k Tournament Round 2 - Tyranids vs. Space Wolves

Continuing from where we left off, in Round 1 I beat a fellow Tyranid player in a three-turn game of Emperor's Will. Round 2 would see me on the same table against Will's Space Wolves. Last time I played Will was with my Eldar against his Tyranids, who he has retired until the rumored Tyranid release (next month!?).

To refresh, my list was:

Flyrant with 2TL Devourers
3 Zoanthropes in a Mycetic Spore
Tervigon with Catalyst
15 Devourer Termagants
Mawloc

Will's Wolves featured:
Rune Priest on a Bike
Rune Priest on a Bike
Dreadnought in a Drop Pod
6 Grey Hunters with a Flamer in a Drop Pod
6 Grey Hunters with a Flamer
5 Bikers including an Attack Bike with Heavy Bolter
6 Long Fangs with 4 Missile Launchers and a Lascannon
Aegis Defense Line with Quad Gun

Deployment:
The Mission was Purge the Alien. My Warlord Trait allowed my Flyrant to Outflank, which I opted to do, leaving just the Mawloc and the Tervigon on the board. Will won the roll and chose to deploy first. He spread out across his line, mostly behind the Aegis, with the Rune Priest bikers flanking the formation to either side. I deployed with my Tervigon behind one LoS blocking rock on the left, and the Mawloc behind one on the right. I elected not to seize.

 Turn 1: (0-0)

Will started first turn and this is honestly a pivotal moment in the game as he forgot his drop pods. Regardless, the bikes rushed forward with each Rune Priest getting in range to cast Jaws on each of my Monstrous Creatures. The Mawloc dodged out of the way while the Tervigon was able to Deny the Witch.

My turn was short and sweet, with the Mawloc burrowing underground. With no objectives, I opted to not spawn another kill point for Will. That of course might have changed had a drop pod come in.

Turn 2: (0-0)

I reminded Will about his drop pods. The first came on automatically, but the second rolled a 1 and wouldn't arrive this turn. Will opted to deploy the Dreadnought drop pod as close as he could to the Tervigon. The machine dealt a couple wounds to the tervigon before the Rune Priest tried to cast Jaws again. This time, the tervigon passed it's initiative test through some miracle. I allowed the dreadnought to then charge the Tervigon since it should have been down already. The combat saw the dread deal a few wounds while the tervigon knocked off the Assault Cannon and took the dread down to 1 Hull Point.

I rolled for my reserves and only had the Flyrant arrive (on a 2+ mind you). The Mawloc aimed for the long fangs but scattered and popped up harmlessly in between the long fangs and Grey Hunters. The flyrant arrived on my left side and chose to vector strike the lone Rune Priest, managing to kill him for First Blood before ending behind a LoS blocking rock, out of view of the Intercepting Quad Gun. In the combat, the Dread killed the tervigon.

Turn 3: (2-1)

The second drop pod arrived, but scattered well off to the side. The Grey Hunters jumped out as close to the flyrant as possible to reach Rapid Fire range to increase their odds. Meanwhile the bikers looped around to face the Mawloc. The dread moved to draw line of sight on the Flyrant but was out of range with it's storm bolter. The grey hunters managed a hit on the flyrant, but didn't wound or ground him. In the middle, the three other units fired on the Mawloc and took him down.

On my turn, the Zoanthropes and Devilgants arrived. I got to choose board edge and opted to have the devilgants arrive behind the bikers and out of sight of the units behind the Aegis. The Zoanthropes landed right in front of the defense line while the Flyrant landed behind the Long Fangs, planning on an assault. The Quad gun intercepted and managed to wound one of the Zoanthropes.

In the shooting phase, the three Zoans all cast psychic shriek on the Bikers. Two of the spells got through the psychic defense and then proceeded to wipe out the unit, leaving the Rune Priest on his own. The devilgants then targeted him, doing more than enough wounds to take him out and secure Slay the Warlord. Meanwhile, the flyrant killed a pair of Long Fangs, who tried going to ground (didn't quite get it, but I was ok with it). The Flyrant then failed a 4" charge.

 Turn 4: (5-2)

Will moved the Grey Hunters behind the line over to close with the flyrant while the other Grey Hunters moved for the Zoanthropes. Shooting saw a few hits on the flyrant, but didn't wound. Similarly, the Grey Hunters were unable to harm the Zoanthropes. Time was called toward the end of Will's turn, with us being told to end the turn.

Time had been called, and I was ahead, so my turn was mostly a formality, though I acted as if it was going to continue. The devilgants failed instinctive behavior and would run for the center ruin to hide. The Zoanthropes moved for the drop pod Grey Hunters. The Flyrant moved up to prepare a charge again. The Zoanthropes cast psychic shriek and wiped out the Grey Hunters. The flyrant killed a couple Grey Hunters, and then again failed a 4" charge, but didn't take a wound from overwatch.

The final score was 7-2. I scored all three secondary objectives, along with four kill points, while Will only scored two. Had the game continued the flyrant might have been in trouble, facing down 2 missile launchers and a lascannon. The MVPs of the match were the Zoanthropes by a close margin. They wiped out two units and exposed the Warlord Runepriest to the devilgants. They were responsible for two of my victory points, but were the most psychologically devastating. Three Zoans with psychic shriek is very impressive, even against high leadership units like space marines with characters.

My final match was for the tournament title, but would be up against Venom-spam Dark Eldar, so I was in for an uphill battle.