Bat Rep: 1,000 Pts Knights* vs. Tyranids

Since this was a small tournament, a special exception had been made to allow the knights to be fielded as a primary - namely, that only two could be taken, since otherwise a Knight army does not fit under 1,000 points. I had taken my typical 1k Tyranid list, which is just about half my 1,850 list, with about 80 points of wiggle room. Full lists after the bump, but this was game 2 of my store's monthly tournament. In game 1, Jay, the Knight player, had tabled the other Tyranid player in the tournament. The mission was Emperor's Will on regular deployment, with no night fighting.

The board we would be fighting over. 

Jay's list was:
Knight Paladin - Warlord (Indomitable - It Will Not Die)
Knight Paladin - Knight Apparent
Librarian
8 Tactical Marines - Plasma Gun, Drop Pod

My list was:
Hive Tyrant - Wings, 2 TL Devourers, Paroxysm, Dominion
Zoanthrope - Catalyst
Tervigon - Dominion
30 Termagants - 20 Devourers
Hive Crone
Exocrine

I won the roll to deploy and chose to go first. I put the tervigon on my objective on the right behind the red and green shipping containers, the exocrine and zoanthrope went in the middle, with the two flyers on my left. The termagants were strung in between them. Jay deployed his two knights to my left and did not seize the initiative.

I started the turn by casting Catalyst on the flyrant. I angled both FMCs toward the middle of the board, and  being unable to get in range and arc of side armor, ran the flyrant behind the stacked containers out of sight of the Knights for the moment. The termagants shuffled forward while the exocrine and zoanthrope stayed put. Finally, the Tervigon spawned about 12 termagants who began to make a move up the right flank of the board. In the shooting phase, the crone fired a missile at the Warlord and managed a penetrating hit, but it was saved by the Ion Shield.

In the bottom of the turn, the drop pod arrived right in the middle of the board and the marines inside jumped out behind it. The two nights moved over to my left and up. Shooting saw about 10 gants die from battle cannon shots and the crone take a four wounds, but stay in the air.

In turn two, the crone just managed a vector strike on the Warlord Knight, while the flyrant lined up shots on the flank. The zoanthrope moved up and just managed to get within 18" of the knight apparent. The termagants again moved up and moved to maximize the number of gants who could see marines. Finally the tervigon spawned another brood in the double digits without spawning out, and they followed the previous brood up the right flank. The vector strike from the Crone did several hull points to the Warlord Knight, and shooting from himself and the flyrant managed to take him down to a single hull point. Shooting from the termagants killed all but a single Space Marine (the Librarian had split off). Finally the Zoanthrope and Exocrine managed three hull points on the Knight Apparent.

In the bottom of the turn, the Knight Warlord, two marines, and drop pod all failed to down the wounded Crone. Meanwhile more gants were blown up by battle cannon shots. The Knight Apparent charged the Zoanthrope and promptly wiped him out for first blood. The turn ended with the warlord regenerating a hull point from It Will Not Die.

My army continued to shimmy up, while the Crone and Flyrant landed next to the Knight Warlord. The flyrant cast Paroxysm on it, taking it down to WS/BS 3. Shooting from the crone failed to damage the knight, though the Exocrine managed another hull point on the Knight Apparent. The gants killed off the remaining space marine. I then charged the knight with the crone and flyrant. Their combined smash attacks managed only a single hull point, taking him down to 1 again. In return, the knight managed a single hit on the flyrant, which did 2 wounds.

In the bottom of turn 3, the Knight Apparent moved up to the termagants, and blasted some distant termagants with the battle cannon. The librarian charged the Flyrant and challenged. Forced to accept, the flyrant promptly ate the librarian while the Crone and Knight Warlord made angry looks at each other. The knight apparent rolled poorly and only killed a few termagants, who consolidated in.

In the top of four, I spawned a third group of termagants and put them between the knight and my objective. Meanwhile my other two broods made their way to the other objective and opponent's backfield. I cast paroxysm again on the Knight warlord, knocking him down to WS/BS2. In assault, the knight apparent continued to mash some termagants, though still only got a single stomp attack, so not killing as many as he'd like. In the other combat, the two MCs finally prevailed, though both took a wound in the explosion, killing the Crone and taking the flyrant down to a single wound.

In the bottom of the turn, the remaining knight killed all but two termagants, staying stuck in combat.

At the top of 5 I cast paroxysm on the Errant, taking him down to WS/BS1, and then flew into the knight deployment zone. One sizable squad of gants charged the remaining knight, who then went full riverdance and killed all of the termagants in the combat. In the bottom of the turn, he charged the Tervigon. The knight took her down to a single wound, and then the tervigon managed to blow him up. The cataclysm of his destruction scattered away and did not kill the tervigon.

And so, the game ended with an 8-1 victory. While I tabled the knights, it was a close fought game, with just a couple die-rolls either way that would have completely changed the game.

After my first game against the knights, there were definitely a few questions that arose, but generally I think they are very balanced for what they bring to the table. They hit hard, and are tough, but they form a significant amount of your army that can get take out with a couple lucky shots. They can handle hordes, but they can get bogged down if they roll poorly. This was a great, very tough game.