Dakkarigged to Blow: Orks vs Tyranids

All aliens all the time - it's a double Xenos throw-down as Pootle tests the waters of eleventh edition.

I, Kraken, am here to show him both a good time and a bad time as best I can. My initial impression of the new edition has been short and brutal so far. Can I pass this on?

Hive Fleet Nu-toy

Tyranids are still my favourite army, and I'm keen to see how they manage the new mission system. I'm starting to get my head round how you build for this, and keeping your eyes on your prize is very much the order of the day. 

Tonight I'm going to be running a Disruption disposition, the Synaptic Nexus, so I need to expect lots of actions. We've both discussed out what we're running in advance so we've got a relatively balanced game, and I know I will be trapping the objectives and then trying to lure units on to them to be killed. 

Many small fast units, including some really just there to spread Tyrannic musk on the scenery. I know I'm up against the Green Tide, and I fully expect them to rip through my smaller units in short order. So my combat threats need to tag team stuff to finish it off, and I really don't have any shooting to help. 

Here's the list:

• Neurotyrant with Synaptic Control relic for survivability
• Tyranid Prime with Lash Whip because he's wildly overpowered for his price right now
• 3 Tyranid Warriors, the melee ones
• 5 Genestealers to dart out early and start tagging
• 10 Hormagaunts led by the Prime - not a terrifying threat, but a good fast delivery system for their boss
• 10 Termagaunts for board control
• 11 Neurogaunts purely for actions and synapse
• 3 Von Ryan's Leapers, another fast land grabber
• 1 Carnifex with double scything talons
• 1 Screamer Killer - both these two are for melee pressure
• 1 Tyrannofex with acid spray - I try not to leave home without one, the overwatch threat and durability are going to be useful here

The Green, Green Tide of Home

I've played the old War Horde detachment many times with the Orks and am keen to try out a new one, especially as that one is theoretically blocked at the 1,000 level as it's 3 detachment points.

Instead I fancy a go at Green Tide, the core rule of which will give Ork Boyz a 6+ invulnerable, which increases to a 5+ invuln if they have 10 or more models in the unit (all the stratagems for the detachment only affect Boyz and most have a similar here's-a-thing-but-it's-better-if-there-are-ten-or-more-of-you).

Needless to say that means I'm taking lots of Boyz: two big mobs of 20 and one of 10. My warboss Bludteef leads one, supported by a Painboy: I'm hoping this unit will be a right pain to get rid of as not only does the Painboy give them a 5+ feel-no-pain and can recover D3 Boys once per game, but one of the strats lets me recover D3+2 Boys in the command phase. The other units are lead by two new characters from the Armageddon box (but represented by older models): a Bigboss (who gives Sustained Hits 1 in melee) for the unit of 20 and a Bannernob (who gives them a 5+ invuln irrespective of unit size) for the 10-strong unit.

I've rushed to paint the new Dakkarig to get it on the table as I think it looks great. This will be supported by a Deff Dredd to deal with bigger bugs (hopefully!) and then I add a unit of Warbikes and one of Stormboys to get me some Secondaries.

That leaves me a few points left over to add an enhancement to the Warboss that lets him generate an extra CP in the command phase on a 5+, and I add two to the roll if the unit he's in has 10 or more models...which I'm hoping it will do for some time. 

• Warboss with Brutal but Kunnin' enhancement; Painboy; leading 20 Boyz
• Bigboss leading 20 Boyz
• Bannernob leading 10 Boyz
• 5 Stormboyz
• 3 Warbikers
• Big Mek Dakkarig
• Deff Dredd

995 points

Mission and Terrain

As mentioned, we've got Disruption vs Take and Hold, which means I'm scoring on Death Trap. I have to go and tag terrain features with a quick action, then kill enemy units in those trapped features for bonus points. There are a few bonus points for holding objectives, and a big bonus if I can trap the enemy HQ. 

Pootle has Determined Acquisition - go and grab the objectives in no man's land, again with a bonus for the enemy HQ. Here are the cards: 

And here's the board we picked: 

I have to say that I was somewhat underwhelmed by the new rules on terrain areas and pre-determined board set-ups. I can see it's helpful for a competitive game, but that's not what Woffboot is about and I have lots and lots (and lots) of terrain that doesn't really fit into the above. I'm sure that in time (probably next game!) I'll relax and set things up as I see fit but for now I decide to follow the detail of the rules so I know what's what.

One thing that I did find in setting up the board is that historically I've always tried to set up a balanced board so there are similar sized terrain features on both sides of the board, but it's definitely not symmetric and there's some kind of a story (usually mixing the three main features of my building: Ork encampment, abandoned industrial ruins and ruined cathedral, all with plenty of rocky outcrops and hills). This set up definitely felt a lot more sterile and let interesting. Never mind, let's see how it plays!

Deployment

Knowing that if I go too close to the enemy, I'm basically inviting a turn one charge, but also knowing I want to invade the mid-board and spit traps all over it, I'm looking at a tricky balancing act. 

In the end, I spread across the backfield with the Von Ryan's and Genestealers taking point. The Termagaunts are primed to tag the midfield, the Von Ryan's can attack any early Ork pushes with backup from the bigger bugs lurking just behind. 

Warriors on the homefield and the Hormagaunt/Neurogaunt swarms on the flanks, both set to follow the plan of rushing out early and priming my traps. 

I stick both the Dakkarig and the Deff Dredd on my right flank; that side has the clearest field of fire for the new Mek gun and the Deff Dredd will hopefully slow down anything coming along that flank.

The Bannernob is ready to lead his mob onto the central objective, which could score me a lot of VP as its (partly) in enemy territory; he's backed up by Bludteef and the larger unit of Boyz ready to jump on whatever jumps onto the Waaagh banner.

My left flank has the Warbikers and the Bigboss-led Boyz mob. 

The Stormboyz start up in the sky.

I get first turn! I don't know why I'm excited, I didn't want it. 

Before we start though, the Stealers get their Scout move and run a bit further forwards.

Turn 1 Tyranids

Right - I know what I'm here to do, and that's spew parasitic brain mines up the walls of these ruins. So that's what I get on and do. 

The Genestealers rush the far objective up at the top and take an immediate hosing from the Dakkarig. Freshly painted, it's got enough shots to be pretty pokey even on snap fire (in fairness, hitting on sixes isn't that much of a change for Ork shooting!), and I lose three of them straight off. Not enough to stop them tagging the objective, but enough for me to suspect they aren't here for long. 

The Carnifex moves up behind them and tags their ruins, the Termagaunts cautiously follow suit in the middle and the Neurogaunts get the other objective. My bigger hitters lurk behind, setting themselves up for counterstrikes. No point priming the traps if I can't then score on them!

Secondaries have been reasonable too - Overwhelming Force can't be done yet, but looks good for later. Display of Might (flood the midfield with units) totally ties in to what I'm looking to do here, and I've got plenty more units than Pootle too. Looking good! 

Turn 1 Orks

11th edition starts well for me as Bludteef successfully uses his enhancement to grab an extra CP. My Secondary objectives are Engage On All Fronts and Bring It Down. I can't do either this turn, but fortunately the new rules mean that I can just park them for later.

What I can do is grab a couple of objectives. The Bannernob's unit run towards the cover of the central objective. They're on it, but screened from enemy overwatch by the solid wall (in 10th Kraken would absolutely have sprayed acid through the gaps in the wall at them in Overwatch).

Bludteef moves his unit to his left to keep the obscuring ruin between him and the auto-hitting guns wielded by the T-Fex and Neurotyrant.

On my right flank, the Deff Dredd lumbers into the close expansion objective, securing that. 

He's considering a charge on the remaining Stealers, but that turns out not to be necessary as the Dakkarig continues its good start to the game, dissolving the surviving beasts in a hail of bullets.

On my left flank, the Warbikers hurtle forwards and fire their guns at the Neurogants, then charge the survivors. Kraken then plays Heroic Intervention on the Hormagants (and, more importantly, their leading Lash-Whip-armed Tyranid). I put as many attacks into the more dangerous Hormagant unit, but can only kill a few of them before the Tyranid kills the Bikers pretty much by himself (gulp!).

At the end of the first round I've scored a grand total of 4VPs (for taking two objectives that didn't belong to me at the start of the turn), but Kraken scores an appropriately-monstrous 25 VPs for Trapping four terrain areas (three of which were objectives), killing the Bikers (who were in the trapped terrain) and then getting the full 5VPs for Display of Might. 

Score: 25-4 to the Tyranids

Turn 2 Tyranids

Forward Position and Engage On All Fronts are my objectives, and they both look achievable. I'm no longer quite sure who is baiting who into a trap in the middle any more, but I'm not going to sit and let the orks wave their banner at me, so in we go. 

We have a good scream on the way in - this is the moment for Shadow in the Warp, but it proves a bit tame. Only the Deff Dred and the large mob to the south succumb, but I slap that lot with Smothering Shadow to pick off a few extra boys with mortal wounds and soften them up for a killing.

The Tyrannofex, Screamer Killer and Von Ryan's Leapers head for the Banner Mob. Although the Dakka Rig is still overwatching away like mad, it only dents the Screamer Killer, and I'm primed for a good hit. The Neurotyrant and the Termagaunts flood the midfield, the Tyranid Warriors bide their time and the Hormagaunts pounce into the incoming herd of Boyz, clustering defensively behind their leader. 

Shooting's not much cop - I kill a couple of Boyz with acid spray, but the Screamer Killer muffs its shots. Old fashioned combat it is, and it piles in alongside the VRLs. I know Pootle can interrupt, so I go with the Hormagaunts first. 

Youch, that Tyranid Prime can do some work! He kills something like twelve by himself, with another couple falling to Hormagaunts. Then the Banner Mob has a good go at the Screamer Killer, trying to murder it before it gets going, but they fall well short. They take a good whack back, losing everything except the Banner Boss, who's lucky to crawl out with a pair of wounds left. 

Last, the Carnifex bowls into the Deff Dred, smacking it with Crushing Impact and then laughing off the return attacks to leave the machine on a couple of wounds. 

I've scored plenty of Secondaries here, but not made any progress on my Primaries - no actual units have died in my trap, thanks to the changes to character attachments. Pootle has avoided the minefield! That's a big change to the rules in 11th that affect the game - I initially gave Kraken the points for killing a unit but then spotted that the Bannernob was still alive.

Turn 2 Orks

Once again Bludteef's Kunnin' generates an extra CP at the start of the turn. My new secondaries are Assassination and Plunder; I should be able to achieve the former by killing the lone Tyranid Prime with Lash Whips and the latter by dropping the Stormboyz into Kraken's backfield. The next order of business is for Bludteef to declare a Waaaaaagh!

There's not a lot of movement: Bludteef and his mob move into the ruins and get ready to hurl grenades at the Screamer Killer if the Dakkarig can't take it down. The Big Mek's contraption hurls all its firepower at the monster but can't get anything through its thick armoured hide. Therefore Bludteef instructs his Boyz to unpin their Explosives. I have four wounds to get through, so it's possible but I'll need to roll above average...unfortunately I flip my luck and leave the beast on a tantalising brace of wounds.

The Boyz then proceed to unload with their (newly equiped in 11th) Shootas and, after rolling an unfeasible number of dice, cause no further damage to the Screamer Killer, but destroy all but one of the Termagants.

I then charge into melee and although only get a 5" charge that's just enough to engage everyone. Bludteef is able to cross over and dispatch the Screamer Killer, the Boyz and Painboy kill all the Von Ryan Leapers and the Neurotyrant loses half his wounds. The only downside is that the last Termagant manages to survive somehow.

Kraken has to choose which ongoing combat to activate first. Trusting the Carnifex to survive against the Deff Dredd, he moves to my left flank, where the Prime with Lash Whips kills all the Boyz apart from the Nob, who then gets his revenge (and scores Assassination) by pulling the alien's arms off (they are magnetised so it's easy to do).

The Deff Dredd then manages to hit and wound with most of his attacks and Kraken's dice return to form, leaving the mangled corpse of the monster at the feet of the Ork machine.

That was an excellent round from my, both in terms of VPs (where I scored 2VP for retaking the central objective and 3VPs for holding my home objective as the Boyz made it "sticky" at the start of the game plus 5VPs for each of Assassinate, Plunder and Bring It Down) and killing quite a lot of the Nid army. I could have scored points for Engage On All Fronts in addition, however I've maxed out the 15VPs that I can score from Secondaries in any one turn so I'll save it for later again. I'm still way behind on VPs but I should be able to reverse that in later game turns. The question is, can I do it fast enough?

Score: 39-24 to the Tyranids

Turn 3 Tyranids

I've drawn Tempting Target (Pootle picks the top objective) and Outflank, which we misread a bit. You get points for having units on the board edges, but we understand 'outside your territory' as 'outside your deployment zone', which isn't the same thing. I do score it with the Neurogaunts and Warriors (and Pootle would have played it the same if he'd drawn it), but we know for next time. 

Elsewhere, it's not looking too good. I've lost a lot in the centre and my bottom flank has collapsed after a strong start. Pulling the lost, lone Termagaunt and the Neurotyrant out of combat is all I can do, and I need the Warriors to be scoring at the flank. So it's down to the Tyrannofex to go and get that tempting target. 

It does it with aplomb, sneezing off a handful of Bludteef's Boyz in passing. Then a quick Crushing Impact to the back of the Dred, and I've got points for killing on a trap as well as the secondary, and I'm still scoring well to maintain my lead. 

Turn 3 Orks

The map above shows the Stormboyz moving to attack the Neurogants, however actually they stayed put in the enemy deployment zone.

Bludteef's enhancement fails to generate a CP this turn, but that's fine. My new secondaries are Behind Enemy Lines and Defend Stronghold. The former gives 3VPs for each unit in the enemy deployment zone, so the Stormboyz just park up and stay where they are. The latter could be a concern given I'm relying on my home objective being sticky; fortunately Kraken has no deep strikers and no units anywhere near so I'll be able to do that one too. I don't spot at the time the addendum to the Defend objective: I score 3VPs for holding my home and 5VPs if there are also no enemy units in my deployment zone - fortunately for Kraken his T-Fex is on such a large base that he inadvertantly stops me scoring the extras.

I do get the Painboy to heal a Boy and spend a CP to get another three back from the detachment-specific strat, so I have plenty of muscle in the middle.

I consider running Bludteef and his Boyz towards the Tyranid Warriors and Kraken's home objective but I'm aware that although Kraken only has two guns left, they're both auto-hitting nastiness so decide to retreat the Boyz further away and make sure I hold onto it.

I try to run the Bannernob into a different table quarter so I can (finally) score Engage On All Fronts, but overwatch from the T-Fex puts paid to that idea. As I've only got units in two quarters, I can't now score that one this turn.

The Dakkarig does a sterling job of pouring fire into the lone Termagant (who falls over very easily) and the Neurotyrant. I'm stunned when the Mek manages to hit five out of six missiles (hitting on 4s feels very un-Orky for shooting) and the brain-bug falls over!

On my right flank the Bigboss and the unit's Nob make short work of the six surviving Neurogants and then consolidate into the far expansion objective.

At the end of the round I've scored well: 3VPs for holding my home, 6VPs for holding the centre and another 2VPs for taking the far expansion, plus I've scored 3VPs for Behind Enemy Lines. However Kraken is still scoring at a fast pace than me so his lead is lengthening again...

Score: 59-38 to the Tyranids

Turn 4 Tyranids

Not much of my army is still scuttling at this point! I draw Assassinate (and am sad to learn the Dakka Rig is not a character), which I can't do, and Beacon. Well, a Tyrannofex is nothing if not a shining beacon of Tyrannic quality, so it stays put and slimes the Dakka Rig while the Warriors hang way back and aim to defend my home base from Stormboyz as needed. 

My scoring is dropping right off here, so I've just got to trust that the lead I've got can hold. 

Turn 4 Orks

I draw Burden of Trust as a secondary for which I nominate the two Boyz mobs headed by Bludteef and the Bigboss to hang around on their objectives, each which will generate me 2VPs at the of Kraken's next turn (there's no real way he can kill either of those units now).

The Stormboyz fly up to the centre of the Nid deployment zone, ready to react to whatever secondaries come up next turn, while the Dakkarig blazes away at the T-Fex, after suffering a few cheeky wounds to overwatch from the monster (taking advantage of the modification to overwatch so that the target doesn't have to be a unit that's actually moved).

At the end of this round I've scored the Defend Stronghold points from last turn along with a massive 15VPs on my primaries: 6VPs for each of the two objectives that the Boyz are holding plus 3VPs for my home again.

 Score: 68-56 to the Tyranids

Turn 5 Tyranids

I draw Burden of Trust and Cleanse, which is all work for the Tyrannofex to do. The Warriors haven't had much to do this game, they've just been picking up secondaries and lurking, but that's not a terrible loss. With hindsight, maybe they should have been where the Hormagaunts were, that bottom flank might have looked a bit different then!

Ah well - a last dribble of points puts me on 88 (a bit less if we'd scored Outflank properly). Will it be enough?

Turn 5 Orks

My secondary draw is going to be crucial and it turns out well: Centreground gives me 5VPs for holding the centre and there being no enemy close by, and Beacon gives me another five for Bludteef's unit still being on the field at the end of the turn. The only downside is that the T-Fex maliciously overwatches the Dakkarig again and finally destroys it. It's had a hell of a good first appearance though so I'm not too worried.

On the Primaries front I would score another 15 there, except I've maxed out so can only take 10VPs, but a quick calculation shows that I've just done enough!

Result: 90:88 victory to the Orks!

Lorker Room

Now that was a game! 

I can see what Eleventh does well now. The missions felt like a narrative, with both of us trying to out-manoeuvre the other round the middle, and the secondaries really supported that. Getting to keep them in hand for later feels a lot more friendly as a mechanic too. I never felt that bad luck made my objectives impossible, even when they were - they were just there for later instead. 

I had been worried that the asymmetric objectives would make a close game harder, but credit to GW, the missions actually worked quite well and appeared pretty well balanced (though not in time: the Nids were always going to score high in the first couple of turns and I was always going to score more in the latter turns, but that made it all the more exciting to be honest.

Strategems feel much more like an optional extra rather than essential bag of buffs. The core ones currently feel more useful than the Detachment stuff most of the time, but even there I'm not automatically reaching for rerolls or overwatch without thinking if I might need something better later. The new countercharge stuff in particular is very useful, there's a lot to think of in there. 

There do seem to have been lots of little changes that impacted the game positively, from the way terrain visibility works to leaders being attached to units properly. 

And it was close, right down to the wire! If I'd held the Neurotyrant and Termagaunts back, then committed the Tyranid Warriors to the fray to help them with a second push, I might have held the centre better. Hindsight butters no reclamation pools, though!

Yep, just one more trapped building would have made all the difference: great game to kick the edition off however, thank you!