Knights versus Tyranids

I had quite the interesting...uh, match today. Some kid came up to me and requested for a game, and as usual, I was game. He wanted to play a thousand points so I was like, "sure. Let me get out my Imperial Guard and field them against his Tyranids."

To my utter astonishment, he replied, "nope. I want to fight against your Knights. Bring your Knights."

"Are you sure?" I demanded in disbelief. "Nah, I think Imperial Guard will be a better matchup against your Tyranids."

"No. I want to play against your Knights," he insisted. "I have a plan. I'm going to overwhelm your Knights through sheer numbers."

And there you had it. It was a 1,000-point game between Imperial Knights and Tyranids. The kid brought three Zoanthropes, a Harpy, 2 Carnifexes, 2 squads of 10 Termagaunts, a Tervigon, a Trygon Prime, and 10 Genestealers. I think. That's a lot of models, for 1,000 points. Ugh. So scary.

In contrast, I brought just 3 Knights. A Knight Valiant and 2 Armiger Helverin. As usual, House Yato used the House Taranis Tradition, though I never rolled any 6s when I need them. Perhaps I will be returning to House Griffith in the near future. I originally wanted to add an Eversor Assassin but I didn't have the 85 points to spare (I only had 62 left over), and I thought it was too imbalanced anyway (I was feeling sorry for the kid).

Anyway, I let the guy start first because I felt bad playing Knights against him (as much as he insisted on wanting to play against them), and he moved everyone up the table. I think only his Carnifex was within range and he fired several shots, which did like 3 or 4 damage to my Knight Valiant? I can't remember. As usual, I failed the Omnissiah's Grace rolls, and I forgot about the Mark of the Omnissiah to heal him. Whoops.

When it was my turn, combined shooting from my Knight Valiant and Armiger Helverins decimated both squads of Termagaunts, the first of which had 3 added to them because of Tervigon's spawning ability. I think there were 2 left in one, and 3 left in another, and the Carnifex took a couple of wounds. My Knight Valiant was too far away to fire his Thundercoil harpoon or twin meltaguns, so nothing from that front.

The second turn was when everything fell apart.

The kid Deep Strike his Trygon Prime and Genestealers more than 9" away from my Knight Valiant, and moved everything up. Only the Tervigon was in range to Smite, and my Knight took a wound or two. Shooting was completely ineffective, and though the Harpy flew over him and bombed him, the kid rolled a 2, and failed to get any mortal wounds off. Shooting wasn't effective either.

Then everything that was within range - which was the surviving Termagaunts (which were now bolstered by 3 new ones from the Tervigon), the Trygon Prime, the Genestealers, the two Carnifexes, and that's about it, charged the Knight Valiant. Needless to say, the first wave of Termagaunts got wiped out by the conflagration cannon. Both Carnifexes were also incinerated by the conflagration cannon after eating a few shots from the siegebreaker cannons. The Trygon Prime ate 4 wounds in overwatch, but failed his charge - even after using a Command Re-roll. OUCH. The Genestealers lost 7 of their number, and the remaining three got in, so the last 2 Termagaunts charged, but also failed their charge. Whoops.

On the other end, the Harpy charged my Armiger Helverin, ate 2 wounds and was down to 6 wounds because each shot was 3 damage (wow, the Armiger Helverins are terrifying). It did two wounds to my Armiger Helverin in combat.

I think I took about 3 or 4 wounds or so from the Genestealers in combat, their rending claws being AP -4, which left him with about 20 or so wounds left. Then the Knight Valiant proceeded to stomp all 3 into oblivion with his Titanic Feet. Yep, they ain't gonna survive that.



Needless to say, in the shooting phase, I obliterated the Trygon Prime, a Zoanthrope and two remaining Termagaunts. I failed to hurt the Tervigon, at least I think I didn't, and one of my Armiger Helverins had fallen back, and couldn't shoot. The other fired on the Harpy and did only 3 wounds. Ouch. Oh, and Mark of Omnissiah - this time I remembered, and I rolled a 6, and then a 5 (which in D3 terms means 3), and healed 3 wounds. Nice!

By now, my opponent only had 2 Zoanthropes, a Tervigon and a Harpy left on the table. He used Smite, and he rolled an 11 for his Tervigon, and a 6 for his D6, and 2 each for his Zoanthropes, and my Knight Valiant was down to 13 wounds, having eaten 15. Ouch! The Harpy then charged my Helverin, and I killed it with overwatch, taking out its last 3 remaining wounds. The Tervigon survived overwatch from my Knight Valiant, and I think I took maybe 4 or 6 wounds from her? I can't remember. But she made it into combat. However, after the Harpy died, my opponent conceded and didn't even bother rolling for the Tervigon's combat rolls, despite the possibility that she might tear my Knight Valiant apart in combat. Oh well.

And so the Knights pretty much stomped and incinerated the Tyranids, despite their so-called overwhelming numbers and being a horde army. Are Knights too strong? Are hordes overrated? Please let me know what you think.

As a bonus, I was able to work on painting my Knights, and here's a picture of my Cerastus Knight Lancer and the Secutarii Hoplites. House Yato standing strong! They're still a work in progress and I'm far from completing the painting, but I'll continue to work on them bit by bit and they'll look like all the other Knights before long. For the Emperor! And ave Omnissiah!