Need help to counter this Tyranid list with DE

[Johnmclane]

Hi

Met this list the other day and it killed my Dark Eldar real good:

1850 Pts

First time playing sixth ed and tyranids so writing this from memory and impression:

On the table first turn. Swooping as soon as they could (the flying monsters), only being able to hit with snapfire:

Winged tyrant, twinlinked S6 12 shot gun, commander that made reserves coming in on 2+ turn 2

Winged tyrant, twinlinked S6 12 shot gun

winged Harpie

Some winged gaunts, gargoyles maybe.


Deepstriking everywhere in the beginning of turn 2:

16 gaunts with assault 3 S4 guns deepstriking in tyranid droppod

16 gaunts with assault 3 S4 guns deepstriking in tyranid droppod

16 gaunts with assault 3 S4 guns deepstriking in tyranid droppod

Those 6w big blast tunneling big guys x 3

This is what happened more or less.
First turn I tried to snapfire his Flying monsters and killing them, with no success. They shot up ravagers and transports.
Second turn everything else deepstriked in, and either the big blast killed or the flying monsters opened up transports and the gaunts shot a whole lot of S4 at point blank range.

This list is very effective at taking away DE's speed, nightshields and longer range to say the least.

So, How do I beat it??

[bonfire01]

Hard to give advice without knowing your list but if you mean what can you do with DE in general to kill that list then take a fortress of redemption with krakstorm and the heavy bolters gibing you a skyfire/intercepotor weapon, an AOE to blast the hell out of the gaunts and protection from their attacks unless they want to come in and melee you which allows you to get blasting on them. Voidraven bombers would be pretty effective vs those winged tyrants but you do end up having to play tag with them because of the 90 degree turn and the tyrants can glide if you didn't bring any other heavy weapons that you can bring to bear, so I would take ravagers. If you get the first turn you can open up with dark lances when they are forced to glide. Vect could help you get the first turn and he can always man the icarus lascannon aswell.

Once the tyrants are swooping you can try and use their movement restrictions to keep clear to a degree and you just need to make sure you keep the rear of those ravagers inaccessable on turn 2 for those deep striking gaunts. The table edge would work well, or the fortress.

I would take the normal collection of venoms and possibly pop them in reserve to try and reduce the impact of those deep strikers first turn of shooting then use them to hit the gaunts and/or monsterous creatures. Pop some kabalite trueborn in the fortress for added firepower that's hard to kill and your fairly well set.

If you want to go even further take some eldar allies and grab a small ranger unit, farseer and dark reapers with exarch + fast shot. Use the farseer to give the reapers rerolls to hit and have the exarch use the emplaced icarus lascannon + fast shot for 2 syfire intercept shots instead of one.

[Denny]

Unless I'm missing something he shouldn't be able to deepstrike everything on the second term; half the army (excluding the mycetic spores) need to start on the table. Might be a small point, but it's worth bearing in mind.

Regarding his flyers my advice is volume of shots. Each hit should cause a chance of grounding him and inflicting a strength 9 hit on an unsuccessful armour save. On average, 3 venoms should cause 2 such hits per turn, and that’s excluding the passengers . . .

Night shields might be worth considering too; most of his shooting is fairly short ranged. An extra six inches can make a big difference.
What are you using?

[dtjunkie19]

Looks like the opponent had the 2 Hive Tyrants and Harpy on the board, then deepstruck the rest (Mawlocs and spore gaunts).

Voidravens or razorwings can deal with his flying Hive Tyrants. You can fire 2 Dark/Void Lances and 2 splinter cannons from each flyer. The wounds from that, plus possible wounds from 1 or more grounding tests should either destroy or cause a lot of wounds. Then, if you still need to finish the job, splinter cannons (venoms are a great splinter cannon platform), are very effective, with a lot of shots you should be able to roll some 6's. And that means more grounding tests. Once the Tyrant is grounded, you can finish it off in assault.

To stop him from getting his bonus to reverses, you need to kill that Hive Tyrant before his turn 2. Since your own flyers don't come in until turn 2, you may want look into investing in an HQ like the Baron, his +1 on the roll to go first helps a lot in going first.

Keep in mind that even though those gaunts are very capable at shooting, they still die very easily, and are expensive (for gaunts).

It would be helpful if you posted your list as well.

[Carnage]

To those of you questioning the legality, it's possible it was legit.

On board half;
Tyrant 1
Tyrant 2
Harpy
Gargs
3 x Mawlocs
------
7 units

Deepstriking bit;
3 x Devigants + pod
----
3 units.

The Mawlocs would start on the board and then "borrow" first turn and DS in the second turn. Interesting if somewhat 1 dimensional strategy. Space the vehicles out ~6 inches, poison spam and target priority. DE should have a very easy time with Tyranids.

[Johnmclane]

I think my opponent first took away the pods as they have to deepstrike, and then split the other half leaving the gargoyles (2 squads) , the tyrants and harpy on board on Turn 1 and deepstriked the Mawlocs and gaunts. The flying creatures deploying as far back as possible and behind cover the first turn (big critters but still got cover).

As we read the rules you get one "grounded" test per squad firing at them, no matter how many actual hits. If it was one grounded test per hit you'd never swoop .

My list was this

HQ: Baroness satoryx

Troops:
10 Kabalite warriors, blaster, splinter cannon, Raider , DL, Nightshield, Splinter Racks
10 Kabalite warriors, blaster, splinter cannon, Raider , DL, Nightshield Splinter Racks
10 Kabalite warriors, blaster, splinter cannon, Raider , DL, Nightshield
14 Hellions
6 wyches venom dual cannons

Fast Attack:
9 Reavers, 3 cluster caltrops
10 Scourges

Heavy Support:
Ravager, dark lances , Nightshield
Ravager, dark lances , Nightshield
Ravager, disintegrator cannons , Nightshield

[dtjunkie19]

I think my opponent first took away the pods as they have to deepstrike, and then split the other half leaving the gargoyles (2 squads) , the tyrants and harpy on board on Turn 1 and deepstriked the Mawlocs and gaunts. The flying creatures deploying as far back as possible and behind cover the first turn (big critters but still got cover).

As we read the rules you get one "grounded" test per squad firing at them, no matter how many actual hits. If it was one grounded test per hit you'd never swoop .

My list was this

HQ: Baroness satoryx

Troops:
10 Kabalite warriors, blaster, splinter cannon, Raider , DL, Nightshield, Splinter Racks
10 Kabalite warriors, blaster, splinter cannon, Raider , DL, Nightshield Splinter Racks
10 Kabalite warriors, blaster, splinter cannon, Raider , DL, Nightshield
14 Hellions
6 wyches venom dual cannons

Fast Attack:
9 Reavers, 3 cluster caltrops
10 Scourges

Heavy Support:
Ravager, dark lances , Nightshield
Ravager, dark lances , Nightshield
Ravager, disintegrator cannons , Nightshield

It is indeed 1 test per unit. That can still mean a couple of grounding tests a turn.

Not having a flyer in your army definitely makes it more difficult to face a lot with multiple flyers.

I don't have the rule book in front of me to confirm if this actually works, but perhaps try using your bladevanes/cluster caltrops from your reavers on the tyrants?