The next day we had a few more people in for a game, so rather than playing Harry and the Angels I ended up fighting Leo and lots of Cadian Imperial Guard (figures provided courtesy of John; all were gorgeously painted.) There were no vehicles, so it was Shank's Pony all round for them. We opted for 1000 PV per side in the hope of going faster (I wanted 750, but Leo said that it'd take him four hours to make a 750 list. I made my 1000 PV list in slightly under five minutes.) The game, however, did not go fast: it was five hours long. Every figure having different weapon options made it tricky on the dice rolls.
I should've done a battle report, especially as everything was well painted. But, in short, we played objectives. I placed a 10 termagant squad out of synapse range, which managed to wheel around and into the first objective - the imperial bastion - where it sat, happily, for the rest of the game. (Lucky rolls on two Instinctive Behaviour tests meant they managed it.) And this was the first of many lessons to me that worrying about synapse range is overrated. Specifically, I learnt the following: I can send a unit forward, massacre someone in an assault and be left in the open (as oft happens with nids) and then, when I get shot at, go to ground. At this point, I get shot up, but save a few extra guys on the save, who then flee after they fail their leadership test. And they flee RIGHT back into synapse range, where they instantly rally, and lose the penalties of going to ground, ready to get back into the melee. It's not as if the getting shot to crap bit is a good thing, but it's better to go to ground than do nothing at all.
The other two objectives were harder fought. One was defended by my Tervigon and three Hive Guard. At the end the Tervigon was shot to crap by everything and the kitchen sink, two Hive Guard were dead and the last one was making his Leadership rolls to stay in there and contest the objective. Good lad. The final objective was Hill 421 in the dead centre of the map. That was where the fight was all fought, with lasgun fire and flamer fire and melta bolts flying through the air. Leo thought he had it all wrapped up, and then the Warriors - six plus the Prime - who, once again, had spent the game trudging at 3" a turn (they kept making crap difficult terrain rolls) ran up and fucked everyone they found there. I broke the Prime off at one point to single handedly mow down a unit in hand to hand before running back to join the main group (which, frankly, bought my warriors just enough time to survive and claim the objective.) That unit ended up with one damaged Prime and one remaining Warrior. The game ended on turn 6. I had two objectives (the bastion and the hill) and contested the third with the Hive Guard. I think one more turn would've caused me problems - that Hive Guard would be unlikely to survive, and that warrior and Prime would've been lucky to contest the hill. I think they'd have died. Then the result would've been 2 to 1 in Leo's favour. But, then, there *was* no Turn 7, so who cares about this counterfactual fact?
Everytime I play now, I reread the rules. This time, I discovered that the things we did wrong were:
* Wound allocation. I realised that we did it slightly wrong for my Tyranids (in Leo's favour) and very wrong in Leo's case. We never did wound allocation for the Imperial Guard, which would have resulted in a lot more special troops lying dead on the field than there were. As it was, we were just removing the lasgun armed soldiers first.
* My stealers, which outflanked on turn two right into the body of the guard army, should've assaulted two units at once. As it was they wiped out the Veteran sqaud and then got shot to shit. If they multi assaulted they'd have done far far better. Dumb ass me. This would also have forced the Guard to spread out a bit more for fear of the multi assault. Not so much that we did it wrong, but that I should've done it better...
* At one point the Hive Guard was hiding behind a ruin. Whilst some guardsman could see him - and had LOS - I reckon others didn't. We should've checked to see how many could shoot him.
Monday, 12 December 2011
Saturday, 10 December 2011
Hive Fleet... Vile Ossuary versus Dark Eldar
Right, first I'd like to announce a change in name for my Hive Fleet. Heimdallar was naff - far too austere and pompous for a Tyranid fleet. I'd thought about Hive Fleet Corpse Fly, and was going to settle on that, but after suggesting it in the pub, Stewey suggested Ossaury. (Don't know what it means? Look it up; it'll be a learning experience.) I've embellished and gone for Vile Ossuary. So, unless someone has objections or better suggestions, Hive Fleet Vile Ossuary will be what people are facing in the near future. Anyhow, back to the game.
So James was playing, effectively, for the first time. I had to teach him the rules. First lesson: we should've played 750 points but, because one of us was sleep deprived from having been awake for 30 hours, so we somehow settled on a 1500 point game.
OK, the game itself was a training game so I'll say little about it. But I did learn some things about the Dark Eldar. First, they break like twigs. Until they've picked up that first Pain Token, they snap like twiglets in a Cliff Clavin's Mouth. Their low toughness and low saves make them exceedingly vulnerable. The list which was played - I won't say James's list as I helped come up with it - was not great. The footwalking Elite Kabbalite Trueborn threw their lot in with an Ancient Homunculus, and - sat in a forest with their weapons levelled - got chewed up by the horde. James correctly put Nightshields on his vehicles, and they all fared a lot better. However, he still got too close and they got gnawed on. I think the best plan is for the Dark Eldar to sit on their skimmers and just shoot away, picking up pain tokens, until absolutely necessary, and then coming in for an attack. Those Wyches are pretty mean - they can go toe to toe with Tyranids. Incubi can't - at least not in the fielded numbers - but Dark Eldar, in general, can. In fact, having looked through the Codex (which I bought on the train over) they look sweet. Lots of options, lots of choice, and lots of really cool stuff. The pain token that gives FNP easily makes up for their crap save, and I'm *certain* James will figure out the rules and the tactics and start mopping people up with his Dark Eldar. We didn't really end the game - I was ahead in Kill Points when we called it quits at the end of turn 4, but even then it was close (admittedly, I got overconfident and sent my Tervigon against the Huskbladed armed Archon and Wyches, ending its life. Also, many kill points were missed by James by poor dice rolls leaving the odd figure in a unit alive. 3 Genestealers, a single ripper swarm, a single termagant and a single Shrike were hiding in a forest when we ended the game - 4 Kill Points ripe for the slaughter.) I think it was close, although I should've been more careful. Like, A LOT more careful.
Notably, lots of rules questions were raised such as:
* Can the unit in an open topped vehicle shoot a different unit from that which the vehicle shoots at (we said yes.)
* If a figure is hit by a Huskblade, and it has Feel No Pain, does it get to make a Feel No Pain roll to ignore the unsaved wound which would otherwise result in instant death (by my reading of the rules, I said no. Hence a few figures died with no FNP roll.)
* Can vehicles run in the shooting phase? (I said no.)
* What does a two handed weapon do? (As far as I can tell the only result is that you can't wield another weapon. There's no extra attack or anything.)
Answers on a postcard please.
I look forward to everyone at the club learning the rules so we can stuck into some proper battles. I think James might want to either buy somemore skimmers, or only play at a points value where all units can be in the skimmers - outside of them the Dark Eldar are just tasty twiglets on legs. I might be wrong - might just be a Nid orientated way of looking at things. Certainly, I think that a Drak Eldar list exclusively made up to defeat Nids will easily wipe the floor with me. Man, Dark Eldar can probably do a number on me just as much as regular Eldar. However a tournament/campaign list will be less successful, I think. So I look forward to running the first LWA campaign and finding what James fields in his army when he can't just think about killing me and has to think about handling all comers.
So James was playing, effectively, for the first time. I had to teach him the rules. First lesson: we should've played 750 points but, because one of us was sleep deprived from having been awake for 30 hours, so we somehow settled on a 1500 point game.
OK, the game itself was a training game so I'll say little about it. But I did learn some things about the Dark Eldar. First, they break like twigs. Until they've picked up that first Pain Token, they snap like twiglets in a Cliff Clavin's Mouth. Their low toughness and low saves make them exceedingly vulnerable. The list which was played - I won't say James's list as I helped come up with it - was not great. The footwalking Elite Kabbalite Trueborn threw their lot in with an Ancient Homunculus, and - sat in a forest with their weapons levelled - got chewed up by the horde. James correctly put Nightshields on his vehicles, and they all fared a lot better. However, he still got too close and they got gnawed on. I think the best plan is for the Dark Eldar to sit on their skimmers and just shoot away, picking up pain tokens, until absolutely necessary, and then coming in for an attack. Those Wyches are pretty mean - they can go toe to toe with Tyranids. Incubi can't - at least not in the fielded numbers - but Dark Eldar, in general, can. In fact, having looked through the Codex (which I bought on the train over) they look sweet. Lots of options, lots of choice, and lots of really cool stuff. The pain token that gives FNP easily makes up for their crap save, and I'm *certain* James will figure out the rules and the tactics and start mopping people up with his Dark Eldar. We didn't really end the game - I was ahead in Kill Points when we called it quits at the end of turn 4, but even then it was close (admittedly, I got overconfident and sent my Tervigon against the Huskbladed armed Archon and Wyches, ending its life. Also, many kill points were missed by James by poor dice rolls leaving the odd figure in a unit alive. 3 Genestealers, a single ripper swarm, a single termagant and a single Shrike were hiding in a forest when we ended the game - 4 Kill Points ripe for the slaughter.) I think it was close, although I should've been more careful. Like, A LOT more careful.
Notably, lots of rules questions were raised such as:
* Can the unit in an open topped vehicle shoot a different unit from that which the vehicle shoots at (we said yes.)
* If a figure is hit by a Huskblade, and it has Feel No Pain, does it get to make a Feel No Pain roll to ignore the unsaved wound which would otherwise result in instant death (by my reading of the rules, I said no. Hence a few figures died with no FNP roll.)
* Can vehicles run in the shooting phase? (I said no.)
* What does a two handed weapon do? (As far as I can tell the only result is that you can't wield another weapon. There's no extra attack or anything.)
Answers on a postcard please.
I look forward to everyone at the club learning the rules so we can stuck into some proper battles. I think James might want to either buy somemore skimmers, or only play at a points value where all units can be in the skimmers - outside of them the Dark Eldar are just tasty twiglets on legs. I might be wrong - might just be a Nid orientated way of looking at things. Certainly, I think that a Drak Eldar list exclusively made up to defeat Nids will easily wipe the floor with me. Man, Dark Eldar can probably do a number on me just as much as regular Eldar. However a tournament/campaign list will be less successful, I think. So I look forward to running the first LWA campaign and finding what James fields in his army when he can't just think about killing me and has to think about handling all comers.
Thursday, 8 December 2011
A War of Two Darks: Heimdallr versus Dark Eldar; Heimdallr versus Dark Angels
Right, my Hive Fleet has not one, but TWO matches lined up for the weekend. On Saturday I'll be fending off James McD's Dark Eldar, before fighting Harry and the club Dark Angels on Sunday.
I haven't settled on my army list, but I've decided - for the sake of experience for fighting tournaments and for the sake of fairness (neither Harry nor James have played all that much) - to use the same list for both matches (well, unless I tweak it in light of how I'm playing.) Plus, I'm not entirely sure what to use against Dark Eldar, so I may as well stick with my standard list. I'm thinking I might swap some stuff around from the list I last played:
(i) Catalyst on the Tervigon, otherwise I'm just wasting its psychic potential.
(ii) Adrenal glands on the Tervigon so I can boost adrenal glands on the Termies so I can take down lightly armoured vehicles.
(iii) Seriously consider adrenal glands on the stealers for some higher killing power, and - again - to boost their anti vehicle potential.
To make room, I think I'll downsize the stealers and ripper swarms. I've thought about Zoanthropes, but decided I can live without. (Those stealers could well go in my final list in any case - more venomthropes might be better instead.)
Tactics wise, I'm thinking that the Space Marines are the least dangerous worry here. Their vehicles are going to be a ball ache. If a Land Raider arrives, it'll also be a ball ache as I've got little to take it out - hopefully the HG can either blow it up or glance it enough to stop it moving so my Tervigon can rip it open. Meh. It's only a Land Raider; those las cannons are nasty, but las cannon fire is a fact of life in the brutal world of 40k, right? The space marine army will probably get whacked with the common or garden tactic of me charging towards them en masse and not stopping until I've killed everything. This time I'm going to play it even more mindless than with the Thousand Sons, and pile everything into one enormous blob - last game I seperated the Warriors and some HG into a right flank and that just seemed not to work. Unless the marines split into two, I won't split into two.
Dark Eldar, on the other hand, are an unknown quantity. I don't know the Codex past the basics. I've used Google which, unsurprisingly, brought me back to Fritz:
http://saimhann.blogspot.com/2011/04/epic-tyranids-vs-dark-eldar.html
But that didn't give me tactics, just a portent of being wiped out utterly. Hmm... not good. So I'm expecting a lightly armoured, fast moving death force that can actually go toe to toe with me in close combat. Fortunately, I still reckon nothing can go toe to toe with my Shrike. So his best close combat troops have to be the target of my Shrike. I need to scent them, hunt them and scythe them before they can kick into action. Plus, if he does go close bomat heavy, then my major weakness - of having to get to my foe - is eliminated. Presumably he'll at least hang off a little, building up Pain Tokens.
His lightly armoured raiders are going to be zipping about that map, open topped firing on me. I think the best bet might be to spread out - the exact reverse of what I'll do to the Emperor's Best. If I occupy a quarter of the map, and push my front forces close to his table edge, then he'll be forced to flank me or face me. I'll stick the Hive Guard on the flank and Warriors on the centre flank. If he sits in front, he'll get whacked by the adrenal glanded termagants (if the Tervigon survives) as well as their small arms fire; the small arms fire of the Tyranid Warriors; even the Shrike can get in on that kind of party. The Ripper Swarms are useless unless I crack open a raider on the first turn or two. Damn. The stealers will be more effective - if they come in on the table edge I've forced him onto, he'll get hit by them. if they come in on the other table edge, at least they'll be with my army and not sat on their own twiddling their claws.
This won't be a bloodless affair, and I fear that my lack of Codex Fu will mean that some of what I've just said will fuck me up. But the current plan is: dominate the space in order to dominate the game, and hope that the poisoned weapons and close combat skillz don't entirely out match my own.
I think I'm developing an Eldar phobia...
I haven't settled on my army list, but I've decided - for the sake of experience for fighting tournaments and for the sake of fairness (neither Harry nor James have played all that much) - to use the same list for both matches (well, unless I tweak it in light of how I'm playing.) Plus, I'm not entirely sure what to use against Dark Eldar, so I may as well stick with my standard list. I'm thinking I might swap some stuff around from the list I last played:
(i) Catalyst on the Tervigon, otherwise I'm just wasting its psychic potential.
(ii) Adrenal glands on the Tervigon so I can boost adrenal glands on the Termies so I can take down lightly armoured vehicles.
(iii) Seriously consider adrenal glands on the stealers for some higher killing power, and - again - to boost their anti vehicle potential.
To make room, I think I'll downsize the stealers and ripper swarms. I've thought about Zoanthropes, but decided I can live without. (Those stealers could well go in my final list in any case - more venomthropes might be better instead.)
Tactics wise, I'm thinking that the Space Marines are the least dangerous worry here. Their vehicles are going to be a ball ache. If a Land Raider arrives, it'll also be a ball ache as I've got little to take it out - hopefully the HG can either blow it up or glance it enough to stop it moving so my Tervigon can rip it open. Meh. It's only a Land Raider; those las cannons are nasty, but las cannon fire is a fact of life in the brutal world of 40k, right? The space marine army will probably get whacked with the common or garden tactic of me charging towards them en masse and not stopping until I've killed everything. This time I'm going to play it even more mindless than with the Thousand Sons, and pile everything into one enormous blob - last game I seperated the Warriors and some HG into a right flank and that just seemed not to work. Unless the marines split into two, I won't split into two.
Dark Eldar, on the other hand, are an unknown quantity. I don't know the Codex past the basics. I've used Google which, unsurprisingly, brought me back to Fritz:
http://saimhann.blogspot.com/2011/04/epic-tyranids-vs-dark-eldar.html
But that didn't give me tactics, just a portent of being wiped out utterly. Hmm... not good. So I'm expecting a lightly armoured, fast moving death force that can actually go toe to toe with me in close combat. Fortunately, I still reckon nothing can go toe to toe with my Shrike. So his best close combat troops have to be the target of my Shrike. I need to scent them, hunt them and scythe them before they can kick into action. Plus, if he does go close bomat heavy, then my major weakness - of having to get to my foe - is eliminated. Presumably he'll at least hang off a little, building up Pain Tokens.
His lightly armoured raiders are going to be zipping about that map, open topped firing on me. I think the best bet might be to spread out - the exact reverse of what I'll do to the Emperor's Best. If I occupy a quarter of the map, and push my front forces close to his table edge, then he'll be forced to flank me or face me. I'll stick the Hive Guard on the flank and Warriors on the centre flank. If he sits in front, he'll get whacked by the adrenal glanded termagants (if the Tervigon survives) as well as their small arms fire; the small arms fire of the Tyranid Warriors; even the Shrike can get in on that kind of party. The Ripper Swarms are useless unless I crack open a raider on the first turn or two. Damn. The stealers will be more effective - if they come in on the table edge I've forced him onto, he'll get hit by them. if they come in on the other table edge, at least they'll be with my army and not sat on their own twiddling their claws.
This won't be a bloodless affair, and I fear that my lack of Codex Fu will mean that some of what I've just said will fuck me up. But the current plan is: dominate the space in order to dominate the game, and hope that the poisoned weapons and close combat skillz don't entirely out match my own.
I think I'm developing an Eldar phobia...
Sunday, 27 November 2011
More Tyranid Modelling Plans
Okay, I should really be either (i) building and painting my Imperial Guard army (the Penmarch 26th Armoured Cavalry Regiment - 'Perdition' company) and (ii) buying my new Grey knights army. However, after this weekend, I awoke with an urge to model a Tyrannofex and a Harpy, with the aim of having every model in my Tyranid collection. I caved, and now have some bits and pieces on the way which I'll build this week, and hopefully paint at the weekend.
On a similar note, I've *really* been re-reading the Codex, and trying to plot out some new moves: I've not really concentrated on how I might, say, use the Parasite in my army (it's a lot better than I thought); ditto for the Doom (a crap fluff there - on any *real* Eldar vessel those runes of warding would ruin that mutant Zoanthrope's hopes of getting his psychic powers off); etc. To make the most use of them I'd need more models, but I think I've kinda caved to the idea of just collecting Tyranids until I've completed the army (it already tops around 3500 points) so I don't feel that bad.
On a similar note, I've *really* been re-reading the Codex, and trying to plot out some new moves: I've not really concentrated on how I might, say, use the Parasite in my army (it's a lot better than I thought); ditto for the Doom (a crap fluff there - on any *real* Eldar vessel those runes of warding would ruin that mutant Zoanthrope's hopes of getting his psychic powers off); etc. To make the most use of them I'd need more models, but I think I've kinda caved to the idea of just collecting Tyranids until I've completed the army (it already tops around 3500 points) so I don't feel that bad.
Battle Report: Hive Fleet Heimdallr Versus the Thousand Sons
Okay, turns out I brought a serrated machette to a derringer fight. LOTS OF TANKS. So our man James has bought himself a full-on Thousand Sons army. Where I thought James had just foraged around for some figures from years bygone, he had in fact purhcased a helluva load of figures from eBay.
And those figures included tanks.
Lots of tanks
I.
Hate.
Tanks.
So, I was playing the list given in the previous post (proxy: Carnifex for my Tervigon, as I haven't yet built my Tervigon; zoanthrope for my venomthrope as I, somehow, failed to pack my venomthrope. So apologies for that on the pictures. NEXT battle, it'll be non-proxies all the way.)
James fielded a 1500 pt army of:
1 Daemon Prince with wings, Doombolt and Warptime
2 x 9 Thousand Sons (w/ sorceror) and a rhino (w/ havoc launcher)
1 predator
1 vindicator, with combi flamer
2 x 9 lesser daemons
2 Obliterators
BACKGROUND
Hurtling through the stratosphere, it turns out that the Bio Vessel was packing a smaller crew than previously imagined. Fortunately, the Thousand Sons were only a small force. Who would land on this wayward planet in the Eye of Terror? Who would dominant it long enough to summon reinforcements? This landing force would decide whether the Tyranids ruled, or the Traitor Marines.
GAME TYPE
Annhilation with Pitched Battle. Chaos Space Marines get the initiative and set up first.
DEPLOYMENT
The Marines set up in a line on the north edge. Near the eastern side, James placed the first rhino and the predator, then another rhino next to the Obliterators and then the Vindicator. Perched at the far end was the Daemon Prince.
I plonked my Tervigon, three hive guard, 20 hormogaunts, and my Shrike - protected by my venomthrope (proxied by the Zoanthrope) - in the dead centre.
On the eastern edge I situated my warriors, plus Prime, three more Give Guard, all taking refuge behind a line of 10 Termies. Swarms and stealers were in reserve.
So we end up with this
I lost the initiative. This is because his marines take coke and are always on edge. Unlike my straight edge, fight fair, upright, virtuous tyranids.
TURN ONE
The mid centre rhino advances a few inches, before despositing the 1,000 Sons unit. the Vindicator advances forwards, alongside the Prince. The predator stays still, drawing a bead on the eastern most termagents and firing. That's three hits, for three wounds. I carefully situated them so five were in the forest, so I got saves, saving two. The one that survived cheerfully raised his smiling beak. And got his head sheered off by the predator's autocannon. Foolish lad.
The mid centered Vindicator let loose with the demolisher, blasting into the gaunts. A perfect hit - the first of many that would run through this game - it took out EIGHT hormogaunts, but fortunately bounced off of the Tervigon. The Obliterators lit up the Tervigon in revenge, with lascannons, scoring a single hit. But the Venomthrope's gas gave it the save.
The mid centre rhino opened up with it's havoc launcher (which I was shocked to learn only cost 15 points. FIFTEEN. Scandalous.) It blasts the hive guard, the venomthrope and the Tervigon. Whilst it scartches the Hive Guard for a wound, the Tervigon saved.
On the eastern edge (that's the edge closest to the camera) the alternate rhino mashed its launcher into the warriors, scoring another perfect hit for minor damage on the Tyranids.
Over to me. I send everything forward in the monotonous Tyranid charge. The Shrike perch on the centre ruin (nice piccy there) and the Hive Guard open up on the Vindicator. To no effect. The first of many 'no effects' that the Hive Guard would score.
The other Hive Guard shoot the Eastern most rhino, immobilising it and stunning it. The Termagants, however, fail to get a decent run roll, obstructing the advance of the Warrior unit. All they manage to do is shoot the venom cannon on the Obliterators. Frankly, for the effect it had, I may as well have squirted Head and Shoulders Shampoo at them for not a single wound was inflicted.
TURN 2
The Pink Horrors (okay, lesser demons - but let's call them pink horrors no matter what their stat line is) turn up - both units. They materialise mid centre near the icons: one behind the Vindicator and one in front of the Obliterators. The Prince uses his Warptime and, whilst he's in the Shadows of the Warp, gets it off. The Sons that got out of the Rhino SLOWLY advance forwards. The Obliterators, on the other hand, get two sixes for movement. TWO SIXES. WHERE THE HELL WAS THAT FOR THE PRINCE'S PSYCHIC TEST, EH? Anyhow, James decides that the Obliterators won't move after all. WHAT A WASTE OF TWO SIXES. Man, life is unfair. Presumably they used all that speed and celerity to play a quick game of gin rummy. Maybe their termanitor armour comes with an app for that?
The Prince flies up to the west side of the ruins, flanking the Hive Guard. James then reveals to me that his Prince comes armed with a flamer psychic power. Fortunately, the Prince fails to get the flamer off (because of the Shadows of the Warp. OK, I should quit complaining about the first roll he made.) In any case, the Prince assaults, wiping out the Hive Guard.
The Vindicator edges forwards ever so slightly, and fires that damn Demolisher cannon back into the centre pack. It wipes out 6 termigants, but by some amazing dice rolls my hormogaunts are fine and, again, my Tervigon gets away scot free. Good for her. However, the Thousand Sons rapid fire into the throng, taking out four gants.
The Obliterators keep with lascannons and find out what a Hive Guard's skull looks like when superheated to a few hundred degrees Celsius. Apparently, it looks quite nasty and they take a wound (in retrospect, I realise the die marking this wound was later picked up by accident. Sorry James, I was sure they took a wound point. In any case, it made little difference.) The eastern Havoc Launcher fires and I foolishly remove the termagants that are providing my termagants the cover save they need. So that predator lit them up nice and good, doing one wound on the Prime and another on the Warrior.
My turn. Meet. My. Shrike. They hawk down around the Prince, taking a wound for leaving difficult terrain. Ah man, at this point I was kinda creaming myself. How would they fare when they assault the poor bastard? I didn't know at this point, but the answer is: pretty frickin' well.
The Ripper Swarm deepstrikes in. Whilst they scatter I manage to pinhole strike them in front of the centre mass, just in front of Pink Horrors that turned up. With their comically over-sized spine fists they fire, doing four wounds. The hormogaunts trail in and jump on what's left. 33 attacks later they kill another four. The test for losing combat kills the last one. Which really honks me off.
The Tervigon spawns 11 Termagants. They advance, and blast one of the Thousand Sons, before assaulting.They claim one of the Sons before taking some pain in return. The Tervigon charges the Vindicator - I was somewhat surprised to find it within charge range in turn two. But both blows glance. Are you KIDDING me?
Okay, the Shrike. Ah man, I LOVE Shrike. They assault, reduce the Prince to initiative one, and wipe him out before the counterattack. So it turns out that, once again, the Shrike dominate close combat. Here they are, with the empty space where the Daemon Prince's body once occupied.
By the way: WHERE THE HELL ARE THE GENESTEALERS? Having a fag? I could've done with them this turn.
Over on the eastern flank the warriors scurry for cover away from the predator's autocannon.
TURN THREE
The lesser demons move around, ready to assault. The Vindicator reverses, but primes that cannon to fire. The 1,000 Sons on the eastern edge disembark from their knackered tank and slowly advance forwards to meet my Tyranid horde, slightly towards the middle of the battlefield.
That Demolisher cannon fires, once again, into the dead centre of my horde. It gets the Tervigon for a wound, which then saves. It blows its one use flamer as well. Also to no effect. Bummer.
The Obliterators use their twin linked flamer into the hormogaunts and the ripper swarm. That 'vulnerable to template' rule hurts, and takes four bases of swarms, plus four of the hormogaunts. The 1,000 Sons that just disembarked are in range of the remaining hormogaunts. They mow them down, even as they go to ground. The Havoc Launcher then opens up on the Ripper Swarms, taking out another base. And that predator decides to get in on the bargain and takes out the venomthrope, denying me of the amazingly useful cover save that had kept me going.
Move to the assault phase and the Termagants fail to hurt a single Thousand Son. The return attack, however, kills five.
The Hive Mind then gears into action. First, the stealers make their reserve roll and my fortune holds (okay, I admit it, at this point I'm doing well for good rolls) and they come in on the eastern edge. The stealers do a piss poor charge on the marines. With 24 attacks they kill a mere two, and lose of their number in return. What am I paying them for? The eastern edge Warriors charge forwards as the termagants retreat back into the forest, out of the way, to deprive James of a kill point. The Warriors fire on the disembarked 1,000 Sons on the eastern edge, claiming two lives. The Hive Guard rack up their Impaler Cannons and BLOW UP that predator. Oh. Yeah.
The Tervigon spawns out another 8 termagants, which open up on the Thousand Sons units that, seconds ago, killed their recently newborn brothers. They claim a single life. The Shrike fly over to the pink horrors. The Shrike attack the pink horrors and, whilst they take a wound from one little fuck who wasn't lash whipped, they continue close combat dominance by wiping them out. The Tervigon chages the Vindicator. Now it manages to take out the weapons and immobilise the damn thing.
The termagants assault now, taking the middle Thousand Sons they just fired at (you can just about make their little tails out in the photo.) They manage to get two more of the hollow armoured dust walkers, but the Thousand Sons come back and take another four. Ow. But, still, pretty lucky!
The remaining two termagants from one unit hide behind a ruin (actually, I think they did that the turn before) whilst the ripper swarm, with a single wound remaining, joins then. They cower. Because you should cower if there's only three wounds between you and you're facing a fully mechanized chaos space marine army.
TURN 4
The Havoc Launcher moves to take out the termagants and the swarm that are cowering. Heroically, and against the odds, they survive! Only a single termagant takes the pain. However the Obliterators spray liquid flame in their direction, utterly destroying them. Two more kill points for James.
There's not much else James can do this turn, so he moves to the assault phase. His 1,000 Sons assault back, slaying the Termagants. Whereas the Eastern Side 1,000 Sons get bent over by the Stealers who make up for last turn's performance by wiping out four more and leaving just the Aspiring Sorceror. No damage is inflicted in return.
My go. The Tervigon gets constipated as it bursts out another 12 Termies. The Hive Guard fail to destroy the rhino on the eastern side, laying in another battery of 'weapon destroyed' results and other useless crap I don't need to see. The Warriors and Shrike, however, take a quick look at those Obliterators and decide to test them. The Warriors hold back on the venom cannon, but fire into the daemon termanitors. 15 hits, all saved.
Gits.
But they shouldn't be happy for too long. On the assault phase, the Shrike and Warriors come on in. I roll for the Shrike, and that's the end of the matter. The Warriors are kinda pissed - they've not done anything this game. Where's their prey?
The Termagants the Tervigon just sprayed out run around the back of the 1,000 sons unit in the middle, and open fire. They kill one before charging for 22 attacks. And kill no one. The counterattack from the Sons takes out two. Meanwhile, the Tervigon looks at the back of the Rhino and Salvoes it. And misses! So she assaults. This manages to destroy the havoc launcher. Just to be clear, for three rounds she's been banging on the outside of those vehicles and only managed to take off a few weapons and stop one moving - the kill points are still denied to me.
The stealers munch on the sorceror. And that's the end of the 1,000 Sons on the eastern side.
TURN 5
The rhino bolter shoots the Shrike, but fails to hit. The 1,000 Sons assault the termagants they're locked in with, killing three of them.
My turn. The Tyranid shoot the venom cannon on the rhino, but miss after a bad scatter. The eastern hive guard fire, but to no effect on the immobilised eastern rhino. The stealers pile in on it as well, but to no effect (At this point Harry said I was being desperate sending my stealers in, but I reckon they have a good chance of tin opening a rhino.)
The Tervigon manages, finally, after four rounds of attacking, to destroy a vehicle and demolishes the Vindicator.
The Shrike move in and, along with the remaining termagants, wipe out the remaining 1,000 Sons. In a last, dying, 'simultaneous with my initiative' attack (as they weren't lash whipped - the damn termagants were in the way) they attack back. Two hits, but they flub their Power Weapon roll because of Shadows of the Warp.
We roll for turn end, but it doesn't come. Looking for a Wipe Out Win, I press on with turn 6.
TURN 6
The bolter on the rhino shoots a termagant, killing it. Poor bastard. It's like killing a German at 10.59am on 11.11.1918.
The Hive Guard, however, finally manage to take out the rhino on their side. 6 turns on. SIX TURNS ON. The resulting explosion kills three stealers - I was slightly worried it'd wipe them all out from the dice roll, but they managed to save. Seriously, whilst I'd still have won, that'd be embarrasing.
With just the immobilised Vindicator left on the table, with no weapons, I still want to finish it off. So we roll for game end. Which it does - and I'm denied my complete victory.
Unfortuantely we were in a rush, and forgot to take an end of game photo. Oh well.
FINAL SCORE: 9 kill points for the Tyranids; 7 kill points for the Thousand Sons.
THOUGHTS
One thing is that, as I suggested James check, even chaos Rhinos can 'repair' themselves in the middle of battle. I don't think this would've made much difference as the rhinos were unable to shoot because of Shaken results most of the time, so wouldn't have been able to repair themselves anyhow. Worth noting though, for future games!
For chaos space marines, I'm thinking there's a few ways it could've gone better. James asked me, after the match, whether to keep the daemons, which count as troop choices, or swap them for termanitors. I said keep the daemons. I clearly wasn't thinking straight. For a generic list, that might be right, but obviously against Tyranids it's a bad idea. They only fight close combat, and that's kinda what I do. So I'd take either some termies, or maybe some Obliterators. Using Obliterators to fire las cannons into the Shrike would've been an arse as that'd have instant killed them, one by one. (So a unit of 4 Obliterators would probably wipe out the Shrike in no time.) Although, because of positioning, there wasn't much chance for that. Not sure the sacrifice of the Prince was a good deal - although killing all three Hive Guard did make life harder for me. I'd also have driven those rhinos around more. If one of those rhinos had come up my backside with the centre based 1,000 Sons I'd have had three problems: one they'd be in the tank, rather than out of it, so couldn't have swamped them with termagants; they could've got out and rapid fired my Tervigon (which would get no save against 18 shots - the Tervigon was one of the few things the magic AP 3 Tzeentch bullets mattered against); and I'd have had to have split my force into pieces, with some people heading back to try and get the 1,000 Sons - (although, even then, if they were positioned 24" away, while they'd only get 9 shots off, I'd have a hard time catching up with them before they drove off again.) Indeed, I think I'd have spent more time spreading out and running away - if that Vindicator had retreated at 12" a turn it might not have been able to fire, but my Tervigon would had to have followed it, both meaning that when it was done with the tank it wasn't stood right next to the other tanks and the termagants it was spitting out wouldn't be a major threat to the bulk of the force. I'd also have moved the Predator early on to go right next to Hive Guard on the east side to blow them away (a lot of the time the Guard were stood behind a building stopping the marines shooting them but not vice versa) as tanks can get as close to my guys as they like and face little more danger than being far away.
On my side, I think I did okay. I think zoanthropes would have been a good choice. I also forgot to equip my Tervigon with Catalyst. I'm also getting used to the 18" kill range it gives the Tervigon - spit them out 6", let them move 6" and let them assault 6". I imagine the three Tervigon tyranid list is a distinct possibility for me to buy. My warriors were less effective than I had hoped - they were meant to be the main part of my force, although I've pulled Deathspitters off them so they're less effective. In any case, they once again got caught behind some slow moving termagants and couldn't move around fast enough. I also should've charged them a turn sooner, rather than hiding behind the ruins, away from the predator. If I'd just charged in a turn sooner, I could've avoided the Predator fire my assaulting the Obliterators. But as it was, I think my boys did good - not only did I win, I had a lot of units left versus the one, remaining, smoking Vindicator. I look forward to a rematch, where I'm certain James' list will be set up slightly better, and he won't under-estimate those Shrike this time. They DEFINITELY get the unit of the match award - those guys just tore through EVERYTHING, as they were designed to do. 24 S4 armour penetrating attacks, rerolling 1's to hit, is just nasty as hell when you're on initiative 1 and can't hit back. Man, you gotta love those Shrike.
Anyhow, my next match will be either another ass-kicking from Malcolm, a mate of mine in Birmingham has said he'll fight me with Deathwing (looking forward to that!) and my army is nearly ready to be taken to GW to see whether I can tolerate playing there.
And those figures included tanks.
Lots of tanks
I.
Hate.
Tanks.
So, I was playing the list given in the previous post (proxy: Carnifex for my Tervigon, as I haven't yet built my Tervigon; zoanthrope for my venomthrope as I, somehow, failed to pack my venomthrope. So apologies for that on the pictures. NEXT battle, it'll be non-proxies all the way.)
James fielded a 1500 pt army of:
1 Daemon Prince with wings, Doombolt and Warptime
2 x 9 Thousand Sons (w/ sorceror) and a rhino (w/ havoc launcher)
1 predator
1 vindicator, with combi flamer
2 x 9 lesser daemons
2 Obliterators
BACKGROUND
Hurtling through the stratosphere, it turns out that the Bio Vessel was packing a smaller crew than previously imagined. Fortunately, the Thousand Sons were only a small force. Who would land on this wayward planet in the Eye of Terror? Who would dominant it long enough to summon reinforcements? This landing force would decide whether the Tyranids ruled, or the Traitor Marines.
GAME TYPE
Annhilation with Pitched Battle. Chaos Space Marines get the initiative and set up first.
DEPLOYMENT
The Marines set up in a line on the north edge. Near the eastern side, James placed the first rhino and the predator, then another rhino next to the Obliterators and then the Vindicator. Perched at the far end was the Daemon Prince.
I plonked my Tervigon, three hive guard, 20 hormogaunts, and my Shrike - protected by my venomthrope (proxied by the Zoanthrope) - in the dead centre.
On the eastern edge I situated my warriors, plus Prime, three more Give Guard, all taking refuge behind a line of 10 Termies. Swarms and stealers were in reserve.
So we end up with this
I lost the initiative. This is because his marines take coke and are always on edge. Unlike my straight edge, fight fair, upright, virtuous tyranids.
TURN ONE
The mid centre rhino advances a few inches, before despositing the 1,000 Sons unit. the Vindicator advances forwards, alongside the Prince. The predator stays still, drawing a bead on the eastern most termagents and firing. That's three hits, for three wounds. I carefully situated them so five were in the forest, so I got saves, saving two. The one that survived cheerfully raised his smiling beak. And got his head sheered off by the predator's autocannon. Foolish lad.
The mid centered Vindicator let loose with the demolisher, blasting into the gaunts. A perfect hit - the first of many that would run through this game - it took out EIGHT hormogaunts, but fortunately bounced off of the Tervigon. The Obliterators lit up the Tervigon in revenge, with lascannons, scoring a single hit. But the Venomthrope's gas gave it the save.
The mid centre rhino opened up with it's havoc launcher (which I was shocked to learn only cost 15 points. FIFTEEN. Scandalous.) It blasts the hive guard, the venomthrope and the Tervigon. Whilst it scartches the Hive Guard for a wound, the Tervigon saved.
On the eastern edge (that's the edge closest to the camera) the alternate rhino mashed its launcher into the warriors, scoring another perfect hit for minor damage on the Tyranids.
Over to me. I send everything forward in the monotonous Tyranid charge. The Shrike perch on the centre ruin (nice piccy there) and the Hive Guard open up on the Vindicator. To no effect. The first of many 'no effects' that the Hive Guard would score.
The other Hive Guard shoot the Eastern most rhino, immobilising it and stunning it. The Termagants, however, fail to get a decent run roll, obstructing the advance of the Warrior unit. All they manage to do is shoot the venom cannon on the Obliterators. Frankly, for the effect it had, I may as well have squirted Head and Shoulders Shampoo at them for not a single wound was inflicted.
TURN 2
The Pink Horrors (okay, lesser demons - but let's call them pink horrors no matter what their stat line is) turn up - both units. They materialise mid centre near the icons: one behind the Vindicator and one in front of the Obliterators. The Prince uses his Warptime and, whilst he's in the Shadows of the Warp, gets it off. The Sons that got out of the Rhino SLOWLY advance forwards. The Obliterators, on the other hand, get two sixes for movement. TWO SIXES. WHERE THE HELL WAS THAT FOR THE PRINCE'S PSYCHIC TEST, EH? Anyhow, James decides that the Obliterators won't move after all. WHAT A WASTE OF TWO SIXES. Man, life is unfair. Presumably they used all that speed and celerity to play a quick game of gin rummy. Maybe their termanitor armour comes with an app for that?
The Prince flies up to the west side of the ruins, flanking the Hive Guard. James then reveals to me that his Prince comes armed with a flamer psychic power. Fortunately, the Prince fails to get the flamer off (because of the Shadows of the Warp. OK, I should quit complaining about the first roll he made.) In any case, the Prince assaults, wiping out the Hive Guard.
The Vindicator edges forwards ever so slightly, and fires that damn Demolisher cannon back into the centre pack. It wipes out 6 termigants, but by some amazing dice rolls my hormogaunts are fine and, again, my Tervigon gets away scot free. Good for her. However, the Thousand Sons rapid fire into the throng, taking out four gants.
The Obliterators keep with lascannons and find out what a Hive Guard's skull looks like when superheated to a few hundred degrees Celsius. Apparently, it looks quite nasty and they take a wound (in retrospect, I realise the die marking this wound was later picked up by accident. Sorry James, I was sure they took a wound point. In any case, it made little difference.) The eastern Havoc Launcher fires and I foolishly remove the termagants that are providing my termagants the cover save they need. So that predator lit them up nice and good, doing one wound on the Prime and another on the Warrior.
My turn. Meet. My. Shrike. They hawk down around the Prince, taking a wound for leaving difficult terrain. Ah man, at this point I was kinda creaming myself. How would they fare when they assault the poor bastard? I didn't know at this point, but the answer is: pretty frickin' well.
The Ripper Swarm deepstrikes in. Whilst they scatter I manage to pinhole strike them in front of the centre mass, just in front of Pink Horrors that turned up. With their comically over-sized spine fists they fire, doing four wounds. The hormogaunts trail in and jump on what's left. 33 attacks later they kill another four. The test for losing combat kills the last one. Which really honks me off.
The Tervigon spawns 11 Termagants. They advance, and blast one of the Thousand Sons, before assaulting.They claim one of the Sons before taking some pain in return. The Tervigon charges the Vindicator - I was somewhat surprised to find it within charge range in turn two. But both blows glance. Are you KIDDING me?
Okay, the Shrike. Ah man, I LOVE Shrike. They assault, reduce the Prince to initiative one, and wipe him out before the counterattack. So it turns out that, once again, the Shrike dominate close combat. Here they are, with the empty space where the Daemon Prince's body once occupied.
By the way: WHERE THE HELL ARE THE GENESTEALERS? Having a fag? I could've done with them this turn.
Over on the eastern flank the warriors scurry for cover away from the predator's autocannon.
TURN THREE
The lesser demons move around, ready to assault. The Vindicator reverses, but primes that cannon to fire. The 1,000 Sons on the eastern edge disembark from their knackered tank and slowly advance forwards to meet my Tyranid horde, slightly towards the middle of the battlefield.
That Demolisher cannon fires, once again, into the dead centre of my horde. It gets the Tervigon for a wound, which then saves. It blows its one use flamer as well. Also to no effect. Bummer.
The Obliterators use their twin linked flamer into the hormogaunts and the ripper swarm. That 'vulnerable to template' rule hurts, and takes four bases of swarms, plus four of the hormogaunts. The 1,000 Sons that just disembarked are in range of the remaining hormogaunts. They mow them down, even as they go to ground. The Havoc Launcher then opens up on the Ripper Swarms, taking out another base. And that predator decides to get in on the bargain and takes out the venomthrope, denying me of the amazingly useful cover save that had kept me going.
Move to the assault phase and the Termagants fail to hurt a single Thousand Son. The return attack, however, kills five.
The Hive Mind then gears into action. First, the stealers make their reserve roll and my fortune holds (okay, I admit it, at this point I'm doing well for good rolls) and they come in on the eastern edge. The stealers do a piss poor charge on the marines. With 24 attacks they kill a mere two, and lose of their number in return. What am I paying them for? The eastern edge Warriors charge forwards as the termagants retreat back into the forest, out of the way, to deprive James of a kill point. The Warriors fire on the disembarked 1,000 Sons on the eastern edge, claiming two lives. The Hive Guard rack up their Impaler Cannons and BLOW UP that predator. Oh. Yeah.
The Tervigon spawns out another 8 termagants, which open up on the Thousand Sons units that, seconds ago, killed their recently newborn brothers. They claim a single life. The Shrike fly over to the pink horrors. The Shrike attack the pink horrors and, whilst they take a wound from one little fuck who wasn't lash whipped, they continue close combat dominance by wiping them out. The Tervigon chages the Vindicator. Now it manages to take out the weapons and immobilise the damn thing.
The termagants assault now, taking the middle Thousand Sons they just fired at (you can just about make their little tails out in the photo.) They manage to get two more of the hollow armoured dust walkers, but the Thousand Sons come back and take another four. Ow. But, still, pretty lucky!
The remaining two termagants from one unit hide behind a ruin (actually, I think they did that the turn before) whilst the ripper swarm, with a single wound remaining, joins then. They cower. Because you should cower if there's only three wounds between you and you're facing a fully mechanized chaos space marine army.
TURN 4
The Havoc Launcher moves to take out the termagants and the swarm that are cowering. Heroically, and against the odds, they survive! Only a single termagant takes the pain. However the Obliterators spray liquid flame in their direction, utterly destroying them. Two more kill points for James.
There's not much else James can do this turn, so he moves to the assault phase. His 1,000 Sons assault back, slaying the Termagants. Whereas the Eastern Side 1,000 Sons get bent over by the Stealers who make up for last turn's performance by wiping out four more and leaving just the Aspiring Sorceror. No damage is inflicted in return.
My go. The Tervigon gets constipated as it bursts out another 12 Termies. The Hive Guard fail to destroy the rhino on the eastern side, laying in another battery of 'weapon destroyed' results and other useless crap I don't need to see. The Warriors and Shrike, however, take a quick look at those Obliterators and decide to test them. The Warriors hold back on the venom cannon, but fire into the daemon termanitors. 15 hits, all saved.
Gits.
But they shouldn't be happy for too long. On the assault phase, the Shrike and Warriors come on in. I roll for the Shrike, and that's the end of the matter. The Warriors are kinda pissed - they've not done anything this game. Where's their prey?
The Termagants the Tervigon just sprayed out run around the back of the 1,000 sons unit in the middle, and open fire. They kill one before charging for 22 attacks. And kill no one. The counterattack from the Sons takes out two. Meanwhile, the Tervigon looks at the back of the Rhino and Salvoes it. And misses! So she assaults. This manages to destroy the havoc launcher. Just to be clear, for three rounds she's been banging on the outside of those vehicles and only managed to take off a few weapons and stop one moving - the kill points are still denied to me.
The stealers munch on the sorceror. And that's the end of the 1,000 Sons on the eastern side.
TURN 5
The rhino bolter shoots the Shrike, but fails to hit. The 1,000 Sons assault the termagants they're locked in with, killing three of them.
My turn. The Tyranid shoot the venom cannon on the rhino, but miss after a bad scatter. The eastern hive guard fire, but to no effect on the immobilised eastern rhino. The stealers pile in on it as well, but to no effect (At this point Harry said I was being desperate sending my stealers in, but I reckon they have a good chance of tin opening a rhino.)
The Tervigon manages, finally, after four rounds of attacking, to destroy a vehicle and demolishes the Vindicator.
The Shrike move in and, along with the remaining termagants, wipe out the remaining 1,000 Sons. In a last, dying, 'simultaneous with my initiative' attack (as they weren't lash whipped - the damn termagants were in the way) they attack back. Two hits, but they flub their Power Weapon roll because of Shadows of the Warp.
We roll for turn end, but it doesn't come. Looking for a Wipe Out Win, I press on with turn 6.
TURN 6
The bolter on the rhino shoots a termagant, killing it. Poor bastard. It's like killing a German at 10.59am on 11.11.1918.
The Hive Guard, however, finally manage to take out the rhino on their side. 6 turns on. SIX TURNS ON. The resulting explosion kills three stealers - I was slightly worried it'd wipe them all out from the dice roll, but they managed to save. Seriously, whilst I'd still have won, that'd be embarrasing.
With just the immobilised Vindicator left on the table, with no weapons, I still want to finish it off. So we roll for game end. Which it does - and I'm denied my complete victory.
Unfortuantely we were in a rush, and forgot to take an end of game photo. Oh well.
FINAL SCORE: 9 kill points for the Tyranids; 7 kill points for the Thousand Sons.
THOUGHTS
One thing is that, as I suggested James check, even chaos Rhinos can 'repair' themselves in the middle of battle. I don't think this would've made much difference as the rhinos were unable to shoot because of Shaken results most of the time, so wouldn't have been able to repair themselves anyhow. Worth noting though, for future games!
For chaos space marines, I'm thinking there's a few ways it could've gone better. James asked me, after the match, whether to keep the daemons, which count as troop choices, or swap them for termanitors. I said keep the daemons. I clearly wasn't thinking straight. For a generic list, that might be right, but obviously against Tyranids it's a bad idea. They only fight close combat, and that's kinda what I do. So I'd take either some termies, or maybe some Obliterators. Using Obliterators to fire las cannons into the Shrike would've been an arse as that'd have instant killed them, one by one. (So a unit of 4 Obliterators would probably wipe out the Shrike in no time.) Although, because of positioning, there wasn't much chance for that. Not sure the sacrifice of the Prince was a good deal - although killing all three Hive Guard did make life harder for me. I'd also have driven those rhinos around more. If one of those rhinos had come up my backside with the centre based 1,000 Sons I'd have had three problems: one they'd be in the tank, rather than out of it, so couldn't have swamped them with termagants; they could've got out and rapid fired my Tervigon (which would get no save against 18 shots - the Tervigon was one of the few things the magic AP 3 Tzeentch bullets mattered against); and I'd have had to have split my force into pieces, with some people heading back to try and get the 1,000 Sons - (although, even then, if they were positioned 24" away, while they'd only get 9 shots off, I'd have a hard time catching up with them before they drove off again.) Indeed, I think I'd have spent more time spreading out and running away - if that Vindicator had retreated at 12" a turn it might not have been able to fire, but my Tervigon would had to have followed it, both meaning that when it was done with the tank it wasn't stood right next to the other tanks and the termagants it was spitting out wouldn't be a major threat to the bulk of the force. I'd also have moved the Predator early on to go right next to Hive Guard on the east side to blow them away (a lot of the time the Guard were stood behind a building stopping the marines shooting them but not vice versa) as tanks can get as close to my guys as they like and face little more danger than being far away.
On my side, I think I did okay. I think zoanthropes would have been a good choice. I also forgot to equip my Tervigon with Catalyst. I'm also getting used to the 18" kill range it gives the Tervigon - spit them out 6", let them move 6" and let them assault 6". I imagine the three Tervigon tyranid list is a distinct possibility for me to buy. My warriors were less effective than I had hoped - they were meant to be the main part of my force, although I've pulled Deathspitters off them so they're less effective. In any case, they once again got caught behind some slow moving termagants and couldn't move around fast enough. I also should've charged them a turn sooner, rather than hiding behind the ruins, away from the predator. If I'd just charged in a turn sooner, I could've avoided the Predator fire my assaulting the Obliterators. But as it was, I think my boys did good - not only did I win, I had a lot of units left versus the one, remaining, smoking Vindicator. I look forward to a rematch, where I'm certain James' list will be set up slightly better, and he won't under-estimate those Shrike this time. They DEFINITELY get the unit of the match award - those guys just tore through EVERYTHING, as they were designed to do. 24 S4 armour penetrating attacks, rerolling 1's to hit, is just nasty as hell when you're on initiative 1 and can't hit back. Man, you gotta love those Shrike.
Anyhow, my next match will be either another ass-kicking from Malcolm, a mate of mine in Birmingham has said he'll fight me with Deathwing (looking forward to that!) and my army is nearly ready to be taken to GW to see whether I can tolerate playing there.
Friday, 25 November 2011
Hive Fleet Heimdallr Invades the Eye of Terror
This term has been unduly mental, a combination of a heavy workload and finishing a book. Add in a four day trip to Essen mid-term (picked up lots of games, including 'Chaos in the Old World' and 'Horus Heresy') and there's been little chance for 40k fighting.
Tomorrow this changes. James F. of the LWA challenged me to fight his Thousand Sons army. My Hive Fleet accepted, set course for the Eye of Terror and, as we speak, are diving through a gaping hole, many light years broad, in a warp storm on the galactic west of the Eye. When the fleet emerges, the Biospawn Vessel will be over a planet on the edge of a chaos warped, Torrential Class solar system. I have a feeling that the Thousand Sons have foreseen their arrival and will be ready to face me. I wonder what Chaos Space Marine tastes like? Tomorrow, my gaunts will get a chance to find out!
Heimdallr's strike force is a minor variant on the army list I came up with a few months back. Let's see how it fares:
HQ
Tyranid Prime w/regeneration, bonesword and lash whip
ELITE
2 units of 3 Hive Guard
Venomthrope
TROOPS
10 Termagants
Tervigon
6 Tunnelling Rippers w/spinefists
6 Warriors, one w/ venom cannon
20 Hormogaunts
8 Genestealers
FAST ATTACK
6 Shrike w/ bonesword and whip
Coming in at 1500 pts (or 1499, or something.)
TACTICS
Thousand Sons look like the best bet a Tyranid Hive Fleet could get. They're slow - so I can catch them (unlike those cowardly Eldar, who constantly flee when I get close.) They've got an invulnerable save, which is mainly useless as I've got very little (except against my Shrike and Tervigon) which ignores the three up save of the power armour. Their special armour penetrating bullets are also pointless, given my armour is so crap anyhow, although it means my Tervigon might be slightly less likely to live. Effectively, Thousand Sons are just points being burned away to get powers that are wasted against my hive fleet. Also, I'm hoping that James hasn't invested in any tanks - or, if he has, only a few. Although, even then, a Land Raider would be of less use than you'd think (las cannons versus my little guys are useless, although it'd be a bugger towards my Shrike and Warriors. I'm going to gamble that he's not got one.) Rhinos would be a bugger, but he has to get out of the Rhino at some point, and I've got some Hive Guard and Stealers to take them out. I feel less... vehiclephobic this time around, which has often been a problem when facing Eldar.
So I'm thinking a mindless charge towards the enemy is in order. That relentless rapid firing is going to cause me a problem - it can probably mow through units in no time, and at 24" range I'm going to have to be careful with my advance if I'm to stand a chance in getting close with enough close combat troops to cause a headache, otherwise I'm facing two rounds of sheering bolters fire. Stealers will be on outflanking, and swarms in deep striking, but everything else will just clump together and run like hell. It's boring, in the sense that Tyranids don't have inventive tactics to rely upon, but that's a helluva lot of figures to face down - so even if the actual game strategy is going to be humdrum, it'll look pretty. Just got to hope that his army list doesn't hold too many surprises... So, basically, I'm hoping to just chow down on him within the first few turns - he can't sit too far back as those rapid firing bolters only shoot two feet, and when I get close he won't be able to run away. Thousand Sons are like hobbled dwarves with athlete's foot, after all. I imagine I stand a good chance and, by the end of tomorrow evening, a whole world in the Eye will belong to the Hive Mind. It might be touched by the Ruinous Powers, but Tyranids will eat anything. Even pot noodles. So a bit of chaos taint won't put them off.
Tomorrow this changes. James F. of the LWA challenged me to fight his Thousand Sons army. My Hive Fleet accepted, set course for the Eye of Terror and, as we speak, are diving through a gaping hole, many light years broad, in a warp storm on the galactic west of the Eye. When the fleet emerges, the Biospawn Vessel will be over a planet on the edge of a chaos warped, Torrential Class solar system. I have a feeling that the Thousand Sons have foreseen their arrival and will be ready to face me. I wonder what Chaos Space Marine tastes like? Tomorrow, my gaunts will get a chance to find out!
Heimdallr's strike force is a minor variant on the army list I came up with a few months back. Let's see how it fares:
HQ
Tyranid Prime w/regeneration, bonesword and lash whip
ELITE
2 units of 3 Hive Guard
Venomthrope
TROOPS
10 Termagants
Tervigon
6 Tunnelling Rippers w/spinefists
6 Warriors, one w/ venom cannon
20 Hormogaunts
8 Genestealers
FAST ATTACK
6 Shrike w/ bonesword and whip
Coming in at 1500 pts (or 1499, or something.)
TACTICS
Thousand Sons look like the best bet a Tyranid Hive Fleet could get. They're slow - so I can catch them (unlike those cowardly Eldar, who constantly flee when I get close.) They've got an invulnerable save, which is mainly useless as I've got very little (except against my Shrike and Tervigon) which ignores the three up save of the power armour. Their special armour penetrating bullets are also pointless, given my armour is so crap anyhow, although it means my Tervigon might be slightly less likely to live. Effectively, Thousand Sons are just points being burned away to get powers that are wasted against my hive fleet. Also, I'm hoping that James hasn't invested in any tanks - or, if he has, only a few. Although, even then, a Land Raider would be of less use than you'd think (las cannons versus my little guys are useless, although it'd be a bugger towards my Shrike and Warriors. I'm going to gamble that he's not got one.) Rhinos would be a bugger, but he has to get out of the Rhino at some point, and I've got some Hive Guard and Stealers to take them out. I feel less... vehiclephobic this time around, which has often been a problem when facing Eldar.
So I'm thinking a mindless charge towards the enemy is in order. That relentless rapid firing is going to cause me a problem - it can probably mow through units in no time, and at 24" range I'm going to have to be careful with my advance if I'm to stand a chance in getting close with enough close combat troops to cause a headache, otherwise I'm facing two rounds of sheering bolters fire. Stealers will be on outflanking, and swarms in deep striking, but everything else will just clump together and run like hell. It's boring, in the sense that Tyranids don't have inventive tactics to rely upon, but that's a helluva lot of figures to face down - so even if the actual game strategy is going to be humdrum, it'll look pretty. Just got to hope that his army list doesn't hold too many surprises... So, basically, I'm hoping to just chow down on him within the first few turns - he can't sit too far back as those rapid firing bolters only shoot two feet, and when I get close he won't be able to run away. Thousand Sons are like hobbled dwarves with athlete's foot, after all. I imagine I stand a good chance and, by the end of tomorrow evening, a whole world in the Eye will belong to the Hive Mind. It might be touched by the Ruinous Powers, but Tyranids will eat anything. Even pot noodles. So a bit of chaos taint won't put them off.
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Tyranid Prime and Shrike Painted
So the army is coming ever closer to being finished. I just need to finish the hormogaunts (highlighting only left to do); convert the ripper swarms (I need to add their spine fists); make a tervigon (I'll do it when I move house); and then do all of the bases.
In comparison to what I had left, that's nothing.
But that means that my Prime and Shrike are done. Here are some piccies.
So, here he is, along with his plasticard bonesword and whip modelled out of putty. The head is, as I say, slightly absurd. But it works when you're playing with him! Easy to see who's who and what's what, which is really what matters at the end of the day. Because I'm so proud of the crafted whip, here is is up close (sorry for the photo quality):
And the Shrike came along well. They've got wings (from harpies for WFB) and also come with whips and swords. Here's one of them:
The wings are quite nice as well, but the photo doesn't pick them up great:
They worked out nicely, though. I saw some on flyer stands, like those for gargoyles, and I think it'd have been nice to have had something like that. But that might also have been a bit ambitious for what is, after all, my first conversion experience. Also, the monstrous arms are monster, and make shuffling the models around a bit awkward. I'd recommend snipping them down a bit - something I might yet do.
Here's all of the models together:
In comparison to what I had left, that's nothing.
But that means that my Prime and Shrike are done. Here are some piccies.
So, here he is, along with his plasticard bonesword and whip modelled out of putty. The head is, as I say, slightly absurd. But it works when you're playing with him! Easy to see who's who and what's what, which is really what matters at the end of the day. Because I'm so proud of the crafted whip, here is is up close (sorry for the photo quality):
And the Shrike came along well. They've got wings (from harpies for WFB) and also come with whips and swords. Here's one of them:
The wings are quite nice as well, but the photo doesn't pick them up great:
They worked out nicely, though. I saw some on flyer stands, like those for gargoyles, and I think it'd have been nice to have had something like that. But that might also have been a bit ambitious for what is, after all, my first conversion experience. Also, the monstrous arms are monster, and make shuffling the models around a bit awkward. I'd recommend snipping them down a bit - something I might yet do.
Here's all of the models together:
Saturday, 23 July 2011
Eldar versus Tyranid Battle 2
As we were taking photographs, Mal got his 'pretty' figures out. He could amass 1604 points worth, so we played with 1604 a side (a 'supernova' game, given that was the year the last supernova was witnessed.)
ELDAR
Morgan Rah (Prof Ra)
Farseer with spirit stones, doom and guide
10 Dire Avengers, Exarch, bladestorm and extra catapult
Wave Serpent with spirit stones, star engines and eldar missile launcher
6 jet bikes with two shuriken cannons
5 Pathfinders
6 Fire Dragons, with an Exarch, armed with a fire pike and with crack shot
3 Vipers with Star Cannons and Shuriken Cannons
3 Dark Reapers w/ Exarch, eldar missile launcher and fast shot
8 sweeping hawks, with Exarch, sky leap and sun rifle
TYRANID
16 Termagants
Tervigon
6 Shrike w/ bonesword and whip
6 Tunnelling Rippers w/spinefists
6 Warriors, one w/ venom cannon, the rest with deathspitters
Tyranid Prime w/regeneration, lash whip and bonesword
3 units of 2 Hive Guard
19 Hormogaunts w/toxin sacs
13 Genestealers
SET UP
Here was the terrain set up.
ELDAR
Morgan Rah (Prof Ra)
Farseer with spirit stones, doom and guide
10 Dire Avengers, Exarch, bladestorm and extra catapult
Wave Serpent with spirit stones, star engines and eldar missile launcher
6 jet bikes with two shuriken cannons
5 Pathfinders
6 Fire Dragons, with an Exarch, armed with a fire pike and with crack shot
3 Vipers with Star Cannons and Shuriken Cannons
3 Dark Reapers w/ Exarch, eldar missile launcher and fast shot
8 sweeping hawks, with Exarch, sky leap and sun rifle
TYRANID
16 Termagants
Tervigon
6 Shrike w/ bonesword and whip
6 Tunnelling Rippers w/spinefists
6 Warriors, one w/ venom cannon, the rest with deathspitters
Tyranid Prime w/regeneration, lash whip and bonesword
3 units of 2 Hive Guard
19 Hormogaunts w/toxin sacs
13 Genestealers
SET UP
Here was the terrain set up.
We rolled and got Annhilation and a Pitched Battle set up. This is how the Eldar set up, packed mainly in the northeastern corner hiding like cowards in the building.
The Sweeping Hawks, ready to bound off, set up on the western edge.
The heroic, valiant and fearless Tyranids were stuck in a dilemma. The terrain was too far apart for them to nestle in and shoot it out, and charging across the open land was tricky. I settled on hiding behind the building in the middle and seeing what happened. This was, ultimately, a very bad decision. This is how I set up
TURN ONE
The Tyranids seized the initiative! The Tervigon birthed 10 termagants, and then everything charged forward. Risking it, but knowing it was the only way they’d get into range, I sent the Hive Guard through the mine field. Fortunately, they came out unharmed. That unit of Hive Guard, plus the one that charged through the mine field, let rip with their cannons through the building and into the tank. It blew a weapon off, shook the crew and immobilised the tank (Good work boys) The far western unit picked off 2 Hawks who, presumably, were planning to nip off before I got a chance to even move.
Then it was the Eldar turn. The Vipers got Guide, and the Hive Guard unit that had just gone through the mine field got Doomed. The Hawks took off (see ya later you cowardly Eldar!) and the Jet Bikes moved to the eastern edge, hugging it tightly. The Vipers pulled back to the northern edge, getting away from the Hive Guard. The Dire Avengers disembarked the knackered tank and ran towards the corner where their fellow cowards were hiding.
The Guided Vipers let rip on the Hive Guard. They rolled badly, scoring only two hits. Even Doomed, only one wounded. The Dark Reapers, plus Professor Rah, fired on them. That, however, laid in four wounds and finished them off. One of the Pathfinders were in range of the termagants, but missed. The Dire Avengers, as yellow as the stripe in their plumes, ran away for another inch.
The end of turn looked like this:
TURN TWO
The Tervigon started by spitting out 11 termagants, but rolled a double 5 so got constipated. No more little fellas from here on in. The Genestealers came on in reserve. Perfect timing, they successfully outflanked and came in on the eastern edge. The jet bikes had formed a successful wall, so I had to enter in fairly far down the table, away from the Eldar cowards in their building.
The termagants and the warriors and the Shrike all charge. The Hive Guard end up out of synapse range (d’oh!) and so lurk, and I have to send the Tervigon to go fetch them. Every other bugger just moves towards that building, with the Hive Guard laying in fire on the Dire Avengers (but only getting one). The Shrike decide to run, thinking they’re ever so slightly out of assault range. This is flawed thinking, and they run up, left ready to be attacked in the Eldar turn. The stealers leg it north, and then leap on the jet bikes. Unfortunately, this wipes them out entirely, so we’re just twiddling our thumbs waiting to get shot the next turn.
The Eldar turn starts with the Hawks failing to return. Probably they’re too scared. I can see that. The Shrike get Doomed, and the Vipers get Guide. The Vipers and the Dire Avengers wipe them out. The Dark Reapers, laughing at the stealers being left in the open, lay waste to 4; the Pathfinders kill 3 more; the Fire Dragons take out one more; and Professor Rah kills 2. The Prof then charges in on them, and kills 1, and they fail to get him back. (And, fortunately, pass their morale rolls.)
The end of the turn looked like this
And here’s the look from the view of the valiant, and bold, Tyranid horde
TURN THREE
The Ripper Swarms turn up. Annoyingly, aiming them to land next to the Reapers, they scatter onto the -building. A mishap roll later and Mal gets to place them wherever he wants.
He chose the minefield.
That was three wounds I could have done without, and the swarms are now fairly fucking far from where they need to be. Everything moves slightly towards the enemy. In the assault phase, Prof Rah finishes off the Stealers. So that’s two kill points for Mal, and one for me.
In the Eldar turn the Hawks swoop over and, petrified of chipping a fingernail, take off again as soon as they land – but not before bombing the Hormogaunts for four deaths. Poor little buggers. The Dire Avengers, fire on the nearby termagants, taking out 5, and a sniper takes another. An Exarch takes another three, and the Reaper finishes them off entirely. Another kill point for Mal.
The Vipers light up the Hormogaunts just behind the barbed wire and broken tank. The rolls are totally foobar, and all but one of the wounds are cover saved by the cover afforded by the tank.
Here’s a view of the Eldar at this time.
TURN FOUR
The Warriors crest the hill, and the Hormogaunts charge through the barbed wire (to no ill effect!) The Warriors let rip with a venom cannon on the Dire Avengers, with a perfect hit. Then the damage roll comes in with four 1’s and 2 6’s. FOUR 1’s! I wounded on a 2+! Mal sticks one of the wounds on the Exarch and some other guy, and *both* fail to save. Uber ace! It normally takes me ages to kill the Exarch… Two more Avengers buy it when Deathspitters pound into them. Alas, this was just enough deaths to put them out of range of my Hive Guard, who fired to no effect.
The Hormogaunts run and one gets caught in the barbed wire. The termagants also run. In what I take to be an act of sympathy and in an attempt to help his buddy, one of the termagants also gets caught in the wire. I reckon he was there, until the end of the battle, gnawing at it in an attempt to free his mate. That’s how I like to think of them. Friendly, matey, willing to die for their comrades, and not cowards hiding in buildings. Here’s the wire:
On the Eldar turn the Hawks come in and bomb the Hormogaunts. This gets another one, and off they bounce back into the air. The Dire Avengers move back a little, as do the Vipers, and Ra goes up onto the building.
The Avengers fire, killing two Hormogaunts. The Vipers also shoot, killing one of the warriors and wounding one of the others. The Reapers plus Ra lay down fire on the Warriors, killing the one with the venom cannon and taking out two more warriors. The bloody sniper finish off another. Here’s what it looks like now
TURN FIVE
The termagants keep moving, and lose another to wire as they advance. The Hormogaunts advance again, as the Warrior and the Prime think better of a two man charge and, heroically, retreat. The Hive Guard on the western flank, who basically did sod all after killing some hawks back on turn one, shoot the nearby tank. It explodes, leaving a crater and yielding another kill point for me.
The Hormogaunts charge forward, getting a 5” run up and manage to charge the Avengers and the Fire Dragons simultaneously. In a brutal bloodbath 5 get in on the action (the rest tailing behind by a good distance) but they still get 3 Avengers and 1 Fire Dragon (mainly thanks to their toxin sacs.) The Eldar come back, and get three Hormogaunts. We do a morale check, which the Avengers fail, and they charge off the board with their Farseer. That’s two more Kill Points for me. Hoody hoo!
Now it’s the Eldar turn. Professor Rah comes off of the building, ready to assault the Hormogaunts. The Vipers blast the termagants on the east, wiping them all out and earning Mal another kill point. The hawks then swoop in.
They bomb the ripper swarms who had moved out of the mine field and are slowly edging around the hill. It’d 4 wounds, doubled as they’re a swarm, followed up by snipers taking another base and the missile launchers landing another four wounds. That leaves one base. Rah charges the Hormogaunts, but only gets one of them. They come back, for 6 wounds, 4 of which are saved, so two more Fire Dragons go to the graveyard for cowards. The Fire Dragons come back on the Hormogaunts. They kill three! That leaves only a small number. Out of synapse range, the gaunts have to make a morale test. With a leadership of 6, this don’t look good as that’s a 4 or under on 2d6 and they’ll almost certainly die if they flee.
I get a four. Look at my heroic hormogaunts!
The end of turn rolls around, and I'm thinking I'm in with a chance. But, no, the game ends.
Eldar versus Tyranid Battle 1
The game was Capture and Control, with a pitched battle set up. The objective on the Tyranid side was placed in the middle wood on their side, the objective of the Eldar was placed at the wide open space at the east side.
The armies were:
TYRANID
16 Termagants
Tervigon
6 Shrike w/ bonesword and whip
6 Tunnelling Rippers w/spinefists
6 Warriors, one w/ venom cannon, the rest with deathspitters
Tyranid Prime w/regeneration, lash whip and bonesword
3 units of 2 Hive Guard
15 Hormogaunts w/toxin sacs
8 Genestealers
ELDAR
Eldarad
3 warlocks on jetbikes, with singing spears and destructors
An autarch with sweeping hawk wings, a fusion gun and a power sword
10 Dire Avengers, with an Exarch, extra catapult and bladestorm
Dedicated Transport: Wave Serpent, with a twin linked brightlance
10 Storm Guardians w/ two fusion guns, and a Warlock with a singing spear and embolden
Dedicated Transport: Wave Serpent with spirit stones, twin linked shuriken cannons and star engines
6 jet bikes, w/ two shuriken cannons; and a 7th jet bike warlock with a singing spears and a destructor
3 Vipers with Bright lance and shuriken cannon each
DEPLOYMENT
I massed the Tyranids pretty tight, intending to advance forwards using my little guys as cover.
The Eldar took the north west corner, tightly packed, which meant that already my hive guard were too far away from them to be effective.
So here's the set up, looking at it from the western edge
And here it is from the north eastern edge, the shot I'll use for most of the game.
TURN ONE
Tyranids go first. Funnily enough, we charged and then ran.
END OF TYRANID TURN ONE
Looked like this
ELDAR TURN ONE
The Eldar moved forward, and deployed the Dire Avengers out of the backside of the tank. Taking a bead on the front most termagants, they bladestormed them. Going to ground, the little tikes didn't know what else to do. They, nonetheless, got utterly wiped out. The Eldar then let rip on the western most unit of hive guard, who also go to ground. The Brightlance of one of the tanks manages to take out one of the Guard. Finally, the remaining tank star drives forward.
TYRANID TURN TWO
The stealers make the reserve roll. Aha! Ready to leap on the Eldar at the edge. But, no, I screw up the roll and end up on the wrong edge. The Stealers charge in and settle down into the wood, with an eye on doing nothing before taking the objective later in the game.
The Tervigon spits out 11 gants and - seeing the opportunity to get a bit of monstrous creature action in, charges the tank. This proved, however, utterly ineffective. The rest of the horde move forward. The Warriors let rip with their venom cannon, taking our three of the Dire Avengers, and the deathspitters from the rest of the warriors take out another two. I was happy enough with that.
END OF TYRANID TURN TWO
ELDAR TURN TWO
The guardians disembark from the other tank, whilst the Dire Avengers get back on board theirs. The guardians blast the Tervigon, fusion blasting it for a wound. The Autarch does another, the Warlock's spear bounces off. The shuriken *pistols* manage to do another 3 wounds which the Tervigon fails to save. Did you hear me? The PISTOLS did three wounds.
3 brightlances open upon on the Hive Guard on the far west. He drops back to ground again, but even that doesn't save the poor bastard.
The Warlocks on the jet bikes flame the warriors, for a total of 14 wounds. This kills three, and smokes two more. It glances the Shrike, but does no damage.
The Guardians assault the Tervigon. One power sword later, inflicting four wounds, and the Tervigon is dead. The Warlocks assault the warriors, managing to kill the one with a venom cannon, but in return lose two of their bikes.
So, there we have the consolidated warriors leaving the dead Tervigon to go to the objective, and the warriors still assaulting the cardboard cut out warlock on a jet bike.
END OF ELDAR TURN TWO
TYRANID TURN THREE
Mal went to buy fags. I was left doing my turn on my own, and thought that Eldarad was the guy who got out of the tank. So when my ripper swarms emerged, I put them down that end. The Ripper Swarms emerge, but they miss the deep strike, ending up in the forest, narrowly being able to be placed. The hormogaunts and hive guard continue forwards, but everything else turns around to take out the Eldar who have got that bit too close.
The Shrike charge the guardians, killing them utterly and consolidating back towards the Vipers, thinking they could get a go at them there. The Warriors manage to finish off the warlocks, and turn back towards moving back across the table.
Here they are, having done the business.
END OF TYRANID TURN THREE
ELDAR TURN THREE
The Eldar doom another the Hive Guard units. The Dire Avengers disembark again, and their tank heads off. The Vipers move around to the side of the building facing the Tyranids, and the jet bikes advance. The Bikes flame the hormogaunt unit, taking out five, and then light them up with Shuriken Cannons, taking out another 5. The removal of the dead manages to kill the unit just out of range of the Avengers, who fire nonetheless.
The Vipers line up and take a shot at the Hive Guard, taking down one of them.
END OF ELDAR TURN THREE
TYRANID TURN FOUR
The Prime breaks off from the Warriors and returns to the objective on the Tyranid side of the table to ensure that the units stay in synapse range. The termagant units and ripper swarms spread out to surround the objective and keep enemies from coming within 3".
The Hive Guard open up on the Vipers, taking out one, and then the Shrike assault it, taking out another.
The hormogaunts utterly screw up charging the jet bikes by not making it through the barbed wire (rolling a 2, 2, 1 for move through cover. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE CHANCES ARE OF THAT? My gawd, those eldar jet bikes are lucky.) They manage to run a little, getting past the wire, but that's it.
END OF TYRANID TURN FOUR
ELDAR TURN FOUR
The Avengers get back in the tank again, whilst Eldarad's tank comes down ready to challenge the Tyranid side objective. The jet bikes move to gun down the hormogaunts, which they succeed in doing between the flamer and the shuriken cannon.
The Tank fires at the Hive Guard, but to no effect.
END OF ELDAR TURN FOUR
TYRANID TURN FIVE
The Hive Guard, seeing Eldarad's tank at the back, open fire on it. No effect. (What the hell? Those Guard have killed on viper, and that's it. Pieces of crap.)
The stealers, sensing now is the time to move, valiantly move and then run through the barbed wire like it isn't there, passing all of the necessary tests, and making the full 12" to get next to the objective on the Eldar side of the table.
The Shrike charge up, but I can see now that they can only contest the Eldar objective by turn seven so I need the game to last another two turns.
END OF TYRANID TURN FIVE
ELDAR TURN FIVE
The tank shocks the Tyranid objective, moving the gants out of the way and contesting it. I'm just hoping that the Hive Guard can finish it off next turn.
The jet bikes zoom up. Flaming and cannoning them to death they do the Eldar shuffle and sit on the objective. The tank follows up with them.
Knowing that I need not just one, but two more turns, I watch Mal roll the end of game die. It comes up with a '1', and with one objective contested, and the other firmly in Eldar control, that's that for the Tyranids.
END OF GAME SHOT
The armies were:
TYRANID
16 Termagants
Tervigon
6 Shrike w/ bonesword and whip
6 Tunnelling Rippers w/spinefists
6 Warriors, one w/ venom cannon, the rest with deathspitters
Tyranid Prime w/regeneration, lash whip and bonesword
3 units of 2 Hive Guard
15 Hormogaunts w/toxin sacs
8 Genestealers
ELDAR
Eldarad
3 warlocks on jetbikes, with singing spears and destructors
An autarch with sweeping hawk wings, a fusion gun and a power sword
10 Dire Avengers, with an Exarch, extra catapult and bladestorm
Dedicated Transport: Wave Serpent, with a twin linked brightlance
10 Storm Guardians w/ two fusion guns, and a Warlock with a singing spear and embolden
Dedicated Transport: Wave Serpent with spirit stones, twin linked shuriken cannons and star engines
6 jet bikes, w/ two shuriken cannons; and a 7th jet bike warlock with a singing spears and a destructor
3 Vipers with Bright lance and shuriken cannon each
DEPLOYMENT
I massed the Tyranids pretty tight, intending to advance forwards using my little guys as cover.
The Eldar took the north west corner, tightly packed, which meant that already my hive guard were too far away from them to be effective.
Tyranids go first. Funnily enough, we charged and then ran.
Looked like this
The Eldar moved forward, and deployed the Dire Avengers out of the backside of the tank. Taking a bead on the front most termagants, they bladestormed them. Going to ground, the little tikes didn't know what else to do. They, nonetheless, got utterly wiped out. The Eldar then let rip on the western most unit of hive guard, who also go to ground. The Brightlance of one of the tanks manages to take out one of the Guard. Finally, the remaining tank star drives forward.
As you can see, Malcolm was using tiny cardboard circles from the warlocks on jet bikes. You can see the absence of the termagants and the lone Hive Guard sat on the left. Poor bastard.
END OF ELDAR TURN ONE
Looked like this
The stealers make the reserve roll. Aha! Ready to leap on the Eldar at the edge. But, no, I screw up the roll and end up on the wrong edge. The Stealers charge in and settle down into the wood, with an eye on doing nothing before taking the objective later in the game.
The Tervigon spits out 11 gants and - seeing the opportunity to get a bit of monstrous creature action in, charges the tank. This proved, however, utterly ineffective. The rest of the horde move forward. The Warriors let rip with their venom cannon, taking our three of the Dire Avengers, and the deathspitters from the rest of the warriors take out another two. I was happy enough with that.
The guardians disembark from the other tank, whilst the Dire Avengers get back on board theirs. The guardians blast the Tervigon, fusion blasting it for a wound. The Autarch does another, the Warlock's spear bounces off. The shuriken *pistols* manage to do another 3 wounds which the Tervigon fails to save. Did you hear me? The PISTOLS did three wounds.
3 brightlances open upon on the Hive Guard on the far west. He drops back to ground again, but even that doesn't save the poor bastard.
The Warlocks on the jet bikes flame the warriors, for a total of 14 wounds. This kills three, and smokes two more. It glances the Shrike, but does no damage.
The Guardians assault the Tervigon. One power sword later, inflicting four wounds, and the Tervigon is dead. The Warlocks assault the warriors, managing to kill the one with a venom cannon, but in return lose two of their bikes.
So, there we have the consolidated warriors leaving the dead Tervigon to go to the objective, and the warriors still assaulting the cardboard cut out warlock on a jet bike.
END OF ELDAR TURN TWO
TYRANID TURN THREE
Mal went to buy fags. I was left doing my turn on my own, and thought that Eldarad was the guy who got out of the tank. So when my ripper swarms emerged, I put them down that end. The Ripper Swarms emerge, but they miss the deep strike, ending up in the forest, narrowly being able to be placed. The hormogaunts and hive guard continue forwards, but everything else turns around to take out the Eldar who have got that bit too close.
The Shrike charge the guardians, killing them utterly and consolidating back towards the Vipers, thinking they could get a go at them there. The Warriors manage to finish off the warlocks, and turn back towards moving back across the table.
END OF TYRANID TURN THREE
The Eldar doom another the Hive Guard units. The Dire Avengers disembark again, and their tank heads off. The Vipers move around to the side of the building facing the Tyranids, and the jet bikes advance. The Bikes flame the hormogaunt unit, taking out five, and then light them up with Shuriken Cannons, taking out another 5. The removal of the dead manages to kill the unit just out of range of the Avengers, who fire nonetheless.
The Vipers line up and take a shot at the Hive Guard, taking down one of them.
END OF ELDAR TURN THREE
TYRANID TURN FOUR
The Prime breaks off from the Warriors and returns to the objective on the Tyranid side of the table to ensure that the units stay in synapse range. The termagant units and ripper swarms spread out to surround the objective and keep enemies from coming within 3".
The hormogaunts utterly screw up charging the jet bikes by not making it through the barbed wire (rolling a 2, 2, 1 for move through cover. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE CHANCES ARE OF THAT? My gawd, those eldar jet bikes are lucky.) They manage to run a little, getting past the wire, but that's it.
END OF TYRANID TURN FOUR
The Avengers get back in the tank again, whilst Eldarad's tank comes down ready to challenge the Tyranid side objective. The jet bikes move to gun down the hormogaunts, which they succeed in doing between the flamer and the shuriken cannon.
The Tank fires at the Hive Guard, but to no effect.
END OF ELDAR TURN FOUR
The Hive Guard, seeing Eldarad's tank at the back, open fire on it. No effect. (What the hell? Those Guard have killed on viper, and that's it. Pieces of crap.)
The stealers, sensing now is the time to move, valiantly move and then run through the barbed wire like it isn't there, passing all of the necessary tests, and making the full 12" to get next to the objective on the Eldar side of the table.
The Shrike charge up, but I can see now that they can only contest the Eldar objective by turn seven so I need the game to last another two turns.
END OF TYRANID TURN FIVE
ELDAR TURN FIVE
The tank shocks the Tyranid objective, moving the gants out of the way and contesting it. I'm just hoping that the Hive Guard can finish it off next turn.
The jet bikes zoom up. Flaming and cannoning them to death they do the Eldar shuffle and sit on the objective. The tank follows up with them.
Knowing that I need not just one, but two more turns, I watch Mal roll the end of game die. It comes up with a '1', and with one objective contested, and the other firmly in Eldar control, that's that for the Tyranids.
END OF GAME SHOT
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