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.

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. Here're two pictures of the battle at the end:

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.

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

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

Tyranid Prime

So, here's how I set about designing my Tyranid Prime.

So here's the Tyranid warrior sprue. I decided on trying to extend the legs. Here they are:

So I cut it in half, carefully, using a (slightly naff) hacksaw. Like so:

Using the drill, I drilled and pinned each of them so give the legs a bit of height.

I then used the epoxy to fill the legs. This repositioned them and gave them slightly more height. I won't lie, though, the repositioning was poor, and the height barely noticeable. I should've stuck with just doing the rest of the conversion, and shouldn't have bothered with this part.

To the tip of the tail I added a piece of what should go on the Carinfex:

Similarly, I used a Carnifexes head. I snipped it down to size, and then removed the little nub on the Tyranid warrior model. For the lash whip I began by drilling the arm and sticking a curved paper clip portion into the whole. I epoxied that in place.

I then drilled and pinned the abdomen to the chest. Again I ensured that about 1.5cm of paper clip remained out of the wholes, to give it some extra height. I then epoxied around the gap to try and remake a waist. The downside is that this meant the model looked a bit emaciated. This was compounded by the large head - it doesn't look entirely comical, but it doesn't look entirely in scale with everything else.

For the bonesword I snipped the hand off of a scything talon, then snipped off the talon. I turned the hand back around the other way and glued it back onto the stump. I then cut out a piece of plasticard, and epoxied the plasticard onto the hand to get a bonesword.

Overall the project was a success and a failure. The model ended up looking a bit like an anorexic manga style Tyranid, with a thin waist and a really, really big head, rather than a ferocious monster. But it doesn't look terrible. But the big upside is that it is OBVIOUS which model is my Tyranid Prime, and as it doesn't look too bad it fits well with the other Tyranid models. As soon as I've finished painting it, I'll post pictures of that too.