Post by halos on Aug 11, 2012 13:50:15 GMT
I'm back with another battle report. I missed getting a game on Tuesday so no report from then, but no matter as a got in two games on Thursday instead, so this shall be part one of a double-feature.
On to the actual reporting, this game was against a good friend of mine who I have not yet managed to play in 6th edition. He was using vanilla Space Marines (with some very nicely painted Deathwing Terminators, although just used as standard Termies in this game) and I was still using my 1850pt Nid list which you've probably seen already if you're reading these reports.
~Set Up~
Army lists were as follows:
Space Marines
•HQ
-Pedro Kantor
-Librarian (Epistolary, Terminator Armour)
•Troops
-10x Tactical Marines (Lascannon, Plasmagun, Sergeant)
-10x Tactical Marines (Lascannon, Plasmagun, Sergeant)
-10x Tactical Marines (Missile Launcher, Meltagun, Sergeant)
•Elites
-5x Assault Terminators (TH/SS)
-5x Tactical Terminators (Cyclone Missile Launcher)
•Heavy Support
-10x Devastator Marines (4x Missile Launchers, Sergeant)
-Techmarine (Thunderfire Cannon)
Tyranids
•HQ
-Hive Tyrant (2x TL Devourers, Armoured Shell, Old Adversary)
•Troops
-15x Termagants (Devourers)
-15x Termagants (Devourers)
-Tervigon (Crushing Claws, Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands, Catalyst, Onslaught)
-Tervigon (Crushing Claws, Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands, Catalyst, Onslaught)
•Elites
-6x Ymgarl Genestealers
-3x Hive Guard
-2x Zoanthropes
•Heavy Support
-Trygon
-Trygon
We started rolling for terrain and ended up with something dull like 7-8 pieces so we decided to spice things up a tad and throw as much terrain on the table as possible, grabbing a bunch of ruins and setting up a little city-scape table which looked awesome.
The mission was Kill Points (booooo!) and the Deployment was Vanguard Strike (with the bizarre triangular deployment lanes.) Warlord Traits were Pedro Kantor with the Command Trait Coo-ordinated Assault allowing everyone within 12" to add an extra inch to their charge ranges. The Hive Tyrant gained the Strategic Trait Divide to Conquer forcing the Space Marines to -1 from their reserve rolls (although they have no reserves...)
~Deployment~
The once proud hive-city of Regnis-iV(a) lies in a state of disrepair; it's citizens scattered, it's building despoiled. Over the years the mighty structure, aided by the stalwart forces of the Imperium, has shrugged of Chaos assaults and Xenos raids. But the insidious, undetectable growth of a Genestealer cult within the city proved its undoing. The indomitable might of the Space Marines are called to the aid of the ailing metropolis however, by the time they arrive it is almost too late; the bulk a Tyrannic splinter fleet, drawn by the irresitable siren song of a growing genestealer infestation have all but claimed the city. All the Space Marines can do is their duty; suffer not the foul Xeno to live.
Tyranids win the roll off for first deployment. Everything swaps out psychic powers for the posh rulebook ones. The Hive Tyrant gains Enfeeble and Endurance. Both Tervigons gain Haemorrage, Iron Arm and Enfeeble. Both Zoanthropes take Psychic Shriek as a nice anti-infantry option and, in addition one rolls up Haemorrage and the other Leech Life. There is a lot of LoS blocking terrain to be taken advantage of so the Nids split into two vague groupings in a pair of large footprint ruins. The Trygons stand in the open(-ish) whilst still touching area terrain to act as fire magnets.
The Librarian also swaps his powers out gaining Psychic Shriek and Enfeeble. The Space Marines have their work cut out in this dense terrain, but it does give them an unparralled opportunity to set up fire lanes and force the nids into a death trap. The Terminators deploy centrally as a wall between the aliens and the main Marine forces. One Taq squad sits to the far right with reasonable LoS to much of the Nid forces. The other sits in a multi-leveled ruins giving their Lascannon a nice field of fire. The last Taq squad hides behind a warehouse structure to the left, ready to spring out on any Nids which make it past or around the Terminators. The Techmarine's artillery place is difficult to place now that they cannot go up ruin levels, so it sits on a hill in the far left corner surrounded by Devastators. Not the perfect firing position, but with a 60" range that doesn't really matter.
Finally the Ymgarls deploy secretly in the warehouse marked on the map, ready to jump out on the Devastators or other suitable targets.
Night Fighting is not in effect for the first turn and the Marines fail to Seize the Iniative so the game begins with the Nids first turn.
~Turn 1~ Victory Points: Space Marines 0 / Tyranids 0
•Tyranids
The seried, shining ranks of the Imperiums mightiest warriors wait in the shadowy ruins of the decimated hive. Watching the wave of scuttling flesh and chitin head inexorably towards them without a trace of fear in their hearts. Prayers and graces to the God-Emperor are whispered, munitions and feed-lines checked and re-checked as the alien menace surges ever closer.
Psychic powers first, both Tervigons cast Iron Arm, although one loses a wound in the process. The Tyrant casts Endurance on herself. Everything moves forwards as far as possible, except the Tervigons which hang around towards the back, as far out of LoS as an enormous monster can be. The Trygons dodge to the next closest piece of area terrain.
In the centre a few gants, the Tyrant and Hive Guard can just about draw LoS to a Terminators and dutifully send a flurry of lethal insects at the armoured warriors, killing one. On the right flank a very few gants get in range of the Space Marines and slaying three.
•Space Marines
The Librarian Thelonius Losar orders his Terminators forwards, armoured feet crushing through the brittle ruins of this dead place, even the stone leeched of minerals by the ravenous tyranids. This would end here.
The Terminators surge through the gap, ready and eager to bring the fight to the Tyranids. We get to see a nice little beat of 6th ed New Stuff(tm) as well as the Teal and Black Tac squads reposition themselves but keep the heavy weapons stationary, allowing them to fire at full BS.
The green Tac squad and Tactical termies fire into the Hive Tyrant, one shot breaking through her armour, cover and FnP and causing a wound. The Teal taq squad open fire on the encroaching gants before they can bring their full firepower to bear, killing the first few which had foolishly left the cover in order to get in range in the previous turn. The Devastators and Thunderfire Cannon smack into the flanking Trygon, but a healthy cover save and reasonable armour see it survive the onslaught with all 6 wounds intact. The Librarian attempts to Psychic Shriek the nearby gants. Unfortunately the pass their 6+ Deny the Witch roll and the SMs miss out on getting to feel what the DoM feels like every day.
The Terminators attempt to charge the gants, taking another round of shooting for their troubles. They fail to reach their target and are left out in the cold.
~Turn 2~ Victory Points: Space Marines 1 / Tyranids 4
•Tyranids
Even Thelonius and his men charge forwards, hammers raised and psychic force crackling from the Librarians eyes he begins to feel an intense fatigue, the likes of which he has never before felt. Opening his eyes to the world invisible to those without the psykers gift he screams for his men to retreat; a trap! The Tyranid monstrositites were emitting a foul, oily web of psionic power, sapping the strenght of any who draw near. With limbs heavy as lead the Terminators attempt to pull free of the loathsome dead-zone.
First up Reserves; the Ymgarls show up and head towards the Devastator squad. Both Tervigons and the Tyrant attempt to Enfeeble the Terminator squad, two of them by-passing the Librarians 4+ Deny the Wych making the squad S and T2 (an action which, I realise may very well be FAQd soon, but for now I'm going to make the most of it as it is hilarious.) The green gants and Tervigon move up to get the green Tac squad in range. The teal Trygon shuffles behind the warehouse building to get the jump on some SMs in a later turn. The green Trygon similarly smashes his way into a tall building, blocking himself off from the marines (stealthy!.) Everything in the middles moves forwards to get the Terminators in range. The Hive Guard (who, with no vehicles, have very little to do in this game) move across a bit to get in range os some choice targets later.
The Tyrant fires into the green Tac squad, hoping to use her Precision Shots to take out the Lascannon early on, no such luck however and only a few generic squaddies are killed. On the right flank the teal Taq squad faces the full brunt of a Devourer brood right in the face, with an added S5 pie-plate for good measure and are wiped off the map. The Zoanthropes attempt to Haemorrage the T2 Termies but are denied by the Librarian. The Termagants then open up into the heavily armoured troopers. Wounding on 2s with re-rolls from Old Adversary is just too much fun and the entire squad is slain.
The Ymgarls charge the Devastators, nimbly evading the Overwatch and ripping 4 of them apart. The remaining marines kill a Genestealer and hold fast thanks to Kantor's Stubborn.
•Space Marines
Tactical squad Daius are alerted to a sudden chittering and rushing behind them, swiftly followed by a number of hideous tearing noises. Sprinting to the source of the commotion the tactical marines find a number of swift clawed beasts violently attacking the Invictus Devastator squad, evidently some remnants of the Genestealer cult remain hidden in the city, these specimens appeared to have emerged from a nearby sewer opening. Roaring a ferocious charge Sergeant Daius orders his men to bring the fight to the foul beasts.
The black Tac squad turns around to deal with the sudden increase in genestealer numbers on the table. The tactical Terminators move into the central square determined to finish what the Assaul termies couldn't.
All shooting is centered on the Hive Tyrant, the Thunderfire Cannon, green Tac squad and Terminators all pump their fire power into the alien leader. Not least for the free kill point for slaying the Warlord but also to reduce the Tyranids devastating psychic potential. After the smoke has cleared however the Hive Tyrant is still standing, albeit rather unstably with only a single wound remaining.
The black Tac squad charge into the Ymgarls from the rear, cutting the confused creatures apart with chainsword and combat knife or, failing that, vicious stomps from powered boots. The Ymgarls are slain but not before they kill another three Devastators. (They couldn't even kill all the missile launchers, useless Genestealers...)
~Turn 3~ Victory Points: Space Marines 1 / Tyranids 7
•Tyranids
The lacannon spotter, perched high in the ruins of a long abandoned hab-block has an unparalleled view of the battlefield. He watches in dismay as the glorious, armoured Terminators and their famed commander march straight into the same trap which claimed the life of the Librarian. He attempts to vox down a warning, but all the psychic field beginning to coalesce around the terminators blocks out any attempts of communication, the only warning the dreadnaught-armoured soldiers get is a sudden burst of screaming static before even that is clammed down by the roiling energies.
Three Enfeebles are once again thrown at the Terminators, one blocked by DtW. The teal gants move forwards in case a charge is necessary to finish off the weakened Termies. The green gants move round the top of the map to draw a bead on the green tac squad whilst the Tervigon hunkers down in the central building. Both Trygons smash out of their respective hiding places and head to put the hurt into some tactical marines.
The Zoanthropes once again tries to Haemorrage the Terminators, no pesky Librarian to stop them this time. The spell goes through, the first T test is failed, but then the damage is mitigated by the Terminators invulnerabl save (laaaame, Haemorrage isn't very good you guys.) Psychic Shriek however proves much more worthwhile, killing two terminators. The gants devourers finish off the rest. The Hive Guard and teal Trygon fire into the black Tac squad, killing a few marines. Whilst the Tyrant snipes the Lascannon out of the green squad and the green gants kill several more soldiers of the Imperium.
Both Trygons attempt to charge and both fail to make their way through the rough terrain. Charging through terrain really sucks in this edition. MCs should just ignore it really, I mean, c'mon, they are huge monsters!
•Space Marines
++Tactical Scribe Lousus Darian++ The day is lost at this stage, the foul Xenos are too many and the Space Marines forced into a battlefield they were unsuited to dealing with. Of course the great and glorious Astartes continue the fight, there can be no retreat in this scenario. -A Treatise on the Great Conflicts of the Aegatean Front (Vol 3)
Not a whole lot the Space Marines can really do here, killing one Trygon with these resources would be tough enough, never mind two. Regardless they press on; the black squad rounds on their Trygon and the green squad on the other.
The Thunderfire cannon slams into the furthest Trygon, knocking a wound from the mighty beast. The green Tac squads well-drilled fire takes down another wound. The Black tac squad also knock a wound of their target with the Missile Launcher, unfortunately this prohibits them from charging.
~Turn 4~ Victory Points: Space Marines 1 / Tyranids 9
•Tyranids
++Imperial Data-banks, Battle Cruiser Indomitable Spirit, in high orbit around Regnis++ REPORT FEED// Ground Battle situation: Imperial Defeat. Adeptus Astartes unable to turn Xenos invasion. Estimated time to planets loss: 34 hours, (imperial time). Recommended Course of Action: Viral Bombardment (tyrannic strain)// Planet cannot be reclaimed, it cannot fall into the hands of the enemy. ++Thought for the Day: Let the Emperor be your Shield and your Faith shall never Falter++
The Tyrant drops Endurance on herself, thankfully not killing herself via perils in the process, which is nice. Both Tervigons throw up Iron Arm because I miss having Eternal Warrior on everything. The teal Trygon decides to ignore the tac squad entirely and head towards my most hated Space Marine unit; the Thunderfire Cannon. The second Trygon heads closer towards the tac squad. Lets see difficult terrain stop this charge! The Tyrant hops down from her perch in the ruins and hides somewhere just in case the SMs try for one last attempt at Slaying the Warlord.
The Hive Guard kill a couple of black Tactical marines and the green gants, with help from the Hive Tyrant, thin the tactical squad down to just two remaining marines.
The teal Trygon charges the Thunderfire cannon, losing a wound to the Techmarines twin-linked plasma pistol in the process. It decides to smash because a MC wounding on 5s is just silly and crushes the cannon into a pile of scrap. The techmarine fails to wound the Trygon in return. The green Trygon smashes through the two remaining marines, although loses a wound in the process and consolidates through the ruin wall towards the last few Space Marines.
•Space Marines
That's kind of the end of the game really; the rest of the Space Marines charge the embattled Trygon and get squashed for their troubles.
~Aftermath~
So the Tyranids are the clear victors with a massacre of the unfortunate Space Marine forces. The final scores are:
•Tyranids: 12vp
-Primary Objectives (x9)
-Secondary Objectives (x3)
•Space Marines: 1vp
-Primary Objectives (x1)
All in all this was a fun, kinda silly game with a whole bunch of terrain and lots of stylish things going on.
Speaking of terrain I thought we put a lot down but looking at the map we only really had 12 pieces, so in an actual game there could be 6 more pieces than we had. That is an absolutely ludicrous amount of terrain, what we had here was really too much, as evidenced by the Space Marines being extremely restricted in their shooting ability.
We talked about this afterwards and agreed that Space Marines really do suffer in the Anti-Horde department. Against similar armies of small, elite units they are very good, with their superior armour and weapons and stats and such. But throw a bunch of bodies out there and they start running out of options quite quickly.
~Photo Gallery~
Just a few quick photos I snapped during the game, quality is very poor as ever so take them with a grain of salt.
My opponents rather lovely Deathwing Terminators for an upcoming Dark Angels army.
Some generic battlefield shots at various stages during the game. I guess you can try and work out what turns they were or something? Whatever.
Plus as an added bonus I have finally finished painting all my gants. I dread to think just how many years they have spent either unpainted or painted in the wrong scheme. I never have to paint another Termagants again! (Trying very hard to ignore the 30+ poorly painted Hormagaunts to redo at some stage.)
Alright then. That's it for this Battle Report, hope you enjoyed reading it. As ever feel free to throw your comments down as I enjoy reading them.
I have another battle to write up as well so stay tuned for BatRep 2: Electric Boogaloo which I should get posted in the next few days.
On to the actual reporting, this game was against a good friend of mine who I have not yet managed to play in 6th edition. He was using vanilla Space Marines (with some very nicely painted Deathwing Terminators, although just used as standard Termies in this game) and I was still using my 1850pt Nid list which you've probably seen already if you're reading these reports.
~Set Up~
Army lists were as follows:
Space Marines
•HQ
-Pedro Kantor
-Librarian (Epistolary, Terminator Armour)
•Troops
-10x Tactical Marines (Lascannon, Plasmagun, Sergeant)
-10x Tactical Marines (Lascannon, Plasmagun, Sergeant)
-10x Tactical Marines (Missile Launcher, Meltagun, Sergeant)
•Elites
-5x Assault Terminators (TH/SS)
-5x Tactical Terminators (Cyclone Missile Launcher)
•Heavy Support
-10x Devastator Marines (4x Missile Launchers, Sergeant)
-Techmarine (Thunderfire Cannon)
Tyranids
•HQ
-Hive Tyrant (2x TL Devourers, Armoured Shell, Old Adversary)
•Troops
-15x Termagants (Devourers)
-15x Termagants (Devourers)
-Tervigon (Crushing Claws, Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands, Catalyst, Onslaught)
-Tervigon (Crushing Claws, Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands, Catalyst, Onslaught)
•Elites
-6x Ymgarl Genestealers
-3x Hive Guard
-2x Zoanthropes
•Heavy Support
-Trygon
-Trygon
We started rolling for terrain and ended up with something dull like 7-8 pieces so we decided to spice things up a tad and throw as much terrain on the table as possible, grabbing a bunch of ruins and setting up a little city-scape table which looked awesome.
The mission was Kill Points (booooo!) and the Deployment was Vanguard Strike (with the bizarre triangular deployment lanes.) Warlord Traits were Pedro Kantor with the Command Trait Coo-ordinated Assault allowing everyone within 12" to add an extra inch to their charge ranges. The Hive Tyrant gained the Strategic Trait Divide to Conquer forcing the Space Marines to -1 from their reserve rolls (although they have no reserves...)
~Deployment~
The once proud hive-city of Regnis-iV(a) lies in a state of disrepair; it's citizens scattered, it's building despoiled. Over the years the mighty structure, aided by the stalwart forces of the Imperium, has shrugged of Chaos assaults and Xenos raids. But the insidious, undetectable growth of a Genestealer cult within the city proved its undoing. The indomitable might of the Space Marines are called to the aid of the ailing metropolis however, by the time they arrive it is almost too late; the bulk a Tyrannic splinter fleet, drawn by the irresitable siren song of a growing genestealer infestation have all but claimed the city. All the Space Marines can do is their duty; suffer not the foul Xeno to live.Tyranids win the roll off for first deployment. Everything swaps out psychic powers for the posh rulebook ones. The Hive Tyrant gains Enfeeble and Endurance. Both Tervigons gain Haemorrage, Iron Arm and Enfeeble. Both Zoanthropes take Psychic Shriek as a nice anti-infantry option and, in addition one rolls up Haemorrage and the other Leech Life. There is a lot of LoS blocking terrain to be taken advantage of so the Nids split into two vague groupings in a pair of large footprint ruins. The Trygons stand in the open(-ish) whilst still touching area terrain to act as fire magnets.
The Librarian also swaps his powers out gaining Psychic Shriek and Enfeeble. The Space Marines have their work cut out in this dense terrain, but it does give them an unparralled opportunity to set up fire lanes and force the nids into a death trap. The Terminators deploy centrally as a wall between the aliens and the main Marine forces. One Taq squad sits to the far right with reasonable LoS to much of the Nid forces. The other sits in a multi-leveled ruins giving their Lascannon a nice field of fire. The last Taq squad hides behind a warehouse structure to the left, ready to spring out on any Nids which make it past or around the Terminators. The Techmarine's artillery place is difficult to place now that they cannot go up ruin levels, so it sits on a hill in the far left corner surrounded by Devastators. Not the perfect firing position, but with a 60" range that doesn't really matter.
Finally the Ymgarls deploy secretly in the warehouse marked on the map, ready to jump out on the Devastators or other suitable targets.
Night Fighting is not in effect for the first turn and the Marines fail to Seize the Iniative so the game begins with the Nids first turn.
~Turn 1~ Victory Points: Space Marines 0 / Tyranids 0
•Tyranids
The seried, shining ranks of the Imperiums mightiest warriors wait in the shadowy ruins of the decimated hive. Watching the wave of scuttling flesh and chitin head inexorably towards them without a trace of fear in their hearts. Prayers and graces to the God-Emperor are whispered, munitions and feed-lines checked and re-checked as the alien menace surges ever closer.
Psychic powers first, both Tervigons cast Iron Arm, although one loses a wound in the process. The Tyrant casts Endurance on herself. Everything moves forwards as far as possible, except the Tervigons which hang around towards the back, as far out of LoS as an enormous monster can be. The Trygons dodge to the next closest piece of area terrain.
In the centre a few gants, the Tyrant and Hive Guard can just about draw LoS to a Terminators and dutifully send a flurry of lethal insects at the armoured warriors, killing one. On the right flank a very few gants get in range of the Space Marines and slaying three.
•Space Marines
The Librarian Thelonius Losar orders his Terminators forwards, armoured feet crushing through the brittle ruins of this dead place, even the stone leeched of minerals by the ravenous tyranids. This would end here.
The Terminators surge through the gap, ready and eager to bring the fight to the Tyranids. We get to see a nice little beat of 6th ed New Stuff(tm) as well as the Teal and Black Tac squads reposition themselves but keep the heavy weapons stationary, allowing them to fire at full BS.
The green Tac squad and Tactical termies fire into the Hive Tyrant, one shot breaking through her armour, cover and FnP and causing a wound. The Teal taq squad open fire on the encroaching gants before they can bring their full firepower to bear, killing the first few which had foolishly left the cover in order to get in range in the previous turn. The Devastators and Thunderfire Cannon smack into the flanking Trygon, but a healthy cover save and reasonable armour see it survive the onslaught with all 6 wounds intact. The Librarian attempts to Psychic Shriek the nearby gants. Unfortunately the pass their 6+ Deny the Witch roll and the SMs miss out on getting to feel what the DoM feels like every day.
The Terminators attempt to charge the gants, taking another round of shooting for their troubles. They fail to reach their target and are left out in the cold.
~Turn 2~ Victory Points: Space Marines 1 / Tyranids 4
•Tyranids
Even Thelonius and his men charge forwards, hammers raised and psychic force crackling from the Librarians eyes he begins to feel an intense fatigue, the likes of which he has never before felt. Opening his eyes to the world invisible to those without the psykers gift he screams for his men to retreat; a trap! The Tyranid monstrositites were emitting a foul, oily web of psionic power, sapping the strenght of any who draw near. With limbs heavy as lead the Terminators attempt to pull free of the loathsome dead-zone.
First up Reserves; the Ymgarls show up and head towards the Devastator squad. Both Tervigons and the Tyrant attempt to Enfeeble the Terminator squad, two of them by-passing the Librarians 4+ Deny the Wych making the squad S and T2 (an action which, I realise may very well be FAQd soon, but for now I'm going to make the most of it as it is hilarious.) The green gants and Tervigon move up to get the green Tac squad in range. The teal Trygon shuffles behind the warehouse building to get the jump on some SMs in a later turn. The green Trygon similarly smashes his way into a tall building, blocking himself off from the marines (stealthy!.) Everything in the middles moves forwards to get the Terminators in range. The Hive Guard (who, with no vehicles, have very little to do in this game) move across a bit to get in range os some choice targets later.
The Tyrant fires into the green Tac squad, hoping to use her Precision Shots to take out the Lascannon early on, no such luck however and only a few generic squaddies are killed. On the right flank the teal Taq squad faces the full brunt of a Devourer brood right in the face, with an added S5 pie-plate for good measure and are wiped off the map. The Zoanthropes attempt to Haemorrage the T2 Termies but are denied by the Librarian. The Termagants then open up into the heavily armoured troopers. Wounding on 2s with re-rolls from Old Adversary is just too much fun and the entire squad is slain.
The Ymgarls charge the Devastators, nimbly evading the Overwatch and ripping 4 of them apart. The remaining marines kill a Genestealer and hold fast thanks to Kantor's Stubborn.
•Space Marines
Tactical squad Daius are alerted to a sudden chittering and rushing behind them, swiftly followed by a number of hideous tearing noises. Sprinting to the source of the commotion the tactical marines find a number of swift clawed beasts violently attacking the Invictus Devastator squad, evidently some remnants of the Genestealer cult remain hidden in the city, these specimens appeared to have emerged from a nearby sewer opening. Roaring a ferocious charge Sergeant Daius orders his men to bring the fight to the foul beasts.
The black Tac squad turns around to deal with the sudden increase in genestealer numbers on the table. The tactical Terminators move into the central square determined to finish what the Assaul termies couldn't.
All shooting is centered on the Hive Tyrant, the Thunderfire Cannon, green Tac squad and Terminators all pump their fire power into the alien leader. Not least for the free kill point for slaying the Warlord but also to reduce the Tyranids devastating psychic potential. After the smoke has cleared however the Hive Tyrant is still standing, albeit rather unstably with only a single wound remaining.
The black Tac squad charge into the Ymgarls from the rear, cutting the confused creatures apart with chainsword and combat knife or, failing that, vicious stomps from powered boots. The Ymgarls are slain but not before they kill another three Devastators. (They couldn't even kill all the missile launchers, useless Genestealers...)
~Turn 3~ Victory Points: Space Marines 1 / Tyranids 7
•Tyranids
The lacannon spotter, perched high in the ruins of a long abandoned hab-block has an unparalleled view of the battlefield. He watches in dismay as the glorious, armoured Terminators and their famed commander march straight into the same trap which claimed the life of the Librarian. He attempts to vox down a warning, but all the psychic field beginning to coalesce around the terminators blocks out any attempts of communication, the only warning the dreadnaught-armoured soldiers get is a sudden burst of screaming static before even that is clammed down by the roiling energies.
Three Enfeebles are once again thrown at the Terminators, one blocked by DtW. The teal gants move forwards in case a charge is necessary to finish off the weakened Termies. The green gants move round the top of the map to draw a bead on the green tac squad whilst the Tervigon hunkers down in the central building. Both Trygons smash out of their respective hiding places and head to put the hurt into some tactical marines.
The Zoanthropes once again tries to Haemorrage the Terminators, no pesky Librarian to stop them this time. The spell goes through, the first T test is failed, but then the damage is mitigated by the Terminators invulnerabl save (laaaame, Haemorrage isn't very good you guys.) Psychic Shriek however proves much more worthwhile, killing two terminators. The gants devourers finish off the rest. The Hive Guard and teal Trygon fire into the black Tac squad, killing a few marines. Whilst the Tyrant snipes the Lascannon out of the green squad and the green gants kill several more soldiers of the Imperium.
Both Trygons attempt to charge and both fail to make their way through the rough terrain. Charging through terrain really sucks in this edition. MCs should just ignore it really, I mean, c'mon, they are huge monsters!
•Space Marines
++Tactical Scribe Lousus Darian++ The day is lost at this stage, the foul Xenos are too many and the Space Marines forced into a battlefield they were unsuited to dealing with. Of course the great and glorious Astartes continue the fight, there can be no retreat in this scenario. -A Treatise on the Great Conflicts of the Aegatean Front (Vol 3)
Not a whole lot the Space Marines can really do here, killing one Trygon with these resources would be tough enough, never mind two. Regardless they press on; the black squad rounds on their Trygon and the green squad on the other.
The Thunderfire cannon slams into the furthest Trygon, knocking a wound from the mighty beast. The green Tac squads well-drilled fire takes down another wound. The Black tac squad also knock a wound of their target with the Missile Launcher, unfortunately this prohibits them from charging.
~Turn 4~ Victory Points: Space Marines 1 / Tyranids 9
•Tyranids
++Imperial Data-banks, Battle Cruiser Indomitable Spirit, in high orbit around Regnis++ REPORT FEED// Ground Battle situation: Imperial Defeat. Adeptus Astartes unable to turn Xenos invasion. Estimated time to planets loss: 34 hours, (imperial time). Recommended Course of Action: Viral Bombardment (tyrannic strain)// Planet cannot be reclaimed, it cannot fall into the hands of the enemy. ++Thought for the Day: Let the Emperor be your Shield and your Faith shall never Falter++
The Tyrant drops Endurance on herself, thankfully not killing herself via perils in the process, which is nice. Both Tervigons throw up Iron Arm because I miss having Eternal Warrior on everything. The teal Trygon decides to ignore the tac squad entirely and head towards my most hated Space Marine unit; the Thunderfire Cannon. The second Trygon heads closer towards the tac squad. Lets see difficult terrain stop this charge! The Tyrant hops down from her perch in the ruins and hides somewhere just in case the SMs try for one last attempt at Slaying the Warlord.
The Hive Guard kill a couple of black Tactical marines and the green gants, with help from the Hive Tyrant, thin the tactical squad down to just two remaining marines.
The teal Trygon charges the Thunderfire cannon, losing a wound to the Techmarines twin-linked plasma pistol in the process. It decides to smash because a MC wounding on 5s is just silly and crushes the cannon into a pile of scrap. The techmarine fails to wound the Trygon in return. The green Trygon smashes through the two remaining marines, although loses a wound in the process and consolidates through the ruin wall towards the last few Space Marines.
•Space Marines
That's kind of the end of the game really; the rest of the Space Marines charge the embattled Trygon and get squashed for their troubles.
~Aftermath~
So the Tyranids are the clear victors with a massacre of the unfortunate Space Marine forces. The final scores are:
•Tyranids: 12vp
-Primary Objectives (x9)
-Secondary Objectives (x3)
•Space Marines: 1vp
-Primary Objectives (x1)
All in all this was a fun, kinda silly game with a whole bunch of terrain and lots of stylish things going on.
Speaking of terrain I thought we put a lot down but looking at the map we only really had 12 pieces, so in an actual game there could be 6 more pieces than we had. That is an absolutely ludicrous amount of terrain, what we had here was really too much, as evidenced by the Space Marines being extremely restricted in their shooting ability.
We talked about this afterwards and agreed that Space Marines really do suffer in the Anti-Horde department. Against similar armies of small, elite units they are very good, with their superior armour and weapons and stats and such. But throw a bunch of bodies out there and they start running out of options quite quickly.
~Photo Gallery~
Just a few quick photos I snapped during the game, quality is very poor as ever so take them with a grain of salt.
My opponents rather lovely Deathwing Terminators for an upcoming Dark Angels army.
Some generic battlefield shots at various stages during the game. I guess you can try and work out what turns they were or something? Whatever.
Plus as an added bonus I have finally finished painting all my gants. I dread to think just how many years they have spent either unpainted or painted in the wrong scheme. I never have to paint another Termagants again! (Trying very hard to ignore the 30+ poorly painted Hormagaunts to redo at some stage.)
Alright then. That's it for this Battle Report, hope you enjoyed reading it. As ever feel free to throw your comments down as I enjoy reading them.
I have another battle to write up as well so stay tuned for BatRep 2: Electric Boogaloo which I should get posted in the next few days.
Thank you very much.