Post by halos on Aug 13, 2012 20:25:56 GMT
Hiya again folks. This will be a write up of the second of Thursday's games, for once not against one of the many (and oh, so varied /sarcasm) flavours of Space Marine but the rather more interesting craftworld Eldar.
~Army Lists~
Eldar
•HQ
-Eldrad Ulthran
-5x Warlocks (Witchblades, [2x Destructor], [2x Enhance], [Embolden])
•Troops
-10x Dire Avengers
-Dire Avenger Exarch ([Power Sword], [Shimmershield], Bladestorm, Defender)
-3x Guardian Jetbikes
-Shuriken Cannon
-3x Guardian Jetbikes
-Shuriken Cannon
-5x Rangers (Pathfinders)
•Elites
-10x Striking Scorpions
-Striking Scorpion Exarch ([Scorpion Claw], Move through Cover, Infiltrate)
-Wave Serpent (2x Shuriken Cannon)
•Fast Attack
-10x Warp Spiders
-Warp Spider Exarch ([Extra Death Spinners], Hit and Run)
-5x Swooping Hawks
•Heavy Support
-Fire Prism
-Fire Prism
Tyranids
•HQ
-Hive Tyrant (2x TL Devourers, Armoured Shell, Old Adversary)
•Troops
-15x Termagants (Devourers)
-15x Termagants (Devourers)
-Tervigon (Crushing Claws, Toxin Sacs, Catalyst, Onslaught)
-Tervigon (Crushing Claws, Toxin Sacs, Catalyst, Onslaught)
•Elites
-5x Ymgarl Genestealers
-2x Hive Guard
-2x Zoanthropes
•Heavy Support
-Trygon
-Trygon
~Deployment~
The planet of Regnis is lost, trapped within the all-ensnaring tendrils of a Tyrannic splinter fleet. Even the legendary might of the imperial Adeptus Astartes was not enough to stunt the xenos infestation. The follies of the Mon'keigh however, were of no concern to the ancient Farseer Eldrad Ulthran, recently arrived at the aeons old Eldar enclave concealed at the planet's pole. A nexus of powerful energies were concetrated in this location; a potent psionic lodestone which must be kept from the foul tentacles of the Tyranids at all costs.
The deployment type is the bog-standard 12" zones, like the old Pitched Battle and the mission is D3+2 objectives, for which we roll the full 5. (It's just like playing 5th edition again! But more mysteriooous...) The Warlord Traits are Eldrad with Inspiring Presence from the command table, allowing all nearby Eldar to use his Ld in place of their own. The Hive Tyrant gains the Strategic trait Master of Deceit allowing her to redeploy several units.
The Tyranids win the roll for first deployment and I choose the board edge closest to me on account of being incredibly lazy. The Nid forces split up into two vague battle lines, each with one Tervigon, one Trygon and a gant brood. The Tyrant and Hive Guard remain somewhat central and the Zoanthropes hide behind a building, as they are likely to be completely useless this game. The Hive Tyrant rolls up Iron Arm and Endurance and both Tervigons gain Haemorrage, Iron Arm and Warp Speed, excellent powers, shame I won't be able to use them...
Eldrad ops to keep his (awesome) psychic powers and then bunks up with the Warlocks in the Wave Serpent, safely out of sight for the first turn. The Guardian Jetbikes also hide behind a ruin in the upper right, waiting for the right moment to zip out with their new-and-improved Turbo Boost. The Warp Spiders deploy far to the left out of the way, hoping on their superior movement to flank the Tyranids. The Dire Avengers and Fire Prisms stick around behind cover just in case the nids suddenly develop some long range shooting. Pathfinders bunker down in an Aegis Defense Line in the center of the board. Swooping Hawks are in reserves.
Finally the Scorpions Infiltrate behind the large ruin in the middle of the board. Conveniently the same ruin the Ymgarls decide to camp out in, ready to spring into action when convenient.
Night Fighting does not come into play on Turn 1 and the Eldar fail to seize the iniative and so the game begins in the Tyranids court.
~Turn 1~ Victory Points: Eldar 6 / Tyranids 6
Tyranids
Striking Scorpion Exarch Kal'anach stalks silently through war-torn ruins. He does not look around but knows that his fellows are doing the same, each a paragon of stealth and ferocity. As one the unit spies the enemy, scuttling monsters crawling through the thick snow. Ordering even greater concealment Kal'anach calls a halt, the creatures must not be allowed access to the tunnels below this place, not before the Farseers have succesfully succoured the runes. The beasts suddenly appear agitated, hopping almost excitedly. Surely they could not have been detected?
You may not that two of the objectives on the map have disappeared; there should be one with the Pathfinders (a scatterfield, granting them +1 cover save, not that they need it) and with the Teal gants (a targetting array; allowing them to re-roll 1s to hit when shooting, although they currently have Preferred Enemy...) The objective on the left with the green gants is revealed to be booby trapped! A volatile geyser or poorly contained fuel depot may detonate at any time!
All the Tyranid surge forwards, grabbing some semblance of cover before the Eldar attack. both Gant broods can see a few Scorpions and so fire their weapons into the green-clad warriors. Five of the Eldar, including their Exarch, are slain in the volley.
Eldar
Eldrad Ulthran, the most ancient Farseer of the Ulthwé Craftworld surveyed the forces under his control, a mental map in the truest sense, gauging the retaliatory reaction of the tyranids Eldrad begins mapping the possible outcomes of the battles opening skirmishes. Already the first shots have taken their toll on his fragile warriors and the left flank remains open, he has no choice but to make a move himself.
Eldrad casts Fortune on both his squad and their transport. The Wave Serpent than flies out into the middle of the board. The Scorpions move out of their hiding place, a low difficult terrain roll (now that they have lost the Exarch's ability to move through cover) puts them further away from the gants than they would like to be. The green jetbikes zip onto an objective which is revealed to be nothing of note. They suffer two dangerous terrain checks but both bounce of the guardians increased armour. The Fire Prisms move into better firing lanes. The Warp Spider jump up behind some ruins, ready to get the drop on the Tervigon and gants on the left.
The Wave Serpent Turbo Boosts directly into the Tyranids exposed right flank. The Fire Prisms and Pathfinders fire into the teal Trygon, blasting away half it's wounds with a flurry of Ap1 and Ap2 shots.
The Scorpions attempt to charge the teal gants, suffering a blast of Overwatch which slays one and also failing to reach their target.
~Turn 2~ Victory Points: Eldar 3 / Tyranids 7
Tyranids
The Tyranids are a highly psychic race, well-tuned to the psionic beacon of the Hive Mind. The individual organisms are capable of communicating with one another, at least in part, via a shared, psychic, synaptic link. A by-product of this system is the greatly enhanced capacity of a Tyranid to detect another psychic creature. Psychic minds imprint heavily on the synaptic web making it extremely difficult for a psyker to hide his presence. Warp Spider exarch Lluthaline remembered this information too late, as the head of the waddling, bloated beast swivelled smoothly towards his squad, crouched as the were in a segment of nearby ruins.
The Ymgarls remain in hibernation for this turn. The green Tervigon spawns 12 gants in the direction of the Warp Spiders in an attempt to head them off, a mistake as it happens, as will be shown shortly. The green gants head away from the potentially explosive objective in order to draw a few of the Dire Avengers in their sights. The Hive Guard and teal Tervigon head towards Eldrad's Wave Serpent. The Tervigon attempts to cast Warp Speed but fails, although manages to dodge the Runes of Warding and keeps all her wounds. Both Trygons head towards the central ruin, with the wounded one ducking inside the LoS blocking structure. The teal gants head up the ruins to draw LoS to the nearest Jetbike squad. The Hive Tyrant attempts to get close enough to the remaining Scorpions but rolls poorly for difficult terrain.
The freshly spawned gants and the Tervigon fire into the Warp Spiders, killing three of them. The Exarch is saved at the last moment by one of his comrades. The green gants hit the Dire Avengers and kill 4 whilst the teal gants shred the Jetbikes, although infuriatingly the Shuriken Cannon is saved by his impressive armour save. The Hive Tyrant fires into the remaining Scorpions and kills two. The Hive Guard fire at the Wave Serpent, their Impaler Cannons handily ignoring it's re-rollable 4+ jink save and causing two penetratin hits. Both roll 1s on the damage table.
The Tyrant attempts to, and fails to, charge the Scorpions. The Tervigon smashes into the back of the Wave Serpent, wrecking it and, with her bulk blocking the access hatch, forcing an emergency disembarkation. The black gants charge the Warp Spiders, facing a devastating Overwatch and failing to kill any in combat. With only four gants left alive the Spiders Hit and Run 3D6" through the wall towards the now very exposed devourer gants.
Eldar
The Warp Spiders flicker from reality, one moment locked in mortal combat with a brood of ravenous aliens, the next landing lightly, priming weapons and taking careful aim at the next target. A perfectly times maneouvre allowing them to bring their formidable anti-infantry weapons to bear.
The Swooping Hawks fail to arrive. The Dire Avengers move forwards to bring their weapons in range whilst the one surviving green Jetbike moves backwards to avoid the threat of the gants devourers. The Scorpions move to neutralise said threat in a last ditch assault.
The Spiders open up on the green Devourer gants, unspooling vast wreaths of razor sharp filament wire into the poorly armoured frames of the tyranids. All but 2 of the gants are shredded in the lethal web. The Dire Avengers attempt to wound the visible Trygon but their low strength weaponry proves incapable of piercing it's armoured exoskeleton. Both the Fire Prisms and the Pathfinders send their shots into the Hive Tyrant, struck short from her failed charge, despite the shots considerable armour piercing potential the Tyrant loses only one wound. Eldrads Warlocks bathe the Tervigon in destructive warp energies but also fail to wound.
The two last Scorpions charge the gants, acrobatically evading the overwatch and slamming into the creatures, killing 3. This prevents any gants from reaching base contact with their I4 pile-in move and so the Scorpions take no wounds in return.
~Turn 3~ Victory Points: Eldar 0 / Tyranids 5
Tyranids
The pilot of the Fire Prism 'Light of Ulthunar' is the first to spot the squat creatures picking their way clumsily through the ruins. He signals down to his pilot. 'What are those?' she muses, in the graceful tongue of the Eldar. Hoisting fleshy, spine-tipped tubes into the air the creatures plant their stout forelimbs firmly in the ground. 'Some kind of canno-' The four foot harpoon, guided by it's own rudimentary intelligence pierces the transparent viewport of the elegant skimmer, embedding itself firmly in the sternum of it's pilot.
The Ymgarls show up this turn, bustling out of the ruins towards the Pathfinders, who's AP1 shots are beginning to worry me. Both Tervigons spawn some extra gants; a massive 14 to deal with the Warp Spiders and 8 to assist with Eldrad. The Tyrant moves to bail out the Termagants and the Hive Guard manage to just scrap into range of a Fire Prism. Both Trygons smash forwards, eager to get to grips with the squishy Eldar troops.
The fresh purple gants fire into Eldrad and co. but their re-rollable invulnerable saves see them safe. The brown gants and the Tervigon fire at the Warp Spiders, killing a further three. Both Trygons and the two remaining devourer gants fire into the Dire Avengers but fail to cause any wounds. The Hive Guard fling their vicious aresnal into the canopy of a Fire Prism, knocking off three hull points and wrecking it.
The Hive Tyrant smashes into the Scorpions and crushes them, although not before they slay 3 further gants. The teal Tervigon charges the Warlocks, followed by the gants. The Tervigon soaks the overwatch, although does lose one wound to Destructor. The Tervigon challenges Eldrad and loses a wound to his staff of '2+woundwithnosvsallowed' The Warlocks smash away four gants but lose two of their number, one with Embolden and one with Enhance. Both Trygons attempt to charge the Avengers, but the wounded one fails to scramble free of the rubble. The other one makes it safely however but during the melee loses one wound from the Exarchs power weapon and then a further two from normal attacks! How embarrasing. To add even greater insult the Exarchs shimmershield saves most of the attacks, resulting in only two dead Avengers! The Ymgarls throw down with the Pathfinders, Sniper Rifles prove poor weapons in a snap as the Ymgarls suffer no wounds and wipe out the entire Ranger squad before hunkering down in their stolen Aegis line.
Eldar
Suddenly the Eldars own lines are overrun? Where did these loathsome creatures spring from. The impulse is clear; destroy the clawed ghosts and prevent them causing any more damage. There are no orders given, every unoccupied member of the Eldar battle-group simply understands what to do. On his idling jetbike Guardian Ffalnas cycles ammunition into the flared chamber of his Shurken Cannon.
Still no reserves for the Eldar as the Swooping Hawks decide they'd much rather stay away from all the stabbing thank you very much. They're in automatically next turn though. The remaining Fire Prism guns backwards slightly, away from the 'stealers. Both Jetbike squads draw LoS to the Ymgarls.
The Warp Spiders once again open up on some squishy gants, this time killing 7. The Fire Prism flings a dispersed beam into the gants holding the objective, killing four of them. Fortunately the Zoanthropes hold them safe in the Synaptic bubble. (I knew I brought those gals for a reason!) The Jetbikes buzz reams of molecule thick discs into the Ymgarl 'stealers, slaying all but one of them.
Eldrad continues to chew wounds off the Tervigon, his re-rollable 3++ save proving more than a match for it's WS3 attacks. The Warlocks slay two further gants but lose another of their number in return. The Dire Avengers fail to wound the Trygon but once again lose only two to it's vicious onslaught (although slightly less vicious with -1A from Defender.) Regardless they fail their Ld check and flee. The Warp Spiders attempt to warp jump out of LoS but roll up snkae eyes for the distance, forever losing one of their number to the vagaries of the warp.
~Turn 4~ Victory Points: Eldar 0 / Tyranids 11
Tyranids
Eldrad can feel the battle slipping from his fingers, wiping out the Tyranids is proving more difficult than forseen. Regardless all is not lost, so long as he buys the time necessary for his fellow Farseers deep below to seal of the psionic rift then the Tyranids victory shall mean naught to him. Returning to the matter at hand, moving with motions much quicker than his age belies he wards away the clumsy blow of a claw larger than his own body and drives his staff forcefully into his adversaries eye, a pulse of psychic energy sends the collosal beast reeling.
Once again both Tervigons spawn gants, 12 to harrass the Warp Spiders and 8 to tie down Eldrad, running out of space down there so the spawn into the ruins. The Hive Guard shuffle forwards to get the last vehicle on the field in range. The Hive Tyrant and last two Devourers gants shack up on the central objective which is revealed to be a Skyfire Nexus. The Black gaunts move to claim the previously abandoned explosive objective.
The combined fire of two gant squads and a Tervigon finally proves too much for the Warp Spiders who are slain to a man (or woman, whatever.) Similarly the bio-electric discharge of two Trygons puts an end to the fleeing Dire Avengers. The Hive Guard manage to knock two hull points off the last Fire Prism, but only manage to stun it. The 4 teal Devourer gants can just draw LoS to the surviving green Jetbike and succeed in slaying him.
The lone Ymgarl rushes into the Fire Prism, tearing into it with sharpened claws and causing the sleek-lined warmachine to crash spectacularly. The freshly spawned gants roll the dreaded triple 1 on their charge move and fail to make it into combat with Eldrad. The booby-trapped objective detonates this turn, slaying half of the gants which had just claimed it!
Eldar
Soaring high above the battlefield Galadre'ath looks down at nothing but calamity, the dead and dying beset by a relentless foe. Still the task is almot complete, time now for one final strike before withdrawing. Dropping into a steep dive along with her fellows the Swooping Hawk prepares, with utmost precision the targets for a volley of explosives.
The Eldar reserves have no choice but to show up this turn and show up they do, dropping their grenades on the green gant brood and killing 3. We weren't really sure how to allocate wounds in this scenario so we just took them out from under the template. The Hawks themselves alight near the poorly guarded lower left objective. The Jetbikes once again draw LoS to the last Ymgarl.
The Shuriken Cannon, only at AP5, bounces harmlessly from the Ymgarls carapace. The Hawks unleash a volley of laser fire into the two gants holding the objective. Now I don't want to perpetuate the stereotype of Swooping Hawks being kinda bad, but they only manage to kill one of them. With 10 shots.
Eldrad plinks another wound from the Tervigon, now down to two whilst the Warlocks kill all but one gant.
~Turn 4~ Victory Points: Eldar 3 / Tyranids 11
Tyranids
++Imperial Archives++ Regnis was deemed without hope of redemption, all but over-run with the tyrannic infestation. Only the bravery of the local forces had kept the evac routes open for so long. In the final few days of the conflict said forces were given a brief respite as a vast portion of the swarm was drawn inexplicable to the Northern polar regions, this unexplained diversion allowed for the sucessful evacuation of some 4 million inhabitants, 1.5 million of which escaped the tyranid polluted airspace (doc XII(a); Tyranid Invasion; Precations and Warnings.)
The lone Ymgarl stealer runs back to the Aegis Defense Line to contest the objective there. Once again both Tervigons spawn more gants, on the left 9 are generated, with the Tervigon finally running out and on the left a further 11 appear. The green Tervigon actually suceeds in casting Warp Speed, hoping the Fleet re-roll will bring it into contact with the Hawks.
The Hive Guard attempt to peg a few of the Jetbikes; no Jink save for you (of course they still get armour saves...) but to no avail. The gants and Tervigon fire into the Swooping Hawks, slaying two.
Both gants and Tervigon fail to reach the Swooping Hawks in combat but both gant broods manage to smash into Eldrad and co. Unfortunately Eldrad decides he's had enough of this nonsense and smashes the Tervigon a fatal blow, the pyschic backdraft devastating the nearby gant broods, although they still go on to slay both of the remaining Warlocks.
Eldar
For the first time since battle has begun Eldrad Ulthran can no longer sense the collosal psychic energy leaking from beneath the ground, the rift has been sealed. His task done he knocks back those tyranids foolish enough to still attempt to claw him down and vanishes from sight entirely, transported instantly to a location of safety. At this signal what remains of his troops similarly abscond, leaping gracefully back into the sky, leaving their foes non-plussed.
The last Jetbikes jump back onto their objective, the Swooping hawks finally kill the last black Termagant. We never actually rolled the combat but presumedly Eldrad slaps a couple of gants around.
~Post Game~
So that's that. Final score breakdown is as follows:
Tyranids: 11
-Primary Objective x3
-Secondary Objective x2 (First Blood, Linebreaker)
Eldar: 3
-Primary Objective x1
An enjoyable game, against something which wasn't just 'more spess mehrines' which is always enjoyable. Of course the flip-side of that is I don't really know the Eldar that well.
I vastly underestimated the Warp Spiders who were a constant thorn in my side. I'd imagine their a reasonable choice against vehicles now as well, with so many S6 shots. Especially now that AP- doesn't mean anything.
I also should not have charged Eldrad with the Tervigon, unfortunately it was the only way to stop the Overwatch killing half the gants before hand. Eldrad is a tough cookie, I think he might be a Space Marine in disguise, he certainly has the stat-line.
So, there you go, another report complete. As ever feel free to comment and shout at things I messed up.
Should probably get in another game tomorrow, so there might be a report for that as well, depending on how exciting it is of course.
~Army Lists~
Eldar
•HQ
-Eldrad Ulthran
-5x Warlocks (Witchblades, [2x Destructor], [2x Enhance], [Embolden])
•Troops
-10x Dire Avengers
-Dire Avenger Exarch ([Power Sword], [Shimmershield], Bladestorm, Defender)
-3x Guardian Jetbikes
-Shuriken Cannon
-3x Guardian Jetbikes
-Shuriken Cannon
-5x Rangers (Pathfinders)
•Elites
-10x Striking Scorpions
-Striking Scorpion Exarch ([Scorpion Claw], Move through Cover, Infiltrate)
-Wave Serpent (2x Shuriken Cannon)
•Fast Attack
-10x Warp Spiders
-Warp Spider Exarch ([Extra Death Spinners], Hit and Run)
-5x Swooping Hawks
•Heavy Support
-Fire Prism
-Fire Prism
Tyranids
•HQ
-Hive Tyrant (2x TL Devourers, Armoured Shell, Old Adversary)
•Troops
-15x Termagants (Devourers)
-15x Termagants (Devourers)
-Tervigon (Crushing Claws, Toxin Sacs, Catalyst, Onslaught)
-Tervigon (Crushing Claws, Toxin Sacs, Catalyst, Onslaught)
•Elites
-5x Ymgarl Genestealers
-2x Hive Guard
-2x Zoanthropes
•Heavy Support
-Trygon
-Trygon
~Deployment~
The planet of Regnis is lost, trapped within the all-ensnaring tendrils of a Tyrannic splinter fleet. Even the legendary might of the imperial Adeptus Astartes was not enough to stunt the xenos infestation. The follies of the Mon'keigh however, were of no concern to the ancient Farseer Eldrad Ulthran, recently arrived at the aeons old Eldar enclave concealed at the planet's pole. A nexus of powerful energies were concetrated in this location; a potent psionic lodestone which must be kept from the foul tentacles of the Tyranids at all costs.
The deployment type is the bog-standard 12" zones, like the old Pitched Battle and the mission is D3+2 objectives, for which we roll the full 5. (It's just like playing 5th edition again! But more mysteriooous...) The Warlord Traits are Eldrad with Inspiring Presence from the command table, allowing all nearby Eldar to use his Ld in place of their own. The Hive Tyrant gains the Strategic trait Master of Deceit allowing her to redeploy several units.
The Tyranids win the roll for first deployment and I choose the board edge closest to me on account of being incredibly lazy. The Nid forces split up into two vague battle lines, each with one Tervigon, one Trygon and a gant brood. The Tyrant and Hive Guard remain somewhat central and the Zoanthropes hide behind a building, as they are likely to be completely useless this game. The Hive Tyrant rolls up Iron Arm and Endurance and both Tervigons gain Haemorrage, Iron Arm and Warp Speed, excellent powers, shame I won't be able to use them...
Eldrad ops to keep his (awesome) psychic powers and then bunks up with the Warlocks in the Wave Serpent, safely out of sight for the first turn. The Guardian Jetbikes also hide behind a ruin in the upper right, waiting for the right moment to zip out with their new-and-improved Turbo Boost. The Warp Spiders deploy far to the left out of the way, hoping on their superior movement to flank the Tyranids. The Dire Avengers and Fire Prisms stick around behind cover just in case the nids suddenly develop some long range shooting. Pathfinders bunker down in an Aegis Defense Line in the center of the board. Swooping Hawks are in reserves.
Finally the Scorpions Infiltrate behind the large ruin in the middle of the board. Conveniently the same ruin the Ymgarls decide to camp out in, ready to spring into action when convenient.
Night Fighting does not come into play on Turn 1 and the Eldar fail to seize the iniative and so the game begins in the Tyranids court.
~Turn 1~ Victory Points: Eldar 6 / Tyranids 6
Tyranids
Striking Scorpion Exarch Kal'anach stalks silently through war-torn ruins. He does not look around but knows that his fellows are doing the same, each a paragon of stealth and ferocity. As one the unit spies the enemy, scuttling monsters crawling through the thick snow. Ordering even greater concealment Kal'anach calls a halt, the creatures must not be allowed access to the tunnels below this place, not before the Farseers have succesfully succoured the runes. The beasts suddenly appear agitated, hopping almost excitedly. Surely they could not have been detected?
You may not that two of the objectives on the map have disappeared; there should be one with the Pathfinders (a scatterfield, granting them +1 cover save, not that they need it) and with the Teal gants (a targetting array; allowing them to re-roll 1s to hit when shooting, although they currently have Preferred Enemy...) The objective on the left with the green gants is revealed to be booby trapped! A volatile geyser or poorly contained fuel depot may detonate at any time!
All the Tyranid surge forwards, grabbing some semblance of cover before the Eldar attack. both Gant broods can see a few Scorpions and so fire their weapons into the green-clad warriors. Five of the Eldar, including their Exarch, are slain in the volley.
Eldar
Eldrad Ulthran, the most ancient Farseer of the Ulthwé Craftworld surveyed the forces under his control, a mental map in the truest sense, gauging the retaliatory reaction of the tyranids Eldrad begins mapping the possible outcomes of the battles opening skirmishes. Already the first shots have taken their toll on his fragile warriors and the left flank remains open, he has no choice but to make a move himself.
Eldrad casts Fortune on both his squad and their transport. The Wave Serpent than flies out into the middle of the board. The Scorpions move out of their hiding place, a low difficult terrain roll (now that they have lost the Exarch's ability to move through cover) puts them further away from the gants than they would like to be. The green jetbikes zip onto an objective which is revealed to be nothing of note. They suffer two dangerous terrain checks but both bounce of the guardians increased armour. The Fire Prisms move into better firing lanes. The Warp Spider jump up behind some ruins, ready to get the drop on the Tervigon and gants on the left.
The Wave Serpent Turbo Boosts directly into the Tyranids exposed right flank. The Fire Prisms and Pathfinders fire into the teal Trygon, blasting away half it's wounds with a flurry of Ap1 and Ap2 shots.
The Scorpions attempt to charge the teal gants, suffering a blast of Overwatch which slays one and also failing to reach their target.
~Turn 2~ Victory Points: Eldar 3 / Tyranids 7
Tyranids
The Tyranids are a highly psychic race, well-tuned to the psionic beacon of the Hive Mind. The individual organisms are capable of communicating with one another, at least in part, via a shared, psychic, synaptic link. A by-product of this system is the greatly enhanced capacity of a Tyranid to detect another psychic creature. Psychic minds imprint heavily on the synaptic web making it extremely difficult for a psyker to hide his presence. Warp Spider exarch Lluthaline remembered this information too late, as the head of the waddling, bloated beast swivelled smoothly towards his squad, crouched as the were in a segment of nearby ruins.
The Ymgarls remain in hibernation for this turn. The green Tervigon spawns 12 gants in the direction of the Warp Spiders in an attempt to head them off, a mistake as it happens, as will be shown shortly. The green gants head away from the potentially explosive objective in order to draw a few of the Dire Avengers in their sights. The Hive Guard and teal Tervigon head towards Eldrad's Wave Serpent. The Tervigon attempts to cast Warp Speed but fails, although manages to dodge the Runes of Warding and keeps all her wounds. Both Trygons head towards the central ruin, with the wounded one ducking inside the LoS blocking structure. The teal gants head up the ruins to draw LoS to the nearest Jetbike squad. The Hive Tyrant attempts to get close enough to the remaining Scorpions but rolls poorly for difficult terrain.
The freshly spawned gants and the Tervigon fire into the Warp Spiders, killing three of them. The Exarch is saved at the last moment by one of his comrades. The green gants hit the Dire Avengers and kill 4 whilst the teal gants shred the Jetbikes, although infuriatingly the Shuriken Cannon is saved by his impressive armour save. The Hive Tyrant fires into the remaining Scorpions and kills two. The Hive Guard fire at the Wave Serpent, their Impaler Cannons handily ignoring it's re-rollable 4+ jink save and causing two penetratin hits. Both roll 1s on the damage table.
The Tyrant attempts to, and fails to, charge the Scorpions. The Tervigon smashes into the back of the Wave Serpent, wrecking it and, with her bulk blocking the access hatch, forcing an emergency disembarkation. The black gants charge the Warp Spiders, facing a devastating Overwatch and failing to kill any in combat. With only four gants left alive the Spiders Hit and Run 3D6" through the wall towards the now very exposed devourer gants.
Eldar
The Warp Spiders flicker from reality, one moment locked in mortal combat with a brood of ravenous aliens, the next landing lightly, priming weapons and taking careful aim at the next target. A perfectly times maneouvre allowing them to bring their formidable anti-infantry weapons to bear.
The Swooping Hawks fail to arrive. The Dire Avengers move forwards to bring their weapons in range whilst the one surviving green Jetbike moves backwards to avoid the threat of the gants devourers. The Scorpions move to neutralise said threat in a last ditch assault.
The Spiders open up on the green Devourer gants, unspooling vast wreaths of razor sharp filament wire into the poorly armoured frames of the tyranids. All but 2 of the gants are shredded in the lethal web. The Dire Avengers attempt to wound the visible Trygon but their low strength weaponry proves incapable of piercing it's armoured exoskeleton. Both the Fire Prisms and the Pathfinders send their shots into the Hive Tyrant, struck short from her failed charge, despite the shots considerable armour piercing potential the Tyrant loses only one wound. Eldrads Warlocks bathe the Tervigon in destructive warp energies but also fail to wound.
The two last Scorpions charge the gants, acrobatically evading the overwatch and slamming into the creatures, killing 3. This prevents any gants from reaching base contact with their I4 pile-in move and so the Scorpions take no wounds in return.
~Turn 3~ Victory Points: Eldar 0 / Tyranids 5
Tyranids
The pilot of the Fire Prism 'Light of Ulthunar' is the first to spot the squat creatures picking their way clumsily through the ruins. He signals down to his pilot. 'What are those?' she muses, in the graceful tongue of the Eldar. Hoisting fleshy, spine-tipped tubes into the air the creatures plant their stout forelimbs firmly in the ground. 'Some kind of canno-' The four foot harpoon, guided by it's own rudimentary intelligence pierces the transparent viewport of the elegant skimmer, embedding itself firmly in the sternum of it's pilot.
The Ymgarls show up this turn, bustling out of the ruins towards the Pathfinders, who's AP1 shots are beginning to worry me. Both Tervigons spawn some extra gants; a massive 14 to deal with the Warp Spiders and 8 to assist with Eldrad. The Tyrant moves to bail out the Termagants and the Hive Guard manage to just scrap into range of a Fire Prism. Both Trygons smash forwards, eager to get to grips with the squishy Eldar troops.
The fresh purple gants fire into Eldrad and co. but their re-rollable invulnerable saves see them safe. The brown gants and the Tervigon fire at the Warp Spiders, killing a further three. Both Trygons and the two remaining devourer gants fire into the Dire Avengers but fail to cause any wounds. The Hive Guard fling their vicious aresnal into the canopy of a Fire Prism, knocking off three hull points and wrecking it.
The Hive Tyrant smashes into the Scorpions and crushes them, although not before they slay 3 further gants. The teal Tervigon charges the Warlocks, followed by the gants. The Tervigon soaks the overwatch, although does lose one wound to Destructor. The Tervigon challenges Eldrad and loses a wound to his staff of '2+woundwithnosvsallowed' The Warlocks smash away four gants but lose two of their number, one with Embolden and one with Enhance. Both Trygons attempt to charge the Avengers, but the wounded one fails to scramble free of the rubble. The other one makes it safely however but during the melee loses one wound from the Exarchs power weapon and then a further two from normal attacks! How embarrasing. To add even greater insult the Exarchs shimmershield saves most of the attacks, resulting in only two dead Avengers! The Ymgarls throw down with the Pathfinders, Sniper Rifles prove poor weapons in a snap as the Ymgarls suffer no wounds and wipe out the entire Ranger squad before hunkering down in their stolen Aegis line.
Eldar
Suddenly the Eldars own lines are overrun? Where did these loathsome creatures spring from. The impulse is clear; destroy the clawed ghosts and prevent them causing any more damage. There are no orders given, every unoccupied member of the Eldar battle-group simply understands what to do. On his idling jetbike Guardian Ffalnas cycles ammunition into the flared chamber of his Shurken Cannon.
Still no reserves for the Eldar as the Swooping Hawks decide they'd much rather stay away from all the stabbing thank you very much. They're in automatically next turn though. The remaining Fire Prism guns backwards slightly, away from the 'stealers. Both Jetbike squads draw LoS to the Ymgarls.
The Warp Spiders once again open up on some squishy gants, this time killing 7. The Fire Prism flings a dispersed beam into the gants holding the objective, killing four of them. Fortunately the Zoanthropes hold them safe in the Synaptic bubble. (I knew I brought those gals for a reason!) The Jetbikes buzz reams of molecule thick discs into the Ymgarl 'stealers, slaying all but one of them.
Eldrad continues to chew wounds off the Tervigon, his re-rollable 3++ save proving more than a match for it's WS3 attacks. The Warlocks slay two further gants but lose another of their number in return. The Dire Avengers fail to wound the Trygon but once again lose only two to it's vicious onslaught (although slightly less vicious with -1A from Defender.) Regardless they fail their Ld check and flee. The Warp Spiders attempt to warp jump out of LoS but roll up snkae eyes for the distance, forever losing one of their number to the vagaries of the warp.
~Turn 4~ Victory Points: Eldar 0 / Tyranids 11
Tyranids
Eldrad can feel the battle slipping from his fingers, wiping out the Tyranids is proving more difficult than forseen. Regardless all is not lost, so long as he buys the time necessary for his fellow Farseers deep below to seal of the psionic rift then the Tyranids victory shall mean naught to him. Returning to the matter at hand, moving with motions much quicker than his age belies he wards away the clumsy blow of a claw larger than his own body and drives his staff forcefully into his adversaries eye, a pulse of psychic energy sends the collosal beast reeling.
Once again both Tervigons spawn gants, 12 to harrass the Warp Spiders and 8 to tie down Eldrad, running out of space down there so the spawn into the ruins. The Hive Guard shuffle forwards to get the last vehicle on the field in range. The Hive Tyrant and last two Devourers gants shack up on the central objective which is revealed to be a Skyfire Nexus. The Black gaunts move to claim the previously abandoned explosive objective.
The combined fire of two gant squads and a Tervigon finally proves too much for the Warp Spiders who are slain to a man (or woman, whatever.) Similarly the bio-electric discharge of two Trygons puts an end to the fleeing Dire Avengers. The Hive Guard manage to knock two hull points off the last Fire Prism, but only manage to stun it. The 4 teal Devourer gants can just draw LoS to the surviving green Jetbike and succeed in slaying him.
The lone Ymgarl rushes into the Fire Prism, tearing into it with sharpened claws and causing the sleek-lined warmachine to crash spectacularly. The freshly spawned gants roll the dreaded triple 1 on their charge move and fail to make it into combat with Eldrad. The booby-trapped objective detonates this turn, slaying half of the gants which had just claimed it!
Eldar
Soaring high above the battlefield Galadre'ath looks down at nothing but calamity, the dead and dying beset by a relentless foe. Still the task is almot complete, time now for one final strike before withdrawing. Dropping into a steep dive along with her fellows the Swooping Hawk prepares, with utmost precision the targets for a volley of explosives.
The Eldar reserves have no choice but to show up this turn and show up they do, dropping their grenades on the green gant brood and killing 3. We weren't really sure how to allocate wounds in this scenario so we just took them out from under the template. The Hawks themselves alight near the poorly guarded lower left objective. The Jetbikes once again draw LoS to the last Ymgarl.
The Shuriken Cannon, only at AP5, bounces harmlessly from the Ymgarls carapace. The Hawks unleash a volley of laser fire into the two gants holding the objective. Now I don't want to perpetuate the stereotype of Swooping Hawks being kinda bad, but they only manage to kill one of them. With 10 shots.
Eldrad plinks another wound from the Tervigon, now down to two whilst the Warlocks kill all but one gant.
~Turn 4~ Victory Points: Eldar 3 / Tyranids 11
Tyranids
++Imperial Archives++ Regnis was deemed without hope of redemption, all but over-run with the tyrannic infestation. Only the bravery of the local forces had kept the evac routes open for so long. In the final few days of the conflict said forces were given a brief respite as a vast portion of the swarm was drawn inexplicable to the Northern polar regions, this unexplained diversion allowed for the sucessful evacuation of some 4 million inhabitants, 1.5 million of which escaped the tyranid polluted airspace (doc XII(a); Tyranid Invasion; Precations and Warnings.)
The lone Ymgarl stealer runs back to the Aegis Defense Line to contest the objective there. Once again both Tervigons spawn more gants, on the left 9 are generated, with the Tervigon finally running out and on the left a further 11 appear. The green Tervigon actually suceeds in casting Warp Speed, hoping the Fleet re-roll will bring it into contact with the Hawks.
The Hive Guard attempt to peg a few of the Jetbikes; no Jink save for you (of course they still get armour saves...) but to no avail. The gants and Tervigon fire into the Swooping Hawks, slaying two.
Both gants and Tervigon fail to reach the Swooping Hawks in combat but both gant broods manage to smash into Eldrad and co. Unfortunately Eldrad decides he's had enough of this nonsense and smashes the Tervigon a fatal blow, the pyschic backdraft devastating the nearby gant broods, although they still go on to slay both of the remaining Warlocks.
Eldar
For the first time since battle has begun Eldrad Ulthran can no longer sense the collosal psychic energy leaking from beneath the ground, the rift has been sealed. His task done he knocks back those tyranids foolish enough to still attempt to claw him down and vanishes from sight entirely, transported instantly to a location of safety. At this signal what remains of his troops similarly abscond, leaping gracefully back into the sky, leaving their foes non-plussed.
The last Jetbikes jump back onto their objective, the Swooping hawks finally kill the last black Termagant. We never actually rolled the combat but presumedly Eldrad slaps a couple of gants around.
~Post Game~
So that's that. Final score breakdown is as follows:
Tyranids: 11
-Primary Objective x3
-Secondary Objective x2 (First Blood, Linebreaker)
Eldar: 3
-Primary Objective x1
An enjoyable game, against something which wasn't just 'more spess mehrines' which is always enjoyable. Of course the flip-side of that is I don't really know the Eldar that well.
I vastly underestimated the Warp Spiders who were a constant thorn in my side. I'd imagine their a reasonable choice against vehicles now as well, with so many S6 shots. Especially now that AP- doesn't mean anything.
I also should not have charged Eldrad with the Tervigon, unfortunately it was the only way to stop the Overwatch killing half the gants before hand. Eldrad is a tough cookie, I think he might be a Space Marine in disguise, he certainly has the stat-line.
So, there you go, another report complete. As ever feel free to comment and shout at things I messed up.
Should probably get in another game tomorrow, so there might be a report for that as well, depending on how exciting it is of course.
