Post by halos on Dec 13, 2012 16:33:20 GMT
Gather round everyone as I tell you the tale of how a snatched victory from a crushing defeat via the succesful casting of a single psychic power...
This game was versus TTH's very own Lordbob and his Haemonculus themed Dark Eldar army so no doubt he will chime in at some stage to point out my numerous tactical mistakes and correct any misremembered details.
Mutilator Ker'dracch leaned back thoughtfully, a satisified smile across his twisted lips as he surveyed the ranks of hideous creatures secured tightly to rows of surgical gurneys before him. His latest batch of grotesque creations, bones shattered and reformed around new flesh, pumped full of stimulants and pain-killers without which they would self destruct through the perpetual agony wracking their frames. He had created them, his children of pain, and each was a work of art. But they would have to be tested before he could consider this batch a success.
"Mmmaster, the r-reports you requested," words spit out from between the split lips of a servant wrack, muffled dully by the iron mask seared to the unfortunates face. The twisted creature holds the data orbs aloft, careful to keep it's head bowed respectfully.
Ker'dracch flips through the information, planetary reports pertaining to dangerous fauna or flora, or fierce wars taking place in easily accesible locations. "Hmm, here, I think," he sneered, "A tyrannic incursion, the perfect proving ground..." He strides from his cathedral of torture, the screams of his subjects falling a pleasing symphony behind him.
~~/Army Lists/~~
Dark Eldar-
•HQ:
-Urien Rakarth
-2x Haemonculi (Liquifier Guns, Venom Blades)
--Eldrad Ulthuan
•Elites:
-5x Grotesques (Augmented Stength, Liquifier Gun)
-Aberration (Flesh Gauntlet)
-5x Grotesques (Augmented Stength, Liquifier Gun)
-Aberration (Flesh Gauntlet)
•Troops:
-10x Wracks (Liquifier Gun)
-Acothyst (Venom Blade)
-5x Wracks
-Acothyst
--5x Rangers
•Fast Attack
-10x Scourges (4x Blasters)
•Heavy Support
-Talos Pain Engine (Haywire Blaster, Chain Flails)
-Talos Pain Engine (Haywire Blaster, Chain Flails)
Tyranids-
•HQ:
-Hive Tyrant (2x TL Devourers, Wings, Old Adversary)
-Hive Tyrant (2x TL Devourers, Wings, Old Adversary)
•Elites:
-3x Hive Guard
-3x Hive Guard
•Troops:
-10x Termagants
-Tervigon (Crushing Claws, 3x Psychic Powers, Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands)
-10x Termagants
-Tervigon (Crushing Claws, 3x Psychic Powers, Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands)
•Fast Attack
-20x Gargoyles (Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands)
•Heavy Support
-2x Biovores
~~/Game Setup/~~
The mission was rolled up as Crusade, with 5 objectives deployed around a 4'x4' board with relatively dense terrain coverage. We used 12" deployment lanes.
The Dark Eldar warlord, Urien Rakarth, gained the Master of the Vanguard warlod trait (allowing all units within 12" to roll two dice and use the highest when Running.) The Warlod Hive Tyrant gained 'Princeps of Deceit' granting the Tyranids some redeployment options.
Eldrad Ulthuan swapped his powers for rolls on the Divination table gaining all of them bar Foreboding and swapping Scrier's gaze for the Primaris power.
The Warlord tyant rolled Endurance and Enfeeble. The second Flyrant Warp Speed and Leech Life. One Tervigon gained Enfeeble, Warp Speed and Leech Life and the other rolled Endurance, Warp Speed and Leech Life.
The Dark Eldar won the roll for first turn and Night Fighting would not be in play for the first turn.
~~/Turn 1/~~
Victory Points: Dark Eldar 3/3 Tyranids
Dark Eldar:
Ker'dracch stepped lightly out of the webway portal into the soft cloying mud of Monthax. An imperial refinery complex stretched around him, and beyond that thick swathes of humid jungle. His Grotesques, momentarily placated by the promise of violence, are arrayed waiting, rearing, to smash and rend apart any obstacle they face. The obstacles in question were just drawing into view across the shattered lab buildings and ruptured pipelines, scuttering creatures utterly abhorrent to Ker'dracch's vision of beauty. He would ensure their stain to his aesthetic principles wiped out...
The smaller Wrack squad is kept in reserves to enter play later. The Rangers objective (as well as the Tyranid held one) is revealed to be a bomb. Urien generates 3 bonus pain Tokens which are given to both Grotesqu squads and the larger Wrack squad, making all of these units Fearless (in addition to having FnP and FC.)
Eldrad grants both Grotesque squads a 4++ save and then allows the Rangers insight enough to Ignore Cover (which, in retrospect, is illegal as Perfect Timing can only be cast on the psykers own unit, but nevermind.)
Everything barring the rangers rushes forwards, picking their way through the debris and taking advantage of the Warlord trait to maximise their run distance. The Scourges flutter up to the twisted spars of a ruined refinery dome, one of them landing too heavily and impaling herself on a twisted girder, no doubt much to the amusment of the rest of his flock.
The Scourges find themselves barely out of range of the Gargoyles but the Rangers manage to slay a Hive Guard with well aimed sniper rounds.
Tyranids:
The exodite Farseer Leoncc, an individula renowned throughout the more shadowy regions of the subsector for his formidable psychic powers and rather, mercenary, attitude towards mental stability, had accompanied Ker'drucch's raiding force with little coercion, he had a great respect for the elder Haemonculus' work, plus he was running low on Tyranid eyes, baubles which fetch a significant price if you know the right people...
No psychic powers are cast this turn, on account of Runes of Warding. Both tyrants launch themselves into the air, hefty frames held aloft on collosal wings, commanding their forces from an unparalleled vantage.
In an unusual occurance the Tyranids do not want to be rushing forwards as is usually the case. Taking an assault from the Grotesques is a recipe for disaster so most broods hang around in their deployment zone for now.
The Hive Guard and Warlord Tyrant blast wholesale into the closer Grotesques. However T5 4++ FnP with 3W is a hilariously tough nut to crack and only a single significant wound is caused. (Urien also takes a wound, but he regenerates one each turn anyway, so it is irrelevant.)
The Biovores fire into one of the few targets without FnP but, despite hitting 4 scourges, fail to even wound one. The remainiing Tyrant has better success, slaying three of the augmented Eldar and sending the rest fleeing back to safety.
~~/Turn 2/~~
Victory Points: Dark Eldar 6/4 Tyranids
Dark Eldar:
Ker'drucch sneered at the fleeing Scourges, incompetent fools. They will accept his surgeons touch for the growth of the wings, but no further will they accept his mastery of flesh. That is why they are so weak, not like the monstrous hulks he leads towards the foe. In the harsh red light of Monthax' sun the glistening muscle of the Grotesques shines unnervingly, whimpering and gnashing of sharpened, bloody teeth can be heard from beneath their sealed masks. Their twisted frames quiver with anticipation at the bloodshed to come.
I forgot to mark it on the map but the DE reserves enter play this turn arriving behind the pipes in the far right.
The Scourges flee the board in panic granting the Tyranids the First Blood VP.
Eldrad casts the same power as previous, but suffers two Perils (saved via his Ghost Helm) in the process.
Once again everything bar the Ranger surges forwards. The 10man grotesque squad consolidates over the nearby objective, a mass of Fearless T4 FnP to break through before they relenquish hold on their Skyfire Nexus (ah, if only they had guns...)
The Talos attempts to ground the Warlord Flyrant but is unable to draw a bead on the mobile creature.
The Rangers, perhaps distracted by the sky suddenly being full of panicked, scattered Scourges and hunting Tyrants, find their aim thrown off, failing to wound the Hive Guard.
Tyranids:
Bellowing in rage the Grotesques begin their charge, hulking frames building seemingly unstoppable momentum. They can feel the soft flesh of their enemies nearby, hear their easily stopped blood flow, taste their dreadful ichor. But above all that Leoncc felt something further, a whining drone at the base of his skull, the rising keen of psychic force. In one rippling motion Ker'drucch saw the impossible; his perfect stitching, the carefully placed muscle groups and bone extensions, slipping out of alignment. Even his own body was affected, he felt something rupture deep in his bowel. The charge stalled, fluid dripping shapes coming to a shivering halt mere meters from the tyranid forces.
At this stage it's cast psychic powers or die, Runes of Warding or no. The far right Tyrant succeeds in casting Warp Speed and gain +3 attacks for her troubles.
The other Tyrant attempts to Enfeeble the Grotesques, dodging the cloying presence of the RoW but is foxed by Eldrads superior psychic potential.
A Tervigon attempts the same trick, but this time is succesful. And I make no qualms or excuses, this is the only reason I managed to win this game. A single Enfeeble through unlikely odds, dropping the Grotesques from T5 to T4 mere inches before they butchered my units wholesale.
The Warlord Tyrant keeps flying high, swooping in close behind the Rangers before they can drop any more AP1 shots onto something important. The second Flyrant swoops lower, it's psychically boosted speed slamming it towards the Grotesques.
The Gargoyles begin a tactic I like to call 'pansy-ass delaying maneouvres' and form a thin green line between the Grotesques and the Tervigons.
The Tyrant blasts into the Rangers, who drop hurriedly to ground, two of them are too slow and are smashed apart.
The second Flyrant maybe caused a few wounds to the Grotesques? Not especially important.
Over in the more crucial corner of the game the Hive Guard did their thing, the suddenly T4 Grotesques lose their FnP versus the S8 shots and are forced to rely on their 4++ saves. 4 of them are slain outright, including the Aberration and Liquifier.
The Biovores attempt to snipe out the now T2 Eldrad but fail to even come close to hitting him, pinging harmlessly off the Talos instead.
The Flyrant slams bodily into the Grotesques. Her challenging call ignored (putting the instant-death Flesh Gauntlet out of the fight.) Her Warp Speed imbued Smash attacks put paid to 3 of the Grotesques through their 4++.
~~/Turn 3/~~
Victory Points: Dark Eldar 3/4 Tyranids
Dark Eldar:
His creations lie, split and ruined, impaled on bone shards, infested with wriggling larvae. It is all Ker'drucch can do to hold back the bile, how dare they?! HOW DARE THEY! His masterpieces lain low by trickery and spite, this shall not stand. He adjusts the feed valves of the ichor gauntlet attached to one of his major arms, he would weave a masterwork like none have seen from the corpses of these foolish beasts.
Continuing the theme of me forgetting about the 5 man Wrack squad I haven't shown them moving again, but they head out of cover towards the objective.
Eldrad puts a 4++ around the remaining Grotesque and then casts Prescience on both the Talos and his own squad.
There is some minimal shooting. The pinned Ranger fail to wound the Tyrant.
Urien opens the fury of his Casket of Flensing, scoring a truly astounding 2 S2 wounds versus the Gargoyles. Well, at least the AP was good, not that it matters.
Across the board the Tyrant forgets to challenge, a negligence which allows the dangerous Flesh Gauntlet to swing out, scoring three wounds. Thankfully all are saved against the odds and the Tyrant lives, although both the Haemonculus and a Grotesque do not. The Talos then slams in, flailing wildly against the preoccupied Tyrant and knocking it down to a single wound.
Tyranids:
Farseer Leoncc looks askance at the 4 metre shaft of bone and chitin lodged through his chest, as if it were naught more than a minor annoyance. He turns to share his bemusement with Ker'dracch, but is surprised when all that comes from his mouth is a fine gout of crimson liquid. How bizarre, he mused as the last of his conciousness slipped through his mind like fish through a reef. How bizarre.
The Enfeeble tervigon finds herself out of LoS of Rakarth and Co much to the Tyranids misfortune. She instead spawns 6 Termagants towards the Talos. The second Tervigon spawns 11, which move to continue operation 'pansy-ass delaying tactics' and ring the Grotesques in a fence of bodies.
The remaining gants which haven't been exploded by the sporadic booby-trap of their objective head towards the Talos. The Tervigons shuffle away from the rancorous Rakarth.
The Biovores lob their projectiles across the battlefield towards a nigh invisible target, they manage to kill three of the Wracks but neither pin nor force the unit to flee.
The Hive Guard fire into the Grotesques. Eldrad finds himself the closest model to one of the squads, he unfortunately fails a 2+ Lo,S roll, followed by a 3++ save putting him out of the game.
The warlord Tyrant finished off the Rangers, freeing up an objective.
The gants charge into the Talos, hoping to rely on massed poison attacks to bring it down. Alas because I am something of an idiot their charge range puts them out of the tervigon's bubble, making them unable of even harming the T7 Talos. This has rather the effect of them walking into some sort of grain thresher. Regardless the Talos isn't going anywhere until it kills 23 gants. 4 down...
The Tyrant puts down the last Grotesque and wounds the Talos before being dragged down and put down.
~~/Turn 4/~~
Victory Points: Dark Eldar 3/4 Tyranids
Dark Eldar:
Nothing but gants, Ker'dracch would prefer a more, substantial trophy, eyeing up the more collosal beasts just further ahead. Only these gants to deal with first, worthless ugly things. It seems he has only one Grotesque left as well, unfortunate, most unfortunate. He suppose it would only be empirical to call this test a failure then, even if it does sting his pride.
The Talos heads towards the exposed Hive Guard.
Urien and his pet have no real choice but to engage the ensnaring gants.
The Talos fluffs it's charge, managing to only wound a Hive Guard.
The other Talos continues it's impersonation of a meat grinder flaying 4-5 further gants.
Urien and his Grotesque paste 5 gants but the Grotesque loses a wound in exchange.
Tyranids:
Imperial records do not even begin to suggest reasons as to the Dark Eldar presence on Monthax during the planets final days. After all who but a madman could understand the heathen ways of the foul Xenos? There were those who suggested that the Eldar intended to assist the embattled Imperial defenders, others who vouched the Eldar as tricksters and granters of false hope. It is doubtful any observer suggested the prophets of flesh arrived only to field test their latest puppets. Playing games of strategy on the skin of a doomed world for naught more than fanciful enjoyment.
With Eldrad gone powers can be cast freely again. The Hive Guard gain Endurance to try and hold off the Talos for another turn. The Flyrant Endures itself.
The remaining fecund Tervigon spawns six gants in between itself and Urien but runs dry in the process.
The Flyrant heads towards the Wracks, guns blazing. A Tervigon also heads up towards the wracks to wrest the objective away from them.
The second tervigon squats down on the tyranid objective.
The Biovores miss hilariously leaving the objective across the board in the gnarled hands of the wracks.
The Hive Tyrant and Hive Guard blast into the Wracks, slaying a number of them. Their Fearlessness ensures they're hanging around though.
The gants, emboldened by the presence of a Tervigon still fail to wound the Talos.
The Tyrant smashes into the Wracks, drawing them off the objective and killing 3.
The Talos finished off the Hive Guard, FnP proves useless.
Urien does not quite finish off the gants.
~~/End Game/~~
Ker'dracch sighs, a disappointed noise, blasted creatures just don't know when to roll over and die. This situation has become intolerable and, more importantly, boring. He glances dejectedly at the shattered ruined corpses of his creations, well, back to his surgery then it would seem, next time perhaps a little rienforcement here and, here, yesss. Mind flickering with dark inspiration he triggers the webway portal and steps back to the welcoming sounds of tortured screams. The wrack servants left behind, well, he had no use for such fools. Although...as an afterthought he flicks a series of bone levers arrayed on a bronze finished control array. The bodies of the remaining wracks suddenly convulse and collapse, toxic shock inhibiting even their hardened systems. Lets see what the Tyranids make of this cocktail of poisons shall we he mused.
The game continued into the Haemonculi's turn 6, but there wasn't a whole lot more to write about.
The gants finished off the Talos eventually, freeing them up to act as more screens and to head off towards the central objective.
The second Talos freed Urien from the gants only to find even more recently heading out of combat with the Talos.
Finding themselves unable to wrest enough Tyranids off of enough objectives in time the Haemonculi surrendered.
This was quite an interesting game, it was kinda fun being the shootier of the two armies for once at the very least.
However I'm going to note here that I only won, or even came close, thanks to a number of increasingly unlikely events starting with the Scourges fleeing; reducing target saturation and firepower.
The most important event for the Tyranids of course was firing off that Enfeeble in the early turns. Grotesques might not seem that scary, they don't even have power weapons! But when each model gets 4 attacks base starting at S6 they don't really need them. They're nigh impossible to tarpit as you cannot get FnP versus their attacks without Enfeeble and they're incredibly resilient with the new access to Divination, a 4++ followed by a 5++ on 3W models resilient to small arms. Not to mention Urien's ability to sponge hits both from shooting by his free wound regen and in combat with his Clone Field and unless you have access to ludicrous quantities of S10 weaponry you're going to be in trouble...
It's a very scary list and 6th ed has only made it scarier despite the loss of Webway assault.
So that's that I guess, thanks for reading!
Lordbob feel free to shout at me if I got things wrong.
This game was versus TTH's very own Lordbob and his Haemonculus themed Dark Eldar army so no doubt he will chime in at some stage to point out my numerous tactical mistakes and correct any misremembered details.
Mutilator Ker'dracch leaned back thoughtfully, a satisified smile across his twisted lips as he surveyed the ranks of hideous creatures secured tightly to rows of surgical gurneys before him. His latest batch of grotesque creations, bones shattered and reformed around new flesh, pumped full of stimulants and pain-killers without which they would self destruct through the perpetual agony wracking their frames. He had created them, his children of pain, and each was a work of art. But they would have to be tested before he could consider this batch a success.
"Mmmaster, the r-reports you requested," words spit out from between the split lips of a servant wrack, muffled dully by the iron mask seared to the unfortunates face. The twisted creature holds the data orbs aloft, careful to keep it's head bowed respectfully.
Ker'dracch flips through the information, planetary reports pertaining to dangerous fauna or flora, or fierce wars taking place in easily accesible locations. "Hmm, here, I think," he sneered, "A tyrannic incursion, the perfect proving ground..." He strides from his cathedral of torture, the screams of his subjects falling a pleasing symphony behind him.
~~/Army Lists/~~
Dark Eldar-
•HQ:
-Urien Rakarth
-2x Haemonculi (Liquifier Guns, Venom Blades)
--Eldrad Ulthuan
•Elites:
-5x Grotesques (Augmented Stength, Liquifier Gun)
-Aberration (Flesh Gauntlet)
-5x Grotesques (Augmented Stength, Liquifier Gun)
-Aberration (Flesh Gauntlet)
•Troops:
-10x Wracks (Liquifier Gun)
-Acothyst (Venom Blade)
-5x Wracks
-Acothyst
--5x Rangers
•Fast Attack
-10x Scourges (4x Blasters)
•Heavy Support
-Talos Pain Engine (Haywire Blaster, Chain Flails)
-Talos Pain Engine (Haywire Blaster, Chain Flails)
Tyranids-
•HQ:
-Hive Tyrant (2x TL Devourers, Wings, Old Adversary)
-Hive Tyrant (2x TL Devourers, Wings, Old Adversary)
•Elites:
-3x Hive Guard
-3x Hive Guard
•Troops:
-10x Termagants
-Tervigon (Crushing Claws, 3x Psychic Powers, Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands)
-10x Termagants
-Tervigon (Crushing Claws, 3x Psychic Powers, Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands)
•Fast Attack
-20x Gargoyles (Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands)
•Heavy Support
-2x Biovores
~~/Game Setup/~~
The mission was rolled up as Crusade, with 5 objectives deployed around a 4'x4' board with relatively dense terrain coverage. We used 12" deployment lanes.
The Dark Eldar warlord, Urien Rakarth, gained the Master of the Vanguard warlod trait (allowing all units within 12" to roll two dice and use the highest when Running.) The Warlod Hive Tyrant gained 'Princeps of Deceit' granting the Tyranids some redeployment options.
Eldrad Ulthuan swapped his powers for rolls on the Divination table gaining all of them bar Foreboding and swapping Scrier's gaze for the Primaris power.
The Warlord tyant rolled Endurance and Enfeeble. The second Flyrant Warp Speed and Leech Life. One Tervigon gained Enfeeble, Warp Speed and Leech Life and the other rolled Endurance, Warp Speed and Leech Life.
The Dark Eldar won the roll for first turn and Night Fighting would not be in play for the first turn.
~~/Turn 1/~~
Victory Points: Dark Eldar 3/3 Tyranids
Dark Eldar:
Ker'dracch stepped lightly out of the webway portal into the soft cloying mud of Monthax. An imperial refinery complex stretched around him, and beyond that thick swathes of humid jungle. His Grotesques, momentarily placated by the promise of violence, are arrayed waiting, rearing, to smash and rend apart any obstacle they face. The obstacles in question were just drawing into view across the shattered lab buildings and ruptured pipelines, scuttering creatures utterly abhorrent to Ker'dracch's vision of beauty. He would ensure their stain to his aesthetic principles wiped out...
The smaller Wrack squad is kept in reserves to enter play later. The Rangers objective (as well as the Tyranid held one) is revealed to be a bomb. Urien generates 3 bonus pain Tokens which are given to both Grotesqu squads and the larger Wrack squad, making all of these units Fearless (in addition to having FnP and FC.)
Eldrad grants both Grotesque squads a 4++ save and then allows the Rangers insight enough to Ignore Cover (which, in retrospect, is illegal as Perfect Timing can only be cast on the psykers own unit, but nevermind.)
Everything barring the rangers rushes forwards, picking their way through the debris and taking advantage of the Warlord trait to maximise their run distance. The Scourges flutter up to the twisted spars of a ruined refinery dome, one of them landing too heavily and impaling herself on a twisted girder, no doubt much to the amusment of the rest of his flock.
The Scourges find themselves barely out of range of the Gargoyles but the Rangers manage to slay a Hive Guard with well aimed sniper rounds.
Tyranids:
The exodite Farseer Leoncc, an individula renowned throughout the more shadowy regions of the subsector for his formidable psychic powers and rather, mercenary, attitude towards mental stability, had accompanied Ker'drucch's raiding force with little coercion, he had a great respect for the elder Haemonculus' work, plus he was running low on Tyranid eyes, baubles which fetch a significant price if you know the right people...
No psychic powers are cast this turn, on account of Runes of Warding. Both tyrants launch themselves into the air, hefty frames held aloft on collosal wings, commanding their forces from an unparalleled vantage.
In an unusual occurance the Tyranids do not want to be rushing forwards as is usually the case. Taking an assault from the Grotesques is a recipe for disaster so most broods hang around in their deployment zone for now.
The Hive Guard and Warlord Tyrant blast wholesale into the closer Grotesques. However T5 4++ FnP with 3W is a hilariously tough nut to crack and only a single significant wound is caused. (Urien also takes a wound, but he regenerates one each turn anyway, so it is irrelevant.)
The Biovores fire into one of the few targets without FnP but, despite hitting 4 scourges, fail to even wound one. The remainiing Tyrant has better success, slaying three of the augmented Eldar and sending the rest fleeing back to safety.
~~/Turn 2/~~
Victory Points: Dark Eldar 6/4 Tyranids
Dark Eldar:
Ker'drucch sneered at the fleeing Scourges, incompetent fools. They will accept his surgeons touch for the growth of the wings, but no further will they accept his mastery of flesh. That is why they are so weak, not like the monstrous hulks he leads towards the foe. In the harsh red light of Monthax' sun the glistening muscle of the Grotesques shines unnervingly, whimpering and gnashing of sharpened, bloody teeth can be heard from beneath their sealed masks. Their twisted frames quiver with anticipation at the bloodshed to come.
I forgot to mark it on the map but the DE reserves enter play this turn arriving behind the pipes in the far right.
The Scourges flee the board in panic granting the Tyranids the First Blood VP.
Eldrad casts the same power as previous, but suffers two Perils (saved via his Ghost Helm) in the process.
Once again everything bar the Ranger surges forwards. The 10man grotesque squad consolidates over the nearby objective, a mass of Fearless T4 FnP to break through before they relenquish hold on their Skyfire Nexus (ah, if only they had guns...)
The Talos attempts to ground the Warlord Flyrant but is unable to draw a bead on the mobile creature.
The Rangers, perhaps distracted by the sky suddenly being full of panicked, scattered Scourges and hunting Tyrants, find their aim thrown off, failing to wound the Hive Guard.
Tyranids:
Bellowing in rage the Grotesques begin their charge, hulking frames building seemingly unstoppable momentum. They can feel the soft flesh of their enemies nearby, hear their easily stopped blood flow, taste their dreadful ichor. But above all that Leoncc felt something further, a whining drone at the base of his skull, the rising keen of psychic force. In one rippling motion Ker'drucch saw the impossible; his perfect stitching, the carefully placed muscle groups and bone extensions, slipping out of alignment. Even his own body was affected, he felt something rupture deep in his bowel. The charge stalled, fluid dripping shapes coming to a shivering halt mere meters from the tyranid forces.
At this stage it's cast psychic powers or die, Runes of Warding or no. The far right Tyrant succeeds in casting Warp Speed and gain +3 attacks for her troubles.
The other Tyrant attempts to Enfeeble the Grotesques, dodging the cloying presence of the RoW but is foxed by Eldrads superior psychic potential.
A Tervigon attempts the same trick, but this time is succesful. And I make no qualms or excuses, this is the only reason I managed to win this game. A single Enfeeble through unlikely odds, dropping the Grotesques from T5 to T4 mere inches before they butchered my units wholesale.
The Warlord Tyrant keeps flying high, swooping in close behind the Rangers before they can drop any more AP1 shots onto something important. The second Flyrant swoops lower, it's psychically boosted speed slamming it towards the Grotesques.
The Gargoyles begin a tactic I like to call 'pansy-ass delaying maneouvres' and form a thin green line between the Grotesques and the Tervigons.
The Tyrant blasts into the Rangers, who drop hurriedly to ground, two of them are too slow and are smashed apart.
The second Flyrant maybe caused a few wounds to the Grotesques? Not especially important.
Over in the more crucial corner of the game the Hive Guard did their thing, the suddenly T4 Grotesques lose their FnP versus the S8 shots and are forced to rely on their 4++ saves. 4 of them are slain outright, including the Aberration and Liquifier.
The Biovores attempt to snipe out the now T2 Eldrad but fail to even come close to hitting him, pinging harmlessly off the Talos instead.
The Flyrant slams bodily into the Grotesques. Her challenging call ignored (putting the instant-death Flesh Gauntlet out of the fight.) Her Warp Speed imbued Smash attacks put paid to 3 of the Grotesques through their 4++.
~~/Turn 3/~~
Victory Points: Dark Eldar 3/4 Tyranids
Dark Eldar:
His creations lie, split and ruined, impaled on bone shards, infested with wriggling larvae. It is all Ker'drucch can do to hold back the bile, how dare they?! HOW DARE THEY! His masterpieces lain low by trickery and spite, this shall not stand. He adjusts the feed valves of the ichor gauntlet attached to one of his major arms, he would weave a masterwork like none have seen from the corpses of these foolish beasts.
Continuing the theme of me forgetting about the 5 man Wrack squad I haven't shown them moving again, but they head out of cover towards the objective.
Eldrad puts a 4++ around the remaining Grotesque and then casts Prescience on both the Talos and his own squad.
There is some minimal shooting. The pinned Ranger fail to wound the Tyrant.
Urien opens the fury of his Casket of Flensing, scoring a truly astounding 2 S2 wounds versus the Gargoyles. Well, at least the AP was good, not that it matters.
Across the board the Tyrant forgets to challenge, a negligence which allows the dangerous Flesh Gauntlet to swing out, scoring three wounds. Thankfully all are saved against the odds and the Tyrant lives, although both the Haemonculus and a Grotesque do not. The Talos then slams in, flailing wildly against the preoccupied Tyrant and knocking it down to a single wound.
Tyranids:
Farseer Leoncc looks askance at the 4 metre shaft of bone and chitin lodged through his chest, as if it were naught more than a minor annoyance. He turns to share his bemusement with Ker'dracch, but is surprised when all that comes from his mouth is a fine gout of crimson liquid. How bizarre, he mused as the last of his conciousness slipped through his mind like fish through a reef. How bizarre.
The Enfeeble tervigon finds herself out of LoS of Rakarth and Co much to the Tyranids misfortune. She instead spawns 6 Termagants towards the Talos. The second Tervigon spawns 11, which move to continue operation 'pansy-ass delaying tactics' and ring the Grotesques in a fence of bodies.
The remaining gants which haven't been exploded by the sporadic booby-trap of their objective head towards the Talos. The Tervigons shuffle away from the rancorous Rakarth.
The Biovores lob their projectiles across the battlefield towards a nigh invisible target, they manage to kill three of the Wracks but neither pin nor force the unit to flee.
The Hive Guard fire into the Grotesques. Eldrad finds himself the closest model to one of the squads, he unfortunately fails a 2+ Lo,S roll, followed by a 3++ save putting him out of the game.
The warlord Tyrant finished off the Rangers, freeing up an objective.
The gants charge into the Talos, hoping to rely on massed poison attacks to bring it down. Alas because I am something of an idiot their charge range puts them out of the tervigon's bubble, making them unable of even harming the T7 Talos. This has rather the effect of them walking into some sort of grain thresher. Regardless the Talos isn't going anywhere until it kills 23 gants. 4 down...
The Tyrant puts down the last Grotesque and wounds the Talos before being dragged down and put down.
~~/Turn 4/~~
Victory Points: Dark Eldar 3/4 Tyranids
Dark Eldar:
Nothing but gants, Ker'dracch would prefer a more, substantial trophy, eyeing up the more collosal beasts just further ahead. Only these gants to deal with first, worthless ugly things. It seems he has only one Grotesque left as well, unfortunate, most unfortunate. He suppose it would only be empirical to call this test a failure then, even if it does sting his pride.
The Talos heads towards the exposed Hive Guard.
Urien and his pet have no real choice but to engage the ensnaring gants.
The Talos fluffs it's charge, managing to only wound a Hive Guard.
The other Talos continues it's impersonation of a meat grinder flaying 4-5 further gants.
Urien and his Grotesque paste 5 gants but the Grotesque loses a wound in exchange.
Tyranids:
Imperial records do not even begin to suggest reasons as to the Dark Eldar presence on Monthax during the planets final days. After all who but a madman could understand the heathen ways of the foul Xenos? There were those who suggested that the Eldar intended to assist the embattled Imperial defenders, others who vouched the Eldar as tricksters and granters of false hope. It is doubtful any observer suggested the prophets of flesh arrived only to field test their latest puppets. Playing games of strategy on the skin of a doomed world for naught more than fanciful enjoyment.
With Eldrad gone powers can be cast freely again. The Hive Guard gain Endurance to try and hold off the Talos for another turn. The Flyrant Endures itself.
The remaining fecund Tervigon spawns six gants in between itself and Urien but runs dry in the process.
The Flyrant heads towards the Wracks, guns blazing. A Tervigon also heads up towards the wracks to wrest the objective away from them.
The second tervigon squats down on the tyranid objective.
The Biovores miss hilariously leaving the objective across the board in the gnarled hands of the wracks.
The Hive Tyrant and Hive Guard blast into the Wracks, slaying a number of them. Their Fearlessness ensures they're hanging around though.
The gants, emboldened by the presence of a Tervigon still fail to wound the Talos.
The Tyrant smashes into the Wracks, drawing them off the objective and killing 3.
The Talos finished off the Hive Guard, FnP proves useless.
Urien does not quite finish off the gants.
~~/End Game/~~
Ker'dracch sighs, a disappointed noise, blasted creatures just don't know when to roll over and die. This situation has become intolerable and, more importantly, boring. He glances dejectedly at the shattered ruined corpses of his creations, well, back to his surgery then it would seem, next time perhaps a little rienforcement here and, here, yesss. Mind flickering with dark inspiration he triggers the webway portal and steps back to the welcoming sounds of tortured screams. The wrack servants left behind, well, he had no use for such fools. Although...as an afterthought he flicks a series of bone levers arrayed on a bronze finished control array. The bodies of the remaining wracks suddenly convulse and collapse, toxic shock inhibiting even their hardened systems. Lets see what the Tyranids make of this cocktail of poisons shall we he mused.
The game continued into the Haemonculi's turn 6, but there wasn't a whole lot more to write about.
The gants finished off the Talos eventually, freeing them up to act as more screens and to head off towards the central objective.
The second Talos freed Urien from the gants only to find even more recently heading out of combat with the Talos.
Finding themselves unable to wrest enough Tyranids off of enough objectives in time the Haemonculi surrendered.
This was quite an interesting game, it was kinda fun being the shootier of the two armies for once at the very least.
However I'm going to note here that I only won, or even came close, thanks to a number of increasingly unlikely events starting with the Scourges fleeing; reducing target saturation and firepower.
The most important event for the Tyranids of course was firing off that Enfeeble in the early turns. Grotesques might not seem that scary, they don't even have power weapons! But when each model gets 4 attacks base starting at S6 they don't really need them. They're nigh impossible to tarpit as you cannot get FnP versus their attacks without Enfeeble and they're incredibly resilient with the new access to Divination, a 4++ followed by a 5++ on 3W models resilient to small arms. Not to mention Urien's ability to sponge hits both from shooting by his free wound regen and in combat with his Clone Field and unless you have access to ludicrous quantities of S10 weaponry you're going to be in trouble...
It's a very scary list and 6th ed has only made it scarier despite the loss of Webway assault.
So that's that I guess, thanks for reading!
Lordbob feel free to shout at me if I got things wrong.
