Battle Report 8 - Tyranids vs. Chaos: Emperor's Children
Composed by Michael J. Casavant (Hive Fleet Phage)
Summary
Report
Notable things
- I managed to surround a Rhino with Inifiltrating Genestealers,
surround it, and destroy it, taking out the unit inside without
a fight. This was the first time that Infiltration was beneficial
for me, let alone viable.
- Cliff's Possessed Marines managed to down Lightning with their
Vorpal Weapons (ouch!)
- The other Rhino exploded and killed almost half of the other
Genestealer squad. Damn brood telepathy! They should listen
to the Hive Mind - "don't hit the ammo!"
Important Note
My opponent played with less than his full list so he was at
a disadvantage. There was a lot of confusion in translating his
list to Army Builder and he ended up paying for four Possessed
Chaos Space Marines that he did not use. It definitely would have
helped to have those four extra guys.
Setup
The food that have faced Hive Fleet Phage have named the Hive
Tyrants that continue to plague them. The one that trudges forward
implacably with an escort of Tyrant Guard they call "Thunder."
The swift winged beast that races across the battlefield and shatters
bodies and vehicles with its mind they have dubbed "Lightning."
They have also named the Carnifex engine of destruction, "Mjolnir."
Turn Zero
The misguided slaves of the False Emperor were crushed. The
planet was ours. Praise Slaanesh! The agony of our foes' deaths
was delicious. Their Commander would not yield any information,
he only laughed mockingly through the blood and torn flesh. As
Inquisitor Shraxas prepared to finish him off, screams of alarm
sounded through the doorway. The marine Commander spat a mouthful
of bloody saliva at the Inquisitor, gave a gallows smile, and
grunted, "surprise!"
The Inquisitor turned about ready to shatter the minds of
the handful of foolish marines that sought to take their Commander
back with them. He shielded himself behind the Commander's body
and waited. Dents appeared in the doorway, but they were not like
those a Bolter would cause, they were more like claws...
I was the Attacker, so I went first, but there were Sentries,
so I was able to advance on my turn. I resisted the urge to kill
the Sentries and advanced my army inward. This allowed my Genestealers
to flank the two Chaos Rhinos.
On Cliff's turn we moved Sentries about. He managed to get one
within range and spot some bugs and my grand plans of infiltrating
most of my army past his Sentries were dashed.
Turn 1
We were trying to raise the sentries on the radio when the
alarm was raised on the perimeter. Someone had killed the Inquisitor.
No, not someone. SomeTHING.
OK, so I used my move to surround the left Rhino with a Genestealer
brood and position my other brood at the flank and side of the
other Rhino. I then assaulted in. I managed to cut off the exit
from the left Rhino and destroy it, killing off the entire squad
inside without a fight. This is the first and probably last time
I will ever accomplish that. :-P
My other Genestealer unit did not fare so well, they generated
an explosion result on their Rhino and 4 of them died. Very annoying,
but hey, the hive can always make more. :-)
The surviving Noise Marines boil out of their Rhino and rush
the Genestealers.
Turn 2
The Hive Tyrant continues grappling with the Daemon Prince and
the first unit of Genestealers advance toward it.
The Daemon Prince falls even as the Daemonettes are summoned
to aid their foul brethren. One tries to warp in near the last
Noise marine, but there is a distortion and they try to warp in
amidst a sea of Spinegaunts and are torn aport by the warp. [I
felt bad for Cliff on this one. Losing a whole unit without a
fight sucks, period.]
The Spinegaunts, oblivious to their good fortune, crush in, hungry
for the flesh of the strange shrieking creature that came out
of the moving box.
Turn 3
With no enemy biomass left, the hive arrays itself, awaiting
the arrival of more to consume.
A Chaos Dreadnought arrives and charges into the horde of Spinegaunts
hungering for the thrill of physical combat as distant a sensation
it might be, it's mind shattered by its deprivations.
Turn 4
The Genestealers join the fray and assault the Dreadnought with
vigor.
The Rippers and Genestealers descend on the Fleshcaster Rholgath
(Sorceror) and he relishes the pain as he is torn to pieces.
Lessons Learned
- Genestealers can actually infiltrate effectively! I
finally have a chance to do something useful with the Genestealers'
Infiltration ability. They are very much the primary reason
this fight ended up a Massacre. They killed an entire Noise
Marine Squad and its Rhino without a single wound or even letting
them get a shot off. This scenario is a very good reason to
have Infiltrators in your army.
- Vehicles Can Explode! OK, so this is the second time
now. I need to try and take down vehicles without blowing them
up!
- Psychic Scream could be useful. I have not faced that
many Psykers lately. Also, I find that I am more likely to expose
Lightning to get a shot with Warpblasts. I think Psychic Scream
would serve me better. At least once it would have caused an
attack from the Warp on the Sorcerer.
- Daemon Princes can be dangerous. By sheer luck, I was
unable to kill the DP until the third round of attacks while
managing to avoid getting killed by the Poison Tail, which hit
everytime, but failed to wound. I should really try and one-shot
kill them with a VC shot from my HT or Carnifex.
Tactics Developed
- I finally had a chance to try out moving to surround a vehicle
during the Movement phase to allow an assault while blocking
the exits of a vehicle. That was sweet.
Rules Questions & Clarifications
- Correction/clarification
#1 - What happens if I block the board edge that Reserves are
supposed to come in on? I don't know...
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