Battle Report 15 - Devouring Wraiths
Tyranids vs. Ulthwé Eldar
Composed by Michael J. Casavant (Hive Fleet Phage)
Summary
Report
Intro
This is my third experience with the basic method of mission
selection from the rulebook and I like it. I had set up a Raid
against Lars (see batrep 14)
and I was just lazy and tweaked the list slightly. In this one
I was playing the Attacker in a Raid against Ulthwé Eldar.
Fearing the might of a Seer Council, I took Psychic Scream for
my flying Hive Tyrant, instead of Warp Blast, and I added Poison
Spore Mines to the options for my Biovores, because of the prevalence
of Sv 4+ and Sv 5+ in the Eldar lists.
Setup
Naming convention: 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 alike
has been dubbed "Lightning." They have also named the
Carnifex engine of destruction, "Mjolnir."
For fairness, we had Lars set up the terrain for us. Cliff wanted
us to use the method out of the book that calls for 1d3 pieces
of terrain per quadrant, so we did.
The Battle
The Tyranid forces had come. The Seer Council had known this
would happen and that it was inevitable. There was a ripple in
the future though. Divination had revealed that they would try
to destroy our repository of soul stones. We would die, but there
was a chance we could protect the repository long enough for a
biobomb to cleanse the scourge from the area.
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Turn 1 (recall, the turns start in this scenario when the
Attacker moves on, NOT when the alarm is raised) - I snuck
in from the right, killing two sentries in the process and
raising the alarm. This time I planned on raising the alarm,
so I was not worried.
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Turn 2 - The Guardians did not fare well when the Gaunts,
red terror and Gargoyles slammed into them. More important,
one of the Gargoyles was able to assault the objective.
Clff's Reapers and Striking Scorpions come on, but it's
already too late for them to have a positive effect.
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Turn 3 - Screened by hordes of Gaunts and Guardians, the
Gargoyle is able to blow up the bunker!
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Isn't he so dashing?
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Past the shattered bodies and through the sickly green vapors
of the poison clouds, I could see, hear, and feel the shrieks
from the repository as the foul bioweapons of the Tyranids detonated.
Wrap-up
Not much to wrap up. With the amount of points sunk into the
units that started off the board, Cliff was at a distinct disadvantage
in this fight.
Lessons Learned (and relearned)
- With a large swarm like mine, forget sneaking past. Plan to
raise the alarm and just get in there!
- Also, remember the objective. You have to get into base contact
by assaulting the objective in your turn and remaining there
(read surviving) until the start of your next assault
phase. Killing the other guy may be entertaining, but
it's not the objective in this mission.
Tactics Developed
- I used close combat and cover to avoid the Farseers dropping
my big guys.
- As with my last battle, I had to be careful how I removed
casualties and what order I crushed/swept so that I could keep
the Red Terror locked in assault.
Rules Questions & Clarifications
- The turns start as soon as the Attacker moves onto the board.
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