Battle Report 22 - Construction Time Again*
Tyranids vs. Dark Eldar
Composed by Michael J. Casavant (Hive Fleet Phage)
* - fighting for a territory that contains a "bio-mnemonic"
production facility.
Summary
- Date - 08SEP2002
- Points - 1700
- Scenario - Cleanse
- Hive Fleet Phage, Tyranid Army List played
by Michael J. Casavant]
- Dark Eldar [played by Dave Kullerd]
- Result -
- VPs*, Hive Fleet Phage - N/A
- VPs*, Dark Eldar - N/A
- Battle Honours
- Tyranids - Lysogaunts (counter attack ability - win ties
in Close Combat) [woo]
- Dark Eldar - Ravager (skilled gunnery - re-roll misses
for one weapon per turn) [ouch]
Report
Intro
This will be my first game against Dark Eldar and my first game
in Lars' Firmus Mutare Warhammer 40,000 Campaign.
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".
Riley snatched up his bedroll and smoked rat. "Something's
coming!" He exclaimed to the empty air. Riley had been alone
for a very long time.
The factory had been a good place to squat for the last few
months, but he knew that would end soon when the last few Imperials
hotfooted it out of here like the Emperor himself was driving
them. A strange alien war cry erupted from the northwest and a
pair of huge skimmers whooshed up next to the corner of the factory.
The...people inside looked inhumanly lithe and were decked out
like Slaaneshi. Dark Eldar! This was not good, Riley had no intention
of being some whipping boy for leather clad freaks.
One of the crew pointed off to the southeast, indicating something
to the gunner. Riley followed the path he was pointing. The ground
was moving. No wait, it was a wall of green chitin. Bugs, and
a whole lot of them. This was going from bad to worse. Riley scrambled
to the upper floor, pulling his rope with him. It was tough getting
past the shattered middle floors without a rope, so maybe they'd
pass him buy. He climbed into the old security center and flicked
on the few remaining perimeter cameras.
The Battle
Turn 1
I won the die roll to choose who goes first and I let Dave's
Dark Eldar go first. He shot the heck out of my guys and I advanced
slowly. My Shooting phase was pretty pathetic. Basically, the
bulk of his force pulled back shooting, but his Archon unit, Wyches,
and one Raider Squad pulled around the building to hammer my poor
bugs with weapons fire.
The Dark Eldar pulled back, unleashing beams of dark energy
into the horde. Some scary guy with a host of dangerous-looking
bodyguards pulled around the north side of the factory accompanied
by a skimmer full of scrawny looking guys and another skimmer
with a funky purple color, full of even stranger looking folks
with all manner of crazy-looking weapons. The security computer
began automatic recognition of the Vehicles.
"Raider class vessel, deviant classification, Wych. Raider
class vessel, mixed deviants, Archon, Incubi, Warriors. Raider
class vessel, Warrior deviants."
"Tyranids, mixed species, processing hive configuration."
A small blue bar begin filling as the computer hummed.
Turn 2
More getting shot, more moving. The Wyches were in range of my
Lysogaunts, so I took my chances and charged their Raider. In
an amazing stroke of luck, they hit and blew it up. Seven of the
ten Wyches were killed in the explosion. The singlemost amazing
result of my bugs for the entire battle.
A unit of bugs began flashing across the camera. Riley snatched
the joystick and tracked their motion. Riley watched in disbelief
as the unit of small bugs rushed the Raider containing the Wyches!
BOOM! "Damn! It blew up!"
Smoke erupted from the vessel as the bugs tore into the energy
packs. The ship tipped violently down and the nose slammed into
the ground, sending the bulk of the Wyches headlong into the cockpit,
their bodies smashing into and being impaled upon everything from
spikes to control levers. Three of the Wyches rolled clear, springing
to their feet with athletic grace and a shriek of defiance.
Turn 3
For the most part, more moving and getting shot a whole bunch.
I was felling frisky, so I plopped Lightning right out in the
middle of open ground to get shot, which he did... a LOT.
The Archon's unit and a nearby Raider squad disembarked to take
on the Lysogaunts. The Archon gutted a bunch of guys, but the
Warrior squad did not fare very well. Ironically, the Wyches were
the ones that ended up fleeing.
In my turn, I finally got some licks in as Genestealers and Hormagaunts
came to join the Archon's party. They cam too late to save the
poor Lysogaunts, but they managed to deal enough carnage to drive
off the Archon's unit and the Warrior Squad. Elsewhere, a unit
of Spinegaunts finally got into close combat with the Warrior
squad in the nearest building and did some damage.
More bugs piled into the melee east of the building, but Riley
was no longer paying attention. He peered through a crack in the
floor and saw a score of bugs fighting almost a dozen of the freakishly
lean Dark Eldar. Riley held very still and muted the already low
murmuring of data and specifications from the computer. He glanced
up momentarily to see a flashing message, "Hive Fleet Phage
Confirmed - ACQUIRE SAMPLES AT ALL COSTS." Riley chuckled
to himself.
Turn 4
With no one left to fight, I had my Genestealers jump the nearby
Raiders. Sure, they only have a 1/36 chance of affecting a Raider,
but how could I resist assaulting something with little running
boards on which my bugs could balance? :) Don't try this at home,
it's stupid. Hide your Genestealers or find bodies to attack.
Lightning is half-dead, but he makes it behind a ruined wall.
The Spinegaunts finished off the Warrior squad and consolidated
towards the edge of the building. On my turn, they rushed out,
fleeted towards the next entrenched Warrior squad and got shot
up badly, again.
The fighting died down below, but another wave of bugs rushed
into the first floor and scampered about. Riley swore under his
breath. He had worked up one heck of a scent over the years and
he did not want to be food. Shots to the west distracted him from
his danger and he saw some more Warriors gunning down Spinegaunts.
Turn 5
Vehicles moved about and shot up guys. Lightning finally bought
it, as did Mjolnir. Bummer!
The (now) smaller unit of Spinegaunts made it into assault with
the second entrenched Warrior squad. The Warriors took enough
wounds and ended up running away. The other unit of Spinegaunts
pulled back to straddle quarters, in preparation for the end of
the game.
Shrieks of pain erupted from the building to the west and
Riley saw a handful of Warriors running backwards wildly firing
off shots back into the building. Dark beams of energy streaked
out into the building. A roar and a thud signaled the death of
two of the monsters. "Damn, this is a close one. Hopefully
the freaks will wipe each other out."
Turn 6
The game looked pretty tied up for the bugs at this point, so
we rushed through this turn and did not even quite finish it up,
stopping when it was clear the bugs would take the day. The result?
- Contested quarters: 3
- Tyranids: 1
- Dark Eldar: 0
The last vehicles raced around frantically. Riley didn't know
why, but the bugs seemed ready for it. The Dark Eldar were pulling
back. Now, he just needed to stay out of sight until the bugs
left....
Wrap-up
Dave played a good game. Dave even admitted that things did not
go that badly for him (oh, he'll deny it in public, but it's true!
:) ) Now I finally have some idea what Dark Eldar are like.
Lessons Learned (and relearned)
- Dark Eldar can fall back shooting to great effect. Disintegrators
can be dangerous.
Tactics Developed
Rules Questions & Clarifications
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