Battle Report 23 - Take My Hand*
Tyranids vs. Tyranids
Composed by Michael J. Casavant (Hive Fleet Phage)
* - fighting for a territory called "Hand of the Emperor",
a planetary defense site.
Summary
Report
Intro
This will be my first game against Tyranids and my second game
in Lars' Firmus Mutare Warhammer 40,000 Campaign. This territory
is pivotal for two reasons. It gives me one of a few bids for
a tactically significant territory in the center of the island
and it gives me the capability of the territory, which is as follows:
The controlling army may use Preliminary Bombardment in all
battles they fight. If the battle already provides Preliminary
Bombardment to the army, then enemy units and fortifications are
affected on a 5+ instead of the normal 6.
Pretty cool, huh?
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". In this particular
fight, Mjolnir was sunning himself on the beach and let some slow
ponderous hand-to-hand Carnifices take over for him.
Riley had finally found a nice dry secluded place to sleep.
These missile silos had lain dormant for some time so he should
be safe. He settled down on his worn and tattered sleeping bag,
pulled an long leathery jacket over his filthy body and began
opening a can of Emperor's Finest Baked Beans that he had found
in a shelter nearby. The jacket had been taken from one of the
Dark Eldar bodies he had looted. Well, body is a generous term
for what the bugs left behind.
Then there was a sound outside, like the rustle of a rain
storm. Riley popped up his head and saw no clouds.
"Strange. Rain with no clouds?" He said to himself.
He stood up, casting off the jacket and sleeping bag. The
loose filthy rags wrapped around his hands protected him as he
climbed the rusty iron ladder up the silo wall. He peeked out
and saw an unpleasantly familiar sight. It was the bugs again!
He turned to look in the direction they were heading and saw...more
bugs! These were a different color, it seemed, but he didn't care,
they were all dangerous no matter what color they were!
Riley ducked down and hustled into one of the launch rooms.
He sealed it off and flicked on the monitors to witness the carnage
and find a good time to sneak out.
The Battle
Turn 1
I advanced. Very little shooting in my list this time. My Hive
Tyrant did manage to kill off a single Warrior, but that's all.
Then Travis shot. Ugh. Travis went a little more to the shooty
side of army design and it showed. He killed a lot more than one
model. The spore mines were the MVPs of this round, dropping at
least a dozen models or more. Travis's Barbed Stranglers did not
do a great deal of damage, but then one shot apiece with a BS
3 can be a gamble. Two Warp Blasts aimed at Lightning missed their
mark.
"Go greenies! Kill them rainbow bugs!" Riley had
decided that since the green bugs had come from his "home"
that he would cheer for them. The green swarm swept over the countryside
closing the distance quickly.
Turn 2
I assaulted his lone HtH Carnifex with both of my slightly weaker
Carnifices and a brood of Rippers. I rolled horribly and only
got two wounds on his Carnifex and almost lost a Carnifex in the
process! On the other side of the board, I was able to reach his
Rippers with my Hormagaunt brood, so they rushed on in, knowing
full well they would be slaughtered for the good of the Hive Mind.
On his assault phase, we swapped karma and my Carnifices survived
while his got killed off. Meanwhile, over in the Great Chitin
Sea, his Hormagaunts closed in on my Hormagaunts, joining his
Rippers, and a Hive Tyrant and his other Carnifex joined the party.
All but two Hormagaunts were killed, just enough to force a pile
in move and bring them closer to my other guys pulling up the
rear; whew. Travis also assaulted my Hive Tyrant and an adjacent
Spinegaunt unit with his Rippers.
Within an instant the bugs began tearing into each other.
Riley heard them scamper over the silo he was in and heard the
loud crash as one of the really big bugs fell onto a silo, dead
and gushing vital fluids like a fire hose. They were all over
the place killing each other with frightening speed and efficiency.
Turn 3
On my assault phase, I was able to get my entire army into assault!
The Carnifices and Rippers assaulted the Warriors, killing them
and then Consolidating to cover. Thunder and his attending Spinegaunts
finished off the Rippers. Thunder drifted back to straddle quarters
while the Spinegaunts cautiously advanced towards Travis's Termagants.
Meanwhile, back in the Great Chitin Sea, everything jumped into
the fight with the Hormagaunts. Lightning charged in and killed
the Carnifex in one round of attacks before the Carnifex could
get a chance to hit back. The Lysogaunts also charged in on
all sides, as well as a unit of Rippers and a reasonably fresh
unit of Spinegaunts. Suddenly, it looked bad for Hive Fleet Chimera.
Travis conceded after the Lightning's amazing display. The Lysogaunts,
Spinegaunts, and Rippers still had attacks to resolve and it looked
like they would end up killing everything in the Danger Zone,
so it made sense to call the game there.
I have to hand it to Lightning, he definitely gets the award
for coolest move this battle.
"Damn, that was fast." Before Riley could kick back
and open one of his precious few beers, the battle had ended.
Chitinous forms lay scattered about the field, the corpses of
both armies piled high upon one another. Only the green ones remained.
"Go green, woo-hoo!" Riley danced a little jig, a maniacal
look in his eyes. He couldn't afford to be too serious and fully
accept his situation or he'd truly lose his mind and his life.
Now to wait for his moment to escape the silo.
Wrap-up
Travis played a great game. He took every opportunity and took
advantage of any mistakes I made. It was a tough and tense battle
and quite uncertain right up until we stopped. I look forward
to the next encounter with Hive Fleet Chimera with some trepidation.
Lessons Learned (and relearned)
- Don't be an idiot. Deploy all of your models! Yes, I forgot
that I had paid for Tyrant Guard, so I threw away 90 points
of quarter capturing ability. I am glad I did not have to pay
for the mistake by losing.
- Monsters are quite efficient at killing other monsters.
- Rippers can be one-shot killed by even a Hive Tyrant. I simply
never thought about it.
- Barbed Stranglers still really are not worth their points,
IMO.
Tactics Developed
Rules Questions & Clarifications
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