Battle Report 24 - Pieces of Mind*

Tyranids vs. Biel-Tan Eldar

Composed by Michael J. Casavant (Hive Fleet Phage)

* - fighting for a territory that confers minor Psychic powers.

Summary

• Date - 22SEP2002
• Points - 1500
• Scenario - Patrol
• Hive Fleet Phage, Tyranid Army List played by Michael J. Casavant]
• Biel-Tan Eldar [played by Andrew Harper]
• Result - Victory for Hive Fleet Phage
  • VPs, Hive Fleet Phage - 757
  • VPs, Biel-Tan Eldar - 330
• Battle Honours
  • Hive Fleet Phage - none.
  • Hive Fleet Chimera - none.

Report

Intro

This will be my first game against Biel-Tan Eldar and my third game in Lars' Firmus Mutare Warhammer 40,000 Campaign. This territory is pivotal for a few reasons. It is worth a lot of points, it borders the most valuable territory on the map, and it confers some whacky abilities that would be very beneficial to character-heavy non-Tyranid armies.

At the beginning of every battle fought by the army that controls this territory (inside and outside this territory), roll 1d6 for each character in the army. On a 6, that character has manifested a minor psychic power (White Dwarf 257) for the duration of the battle. The owning player may select which table to roll on. For Tyranid armies, instead of rolling for every character, roll for every Hive Mind creature in the army. There cannot be more than 1 latent psyker in any unit. In addition, for Challenge battles occurring in this territory, the Attacker also rolls for latent psykers. These minor psychic powers do not count for purposes of Battle Honors (i.e. keeping the unit constant) and have an effective cost of 0 for Victory Point and Armory purposes.

So holding on to this is important mostly to deprive my opponents of the benefits.

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".

This mission is the bane of Tyranids because each army only places a single unit and the rest come on from reserves. Andrew won the board edge choice and ended up deploying first.

Andrew deployed a unit of Warp Spiders.

I deployed my unit of Rippers. They are Mindless, so the lack of Synapse would not be a detriment. They are slow, so they need to get on the board and moving as quickly as possible. They can take a lot of hits, so they might actually last long enough for others to catch up and help out. They are cheap, so if they get decimated, it won't cripple my army or my chances of victory (this is a VP mission).

The Battle

Turn 1

Andrew went first. He advanced his Warp Spiders straight at my Rippers. With their guns, they would one-shot kill the Rippers, bypassing their three wounds. A very effective tactic when dealing with the sea of wounds that Rippers are.

I went second. The Rippers accepted the challenge and moved straight at the Warp Spiders. Then I revealed my Lictor, which ended up in the midst of the Warp Spider unit and immediately charged into them. I managed to win the fight and the Warp Spiders fell back. They were close enough to the edge that they decided to forego their Withdraw power (basically a voluntary fallback with immediate regroup) for fear of falling off the board.

Turn 2

Reserves: I got my Genestealers and I think Andrew only got a Falcon. My Rippers an Lictor advanced.

Turn 3

Andrew's Swooping Hawk's came onto the board and I forgot something very important:

The grenade pack attack that Swooping Hawks conduct when they move onto the board from Reserves does not have to be anywhere near where they come on the board.

Andrew cleverly blasted the Genestealers with the grenade packs then landed a safe distance from them and blasted the heck out of my Ripper Swarms. Poor Rippers...

Andrew's Dark Reapers came on from Reserve as well.

I also was reasonably fortunate in Reserve rolls. I managed to get a unit of Spinegaunts, my Hormagaunt unit, both Hive Tyrants, and my Biovores onto the board.

The Lictor mixed it up with the Warp Spiders again, managing not to get killed off this turn. The Spinegaunts managed to get on the board, Fleet of Foot, and just barely assault the Swooping Hawks, which I no doubt shot as well (memory is foggy). Anyway, they ended up behind the rock,

A rear shot showing the Swooping Hawks lurking behind a rock.

Turn 4

Andrew gets his other Falcon and blasts away at my poor little bugs

Turn 5

OK, here's where it gets fuzzy, so I give you pictures. The game was quick, painless, and quite close.

Wrap-up

Andrew played a good game. This was one of the most enjoyable games I played and I think it was mostly due to a minimum of rules discussion and very fast-paced moving and shooting.