Battle Report 39 - Toastmaster*
* - or, how far can a scared Biovore run?
Tyranids vs. Necrons
Composed by Michael J. Casavant (Hive Fleet Phage)
Summary
- Date - 06APR2003
- Points - 1750
- Scenario - Suicide Squad (RTT Scenario)
- Hive Fleet Phage, Tyranid Army List [played
by Michael J. Casavant]
- Dormivimus Nunc Resurreximus, Necrons Army
List [played by Dave Kullerd]
- Results - Victory for Tyranids
- Hive Fleet Phage total VPs 1274
- Kills 1424 (all except Necron Lord, 1/2 14-Warrior
squad)
- Suicide squad alive -150
- Necrons total VPs 754
- Kills 604 (1/2 Lysogaunts, Hormagaunts, 1/2 Spinegaunts,
Gargoyles)
- Suicide Squad died +150
- Bonus battle points (it's an RTT scenario, so what the
heck)
Report
Intro
This was my first game against Necrons. Very exciting stuff.
We randomly selected from 6 RTT missions from the 2002-2003 season.
We ended up with Suicide squad. Basic VPs, but one unit from Troops
or Elites had to be designated a suicide squad. If they were dead
by the end of the game, then the owner received +150 points. If
they were not, then the owner lost 150 VPs.
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".
The Battle
All right, no fluff for this one. I was too busy modifying flying
bases tonight...
 |
|
Start of turn 1
Necrons go first and vaporize my entire Gargoyle brood and
a few Gaunts.
Tyranids advance and look menacing.
|
 |
|
Start of turn 2
Necrons vaporize a few dozen more Gaunts (watch the Spinegaunts
stretched out in three neat rows, turn into a handful of
Spinegaunts in close combat with Necron Destroyers).
Tyranids advance and look menacing. The Monsters all sweep
around to the side of the woods and open up on the Monolith,
immobilizing it and shaking it so it can't shoot its Gauss
Arc Flux Projectors (gets 1d6 hits on every enemy unit within
12"). Lysogaunts manage to reach close combat on the
top right with a unit of Warriors. Spinegaunts 1 reach the
Destroyers. Spinegaunts 2 rush up to the Monolith to block
the portal and prevent a unit from being pulled out of close
combat through the portal (which would also allow a second
roll to come back). Of the two or three Necrons killed this
round, only one stays dead.
|
 |
|
Start of turn 3
Necrons pull their Heavy Destroyers and Destroyers around
the close combat near them and unload into Lightning, wounding
him once. A second Warrior unit piles in with the Lysogaunts,
and by the end of the turn the Lysogaunts are down to 6
models and running far away to cover (got out of synapse
and rolled Lurk). One of my Biovores rolls Instinctive Behavior
because he is far away and fails, getting a fallback result;
so he falls forward to the nearest Synapse...
Tyranids advance and start biting things but to little avail
on Necrons. The Monolith, however, does get destroyed by
Mjolnir. No, you're not crazy, I did say that my Carnifex
a) survived to get into close combat and b) killed something
significant in close combat. Lightning also assaulted the
Monolith, but his contribution became moot. Everyone else
advanced into Necrons and tried to get some. We'll be
back rolls and lackluster assault results from my bugs
resulted in some frighteningly poor numbers of dead Necrons.
It was a little unnerving. Dave had been making great rolls
for We'll be back all game.
|
 |
|
Start of turn 4
Necrons kill stuff. The Necron Lord pulls back into the
trees, risking a hit to keep himself positioned well between
his troops and avoid a charge from Lightning.
Mjolnir (Carnifex) manages to get into the fight, as does
Lightning. Mjolnir kills guys, but they bounce right back
due to the Necron Lord's Resurrection Orb; it looks
grim when the monsters can't keep them down.
The Biovore continues to run towards Thunder...
|
 |
|
Start of turn 5
Necrons attack stuff.
Tyranids attack stuff. Thunder finally gets into the close
combat, thanks to some fortunate pile-in results.
The Biovore continues to run towards Thunder...
|
 |
|
Start of turn 6
Necrons kill more stuff, but...
This turn, things turn around quickly. All of the Destroyers,
Heavy Destroyers, and two units of Warriors all are destroyed
or driven off the board edge.
The Biovore continues to run towards Thunder...
|
 |
|
End of game.
Necrons managed to get their suicide squad killed off (actually
they fell back off the board).
Tyranids still had 4 models surviving (should have nominated
a more attractive target), so no cookie for Michael.
The Biovore is still running towards Thunder...
|
Wrap-up
This battle was closer than some might think. I had to really
work hard to pull off a win. Here are some useful things that
helped me win this one:
- Shooting all of my monsters' guns at the Monolith while throwing
a brood of Spinegaunts at the portal to keep it blocked.
- Getting Psychic Scream into play near the cluster of Necrons.
-1 Leadership means more fall back and when they fall off the
edge of the board, they don't come back.
- Keeping the monsters out of line of sight of the Heavy Destroyers,
for the most part.
- I never underestimated the capabilities of Necrons in shooting
or close combat. They are just as tough as a Marine, albeit
slower, and we'll be back more than makes up for that.
Things I need to improve on:
- One monster/render is really not enough to take out a unit
of Necrons, especially when backed up by an Orb of Resurrection.
You need to bring down a lot of them to have a hope of getting
them to fall back.
- Pull units away from the range of the Necron Lord's Resurrection
Orb. That thing is a real pain in the neck.
Screw-ups
- The scared Biovore should have rolled to regroup, not fall
back every turn.
Other observations:
- This army is one time in which a high Initiative is not that
useful.
- I found Biovores to be rather useless because of WBB and the
low strength of Bio-Acid.
|
