Battle Report 43 - (EoT) One Man's Trash...

Tyranids vs. Necrons

Composed by Michael J. Casavant (Hive Fleet Phage)

Summary

• Date - 13JUL2003
• Points - 1000
• Scenario - Battle, Take & Hold
• Hive Fleet Phage, Tyranid Army List [played by Michael J. Casavant]
• Necrons [played by Jason Carr]
• Results - Victory for Tyranids
  • Hive Fleet Phage total VPs
    • Kills 994 (everything)
  • Necrons
    • Kills 1/2 Hormagaunts (125), Gargoyles (80)

Report

Intro

This is my first battle in the Eye of Terror campaign run by Games Workshop.

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

Quickie notes...

Reserve arrivals

• Turn 2 - Destroyers
• Turn 3 - Scarabs
• Turn 4 - Heavy Destroyers, Pariahs, Necron Lord

"Spit it out!" Yelled a tall man in power armor. His heavily muscled neck and faint scars on his shaved scalp told the tale of his Space Marine "enhancements".

The target of his vitriol shook slightly. He was a thin man in the cassock of a tech priest. His pale blemished skin told the tale of his piety, years of seclusion in dark rooms spent in supplication to machine spirits. He composed himself and answered.

"Sir, the reports of battles in the Chinchare sector continue."

"Damn priest! Why should I care? We are waging war to protect the people of the Imperium here and now!'

"Y-yes Commander, but the machine spirit has identified the activity in and around Chinchare as a significant tactical anomaly, e-especially..." the thin man fumbled through scrolls.

"Priest, my patience grows thin."

"Ah, here it is!" He pulled free a scroll that did not bear the usual marks of age and laid it down on the table, spreading it out for the Commander to view.

"You see, Commander. Here is the planet Sabbatorus."

"The waste world?"

"Yes, the waste world. The clergy has portents that indicate that there may be important technology there."

"Just because of a few skirmishes? Bah, they're probably pirates!"

"I beg you, your grace, look at this." With that, the frail man pointed a cross at the wall and depressed a jewel in the center. The wall flicked to life with a desolate image of piles of debris, scattered, wild patches of forest, and scavenger animals picking through the piles.

A small white box highlighted a distant part of the image and zoomed in. The image shifted to a flatter region of debris and some glints of metal. Again, a white box highlighted a small portion of the screeen, where the glints had been, and zoomed in.

The commander said in a half-whisper, "Necrons."

"Yes, my lord. And there is more." The screen zoomed out slightly and horde of scrabbling creatures streamed up and out of a valley in the debris.

"Tyranids?"

"Yes, my lord. As you can see, the Necrons appear to be entrenched on a patch of sand, which clearly is a fixed camouflaged position. The Tyranids advanced quickly and engaged them here." The man pointed to a sand-colored region that seemed out of place with the surroundings.

"What is that beast?"

"Oh, the men call that one Lightning."

"By the Emperor."

"May he guide and strengthen us."

The priest paused for a moment of silence, then continued.

"At the top of image, you can see a trio of Necron Destroyers pull into position and obliterate the brood of Gargoyles. As if in response, we see Lightning leap up to the rock and assault them." The scene shows a massive creature slicing through large armored bodies the size of cars with talons at least 4 meters long.

"The bulk of the Tyranids manage to repel the two squads of ten Necron Warriors from the site, inflicting modest casualties, and a small swarm of scarabs races in to join the fight. As we can see here, the scarabs manage to find a weak spot in Mjolnir and wound him, quite remarkable really."

"The primary melee now includes the Scarabs, Warriors, and the bulk of the Tyranid force. A unit of...say two dozen Spinegaunts remains on the objective.

"A unit of Pariahs and a Heavy Destoyer arrives, led by their Necron Lord. The Heavy Destroyer immediately manages to wound Lightning."

The Commander interjects, "Of course lad, that weapon can slice through a Land Raider."

"Of course Commander. Lightning advances towards the new units, bypassing the Pariahs and engaging the Lord and Heavy Destroyer."

The Commander chuckles slightly, "Crafty beasts, eh?"

"Yes, m'lord, cunning animals indeed. Lightning wounds but does not kill the Lord. However, in the main melee, the bulk of the force, aided by Mjolnir and...as you can see behind this tree, a Lictor, kill off all of the remaining Warriors. Shortly thereafter, the Necrons phased out of the battle."

The Commander's deep voice resonated, "Hmm, priest, and what am I to make of this?"

"That Chincharre may hold a tactical significance not yet realized."

"I am not convinced, but you have made a good case for interest. And what does the clergy recommed?"

"Sir, we recommend that you dispatch a recon unit to the area."

"So be it. Dismissed!"

Wrap-up

After the fact we realized that the Necrons had too many Fast Attack (limit of one for Battles Defender), which was pusihment enough on its own, given the deployment constraints for the Defender.

Ways for the Defender to kill more bugs:

• Position farther back from the objective, although a couple of models on the objective is nice. It's not going to be held from the initial onslaught, might as well get in one or two rounds of good shooting. By parking the objective as far back as possible and settting up on and behind it, you can insure that you are at least 24" away. That's at least one turn of full shooting, especially since the Attacker needs to move on from the board edge.
• Deploy everything that is allowed. This mission punishes low-Troop Defenders by allowing only Troops and HS to deploy initially. If you got 'em, deploy 'em! Set up the HS behind your Troops and/or far away from the objective.