Wednesday 31 October 2012

Throne of Skulls Oct '12 - Battle 2, Tyranids Vs Ravenguard pt1

Happy Hallowe'en!
Second game was Crusade, Hammer & Anvil deployment [surprisingly this really does your back in]. My Warlord Trait was Co-ordinated Assault, +1" to charge range.

Psychic Powers
Tervigon HQTervigon TroopBroodlord [Adrenal]Broodlord [Toxin]
Warp SpeedWarp SpeedEnduranceEndurance
Life LeechHaemorrageIron ArmWarp Speed

Jim Klapkowski brought a really nice Ravenguard army to the table with:
  • Librarian (Gate, Avenger)
  • 3 x 10 man tactical squads in Drop Pods (all had some variant of special and heavy weapon)
  • Land speeder Squadron, all with Typhoon missile launchers
  • Storm Talon with Lascannon
  • Full size bike squad with m-m attack bike, sarge with power sword.
Given the deep striking nature I positioned my ADL with one edge taken up by a ruin. With five objectives, one in the ADL with my Devgaunts and Warriors as support and Synapse/Fearless, the other objective in the ruin with the Toxin Stealers. Right about now I moved something under the table and knocked over my pint glass of water that spilled towards Jim's bag and coat, not an auspicious start and certainly no way to introduce yourself to a new opponent, i felt like such an idiot


Anyway Jim was gracious with my clumsiness and played on positioning one objective amongst his bikes in his Deployment Zone [DZ].


The other objective in the Ruin next to his Land Speeders.


I'm guessing from the picture I got first turn. The Troop Tervigon spawned 7 gaunts back into the ADL to add more support in case of drop pods and with two objectives I hoped to free up the Stealers to do more damage elsewhere. The HQ Tervigon spawned 9 but given how crowded the ADL was getting they had to spawn forwards and head for the woods where the final obective is. The Trygon and HQ Tervigon were Endured and both Tervigons were Warp Speeded.


Jim's turn and the Drop Pod with ttactical squad and Librarian pile out.


Flamers, psychic powers and all manner of bolter fire lay waste to 7 Devgaunts.


The Trygon suffers 5 wounds from the combined Land Speeder fire but thanks to Endurance weathers the storm.


The Land Speeder's are becoming a real thorn in my Trygon's hide - they have to go!


My turn two, HQ Tervigon spawns 12, not sure what else I recall the Toxin Stealer getting snake eyes at one point on a psychic roll. Obviously this drop pod arriving is from Jim's turn two which is later on.


I forget to bring the Doom of Malatai on. The Trygon recovers 2 wounds thanks to Endurance [fast becoming my favorite Biomancy power, it's like regeneration but cheaper, better odds and Feel No Pain too! you just have to roll it in the first place].


Storm Talon arrives and the bikes advance.


Bikes target the Hormagaunts in the wood and kills them, maybe receiving First blood for the effort.


The Devgaunts in the ADL had previously moved back behind Tyranid Warriors so as not to lose First Blood. The warriors therefore take the brunt of the shooting from the Tactical squad and eventually two die.


The Storm Talon and Speeders target the Trygon and managed to shoot past his Endurance and he dies. The second Tactical Squad kill 6 of the 12 Termagants nearest to their Drop Pod.


The Tervigon suffers 3 wounds, from something.


The final Hormagaunt is also gunned down, things aren't looking good this side of the woods...


Part two tomorrow...


Tuesday 30 October 2012

Throne of Skulls Oct '12 - Battle 1, Tyranids Vs Grey Knights pt2.


And on to part 2...

The Storm Raven arrives and shoots up the HQ Tervigon with all sorts of kooky ammunition and rockets. First Blood and Slay the Warlord to Andrew. The second NDK kills the remaining Toxin Stealers despite Endurance and the Broodlord remains in the mix. I think the Doom was destroyed also, probably by the terminators advancing on the left.


During my turn the Broodlord again Hypnotises the NDK and finally rends it to pieces, denying the Trygon once more. It consolidates back into the woods and the Trygon looks expectantly at the Storm Raven. With just 4 wounds the Doom fires Cataclysm but is denied only to suffer 3 Wounds for the privelege. The Devgaunts advance over the ADL and combined shooting with the Warriors puts down all but one of the Terminators.


The Adrenal Stealers and Hormagaunts scuttle out of the fire arc of the Storm Raven still intent on securing Linebreaker.


Storm Raven deploys terminator and Warlord squad in front of the Trygon and flys backwards to take a bead on the stealers with some Hurricane Bolters [oh yeah I forgot in can move!] and kills two. It unleashes more fire on the Trygon and puts 3 Wounds on it.


The Terminators assault the Trygon and thanks to a special banner doesn't have to roll to activate his force weapons - they're always on and slices the Trygon to death with one cut!


The Grey Knights get ready to take on the next mightiest creature.


It comes round to my turn. and the Hormagaunt heads away to his board edge while the lone Stealer charges the now hovering Storm Raven and puts a glance and a rending hit on it. It's claws sink into an exposed plasma conduit and the resulting explosion vaporises the flyer and Stealer instantly [a VP each!]. In his turn he guns down the Hormagaunt denying Linebreaker and moves the sole surviving terminator back to save a kill point.

At this stage I think I've lost. He's taken so many VP's already and I realise the 'always on Force Weapons' are MC killers so I have a choice - skulk away or try to go all out... So the Troop Tervigon, Devgaunts and last Broodlord assault the Terminators [not before killing one through shooting, it may even have been the Hive Guard who did that]. I think they fail to do the business. Rad grenades make the Broodlord initiative 1 and the Terminators kill most everything


Meanwhile the Warriors advance on the rapidly retreating last Terminator from the right hand squad [chicken ;) ] The Barbed Strangler shoots wild and the Deathspitters wound five times but he makes every save. With nothing left I think the game ended with a final score of 10Vps to 3 :(


I'm not sure where I went wrong here. perhaps being too aggressive. Maybe if I'd have forced him to come to me and then picked when I wanted to assault would have been better. Certainly the Biomancy helped keep me alive. The ADL was only marginally useful just saving the lives of a few Devgaunts that I recall. Don;t remember much about what the Hive Guard did but certainly the deciding factor was plenty of rerolls to hit and wound for the Grey Knights and their Force Swords were the marked differences between fighting PeteB, although that's a smaller table and smaller force. Certainly plenty to share with him though about what worked. 

Not a good start to the day but not something I was disappointed with, except for the Doom fail! Ha, ha.

Monday 29 October 2012

Throne of Skulls Oct '12 - Battle 1, Tyranids Vs Grey Knights pt1

I'll split these into two parts as they're a bit long winded otherwise, although I'll post them on consecutive days so you don't have to wait too long for the conclusion :)

First game was Purge the Alien, Vanguard deployment [slightly amusing to see table after table split diagonally by everyone's tape measures]. My Warlord Trait was Inspiring Presence [meh]

Psychic Powers
Tervigon HQTervigon TroopBroodlord [Adrenal]Broodlord [Toxin]
HaemorrageLife LeechWarp SpeedHypnotise
EnduranceWarp SpeedNA WitchfireAura of Despair

Andrew Bruce brought a Grey Knight force to the table very similar to my mate PeteB's. I was quite confident despite the fact his deployment took less than about 2 minutes and the max VPs I could take were 5 plus Slay the Warlord, Line Breaker and First Blood [8 in total], whereas I was fielding 11 VP's without the bonuses!

He had twin Nemesis Dread Knights [NDKs] with Psycannons and Heavy Flamers, 2 Terminator Squads and a Storm Raven. I deployed second with the Aegis Defence Line mid way across the board - somewhere to take cover from [what? With those Flamers?]. The Adrenal Stealers infiltrated behind the Chaos Mound out of sight and hopefully out of range. No Tervigon was going to spawn as I didn't want to add to my uphill struggle on VP's. The MCs took cover behind the ruin and both Hive Guard were stationed on the second floor and out of sight.


Andrew advances all his figures and took some shots, not sure if he did any damage due to range but it doesn't look like it.


My turn and Hormagaunts and Warp Speed Adrenal Stealers charge for the NDK, backed up by the Trygon and Troop Tervigon.


Devgaunts advance to cover behind the ADL, HQ Tervigon and Warriors advance in support of the Toxin Stealers. HQ Tervigon Endures the Stealers.



Hive Guard failed to do any damage to the NDK. Going second allowed the Toxin Stealers to assault the NDK. They survive overwatch thanks to Endurance, the Broodlord Hypnotises the NDK and manages to put one wound on it.


Devgaunts wait for their first victim.


The NDK tries to win First Blood by killing the Hormagaunts but four survive, and I realise this will be significant in my turn.


The other NDK pounds on the Stealers and kills one.


The Spore Pod arrives with the Doom and despite usually being bang on target is dropped 11" away from where I wanted it and next to my ADL :( I realise that the max overwatch fire an NDK can do is D3, so if the Hormagaunts charge I can lose 3 and still not lose First Blood and get the Adrenal Stealers into combat unscathed. I also manage to reach with the Trygon for a full on Battle Royale. The Broodlord on Warp Speed puts 2 wounds on the NDK who in return smashes him into the ground.


The Stealers then rip him to pieces before the Trygon gets a chance. All of the nids consolidate to the left and head for Line breaker [wishful thinking at this stage] with the Trygon going over the Chaos Mound in seach of the second NDK.


Game 1 concludes tomorrow.

Sunday 28 October 2012

Otty's minis

I'm just throwing these all at you. Otty sent through some pics of his minis but I thought I'd bundle in some of the shots I took from ToS too. There's a particularly contentious pic of a Tyrannofex and homemade Raveners conferring a 25% cover save on the Necron Bastion the T-fex is shooting! I may revisit the ToS pics again in a future post if Otty thinks of any captions to go with them, meanwhile enjoy.