Wednesday 11 May 2016

1500pts battle report - Dark Angels v Tyranids!

I got a chance to pop round to Otty's for a game and unusually I got to face his Tyranids, but using my Dark Angels. We were Playing a Maelstrom game and struggling to come to terms with a lot of the new FAQs in a bid to getting ready for when they're official. Personally given the extent of the FAQs I actually feel we'd be better off with a new rulebook, loathe as I am to suggest 8th Edition but a lot of these things go beyond a simple clarification.

Anyway we set up opposite [as you do when you play 40k!]


I love this modular table that Otty made, it's always packed full of realistic touches and surprisingly is quite forgiving for wobbly model syndrome [I know it doesn't look it but honestly it really]


Army list wise I took the Cerastus, two Deathwing squads, Bastion and Devs, Dark Talon and 9 Tacticals with my Scouts and my Techmarine leading. Otty had two maxed out broods of Stealers, a maxed Hormagaunt brood, a couple of Venomthropes for cover, a Broodlord, a Tyranid Prime, Harpy, Tyrannofex, one Hive Guard and Mr Tickle - the Toxicrene.


Otty got first turn, and surged forwards. He only managed to kill one Devastator with Missile Launcher but I needed all my firepower to halt the surging horde. He tried to use most of his Warp Charge to cast Dominion on the Broodlord making everything under Synapse but I easily denied. Now with level 1 psykers only allowed to cast one power the rest of his warp charge was wasted [much like the vaunted Psychic phase!]

"These are Genestealers, you may be unfamiliar with them, they're the 'premier' close combat unit in 40k"
My response was to meet him head on with the Lancer leading the way. My Devastators fragged the Hormagaunts, which broke and ran for the board. The Lancer fried some also. In Otty's turn two the Harpy arrived, I managed to wound it two or three times with my Quad Gun, but he put two wounds on the Lancer. I was saving my Ion Shield for the Tfex and Hive Guard. The Hormagaunts rallied and by the end of the turn were 2 inches in front of where they'd been at the end of turn 1. The Stealers failed to negotiate the woods, clearly stalking their prey more effectively. The Tfex whiffed and the Hive Guard targeted the Devastators again!


The Stealers charged first, but it was through the difficult terrain of the trenches so would assault last. Mr Tickle and the Tfex also got in on the action.


Mr Tickle struck first, ordinarily his S5 would have meant nothing but with the Harpy having torn chunks from the lancer the Sentient Spore Cloud surrounding the beast found vulnerable spots in his armour resulting with seven Armourbane attacks!


Somehow the Lancer survived with one wound left. The Tfex failed to hit with his Smash and the Stealer couldn't do enough damage.


In return the Lancer stomped on just a few Stealers. He was then torn apart by Mr Tickle in my turn blowing up and killing all but one Genestealer and the Prime. Mr Tickle and the Tfex just stood and watched, untouched by the catastrophic explosion! Meanwhile the Harpy swooped past the bastion but was unable to fire it's Spore Cysts due to jinking in a previous turn. My Techmarine could only look on with horror as he arrived too late to try and repair the Knight


My dark Talon arrived but did very little, the Scouts could see their position was about to be over-run but perhaps it was already too late.


As my forces were being swept asunder I suddenly became captivated with this element of Otty's Tyranid Bastion, the colours and effect was really quite outstanding.


Back to the carnage and the Genestealer managed to reach the Scouts, it was a bad day to be wearing red camo cloaks on a green battlefield!


Who couldn't possible survive against such overwhelming odds [Lost Patrol anyone?]


Mr Tickle dispatched the now exposed Techmarine with ease, but in return I was able to take the Harpy down with my Dark Talon.


The Tyranid Prime and the lone Stealer assaulted the Tactical Squad defending their ammo reserves.


They lost the combat by two, failed their morale, broke and were over-run leaving the Objective in filthy Xenos hands. OK, I realised afterwards this did not happen, that 'And they shall know no fear' prevents Sweeping Advances but I'm still getting the hang of the rules, it was 1am and do you know what? They bloomin' deserved to die given their pathetic performance.


End result was an 8:4 loss but an interesting game and it certainly allowed Otty to reconfigure his list - putting the Prime with the Hormagaunts would have prevented them breaking. And Mr Tickle was awesome, I could see him scything through unit of Terminators, or even a Vehicle Squadron if they'd taken a bit of damage. As it was he did the Knight in with ease, thanks to the Harpy damage. 

Meanwhile we also traded some bits, Otty had needed a metal Broodlord  to make some Purestrain Genestealers. He's making an 'organic' genecult, making hybrids and Aberrants out of all sorts of donor models and the Broodlord is what he's using for the Prince's. He then discovered I was trading 'Broodlord in a body warmer'. I think that didn't quite sit right with him and so swamped me with bits and even gave me a metal Azrael and Watcher in the Dark, so I've got some really interesting stuff to play around with once I can get my other jobs done.


That said the next day I did a bad thing...

9 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. All will be revealed, but it's not that bad, its not like a did a 'bad murder' or anything ;)

      Delete
    2. or this?
      https://www.waterstones.com/book/mog-s-bad-thing/judith-kerr/9780006647553
      I'm guessing the shiny new stuff was a distraction and paint or glue have been applied to things that where not on the list?

      Delete
    3. Half right, or perhaps a third as it involves new things (but not new, new, just new to me). I bought things I shouldnt have but probably didn't even spend a lot either, and it was good value too but I shouldn't have so I must punish myself most severely ;)

      Delete
    4. I wouldn't get your hopes up, I think my crypticness may have elevated my actions beyond their importance but then I'm a cheapskate who doesn't like to buy any new stuff if I can help it [I'm trying to make a dent in what I've got] so it seemed like a big deal to me.

      Delete
  2. Great write up Dave. Shame Mr Tickle got the best of your Knight. Can't wait to hear what the bad thing is, even if it does end up being underwhelming haha

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. so awesome!
    really cool photos! :)

    ReplyDelete