Throne of Skulls Mar '13 - Battle 5, Tyranids Vs Space Marines

Last game of the Tournament, bring it on for the win!

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant HQ Tervigon CC troop Tervigon Plain troop Broodlord [Adrenal] Warp Speed Life Leech Haemorrhage NA Life Leech Endurance Endurance Warp Speed NA Haemorrhage Doom of Malan'tai Psychic Shriek

The low down:

• Emperors Will.
• Vanguard Strike
• I lost deployment
• Warlord Trait - Master of Defence - Warlord is Scoring

Chris Langton - Space Marine Iron Clad Drop pods, Scout Bikers and Thunderfire Cannons. So a similar list to what I've just faced  but with Iron Clads and Scout Bikers. As you can see my defence line holds my objective and I set up as far back as possible, Chris has his objective in the ruin top right. Chris had 'mined' some piece of terrain with his scouts, I assumed it was the ruin to my left, denying me putting my Hive Guard in it. I infiltrated the Stealers in the ruin opposite Chris's objective with the plan to leave them there until I could do a dirty dive across the 12-18 inches to contest the objective he held.

The Scout Bikers on my extreme left flank and snuck  round this Bastion.

Thunderfire, Tactical squad and Whirlwind secure his objective.

The Drop Pods start to land.

Some slight deviation but no damage to the drop pods and the Scout Bikers leave the safety of their cover and kill 6 of the exposed Devgaunts [thanks to grenade launchers], but not enough for First Blood. The CC Tervigon takes 2 wounds as well.

I go for a quick First Blood on an Iron Clads drop pod. I also end up in the same situation as my previous game regarding charging and Overwatch. Chris also believes, like Steve, that charges are run simultaneously and he will get to choose which unit he will overwatch on in a multiple charge. Knowing exactly where to look in the book helps reconcile the situation but once again I'm left with a situation where my opponent then believes that the Tervigon will not get into assault as it can acheive 'base contact'. This de'ja vu makes me think I have got it wrong but every game I've ever played has been like this and the rules support that view so I'm convinced you make your overwatch or risk not getting to overwatch at all. I also believe the second charger gets to complete if it can get within 2" of an engaged model, although I'd agree it would have to make a charge roll that would actually reach the model it wishes to engage, please if anyone can shed light on this I'm open to discussion. Anyway CC Tervigon spawned 10 over the defence line and they charged the Ironclad only losing 3 but at least he's tarpitted

Vanilla Tervigon spawned out on 13 but shortly thereafter Chris's Whirlwind drops a pie-plate on them taking out around 9 in one shot!

Devgaunts and anything else targetted the Scouts and manage to halve their number.

Boom, another Drop Pod lands in the centre of the board.

Out pops a tactical squad, the scout bikers close in on my defence line.

Chris had forgotten to deploy a five man squad so slogged them on over by his objective.

The CC Tervigon takes another couple of wounds, there was some debate over whether it would get a save from the missile launcher in the first floor ruins. When it was back in the middle of my line we judged no but I was of the opinion it would get one when it reached the line. However, when it did the sheer scale of the base meant we did a 50:50 to see if it got a cover save or not. I guess that's the price you pay for a 'big caboose'. Meanwhile the Hive Guard take a wound per brood.

But managed to get a glance on the Iron Clad

There's a Librarian and I think an Apothecary with the Tactical Squad so this may be a tough nut to crack. The CC Tervigon spans out 6 more gaunts behind the wall to try and have plenty of scoring troops surrounding my objective.

Boom, my spore pod arrives and on target by the looks of the dice. The Doom gets out and I think makes it into Spirit Leech range of the Techmarine, and both combat Squads. However, I think Chris passes his Leadership tests so he fails to deliver.

Spot the difference? OK, so my Hive Guard have moved out of shot, killed the hulled Iron Clad and the tarpitted Dreadnought was brought low by the intervention of the CC Tervigon. Once again it's an education regards the Smash Rules, how you halve only the base attacks which for a Tervigon is 3 so it gets 2 smash +1 on the charge +D3 for Crushing Claws [and ideally another +D3 if I have Warp Speed] and getting to re-roll penetrating hits and adding +1 to the chart! Anyway, it looks like he blew up and took a marine with him too. I consolidate towards the tactical squad.

I kindly inform Chris that he's going to be leeched in his turn too so he moves out of Leech range and fires everything at the Doom which just can't make enough saves and falls, it's really not been the Doom's tournament, even with Psychic Shriek.

The CC Tervigon regenerates a wound thanks to Endurance and It Will Not Die :) The five Termagants head off to support the Stealers when they make a move, note that they have Devourers, but these were just normal Felshborer gaunts. I'd used the Devgaunts with Toxin Sacs for my Devgaunts this game ]only one remains] as I found those 10 quicker in my boxes than the WYSIWYG ones. I've lost a Hive Guard but the other Brood is still only suffering one wound. Only 1 Scout Biker remains against the lone Devguants and 4 of the 6 spawned gaunts.

Even with 3 wound spare and FnP the CC Tervigon falls and somehow takes a Marine with it, not much comfort.

The Scout Biker assaults my Termagants. I'm slightly confused because there's only three in this shot bt somehow they prevail, probably counter attack thanks to the nearby vanilla Tervigon.

However, having killed the scout they consolidate back to man the defence wall but now there are 4? It would also appear when my CC Tervigon imploded it took 4 Termagants with it. The tactical squad consolidated towards them, I'm not sure why, maybe hoping to take cover.

But covers no good against Hive Guard and their armour save is better anyway so Fleshborer, Impaler Cannon and Stinger Salvos result in two more Marines falling.

About bloomin' time too. The Scourge of Oktavia Deep Strikes onto the board and precision shoots the Missile Launcher and a second marine out of the Tactical Squad holding the objective.

The Genestealers sallied forth from their hiding places. Lo and behold it was this ruin that had been mined by the scouts, my hiding had not disturbed the mines but moving out did. I may have lost a stealer but the Broodlord and one stealer maker it into assault. I think the sergeant suffers for his bravery.

Termagants are gone, four was obviously not enough to stem the tide and the marines consolidate and break over the defence line [we'll ignore the fact they're within an inch of my Tervigon]. It would also seem my Trygon has turned up too, better late than never I suppose.

Hive Guard repositions and combined fire from Devourers, Impalers, Bio-Electric Pulse and Stinger Salvo takes down 5 Marines but the objective is contested and he has Linebreaker.

I do the only thing I can, the Hive Tyrant lands and shoots the remaining Marines. I don't think he even needed to get into combat to contest. The marines are dead and the objective is lost.

The end result 2VPs to me - First Blood and Linebreaker and 1 VP to Chris - Linebreaker. I finally snatch a win. I don't know what happened next whether my Tervigon or Stealers survived but with all it's wounds and the Trygon in tow I should think the end of the Marines in any further turns [if the game hadn't ended] would have been inevitable.

So I snatch a victory to end the weekend 2 loses, 2 draws and 1 victory. I'll do a post Thrones review next but in conclusion the Doom didn't quite deliver [again] the Trygon and Hive Tyrant seemed to take an awful long time to turn up, I forget why but I guess it was just bad dice. I'm not sure if we ran out of time, we did start a little late as I was getting my figures out of the display cabinets but Chris did have the initiative to realise I was having to get them all and had come over before the game began and helped out with collecting and transporting them across the hall, something I was extremely grateful for. Overall this was a great game, another one that had plenty of folks standing watch over. Chris said that he was more of a Fantasy player and I think perhaps it was for this reason I gained the upper hand. I think perhaps playing against nids was a new experience, certainly the Doom was an eye-opener for him. I think perhaps my single minded pursuit of First Blood and holding the Stealers back who would gain me Linebreaker even without the Hive Tyrant was the tipping point. I was playing the objectives, both primary and secondary and in that respect it felt very much like my games in the previous Throne of Skulls where I was able to control the games more, even when the dice didn't roll my way.

Anyway, a great game and a great end to the day.

Throne of Skulls Mar '13 - Battle 4, Tyranids Vs Space Marines

I'm two losses and a draw at this stage, it's not a whitewash but I could do with a win just to up my average at the beginning of day 2. Having had a few beverages the night before I'm feeling a little worse for wear and my Bugman's bacon and egg barm offers me no joy whatsoever, still lets get it on!

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant HQ Tervigon CC troop Tervigon Plain troop Broodlord [Adrenal] Iron Arm Haemorrhage Haemorrhage Warp Speed Enfeeble Life Leech Iron Arm Endurance Doom of Malan'tai Psychic Shriek

The low down:

• The Scouring (I started with 11VPs,on the field to Steve's 8).
• Hammer and Anvil
• I lost deployment, but eventually stole the initiative.
• Warlord Trait - Master of Defence - Warlord is Scoring

Steve Curtis - Space Marine Sternguard Drop pods and Thunderfire Cannons. This may be the first time I've faced a 'drop pod' list. I've faced drop pods before just not an army that is geared around them deep striking. So I deployed in the only way I thought made sense - to spread out as much as possible to make it difficult to land the damn things. Of course drop pods now work in a similar way to Mycetic Spores and are able to move so as not to suffer too many mishaps and there are still some gaps to touch down in but even an inconvenience at this stage would help. I was rewarded for my decision by Steve commenting I was the first person to deploy in such a way and I could see him readjusting his tactics. My VPs are 2 in Aegis, 4 in the middle by the trees and 3 on the first floor of the ruins with the Termagants.

Steve's objectives are 2VPs in the wood with the Scouts and Thunderfire, 3VPs in the first floor Ruins with the other unit of Scouts and Thunderfire and 1VP in the centre of the board just above my infiltrated Stealers.

I steal the initiative. I spawn gaunts, looks like 10 by the Aegis and maybe double figures the other side of the ruin but I'm not sure if they spawn out, I think so as no other gaunts seemed to appear in later pictures. That initiative steal allows me to fill up my deployment zone a little more with expendable miniatures to disrupt Steve's drop pods

Steve's turn 1 and the first drop pod lands in the trees and takes a glancing hit from landing in difficult terrain.

Another pod lands with Vulkan He'stan ready to twin link all those lovely flamers and meltas - so much for my defence line!

The second Sternguard squad  will be hoping to mop up those behind the defence line.

With only Haemorrhage and Life Leech as powers my crushing claws Tervigon suffers four wounds without the benefit of Iron Arm or Endurance. I guess that's the trade-off binning Catalyst, it also didn't help that I'd hid him behind the building from the Thunderfires so the Broodlord couldn't see him to cast Endurance.

+2 Iron Armed vanilla Tervigon gets away with just 1 wound.

But 5 Devgaunts get roasted.

Winged Tyrant deep strikes in, he deviates a bit and is actually swooping above the near left corner of the ruins. I decided it was best to have him back field where I had the advantage of the great VPs and where I could potentially do the most damage. The Devgaunts and CC Trygon moved to intercept the Sternguard.

The Trygon also erupts in support of the vanilla Tervigon who stumbled over the defence line.

The Hive Guard blow up the Hull Pointed Drop Pod for a quick First Blood.

Here's where an interesting rules debate came up. I don't like it when this happens, regardless of the outcome I always feel someone is going to be mighty narked when you're getting out the rule book to clarify the point. The issue was with Overwatch, in particular that both my Devgaunts and my Tervigon were going to charge the Sternguard.

Now we have always played it that you nominate who's charging and the opponent chooses to overwatch. If they get in they're engaged, if they don't, the overwatch is used up but if they didn't snap fire they can then choose to overwatch the next unit. Steve was under the impression all charges are declared simultaneously and he could choose to overwatch the Tervigon or the Devgaunts. A quick look at the rulebook confirmed my view in that you must resolve that units charge before anything else. However, Steve then debated that the Termagants must get into base contact with another model and if they got a sufficient charge move to reach them all the Tervigon would not be able to get into base contact with a model and therefore would not be able to complete a charge. I disagreed but at the time I wasn't able to discover a flaw in the logic in the rulebook so I felt having won one argument it only fair to lose the second. I've since read the rulebook and much like the rest of the unit getting within 2" of an engaged model I believe the Tervigon could have assaulted in too, but please educate me if you believe this is wrong.

The same situation applied with the second unit of Sternguard, with spawned gaunts being roasted after killing 3 Marines from the front combat squad [they really killed me with having separate squads of 5]. While the Trygon and Tervigon both sufferd wounds.

The CC Tervigon was targetted by anything Steve could shoot, Thunderfires, Snipers even the Drop Pod Storm Bolter

...and it succombed, losing it's two remaining wounds.

The Doom arrives, slightly off target but still with enough disembarkation move [thank FAQ!] to get into leeching range of the two Scouts and one Techmarine.

Unfortunately their camo cloaks and Techmarine reinforced ruins meant that their cover saves from his leeching only took 2 lives, giving him 6 wounds.

The Tyrant landed and piled into assault the Sternguards, given he's scoring and they're next to a 4VP objective I needed them removed. Hive Guard also moved back to offer assault if needed but also to shoot what was available. Termagants taken cover behind ruins, ready to make a move on the objective on the first floor but stay in cover from snipers and Thunderfires in the mean time.

Vanilla Tervigon repositions and the Trygon moves to assault the front rank, hoping for Slay the Warlord and stunt their advance

One of the front rank Marines gets killed and 3 from the rear, I'm not sure but I think that 1 wound marker is for Vulkan because...

I have this dice roll, with that 2 looking significant, because...

now I have no Trygon in shot. So Vulkan must have prevailed and then somehow we ended up engaged with the Tervigon.

Back over the other side and down pops another drop pod, oh yeah, I'd forgotten the third one.

The Tervigon squishes another Sternguard and is Iron Armed to +2. Just off shot in the Defence Line you can just make out the base of the Broodlord, who'd high tailed it from the cover behind the Bastion midfield to capture the 2VP objective my Tervigon had left.

Now I'm not sure at which point turn 4 arrives in these pics but as there is only 15-20 minutes left Steve suggests that we only play on until the end of turn 4. I'm not sure what the situation is but its been finally balanced throughout and I think I've got the overwhelming advantage anyway given whats in my DZ! So I agree, we've got a small crowd around us at this point, mainly folk who know Steve and he politely asks some of them to stop asking 'how's it going?' so he can get on and make his moves. Back in the game the Hive Tyrant takes 2 wounds

and the Doom manages to take out the Scouts in the ruins and both Techmarines thanks to both and Psychic Shriek and is on 9 wounds [he'd suffered some in shooting the round earlier but no insta-kill shots] but more importantly the 3 point objective has been lost. By the end of my turn I think I'm on 12VPs to Steve's 3!

The Tervigon prevails against Vulkan but one Sternguard somehow managed to slip through the net and gets into range of my 2VP objective denying it, down to 10VPs.

My Termagants in the ruins suddenly have to face some Sternguard, thanks to grenades I end up with only two remaining, but more importantly lose the objective. It'd now be 7VPs to 3 but the Hive Tyrant was snuck upon by a couple more Sternguard and they also contest leaving it 3VPs each. Steve's managed to steal a draw in the end.

This was totally awesome and we both breathed a sigh of relief and shook hands congratulating each other for a game well played. As we do so I look up at the game screen and I'm shocked to see we have 10 minutes left. 10 minutes in which the Doom could easily displace the scouts on his objective, or even contest it denying him 3 VPs. 10 minutes in which the Tervigon, the Hive Guard or the Broodlord and Stealer could kill the lone Sternguard contesting the 2VP objective. 10 minutes in which the Hive Tyrant and remaining Hive Guard could kill the 2 Sternguard contesting the 4VP objective. Clearly the 3VP one in the ruins would be lost but I've half a dozen options to win this and 10 minutes is ample time to do it. I point this out and umm and ahh for 3 of those minutes [7 is still going to be enough] but I can see Steve thinks this is a shitty thing to do, we shook hands, we agreed. Do I act like a prick just to get my first win or do I accept another moral victory and take a well fought draw...?

No, I'm not a prick, I hope it'll ensure I get favorite game off him at least [I don't think it did] but it was an awesome game and Steve was a great opponent. The Tyrant did OK for a change and the Doom could have won me the game too, Steve was most surprised to find out it leeched in his turn too. Thunderfire's were brutal, if only the Doom had arrived a turn earlier I may well have had sufficient forces left to ensure the win. The Trygon again failed to deliver but he served as cannon fodder, albeit expensive cannon fodder. So 2 draws, and 2 loses, come on game number 5!