Throne of Skulls Oct '12 - Battle 4, Tyranids Vs Imperial Guard [squats] pt2

Happy Bonfire Night.

OMG! [and you know I use that rarely] I had absolutely no idea they were Squats. Look at these Veterans. Until this point I'd just been looking at the simple and clean painted tanks and Flyers but as the Veterans disembark from the Vendettas I see the awesome conversion work. Standard Cadians, with the legs cut off with some green stuff trousers and all the beards green stuffed on.

I suddenly started snapping like a fiend because each figure has so much character, although I couldn't help but think of Tom and Jerry's Uncle Pecos:

Anyway, moving on more of the Plasma Gun Vets.

The HWT in the ruin with his objective.

Check out the fantastic beard on this guy!

And the spotter on this HWT.

Not to mention the Trollslayer Warlord hiding in the shadows!

Hopefully you can appreciate how cool these look. I absolutely loved them,

Meanwhile war continues to rage. Those ever so cute and cool Veteran Plasma guns and Vendettas manage to wipe out the HQ Tervigon and as it implodes it kills 8 vanilla gaunts it previously spawned. 

The Troop tervigon also takes 4 wounds from Plasma but 2 vets die thanks to overheats. Damn the fact the Broodlord can't quite see it to 'endure'.

Here was a stupid mistake I enfeebled the flamer squad and shot and charged it with the Termagants and Tervigon. Andreas didn't overwatch which made me curious, I thought it was because he wanted the unit to die leaving me back in the open and ripe for killing but it turns out it was because he thought the Stealers were going to attack and he was going to overwatch them. Instead they go for the other Chimaera and destroy it, the explosion taking out a lot of the Vets inside. Doom heads for the building to Leech if possible and deny objective. The nearest Vendetta gets immobilized by the Hive Guard. 

Over on the far side the Termagants are down to 2 from 13 and assault the HWT. Hormagaunts down to 8 - they move to capture the objective.

Both remaining Deathstrikes fuel up and fire. The first one hits my ADL and takes out 2 warriors and a handful of gaunts. 

The second one deviates but the blast is large enough to take out a couple more Termagants.

The Doom moves to Leech the HWT, while one Broodlord goes to capture the objective since the Hormagaunts have been wiped out by the Bolters in the Deathstrike Launchers and the other HWTs. Oh yeah, I have a Trygon, he's just spent the entire game running... The Immobilsed Vendetta gets whacked by the Stealers.

The Troop Tervigon is still battling away at the Veterans although the Termnagants have snuffed it. Meanhwhile I realise my mistake with the other unit of Plasma Vets. They get in the undamaged Vendetta which blasts up the field heading for my objective.

The Hive Guard see the Vendetta fly past and fire making a glance and a pen. I roll to damage and get a 6 and it blows up killing most of the occupants. Andreas hopes to save it with a Jink roll but I actually feel bad pointing out how the FAQ denies this thanks to the unique Impaler Cannon rules. His last chance blown out of the sky - the Hive Guard can do something afterall.

With the end of turn five my remaining Termagants secure my objective and I win 5 VPs to 4 thanks to Linebreaker and First Blood.

Three wins now and I'm stunned. The Biomancy is still kicking it but I can't believe how large portions of my army aren't even involved in the battle and I'm still coming out on top. The Trygon didn't seem to do anything. The Tyranid Warriors were out of range for the entire game 400 pts, over a quarter of my army was non combatant. The mistake that nearly cost me the game charging just one out of the two units. If I'd have charged both he wouldn't have been able to get any troops back field as they'd have been tied up for a turn at least. Even when the Termagants died there was the remaining stealers to tie them back up.

And, for all the flak I've given the Hive Guard they really did pull it out of the bag this game. They've done that crack shot a couple of times now when it counted so perhaps I need to give them a break and celebrate their success a little more. Another success is my min Stealer squads. Have I lost a Broodlord yet? I dunno but their psychic powers have come in useful and I'm so glad I went with them. On to game 5 and it's back to table 45!

Throne of Skulls Oct '12 - Battle 4, Tyranids Vs Imperial Guard [squats] pt1

Day two and the fourth game was Emperors Will [2 objectives], Hammer & Anvil deployment. I'm not sure what my Warlord Trait was, so I'm guessing it was Co-ordinated Assault, +1" to charge range again or Furious Charge in opponents DZ as those are the only other traits I recorded.

Psychic Powers Tervigon HQ Tervigon Troop Broodlord [Adrenal] Broodlord [Toxin] Enfeeble Enfeeble Enfeeble Warp Speed Iron Arm Iron Arm NA Life Leech Iron Arm

Andreas Kkounnous was my opponent with his Imperial Guard - mostly Veterans, Heavy Weapons Teams [HWT], Vendettas and three Deathstrike Missile Launchers! Yeah three! He admitted when it goes right it's devastating but when it doesn't... Anyway I set up my ring defence again because of the Vendettas with my one objective inside. Once again I was going to use the Warriors to defend but this time the Devgaunts were to go forwards and hopefully their weight of shots would remove the HWT surrounding his objective which set his up on the roof of his building in his DZ. I also took a gamble Infiltrating both Stealer squads behind the ruin in the centre, hoping they wouldn't be visible to enemy fire. Everything else was positioned to try and take LOS blocking or cover from the central ruin or the forests.

Oh, if that Deathstrike could work first turn!

Andreas fired with the HWTs at the HQ Tervigon.

and put 3 Wounds on it.

Troop Tervigon spawns 11 gaunts into the ADL to defend with Warriors and poops out. It's funny how I adopted this tactic repeatedly without ever considering that's what I would do with the ADL but it was working. Tervigons Iron Armed or Warp Speeded. HQ Tervigon spawns 13 to help support the Devgaunts who move and run forwards. Hormagaunts and Hive Guard advance with the latter looking to get into range of something.

Stealers move through the central ruin. They may have been Endured and Iron Armed, although I think I recall failing a roll. 

The Vendettas arrive and one Deathstrike fuels up...

...fires and deviates wildly missing the rearguard in the ADL.

The Doom arrives, his spore pod hitting directly between the two Chimaeras so moving back behind them to give a 1" gap. Spore Pod and Hive Guard destroy the nearest tank giving me First Blood. Doom remains on 4 wounds as HWT in building pass Leadership and the now exposed HWT from the tank can't be leeched since the start of the phase has passed. Choose not to Cataclysm due to range, perhaps he should have charged the HWT?

Toxin Stealers sacrifice themselves to get the Broodlord into combat with the Chimaera. Termagants swarm forwards.

Another 13 spawned by the HQ Tervigon on the other side of the ruin by the Adrenal Stealers. Both Tervigons Iron Arm +1.

HWT by the Doom move out of leech range.

8 Termagants move to support rearguard, not sure where they came from, HQ probably during the second turn.

So, part 2 tomorrow and was I in for a big surprise because my whole perception of this Imperial Guard army is about to be turned on it's head, 'get ready for a big surprise'!

Throne of Skulls Oct '12 - Battle 3, Tyranids Vs Blood Angels pt 2.

So the Doom's gone, however my HQ Tervigon arrives, but can't spawn or use psychic powers due to it just arriving and spawning and psychic takes place at the beginning of the movement phase. The remaining Warriors try to take down the Baal Predator with shooting and assault but whiff.

Phil's tanks shuffle around a bit but the Land raider makes a break for my left flank and the second 3VP objective. The Baal in my DZ repositions to get the Warriors. 

His shooting takes out the Tervigon and Mycetic Spore and I lose Linebreaker. At this stage I've realised that the piecemeal arrival of my force created perfect portions sizes for him to tackle and I'm running out of options. I have a Stealer unit closing on the Baal in my DZ and the Adrenal Stealers, my last unit still to arrive and if they come in on the right flank...

So here come the Toxin Stealers, not sure what they've been doing, getting shot up a bit by the looks of it as the Broodlord has taken 2 wounds. 

The Adrenal Stealers arrive and I roll a 4 getting the board edge I wanted. They move on 6" and I hope they can survive long enough for the Broodlord to cast Iron Arm on himself and hopefully toughen up enough to claim/contest the 4VP objective denying it from Phil. A slim chance but one I actually planned because I needed that Iron Arm to make it feasible.

Hq Tervigon spawns gaunts onto the nearest 3VP objective. Then the +3 Warp Speeded Broodlord and Tervigon maul the Baal and deny Linebreaker. 

The Broodlord pens tank but not enough for it to blow.

The Land Raider becomes only the second tank to brave crossing the ADL and disgorges five Assault Marines and his Librarian into the remaining 3 Hormagaunts who've been guarding the third objective. The Assault squad do their job and claim the objective and possibly Linebreaker too.

His other Assault squads run to make their objectives but will they make it in time?

The Tervigon spawns another 7 gaunts and they all move so I can target the Assault unit. The other squad of gaunts also moves to get as many in range but still claim their objective, they kill one of the Marines. Meanwhile the stealers position themselves between two objectives hoping to provide support should the Devgaunts or the middle gaunt unit get wiped out.

The Adrenal stealer is the sole surviving unit having sacrificed the rest of the brood to guarantee claiming the objective. Despite +3T he takes a wound but runs 6" to claim/contest the 4VP objective.

The Hive Guard pass their Instinctive Behaviour test and shoot/assault the Librarian and last remaining assault marine. I can't recall if they survived or were locked in combat but they were probably pulled off the objective.

The remaining Termagants head for the last free objective.

I think this was the end of turn five and I roll for another turn and the game ends. I've it written down as 8-3 I think it was 5VPs from the Devgaunts and Gaunts objectives, 1 from Linebreaker and I also got 2 VPs for killing two Baal Predators which were Fast Attack and part of the Scouring VPs. Phil admitted he let it slip away but I'm just stunned that I won a game by tactics, admittedly tactics that required things to happen at certain times but what I did was exactly what I wanted to do.

Once again the ADL failed to deliver it's points back in saves and in fact cost me the destruction of one of his vehicles but it made such barrier on the battlefield that Phil camped behind it for most of the game. I'm not sure if that was to take the benefit of the save or for fear of immobilising himself on it but given how fast the tanks initially advanced I couldn't believe how static they became. Perhaps getting them over it would have offered more opportunities for me to assault but putting those six tanks in my backfield would have got Phil Linebreaker and contested the three objectives I comfortably held. Then it would have been about the three in his DZ, which he had 3VPs I was nowhere near and he had First Blood too. I would have had Linebreaker, the two Baals and contested the 4VP objective so only 3VP. Anyway a thoroughly challening match.

Throne of Skulls Oct '12 - Battle 3, Tyranids Vs Blood Angels pt1.

Third game was The Scouring [5 objectives], Dawn of War deployment on table 45. My Warlord Trait was Co-ordinated Assault, +1" to charge range again.

Psychic Powers Tervigon HQ Tervigon Troop Broodlord [Adrenal] Broodlord [Toxin] Enfeeble Enfeeble Iron Arm Enfeeble Warp Speed Life Leech NA Witchfire Warp Speed

At this stage I was getting a bit frustrated I could never sort these psychic powers out before the 2hr30min game time had begun. Quite often it was 15 minutes before the first turn even started. Saying that in all the games I played it never went to the time limit so despite taking 5 hours for most games at home these were flowing really fast. Anyway by now I knew what sort of Biomancy mix I was after and that lack of Endurance and abundance of Enfeeble wasn't going to help me much with the list I was facing...

Phil Ellitott from the bright orange T-shirt wearing www.4tk.co.uk team that was pretty much everywhere at Warhammer Warlord brought:

• Librarian
• 5 assault marines, meltagun, heavy bolter razorback
• 5 assault marines, meltagun, heavy bolter razorback
• 5 assault marines, meltagun, heavy bolter razorback
• 5 assault marines, meltagun, land raider
• Baal Predator with twin-linked assault cannon
• Baal Predator with twin-linked assault cannon
• Baal Predator with twin-linked assault cannon
• Predator, Autocannon, sponson heavy bolters
• Predator, Autocannon, sponson lascannons
• Whirlwind

which I know courtesy of Admetus over on Bolter and Chainsword who also fought Phil, and Jim Klapkowski's Ravenguard and Liam's Eldar so go check out his battle reports too. Did you notice that's 10 tanks! Yep 10 tanks and I hate tanks! I may have a sensible but currently unproven fear of flyers but mech has always been a horror for me and if you remember the last time I faced Blood Angels that didn't end well.
We randomly placed the six numbered objectives [I'll be putting those online soon] and I narrowly gained and advantage by 1VP. Phil got the 4, 2 and 1VP objectives and I got two 3's and a 2VP. I positioned the ADL as you see against the ruin for extra defence and with hindsight should have gone onto the crest of the hill for extra cove instead of below it but nevermind. My three objectives were lined up behind and Phil positioned his diagonally opposite with the four in the far right corner.

My only real plan was to do what I was forced to do last time I fought Blood Angels, essentially the original Dawn of War rules. Reserve half may army, that way they could potentially survive longer and allow me have them in place in turn 5 to secure the objective. Of course that totally failed last time the fact I would only have half my army on the board meaning less target priority for the Blood Angels and more opportunity to concentrate fire seemed to escape me. Still the monsters took cover behind the ruins and the Devgaunts well out of Synapse on the right were hidden behind the ADL and crest of the hill.

The Blood Angel centre 'castled' up I believe it's called.

Meanwhile two Baal Predator's prepared to flank me...

...with a scouting move!!! So I was already being outplayed, lets hope I could survive.

The centre advanced and I was really in it and about to be swamped by tanks. They targeted the Troop Tervigon and managed to put 3 wounds on her.

My turn and I moved the Trygon and Hive Guard up, the Tervigon retreated to gain more cover. I think I made another mistake here forgetting to spawn. The Hive Guard tried to secure First Blood and fired at the Razorback behind the ruined arch in his DZ. 2 hits, one of which penned and immobilized the transport but no FB.

His tanks fire on the Devgaunts for FB, I lost five and then thought too late to go to ground. The next lot of firing and they dropped only losing two. I roll for morale thanks to lack of synapse and they get snake eyes - these gaunts know their task. The tanks then turn their attentions on the Troop Tervigon and manage to kill it without a single spawn and gain First Blood.

My turn and the Hormagaunts, Warriors and Doom come on. Warriors target the nearest Predator and do some damage, shaking or stunning it but thanks to being behind the ADL uses my cover against me and manages to shrug off being wrecked otherwise.

The Doom can't suck life out of anything while they're in the tanks but the already damaged razorback is wrecked thanks to the Hive Guard or Spore Pod. I think better of firing Cataclysm given the failure in previous games and how close the marines are. It'd be just my luck if it deviated on top of me. The Trygon takes a wound, probably from the Predator.

Having unloaded some troops in his DZ to secure objectives he moves his rearguard tanks forwards and finally crosses the ADL. 2 Warriors are killed

Being an ex-nid player himself he knows full well the dangers of the Doom and moves his nearest unit out of the 6" leeching range.

Combined fire of the assault squad and Baal Predator kill the Doom.

In return the enraged Trygon, now at 2 wounds left, charges into the Baal and destroys it and claims linebreaker at the same time.

Part two tomorrow...