Throne of Skulls Oct '12 - Battle 5, Tyranids Vs Necrons

Fifth game was Big Guns Never Tire [5 objectives], Dawn of War deployment on table 45 again. My Warlord Trait was Furious Charge in my opponents DZ.

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

Sean O'Sullivan was the last battle with his 'fluffy' Necron list based around Nemesor Zahndrekh. There were 5 objectives and with hindsight I realise my positioning the third one also behind my ADL was a tad unfair. Perhaps it would have been better if I'd put it in the middle of the board but it's too late now. His objectives are in the two ruins in the top corner. I position my HQ and Trygon behind the ruins to take cover with the Hiveguard out of sight. My Hormagaunts are out of shot on the far left ready to run through the woods.

Suddenly I begin to see that despite Sean being a little worse for wear from partaking of Bugman's brew last night he still has a handle on his army and knows how to use it. The Triarch Stalker lights up my Hormagaunts with his heat ray and then lets rip with everything.

Thanks to the re-rolls to hit they're wiped out first turn earning him First Blood!

The Troop Tervigon spawns 10 Termagants to hold this objective. Toxin Broodlord gets Iron Arm +1 [?] and I'm not sure what else happened this turn, not much I think, I may have forgotten to shoot the Hive Guard as they were tucked away and was hoping that everything was going to move forwards before I leapt over the Aegis Defence Line and brought the pain to him.

Not sure what Sean did in his turn two but in mine the Doom arrived [reserves are so much better in 6th :) ] slap bang between 3 units. However, I think he only managed to take down a few Immortals in the top ruins.

The front triarch Stalker goes BOOM! I think from Hive Guard, I remembered to fire them this turn. Suddenly Sean's lost a lot of support in the centre of his army and there's a life sucking brain beast rampaging his backfield. 

The Trygon, confident with Endurance, breaks through the ruins and heads for open ground and take the fight to the Necrons.

Sean's Night Scythe arrives and deposits Immortals in the centre of the board. Personally I would have tried to get them in my backfield but maybe that wasn't possible. his other Night Scythe flies in too and he shoots up my troops behind the Defence Line making some kills. Some of my Warriors may have fired off a couple of Snap Shots on the Night Scythe that was in range it may have taken a glancing hit or two prompting it to fly off the board next turn.

With the Doom threatening his back field he repositions troops so they won't be leeched and the C'Tan Shard heads back to lay waste to the Doom, once again helped by it being lit up by the remaining Triarch Stalker. They also destroy the Spore Pod in the process.

The Broodlord has suffered 2 wounds but now the three other stealers have died his +3T comes into play on 50% rules and the Immortals fail to do any more damage to his armored hide.

The Stealers move aside to allow the Tervigon to take their place and provide a more pressing target priority. Termagants, Devgaunts and Warriors reposition to get in shooting range and again make more tempting targets than loss the Broodlord and his psychic abilities.

The Trygon shoots killing a couple of Necrons and then assaults the Immortals protecting Sean's second objective. He manages to kill four or five in combat... 

... but reanimation protocols are super efficient this turn and most if the unit reanimates leaving 8 immortals still in combat as well and Nemesor!

The Trygon gets stuck in again and manages to break the unit and overrun them. He gains Slay the Warlord and consolidates onto Sean's second objective and capture it thanks to it being Big Guns Never Tire and becoming a scoring unit.

At this stage Sean sees that this may well have broken his army and he doesn't really have enough left to win so he suggests we call it there, which I agree to given I know how long it's going to take me to put my stuff away and actually the 45 minutes wasn't enough!

So despite the initial loss of First Blood the final score was 13VPs to 4VPs. Like I said perhaps if I'd positioned the 5th onjective in the centre it may have made it farer but aside from the three units of Immortals the Stalkers and Spyder were his only scoring units and he didn't push them forward enough to contest the onjectives. maybe this was thankss again to the Doom wreaking havoc in his Deployment Zone. Forget how effective he is, it's the fear of how effective he can be that is game changing. Nearly everything started to look backwards when he arrived and aside from the Night Scythes nothing got out of his table half with only the Immortals eaten by the Trygon and Immortals deposited by the Night Scythe egtting out of the Deployment Zone. Once again I wonder if the view of all my troops massed behind the Defence Line which was protecting the Objective proved psychologically a barrier to big to breach?

Anyway Sean was a great sport about it all and despite everything said it was a good game. So that's it, I've an epilogue tomorrow and then the awards pics and then to showcase all the armies I photograhed, new displays in the Warhammer World galleery and whatever other pics I took. Hope you enjoyed the battle.

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.