Throne of Skulls March 2014 - Battle 1, Tyranids Vs Tyranids

First match of the day and it's Paul Logan with Tyranids.

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant HQ Tervigon CC HQ Tervigon Plain Tr Zoanthope Dominion Catalyst Paroxysm Onslaught Psychic Scream Warp Blast

The low down:

• The Relic
• Vanguard Strike
• I won deployment, but let Paul go first and then won the initiative.
• Warlord Trait - Reroll reserves
• Night fighting turn one, I think

I set up with the Hive Guard on the left hoping to get in range of the Warriors and insta-kill using my fortifications to get me cover to the Relic.

He had around 15 Hormagaunts supported by a squad of Tyranid Warriors, a Winged Tyrant with Lash Whip and Bonesword.

A Tyranid Prime also with LW & BS that was attached to a twin Carnifex Brood.

 And a Trygon Prime and a large brood of Genestealers, there was also a Crone to come on in reserve.

Having seized the Initiative I swooped the Flyrant over to the Stealers hoping to get some serious damage on them. They weren't going to run as the Trygon Prime had them in Synapse but with so many out in the open it was too good an opportunity to miss and it would keep my Flyrant away from his and hopefully I could get the drop on it with my Quad Gun.

The Great Maw spawned 10 Termagants which surrounded the Relic with their Run move but couldn't pick it up. Meanwhile the CC Tervigon went the long way round the bastion but typically was slowed down by my lazy Trygon - some things never change.

Paul moved everything up, using Catalyst to keep his Flyrant and Hormagaunts safe, the Flyrant just gliding into position. I think a lot of fire was directed at the Tervigon because although I expected the Termagants to die pretty quick they ended up in combat with the Hive Tyrant.

The 10 Termagants about to face the Hive Tyrant and my brood of 30 gaunts tying up the Trygon. I suddenly had an idea to use Psychic Scream on the Carnifex and the Hive Tyrant. I mean it's like a mini version of the Doom.

So I jumped the Hive Tyrant over to the Carnifex and hoped to also get the Trygon and Paul's Flyrant but in the end I bottled out/forgot and didn't cast it what with all the Shadows in the Warp floating around. Instead I assault the Carnifex and I'm rudely reminded they're a brood so the two MC's get to overwatch twin-linked Devourers and I end up with only 1 wound left, yeah, that was a mistake.

The Hive Guard manage to kill off the Warriors netting me First Blood but Paul's Hormagaunts manage to get into combat with the Trygon, trapping my Tervigon away from all the action around the Relic.

My Flyrant gets brutally sliced up by the Tyranid Prime, it's Boneswords making short work of it's last wound and getting Paul Slay the Warlord. Meanwhile the Great Maw spawns out on 11 in my Turn 3, the Termagants once again trying to get to the Relic but with two Dakka-fexes baring down on them!

My Trygon manages to kill the remaining Hormagaunts backed up by the Nephropid [my CC Tervigon], but with the last three Termagants killed by Paul's Flyrant it now smells fresh meat for it's own digestion pits.

The Crone arrives, although I'm not sure what affect it had on the game at this point. At some point the three remaining Genestealers break cover from the ruin and will join forces to break the deadlock between the Trygon and the Termagants, otherwise they'd have been at it all day. Instead the Stealers scythe through the already engaged gaunts. I cast Paroxysm on them to try and prevent it but the end result was inevitable.

Paul's Flyrant assaults the CC Tervigon and the Dakka-fex go for the Trygon with the Tyranid Prime joining up with the Flyrant.

One of the Boneswords manages to cut the Tervigon and insta-kills it despite Catalyst - all 6 wounds gone in one shot - now that's a lesson learned. Paul's Flyrant is down to 1 wound though. The Trygon takes another couple of wounds and I back the Hive Guard off so they won't be next on the Flyrant's menu. I have a choice now as to taking out the Crone or the Hive Tyrant with the Quad Gun. At this stage I have the Relic and fear the loss of the Termagants holding it  so choose the easier option and target the Crone and kill it. This was probably the wrong choice with hindsight. The Tyrant has only two wounds and would have given me a VP, the Crone could right turn and take out the Trygon perhaps but who knows...

But I suddenly realise I made a grave error. Having shot at the Flyrant and failed to get it's last wound I've only got two or three Termagants securing the Relic and nothing stopping this double team from chomping them up. So I gamble on a 9" charge through difficult terrain hoping they might just make it and hold them up. Meanwhile my Trygon kills the last Carnifex and consolidate an inch or two [typically!] 

The Great Maw finally makes it off the Skyshield but has taken 3 wounds in the process. Paul's Trygon still has 5 wounds remaining and the Stealers have scuttled off underneath the Skyshield, presumably heading for Line Breaker.

Paul's HQ twins finish up the Hive Guard

I think the Tervigon falls to the Trygon and presumably takes out the Termagants too. Neither of us have troop choices left to pick up the Relic so I have to kill the Genestealers heading for Linebreaker..

I move the Trygon towards it's Prime counter part, decamp the Biovore from the Bastion and continue to shoot Quad Gun with the Zoanthrope. The Tyranid Prime takes a wound from the automated Heavy bio-bolters on the Bastion.

The Biovore manages to miss completely the Zoie fizzles out and the Trygon stoops underneath the Skyshield , takes aim and hits three times on the three Genestealers. I wound... twice leaving one lone stealer who naturally passes his morale check.

The Flyrant gets into the Trygon with the Prime

and continues to ram home just how good Boneswords can be and literally 'dices' him up with 5 wounds.

The Trygon dies and I can't kill the last Genestealer who makes it into my Deployment Zone giving Paul Linebreaker and the win 2:1 

This was a close battle but I think I threw it away. I had the Fortifications to weather the storm indefinitely but couldn't get my target priority right. I was desperately unlucky trying to kill off that last Genestealer, serves me right for leaving the unit intact with 3 left and heading for bigger prey. However, there were more pressing threats so what can you do? Probably the biggest blunder was assaulting the Dakka-fexes but they're going to chew through a swooping Flyrant in the air anyway so overwatch is no different. Credit where it's due though the Flyrant and Prime duo were brutal, they sliced through 770pts between the two of them - just short of half my army killed by two models! I guess I'll have to look into the Prime a little more even with his stupid price.

Anyway, onwards and upwards. I don't think I've ever won my first game at Throne of Skulls so this was no different but I came very close [although the same could be said for my first game last time, lost only because I didn't realise the Storm Raven next to my Tervigon contesting my objective was hovering and therefore could be assaulted and probably would have been destroyed, what with Crushing Claw Smash attacks, and regained the objective for a win] and will learn as I always do. On to game 2, what will it bring?

Throne of Skulls March 2014 - Tyanids Vs Necrons 'pick up game' with Scott

We managed to get to Warhammer World on the Friday early enough for us to have a game amongst ourselves. The original plan was for me to go up against Liam, and Otty and Scott to face each other with Ben offering Scott advice. Scott's just getting back into the hobby and as he's using Ben's army there's none better to give him tips. However, Liam had heard rumours about my list and for the entire journey to Nottingham had bemoaned how evil it was and refused to square up against it - baby! ;) So I faced Scott and Liam went against Otty's nids.

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant HQ Tervigon CC HQ Tervigon Plain Tr Zoanthope Dominion Catalyst Paroxysm Dominion Warp Blast Warp Blast

The low down:

• Purge the Alien
• Vanguard Strike
• I think I won won deployment, but let Scott go first and failed to win the initiative.
• Warlord Trait - Master of ambush - useless
• Night fighting turn one, I think

I set the brood nest up with the Aegis as a defensive baffle, but that wasn't really going to slow down the Wraiths and Scarabs!

The Annihilation Barges too would have no problem crossing my 'Maginot Line' but I see it as a statement of intent, as if I'm going to head forwards so it my draw him into the open.

Everything else hid well back with my Termagants split levelled on the Skyshield.

Scott sent the Wraith's forwards, backed up by the Scarabs. I know what they can both do and I know how devastating the Scarabs can be on my Bastion so after weathing a few lost Gaunts to Imotekh's Lightning attack I swoooped the Flyrant forwards. Now it may have been overkill and the Wraith's are the more serious threat but I reasoned I could kill the Scarabs with my Brainleech Devourers and despite their cover saves I was able to insta-kill all his bases securing me First Blood and a kill point.

I think I also put a wound on a Wraith and the Hive Guard took out the Triarch Stalker before he could do any damage with his heat ray. Not sure what the Quad Gun did, everything else scooched around a bit.

The Wraiths headed off to the Skyshield. The Flyrant is still in shot here but does not appear afterwards. I'm not sure what happened to him, perhaps he was shot down or as the Wraiths eventually took his place on the Skyshield maybe they assaulted and killed him, which is the more likely outcome.

The Wraiths, having secured a foothold on the Skyshield were mobbed by the Termagants. Every single one bundled in but despite not getting Counter Attack I managed to kill one Wraith, luckily the one with the Initiative reducing whip coils.

     

Weight of numbers continued to wear down the Wraiths and eventually the Gaunts became my MVPs and wiped them out - way to go little guys! The Hive Guard may have taken out one of the Barges, Scott still had one left and pointed out he'd have been happier with a third one instead of the Triarch Stalker.

Meanwhile my Trygon faced down a newly arrived unit of Immortals and the Cryptek who teleported them. He eventually won the combat and routed them, eating every last one but was down to 1 wound, either from their attacks or the following shooting phase.

With him severely weakend I retreated him behind the Bastion and sent the Great Maw forwards to secure Line-breaker. A gamble really as the Trygon was further up the board but in no way to weather any incoming fire, whereas the Tervigon was unwounded but had further to go.

With the game entering it's end phases I needed to draw the last Annihilation Barge into range of my Tervigon. I accidentally managed it by moving the Trygon further round the Bastion. The Barge could only get a bead on him if he entered my DZ, in which case the Tervigon could smash it and prevent Line-breaker. The Trygon was indeed zapped and I traded the lost VP for the Tervigon getting it's Crushing Claws on the Barge. Unfortunately I don't think I managed to get the Great Maw into Scott's Deployment Zone but in the end it wasn't needed.

The end result was 8:5 to me, not entirely sure on the breakdown but it does mean I finally beat Ben's Necrons, I just have to do it versus Ben next. Scott was great fun to play, he brings no baggage to the table and winning seams irrelevant, he just seems happy to play. The hilarious thing was his use of those 1" blue dice above. Every time he rolled them the Realm of Battle board would jump along with all our minis. Funnily enough his regular dice are tiny 8mm affairs, from one extreme to another.

The other really funny part was that Ben came over at one point [he spent most of the game schmoozing with the other players to see what they were bringing tomorrow] and asked what happened to the third Annihilation Barge... Scott hadn't checked his list and did indeed have three, not two barges. I told him at that point to bring it on as a reserve but he carried on regardless. Of course this set up one of the running gags for the weekend of Scott making sure he had 3 Barges, while I was open for a huge amount of friendly abuse about the amount of time it took me to pack away my army.

This was a great start to the weekend, not because I started it with a win, just because it was a laugh. This was also the point where I found out there was no Best Painted Fortification award. Liam may well have been saying I was going to win best army all weekend but I was not convinced, but had secretly believed I had the Fortification prize at least. Even so the loss of the category was funny in itself as Nick said it had been dropped about six months ago, round about the same time I started building the Skyshield. I think it's a shame, although the Bastion only had one competitor at Battle Brothers - an indication the category was on the wane perhaps - the inclusion of Stronghold Assault really opens up people to build more Fortifications and bring them along.

Anyway, bring on the next day and battle 1!

Throne of Skulls March 2014 - the interim report.

Sorry for the delay in this, most of my post Thrones news has been shared on Facebook but I've been trying to start preping what is to come. I think the picture indicates the Brood 'done good'! Throne of Skulls - March 2014 saw me win Best Painted army as voted for by the 100+ competitors. I am truly honoured and  once again makes up for that Toymaster debacle! My games were also great fun and although I didn't do as well as Battle Brothers I did do better than the last ToS.

My mates were also rewarded for their efforts. Otty was once again nominated for best army and so was Liam who also won best painted Monstrous Creature, best painted Vehicle/Engine, best army list for his updated Chaos Space Marine Helmet and also managed to win best Chaos Space Marine player. In fact on the way home we realised that if he'd remembered the last game that his Heldrakes were scoring he could have won the game instead of a draw and he would have won the tournament outright! The only thing we didn't win as a group was the pub quiz, best painted Hero [infantry character] and the prize for most Heroic Act in the game. Oh and obviously the best Fortification category was dropped :(

It was quite a weekend and when Nick said it was "Dave's Tyranids" that was the winner I honestly didn't realise he was meaning me, as I hoped to hear "Dave Weston". I was hoping but you can't tell with these things and the competition was fierce across the nominees, from cleanly executed Eldar to gruesome Iron Warriors full of executions ;), Imperial Knights with LED eyes and Gretchin pretending to be Imperial Guard I was lucky to be chose and luckier still I could actually fit the Skyshield in the cabinet. Two Capillary Towers had to be removed and even then it could only go in one side where the sliding door gave it a little more room but meant the inner door couldn't slide back or it would hit the landing pad - I never thought about that did I?!

The weekend was an absolute blast. I didn't do great with the 'nids but I did do better than the last time that I went to Throne of Skulls. My use of Stronghold Assault to mitigate the Lord of War threat came to nought because I didn't face any! I did get to play against 'nids, Chaos Space Marines, Dark Eldar, Nurgle Chaos Daemons and Ork Bikers so make of that what you will for the upcoming battle reports, not to mention the pre tournament pick up match I had with Scott using my old nemesis - Ben's Necrons

We had a right royal laugh though and the five of us had some serious fun amongst the incessant dice rolling. I also played against some top blokes and once again Warhammer World surpassed itself with the way it held the event and looked after those that were attending. I can't believe this is the trophy I got!

It looked nice at GW HQ too!

And the beard brought me luck as I continue on my 'hobo with a shotgun' impression, Liam no doubt happy with his haul in the background.

Anyway, I'll leave you of a couple of pictures of how I managed to fit everything in and try and work up some of the Battle Reports, I'll try and be as quick as possible but please bare with me, there's over 300 pictures to sort through. Below you can see where one of the Capillary Towers was removed over the digestion pit, worked quite well I think.

and one in the back was detached too, I even got my shattered Aquila underneath with some of my older Termagants that don't quite meat today's standard.

Flufftastic - Hive Fleet Gorgon - Ferron Splinter Fleet - 'Devil Gaunts'

Amongst the more common Tyranid genus found to frequent the Hive Fleet Gorgon Ferron Splinter fleet are Termagants armed with the fearsome Devourer weapons. 'Devgaunts' or 'Devilgaunts' as they're often called by the more superstitious residents of Ferron Proxima are found amongst the broods that strike without warning. Usually joined by it's monstrous brood mother - the loathsome Tervigon. Or were on occasion bursting from the remains of the sub-orbital deployment pods known as Mycetic Spores, these beasts are not to be dismissed despite their position in the Xenos hierarchy. Ordinarily they were seen as a brood apart, separated from other differently armed Gaunts, their Devourer weapon symbiotes incompatible with their Fleshborer bretheren. However, more increasingly we are seeing Devgaunts intermingling with other less formidable gaunts and providing both range and weight of attacks hitherto unknown amongst Fleshborer gaunts alone.

The Devourer weapon is a rotting mass of flesh filled with pulsating worms that are ejected from the weapon thanks to a bio-electric shock. Upon impact with their victim the parasitic invertebrates begin to bore into exposed flesh or infest any orifice they can find. The victim becomes a seething mass of agony as the worms eat through to their brain and certain death. The horrific display can be too much for the companions of the victim. Quite often the sight of their colleague being eaten from the inside and screaming in agony can cause witnesses to flee in horror.

These particular Devgaunts caught on camera by servo-skull Xt-36^9 show what appear to be a Toxin Sac biomorph. These glands are a breeding ground for caustic poisons and virulent toxic fluids that coat the creatures claws and teeth making it far more dangerous than it's stature would suggest. However, some Bio-magi have posited the suggestion that sometimes these are just vestigial sacs, with no real function aside from providing its brood mother with a means to keep track of its offspring. The very concept that such alien intelligence is at play has brought Inquisitorial censure for those magi foolish enough to publish their works openly.

More recently the burrowing worm has been less virulent in it's attack upon the victim. Initial tests by the revered Bio-magi converging on Ferron Proxima to study the captured Xenos beasts are indicating that something within the Ferron eco-system is having a weakening affect on the Tyranid bio-form. In fact a transcript from the treatise 'Ye Battle of the Planetes' by one of the first Bio-magi to observe the weakness, suggests one theory. Heronimus-Gamaliel Welles wrote:

And scattered about, some next to their primo-genitors, were the Tyranid filth —dead!—slain by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared; slain as their Capillary Towers and Bio-Titans were being slain; slain, after all man’s devices had failed, by the humblest things that the Emperor, in his wisdom, has put upon this planet.

For so it had come about, as indeed I and many men might have foreseen had not terror and disaster blinded our minds. These germs of disease have taken toll of humanity since the beginning of things—taken toll of our prehuman ancestors since life began here on Ferron Proxima. But by virtue of this natural selection of our kind we have developed resisting power; to no germs do we succumb without a struggle, and to many—those that cause putrefaction in dead matter, for instance—our living frames are altogether immune. But there is no bacteria similar to the strains of Ferron Proxima whence the Tyranid came, and directly these invaders arrived, directly they drank and fed, our microscopic allies began to work their overthrow. Already when I watched them they were irrevocably doomed, dying and rotting even as they went to and fro. It was inevitable. By the toll of a billion deaths man has bought his birthright, and it is his against all comers; it would still be his were the Tyranids ten times as mighty as they are. For neither do men live nor die in vain.

Here and there they were scattered, nearly fifty altogether, in that great gulf they had made, overtaken by a death that must have seemed to them as incomprehensible as any death could be. To me also at that time this death was incomprehensible. All I knew was that these things that had been alive and so terrible to men were now dead. For a moment I believed that the destruction of Ultramar had been repeated, that the Emperor had repented, that the Angel's of Death had slain them in the night.

However, there is also some evidence that points to the fact that the biological absorption of the Wraithbone debris scattered about the surface of Ferron Proxima that initially brought about the heightened psychic mental abilities of the Tyranids, has now begun to weaken their physical being. For it is well known that the Xeno Eldar are weak and feeble due to their repeated exposure to the Wraithbone. Documentation abounds as to their avarice to this otherwise worthless material, they surround themselves by it like Magpies, or at the worst addicts. Therefore continued expose has escalated the demise of their race like a withered lifeless limb. 

They even have the blasphemous audacity to sculpt buildings and heretical automata out of this excretion, instead of using the sanctified and Mechanicum approved materials of Adamantium and Rockcrete. Rumours suggest they even trap the souls of their ancestors in shambling bipedal machines, the depravity of the Xenos filth know no bounds. These obsceneties are a poor mockery to the glorious majesty of the venerated Adeptus Astartes dreadnoughts and Titans. These Wraithbone constructs are more akin to mobile torture cells than the shrines of honour borne by only the finest Space Marines. But that is the Eldar way and brave and just human beings cannot begin to comprehend the alien mind, else face re-education.

Support your local blogger - Fenrisian Studios

I may be a little biased about this but I had to share Fenrisian Studios blog, it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact Javier created the ruins below from my very own STCs

I love the pale colours, I really need to have some cream/bonewhite buildings on Ferron Proxima, I think they'd look fantastic against the red but Javier has gotten a lot of texture and tone into the colouring, really nice.

Additionally he's got airbrushing tutorials, painting guides for his Space Wolves [well we can't all be perfect and play Dark Angels ;) ] He's even made some terrain based on plans from my own original inspiration - Bugbait

A lot of the blog is in Spanish but google translate cna help cut through the language barrier and ultimately we're all speaking the language of hobby anyway. Have a look see what you think: http://fenrisianstudios.blogspot.co.uk