Friday 6 March 2015

Dave's 40k @ 40 Bash - 1500pts Tyranids Vs Eldar

Liam, Otty, Ben and myself all rocked up at Ben's for my 40k bash. I went with a list that relied heavily on Manufactorum Genestealers [three broods with Toxin] but uniquely I dropped my Hive Guard for probably the first time since I kitbashed them. Instead I threw in my second Carnifex in my old Spore Pod/Tyrranocyte. I also had the obligatory Flyrant, a Tervigon and accompanying brood of 30 Termagants and then added a Bastion with Quad Gun and a Venomthrope for cover duties.

We were playing Maelstrom games so it'll be a bit difficult to keep track of the score and how and why someone won but I'll do my best.

Psychic Powers
Winged Tyrant Tervigon Plain Tr

Psychic ScreamPsychic Scream

ParoxysmDominion

Dominion



The low down:
  • Tactical Escalation - Hammer and Anvil
  • Warlord Trait - +1 to Seize the Initiative and re-roll reserves
  • Unsure on night fighting , I think it was first turn and who won deployment etc.

Obviously there are six objectives, one is to the left of my Bastion, one is in the trees to my right, one is in the tower in the middle of the board [with my Genestealers], one is beside the Plasma Generator top left, another is in the woods top middle and the last one is in the ruins [again with my Genestealers] top right. I had another unit of Stealers outflanking. Otty had three Wave Serpents, some Wraithguard and Fire dragons mounted inside, a Wraith Knight, Fire Prism and a couple of units of Jet Bikes.


I actually think this was a balanced list, not too spammy on the Serpents and aside from my own cheese - Stealers setting up within 6" of you this was the closest to an even match-up all day. As Otty is moving I think he may have gone first, unless I did a really quick move...


Meanwhile over on the other table Liam had 5 Riptides, including that crazy Forgeworld one that flies. He also had some Pathfinders or Warriors and a couple of Piranhas/Tetras on his Skyshield.


And Ben decided to be equally friendly with his Stompa that had a Mekkboy inside with a Mega Kustom Force Field [4+ invul save, I think] and a load of Grot riggers that could repair a hull point each turn on a 5+. So I could see where this game was going...


So Otty decided to target the Genestealers, naturally. Of course this works as a diversionary tactic to save the rest of my army but given there wasn't much else to see it probably didn't work as these were the only viable targets anyway.


Jetbikes moved round and riddled the Stealers with Shurikens


The Bastion got targeted but the Fire Prism could only manage a glancing hit so it was safe.


The Hive was safe, for now...


Two units of Stealers were destroyed thanks to all the combined fire from the Wave Serpents and Jet Bikes. First Blood to Otty


The Wraith Knight finally settled on target priority...


The Carnifex taking cover behind some Ferron Fire Firs, luckily these flammable trees proved adequate cover to avoid the Eldar construct.


Nids moved forwards en masse.


The Tervigon spawned 8 Termagants which headed for an objective, my plan being to camp on as many objectives as I could and hope they would come up in my Maelstrom deck. meanwhile the Tervigon tried to keep up  with his big brood.


I've missed out Otty's turn 2 but on my turn the Tyrannocyte arrives. Combined Deathspitter and Brainleach fire for the Flyrant and Dakkafex leaves just one jetbike left on the right.


Termagants are getting close to the Eldar DZ and the last brood of Genestealer arrive on the left flank.


The last 3 of the Stealers from the ruins assault the last -1 Paroxysmed Jet bike. 40k's premier cloase assault unit has 9 attacks, scoring 6 hits [the average] and causing 3 wounds [once again the average] but no rends. The Eldar makes all his saves...! What a farce!


Meanwhile over on the other table Riptides and Stompas were going at it like hyenas circling a wounded bull elephant


It soon became apparent that the Stompa was ridiculously powerful thanks to the Mekkboy and Grots, although Liam had failed to head my suggestion of ignoring it completely. Then again the riptides could potentially damage it were I know I'd have no chance.


Back on Ferron Proxima the Fire Dragons disembarked.


They tried to shoot down the Flyrant but couldn't draw a bead on him.


However their Aspect Warrior cousins - the Dire Avengers pulled the same manoeuvre targeting the Outflanked Stealers.


Once again the premier CC unit of 40k was reduced shredded meat by shuriken fire.


Wave Serpents fired at their biggest threat - my Dakkafex.


And wiped him out, looks like he didn't even get halfway across the board.


The Stealers continued to molest the Jetbike.


But this time succeeded in taking him down and consolidated back towards the ruins.


Which gave the Wraith Knight a clear charge to the recently arrived Dakkafex it had shot at and wounded earlier. So he jumps over...


...abd drop kicks it off the board and consolidates back. I think I had a card for this objective but the Fire Dragons were in range so I couldn't quite secure it.


I marshal my forces, the Stealers in the centre building sally forth to assault the Fire Dragons.


While the Tervigon and more spawned gaunts ensure that my objectives are secured. I recall at one stage I managed to complete 3 of my Maelstrom objectives in one turn


9 Termagants replace the Stealers in the building.


Somehow I've completely forgotten the success of theis Brood of Stealers. Clearly the Fire dragons had fallen victim to Paroxysm. I won the combat, though probably not as convicingly as I should, perhaps by 4, thanks to their inability to hit back. Then I think they failed their morale check and were overrun. I think because it happened so fast I forgot, but they took cover in the Ruins. You may also spot the last of the Brood of 3 Stealers that took out the Jetbike hiding underneath the staircase next to them.


The Flyrant swooped off into the trees. He'd had little success with Psychic Scream, in fact the psychic phase was typically guff! Termagants finally made it into Otty's DZ


While the other guys continued to play hunt the Stompa, Otty prepared to thin my advancing horde of gaunts.

 

Massed fire took out those Termagants with just a few left. The Fire Dragon killing Stealers were also laid low but my lone Toxin Stealer continued to skuls in the shadows waiting to sneak out and get me Linebreaker should the Flyrant have to move out of the 12" scoring zone.


The Venomthope continued to fire off the Quad Gun, it had got some good hits on the Wave Serpents but not sure if it manage to destroy one of them.


I assaulted the last of the Jetbikes with my Termagants. They got whittled down to one, but so did the Jetbikes. It was not a planned action but this was in fact the best choice I made in the entire game. By tying up the Jetbikes Otty couldn't get his fastest Troop choice over the other side of the board in the last turn. There was objectives he could go for or even Linebreaker but instead he was tied up with a lonely gaunt. Meanwhile the Flyrant landed to try and secure the objective. It was the last turn, we'd already overrun so he was safe to do so. I'm not entirely sure if he got it, or if the Wraithguard were also in range, I may even have assaulted them and killed it  as I'm sure I may have got Slay the Warlord, but ultimately the score was 8:6 to me.


I was quite impressed with this result, it's funny how my tactic to camp on objectives for Eternal War Missions is actually really effective in Maelstrom Missions. Camping in Eternal War has worked because I’ve always felt it’s better to be on an objective and force your opponent to knock you off it, or surround it so he can’t get to it than hold back and take it late in the game. In particular trying knock someone else off an objective is not something I can do, I say I mean my ‘nids. The fact is I killed very little Eldar, the Fire Dragons, some Dire Avengers and about 9 Jetbikes! I may have put wounds on the Wraith Knight and some Hull Points on the Serpents but overall I didn’t kill much.

So camping on objectives works for me. I’m not particularly mobile but with the formations, and the Tyrannocyte I can get good positions in the opponents DZ to score when it’s needed and camp in my own back field and wait until those objectives are drawn from the deck.

Ben managed to secure a win, so next up I would face his Orks




Wednesday 4 March 2015

'nids part 164 - Dakkafex No.2

I'm in the midst of trying to prepare battle reports from my three Dave's 40k @ 40 bash so bare with me as I just throw in this update to my second dakkafex. As I've said although I'm not a huge fan of the enhanced sense head this one fits quite well but I can always remove it thanks to the joy of magnets.


As you can see I 'popped' his base. It's not too bad really, despite the varnish 'bowing' from the edges. Luckily because there is an edge it does give the illusion of depth even if there isn't much.


He's got the little T-rex like Mawloc claws. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my third dakkafex as all the Mawloc claws are gone now. I was actually thinking some Harpy or Crone weapon arms - the ones that feed into the guns might work. Alternatively I could mess around with some Stranglethorn Cannon feeder arms, try and swap the right to a left and heat and bend and  magnetize to the back.


Second set of highlights still to do on the Bonewhite, red and blacks and then i can stick him to the base. He's actually quite close to being finished,


I've just prepped the base for the third dakkafex too. I've glued his legs back together. He was second hand and I split him apart and now I've glued the legs back in exactly the same position they were in! Still it'll be OK. He's only going so far as undercoat and then I'll redouble my efforts on the Deathwing.


In truth I found this Carnifex quite easy to paint so I'll be quite happy to leave the third one in that state so I can then get back to my list. It won't be too hard to throw him into the mix should I make some decent progress on other stuff.

Monday 2 March 2015

Old Stuff day 2015


It's old stuff day 2015. A few years ago now warhammer39999 wanted to join a movement to rediscover lost gems from the world of hobby blogs. To choose one of your own blogposts that your most proud of, or may not have got the attention it deserved or any thing that may warrant some necromantic blogpost bothering. On top of that you were to share blogposts from other bloggers which you thought deserved the same spotlight of attention before they were returned to their dark nightmare infested slumbers.

I may actually start using these now I have my own board but these handy little fences look great, the tutorial posts are also all listed in my tutorial link.



I've always liked imagining the fluff to go with my armies and even went to the trouble to write some down and make pictures of which Avro Vulcan is the best example. He's bequeathed countless terrain templates available from the STC tab and although quiet at the moment he may one day return with many exciting and varied constructs. I also need to expand on what happened to Meneth and the bear Claw tribe.


In 2013 I set about making my own Tyranid Bastion, with Imperial Fortifications being the only thing available from GW I wanted something a little more biological. I faced condemnation by some 40k and even 'nid players because they believed [incorrectly] that 'nids just devour they don't build. Of course they have always built, whether it's Hive Ships, Digestion Pits, Capillary Towers or Hive Nests themselves they have constructed and to deny this shows more about other people than me. 

More importantly there was a major debate about whether they could in the game. The rules were not explicit and so some folk insisted they couldn't, with Quad Guns being initially available via a loophole in the wording and then excised via FAQ. Fast forward to today and it's clear they can use any such Fortification and folk take Bastions all the time with 'nids [I won't say I told you so but...] although not so many build Tyranid versions of them. However I did inspire Russian 'nid fanatic Erle to do just that - http://hive-fleet-hyenna.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/678910111213.html


Given the Facebook pictures and Warhammer World Group were removed the day after Throne of Skulls this is the only record of my winning so forgive me for bringing it up again. We've not been back since, although that may change now construction work on the venue has completed. Ben has a new 6 berth motor home so we'll be having a full on boys road trip at some point.


 
Here are some awesome old blogposts from other bloggers you should check out: