'nids part 171 - Tyranid Objective Markers TO DONE!

While I try and write up the remainign two Blog Wars battle reports I just thought I'd drop this in as the pics are doen and there's not a lot to say about my Maelstrom Mission Objective Markers.

I'm really pleased, although it would have been nice [but less practical] to add a bit more variety, like the way Otty added Venom Cannon barrells and Rippers to the nodes for extra interest.

Ultimately I have my 6+2 so I can deal with Maelstrom and the Scourin [? I forget if that's the right mission with 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4 VP objectives].

Although we have had a lot fo cun playing that mission not knowing the value until the end of the game and you still need to blind draw the objectives, so my card markers are still of use.

I obviously added some Tamiya Clear Red X-27 to the mouths, liek they've just been fed :)

Some 3D texture paint managed to join the different pieces and hide my kitbash butchery.

Once again, not on the list but I'm really pleased I threw it into the mix. These markers are essential for the way we play now and it didn;t require too much effort to get them done, so it all adds to the hobby bank. Hopefully I'll get the next Battle Report done for Wednesday.

Blog Wars 9 1850pt battle report - nids vs Imperial Knights/Dark Angels

Wouldn't you know it, I've actually evaded quite a lot of Imperial Knights since their introduction over a year ago. Really I've only faced PeteB's Space Wolf ally and for my first BW9 game I only go and get three of the blighters! I'd actually seen Lord Halfpenny's blogpost [or Dave as I called him ;) ] about the army list only the other day but I never expected to face it so lets see what happened.

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant W Tervigon Plain Tr Zoanthrope Dominion Dominion Dominion Catalyst Catalyst Paroxysm Warp Blast Paroxysm Onslaught

The low down:

• Purge the alien but based on the Blog Wars 9 rules - Unit Points for killed units, half points for half killed units which then translates to VPs - Hammer and Anvil
• Warlord Trait - Night Fighting turn 1
• Night fighting first turn, lost deployment, went second and failed to steal the initiative. 

This is one of the first times I've ever deployed so far back in my own deployment zone but I figured the Knights are pretty fast anyway so I shouldn't make it any eaiser for them to get to grips with me. I actually looked over at Liam who was next to me and saw he'd set up his Tau Skyshield in the same fashion so I was actually relieved I'd made the decision.

I filled the ruins behind the Knights with Genestealers. I had no idea whether this was a mistake as essentially I'd put them all within easy range of the knights but I figured it was better to have them all there so I could overwhelm at least one of them.

If their presence forced him to split his force I might have a chance and it might help that only two would be headed for the rest of my army.

With nightfighting and going to ground I could get a 2+ save which might keep them alive and if they weren't targetted I could try and see if they could chase down the knights. It was a gamble but the alternative was to do nothing and deploy in my own area.

However my DZ was already quite full and 25 Genestealer would be tough to keep protected so forward deployment was the plan. Oh and the Tyrannocyte had the Rippers in, just because.

Turn 1 and the Deathwing Knights turn up amd are keen to target the Tyrannofex, but I think his 2+ save was too handy.

On my other flank the remaining Deathwing teleported. I don't think anyone was wounded thanks to cover saves from nightfighting and Shrouding from the Venomthrope tucked behind one of the Capillary Tower supports of the Skyshield.

My Genestealer bait was ignored and all three Knights marched up the battlefield, they did shoot back at the Genestealers casuing a unnit to go to ground but with the ability to target differnt units the Special Character Knight reducde the dilapidated Bastion to rubble, it's original intention was to fling it at the Tyranids but unfortuanetly you can't do that with building.

I was lucky enough to cast Catalyst and passed on the FnP to tht T-fex, unfortunately his Fleshborer Hives, and 15 Termagants Fleshborers that were spawned out by the Tervigon, were not sufficient to damage the Deathwing, thanks to their increased shield wall toughness

However, on the other flank my shooting was far more productive on the plain Deathwing and allowing me to Assault leaving just one terminator left, but not enough for First Strike.

I hadn't assaulted with the T-fex as I was reluctant to sacrifice the 20 snapshots I'd get on overwatch. Of course that meant he would be charging with +1 attacks but it was justified as one of the knights died in the charge.

The Imperial K nights continued to advance, with just two broods of Stealers leaving the safety of the ruins to chase them down.

One of the knights charged my Hormagaunts who were kept in check by the Flyrant who'd taken a wound from a Knights anit-aircraft autocannons [or a perils of the warp, I forget which]

The Knight wiped out all but three of the Hormagaunts so remained locked in combat.

I managed to kill off the last

I managed to kill the last Deathwing but it was still a long way to the knights could I make it?

The Tyrannocyte turned up and I decided to try and use it and the Rippers as a speed bump, see if I could delay the knights a little. So far my combined Shrouding and Skyshield were keeping most of my army whole so the longer I could delay the inevitable the better.

The Flyrant swooped off behind the Knights to get some rear or side shots, taking a hull point or two. Meanwhile one of the Carnifex managed to make it's charge, ironically the one further way and Deathleaper also got in to assault the Knight sadly he didn't get any Rends in despite doing quite well in his attack. I'm not sure if the Carnifex faired any better, I like to think it may have got a Hull Point in. However, the only damage in return was Deathleaper got smeared across the battlefield [another 230pts lost].

With the T-fex still an issue the Deathwing Knights powered up their Maces to Smite the offending beast

The T-fex couldn't get past the Terminators shields and even with the spawned Termagants piling in their claws and teeth couldn't penettrate the Knights armour.

The Smite dealt four wounds to the enraged beast but the was still an opportunity to visit some damage to the Dark Angels.

 

This is either some saving throws [not good] or more likely my to Wound rolls from the Carnifex on the Knight :( not even a single glance, let alone a pen. Meanwhile the Rippers tried to stop the other Knight!

The Carnifex paid the price for it's ineptitude in combat.

And unsurprisingly so did the Rippers allowing the Knight to consolidate towards my Tyrannocyte.

With the character Knight sweeping the top front layer of gaunts things were not looking good on the Skyshield.

The Deathwing Knights continued to hammer on the Tyrannofex, without losing a model, they were just too tough for the gaunts to help out. He was on already 4 wounds

and took another 6 that I had to save against and the law of probability was borne out with me failing one of them to leave him on his last wound.

For the purpose of spectacle I allowed the Knight to climb atop the Skyshield, so long as the Tervigon would be allowed to get in on the action, which is actually what Dave was after so my cunning ruse worked, no wait...

Unfortunately I was unable to add to the two Hull Points it had already taken but luckily I only took 2 wounds in return.

The other Carnifex sought revenge for the death of it's sibling but clearly wasn't up to the challenge. I'm not sure if it did any damage in the process but I know he'd taken two Hull Points damage by the end of the game so was 1pt off scoring half his blood points.

I managed to get the Genestealers into combat with the other knight with one of the broods just short of reaching the assault. He was already on 3 wounds so all I needed was 3 rending hits off 11 Genestealers [mathhammer - 33 attacks, 22 hits - 3.something rends] and I managed to beat the odds with 5!

Ah, erm yeah! The Knight blew up big time wiping out the three broods totalling 14 models that had been assaulting it.

So it was a good job the other brood had failed their charge as nothing survived the Knight explosion and as I only secured the second half of the Knights points [the first half already in the bag] I probably came off worse as I lost 210pts of Genestealer to do it!

This was clearly the Tervigon, I'm assuming saving throws as 2s would be bad but I'm not sure how these two dice rolls would have affected his current wound status

But it clearly was fatal, and the Knight picked it's ruined corpse up and hurled it at the Venomthrope causing a wound to add insult to injury.

And then all the Termagants popped!

The Deathwing Knights [Paroxysmed by -1] continued the fight, once again completely unharmed by my Termagants.

They managed to put four wounds on the Tfex and it could no longer sustain the impacts from their maces.

The Tfex died and the game came to an end.

I've never won a kill points battle at Blog Wars, I've never faced more than 1 Knight and I don't think I've ever killed one so although the final score was 600pts to 1335, with both of usgetting Linebreaker I honestly fel quite pleased with the result. Clearly I do have options against Knights and I think I was unlucky in places not to have done more damage to them so safe in the knowledge my gaming buddies are never likely to field more than two I'm hopeful for the future. I'm also once again impressed by the Dark Angel Knights, it took them far too long to kill the Tfex but that was because of Paroxysm keeping their hits low, but they're certainly durable in combat and can do damage when needed.

So a great game despite the loss, now on to game 2