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2011/06/24 19:39:56
Subject: 3700+ Pt Imperials/Space Wolves vs Tyranids Game (Warning: Pic Heavy!)
Background The last few battles my friends and I have fought at GW have been cut depressingly short (due to closing time), and made it difficult to say who really won the game. This game was supposed to be different. Lord Graveline and I were going to arrive early and play a full game for once! We'd get there with 4 ½ hours to play and slug it out for real!
Yeah right.
Life intervened, resumes had to be handed in, friends were picked up, and by the time we got to GW we had just under 2 hours to set up and play.
Oh well, no big deal. We had picked up another player (Nick*) and quickly rearranged our army lists. We would play 1850pts per side – Imperials (Space Wolves and Imperial Guard) vs Tyranids (I let Nick borrow my Nid army again):
ANDILUS GREATSWORD'S GREAT COMPANY Wolf Lord Andilus Greatsword (Terminator Armour, Frost Blade, Storm Shield, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Saga of the Bear) – 220pts
Land Raider Crusader (Multi-melta) – 260pts
9x Grey Hunters (Power Weapon, Wolf Standard, Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen) – 180pts
Wolf Guard (Combi-melta, Power Weapon) – 33pts
5x Grey Hunters (Meltagun) – 80pts
Wolf Guard (Combi-melta, Powerfist) – 48pts
Rhino – 35pts
5x Long Fangs (4x Missile Launcher) – 115pts
TOTAL: 971pts
Unfortunately, I didn't notice that I didn't have a legal number of Wolf Guard until after the battle, and was over by 46pts... oops.
DEPLOYMENT The only free table when we arrived was a Tzeentch-themed warp-wracked world. I hadn't fought on this table before, but I had thought it was really cool for a while, so I was looking forward to trying it out.
I rolled to pick the mission type and got a 5 – Annihilation. I then rolled for the setup and got a 6 – Dawn of War (perfect for a game with a time limit like this one). The Tyranids won the roll to go first, and chose to place their Hive Tyrant and Hormagaunts as far forward as they could, while the Tyranid Warriors lurked behind a building on their left flank. Since the Wolves and Guard were on a team, we decided that we would place 1 Troops choice each, and Lord Graveline would be able to place his HQ (if we needed to give his troops orders then he would be more beneficial than my Wolf Lord, who was in a transport anyway). These units were set up 18” away from the Warriors, hoping to avoid a first-turn charge from the Hormagaunts.
Before rolling to seize the initiative, the Tyranids' Spore Mine cluster came in. Nick aimed it at the Veteran Squad that was on the board, but the shot scattered just off them. Nick placed the 2 Spore Mines nearby and hoped that they would drift into them on the first turn. With that finished, I rolled to seize the initiative, but got a 5 – so close, and yet so far...
That. Is. Cool.
TURN 1 – TYRANIDS Nick began his movement by figuring out where the Spore Mines would go, praying that they would hit the Veterans. Unfortunately for him, one of them drifts right off the board, while the other heads 3” in the opposite direction. Whew! Slightly disappointed, Nick moves the rest of his army forward, hoping to get a charge off quickly with his Hormagaunts.*
In the shooting phase, the Warriors roll their Night Fighting test, and are able to see the Grey Hunter's Rhino. The Venom Cannon Warrior opens fire, but doesn't cause any damage to it. The Hormagaunts run, but unfortunately discover they are too far away to get a turn 1 charge on the Veteran squad (much to the Veterans' relief).
Being only my 2nd Dawn of War game, I didn't realize you could bring in your whole army on Turn 1 if you wanted to (and really, I only had time to skim the rules so I missed that part at the end). We just played it so that you had to come in from reserves instead (which worked out about the same for us in the end...)
The Veterans spot the mass of Tyranids heading straight towards them.
TURN 1 – IMPERIALS Knowing they won't survive a charge from such a huge Hormagaunt swarm, the Veterans fall back towards their Command Squad and the Grey Hunters' Rhino. The Command Squad moves into cover just in case, and the Rhino rumbles forward to get a better shot at the Warriors. However, in the shooting phase it fails to cause any wounds.
Aaaand just like that, the turn ended. However, dawn had broken, and now the battle would begin in earnest...
TURN 2 – TYRANIDS Nick's blessed luck continues to shine – over half of his reserves come in. He moved in the Biovore, Venomthrope, Hive Guards and a unit of Termagaunts from his table edge, and deep struck a unit of Gargoyles just behind the Company Command Squad. The Spore Mine then drifted back towards the Veterans, but didn't quite reach them.
Meanwhile, the Hormagaunts and Tyrant moved to attack the Veterans, but got tangled up in difficult terrain – in their regular movement and running, they failed to clear the obstacles. The Gargoyles were more successful, opening fire on the Command Squad and causing 3 wounds, which kills 1 of the squad's veterans. With the Hormagaunts bearing down on them, the Imperials faced an overwhelming two-pronged attack if they didn't receive reinforcements soon...
TURN 2 – IMPERIALS Luckily for the Imperials, their reserves rolls were equally fortuitous – the only unit that didn't arrive was the Leman Russ Demolisher. The Nids just watched as suddenly a loaded Land Raider Crusader, Long Fangs, 2 Leman Russes and 2 units of Veterans all arrive out of nowhere.
The 3 Veteran squads circle the Hormagaunts, aided by the Grey Hunters who disembark from their Rhino to assault the Hormagaunts if necessary. Meanwhile the Land Raider Crusader rumbles up to the Tyrant to deliver a payload next turn.
This turn, the Imperials put out a ton of shots. The Veterans use First Rank Fire! to wipe out the Hormagaunts (1 is killed by the Grey Hunters as well), earning the Imperials their first kill point. The Crusader's assault cannon fires at the Tyrant, but the behemoth saves all 3 of the wounds it causes. The Rhino fires at the Warriors again, but fails to cause any wounds once again.
Finally, the Command Squad kills 4 Gargoyles, but the 6 survivors are still a realistic threat to their survival. Lord Graveline decides to do a rather risky move – fire his Russes' Battle Cannons at them, and hopefully not scatter onto his own squads...
Spoiler:
If you didn't watch the video, it pays off. All but 2 Gargoyles are killed.
Now you see 'em...
...now you don't.
TURN 3 – TYRANIDS The Nids' reserves rolls aren't as charmed as they were the 2nd turn, a squad of Termagaunts is all that arrives. Realizing that his reserves might be too far away to be of consequence, Nick advances them as far as he can to make up for his crushed alpha wave. The Spore Mine, which had been ignored in favour of the Hormagaunts, drifts into a Veteran squad and kills 2 of them in the blast. Meanwhile, the Tyrant and his Guard prepare to assault the Land Raider.
In the Shooting Phase, the Hive Guard open fire on the Rhino and blow it to smithereens. The Biovore also fires another spore mine at a different Veterans squad, which kills 2 more Guardsmen. The 2 surviving Gargoyles fire at the Command Squad again, but do not kill anyone. Finally, the Tyrant assaults the Land Raider, but only gets 1 hit (because it had moved 12”), and so fails to do any damage to it.
The crater where the Rhino used to be.
TURN 3 – IMPERIALS The Demolisher fails to arrive this turn, so we went right into movement. The Land Raider backed up so that Andilus and his Grey Hunter escorts could disembark. One of the Veteran Squads moves in to help, levelling its lasguns and grenade launcher to kill the Tyrant. Meanwhile, the other Grey Hunter unit moved towards the middle of the board, followed by the other 2 Veteran Squads.
In the shooting phase, the Grey Hunters and Veteran Squad put out a hail of fire, but only manage to put 1 wound on the Guard. Elsewhere, the Long Fangs fire their krak missiles at the Zoanthropes just to see what happens, and surprisingly they managed to cause instant death on both of them as they fail their 3++ saves (earning a kill point in the process)!! Beside them, the Leman Russes fired their lascannons, toasting the last 2 Gargoyles and earning the Imperials a third kill point.
In the Assault Phase, Andilus and his escort attacked the Tyrant. The Wolf Lord puts 2 wounds on the Tyrant, but in return the beast cuts down 4 Grey Hunters. The survivors fail to cause any wounds, and the defeated Space Wolves fail their morale check. However, the Tyrant and his Guard catch the unit and force them to roll 2 No Retreat! saves. Luckily, both of these are passed, so the fight continues.
Things were looking really bad for the Nids, and with time running out they would have to make a strong push this turn to pull off a victory...
“Hey where did the Zoanthropes go? And where did these craters come from?”
TURN 4 – TYRANIDS Nick rolled for his reserves – as per the rules, any unit that did not arrive would be destroyed and count as a kill point. The last unit of Gargoyles and the Carnifex arrived, but the Genestealers did not (he rolled a 1...), and were lost. Despite the risk of losing them to a mishap, the Gargoyles landed just between 2 Veteran Squads and prepared to open fire.
Annoyed by the loss of his Genestealers, Nick took instinctive behaviour tests for all his units in the back lines, who were no outside of synapse with the death of the Zoanthropes. Luckily, only the Venomthrope failed, while the rest of his units hurried forwards (unfortunately, only the Termagaunts were in a position to cause any sort of damage, the rest were effectively out of the game).
The Gargoyles fire at a Veteran squad, which goes to ground to get a 6+ cover save. However, this does not help, and the squad suffers 3 casualties regardless. The Biovore also shoots the Veterans near the Tyrant, killing another 2 as they go to ground. The Hive Guard attempt to shoot at the Russes, but discover they are out of range. Finally, the nearest Termagaunt squad fires at the Grey Hunters, killing 1.
In the assault, the Tyrant cuts down 2 more Grey Hunters, but in return Andilus puts another wound on it and the surviving Grey Hunters kill the Guard, earning yet another kill point. The Nids were out of the game now, but the question was now how many kill points the Imperials could squeeze before the end.
The Guardsmen hug the ground for dear life.
TURN 4 – IMPERIALS The Demolisher arrives from reserves, denying the Nids a free kill point. The Imperial Guard were eager to tally as many extra kill points as possible, firing at the Gargoyles with the Command Squad and 2 units of Veterans (he used an order to make one unit that had gone to ground stand up), whittling it down to one. The Long Fangs fired krak missiles at it, but they all missed... but then I realized the sergeant was in range, so he fired his pistol and killed the last Gargoyle, netting a kill point (the first time my Long Fang sergeant has done anything on his own accord). One of the LRBTs fires its battle cannon at the Warriors, causing instant death on them and gaining yet another kill point for the Imperials.
In one of the most entertaining events of the game, the Demolisher fires its cannon at the nearest unit of Termagaunts, getting a direct hit on the brood and causing 11 wounds. However, the Venomthrope was within 6”, so the brood received a 5+ cover save... which saved all but 3 of the Gaunts!!! Nick's charmed luck saved his ass once again, and did so again when the Russ fired both its plasma cannon sponsons at the unit!
With the game wrapping up, we decided to see if we could kill the Tyrant. Andilus and it struck simultaneously, and Andilus removed its last wound 3 times over (getting the last kill point of the game). However, the Tyrant killed the last of the Grey Hunters, leaving only the Wolf Guard leader alive (and being just short of a kill point).
The final score was:
Imperials – 6
Tyranids – 0
The 2nd Gargoyle squad fares about as well as the 1st one.
Where the Warriors were.
“Demolisher time!”
“Imma gonna shoot your Gaunts!”
“Bye bye Gaunts!”
“Wait what!??!”
“...” (Yeah this picture was staged, sue me)
“Boo yeah!”
“WOW.”
AFTERTHOUGHTS So, obviously, the game was a massacre. As to why the Nids fared so poorly, I have figured out the following reasons:
1) As usual, we didn't get enough turns in to play a full game. If we had more turns, then the Nids would have probably gotten at least 1 kill point (especially if the Genestealers had arrived – Genestealers are scary and couple probably tear apart both Russes in a single assault phase)
2) The Nids just weren't really built for this game. I didn't really write their list for kill points and did not expect to play Dawn of War at all, which really hurt – essentially, half their army was inconsequential because they couldn't reach our lines when we castled up. We basically used our whole armies to take on his HQ, 2 Troops and 2 Fast Attack choices.
3) Nick's inexperience didn't exactly help him. Not saying he's a bad player at all, but Lord Graveline and I both have much more experience than he does. He insisted on playing Tyranids though, and luck was on his side more than once.
4) When our entire army (minus the Demolisher) showed up on Turn 2, it swung the game in our favour. We went from being worried about getting massacred by Hormagaunts and Gargoyles to crushing his alpha wave like a piece of paper. If we had worse reserves rolls, this would have been different.
All-in-all though, it was a fun battle for everyone. Oh, and in a completely unrelated note, check out this epic AT-AT that was on the table across from us, made from a Land Speeder and a Land Raider:
Also, if you enjoyed this, then be sure to check out my other battle reports:
Great report, yet again my friend. Hopefully one of these days we'll actually get to play a full game that doesnt get cut short ... although by the way things are going, it'll have to be at someone's house rather than GW
Great game too. cant wait till next time!
Oh, and just so everyone knows, the lascannons from my Russes that killed the gargoyles were only used cause my Command Squad had a moment of fail and didnt do a thing to the 2 gargoyles. Im not really an incompetent commander and there really is a method to my madness lol ... well, most of the time
Lord-Commander Jeremiah Alexandre: 5th Victorian Army +/- 3,500 Points
Phaeron Amheosiris of the Isiran Dynasty +/- 3,500 Points
Lord Yersina Thrax of the Death Guard +/- 750 Points
Lord-Commander Jeremiah Alexandre: 5th Victorian Army 
Phaeron Amheosiris of the Isiran Dynasty 
Lord Yersina Thrax of the Death Guard 