In late M41, the Aquinas Sector was thrown into turmoil as a Tyranid Splinter Fleet- the so-called “Swarm of St. Reimu—“descended upon the sector like a flock of vultures upon a carcass. Millions died in the Hive Fleet’s initial onslaught as the Tyranids consumed world after world, leaving scores of barren, airless rocks in their wake. Sector commanders scrambled to gather what forces they could, but with the majority of the sector fleets engaged against distant pirates, local Imperial Guard regiments already thinly spread dealing with Tau and Ork incursions, and no Astartes presence within several light years, little could be done to stop the Tyranid juggernaut as it rampaged through the sector unabated.
Unknown to the Imperium, however, was the fact that the Hive Fleet was a concern to more than just the forces of humanity. Farseer Kel’phan of the Alaitoc Craftworld, in her divination of the strands of fate, saw only death and destruction for her people if the Tyranids continued on their present course unabated. Not wishing to see a mirror of the tragic Battle of Iyanden, Kel’phan, already considered a radical among the Eldar, embarked upon on an extreme course of action. The Aquinas Sector was home to a large number Eldar worlds, long abandoned since the Fall, which were still home to a large number of ancient sites and potent artefacts. Acting on this knowledge, Kel’phan gathered a loyal warhost of Rangers and Aspect Warriors and moved from planet to planet adjacent to the Swarm’s path, activating ancient psychic beacons with each passing. The combined effect of these numerous beacons caught the attention of the Hive Mind,
which interpreted this significant psychic signiature as indicative of large quantities of biomass. Kel’phan’s gamble paid off as the Hive Fleet altered its course towards these old Eldar worlds, tricked by its own hunger. Although countless Eldar artefacts were lost as these old worlds were stripped bare, Kel’phan knew that this was a small price to pay compared to the potential devastation that Alaitoc might have suffered otherwise.
In her diversion of the Hive Fleet, however, Kel’phan became aware of another, much more tenuous strand of fate that lay open to her. With the Hive Fleet’s course altered, there now existed the possibility that the Hive Mind’s influence of the Swarm might eventually become fractured, and indeed, might even turn in madness against the rest of the Great Devourer, ensuring both its own obliteration and that of countless other Tyranids aside. For such a fate to occur, however, the Swarm would first have to devour Tepit—an old Eldar world whose name was already steeped in tragedy even before the Fall. Though she could not discern how the fall of Tepit would speed the Hive Fleet’s destruction, Kel’phan, against the objections of her closest advisors, decided to let fate run its course and allow Tepit to be devoured. No sacrifice was too great, she argued, to spare the loss of Eldar lives.
Unknown to Kel’phan, however, Tepit was not as uninhabited as she had once believed. The teeming masses of humanity had colonized the lost Eldar world centuries ago, and now thrived in ignorance of the planet’s previous owners. Recently, mere months before the Tyranid invasion, the forces of the Tau Empire had attempted to annex the planet, and full scale war now raged on its surface between the forces of the Tau and the Imperium. The local PDF had been reinforced by Battle Sisters from the Order of the Blessed Damsel, and the war for Tepit had ground into a stalemate, the tactical acumen of the Tau Fire Caste matched by the fanatical determination of the Sororitas. With the approach of the Hive Fleet, however, the conflict between the two sides slowed as the humans and Tau alike realized that a far greater foe was on their doorstep
Upon learning of the humans and Tau already on the planet, Kel’phan, knowing that their presence would only complicate matters, sent messages to the Tau command post, urging them to leave Tepit while they still had time. Although the Alaitoc Craftworld, and particularly Kel’phan, was in good standing with the Tau diplomatically, the Tau Commander, Nai’sha, refused to abandon Tepit, citing her duty to claim and defend this world for the Greater Good as being paramount. Kel’phan feared that the humans and Tau combined might thwart the Tyranid invasion, and her fears were reinforced when the two sides entered an uneasy truce at the behest of an Inquisitor accompanying the Sororitas. With this alliance standing against the Tyranids, the possibility of the Hive Fleet being destroyed diminished greatly, as did the possibility of Alaitoc being spared from invasion in the future.
With time running out, Kel’phan made a heavy decision. At her command, Alaitoc’s warriors moved onto Tepit’s surface in secret through the webway, and, employing the use of artefacts held in the old sites, threw up runes of misdirection to confuse the Hive Mind into thinking they were fellow Tyranid organisms. As the first drop spores darkened the skies of Tepit like a sickly rain, disgorging hordes of chitinous beasts on the planet’s surface, the Eldar struck, attacking the Imperial and Tau forces in unison with the misguided Tyranids. And so it was that the Battle of the Swarm’s Fate began in earnest.
A few months back, some friends and I gathered for a four-way battle at our local game store. We’d all been trying to gain the free time to have this battle for a while now, and we settled on a team game with 3000 points per side (1500 per individual army). We rolled for the scenario and got Annihilation and table quarters, and a random roll for sides resulted in a shaky alliance of Sisters of Battle and Tau against an even more bizarre alliance of Eldar and Tyranids.
My list was as follows:
Order of the Blessed Damsel
Canoness- inferno pistol, blessed weapon, jump pack, Cloak of
St. Aspira, frag grenades, Book of
St. Lucius
10 Battle Sisters- meltagun, heavy flamer,
VSS w. Brazier of Holy Fire & Book of
St. Lucius
-Rhino- extra armour, smoke launchers
10 Battle Sisters- meltagun, heavy flamer,
VSS w. Brazier of Holy Fire & Book of
St. Lucius
-Rhino- extra armour, smoke launchers
10 Battle Sisters- meltagun, heavy flamer,
VSS w. Brazier of Holy Fire & Book of
St. Lucius
-Rhino- extra armour, smoke launchers
Inquisitor Bernadette Caledon
-2 Gun Servitors w. heavy bolters, 1 Gun Servitor w. plasma cannon, 2 Sages
“Loki” (Eversor Assassin)
7 Seraphim- 2 hand flamers,
VSS w. eviscerator & Book of
St. Lucius
Exorcist
Exorcist
Aside from the inclusion of the Inquisitor and Assassin, this was more or less my usual list, with a bit of tweaking. In retrospect, the Inquisitor’s retinue may not have been necessary if I was going to rely on the Tau for fire support instead, but I figured it would be a fun addition.
My Tau ally was taking a surprisingly small list:
Tau Expeditionary Force
Shas’o Nai’sha- cyclic ion blaster, plasma rifle, 2 Shield Drones
-1 Bodyguard- plasma rifle, missile pod
12 Fire Warriors- 3 pulse carbines, photon & EMP grenades, Shas’ui w. bonding knife
-Devilfish- smart missile system, targeting array, disruption pod
21 Kroot- 4 Kroot Hounds, Shaper w. pulse rifle
8 Pathfinders- 3 rail rifles
-Devilfish- smart missile system, targeting array, disruption pod, positional relay
4 Gun Drones
Hammerhead- railgun, smart missile system, multi-tracker, disruption pod
Initially, my allied player made her list for a 1000 point game, but when we decided to do 1500 points per army, she threw in as many vehicle modifications and extra bodies as possible, rounding things out with a small flight of Gun Drones. She also added the positional relay to one of her Devilfish in case I decided to deep strike with my Seraphim.
On the other side of the table, the Eldar took the following:
Craftworld Alaitoc
Farseer Kel’phan- runes of warding, runes of witnessing, Doom, Eldritch Storm, Mind War
10 Dire Avengers- Exarch w. dual catapults, Bladestorm & Defend
6 Rangers
6 Pathfinders
5 Pathfinders
8 Howling Banshees- Exarch w. mirrorswords, Acrobatic & War Shout
-Wave Serpent- twin-linked Eldar missile launcher, spirit stones, vectored engines
5 Warp Spiders- Exarch w. spinneret rifle & Surprise Assault
7 Swooping Hawks- Exarch w. Hawk’s Talon, Skyleap
Wraithlord “Ponderous”- Eldar missile launcher, flamers, wraithsword
Wraithlord- bright lance, flamers, wraithsword
Like the Tau player, the Eldar player had to boost her army at the last minute. I managed to lend her an extra Wraithlord that had been in my carrying case, and some of my Lizardmen as proxies for Warp Spiders.
Finally, the Tyranids, played by my friend MaxisLithium, fielded the following:
The Swarm of St. Reimu
Hive Tyrant- twin-linked devourer w. brainleech worms, scything talons, Paroxysm, Leech Essence
-3 Tyrant Guard
20 Termagants
20 Termagants
Tervigon- adrenal glands, Catalyst
Tervigon- crushing claws, adrenal glands, Catalyst
15 Genestealers- Broodlord
3 Zoanthropes
-Mycetic Spore- venom cannon
6 Spore Mines
Before this game, I had played a 1500 point Capture and Control mission against MaxisLithium’s ‘Nids, and found out firsthand how challenging his list can be. My Rhinos were more or less destroyed by Zoanthropes and outflanking Genestealers, his Tervigons proved difficult to kill, and the sheer number of Termagants he was able to throw out made holding objectives quite difficult. I was hoping to use the lessons learned from that previous game to good effect in this one.
As a twist for the scenario, we decided to use victory points instead of Kill Points. Borrowing a page from Warhammer Fantasy, I suggested that we only count points for units that had been completely destroyed, and ignore half points for immobilized vehicles/squads under half strength.
DEPLOYMENT
The leaders of the Tau and Imperial forces were engaged in hasty meeting near an abandoned bunker line when the Tyranids and their Eldar allies struck. Ensconced in a ruined building were Inquisitor Caledon and her retinue, as well as the Tau Path-finders, while two Sororitas Exorcists, a Devilfish, a Hammerhead, and the Shas’o and her Bodyguard all took up positions around this building. Another Devilfish, loaded with Fire Warriors, was positioned further to the right, as was the Canoness of the Sororitas forces. Hidden behind the ruins of the hab-block, a kindred of Kroot stood vigilantly, while further to their right loped a psybernetic wolf, one of the Inquisitor’s pets, which lay in wait for any prey that might come in pouncing distance.
Massing far opposite the Imperial and Tau positions was the Tyranid horde: swarms of Termagants formed a sea of chittering, green-shelled bodies, while behind them stomped the enormous forms of the Hive Tyrant and Tervigon brood-mothers. As the Tyranid horde surged onwards, swift, lithe figures darted in behind them as the Eldar took up positions. Rangers and Path-finders ducked low behind ruined bunkers, while Dire Avengers strode behind the wave of Gaunts, their brilliant red armour a stark contrast to the camouflage of their Ranger kin. Two massive Wraithlords also strode behind the Tyranid lines, the wraithbone giants silent and graceful in contrast to the lumbering Tyranid monsters. Far on the left flank, Tau-Pathfinders cried in alarm as multi-limbed creatures bounded out of another ruined bunker: led by a hulking Broodlord, a large swarm of Genestealers bounded into view from their concealed positions, while behind them, several more Eldar Pathfinders quietly took up sniping positions.
All along the Imperial and Tau lines, orders were shouted to take up firing positions. Even as the orders rang out, a sickly green gas spread across the allied lines, and several grisly, bulbous shapes began to float down from the sky. Inquisitor Caledon immediately signalled both Imperial and Tau gunners to hold their fire, recognizing these things as Spore Mines, and knowing that they were too close to destroy safely. As the Spore Mines floated down amidst the allied lines and began to drift, an immense series of shrieks and roars signalled the charge of the Tyranid horde, while shuriken and laser fire spat out from the Eldar in blistering volleys.
The battle had begun.
SISTERS & TAU TURN 1
As the xenos horde gathered in the distance, the allied forces swung into action. On the left flank, the Hammerhead and the the Pathfinders’ Devilfish glided forwards to bring their guns to bear on the Genestealers, and were quickly joined by the Tau Commander and her Bodyguard. In the centre, the Fire Warriors’ Devilfish similarly moved into weapons range of the Hive Tyrant, while Canoness Deschain, knowing that her place was at the forefront of the battle, engaged her jump pack and flew into the midst of the Kroot in the building—the Kroot, aside from giving the human a few odd glances, paid her little mind. Though the Canoness was loathe to fight alongside aliens, she knew that she and her Sisters could not best the Tyranids alone. Following their leader’s example, the twin Exorcists, Wrath of the Faithful and Divine Judgement, trundled into firing positions alongside the Tau tanks. Finally, at a mental impulse from the Inquisitor, the psyber-wolf that had been lurking near the ruined hab-block burst into a run towards the Tyranid lines.
From the cover of the ruins, the Pathfinders trained their markerlights on the Genestealers, feeding valuable targeting information to the rest of the Cadre, before three of them trained their rail rifles on the Hive Tyrant and its Guards. Unfortunately, their rail rounds smashed harmlessly against the tough shells of the monsters, and the Fire Warriors’ Devilfish, similarly, failed to dent the Tyranid chitin with their smart missiles. The crew of Divine Judgement, however, showed the Tau how it was done, annihilating one Tyrant Guard in a salvo of armour-piercing missiles. Wrath of the Faithful unleashed a volley of its own at the leftmost Tervigon, blasting three huge chunks from its bloated body, though the monster roared and staggered onward, dark ichor oozing from its wounds.
Elsewhere, the targeting data from the Pathfinders was relayed to the rest of the Tau forces, and the Crisis Suis, Hammerhead and Pathfinder Devilfish all opened fire on the Genestealers. Inquisitor Caledon instructed her gun-servitors to add to the fire, and in the ensuing storm of plasma, heavy bolter rounds and missiles, ten of the Tyranids were blasted apart. The few remaining Genestealers, however, loped on past the charred bodies of their dead, their Broodlord impelling them to close with the prey. Seeing this, the Shas’o and her Bodyguard jetted backwards to keep out of reach of the clawed aliens.
With the Tyranid swarm now in killing range, Loki gave a predatory howl and leapt onto the back of the rightmost Tervigon. The Tyranid beast shrieked in agony as Loki’s cyber-enhanced clamped around one of its talons, ripping it free in a welter of ichor, before running under the thing’s massive bulk and slashing upwards with its claws. The psyber-wolf’s enhanced claws made a mockery of the Tervigon’s chitinous hide, and three huge gashes were ripped open in the Tervigon’s belly as Loki sought to disembowel its prey. Staggering back, the Tervigon swatted at Loki with its remaining talon, catching the wolf a glancing blow that knocked it away. Rolling back onto its feet, Loki growled at the Tervigon through bloodstained jaws, and the two wounded beasts circled one another warily.
(Author’s note: I rolled extremely will with the Eversor and took five wounds out of the Tervigon on the charge.)
TYRANID AND ELDAR TURN 1
In response to the allied fusilade, the Tyranid horde surged onwards in a living carpet of bodies, hordes of Termagants rushing forward on either flank ahead of the larger synapse beasts. On the left flank, the remaining Genestealers bounded towards the human and Tau lines, darting effortlessly through the line of tank traps. On the right flank, the bloated egg-sacs attached to the Tervigon bulged and burst open like ripe fruit, spilling ten glistening, hungry Termagants around Loki. The Eldar followed more cautiously in the wake of the Tyranids, with the Dire Avengers edging forward behind the rightmost carpet of Gaunts and the twin Wraithlords moving in opposite directions, each raising their weapons to track enemy tanks. Everywhere else, however, the Rangers and Pathfinders of Alaitoc sat quietly in cover and trained their long rifles on the distant enemy.
All along the Tyranid lines, the Hive Mind enacted its will through synapse-beasts. The rightmost Tervigon bestowed a Catalyst upon its new spawnlings, rendering them insensate to pain, though the leftmost Tervigon, in an attempt to do the same to the other Termagants, had its mind attacked by a warp creature, causing it to shriek in confused agony. As the Hive Tyrant approached the Kroot, it reached into the warp and it tried to wrench their souls from their frames. The Kroot, however, had a much stronger will than the Hive Mind had anticipated, and their souls adamantly resisted the hungering psychic maw of the Great Devourer. Kel’phan, however, had no such difficulties as she effortlessly manipulated the strands of fate, writing Loki’s Doom at the claws of the Tyranids.
Training their long rifles on the Kroot, Kel’phan’s Pathfinders put a sniper round through the skull of one of the avians, before the Hive Tyrant fired its devourer, the beetle-like ammunition reducing two more Kroot and a Kroothound to half-gnawed skeletons in seconds. The Pathfinders in the bunker AND THE Rangers targeted the Tau Pathfinders, though thanks to intervening cover, only one of the Tau fell. Ponderous, seeing the damage being wrought by the Exorcists, fired his missile launcher at Wrath of the Faithful, but the shot veered off target and in obliterated chunks of masonry behind the human tank. The other Wraithlord had no less luck, the searing beam of its bright lance being thrown off target by the shifting disruption fields of the Fire Warriors’ Devilfish.
Shrieking, the newborn Termagants charged into Loki. Ignoring the smaller pests, Loki came lunging again at the Tervigon: the slower beast tried to defend itself, but Loki ducked under its sweeping claws and bit upwards, clamping his powerful jaws around the Tervigon’s neck. Twisting his head, the psyber wolf ripped the Tervigon’s head from its body in a great spray of brackish ichor that drenched wolf and Termagants alike. The Tervigon’s body swayed a little, before toppling over and crushing one of its newborn. Shrieking, the Termagants swarmed Loki, biting and clawing into the doomed wolf. Scores of wounds were torn into the psyber-wolf, and in its berserk fury, Loki managed to rip apart another of the Gaunts before it finally fell, now a mangled ruin of fur, blood, and metal.
At the rear of the battle-line, Bernadette allowed herself a grim smile, making a mental note to reward her hound properly after she had him re-constructed.
SISTERS AND TAU TURN 2
Seeing that the right flank was about to be overrun, Canoness Deschain voxed her Sisters for reinforcements, and was rewarded to see seven Seraphim descend near the hab-block. The Tau managed to summon airborne reinforcements of their own, as four Gun Drones swooped down near the Genestealers, while the Tau tanks shifted positions, continuing to fire on the move.
On the right flank, the Kroot, catching scent of the Termagants directly ahead of them, shrieked and clacked as they surged out of the building to attack their prey—Isobel, seeing the obvious trap that the Termagants were acting as bait for, cursed and yelled at the aliens as she tried to convince them to hold back, but found herself being swept along by the throng of avians as they charged. In the wake of the Kroot’s charge, the Fire Warriors piled out of the rear of their Devilfish, swinging their pulse rifles up to give their carnivorous allies covering fire.
Once again, the Genestealers were lit up with red dots as the Pathfinders targeted them, before the Devilfish, Battlesuits, Gun Drones and Hammerhead all raked the aliens with a massive volley of firepower. Plasma and missile rounds blew the Genestealers apart as they sprinted across the tank traps, obliterating the aliens one by one. The Broodlord was the last to fall, its hide charred and pitted with countless holes as it toppled over in a smoking heap, hissing its last. With the threat of the Genestealers eliminated, the Hammerhead swivelled its railgun on the Tervigon and sent a hypervelocity round punching through the beast’s carapace, staggering it. Divine Judgement added to the fire, blasting another hole in the Tervigon’s abdomen with a well-placed missile, but despite the sheer number of wounds the monster had taken, it staggered on, roaring defiantly at the distant tank line.
Noting the threat of the distant Pathfinders, Bernadette’s retinue opened fire on them, but the Eldar simply disappeared behind their cover as heavy bolter and plasma rounds whistled past them. Further to the right, the Devilfish and Pathfinders continued to pour missile and rail rifle rounds into the Tyrant and its Guard, only for their shots to continue to explode harmlessly on their thick shells. The Fire Warriors had no more luck, their volley of pulse fire pattering off of the brood-beasts like rainwater. Once again, Wrath of the Faithful’s crew took the opportunity to humble the Tau, unleashing another shrieking volley of missiles that annihilated another Tyrant Guard in a shower of cauterized chitin. Unperturbed, the Hive Tyrant and its remaining Guard stomped onwards, roaring in defiance.
Alien shrieks filled the air as the Kroot slammed into the Termagants, savagely hacking into them with rifle blades and biting with sharp beaks. Fighting in the midst of the melee, Isobel shouted prayers of wrath as she clove Termagants in twain with her blessed sword as well. Such was the fury of the Kroot assault that all fifteen Termagants were annihilated within seconds, leaving a pile of mangled bodies in their wake. Shrieking in victory, the Kroot knelt down and began to feast voraciously on the fallen Termagants—turning her head in disgust, Isobel saw that the headlong charge of the Kroot had only brought them closer to the oncoming Hive Tyrant...
TYRANIDS AND ELDAR TURN 2
As the allied firebase continued to blaze away at the Tyranids, little attention was paid to the Spore Mines as they drifted perilously close to the bunker. One Spore Mine abruptly detonated, drenching the building and its occupants in a splash of sickly yellow fluids. Both of the scribes in Inquisitor Caledon’s retinue collapsed, screaming, as the bile rendered them down into an unrecognizable paste. A second later, a cluster of grenades suddenly fell into the building, and a series of explosions sent dust, chips of stone and the mangled body of one of the Pathfinders flying in all directions. As Tau and humans alike whirled around to spot the source of the attack, the Swooping Hawks flew down gracefully at the back of the Eldar lines, as though inspecting their handiwork from a safe distance, before taking to the sky once more.
As humans and Tau alike reeled, the Tyranid wave grew closer, with Termagant swarms on both flanks scuttling as quickly as possible toward the allied lines. On the right flank, the Hive Tyrant and its remaining Guard stomped relentlessly towards the Kroot, while the remaining Tervigon, black ichor dripping from countless wounds, scuttled into the central patch of foliage to take cover, with the Dire Avengers moving up to hide behind its massive bulk. The newborn Gaunts scuttled forward on the right flank alongside Ponderous, while the leftmost Wraithlord stepped into the firing pit of the nearby bunker, the adamantium walkway creaking but holding under the immense weight of the wraithbone giant.
As the Tyrant approached the Kroot, it flooded their nervous systems with a Paroxysm, causing the aliens to drop their weapons and screech in agony. Among them, Canoness Deschain was similarly affected, doubling over as she prayed for the Emperor to deliver her.
(Note: She failed her Shield of Faith save) Kel’phan once again manipulated fate, Dooming the unfortunate avians, before the Eldar and Tyranid forces opened fire. Four Kroot were instantly punched off their feet by accurate headshots from the Pathfinders, and another eight fell to a wave of gnawing borer beetles unleashed by the Termagants and Hive Tyrant. Only a handful of Kroot were left standing, dazed and confused, over the bodies of their kin. Isobel, lost in a haze of pain, found herself separated from the aliens and watching helplessly as the Hive Tyrant bore down on them.
(Note: we removed casualties in such a way that the Canoness was out of coherency with the Kroot, and therefore separated from the unit. Was this legal?)
Further to the left, another Tau Pathfinder died as an Eldar sniper put a round through his skull, while the Termagants continued to run for the allied lines, driven into a frenzy by the exerted will of the Tervigon. The two Wraithlords once again targeted enemy tanks, but to no avail: a krak missile from Ponderous managed only to dent the armour of Wrath of the Faithful, and the other Wraithlord was once again thwarted by the hazy disruption fields of the Devilfish.
With a tremendous roar, the Tyrant and its remaining Guard slammed into the pain-numbed Kroot. Talons flashed, slicing apart three of the aliens in the blink of an eye, leaving the Shaper on his own. Immobilized by pain, the Shaper tried to stagger away, but was quickly caught and torn limb from limb by the monstrous Tyrant. Hurling the shredded remnants of the Shaper aside, the Hive Tyrant continued to stomp towards the allied tanks.
SISTERS AND TAU TURN 3
With the annihilation of the Kroot, the right flank was now in danger of collapse. At Inquisitor Caledon’s signal, the remaining Sororitas arrived, with the Rhinos of Squads Esperanza and Arias rumbling onto the field near the hab-block, and Squad Solemnas’ vehicle circling around the left side of the bunker next to the Fire Warriors’ Devilfish. The Seraphim flew towards the Hive Tyrant, determined to buy time for the rest of the allied force. Too late, however, they noticed the Spore Mine drifting near their position, which detonated in a great splash of acidic ichor, causing two Sisters to plummet groundwards as they screamed and dissolved. The remaining Seraphim flew onwards, swearing revenge.
With the Seraphim moving to cover their retreat, the Fire Warriors rushed back into their waiting Devilfish, hovering out of the Hive Tyrant’s reach. Isobel, meanwhile, was still wracked with pain from the Hive Tyrant’s psychic attack, but shakily managed to engage her jump pack and fly towards the distant Avengers, determined to slay the xenos in spite of her agonized state.
Now thoroughly annoyed by the Eldar snipers, Shas’o’Nai’sha ordered her Pathfinders to light up their Eldar counterparts. As one, the Gun Drones, Hammerhead and Devilfish all unleashed their weapons on the concealed Eldar, engulfing the bunker in a blue storm of plasma. Despite the markerlights, however, the Eldar were infuriatingly difficult to spot, and only one Pathfinder was hit. Swivelling its turret, the Hammerhead fired a submunitions round at the oncoming Termagants, but haste fouled the gunner’s aim, and the shot veered sideways and exploded in the damp earth. Annoyed, Nai’sha and her Bodyguard fired on the Termagants as well, but only succeeded in killing one of the Tyranids with a missile pod hit.
Seeing how unreliable their Tau allies were proving, the Sisters took it upon themselves to destroy the enemy xenos. Divine Judgement once again fired on the Tervigon, but this time, the intervening foliage saved the creature as missiles struck only bushes and trees. The crew of Wrath of the Faithful, on the other hand, managed to get a clear bead on the Tervigon and fired, annihilating the monster with three direct hits and showering the Avengers with its remains. With the threat of these primogenitor-beasts dealt with, Isobel fired at the Avengers in front of her, but her inferno pistol shot went wide as her the spasms caused her arm to shake violently. Seeing that the impetuous Canoness needed help, Inquisitor Caledon’s retinue fired at the Avengers as well, killing two of the Eldar, before another two were scythed down by the Devilfish’s smart missiles.
Descending upon the Hive Tyrant, the Seraphim prayed for the Emperor to bless them, but while they felt the Spirit of the Martyr wash over them, they did not feel the Emperor granting them His Guidance. Before they could even strike, long, whip-like appendages lashed out from the Tyrant and Guard, ensnaring their limbs. With the humans ensnared, the Tyrant and Guard tried to tear them apart, but talon and claw alike bounced off of their glowing forms. Entangled as they were, the Seraphim could not find any weak points in the Tyranid carapaces, and the two sides fought on, the Seraphim darting around the Hive Tyrant like angry flies worrying at a bull.
(Author’s note: the plan here was to have the Seraphim stick around in combat with the Tyrant for two rounds and survive thanks to the Book of St. Lucius and Spirit of the Marytr. The idea was that the Seraphim would then hit and run out of combat and fly off to attack the Farseer’s Pathfinders.)
Elsewhere, Isobel prayed for swooped down on the Dire Avengers, slamming heel-first into one of them with enough force to shatter his spine. The Avengers reacted with perfect discipline, drawing combat blades and darting sideways to surround the Canoness—one Eldar blade stabbed in too fast for Isobel to follow, burying itself deep in her ribs, but in her current pain-numbed state, Isobel barely felt it, and spun around to decapitate her attacker in return. Unfazed by the fury of the Canoness’ attack, the Avengers moved to surround her.
TYRANIDS AND ELDAR TURN 3
Even as the Tau battlesuits jetted backwards to avoid return fire from the Termagants, their sensors buzzed in alarm as a large object was detecting directly above them, descending on their position. The Battlesuits jinked sideways, narrowly avoiding being crushed as a large, round object slammed into the ground a few metres away from them with titanic force. Through the cloud of dust thrown up by the impact, the allied forces could see a large shell-like object ringed by a probing mass of tentacles. Slowly, the shell suddenly seemed to peel open, allowing three sinuous, worm-like creatures with bloated craniums to slither free, mycetic slime dripping from their forms as eldritch energy crackled around them.
Elsewhere, the leftmost swarm of Termagants no longer felt the presence of the Hive Mind, and shrieked, turning and rushing towards the nearest cover. The rightmost Termagants seemed unaffected as they continued to scuttle towards the hab-block, with Ponderous advancing in great strides behind them. The other Wraithlord, sensing the plight of the Avengers, strode effortlessly out of the bunker towards the Canoness, its wraithblade shining in the sunlight. The thunderous footfalls of the Wraithlords almost obscured a low humming sound that was heard as a Wave Serpent, bearing the midnight-blue colours of Alaitoc, glided in low at the back of the Eldar lines.
The air crackled as potent energies were drawn to the battlefield. Determined that the lone human should fall, Kel’phan wrote Isobel’s Doom, and even the brave Canoness’ faith could not ward off the potent witchcraft. At the other end of the field, the Mycetic Spore lashed out, writhing tentacles burrowing deep through Nai’sha’s chestplate and stabbing into her, before the organism’s venom cannon fired at her, its acidic venom burning a deep wound in her thigh. The Zoanthropes, moving with an eery unison, unleashed a devastating warp blast at Wrath of the Faithful, tearing through the tank’s side armour and obliterating it in a tremendous fireball.
No sooner had the Exorcist been lost than Ponderous fired at Squad Esperanza’s Rhino, a krak missile gutting the human tank and turning it into a smoking wreck. Dazed, Squad Esperanza crawled out of their burning transport, losing two of their number as the Pathfinders and Rangers picked them off from afar. Cursing under her breath, Veteran Sister Esperanza swore to make the cowardly aliens burn for her slain Sisters.
In the ongoing melee by the hab-block, the Sororitas once again prayed for the Emperor to protect them, but even their prayers weren’t enough—one Sister was dragged upward and bisected by the Tyrant’s slashing talons, while another was caught by the Tyrant Guard and brutally torn limb from limb. Swearing in vengeance, Sister Fatima, swinging her snarling eviscerator, hacked her way free of the lash whips and dove in on the Tyrant’s unprotected side, scoring a deep wound on the monster. It was not enough, however: disheartened by their losses, the Seraphim tried to flee. Their efforts were in vain, as the entangled Sisters were merely dragged back towards the waiting Hive Tyrant and ripped to shreds. Fatima could only give a resounding curse before the Tyrant Guard’s immense bulk slammed into her, knocking her out instantly.
(Note: To my frustration, the Seraphim failed their stubborn LD9 test, scrapping my plan of killing the Farseer.)
In the centre, Isobel felled two more Avengers with great sweeps of her blade. Too late, she noticed the Wraithlord stomping towards her, towering over her like a bone colossus. Isobel prayed for the Emperor to protect her, raising her blade to defend herself, only for the gigantic wraithblade to swing down, the flat of the gleaming sword slamming against her with bone-crunching force as the Wraithlord swatted her like a fly. The Canoness was sent flying sideways before slamming into a tree with a sickening crunch, and slumped over, unmoving.
SISTERS AND TAU TURN 4
With the right flank in danger of collapse, the alliance knew that decisive action was needed. As the Hive Tyrant trampled over the fallen bodies of the Serpahim, Squad Arias’ Rhino and the Devilfish rushed to the rescue of Squad Esperanza, depositing their squads in rapid fire range of the bio-beast. All three squads formed a firing line surrounding the Hive Tyrant, hoping to bring it down at all costs. On the left flank, the Tau tanks and Battlesuits encircled the Zoanthropes, while the Gun Drones, receiving new commands, glided towards the Eldar Pathfinders as quickly as their small engines could carry them.
Not wanting to share the fate of their sister tank, the crew of Divine Judgement unleashed a full salvo of missiles against the Zoanthropes. Though most of the missiles exploded harmlessly against the Zoanthropes’ psychic fields, two blessed missiles punched through and exploded two of the Tyranids in great bursts of brain-matter. The last Zoanthropewas quickly targeted by the Hammerhead, the railgun shot punching through its warp field and scattering its remains across the battlefield.
With the threat of the Zoanthropes dealt with, the Tau tank unleashed a cluster of smart missiles at the Termagants, blasting apart three of the smaller Tyranids. Nai’sha and her Bodyguard fired into the Termagants as well, felling another seven with plasma, missiles and ionic energy. The remaining Termagants, unshackled from the will of the Hive Mind, shrieked with terror and scampered towards the edge of the battlefield. As though in an encore, the meltagunner of Squad Solemnas popped the top hatch of her Rhino and fired her weapon at the flailing form of the Mycetic Spore. A tremendous roar of pain was heard as the bulbous thing evaporated into ashes.
On the right flank, the Path-finders lit up the Hive Tyrant with markerlights as the Tau and Sororitas opened fire in unison, the Sisters praying for Divine Guidance as they did so. The Tyrant and its bodyguard were enveloped in a storm of fire, and the Tyrant Guard`s upper body was pulverized by a dozen direct bolter hits. The Sisters’ bolter rounds pierced the Tyrant’s carapace in several places, and the beast roared in agony before concentrated pulse shots punched through its armoured skull. Swaying, the Tyrant toppled sideways with an almighty crash, flames still crackling across its blackened hide. The corpse of the Tyrant hadn’t even hit the ground when Inqusitor Caledon’s retinue fired on the remaining Avengers, annihilating the remaining Eldar in a storm of shells and plasma.
With their targets at close range, the Gun Drones zoomed towards the Pathfinders, zipping through vision slits and ventilation holes to attack the Eldar. Stunned, the Pathfinders barely had time to react before they were swarmed by the small drones, and one of them had his upper body perforated by a close-ranged pulse carbine shot. Drawing knives and pistols, the Pathfinders fought back.
ELDAR AND TYRANIDS TURN 4
With the majority of the Tyranid swarm annihilated and the grip of the Hive mind shattered, the remaining Termagants on the left flank continued to flee, disappearing into the wilds as they exited the battlefield. The Gaunts on the right flank continued to scuttle towards the enemy, while the Wraithlord that had felled Isobel advanced towards the assembled Sisters and Fire Warriors, its wraithblade raised menacingly. Further back, the Wave Serpent suddenly shot forwards at high speed, circling like some graceful bird of pray before dropping to a hover near the assembled Sororitas and Tau. Before the assembled Sororitas and Fire Warriors could turn to face this threat, a series of explosions blossomed around them, throwing most of them to the ground and shredding two of Squad Esperanza in the blink of an eye.The Swooping Hawks glided down to the far end of the battlefield, while a series of lights shimmered near the hab-block as five Warp Spiders materialized, web spinners raised.
As Kel’phan wrote the Doom of Squad Esperanza, the Rangers and Pathfinders focused their firepower, bringing down two of the Sisters. Before Squad Arias could move to aid their Sisters, two of them were quickly sliced into bloody chunks of meat by the Warp Spiders’ spinners, and another Sister fell, screaming, as the living ammunition of the Termagants found their mark. Nearby, four Fire Warriors died as a plasma missile from Ponderous exploded in their midst. The other Wraithlord followed suit, firing its bright lance at the Devilfish, though once again the tank’s disruption fields caused the multihued beam of light to miss its mark.
In the left flank bunker, meanwhile, the swirling melee between the Pathfinders and Gun Drones continued, with the Eldar ducking and weaving amongst the bunker’s walls and corridors as they traded fire with the Drones. While the Eldar proved too agile for the Drones to hit, the shurikens and blades of the Pathfinders scraped harmlessly off of the Drones’ reinforced hulls, and the battle raged on.
TURN 5
With the enemy now surrounding them, the allies realized that a tactical withdrawal was necessary. Both the Fire Warriors and Squad Arias re-embarked on their respective transports and moved away from the enemy Wave Serpent. As the transports retreated, Squad Esperanza began to sing chants of praise to the God-Emperor, commending their souls to Him as they marched towards the Wave Serpent to buy time with their lives.
Switching targets, the Tau Path-finders lit up the lance-armed Wraithlord, but their rail rifles bounced off of its wraithbone hide. The Fire Warriors’ Devilfish and Divine Judgement unleashed missiles on the Wraithlord as well, but while countless warheads exploded against the wraithbone construct, only one shot from the Exorcist did any damage, tearing a deep gouge in the Wraithlord’s hide. The Hammerhead, meanwhile, fired a submunitions round on the remaining Termagants, only for the whistling shot to go wide and obliterate a patch of earth a few metres away from the Tyranids.
Putting their faith in the Emperor, Squad Esperanza fired their meltagun at the Wave Serpent. Their prayers went unanswered, however, as the white-hot beam shot through empty air as the tank’s holo-fields did their work. On the far left, the Pathfinders and Gun Drones continued to do battle in the bunker, the buzzing Gun Drones proving to be more of an annoyance than a lethal threat as they continued to harass the Eldar snipers.
The rear doors of the Wave Serpent slid open, and a squad of Howling Banshees acrobatically leapt out, the blue glow of their power swords giving an unearthly sheen to their midnight armour. As the Banshees began to dance towards Squad Esperanza, the Wave Serpent flew forward, its missile launchers tracking the enemy tanks, while the lance-armed Wraithlord advanced in its wake. The Warp Spiders, determined that the humans would not escape so easily, teleported next to the retreating Rhino of Squad Arias, while the Termagants scurried forwards to gain line of sight to the tank’s rear armour.
Once again, Kel’phan traced runes in the air as she sought to write the Doom of Squad Esperanza. This time, however, something unexpected happened: as Kel’phan wrote the runes, the syllables slid apart unevenly and shattered. In the distance, the Sisters blazed brightly in Kel’phan’s witchsight, surrounded by a strange light that seemed to repel the strands of fate. Pertrubed, Kel’phan ordered as many of her warriors to fire on these unnatural humans as possible. Long-rifles cracked, one Sister slumped over dead, but the Wraithlord’s bright lance seemed to wash harmlessly against their pristine white armour. Ponderous hurled another missile at the retreating Devilfish, and the Wave Serpent added to its fire, but once again, the starry missiles exploded against the tank’s disruption fields, sparing the tank and its occupants from harm.
As one, the Banshees unleashed a chorus of shrieks as they closed with the Sisters, the psycho-amplifiers in their helmets causing the humans to stagger and clutch their bleeding ears, praying for the Emperor to deliver them. Even as the Eldar leapt onto the Sisters with swinging blades, however, the impossible occurred: instead of carving effortlessly through the Sister’s armour, the Banshee’s swords broke and shattered like glass the moment they made contact, sending flickering blue shards of wraithbone scattering in all directions. Only one Sister fell as the Banshee’s Exarch delivered a clean decapitation, and in exchange, Sister Esperanza swung her flame wreathed mace, shattering a Banshee’s spine with a furious return blow.
With the Eldar counter-attack blunted and her own forces vastly outnumbered and outgunned, Kel’phan gave the mental order for her host to retreat. As one, the Eldar fell back, vanishing into the wildlands as silently and swiftly as they had arrived. Wearily, the Sisters of Battle and the Tau realized they had won. This realization was soured as they turned to stare at each other, warily fingering their weapons...
RESULT: Sisters & Tau Victory!
Thoughts
The overall Sisters and Tau strategy from the start of this game was to shoot the Tyranids as much as possible, since they would be the most immediate threat. This tactic worked all too well, as by the end of the game the Tyranids only had a single squad of Termagants left. This was offset by the fact that the Eldar had suffered very few losses of their own, and by the end of the game they were in a good position to get some points back. If the Warp Spiders and Banshees had arrived earlier, then they might have even been able to capitalize on the Tyranid breakthroughs on turn 4. As it was, the Eldar treated the Tyranids as a meat shield rather than as an allied force, and while the Eldar were in a pretty good position at the end of the game, the Tyranids suffered heavily from a lack of support.
Looking back, I made a few errors (sticking my Canoness in the to-be-Paroxysmed Kroot squad, and then charging into the Avengers when there was a Wraithlord lurking nearby). Most of my Sisters only got to participate late in the game thanks to the dense terrain in our deployment zone—because I was unable to fit all of my Rhinos, I was instead forced to put them all in reserve. My early plan of using hit-and-running Seraphim to eventually take out the Farseer also kind of fizzled when the Seraphim failed their morale check and got run down by the Tyrant. Otherwise, I think the Sisters and Tau fought well together.
Overall, this was a fun battle which I would definitely like to re-fight at some point in the future (hopefully with my Dark Eldar and their shiny new codex). If I were to re-fight this scenario, though, I definitely would not use table quarter deployment, as there is only so much of 3000 points that you can squeeze into a table quarter. I think Pitched Battle or Dawn of War deployment would have worked much better. Then again, I think that next time a proper game of Apocalypse is in order, in which case the Sisters will be bringing some Marine allies.
MVP I can’t think of an MVP for this battle, since no unit on the Sisters/Tau side stood out. For me, I would probably nominate the Eversor-Wolf for assassinating the Tervigon at the start of the game, or Squad Esperanza for making a ridiculous number of invulnerable saves at the end of the game.
LVP Probably my Canoness, who spent all game suffering all sorts of ill affects from psychic powers, and then got unceremoniously splatted by a Wraithlord after rolling a 1 for her invulnerable save.
Opponent’s MVP The Hive Tyrant and its Guard performed awesomely in this game, munching through the Kroot and the Seraphim and eventually taking all of the Sisters and Tau’s firepower to bring down. The enemy Farseer also fared well, with her multiple castings of Doom proving effective time and time again.
With the Tyranids all but destroyed and the warriors of two races arrayed against her, Kel’phan saw no other recourse but to withdraw, retreating with her warhost into the manifold depths of the webway. In her wake, the cautious truce between the Imperium and the Tau lasted long enough for both sides to consolidate their positions and prepare for the next wave of the Tyranid onslaught—an onslaught which, to the bafflement of both races, never came.
With its initial assault on Tepit blunted, the Swarm of St. Reimu abruptly left the planet’s orbit, the Hive ships drifting off towards the next inhabited star system. Imperial xenobiologists would speculate over why the Fleet had done this for the next few months, as, up until now, it was unheard of for a Hive Fleet to simply leave a world un-devoured. Some argued that the Hive Mind must have detected the involvement of Eldar trickery, and had chosen to avoid whatever fate Kel’phan had in store for them. Others theorized that the assault on Tepit was just a probing attack, executed for the sole purpose of seeing how well the prey-races would fight when forced to band together. Whatever the reason for the Swarm’s behaviour, the salvation of Tepit did little to disadvantage the Tyranids in the long run: in the weeks and months to come, the splinter fleet would ravage Imperial space further, devouring scores of worlds and billions of lives in its relentless advance.
With the threat of the Great Devourer gone, the Imperium and the Tau resumed their war for Tepit. Eventually, growing pressure from other threats in the sector forced Imperial troops to withdraw, though Bernadette Caldeon, the Inquisitor who was present at the battle, would continue to track and predict Kel’phan’s movements afterwards, for reasons she kept to herself.
Grave Knights
House Rouen