Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Eager to test out the new Apoc rules and to utilise all my IG at the same time Alex and I finally found time to do our yearly mega battle...the following is what we can remember of it.

Links

Our previous games..and our threads, my blog covers the building of my army and Alex has a showcase of his stuff too.

The Defense of Placebo XXX Clicky
Repacification of K'Plah IV Clicky

My Imperial Guard, Macragge 15th Planetary Defence Force Clicky
Alex's Hive Fleet Clicky

Enough of the self plugging already and on to the Wargasm.

Technical Stuff

I recently 'finished' my IG at 4.5k and wanted to use them without the support of my Marine army for the first time in a mega battle, we decide to play the basic 'Race to Destruction' mission leaving out all the 'Mysterious/Unnatural' crud. We diced off to place and go first as neither of us like the bidding thing. We both picked a single Stratagem. We placed the terrain to give a densely packed and good looking battlefield before determining sides, I had a minor fortification which I placed with my deployment. We both agreed to only have one 'Legendary' unit of equivalent power. We placed Objectives 12'' from anything and both deployed one in each others deployment zone, one in ours and the last in no-mans land (for a total of 6). We used Meiotic Spores (from FW) as they are painted an eye catching green. We were both unsure about the Strategic Break thing so decided to have one every 1.5 player turns and so we would score and stuff then.



Empty battlefield....



The 'Spore tower' like things are mangrove roots painted up to be big LOS blockers, all the terrain is by Alex and we played in his Spaceship room (yes he has a spaceship room).

The Good Guys

It was easy for me to pick my force, I just packed everything.



HQ





Overall commander Colonel Hendrik in the Shadowsword 'Victory' - Shadowsword with Command tank upgrade, HK, HS, and Sponsons. Warlord Power 'Princeps of Deceit' (didn't use)



Commissar Lord Combrink - PW, CA, PP with attendant Commissars B'Stard and Dredd both with PW and BP. All my PW are 'Axes'.



Captain Simmerson - Salamander Command Car (a Forgeworld unit which is basically a fast transportless Chimera that can issue orders as a CCS).



Captain Steiner - CCS PW, BP with PG, Banner and Master of Ordnance.



Primaris Psyker (Biomancy, Endurance, Warptime).



Inquisitor Lord Bestor - Ordos Xenos (Divination, Primaris) FW, PA, NP. Probably the real leader, he is attached to his PsiCorps Stormtroopers we agreed he could join and Deepstrike with them. Also pictured his Vindicare and Callidus assassin operatives put at his disposal...


Elites



Inquisitorial Stormtroopers PsiCorps division

Stormies x 10 - PW, MG, FL
Stormies x 6 - PW, PP, PG x2

Ratlings x 6 (too Camo'd to be photographed...)

Troops

Imperial Shield Infantry Company led by Captain Steiner, Chimera with HS

Platoon 1
PCS, 20 men with AC x2 and GL x2 led by a Commissar, Lascannon Battery
Platoon 2
PCS, 20 men with AC x2 and GL x2 led by a Commissar, Rocket Battery
Platoon 3
PCS, 10 men FL led by Commissar Lord, 10 men FL led by Primaris, Mortar Battery



Veterans

BP, MG x2, FL, Chimera with HK

Fast



Vendetta

Hellhound



'Armageddon Stomper Hunters' - Armoured Sentinels x 3 - LC x2, PC, HK x3



Scout Sentinels x 3 - ACx2, ML, HK x3

Heavy



'The Grim Reapers' - Russ x 3 - LC, HBs - LC and HB (all with Splatcannons)



Pask - Vanquisher - LC, PCs.

Aegis Defence Line with Quad.

The general idea was to hold the flanks with the 20 man blobs, the centre with the batteries and the 10 man 'assault' squads all interspersed with the Armour. The Inquisitorial units would deepstrike to threaten a backfield objective and a few units hang in reserve to show up where I was under pressure, units like the Vendetta, Hellhound and Mounted Vets excel at this. I was really excited to use my Shadowsword for the first time and I like the new D weapon rules, especially against MC as they can do nothing all the way up to 12 wounds, should prove interesting! I chose Bombardment as my Asset (why do Guard get less than everyone else?) as I am still smarting from the nerfing of the old version of the Infantry Company which provided the old 'Scheduled Bombardment', 'On my Coordinates' and a Defence line for 150pts, now I get a weird D3 regeneration roll? The only other formation I can make now is the 'Stomper Hunters' which only affect vehicles but the formation is an 'Armoured Spearhead' which can form a 'Broadsword' formation which basically means if they stand in a line the get 'Preferred Enemy'. I lined up all my war toys and Alex passed my a beer....

The Bad Guys

++++++++++++Transmission received from Alex Kolodotschko+++++++++++++++++++++++++

When Matt first suggested that we do a battle report for Nidvember I immediately got to work finishing off the cool new Ultimofex model and touching up my pods. After hours searching through historical tactics, perusing my old battered codex and a month at Sandhurst I was ready to start building my list. Given that I had to try and cram all of this http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/555458.page into a 4.5K list I found that without cheating I would have to use some thought and some of the ‘rules’ and decided to go to the pub the night before instead.
I awoke with an horrific hangover and began to turn on the computer, the whir of the fan began to bore into my head an I knew that i’d have to get this done quickly. A wave of nausea hit me as the first few gulps of coffee went down and my out of date Army Builder program loaded up. A second larger wave of nausea built up as I realised that i’d be trying to concentrate on a game and more importantly some more drinking later on this day. This was going to be a tough one. One by one the deafening clicking of the mouse began to create patterns on the blinding screen and after a few deep breaths, a shower and a struggle with the printer a list appeared as if by magic.



Warmaster
Tervigon- Claws. Psychic Powers: Iron arm, Haemorrhage.



HQ
Winged Tyrant- 2x TL Devourers w/Brainleach Worms. Psychik Powers: Warpspeed, Paroxysm.
Winged Tyrant-2x Scything Talons. Psiykic Powers: Enfeeble, Paroxsysm.
Tyrant- 2xScything Talons, 3xTyrant Guard. Psichic Powers: Enfeeble, Haemorrhage.

Elites
3x Hive Guard



2x Zoanthropes in Mycetic Spore Pod. Magic Powers: Warp Lance, Warp Blast.



3x Pyrovores in Mycetic Spore Pod

Troops
6 Warrior Brood w/Deathspitters



12 Genestealer Brood
12 Genestealer Brood



20 Hormagaunt Brood
20 Hormagaunt Brood
10 Termagaunt Brood

Heavy Support
Trygon Prime
Trygon



3 Carnifex Brood w/2xScything Talons Bio Plasma
Tyrannofex w/Rupture Cannon
Tyrannofex w/Rupture Cannon



Legendary Units
Barbed Hierodule

Total: 4496 (Or so I thought, but more of that later)

Somehow this was the list that i’d come up with and after a bit of rushing around, setting up tables, finishing terrain and greeting a scarily together looking Randy I decided to think about tactics formations and how to play warhammers.
I plumped for the Carnifex Crusher Brood Formation and picked the Reanimator as my stratagem.
After table set up set up, seeing Matt’s army and the objectives layed out I decided to place most of my models on the table.
My 'plan' would be to rush the ones without guns forwards and the ones with guns would shoot and try not to get shot.
Genestealers would be infiltrated, the Zoanthropes and Pyrovores would be kept in reserve and I began to drink a beer.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So who do you think will win? And why?

Do you care?

How long does it take before someone suggests we go to the pub?

NEXT TIME ON WARHAMMERS: DEPLOYMENT

Looks really good, i'm excited for this.

Awesome.

Good work Randy, thanks for doing this, I love the format for the list selection it's nice to put a name to the faces, as it were.

For thost that prefer a more traditional format, here's my list.....
Warmaster
Tervigon- Claws. Psychic Powers: Iron arm, Haemorrhage.
HQ
Winged Tyrant- 2x TL Devourers w/Brainleach Worms. Psychik Powers: Warpspeed, Paroxysm.
Winged Tyrant-2x Scything Talons. Psiykic Powers: Enfeeble, Paroxsysm.
Tyrant- 2xScything Talons, 3xTyrant Guard. Psichic Powers: Enfeeble, Haemorrhage.
Elites
3x Hive Guard
2x Zoanthropes in Mycetic Spore Pod. Magic Powers: Warp Lance, Warp Blast.
3x Pyrovores in Mycetic Spore Pod
Troops
6 Warrior Brood w/Deathspitters
12 Genestealer Brood
12 Genestealer Brood
20 Hormagaunt Brood
20 Hormagaunt Brood
10 Termagaunt Brood
Heavy Support
Trygon Prime
Trygon
3 Carnifex Brood w/2xScything Talons Bio Plasma
Tyrannofex w/Rupture Cannon
Tyrannofex w/Rupture Cannon
Legendary Units
Barbed Hierodule

So who do you think will win? And why?
I think that i'll win. My tactical accumen and general handsomeness should help me through this one.
Do you care?
Nope, never have done as long as i'm having fun.
How long does it take before someone suggests we go to the pub?
Did someone say pub? Quickly!

Oh, and here's a map...

Looking forward to seeing this played out! The swarm will prevail, of course. It always does.

I hope there's lots of pictures!!!

++++++++++Imperial Deployment++++++++++++++++++



Starting with the extreme Imperial right, I wanted to utilise the open firing lanes so deployed Pask and another Russ. I backed them up with the Stomper hunters.



Moving in to the centre from the right, I occupied some infested ruins (which have an objective) with Platoon 2 and supported them with Captain Steiner bravely hiding in his Chimera. The right end of my ADL can be seen with the Quad, behind this a 5 man PCS



Moving in again. The far right end of the ADL is held by a Platoon 3 squad with the Primaris. On the roof of the building parallel to the central road is held by the Rocket Battery and hidden beneath it is the 2nd 10 man squad from Platoon 3 led by the Commissar lord. To the left of them is the Lascannon Battery sighting down the road. The large ruin was occupied by Platoon 1 also holding an objective. Hiding behind them a Mortar Battery and Captain Simmerson in his armoured car. Finally the Russ 'Dauntless' cemented the centre.



The extreme left now. The small building holds another PCS guarding the flank of the mighty 'Victory'. In front of this behemoth is the last Russ 'Old Reliable'. Only just visible in the left corner is a group of craters which provides cover for the Ratlings and the Vindicare.



In reserve I kept my Ordos Xenos strike force, the Vendetta, the Inquisitor and 2 units of Stormies, ready to grab an enemy objective. The Hellhound and Mech Vets were ready to react to any threats. Finally a group of 3 Scout Sentinels stood ready to outlflank and cause problems where ever possible.

I felt this was a good strong formation the Blobs holding the objectives in my zone, the massed heavy weapons threaten the centre, somewhat cheesily next too the Commy Lord who'll boost their leadership to 10 thus making 'Bring it Down!' orders much easier to pass. Also the 2 10 man squads can charge any units trying to silence the big guns. The heavy armour held the edges ready to pummel the masses of TMC.



Commissar Dredd holding the left objective..



Commissar Lord Combrink stands ready to defend the centre...

Next up the Alien menace................


Automatically Appended Next Post:

SBG wrote:
Looking forward to seeing this played out! The swarm will prevail, of course. It always does.

I hope there's lots of pictures!!!

Oh there'll be pics alright, unfortunately more than I would have liked are blurry...grr

DO-OVER!!

Okay, so this is a long shot. Try drinking half a bottle of rum before looking at the pics and see if it focuses though on the other side?
I'll give it a shot or two a bit later.
Also, no do-overs. I'm not sure my liver would take it but perhaps another smaller game once this is written up.

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:

Also, no do-overs. I'm not sure my liver would take it but perhaps another smaller game once this is written up.

Sure you can try out the new and improved(?) Marine book if you fancy...

+++++++++++++Tyranid Deployment++++++++++++++++++++++



The view of the Tyranid left, facing off against Pask and the Stomper Hunters anchoring the flank is the Dakka Flyrant and his Trygon buddy. Behind them is a unguarded objective. Then some Hormies and Hive Guard. The ruin on the right of the pic has an objective both behind and in front of it. Swarming around this nexus we have the Plasma Fex formation and a Walkrant with Guard and finally the Warriors with Death Spitters. Thats 6 TMCs right there.



The Nid centre, the massive building hereafter known as the' tower block' sheltered another flock of TMC's, we have another Trygon, another Flyrant, the Tervigon and Tryrannofex. Skulking behind, a cloud of Hormies taking solace from their larger kin. In front of that lot and not visible here is another objective and and group of infiltrating Stealers occupying it.



The Nid right. Drawing a bead on the 'VIctory' we have the dreaded Barbed Hierodule, Barbie to his friends, and his fluffer, another Tyrannofex.



In reserve we have 2 pods containing 2 Zoanthropes and 3 Pyrovores respectively.

All in all a pretty Nidzilla force, the Monstrous Creatures were making good use of the LOS blocking cover (as I was going first bar any seizing shenanigans), though that did mean I outnumbered him which always feels nice (even if they are only guardsmen).



Stealthy slithering stealers seek securing scoring.......



Guard grab good gunning ground.....



Nidvalanche!!!

NEXT TIME: WAR CALLS, WHO WILL ANSWER?

I'm hiding from his guns if you can't tell!
Basically at this point my plan was to weather the first round of shooting and keep plugging forwards staying out of sight and in terrain as much as possible. There was, however, a lot of ground to cover (about 30'' in most cases) on this 6ftx8ft table. No mans land was 18'' and I was as far forwards as I could get whilst still hiding behind cover.
The guard were generally within 18'' of matt's table edge.
I could forget about any objectives on my side of the board for a bit and concentrate on the central objectives and those on the imperial side.

It is great to see Apoc games not dominated by taking as many D-Str weapons as possible. I really look forward to seeing how this battle turns out!

P.S - Those fully painted armies look amazing on the table.

Yeah, Matt and I have been playing each other for a while now and have a similar ethos in that respect.
We're both far happier playing a big game of 40K than smashing all of the toys on the table then scooping them off with dustpans and brushes.
There's quite a lot of unwritten 'don't be a dick' gentlemanly conduct between us. We try to balance superheavies, not deploy full refused flanks, avoid cheesy spam and stuff like that
Basically we just try to give each other a game.
This is why we have decided to ignore/modify so many Apoc rules already and we're only at the deployment stage.
Cheers.

+++++++++++++++++++++++Imperial Guard Turn 1+++++++++++++++++++++++



There was some shuffling of units as they jockeyed to get better firing positions, no one was brave enough to advance yet. Pask and his Russ buddy drew a bead on the threatening bulk of the nearby Trygon, they fired away and managed to wound the beast heavily, he waved to the Stomper Hunters who stood in a line and suddenly got more accurate; they hosed the swaying monstrosity and......



TIMBER!

The infantry took a few shots at Stealers with minimal effect. The big guns in the centre targeted the approaching Plasma Fexes, these guys can combine fire to form a Hellstorm template of uber death which could easily sweep clear all of my infantry entire, 'Bring it Down!!' orders were issued by Simmerson and Combrink's 'inspiring' presence insured they were followed, but the monsters only suffered a wound or so. The mortars and scattered infantry shot at more infiltrating 'Stealers with some effect...



The Colonel sighted Barbie stomping towards him and calmly issued the order to engage. Mighty capacitors whirred as the anti spacecraft laser acquired it's target....this was the first time I've ever fired it and I was quite nervous as I picked up the scatter dice..we always play that blasts have to be targeted exactly over the centre of a model, I roll a slight scatter, this turns out to mean it hits both Barbie and the Tyran'o'fex....that was a freebie...rolling a D6 for damage.....it comes up a 6 on Barbie....I roll wounds, another 6, so that's 12 wounds with no save of any kind. There may have been some swearing at this point..I also manage 3 wounds on the Tyran'o'fex. Alex throws down his Strategic Asset of 'Reanimator' and this song immediately plays in my head:



Wow haven't thought about them for a while. On closer inspection I notice this asset will add D6 wounds to his beastie but requires the spending of a VP as we don't have any yet technically he can't play it, feeling guilty about one shotting his mega monster I allow him to go into VP debt, Alex grips a D6 with sweaty palms and rolls....a . Staring down the barrel of Barbie's 12x STR10 shooters my good will evaporates and I fire both lascannons and hit and wound with both killing it again unless he can make his cover saves for hiding in the spore chimney! He rolls ! Kismet.



As an afterthought my sniper party decide to shoot Tyran'o'fex (as I started to feel guilty again) another flurry of s and 4 rending wounds were caused....



I go off to cool my dice in water...

Seeing the overwhelming numbers of horrible things hiding behind the building I decide there won't be a better time to drop my asset 'Bombardment'. Outnumbered? I prefer target rich environment..



I roll a measly 2 so only a few rounds land with any effect..



Still the conga line of TMC's pick a wound each...

The IG had made excellent progress on the flanks but the Nid cenrte had taken practically no damage, the initiative passed to the Bugs......

After the very near death of my Hierodule I began frantically flicking through rulebooks and my list looking for a loophole.
Surely I couldn't have lost my 700pt monster so easily.
I had, Matt had just rolled well.
As we discussed whether or not it was worth taking in the first place we discovered that it's points cost in the new Apoc book is only 565pts.
So my army total of Total: 4496 was actually 4361.
Not sure what i'd have bought with the change, probably some more zoanthropes, probably.
Anyhow, I had no one to blame but myself and those troublesome 'rules'.

I must now purchase the Apocalypse book to learn more about these Carnifex formations. I'm liking this battle report, thanks for putting it together - it's great to see fully painted forces bashing each other's heads in!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=Tyranid Turn 1++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On my far right flank the heavily wounded back from the dead Hierodule cowers within the twisted mess of the spore chimney.

He nervously takes aim and fires his bio cannons at the Shadowsword.

Causing 2 hull points. Yay
At Centre Right behind and inside the Tower Block the Stealers and Hormagaunts move up to control the objective within the building,
The Tervigon spawns a dozen or so gaunts then clogs up. :(
The tyrannofexes shooting is ineffectual
And the winged tyrant perches precariously high up in the ruin ready to swoop next turn.

Centre Left, Hive Guard, Warriors, Plasma Fexes and the walkie Tyrant push forward staying within cover.

On the Far Left flank my winged Dakka Tyrant takes flight and hides behind the ruin to be within striking range of Matt's sentinels next turn.

At this stage i'm controlling 3 objectives and have got enough wounds/bodies on each that I should be able to weather the inevitable storm of shootyness in matt's turn in time for the first VP count up.
Fingers, talons, tentacles crossed!

Absolutely delicious.

Really cool, Im really enjoying this

Also to aid in atmosphere of the batrep... STARSHIP TROOPERS!!!




... Because every game of IG Vs. the Bugs... I mean 'Nids isn't Starship Troopers *looks awkwardly left then right*...

Farseer Faenyin wrote:It is great to see Apoc games not dominated by taking as many D-Str weapons as possible. I really look forward to seeing how this battle turns out!

P.S - Those fully painted armies look amazing on the table.

Thanks! Yeah as Alex said we try to have a fun game with characterful armies, you do see people playing Apoc with 12 Draigos 3 Eldrads and 4 cardboard double D (Str) Warhounds, but that's not for me.

SBG wrote:I must now purchase the Apocalypse book to learn more about these Carnifex formations. I'm liking this battle report, thanks for putting it together - it's great to see fully painted forces bashing each other's heads in!

The formation is called 'Carnifex Crusher Brood' and it's really good, I'm noticing now that it also grants 'It will not die'.....might have made a difference..all the Nid formations are good really, the IG ones are a bit meh but the superheavies are great.

Ratius wrote:Absolutely delicious.

Thanks!!

happygolucky wrote:Really cool, Im really enjoying this

Also to aid in atmosphere of the batrep... STARSHIP TROOPERS!!!

Thanks I'm listening to this now!!

NOW ON WITH THE STORY



Automatically Appended Next Post:
+++++++++++++Guard Turn 2++++++++++++++++++++++

The wall of TMC's was getting closer and at the end of this turn we would do our first scoring...I could call upon reserves too and some frenetic radio traffic from HQ secured some important assets...



A unit of the Elite Inquisitorial Storm Troopers PsiCorps 70 squadron performed a precision teleport onto the unguarded rear right hand side objective....they weren't in range of anything so they ran to consolidate their position.



The PsiCorp Vendetta hove into view and targeted the heavily bleeding Barbie...



In a blaze of ruby light the mighty beast was again consigned to the dead shelf....



The infantry in the centre blazed away ineffectually at the incoming Crusher Brood (plasmafexes) and were forced to request fire support from a higher authority...



Grinding the rubble to powder as the massive war engine rotated on the spot the 'Victory' took aim at the Crushers. At least one had to die to break the ability to unleash the hellstorm attack, again I picked up the scatter dice in clammy hands to have the shot only scatter minimally and cause a full 4 wounds slaying one of the mighty beasts outright. This basically prevented my centre being overwhelmed next turn. The Russes near to Victory fired shells into the tower block; one targetting some Stealers hidden from view by the near wall. The tank had been able to maneuver to just get LOS, killing several; the other took a wound off the trygon. Platoon 1 fired at it as well and managed a wound with some help from orders. My Primaris who had managed to perils himself and lose a wound last turn cast Endurance successfully onto the lascannon battery as they were in likely charge range of the 3 remaining infiltrating Stealers in the centre and I wanted those high value guns to keep firing if possible...



The Flyrant on the right was dangerously close now, I wanted to ground him so Platoon 2 under the effects of a 'BiD' fired everything they had and caused a wound but the beast kept in the air...



He would be in charge range next turn so had to go, the Stomper Hunters fired all their weapons (with re rolls for Preferred enemy) and managed a wound but still no crashing, in desperation they all fired their HK missiles which all missed even with the re rolls. Pask and his bitch blazed away too; causing another wound but the Russes couldn't land him either....



The Walkrant in the centre behind the PlasFexes attracted some accurate fire from battlecannon and a Tyrant Guard was slain..

Whilst still a good turn, the threat of the fexes was reduced, Barbie killed again, it certainly lacked the fireworks of turn 1, the Nids were yet to commit their reserves to the struggle and I had a feeling they would be showing up pretty soon....

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It was now at the end of 1.5 player turns and so our first 'Scheduled Break' occurred. This meant my Shield Company power kicked in and I gained back some Guardsmen from Platoon 2.

A quick tally showed we had 3 objectives each, as it was the 1st stop they were worth 1 pt apiece, Alex would now have 2 player turns to my 1 to secure objectives before the next stop, we thought this would an interesting mechanic. I gained an extra point for a superheavy kill and Alex lost one due to his use of a Strategic Resource (Reanimator).

So the score was 4-2 in my favour...

DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL
THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

++++++++++++++++++Tyranid Turn 2++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
So, working my way around from my left flank to the right.

On th far left the dakka Tyrant opens fire on and charges the sentinels destroying one. He makes his charge and gets locked in combat. Hopefully he'll be able to rinse the remaining sentinel in matt's cc phase and get on with some more carnage in my next turn. At least he'll be safe from shooting next turn.



The Hive guard about turn as they look to protect the rear objective from the stormtroopers. The warriors hunker down on the central objective


In the centre behind the imperial lines the Pyrovore Pod makes a perfect landing and hoses down the Commissar Lord and his unit.
Now this is possibly the first time that a pyrovore has ever done anything in one of our games. In retrospect I feel that this deserves a VP.



The Carnifex Formation to the front of the imperial centre continue to weather the hail of fire and push forwards firing off bioplasma pretty ineffectually.
The stealers attempt to charge the guardsmen front and centre but are gunned down by snapfire.


On my Right Flank the Flyrant dives down from the top of the towerblock towards the closest Leman Russ but finds himself sadly out of puff when it comes to the charge.
The trygon and stealers emerge from the block as the hormagaunts pull up behind them on the objective within it.


Finally on my far right flank the Zoanthrope Pod gets a little lucky with it's scatter and lands perfectly behing the Shadowsword. Their shooting attacks do nothing or very little iirc.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Okay, so the good news is that i've finally managed to kill some stuff, the bad news is that i'm not in combat with anything but the Dakka Flyrant so Matt will still have the majority of his firepower to turn on me next turn. EeeeK.
Hold on to your tendrils, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

great stuff, great pictures, you could make it even more detailed for my taste

I'm not sure that we've got enough good pictures or memories to make it more detailled i'm afraid.
I've tried taking more detailled notes/maps as we've played before but it does detract from the game a little and the thought of unravelling the childlike scribblings from turn 3 onwards is a real chore.
Perhaps i'll try and work on a better format or even a live battrep for a smaller game.
I'd like to try that sometime.

Edit: I've just chucked a quick map together. NB All maps are an approximation/imagination of mine and bear little or no scale references from actual (tabletop) life
It's posted up with the deployment stuff.

Here's what things look like at the end of turn 2.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
How are you liking the maps?
I know they're a bit crappy and you can't tell what's what on them but hopefully they give an idea of what's going on when you cross reference them with the text/pics.
I'd like to find a better way to do them but perhaps aerial photos with stuff drawn on them is a better plan?
Any thoughts, dreams or links to useful free software would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers.

+++++++++++++++++++Aboard the Inquisitorial Strike Cruiser Obsidian Heart++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Lord Inquisitor!"
"Yes...how goes it on the surface?"
"We have word from squad 1, they have successfully teleported to the artefact's likely location, there is some resistance but the Imperial Guard are drawing most of the creatures attention..shall we give the order for them to attempt to recover it?"
"No not yet, they must not be observed. I could deal with any questions from these excuse for guardsmen, they may have fought stoically in the first Tyrranic war 200 hundred years ago but they are little more than garrison fodder in reality, a few disappearing wouldn't cause any ripples normally but these whelps are from Ultramar, I do not wish Callgar's do-gooders in blue finding out. They would not understand what we try to achieve.....or agree with our methods......."
"Yes Lord."
"I will go to the surface personally to ensure the securing of the area and to oversee the removal as soon as we can act unobserved.....have squad 2 meet me in the teleporter array...and prepare the stasis chamber to receive our prize..... "

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The map is looking good! Some labels would be useful, Platoon 1, Russ etc.

You missed out one of my favourite occurrences!



As the remnants of the Stealers charged across the open ground the lascannon teams frantically re targetted their semi autonomous weapons,"Don't shoot till you see the redder bit of their red eyes men!" 2 s were rolled for overwatch and the crewmen, striking first managed to stab the last Stealer to death for no loss! That's plucky IG at it's best.

Yeah, I must have missed that bit.
There was a bit of me that thought that that happened next turn.
Hey ho, at least rum works.

++++++++++++++Guard Turn 3++++++++++++++++++++++

Turn 3 began with the arrival of the last wave of reinforcements..



With a loud *BAMF* of displaced air Inquisitor Bestor teleported in with minimal scatter in front of the larger unit 1 of 70 Squadron who had suffered 3 casualties from the Hive Guard last turn..



His retinue of unit 2 opened up with multiple plasma weapons and hot shot lasguns and amazingly suffered no casualties from overheats, the supercharged energy bolts left only one beast standing and him with only one wound. Bestor casually shot the creature between the eyes with his needle pistol..



The Scout Sentinel squadron arrived via outflank on the Imperial left and took up a firing position to enfilade the lager monstrosities..



The Hellhound crunched over rubble as it reinforced the centre, the stalled Stealers had to be destroyed..concentrated fire from it the nearby Platoon 1 and the Russ 'Dauntless' (the one with HB sponsons) killed most but not all of the creatures, they had drained too much of the local firepower and the more dangerous Trygon nearby still had 4 wounds...



Again desperate pleas for forward firepower to be intensified were answered by the blinding roar of the defence laser which was again accurate and caused 4 wounds...the PCS squad attempted to ground the Non Dakka Flyrant to no avail..



The Vendetta swoops in and manages to severely wound it however..



The Russ in front of the Shadowsword took a pot shot into the tower block where an unhealthy number of Guants, Warmaster Tervigon and the Tyrannofex lurked and succeeded in blowing up a few of the smaller beasts, the Tervy had T9 due to Iron Arm..



The Zoaneys couldn't be allowed to continue to menace my Warmaster, the Shadowsword. Drawing his pistol the Vindicare stepped from the shadows, he'd been very impressed with the marksmanship of the little abhumans, "With me!!" he cried and charged the floating brain bugs, "Who us?!!" retorted the shocked Ratlings and for the first time in their service history declared a charge. The little men were outclassed by the pod and Zoanthropes and fled the field but the Vindicare fought on.



The last reserves, a unit of mounted Veterans, drove on to reinforce the gun batteries under pressure from the Pyrovores. A poor round of shooting from them only succeeding in bringing down one of the beasts..



The Primaris knew he had to take matters into his own hands lest the centre be wiped out, also he wished to avenge Commissar Lord Combrink so ignominiously cut down....



Suffering some losses due to Wall of Death the 'assault squad' (they have bayonets) fought well and only one beast remained.



Captain Simmerson, acutely aware of the losses around him suffered to keep the big guns firing issued successfully 2 BiD orders to the Lascannon and Rocket battery who shelled the encroaching Plasfexs killing one and wounding another...the PCS from Platoon 3 had crept up to man the Quad gun added to this fusillade..





Commissar B'Stard indicated the nearby Flyrant engaged with the last Armoured Sentinel with a tip of his cap, "Really?, I mean you're right of course, With me men!" cried the Sargeant as he led his men over the top and it combat with the monster. Both sides fought to a standstill, the Flyrant eviscerating some troopers but the guard, whilst failing to take the creatures last wound, held their ground.

The IG were heavily engaged now but the line still held through cold steel and courage, would that prove to be enough?








Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
Yeah, I must have missed that bit.
There was a bit of me that thought that that happened next turn.
Hey ho, at least rum works.

Rum always works

+++++++++++++++Tyranid Turn 3+++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Nids had the Guard at near full stretch and just needed to keep up the pressure...



The non dakka Flyrant flew behind the Russ 'Old Reliable' and ...



Smashed the tank to smithereens...



Just behind this the slap fight between the Assassin and the Zoanthropes continued, neither side landing a telling blow, but both dangerous shooting units were tied up..



The last PlasFex stormed the barricades finally, surviving some desultory overwatch fire from the PCS manning the Quad gun..




Though the guardsmen managed to land a telling blow with a powerfist, after the slog across the table and the loss of it's colleagues, the behemoth was not to be denied and the last survivor, the Junior officer, fled the field. The beast consolidated into the terrain vacated by Platoon 2, threatening but not capturing that objective which was held by PCS of Platoon 2.

Off camera the battle between the Primaris and his bayoneters against the Pyro and his pod was concluded as the Guard managed to overwhelm the monsters..



The last Stealers (only just visible in this pic) assaulted Platoon 1. They survived a storm of overwatch to pull the faces off a few guardsmen and managed to hold on for another round of combat. Silencing Platoon 1's guns.



The combat on the right ground on with a few more troopers losing their lives as they swarmed the towering leader beast, the guard failed to work their bayonets into the monsters hide, the Commissar with his power axe again didn't mange to claim the beasts last wound.

Over on the left flank the Tyranofex managed to do dent a few more plates on the hull of the Shadowsword taking the amount lost to about 5, just over half strength..

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This ended the Nid turn and our next Scheduled Break began. I manged to regenerate a few more troopers due to the Shield Companies' superpower, significantly a Rocket team that had been killed by the Pyro's Pod.

After all the bloodshed we both still held 3 Objectives each, they were all worth 2 points, so we both gained 6 VPs with no extras this round..giving totals of

Heroic IG: 10

Evil Alien Scum: 8


++++++++++++++++ Guard Turn 4 ++++++++++++++++++++++++

The IG worked to consolidate their hold on the objectives..



Unit 1 of 70 Squadron moved up to hold the objective in the Nid backfield.



Unit 2 with Inquisitor Bestor moved forward to put some fire (ineffectually) onto the Warriors holding an objective and to act as a buffer to their other unit.



The outflanking Sentinels put some fire down onto the Nid Warmaster trying to earn that extra 1 VP but failed to achieve anything..



On the Imperial left the Flyrant who had just smashed a Russ to scrap was now landed and left with one wound, the Shadowsword tasked several of it's minor weapon systems to ensuring it's demise.



Searching for a target worthy of the Volcano cannon the Commander became aware of the Tervigon who had been missed by the Scout Sentinels....



Again the shot failed to scatter significantly and caused the 4 wounds necessary to slay the Warmaster outright, Iron Arm or no.



In the centre to Primaris and slightly regenerated squad move back to the barricades with an idea of reacapturing the Quan gun eventually.



The centre big guns tried to finish off the Carnifex over by Platoon 2's objective but failed to harm the monster, without the Commissar Lord's watchful eye they both (Lasers and Rockets) failed their BiD orders and the beast had cover.



The monster couldn't be allowed to join the embattled Dakka Flyrant and maybe capture the objective, so the Veterans and CCS (Captain Steiner) scooted over in their Chimeras and managed to kill the creature with Melta and Plasma fire.



As close combats rolled around the Vindicare managed to score a wound for no loss but the combat rattled on..



Platoon 1 finally stabbed the last Stealer on the table to death..but the single creature had already prevented them taking any more offensive action this turn.



In the last combat of the turn a guardsman managed to bayonet the Flyrant in the eye, as it turned to cut him in half Commissar B'Stard managed to plant his axe in it's spine, roaring it's defiance the leader beast finally keeled over...This meant all Nid threats to the right had been destroyed and this flank was safe for now..

It had been a good turn of consolidation for the IG but with objectives worth 3 VPs at the next break my lead was tenuous.

FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS SOON IN THE FINAL TURN....

Good work Matt.
Sorry that I've not been chipping in much in the last few days, I was at home with my folks over the weekend with limited interwebz access. I'm back online now for any Q and A stuff you may all have.
I'll placehold here for a bit and get my last turn and some post match bits done this evening.

Making me quite homesick!

Looks like a great game so far and looking forward to reading the final turn!

Also looking forward to a battle report with Alex's new Dark Eldar army at some stage.

Can't wait to see the endgame!

++++++++++++++++++++Tyranid Final Turn++++++++++++++++++++++++++
At this point there's really very little to report...Lol.
Most of my units have found themselves too far from any additional objectives to make a difference, I didn't have much in the way of ranged weaponry in range and that Shadowsword isn't going away anytime soon.
My best bet at this stage was to reenforce any objectives that I was close to, pray to the Norn Queens of old and twiddle my feelers.

The Hormagaunts pile intowards the objective on the crossroads and with the help of the synapse from the walking tyrant in the ruin behind convincingly secure it.


The hand to tail battle between the Zoanthropes and the Vindicare waged on with nothing but some mildly erotic stroking from my side.


I'd found myself sat on three of the objectives
Tyranid warriors on the central on my side centre.
Tervigon and Gaunts in the No mans land tower block.
Hormagaunts in No mans land at the crossroads.
With the additional (non-optional) objective of finishing the bottle of rum complete it was time to sit back and wait for the results.

And this is what the battlefield looked loike.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

As the Tyranid forces were mopped up, and the Guard started to celebrate Inquisitor Bestor surveyed his allies of convenience contemptuously, soon it would be nightfall and he could retrieve what he came for, his men would ask no questions though it may be prudent to memory scrub them again as a precaution. He turned to see an officer approaching, Steiner he thought, 'Celebrate all you want fool, you may have triumphed on the field of battle for a day but against the numbers of Xenos his scans had detected this sector was already dead, they just didn't know it yet.' As the officer drew alongside Bestor spoke cheerfully, 'Well stuck sir you certainly fought with the Emperor's wrath today!...' the young officer smiled obviously pleased with himself...

He pretended to listen to the responce but he was thinking to himself 'Soon you fools, soon..........I'll have all the power I need......'

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So ended the great conflagration on the 9th planet of the Warb'stard system. It was about 3ish in the morning and we were out of booze so turn 5 seemed a turn too far. Here is a quick once round of the table showing the final dispositions:



Starting with the Imperial Left..







to the Imperial Right..



The Nid Left





to the Right. Sorry for the extreme blurryness of some of the pics (indeed throughout) but the reasons why should be obvious. Most of the Nid units are actually hiding in those central buildings BTW..

++++++++++++++Final Score+++++++++++++++++++

After 4 rounds of killyness we both still held 3 objectives each so scored 9 VPs each, I gained 1 more VP through slaying his Warmaster. Total scores were then...

Nasty Nids: 17
Cool Guard: 20

So the final scores were very close and a swing of one objective would have carried the day for the evil overmind. The only diffence in score came from a Gargantuan Creature kill, Slay the Warlord and his use of a Strategic Resource.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Aftermath...

We both managed to complete the most important objective, we both had a fun time.

I really enjoyed deploying my whole finally finished army, it was a great bookend to 3-4 years of modelling/painting. I thought it handled well with a good mix of units.

I really liked the Stormtroopers right hook to grab the Nid objective, it's great having troops who can be mobile and handle themselves should a ruck arise. Alex was throwing so many units at me otherwise I was pinned in my deployment zone unable to advance and wrest any other objectives from him. He likewise ran out of assault troops to pull any away from me.

The Shadowsword was a monster (killer), it took out a TMC a turn and was down 6 HP by the end. I've never used it or another superheavy so that was great to try out. I like the new D rules, I know a lot of people don't, but against MC targets they are similar to before. Instead of causing 'Instant Death' automatically a roll of 1 does nothing, and a 2-5 D3+1 Ws. Only on a 6 does it do mega damage. I was really lucky in that I never completely scattered off a target and rolled well for damage (especially Turn 1!). Having it as a Warlord was interesting too as that's how I modeled it, with my Colonel in his white uniform looking imperious out of the top cupola. I could have called a 'Finest Hour' but I forgot when the Zoanthropes dropped and later it seemed unnecessary. I also gained another Asset at the first Strategic Break but never had a good time to deploy 'On my Coordinates'. If Alex had called one (a Finest Hour), he could have ordered an 'All out Assault' allowing a unit a triple move and then a charge, but we both forgot stuff in the heat of battle.

I like the new Apoc rules with our amendments; and would like to do them again and get some 'Finest Hours' and 'Divine Interventions' off. I like the new objective rules and the changes to reserves as it incentivises deploying more and going for objectives from the start instead of the old game of reserve lot's and pounce on turn 4.

That's enough wall of text from me, here's some blurb from Alex he sent over +++++++++++++++++++

All in all this was a surprisingly close one, despite being outnumbered and heavily outgunned!

There were plenty of things that i'd have done differently.
1)Get some sleep the night before.

2)Write a list properly.
One day i'll get round to this but more specifically I'd probably have chucked in a few small units of gargoyles or stuff in pods to contest/capture objectives seeing as all units in the foc can.
I'd not bother trying to outgun Matt's army and throw some more numbers in there. Nids shooting is just too hit and miss.
Probably make that Carnifex brood one or two models bigger.

3)Learn the rules, especially the apoc rules.
Reserves rules are really quite different.
I'd have included some more apoc formations and would have deepstriked a tonne of stuff on turn 1 to disrupt Matts line a little earlier allowing my walkers to get a bit of a break from the hail of fire.

4)Stay less drunk

5)Get matt more drunk.

6)Roll better and play more games.
Okay, so in fairness the rolls were pretty even throughout but some of my ranging was well out due to lack of practice.
Some of the rolls I had hoped for were wildly optimistic especially regarding charge ranges.
Perhaps it was the scale of the table but i'd often find myself badly out of position with no real chance of a charge.

Anyhow, all in all a really fun and surprisingly slick game, it had been too long since we'd had a good ruck, and we've been known to make 2k games last as long as this did.
Hopefully the next one can be a little sooner and even perhaps with my Dark Eldar MGS.unless of course there really are some new shiney nids on the way!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I really hope you have enjoyed reading this, please let us know if you did, there's probably 10+ hours that goes into writing one of these (longer than the game itself! and I uploaded 121 images to the gallery) and I'm sorry we couldn't do it faster but we both have a lot going on IRL.


We will do more in the future and are starting a mini campaign between ourselves (maybe including guests)..head over to the Campaigns Forum (yes there is one on Dakka, no I didn't know either) to subscribe we hope to get on with it soon......what is Alfred Bestor up to? maybe all will be revealed...

Remember..

BE PURE
BE VIGILENT
BEHAVE




Automatically Appended Next Post:

MeanGreenStompa wrote:Making me quite homesick!

Looks like a great game so far and looking forward to reading the final turn!

Also looking forward to a battle report with Alex's new Dark Eldar army at some stage.

Yeah I'm looking forward to scrapping with them as well.

If you do come back to blighty sometime maybe we could lay on something like this.....

SBG wrote:Can't wait to see the endgame!

Great! Hope you've enjoyed it all!