Hi all,
This is the second game in a series I am having against a friend. Steel Legion vs Tyranids. We have sort of adopted a bit of a narrative approach towards setting up our games, nothing to detailed though. Just a brief discussion about some of the general aspects that we might apply in order to create a series of linked games. In the last game the Tyranids had a solid win, but the Steel Legion were able to squeak out a 'moral victory' of sorts by killing all the Warriors. So we took that as our inspiration for this game. A hastily formed counter attack, looking to strike at the Tyranids ability to breed more synapse creatures.
Game one of the series can be found here.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/672898.page
So lets get on with the battle report. Since I am new to this, I am still getting a feel for what works best for me. Expect most of the report to be in a simple narrative format, with perhaps the occasional table top general comment here and there.
/////Report Begins/////
///Planet Sildan IV: Civilized world, temperate climate, primarily agricultural industries, population pre invasion 1.4B. Currently under attack by xeno's known as Tyranids. Hive fleet returning to planet after dispatching defence fleet; estimate arrival in orbit in 16 days. Xeno's primarily concentrated in southern continental region. Casualties approximately 100M civilians, 300K PDF. Astropathic distress call sent, no reply. Hades 88th Steel Legion planet side for training at start of invasion. Currently the Hades 88th have been spear heading counter attacks on xeno's positions.///
// The company commander reviewed the data slates again. There was no mistaking it. The aliens were attempting to breed more of the Warrior class of leader beasts. Apparently their last engagement had killed enough of the creatures to weaken their ability to organise the smaller creatures. 'Good.' he thought. A weakness that can be exploited. Tapping a few commands into his data slate, the orders were given for a small strike team to prepare for the mission to destroy the first of a dozen or so of these 'breeding nests'.//
/Pre-battle notes and preamble.
1000 point armies. Everything
WYSIWYG except for the
LRBT, it counts as having an Eradicator Nova Cannon.
Astra Militarum vs Tyranids
Standard mission with four objectives. One objective is the Breeding Nest worth 2VP. The other three objectives are worth 1VP each.
Table size 4'x4'
Warlord traits:
AM: Draconian Disciplinarian (saved my ass so many times!) Tyranids: Something to do with Nightfighting.
Tyranids deploy and have first turn. Nightfighting during first turn.
Since I got so soundly trounced in our last game, I felt the need to change things up. I've been meaning to try the Nova Cannon, because ignores cover. And after last game I felt it could make a big difference. It did... sort of... my opponent decided to take his whole army as multi-wound models
LOL. So... I guess the old str8 battle cannon might have been a better choice in the end for the
ID effects. Oh well...
Pre-Game Deployment and Armies
View from the north.
Note the rectangle to the south with the bulbous green lumps. This is the Breeding Nest.
View from the South.
Again, you can see the Breeding Nest between the Silo and the fence.
Steel Legion Forces
Tyranid Forces
Tyranid Deployment
Steel Legion Deployment
Steel Legion fail to seize the initiative. Get ready to eat some Biovore bombs boys!
Turn One
Tyranid Warriors move into some ruins. Closing with the approaching enemy.
Old One Eye comes out of cover to advance upon the armoured contingent. And from what I understand, it really is Old One Eye, like the Old version of Him!
The infantry suffer a few casualties due to Biovore attack and are pinned. The Hellhound moves in closer to the troops.
Tyranids run deeper into the ruins, within sight of the waiting guardsmen. Orders are given, but the vox network suffers critical failure; thus diminishing the guardsmen's shooting.
Turn Two
Old One Eye takes a couple wounds as he continues to march towards the tanks. Spore mines drop from the sky... but are blown off course by a strong gust of wind hehehe!
The Leman Russ moves to cover the impending attack from the Hellhound and troopers.
Weapons fire rakes the Carnifex, but it seems as if it's wounds are healing!
Steel Legion forces attempt to drive the Tyranids from the ruins with concentrated fire power.
Turn Three
Outflanking Sentinels get the drop on the Tyranids, and attract a lot of attention.
* I was really hoping they would come in on the other side. I really didn't have much room towards the tyranids to come onto the table and not get assaulted right away. But I didn't want them way back in my zone. So I thought I would try to get them stuck in and hope they lasted for a bit, holding up that flank, and giving me some time to position my forces to take some objectives and thin the enemy out.*
Old One Eye catches up to the Vet's Chimera. As if on que, more aliens begin to advance. Biovores hurtle living mortars against the infantry. The Platoon Command Squad expires under the weight of bio weapons; giving the Tyranids First Blood.
Old One Eye utterly destroys the Chimera causing a mighty explosion. A missile launcher team draws a bead on Old One Eye under the watchful gaze of a Commissar.
Turn Four
Old One Eye is caught in the crossfire of the missile launchers and the plasma toting Vets.
*Plasma... what a great gun... except when you start rolling ones... from this point on I loose one plasma gunner each turn... I love plasma guns.*
A Zoanthrope comes out of cover and hammers the Leman Russ with psychic blasts. While the Sentinels desperately attempt to fend off the attacks of the Warriors.
A missile strikes a warrior near the silos, killing it instantly. Strong winds keep the skys clear of Spore mines and Biovore mortars. One of the Sentinels goes down.
"Push Every Button!!!" The sentinels are overwhelmed by the alien beasts.
Turn Five
Things are looking pretty tight for the win now. The Tyranids have the 2VP objective, and two more. While the Steel Legion have a single objective, and can possibly contest two. Still won't be enough for a win. Time to strike back hard.
The Hellhound roars up to contest an objective, while preparing to burn the Warriors towards the centre. A risky move exposing rear armour to a Zoanthrope.
Speaking of risky moves. The other Zoanthrope moves into close combat against the Leman Russ, which is down to one hull point. The surrounding guardsmen prepare to charge the revolting xeno!
The Zoanthrope beats its skull against the hull of the tank, drawing the ire of a Commissar, who promptly blasts the creature with his bolt gun. Morale improves! While on the other flank, heavy bolter fire down the other psychic beast.
At this moment it is Tyranids with 3vp and
AM with 2vp. Rolling for turn 6...
Turn Six
Both sides scramble to capture objectives. The Hellhound makes a move towards the Breeding Nest abandoning the ruins to the xeno's. The Leman Russ moves toward the center followed by a rag tag group of vets and their Heroic Commissar. While the Comany Commander holds the rear objective.
Warriors race to save the Nest, firing at the Hellhound but unable to damage it. The Leman Russ rolls up to the center and tracks for targets. While the spore mines finally fall from the sky. The Company commander tells his men in the woods to advance toward the ruins in an attempt to flush the xeno's out of hiding!
*This turn saw some interesting twists. The rapid movement of the Hellhound, and it's holding up against fire was great. However it was still just slightly out of range to contest the Breeding Nest. As well, the center objective wasn't secure for the Steel Legion yet. I really needed another turn here.*
Rolling for turn seven...
Turn Seven
The Hellhound driver saw the beasts directly ahead. Shifting gears he aimed his tank right for them, inferno cannon roaring, he intended to grind them under his tracks! But the beasts dodged out of the way, and began to tear at the hull. His gunner swung the cannon around and washed the tank in flames, roasting the flesh from the bones of the abominations.
On the other side of the battle field, guardsmen charged from the woods under covering fire from a heavy bolter team and the Leman Russ. Shooting into the ruins they could hear the screams of the Tyranids as the structure was pounded with fire. By the time they arrived, the monsters were gone; no doubt driven off by the torrent of fire.
The Tyranid's were in retreat. The Company Commander watched as the Hellhound and the Leman Russ both burned and blasted the Breeding Nest to bits.
Charge!!!!
// Steel Legion: 2VP from objectives, 1VP for Linebreaker.
// Tyranid's: 1VP from First Blood.
// Steel Legion Victory!
I got lucky having two extra turns to play. Taking on an entire army of multi-wound creatures was actually pretty tough. I certainly wasn't expecting it, and my Hellhound and
LRBT were more suited to horde control. But they did okay. The Biovores had a hard go this game, and didn't do much. Not to mention the Spore Mines didn't make it onto the table until it was too late.
It took 6 wounds to drop Old One Eye thanks to
IWND. And the crazy close combat Zoanthrope was surprisingly tough to kill, he drew a lot of fire. It was a fun game, with lots of surprises. But my most potent weapon was my Warlord trait. The tyranids just couldn't shift my troops, and it kept my options open throughout the game.
My final comment is regarding the Breeding Nest. I didn't think to get any pictures, but I actually had to Tank Shock the warriors away from the objective, thus pushing them far enough away to contest! Tank shock has it's uses.
I hope you enjoyed reading this battle report. Thanks to my opponent for another great game. Stay tuned for more in this saga.
