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Im here with the 2nd battle report, follwing wannabewriter's report on the initial contact between hive fleet nocturne and the imp guard stationed on the doomed planet ArgentIV. After a hard fought gruelling win for the nids the imp gurard pulled out of the immediate area to resupply, all the while harrassed by gargoyles and other tyranid flying monstrosities. Creed was recovered from the rubble of the collapsed building gravely wounded but still stubbonly clinging to life and even as the ultramarine drop pods arrowed towards the planet he was recieving life saving treatment aboard the ultramarine strike cruiser 'pride of ultramar'.

the ultramarine 2nd company under the command of Sicarius ( some photo's will have green marinesa dn vehicles in them, these are salamanders i bought from wannabewriter some time ago but have not painted yet, theyre ultramarines for this series of battles. ) immediately lauched a counter offensive against the horde ravaging the planet below. The codex stating that if a solid base of operations could be established upon the planet then the nids could be brought to account for their genocide, and the precious space ship could then be retrieved at lesiure by the company's attatched scout teams. The planet below was scoured for a suitable landing site and one was found close to a wrecked imperial temple, so with prayers said and the emperors guidance sought, the drop pods fired..........


Ben set up a cunning battlefield for my ultramarine boys to assault, and after a pretty ineffective firestorm segment the first drop pod hit home carrying commander bob and his retinue along with a locator beacon to help the other deepstrikers in! I opted for a landing zone just outside the small internal space behind the agies lines and the 3 bastions, but the pod scattered and my command squad ended up right in the middle of the encircled defended area! from the first roll of the dice the plan went awry?lol!

so rather than landing just outside i then changed my plan and waded into the centre section, dropping the venerable dreadnought in, the assault squad and a scout squad too to try and support the commander and his team. apporximately half the rest of my army came on from my drop zone and during the first two turns we attempted to assault the bastions and claim them back for the imperium. Things went well at first, the ultramarine shooting turned devestating early on, though the third bastion proved too strong for the vindicator and lascannon toting dreadnought to crack, but the other two were breached by the command squad and the assault sqaud respectively with melta charges. after the first couple of turns the ultramarines were winning the bloody struggle 3 objectives to one!

however! wannabewriter proved to be a dab hand at tactics, and with some good rolls on where he brought on his reinforcements ( a hive tyrant and 2 fexes appeared behind me 8 inches away? ) he turned the tables very admirably against my marines. The genestealer broods proved devestating, being half an inch within charge range when they arrived and proceeded to carve through the marine lines with ease, proving unstoppable by the end of the game. my other tactical squad fared no better, arriving just outside the walls with their drop pod on turn two, only to be assaulted in turn by a fex and another brood of the thrice accursed stealers?

With the cunning tyranid counterattack revealed, the death trap the the ultramarines had walked into was sprung, with no escape being possible, and whilst the my marines fought well, paticularly the commander himself and his squad in close combat within the ruins of the bastions, eventually they were laid low after taking out zoanthropes and gaunts by two charging fexes! the assault squad with chaplain claimed the ruins of the 2nd bastion and tried to hold it against all comers, but eventually wnet down to the massed claws of the 2nd genestealer brood! elasewhere the amry had been stalled before it had even got near the bastions by the well sprung nid counter charge from the rear, and the game broke up into lots of individual close assaults as dreadnought fought fex and marine fought stealer!

eventually after much gaming and superb close combats with not a little luck with dice ( ben rolled 7 sixes out of 8 dice rolled at one point? ) turn 5 came to a close.............................. and the ultramarine vanguard had been wiped out to a man amid the ruins of the landing zone! on the strikecruiser the assembled command watched with mounting horror as the comm links fell silent and the last life signs of the marines winked out, the nids only roared in triumph and and continued to rampage around Argent IV, barely checked...............

That was a proper slobber knocker right enough eh dude? I don't think I've ever been as lucky with dice as a I was in that game. It was odd really as until turn 3 your Ultramarines had me on the ropes, then for the game to swing so far round in the other direction. It was certainely my reserves that did the damage by counter assaulting your army. Just goes to show that you should never underestimate the bug .