In the end, the Tyranid menace, for all of its alien cunning, impenetrable psychology, and formidable offensive capabilities can be boiled down to a single abstract concept; hunger. The atavistic desire that drives all living creatures; the necessary act of feeding, consuming others to further one's own existence. It is this concept that has forever burned the images of Hive Fleet Kraken into the minds of many humans along the galactic plane; where the Hive Fleet's ships appeared, the ensuing feeding frenzy would ensure the doom of any viable bio-mass in its path. Though the battles of Macragge and Ichar IV proved that the Tyranid menace could be fought and repelled, these conflicts of legend also demonstrate that the Tyranids are an implacable and tenacious foe, not to be easily deterred or repulsed by the works of man or xeno. The iconic image of the Tyranid, carapace, claws, and flashing eyes, has become a synonym for fear in many parts of the galaxy.
One particular splinter of Kraken, nigh-indistinguishable from the main swarm, save for the bone-white carapace color sported by its many creatures, was seen as the culmination of this fear when bio-ships appeared above a small human settlement known as Freyja's Prospect in the late half of M41. The planet's PDF were initially repelled by the encroaching aliens; realizing that they had to hold at all costs, and that no help would be coming for them, the PDF began to fight with a ferocity that easily matched that of the Tyranids. As the Tyranids attempted to send a small force to make a quick strike on the planet's capital, in an attempt to both assess the true extent of the planet's defenses and harry the defenders, Freyja's Prospect's Planetary Defense Force, tracking the movements of the swarm, set up an ambush in the mountains surrounding the capital, readying themselves to repel this feeler tendril aimed at their very heart...
Last night, I played a 1,500 game with a friend down here at school. I brought the following Tyranid list:
HQ:
Tervigon (Catalyst, Adrenal Glands, Scything Talons, proxied by a Carnifex)
Elites:
x3 Hive Guard
x3 Hive Guard
Venomthrope
Troops:
x10 Termagaunts
x20 Hormagaunts (Toxin Sacs)
Tervigon (Catalyst, Adrenal Glands, Scything Talons, Proxied by a Carnifex)
x6 Genestealers (Broodlord)
Heavy Support:
x2 Trygons (Adrenal Glands)
My opponent brought the following list (I don't remember it *exactly*, but this is close):
HQ:
Company Command Squad:
Officer
x3 Veterans
Vox Caster
Master of Ordinance
->Chimera (Multilaser, Heavy Bolter)
Elites:
Guardsman Marbo
x5 Stormtroopers (x2 Meltaguns)
Troops:
Infantry Platoon:
Command:
Officer
x3 Guardsmen
Vox
3 Infantry Squads:
Sergeant
Sniper
x5 Guardsmen
Autocannon
Vox
x2 Veteran Teams
Sergeant
x3 Meltaguns
->Chimera
Fast Attack:
Hellhound (Extra Armor)
Heavy Support:
Manticore
Basilisk
Leman Russ MBT (Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Heavy Stubber)
We rolled for sides, mission type, deployment type, and turn; we rolled Pitched Battle, Capture & Control (3 Objectives); I placed one objective and my opponent placed 2. I won the roll to set up and play first; my opponent failed to seize the initiative.
Board, Pre-game, Tyranid Deployment
And
IG Deployment:
Go go parking lot!
Tyranid Turn 1:
Surprised, the vile intelligence at the heart of the swarm quickly assessed its options. It had not expected a human ambush, but it had thankfully anticipated the large number of armored vehicles present on this battlefield. Soldiers on this planet used APC's to guard against flank attacks by Gaunts and Rippers, so the Hive Mind had gestated two trios of Hive Guard to deal with the enemy's armor. Spurring its creatures forward, the Hormagaunts led the charge, bounding through cover.
The Hormagaunts charged forward, making good use of Move Through Cover and Bounding Leap to scurry forward towards the Guard's position. The Hive Guard lumbered and ran behind them (rolling a 6 on the run roll; woot!), under the protective aegis of the Venomthrope, alongside the Trygons and Tervigons, who did not spawn any Termagaunts this turn.
IG Turn 1:
Bellowing orders, the human formations opened fire on the Tyranids, cutting down the brood of Hormagaunts to half of its original size. Meanwhile, the Hellhound and 2 Veteran Teams in Chimeras rumbled along, attempting to catch the swarm in a pincer movement.
Between First Rank, Second Rank, Fire! from three different squads, the Hormagaunts began to fall. My opponent began sneaking the Hellhound up behind cover, intent on burning me from my home objective. Shooting from the Manticore saw 3 missiles land among the clustered Gaunts/Hive Guard/Tervigons/Trygons, with only a few Hormagaunts falling. The Basilisk, Master of Ordinance, and Leman Russ didn't fare much better, only putting a single wound on a Hive Guard (my opponent's dice were rather atrocious).
That Hellhound is looking somewhat worrisome...
Gaunts have taken casualties:
View from a passing Valkyrie:
Tyranid Turn 2:
While the Hormagaunts dormant survival instincts began to take hold of them, the Hive Mind would not be denied; channeling its essence through the Tervigons, it spurred the Hormagaunts into the enemy's guns, The rest of the swarm continued to advance while the Hive Mind delegated the task of silencing enemy artillery to the Hive Guard.
The Hormagaunts again leapt through cover and bounded towards the Guard's position, covering the advance of the other creatures. The Tervigons cast Dominion on the Hormagaunts while the Troops Choice Tervigon cast Catalyst on itself. The Trygons slithered forward ominously while the Hive Guard tore the primary cannon off of the Basilisk and wrecked the Manticore's rocket launching platform (best two weapon destroyed's ever).
The Hive Mind surveys the battlefield...
IG Turn 2:
Beginning to panic as his two larger weapons fell to the Hive Guard, the Imperial Guard's commander directed his men's fire at the advancing Hormagaunts, while the Hellhound moved into position to fry some Termagaunts.
More First Rank, Second Rank orders flew this turn, nearly wiping the Hormagaunts from the table (thankfully, they were still within Synapse Range, so they would hold). The MBT fired upon the Hive Guard again, felling two of the monsters in retribution for the neutralized artillery. The Hellhound and Chimeras advanced, nearly wiping the Termagaunts from the objective. The Gaunts barely held on with only one of their number still claiming the objective!
Can you see the Hormagaunts?
The Last Gaunt:
Tyranid Turn 3:
The last of the Hormagaunts fell on the Imperial Guard ravenously, while the Hive Guard redirected their fire to the destruction of a Chimera. The Genestealers and Broodlord emerged at this time, intent on tearing any survivors to ribbons, along with hopefully slowing the advance of the Hellhound.
My Genestealers arrived from the right board edge, next to the two Chimeras and Hellhound. The Hive Guard opened fire on the middle Chimera, blowing it apart and mauling 7 Guardsmen (ouch). The last Hive Guard from the first brood fired on the Basilisk again, this time neutralizing its Heavy Bolter. The Genestealers assaulted the remnants of the Veteran squad, wiping them out, while failing to scratch the Hellhound. The Hormagaunts attacked the Platoon Command Squad, felling a single Guardsmen, while the Guardsmen killed one Gaunt.
Combat:
No more Veterans:
IG Turn 3:
Seeing the Hormagaunts fall upon his subordinate, and hearing the explosion of the Chimera, the Commander began to issue orders with an increased sense of urgency, intent on taking down the rapidly approaching Tyranids.
More Guard shooting saw wounds taken on both Trygons and a Tervigon, while the Hellhound turned around and promptly roasted the Genestealers (I accidentally set them up in perfect conga line formation, ideal for the BBQ tank). The Chimera rumbled up to take my objective, immobilizing itself in the process.
A thrown track stops the Chimera right in front of the last Gaunt:
Tyranid Turn 4:
Finally releasing its psychic grip on the progenitor creatures, the Hive Mind allowed the creatures to spawn Gaunts, intent on holding critical points with massive numbers of the creatures.
Both Tervigons began to spawn Termagaunts, now that they were closer to the Guard. The
HQ Tervigon spawned 11 Gaunts, while the Troops Tervigon spawned 8. Both groups of Gaunts moved up on objectives, intent on suppressing Guard squads with Fleshborer fire. Meanwhile, the Trygon moved up on the Guard positions while its partner closed on the MBT. The Hive Guard stunned the Hellhound, and a few Guardsmen fell to Fleshborers.
Guard Turn 4:
The arrival of two teams of combat engineers, one of legendary renown heralded a shift in the battle. The sound of meltaguns and a demo charge bolstered the resolve of the Guardsmen holding the line, causing them to fight with increased fervor.
Guardsman Marbo and the Stormtroopers arrived this turn. The Stormtroopers deep struck in next to the Tervigon, and Marbo came in behind the Hive Guard. The Stormtroopers fired on the Tervigon, putting another wound on it, while Marbo tossed his demo charge, which scored a few Termagaunt kills and put a wound on the last Hive Guard from group 1.
Tyranid Turn 5:
Turning about in surprise, not expecting to have been attacked from in front and behind, the Tyranids found themselves in a kill zone. The Hive Mind, recognizing the danger of the lone human and the group of heavily-armored humans, urged its minions to attack, while maintaining the assault on the main Human force.
Pushing the Gaunts forward, the Tervigon spawned 9 more Termagaunts, emptying its birthing scars. The Troops Tervigon birthed 7 more Gaunts before running out of children as well. The full strength Hive Guard squad fired on the Hellhound, shaking and stunning it, while the last Hive Guard from the first squad blew up the command Chimera; the Command Squad took casualties but held. The
HQ Tervigon assaulted the Stormtroopers while the Venomthrope assaulted Marbo; the Stormtroopers held, while Marbo was killed by the Venomthrope. The Venomthrope consolidated forward while the Tervigon remained locked with the Stormies. Meanwhile, the Trygon assaulted a Guard squad, mauling 4 of them, causing them to flee. The squad manged to put a single wound on the Trygon, however.
Well, hello there...
IG Turn 5:
Knowing that the Stormtroopers were buying him precious time, the Guard Commander turned his sights to the pesky Venomthrope and incoming Trygon. Bellowing orders, lasbolts and autocannon rounds flew, punching holes in their targets. Noticing a squad that was about to flee, the Commander shouted a mixture of obscenities and threats that caused the troopers to rally, turning about to engage the monster bearing down on them.
The
IG turn saw the fleeing squad roll snake eyes for its retreat run, which meant that they were still on the board. One infantry squad opened fire on the Venomthrope, obliterating it with a hail of shots, while the Heavy Bolter on the Basilisk managed to destroy the last Hive Guard. The Guardsmen squad closest to the objective fired on the Termagaunts, wiping a few of them in a flurry of ranged fire. Combat saw the Stormtroopers destroyed, while the Tervigon consolidated forward. We rolled to see if the game continued, which it did.
End of Turn 5
Tyranid Turn 6:
The Hive Mind, sensing the approach of Imperial reinforcements, among them a super-heavy tank that would be sure to obliterate them, urged the remaining creatures to secure the three critical points; the eastern, western, and southern approaches to the mountains. If these were held, the remaining creatures could easily repel an incoming assault while the Hive Mind committed to a larger assault. The Tyranids had to hold!
Sensing that things might go awry if the weak little Termagaunts were wiped from objectives, the Termagaunts holding the western objective moved up to assault a Guardsman squad, while the Tervigon moved in to take their place. The Gaunts on the right fired Fleshborers into the Guardsmen in front of them, killing off a few of their enemies. The Hive Guard blew up the Chimera on the southern objective, taking 7 Guardsmen with it, but leaving the last surviving Termagaunt on the objective! The Tervigon moved in to support them, immobilizing the Hellhound in close assault. The Western Termagaunt squad assaulted the Guardsmen, remaining locked in combat and only causing 1 wound (ugh). The Trygon assaulted the Leman Russ, blowing off the battle cannon.
Termagaunts assault on the West:
Tervigon stands before the Hellhound:
IG Turn 6:
Receiving word over his vox that reinforcements were incoming, the Company Commander held fast, spurring his Guardsmen on to scour the enemy from the three approaches to the pass. The Tyranids would not claim them!
To my immense surprise, my opponent only fired a few laspistols this turn and charged with everything available. The surviving Sergeant from the second squad assaulted the Trygon, while Guardsmen beat down Gaunts on both sides. The surviving Veterans in the south shot at the last Termagaunt, which passed its cover saves, before assaulting it and destroying it, but not before the Gaunt took a single Veteran with it. Though that lone Sergeant was pasted by the Trygon, we rolled out the Sergeant's attacks; two wounds on the Trygon, which he promptly failed. We fluffed this by saying that as the Trygon swallowed the Sergeant, he detonated a bandolier of grenades, obliterating the Trygon.
We rolled to see if the game continued, which it did not. To my surprise, the Troops Tervigon was out of contesting range for the southern objective; this meant that western and eastern objectives were contested, while the southern was in the hands of the Guard. This battle went to the Imperial Guard!
The deciding factor:
This was my fourth or so game with Tyranids, and one that I was happy to play. Guard, I figured, would be my greatest nemesis (right after the new
GK) due to the sheer amount of firepower they could produce. I lucked out this game; the Hive Guard ripping the teeth out of the Basilisk and Manticore on the second turn was critical to my survival to turn 6. All in all, this was an excellent game that really showed me the strengths and weaknesses of the Tyranids. Guard were my first army, and I know them very well, so I was confident that I could pick my opponent apart. I was wrong; my hubris cost me, and my opponent pulled off a well-deserved victory.
If I could do anything differently, it would have been to place the Genestealers closer to the huge mass of Guardsmen near my opponent's edge; they'd be out of Hellhound BBQ range, and could have caused some havoc there.
Thanks for reading!
"Finecast" 
Chaos daemons 1850
2250+
2500++ (Wraithwing)
GK 1750pts