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8th Edition Battle Report - Tyranids vs Imperial Guard, 1000pts  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
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Made in us
Wicked Warp Spider






First proper game of 8th edition, we totted up the points, used detachments and command points, played an actual mission etc. I had Imperial Guard, my opponent Tyranids.

1000 points, mission was Eternal War 'Retrieval Mission', basically 4 objectives worth 3VP each, secondary objectives and random game length exactly as in the previous edition. We both used a Battalion detachment more or less (he had one too few HQ and I had one too many troops; we gave ourselves the command points anyway by mutual agreement). I chose the arrowhead setup, which is really just a bit of a tweak on the standard map - we were playing on my 4' by 4' table.

His list:
Broodlord
2 x 20 Genestealers
2 x Carnifexes, twin devourers
3 x Lictors
Ripper Swarm (maybe 8-10?)

My list:
1 Company Commander, 3 Pl Comd, 1 Commissar, 1 Primaris Psyker, 1 Tempestor Prime
Scions Comd squad - 4 plasma guns
Scion Squad - 10 models, 4 melta guns
6 x Infantry Squads - 3 melta guns, 3 plasma gun/autocannons
2 x Heavy Weapon Squads - 3 missile launchers, 3 autocannons
1 Basilisk - heavy flamer

I kept deploying for long after him, which seems to be a constant with Imperial Guard. So many god damn units with all the 20pt characters forming their own thing. He kept his Lictors and rippers in reserve for deep strike. Similarly, I kept my Scion officer and both Scion units in deep strike reserve. So he went first, and this time I failed to seize.

Tyranid Turn 1: I'm afraid I didn't get a pic of the opening. But he deep struck, and Lictors can re-roll their charge dice when they do! There are two out of shot on the Imperial Guard right flank here:



So I had 2 Lictors in assault turn 1 (they wiped out a heavy weapon squad and scored him First Blood) with another and the rippers chilling out in cover 9" away from my other flank. Meanwhile, the genestealer horde closed in . . .



Imperial Guard Turn 1: I counter-deep struck, killing one Lictor with my Basilisk heavy flamer and counter-assaulting another to tie it up. My reserves came in behind him - I deleted one Carnifex with 4 rapid firing supercharged plasma guns (even re-rolls weren't enough to save one storm trooper) and wounded the other with a meltagun. Casualties to his central genestealers (with broodlord) and the Rippers were insufficient. The Lictors absorbed a lot of fire, in retrospect it was probably a mistake to even shoot them. -1 to hit and +2 to saves in cover! Not bad for 41pts, my friend thinks. See below how close his ravening xenos are to my lines at the bottom of turn 1:





Tyranid Turn 2: The poor bloody infantry prepare to man the barricades and fight with faith and cold steel.



That Broodlord wanted a hug, and by god he got it. 2 squads utterly wiped. Genestealer squad of 10 or more (they had exactly 10 left; Overwatch did nothing) goes up from 3 attacks to 4. We didn't even realise that the Broodlord made them 2+ to hit, or that scything talons are a free upgrade and let them re-roll 1s to hit. This did not make a difference.



Things didn't exactly go any better on my left flank:



The group of fully 20 Genestealers hit those 2 squads like a whirlwind of alien claws, not even using half their attacks to wipe them.



Imperial Guard Turn 2: So the game was barely started, and there were alien monstrosities swarming over the sandbags and my home objective, with the Imperial Guard leadership cadre looking on in horror:



So they closed ranks, fixed bayonets, and withdrew right back to the board edge, prepared to sell their lives dearly. The 'Get Back in the Fight' order was pretty much all that gave me any hope of taking a few xenos down with me. Throughout the game it was a key order for me.





Last Stand time. I wish there was a better reason to take a regimental standard under the Index rules. It's a bit pointless now, and although it's cheap, it's an upgrade on the fairly pointless command squad!



On the brighter side, the special forces were having an easier time and definitely seizing the glory. The scion squad gunned down the second Carnifex as it bellowed defiance:



That was an impressive 15 wounds, on 3D6 damage from the 3 meltas that hit and wounded! This left my deep strike contingent in my opponent's uncontested backfield - his entire army was in my deployment zone!



Tyranid Turn 3: They closed in for the kill, with both 'stealer squads and the broodlord assaulting and removing my remaining infantry squads. Only the characters remained.



This continued through the bottom of turn 4, with my leaders going down one by one, with the Company Commander the last to fall.



Now comes the good part:

Tyranid Turn 5: he wounded my basilisk, brought his rippers back to hold my central objective, and cleared up in my DZ. The failure to kill the basilisk would rebound on him.

Imperial Guard Turn 5: I am closing in on the objectives on his side of the table with my Scions.



Meanwhile, the last remaining Platoon Commander, filled with righteous vengeance and furious anger, charges at the remaining Tyranids. He kills the last 2 genestealers of one squad with a well judged grenade. He then charges and kills the wounded Broodlord with his sword. I am just so impressed. Dude is getting a paint refresh and some kill markings.

If the game ended here, I would have won (hold 2 objectives to his one, despite first blood, we both have Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker. The roll says we continue. I chew my nails.

Tyranid Turn 6: He races to remove my Scions from an objective. The genestealer speed is terrifying, and they tear apart the whole squad. This was about a 20" move and charge by the way. Their maximum threat range is 27".



However my opponent also uses his last, wounded Lictor to charge down my heroic Lt and avenge the Broodlord's demise. Wait - what's that you say? This gallant officer survived a grievous wound and slew the Lictor in return? Praise the Emperor!



Imperial Guard Turn 6: I am on 2 objectives, with a Tempestor Prime (Scions officer) and 3 command squad scions respectively. He holds 2 objectives with a Ripper swarm and a virtually unscathed huge mob of stealers respectively. If the game ends now, he would win due to First Blood. I clear his Rippers from his objective with a Basilisk's heavy flamer and (moving) earthshaker cannon - he fails his morale check by exactly the amount needed for his 2 remaining bases to run. Now I'd win if it ends.

The roll says we go on. We both chew our nails.

Tyranid Turn 7. The Tyranids go for broke, with Genestealers abandoning their objective, racing toward the Scion Command Squad to clear them off their objective for the swing. Success means he will go back to winning by First Blood.



He needs to roll a 7" charge. He rolls 6". The crowd goes wild!



Imperial Guard Turn 7:

I move onto the Ripper-less objective. I hold 3 objectives to his none. He has also given up Linebreaker as his stealers are in the centre ground. Didn't add insult to injury by directing a last volley at them. I win 11-2.

Summary: This was an amazing game, going right to the judges in the final turn. I crapped myself at the initial Genestealer assault. Lictors pinned me in place and drew fire, most of my line went down before I knew what the hell was happening. The only bright spot was my elimination of his supporting monsters with my own deep strike. While not as impressive as his main offensive, this was critical at the end due to position relative to objectives. We both agreed in hindsight that a) he might have preferred even more stealers to the carnifex. The shock action of all those attacks swarming at you, and the resilience of massed T4 5++, is really intimidating, and b) he should have sent a squad back to wipe my Scions earlier in the game - this could have still beaten me, as he definitely had me on the ropes from turn 2 (if not 1). Imperial Guard infantry and orders are great, and cheap as chips, but still have their weaknesses. They will die like flies and often their BS makes the 10-man squads (I am used to big blobs after the last 2 editions) seem laughably ineffectual. Scions are amazing. Basilisk I'm not sold on. The HF, which I only took as I glued one onto the model when I first built it, did more work this game than the main gun.

Thoughts on 8th: Falling back, special advance+charge rules, and the removal of 'take from the front' casualties, all make assault vs shooting more balanced and also dynamic. Between movement and reserves, lots of armies can do nasty maneuvers and I expect to see some very bloody opening plays. We loved the simplified shooting, casualty removal, cover, morale and psychic rules. Command points were a very fun thing too. On a couple occasions we used re-rolls to try and win an advantage, only to roll the same or worse! Great fun.

A picture of the survivors of the 1st Battle for Planet Bellummalleus VIII: An officer and 3 troopers of the [Classified] Regiment of Tempestus Scions, an officer of the Xth Cimmerian Infantry, and the crew of Basilisk 7/5, 12th Battery, aka 'Bug Burner'.

Eldar Corsairs: 4000 pts
Imperial Guard: 4000 pts

Corregidor 700 pts
Acontecimento 400 pts 
   
Made in us
Hardened Veteran Guardsman






Cool report! Think the platoon commander has a promotion coming his way?
   
Made in au
Infiltrating Broodlord





Was looking at you lack of Synapes.. then realised Instinctive Behaviour doesn't do a lot anymore =D
   
Made in us
Human Auxiliary to the Empire



Phoenix, AZ

Awesome game. That platoon commander has definitely earned his bug-bashing medal after that fight
   
Made in us
Frenzied Juggernaut





The Emperor's Forge Mitten, Earth

Very entertaining bat rep! I've been waiting to see how the basilisk functions in game. I have had no doubts that scions would be great though.

Just comparing the basilisk to the manticore it's obvious which one wins out at smaller point games. I feel that given bigger games a full squad of basilisks will outshine then, especially with a MoO. I'm crossing my fingers that there is still hope yet for the old fashioned artillery battery.

All in all, I am seeing for the most part very dynamic bat reps in 8th. A lot of back and forth!

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Made in us
Wicked Warp Spider






Thanks for all the comments!

SuspiciousSucculent wrote:Cool report! Think the platoon commander has a promotion coming his way?


OmniaGladius13 wrote:Awesome game. That platoon commander has definitely earned his bug-bashing medal after that fight


Believe me, both promotion and decoration are forthcoming once the bureaucracy of the Imperium gets through the paperwork involved!

GodDamUser wrote:Was looking at you lack of Synapes.. then realised Instinctive Behaviour doesn't do a lot anymore =D


So because my opponent mostly had genestealers, yeah, it doesn't hugely restrict models besides fire support (where you do want to pick your targets carefully). As a bonus it is key though - and I wouldn't have been able to take the last objective with 1 Basilisk if 2 Ripper bases (which would have trumped the objective, because it's done on number of models now) hadn't run off from morale check. Auto-pass all morale is a pretty big deal!

WhiteWolf01 wrote:Very entertaining bat rep! I've been waiting to see how the basilisk functions in game. I have had no doubts that scions would be great though.

Just comparing the basilisk to the manticore it's obvious which one wins out at smaller point games. I feel that given bigger games a full squad of basilisks will outshine then, especially with a MoO. I'm crossing my fingers that there is still hope yet for the old fashioned artillery battery.

All in all, I am seeing for the most part very dynamic bat reps in 8th. A lot of back and forth!


Yeah, the game seems very dynamic indeed. I will wait and see about artillery. Master of Ordnance is definitely a good idea if you have 4-5 eligible models. Overall they're cheaper than battle tanks and still more resilient than the last edition. I approve of the removal of templates, because they were slow and finicky to use. But a lot of why people took artillery before was that pipe dream of 'if I can find 10 Grey Knights bunched up in the open, and if I hit . . . 2+ to kill the whole squad . . . '. Artillery is probably more consistent, but you'd have to be freakishly lucky to get more than 4 hits with a Basilisk, and it's usually far less. Not too bad against models with several wounds, I suppose? I wish they had a rule, as some large blast type weapons do, that if there are 10+ models in the target unit, you can roll 2d6 for number of shots.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/06/06 09:04:38


Eldar Corsairs: 4000 pts
Imperial Guard: 4000 pts

Corregidor 700 pts
Acontecimento 400 pts 
   
Made in us
Terminator with Assault Cannon





Florida

Thanks for sharing. That was a very engaging write up.

That Plt. CDR. Is a boss!

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JSF wrote:... this is really quite an audacious move by GW, throwing out any pretext that this is a game and that its customers exist to do anything other than buy their overpriced products for the sake of it. The naked arrogance, greed and contempt for their audience is shocking.
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Made in ca
Lord of the Fleet






Halifornia, Nova Scotia

Thanks for the report, looked pretty enjoyable.

Mordian Iron Guard - Major Overhaul in Progress

+Spaceship Gaming Enthusiast+

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Made in nl
Wondering Why the Emperor Left




The Hague (NL)

Amazing batrep! Thank you.

THIS is the -real- Grimdark.

No Rowboat Mary Sues.

Just all but written off imperial guardsmen fixing their bayonets protecting Emperor knows what.


I was actually excited reading this, not even sure who to root for at first, but you made me root for the good guys (which is only possible when the bad guys are that scary)
Grats on the awesome game.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/06/06 22:41:49


 
   
Made in us
Angelic Adepta Sororitas




Fun read and sounds like a fun battle. I can't wait to get my first game of 8th in. Sounds like it's much more dynamic and epic with fall back now
   
Made in us
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

Very cool report. I see a promotion in the works for that Platoon Commander for sure. I really like how 8th is looking; all the batreps I see are very encouraging.

My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/1/23, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~15000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Adeptus Custodes: ~1900 | Imperial Knights: ~2000 | Sisters of Battle: ~3500 | Leagues of Votann: ~1200 | Tyranids: ~2600 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2023: 40 | Total models painted in 2024: 7 | Current main painting project: Dark Angels
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Made in us
Fixture of Dakka






Columbia, SC (USA)

Thanks for the thrilling batrep!

I have played three games using my IG but I have not faced the 'nids yet.

The secret to painting a really big army is to keep at it. You can't reach your destination if you never take any steps.

I build IG...lots and lots of IG.  
   
Made in ru
!!Goffik Rocker!!






Awesome batrep. Do you have any nails left?
   
Made in us
Wicked Warp Spider






My hands are just bloody stumps! I played another game against my friend shortly afterwards - that had a similar shape but was more decisive for the guard. Combat is still brutal in 8th edition but there's a lot of difference in how you can fall back. It might be better if tyranids used more & smaller assault units.

Eldar Corsairs: 4000 pts
Imperial Guard: 4000 pts

Corregidor 700 pts
Acontecimento 400 pts 
   
 
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