Opponent's List
Battalion Alpha Legion
- Sorcerer w/ Jump Pack, Death Hex, Force Sword, Mark of Slaanesh (
MoS), Prescience
- Sorcerer w/ Jump Pack, Death Hex, Force Axe,
MoS, Warptime
- 10x Cultists w/
MoS and 1 Flamer
- 10x Cultists w/
MoS and 1 Flamer
- 19x Cultists w/
MoS and 1 Flamer
Battalion World Eaters
- Dark Apostle w/ Brass Collar of Borghaster (can deny and causes mortal wounds), Mark of Khorne (
MoK)
- Exalted Champion w/ Axe of Blind Fury,
MoK, Power Axe
- 9x Khorne Berserkers w/ Icon or Wrath, 8x Chainswords and Chainaxes, Champion w/ Power Fist
- 9x Khorne Berserkers w/ Icon or Wrath, 8x Chainswords and Chainaxes, Champion w/ Power Fist
- 9x Khorne Berserkers w/ Icon or Wrath, 8x Chainswords and Chainaxes, Champion w/ Power Fist
- Chaos Rhino w/ 2x Combi Bolters,
MoK
- Chaos Rhino w/ 2x Combi Bolters,
MoK
- Chaos Rhino w/ 2x Combi Bolters,
MoK
Super Heavy Auxiliary Death Guard
- Mortarion w/ Gift of Contagion, Miasma of Pestilence and Plague Wind
Mission: ITC Champions Scenario 5: Crucible of Champions
My Secondaries: Headhunter, Kingslayer (Mortarion), Recon
His Secondaries: Recon, Reaper, Headhunter
Random Deployment: Hammer and Anvil
Deployment: When we rolled Hammer and Anvil we both groaned. There wasn't much to our deployment. I put everything in reserves that I usually do, keeping one unit of Rippers on the board to keep anything from deep striking behind me. I put
OOE, Swarmlord and Malanthrope in the front middle, with a Kronos Neurothrope on each of their flank as close to the deployment line as possible while still having Termagants in front of them. He put Morty front and center. Sorcerers and Oblits started in reserves. 2 Rhinos of Berserkers started on my right flank, 1 on the left. 19 Cultists stood on his back objective. The other two cultists units spread out on his back right and left flank to deny deep strike. He wins the roll off to go first.
Pregame Thoughts: This is going to be a meat grinder. With Hammer and Anvil, the center walls are in an awkward place for my models to move around. I hope I can shut down Warp Time with the Kronos strat. He almost has to be within 24" of a Neurothrope for Morty to have a chance at close combat. Everything depends on killing Morty without losing too much to handle the Khorne Berserkers when they emerge. It's going to be interesting.
Top Turn 1
Movement: Morty moves to the center though he makes sure to remain outside of 18" of the Neurothropes. He brings in the Warp Time sorcerer behind Morty but it's still within 24" of my Neurothrope. He isn't familiar enough with Kronos to know exactly what the Strategem does. He thought he only needed to be outside of 18" to be safe. Obliterators and the other Sorcerer drop in the forest on my left flank. Everything else waits for my deep strikers. He's not used to having to play defensively. Usually he rushes the enemy but he's worried about my reserves. He wants to counter charge when they arrive.
Psychic: Morty uses the -1 to hit power. I deny Plague Wind. I use the Kronos strategem to stop Warp Time (yay). He casts prescience on the Obliterators.
Shooting: Obliterators attempt to shoot the Swarmlord (opponent was going to shoot Old One Eye but just learned that he is now 9 wounds). Their shots bounce off his invulnerable save.
Charge/Fight: No charges.
Wow, so nothing died. Which means I just need to kill 1 unit to be ahead on the Primary by 2.
Bottom Turn 1
Movement: Ok, now's my chance. Morty is exposed though the walls in the middle make charging difficult for my Swarmlord and Old One Eye. I'll only get one of them in there with Hive Commander. I decide to send in the Swarmlord first since he might survive whatever trickery Morty has for melee (This is my first time fighting Morty). Old One Eye moves up to prepare for a turn 2 charge. I decide to go all in. Malanthrope moves to the right where there's space for a drop zone. I drop in both Trygons and their payloads. I place the Devgants such that they completely surround their Trygon and prevent any movement past them. I plan for them to die to Berzerkers. I just hope they can absorb enough for the Trygon to survive. Genestealers arrive within 10" of Morty. Flyrant arrives on my left flank to deal with the Obliterators and Sorcerer. Warlord Neurothrope stay behind the wall but moves within 18" of Morty.
Psychic: We both have a lot of deny we can do. I manage to get Catalyst on the Swarmlord. Flyrant smites and psychic screams the Obliterators, killing 1. Nothing else goes off.
Shooting: I split fire the Devgants. Those that can see Morty (it's a tight space over there, you'll see in the picture below) shoot at him, the rest shoot at the 10x Cultists. They wipe out the cultists giving me the 1 kill for this round that is worth 2 points. They deal 2 wounds to Morty. I double tap them to deal 2 more wounds to Morty. Flyrant shoots at Obliterators and does nothing. Swarmlord orders himself to move again towards Morty.
Charge/Fight: Genestealers and and Swarmlord charge Morty. Flyrant fails to charge Obliterators. And here I screw up. I was scared of what Morty could do in melee to the Swarmlord, so i decided to attack first with the Swarmlord. Swarmlord dealt 3 damage (Morty down to 11 wounds). He of course interrupts and attacks Genestealers. This is where I learn he gets a bajillion attacks if he wants to kill infantry. He kills 15 Genestealers, leaving only the Acid Maw genestealers. One is still holding the middle objective so there's that at least. Those 5 genestealers attack and deal 2 more damage (at 9 now). Apparently Morty doesn't degrade until he's down to 8 wounds... which is weird because everything else degrades when at half... /shrug. Of course I forget about Implant Attacks, doh.
Turn 2 Scores
Me: 2 for Kingslayer (8 wounds to Morty), 1 for Recon, 3 for Primary (We tied on objectives) Running Total: 6
Him: 1 for Primary. Running Total: 1
Not a bad first turn... but here comes the pain.
Top Turn 2
Movement: All the Berzerkers come out of their safe boxes. 2 units approach my Devgants. 1 unit approaches Swarmlord. Morty stays in combat since that's where he wants to be anyway and his shooting sucks. Rhinos on the right move up to grab an objective and ram stuff. Cultists stay where they are preventing deep strikes (I still have rippers) and holding an objective. Warp Time sorcerer runs back towards the Exalted Champions who just jumped out of a Rhino. He's not going to do anything while within 24" of a Kronos unit. Prescience sorcerer runs behind berzerkers.
Psychic: Since Mr Warp Time ran away, I decide to use the Kronos Strategem to shut down the -1 hit power on Morty. In doing so, I deal 2 Mortal Wounds to him bringing him down a damage bracket (yesss, 6 wounds left). He uses the Miasma power and kills 2 genestealers. Swarmlord saves it with Catalyst. I deny Prescience and Smite.
Shooting: Obliterators deal 4 wounds to my Flyrant. A few gants died to pistols.
Charge/Fight: 2 units of Berzerkers crash into 30 devgants and overwatch kills 1.(he also declares Trygon as target)... and I forgot about the Caustic Blood strategem. Damn. 1 unit of Berzerkers charges Swarmlord. That unit fights twice and kills Swarmlord on the second round. The other two units have to use 3 of their 4 fights to kill all of the Termagants before they can reach the Trygon. The Power Fist wiffs and the rest do only a couple wounds to the Trygon. In return, Trygon kills 3 Berzerkers. Morty kills Genestealers.
Bottom Turn 2
Movement: I move and advance Old One Eye into charge range of Morty. I fallback the one Trygon to charge again a unit of zerkers. (yay Kraken) I move my other Trygon to charge the other unit of zerkers on that flank. Malanthrope moves towards objective. Neurothropes move a little to make Morty closest target but stays out of sight behind the wall with termagants wrapped around them. Flyrant moves up to be next to Obliterators but also close enough to attempt a long charge on Morty. I bring in 2 units of Rippers way in his back corner to ensure I get Recon. They don't have a prayer of removing 19 cultists with a flamer from his objective.
Psychic: Neurothropes tries to use Onslaught on
OOE... and gets denied with an 11. Well gak.
OOE can't charge now. I use a couple smites to deal 3 more wounds to Morty (3 left). Flyrant puts on more wounds on the Obliterators and kills another. Catalyst gets denied.
Shooting: Flyrant's shooting bounces off of Morty. Trygons manage to kill a zerker.
Charge/Fight: Trygons charge 1 unit of zerkers each. Flyrant charges obliterators and Morty but can only reach obliterator.
OOE is left sucking his thumb 6 inches from Morty since Onslaught failed. I attack with a Trygon first and kill all but 3 zerkers in that unit. The other wounded Trygon only kills a couple, leaving about 6 zerkers in that unit. In return the 3 zerkers do nothing to the unwounded Trygon, and the wounded Trygon drops a couple more wounds. He's now at half. The Flryant finishes off the Obliterators.
Turn 2 Scores
Me: Recon 1, Kingslayer 1, Primary 3. Running Total: 12
Him: Recon 1, Headhunter 1, Reaper 4, Primary 3. Running Total: 10
Ouch. He caught up there but Morty is almost dead. Unfortunately Old One Eye is not in a good spot. He has an almost full strength zerker unit and 2 smaller units. He also has more objectives. I'm going to need to retake the middle objective and take the left one, kill Morty and hopefully kill some zerkers. Surprisingly we still have about 40 minutes in the round. We're both moving pretty fast.
Top Turn 3
Movement: Morty moves a little to get out of the zerker's way. The full unit of zerkers moves towards the middle objective to charge the unwounded Trygon who is still fighting 3 zerkers. Warp Time Sorcerer and Axe of Blind Fury Exalted Champion move to charge the wounded Trygon. Cultists move up to try and take the left objective from me. Rhinos surround right side objective.
Psychic: By this point I'm out of command points. Morty is free to cast whatever he wants. But I do deny the -1 to hit power. His cloud thing deals 2 wounds to
OOE and kills 2 of his own zerkers. He also did some damage to the Flyrant. I deny Warp Time on the Exalted Champion.
Shooting: Nothing to report here. Some gants died from cultist fire I think.
Charge/fight: Zerkers charge unwounded trygon. They wipe him out but he takes 2 with him from Death Throws. A few are able to get close enough to attack the Malanthrope. He survives with 4 wounds left. Those zerkers are now sitting on the middle objective. Morty charges
OOE. He deals 8 wounds with -2
AP... and
OOE passes 5 of them. We're both shocked that
OOE survived. In return,
OOE demolishes the last 3 wounds on Morty. Morty explodes killing more zerkers and dealing a wound to
OOE (3 wounds left) and 3 to my Flyrant. His Exalted Champion fails to charge my Trygon without warp time, but the Sorcerer is able to charge. He has a force axe but fails to wound the Trygon. His 6 remaining zerkers also fail to kill it. In response, my Trygon kills his sorcerer.
Bottom Turn 3
Movement: Old One Eye moves to charge the remaining sorcerer and a Rhino on my left flank. Flyrant moves to be within 3" of the center objective. Neurothropes decide it's time to be on the offensive. They move on top of the wall and make the middle zerkers their closest targets. There aren't many left after all the explosions. I know my Trygon on the right side is a lost cause. He can't retreat anyway. Termagants and rippers move on top of the left objective creating a 3" bubble. I run my malanthrope back behind the wall.
Psychic: Neuros finish off the middle zerkers. Flyrant uses Smite and Psychic Scream to kill the Dark Apostle who had showed up at some point. Flyrant also perils and took some more wounds. At this point he has 1 wound left but is holding the middle objective.
Shooting: Meh
Charge/Fight: OOE charges and kills the last sorcerer and destroys the Rhino. The last Trygon finally dies.
Scores for turn 3
Me: 1 Kingslayer (now maxed at 4), 1 Recon, 4 Headhunter, 4 Primary. Running Total: 21
Him: 1 Recon, 2 Primary. Running Total: 13
End of Game
We quickly talk out Turn 4. I give him another point for headhunter for killing the Flyrant with his zerkers. He'll get 2 more for Primary. I'll get my 4th Recon and 2 for Primary.
FInal tally: Tyrands 25, Chaos 17. Tyranids Win!
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