Post-game Thoughts - Khorne Daemons v Slaanesh Daemons

Afternoon chaps!

After playing the other week using my Dark Angels against Slaanesh Daemons, I decided to have a rematch aganst them, this time using my Khorne Daemons and have Hatred going all over the place.

Back in 5th edition, and late 4th edition, I attempted to play a Khorne only Daemon army, never did too well with it but the new Codex got me all excited and I thought I'd give them another run out to see how they go.

My list was as follows (where I can remember):
- Bloodthirster
- Herald on a Juggernaut (Greater reward + Greater locus of fury)
- Herald on foot.
- 4 Bloodcrushers
- 10 Bloodletters (Icon, Instrument, Champion w/ Lesser reward)
- 10 Bloodletters (Icon, Instrument, Champion w/ Lesser reward)
- 10 Bloodletters (Icon, Instrument, Champion w/ Lesser reward)
- 8 Flesh hounds
- Skullcannon
- Soul Grinder (Iron Claw, Phlegm)


We were both battling to take control of a Warpgate in the centre of the board (The Relic) and deployed as Dawn of War. Slaanesh Daemons deployed first and got the first turn.

For my Daemonic rewards I rolled the following:
- Bloodletters #1 - 18" S8 AP4 Assault 1, Soul Blaze
- Bloodletters #2 - 18" S8 AP4 Assault 1, Soul Blaze
- Bloodletters #3 - swapped for Axe of Khorne
- Herald on Juggernaut - Re-roll failed Invulnerable saves
- Herald on Foot - Fleshbane and Armourbane

I tried to set my Bloodletter units up with a supporting unit each, 1 had Bloodcrushers, 1 had a Soul Grinder and 1 had a Skullcannon. Unfortunately, when I saw the Slaanesh daemons crossing the board at a ridiculous speed I got a bit carried away and bunged stuff forward into poor choices of assaults.

On top of that, I didn't realise quite how badly I'd do in all my assaults with the basic Bloodletters down to the fact we both had Hatred and I was striking last with reduced attacks from previous edition. In short, I was still playing most of my units as though it was 5th edition and the old Codex.

As far as the game and objectives went, the Slaanesh daemons got onto it in turn 1 and I never got near to removing them from it, due to poor shooting, bad assault decisions and some abysmal dice rolling for difficult terrain and charge distances.

The most notable was on turn 1 I chose to walk my Bloodthirster 6" and use the wings in the assault phase so I'd get hammer of wrath and a re-roll to distance. I forgot Monstrous Creatures always have hammer of wrath for a start, and then rolled 3" for my charge, followed by another 3" on the re-roll meaning he couldn't get into a nice squishy Fiend unit he was eyeing up.

Bloodcrushers die a LOT easier nowadays due to the fact they don't have the 3+ armour anymore, but make up for a bit by being able to tank some wounds. It really helped that I could re-roll the Heralds invulnerable saves too. Oh - and the other thing is that they've now dropped to T4 which was killer and I didn't realise until locked in combat... Oh dear.

Fleshhounds I didn't really get much chance to do anything with... I forgot they had Scout until I looked up there stats for getting into combat with a Seeker unit and even though they've now got 2 wounds, they got dragged down and then failed their Daemonic instability to kill them off.

Skullcannon had a prime shot on a Daemonette unit that was sat bunched up on the relic and missed completely. Then got smashed up by a Seeker unit a bit later. I'm not convinced by Chariots from my reading of the rules for them in the last few days, they seem to me like a Close combat oriented unit that's pretty easy to drag down in close combat because it's hit on rear armour. Few more games are needed with this because I still like the idea of it.

As with the Skullcannon, the Soul Grinder failed spectacularly and didn't really do anything. It managed to kill 2 Daemonettes with the big template and that was about it. Apart from one combat where he killed a few Seekers and then they rolled double 1 on their Daemonic instability and came back to life. BOOOOOO.

So anyway, notable things from this game:
- Khorne v Slaanesh in close combat is Slaanesh all the way due to the speed, number of attacks and striking first with re-rolls to hit. Maybe I should have piled more units into individual Slaanesh units.

- When playing against an opponent with no flyers and very limited shooting, don't walk around with a Bloodthirster. Fly it around, shoot stuff, vector strike and get to the soft underbelly of an army!

- Daemonic Instability rarely got used because units were wiped out to a man. The few instances it got used saw my Khorne Hounds with 2 dogs left fail by 11 or something silly, then the other with the Seekers where 4 of them came back to life due to the "reality blinks" double 1.

- On the Warpstorm table, we rolled 6 pretty much EVERY time for 4 turns. Which meant lots of D6 S4 AP3 Poisoned (4+) Ignores Cover hits got distributed, weakening my Bloodthirster and also the Keeper of Secrets.

All in all it was a really brutal game, I was wiped out apart from a Herald by turn 3 without ever getting close to the Relic or even out of my table half.

Maybe next time I'll keep some units in deep strike, take bigger Bloodletter squads and not waste so many of my units as I did.

That's all for now folks!

Post-game Thoughts: 1500 Dark Angels v Tau Empire

Hello folks!

Couldn't be fussed doing a blog yesterday morning as post-gaming night's sleep was really bad and I was still only half awake until about 5 o clock in the afternoon.

So! Monday night, myself and Angryman gave the Tau Empire a final send off before their new Codex drops in this (or next) weekend.

I made some slight changes to my list from the last game I played, but I'm still not sure exactly what to make of it all. Playing v Daemons 1 week, then Tau the next is a hard gauge on usefulness.

Dark Angels

• Belial (Sword and storm bolter)
• Librarian (Psyker lvl 2, Auspex, Infavisor)
• 1 Deathwing Dread (Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer, Drop Pod)
• 5 Deathwing Termis (3 Storm Bolter and Fist, 1 Assault Cannon and Fist, 1 Storm Bolter and Sword)
• 5 Deathwing Termis (3 Storm Bolter and Fist, 1 Assault Cannon and Fist, 1 Storm Bolter and Sword)
• 10 Tactical Marines (Plasma Cannon, Plasma Gun, Sarge with Plasma Pistol)
• 6 Ravenwing Bikers (2 Plasma Guns, Vet Sarge)
• 1 Ravenwing Land Speeder (Typhoon Missile, Hull Multi Melta)
• 1 Ravenwing Land Speeder (Typhoon Missile, Hull Multi Melta)

Tau Empire (all with various upgrades I can't remember)

• Crisis HQ with Plasma, Smart Missile w/ Drones
• Crisis Squad with Plasmas and Smart Missile w/ Drones
• Crisis Squad with Plasmas and Smart Missile w/ Drones
• 10 Man Fire Warrior Squad
• 10 Man Fire Warrior Squad
• 10 Man Fire Warrior Squad
•  3 Man Broadside Squad w/ Drones
• 2 Hammerhead Tanks with Railguns

Mission was Kill Points and the short edge deployment (so playing the 6ft length).

I won the roll off for deployment and chose to go first and actually remembered my Scout move on the Ravenwing bikers this time! Which let them push up the field a bit more, which was handy since we were playing the long board deployment and I was up against a gunline.

I also managed to remember how to deploy my Deathwing in this edition! Hurray! I wrote it down on a scrap of paper and put it under a box until the turn I was deploying on.

Unfortunately for me, the Tau managed to sieze the initiative, but I think now it was probably a good thing as if I'd dropped my Terminators on turn 1, they'd have been battered for an extra turn. Whereas now, all that could be shot were my Tactical marines and Librarian and even then only by Broadsides.

I won't go through the game turn by turn as I'm short on time, all I will say is that it was a really ace game which had 1 turn of absolute and utter carnage where I had my bikers, terminator squad, Belial and both land speeders killed in a turn, whereas the Tau lost the remainder of a crisis suit squad, a hammer head and a Broadside squadron.

The game finished on Turn 4 due to the time, as a 7-7 draw:

Dark Angels:

• First Blood (Crisis suit squadron)
• Linebreaker (Deathwing Termis)
• Hammerhead
• Hammerhead
• Broadsides
• Crisis Squad
• Fire Warrior Squad

Tau:

• Slay the Warlord
• Belial
• 1 DW Terminator Squad
• RW Bikers
• Land Speeder
• Land Speeder
• Drop Pod

It was only prevented being a 8-7 win for the Tau thanks to my Dread passing a cover save on his rear armour.

Some interesting bits that went on through the game, and more "I need to remember next time!" bits...

• Drop-Dread failing to do anything to a Hammerhead he was 1" away from, TWICE, with a Multi-Melta. I think he managed to take 1 hull point off it.
• Me completely forgetting that I use Belial in 6th edition with the Sword of Silence, rather than a Thunder hammer. I split him off from the last remaining DW Termi in his unit so they could both hunt a Hammerhead each. DW Termi battered it, then when it was Belial's go, I remember he only had the power sword. DOH.
• Tau overwatch is nasty, and it's only going to get nastier if the rumours are true for this new book. My bikes got tore up by the Crisis suits on overwatch and S5 on the Firewarrior guns means a bike doesn't count for all that much.
•  If you have a squad that has 24" guns (my Tactical marines), don't deploy them in a corner building on the long deployment. They did absolutely nothing apart from be a meat shield once for the Librarian.
• I managed to get 2 psychic powers off in the game, 1 let me fire the Tau crisis commander's guns as if he were my own unit (so back armour shots at a nearby Hammerhead!) and the other forced the same unit to take a morale check and remove fearless, but that was a last ditch attempt to get them to run away.
• Lastly. Belial's "I don't scatter when deep striking" special rule is awesome. It allowed me to drop him down so that the Crisis commander was the closest model to me, as opposed to crones or battlesuit bodyguards... it didn't work out (only 1 wound off him thanks to look out sir) but still, it's good to do that. I only wish his Teleport Homer could work on the turn he deep strikes down!

So yeah, overall it was a really fun game and I'm enjoying playing a mixed Dark Angels force, rather than pure Deathwing as I did in 5th edition. I would really like to get a full Ravenwing force on the table though (I've done a list I'll post up soon) in the near future with lots of bikes. The only issue is the cost of the extra units in £, since bikes are quite easy to come by.

That's all for now though folks! Goodbye to the 4th ed Tau Empire book, long live the 6th ed Tau Empire book! (Unless you don't own a Tau army, in which case you must, by law, hate Tau with a passion).

SB

[Battle Report] Orks v Slaanesh Daemons

Morning all,

Last night was (pretty likely) the last practice game I'd have before Britcon. I went up against Sanguinus' Chaos Daemons, running a pure Slaanesh force. Now Pre-Game, I'd worried about this army, due to the speed it can get around the board and assault units from a large distance.

Last week, Col.Straken's Eldar had a tough game against them, so I was up for whatever was coming my way. We played a 5 objective mission using the Spearhead deployment. 2 Objectives were in (or extremely close) to my chosen deployment corner. First turn went to the Orks.

Turn 1 - Orks
The Orks press up the field, spacing out the large Boyz mobs to try and force the Daemons to deepstrike further into the corners of the board. The Mek in a Battlewagon kept closeby to his Boyz mobs, Deff Dred and the Killa Kans, sheltering them under his forcefield. Whilst the Nob Bikers and Warboss zoomed off to reach the outer objectives.

Turn 1 - Daemons
The Chaos Gods weren't please with the pre-game sacrifice Sanguinius made, giving him his "un-chosen" side of the army, which consisted of 10 Seekers, 2 units of 6 Fiends, 2 units of 10 Daemonettes and a Herald on a Chariot. They all managed to deepstrike successfully on the table, with the Herald moving in close to Shoota Boyz on a home objective, shooting them with her Daemonic Gaze and successfully wounding 1. First blood to the Daemons!

Turn 2 - Orks
My Grots remained lurking offfield in reserve, whilst the rest of the Orks pressed forwards. The Slugga mobs pressed either side of a central building to aim for an objective each, while the Nob Bikers moved to target a small Daemonette squad that had showed up next to the objective they were aiming for. The Burna wagon stayed central in order to flame through a doorway onto a Daemonette squad inside the building.

The Bikers managed to whittle down their Daemonettes to 2 remaining members, the Shoot Boyz knocked 2 wounds off the Herald on Chariot and the Burna Wagon took out the Daemonette squad inside the building.

Turn 2 - Daemons
Another smaller Daemonette squad showed up on the board from reserve, backed up by a Slaanesh Daemon Prince adding to the number of bodies on the table. The Seekers and Fiends moved to combat a Slugga Mob and the Burna Wagon respectively. Whilst the Herald shot her Daemonic Gaze at the Shoota Boyz again, killing another and then charging into combat.

Thanks to a lot of rending, the Fiends exploded the Burna Wagon, killing 7 Burnas in the resulting explosion (Ouch!) and losing 1 of their number in return. The Seekers were unable to fare much better against the Boyz mob, managing to kill 13 from their salvo of attacks, but getting wiped out in return, allowing the Boyz a consolidation move forwards. The Herald on Chariot charged into the Boyz and was killed off, after she killed 3 Boyz.

The Daemon prince killed a few Boyz with Breath of Chaos on the way in but lost a wound through combat, whilst the Orks passed their no Retreat wounds.

Turn 3 - Orks
The Orks swarmed forwards again aiming for the Daemonette squads that were appearing, looking to see them off to prevent the Daemons capturing objectives. The Deff Dread and Shoota Boyz tag teamed to wipe out a unit of Daemonettes and the Burna Boyz with Mek took out the Fiends who had destroyed their taxi.

The Nob Bikers and the Boyz mob behind them reduced the Daemonette squad nearest them to their final remaining member.

The other Boyz mob went after the final remaining Daemonette squad, thinning them down to 4 remaining members.

Turn 3 - Daemons
Now the heavy hitters finally started to show up. 2 Soul Grinders, a Keeper of Secrets and another Seeker squad. Unfortunately, the Keeper of Secrets and 1 of the Soul Grinders ended up being misplaced by a bad scatter, so were put in a car corner of the battlefield.

However, these guys showing up started to swing the battle. The Soul Grinders maw weapon claiming 2 Nob Bikers. The remaining Daemonettes fled for cover in an attempt to hold the objectives.

Turn 4 - Orks
We were running out of time for our alloted practice time limit, so we decided to end it once turn 4 was complete.

One Ork mob was stuck in combat with the Daemon Prince, the Nob Bikers finished off the final daemonette in the unit near them, and the second Ork mob moved up and called a Waaagh in order to reach the only remaining Daemonettes on the table, wiping them out in assault after losing 4 of their number. The Daemon Prince took out another 4 Boyz in his assault, but went down to his last remaining wound after some good Power Klaw hits.

Turn 4 - Daemons
With no Daemonettes left, the remaining Slaanesh Daemons just went to try and kill off whatever they could. One Soul Grinder trying to reach the Ork Boyz camped holding the only objective that was captured, but was inches out of range.

The remaining Soul Grinder attempted to splat the Nob Bikers, with 1 Biker failing his cover save and being removed via instant death.

The Seekers charged into the Nob Bikers, killing off 1 Nob Biker and causing some messy wound allocation on another 2, including the Warboss, but losing 4 in retalation, resulting in a drawn combat.

Final Result
Orks 1 - Daemons 0

Conclusion
Had it gone on for another turn, I'm sure the Daemons could have started to race across the board and wipe things off the objectives, when their big stuff finally showed up. My gameplan when the first turn kicked off was the aim for the Daemonettes and wipe them off the table, meaning the only option for the Daemons was either to table me, or result in a draw.

It was a tough game anyway, the worrying thing was that most of the things needed 5s or 6s to wound or glance, but with rending, I was always being denied the chances.

Tough game and good preparation for an upcoming tournament. After hearing a lot about the way the Slaanesh Daemon army was going to play, I was worried prior to the game, and I still am, considering had the game been played out in full.

If the other half of the army had showed up first turn, rather than what did, it would have been a different story.

Cheers all,
SB.

[Battle Report] Apocalypse! Tyranids v Guard, Wolves and Grey Knights

Hey everyone,

I've finally had the motivation to pick up the stack of scribbled notes on my desk and write them up to cover the Apocalypse game we played a few weekends ago, with Angryman using his Tyranids against my Imperial Guard and Col. Straken's Space Wolf / Grey Knight list. Our club hall was double booked, so we had to play the game on a standard 6 x 4 table at my house - not ideal, but it meant for a quick decisive game...

Battle Lines are Drawn.

The objectives of the game were for 4 objectives - 3 minor (worth 1 each) and 1 major objective (3 points). These were spread around the board, 2 being Bastions, 1 being a Tyranid spawning pool, and the final one being an Imperial defence outpost.

Imperial Heavy Armour deploys on the Table.

The Tyranid horde deploys - plenty left in reserve to drop down on the board.

Turn 1 - Imperium
The Imperial armour advance forwards up the board, destroying Razorwire left from previous battles. Hellhounds and Leman Russes hold the right side, the remaining Russes and the Wolves on the left.

Imperial shooting however wasn't so good. Most of the Guard tanks scattered off wildly from their targets. The hellhounds however fared better, attacking a brood of Warriors and Zoanthropes in close proximity to one another.

In totalt, the Imperium managed to kill; 1 Carnifex, 4 Tyranid Warriors, 2 Zoanthropes and left 2 fexes badly wounded, as well as the foot slogging Tyrant and his guard.

Imperial Advance - Turn 1.

Tyranids - Turn 1

The Tyranid horde pressed forward, the Carnifexes and Tyrants towards Imperial Tanks. The Tervigons managed to spawn 27 gaunts between them.

In the shooting phase, one of the Tervigon attempted to cast Feel No Pain on the Tyrant's unit but took a Perils of the Warp wound. A Heavy Venom Cannon Fex destroyed a Grey Knight Dreadnought. A 2nd Carnifex managed to blow up the turret from the very effective Hellhounds. Zoanthropes fail to damage a Grey Knight Land Raider. Hive guard shoot and Shake a Leman Russ.

In assault, the Carnifexes run into the Hellhounds and manage to Stun the 2nd Hellhound.

Tyranids Turn 1 - They do NOT like Hellhounds

Imperium - Turn 2
From reserve, the Marauder Bomber arrives and aims for a strafing run across the entire Tyranid back line. Drop pods with an Assault Squad, and a Wolf Guard squad arrive aiming to attack the Tyranid defensive horde. Grey Knight Terminators leap out from the Land Raider.

In the shooting phase, the Grey Knight Terminators Land Raider shoots and kill a Tyrant Guard, Drop Pod causes 2 wounds on the fresh Tervigon. Wolf Guard terminators wound the cowardly Hive Guard and the Bomber with it's strafing run killed another Tyrant Guard. The Guard opened fire, with a Leman Russ Vanquisher blowing up a Bastion housing Genestealers, a Leman Russ then followed that up with dropping it's Battle Cannon on the Genestealers, scattering, but managing to kill 1 Zoanthrope nearby and a Genestealer (darn cover saves...). The Leman Russ Demolisher killed the final Tyrant guard and wounded Old One Eye. Another Leman russ kiled a Dakkafex with it's shooting, along with 4 nearby Gaunts.

In assault, the Grey Knight Terminators take out Old One Eye in combat before the feared beast had chance to even open his Claws.

Leman Russ tanks press forward to Hammer the "Big Ones".

Tyranids - Turn 2
In the movement phase, the Mawloc, Trygon Prime, Doom of Malantai, Screamer Killer fex and Genestealers with Broodlord manage to arrive from reserve. Spelling big trouble for the Guardsmen... The Tervigons manage to spawn 18 more Gaunts between them, but unfortunately, both roll doubles - no more spawning in this game. The Gaunts to the back corner of the board move forward to target the Wolf Guard and press on the Objectives.

Shooting, the Tervigons cast Feel No Pain on the walking Tyrant (who's buddies have been killed) and a Carnifex. The Doom of Malan'tai wrenches the souls from 2 Grey Knight Terminators. A Dakkafex causes a Shaken and Weapon Destroyed result on a Space Wolf Rhino. The Gaunt wave shooting kills 1 Grey Knight terminator and the Hive Guard pop the Storm Bolter off the Drop Pod.

In assault, the Hive Tyrant and Gaunts charge into the GK Grand master, hits the Tyrant 5 times but fails to wound, more Gaunts charge the Wolf Guard. Carnifexes blow up both Hellhounds, destroying them and taking 2 Genestealers in the blast.

Tyanid Reserves en Masse

Imperial - Turn 3
Imperial Guard reserves show up now, with Kratos (Guardsman Marbo) appearing, along with 2 Veteran Squads in Chimeras, Company Command Squad in another Chimera and then 3 Vendetta Gunships.

The Grey Hunters and Grey Knights disembark from their vehicles, and "Jimmy Gauntslayer" the Lone Wolf moved towards the Trygon prime - a fitting test for him. The Marauder bomber strafes along the centre of the board.

In the shooting, the Marauder Bomber annihalated 25 gaunts with more dropped bombs, Grey Hunters kill 5 Ymgarl Stealers, GK Land Raider killes 6 gaunts. Marbo throws his demo charges and wipes out a squad of 3 warriors lurking near the backfield objective. Veterans and the Command squads, along with their Transports bring down the Mawloc thanks to Melta guns and a pinch of luck. The Wolf Long Fangs fail to wound anything and the Vendettas take their toll on the Tyranids, wounding a Tyrand, wounding a Fex and wounding the Trygon twice. A Leman Russ kills one Hive guard and another wiped out a Spore pod.

Assault phase, Dreadnaught assaults the Screamer Killer Fex, Lone Wolf assaults the Trygon and manages to survive. The Grey knights stuck in assault are killed off, and the Hive Tyrant headbutts the Grey Knight Grand Master to death.

Reinforcements FTW!

Tyranids - Turn 3
Reinforcements - Tyranid Warrior Prime, along with his Warrior Bodyguard show up, Raveners appear, Winged Tyrant, 3 Lictors jump out near the Imperial Artillery line, Parasite of Mortrex and Shrikes all appear. Everything in the Tyranid army pressed forward to cripple the Imperium.

In shooting, the Hive Guard turned their attention to Guardsman marbo, which thanks to their nifty guns, bypassed his Cover Save and Stealth rule (he was stood behind a wall). The Winged Tyrant knocks a Lascannon off the Marauder bomber, Tyranid warriors kill 3 space wolf Grey hunters and one of the Carnifexes blows up a Space Wolf Rhino.

In assault, the Tervigon and Fex destroys the Land Raider, Tyrant attacks the Demolisher, the 2nd tyrant stunds a Leman Russ, Carnifex wrecks the Vanquisher, Genestealers attack a Veteran Squad Chimera, wreck it and kills several Veterans, Raveners shake another Leman Russ and the Ymgarl Genestealers attack the wolves, killing 2, then the remainder of the unit being wiped out by the Wulfen marked trooper. Finally the Doom of Malan'tai blows up the Leman russ, and the resulting explosion destroys 4 Gaunts. The Trygon finally kills off the Lone Wolf.

"There used to be more tanks than this..."

Imperum - Turn 4
Imperial retaliation time... Veterans and the command squads turn to wipe out the Genestealers with Brood Lord. The Grey hunters move to combat the Raveners and the Vendettas move up towards the destroyed Bastion.

In shooting, the Bomber kills 2 gaunts and all of the Shrikes. Long fangs take 3 wounds from the Trygon prime and Grey hunters killed 2 Raveners. The Company Command squad issues 1st rank fire, 2nd rank fire to the Veteran squad out of the Chimera. The Veteran squad kills 7 gaunts and the Colossus Siege Cannon kills off a Hive Guard. The Leman Russ scattered it's shot, managing to land on the Colossus but luckily failed to damage. The Demolisher missed the Trygon completely. The Vendetta gunships kill off one of the Tervigons, kill a Tyrant and finish off the Trygon prime - awesome shooting there Imperial Navy.

Assault was scarce, the Grey Hunters moved to the Raveners, 3 Hunters being killed in the process but the Hunters managing to kill off the Raveners.

"That's better lads... Thank the Emperor for the Imperial Navy!!"

Tyranids - Turn 4
The remaining Tervigon regenerates 1 of his lost wounds, the Lictors spread around cover. Gaunts move to secure the 2nd bastion objective and the remaining Tyranids dispersed to avoid Guard artillery fire.

Shooting caused a Carnifex to shake a Vendetta, but the remaining shooting patters harmlessly off the Imperial Armour.

Assault was more prolific for the Tyranids. Warriors with the Alpha Warrior charge the Leman Russ and Space Wolves, removing the Battle Cannon and killing the Wolves, Screamer Killer carnifex assaults a Vendetta, removing 1 of it's 3 Lascannons. The Lictors assault the Colossus mortar, shaking it, and a Tyrant assaults a Leman Russ, blowing it up. The Doom's assault against the Demolisher and the Lictors assault on a Razorback was fruitless, but the Genestealers and Broodlord stunned, then blew up a Chimera with a Veteran squad. The Tervigon assaulted one of the Drop Pods and destroys it.

ZERG RUSH!

Imperial - Turn 5
The remaining Razorback tank shocks the Gaunts, moving them up the battlefield. The Vendetta moves to contest the Tyranids home objective, while other Vendettas spread out to move for objectives. The Command squad disembarked from it's stunned Chimera and the attached Inquisitor moved and joing the remnants of the remaining Veteran squad. The Bomber again strafes across the table for maximum impact.

The Bomber's strafing run kills off 3 warriors and wounds around the rest of the unit. The Razorback fails to wound the Carnifex. One Vendetta kills the Screamer killer Carnifex and the Long Fangs fail to hurt the lurking Lictors. The Company Command squad kills off another 7 gaunts and the nearby Demolisher takes a wound off a Hive Tyrant. The Leman russ kills 3 gaunts with it's template and the other shootable Vendetta killed off a Sniper Fex.

In assault, the Veteran squad and Inquisitor moved to charge the Broodlord, but failed to damage it. Fortunately, their leadership held and kept the Broodlord pinned with them for a turn.

Zooooooooooooom!

Tyranids - Turn 5
The Gaunts press to a Bastion objective and the Winged Hive Tyrant moves to support them.

The Flying tyrant shoots a Vendetta but nothing happens and a Carnifex moves to support, managing to Shake the Vendetta.

In assault, the Tyranid prime targets were the Vendettas.. Tyrant attacks one, fails to do anything, similar story with a 2nd Vendetta assaulted by a Carnifex. A lone Lictor attacking a third Vendetta managed to cause a Weapon Destroyed result. Another Lictor assaulting the Colossus caused an immobilised result. A Tyrant attacking a Leman Russ caused 3 penetrating hits, resulting in a wrecked result. Gaunts charging in on the Imperial Guard Command Squad kill off all but the Company Commander who stands firm, killing 3 gaunts in retaliation. The Broodlord versus the veterans again resulted in a drawn combat.

"Stand still damn you!!"

Imperial - Turn 6
The Vendettas move around the board to contest 3 of the objective, the Shaken Vendetta moving flat out to reach it's one near the Winged Hive Tyrant. The Bomber strafes across the board again and the remaining 2 Leman Russes (1 Demolisher) move to open fire on remaining targets.

The Marauder bomber kills off 1 Lictor, the Vendetta nearby shoots another Lictor but thanks to it's Chamelionic skin and going to ground, it survived. The Leman Russ kills a Tyranid Warrior. A 2nd Vendetta attempts to open up on another Lictor, who again, dives for cover in the ground. The Doom of Malan'tai takes a Demolisher shell, but passes his invulnerable save. The Space Wolf Long Fangs nick a wound from the Winged Tyrant.

In assault, the Brood Lord kills off the Veteran squad (finally...) and consolidates towards the Bastion objective. Imperial Commander Grant wins the combat against the Gaunts, who take 2 casualties - standing firm to contest the Objective on his own.

Tyranids swarm the Digestion Pool objective

Tyranids - Turn 6
The Winged Hive Tyrant moves to assault the nearby Vendetta, Warriors, Carnifex and walking Tyrant move to attack Leman Russes, Gaunts move toward the digestion pool, and the Tervigon goes to attack a Chimera lumbering toward the Tyranid home objective.

Shooting caused no issues on the Vendettas, one passing it's Flat Out cover save and the other from the lone Hive Guard missing it's target.

In assault, the Tervigon destroyed the Chimera, Winged Hive Tyrant shakes the Vendetta, and all 3 remaining Leman Russes were destroyed. Commander Grant stood firm once again, holding the Gaunts for a draw.

Imperium - Turn 7
The Vendettas and the Long Fangs move to contest their nearby objectives. Everything else remaining (not much) held their positions.

The Marauder bomber shot the Lictors and wounded 1, the Vendetta with 1 lascannon remaining shot at the Winged Tyrant but failed to wound.

In assault, the Gaunts finally manage to beat down the Imperial Commander - not bad for someone who sits in a box ordering people around mostly.

Tyranids - Turn 7
So final turn for the Tyranids. The Warriors move to combat a Vendetta objective, one remaining Lictor moves to attack the Long Fangs and a Lictor / Gaunt combo move to secure the digestive pool. The Parasite of Mortrex and Tervigon head to the home objective to secure it.

Final round of shooting caused a Vendetta to become shaken, 2 Long Fangs to be killed and the Marauder bomber to finally take a hit, causing a Gun crew stunned result.

In assault, the Hive guard failed to damage his Vendetta foe, the Long Fangs caused 1 wound on a Lictor, but the Lictor held, the walking Tyrant managed to smash down the buzzard Vendetta hovering near his objective and the Winged tyrant failed to damage the final Vendetta.

The Aftermath of Portsmotia...

Result
Tyranid Victory - 1 objective held, other 3 were contested.

Conclusion
It was a tough game full of bloodshed, had Imperial Template Weaponry been a bit more accurate, the Portsmotian defence force may have held - alas. We have crippled the Tyranid foe significantly and can send for further reinforcements to cleanse this Tyranid infestation sector.

SB.

[Battle Report] The Weekly Waaagh! in Spearhead

Hey all,

After my post Monday afternoon where I showed off my attempt at a Spearhead list, Monday night I actually got to play the game - our club's first game of Spearhead.

We rolled for the deployment and got a standard Pitched Battle style setup where we had to stay in our own half and 18" away from one another (I can't remember the name!) and then the mission was to get as many scoring units into the enemy deployment zone.

To setup, we were allowed to place 1 Spearhead formation on the board, or 3 non-Spearhead units. So, us having 2 Superheavy units involved, wanted to place them on the table to take each other on. Everything else would come on in reserve.

I placed my Stompa down first, hiding behind the largest building I could in my deployment zone, and the Hellhammer wedged between terrain pieces for cover to the front. Each Super heavy took a penetrating hit before the game started as per their Spearhead rules - the Stompa was unable to move for the turn and the Hellhammer unable to shoot in the turn.

Turn 1 - Orks
First turn to the Orks, the Stompa was unable to move, so couldn't get out from behind cover to threaten the temporarily toothless Hellhammer. Fortunately for the Orks, I had taken 3 Trukk Boyz with Rokkit Launchas in a Mechanised Assault Spearhead which meant they could Outflank and show up from Turn 1. I rolled a 5 for my Outflank roll, meaning I could choose which edge they came on - this was to be the beginning of a few very lucky rolls here...

The 3 trukks all came on behind the Baneblade, looking for some very hopeful Rear Armour shots with their shoddy Ballistic Skill using Rokkit Launchas...

3 Ork Boyz with Rokkit Launchas shoot at the reat armour, 2 actually managing to hit the gigantic vehicle and 1 managing to make a Penetrating Hit.

Somehow (the Ork must have been covered head to toe in Blue Paint) I managed to roll a 6 on the first damage roll meaning Hellhammer loses a Structure point and Chain Reaction allows me to roll again.... Another 6 and a Chain reaction... And a 5. Meaning with 1 16pt Ork Boy managing to destroy a Hellhammer in the first turn, before it had a chance to do anything - Sorry Imperium, but that was an absolute fluke shot.

Needless to say, the Boy has now been promoted into the Tankbusta Corps with Honours! On the down side, 1 Trukk was Immobilised and the other 2 were Stunned.

Turn 1 - Imperium

Having had the Hellhammer destroyed, the Imperium attempted some swift justice, bringing on their own Mechanised Assault Spearhead, with the aim to get revenge on the Orks by taking down their Stompa. 2 Grey Hunter squads in Rhinos armed with Meltas drove onto the board from the side egde and crippled the Stompa with 2 Weapon destroyed results - 1 removing the Titan close combat weapon and the other removing it's primary Cannon.

Turn 2 - Orks

In this turn, Ork reserves started appearing from their board egde, with a Tankhunter Spearhead of Killa Kans and a Crusher Spearhead Battlewagon with Tankbustas and a Kustom forcefield Mek attempted rolled onto the board.

Both attempted to destroy the Rhinos and Grey Hunters, but managed to fail miserably. 5 S10 penetrating hits from the Deff Rolla managed nothing but Shaken, Stunned and the Storm Bolter destroyed. Seems like Ork luck has run out!

Turn 2 - Imperium
Reinforcements showed up in the form of Wolf Guard Terminators, drop podding close by the Tank Hunter Killa Kans and the Battlewagon. The Grey Hunters jumped out of their stunned and shaken Transports, one of them managing to bring down the Battlewagon in an explosion of Red Paint, flames and burning Tankbustas.

You'll have to now forgive the vagueness of some of the turn descriptions... I was trying to play this game, referee a War of the Ring Game and follow a World Cup game on my phone...

The Grey Hunters then moved into assault with the Tankbustas, killing several and another one being lost to No Retreat rules. The Mek and Tankbustas managing to thin out a Grey Hunter or two in return.

A spearhead Dreadnaught moved onto the board and made the nearby Ork Trukks his main priority, immobilising another one.

To top the start of the game off for the Imperium... deep striking Grey Knight terminators ended up very harshly deepstriking off the board and suffering a destroyed mishap result... Ouch... 800+ points destroyed via bad (or good for the orks) dice rolling without doing anything.

Turn 3 - Orks
In turn 3, all my remaining reserves showed up - 2 Units of 3 Killa Kans with Big Shootas, a Seek and Destroy spearhead consisting of 2 Killa Kans and a Deff Dred and a walking Big Mek with Forcefield to safeguard all of the above.

The combined firepower from all the Kans near the Wolf Guard terminators managed to thin them down to 2 terminators. The Stompa unleashed a hail of fire on the Grey Hunters and then proceeded to literally Stomp them in close combat until they ran away.

The Tankbustas and Grey Hunters continued their fued in the middle, neither running away and slowly whittling one another down.

Turn 3 - Imperium

Lots of Dreadnaughts showed up this turn and decided to take offence to my Trukks being in their half of the Board so managed to blow up 2 of them and assault the Boyz inside.

Combined with this, the Wolf Lord himself showed up and jumped into combat with the Boyz but had a pitiful round, killing nothing, despite his supposedly superior combat prowess.

Turn 4 - Orks

The Orks started to head up the board, the Killa Kans and Deff Dred focusing on killing off the Drop Pod and remaining Terminators, dispatching them without too much trouble.

The Ork Trukk Boyz moved to combat the newly arrived Dreadnaughts but the rocket launchers bouncing off their armour. 1 Dreadnaught becomes immobilised and loses an arm.

The Stompa finished off the fleeing Grey Hunters it crushed most of in the last turn, and the Tankbusters and Grey Hunters remain locked to the death.

Turn 4 - Imperium

With all it's force now committed or destroyed the Imperium had it's last throw of the dice in terms of attack, throwing all the Drednaughts and the Wolf Guard battle leader into combat with the Ork Boyz and trukks around their deployment area - hoping to drive off the scoring units.

The Orks however did become depleted, but managed to hold firm, destroying a Dreadnaught and causing the Wolf Lord to lose a wound.

The Tankbusters finally were destroyed, but the Grey Hunters were now left 2 models strong... the Melta and the Rending Wulfen Marked leader in the hopes they can remain alive, they moved away to the corner of the board, attempting to blow something up with the Melta along the way and having no luck.

Turn 5 - Orks
The Egg and Spoon race now began! With the turns running out, all the Killa Kans, Deff Dred and the Stompa then began to turn and run towards the finishing line of the enemy deployment zone.

The Boyz and Double Dreadnaught combat continued with 1 squad of Boyz being forced to flee.

Turn 5 - Imperium
The only thing remaining were the last Grey Hunter squad with Melta, who attempted to rear armour the Stompa and had no luck, along with the 2 Dreds in the Imperial Deployment Zone.

Another Ork Boyz squad began to flee from combat, but a Drednaught was destroyed in the process.

Turn 6 - Orks
The Ork Kan wall continued to race, but were having no luck, with run moves rolling low... They weren't going to make it.

More Boyz died in the Drednaught combat, but they held firm and managed to damage the Drednaught, knocking off his Dreadnaught close combat weapon.

Turn 6 - Imperium
This turn, I think the Dreadnaught finally got popped leaving the win open for the Orks.

We then rolled for a turn 7 and it ended there... Some extremely lucky dice rolling!

Conclusion
Some things we thought after the game (aside from the Hellhammer destruction and GK Terminators flying off the board) was that the Long table deployment, combined with Outflankers and Deepstrikers meant that the vast majority of the table didn't get used.

Had it been a game involving Eldar, Valkyries or Tau, then I'm sure it would have, but in re-acting to Outflanking or Deepstriking threats meant committing forces in our own deployment zones, meaning restricted movement.

Overall though, I enjoyed Spearhead. It somewhat combines the scale and Chaos of an Apocalypse game with the speed of a normal game of 40k. We managed to get a 2,500pt game played in the space of a normal 1,500 - 2000pt 40k game, along with refeering and watching a bit of War of the Ring too.

Looking forward to the next game, where I may leave the Stompa at home and bring an extra Battlewagon, Warbuggies and Looted Wagons for even more chaos!

SB

Ursus' first command

Last night was my first game of Spearhead, and I took my Space Wolves with a couple of Grey Knight Allies, 4 Dreads and a Hellhammer superheavy (a baneblade that got told it was a Hellhammer to be precise.) I will let you decide how it went for me!

It was Ursus’ first time in command and he had been requested by the Inquisition to support them as they tried to stop Waaagh Nobrot, they had had reports of a Stompa leading a swarm of Killer Kans. Ursus had come up with a solid plan with the support of the Grey Knights and a Hellhammer, the Hellhammer would draw the Orks close before opening fire and the remaining forces would attack from various angles to cause disorder or chaos among the Orks.

As the Hellhammer trundled into position the Ork Stompa could be seen moving between buildings, the superheavy powered down so that the Orks crude sensors didn’t pick up its heat signature. Little did Ursus, or even the Inquisition know that the Orks had been cunning and three trukks roared to life only metres away from the idling tank, one Ork boy who had obviously spent the last few years on the target range fired its Rokkit and hit a power coupling crippling the tank but the warhead didn’t explode and drove deeper into its armour cutting more and more power cables and finally detonated deep within the Hellhammer amongst its high explosive ammunition, the Super heavy tank exploded in a nova of heat damaging all three Trukks and leaving a crater where the Imperials hopes once lay.

While Ursus’ squad prepared themselves in their drop pod, he remained in the Strategium to help plan the counter assault. Two squads of Grey hunters with Meltaguns drove their rhinos recklessly behind enemy lines they quickly fired their tank destroying weapons and sheared off both the Stompas most fearsome weapons at the joints, but failed to be able to stop its rampage the same way the Orks destroyed their icon of victory.

As the Orks walker contraptions known as Killer Kans horded into the immediate vicinity, Ursus declared the beginning of their counter assault and his Grey Hunters deployed out of their Rhinos to face down the oncoming horde after it had been hit by a speeding Battlewagon. Ursus’ squad was launched and he saw them land amidst the enemy, it took a moment to realise he himself was supposed to be in the Drop Pod, and he dashed towards the launch bays to commandeer a Thunderhawk trying his best not to look like a complete fool as his squad held an entire army at bay. 

One of the dreadnoughts had finally arrived at the battle and opened up at the closest Ork Trukk destroying it with contemptuous ease causing the Orks inside to bail out before the towering machine charged into battle ripping two apart with its huge claws. The Grey Knights, although had been deployed were no-where to be seen and suspected that they had teleported to a different location after discovering a daemonic infestation elsewhere on the planet. 

 

The Ork Horde swarmed over the Space Wolves who had been abandoned by their Inquisition allies and their only hope lay in ruins before it had fired a shot. The Space Wolves were slowly torn apart by the Kans and the Stompa with little able to fight back as all their heavy weapons had been destroyed or elsewhere on the planet the Ork Waagh could only gain strengths in the coming days. Ursus landed and charged straight into the closest band of Orks supported by 3 Dreadnoughts but his last stand didn’t last long and the overwhelming numbers of the Orks tore him and the Dreadnoughts apart. The Orks had suffered few casualties compared to the Space Wolves and were eager for more destruction. But with nothing else in sight they turned their glaring red eyes towards the main hive of the planet.

Well as you can see, it went very very badly, but oh well, better luck next time eh.

[Battle Report] Necrons v Eldar 1500pts

Afternoon all,

On Monday night, myself and Angryman needed a break from our respective "first choice" armies, and from the standard Tournament style of gaming. So we decided to play a 1,500pt game from the Battle Missions book - using armies we've not played for a long time in my case, or barely at all with him.

The Lists
I quickly learnt when trying to write a 1,500pt list for the Necrons that I don't get many models on the table - especially when I'm so used to playing as the Orks. All I knew is, I wanted to jump around the table a bit and keep the Eldar on their toes.

Seethreepio, Necron Lord: Staff of Light, Veil of Darkness, Phase Shifter
ArtooDetoo, Necron Lord: Staff of Light, Resurrection Orb, Phase Shifter
5 Immortals
3 x 11 Necron Warriors
3 Necron Destroyers
Monolith

The Eldar were something along the lines of:
Farseer
Wraithlord
3 War Walkers
5 Fire Dragons in a Falcon
10 Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent
13 Guardians with Starcannon Weapon Platform
12 Guardians with Starcannon Weapon Platform
2 Vypers

Since we'd played the Rulebook missions to death, we decided we would play a random scenario from the Battle Missions book and ended up with "Mobile Defence Force" which we had 5 objectives.

Only half of the Eldar army could deploy on the table - Infantry, Walkers and Monstrous Creatures - everything else (including units in a Dedicated Transport vehicle) would have to be kept in reserve. However, the Eldar units could begin to roll for reserves from the first turn.

Set Up
Objectives were split around the board fairly evenly, and the scenario called for the Eldar to deploy first. So the 2 Guardian Units, Farseer, War Walkers and Wraithlord on the board. These guys could set up anywhere in the Eldar half of the board, and each Guardian unit started on an objective tag-teamed with the Warwalkers at 1 objective and the Wraithlord at the other.

My Necrons deployed 1 unit of Warriors on a right side Objective, 1 unit near the far left objective with the Res Orb Lord and the Immortals with Veil of Darkness Lord out of sight. The Destroyers set up towards the left hand board edge, ready to square up to the War Walkers. The Monolith and 3rd Warrior squad remained in reserve.

I will forewarn readers. My memory of the game is patchy at best so forgive me if some of the details are a bit vague.

Turn 1
Necrons:
First turn went to the Crons. The Lord and the Immortals Veil of Darkness'd to near the middle Guardian squad and War Walkers, ready to unleash a torrent of fire on the Central objective. The Destroyers also moved up the field to target the War Walkers with their Gauss Cannons.

The middle Warrior squad, shot the middle Guardian squad, forcing them to take a Leadership test which they passed. Whilst the Destroyers, Immortals and Lord attacked the War Walkers destroying 2 of them.

Eldar:
The Eldar reserves began to show up on turn 1 leading the charge with a Vyper and the Dire Avengers in their Wave Serpent showing up.

Retaliation was swift for the Eldar - focusing their attacks on the Destroyer unit. The Farseer Doomed the unit, then Guided his supporting Wraithlord. Between the firepower that got put out from those units, plus the Vyper that arrived, the Unit of Destroyers was killed and could then not attempt a WBB roll.

Objectives: 2 - 1 to the Eldar

Turn 2:

Necrons:
No sign of the Monolith and Warriors so far. Warriors with the Res Orb Lord moved up the field to rapid fire the middle Guardians. The Immortals and Lord moved closer towards the central building - with the War Walkers and Guardians.

In the shooting phase, the Middle Warriors managed to cause the Middle Guardians to flee and whittled them under half strength in the process meaning they're unable to rally. The Immortals and the Lord attacked the War Walker. The Left Warriors managed to cause the Farseer and Guardians to take a Leadership but they easily passed.

In the assault phase, the Immortals and the Lord charged into the remaining War Walker and dispatched it, losing 1 Immortal in the process.

Eldar:
I think no reserves this turn, but the Dire Avengers and Vyper moved up the field towards the Left Objective. The Fleeing Guardians continue to run off the board, but were able to take some pot shots at the Lord and Immortals forcing one down.

The Guardians and Wraithlord began to hammer the Left unit of Warriors through a Doom / Guide combo, forcing about 4 of them to be needing WBB rolls next turn.

Turn 3:

Necrons:
Still no sign of the Monolith.. the Lords begin to grow Impatient. The Immortals and the Lord move into cover in the middle building. The Middle warriors move up towards the middle objective but remaining Chain-like leaving a man behind sat on the back objective. The far left Warriors leave the safety of their Cover to begin moving out towards the objective.

In the shooting phase the Lord and Immortals peppers the Farseer's squad with shots, forcing another Leadership test which he managed to pass. The Warriors shot at the Dire Avengers in their Transport but were out of range.

Eldar:
The 2nd Vyper showed up this turn and Zoomed onto the board alongside it's Twin. The Dire Avengers moved up to camp near the Left Objective. The Fire Dragons in their Falcon also showed up and moved into position to reinforce the Eldar home objective.

During shooting, another 2 Immortals went down from Guardian fire and the Farseer doomed the left Necron warriors and Guided the Wraithlord. These all combined to fire on the Warrior squad, who managed (through lots of cover saves from around the table) to only take a few to go down for WBB - after all but 1 of them stood up with WBB last turn.

The Dire Avengers, having jumped out of their Transport also attempted to Bladestorm the Necron Warriors, forcing 4 to WBB, after they passed their Leadership Test.

Turn 4:

Necrons: Now we're talking. The Monolith and Warriors showed up, managing by an Inch, not to scatter off the table, after deploying near the Eldar home objective. The Reserve Warriors then walked out from the Portal, ready to rapid fire anything nearby.

The Immortals and Lord secured their central position, the Middle warriors consolidated back to their objective and the Left Warriors edged out towards the Eldar Wave Serpent.

Necron shooting was pretty feeble... the remaining Immortals shot the Farseer and Guardians, causing a few wounds but they once again stood fast. The Warriors coming through the Monolith opened up whatever fire they could on the Wraithlord causing 1 Wound, followed by the Flux Arcs off the Monolith causing another Wound.

The Left Warriors retaliated at the Dire Avengers, killing off several of them, but they followed the Farseer's example and stood firm.

The Wraithlord then charged into the Warriors that emerged from the Monolith and crushed 2 of them. They passed their Leadership test and remained Resolute.

Turn 5:

Necrons:
The Monolith moved around the Eldar objective and transported through the Warriors that were locked in Combat with the Wraithlord unable to hurt him by conventional means.

The Immortals and the Lord shot again at the Farseer Guardians picking off more of them. The Flux arcs off the Monolith managed to wipe out more of the Guardians and again they did not run. The tradeoff between Warriors and Dire Avengers resulted in nothing much and the rest of the shooting in the army slowly fizzled out.

Eldar:
The 2 Vypers began their dash towards my Home objective, hoping to contest it in the hope the game went to a 6th or 7th Turn. They would at least be 1 turn away. The Fire Dragons leapt from their Falcon with the Monolith in their sights. The Wraithlord began to move through cover to stop the Monolith and Warriors.

However, the Fire Dragons were unable to dent the giant Necron vehicle and were then left open to attack next turn. The Guardians shot at the Reserve Warriors. The Dire Avengers Wave Serpent failed to do any damage to the Leftside Warriors.

At this point: 1 - 0 to the Necrons....

Lowe and behold, we rolled for a Turn 6...

Turn 6:

Necrons:
The Monolith remained where it was in order to fire again. The Warriors edged forwards but were outside of distance of the Objective.

The Monolith and Reserve Warriors managed to wipe out the remaining Guardians and remove the Farseer's final wound (previous were lost from Perils of the Warp) and the Fire Dragons, also immobilising the Dragons Falcon.

The remaining 2 Warrior squads attempted to target a Vyper each, 1 becoming Stunned for the next turn and the other successfully passing it's cover saves.

Eldar:
The remaining Vyper moved to within Contesting distance of the Home Necron objective and the Wraithlord failed his Wraithsight test.

The Dire Avengers transport tried to thin the Left Warriors out and only managed to kill 1 Warrior and that was all the shooting for the Eldar force!

The deciding roll would be whether there was a Turn 7.... And alas No..

Final Result
Drawn Game: 3 Contested Objectives, 2 Empty Objectives.

This was a reeeeally close game between two very mobile, heavily shooting focused armies and it could have swung either way. Both of us enjoyed playing new armies, as it's a welcome change from Hordes of 5/6+ save Boyz and Gaunts and I could rely on more of my units not dying!

It was also fun to play against an Eldar army, as I'd not played against one for a while. I'd really forgotten the Synergy they need to play well as an army - makes me consider wanting to start them at a Combat Patrol level.

I may have got some of the events in the Battle Report out of sequence, so apologies. I really need to take a notepad with me in future and jot down things that are happening each turn!

Until next week readers!

SB

Road To Stockport Week 4!

Once again, its that time of the week, its the Road to Stockport, if you are wondering what happened to week 3, you didn't miss it, we were busy last week painting, so there was no game! This week, however, once again (due to people being off and other gaming systems) Logans Great(ish) Company faced off against the Tyranids of Hivefleet Tattybojangles. Enjoy! (PS. I appologise that the pictures are out of sequence, we didnt think to take any until turn 4, it got really interesting at that point!)

The Drop pod Rattled around Logan as it screeched towards the Drop Zone, they would be going in hot today. The pod smashed into the ground just in bolter range just as planned, Squad Vulkan was already setting up firing arcs aiming at the centre of the large horde of Tyranids heading towards them. Logan could see in the distance Sven’s Long fangs were already set up with clear fields of fire in all directions and closely supported by Lykan’s Grey hunter squad. A grin crept across his lips bearing his large fangs as he saw the contrails of 6 missiles spear into the Warrior squad blowing one of the creatures apart and ripping chunks out of the largest. The assault cannon of Squad Vulkan was the next to open up, the high calibre bolts tearing chunks out of the remaining warriors. Then the hive mind kicked in and the horde began to move towards the Wolves positions, Logan could see one of the larger creatures churning out more and more gaunts and expected a bloody fight. Their guns opened up and through sheer weight of fire managed to wound one of the mighty terminator clad marines, but it was of little consequence, the Space Wolves were about to get to grips with the enemy, where they worked best.

Logan saw the drop pod for Squad Leonis crash down further forward disgorging his Grey hunters on the far flank ready to burn the foul xeno off the planet. The missiles of the Long fangs opened up again shredding the last of the Warriors, only leaving the largest looking bloodied and bruised from the barrage. The Terminators lumbered forward under Logan’s command and he heard the Assault cannon whine as it powered up and began hurling more explosive shells at the large creature that was disgorging the gaunts. The Grey hunters also opened up on the Tervigon but despite the barrage of fire it remained standing though a few of the gaunts in the path of Squad Leonis’ flamer were not so lucky. Squad Lycus had appeared behind the horde as he was best at doing and charged into the rear of the enemy, but the Hive mind had been prepared for this and quickly tore the scouts apart leaving the remnants to flee bloodied possibly beyond help. The terminators were not quick enough and the gaunts protecting the larger Tervigon poured into them ripping with claws and teeth, but the stoic heroes stood firm and began to beat back the flooding horde. Logan felt the ground shake and heard a great crash and as he turned he saw one of the dreaded Trygons smashing out of the ground in front of the Long fangs forcing them to fall back as their equipment failed from the electromagnetic discharge the creature released. Then the horrid sickening feeling began again and Logan’s hackles began to rise, he knew what was coming, it was the dreaded doom, no matter how many times they killed it, it kept coming back. He watched as it smashed into the ground and immediately began leeching the life out of Squad Leonis killing 5 of his men before they even knew what was happening, one of Logan’s terminators also fell to the psychic assault. Leonis reaped a horrid toll in combat taking revenge for his squad by killing almost every gaunt that charged in against his remaining men.

Logan saw Squad Lykan jump out of their Rhino in defence of Sven’s retreat and bravely poured plasma and bolter fire into the giant Trygon, but it was little use and merely distracted the beast from its prey. Logan wanted revenge against the dreaded Doom and sent his personal squad to assist Vulkan against the pressing horde while he himself charged towards the floating brain. Even as the Doom absorbed more souls from Squad Leonis, leaving the sergeant alone to face the coming horde Logan smashed his great Axe into the creatures’ cranium splitting its carapaced skull and brain apart, hopefully ending its life of terror for good. Squad Vulkan backed up by the remaining terminator of Logan’s squad managed to beat the swarm of gaunts and finish off the giant warrior before it could cause any harm. Victorious the terminators regrouped and fell back towards the pods to bring their heavy weapons to bare and create a solid wall of ceramite as they were the remaining few after the Trygon ripped Lycus and his squad apart.

This was it, the last stop they needed to make before reaching Stockport, and they just had to hold out here. Logan was no coward though and charged towards the Tervigon that had caused so many problems, he took shot after shot and his armour was beginning to fail blood began trickling down through the cracks but on he continued under the supporting cover of the remaining terminators of Squad Vulkan and the remaining razorback, while his own remaining bodyguard faced down against the Trygon and the left flank of the Tyranid assault on his own.

Logan Smashed into the Tervigon crushing its legs under the might of his blows causing it to crash to the ground before bringing his great axe down to cleave the creatures head apart in a furious flurry of blows. He stepped back and bellowed a howl like no other before, then the horde opened up and the living ammunition found the cracks in his armour worming into his wounds causing Logan to falter at the last moment. Vulkan managed to remain standing once again keeping his master safe, Logan would have to promote this heroic figure a promotion soon, he had deserved it time after time. The Tyranids began rampaging through the Space Wolf vehicles as the remaining men fell back, Logan’s lone bodyguard stood firm but the weight of fire took him down eventually, his duty done in delaying the horde for his master he fell to the ground proud in himself.

Road To Stockport: Week 2

(Last night was an interesting 3 player game involving the Space Wolves of Logan’s Great(ish) Company, the Tyranids of Hivefleet Tattybojangles, and the Guardsmen of Manutia)

As Logan and the Commander of the Guardsmen discussed the plan to destroy the Tyranid hive, a lone Alpha warrior strode forward leaving its pack behind.
Logan pointed to the Alpha Warrior “See how the Xeno scum believes itself better than us, it doesn’t even deem speech worthy of itself.” He appealed to the Commander.
The Guardsman turned to his squad and began whispering among themselves “I think you are right, but maybe we can discuss a truce so that no-body gets hurt!” he said to the two other commanders.
“That sounds reasonable” replied Logan, “Oi, Bug, I suggest you return to your ships or face the consequences.” The Alpha Warrior just stood there.
“That isn’t what I meant by a truce!” shouted the Guard Commander.
“You are willing to consort with Xeno, you disgust me!” bellowed Logan.
“I wonder what wolf meat tastes like?” were the only thoughts going through the Alpha warriors head.
That’s when the hive started to move, the group of Warriors in the near distance moved quickly to join the feast with their leader and the other creatures surged towards the Imperials. The Guardsmen had little time to react and their Commander was too stunned to move. The Wolves were a little quicker and got both squads of Terminators on the ground immediately, while a Lone Razorback surged forward eager to get the fangs of its heavy bolter into battle. The Long Fangs, securely in Position opened fire on the Imperial Valkyries believing them to be consorting with the Xenos but in the confusion the missiles went wide and missed with every one. Logan found his Retinue and regrouped with them after they launched a volley of bolter fire into the Guardsmen.

Then all hell broke loose. The Tyranids avoided the newly arrived Terminators and rushed towards the Vehicles of the Guard, but failed to do any lasting damage, leaving them open to a counter attack. The Guardsmen opened fire on the Tyranids but inflicted little damage to the large horde, the massed confusion left their ordered guns firing wildly. The Space Wolves got their Discipline back immediately and the Last Drop Pod Smashed into the Ground amidst the Tyranids, pouring Squad Leonis out into the wastes, they wasted no time and opened fire on the Alpha Warrior and his Brood, Terminator Squad Vulkan poured their own fire from the deadly assault cannon into the fray as well, killing off a couple of the Warriors, while the Long Fangs kept their Focus on the Valkyries.

Squad Leonis charged into the Alpha warrior hoping to bring it down with their weight of numbers, while the Terminators of Squad Vulkan secured the chapel with the help of Logans personal retinue. The Long fangs finally took off the weapons of one of the Valkyries. Leonis was able to kill off all the remaining Warriors but failed to wound the Alpha at all, leaving them open to a counter assault from a large swarm of gaunts, which hit them hard and despite a hard effort the Grey Hunters fell. The Alpha warrior took lead of the gaunts and headed towards the chapel under a hail of Lasfire from the Guardsmen. The Ogryns charged fearlessly into a looming trygon, wanting to prove they were worthy servants of the Emperor and through their ferocity almost felled the giant beast before they were cut down leaving the Commisar to face off against a monster three times the size of him.

Then the air screeched as if in pain, Logan Knew the sound, he saw the fleshy pod head straight for the chapel and as it burst open the horrific form of a lone Zoanthrope floated out. He knew that it was no ordinary Tyranid from the way his hackles raised, it was the Doom of Malan’tai. The first waves of Nausia washed over him and his squad and he could see Squad Vulkan suffered the same, he watched as the souls of his warriors were sucked into the creatures body and their lifeless forms crumpled to the ground, he could feel his own will being sucked away. He saw Squad Lykan jump from their Rhino and burn a large number of gaunts to a crisp before charging into the Alpha Warrior determined to avenge their fellow Grey Hunters. Then everything went black, once again, he would have to get used to this. Sergeant Vulkan was the only Terminator to survive defending the Chapel and told Logan how the Guard Squad had blown away the Mycetic Sport before the Long Fangs ripped the Doom apart before it could absorb the last of his soul.

The Guardsmen were not so lucky, the Trygon ripped into the Commisar and moved towards the Hovering Valkyries, and ripped one apart with its razor sharp claws, while the dreaded Zoanthropes used their great minds to blow another apart by sheer force of will. The Long Fangs were not kind towards their would be allies and destroyed one of the Chimeras while the Razorback blew apart a second Valkyrie from behind. Lycus had spent a while getting into position behind the Hive’s base spawning pool and charged straight into the largest creature they could find, which was a hulking Tervigon, Lycus entered a feral rage ripping shreds from the creatures armour and the Melta gun found these weak spots causing untold damage, while the other Scouts darted in and out stabbing and slashing at the large creature, it could not withstand the assault and a final drive into the creatures skull saw it die, but had also sealed the squads fate. The Rest of the Hive felt the loss of one of their birthing creatures and turned towards Lycus and opened fire, killing 3 of the squad, only the Melta gunner remained standing, and protected Lycus like a wolf protects its cub. The Space Wolves held the chapel securely with Vulkan stood sentinel while Lykan moved his squad in support, they had also managed to destroy the Tyranid Spawning pool, but would not be able to hold the area while the Scouts retreated back into the shadows, but it was at a cost and the Imperial guard base had been devoured by the Tyranids. The guardsmen put up a hard fight and destroyed the weakened Trygon with a single well placed Melta Shot, blowing its head apart in a shower of roasted gore.

The Imperials held the Chapel and it would be a long clean up to rid the infestation of Tyranids. The Misunderstanding between the Guardsmen and the Space Wolves was settled and they worked together to remove the foul Xeno from the planet.

The Road to Stockport

I am going to start doing a kind of Battle Report, but putting the battles into stories to set them apart from any other Battle Reports on this site. Here is the first part, where my newly built Space Wolves are facing off against Angrymans Tyranids. It is a 1500pt game in preparation for our Stockport Tournament (hence the title)

As Logans pod Burst open he looked around and could see that the Grey hunters had taken up effective positions one Rhino was speeding towards his own position to help him destroy the foul Tyranid Spawning pool while another rumbled slowly forward keeping some xeno warriors within its sight and a clear path towards their own rally point. He turned and looked to see if his Long fangs were in position, but there were nowhere to be seen.
“Sven, report your position!” he rumbled into the comm-link.
“We are having problems, the rubble is denser than first thought, ETA. 3 minutes.” Came the reply

Logan looked back onto the battlefield and spotted a foul Tervigon heading towards his squad, without cover and backup he could get easily overpowered by its firepower, and there had to be more nearby. He started towards the solid plascrete wall of a building with his Wolf Guard in tow, but he wasn’t quick enough and he saw the rest of the horde appear from the rubble. They were in range and he could see the guns spasm as they prepared to fire. It was too soon, they hadn’t expected this. The entire horde opened fire on his position and he managed to throw himself behind some rubble, taking only a glancing hit, his squad wasn’t so luck and three of the Wolf Guard fell their armour no protection against the living and thinking ammunition of the foul xenos.
As he assessed the situation he heard an increasing roar from above him, he recognised it as another Drop Pod, and heading for his position and he grinned showing his long fangs.

“Lycus, in position ready to pounce.” Came a soft voice over the comm-link.
The Scouts had flanked the Tyranids, the plan was beginning to play out as he had hoped. The pack were converging and about to strike from all sides, just like a pack of wolves hunts is prey back on Fenris.
“Prepare to pounce when Brother Torvald lands. Strike in unison.” He roared back, the xeno knew he was there and they couldn’t understand human speech and even if they could it was unlikely they knew the native Fenrisian tongue.
Just as the pod crashed into the ground mere metres away from Logan a Rhino drove recklessly through the wall next to him skidding to a halt as a Flamer wielding Grey Hunter hung out the side hatch. The trap was sprung and the Tyranids had walked right into it, he saw the other squad of Hunters pulling back slightly supported by a razorback keeping the Warriors in their sight.
“Sven, are you nearly ready the trap is already sprung.” Logan was becoming impatient they should be setup by now to support his assault.
“the stairs have collapsed, we are having to make the climb another way, ETA still 3 minutes.” Came the frustrated voice from the Long Fang Sergeant.

He turned back and looked to his arriving brother, more hulking terminators strode out of the drop pod already pointing the massive assault cannon at a looming Carnifex while the scouts could be seen sneaking up from the enemy rear. Then the killing began. The Assault cannon opened up at the same time as the flamer from the Rhino. There was a hiss of superheated air as the melta in the scouts opened up at the carnifex at the same time. Gaunts screeched as they were roasted alive but the carnifex just shrugged off every bullet and even the melta shot only managed to score its carapace. Logan heard the sound of bolter fire coming from behind and saw a mighty Tyranid warrior fall to the Razorback and second Hunter Squads fire.

He went to jump from his cover but he had left it too long and his scouts were already charging in, slaughtering more gaunts and hoping to distract the Carnifex, then a Trygon roared and smashed the rhino apart with its guns before charging into the Grey hunters followed by the Tervigon they had first seen. Dispite the Scouts attempt to keep the Terminators free to bring their firepower to bear again they were swamped by gaunts. Dispite all this every warrior fought on bravely and died like a true Fenrisian. Logan was stunned into inaction by the ferocity of the xeno and even his own wolves although fighting like cornered beasts couldn’t match it. It was over in a matter of minutes, every last battle brother lay dead, except himself and his lone Wolf Guard. It had been his fault, his inaction had led to this, he saw the Long Fangs finally in position and begin to open fire, but it would be too late. He also watched as the second squad of Hunters fought bravely and killed off the warriors and gaunts heading to the rally point. Not that it was any use anymore, there was no-one to rally. The Trygon loomed above him and a third pod cam roaring down, but this one was living and contained the most horrific creature possible. It crashed next to the Grey hunter Sergeant and his Melta wielding squadmate, and ate their souls, just as a second Tervigon scuttled around the corner, he didn’t know which fate would have been worse, but he planned on doing something to repent for his inaction and charged headlong into the Trygon.

He heard missiles loose and caught a glimpse of the horrid creature that had spawned from the pod get blown apart then he saw the Trygon getting larger, it was much bigger than he thought, with a sweep of its tail it sent Logan flying into a wall under the Long Fangs, he heard bones snap, then he blacked out just as he saw the contrails of four missiles lash out and rip the Trygon apart. At least someone could claim glory this battle. He awoke in the apothecarion in a sombre mood, they had lost the world to the foul xenos, and it had been his inaction that had cost the lives of many battle brothers. It was going to be a long road to Stockport, if he survived that long.

Tune in Next week for the next installment, hopefully the Space Wolves wont die this time