Epic 3K: Tyranid vs Steel Legion

Last game report from the weekend using my Tryanids against Jonathan's Steel Legion. I decided to use the same infantry horde list I used in my game against the Marines.

Here's my Tyranid List:

3000 POINTS
Hive Fleet Onachus Tyranids (NetEA v10.2 *UNDER DEVELOPMENT*)
==================================================

TYRANID SWARM (L) [550]
3 Two Tyranid Warriors, 12 Termagants, 6 Hormagants

TYRANID SWARM (M) [375]
2 Two Tyranid Warriors, 8 Termagants, 4 Hormagants

TYRANID SWARM (M) [375]
2 Two Tyranid Warriors, 8 Termagants, 4 Hormagants

TYRANID SWARM (S) [275]
4 Termagants, 2 Hormagants, Hive Tyrant, 3 Zoanthrope (745.M41)

TYRANID SWARM (S) [275]
4 Termagants, 3 Zoanthrope (745.M41), 2 Hormagants, Hive Tyrant

TRYGON SWARM [375]
5 Trygon

EXOCRINE SWARM (M) [325]
6 Exocrine

LICTOR SWARM [300]
6 Lictor

LICTOR SWARM [150]
3 Lictor

Jonathan used his heavy armour list:

Imperial Guard  3000 POINTS
Steel Legion (NetEA Army Compendium v20120208)
==================================================

REGIMENTAL HQ [600]
Supreme Commander, 12 Infantry, 7 Chimera, 2 Ogryns, 2 Chimera

TANK COMPANY [700]
10 Leman Russ, Hydra

TANK COMPANY [650]
10 Leman Russ

SUPER-HEAVY TANK COMPANY [500]
3 Shadowsword

VULTURE SQUADRON [300]
4 Vultures

ARTILLERY BATTERY [250]

3 Basilisks

Jonathan's figures are all from Dark Realm Miniatures Pax Arcadia, except for two stands of Exodus Wars Robots that John uses for Ogryns (Ogrynbots?).

Turn 1

Here's the deployment, I'm really spread out across the left and centre of my deployment zone to avoid artillery fire.

And view from the left.

Guard win the Strategy Roll, and make me activate first. I move my big swarm ahead to the ruins and then the first artillery strike kills two Warriors and two Gaunt stands from one of my left swarms.

Undaunted I press forward, as do the Guard with both Tank regiments doubling up and firing. My Exocrines march to their left and my Blitz not wanting to up against a Guard Tank Company.

Here's a view from the left again.

Turn 2

Tyranids win the Strategy Roll! I double up with a Zoanthrope Swarm, firing and putting a Blast Marker on the Tank Company and getting into support range. My Gaunt Swarm then pounces on the Tank Company and wipe it out for the loss of only a couple of Gaunts, with assistance from the Zoanthrope Swarm (the Zoanthropes doing two Macro Weapon hits). This Tank Company is also the Guard Break Their Spirit Victory Condition, so the humans are in big trouble with this loss.

The Guard fire on another Gaunt Swarm the remnants of which march determinedly towards the Human Blitz..

My large Swarm doubles up into the central ruins, and Exocrines and Zoanthrope Swarms hold the ruins behind them. The other Leman Russ formation fails its initiative test and fires killing a single Zoanthrope. The Shadowswords march to one of their Take and Hold objectives! The Vultures remain sitting on overwatch waiting for the tunnelling Trygons to appear...

View from the side again.

Turn 3

The Trygons pop out of the ground, disappointed to find they are once again surrounded by three enemy formations. In fact it is difficult to fit them in to the tight space available. The Lictors also show up, 3 in the ruins inbetween the Tank Company and Infantry Company, and 6 in the ruins near the Guard blitz.

Guard win the Strategy Roll. The Infantry Company moves out and firefights the large Gaunt Swarm, with support from two Shadowswords. The Gaunts lose many units and fall back, for the loss of two Chimeras and a Guardsmen. The two Ogrynbots at the front absorb fire from the Gaunt Swarm and also some hits from the nearby supporting Trygons (if you can call hitting on a 6 supporting).

The Guard then retain with their artillery breaking another swarm near their Blitz.

Amazed they were not crossfired to death like in the last game, the Trygons gleefully pounce on the Tank Company, feeling smug as they take advantage of the nearby cover to avoid the overwatching Vultures. Only one Vulture can fire at them, but it does so, killing a Trygon! 

The close combat then goes wrong, with the Tanks killing one Trygon, and the Trygons killing no tanks in return and breaking. The nearby supporting Lictors look on disappointedly and take a blast marker. I leave the useless Trygons where they are not caring what happens to them... 

The Shadowswords then open fire killing three Exocrines breaking the formation, and the Leman Russ advance past the Trygons firing and killing the other two Zoanthropes from the formation near my Blitz.

I concentrate my remaining forces near the Guard Blitz, moving two more swarms  into support positions before assaulting with the Lictors. Having used their overwatch action against the Trygons the Vultures can no longer overwatch fire against the Lictors (which would have almost certainly have destroyed them). 

The two Guard formations are wiped out! I win 2-0 having achieved "Break Their Spirit" and "Blitz" victory conditions.

Well in review losing their big Tank Company start of Turn 2 was something the Guard needed a miracle to recover from. As it turned out they almost got it with the series of victories in turn 3. In the end they were just too thin on the ground though, and they couldn't defend everywhere. Having the Vultures intermingled with the Artillery was also problematic, they would have been better over 5cm away  in front to screen them which might just have made the difference.

This is of course also a very low activation count Imperial Guard army (just 6 activations!), and I think Jonathan would do well to swap out the Shadowsword Company for two single Shadowswords and a Sentinel squadron as he is considering, or perhaps even consider taking one rather than two tank companies (heresy I know Jonathan!) and more infantry or other cheaper formations.  

Lastly, I also hope my Trygons will do something useful one day...!

Edit: Also Jonathan has also added his own report on the game on his blog.

Epic 3K: Scout Marine vs Purple Tyranids

Game two of the weekend. Here I was facing Jesse's purple Tyranids. I decided to use a Marine list that is a bit contentious at the moment, as it involves a horde of Scout formations, together with some other backup. Theory is it can be a bit hard to handle so I was keen to try it out. Despite my warnings Jesse was willing to be the potential victim despite the fact he hasn't played in a while...!

Here's the Marine List:

Marine Scout Horde 3000 POINTS
Codex Astartes (NetEA Tournament Pack 2013)
==================================================

SCOUT [200]
4 Scouts, Captain

SCOUT [200]
4 Scouts, Captain

SCOUT [150]
4 Scouts

SCOUT [150]
4 Scouts

SCOUT [150]
4 Scouts

SCOUT [150]
4 Scouts

SCOUT [150]
4 Scouts

SCOUT [150]
4 Scouts

WARLORD [825]
1 Warlord Class Titan

THUNDERBOLT SQUADRON [175]
2 Thunderbolt Fighters

DEVASTATOR [350]
4 Devastators, Supreme Commander

TERMINATOR [350]
4 Terminators

That's 12 activations, 2 off table (Terminators and Thunderbolts).

Incidentally I don't actually have 8 Scout formations, and was just using Tacticals to represent them for this game. Unfortunately we were playing at Jesse's place and I also left half of my Tactical formations at home(!), so they ended up being bit of a mismash of non-matching Rhinos and Tactical units. But heh they also all representing Scouts so I guess it didn't really matter.

Jesse's Tyranid Army was as follows:

Tyranids 2995 POINTS
Hive Fleet Onachus Tyranids (NetEA v10.2 *UNDER DEVELOPMENT*)
==================================================

NEXUS SWARM [440]
1 Dominatrix, Carnifex, Termagants, Hormagants

TYRANID SWARM (M) [375]
2 Two Tyranid Warriors, 6 Termagants, 6 Hormagants

TYRANID SWARM (M) [375]
2 Two Tyranid Warriors, 6 Termagants, 6 Hormagants

HIEROPHANT BIO-TITAN (745.M41) [525]

TYRANID SWARM (S) [380]
Two Tyranid Warriors, 4 Termagants, 3 Dactylis, 2 Hormagants

LICTOR SWARM [150]
3 Lictor

LICTOR SWARM [150]
3 Lictor

TRYGON SWARM [225]
3 Trygon

TYRANID SWARM (M) [375]
2 Two Tyranid Warriors, 6 Termagants, 6 Hormagants

That's 9 activations, 2 off table (the Lictor Swarms). Trygons started on table as Jesse was worried about the Marine activation advantage and also didn't want them to get isolated vs lots of Scouts. Jesse was short a painted Trygon so a Malefactor is filling in for it in this game.

Turn 1

Here's the deployment, the Tyranids favouring their left flank, and the Marines spread out across their deployment zone and with three Scout formations garrisoned forward. The Tyranid Take and Hold objectives are on the left in the photo below, and mine are on the right, all of them on the centre line roughly.

Turn 1 consists of both sides cautiously moving forward and exchanging fire, with two of my Scout formations on the right losing two Scout units each.  I cause negligible casualities, but do place quite a few Blast Markers on the Tyranid right flank swarm and Trygons.

The Hierophant has marched up behind the forest (only three trees but it's really a dense line of sight blocking forest honest!) as it stalks the Warlord Titan.

End of the turn 1 and I have massed six Scout formation on the Tyranid right flank, half of them them moving there after the Tyranids have activated all their formations due to the activaton disparity (me having 10 formations to the Tyranid 7 on table).

Turn 2

The Tyranid Lictors teleport behind the Warlord hoping for a lucky strike...

Marines win the Strategy Roll and I do a combined firefight engage action with 3 Scout Formations (Captain in one of them has the special Commander ability which lets you combine friendly formations within 5cm for an assault). I lose two Rhinos transports, while the Tyranids lose more and break and retreat. 

I retain initiative and do the same again with another two formations against the Trygons, doing two points of damage to them and winning they firefight with some support from Scouts from the previous firefight. The Trygons also break and decide to retreat back towards their Blitz objective.

The Tyranid Lictors assault the Warlord in two successive activations, doing a point of damage to the Warlord but being wiped out in the process.

My Devastators kill a gaunt from the central Tyranid Swarm which then engages and wipes out an understrength Scout detachment. I open fire on the Swarm with the Warlord and Thunderbolts.

The Dominatrix moves into the woods firing and killing two units of a Scout formation which has already lost its Rhinos this turn. The remaining two Scouts run away.

End of turn and the Hierophant has jogged around behind the Warlord.

Turn 3

As odds will have it, Marines win Strategy Roll again and the Warlord backs away and blasts the Hierophant with its full armament.

The Hierophant loses five of six damage capacity and scuttles away to hide in the forest.

The Dominatrix formation engages a Scout formation, killing two Rhinos and two Scouts for the loss of two Hormagaunts. The two remaining Scouts retreat and the Dominatrix swarm falls back.

Another Marine formation advances to contest the Marine Blitz, only taking a single casualty from Bio-Artillery fire. Another Marine Scout formation then firefights and breaks the Dominatrix Swarm with support from the other Scout formation.

The Tyranids move their central swarm to hold their Take and Hold objectives and to be on my half of the table to deny me the "They Shall Not Pass" objective. 

However I have already taken the Tyranid Blitz, and their Take and Hold and have won with three formations still left to activate. Game over.

Not such a close game, with me using an annoying list with many small activations and Jesse not having played in a while. Target choice of the Lictors was not so great I think - they should have eliminated some Scouts instead, and the Dactylis Swarm should have been sitting on the Tyranid Blitz as a guard probably. Sneaking up on a Warlord Titan with a Hierophant is tricky to do obviously. Anyway I will have to try this style of Marine list again I can see! Just need to find another "volunteer".

Epic 3K: Tyranid vs Marine

Three more games of Epic over the weekend. Here's the first where I focused on taking a horde of  infantry, along with some Lictors, Trygons, Exocrines, and Zoanthropes but no Bio-Titans. I was facing Nick's Marine army again.

In addition Nick brought around the bombed out cityscape scenery he has been working on so we could give that a try! Great idea and very nice even if it isn't finished yet. It gave an interesting challenge to both sides.

Here's my Tyranid List:

3000 POINTS
Hive Fleet Onachus Tyranids (NetEA v10.2 *UNDER DEVELOPMENT*)
==================================================

TYRANID SWARM (L) [550]
3 Two Tyranid Warriors, 12 Termagants, 6 Hormagants

TYRANID SWARM (M) [375]
2 Two Tyranid Warriors, 8 Termagants, 4 Hormagants

TYRANID SWARM (M) [375]
2 Two Tyranid Warriors, 8 Termagants, 4 Hormagants

TYRANID SWARM (S) [275]
4 Termagants, 2 Hormagants, Hive Tyrant, 3 Zoanthrope (745.M41)

TYRANID SWARM (S) [275]
4 Termagants, 3 Zoanthrope (745.M41), 2 Hormagants, Hive Tyrant

TRYGON SWARM [375]
5 Trygon

EXOCRINE SWARM (M) [325]
6 Exocrine

LICTOR SWARM [300]
6 Lictor

LICTOR SWARM [150]
3 Lictor

Nick's Marine army list was as follows:

3000 POINTS
Codex Astartes (NetEA Tournament Pack 2013)
==================================================

TACTICAL [375]
6 Tacticals, Supreme Commander, Rhinos

TACTICAL [425]
6 Tacticals, Captain, 2 Dreadnought (1 close combat, 1 shooting)

TERMINATOR [400]
4 Terminators, Chaplain

LAND RAIDER [325]
4 Land Raiders

PREDATOR [250]
4 Annihilator

ASSAULT [225]
4 Assault Units, Chaplain

WHIRLWIND [300]
4 Whirlwinds

BIKE [200]
5 Bike Unit

WARHOUND [500]
2 Warhound Class Titans

Turn 1

Here's an overview of the battlefield and deployment. As you can see Nick has made some MDF sabots for the ruin bases, not finished painting it all up but I think it still looks great. Much better to have all the roads rather than just ruins dumped in a green field!

Nick has garrissoned two Tactical formations in the ruins in the centre of the table. And looking at it now immediately I notice that he shouldn't have garrisoned one of them because it has three rhinos! (Mechanised units can't garrison in the standard tournament scenario unless they are scouts or have only a single fast vehicle like an AA support). Doh my fault for not noticing them - the camouflage is too good! Anyway it was a small detail that had no real significant impact on the game I think.

Also just to clarify how the terrain was played, all the ruin areas offered cover and blocked line of sight, except the areas highlighted below which were cover for infantry but did not block line of sight.

Nick wins the Strategy Roll and I advance a swarm into the ruins immediately ahead. Nick fires overwatch from a marine formation putting a blast marker on them. He then doubles his Predators down the road and fires killing an Exocrine.

Both sides continue to advance, with me managing to kill a Predator, and Nick placing more blastmarkers and killing a few gaunts. End of turn one we hold about half the town each, ready for a close encounter next turn!

Turn 2

Nick teleports his Terminators down on his right flank in front of his Tacticals and near my largest swarm.

I teleport (actually representing them sneaking up in ambush for these critters) both Lictor broods  in his rear zone ready to pounce on his artillery.

Marines wins Strategy Roll again, and the Predators drive back down the road, firing and wiping out the brood of 3 Lictors. He then retains and fires with the Whirlwinds, killing another Lictor from the six strong brood. I try to activate the Lictors but they fail and instead just move into the crater to their right. Having no Supreme Commander I can't reroll the result and hence the initiative passes back to the Marines!

Nick moves the Bikes to do a clipping firefight assault against my biggest swarm, after I clarify to him that this is the probably the best way to do the flanking attack he is trying to do here (him being relatively unfamiliar with the rules). The bikes advance to firefight the flank of the swarm and in this situation I'm pinned and taking support fire from the formations in front of me i.e.Terminators, Tacticals and two of the Landraiders! With casualties and assault resolution roll, I end up losing a heap of the gaunts, but most of the Tyranid Warriors (the important Leader bugs who were in the back rank) survive and retreat back to my Blitz.

Nick then doubles the Warhounds over and shoots the Lictors, killing three of them (and the Warhounds using Plasma Blast guns in the process which take a turn to recharge). My two Lictors retreat back behind a hill.

I advance a swarm firing at the Marine Assault detachment and then a second swarm wipes it out in a firefight for the loss of 3 gaunts.

A Zoanthrope kills one of the Marine Bikes, and the more fire is exchanged in the centre. End of second turn and the Marines have pushed forward on the left a little more and me on the right.

Turn 3

My tunneling Trygons burst out of the crater near the Marine Whirlwinds. Unfortunately for me (but not unexpectedly) the Marines win the Strategy Roll and immediately crossfire them with the Predators and then the Warhounds. 

One Trygon is killed and all the rest are wounded and they break and retreat over to where a number of Lictor carcasses lie.

I get some revenge, launching an assault on the Tactical Formation in the centre ruins with support fire from another swarm. The Marines are wiped out.

The Marine Landraiders kill a Zoanthrope from my rightmost swarm.

And then the Terminators firefight one of my central swarms killing all but two warriors for the loss of one Terminator stand.

My rightmost Zoanthrope swarm charges and wipes out the pesky Predators. I'm still calling it a Zoanthrope swarm even though only one of three Zoanthropes is still alive!

End of turn and both sides are looking thin on the ground. The Marines have lost three formations, and many of my swarms have lost large numbers units. My large swarm that took huge losses in the second turn is getting larger again though, having five Warriors to respawn gaunts and being more than 30cm away from the enemy. Both a Marine and Tyranid formation in bottom left of the photo have gone on overwatch.

Turn 4

Marines win Strategy Roll again and bombard my central swarm...

Killing a bunch of them including a Tyranid Warrior.

Then the Landraiders retain, moving and firing and breaking the Exocrines.

I assault the Bikes with my central swarm that just suffered the artillery barrage.  I kill three Bikes and break them, losing a Warrior and a Gaunt stand.

The swarm claims one of the take and hold objectives.

Marine Warhounds thin out my right most swarm again, and then the swarm is broken by the Terminators.

I try and fail to activate the Trygons. They move a single move uselessly towards the Marine Blitz, not even getting close enough to contest it.

I decide to risk everything on one last gamble to win via objectives rather than having the game go to tiebreak which I don't think will favour me. I double my large swarm up to grab one of my objectives, and also shooting and breaking the Terminators which only needed one more blast marker to suppress them. I then engage with my other Zoanthrope swarm against the Landraiders and the intermingled Tactical formation. I will have support fire from my largest swarm and if I win I break the two Marine formations, thus holding all my own objectives (Defend the Flag Objective), and meaning their will be no enemy formations on my half of the table (They Shall Not Pass Objective), giving me the victory! Brilliant!

The Marine Tacticals overwatch and countercharge, and things go not very brilliantly after all. My support fire bounces harmlessly off the Landraiders which make a gazillion saves, so that I end up killing only one Landraider and one Tactical Stand while taking many casualites in return. With combat resolution all my units except the Hive Tyrant are wiped out!

End of game, both sides are exhausted, with no Victory Conditions achieved. Tiebreak is won by the Marines by about 140 points! If my Zoanthrope formation hadn't been so beaten up in that last assault I would have lost by about 5 points. Very close! Well done Nick!

Great close game, and really interesting to be fighting over the cityscape. I look forward to the next one! Nick has again done his own report of the game on his blog.