Battlereport!

So I managed to play a game this weekend and here is the lowdown.



Game: Battlemission book = Last Defence

Points: 2000

Attacker: Tyranids

Defender: Space Marines



My opponent was Pat (the GW store owner in Tacoma), who had recently got a burnout with Fantasy and wanted to switch to some 'Draw'hammer! He started a new 40k army in which he is using the Chaos models and units because he loves the models/history, with the Space Wolves rule book. His main reason for doing this is that with the new plastic Bloodcrusher kits, he wanted Juggernauts as Thunderwolf cavalry. So the stage is set for the game!

We decided to play one of the 'Battle Mission' scenarios and thought that the Space Marine mission, 'Last Defense' would be a neat one to try. Alas, my first attempt at this scenario was a complete failure, so I hoped my luck might change this time.

Mission: Last Defense
Points: 2000
Tyranids vs. Chaos Wolves

The mission sets up with 1 objective in the very center of the defender deployment zone. The victory condition is to hold this objective at the end of the game. Basically I had to wipe 2000 points of marines off of a single objective. No easy feat! My deployment is 6" away from his deployment zone which is a 24" circle around the objective. Marines can only hold Fast Attack and units that can deep strike in reserve, while the attacker is 'required' to hold all Heavy support and HQ's in reserve.

Seeing as how I would have to start the game without any of my big bugs on the table I opted to hold everything in reserve and walk everything on at the start of my turn...

So with that in mind here are the lists...

Chaos Wolves:

Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf with lots of uber stuff
Thunderwolf cavalry unit of 4 guarding the Lord
4 10 man Grey Hunter squads (2 squads with melta guns, 2 with plasma guns)
1 Long Fang squad of 5 with 2 heavy bolters, and 2 plasma cannons.
1 5 man squad of Wolf Guard Terminators
2 Drop Pods (useless in this mission)
2 Rhinos (useless in this mission)
1 Razorback with T.L. Lascannon (kinda useless)
1 Land Raider Redeemer

Tyranids (Me):

Swarmlord with 1 Tyrant Guard
3 Hive Guard
3 Zoanthropes
2 Lictors
20 Termagaunts
20 Hormagaunts with Toxin Sacs
1 Tervigon with Toxin Sacs
6 Warriors with Bonesword/Lash Whips
20 Gargoyles with Adrenal Glands
5 Raveners with Rending Claws
1 Mawloc

We rolled off for first turn and as I figured would happen the marines got first go... good thing I'm not deployed!

Turn 1 (CM):
Marines move a Rhino out with a Grey Hunter squad toward one board edge to possibly delay my advance. Otherwise nothing happened.

Turn 1 (Nids):
Everything walked on except the Mawloc and Lictors. I deployed with my force in 3 edges of the board hoping to take advantage of particular units against targets in which they can cause the most damage to. The Zoanthropes, Gargs, and Warriors on the right. Swarmlord and Hormagaunts down the center. Hive Guard, Termagaunts and Tervigon down the left. Shooting phase was fairly uneventful. Zoanthropes barely had range but 1 failed their psychic test and the other two failed to destroy the Land Raider even with my Str 10 AP 1 Lance gun! (I rolled a 1 & 2 on for my penetrating hit rolls). Despite the failed shooting from the Zoans I managed to destory one of the Redeemer Cannons. The Hive Guard opened up on the Rhino that had zoomed toward the board edge and caused it to explode killing 4 marines inside (Pat failed 4 of 4 armor save rolls). The rest of the army ran forward and my Raveners managed to charge the remains of the unit in the Rhino wiping them to a man with no casualties in return, consolidating into the crater left from the wreckage.

Turn 2 (CM):

The drop pods came roaring out of the sky with nothing inside them. 30 pt storm bolters! The Land Raider thundered toward my Zoans and Warriors with his juicy Terminators inside. The Thunderwolf Cavalry charged my Hormagaunts in front of my Swarmlord to drive the bugs back. Shooting was fairly ineffective as the Marines tried to focus down my Zoans with their big guns only wounding one once. The Terminators popped out and charged the Zoans killing 2 leaving one sole survivor which left his Terminators out in the open and unable to consolidate into nearby cover to gain the upperhand against my Warriors! The Thunderwolves and Lord tore into the gaunts killing 10, but not before my gaunts managed to kill 2 of the Thunderwolves and wound both the reamining wolf once and the Lord twice! 40 attacks that wound on 4+!!! The combat was nearly a draw and due to synapse I lost a few more gaunts.

Turn 2 (Nids):

More running/charging! Lictors and Mawloc appeared right near the marine bastion. The lictors popped out and managed to kill a marine with their flesh hooks while staying out of line of sight of the majority of the marine force. The Mawloc popped out and hit a full Grey Hunter squad but only managed to wound 5 (I needed a 2+ and rolled 5 ones). Pat then proceeded to roll all but one cover save. :( Epic fail Mawloc! The Hiveguard started their turn out of synapse and had to fire at the nearest drop pod which exploded and took a few gaunts nearby it with the ensuing flames. The Tervigon opened up on the clustered marines in the bastion killing 2. The raveners charged the bastion and only killed 3 due to poor rending rolls while they lost 2 to the marine counter attack. The lone Zonethrope fought on valiantly but died to the terminators but not before my warriors managed to charge and wipe 4 of them from the table losing only 1 in return. The Swarmlord was unable to charge the Thunderwolf cavalry due to the 'pile in' rules and opted to move closer to the objective while staying in cover. The Gargs dared a risky assault to draw some gunfire away by shooting and charging the nearest Grey Hunter squad, downing 2 with Fleshborers, and 2 more in cc. However I only managed to roll a 5 on my difficult terrain for my charge and only got 4 Gargs into cc while his unit managed to wipe them clean due to the Gargs being out of synapse at the end of combat. I lost the whole unit while his Marines managed to catch them in a sweeping advance. The Hormagaunts were wiped clean by the Lord while his lone guardian was dispatched as well. The Lord opted to flee from the might of my Swarmlord and consolidated toward the Warriors who were giving a classic beat down against the Terminators.

Turn 3 (CM):

More shooting from the marines at the Mawloc. It died after almost all the marines torn into it with meltas, plasma, and bolter fire. It eventually died as the Lord charged it and caused the last wound. The Raveners fared a bit better killing a few more marines but losing another 2 in return. The Warriors cleaned the Terminators off the map and advanced toward the bastion once more. The Land Raider turned and fled while blasting away at the Warriors causing a few more wounds.

Turn 3 (Nids):

Gaunts run more but are still out of range to charge. Tervigon moves to try and use Dominate to bring the Hive Guard back into Synapse range but fails, while the Guard however miraculously make the check with a Ld 7 and act normally firing a few remaining shots at the Razorback blowing it into bits of metal. The Terivgon opened up again at the marines in the bastion but scattered off target. The Warriors advanced and ran, while the Swarmlord did the same! The Lictors and Raveners charged another squad of Grey Hunters killing 4, while suffering a few wounds in return.

More epic report to come.... I am getting tired at typing....

Who will win the epic struggle??

EDIT: Battlereport continued due to J's 2nd comment.... We can't allow that to happen!!!

Turn 4 (CM):

At the start of turn four here was a quick rough list of what remained...

CM:

• Wolf Lord with 1 wound
• Land Raider Redeemer partially damaged
• Drop Pod
• Rhino with no guns remaining
• Long Fang squad with no Sargent (can't split fire anymore)
• Grey Hunter squad with plasma guns (8 left, fought off the Gargs)
• Grey Hunter squad with melta guns (8 or so left, shot at and cleared the Mawloc)

Nids:

• Swarmlord with Tyrant Guard
• 2 Warriors
• Tervigon
• 25ish gaunts - (forgot to mention in turn 3, 10 were spawned from the Tervigon)
• 1 Ravener
• 2 Lictors
• 3 Hive Guard

The start of the marine turn went as follows...

Land Raider zoomed around the bastion to open fire on the gaunts before they could assault flaming about 5 with fire! Drop pod fired at gaunts killing another. The Long Fangs and plasma Grey Hunters eyed the unwounded Tervigon and saw that if it was allowed to live it could potentially charge the Land Raider and threaten the expensive beast, so they opened fire with everything and managed to wipe it clean from the table. This resulted in a psychic backlash killing about 7 more gaunts split between the two squads. The assault phase was more for the Nids though with the remaining melta squad being reduced to a single sole survivor by the remaining Ravener and Lictors. The Ravener was finally wiped clean from the retaliation though.... The plasma squad and long fangs stationed a floor above watched in horror knowing full well they were next! The Lord charged the Warriors and things looked bleak for the lord knowing full well that with only 1 wound left and the Warriors Lash Whips forcing him to strike at initiative 1 could spell doom for him. I awaited with baited breath as I rolled my attacks (6 in total). 5 were hits.... YES!.... now I needed only 4+ to wound thanks to toxin sacs!!!!..... the roll was........!!!!!........ two 1's, two 2's, and a 3........... The lord survived and proceeded to kill the remaining warriors. Pat was laughing hard at this point... the Lord was unstoppable!!! I however only smiled knowing that eventually if he wanted to win he would have to face the true cc master... the Swarmlord!!!

Turn 4 (Nids):

Movement saw the gaunts advancing up onto the objective with the Swarmlord. The gaunts opened fire at the Lord hoping to kill hive but failed to do so. The Hive Guard opened fire on the Land Raider and to no surprise caused no damage. The Lictors climbed the steep bastion to the very top where the Long Fangs awaited, killing 3 and taking no wounds. The Swarmlord followed suit and wiped the rest of the Long Fangs. Right now my whole victory relied upon my Swarmlord and Lictors being able to wipe the rest of the marines before time ran out!

Turn 5 (CM):

The plasma marines opened fire on the swarmlord and managed to kill the tyrant guard with plasma while the Land Raider popped a few shots at the Swarmlord failing to cause any damage. They then proceeded to charge the remaining Lictors and wipe them clean! They managed to not engage the Swarmlord and then consolidated down to the objective where their Lord rallied their sole survivors.

Turn 5 (Nids):

To win I had to kill every last marine..... that wasn't going to happen unless we went to turn 6. So I proceeded to target his lord knowing full well that he had caused me enough pain. The Hive Guard fired at the Land Raider but again nothing happened.... With primal fury the Swarmlord unleashed his Psychic Scream and Leech Essence psychic attacks killing another marine before he charged the Lord! Now the duel of the battle was in progress... To compare the two let us loot at various stat lines....

Wolf Lord

WS 6, S 6, T 5, W 1 left out of 3, A 4 (base) + 1 (2 CC weapons), +1 (counterattack)... He also has an ability that allows him to gain 1 attack for every wound he causes in the previous assault phase. In some instances he was swinging with 10ish attacks, Initiative 5, Save of 2+ with a 5+ invulnerable.

Swarmlord

WS 9, S 6, T 6, W 5, A 4, Initative 6, Save of 3+. However here is where Swarmlord is soooo damn good... He was built to provide synergy to the surrounding broods while being a character and elite infantry killer. With his 4 boneswords he gets a 4+ Invulernable in CC, ignores armor saves, causes instant death for every unsaved wound caused, as well as forcing your opponent to 're-roll' successful invulnerable saves!!!

The fight: I struck first with I 6, and proceeded to hit with all my attacks, and wounding with 3. His saves.... didn't happen this time... Dead Wolf Lord!!! The Swarmlord now turned to look at the Grey Hunters left standing....

At the end of turn 5 we rolled for another turn... and we got a 5... therefore we go on to turn 6.

Turn 6 (CM):

Pat was still smiling thinking he had a chance.... The Hive Guard were too far to contest the objective and weren't a threat to his Land Raider so he focused all his fire at the Swarmlord.... The Land Raider and Grey Hunters opened fire with a Multi-melta, 2 plasma guns, an Assault cannon, and numerous bolters..... in the end..... no wounds were caused!!!! (lots of 1's to wound were rolled)... Pat sighed, knowing full well what awaited him next....

Turn 6 (Nids):

The Hive Guard opted to fire at the Drop Pod instead to kill it and succeeded.... The Swarmlord with his wrath charged the remaining 5 marines.... with his Psychic attacks he killed 2 leaving 3 for his blades which were dropped like flies. The Swarmlord bellowed with rage and surveyed the carnage...

We rolled for another turn... a 2.... END OF GAME

Result: Tyranid Victory...

Survivors:

• 1 Land Raider
• 1 Rhino with no guns
• 1 Swarmlord
• 3 Hive Guard

Thoughts from the battle:

1. Space Wolves are annoying as sin.... Grey Hunters are definately one of the best troop choices out there.
2. Land Raiders are annoying and can only be downed by Zoanthropes at range.
3. Mawlocs are cool but I need to roll better....
4. Raveners rock!
5. Lictors aren't too bad, but if they are shot or assaulted en mass will drop like flies..
6. Lash whip Warriors make quick work of marines but definately attract a lot of priority gun fire...
7. Hormagaunts with Toxin Sacs are soooooo good. I will probably run 2 units of 20 from now on...
8. The Swarmlord is amazing as always!!! His only downfall is speed. He will constantly get avoided by your opponent due to their fear of his uberness... use this to your advantage.