Thursday, 18 March 2010

Batrep 14-03-2010 - Nova Storm Marines v New Codex Tyranids


Approx 790 points

Marines (21, 1 Dread, 2 Vehicles)

Force Commander
Tactical Squad 1 (Sergeant with SB & PW,  Heavy Bolter, Plasma Gun) in Drop pod
Tactical Squad 2 (Sergeant with Storm Bolter & PW, Plasma Cannon, Plasma Gun)
Dreadnought with Multimelta
Whirlwind

Tyranids (29 and 14 Spore Mines)

Hive Tyrant
21 Termagaunts
Zoanthrope
6 Warriors
3 Spore Clusters (5,5,4)

Mission

Capture and Control with Dawn of War deployment

Pre Game

Marines win first turn and choose deployment edge

Choose to deploy on side with both hills to provide clear lines of fire

Place objective in crater 4 inches from edge in left hand half of board

Tyranid objective in opposite corner in Wooded Area Terrain

Spore Mines deploy using Orbital Deployment and land in 3 groups in Marine Deployment Zone

Marines deploy with Force Commander on hill, and Tactical Squad 2 split into Combat Squads. Combat Squad 2a with Sergeant and Plasma Cannon deploy next to the Marine objective, while Combat Squad 2b deploy further towards the middle line of the board to advance towards the Tyranid Objective.

Dreadnought and Whirlwind and left to come on in Turn 1, with Tactical Squad 1 in Drop Pod in Reserve.

Tyranids deploy with Hive Tyrant and 21 Gaunts near the centre line, ready to advance. The Warriors are next to the Wooded Area Terrain and Objective, but crucially not within 3" of it.

Tyranids attempt to Seize Initiative and fail, so Marines still get first turn.

Turn 1

Night Fight is in effect.

Marines

Tactical Squad 1 arrives by Drop Pod, landing in the Tyranid corner with the objective and crucially not scattering off the board (rolled a hit on the scatter dice!) Deploy into Combat Squad 1a with Sergeant and Plasma Gun, and Combat Squad 1b with the Heavy Bolter. Combat Squad 1a is within 3" of Tyranid Objective after deployment and Marines capture the enemy objective!

Combat Squad 2a attempt to shoot the spore mines nearby and kill them with Bolter rapid fire, unfortunately the Plasma Cannon shot scatters 6" back towards the Cluster of 5 marines and hits the Plasma Cannon marine and the Sergeant, killing the both despite their cover save from the crater!

Tyranids

The remaining Spore Mines scatter randomly but are all too far away to be of major consequence.

Gaunts and Hive Tyrant advance on the Marine Objective, but are unable to spot any targets or are out of range.

Warriors shoot at Combat Squads, but fail to wound.

Zoanthrope comes in near the Drop Pod, fires its Warp Lance power at it and destroys the Storm Bolter!

Turn 2

Night Fight is now lifted.

Marines

Dreadnought moves towards the Gaunts and fires Storm Bolter failing to do any damage.

Combat Squad 1b fires 8 Bolter shots and 3 Heavy Bolter shots at the Zoanthrope and kill it.

Force Commander joins Combat Squad 2b and moves up the board, shooting at the Warriors with the Force Commanders Hellfire Rounds and Auxiliary Grenade launcher which cause 3 wounds.

Dreadnought Assaults the Gaunts, tying them up in Combat and preventing them from moving and capturing the Marine Objective as the other Tyranid Troops choice, the Warriors is occupied with clearing Marines from their own Objective! 6 Gaunts and killed in the charge, but they are incapable of hurting the Dreadnought! Due to the proximity of the Hive Tyrant they are fearless and stay in the fight.

Whirlwind hits the Warriors causing several wounds.

Tyranids

The remaining Spore Mines scatter randomly but are all too far away to be of major consequence.

4 more Gaunts die in assault with the Dreadnought.

Warriors kill 2 marines in Combat Squad 1b, and they fail their Morale Check and fall back far enough to bunch them together near the other Combat Squad.

Turn 3

Marines

Dreadnought fails to kill any Gaunts in Combat.

Combat Squad 1b rallies fires at the Warriors causing several wounds.

Combat Squad 1a fires at the Warriors causing several wounds.

I totally forget to move the Commander and Combat Squad 2b!

Whirlwind may or may not have hit the Warriors, killing 1 of them.

Tyranids

The remaining Spore Mines scatter randomly, two are getting near the close combat, one runs into another and is removed.

Hive Tyrant moves up to assault the Dreadnought, but cannot yet as his own troops are blocking the charge! It fires at Combat Squad 2a on the Objective and kills 2 of the remaining 3 marines. The last one fails the Morale Check at LD8 and flees off the board (he was only 3" from it!). This leave the objective contested by the Whirlwind and in danger of being captured.

Warriors shoot at Combat Squad 1b again, but don't do much.

2 more Gaunts die in Combat.

Turn 4

Marines

Both Combat Squads from Tactical Squad 1 fire at the Tyranid Warriors who have now taken two wounds each, and they begin to die. The Whirlwind assists them. There are only 3 Warriors left.

Force Commander and Combat Squad 1b move across the  board towards the Hive Tyrant, and run to make up ground.

Dreadnought kills 1 more Gaunt, which opens up a gap for the Tyrant to charge into!

Tyranids

The remaining Spore Mines scatter randomly, one goes between the Tyrant and the Close Combat and into the potential path of the Force Commander.

Warriors continue their fire fight with the Combat Squads 1a and 1b, but are still unable to dislodge them from the Objective.

Hive Tyrants uses the Paroxysm power on the Dreadnought (we ruled that although it is a vehicle and RAW prevents it from being used, the Dreadnought has a WS and BS value, and is piloted by a living being and could therefore be affected. Until this is FAQ'ed by GW this will work for me).

The Dreadnought has WS and BS reduce to 1 by the Hive Tyrant, which then charges in to combat. It hits with all 5 attacks, and causes 4 penetrating hits; a Crew Shaken, Weapon Destroyed, Crew Shaken and Destroyed - Wrecked. The Dreadnought is destroyed, and the remaining Termagaunts consolidate towards the Marine Objective. The Tyrant moves towards the Force Commander.

Turn 5

Marines

Force Commander splits from the Combat Squad, and moves towards the Tyrant. He passes his LD test to charge it and charges into Combat after firing both the Flamer and Auxiliary Grenade Launcher at it - both fail to wound.

Combat Squad 2b moves back towards the Marine Objective to try and stop the Gaunts from taking it.

Tactical Squad 1 still hold the Tyranid Objective - just, and their Drop Pod is still close enough and intact so that it would be contesting it even if they died, and the Warriors claimed it back.

The Whirlwind moves as close to the Marine Objective as possible to ensure that it is contesting it if needs be. It moves into the crater and passes it's Dangerous Terrain test, but I wasn't too bothered if it did fail as I had no intention of moving it any more.

Force Commander does 2 Wounds to the Tyrant in Combat, but takes 1 back due to its Acid Blood. The Tyrant hits the Commander 3 times, wounding twice and the second wound causes Instant Death due to the Implant Attack rule which states that any 'To Wound' roll of a 6 causes Instant Death! The Force Commander is killed despite having a single wound remaining.

I will now point out that I totally forgot to use his Iron Halo Invulnerable save against all the Wounds caused by the Tyrant in combat! So he might not have died! I think I just got a bit over-excited.

Tyranids

The remaining Spore Mines scatter randomly but are all too far away to be of major consequence.

Hive Tyrant regenerates all 3 lost wounds, and advances towards the Marine Objective and the Whirlwind sitting next to it. It opens fire at the Whirlwind with 6 twin-linked, Strength 6 Devourer shots in a desperate attempt to at least destroy the tank and force a Draw, but fails to damage it.

The remaining 3 Gaunts move towards the Marine Objective, but can't get close enough to it.

Tyranid Player rolls for Random Game Length and rolls a 2. End of Game.

Result

Marines win.

They hold the Tyranid Objective, and the remaining Tyranid Warriors are just too far away to be contesting it. The Marines are not holding their own objective, but the Tyranids have not captured it either.

Post Game

Highlights:

A risky Space Marine Drop Pod deep strike manoeuvre pays off on Turn 1. If it had scattered off the table, the entire squad would have been lost and I'd have been fighting for a draw all the way through pretty much.

The Plasma Cannon marine killing himself and the Squad Sergeant on Turn 1 with a scattered shot.

The Dreadnought getting ripped apart in one combat round by the Hive Tyrant! Spectacular!

Forgetting to use the Force Commander's Invulnerable Saves in combat with the Hive Tyrant, not that it would have changed anything, but I may have been able to kill the Tyrant in the next combat round if I'd have been luckier.

The Zoanthrope was unlucky not to destroy the Drop Pod. It only needed to roll a 3+ to score a Penetrating Hit, which it did, and it got a +2 to the damage roll ( +1 for being an AP1 weapon, and +1 due to the Pod being Open Topped), a 3+ would have been enough (3+2=5, 4 or higher +2=6 ), but he rolled a 2, which resulted in an Immobilised result. As the Pod is already Immobilised it was downgraded to Weapon Destroyed.

Six Tyranid Warriors soak up a surprising amount of firepower before they die.

Failing both the Morale checks I had to make on my LD 9 Marines, which resulted in me not holding my own objective near the end of the game.

No comments:

Post a Comment