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.

Random Update - Follow-up from Christmas and minor progress

So, it's been a few weeks since Christmas and in that time I have managed to finish the last Space Marine Tactical Squad that was actually assembled and waiting for painting, and another Terminator Marine.

That means I have so far painted the following:

1 Chaplain
40 Tactical Squad Marines
10 Devastator Marines
10 Scouts
6 Terminators

All I have to do now is finish another 4 Terminators, 5 Assault Terminators, 1 Dreadnought, 5 Command Squad Marines, 1 Commander and 5 Assault Marines and I can finally start on the vehicles!

On the Tau front, I've finished the last 6 man Fire Warrior Squad, so that's all the basic Troops done (other than repainting squad markings). Just waiting for my new Gorilla Super Glue to arrive so I can start on the 5 metal Vespid Stingwing troops, the 2 Broadsides, and the Sniper Drone team then I can start on the second wave of Tau painting which also includes a repaint of 1 previously finished Broadside, four built Crisis Suits, an Ethereal and the Commander (Forgeworld model) and Bodyguard.

I'm painting up a second test piece for the Tyranids to refine the speed technique before I embark on painting 53 basic Troops. When the weather gets a bit drier I can use the new Citadel Spray Gun I bought myself at Christmas and batch spray entire squads with the base coat - that should speed the job up!

For a Summer project I have a nice new Citadel Realm of Battle modular game board to paint and decorate. This definitely has to wait for summer though as it's a big job; 6 2x2 foot panels that need undercoating, base coating, drybrushing and flocking as fast as possible.

When the new glue arrives (see above), I can also build and paint my Griff Oberward Collectors Range mini from Christmas, so I can field him as my No 1 Team Captain Blitzer in my Human Bloodbowl team; the Altdorf Imperialists.

Random Update - Not much happening

Not done much lately - mainly waiting till after Christmas now.

I'm hoping that after Christmas I'll have a nice new Citadel Air-brush to play with. That should allow me to quickly base coat my outstanding Marines, Tau and Tyranids.

I'm also hoping for some other stuff - but we'll see...

I've painted up a six man Tau Fire Warrior Squad using the new (faster) paint scheme which almost matches the one that I used on the half of the army that is already complete. I also did the last Tau Pathfinder in the new scheme, and re-painted all the existing Pathfinder models with the new Orange squad markings.

I re-painted 8 Tau Gun Drones in the new colours and painted up the 3 man Tau Stealth Suit Team in mostly greys and blacks.

I built the 2 Tau Crisis Suit teams a few weeks ago specifically so I could use them in a game that had been arranged - I was pleased with their performance and might actually have won the game but the clock beat us and we had to end on Turn 4.

At some point I'll start putting up photos, but I haven't taken any yet.

In preparation for the new Tyranid codex I painted another test Termagaunt model in Dark Green/Light Green, but have not yet decided on the final scheme. I may reverse it and do Light Green body and Dark Green Armour Plates.... can't decide. I recently went into the GW store at Grimsby and saw their new store Mawlock model which was painted in a similar scheme and it looked good. Whatever I decide, it needs to be quick as there are well over 40 of them to paint!

Nova Storm Units: Heavy Support Choices 2

Here is the second of two 5-man Space Marine Devastator Squads currently in the army.

They have all the ususal rules for Space Marines; And They Shall Know No Fear, Combat Squads, and Combat Tactics - allowing them to choose to fail a Morale check (Combat Tactics) and fall back voluntarily, automatically regroup after falling back regardless of most normal restrictions (ATSKNF), and split into 2 5-man squads (Combat Squads - but not really relevant to this squad as it's only 5-men strong anyway)

They are painted up as the 7th Squad in the same Company as the other Devastator Squad - hence the same Blue shoulder pad trim and cuffs.

The squad is mainly an anti-infantry squad featuring a two Heavy Bolters for 6 shots that ignore any armour save of 4+ or less, a Plasma Cannon which lays down a blast template hitting everything under it with S7 AP2 (as long as it doesn't blow up) and a Missile Launchers that can switch between anti-infantry Frag missiles, or anti-vehicle Krak missiles.

The Sergeant has a Bolt Pistol and Power Fist, and can can help guide the squad's shooting with the backpack mounted Signum if he doesn't shoot with his own weapon.

This particular Squad has a Razorback transport vehicle equipped with a single-shot Hunter-Killer missile that has unlimited range and a turret mounted twin-linked Lascannon which gives a bit more anti-vehicle punch in the form of a 48" S9 AP2 shot which can be re-rolled if missed. This can penetrate AV14 vehicles on a D6 roll of 6 (9+6=15), and cause them a Glancing hit on a 5. Lighter armoured vehicles can be penetrated easier.

Nova Storm Units: Heavy Support Choices 1

Here is the first of two 5-man Space Marine Devastator Squads currently in the army.


They have all the ususal rules for Space Marines; And They Shall Know No Fear, Combat Squads, and Combat Tactics - allowing them to choose to fail a Morale check (Combat Tactics) and fall back voluntarily, automatically regroup after falling back regardless of most normal restrictions (ATSKNF), and split into 2 5-man squads (Combat Squads - but not really relevant to this squad as it's only 5-men strong anyway)


They were originally designed to be an Infiltrating squad until the Space Marine codex was re-released and that ability was taken away. The Heavy Bolter (far right, kneeling) was put together using the Heavy Bolter from the Scouts kit to represent a lightweight version used by infiltrators rather than the standard backpack-fed version in the other Devastator squad.


They are painted up as the 8th Squad in the same Company as the Tactical Squads - hence the same Blue shoulder pad trim and cuffs. I have also modelled some extensive battle damage into their armour.


The squad is a multi-function anti-infantry/anti-vehicle squad featuring a Heavy Bolter for 3 pure anti-infantry shots that ignore any armour save of 4+ or less, a Multi-melta for pure anti-vehicle shooting and two Missile Launchers that can switch between anti-infantry Frag missiles, or anti-vehicle Krak missiles.

The Sergeant has a Storm Bolter and Power Sword enabling him to shoot twice at the enemy if the squad should move (as the rest of the heavy weapons will be unable to fire), and to give the squad an edge in an assault with the power weapon attacks that ignore armour.


He should also have a backpack mounted Signum allowing him to forego his own shooting to improve someone else's chance of hitting, but this kit was put together before the release of the plastic Devastator Squad kit that has the correct Signum back-pack in - therefore this will be added at a later date when I get my hands on a spare part.

Nova Storm Units: Elite Choices 1

Here is the first 5 man Combat Squad of the 10 man Terminator Squad that makes up the first Elite choice of the army. The entire squad of 10 weighs in at 455 points!


This Combat Squad consists of the Terminator Sergeant with Storm Bolter and Power Weapon, 3 Terminators with Storm Bolters and Chainfists, and the Terminator with Assault Cannon and Chainfist. Primary use is anti-armour or heavy shock troops, delivered into the enemy battle lines via the Deepstrike rules.


Capable of laying down 8 Strength 4 shots from the Storm Bolters and 4 Strength 6 Rending shots from the Assault Cannon; while moving and the threat of 11 Power Weapon Attacks from the Chainfists and Sergeant's Power Weapon, 8 of which are at Strength 8, and all of which Ignore Armour Saves (16 if they get off the Charge into Assault) make this unit a threat to anything nearby.


The downside is they can't Assault after arriving by Deepstrike; although they can shoot. They can also take a significant amount of fire due the their 2+ Armour Save and 5+ Invulnerable Save (for those occasions that they are hit by an AP1 Melta weapon or some form of heavy ordinance weapon).


Against vehicles their Assault attacks have the same power as a Multimelta, giving them 2D6+8 for Armour Penetration which allows them to Glance AV14 on a 2D6 roll of 6, and Penetrate on 7+. Against AV10 they cause automatic Glancing hits (2+8=10), and will Penetrate of 3+. The Assault Cannon is also good against light vehicles, but only if you get a few lucky 6's to bring the Rending rule into effect.


As Marines they have the standard And They Shall Know No Fear rules, along with Combat Tactics.

Random Unit - Vindicare Assassin

A friend of mine gave me this Vindicare Assassin a few years ago, and I finally painted him up the other day, as a break from painting Marines.

After trying out several colour schemes, I seem to have settled on a similar dark blue scheme to the one being used on my Tau army - not intentional but never mind.


I've never tried him out in an actual game yet, but I might have to check out using him as a ally in my Marine army so I can give him a run out. He could come in handy by being able to snipe the Genestealer Broodlord even though it has a Retinue accompanying it which normally means I have to kill the Retinue before I can land wounds on the Broodlord.