The epic saga of Tau Super Drone vs the Hive Fleet Behemoth Tyranids had another chapter written on Thursday. Alex's Tau and my Tyranids faced off in a 1500 point Maelstrom game at Hairy Tarantula North, a battle instigated by the Tyranid Hive Fleet's recent capture of the Tau folk hero drone.
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| Last confirmed sighting of Super Drone, following the demise of a Knight Crusader by the hands of Hive Fleet Behemoth |
Super Drone - The Backstory
It all started in the most casual of settings - we were playing a 2v2 game. 2 Tyranid forces faced off against the Tau and Skitarii who had formed a shaky alliance to fight off the invading splinter fleets. A 5-strong unit of Ripper Swarms with loads of upgrades used deep strike to threaten the Tau Riptide. Super Drone and his crew selflessly met the burrowing feeder organisms in close combat preemptively, ensuring the Riptide can continue to lay waste to high priority Tyranid targets. Super Drone proceeded to survive round after round of melee onslaught from the voracious Rippers, slowly chipping away at their hefty wound pool. For his valor and survival against all odds, Super Drone was recognized with the highest honours by both the local Tau government and the Imperium for his bravery and sacrifice against the Tyranid attackers.
Since then, the Skitarii attempted to capture and study the drone in a 'Relic' mission played between the Tau and Skitarii. They were successful, but not long after the capture of Super Drone, Hive Fleet Behemoth sent in an attack force to get their revenge against the small but charismatic robot. The Tyranids were successful in their attack, and Super Drone has not been seen since. The Tau vowed to punish both the Skitarii and Tyranids for capturing their beloved hero drone, and that is where we are today. The Tau and Tyranids face off in a 1500 point Maelstrom battle spurred on by the recent events.
The Mission
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| The battlefield with 6 objectives marked. Tyranids Deployed along the right long table edge with the Tau opposite |
The mission today was Spoils of War, rolled from the Maelstrom mission table in the Big Rule Book. The players would each start the game with 3 objectives drawn from their respective Maelstrom Tactical Objectives card decks. At the start of each subsequent turn, they would draw additional cards until they had 3 each turn. Objectives titled "secure objective x" could not be discarded, and could be stolen by the opponent if they held said objective at the end of their turn.
This makes holding objectives more important, even if you don't have a card which would grant you points for that - holding more objectives could be used to deny your opponent points as well as possibly to score on some of the card they draw!
The Armies
Tau
The Tau fielded a single Combined Arms Detachment with a lot of Battle Suits and missiles at the ready. The Fire Warriors and Ethereal were kept lean and points-efficient to make room for the potent firepower on the 9 Crisis Suits, Broadside, and Riptide that would be the anchor for the Tau force. The Riptide was decked out to be able to deal with a variety of threats including my Flying Hive Tyrant, while the Pathfinders would provide support and plenty of marker lights to make the battle suits more efficient.
Tau - CAD
Ethereal (no upgrades)
11x Fire Warriors (no upgrades)
11x Fire Warriors (no upgrades)
11x Pathfinders w/ 2x MV7 Marker Drones
11x Pathfinders w/ 2x MV7 Marker Drones
7x MV1 Gun Drones
3x Crisis Suits w/ Counterfire Defence Systems, 6x Missile Pods
3x Crisis Suits w/ Counterfire Defence Systems, 6x Missile Pods
3x Crisis Suits w/ Counterfire Defence Systems, 6x Missile Pods
1x Broadside w/ TL Heavy Rail Rifle, TL Smart Missile System
1x Riptide w/ 2x MV84 Drones, Ion Accelerator, Shield Generator, Stimulant Injector, Velocity Tracker
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| 1500 Points of Tau firepower ready to do battle. |
Tyranids - CAD + Formation
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| Most of the Tyranid force ready for regular Dawn of War deployment |
This Tyranid list was a modified version of the list which I employed to much success in a recent battle against the Imperial Fists. It has plenty of deep strike with the 3 Mucolids and 2 Tyrannocytes carrying some potent threats. I decided to field the Living Artillery Node once again since the Biovores on paper could decimate the 4+/5+ Tau infantry while the Exocrine brought much needed AP2 shooting to threaten the durable Battle Suits and Riptide of the Tau. I decided to give the Warriors some upgrades that would (hopefully) allow them to go toe to toe with any Tau threats that got too close to the rest of the formation.
I decided to use the Zoanthrope unit in a Tyrannocyte as a drop threat against the durable and threatening Riptide. Their psychic powers posed a significant threat to the Riptide if the rolls went my way. The other Tyrannocyte was occupied by a unit of 19 Termagants, which I was planning to use either to secure objectives or bring a boatload of dakka where it is needed most. The 3 Mucolids would, as usual, remain in deep strike reserves and hopefully be fielded on the same turn as the 2 Tyrannocytes so as to saturate the tabletop with targets and force my opponent to make some choices.
The Malanthrope and Hive Tyrant are extremely cost-efficient units that have become somewhat of a staple in my lists. I used my remaining 200-ish points to grab a Hive Crone to provide a mobile multi-faceted threat, and a single Hive Guard whose job would be to do his best Tau impression by hiding on an objective behind cover all game and shooting at stuff.
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| Deep Strike Reserves account for about 550 of the Tyranids' 1500 points |
Tyranid - CAD
Hive Tyrant w/ Wings, 2x TL Devourers (Onslaught, Paroxysm)
3x Zoanthropes w/ Neurothrope (Onslaught, Warp Blast, Spirit Leech)
1x Hive Guard
1x Malanthrope
1x Mucolid
1x Mucolid
1x Mucolid
19x Termagants w/ 19x Devourers
1x Tyrannocyte w/ Barbed Stranglers
1x Tyrannocyte w/ Deathspitters
1x Hive Crone w/ Stinger Salvo
Tyranid - Living Artillery Node Formation
3x Tyranid Warriors w/ 2x Deathspitters, 1x Barbed Strangler, 3x Rending Claws
3x Biovores
1x Exocrine
Deployment
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| Tyranid Deployment. The Living Artillery Node ready to set up shop in a central Ruins location with Synapse redundancy and Shrouded provided by the Malanthrope. The Hive Crone and Tyrant each poised to take a flank, while the Hive Guard is tasked with hanging out on an objective in the green ruins building on the right. |
After a roll-off, the Tyranid side once again enjoyed the luxury of choosing table sides and whether to deploy first. I chose the table edge which looked like it had more accessible objectives and cover, though things appeared fairly evenly spread out.
The Zoanthropes, Termagants, Mucolids, and 2 Tyrannocytes were held in Deep Strike Reserves.
Meanwhile the Tau deployed their gun line along terrain, ready to face off against the approaching Tyranids. The Riptide deployed safely in ruins at the corner of the table, though his mobility and long range would allow him to be a threat from anywhere. Pathfinders scouted forward to preemptively grab a couple of objective markers, and the action was set to begin!
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| Tau counter-deployment. A Riptide hangs back on the far right, while Pathfinders prepare to take a Scout move toward objectives. The Fire Warriors and Broadside set up a gun line along the terrain while the Ethereal wisely hides behind a structure. |
Turn One - Shooty Bugs!? (0-0)
Tyranid Objectives - Secure Objective 6, Secure Objective 1, Secure Objective 2
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| The Living Artillery Node, aided by a Malanthrope, bombards the enemy with fire from the safety of ruins area terrain. |
The Hive Crone elected to stay in Glide mode in order to secure the objective right in front of him. He shot off a couple of tentaclids from that location to no effect, but was able to score a point for the Tyranid side by controlling Objective 1.
The Hive Guard waddled forward with his Impaler Cannon, able to secure Objective 2 with a 6" difficult terrain roll. Having a lone durable model to grab objectives that doesn't care about line of sight was already working out pretty nicely.
Meanwhile, the Living Artillery Node dug further into the ruins that provided them cover against the inevitable wall of firepower they would meet from the Tau. The Biovores loosed a barrage of spore mines, making full use of the formation's ability to re-roll scatter dice in destroying 10 of 11 Fire Warriors that had unfortunately not deployed within area terrain. The Exocrine put a large Plasma Cannon blast on the Pathfinder unit that was set to take the large ruin housing objective 6, killing several pathfinders.
The Hive Tyrant took a very aggressive flight path, swooping diagonally across the table toward the Tau but away from the Riptide lurking in the corner. He used onslaught to secure a 31" move before firing off his Devourers and putting 9 wounds on the Broadside's 2+ armour save. Alex rolled a couple of 1's and with that the Broadside was destroyed and the Tyranids once again scored First Blood off the Tyrant's potent shooting. A pretty successful first turn - Hive Fleet Behemoth had scored 3 points.
Tau Objectives - Kingslayer, Psychological Warfare, Take No Prisoners
On the Tau end of turn one, the two respective units of Pathfinders moved through difficult terrain into ruins to secure two objectives, one of which they would be able to steal from the Tyranid objective cards. All of the Tau Marker Lights were dedicated to the Hive Tyrant, but hitting on 6+ due to Swooping along with one of the Pathfinder units taking heavy casualties resulted in no Marker Lights for turn one. With the support of the Ethereal, the Fire Warriors advanced toward the Swooping Tyranid Warlord and unleashed a hail of fire. After all the dice were rolled however the Tyrant was left unscathed. The Riptide also fired on the Tyranid Flyer, but too had no effect.
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| The Hive Tyrant uses his impressive speed to swoop 24" then use Onslaught to run another 7" before gunning down the Broadside that used to be on the catwalk in the upper middle of the frame. To the right is the lone survivor of the 11-strong Fire Warrior unit following the Biovores' devastating Spore Mine barrage. |
On the Tau end of turn one, the two respective units of Pathfinders moved through difficult terrain into ruins to secure two objectives, one of which they would be able to steal from the Tyranid objective cards. All of the Tau Marker Lights were dedicated to the Hive Tyrant, but hitting on 6+ due to Swooping along with one of the Pathfinder units taking heavy casualties resulted in no Marker Lights for turn one. With the support of the Ethereal, the Fire Warriors advanced toward the Swooping Tyranid Warlord and unleashed a hail of fire. After all the dice were rolled however the Tyrant was left unscathed. The Riptide also fired on the Tyranid Flyer, but too had no effect.
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| The survivors of Pathfinder unit 1 (left) scoot forward to secure an objective within the ruin and steal a point for the Tau. |
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| Pathfinder unit #2 holds Objective 5. |
At the end of turn one Alex opted to discard Psychological Warfare, as the Tyranids enjoy army-wide fearless as long as there is Synapse, and he wanted to have a chance to draw more lucrative objective cards - a wise choice!
Turn Two - Bring it Down!!! (3-1 Tyranids)
Tyranid Objectives - Secure Objective 5, Secure Objective 5, Ascendancy
After a solid turn one things got quite a bit more challenging for Hive Fleet Behemoth. Before any turn 2 action it was time to draw 3 new objective cards, since I had none left after the Pathfinders stole away objective 6. Unfortunately two of the three cards were Secure Objective 5 - an objective that already lay in firm control of a Pathfinder unit that was well defended in a multi-level ruin. Not only that, but I didn't have any models that could get there by the end of this turn in order to score the points or contest the objective... I would have to shoot the Pathfinders off the objective, but even then there were deep striking Crisis Suits that could grab it, not to mention the nearby Riptide and his speedy jet pack assault move. It looked like the Tyranid side would leak another 2 points to the Tau by way of the mission's special rules which allow for objective cards to be scored by either side.
The reserve rolls then came in, and much to my disappointment only the three Mucolids would be entering play on turn two - the Tyrannocytes and their deadly passengers would have to wait for at least turn three to have an impact. At least I was lucky with the scatter dice on the Mucolid's deep strike - all three scored direct hits, and I was able to pose a serious threat to the Ethereal's Fire Warrior unit as well as Objective #4. Even though the Mucolids were non-scoring, they would certainly dissuade any nearby Tau from entering their S8 AP3 large blast's threat range.
Some more good fortune came to the Tyranid side as both the Hive Guard (ld 7) and Hive Crone (ld 10) passed their Instinctive Behaviour tests. I had knowingly left them out of synapse, relying on the Crone's high leadership to get him through it, while the Guard's Hunt IB table didn't have any problematic possibilities - I was happy to leave him alone on Objective 2 and let him do his thing.
The Hive Crone, now free from its objective securing duties, took the skies and swooped forward at the remainder of the Pathfinder and Drone unit holed up near Objective #6. The Living Artillery Node and their Malanthrope buddy held their ground within the ruins, and readied themselves to unleash more deadly barrages into the Tau ranks, meanwhile the Hive Guard sneakily sat within the safety of ruins on Objective #2, taking pot shots at the full Pathfinder unit holding Objective #5.
The Tyranids devoted most of their firepower in an attempt to shoot the Pathfinders off of Objective #5, as it could pose a 4-point swing depending on which side would be able to score those points. Unfortunately, the biovore's Spore Mines scattered wildly off target. The Tyrant, Warriors and Hive Guard were however able to eliminate enough of the unit to force both a pinning and morale test at the end of the phase - tests that the Pathfinders would pass with flying covers as they stuck firmly to the cover and precious objective.
The Exocrine, now with the Riptide in it's sights, was able to score a number of wounds with his AP2 burst fire from the Bio-Plasmic Cannon. The Riptide however enjoyed a 4+ ruins save as well as 5+ Feel No Pain, and only took one unsaved wound, leaving him at 4.
The Hive Crone put his corrosive Drool Cannon to great use, melting away a drone and several Pathfinders from the unit that was holding Objective #6. With only one drone and one Pathfinder left, they went on to fail their Morale Test and flee for their lives.
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| The lone Hive Guard sits on Objective #2, out of the enemy's line of sight. |
The reserve rolls then came in, and much to my disappointment only the three Mucolids would be entering play on turn two - the Tyrannocytes and their deadly passengers would have to wait for at least turn three to have an impact. At least I was lucky with the scatter dice on the Mucolid's deep strike - all three scored direct hits, and I was able to pose a serious threat to the Ethereal's Fire Warrior unit as well as Objective #4. Even though the Mucolids were non-scoring, they would certainly dissuade any nearby Tau from entering their S8 AP3 large blast's threat range.
Some more good fortune came to the Tyranid side as both the Hive Guard (ld 7) and Hive Crone (ld 10) passed their Instinctive Behaviour tests. I had knowingly left them out of synapse, relying on the Crone's high leadership to get him through it, while the Guard's Hunt IB table didn't have any problematic possibilities - I was happy to leave him alone on Objective 2 and let him do his thing.
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| Muculids Arrive! Objective #4 - marked by the D20 (center) would be a risky proposition for the Tau. Meanwhile the Hive Tyrant has pivoted and swooped behind enemy lines to get a firing angle on the Pathfinder unit holding the valuable Objective #5. |
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| The Hive Crone's Drool Cannon melts a drone and routs the Pathfinder unit. |
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| The Hive Tyrant swoops deep into enemy territory gain a firing angle on Objective #5. The Tau would make him pay for over-extending his position. |
The Tyranids devoted most of their firepower in an attempt to shoot the Pathfinders off of Objective #5, as it could pose a 4-point swing depending on which side would be able to score those points. Unfortunately, the biovore's Spore Mines scattered wildly off target. The Tyrant, Warriors and Hive Guard were however able to eliminate enough of the unit to force both a pinning and morale test at the end of the phase - tests that the Pathfinders would pass with flying covers as they stuck firmly to the cover and precious objective.
The Exocrine, now with the Riptide in it's sights, was able to score a number of wounds with his AP2 burst fire from the Bio-Plasmic Cannon. The Riptide however enjoyed a 4+ ruins save as well as 5+ Feel No Pain, and only took one unsaved wound, leaving him at 4.
The Hive Crone put his corrosive Drool Cannon to great use, melting away a drone and several Pathfinders from the unit that was holding Objective #6. With only one drone and one Pathfinder left, they went on to fail their Morale Test and flee for their lives.
Ultimately, the Tyranid shooting was insufficient to force the Pathfinders off of Objective #5, and since they held 2, not 3, objectives, the Tyranid side failed to score Ascendancy and gained no points on turn two. The stage was set for a high-impact Tau turn two!
Tau Objectives - Kingslayer, Scour the Skies, Take No Prisoners
Ohhhhh boy. A really interesting draw for Tau this turn. The Maelstrom mission cards doubled down on more points for killing the Flyrant - which would essentially be worth D3+3 for the Tau! I was beginning to regret my Flyrant's aggressive positioning, as he was in range and position to take fire from their entire army!
The Riptide made excellent use of his Skyfire capability to put two wounds on the Tyranid Warlord. Another wound rolled in by virtue of the Pathfinders on Objective #5. The Tau Warlord gathered his retinue of Fire Warriors and gave instructions to bring down the monstrous flyer. With a hail of fire from their Pulse Carbines the Hive Tyrant came crashing down, leaving the Hive Fleet Behemoth Tyranids short one Warlord.
While all of this was going down, two of the three units of Crisis Suits had entered the fray.
One of the three-strong units had put some ineffective fire into the Tyrant as he went down, however the other unit targeted the Tyranid Warriors within the ruins, determined to weaken the Tyranid synapse web and negate the Living Artillery Node's formation benefits. The 2+ cover from Shrouded + Ruins however proved formidable, as the Warriors took only one wound against the Crisis Suits' volley of missiles.
When the dust settled on turn two, the Tau had engineered a massive swing in the score. They were able to steal 2 points from the Tyranids by holding Objective 5, and scored a further 5 points for killing the Hive Tyrant (slay the warlord, take no prisoners, scour the skies, and kingslayer worth 2). Turn two concluded with the Tau enjoying a decisive lead of 8-3 over the Tyranid side.
Turn Three - Vengeance (8-3 Tau)
Tyranid Objectives - Ascendancy, Secure Objective 2, Secure Objective 6
Turn two saw a huge swing in favour of the Tau, however I knew I wasn't yet out of it. Even though the score seemed lopsided, the Tyranids still held a numbers advantage and had caused more casualties to the Tau side. Not only that, but I still had two Tyrannocytes with some deadly cargo yet to enter play.
The Tyrannocyte holding a Neurothrope and two Zoanthropes entered play, while the Termagants' Tyrannocyte would have to wait until turn four. I was eager to put the psychic unit's Spirit Leech and Warp Lance in play against the high priority Riptide and Crisis Suits.
With a 5 point deficit looming, I knew I would have to score as many points as possible to get back into the game, so delaying an objective in favour of killing more stuff simply wasn't an option. With this in mind, the Hive Crone switched to Gliding mode as he was the only one in range to secure Objective #6. He landed within the ruin and unleashed his Drool Cannon on a nearby Crisis Suit unit, but their armour held up against the corrosive bio-weapon.
Fortunately, the Hive Guard once again passed his Instinctive Behaviour test, and would easily score another point for Objective #2 - where he had spent the entirety of the game thus far.
The Malanthrope finally floated out of the ruins housing his Living Artillery Node allies in order to score Objective #3 and secure D3 points for Ascendancy.
Secure in the knowledge that all 3 of the Tyranid Objectives would be scored this turn, I sought to do as much damage as possible with the remaining units. The Neurothrope manifested Spirit Leech against the Riptide - a psychic power that has the caster roll 3d6 and compare the total to the target's leadership value. If the rolled total was higher, the target would take a number of wounds equal to the difference between the rolled total and his leadership score. This ability was always a bit of a gamble, but at Warp Charge 1 and with the potential to regain Warp Charges, it is one of the most effective weapons that Tyranids have for removing durable non-vehicle units. Unfortunately the 3d6 roll was a 1-1-2, so there was no effect. The Zoanthropes then unleashed a potent wave of Warp Lance fire into the Riptide. The S10 AP2 witchfire was on point, dealing two wounds to the Riptide, leaving it injured with just 2 wounds remaining.
Meanwhile, the Biovores unleashed a barrage of Spore Mines into the Fire Warrior and Ethereal unit that was now caught in the open after it closed the distance to shoot down the Hive Tyrant last turn. Significant casualties were inflicted, leaving only the Tau Warlord and one Fire Warrior alive.
The Tyranid Warriors sprang into action, charged with protecting the vulnerable Biovores and Exocrine from the dangerous Crisis Suits that had landed at their flank. The Warriors wounded one of the Battle Suits with shooting before charging in. The close combat was certainly a mismatch despite being a 3 on 3 in model count. The Tyranids enjoyed a marked advantage in WS (5-2), Attacks (12-6), Initiative (4-2), and had Rending Claws that could potentially chew through the Tau armour. The combat ended with a 2-0 advantage to the Warriors. The Crisis Suits failed their morale check and were swept by the Warriors, who successfully consolidated back into the safety of the nearby ruins.
With all three objective cards scored, the Tyranids closed the gap by 4 points... but the Tau still had a unit of Crisis Suits in reserve and had yet to take their third turn.
Tau Objectives - Big Game Hunter, Overwhelming Firepower, Witch Hunter
By this time both sides had taken some casualties. While the Tau enjoyed an advantage in victory points, they had taken more damage. At the mid-way point of turn 3, the Tyranids had inflicted about 700 points worth of casualties, while the Tau had managed to kill only the Tyranid Warlord (230 points). This basically meant that the remainder of the game would see 1270 points worth of Tyranids fighting against about 800 points worth of Tau - not an enticing proposition.
My opponent, wisely recognizing this deficit, sought to retain the advantage on Maelstrom victory points, as this was clearly his most viable path to victory. He drew three new objective cards and had to make a difficult choice - does he put firepower against the Zoanthropes and hope their 3+ invulnerable saves don't hold up, or does he go after the Exocrine or Tyrannocyte to score Big Game Hunter? Either way, it would be wise to focus fire and ensure that at least one of the targets goes down during the shooting phase.
His remaining unit of Crisis Suits was poised to enter the game via deep strike, however their scatter roll placed them over a Promethium Pipe Relay, and they were forced to roll on the mishap table. It wasn't too big of a catastrophe though, as they just went into ongoing reserves and would try again to enter next turn.
Alex decided to focus down the Tyrannocyte, as it's 4+ save left it vulnerable against the ample missile fire on tap from the unit of Crisis Suits still in play. The Tyranid drop pod proved resilient however, as it took fire from the entirety of the Tau army to finally deal the 6th and final wound necessary to destroy it and score both Monster Hunter and Overwhelming Firepower.
At the end for turn three the Tau had scored an additional 2 victory points. While the Tyranids had begun to bridge the gap with their 4-point turn, the Tau still enjoyed a clear advantage victory points at 10-7.
Turn Four - Deathblow (10-7 Tau)
Tyranid Objectives - Kingslayer, Monster Hunter, Secure Objective 2
I breathed a sigh of relief as all three of the Maelstrom objective cards I drew this turn were realistically doable. The Tau Warlord was in a vulnerable position to yield Kingslayer as he was out in the open and had only one Fire Warrior with him. Objective 2 was firmly held by my lone Hive Guard who had made it his job to sit on that objective and take pot shots with his Impaler Cannon, while Monster Hunter would require me to down the already-wounded Riptide. It wasn't a gimme by any means with the Riptide having taken cover behind some ruins, but certainly possible.
The Tyrannocyte carrying 19 Devourer Termagants finally touched down, providing 15 Deathspitter and 57 Devourer shots worth of little guys within striking distance of both the Tau Warlord or Riptide. I would have plenty of firepower to allocate wherever needed it. The Exocrine fired off six plasma shots at the Tau leader. With S7 AP2, and no cover to speak of, the Ethereal and his Fire Warrior guard fell to the weapon symbiote mounted on the Exocrine's back, scoring D3 + 1 points for the Tyranids.
The Mucolids huddled around one of the unoccupied objectives, blocking pathways and ensuring that any mission to secure that objective would be suicidal for the Tau.
The Neurothrope once again manifested Spirit Leech on the Riptide, hoping to shave off another wound or even put it down. Again it came time to roll 3d6 against the Riptide's leadership of 9, however this round of rolls was the polar opposite of last turn. I rolled a 6-6-5, for a total of 17! This meant 8 wounds against the Riptide, with no armour or cover saves allowed. He had access to a 5+ invulnerable save as well as a 5+ Feel No Pain, however the mass of wounds from the Neurothrope's psychic ability was too great, and the Riptide deactivated as the pilot's very soul had been snuffed out by the powerful warp energies. Yet another point for the Tyranids!
With the Hive Guard once again passing his Instinctive Behaviour test and scoring Objective #2, this guaranteed that the Tyranids would end their half of turn 4 with a lead for the first time since turn 1!
Now that the 240-point Riptide was out of action, the Harpy closed the distance on the remaining unit of Crisis Suits. The odds seemed insurmountable for the Tau. The Harpy would surely hold his own against the Crisis Suits, and there were simply too few Tau infantry remaining to survive another turn of the Tyranid onslaught. Even though the score was tight at 11-10 for the Tyranids, the Tau were forced to concede as they had too few models remaining to score points and survive the remainder of the battle.
Victory Tyranids! (11-10)
What a tight back-and-forth battle! The Tau did a great job of racking up the Maelstrom victory points early and developing a sizable lead following the 2nd game turn. Both sides struggled a bit with their reserve rolls, and I wonder how the game might have turned out had all of our reserves entered play on turn two. The sheer firepower of 9 decked out Crisis Suits could have done some serious work if they all came in together.
The trend continues with my Flyrant acting as a fire magnet. He certainly is public enemy #1 in my games, though his excellent durability and ability to swoop are undeniably an asset. So much firepower is sent his way that the remainder of my force is often free to go about as they please. He did go down on turn two, but considering the potency of Tau shooting, eating up two turns of shooting from an entire Tau force is impressive.
The Malanthrope's Shrouded bubble along with the Living Artillery Node's ruins camping made shooting at them an unfavourable proposition with their 2+ cover saves. My opponent didn't really bother targeting the dangerous formation, but with his Marker Lights down and no access to ignores cover shooting, I certainly don't blame him.
The Biovores and Exocrine pulled their weight nicely once again, proving their worth against 4+ infantry-heavy xenos armies. I was also pleased to see the Warriors make good on their role of mid-close range muscle for the others.
I was most pleased by the performance of the lone Hive Guard. A 55 point investment that could provide effective fire from a wide variety of locations, and with T6 and no need for line of sight, he proved to be a durable objective holder for the Tyranid side. I liked the way this worked out, and may go back to 1-man units like this in future Maelstrom games.
This was one hell of a game that saw momentum shift ways several times, and could have gone either way. Thank you, Alex, for a great game! It looks like the Tau were unable to avenge Super Drone on this day, as the Tyranids fed on delicious Tau flesh.
Tau Objectives - Kingslayer, Scour the Skies, Take No Prisoners
Ohhhhh boy. A really interesting draw for Tau this turn. The Maelstrom mission cards doubled down on more points for killing the Flyrant - which would essentially be worth D3+3 for the Tau! I was beginning to regret my Flyrant's aggressive positioning, as he was in range and position to take fire from their entire army!
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| A pile of Tau dice sits in the Tyrant's final resting place, as the Greater Good scores a significant blow - and a pile of victory points! |
The Riptide made excellent use of his Skyfire capability to put two wounds on the Tyranid Warlord. Another wound rolled in by virtue of the Pathfinders on Objective #5. The Tau Warlord gathered his retinue of Fire Warriors and gave instructions to bring down the monstrous flyer. With a hail of fire from their Pulse Carbines the Hive Tyrant came crashing down, leaving the Hive Fleet Behemoth Tyranids short one Warlord.
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| Crisis Suits arrive, threatening the Living Artillery Node's position. |
One of the three-strong units had put some ineffective fire into the Tyrant as he went down, however the other unit targeted the Tyranid Warriors within the ruins, determined to weaken the Tyranid synapse web and negate the Living Artillery Node's formation benefits. The 2+ cover from Shrouded + Ruins however proved formidable, as the Warriors took only one wound against the Crisis Suits' volley of missiles.
When the dust settled on turn two, the Tau had engineered a massive swing in the score. They were able to steal 2 points from the Tyranids by holding Objective 5, and scored a further 5 points for killing the Hive Tyrant (slay the warlord, take no prisoners, scour the skies, and kingslayer worth 2). Turn two concluded with the Tau enjoying a decisive lead of 8-3 over the Tyranid side.
Turn Three - Vengeance (8-3 Tau)
Tyranid Objectives - Ascendancy, Secure Objective 2, Secure Objective 6
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| The Neurothrope and Zoanthropes arrive. The Fire Warriors and Ethereal are caught out, surrounded by Mucolids and vulnerable to the Biovores' AP4 barrage weapons. |
The Tyrannocyte holding a Neurothrope and two Zoanthropes entered play, while the Termagants' Tyrannocyte would have to wait until turn four. I was eager to put the psychic unit's Spirit Leech and Warp Lance in play against the high priority Riptide and Crisis Suits.
With a 5 point deficit looming, I knew I would have to score as many points as possible to get back into the game, so delaying an objective in favour of killing more stuff simply wasn't an option. With this in mind, the Hive Crone switched to Gliding mode as he was the only one in range to secure Objective #6. He landed within the ruin and unleashed his Drool Cannon on a nearby Crisis Suit unit, but their armour held up against the corrosive bio-weapon.
Fortunately, the Hive Guard once again passed his Instinctive Behaviour test, and would easily score another point for Objective #2 - where he had spent the entirety of the game thus far.
The Malanthrope finally floated out of the ruins housing his Living Artillery Node allies in order to score Objective #3 and secure D3 points for Ascendancy.
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| Tyranid Warriors destroy the unit of Crisis Suits with a sweeping advance. |
Meanwhile, the Biovores unleashed a barrage of Spore Mines into the Fire Warrior and Ethereal unit that was now caught in the open after it closed the distance to shoot down the Hive Tyrant last turn. Significant casualties were inflicted, leaving only the Tau Warlord and one Fire Warrior alive.
The Tyranid Warriors sprang into action, charged with protecting the vulnerable Biovores and Exocrine from the dangerous Crisis Suits that had landed at their flank. The Warriors wounded one of the Battle Suits with shooting before charging in. The close combat was certainly a mismatch despite being a 3 on 3 in model count. The Tyranids enjoyed a marked advantage in WS (5-2), Attacks (12-6), Initiative (4-2), and had Rending Claws that could potentially chew through the Tau armour. The combat ended with a 2-0 advantage to the Warriors. The Crisis Suits failed their morale check and were swept by the Warriors, who successfully consolidated back into the safety of the nearby ruins.
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| The Riptide has been wounded by the Zoanthropes' Warp Lance mind bullets. |
Tau Objectives - Big Game Hunter, Overwhelming Firepower, Witch Hunter
By this time both sides had taken some casualties. While the Tau enjoyed an advantage in victory points, they had taken more damage. At the mid-way point of turn 3, the Tyranids had inflicted about 700 points worth of casualties, while the Tau had managed to kill only the Tyranid Warlord (230 points). This basically meant that the remainder of the game would see 1270 points worth of Tyranids fighting against about 800 points worth of Tau - not an enticing proposition.
My opponent, wisely recognizing this deficit, sought to retain the advantage on Maelstrom victory points, as this was clearly his most viable path to victory. He drew three new objective cards and had to make a difficult choice - does he put firepower against the Zoanthropes and hope their 3+ invulnerable saves don't hold up, or does he go after the Exocrine or Tyrannocyte to score Big Game Hunter? Either way, it would be wise to focus fire and ensure that at least one of the targets goes down during the shooting phase.
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| The Crisis Suits unleash a volley of missiles to destroy the Tyrannocyte in the distance. |
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| Crisis Suits hold Objective #1 just in case it comes up. The Hive Crone, uninjured and gliding, holds Objective #6 and is poised to make an attack next turn. |
At the end for turn three the Tau had scored an additional 2 victory points. While the Tyranids had begun to bridge the gap with their 4-point turn, the Tau still enjoyed a clear advantage victory points at 10-7.
Turn Four - Deathblow (10-7 Tau)
Tyranid Objectives - Kingslayer, Monster Hunter, Secure Objective 2
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| The power of Spirit Leech. This sort of roll can cripple almost any unit or model in the game. |
The Tyrannocyte carrying 19 Devourer Termagants finally touched down, providing 15 Deathspitter and 57 Devourer shots worth of little guys within striking distance of both the Tau Warlord or Riptide. I would have plenty of firepower to allocate wherever needed it. The Exocrine fired off six plasma shots at the Tau leader. With S7 AP2, and no cover to speak of, the Ethereal and his Fire Warrior guard fell to the weapon symbiote mounted on the Exocrine's back, scoring D3 + 1 points for the Tyranids.
The Mucolids huddled around one of the unoccupied objectives, blocking pathways and ensuring that any mission to secure that objective would be suicidal for the Tau.
The Neurothrope once again manifested Spirit Leech on the Riptide, hoping to shave off another wound or even put it down. Again it came time to roll 3d6 against the Riptide's leadership of 9, however this round of rolls was the polar opposite of last turn. I rolled a 6-6-5, for a total of 17! This meant 8 wounds against the Riptide, with no armour or cover saves allowed. He had access to a 5+ invulnerable save as well as a 5+ Feel No Pain, however the mass of wounds from the Neurothrope's psychic ability was too great, and the Riptide deactivated as the pilot's very soul had been snuffed out by the powerful warp energies. Yet another point for the Tyranids!
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| The Hive Guard moved all of 6 inches the whole game, but was able to secure 2 victory points and take out a few Pathfinders - a solid performance for a single model. |
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| Zoanthropes and Neurothrope set their sights on the Riptide, who is trying to look inconspicuous by throwing some rubble onto the enormous Battle Suit. |
Now that the 240-point Riptide was out of action, the Harpy closed the distance on the remaining unit of Crisis Suits. The odds seemed insurmountable for the Tau. The Harpy would surely hold his own against the Crisis Suits, and there were simply too few Tau infantry remaining to survive another turn of the Tyranid onslaught. Even though the score was tight at 11-10 for the Tyranids, the Tau were forced to concede as they had too few models remaining to score points and survive the remainder of the battle.
"Maybe if I act natural, they'll think I'm one of them. Quick - crouch and start drooling!"
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| Termagants disembark from the Tyrannocyte, only to realize their assistance wouldn't be needed this battle. Honourable mention to this Fire Warrior, who had all 10 of his squad mates killed by Biovore fire on turn one. He toughed it out and fought on, remaining as one of the few Tau survivors. |
Victory Tyranids! (11-10)
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| The Living Artillery Node didn't move much, but they didn't have to. They were responsible for a good number of the Tau infantry casualties, including the Ethereal and a unit of Crisis Suits. |
What a tight back-and-forth battle! The Tau did a great job of racking up the Maelstrom victory points early and developing a sizable lead following the 2nd game turn. Both sides struggled a bit with their reserve rolls, and I wonder how the game might have turned out had all of our reserves entered play on turn two. The sheer firepower of 9 decked out Crisis Suits could have done some serious work if they all came in together.
The trend continues with my Flyrant acting as a fire magnet. He certainly is public enemy #1 in my games, though his excellent durability and ability to swoop are undeniably an asset. So much firepower is sent his way that the remainder of my force is often free to go about as they please. He did go down on turn two, but considering the potency of Tau shooting, eating up two turns of shooting from an entire Tau force is impressive.
The Malanthrope's Shrouded bubble along with the Living Artillery Node's ruins camping made shooting at them an unfavourable proposition with their 2+ cover saves. My opponent didn't really bother targeting the dangerous formation, but with his Marker Lights down and no access to ignores cover shooting, I certainly don't blame him.
The Biovores and Exocrine pulled their weight nicely once again, proving their worth against 4+ infantry-heavy xenos armies. I was also pleased to see the Warriors make good on their role of mid-close range muscle for the others.
I was most pleased by the performance of the lone Hive Guard. A 55 point investment that could provide effective fire from a wide variety of locations, and with T6 and no need for line of sight, he proved to be a durable objective holder for the Tyranid side. I liked the way this worked out, and may go back to 1-man units like this in future Maelstrom games.
This was one hell of a game that saw momentum shift ways several times, and could have gone either way. Thank you, Alex, for a great game! It looks like the Tau were unable to avenge Super Drone on this day, as the Tyranids fed on delicious Tau flesh.
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