The Mission
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| The Battlefield is set. Deployment will be along the long table edges. |
For this 1500 point game we rolled on the Maelstrom mission table, and got Spoils of War. Each player would fill their hand to 3 objectives cards at the start of each turn. The twist - you can score cards held by your opponent if they are titled "Secure Objective X", and you cannot discard any of your own cards titled "Secure Objective X". It's your standard Maelstrom game with a bit more emphasis on holding objectives and controlling the map.
I thought this mission would lead to a disadvantage for my MC-heavy list, however the elite-heavy list brought by the Blood Angels had an equal number of scoring units, so we were at a level playing field in that department.
The Armies
The Blood Angels army was packed with hard-hitting units that could shred just about anything in close combat. In addition to that, they had a number of heavy and special weapons that would provide high-power fire support at mid range.
The Baal Strike Force special rules in addition to those provided by the special characters Lemartes and Gabriel Seth made them an absolutely fearsome foe in close quarters.
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| Nate's beautiful Blood Angels lined up ready to do battle, led by Lemartes, Gabriel Seth, and a ML2 Librarian Dreadnought. |
Blood Angels - Baal Strike Force
Librarian (Force Stave, Bolt Pistol) Quickening, Blood Boil
Librarian Dreadnought (Mastery level 2, Furioso Force Halberd, Power Fist, Storm Bolter) Quickening, Blood Boil, Wings of Sanguinius
5x Command Squad (Company Champion, Sanguinary Novitiate, 1x Meltagun, 1x Plasma Pistol, 1x Power Sword)
5x Death Company Squad (1x Infernus Pistol, 2x Plasma Pistols, 2x Power Swords, 5x Jump Packs)
Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost (Bolt Pistol, Rosarius, The Blood Crozius)
5x Sanguinary Guard Squad (4x Angelus Boltguns, 1x Infernus Pistol, 2x Encarmine Axes, 3x Encarmine Swords, Chapter Banner)
10x Tactical Squad (Veteran Sergeant, 1x Flamer, 1x Heavy Flamer, 1x Power Sword)
10x Tactical Squad (1x Plasma Gun)
5x Devastator Squad (1x Lascannon, 1x Multi-Melta, 2x Missile Launchers)
Gabriel Seth (Blood Reaver, Bolt Pistol, Iron Halo) Warlord
Once again I decided to bring two very different lists and have my opponent roll to see which one he faces. This time my opponent rolled the Nidzilla list I had drawn up for a previous game. A hard-hitting 1500 point list with an even balance of shooting, psychic, and close combat, this list stands out for having a low model count (32), but that included a whopping 7 Monstrous Creatures.
I had no AP3 or better shooting to speak of, but would perhaps be able to do damage through weight of fire from the Termagants and 3 sets of Twin-Linked Devourers. Having so many MCs also means I enjoyed a lot of AP2 at close combat, however the Blood Angels force was so fearsome in close combat that I would have to find a way to pick them apart or at least weaken their ranks at range before engaging in an all-out melee.
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| 1500 Points worth of Tyranids. The Mawloc, Termagants, Tyrannocyte, and Ripper Swarms are held in Deep Strike Reserves. |
Tyranids - Combined Arms Detachment
Hive Tyrant (Wings, 2x TL Brainleech Devourers) Dominion, Onslaught, Paroxysm
Tervigon (Miasma Cannon, Shreddershard Beetles) Dominion, Onslaught
1x Malanthrope
1x Malanthrope
20x Termagants (10x Fleshborer, 10x Devourer)
1x Tyrannocyte (5x Barbed Stranglers)
3x Ripper Swarm Brood (Deep Strike)
Hive Crone (4x Tentaclids, Drool Cannon, Stinger Salvo)
1x Carnifex (2x TL Brainleech Devourers
1x Carnifex (2x TL Brainleech Devourers
Mawloc
Deployment
Tyranids won the roll-off for choosing table sides, and also elected to deploy and to go first.
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| Tyranids chose the near long table edge. Blood Angels would have to deploy along the far table edge. |
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| Hive Tyrant and Tervigon deployed. |
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| Complete Tyranid deployment. 5 MCs and 2 Malanthropes line up ready for action. |
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| Blood Angels deployment. |
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| The scary stuff (Left to Right): Sanguinary Guard led by Gabriel Seth, Death Company led by Lemartes, Devastator Squad, Command Squad led by Librarian. |
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| The 2 remaining Tactical Squads follow the Librarian Dreadnought into battle. |
Turn One - A Slow Start
Tyranid Objectives: Secure Objective 2, Secure Objective 3, Secure Objective 4
Well that was an interesting draw of objective cards. #2 would be an easy point since it was already held in my deployment zone. #'s 3 and 4 however were a different story. #4 was easily held by a Blood Angels Tactical squad (see picture above), whereas #3 was out in the open. I did not however have sufficient movement to take it with any of my footslogging MC's, and since swooping FMCs can't control objectives, the only way I would be able to secure it is if I glided the Hive Tyrant there.
I decided against it however because that would be suicidal - he would get shot at by Devastators, and would be in range for an easy charge from Lemartes, Gabriel Seth, Death Company, *and* Sanguinary Guard - no thanks!
Instead I came to terms with the unfortunate reality that my opponent would be stealing 2 of my mission cards and I would have to make the points up later on in the game.
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| The Hive Tyrant makes an aggressive Swooping run, felling three Devastators and ensuring that if he is grounded he will at least contest Objective #3. |
The rest of the turn played itself. I ran forward with the two Malanthropes and Carnifexes, who were out of range to provide effective fire. The Tervigon's Miasma Cannon scattered off and missed, and the Hive Crone Swooped into cover, setting its sights on the Librarian Dreadnought. At this point I realized I had forgotten to spawn Termagants, but oh well it was too late now.
The Crone fired off two Tentaclids but missed the mark. Only the Hive Tyrant was able to do some damage - he unleashed 12 Twin-Linked Devourer shots into the Devastator Squad parked in ruins, trying to eliminate the Blood Angels' long range fire support. He killed 3 of the Devastators, leaving only the Sergeant and a Lascannon alive.
The Crone fired off two Tentaclids but missed the mark. Only the Hive Tyrant was able to do some damage - he unleashed 12 Twin-Linked Devourer shots into the Devastator Squad parked in ruins, trying to eliminate the Blood Angels' long range fire support. He killed 3 of the Devastators, leaving only the Sergeant and a Lascannon alive.
At the end of the Tyranid turn one, I had scored a single point for capturing objective 2. However I could not discard the cards for objective 3 and 4 due to the mission special rules, and I was sure that my opponent would be off to an early lead on points.
Blood Angels Objectives: Scour the Skies, Witch Hunter, Ascendancy
A very interesting draw for the Blood Angels gave my opponent some great incentive to kill the Hive Tyrant - that would be worth 3 (Slay the Warlord, Scour the Skies, Witch Hunter). This was no easy task however, as the Swooping T6, 3+ Flyer had a good amount of durability. At this time I began to regret not making the Tervigon my Warlord, but soon realized that I couldn't have done that anyway since Tervigons are not Characters.
The Blood Angels would easily score Ascendancy regardless, as well as objectives #2 and #4 which were in my hand. I could do nothing else but watch and hope my Tyrant's saving throws held up.
On the far flank, the two tactical squads and Librarian Dreadnought focused all of their might against the Swooping Hive Crone, however with the ruins area terrain cover save boosted to a 2+ from the Malanthrope's Shrouded bubble, they were unable to harm the Crone.
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| I hold my breath as the wounded Hive Tyrant passes his grounding test - falling and getting charged by the ferocious Sanguinary Guard and Death Company could have been disastrous. |
The lone remaining Lascannon from the Devastator squad sought vengeance for his fallen brothers and made his to-hit roll of 6! He put a wound on the Swooping Hive Tyrant, and would force a critical grounding test at the end of the shooting phase. The result of this test would be huge, since the Tyrant would almost surely be torn apart by Lemartes and Gabriel Seth's decked out elite assault units. Luckily for me, the Tyrant passed the grounding test and would live to fight another day.
When the dust settled on turn one, the Blood Angels force was not able to take out the Flyrant for Scour the Skies and Witch Hunter. Still though, the turn had been a good one - the Blood Angels scored D3 points for Ascendancy and scored both of the objective cards in my hand due to the mission special rules. They were unlucky to roll a 1 on the D3 result, but still ended turn one with a 3-1 lead. Nate opted to keep both Witch Hunter and Scour the Skies for next turn.
Turn Two - The Red Thirst
Tyranid Objectives: Big Game Hunter, Secure Objective 3, Secure Objective 6
That pesky Objective 3 card came up once again. It was currently being held by Lemartes and the Death Company, however I might be able to score it this turn with some Objective Secured troops. I had reserve rolls to make and either of my troops choices could nab it with a favourable scatter roll.
Objective 6 was in the corner farthest removed from the action, close to where I had deployed just my Malanthrope and Carnifex. The Malanthrope would have to double back to pick up the point for my Tyranids - I didn't want to risk leaving the objective open and having yet another point stolen by the mobile Blood Angels.
Big Game Hunter could be scored only one way - I would have to take out the Librarian Dreadnought. A tall order, but not impossible - I would put my Hive Crone and Hive Tyrant to work on this mission.
Before any of that however, it was time for reserve rolls. Two of my three rolls failed however, and only the Tyrannocyte bearing 20 Termagants would be arriving on turn two. The Mawloc and Rippers would have to wait.
I aimed the Tyrannocyte toward objective 3, hoping to steal it from the Death Company. The scatter dice roll was decent, and they were within reach to score the point.
On the other flank, the Malanthrope doubled back toward Objective #6 while the Carnifex advanced to a firing position against the Tactical Squads. He would be left out of Synapse for the start of turn three, but this was a necessary sacrifice to keep him in the action now while still scoring #6 with the Malanthrope.
The Hive Crone Swooped forward, landing a Vector Strike against the Librarian Dreadnought, while the Hive Tyrant continued his aggressive swooping pattern, positioning himself to shoot into the vulnerable rear armour of the Librarian Dreadnought. The Vector Strike managed a penetrating hit, shaving a hull point off the walker.
The Hive Tyrant was able to finish off the target by firing into its relatively vulnerable AV10 rear armour, securing a point for Big Game Hunter, as well as another point for First Blood!
The Malanthrope behind the action made a run move and got within range to score objective 6, ensuring yet another point for the Tyranids this turn.
On the flank where most of the action would be found, the Tervigon managed to get Onslaught off on the Termagant unit, and they ran forward before firing into the Death Company. The nearby Carnifex also fired into the Death Company, hoping to whittle down the Blood Angels' assault power. Lemartes and the Death Company however proved resilient with their 3+ armour and 5+ FNP, taking only a couple of unsaved wounds.
When the dust settled on turn one, the Blood Angels force was not able to take out the Flyrant for Scour the Skies and Witch Hunter. Still though, the turn had been a good one - the Blood Angels scored D3 points for Ascendancy and scored both of the objective cards in my hand due to the mission special rules. They were unlucky to roll a 1 on the D3 result, but still ended turn one with a 3-1 lead. Nate opted to keep both Witch Hunter and Scour the Skies for next turn.
Turn Two - The Red Thirst
Tyranid Objectives: Big Game Hunter, Secure Objective 3, Secure Objective 6
That pesky Objective 3 card came up once again. It was currently being held by Lemartes and the Death Company, however I might be able to score it this turn with some Objective Secured troops. I had reserve rolls to make and either of my troops choices could nab it with a favourable scatter roll.
Objective 6 was in the corner farthest removed from the action, close to where I had deployed just my Malanthrope and Carnifex. The Malanthrope would have to double back to pick up the point for my Tyranids - I didn't want to risk leaving the objective open and having yet another point stolen by the mobile Blood Angels.
Big Game Hunter could be scored only one way - I would have to take out the Librarian Dreadnought. A tall order, but not impossible - I would put my Hive Crone and Hive Tyrant to work on this mission.
Before any of that however, it was time for reserve rolls. Two of my three rolls failed however, and only the Tyrannocyte bearing 20 Termagants would be arriving on turn two. The Mawloc and Rippers would have to wait.
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| Termagants pour out of of the newly arrived Tyrannocyte, taking control of Objective 3 (center) with their Objective Secured special rule. |
On the other flank, the Malanthrope doubled back toward Objective #6 while the Carnifex advanced to a firing position against the Tactical Squads. He would be left out of Synapse for the start of turn three, but this was a necessary sacrifice to keep him in the action now while still scoring #6 with the Malanthrope.
The Hive Crone Swooped forward, landing a Vector Strike against the Librarian Dreadnought, while the Hive Tyrant continued his aggressive swooping pattern, positioning himself to shoot into the vulnerable rear armour of the Librarian Dreadnought. The Vector Strike managed a penetrating hit, shaving a hull point off the walker.
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The Malanthrope behind the action made a run move and got within range to score objective 6, ensuring yet another point for the Tyranids this turn.
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| Librarian Dreadnought is down - the Tactical Squads would surely aim to avenge his death by slaying the Tyranid Flyers. |
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| Termagants, Carnifex, and Tyrannocyte all pour their firepower into Lemartes and his Death Company. |
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| Two of the Death Company fall to Tyranid fire, but Lemartes and 3 others still remain, as does a full-strength unit of Sanguinary Guard led by Gabriel Seth and a Command Squad led by the Blood Angels' Librarian. Things would get interesting real soon... |
At the end of Tyranid turn two, some more casualties were inflicted but for the most part the Blood Angels force was still holding strong, and now they were about to enter their comfort zone of close combat carnage! Oh, and I once again forgot to spawn Termagants with the Tervigon. It was my first time running a Tervigon, so cut me some slack - but I really gotta remember about that next time.
The Hive Fleet Behemoth Tyranids scored all 3 of their objective cards, as well as first blood. This brought the score to 4-3 Tyranids going into the bottom of turn two.
Blood Angels Objectives: Scour the Skies, Witch Hunter, Secure Objective 5
No surprises here - the Blood Angels held over 2 cards from the previous turn. Objective 5 was already held by the Command Squad and Librarian, so they would have to focus down one of the Tyranid FMCs to retake the lead now.
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| The Hive Crone sits precariously at a single wound remaining. He would go on to barely pass his grounding test and Scour the Skies would continue to elude the Blood Angels. |
Both Tactical Squads were sent into a rage after watching their Librarian Dreadnought fall in battle. They set their sights on the Hive Crone and unleashed a hail of fire. All in all they were able to score 4 unsaved wounds against the Crone, leaving it with just one left! If it failed the grounding test at the end of phase, it would almost certainly die and score a point for the Blood Angels.
In the other flank, the Lascannon Devastator continued to hit the mark by putting a wound against the Malanthrope - the Space Marines were beginning to focus down the pesky Shrouded provider. The Librarian got off Blood Boil against the Termagants, killing 5 or 6 of the little guys with the warp charge 2 witchfire. He did suffer a Perils of the Warp and rolled a 1, but passing the ensuing leadership test meant he just took a wound for his troubles. Lemartes' Death Company, the Librarian's Command Squad, and Gabriel Seth's Sanguinary Guard all charged in against the Termagants. It was an absolute massacre. Not a single Termagant survived, and the Blood Angels hadn't even rolled most of their attacks.
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| A pile of blood and gore is all that remains of the 20-strong Termagant unit. The Sanguinary Guard, Death Company, and Command Squad all consolidate after the total destruction of the Tyranid unit. |
I was ok with this - the assault was a bit of an overkill and I'm happy that it was only the Termagants who fell, it easily could have been a lot worse if the Sanguinary Gaurd had charged in against my Carnifex or Malanthrope instead. Now the Blood Angels were all in the open and I would have some options of how to proceed. They were definitely a force to be reckoned with in close quarters.
Unfortunately the Blood Angels were not able to score any of the Maelstrom points this turn - Objective 5 had been abandoned by the Command Squad in favour of more aggressive moves, while the Hive Tyrant and Crone's durability continued to frustrate the Space Marines. Turn two ended with the score sitting at 4-3 for the Tyranids.
Turn Three - Terror from the Deep
Tyranid Objectives: Overwhelming Firepower, No Prisoners, Witch Hunter
It seemed like all three objective cards begged me to focus down the wounded Blood Angels' Librarian. With three small squads in the open, and a 2-man Devastator Squad remaining in the ruins behind them, these objectives looked pretty do-able.
The Ripper Swarms and Mawloc were still burrowing their way to the battle. The reserve rolls dictated that the Mawloc would arrive, but the Rippers would have to wait until turn four. With the three most threatening squads vulnerable to the Mawloc's Terror from the Deep attack, I decided to center the blast marker on the 2+ armour Sanguinary Guard and Gabriel Seth - they seemed to be the scariest unit on the table.
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| The Mawloc rolls 12" on the scatter distance, but a Hit! result on the scatter die!!! This could be a game-changer, as all 6 of the terrifying models in the unit would take S6 AP2 hits. |
The first round of hits from the Mawloc resulted in 6 AP2 hits. 1 Sanguinary Guard was killed, but Gabriel Seth tanked the next 5 hits. He took 3 wounds and made 2 successful 4++ saves. Going into the second round of Terror from the Deep attacks, there were 5 models left, and Gabriel Seth had 1 wound remaining. All 5 hits wounded, and with Gabriel Seth failing his first invuln save, that meant that the remaining 4 Sanguinary Guard too were slain. Wow! The Mawloc had just taken out 355 points worth of terrifying elite models, as well as scored a point for Slay the Warlord and No Prisoners. With this one devastating blow, the battle seemed to swing heavily in the Tyranids' favour.
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| Mawloc munches on Sanguinary Guard bits. I'm pretty sure Lemartes and his Death Company don't appreciate what just happened. |
Nearby, the Carnifex poured fire into the Death Company while the Tervigon once again forgot to Spawn Termagants, but dealt some casualties to the Command Squad using her Shreddershard Beetles.
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| The flank takes on an entirely new look after the Mawloc's devastating arrival. Lemartes has been slain by Carnifex fire while the Tervigon and Malanthrope are closing in on the Command Squad and the Librarian. Behind the scenes, the Hive Tyrant has taken out the remaining 2 members of the Devastator Squad. |
The Hive Crone elected to fly off the map and enter ongoing reserves, not wanting to yield a point for Scour the Skies, as he had just one wound remaining.
The Carnifex in the off flank had failed his Instinctive Behaviour test and was thrust into a rage, desperate to feed on the nearest enemy. He jumped off the building and attempted to charge the Tactical Squad, but failed the 11" charge.
In the assault phase, the Tervigon and Malanthrope teamed up to wipe out the Librarian and 2 remaining Command Squad Veterans, while the Carnifex successfully finished off the last 2 of the Death Company.
The game had taken a huge swing in a devastating Tyranid turn 3 - the Blood Angels had only two tactical squads remaining. No Prisoners would be a huge score for the Tyranids, as they had completely destroyed 7 units!!! (Gabriel Seth, Sanguinary Guard, Devastators, Lemartes, Death Company, Librarian, Command Squad). This yielded D3+3 victory points. An additional 3 points were scored for Overwhelming Firepower, Witch Hunter, and Slay the Warlord.
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| The flank belongs to the Tyranids. Most of them have been wounded, but they are now free to feed on the Blood Angels' biomass and regain their strength. Only two Tactical Squads remain off screen to the left. |
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| The Malanthrope arrives and the battle rages on. |
It was a massive turn 3 for the Tyranids, who scored 8 points and all but secured the game. The Blood Angels entered the bottom of turn three trailing 12-3.
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| Chaaaarge! |
The game was over, but we decided to resolve the off-flank that saw 2 Tactical Squads facing off against a Malanthrope and Carnifex.
After a few rounds of combat, the Tac squad had taken heavy casualties, but they employed all the Krak grenades in their arsenal to finally bring down the Tyranid Monstrous Creature! A moral victory for the Blood Angels, surely.
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| Ripper Swarms finally arrive to feed on the fallen Blood Angels... but first they have to bail out the Malanthrope. |
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| Last Man Standing - the last of the Blood Angels holds his resolve as he is finally overrun by the swarms and consumed by the Malanthrope's feeder tendrils. |
Conclusion (12-3 Tyranids)
What a fun game! The Blood Angels have some really scary close combat synergies and awesome models - it was a joy to go up against them. The game was very tight until everything crumbled for the Space Marines on turn 3. I was surprised by how much damage the Nids were able to do. The Mawloc is worth his weight in gold - taking out Gabriel Seth and his Sanguinary Guard was absolutely massive!
In hindsight there were a couple of gaffes that could have influenced the game, and something to remember for the future. Here are my takeaways for this game:
1. I forgot to spawn termagants every turn... Oops!! I need to remind myself to not do this.
2. When playing against a Mawloc, spread out your units as best as possible. Make the most of the 2" unit coherency requirement to ensure that less will die (either that or place them upstairs in multi-level ruins, since the attack hits the bottom floor only).
3. Rolling a Hit! result with Mawlocs is pretty awesome.
4. Tactical Squads can take out Hive Crones/Harpies - be careful with positioning.
5. I think my opponent may have made a bit of an error by having all 3 of his units charge the Termagants. I feel like just one of the units would have been sufficient to take them out, while the other two could potentially have engaged the Carnifex and/or Malanthrope, doing more damage overall and possibly changing the course of events in the ensuing Tyranid turn 3.
This game was great fun. I look forward to seeing the Blood Angels in battle again soon!
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| Nidzilla is victorious! |
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