Broods of Ymgarl Genestealers that are left behind when a Hive Fleet passes through are sometimes able to ingest some of the bio-matter of the Hive Fleet – eating the corpses before the Ripper Swarms can reach them.  In such cases, the biology of the Ymgarl Genestealers, already very much in flux, can assimilate the bio-matter and render new forms.  One such form is the Ymgarl Broodlord.

	Pts	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Ymgarl Broodlord	+60	7	0	5	5	3	7	4	10	4+

 

Unit Type: Infantry

Weapons and Biomorphs: Rending Claws, Hardened Carapace

Special Rules: Fleet, Move Through Cover, Psyker

Brood Telepathy: See Genestealers

Dormant: See Ymgarl Genestealers

Alter Form: See Ymgarl Genestealers

Upgrade Character:  The Ymgarl Broodlord is an upgrade character for a unit of Ymgarl Genestealers.

Alpha Broods:  If an Ymgarl Broodlord is taken, then the army may not contain any units of Genestealers.  Ymgarl Genestealers may be taken as Troops.

Psychic Powers: Catalyst, Impel

Impel: Used at the start of the Tyranid Shooting Phase, this gives the Ymgarl Brood the Bounding Leap special rule for the remainder of that Turn (roll 3 dice when Running and use the highest to determine how far they move).

Options:

• An Ymgarl Broodlord may take:
  • Scything talons…2pts
  • Implant Attack…15pts
  • Acid Blood…15 pts
  • Frag Spines…2pts

Comments: The Ymgarl Broodlord lets you take Ymgarls as Troops, but you cannot take ordinary Genestealers if you do (since these upgraded Ymgarls won’t tolerate the competition!)  You lose infiltration, obviously, but you gain the Dormant rule and the two psychic powers of the new Broodlord.  Of course, he can only use one per Turn!  Combined with Move Through Cover and Fleet, Impel lets you get close to the maximum charge range in any Turn, regardless of terrain.  Catalyst lets you give the Ymgarl unit Feel No Pain (or any other unit within range), which is handy if you are charging into cover – you will go last, but you get will a FNP save on all those wounds!  The Ymgarl Broodlord can have Frag Spines, but they only benefit him, not the others.

Lastly, Alter Form will affect the Broodlord as well – how about a S6 Broodlord hitting in Initiative order with FNP?

Which is why he costs +60pts.

Thought I would put up a few (slightly blurry) pics of the Parasite of Mortrex conversion currently underway by G-Swizzy aka Old Nid Nutz hisself.

It’s pretty awesome even without a paint job, and I’m looking forward to some Rippers bursting out the chest of my Crisis Suits in a shower of gore soon.

Go, G.  It’s yer birthday(*)

(*it is, actually.  He’s very, very old, so send him some love.  And soft crackers.)

The impossible had come to pass – three married men who should know better had found themselves with a whole day in which to play toy soldiers.  After gathering ourselves from the collective fainting couch, we realised there was nothing else for it – it was time to super-size this sucker.  3000pts a side.

Could we – the slowest, most laid-back players in the British Isles – manage this in a single day?  Or would we still be setting up terrain and admiring each other’s armies two hours in?

Your guess is as good as mine, except I was there and I know what happened so that was a complete lie!  It will not be the last!  Moving on!

Regular Imperial Guard player Brian couldn’t make it, as he is a married man who really did know better, so it was left to me to uphold the honour of the Imperium.  Which I did with 3106pts of Deathwing with Grey Knight allies.  You can uphold a lot with 3106pts.  We’d agreed to allow multiple detachments given the point limit.

HQ

• Master of the Deathwing (bet that looks good on a business card) Belial with Lightning Claws
• Interrogator Chaplain (Imamiah) with Terminator Armour and combi-melta
• Librarian (Socodiah) with Terminator Armour and combi-melta
• Allied Grey Knight Grand Master (Ceres) with Holocaust, Psycannon, Targeter, Unguents of Warding (4+ save vs psychic powers), Sacred Incense (-1 Initiative to Chaos in base contact) and Psychic Hood

ELITES

• Venerable Dreadnought (Kaelen), Multimelta, Extra Armour
• Venerable Dreadnought (Torquaret), Multimelta, Extra Armour
• Venerable Dreadnought (Zekiel), Assault Cannon, Extra Armour

TROOPS

• 5 x Deathwing Terminators (Agares), Assault Cannon, Apothecary, Deathwing Banner, TH/SS, Power Fist, Lightning Claws, Chainfist, Sergeant with power weapon
• 5 x Deathwing Terminators (Butator), Assault Cannon, 4 x Storm Bolters, 3 x Power Fist, Chainfist and Sergeant with power weapon
• 5 x Deathwing Terminators (Carnivean), Heavy Flamer, TH/SS, Lightning Claws, Chainfist, Power Fist, Sergeant with power weapon
• 5 x Deathwing Terminators (Dominus), Heavy Flamer, TH/SS, Lightning Claws, Chainfist, Power Fist, Sergeant with power weapon
• 5 x Inquisitorial Stormtroopers (Crucis) with 2 meltas
• 5 x Inquisitorial Stormtroopers (Arcturis) with 2 flamers

HEAVY SUPPORT

• Land Raider (Iron Will) with Extra Armour and Pintle Mounted Storm Bolter
• Land Raider Crusader (Blade of the Emperor) with Extra Armour and Pintle Mounted Storm Bolter
• Land Raider Crusader (Final Judgement) with Extra Armour and Pintle Mounted Storm Bolter

I brought the GKGM as he was a total beatstick in close combat, and I joined him, Belial and the Chaplain to squad Agares, putting them in Blade of the Emperor.  This ‘deathstar’ squad would go out and cause mayhem.

The stormtroopers were my ace-in-the-hole.  Cheap, small and scoring, they could jump into the Land Raiders once the terminators got out, making the AV14 vehicles scoring once again.

My plan (such as it was beyond, “Charge! Kill! Purify!”) was to let the enemy shoot at and charge the Land Raiders, before getting out and pummelling them. So, yeah – Charge! Kill! Purify!

My opponents brought a combined force of Daemons and Tyranids; 2000pts and 1100pts respectively.

Gary‘s Tyranids

• Tyranid Prime with Bone Sword and lashwhip and deathspitter
• Doooom of Malant’aiiiiiiii in a Mycetic Spore with a venom cannon
• Zoanthrope
• Broodlord with implant attack and adrenal gland (possibly toxin sacs, not sure) in a squad with 7 stealers all with adrenal gland and toxin sacs, all in a Mycetic Spore with tanglethorn something or other
• Squad of 8 stealers all with adrenal gland and toxin sacs
• Squad of 9 stealers all with same
• Carnifex with bioplasma

Robert’s Daemons

• Skulltaker on Chariot
• 3 x Heralds of Slaanesh on Chariots
• 6 x Fiends of Slaanesh
• 6 x Flamers
• 8 x Bloodletters
• 8 x Bloodletters
• 5 x Plaguebearers
• 5 x Plaguebearers
• 5 x Pink Horrors
• 5 x Pink Horrors
• 10 x Daemonettes
• 6 x Screamers
• 6 x Screamers
• Soul Grinder

Robert managed to make his Screamers out of air-drying clay a few nights before the game (all 12 of them), base them and paint them.  Amazing

Including Grand Master Ceres automatically gave the Daemons Sustained Assault, meaning they could recycle any destroyed Troops units into reserve, bringing them on either on their own long table edge or either short table edge.  I hoped this might make up for my three Land Raiders, knowing that of the three codexes in 5^th edition that struggle with Land Raiders, Tyranids and Daemons are two of them (*).

With only one Zoanthrope and two psychic hoods on the table, the Tyranids would struggle worse than ever.  The Daemons were bringing loads of Screamers, however, and even hitting on 6s, that many meltabombs would spell bad news.

Mission

We rolled up Seize Ground with 3 objectives, and Dawn of War deployment.

The forces of Darkness won the roll and, despite my suggestions to reconsider, decided to go first.  I think they both assumed I was trying to trick them, but I could not in all honesty let a Daemon army go first without saying something – and in an objectives mission at that.  But they went first

The first objective (a homing beacon) went in one corner of the table, the second (a book bound to a marble slab) in the diagonally opposite one and the last one (another homing beacon) went off-centre, about 18″ from the first objective.

Deployment

Daemons/ Tyranids

The two squads of genestealers deployed in cover right next to the central objective.  They would hold there for most of the game.

Deathwing

I deployed nothing, as it didn’t make sense to give the daemons a target and since my Land Raiders were not dedicated transports, I would have to deploy bare squads, which wasn’t my plan.

I kept Squad Dominus in reserve to deep strike.

Turn 1

Daemons/ Tyranids

Robert’s preferred wave came in.  Two units of Plaguebearers dropped onto the Book objective (henceforth just “The Book”), scattering a little.  Two units of Pink Horrors and a unit of Flamers hit mid-table just behind them.  The Soul Grinder came in and mishap’d, going back into reserve. Skulltaker and one Chariot came in behind the central forest with the genestealers in it and the unit of Furies came in just ahead of them, on the side of the central forest.  They all ran.

The Zoanthrope walked on, running 6″.  The Carnifex and the Tyranid Prime (a single unit) walked on into terrain.

Immediately, my opponent was claiming two of the three objectives, and contesting the third.  However, his forces were clearly weighted to my left, with not much on the right flank as yet.  I decided to focus on the two homing beacon objectives, and leave the Book.  In hindsight, I might have sent my three Dreadnoughts after the Book, but we’ll find out how they got on later

Deathwing

The two Land Raider Crusaders came on 12″ and popped smoke.  Squad Agares, with Belial, the Chaplain and the GKGM were in the one on my right (Blade of the Emperor), while squad Butator and the Librarian were in the one on my left (Final Judgement).  The Land Raider, Iron Will, with squad Carnivean, moved <6″, taking up position on my left flank.

The three Dreadnoughts walked on, popped smoke and ran (yes, they can do this! Pg 72 of the rulebook) to keep up with the Raiders.

Both units of Stormtroopers also walked on and ran.

Iron Will could see the Furies, rolling an 11 on night fight, and fired at them with its lascannon, putting a wound on them.

Turn 2

Daemons/ Tyranids

The Defiler arrived from reserve and, once again, mishap’d.  I got to place it, but since I wanted a nice violent game I plonked it down right in front of my Land Raiders   Why, yes, I would live to regret that, thanksforasking.

One Slaaneshi chariot came down, scattering into the central forest.  The last chariot came down, scattering into the ruin right beside my Land Raiders.  A unit of Bloodletters and a unit of Daemonettes came down well behind the central forest.

There was some losses to dangerous terrain rolls, and Robert realised he had forgotten to use his Icons!

My opponent was keeping his distance – even with his recycling Troops choices!  Okay…

And none of his Screamers had arrived yet

The Plaguebearers stayed put on the Book.  They didn’t move for the rest of the game, so let’s forget about them.  Everything else moved up (or around).  The Soul Grinder shot, but did nothing. and the Furies charged Iron Will, but failed to scratch it.

Deathwing

Squad Dominus came in.  Drat!  I had nowhere I really wanted to put them.  I tried to get them near the Zoanthrope, but they scattered towards the Soul Grinder.

Blade of the Emperor moved forward 6″ to get a meltagun shot on the Soul Grinder.  Torquaret and Zekiel moved toward the Soul Grinder as well, although I kept Torquaret back a little to prevent him being multi-charged by the Soul Grinder next Turn along with squad Dominus.

Stormtrooper squad Crucis, out of range of the Soul Grinder, spread out in the backfield to discourage the Mycetic Spores from trying to land there.

Kaelen moved out to help with the Furies.  Squad Carnivean disembarked from Iron Will, ready to show the Furies the true meaning of the word, while Stormtrooper squad Arcturis moved up to being their flamers to bear.

Lastly, fire support squad Butator disembarked from Final Judgement, ready to fire as needed.

My opponents rubbed their hands in glee.  Turn 2 and I’m getting out of my Land Raiders without being forced to!  And the Doom of Malantai is heading this way.  Ah, what the hell

Shooting managed to whittle the Furies down to only one model with a single wound.  The chariot in the ruins was wiped out, mostly by the Stormtroopers incredibly enough.  The multimeltas failed to put a dent in the Soul Grinder.

Squad Carnivean finished off the Furies in assault (Dreadnought Kaelen failed to reach them), and consolidated back towards Iron Will.

Turn 3

Daemons/ Tyranids

The Doom of Malantai arrived, aiming for the ruins but scattering towards the Soul Grinder, and within 6″ of unlucky squad Dominus.

The Broodlord and his chums arrived right on the homing beacon objective in the corner.  All three objectives were now claimed by the forces of Evil.

A single unit of Screamers came down on the far side of the Book.  Although this meant they could use the Icons to avoid scatter, it did put them a long way from the action, even for jetbikes.  Could I persuade them to stay over there?

With a sonorous “Goooo-oooong” the Doom went to work.  Squad Dominus were the only ones nearby, took two wounds and failed two invulnerable saves.  Ouch!

Doom then used its blast weapon on them as well, costing it 2 wounds in the process.  Then everything else in range proceeded to shoot at Dominus (which meant the Soul Grinder, both Mycetic Spores, the Zoanthrope and the Tyranid Prime), wiping out my last power fist in the squad.  I now had nothing to fight the Soul Grinder with.  Losing that model also meant my Dreadnought Torquaret was now level with the leading Terminator in squad Dominus, meaning he could be multi-charged by the Soul Grinder.

Which he was, promptly losing all three of his weapons!  Now I had nothing in that combat that could hurt the Soul Grinder

On my left flank, both remaining Slaaneshi chariots moved up and assaulted Kaelen, wrecking him before he had a chance to fight back.  They both consolidated away.

Shooting from the Horrors killed two Terminators in squad Carnivean.

Deathwing

I had to seize the initiative before the wave of daemons came crashing into my lines.

On the left, Stormtrooper squad Arcturis jumped into Iron Will and it raced off 12″ to my left, towards the Book.  I had no intention of contesting it, but I wanted to dissuade the Screamers from moving 24″ on their next Turn.

The remains of squad Carnivean shot at and then assaulted the closest chariot, putting it down to a single wound.  It killed one Terminator in reply, then used Hit and Run to get away.  Carnivean consolidated 6″ into the wrecked Kaelen (meaning any assaults on them would take a dangerous terrain test, for what it was worth).

Zekiel moved towards the Doom, which was now on 6 wounds and 6 Strength, meaning it could hurt the dreadnought in close combat.  Shooting got it down to 3 wounds/ strength, however, and Zekiel charged in, expecting to get a quick Instant Death hit.  It didn’t quite work out like that…

Might as well tell you know that Zekiel and the Doom remained locked in solo combat for the remainder of the game.  The Doom could not hurt Zekiel, but it could also not fail a 3+ inv save, no matter how many it had to make!  It survived a total of 7 rounds of combat with a dreadnought

The Doom did fire off its power one more time, in my shooting phase, and killed both remaining members of squad Dominus.  I rolled a 17 on 3D6, and failed most of the 8 5+ invulnerable saves I had to make as a result.

The Librarian and squad Butatis got back into Final Judgement and moved 12″ into the ruin, winding up atop it.  I didn’t fail a single dangerous terrain roll all game – lucky me!  They were now within one move of the central objective.

Blade of the Emperor moved 12″ forward, towards the Tyranids and that corner objective.  Time for the super-killy squad to show their moves.  Belial and Mega Chums piled out, shot at the Tyranid Prime (since shooting at the genestealers would have resulting in him pulling models to deny me the charge) and then got off a multicharge on the Tyranid Prime/ Carnifex and on the Genestealer/ Broodlord squad.

It was complicated (terrain, multiple ICs, frag grenades, lash whips, MCs and so on) but it was also fairly one-sided.  On the charge, my Chaplain gave the squad re-rolls to hit, and denied the genestealers the use of their Furious Charge and the Broodlord’s powers.  I lost wounds on Belial and the GKGM, and also lost two terminators to the Carnifex, but killed everything in reply

With Skulltaker and the daemons looming within charge range, I got a 6″ consolidation move, and got the whole squad safely on the other side of the Mycetic Spore.  Okay, next to a Monstrous Creature is hardly safe, but I wasn’t in base to base with it and it couldn’t move.

The Soul Grinder could only immobilise Torquaret.  Being Venerable has its advantages!  I could have put some powerfists into the combat to rescue him, but with all his weapons gone, what would that have got me?  One of my few units tied up with the Soul Grinder for (at least) one Turn?  Nah – I just had to leave him there, and now he was immobilised he was totally useless.  Other than being able to tie up a Soul Grinder, that is

Turn 4

Daemons/ Tyranids

All the remaining reserves came in.  The second Screamer squad came down in range of the Icon, meaning all the way off to my left again   The last squad of Bloodletters came down on the far side of the central forest.  They would need to move some to get into play there.

On my left, the Flamers moved up and shook the Land Raider Iron Will.

Both Chariots charged into the two remaining Terminators from squad Carnivean, killing them both.

Skulltaker, unable to reach squad Agares and my HQs, charged the Land Raider Blade of the Emperor instead, but failed to do any damage.  Given its paint scheme, I think he mistook it for a giant skull

The Zoanthrope tried to get off a Warp Blast, but the Ld10 psychic hood stopped him.

In the two interminable close combats,  Zekiel wiffs vs the Doom utterly and the Soul Grinder bangs repeatedly on Torquaret’s ceramite casing, only managing to shake him.  Again.

Deathwing

Iron Will reverses course and makes a beeline for the central objective, having done its job of persuading those Screamers to stay off to the left and away from my Crusaders.

Blade of the Emperor pivots, and lets Skulltaker eat 19 shots!  He disappears back to the immaterium, sadly without any enormous new skulls to add to his collection.

Final Judgement stays put on top of the ruins.  The squad inside are fire support, but I cannot risk getting them out so near the Doom.  Instead, Final Judgement lays into the Bloodletters, thinning their numbers.  I need to protect the corner objective and keep it safe, but if I wipe out any Daemon Troops units, they will come on next Turn right next to it!  I need to be careful.

Stormtrooper squad Crucis move up and melta the Zoanthrope, but fail to kill it.

Squad Agares splits, with the GKGM separating so he can fire at the Zoanthrope.  He kills it with his psycannon while the remainder of Agares fire on the Bloodletters, bringing them down to three models.

The Sisyphean assaults continue, with neither Zekiel nor the Soul Grinder making any progress.  Bang, clang, wiff!

Turn 5

Daemons/ Tyranids

The Screamers mob Iron Will-

-and get two penetrating hits.  The first wrecks it, but the second explodes it

I lose two Stormtroopers from squad Arcturis, but they pass their pinning test and I place them as close to the central objective as I can.  I have a plan for them, you see.  Several Screamers die in the explosion, as does a Flamer.

The three Bloodletters move into the open ahead of Blade of the Emperor, while the Daemonettes head for squad Agares on the corner objective, moving into terrain and running.

Zekial and the Soul Grinder carry on their futile slap-and-tickle, and fail to do nothing to nobody.

Deathwing

Game might end here.  I am hoping it does, as a daemonic wave is about to break over me.  One thing I need to do is kill the Mycetic Spore contesting the corner objective.  I keep the GKGM separate again for that purpose.

On my right, expecting to take a charge from the daemonettes if the game does continue, Belial and Co fire at them.  I also let them eat fire from Blade of the Emperor, leaving only a few remaining.

Stormtrooper squad Crucis try and move through terrain to reach Blade of the Emperor, but roll very poorly.  They shoot at the Mycetic Spore, but it makes its cover save against the meltas.  The GKGM wipes it out with his psycannon.

In the middle, I decide it is time to move Final Judgement up.  It moves 12″, ending within 3″ of the central objective and the Librarian and squad Butator get out again.  Stormtrooper squad Arcturis pick themselves up from the ruins of one Land Raider and run into another, getting inside Final Judgement.  It will be scoring even if squad Butator die.

Final Judgement uses POTMS to shoot its hurricane bolter at the Screamers, killing four.

Squad Butator shoots the genestealers up and then assaults.  I ponder whether to multi-assault the Bloodletters as well, but decide against it.  Turns out to be a good decision, as Butator only just manage to kill the genestealers.

Zekiel and the Soul Grinder do what they have been doing all game – ie a whole lot of nothing!

That said, I am claiming two objectives to my opponents’ one.  If the game ends here I win.

It doesn’t.

Turn 6

Daemons/ Tyranids

This could be painful, and it is.

Realising that squad Agares have the corner objective all but sewn up, the enemy focus all their effort on the middle one.

The Screamers and Flamers move up, and the second Bloodletter squad moves into the central forest.  The chariot does, too, but the second genestealer squad are in the way of both the Bloodletters and the chariot, stopping them from reaching squad Butator.

What can reach squad Butator, however, are the Flamers, the second genestealer squad and the three Bloodletters left over.  The Flamers kill two Terminators with shooting, and then the stealers and Bloodletters charge in, wiping out the Librarian and his men.  Caution: do not let power weapons near your 2+ saves

The Screamers melta Final Judgement, but only succeed in knocking a weapon off!  Glad I thinned their numbers last Turn.

The Daemonettes move up to contest, but don’t charge Belial and Co.

Wait!  What’s this?  The Soul Grinder finally wrecks Torquaret?  Incredible.  It only took him 7 rounds of walloping with that enormous sword!  The Soul Grinder turns around, scant inches from Blade of the Emperor.

Deathwing

Stormtrooper squad Crucis run back the way and melta the Soul Grinder in his now exposed rear.  Ka-BOOOOM!

See, Torquaret?  That’s what you should have done.

Belial and Co move up, shoot and assault the Daemonettes, wiping them out.  They consolidate back securely around the objective.

In the middle of the table, I try a tank shock.  Final Judgement lines up and drives over the objective, pushing the genestealers and Bloodletters back into the forest but – aaargh! – not more than 3″ away from the objective.

We roll, and the game ends there.

Result:  As squad Agares are Troops, they claim the corner objective.  The Plaguebearers (remember them?) claimed the Book objective and the central objective was unclaimed by either side.  DRAW.

After Match Thoughts: By my reckoning my opponents made a few mistakes, which I was able to take advantage of.  Going first was one.  Secondly, the two forces didn’t really come together much, and the weaker force split itself between two objectives, rather than clustering around one.  Finally, the Daemons did not play to their strengths, and failed to take advantage of the Sustained Assault rule.  A more aggressive deployment by them might have seen this game play out very differently.  Skulltaker in particular was a disappointment.  Even if I had charged him with Belial and Co, which I was expecting to do, he would have done some very unpleasant things to my ICs before going pop.

If I were to do things differently, I would have walked squad Dominus on rather than deep strike them.  I was a victim of my own deployment, there, as with a crowded backfield to deter enemy deepstriking, I effectively left my own unit with nowhere safe to come down.

I would probably put the GKGM (or, in future, an allied Elite Inquisitor with a psycannon) in with the fire support squad Butator.  Having them out in the open firing away with four storm bolters, an assault cannon and a psycannon would be invaluable over 5+ Turns.  Just not with Doom around!

Lastly, I should have deployed the three Dreadnoughts way over on my left.  They would have been able to get into assault quickly and, with any luck, got locked in close combat with some Fearless Plaguebearers, contesting that objective for possibly the entire game.  As it was, I went the whole game without shooting from any of them, so I missed nothing.

Summary: A good outing for the Deathwing.  I lost three of my four Terminator squads, but the durability and mobility of the Land Raiders ensured I stayed in the fight.  I need to learn to use fire support better, and not throw my Dreads away.

(* Orks are the third one, but you knew that)

Picture the scene.  You are gaming in a dim and smoke-filled room with three of your evilest, smack-talking gaming buddies and your army is in the midst of a complicated and dangerous assault on a table laden with tricky terrain.  You only have 400 points on the table, so every model counts.  The vile abuse and acid-laden taunts are flying thick and fast, and you have to keep up with that as well as with the ever-changing gamescape.

And one of your so-called buddies is holding a stopwatch and crowing that you only have 20 seconds to complete your shooting phase!  And you’re playing Tau!

Welcome to the joys of Rapid Fire Combat Patrol

The rules are simple.  You do not talk about Rapid Fire…no, hang on, failed meme-jack.  The rules are that each player gets 2 minutes for deployment, 2 minutes for each Movement phase and 2 minutes for each Shooting phase.  The only phase you don’t time is the Assault phase, since that is not under the control of just one player.  There is no rest between phases or between Turns, and the stopwatch is reset and started again immediately.

If a rules question comes up then the timekeeper stops the clock until he thinks it has been resolved.

Despite these strict time limits, we only managed to get three full games in yesterday evening, but at one an hour, and given how many times we stopped for a blether, or to discuss the particular odour of cheese coming from any of the many armies assembled, or to wonder openly at the flagrantly camp nature of Rab’s daemon prince this was pretty good going for us.

The Armies:-

Orks:

• Big Mek w/ KFF;
• 10 Grots with Runt Herder; and
• 3×2 Killa Kans with Grotzookas

Imperial Guard:

• 10 Veterans with 3 meltas in a Chimera with ML and hull HF;
• 10 Veterans with 3 plasmas in a Chimera with ML and hull HF; and
• 1 Hydra with hull HF.

Daemons:

• 10 x Daemonettes;
• 4 x Fiends of Slaanesh;
• 3 x Flamers of Tzeentch.

Tyranids:

• Broodlord with 4 Genestealers;
• 10 Genestealers; and
• 10 Genestealers.

Tau:

• 8 Fire Warriors;
• Sniper Drone Team;
• 3 XV25 Stealth Suits;
• XV8 Crisis Suit Team Leader w/  Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, Targeting Array and HW Multi-tracker; and
• Piranha w/ Targetting Array & Fusion Blaster.

The Results:-

1. Orks (me) vs Imperial Guard (Brian)

The ork army was a fluff-bunny’s delight, built purely to a theme with no thought for potential on the tabletop.  You can see it in its fully-painted glory here.  Brian’s army was a raw netlist scraped from some WAAC (Win At All Costs) forum that stunk my cheese-ometer into overload.  Still, I agreed, grudgingly, to play him, on the basis that if, somehow, against all the odds and laws of man and god, I eked out a win, I would be crowned the greatest player of all time.

Reader, I won.

I won’t bore you with details of my tactical nous, which my opponent mistakenly and rather oafishly construed as “charging forward with a wall of steel running pell-mell for my tanks and trusting to a 4+ cover save to keep him alive”, which only goes to show how much he lacks an appreciation of the finer points of martial direction and strategic thinking.

I will not go into too many details about Brian’s means of cowardly avoiding combat by moving backwards (is that allowed? I never had time to ask, but any man of honour knows the answer in his heart), but it availed him nothing.  Other than two wrecked Killa Kans, but they are a mere detail.  A trifle.  Victory went to the pure, proving once and for all that when it comes to a battle between ultra-competitive, WAAC gamers and those who care only for the thematic and artistic merits of the hobby, the dice gods will always come down on the side of justice.

2.  Daemons (Robert) vs Imperial Guard (Brian)

I remember this game occurring, but very little about it, basking as I was in the adulation of the masses.  Some daemons came in and attacked some tanks.  There was probably some shooting, and dice were certainly rolled at one point.  I expect the Imperial Guard ran away a lot, but that is mere conjecture.

(The Daemons won with some good assaults on the IG lines, and the IG just could not marshall enough focused shooting to wipe any single unit out.  The game ended with all the IG units wiped out bar the Hydra, which was stunned and without its flak cannon.)

3. Tyranids (Gary) vs Tau (me)

Like a leper using a stone keyboard, it pains me to write this.

Gary brought what can only be described as an army tailor-made to kill Tau.  Struggle as I can – and I love him as a brother – I can find no other honest way to put it.  I decry tailoring one’s list to beat a particular opponent, and I can only hope that, in the aftermath of the indubitably hollow and empty victory Gary earned – a tarnished bauble no gentleman of breeding would ever display in public – he realises how low and inferior his methods have become.  If you come across him today, and he cannot meet your eye – nor even the eye of a menial, a servant or one of the female class – you will know what anguish tears at his soul.

How he knew I was going to play Tau when I had told him I would bring Orks is only another infernal blot on his dark heart.

But, like a child anxious to play his Xbox, I must press on.

I’ll wait…

Ahem

(Gary won the roll to go first and decided to infiltrate everything.  I set up on top of terrain, trying to cover as many blind spots near my deployment zone as possible.  Luckily, I seized the initiative and managed to shoot his Broodlord squad off the table.  The remaining two squads of Genestealers, enraged at the loss of their master, covered an enormous amount of ground to close the gap.  An assault on the blocking Piranha failed to hurt at all(!), and the Tau gunline wiped one of the two squads off the table.

Some bad maneuvering on my part resulted in the last remaining squad getting off a multi-charge on my Fire Warriors and Stealth Suits, wiping them out.

All I could do was move my Crisis Suit to draw the ‘stealers into the open where my sniper drones could see them.  I killed a few more and the Crisis Suit was charged by seven ‘stealers.  And lived!  Sensing a vast and impossible victory in the making, I advanced my Sniper Drone Squad and charged with them.  Yes, you read that right   Incredibly, the ‘stealers did no wounds yet again.  Prepare a message for Aun’Va – this battle will be studied for years to come. Could I pull this off? 

No.  I did all my attacks back and wiffed.  I died horribly the next Turn.

Congrats to Gary on his inaugural win with his new ‘stealer list.  He took a very shaky opening and stuck to the plan.  I look forward to denying your Doom of Malantai the opportunity to kill me in my Devilfish soon

Conclusion

Three great games, and a lot of fun.  There were even jelly babies.  Note: jelly babies should not be used to proxy models or count wounds, unless you like squads that shrink or models that heal themselves when no-one is looking.

Next post: more Malifaux city terrain, and maybe an overview of the new Malifaux book, Rising Powers.

Oh, yes – Robert – you left your dice tower behind

 

Stealers—aaaargh!

I got a game of 40k at G3 yesterday, and not only did I get to play against the new Tyranid codex but I also got to use a mission from Battle Missions.  I think both of them are great products from GW, and have been looking forward to trying them out.

The only army list I had at hand was my 1500 point Shadowsun list.  Not the strongest, but full of interesting units:-

Shadowsun
3 x Crisis suits with plasma rifle and fusion blaster (aka Helios)
6 x Stealth suits with 8 gun drones
2 x 12 Fire Warriors
2 x piranha with fusion blasters, targeting arrays and disruption pods (not in a squadron)
2 x Skyrays with SMS, targeting arrays and disruption pods (one had BSF)
2 x Sniper Drone Teams (note: this counts as a single FOC choice)

We did the necessary rolling and got First Contact – a tyranid mission.  The accompanying picture in the book shows Fire Warriors being menaced by genestealers – take a look at the picture to your left to see how life imitated art

I had to set up my entire army randomly, rolling a D6 for each unit and placing them in the relevant section of the table.  No reserves for me.  The tyranid player automatically goes first on Turn 1, and he also rolls a D6 for each unit and brings them on from the relevant table edge.

What this meant in practice was that I had several units clumped up towards the centre of the table, and with the requirement to stay within the deployment zone I wound up having models within 18″ of the table edges.  Take a look at this photo (apologies for the camera-phone quality):-

The mission was objectives, and there were six of them, one placed at the centre of each of the six deployment sections – I have marked five of them with a red square in the photo.

You can see my deployment was very weird, but the mission forces that on the defender.  I couldn’t use my ranged advantage, I couldn’t form up a firebase and my forces were spread out.

Yes, dear reader, it was time for the Crunchy Crunch Tau Buffet: second helpings on the house!

The first Turn saw both teams of Fire Warriors charged and wiped out by stealers and raveners, one of my Skyrays blown to bits and Shadowsun assaulted and reduced to 1 wound (but she stayed in assault, damn it).

After that it was just damage limitation as the gaunts, stealers and raveners proceeded to wipe out my sniper drone teams and stealth squad.

It might not sound like it was fun, but I enjoyed it.  There was a real challenge in seeing how I could marshall my forces in the face of such a calamity and try and fall back to a more solid position, and maybe even target some objectives for late game grabbing.  There was also the fluffy aspect of the mission – this felt like a real tyranid invasion, with gribbly, ravening hordes pouring in from all sides and me just barely holding on.  The fact that I was being eaten for lunch felt – right.  Painful, but right.

I got a good vehicle screen up, made a very timely tank shock and generally held the hordes up in the middle of the table while the rest of my forces  regrouped and tried to get some distance (and move in the general direction of three of the six objectives).

The game ended on Turn 4 as we ran out of time and it wasn’t looking good for the Tau (only my crisis suits, gun drones, a skyray and a piranha left), but with a lack of synapse causing the tyranids problems, there was no guarantee he would hold his three objectives, and a possibility I might get the other three, so even with such a crushing opening Turn I still think I could have pulled something out here.

I learned a few things about deployment (even if he has large blasts bunch your models up, since being charged is much worse than maybe being hit and having to take some saves) and vehicle blocking (I am getting better at cutting off lines of advance for the enemy, and thinking a Turn or two ahead).  I also discovered the joys of a barrage weapon without LOS against Stealth Suits – 3D6 scatter with no deduction for BS

As for the new nids, there weren’t any of their signature units on the table (by this I mean none of the new named characters, no Tervigon or Tyrgon etc), but it was still a decent list based mainly around close combat and speed of movement across the table.

I hope to get another game in against them soon, as well as try out some more of the Battle Missions.

I have read a lot of commentary on the new Tyranid codex and some fairly clueless blethering and moaning as well, but I thought I would grace the internet with my own take. Lucky internet, eh?

I used to have a tyranid army – basically just an army box, but it was fully painted and based and it was pretty good. I liked the nids a lot in terms of the character of their army, but wasn’t so keen on the army options, and they got sold in the Great Garage Cleansing of 2009. Perhaps, I though, something better would come along.

It did.

Breaking with tradition, I will begin with my conclusions: this is the best codex Games Workshop have ever done since I started playing the game. I don’t say that because of the ‘power level’, nor because of the fluff or artwork, but because of the sheer variety of possible play-styles this codex permits. Coming from the Tau Empire codex, where unless you go mech with crisis suits you might as well put on a sign saying “kick me”, this codex is a revelation. Whatever you want to do, it has a build that can work. Want an all drop-podding army? You got it. Want an army where practically everything bursts out from under the ground and/ or pours in from the flanks? This is for you. Want a swarm of gribbly that covers the tabletop? These are the droids you’ve been looking for. Want wall to wall monstrous creatures to eat tanks and kill heroes? Aisle 14, buddy, we got you covered. Want a winged army that darkens the sky and rips your opponent a new one? Actually, that’s kind of my dream army, but any of the other ones would be cool too. What’s that – I can have them all? And more? Throne bless you, sir, and all who sail in you.

I might go into the various units at a later date, but I think it’s already clear that the Imperial Guard, who previously had the “Best Codex” award, would have got away with it if it hadn’t been for those pesky nids   Now, where can I get a mycetic spore…?

With a five foot wide base, this beauty is automatically in close combat with everything on the table as soon as it arrives. And I think the limbs are actually articulated, although for some reason the proud modeller wants to store it underwater.

Page 19:-

“Castellan Crask wasted no time in declaring the Tau to be weaklings. This viewpoint was the chief precipitating factor in the commencement of the Iron Hammer campaign, which soon escalated into the greatest confrontation yet seen between the Imperium of Man and the Tau Empire. But that is another story…”

Along with talk of prototype pulse rifles and other goodies, there is some interesting stuff for the Tau player in here.

Game 1
Game 2
Game 3

Mission: Capture and Control
Deployment: Spearhead

My opponent for Game 2 was Pat, who had brought his tyranids. One of my first ever games with Tau was against Nidzilla, and I got spanked, so when I saw Pat’s list I was a little apprehensive at first.

Tyranid list (from memory): Hive Tyrant with venom cannon and 2 Tyrant Guard, Screamer-killer Carnifex, Shooty Carnifex, Zoanthrope, 3 Warriors, 2 Lictors, stabby Gaunts with Leaping, shooty Gaunts, 4 units of Genestealers.

The table we played on had normal terrain, except for the centre, which was a large, intact Bastion (one of the Ziterdes ones – man, I can identify pre-made terrain on sight – how many geek points is that worth?!).

I expected Pat to outflank with his genestealers when I saw his list. He won the roll for 1st Turn and elected to go first. He picked the quarter with the least terrain and we placed our objectives, which had to be outwith our own deployment zones. Pat placed his on the crater (blue circle on the photo above), and I placed mine just behind the ruin (red circle). I had already decided to tempt him towards mine and then kill everything on it and claim it myself, leaving the other one alone until I contested it on Turn 5 with the piranhas. That was the plan. Pat then deployed everything on the table, apart from the two Lictors. So, no outflanking. Things were looking up already!

I deployed in a defensive formation, with my broadsides at the back, lined up with their pathfinders (as usual), my Kroot infiltrating forward to provide a speed-bump and my suits either out of sight or in cover behind the tanks. I spread out across the area terrain as much as I could in order to deny deployment opportunities to the Lictors, and kept my Fire Warriors and large Kroot squad in reserve. The idea was to bring these on late game (if possible) to claim ‘my’ objective. You can see the armies at deployment in the photo above.

I stole the initiative!

Again, I won’t do a Turn by Turn, but here is how it went:-

• My first Turn my shooting was above average, and I killed the shooty fex and put a wound on the Zoanthrope and killed a warrior. This is with my pathfinders out of range! I shuffled my Kroot line around to establish a killing zone in front of them just inside pathfinder range, and zipped a single piranha up to block his MCs and HQ from moving forward next Turn. His run rolls were hopeless and his only shooting weapon (the venom cannon) was ineffectual. He moved his injured zoanthrope out of line of sight, meaning he couldn’t warp blast me. The piranha survived!
• Next Turn both my reserves arrived (drat!). I used the Kroot in a conga line to block more terrain and also help with the screening duties.
• My shooting was impressive all game – more so when the enemy advanced into pathfinder range. I killed the synapse creatures first, which left the genestealers vulnerable to pinning and left the gaunts in a pickle, although they generally made their leadership checks to move.
• I used vehicles to screen my crisis suits from both the advancing enemy and from terrain where lictors might appear. This resulted in my hammerhead getting assaulted, but only by four genestealers, and it survived unscathed.
• When the lictors arrived they were left with few options. One arrived in the centre of the table – essentially my Kroot-lined killing zone. I didn’t shoot it because there were other targets and all it could assault were Kroot. The other one went for my hammerhead, but failed to do any damage and my surviving piranha killed it with the fusion blaster.
• On Turn 5 I claimed my home objective and combined shooting wiped out almost all the genestealers. There were two left and I killed them in assault. I also charged the lictor to prevent him contesting. On the enemy objective I contested with the piranha and then tank-shocked the non-fearless gaunts off the objective with my hammerhead, causing them to fall back.

The game ended 1-0 in favour of the Tau. But for the lictor I had killed everything in the tyranid army and had only lost my Kroot squads and a unit of gun drones. The shas’el was well pleased with the day’s work

Pat was another great opponent, scrupulously fair and fun to play. I had never played him before, but would certainly be up for a rematch!

Thoughts: this was an almost perfect combination of mission, deployment and enemy for my Tau. Pat played a strong game, but his army lacked ranged power and depended on being able to close the gap with me. With Spearhead deployment, piranha roadblocks and sacrificial Kroot, I had tonnes of table space to fall back into, if needed. As it turned out I didn’t need to do that, and instead set up a killzone into which anything that arrived could not long survive. My lucky rolling on Turns 1 and 2 to deprive him of his heavy hitters didn’t help, and nor did his very poor run rolls.

I had secured the win I wanted, and now I didn’t really mind who I faced next or what happened in the final game. Which was just as well…