Here is the first Battle Report. It's long and we might have made 1 mistake.
The HTML version will be on my web page in the next day or so.
http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~sau/spmar/spmar.html
Enjoy!
Sean U
----------------
Chaos v Tyranids, 2K Meeting Engagement
Background:
The planet just died. Centuries from now the Inquisition will use this case
as an example of a grave error in judgement. Deep in the hive cities two
independent cults slowly formed. A secret Chaos cult started prying into the
deeply guarded secrets of the warp while a Genestealer infestation started
in the shadows of the dockyards. Slowly they grew until the psychic signal
of the Genestealers began to reinforce the rituals being conducted by the
Chaos Coven.
Before the local Inquisition office could separate the clues pointing towards
the existence of two large cults the planet was engulfed in a psychic storm
which signalled the arrival of a Hive Fleet. The Coven Magi finished their
rituals at this moment and the warp storm increased a thousand-fold as a vast
army of Chaos arrived to take their prize.
The world was dead, but what would happen to the inhabitants? Would they be
lost forever to the warp or be absorbed by the Hive Mind?
Chaos Horde [1997]:
Death Host -- 2 Bloodthirster, 5 Bloodletter, 4 Plaguebearer [198]
Fire Host -- 2 Lord of Change, 5 Horrors, 4 Bloodletter [198]
Pain Wind -- 10 Fiends [185]
Coven's Shield -- 11 Cultists, 6 Beastmen, 3 Beastmen Champs [199]
Night Lords Veterans -- Chaos Lord, 6 Veteran CSM [146]
Alpha Tacticals -- Chaos Lord, 2 Noise Marine, 4 CSM, 4 Rhino [173]
Hornet Knights -- 6 Slaanesh Engines [199]
Nurgle's Hammer -- Chaos Lord, Sorcerer, 3 Terminators, 3 Land Raider [244]
Engines of War -- 8 Khorne Engines [233]
Green Dragons -- 5 Doomwings [180] Flyers
Red Dragons -- 5 Firelords [290] Flyers
Tyranid Swarm [1994]:
Little Guys -- Hive Tyrant, 2 Tyranid Warrior, 30 Termagant [294]
Assault Drop 1 -- 2 Hive Tyrant, 4 Tyranid Warrior, 5 Genestealer, 3 Carnifex,
5 Hormagaunt [331] Drop Pods
Assault Drop 2 -- 2 Hive Tyrant, 4 Tyranid Warrior, 5 Genestealer, 3 Carnifex,
5 Hormagaunt [331] Drop Pods
Support Drop Group -- Hive Tyrant, 2 Tyranid Warrior, 3 Biovore [144] Drop
Pods
Heavy Assault Group -- 3 Hive Tyrant, 5 Genestealer, 3 Carnifex, 6 Assault
Spawn [422]
Artillery Group -- Hive Tyrant, 2 Tyranid Warrior, 3 Dactylis [180]
Small Flight 1 -- Harridan, 6 Gargoyle [196] Flyers
Small Flight 2 -- Harridan, 6 Gargoyle [196] Flyers
Setup
The terrain is best described as wooded and hilly. There was a road which
ran across the table from one deployment zone to another which also had a
branch which ran along the center of the table and then back into the far left
corner. There was a small imperial city on the right of the table on the
center line. The left was dominated by a large hill with a forest on top.
Take other smaller hills and forest and distribute them fairly evenly around
the rest of the table.
The Tyranid force only had three detachments to place at the start. These went
a bit to the right of center. The little guys prepared to move into the
Imperial city while the Artillery Group was eying the back of the large hill
mass.
Chaos formed a bubble in the center of the table. [I'll let Dan explain
the bubble in his section] The Chaos flankers [Alpha Tacticals and Engines
of War] were on the road and ready to drive into the city. The short version
of the bubble is Daemons in front, guns in the center with cultists to hold the
rear. Chaos placed a Rescue in the city and 3 Take&Holds on:
1) The large hill mass
2) A small hill near the city
3) An area of rough ground in the left Tyranid rear
Turn 1
The conflict began with the Chaos bubble forming behind a screen of veterans
and Land Raiders. Alpha Tacticals and Engines of War advanced on one side
of the city while the Heavy Assault Group drove in on the other side. The
Little Guys moved up behind the assault spawn while the Dactylis took up
position behind the hill mass. Everyone everywhere was marching. The
Alpha Tacticals jumped out of their Rhinos to take up firing positions in
the city.
Chaos 50 Tyranid 42
Reserves:
Chaos - Green Dragons
Tyranid - Small Flight 1, Small Flight 2, Assault Drop 2, Support Drop
Turn 2
The Swarm started with a bombing run on the Engines of War. Both air groups
descended on them but one was intercepted by the Green Dragons. The Green
Dragons blasted the Harridan and 4 Gargoyles out of the sky and only one of
their own number was damaged. The remaining 2 Gargoyles continued the run.
Tyranid airpower managed to destroy one of the Engines of Khorne.
The Swarm followed up by deploying the Heavy Assault Group into the buildings
of the city in preparation for the coming assault. The Little Guys then
assault moved up behind them. The Dactylis behind the hill settled into firing
position while the 2 drop detachments came in on the left. Assault Drop 2
landed on the wooded hill and hid in the forest. Support Drop Group landed
just to the left of the hill mass and prepared to fire.
The Chaos bubble pushed on ahead. On the right, the Engines of War moved into
the city and prepared to fire on Assault Spawn while the CSM settled in to
rapid fire at the same targets.
Weapons opened up as the Dactylis prove they are just out of range of the
Chaos Bubble. In the city, the Khorne Engines fire at the Assault Spawn of
the Heavy Assault Group while the Alpha Tacticals rapid-fire in support.
Together they manage to kill 5 of the creatures. The Noise Marines shoot a
pair of Termagant units as well. The biovores release their spore mines and
succeed in disrupting the Death Host on the far left.
The Assault Phase opens with a Divine Inspiration removing all of the blast
markers from the Tyranid Heavy Assault Group. Though the transports are
dead, the bugs inside charge out from their buildings and swamp the Alpha
Tacticals and some of the Engines of War. The Hive Mind is with the assault
as almost all of the Alpha Tacticals are wiped out along with 3 Khorne Engines.
Losses are heavy though as a Carnifex, all 5 Genestealers and the remaining
Assault Spawn fall in the attack. 4 Khorne Engines, 2 Rhinos and the Chaos
Lord retreat from the combat as both detachments are broken and reduced to
1/2 strength. The Chaos bubble responds by moving closer to the hill mass.
Chaos 38 Tyranid 30
Reserves:
Chaos - Red Dragons
Tyranid - Assault Drop 1
Turn 3
Chaos opened the new turn with a strike on the Support Drop Group by the Red
Dragons. Barrages from the Firelords managed to take out all 3 biovores.
The remains of the Support Drop Group take up Overwatch along with the
Artillery Group and wait for the Chaos Bubble to assault the hill. The left
Assault Drop stays in the woods and prepare to charge the Horde. On the
right, the Little Guys move up to the edge of the city while the remnants of
the Heavy Assault Group take refuge in the buildings. The final Assault Drop
Group drops directly behind the bubble and eyes the Coven's Shield.
The rhinos from the Alpha Tacticals attempt to leave but are frozen in place.
The remnants of the Engines of War move into firing position in front of the
Termagants while the Bubble advances with the Death Host taking leading
position on the hill. In the rear, the Coven's Shield force moves to prevent
the Assault Drop Group from hitting the main body of the Horde.
The Dactylis once more prove they can shoot at targets just out of range. In
fact, the entire Swarm decides that guns just aren't worth it and fail to
hit with any shot fired. Chaos shows they're made of classier stuff as they
pour fire into the Little Guys and gun down about a dozen of them. They've
absorbed the entire fire of the Chaos army but have paid a price in bodies and
blast markers to do it.
Finally, the Hive Mind gives up and realizes that Close Combat is going to be
the only way Chaos is going to get hurt today. On the right, remnants of the
Heavy Assault Group pounce on the rhinos of the Alpha Tacticals and wipe them
out completely with 5 blast markers and no tyranid losses! On the left, the
Assault Drop Group comes boiling out of the forest and hits the Death Host.
A narrow tyranid victory causes the loss of all 5 bloodletters and 3 of the
plaguebearers. Death Host does manage to kill 4 Tyranid Warriors and 2
Carnifex before the Hornet Knights firefight the bugs back into the woods.
Lastly, Assault Drop Group 1 rips into the Coven's Shield detachment and
wins their combat by 10(!). They tear apart 8 Cultists, 3 Beastmen and 3
Beastmen Champs while only losing 2 Tyranid Warrior units. After scattering
the cultists, Assault Drop Group 1 then firefights the Nurgle's Hammer and
Pain Wind detachments and sends them running forward away from the dropped
bugs. The Fire Host and the Night Lords Veterans are the only detachments
still on assault and they charge into the fray. The Night Lords swing around
to the rear and gun down a Hormagaunt from Assault Drop Group 1 while the
Fire Host charges the Little Guys. The Termagants are no match as Chaos wins
by 8(!). 6 Termagants and their Hive Tyrant fall but kill 3 horrors in the
process.
As both weak detachments limp off, neither the Coven's Shield nor the Little
Guys manage to recover many of their blast markers.
Chaos 22 Tyranid 14
Turn 4
Tyranid airpower appears and tries to bomb and strafe the remains of the
Coven's Shield. Doomwings intercept them again and manage to shoot down
the Harridan and 2 Gargoyles while damaging one more. The depleted Flight
detachments were too weak to harm the cultists.
For the most part, the Swarm repositions itself and waits for the Horde
to strike. The termagants march past the city in an attempt to escape while
the Dactylis launch a Prep barrage on the Fire Host which kills a single
Bloodletter. The forward detachments of the Chaos army move up to engage
the Tyranids while the vehicles stay behind to shoot at Assault Drop 1.
The Engines of War manage to swing wide and position themselves close the
the remains of the Heavy Assault Group.
The Engines of War fire at the Heavy Assault Group but miss while return
fire kill one engine. The rest of the Chaos army fire at Assault Drop 1
and destroy over half of it with many hits going to assault units.
The Lord of Change in overall command of the Chaos Horde then came up with a
Brilliant Strategy which allowed Chaos to press the attack. The Lord of
Change took the Fire Host into the city and it personally captures the Rescue
Relic. Pain Wind hit the Artillery Group and ripped apart a Dactylis. Then
things start to come apart. The remaining units of the Death Host assault
the synapse group of the Support Drop Group. The Tyranids manage to beat
back the daemons and kill them all in the combat, but the fury of the dying
bloodthirsters killed both Tyranid Warriors and the Hive Tyrant. Both
detachments had wiped each other out completely! The Engines of War then
engage the Heavy Assault Group [which by now was a Carnifex and 2 Hive
Tyrants] in a firefight which they lost. The khorne engines then retreate
into the center of the field. Assault Drop Group 2 races back to rescue the
Dactylis. They arrive too late but were able to beat Pain Wind by 6. 4
Fiends fell and took 2 Genestealers with them while the remainder of the
detachment scatter in every direction. Lastly, the Heavy Assault Group
charges into the city and fights the Fire Host for the Rescue Relic. The
bugs beat them back but only manage to kill a single Bloodletter. The Lord
of Change howls in victory and then proceedes to slam into the wall while
retreating from the building. The resulting pile of rubble kills it
instantly! [A 1 for dangerous terrain, followed by a 1 for a hit, followed by
a failed save] The Heavy Assault Group prevent Chaos from recovering the
Relic after all.
But the battle was over.
Chaos 4 Tyranid -3
Tyranid Player Notes
Well, not too bad for my 3rd outing with the Hive Swarm. Things looked *very*
bad from the beginning and I was really looking at another game when I got
diced. Chaos air power couldn't miss the Harridan -- they will usually not
go down to the first Doomwing that looks at them. I also couldn't believe
what happened in the city! Between the Engines of War and the Alpha Tacticals,
Chaos got 8 or 9 dice to throw at the Assault Spawns - needing '6' for a kill.
I couldn't believe it when he got 5(!) of them. But then the dice turned and
evened everything out starting about the middle. I still had to fight my way
to a marginal defeat, but it almost worked. Anyway, point by point:
1) This is obviously the first Epic40K Battle Report. Writing this was much
different from writing the EPIC reports. I would greatly appreciate any
comments so I can make this a more useful tool.
2) Tyranid Air needs to be larger. The Harridan are still the big targets
and there isn't anything you can do to protect them. *This is normal* The
Harridan should absorb the fire of 2 Interceptors before going down. It is
the job of the flock of Gargoyles to make the Interceptors pay for the strike.
I'm thinking you'll need 9 or 10 gargoyles with each Harridan to make for a
"proper" retaliatory strike.
3) The Little Guys were a disaster in this case. Daemons easily beat them
back and their numbers still weren't enough to prevent Chaos fire from reducing
them to half strength. Termagants might be better when farmed out to the
assault groups. Since they have an armor rating of 3 they'll prevent any
Overwatch shooter from re-rolling any '3' they get. With luck this'll
overkill the Termagants and make some of the Overwatch shots wasted.
4) Despite losses, the Heavy Assault Group did great. They were able to
redeploy to wipe out the Alpha Tacticals and came close to getting the
Engines of War as well.
5) Tyranid Swarms must make use of their dropped forces to guarantee victory.
Careful examination of the Army List shows that a Swarm without vehicles
[exocrine, dactylis, assault spawn] can be made either dropped or not simply
by changing the "Detachment Type" field. My use of dropped forces allowed me
to get 2 of my heaviest Assault group right to the Chaos line without taking
a single casualty. The second group even landed *behind* the line in an
instant encirclement! Since dropped forces enter as Reserves you cannot
control when they will appear so this flexibility can only be retained by
having a lot of Reserves. [Note: it is unclear if you can "delay" a drop
group once you've rolled for its arrival. We play that the group must drop
immediately once it has arrived. It makes more sense that way.]
6) Tyranid units are fragile. Much more so than Daemons and this makes the
Dropped forces even more important. A Tyranid Swarm can only afford a narrow
defeat *or win* in Assault once. Once your opponent starts rolling to get
hits on a 4+ or 5+ *even if you've won* you know those hits will be allocated
to genestealers, carnifex, tyranid warriors, etc. These are high density,
fragile units. If a Swarm doesn't win in Assault, and win *big*, it will find
its strength quickly eroded away as Genestealers start dying.
7) Biovores are great! Artillery, Disrupt, great range and they are Infantry!
You can put them in transports. You can Drop them! I just need to get more
so that a single airstrike doesn't take them out.
8) Dactylis. Errm, I guess I kinda messed up. I kept thinking I was playing
Guard. My Dactylis kept shooting at great target in the 75-90cm range. Oops.
9) The exciting finish. Honestly, we were almost ready to quit around the
end of Turn 3. Fortunately the fact that I was writing a Battle Report kept
us going to the bitter end. Two Bloodthirster and a plaguebearer which are
all that are left of a detachment attack a Hive Tyrant and 2 Tyranid Warrriors
who are all that are left of their detachment and *everyone dies*! The Lord
of Change grabs the Rescue and the remnants of the Heavy Assault Group [2 Hive
Tyrants and a Carnifex] drive him off of it. The Lord of Change makes his
Save against the CC hit and starts to fly away with the Rescue. Dave, the
observer, says "Say, isn't he in a building?" Snake eyes for Dangerous Terrain
[to a skimmer] followed by a failed Save drops the Rescue right at the feet of
the Hive Tyrants! Couldn't have asked for a better way to finish up the first
ever Epic40K Battle Report. Well, it might have been nice i I'd also won the
game :)
[Note: The more I think about it, we may have played this last bit wrong.]
Tyranid Dog of War: The Little Guys. A bit too slow and too big to hide.
They assaulted up the map and got shot by every gun in the Chaos Army. Then
they got hit by the Horrors, lost big and then failed to recover any blast
markers. Their markers alone cost me 10 morale and then 5 more!
Tyranid Hero of Battle: The Heavy Assault Group. Despite horrendous incoming
fire right from the start they wiped out the Alpha Tacticals, reduced the
Engines of War to 1/2 strength and recaptured the Rescue objective.
Sean Upchurch
servant of the Hive Mind
Chaos Player Notes
Army Choice:
This army is named "Spearhead" - it is fast, and meant to decentralize
from the "Meeting Engagement" clumped deployment. I designed it to
be a little better at fighting the Eldar and Squat gunlines that are
in vogue. A good choice against Tyrannids? No, but the fortunes of
Chaos compensate for many oversights. Spearhead has speed, firepower
( 3 tank detachments - unheard of in most slavering hordes ) and good
air support added to the core of Chaos - some hard-as-nails daemon
detachments and some cultists to cheer them on. As it was, I didn't
really need the speed, but that Tzeentch for that airpower!
The Chaos Bubble:
Developed by many lost games against the Eldar, the Chaos bubble is
a multi-tiered army formation using detachments to support each other
in an integrated, flowing advance. The outer ring has daemons in front,
generally bloodletter-heavy "Host" type detachments. Why?
1) The front gets shot first, have something with a save
( not armor, Marines and Eldar have too much AT to make it worthwhile)
2) The front should be fast enough to let the "bubble" expand behind it.
3) Chaos doesn't win firefights ( even against Tyrannids, as I discovered
so take the hit on something with a save and recover blast markers like
a madman.
4) The enemy will win initiative against you, or choose not to engage
( this applies to those brilliant Space Marines and Eldar, not to
Tyrannids, doh!) so the first fight they make they will win - while
daemons are nasty CC units, most armys have a choice really kick-ass
CC unit which can beat up the daemons in a fair fight. The cool part
is that the bloodletters may all die, but even in a blowout, they still
kill a good chunk of the enemy ( rampage ). An I've always got more
daemons...
5) Bloodletters are cheap!
The back of the bubble has two cultist detachments ( Spearhead is not
a bubble-type army... but the Tyrannids kept us hemmed into the formation
anyway ) to protect the rear from: Flyers bombing the good units inside
and dropping detachments. Cultists are useless except to catch bullets,
but they do that so well!
Inside the bubble is the real trouble: Guns to reach out and hurt the
enemy, fast daemons ( 30 cm base move! ) to smash any unit that penetrated
the outer ring. The outer ring must be 16+ cm beyond the closest inner
unit. Why? Chaos can't win firefights. Don't get every unit in the army
firefought.
And in the center of the bubble, safe from anything except artillery-range
weaponry - the Supreme Commander, making the whole army Stubborn.
So, the bubble wasn't quite right against the Tyrannids. No Stubborn,
not enough cultists in the back. The design purpose of Spearhead is to
take it to the enemy fast... but NEVER do this with Tyrannids. So, I fell
back into familiar routines. The bugs dropped so fast, I didn't even have
time to form the bubble ( hence the cultists did not prevent Pain Wind and
Nurgle's Hammer from being firefought ).
Quick Tactics Summary:
Drive up on the flank, grab the Relic and bug out ( excuse me )
- Well, I got within 1 turn's move, but that big, nasty Heavy Assault
group beat me to it. So, Chaos gives me help and I shoot a bunch of
them. Sadly, no flanking force, no matter how lucky, can withstand
the sharp teeth of the Heavys.
Set up lines of fire and screens of daemons.
- this almost worked. The daemons did prevent my tanks from rolling over
in CC, but the bugs are fast enough to hide in the woods and stay out of
range. The little guys couldn't hide ( they were in the most open area
of the table ) so I wiped them out with handy dice-rolling. The
cultists, those brave deranged fools, gave their lives effectively by
getting the snot kicked out of them in CC. If only they had recovered
blast markers ( can't roll well every time ). When the guns spun around
and blasted the drop group into the same state, it turned out fine.
Punch through and reach the soft units in the back.
-would have worked if I had remembered that the Pain Wind is FAST!
I should have engaged the dactylis heavily and won that one in the end.
Hope the air power can do something.
- Oh my! Tzeentch be praised, not only did my interceptors break both
air wings with zero losses, but the bombers broke a detachment in one
pass. When your dice are hot, go with it.
Chaos Heros: The Hornet Knights ( 6 Slaanesh Engines ) prove that
firepower is not a dirty word, slaying almost 100 bugs ( 20 stands )
on their own.
Chaos Zeros: The Pain Wind ( 10 Fiends ) for forgetting how fast they are
and getting beaten up by artillery... for shame!
Dan Dilling
Received on Mon Sep 08 1997 - 18:11:34 UTC