Game three against Tyranids (a force I've never faced before) and game four vs Ultramarines with more plasma than you can shake a stick at!
Click the link for some short battle reports.
Game Three - Kill Points
vs Tyranids
Approximate Force: Hive Tyrant, 2 x Tyrant Guard, 3x Zoanthropes, 2x Hive Guard, 2x 3 Warriors, 2x 30 Gaunts, Trygon, Doom of Malantai (?) in a Spore Pod)
I've never played against Tyranids before and this game held one or two surprises. My first turn shooting was almost useless from the Scouts and the Devastators and Assault Squad ran into cover (it was night fight).
His first turn he got one of the squads into combat with my RAS(!) which I didn't expect. They did well though and took down quite a few for only one wound in return. In my second turn the other RAS squad moved round and wiped out the remaining 20-ish 'Gaunts.
The Stormraven dropped off the Dread who charged the Zoanthrope squad and the 'Speeders nipped over to begin harassing the Hive Guard.
His second turn his other Gaunt squad wiped the Devastators out of existence and the Hive Tyrant charge and exploded the Stormraven (hitting on 6's). His warriors came on but the Trygon was lazy and stayed off.
Turn three and the Speeders killed the other Hive Guard, one of the RAS squads charged and killed the Warriors and the Death Company charged the Tyrant. I didn't know lash whips put everyone to I1. They wiped out the Tyrant Guard but all died, including the Chaplain to the Tyrant by the end of this turn.
His turn three and Doom arrived. Again, a model I knew nothing about I I learned quickly as hit wiped out half of the remnants of one RAS. The Gaunts headed over to get at the Scouts along with the Tyrant when he consolidated.
Turn four and the Dreadnought FINALLY killed off the last Zoanthrope (no, I didn't know they had a 3++ either). Both RAS went to block the Gaunts and the Libby went after Doom. The combined assault squads wiped out all but one (ONE!) 'Gaunt which ended up costing me the game.
The game ended as we ran out of time, robbing my opponent of his turn and not allowing the combat between Libby and Doom to take place. He won by one kill point, if I'd have wounded one more 'Gaunt I'd have wiped the squad out and we'd have drawn. Oh well.
While I got zero tournament points for the loss I actually received more Victory Points (helped by receiving points for the not-yet-arrived Trygon and Warriors. In hindsight I should also have had kill points for them too which would have meant I won. Hindsight huh?
Victory Points A.S-1,365 vs 'Nids-825
Game Four - One Objective, can only be claimed by specified HQ. Kill Points secondary.
vs Ultramarines
Approximate Force: Sicarius, 10x Assault Marine, 2x Tac Squad w Plasma Cannon, Gun and Pistol in Rhinos, 2x Devastator Sqaud one with four plasma cannon, one with 2 ML, 2 Lascannon.
Sicarius vs my Librarian to claim the objective which was in the very centre of the table. Turn one was everything overheating, neither of us killed an enemy but both lost a marine to plasma overheats.
Turn two all my reserves came on in the centre of the table and the Stormraven moving as far as possible toward his troops. He killed a couple from two of my combat squads but nothing eventful.
Turn three and everything kicked off. My dread and the Stormraven popped Rhinos. The Dread followed up with a charge and the assault squad met my Death Company. By the end of my turn Only Sicarius and a Sgt remained from the combined squads. He continued trying to shoot my Assault Marines guarding the Libby in the middle but I was lucky with cover.
The Librarian jumped into the Raven for protection on the objective and the DC wiped out the sgt and Sicarius - he now HAD to kill the Librarian and hope to win on kill points. The DC Dread went after more marines but got destroyed by a hidden power fist.
He shot the Raven down and tied up the remaining DC with a Tactical Squad while our Devastators continued ineffectually shooting each other.
Next turn I (thought I) managed to hide the Librarian on the objective behind a destroyed Rhino. He got line of sight with one lascannon and *poof* he became red mist. Some of my remaining RAS charged a couple of Devastators but only one made it to combat after the terrain rolls for the building. He died after being hit in the face with a plasma cannon.
In the end I won the game something like 9-6 on Kill Points but the last turn he really cleaned up a few single man squads and brought the points a lot closer were it not for a couple of lucky cover saves. 10 points to me though so no complaints.
Victory Points A.S-1344 vs Ultra's-865
Overall there was a lot of learning went on. I made some really silly mistakes (I literally forgot to cast Shield of Sanguinius EVERY turn). The games were good natured and very enjoyable. It was also great to play against other painted armies and pick up a couple of new tricks. I'll be more wary of Lash Whips on Tyrants in future and be a little more smart about where to infiltrate scouts and the like.
Lastly there was judging for best army etc. I got a small prize for best model fro the scratch built Stormraven you can see in some of the older posts on this blog which I was really chuffed with. Nurglez, my regular opponent, came 1st overall with his undefeated Draigowing - it made me feel better about consistently losing to him knowing everyone else does too!
Overall score are here. I came 8th out of 20 so was quite happy. I actually came 4th on Victory Points so I guess I'm good at killing things, I just need to direct it a bit better from a tactical point of view!
Anyway. Way too many words here. Back to pictures soon, I have two new posts in the pipeline - some marine painting and some budget Orks. All good stuff!
Cheers if you've read this far!
