Fabio, the Grey Knight player and I played a Fight Club Challenge practice. This was the first time in months that I was trying my hand at nids. He wanted to try his hand at a drop Salamanders list. So here we go:
Hive Fleet Iax:
Flyrant with double Talons, Toxic Miasma, and Hive commander 290
Deathleaper 140
Zoants (3) in a pod 220
Warriors (5) each with bonesword, lashwhip, and poison in a pod 290
Warriors (5) each with bonesword, lashwhip, and poison in a pod 290
Gaunts (19) each with a devourer in a pod 230
Fabios "Flaming" Salamanders
Unlike his Grey Knights who are modeled to be on fire his Salamander list is pretty gay.
Vulcan (yup tons of twin linking)
Ironclad Dreadnaught with 2 CC weps and 2 heavy flamers in a pod with a locator beacon
Ironclad Dreadnaught with 2 CC weps and 2 heavy flamers in a pod with a locator beacon
Ironclad Dreadnaught with 2 CC weps and 2 heavy flamers in a pod with a locator beacon
Tactical Squad, equiped with a multimelta, a melta and fitted in a pod with a locator beacon
Tactical Squad, equiped with a multimelta, a melta and fitted in a pod with a locator beacon
Tactical Squad, equiped with a multimelta, a melta and fitted in a pod with a locator beacon
Landspeeder with a multimelta and heavy flamer
Landspeeder with a multimelta and heavy flamer
Landspeeder with a multimelta and heavy flamer
Board: Really not important. It doesn't come into play very much.
Mission: Objectives (3). 1 in the middle. 1 at the top center north and one on the west side of the board.
Deployment: Spearhead.
Fabio wins the roll to go first. He combat squads and places all three tacticals in his quarter with Vulcan. Everything else is deepstriking.
I don't place anything of course
Fabio's Turn 1:
Reserves: 3 empty pods land in the center. 1 takes dangerous and looses a stormbolter.
Movement: Moves all infantry towards center
Shooting: Runs with everything.
Iax Turn 1: Nothing
Fabio's Turn 2:
Reserves: Everything comes in! His plan to keep his dread back to squish me failed! He makes a very large wall with all 6 pods in the center of the board.
Movement: more infantry standing on all the objectives.
Shooting: runs with everything
Iax Turn 2:
Reserves: Everything but 1 warrior squad comes in. Hurray for me! I land on the south side of the board and use his wall as an advantage.
Movement: None really.
Shooting: Take a wep from a pod with my zoants. 1 squad gets paroxized from the Tyrant. and the Gaunts kill off a 5 man tactical.
Fabio's Turn 3:
Movement: Moves his dreads around his wall. the speeders jump over it.
Shooting: He flames 7 gaunts. puts 2 wounds on the tyrant, kills 1 zoants and wounds another, and puts 2 wounds on the lictor. Plus he had some flamers hit some pods. Also he killed all but 1 warrior and the last 1 only had 1 wound left.
Assault: none
Iax Turn 3:
Reserves: Warriors come in next to the other warriors pod. Tyrant regens 1 wound
Movement: the one warrior moves into position to assault a squad Tyrant does the same. Lictor goes off the board with his ability and everything else shuffles around.
Shooting: Tyrant gets a wound back. Gaunts kill all but 1 guy from a tactical. Zoants suck.
Assault: Tyrant kills a squad. The warrior kills 3 guys, Vulcan is attached but couldn't reach the warrior. Fabio wiffs the attack. I win catch him, he fails his saves. Now it is just a 1 wound Vulcan and a 1 wound warrior.
Fabio's Turn 4:
Movement:Dread circle around the Tyrant, everything else shuffles some.
Shooting: Puts 3 wounds on the Tyrant (really wants to kill em). Kills 6 gaunts. Kills 1 Zoant. Kills 1 and 1/2 warriors
Assault: Sends 2 dreads into the Tyrant. Tyrant gets a pen on each and kills them before they attack. WOW!
Iax Turn 4:
Reserves: Tyrant Regens 1. Lictor comes back to try again at a speeder.
Movement: Warriors move towards another combat squad. Tyrant goes for the last dread. Everything else shuffles
Shooting: Lictor whiffs, but a pod immobilizes a speeder. Gaunts kill 1 guy and the unit of 1 breaks.
Assault: Tyrant kills the dread. Warriors kill the squad.
Fabio's Turn 5:
Movement: Speeders shuffle. the last combat squad stays. The 1 man unit regroups and moves up to an objective.
Shooting: Kills almost all the gaunts. Kills the zoant. Gaunts run off of the table. Kills all but 1 warrior. and kills the other 1 man warrior squad.
Assault: None
At this point he is winning by 1.
Iax Turn 5:
Reserves: Tyrant gets a wound back. He is at 3.
Movement: Warrior goes for an objective. Tyrant for the last 5 man tactical.
Shooting: Immobilize another speeder.
Assault: Lictor kills a pod. Tyrant kills the combat squad.
Tied, we get a turn 6!
Fabio's Turn 6:
Movement: Not much.
Shooting:Tyrant goes down to 1 wound. Warrior dies. Lictor lives.
Assault: None
Iax Turn 6:
Reserves: Tyrant regens 1.
Movement: Pull the lictor off. Tyrant moves for the last guy.
Shooting: Tyrant misses the last guy.
Assault: None
He is up by 1 and we get a turn 7! Intense!
Fabio's Turn 7:
Movement: None really
Shooting: All the pods and the speeder put 1 wound on the Tyrant. And a pod dies.
Assault: None
Iax Turn 7:
Reserves: Lictor stands up next to the single guy. Tyrant regens 1.
Movement: Tyrant stands next to the single guy.
Shooting: Lictor Blasts the guy Ending the game.
Normally a Salamanders list like this his would terrify me. Melta, warriors, and a Tyrant don't mix, but the Tyrant gained wounds back like nobodies business! And the Flamers mixed with the gaunts are never good. Zoants sucked for once. The Lictor did his job of objective denial. And overall some really lucky dice rolls for me. Just goes to show you that any unit with only 1 wound left can be devastating. The warriors killed 15 marines and Vulcan. The tyrant killed 10 marines and 3 dreads. If the game had ended at 6 fabio could have won with just 1 guy! I love the Feeling of a close battle especially with nids!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Has been awhile, but it's back! Summer Update.
School got a bit tough for awhile and I had to take a step back from the hobby. Over the summer I didn't get the chance to play in any of the BIG tournys I wanted to. No OFCC, No Ard Boyz, No SpoCon, nothing but twiddling my thumbs. I started working on my Daemon Hunters, but they for now can be shelved any time. I was held back from finishing my nids, not only from time, but from lack of parts. Damn GW and their back orders! However some parts cam in and I will start to work more on the Hive Fleet from Iax. Anyway, with the Club Challenge Tourney coming up I just might play with my nids once more!
I have two options:
Either my old 1500. 1 Flyrant, 10 Ymgarls, 20 Genestealers with a Broodlord and toxin sacs, and another 20 Genestealers kitted out the same and maybe some lictors or something (honestly after the stealers I don't care what the rest of the list is). The idea of this list is of course swarm. This is similar to the list I used to win tourneys with.
OR (big or)
My new list with the best amount of what I can get finished. It looks something like this:
1 Flyrant (+1 reserves)
3 Zoants in a Pod
1 Deathleaper Lictor
5 Ymgarls
9 Warriors in a pod (each warrior has bonesword, lashwhip, Stalons, and poison)
20 Gaunts in a pod (Each gaunt has a devourer)
The idea behind this list is to show up with as much as possible on turn 2. Really I only care about anything other than the lictor. He can get everything to auto come in turn 3 anyway. But this is a shut down list. Paroxism on the tyant is always awesome. Zoants pick a tank to kill. Gaunts pick an infantry unit and either kill it or cripple it. Ymgarls are just fun (really they're shock troops). And the Flyrant can be annoying. Warriors eat death stars as they should. I tie tons of games with this. Really it is ridiculous how many times I tie.
I guess I will use my old list as a back-up if I can't get my new list up and running in time. But I learned from last time that mix and matching is never a good idea. Well stay Tuned for the next update.
I have two options:
Either my old 1500. 1 Flyrant, 10 Ymgarls, 20 Genestealers with a Broodlord and toxin sacs, and another 20 Genestealers kitted out the same and maybe some lictors or something (honestly after the stealers I don't care what the rest of the list is). The idea of this list is of course swarm. This is similar to the list I used to win tourneys with.
OR (big or)
My new list with the best amount of what I can get finished. It looks something like this:
1 Flyrant (+1 reserves)
3 Zoants in a Pod
1 Deathleaper Lictor
5 Ymgarls
9 Warriors in a pod (each warrior has bonesword, lashwhip, Stalons, and poison)
20 Gaunts in a pod (Each gaunt has a devourer)
The idea behind this list is to show up with as much as possible on turn 2. Really I only care about anything other than the lictor. He can get everything to auto come in turn 3 anyway. But this is a shut down list. Paroxism on the tyant is always awesome. Zoants pick a tank to kill. Gaunts pick an infantry unit and either kill it or cripple it. Ymgarls are just fun (really they're shock troops). And the Flyrant can be annoying. Warriors eat death stars as they should. I tie tons of games with this. Really it is ridiculous how many times I tie.
I guess I will use my old list as a back-up if I can't get my new list up and running in time. But I learned from last time that mix and matching is never a good idea. Well stay Tuned for the next update.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Update: Break Almost Over!
School has been tough lately and it has been difficult to do anything 40k related. The 40k group here in Cheney doesn't meet every week (every other in fact). And I refuse to play half of them. The last real playing I was able to do was the Fight Club Challenge about a month ago, where i got my butt kicked and kinda had some fun thanks to a good friend and an earthquake.
This post is to remind everyone, an myself, about the passion of the planet Iax. For me, the bugs alone are enough, but I feel that the story line has become bigger and more encompassing of ideals than I originally thought. Bruisemere and Oroton are two of my favorite characters. I will soon introduce my newest character an Ork! With the three-day weekend coming I will be sure to get this next section done. And in about 3 weeks I will have more time to commit to the Hive, but until then I will have to settle with just a post here and there.
I played a game today. It was supposed to be a mock Ard' Boyz. I'm not against the concept, but I normally don't play in it. My opponent really wanted to know what it was like (he works weekends and doesn't really get to play tournies). I'm not going to have a full battle report because frankly I don't remember half the game, I am a bit tired, plus 2500 is hard to remember for his list and my thrown together list. But some Highlights:
Game was Table quarters and both of my Genestealers squads came on the wrong side, but that didn't matter.
He had plenty of Heavy bolters, but alas my Warrior unit with lashwhips and boneswords made back their points tripple (bout 1300). And the 2 Hive Tyrants made back their 275 pt cost and more, they lived the whole game. In the end I had lost maybe 600 pts? And he had 3 troop transports and a 5 man squad when he quit. I hate winning like that, but he wanted Ard!
So this is the problem I am having with my nids. I either table people, like I used to, or I get tabled. It feels like rock paper scissors. I have to get my army ready for august and OFCC, but how can I plan when there is way too much inconsistency? I will just have to figure this out.
Anyway, thank you all who read this blog, I appreciate your support!
This post is to remind everyone, an myself, about the passion of the planet Iax. For me, the bugs alone are enough, but I feel that the story line has become bigger and more encompassing of ideals than I originally thought. Bruisemere and Oroton are two of my favorite characters. I will soon introduce my newest character an Ork! With the three-day weekend coming I will be sure to get this next section done. And in about 3 weeks I will have more time to commit to the Hive, but until then I will have to settle with just a post here and there.
I played a game today. It was supposed to be a mock Ard' Boyz. I'm not against the concept, but I normally don't play in it. My opponent really wanted to know what it was like (he works weekends and doesn't really get to play tournies). I'm not going to have a full battle report because frankly I don't remember half the game, I am a bit tired, plus 2500 is hard to remember for his list and my thrown together list. But some Highlights:
Game was Table quarters and both of my Genestealers squads came on the wrong side, but that didn't matter.
He had plenty of Heavy bolters, but alas my Warrior unit with lashwhips and boneswords made back their points tripple (bout 1300). And the 2 Hive Tyrants made back their 275 pt cost and more, they lived the whole game. In the end I had lost maybe 600 pts? And he had 3 troop transports and a 5 man squad when he quit. I hate winning like that, but he wanted Ard!
So this is the problem I am having with my nids. I either table people, like I used to, or I get tabled. It feels like rock paper scissors. I have to get my army ready for august and OFCC, but how can I plan when there is way too much inconsistency? I will just have to figure this out.
Anyway, thank you all who read this blog, I appreciate your support!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Survival of the fittest: Tournament Report
The fleet had met with a mix of little and great success this last weekend. Unlike my normal battle reports I am only go over some brief highlights and some interesting things that happened in each game. So here we go!
The Tournament: Located at Gamer's Haven in Postfalls, ID, the event was unique to say the least. Three rounds 2500 pts. You make a 2500 pt list and split it into 1500, 500, and 500. Whatever died in the previous game stayed dead.
Here's a rough outline of my list:
2 Flyrants both with STalons
2 lictors
3 Zoants in a pod
20 Genestealers with Broodlord and poison
20 Genestealers with Broodlord and poison
18 Genestealers with poison
20 Gaunts
6 Warriors with deathspitters
1 Dakka Fex in a Pod
My first game was against an ork player with almost 0 shooting. I almost tabled him with 1 unit. But a bad last close combat left me with 1 genestealer unit at full and 1 random stealer.
Second game was against an ork who had nothing but shooting. He however had lost only about 100 pts in his first game, and I lost around 800. So I had to quit to keep my forces alive or go into third round with nothing. But something cool to note. If a unit held an objective in the first game then they got to shoot a str 10 AP 1 large blast. My single genestealer shot and killed a killacan and 12 boys, go BS 0!
Third was against the ork players brother who had nids. This was the coolest game. He had everything in nids that I don't take. He had the typical tervigon, venomthropes, hive guard, and CC warriors! It was close the whole game, I went from unit to unit killing everything in CC and he would get to shoot at me with 2 dakkafexes, that's 24 shots! In the end I won primary which was killpoints and we tied secondary which was table quarters.
Overall Had tons of fun. I learned tons of the potential for nids, but I don't think I will follow those tactics anytime soon. Also, a good tactic is to try and board wipe someone in the firs round, but only if you can handle being that cheesy. Anyway, I will be adding very soon a new supplement to my Iaxian Nids!
The Tournament: Located at Gamer's Haven in Postfalls, ID, the event was unique to say the least. Three rounds 2500 pts. You make a 2500 pt list and split it into 1500, 500, and 500. Whatever died in the previous game stayed dead.
Here's a rough outline of my list:
2 Flyrants both with STalons
2 lictors
3 Zoants in a pod
20 Genestealers with Broodlord and poison
20 Genestealers with Broodlord and poison
18 Genestealers with poison
20 Gaunts
6 Warriors with deathspitters
1 Dakka Fex in a Pod
My first game was against an ork player with almost 0 shooting. I almost tabled him with 1 unit. But a bad last close combat left me with 1 genestealer unit at full and 1 random stealer.
Second game was against an ork who had nothing but shooting. He however had lost only about 100 pts in his first game, and I lost around 800. So I had to quit to keep my forces alive or go into third round with nothing. But something cool to note. If a unit held an objective in the first game then they got to shoot a str 10 AP 1 large blast. My single genestealer shot and killed a killacan and 12 boys, go BS 0!
Third was against the ork players brother who had nids. This was the coolest game. He had everything in nids that I don't take. He had the typical tervigon, venomthropes, hive guard, and CC warriors! It was close the whole game, I went from unit to unit killing everything in CC and he would get to shoot at me with 2 dakkafexes, that's 24 shots! In the end I won primary which was killpoints and we tied secondary which was table quarters.
Overall Had tons of fun. I learned tons of the potential for nids, but I don't think I will follow those tactics anytime soon. Also, a good tactic is to try and board wipe someone in the firs round, but only if you can handle being that cheesy. Anyway, I will be adding very soon a new supplement to my Iaxian Nids!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Revenge: The Pride of the Fallen Returns
Iax with it's lush greenery and endless jungles also has another unique feature; two orbiting moons, Cryx and Jamx. Both of these moons are on opposite sides of the planet are about the same size and spin at the exact same speed. But another fact remains about the moons; one has Tyranids living on it. After the battle and war for the Ultramarines planet Maccrage it was believed that all of Hive Fleet Kraken was destroyed, but they didn't account for the cunningness of their insect foes. Several nearby systems had spores land and mutate into several Tyranid organisms namely on the system Iax.
Inquisitor Oroton arrived only two days after the distress beacon had stopped. They believed the ship had managed to fall out of orbit and was destroyed. Within those weeks of travel Oroton learned of the purpose the planet held and of the inhabitants. Knowing of the limited record of Colonel Bruismere, he decided that the Colonel had limited capacity to lead a fight against or even be aware of such a menace. However, he would attempt to consult Bruismere for any information that he might have. As for the garrisoned Ultramarines, he would have servitors investigate all their records for unusual activity or instances of fighting.
The meeting with Colonel Bruismere met with no success. Bruismere acted dumb to the situation and Oroton believed the stupidity to be true, but not about the situation. With both men's pride at stake and the face of their forces to uphold, they each parted in an angry huff. Moments later the forces of the Daemon Hunters would call to arms and set out to destroy their perceived daemons sending out forces that were all but too similar to Maltrix. Bruismere, now knowing the enemy, would call back his troops from areas that might have any Inquisitorial presence; not out of courtesy, but hope that they would be destroyed by their limited knowledge of their enemy.
Foot by muddy foot the Grey Knights would ignite the jungles and clear away any brush. Several days past and there were no signs of any Chaos activity. A entire square mile had been cut and cleared. Inquisitor Oroton was getting impatient. He ordered his troops to abandon clearing the jungle to search for their foe; he believed in the resiliency of his terminators, power armored Grey Knights, his new Dread Knight, and his personal transport in which he was well comfortable in. He would create a wall of his terminators to lead the way, while he would be far behind. At this point, they only needed to search until nightfall.
A dense fog sifted its way through the trees and brush. Every few moments each squads incinerator would ignite to provide limited sight. Every thirty seconds each Justicar would roll call his squad, then would report back to Oroton who was over a half mile behind.
"shh...1st squad reporting...shh"
"shh...2nd squad reporting...shh"
"shh...3rd...shh...reporti...shh..."
"Come in third squad, Sir, we seem to have some comm link issues. Should we stop the march until the problem is fixed?"
Inquisitor Oroton, "Yawn. Have the men continue their march; the problem is probably just a bad piece of head gear. Relay back to the men to continue while we head to camp for rest. Yawn"
"Yes, Sir!"
An hour past after Oroton left his forces. The comm links were getting worse and so was the fog. Each squad reported in, except for the Dread Knight Insuln; who was watching the rear. The party came to a halt and there was no sign of the metal behemoth. They began to encircle and call roll again, but the squad of purifiers didn't answer, nor did the unit of power armored Grey Knights. There stand twenty terminators shoulder to shoulder waiting for a sign from the enemy or comrades. For a second the fog began to clear when large crashes all around were heard and figures started to appear. Storm bolters rang out in droves lighting up the jungle in flashes of bullets and discarding shells. Rawrs and deep moans filled the silence in between each volley of bolter shot.
The terminator's downfall would not be the enemy in front, but the enemy already amongst. In the center of the circle that they created the ground collapsed and large tentacles grab several terminators tossing them like pebbles into the distance and the rest would begin to sink into the pit. Quick thinking by the Brother-Captain, he threw a melta bomb into the center of the pit. The explosion instantly killed the underground creature and the men would attempt to climb out, but were already being swarmed by large creatures each with a tentacle of their own and what seemed to be swords. Each of the ten remaining Terminators fought in hand-to-hand a one-on-one duel with a creature. Clinking and clanging and yells of fervor and valor filled the dark jungle. The fight lasted ten minutes when the last creature fell and the three remaining terminators stepped out of the pit. Their fight was far from over.
A massive buzzing noise was moving closer and in front of them landed a massive creature five times bigger than any human with large wings and four gruesome looking sets of scythes. He let out screech and charged the remaining Grey Knight Terminators. Two fell instantly, a scythe to each ones head and the other two scythes going for the Brother-Captain. He ducked and swung cutting off a left arm of the monster. Three scythes came barreling into the Brother-Captain, the first missed, he blocked the second and the third managed to cut into his right arm. He desperately swung and managed to cut off a right arm to the creature. The two remaining scythes, like scissors, came down on the terminators legs, he missed the block and both legs were severed. The Brother-Captain fell, but was determined to do as much damage as he could before he died. When out of nowhere a chimera propelled from the jungle and a melta shot bore itself into the face of the monster incinerating the entire head and body. A single man stepped out smoking a cigar and holding a smoking melta gun. "Looks like we came in the nick of time. Well we better get you back to throw some of them metal gadgets on you."
The Brother-Captain began to loose conscience, "Who are you?"
"Me? I'm Lieutenant Peterson of the remaining 32nd Iaxian Regiment"
With biomass running scarce for the score of Tyranids still left in space they resorted to a new kind of adaptability. They took over ships. They could not repair or modify the ships due to a lack of materials, but the psychic masters Zoantropes were able to tap into the minds of a few crew members and made out how to operate the ships. They would take the scraps and create a safe haven on the moon Cryx. Several bases scattered the planet and underground biomass pools were created. When their was enough resources, they wound send up several small shuttles filled with new workers and droves of biomass up to their moon base. Using the radar on the ships they could monitor Iax' surface in detail and send troops when needed. But with the threat so focussed on the planet Imperial forces didn't think to look to the planet's moons.
Inquisitor Maltrix had, in his last moments, done something right. He had set on the distress beacon of his ship and had ejected himself into an escape pod. Mortally wounded he had jettisoned himself into deep space. He died in the matter of hours, but had made a single video explaining what the circumstances had been on the planet. The transmission was picked up by several vessels all in several different systems in every direction, but the escape pod, somehow, was found by the Daemon Hunters Ship Extermino a week later. They attempted to salvage what little video was left. In his weakened state Maltrix had warned of daemons on Iax and provided a blurry scrambled image with the claim that they were not out numbered, but out thought. Inquisitor Oroton, the commander of the Extermino, pledged to avenge his fallen brothers and swore to show a true testament of their power and cunning over daemons without the need to destroy the planet. They immediately set out for Iax.
Several weeks had passed since the Imperial Guard had sought out the prevailing insects that inhabited the great jungles of Iax. Colonel Bruismere had taken it upon himself to rid the planet of such a foe, but not at the cost of his massive training grounds. His fight would take decades at this rate, but he was determined to get the job done; believing now that it was not just showing up the inquisition, but in fact, the fighting was becoming personal. But little did he know that eyes that were on him. The dread red eye of the Inquisition would be watching his every move.
Meanwhile, several space marine chapters heard the distress call and prepared for battle. The Gaurdsmen of the 38th, 117th, and 12th Iaxian Regiments would continue their fight. Instead of sending graduates to other commands Colonel Bruismere had created a permanent set of forces for the planet. He still gained the new recruits from all over the sector and trained them, but was not sending them out to their other promised duties. He had also neglected to notify the garrisoned Ultramarines and his superiors of his actions stating, "We are currently changing the difficulty of training. These men are becoming soft bellied! I need time to break them of these bad habits that peace has caused". When he was asked about the distress beacon, he stated, "This is a training exercise. And it will continue until they complete their training; which may take weeks". In fact, he was right, the beacon would stop after only 6 weeks, but not by Imperial forces.. . .
Inquisitor Oroton arrived only two days after the distress beacon had stopped. They believed the ship had managed to fall out of orbit and was destroyed. Within those weeks of travel Oroton learned of the purpose the planet held and of the inhabitants. Knowing of the limited record of Colonel Bruismere, he decided that the Colonel had limited capacity to lead a fight against or even be aware of such a menace. However, he would attempt to consult Bruismere for any information that he might have. As for the garrisoned Ultramarines, he would have servitors investigate all their records for unusual activity or instances of fighting.
The meeting with Colonel Bruismere met with no success. Bruismere acted dumb to the situation and Oroton believed the stupidity to be true, but not about the situation. With both men's pride at stake and the face of their forces to uphold, they each parted in an angry huff. Moments later the forces of the Daemon Hunters would call to arms and set out to destroy their perceived daemons sending out forces that were all but too similar to Maltrix. Bruismere, now knowing the enemy, would call back his troops from areas that might have any Inquisitorial presence; not out of courtesy, but hope that they would be destroyed by their limited knowledge of their enemy.
Foot by muddy foot the Grey Knights would ignite the jungles and clear away any brush. Several days past and there were no signs of any Chaos activity. A entire square mile had been cut and cleared. Inquisitor Oroton was getting impatient. He ordered his troops to abandon clearing the jungle to search for their foe; he believed in the resiliency of his terminators, power armored Grey Knights, his new Dread Knight, and his personal transport in which he was well comfortable in. He would create a wall of his terminators to lead the way, while he would be far behind. At this point, they only needed to search until nightfall.
A dense fog sifted its way through the trees and brush. Every few moments each squads incinerator would ignite to provide limited sight. Every thirty seconds each Justicar would roll call his squad, then would report back to Oroton who was over a half mile behind.
"shh...1st squad reporting...shh"
"shh...2nd squad reporting...shh"
"shh...3rd...shh...reporti...shh..."
"Come in third squad, Sir, we seem to have some comm link issues. Should we stop the march until the problem is fixed?"
Inquisitor Oroton, "Yawn. Have the men continue their march; the problem is probably just a bad piece of head gear. Relay back to the men to continue while we head to camp for rest. Yawn"
"Yes, Sir!"
An hour past after Oroton left his forces. The comm links were getting worse and so was the fog. Each squad reported in, except for the Dread Knight Insuln; who was watching the rear. The party came to a halt and there was no sign of the metal behemoth. They began to encircle and call roll again, but the squad of purifiers didn't answer, nor did the unit of power armored Grey Knights. There stand twenty terminators shoulder to shoulder waiting for a sign from the enemy or comrades. For a second the fog began to clear when large crashes all around were heard and figures started to appear. Storm bolters rang out in droves lighting up the jungle in flashes of bullets and discarding shells. Rawrs and deep moans filled the silence in between each volley of bolter shot.
The terminator's downfall would not be the enemy in front, but the enemy already amongst. In the center of the circle that they created the ground collapsed and large tentacles grab several terminators tossing them like pebbles into the distance and the rest would begin to sink into the pit. Quick thinking by the Brother-Captain, he threw a melta bomb into the center of the pit. The explosion instantly killed the underground creature and the men would attempt to climb out, but were already being swarmed by large creatures each with a tentacle of their own and what seemed to be swords. Each of the ten remaining Terminators fought in hand-to-hand a one-on-one duel with a creature. Clinking and clanging and yells of fervor and valor filled the dark jungle. The fight lasted ten minutes when the last creature fell and the three remaining terminators stepped out of the pit. Their fight was far from over.
A massive buzzing noise was moving closer and in front of them landed a massive creature five times bigger than any human with large wings and four gruesome looking sets of scythes. He let out screech and charged the remaining Grey Knight Terminators. Two fell instantly, a scythe to each ones head and the other two scythes going for the Brother-Captain. He ducked and swung cutting off a left arm of the monster. Three scythes came barreling into the Brother-Captain, the first missed, he blocked the second and the third managed to cut into his right arm. He desperately swung and managed to cut off a right arm to the creature. The two remaining scythes, like scissors, came down on the terminators legs, he missed the block and both legs were severed. The Brother-Captain fell, but was determined to do as much damage as he could before he died. When out of nowhere a chimera propelled from the jungle and a melta shot bore itself into the face of the monster incinerating the entire head and body. A single man stepped out smoking a cigar and holding a smoking melta gun. "Looks like we came in the nick of time. Well we better get you back to throw some of them metal gadgets on you."
The Brother-Captain began to loose conscience, "Who are you?"
"Me? I'm Lieutenant Peterson of the remaining 32nd Iaxian Regiment"
Battle Report: Grey Knights vs. Iax "Lest You Be Purged"
Alright, I got another game again against the new Daemon Hunters. And I tried for the first time my version of a "death star" unit. So here we go! 1500pts!
Hive Fleet Iax:
HQ
Hive Tyrant, Paroxysm, Leech essence
Regen, Hive Commander, Wings, 2x Scything Talons 275
Elites:
Zoants (3)
Meiotic Spore (220)
Zoants (3)
Meiotic Spore (220)
Troops
Warriors (9) with Lash whips bone swords and poison
Meiotic Spore (280)
Gaunts (20) normal guysMeiotic Spore (280)
Gaunts (20) normal guys Meiotic Spore (280)
Fabio's "Flaming" Grey Knights
I say "flaming" because he is modeling them as if they were fiery ethereal, very very cool! I will have pictures of them on here (without his permission) when he gets them done. But his list was shooting for a "well balanced" approach, which I appreciate.
HQ:
Morkai with retinue of termies
Inquisitor with big retinue of CC goodness, some daemon hosts, deathcult etc. In a Chimera
Elites:
Group of 5 Purifiers
Troops:
5 Grey Knights, psycannon
A unit of Termies (kinda complex wound allocation)
Heavy:
Dread Knight w/ a flame ability
Board: 1 building in the north-west corner (doesn't come into play) and a few scattered cliff plateaus.
Deployment: Dawn o' War Mission: Kill!
I give Fabio the first turn. He deploys nothing and declares Markai to deepstrike (comes in first turn, doesn't scatter ever! and the troops to deepstrike (they however need reserves and can scatter).
Turn 1: Fabio's GK
Movement: He has the North-side and smack in the middle-north is a cliff, he shoves everything on the west side of that and deepstrikes Morkai and his group on that side as well.
Shooting:none
Assault:none
Turn 1: Hive Fleet Iax
After looking at my list you should all know, RESERVES! yay!
Movement: none
Shooting: none
Assault: none
Turn 2: Fabio's GK
All his reserves come in both troops are center-east and the rest of his stuff moves a bit south on the west side.
Movement: Stated above. But to note: His dread knight was due center-west with the termies about 24" away from any long table edge.
Shooting: none.
Assault: none.
Turn 2: Hive Fleet Iax
Reserves: HT, 1 Zoant Squad, and the Warriors. The HT goes center-west to take on his Grey knight troops. The Warriors drop behind his command chimera in the center-North. And the zoants are just west of the warriors behind his purifiers.
Movement: none.
Shooting: HT peroxides the GK troops. One pod kills a purifier, the other does nothing. Warriors stand and look pretty, in other words, I forgot I could run them. Zoants shoot and get two hits, two wounds, they go to ground and...two die.
Assault: none.
Turn 3: Fabio's GK
Movement: His two troops center-east move in towards the HT. Everything else moves in on the warriors and zoants. He even got out his inquisitor and retinue to test their mettle!
Shooting: The two troops shoot and take off 3 wounds on the tyrant. A zoant takes a wound from his HQ termies and a warrior is killed between the dread knight, the chimera, and the HQ inquisitor.
Assault: Dread Knight goes into the warriors and the Inquisitor HQ and retinue have to combi-assault the warriors and the pod. I put three wounds on the dred knight and kill almost the entire unit, 1 warrior goes down and so does the pod. Dread knight fails his fearless saves and the HQ unit passes its stubborn. His grey Knights go to assault my HT, 2 die and do nothing to him.
Turn 3: Hive Fleet Iax
Reserves: Everything else comes in. I place both units of guants on each side of his troop termies. and the other zoants south-east from the center of the board.
Movement: Move the zoants back so they can't be assaulted.
Shooting: Both gaunts pour all 40 shots into the termies and alas...nothing, but some special character who can stand back up. The south zoants I think killed a termie and so does the other squad with the other termies.
Assault: Warriors kill rest of unit and nothing back to them. The HT hits with all and kills the remaining GK troop unit.
Kill points: Iax 4, GK 1
Turn 4: Fabio's GK
Movement: Termies move towards my warriors and the purifiers stand up to take on the zoants. The chimera moves east and so does the troop termies.
Shooting: Chimera kills the HT, damn! A warrior dies to the other termies.
Assault: HQ termies rush in and everyone but the character dies before they swing. His character however kills 4 warriors, damn thunder hammers! The purifiers kill a zoant and the zoants kill 1, I make my fearless saves. His troop termies kill off almost all of a gaunt squad and they fail all their fearless saves, more damn!
Turn 4: Hive Fleet Iax
Movement: I move the east zoants forward, I didn't want him to combi-assault a pod. and the other gaunts move down a bit (kinda forced).
Shooting: The east zoants blow up the chimera, the gaunts do nothing.
Assault: Warriors kill his character. And the zoants kill the last purifier. Go head butting!
Kill points: Iax 7, GK 3
Turn 5: Fabio's GK
To note: he had the special character who has a chance to stand up every turn, and has failed twice!
Movement: Termie unit moves in for the zoants.
Shooting: none.
Assault: Tries to combi assault zoants and a pod and fails, but annihilates the zoants.
Turn 5: Hive Fleet Iax
zoants move in a bit to get a shot in as well.
Shooting: Gaunts do nothing (that's 80 by now and only the 1 wound character). Zoants knock down the unit to 3.
Assault: none.
We roll and get a turn 6.
Turn 6: Fabio's GK
The character stands back up!
Movement: The termie unit moves to assault both pods in the south-east.
Shooting: none.
Assault: The character charges the warriors and promptly dies. The termies kill the pod. I use the movement of the character to propel the warriors.
Turn 6: Hive Fleet Iax
At this point it's 7-5 and it looks like it might be a tie if I don't do something!
Movement: Warriors move in for the termies as does the gaunts. zoants start moving away.
Shooting: none.
Assault: Warriors Kill the unit.
And game ends. Hive Fleet Iax declared winner!
Thoughts: We agreed his list lacked cohesion and my list grew in power. Warriors were amazing, they themselves getting 6 out of the 9 Kill points. Gaunts did their job, fodder. And the zoants did what I want them to do every game, kill all the armor on the board (in this case just the chimera). Biggest thing I learned though is to run with my warriors next time!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
From Superstition to Reality
Word spread about the death of Inquisitor Maltrix and his detachment of Daemon Hunters to Colonel Bruismere of the 32nd Iaxian Regiment. The Colonel was pleased to find an opportunity to show up the Inquisition, though he would never admit that out loud. Iax, though it had a large Imperial Guard population, was a training planet for harsh jungles and urban warfare. Other than the training grounds most of it was Ultramarine farming for the population of Space marines living on nearby Maccrage. There was limited to none natural human population living on the planet.
Many of the new recruits came from other planets, and all but few of the command had never seen combat other than a drunken brawl here and there. Those who had seen combat saw very little. Even Colonel Bruismere, who was the most battle hearty of them, had only been in one war which comprised itself of four battles and was against rebels on a separate planet. Throughout his career Bruismere had hoped to see a full scale war. When he was deployed to Iax to train regiments of Guardsmen he thought his career to be over, forever to sit at a desk and wipe the noses of young men as they learned the true meaning of physical labor. He had known of the rumors that ran through the ranks of the creatures that lived deep in the jungle. He even thought it was just a trick to scare some of the younger soldiers; he dismissed any notion that the rumors could be true. Even deaths and disappearances were proclaimed "accident durring a training exercise" or "awall slackers". He believed that until three squads of ten guardsmen were sent to train in the jungle overnight and were found three weeks later in pieces. The images disturbed Bruismere, and he was convinced that something lurking was possible. However, when reports were found on a lone assassin deployed to observe the creatures in action Colonel Bruismere's reaction was exactly, "Just Tyranids! By the Emperor we have ourselves some real training! Boys, let's go get us some bugs!".
A week after Iquisitor Maltrix forces were found, Colonel Bruismere deployed the newest graduates into the jungle to find the main infestation of the Tyranids. Equipment was limited, Chimeras were only allowed for the few officers and those that were the top of their class and the rest had to walk. Two vendettas were sent along just to get an aerial view. Slowly, they raked the jungle meter by muddy meter until they reached Training Ground A314-V, a small city that had been made for urban training.
As the vendettas reached the fake city a large winged creature was seen in the city center devouring the remains of an animal, they quickly identified it as a Hive Tyrant and relayed the "easy kill" back to the rest of the detachment. As they were positioning themselves a large crash came, "What was that?! Their must be more, come in Vend 2, come in...Vend 2, come it....arrggg". Pods had crashed into each and the bugs that were in each emerged unscathed in front of the masses of new Guardsmen.
Shots rang as several infantrymen fell. The command chimera called to the other chimeras, but there was no answer. Quickly thinking Lieutenant Peterson called to charge the beasts, a bold and rash decision. The guardsmen didn't think about personal safety they thought of the pleasure of combat. They rushed the Hive Tyrant, the pods, and the other beasts. Surprising they overwhelmed the bugs. Like a swarm of piranha they swung each attack like a small bite taking chunk by chunk out of the alien creatures. Even the beams of energy were not enough to blast holes in the moral of the guardsmen. The infested pods were quickly taken. They were winning and they had found large mounds like that of an ant hill inside the buildings as they fought. They were successful in their mission. But they would never get the chance to relay their findings to Colonel Bruismere.
Out of the jungle edge hundreds of swarming smaller beasts came and took the infantry by surprise. Shooting thousands of green ooze, they quickly killed all of the Guardsmen on foot. Only the command Chimera harboring Lt. Peterson and a couple of others got away into the jungle and have yet to be heard from. Several days later Colonel Bruismere would call for all the forces the planet could muster claiming that a war that would rival Maccrage was soon to begin.
Many of the new recruits came from other planets, and all but few of the command had never seen combat other than a drunken brawl here and there. Those who had seen combat saw very little. Even Colonel Bruismere, who was the most battle hearty of them, had only been in one war which comprised itself of four battles and was against rebels on a separate planet. Throughout his career Bruismere had hoped to see a full scale war. When he was deployed to Iax to train regiments of Guardsmen he thought his career to be over, forever to sit at a desk and wipe the noses of young men as they learned the true meaning of physical labor. He had known of the rumors that ran through the ranks of the creatures that lived deep in the jungle. He even thought it was just a trick to scare some of the younger soldiers; he dismissed any notion that the rumors could be true. Even deaths and disappearances were proclaimed "accident durring a training exercise" or "awall slackers". He believed that until three squads of ten guardsmen were sent to train in the jungle overnight and were found three weeks later in pieces. The images disturbed Bruismere, and he was convinced that something lurking was possible. However, when reports were found on a lone assassin deployed to observe the creatures in action Colonel Bruismere's reaction was exactly, "Just Tyranids! By the Emperor we have ourselves some real training! Boys, let's go get us some bugs!".
A week after Iquisitor Maltrix forces were found, Colonel Bruismere deployed the newest graduates into the jungle to find the main infestation of the Tyranids. Equipment was limited, Chimeras were only allowed for the few officers and those that were the top of their class and the rest had to walk. Two vendettas were sent along just to get an aerial view. Slowly, they raked the jungle meter by muddy meter until they reached Training Ground A314-V, a small city that had been made for urban training.
As the vendettas reached the fake city a large winged creature was seen in the city center devouring the remains of an animal, they quickly identified it as a Hive Tyrant and relayed the "easy kill" back to the rest of the detachment. As they were positioning themselves a large crash came, "What was that?! Their must be more, come in Vend 2, come in...Vend 2, come it....arrggg". Pods had crashed into each and the bugs that were in each emerged unscathed in front of the masses of new Guardsmen.
Shots rang as several infantrymen fell. The command chimera called to the other chimeras, but there was no answer. Quickly thinking Lieutenant Peterson called to charge the beasts, a bold and rash decision. The guardsmen didn't think about personal safety they thought of the pleasure of combat. They rushed the Hive Tyrant, the pods, and the other beasts. Surprising they overwhelmed the bugs. Like a swarm of piranha they swung each attack like a small bite taking chunk by chunk out of the alien creatures. Even the beams of energy were not enough to blast holes in the moral of the guardsmen. The infested pods were quickly taken. They were winning and they had found large mounds like that of an ant hill inside the buildings as they fought. They were successful in their mission. But they would never get the chance to relay their findings to Colonel Bruismere.
Out of the jungle edge hundreds of swarming smaller beasts came and took the infantry by surprise. Shooting thousands of green ooze, they quickly killed all of the Guardsmen on foot. Only the command Chimera harboring Lt. Peterson and a couple of others got away into the jungle and have yet to be heard from. Several days later Colonel Bruismere would call for all the forces the planet could muster claiming that a war that would rival Maccrage was soon to begin.
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