Battle Report 1000pts Guard vs. Nids [Crunch and Narrative]

[gunnyogrady]

BATTLE REPORT

1000 points

Astra Militarum VS Tyranids

Purge the Alien

 

ARMY LISTS

Astra Militarum

Company Command Squad (Lascannon)

Veteran Squad (Lascannon)

Veteran Squad (Lascannon)

Veteran Squad (Chimera, 3x Meltagun)

Veteran Squad (Chimera, 3x Meltagun)

Leman Russ Battle Tank (Hull Heavy Bolter)

Avenger Strike Fighter

Vindicare Assassin

 

Tyranids

Hive Tyrant (Wings, 2x Twin-Linked Devourer with brainleech worms)

Termagaunts (10x Gaunts)

Termagaunts (10x Gaunts)

Tervigon

Tervigon

Trygon

 

DEPLOYMENT

Note: directions are generally indicated from the perspective of my deployment zone, unless otherwise specified.

Note 2: plain text is the account of the game in gamer terms; italicized text is the fluffy, dramatized version

 

We played on a smaller table with limited terrain due to circumstances, about 3x5 with no LOS-blocking features. To my luck, we rolled Hammer and Anvil. I won the roll-off, and gave my opponent the option to deploy first and go first. He anchored each flank with a Tervigon and bubble-wrap of Gaunts, and he hid the winged Hive Tyrant behind the Tervigon to my right. The Trygon sat in reserves, awaiting deepstrike.

 

I deployed in a rough refused flank, with my Lascannon Vets, Company Command Squad, Vindicare, and Leman Russ bunkered in the back-right corner opposite his winged Hive Tyrant. I deployed my two Melta-Vet squads aggressively forward to my left flank, opposite his lone Tervigon. My Avenger awaited arrival from reserves.

 

'Any questions?' said Donncha Geriod, Captain of Alpha Company, 3^rd Reconnaissance Battalion. Hands shot up around the make-shift briefing room. 'Sergeant Deck,' Geriod said, calling on the Guardsman who served as the Company's expert Scout-Sniper.

 

'Sir, is there any indication of how long ago the Imperium lost contact with this planet, or even how that happened?' Deck asked. Hands hesitantly drifted down around the room. 'Furthermore, do we know if there are any hostiles still on this planet? Or for that matter, who or where those hostile forces might be? No disrespect sir, but that briefing was all beans, bullets, and bandaids. I need to know what I'll be shooting.' He paused. 'Sir.” He added as an afterthought. The room grumbled in agreement.

 

'Good questions, Sergeant.' Geriod said, 'No offense taken.' He paused, and took a moment to look coldly at the veterans around him: some leaning, some seated, some softly inhaling on non-regulation smoke-sticks. He hoped they wouldn't perceive the fear beneath his words. Leadership was sometimes a mask, and the leader must agonize behind it.

 

'Word is that it might be the worst, gentlemen. We're dealing with bugs.'

 

'Tyranids?' Deck asked.

 

'Tyranids.' Geriod let that sink in for a long moment. 'Say your prayers now. We're wheels up in 10. Dismissed.'

 

TURN 1

My opponent advanced both Tervigons, spewing two fresh squads of Termagaunts. One girl blew her beans, rolling doubles on the 3D6. So four squads of Termagaunts and two big bugs ran down the length of the table. The Winged Hive Tyrant stayed put and did not begin to swoop due to my opponent's misunderstanding of the rules. He informed me that he would not count as a flyer until turn two. Unfamiliar with the ruling myself, I looked forward to shooting him. I've since reviewed the rules, but this was a fortunate mistake for me. No 'nids shot or used psychic powers due to lack of range.

 

I took advantage of the Hive Tyrant's momentary weakness, and turned all of my guns towards him. With help from my CCS's orders, 3 Lascannons stripped 3 wounds. In his first moment of glory this game, the Vindicare (“Scout-Sniper Deck” from the fluff) stripped off the remaining wounds with a lucky turbo-penetrator round. First Blood and Slay the Warlord go to Guard! The Leman Russ centered its template on one group of Gaunts, and scattered to kill a half-dozen from two different groups. The Melta-Vets pushed aggressively up the left flank, threatening the isolated Tervigon and Gaunts with Meltas and Heavy Flamers respectively.

 

Sergeant Deck had to pee. He'd been in this spot, camouflaged and immaculately still, for upwards of 12 hours. Out in front of him, a vast valley of rubble and rocky ridges extended for a half-mile. It had been motionless for the last hour. This was his first clue that something was seriously amiss. When the animals vanish and the birds stop chirping, you can be sure hell or high water is coming.

 

When he first saw the monsters, his heart skipped a beat. But the next moment later, he executed what he had been trained to do, and began calling in visual confirmation and assessment of the horrors on the horizon.

 

'Joker Two-Three, this is Joker Actual' Captain Geriod responded on the radio, calling Deck and himself by their respective callsigns, 'We have visual on your bugs, and we're going to plug the big ones. You are clear to engage any targets. Out.'

 

A moment after his radio clicked off, the salvo of lascannons erupted. In the distance, Deck watched as the low-flying beast took three direct hits from the over-charged las-shots. Almost knocked out of the sky, the monster swung low to the ground for a moment, touching the earth only briefly. Great clods of dirt flew skyward as it pushed off the ground again. But that brief touchdown was enough for Deck to get a range on it. He adjusted haphazardly for elevation and a guess at windage, and sent a shot downrange with no more than a shift of his finger.

 

The crack of his rifle, then a second-and-a-half of anticipation, followed by a small spray of xenos blood. The winged monster wobbled in the air for a moment, and then banked into the ground on death-stiff wings. A calm and collected take-down. Deck's scope hovered for a moment on the massive twitching corpse before he called in the kill.

 

TURN 2

My opponent rolled for his reserves, and successfully called in his Trygon. It popped up right in front of my firebase on the right flank. Between the shooting attack it gets upon arrival and it's second salvo in the shooting phase, it wiped out an entire veteran squad. His second Tervigon rolled doubles as well, maxing out the table for this game at 5 squads of Gaunts. The unit of Gaunts closest to my Chimeras attempted to charge, even though they had no rending claws, in an attempt to limit my tanks' mobility. Everything else ran, and would be able to shoot and assault next turn with a frightening weight of numbers.

 

My reserves also came in! I deepstruck my Avenger deep behind his force on the opposite end of the board so that I would have at least two good turns of shooting at his Trygon. The Chimeras shuffled so that the melta-vets could shoot at the Trygon while the hull Heavy Flamers toasted some Gaunts. The two remaining veteran squads also took aim at the Trygon, bringing another two Lascannons to bear. After the combined fire of all these units, the creature still had 3 wounds left. The Vindicare, in his second moment of glory this game, again brought it home with the turbo-penetrator round. The beast went down. Meanwhile, the Leman Russ scattered onto nothingness.

 

'Sergeant, Captain says Deck has a confirmed kill on the flying creature!' a young vox-operator said.

 

'Well, then it looks like we should have shot a little better!' the Sergeant barked, 'We could have claimed that kill for ourselves! Reload and prepare to fire on that big mama on the right.'

 

The Sergeant looked to the dawn, feeling a little satisfaction at lighting a fire under his men's arses. A good thought, because it was the last Sergeant Rown would have. The next moment, his body was pulverized by a cloud of acidic daggers as a horrifying monster burst forth from the ground. In a rain of sick bio-weapons the entire squad vanished into screams and puffs of flesh.

 

'Joker Actual, this is Soft Shoe, how copy? Over.' said the pilot over the vox-network.

 

'Soft Shoe, this is Actual, we need your fire support ASAP! Over!' Geriod bellowed into the mic, cutting through the sound of scattered gunfire and screaming.

 

'Joker Actual, this is Soft Shoe, Interrogative: I've got a visual on a large ground target right by friendly lines. Am I clear to engage that target? Over.'

 

'Soft Shoe, you are clear to engage any targets! OUT!' Geriod smashed the headset down, picked up his rifle, and aimed skyward towards the beast's head. The monster, just a few yards away, looked down with black pinprick eyes and a scything array of masticating jaws.

 

A storm of anti-material rounds pummeled the beast, knocking it sideways as it roared with surprise. The Avenger Strike Fighter, callsign Soft Shoe, screamed overhead, strafing the beast with its potent gatling cannon. The veterans of Carcatha cheered for their savior.

 

The creature writhed, its bladed tail tearing a gash in the earth. It twisted and bucked, and at a moment this abomination of muscle and carapace was erect once more. The cheering faded. The men of Carcatha looked into the face of their demise.

 

And then a crack, a second-and-a-half of anticipation, and a small spray of goo shot out of the monster's forehead. A look flashed across the beast's eyes – not pain so much as confusion – and then it slumped to the ground, dead.

 

'Joker Actual this is Joker Two-Three. Confirmed kill on target at friendly position. Over.' Deck said over the vox-network. Again, cheers erupted throughout the lines.

 

TURN 3

Believe it or not, my opponent conceded! Even with his units so close to my lines, he judged that he just didn't have the ability to deal with the Avenger, Chimeras, and Russ. We shook hands and played another game later that afternoon!

 

Just as the beasts had come, and the vicious horde of smaller animals approached to within small-arms distance of the lines, the bugs retreated. Their collective screech rent the air as the tunneling monster slumped to the ground. As fast as they had come, the xenos dissipated into the underbrush. Deck's rifle cracked several more times as the scouting Tyranid host ran away.

 

A half-hour later, Deck returned to the Company, being sure to observe proper radio call-and-response so as not to get accidentally shot by shell-shocked Guardsmen. He ran to the outcrop where Captain Geriod and his vox-officer had set up to communicate with central command. Deck found a smattering of other sergeants and guardsmen huddled around the rocks, all anxious for news.

 

'Roger all that. Thank you sir. Joker Actual Out.' Geriod said, hanging up the vox heavily before rubbing his face and brow. He looked up, and found a sea of expectant faces around him. 'These creatures are parasites,' he began, 'And if they've developed beasts of that size, then this planet is already far too infected to save. I'm going to do all that I can to get us out of here. But prepare to fight them again. Dismissed.'

 

Thanks for reading guys!

[WarriorFish]

Interesting list from your opponent, could have been quite troublesome if it went the other way. Such is the game though, and the vagaries of the dice gods! I wonder what bloody murder an Eradicator or couple of Wyverns could have done to them :P Next time I'm sure your opponent will bring some more variety to his list so you'll need to be prepared for a harder fight!

[gunnyogrady]

Definitely an interesting list from him. It has an interesting synergy to play against, and it feel very much like a "glass hammer" list. If I can Alpha Strike hard enough, I can gut his forces and basically call the game. But if he can weather the storm and make it to my lines by about Turn 3, I think the game would go his way. All he needs is one Tervigon and either the Flyrant or the Trygon in combat, and things would go south very quickly.

 

I'm trying to think of better ways to deal with the Flyrant on Turn 1. I considered starting to build some Tau allies to get a couple Skyrays going, haha. We shall see how we do as the situation unfolds!

[morroccomole]

I was dying at "blew her beans"

Great narrative!