Battle at Death Valley - DA vs Tyranids Narrative Batrep

[Berzul]

The old district of Brasnoy stood a ruin. Once, it had been the main residential hub of the great city of Bolshaye. The lifeblood of Krazniv, the old and forgotten Hive World, that had now been reborn a warzone. A battle field upon which stood the survival of the Imperium, at the edge of the Cicatrix Maledictum.

 

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Orbital Scans had tracked the movements of the brood across the city, but all xenobiology classification attempts had been unsuccesful. The beasts showed no resemblance to any fleet known to the Imperium. Wild, fast and unpredictable. Few commanders would willingly place themselves on the path of their rampage.

 

Master Zerephiel was one of the few.

 

Leader of the Second Company of the Angels of Deliverance. The successors of the great First Legion. True testament to the bloodline of the Lion, they stood at the ready before the swarm. Their weapons hot. Their resolve unwavering.

 

The old warrior had arrived with his battle brothers to the battlefield just moments before the swarm. What little knowledge there was of the enemy's movements, all spoke of an attack from the north of the ancient Tellium; the fortified line that run down the mid section of the entire district. Zerephiel gazed upon the demolished structure, and at the few scattered ruins that still stood at either side of it, and decided to make his stand.

 

The buildings of old Krazniv were badly damaged after half a century of constant bombardment. Action taken at the behest of the High Lords of Terra by the Ordo Sepulturum during the Plague Wars, just a few years prior. A desperate action, taken to purge the place clean of the presence of the Death Guard that had once besieged it. And yet, the spirit of the Hive World was strong, and the foundations still held in their place, for now. Even as the walls cracked under the quake caused by the march of war. They would hold Zerephiel's men, for as long as they could. And that was as best as any could ask of the old city.

 

One last inspecton of his men and the old warrior started giving his instructions.

 

The third and sitxh tactical squads of his company stood with him. Plasma guns and missile launchers in their hands. Twenty brothers ready to die for his cause. With them, Devastators, armed with Plasma Cannons, gifted by the First Legion itself from inside the old armories of the rock at the foundation of the Chapter. A group of scouts. Auxiliaries from the Tenth Company, given into his command upon departing for Krazniv a few months past. Then, the great warriors. Brother Urmiel and Brother Zariel. Bonded by blood as well as duty, both battle brothers now entombed in their Castraferrum bodies. Marks of honour all across their metal plating, and down the barrels of the Twin Lascannons that each held at their side.

 

To his right, as he inspected his troops, there was Brother Corsul, his brave lieutenant. Friend of many battles across the centuries. To his left there was Brother Bainel, the young Techmarine, wielding the weapons and tools of those who sing the chants of the Machine. For some years now tasked to the needs of Brother Urmiel and Brother Zariel, and tied to their fate as each was tied to each other through life and death.

 

With the feeling of dread starting to fill up the air around them, Master Zerephiel commanded his army. By his word the Devastators took to the center ruin, with Brother Corsul tasked to lead them himself, to make sure their shots were true. Both the third and the sixth squad were tasked to split up, with the heavy weapons taking sniping positions up the largest ruin to his left, and the specialists taking position in the lower tiers of the ruin to his right, to provide cover for Brother Corsul and his Devastators. The members of the Tenth Company were sent to hold the far most ruin, to try and funnel the enmy down the middle of the battlefield. And there, in the middle, stood the rest. Brother Urmiel, Brother Zariel, cared for by Brother Bainel, all to his left hand, as he grasped his sword and prepared for the incoming onslaught.

 

The wait was short.

 

The cackling sound of teeth, claw and scales grew from the distance into a thunderous roar, as the beasts trampled the field. Wave after wave of Termagants, wading through the rubble. Chittering monstrosities encircling a massive, hulking monster, with serrated claws and a tail as hard as ferrosteel. Behind them, venomous clouds of spores and toxins obscured the swarm, as Venomthropes took to the field of battle. With them the floating brain of a Zonthrope, guiding them as the link to the Hive Mind's will. And finally, at the lead, there came the Swarm Lord, with rank upon rank of Genestealer brood to fight at his side.

 

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The beasts came upon the Angels quicker than expected. Even as they were anounced by the sound of their march, Zerephiel was almost caught off guard by the sheer speed of their advance. But, upon first seeing their shape, he seized the initiative from them and began his attack.

 

The Tyranid foe had been clever. The Brood Lord's forces were safe, standing just beyond the range of the Angel's bolters, and hiding beyond their trained eyes, by virtue of the spore clouds that covered them. But even though they could cover the bulk of its force, they could not do the same for the dying buildings they had overrun in their march.

 

Feeling the timing as just right, Zerephiel gave a swift command, and the trap was sprung.

 

The searing shots of the Las Cannons, and the overcharged blasts from the Plasma Cannons, pierced through the middle ruin inside which the Tyranid forces stood. The walls snapped like twigs under the preassure of the massive firepower unleashed by their guns, and soon the entire ruin was collapsing over the swarm. Screams and screeches of pain filled the air as Termagant and Venomthrope were crushed under the collapsing building.

 

But, although damaged, the swarm was quick to recover, and as if aroused to a frenzy by the audacity of the Angels, they began a hurried charge into combat. Their forces crossing the valley of death that stood between both armies, at an alarming speed.

 

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The line that separated both armies vanished in an instant. The Termagants and other beasts crossed the rubble covered ground in the blink of an eye, and after giving the Angels the chance to just one more volley of shots, they were upon them.

 

The Termagants started to veer to the sides as their numbers overwhelmed the Astartes, and from behind them charged in the Carnifex. Its size and weight thrown directly at the foundations of the ruin upon which Brother Corsul and his Devastators stood. The ruin was torn to pieces in a moment. Crushed by the strength if the monster's serrated claws. The walls collapsed, and many a warrior fell from the ramparts to his death. The survivors then began to recover, only to find themselves surrounded by the Genestealers that had survived their previous round of fire.

 

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With his forces cut down the middle, Master Zerephiel commanded all fire on the Genestealers, right before he lifted his sword and sounded the charge. The surviving forces of his specialist squads forming around him as he crossed the gap to face off against the Brood Lord itself.

 

Behind him, the Venerable Dreadnoughts marched forward, torching the Termagants with their Heavy Flamers, before pushing the charge against the Carnifex, seeking to crush it to pieces before the battle was done.

 

The duels began with Master Zerephiel cutting through the Brood Lord with swift blows of his Relic Blade. The creature, imposing as it was surrounded by its Genestealers, turned out to be outmatched by the trained hand and deadly resolve of the Master of the Angels of Deliverance. With five strikes, the creature was destroyed, and the head of the swarm was cut off.

 

To his left the Venerable Dreadnoughts flanked the Carnifex, and with one heavy blow after the other, the monster was brought down and crushed. Its blood spilling over the battlefield, and filling the air with the scent of a victory close at hand.

 

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But, as the survivors of the main force claimed the lives of the Tyranids one by one, the final mass of beasts -now free of the synaptic control of the Brood Lord- began to climb the ruins upon which stood the warriors of the Tenth Company.

 

With no way of aiding them, Master Zerephiel watched with a heavy heart as his battle brothers were consumed by the savage beasts of the swarm. Their bodies staining the floor as the creatures climbed the walls and covered the halls of the old building. With no other choice to make, the old warrior commanded his heavy weapons teams to fire upon the ruin and destroy it. If the place was to be claimed by the Tyranids, the Angels of Deliverance would see that there was no place to be claimed at all.

 

The ruin fell over by the force of the Krak Missiles that hit it at the base, and the Termagants quickly scattered away beyond the field of battle as they tried to escape the crumbling walls.

 

The sound of fire and destruction began to settle down, as the final waves of Termagants tried to bring down the Astartes that stood now in the middle of the leveled ground that had once been the southern complex of Brasnoy. Their claws were unable to pierce the plating of the Dreadnoughts, nor the defenses of the Artificer Armor of the Techmarine. Through slow but unstoppable hits, these warriors began the task of clearing the area of any Tyranid presence, and although the Zonthrope had managed to escape their wrath, once the dust settled and the blood stopped flowing, the Angels of Deliverance found themselves victorious nonetheless.

 

The swarm had been stopped. For now.

 

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[Berzul]

This was a battle that I had yesterday. It was part of the narrative campaign I am running here in my city (and, actually, running in 4 cities in my country, since it is online), between my Angels of Deliverance Successor Chapter, and a custom Hive Fleet from a friend.

 

The scenario was a custom one, where you got a point per unit killed, plus two points per building held. BUT, each building had a dataslate fo T8, W14 and Sv4+, so they could be destroyed, causing MASSIVE damage to any unit inside or around the building. Each battle round the buldings lost D3 wounds, and could also be targeted by units that wanted to bring them down.

 

The battle was 5 turns in total, with the Tyranids conceding at turn 5, when the score was 9-6, and all my opponent had left was the Zonthrope and a few out of synapse termagants. While he still managed to kill a lot of my units, it was in the end a victory for the Imperium. A hard fought one, as I was pretty much overrun at the beginning of the battle, and it took everything I had to turn it around at turn three.

 

P.S.: Also, sorry for mistakes in writting. I had time to write this, not to review it thoroughly :/

[Kasper_Hawser]

Very nice, was wondering how come you can explode the ruins until I read your second post.

 

Just to be clear how you withstood the tide without being overrun (I like the narrative but just want to confirm the facts and also if i read properly):

 

1) You managed to seize initiative and therefore had one round to kill a building, bringing it down and killing a lot of models in the process.

2) He then charged his carnifex into your building holding the devastator squad, which mostly didn't survive. Did the swarm also reached the building? You mentioned your devastators were surrounded by genestealers but I only see the carnifex at the building.

3) Another round of shooting, and thankfully your two dreadnoughts anchored your lines with their weapons and toughness. your captain and his squad also charged his broodlord and genestealers, somehow managed to slay it. One of your Dreadnoughts managed to slay the Carnifex as well. Must have hit and wounded every attack, as I think the Carnifex has > 10 wounds.

 

 Did you manage to kill most of the genestealers though, because the counter attack should have shredded your captain and his retinue to pieces.

 

4) your scouts were swarmed and killed in a building. 

5) Then you shot your tactical heavy weapons at the building, destroying it and killed a big chunk of them.

6) Afterwards was mostly grinding mop up, as the big bugs were gone therefore your Dreadnoughts had little too fear from gaunts, although not completely as the gaunts would wound on 5s.

 

anything I got wrong?

[Berzul]

Hahahaha! Yeah, I guess the narrative leaves many things unclear. Sorry about that. Glad it was a fun read nonetheless.

 

Let me do a summary to clear the whole thing, sans the narrative:

 

I finished deploying first

He won the roll off 6-1

I seized the initiative

Fired the lascannons and plasma cannons at the central building. Missile launchers and heavy bolter at the Genestealers

The building collapsed and took a big chunk of his 120 gants, plus some more models

He advanced to the middle of the board

I shot down another ruin to his side with missiles and lascannons. It killed some more gants akd tje venomthrops

I shot my plasma cannons and bolters at his genestealers/gants as range allowed. Got the genestealers dowk to 10 from 20

He charged tje building with his Carnifex, and my infantry inside with the genestealers

The building came down and killed many marines and many genestealers. Repositioning got us disengaged from combat.

More gants approached the center down each flank.

Once ok the ground my devastators moved back and killed the genestealers while my master charged the brood lord with his 3 plasma gun/combi plasma tacticals that remained. Killed it.

Dreadnoughts walked up to the carnifex, killed gants, charged carnifex, killed it.

Techmarine walked up, killed gants.

Gants to my right lost synapse and charged the scouts, and failed. All his other gants charged in everything (dreads, techmarine, devastators, master and tacticals.) giving me little to no shooting targets.

Two rounds of blows and most his gants where dead, but also my Master due to smites

His other gants took the building and killed my scouts. I took out the building and killed more of his units due to it

Game ended at turn 5 with the zonthrope, and a few gants, on his side and no chance of taking my last units

[Kasper_Hawser]

Hahahaha! Yeah, I guess the narrative leaves many things unclear. Sorry about that. Glad it was a fun read nonetheless.

 

Let me do a summary to clear the whole thing, sans the narrative:

 

I finished deploying first

He won the roll off 6-1

I seized the initiative

Fired the lascannons and plasma cannons at the central building. Missile launchers and heavy bolter at the Genestealers

The building collapsed and took a big chunk of his 120 gants, plus some more models

He advanced to the middle of the board

I shot down another ruin to his side with missiles and lascannons. It killed some more gants akd tje venomthrops

I shot my plasma cannons and bolters at his genestealers/gants as range allowed. Got the genestealers dowk to 10 from 20

He charged tje building with his Carnifex, and my infantry inside with the genestealers

The building came down and killed many marines and many genestealers. Repositioning got us disengaged from combat.

More gants approached the center down each flank.

Once ok the ground my devastators moved back and killed the genestealers while my master charged the brood lord with his 3 plasma gun/combi plasma tacticals that remained. Killed it.

Dreadnoughts walked up to the carnifex, killed gants, charged carnifex, killed it.

Techmarine walked up, killed gants.

Gants to my right lost synapse and charged the scouts, and failed. All his other gants charged in everything (dreads, techmarine, devastators, master and tacticals.) giving me little to no shooting targets.

Two rounds of blows and most his gants where dead, but also my Master due to smites

His other gants took the building and killed my scouts. I took out the building and killed more of his units due to it

Game ended at turn 5 with the zonthrope, and a few gants, on his side and no chance of taking my last units

 

OK, looks like the gants and genestealers actually endured two rounds of shooting before the final charge at the broodlord. good on you. Happy that the Dreadnoughts did well too.  Is this 2000 or 1500? looks like 2000.

[Berzul]

1250