~Dire Foes~

Hivefleet Calavera v.
Bregenzian 13th Imperial Guard

Back again with another battle report. Here we have Kings' Tyranid-hunting IG come back for a second go, this time with a more appropriate foe, Tyranids! This is the same force I used last time, hopefully its more successful this time. Next report should be with my Methalor IG.

So it's time for another 1,000 point game, with Cleanse being the very appropriate mission.





Deployment- Kingz won the roll for quarter and picked one with a nice large forest in the middle of it. I set up most of my force behind a wood positioned in the middle of the board, with my Carnifex straggling out to the side to shoot at the Leman Russ Demolisher. Kingz won the roll for first turn and took it.

The horde gathers

Sergeant Fox glanced at his scanner, "We have life signs, two hundered clics to the Southwest. It appears they are Tyranids, a small brood group. Move in to engage". The message went out to all the soldiers. They knew what it meant. By the end of the day they would have new trophies, and the Great Devourer would know a little more about pain.

Bregenzian Turn 1
The light of dawn washes over the ash-choked waste and and reflects off the bony carapaces of the Tyranid creatures rustling before the Bregenzian line. 'Fex Bane' rolls around and discharges its mighty demolisher cannon into the horde of creatures, blasting apart a Warrior. The Sentinels 'Lucky' and 'Potshot' attempt to wound the Carnifex, but there lasbolts flash harmlessly into the rocks surrounding it. On the other flank the Chimaera draws a bead and downs five Hormagaunts.

'Fex Bane' takes aim

Calavera Turn 1
The wave of bugs move forward into the rotten stumps of a once beautiful forest before them. The Hive Tyrant, seeing the fleshy things before him, unleashes a blast of flesh-eating worms from his devourers, killing three Guardsmen. The Carnifex attempts to harm the Demolisher, but misses his target entirely.

Bregenzian Turn 2
The Storm Troopers touch down lightly in the rocky outcropping to the west of the Carnifex and wound it with a barrage of plasma fire, though many shots stop short into the debris surrounding the beast. 'Fex Bane' wheels back in the wake of the beasts, hurling a shell which pulverizes the Tyrant Guard.

The Storm Troopers find their quarry

The Lictor ambushes 'Pot Shot'

Calavera Turn 2
The Lictor, its carapace shifting in the light, bursts out of the ash ambushing 'Pot Shot'. The Ravener wiggles out of the ground in the far corner, disputing a quarter. Meanwhile the Genestealers and Hormagaunts continue to advance. The Carnifex takes aim with its venom cannon, shaking the crew of 'Fex Bane'. The Tyrant, with the scent of blood in the air, unleashes its devourers, finishing off the Guard squad it had damaged before.

The Tyranids advance

Bregenzian Turn 3
The Guardsmen, in a very familiar situation, prepare for the Tyranid charge. The Storm Troopers continue to hunt their prey, though they seem more adept at hunting themselves, their plasmaguns killing their users, while their shots pound lightly off the rocks. Meanwhile the gunline opened up fire, leaving only a single Genestealer standing, and badly wounding the Hive Tyrant.

Calavera Turn 3
The Hormagaunts, sensing that their time had come, broke from the trees at a lightning pace, plunging deep into the Bregenzian lines. The Tyranid Warriors silently took aim and killed five Storm Troopers with their acidic deathspitters. The reamining Troopers broke cover to flee back towards their lines. The Carnifex once more knocks the Demolisher off-kilter, shaking the occupants. The Hive Tyrant charges into the sentinel 'Lucky' and blowsw it apart. The Hormagaunts pull down the platoon command in a dervish of scythes and consolidate into a nearby infantry squad.

The Hormagaunts get dug in

Bregenzian Turn 4
The Command HQ, seeing their troops in danger run up to the melee, preparing to counter-charge. The Chimaera spots the shifty Lictor and lays him low. Meanwhile the Command HQ kill all but two Hormagaunts and they flee into the safety of the Tyrant's synapse.

Calavera Turn 4
The Tyrant, sensing more threatening biomass, bores the flesh from more Guardsmen with his devourers, leaving only the Sergeant standing. The last Genestealer and remaining Hormagaunts charged into the Sergeant, eviscerating him before his comrades.

The Guardsmen precariously hold their position

Bregenzian Turn 5
The Command HQ charges the last Genestealer and finishes him off, consolidating deeper into cover.

Calavera Turn 5
The hives of the Tyrants devourers almost entirely spent he destroys another infantry squad, leaving only a bloody mess. He skulks behind the trees waiting for the eventual counter-fire.

Bregenzian Turn 6
The Demolisher, completely unharmed wheels into the Southeast quadrant and shoots a shell through one of the Zoanthropes psychic shields, destroying it.

The Tyranids consolidate their territory

Calavera Turn 6
The Tyrant kills the Command HQ. Dust settles.

Quarters: 1 to 1
Result: Solid Tyranid Victory by 136 Victory Points

Things of the Match

This award is going to be split between the Hive Tyrant who single-handedly killed over thirty Guardsmen while having only one wound from turn three on, and the rocks on the board, which allowed me to pass a ridiculously large number of cover saves.

Battleforge 'Eavy Tournament 3/8

This weekend I made my way to BFG to try to defend my spot at 2nd place (having finished 2nd at January and February's tournament). We had a great turn out, with a full twenty people, which meant no buys. Yaaay! A lot of great players and super competitive builds. I'll break it down.

Round 1 v. Frank's Ultramarines



I was nervous about this first round as Frank had a very capable gunline with plenty of weapons to knock all my tanks out of the air. I was somewhat comforted by the fact that the primary objective was table quarters. Really it was Frank's dice that beat him in this game more than me, I did manage to pull off a pretty nice flank move on his fortified line, but he couldn't roll his way out of a wet paper bag. Throughout the course of the game he only managed to kill a single Harlequin, my Rangers, and a Wave Serpent. He killed more of his plasma gunners than I did. But I got 21/22 battle points, so good deal.

Round 2 v. Sean's Nidzilla



Again Sean and I managed to meet in a different round than the third, but unlike usual I managed to pull out a win. Primary objective was straight victory points, with recon for secondary, and killing your opponents highest point unit as the tertiary. Also, props to Sean for getting all his bugs painted up for this one, I know it had been hurting him in past tournaments. I started out with a powerful flanking move and a couple really good mind wars (one outright killing a sniperfex when I rolled a six and he rolled a one). The Snipers and a unit of Fire Dragons accounted for one dakkafex each, while another unit of Fire Dragons killed a full three Tyrant Guard before holding up a Stealer unit for a full three phases. The Harlequins were brilliant, rending both Hive Tyrants and three Tyrant Guard out of existance. A close game but a good one. Primary and tertiary to me with a bonus point for 16 in the round (how did I lose that recon objective?)

Round 3 v. Dylan's Tyranid Swarm

*Photo Unavailable*

Dylan had a really odd army that I had a lot more trouble with than I would have thought. He had about 80 Spinegaunts, nine Warriors, three Zoanthropes, twelve genestealers, three Raveners, two Sniperfexes, a Dakka-flyrant and a foot Tyrant with Guard. It was a really close and unusual game and he had some crazy rolls. His swarm of Gaunts made it really hard to maneuver. Besides that I really don't know what to say. I captured the primary objective and got a bonus point.

Overall my points were good for......... you guessed it, 2nd place.

I picked up a box of Striking Scorpions, now I have a unit of every Aspect barring Dark Reapers. Woo.

Battleforge Team Tournament 3/1

So Nick (see last tournaments round 3) and I decided to team up for the team tournament this weekend. It used Adepticons force org. and we made a pretty killer combo of Eldar + Black Templars with Witch Hunter allies (Doom and Divine Guidance are really nice together). So lets break it down.

Round 1 v. Robert's Chaos and Bobby's Blood Angels



Our first opponents had a pretty nice combo with 6 Oblits, a Lash Sorcerer, lesser demons, + Mephiston and a mess of assault marines. This one had alot of ups and downs. The Oblits got an immobilization on the Land Raider Crusader first turn, but some Doom assisted shooting managed to even the score for us (netting the Death Company and a couple Assault squads). The Emperor's Champ managed to kill Mephiston and the Templars managed to win the major scrum with the Blood Angels. We were able to claim all the objectives.

Round 2 v. Sam's Chaos and Travis' Orks



This picture pretty well describes this one. Turn two saw us killing seventy models with Doom+Divine Guidance. Props to Sam's Terminators for dowing Falcons. Full points for us.

Round 3 v. Mike B.'s Orks and Daniel's Chaos


This game was pretty gnarly. They popped the Crusader with a lucky first turn charge and the Templars were left walking. Luckily Snikrot obliged and they got in combat fast anyway. Daniel's Demon Prince just would not die for the longest time but the Emperor's Champ was finally able to git' em' (although my Dire Avengers did do two wounds to him). They managed to down one of the Falcons and kill my Fire Dragons but overall our losses were fairly minimal. Another big time win for the home team (we got put at the one board first round and didn't give it up all day)...

I got a Wraithlord for the Eldar. Once thats painted up I'll have a really fun alternate list, switching out the Falcon full of Harlies for a Wraithlord and a big squad of Spiders. Sweet.