Tyranid Invasion Campaign Report 2

A lone Rhino escaped the vanguard strike of the Tyranids which had burst from the sentient jungles of Severus laying waste to a military encampment and giving a Death Company commander his much desired end. Many miles away, the Rhino skid to a stop at a collection of silos where the sap used by the Imperials to protect their people from the radioactive sun was stored. A warning had to be given to the Blood Angels force operating there but then, Sgt. Slaughter heard a rustling in the trees he did not like. And thus our second game of the campaign was begun. We again started the session with the Kill Team mission Forward Push, but this time we used the deployment rules from the Tyranids Altar of War mission First Contact.

Forward Push

The Blood Angels fielded the exact same list for this Kill Team as the previous one with Sgt. Slaughter getting A Cunning Ruse but choosing not to use the Outflank it provided and taking the same specialists of his Krak Missile Marine with Master-Crafted, Flamer Marine with Poison 4+ and Bolter Marine with Preferred Enemy. Tyranids took a similar list as game 1 with the only differences being 2 less Gargoyles for an additional Genestealer. The Zoanthrope Leader rolled Unshakeable Dedication to Duty giving him the Zealot special rule. I also took the same specialists of 1 Genestealer with Shred and 2 Gargoyles with Pinning and Rending. We set up 4 objectives in the middle of each 2x2" segment and Blood Angels deployed first, rolling for each model to see which of the 4 segments they would deploy on. We decided the Gargoyles could Deep Strike on Turn 1 with the quasi-ambiguous writing in the Altar of War mission and basically all the Tyranids arriving on the board as if they were coming from Reserves (we knew Kill Team doesn’t normally allow Deep Striking, but with the odd deployment we figured we’d give it a shot). We also decided Synapse would be unnecessary for the Tyranids as there was only a single synapse creature in the list and the likelihood of all the Tyranids being able to be deployed in a manner where the 12" range of Synapse would be worthwhile was small. I rolled for each model and deployed them all with every single Gargoyle Deep Striking and the battle began.

I lost a couple of Gargoyles through Dangerous Terrain tests when they Deep Struck into terrain. T-shirt saves left neither of the 2 who failed standing. I sent one of my Genestealers for a nearby objective on my side of the board with a Gargoyle going after another the second objective on my table side. I shot with all the Gargoyles near the Blood Angels in the 2 tiles near my edge but Power Armor repelled Fleshborer shots with ease. I then had my Zoanthrope cast Warp Blast, covering 2 Blood Angels, one of which was the missile launcher specialist which had killed my Leader in the game 1 Kill Team mission. The first Blood Angel went down but the missile launcher got a cover save from his fallen buddy and passed! The Krak Missile Marine shot one off at the Zoanthrope but the creature’s invulnerable hide blocked it from taking out my Leader. The rest of the Blood Angels laid waste to a Genestealer and 2 Gargoyles. We then went on to turn 2 and Tyranid vengeance.

The Tyranids surrounded the Blood Angels Leader as well as two of their specialists and I moved one of my Gargoyles onto a third objective. The Gargoyles then unloaded with every Fleshborer shot they had, killing the flamethrower specialist. I then charged a Gargoyle and Genestealer into the Krak Missile specialist and did the same to Sgt. Slaughter. No Overwatch landed and while I lost a Gargoyle to the Krak Missile Marine, the Gargoyle on the Blood Angel Leader wounded with his Hammer of Wrath and Sgt. Slaughter failed his save, dying ignobly before the fight had even properly begun! On the Blood Angel turn, my opponent knew I’d have to start making Break tests if he just killed 3 more of the Tyranid forces. So he sent his Bolter group near my Zoanthrope to kill 2 Gargoyles and the Blood Angel that wasn’t locked in close combat near the slain Leader’s corpse fired rapidly into the Gargoyle which had brought Sgt. Slaughter low and ended the Tyranid’s miserable life. I got some retribution in close combat as the Genestealer locked with the Krak Missile launcher slashed the Marine’s head off.

On my turn I had to start making Break tests and I lost all 3 of my objective holders, which I expected with the low-leadership Gargoyles but I rolled an 11 on the test for the Genestealer holding the objective in my corner. I used what was left of my forces to kill the last Blood Angel needed to cause the Imperial forces to also make Break tests. On the Blood Angel’s turn only a single Marine failed his leadership test and ran from the combat. The rest picked off the few remaining Gargoyles and the rest assaulted the Zoanthrope who was caused so many wounds not even his invulnerable hide could repel them all and the Tyranids were wiped from the table with both sides achieving Slay the Leader and Break the Enemy. Since there were no Tyranids left on the table we declared the tie to be a victory for the Blood Angels, allowing the Imperial player to deploy a Quad-gun on a randomly selected 2x2' tile, 3" from any tile edge.

First Contact

This mission’s deployment was identical to the one we used for the Kill Team prelude with the Blood Angels rolling for each unit to see which tile they’d end up on. The majority of the red Space Marines ended up on tile 1, including a unit of Death Company, a Rhino filled with Tactical Marines, 2 units of Jump Marines with one unit having the Blood Angel Warlord and Apothecary and finally a Tactical squad deployed on the objective. A unit of Terminators ended up on tile 3, a Predator on tile 4, a Razorback on tile 5 and the Quad-gun on tile 6. The Tyranids similarly rolled for each unit, but unlike the Space Marines they had to walk onto the board from a table edge on the tile rolled. 1 Lictor was the only Tyranid to end up on tile 1, 2 more Lictors, the Zoanthropes and a Gargoyle brood were deployed on tile 2, my Prime Warlord and his entourage of 3 Warriors, a unit of Genestealers and a single Lictor moved onto tile 3, Spore Mines walked onto tile 4 near where Gargoyles had Deep Struck onto and the remaining Lictor, another group of Spore Mines, 2 units of Genestealers one unit which had Scything Talons and a Broodlord as well as both Venomthropes deployed on tile 5 with the last unit of Spore Mines moving onto tile 6 and the last unit of Gargoyles Deep Striking very near the Quad-gun. Deathleaper was held in Reserves.

On tile 1 I moved the Lictor towards the Tactical Marines holding the objective, but since it could not charge the turn it comes in from Reserves (which considers the Tyranids to have deployed as) he just ran up against the silo they were standing on. I moved the Gargoyles in tile 2 to create a buffer for my Zoanthropes which also advanced with the Lictors staying in the forest as they too could not assault. The Zoanthropes attempted to destroy the Rhino with a Warp Blast Lance but he vehicle made its Deny the Witch roll! My Genestealers and Lictor in tile 3 advanced towards the Terminators, as did the Warriors which unleashed their Deathspitters killing a single heavily-armored Imperial. On tile 4 the Gargoyles and Spore Mines advanced and ran towards the Predator followed close by all the units on tile 5 but for a single group of Genestealers which moved and ran to claim the objective on top of the silo in the middle of the tile. The Gargoyles on tile 6 ran to surround the Quad-gun and deny the Blood Angels its use with the Spore Mines moving and running to engage in a later turn.

The Blood Angels Death Company moved towards the Gargoyles on tile 2 and fired pistols into them killing a few and assaulting the rest causing many casualties and taking none. The Assault Marines with the Warlord advanced with their Jump Packs towards the Lictors, popped a few pistol shots and then did a multi-assault into both. The Lictors killed a few Imperials but the sheer weight of the Marines brought both Tyranid assassins down. The Predator in tile 4 unleashed a volley at the Genestealers killing only 1 and the nearby Terminators then assaulted them, wiping out the squad and taking no casualties. The Marines in the Rhino and Razorback both got out and shot at the Gargoyles around the Quad-gun with the Assault Marines moving closer and also unloading wiped out the entire brood.

The Tyranids responded with the Lictor in tile 1 passing its Synapse check, assaulting and killing a scant few Marines and taking as many wounds for a tied combat. The Zoanthropes moved as far away from the Assault Marines which had killed the 2 Lictors on tile 2 and cast Warp Blasts removing the entire squad but for the Warlord and Apothecary who made their morale check. The Death Company in tile 2 finished off the Gargoyles and consolidated towards the Blood Angels Warlord. The Prime, Warriors and Lictor on tile 3 blasted away at the Terminators but their armor was enough to stop the death which was pit at them. They then assaulted the Terminators but the Prime was not engaged with the Terminator Sergeant and could not challenge. One Blood Angel Terminator was felled but the rest focused their attacks on the Lictor and felled him with a Thunder Hammer. The Gargoyles on tile 4 passed their Synapse check and jumped behind the Predator, unleashing their Fleshborers in the rear armor but only causing a single glance. The Spore Mines advanced but as the Gargoyles were in the way were out of charge distance to affect the Predator. One of the Venomthropes failed its leadership test and moved towards the Predator but was out of charge range. The Genestealers with the Broodlord and Scything Talons advanced and charged the tank but completely whiffed on armor penetration. Deathleaper Deep Struck in and landed exactly where I needed him to, right next to the Quad-gun. He took aim with the weapon at the Razorback, landed a glance and penetrating hit which were negated by cover saves from intervening models.

The Tactical squad on tile 1 took a couple more casualties from the Lictor but robbed it of its last wound and secured their objective. The Death Company with the Warlord and Apothecary fired at the Zoanthropes, burrowing a bolt in one of the creatures’ hides. They then charged and between the Death Company attacks and Blood Angel Warlord’s Power Sword the Synapse creatures were vanquished. On tile 3 the Terminator Sergeant did not issue a challenge but the Tyranid Prime did. A single wound was delivered to the Sergeant but his Lightning Claws caused two wounds to the Prime in return and a Warrior was felled by the same Thunder Hammer which had previously killed a Lictor. The Predator reversed away from the Gargoyles and fired at them killing only 2. The Razorback, Tactical Squad and Assault Marines blasted at Deathleaper but only a single Bolt round landed. They then charged and the wave of Powered Armor Marine brought the elite Tyranid assassin down.

On the next turn the Tyranid Broodlord moved towards the melee the Warriors were locked in and rushed in. The Broodlord challenged the Sergeant and quickly ripped his Lightning Clawed arms off with the rest of the Genestealer brood slashing though the other Clawed Imperial’s helmet. Only the Thunder Hammer Terminator was left and he eliminated the Warriors with devastating swings. The Gargoyles on tile 4 failed their Synapse check but were only too happy to leap behind the Predator again and caused a Penetrating hit which shook the tank. The Spore Mines nearby were aided by the Gargoyles’ wings and impacted into the tank, wrecking it to scrap. The final Lictor on tile 4 passed his Synapse check and moved up to secure a second objective. The other Spore Mines on tile 5 started their slow move towards the Razorback while the Venomthropes failed their Synapse check and grovelled in place. The Spore Mines on tile 6 similarly crawled towards the Assault squad which had brought Deathleaper low, but failed to make a charge.

The Death Company and Blood Angel Warlord advanced and ran towards the melee occurring between the Terminators and Genestealers only to witness the Genestealers decimating the final Terminator and consolidate in the nearby forest. The Razorback and Tactical Marines on the Quad-gun pumped shots into the Gargoyles and removed them from the field. The Assault squad near the Spore Mines on tile 6 fired, killing 2 and then charged resulting in a massive bio-explosion which ended a couple of Marine lives. They then consolidated towards the closest silo with an objective.

Following that, the Tyranid forces were down to the wire with 2 objectives being held and only a single unit of Genestealers and Spore Mines moving about the board as the Venomthropes still could not do anything more than twitch their tendrils. The Genestealers assaulted the Death Company and several of the squad met the end they so craved. The small Genestealer squad took a punishing amount of wounds leaving only a single Genestealer and the Broodlord standing. The Spore Mines continued to sluggishly move towards the Razorback but the distance between the tank and the floating Xenos was still too great for them to successfully assault.

The Blood Angels Warlord took another wound from the Broodlord but responded with his Power Sword, unceremoniously lopping the Tyranid’s head to the ground. The Razorback and Tacticals on the Quad-gun sent death to claim the Lictor holding the objective on tile 4 and the Assault squad on tile 6 jumped to claim the objective there. The game was then called with the Blood Angels scoring Slay the Warlord and 2 objectives and the Tyranids holding only a single objective. The reward for this result is that the Blood Angels will l add 1 to their Table Sides roll in the Apocalypse finale.

Conclusion

This was a brutal match for the Tyranid forces as the deployment shift kept many of my units out of Synapse. Though some tactical moves were made to secure the Quad-gun I was never able to hold onto it long and only managed to fire it once, which did little to change the flow of the Blood Angels massacre. The score of the campaign is now tied and I cannot wait to see how the next session plays!

Tyranid Invasion Campaign Report 1

Played the first session of the Tyranid campaign with a friend who mustered a force of Blood Angels brave enough to stand up to the invasion of chattering devourers. The session began with a Kill Team game of Forward Push followed by the first mission in Tyranid Vanguard Rising Leviathan 1, the Screaming Forest. We altered the fluff of the Rising Leviathan dataslates to match our armies. Some of these changes were minor, such as the name of the planet the invasion was taking place on was Severus (named after my Hive Fleet) instead of Satys. This planet still had the sentient trees whose sap provides protection from the radiation pumped out by the nearby star, but instead of being defended by Imperial Guard, Space Marines and a handful of Blood Angels, our version had the main defense force be Blood Angels with a call for aid sent out to a ship with Ultramarines and a Knight.

Forward Push

Hive Fleet Severus Kill Team

Troops 

Genestealers x5

Elite

Zoanthrope

Fast Attack

Gargoyles x13

Blood Angels Kill Team

Troops

Tactical Squad x10, 1 Sgt w/ Power Fist, 1 Flamer, 1 Missile Launcher

To start, my opponent chose his Sgt as his leader and I chose my Zoanthrope. Humorously, we both rolled a 2 for the Leader trait resulting in both of our leaders able to seize the initiative on a 4+. The Blood Angel player gave his Missile Launcher the Master-crafted special rule, the flamer the Poisoned 4+ special rule and one of his Bolter marines Preferred Enemy. I gave one of my Gargoyles the Rending special rule, another could cause Pinning and a Genestealer got the Dirty Fighter trait, Shred. The Blood Angels player won the roll and got 2 objectives to my 1. We set up the board and started the game with Tyranids deploying first. I set up my 13 Gargoyles in the front with the Zoanthrope behind. The Blood Angels deployed conservatively near their objectives and I infiltrated my Genestealers as close as I could get them. We were in range to discover what the mysterious objectives were with both the Blood Angels' objectives being bombs and the Tyranid objective halving assault distance. We were also using the Jungle Events table from the Screaming Forest mission in this prelude game.

Despite being a Quick Thinker, the Blood Angels Sgt was unable to steal the initiative from the Tyranids and the Gargoyles moved up. 3 of the Genestealers were in a river that gave Feel No Pain and ran near the Blood Angels deployment. The ran through the river with the intent of using the cover provided to suffer the Bolter barrage that was surely coming. And boy did it come, but not before my opponent had his missile launcher target my Zoanthrope. One failed Invulnerable save and the Blood Angels scored First Blood and Slay the Leader. The Bolters then killed some Gargoyles and 2 Genestealers. On the Tyranids turn I was having to make Instinctive Behavior tests and 5 of my Gargoyles decided to Go to Ground. A jungle event occurred with an insect swarm besieging the Blood Angels leader but not doing him any harm. The rest of my force pushed up and I managed to get 3 Gargoyles into close combat with the Blood Angels Guerilla Specialist. The tactical marine was unable to wound my Gargoyles and his power armor saved him from a biting death. The saving grace was one of the explosions from the objectives managed to kill a marine.

On the Blood Angels turn, more withering Bolter fire decimated the Tyranid forces causing Break tests to be made. I got a Genestealer into close combat with the same marine the Gargoyles had been fighting and he made short work of the power armored soldier. The return salvo finished off my forces with 19 dead Tyranids to only 3 dead Blood Angels. With the Imperials able to win the Forward Push they were able to get intel back to their base and halve one of the Tyranid deployment edges in the main game.

The Screaming Forest

Hive Fleet Severus 

HQ

Tyranid Prime Boneswords, Deathspitter, Flesh Hooks, Adrenal Glands

Deathleaper

Troops 

Genestealers x5 w/Broodlord Scything Talons x6
Genestealers x5
Genestealers x5
Warriors x3 Boneswords x3, Deathspitter x3, Flesh Hooks

Elite

Zoanthrope x3
Venomthrope
Venomthrope
Lictor
Lictor
Lictor
Lictor
Lictor

Fast Attack

Gargoyles x10
Gargoyles x10
Gargoyles x10
Spore Mines x5
Spore Mines x5
Spore Mines x5

As you can see from the list above, I took 3 formations from the first Tyranid dataslate: Deathleaper's Assassin Brood, Broodlord's Hunting Pack and Gargoyle Bio-bombs. My opponent didn't have a printed list, but he took a squad of Death Company, a Tactical squad in a Rhino, a Dreadnaught, a Devestator squad, a couple of priests which gave Feel No Pain and his Warlord was with the Death Company as well. In this mission the Blood Angels goal is to flee the impending doom from the gribblies coming out of the sentient forest. The Imperials had received advanced notice of the invasion and as such they were able to set up a perimeter pushing the Tyranid deployment from a table edge back. I was using a Tyranid Prime as my Warlord and appropriately rolled Nature's Bane which allows my Warlord to turn one of the many pieces of jungle terrain into a carnivorous jungle each turn. The Blood Angels, Death Company Warlord also appropriately rolled on the Dust of a Thousand Worlds trait which gave all friendly units within 12" Move Through Cover. For psychic powers one of my Zoanthropes rolled Catalyst, which always proves handy in the game.

The Blood Angels went first and the Fast Rhino with Dozer Blades plowed right through the river, which we found to be dangerous terrain which allowed re-rolls to armor saves. His jump pack marines then jumped over the river. The Death Company advanced a bit forward and his second squad of jump marines pushed into the river towards my Zoanthropes. The Devastators unleashed on the Zoans trying to take them out as they were my Synapse for that table edge, but the Hive Mind was not willing to let any of the trio die. The Assault Marines that had moved towards them did more damage with a pistol, causing a single wound. On the Tyranids turn the Broodlord cast the Horror on the jump marines which were in the middle of the board and the Zoanthropes cast Catalyst on themselves and the Genestealers nearby. Everything then advanced towards the middle of the board. I unleashed 2 squads of Gargoyle Fleshborers at the pinned marines but their re-rolling armor saves and Feel No Pain meant not a single one fell. Not even the Warrior's Deathspitters could get past that clutch defense. I had a bit more luck on the other table edge as I got my Genestealers and 2 Lictors into assault with the jump marines which had moved towards them. A few marines died horribly, but bravely stayed in combat.

The next turn the Rhino plowed off the board scoring 2 victory points for the Blood Angels, 1 for the transport and 1 for the troops inside. The Dreadnaught took potshots at the Zoanthropes but again they shrugged it off. The Death Company marched towards my Broodlord's Genestealers and charged in. Because of the higher initiative on the Genestealers, many a marine died gruesomely to rending claws. The Death Company had their revenge though as they killed all 5 of the Genestealers but the Broodlord. On my turn the Zoanthropes cast Warp Blast and caused the Dreadnaught to explode, scoring the first point for the Tyranids. I assaulted the jump marines which had been pinned the previous turn with 2 groups of Gargoyles, hoping to stall their move towards escape. Another group of Genestealers as well as 2 Lictors and a Venomthrope joined the melee with the Death Company and the Broodlord screeched a challenge which the Blood Angel Warlord accepted. Between the Lictors, Venomthrope and the Genestealers the entire unit of Death Company was wiped out, tying the game score. The Broodlord and Imperial Warlord traded wounds but the Blood Angel knew things had turned grim as he was surrounded by ravenous beasts which would cheer on the Broodlord. On the other side of the board 2 Lictors caused a few wounds but the marines in the river kept fighting with their re-roll armor saves sparing them.

The game went on for 2 more turns as every Imperial was engaged in close combat with Lictors, Genestealers and Gargoyles. The Blood Angels jump infantry in the middle of the board was hit with a group of Spore Mines which killed 2 marines that were not in the river. The remaining marines in the combat managed to clear out one of the Gargoyle broods but 3 Gargoyles remained in the river from the second squad. The Lictors killed a few more marines in the other river engagement, then Hit and Run towards the Devastator squad. The Genestealers in that same engagement lost a member but also benefited from the re-rollable armor saves and the Feel No Pain the Zoanthropes had again gifted them with. Things looked grim for the Imperials as they could not push through this immense wave of Tyranid bodies and the game was called when the Broodlord ripped the Death Company Warlords heart out and ate it. The final score was Blood Angels 2 and Tyranids 5. The reward for this result is Tyranids will add 1 to their Deployment roll in the Apocalypse finale.

Conclusion

This was a great start to the campaign as it allowed me to take a lot of units I have never had a chance to play before with the new Tyranids codex. The Gargoyles, Lictors, Warriors, and Genestealers were all an interesting mix of units I would likely not take in a competitive game. But with the formations in these dataslates and the narrative thrust of the campaign, they fit perfectly and did an amazing job wiping out Blood Angels! For the Kill Team missions, my opponent and I are discussing removing Synapse from the small points games so I can take more of a variety of units. I can't wait to play the next session to see how the invasion progresses!

Anatomy of a Campaign

Having played mostly competitive tournament 40K with a sprinkling of Apocalypse games mixed in, I’ve wanted to play a narrative campaign for some time. I’ve had the Crusade of Fire book Games Workshop released last year, but I was too new to the scene in Austin to get in on the game when other local 40Kers played it. Well, now that I’m all in with my Tyranids and the last Dataslate with extra missions focusing on the invasion of Hive Fleet Leviathan, I decided now was the time to work up a campaign of my own. As with all worthwhile things, the first step was research and here’s what I’ve found to be necessary for embarking on a narrative journey in the 41st Millennium.

Story

Unsurprising to some, the first thing you need to construct your campaign is the seeds of a story. If your plan is to string missions together from Dataslates, gathering elements for the story won’t be very difficult. There are pages in each Dataslate describing the dangers the Imperial world of Satys was threatened with from Hive Fleet Leviathan. If you’re creating your own story from whole cloth, you’ll have to work a bit harder. The starting point is what the thrust of your narrative will be about, whether a Xenos invasion of an Imperial world, a chaotic rebellion leading to a sector-wide civil war, or the reclamation of a pivotal artifact whose use could affect the fate of billions. After you’ve decided the main conflict you’ll need to fill in the details of what factions are vying against each other. If you’re planning on including more than 2 people in your campaign, this is a great opportunity to play with inter-faction combat as well. Imperials may team with Eldar against an army of Chaos Marines and Daemons, but just because they have a common foe does not mean each Warlord does not have his own goals to achieve. In my years of being an RPG GM, I’ve found it doesn’t matter what the campaign idea comes from as long as it fulfills two things — promoting conflict and allowing the players to affect it.

Setting

Once you’ve got the initial idea down you should then focus on the setting for the campaign. Will the battles be fought on a single world or on several worlds throughout a sector? Will there be engagements on space stations where gravity has little hold or on a Daemon world where the laws of physics barely apply? The setting for your world is a great way to introduce variety in how the games play and I’m a big fan of planetary conditions having influence on the narrative you’re forging. From Hive worlds to Death worlds, you’ve got a lot you can pull from and you should use every element you think will make for a fun game. Especially if there are elements you can use in more than one battle which can help create a cohesive feel for the conditions the armies are being met in. If your campaign lasts for more than 6 sessions and you can include these sorts of elements throughout different locations your players will enjoy experiencing the familiarity of challenges each location provides. As the wise games developer Andrew Greenberg has said, “the setting is often the most engrossing part; take full advantage of it,” and the galaxy in Warhammer 40K is no exception.

Creating Missions

With so many Altar of War Dataslates as well as supplemental Codexes having additional missions, it shouldn’t be difficult to use any one with your planetary conditions inter-mingled. At a base level, simply doing this with one of the 6 missions in the main 40K rulebook can give you a wildly different game than you would see if you played a book mission straight. If you do not have access to any Dataslate missions you can combine 2 of the main rulebook missions to vary game play, just remember there should be a narrative point to each and every engagement. Perhaps you’ve decided to merge the Emperor’s Will mission with the Relic mission. Instead of just playing them as is, you could make it so your force has to take the Relic, which is a dangerous bomb, and must deliver it to the location of your opponent’s Emperor’s Will objective and clear out its defenders so the bomb can be set. You can also use the narrative itself to give bonuses to the armies fighting it out. For example, in the last stage of a Tyranid invasion you could give each of the ‘Nid Troops, Elites and Fast Attacks the Endless Swarm rule and the beleaguered defenders know the fate of the entire world is on the line and have the Zealot special rule to show their heroic fortitude. There is no limit to what you can do as long as fun can be had by all the players involved.

Different Ways to Play

The next thing I’ve considered is involving several of the variations of playing Warhammer 40K available to play my campaign. With a Tyranid invasion I decided I would use Kill Team missions as a prelude to each major engagement. In this way it would be like a scouting party had come across the vanguard of a larger invading force. If there was a planetary condition I would use that in the Kill Team prelude, then I selected one of the six Kill Team missions that would best complement the main invasion mission. I then created a victory reward for the the Kill Team mission that would be used in the main mission, setting stakes on the line to give further incentive for winning the prelude. Next, a full-size game of 40K would be played with all the setting conditions and Kill Team results applied. The winner of the main mission would receive a bonus for the climax of the campaign, which I set as an Apocalypse game. In this way, a tally would be kept throughout play of which bonuses each player would get for the apocalyptic finale in the campaign of 6 sessions with Kill Team and full-size 40K. Your campaign can be further expanded with 40K supplements such as Cities of Death and Planetstrike. In the end, you have a multitude of options available to play out the events of your campaign and there is nothing stopping you from creating even more.

Well, that’s my game plan for running this invasion campaign. Seasoned narrative players will have noticed I’ve not mentioned dedicated GMing or branching path engagements but perhaps in the future after I’ve tested this campaign I’ll explore those options as well.

The Painting Fork in the Road

In January I found a paint scheme I liked as a starting point for my Tyranids and rushed to get the job to a table-top standard for a tournament in March with plans to finish all 77 models before the next big tourney. It was a great plan until I started getting complemented on the paint job at Railhead Rumble and received a solid paint score. When I got back home and played some local games, random people shopping at Dragon’s Lair stopped and gaped at my models, offering praise and snapping pictures with their phones, as well I won Best Painted at a local tournament at Wonko’s Toys and Games. That planted the seed of doubt in my mind that I didn’t need to push my paint job further, which would darken the lighter blue color quite a bit, and should just finish the models with the lighter blue in mind. I had approached a fork in my hobby road. Do I switch down the path which was getting me complements or stay the course which would be more involved and may not be as well-received?

Pros to Taking the Fork

Most of the way there with my models and can move right in to fine detail work saving time and energy. This is a huge boost as I plan to add at least 31 models to my 1850 list for the Alamo GT now that Dataslates are allowed in that tournament.

Color scheme has been well-received by opponents, random lookers and tournament organizers. As I said above, I’ve gotten an overwhelmingly positive response to the lighter blue scheme as it is now, so the paint scheme seems to be working as is.

It is a quick painting process that can be replicated on future models easily. I was stunned with how easy the method I used on my ’Nids was. Prime white, hit the exoskeleton parts with two coats of Seraphim Sepia. Hit the shell parts with Drakenhof Nightshade. Paint the talons with Abaddon Black and then the rest is just varied detail work.

Cons to Taking the Fork

Some of the models in my army have already been painted to the next step and would have to be stripped or not look cohesive. This will offset some of the advantage of going with the lighter blue as I’ll either be starting from scratch if I strip the paint or certain Monstrous Creatures will not match the rest of the army.

The original vision for the army will never be achieved. This is the major obstacle for me. Going with the dark, dark blue was the original intent as it appears more natural a color scheme than the lighter blue and the idea was that the Tyranids had adapted to match the terrain on their bases, which the darker blue does brilliantly.

Decision Time

Despite the advantages, I’ve decided to press ahead with the original vision. It looks too good on the base to not follow through and will mean the army has a cohesive aesthetic. So, I’ll be painting furiously for the next month and a half and probably won’t get much practice in with the list but I’ll have a great looking army to play with!

Railhead Rumble 2014 Part 2

 

Game 4

This match was against Robert Mims’ Ork-decorated Tau. I, unfortunately, didn’t get any close-up shots of his models, but Robert had done an excellent job merging the aesthetics of Ork/Tau. Our mission was the Relic and our deployment was Dawn of War, with a bonus objective of scoring wounds on an objective which had to be placed at the same location as the Relic. Looking across the table I could tell I’d be in trouble with 2 Sky Rays and 2 units of Broadsides as well as 2 Riptides staring my bugs down. I rolled lucky with Psychic Powers getting Catalyst on both Hive Tyrants and a Tervigon, giving me hope that I wouldn’t be completely shot off the board. I went first and got Catalyst on 6 Units, then pushed the wave of bugs forward. I had my Hive Tyrants unload on the bonus objective, scoring a bunch of wounds, as there was nothing else deployed close enough for them to hit. My Hive Crones unleashed on 1 of the Sky Rays but didn’t blow it up and my Exocrines managed to kill a bunch of Kroot which were deployed closest to the Relic, but they made their Leadership check and didn’t fall back. Robert’s first turn didn’t go so great as he unleashed a furious barrage that barely scratched the Tyranids. If only it stayed like that until the end of the game. Robert hadn’t played the new bugs much, but as soon as he realized the Venomthrope was moving Shrouded saves, he marked it for death and its biomass was spread across the battlefield, getting Robert First Blood. One of my Crones was shot down and the other was Grounded and charged by the bravest squad of Kroot I’ve ever seen. I attempted to get my non-Warlord Hive Tyrant into close combat with my opponent’s Crisis Suit Warlord, but he got destroyed by the overwatch from nearby Broadsides that rolled 6s to hit on over half their dice. By the last turn I had a Tervigon who had claimed the relic and Catalyst on him. I figured I would take a withering amount of fire, but in the end, rolling dice didn’t work my way. 1 unit of Broadsides unloaded on the Tervigon, causing 7 wounds and all I rolled as saves were 1s and 2s. The Feel No Pain wasn’t much better as everything rolled was under a 5. My opponent had First Blood and Linebreaker and I had Linebreaker with my Hive Crone who was still in close combat with Kroot. I did get more wounds on the bonus objective, but still lost the game by 1 on the primary scoring.

 

Game 5

My last game at Railhead Rumble was against John Connelly’s Necrons. Our deployment was Dawn of War but the mission type was essentially a modified version of the Relic, but with 2 Relics deployed in each of our deployment zones. Sadly I didn’t get Catalyst once with Psychic Powers, and my opponent had a LOT of Wraiths and 3 Night Scythes holding his troops. I had deployed first and my opponent placed most of his army in 2 corners of his deployment zone. Turn 1 was pretty uneventful with Night-Fighting in effect and Tyranids’ short range not allowing me to do much shooting, but I was holding my flyers back in anticipation of my opponent’s Night Scythes entering the board. On turn 2, I moved my flyers towards John’s Relic, hoping to put pressure on his Warlord’s unit. With all the shooting I sent at him I only wounded 1 of his 3 Canoptek Spyders and the rest of the wounds were on his Warlord who didn’t fail a single 2+ save. John’s Night Scythes came on and did what I expected them to, they unleashed everything at my Warlord, bringing him down after all 3 Scythes fired their Teslas and netting John First Blood and Slay the Warlord. The following turns were mainly a Tervigon dying to close combat with Wraiths, Exocrines lighting up said robot shrimp and a unit of them removed by Termagant Fleshborers. Both my Exocrines were then tied up in close combat by the rest of the Wraiths as well as 1 30 man squad of Termagants. The other 30 Gant squad was headed towards my opponent’s Relic, but John had wisely joined a Destroyer Lord to Warriors from the single Night Scythe my Crones had been able to down before running out of Tentaclids. Those Warriors moved towards the Relic and were able to keep unit cohesion so the Destroyer Lord could do his 12" jump onto the Relic, claiming it for the Necrons in the last turn of the game. By the time dice down was called, my remaining Tervigon was holding onto my Relic and John’s Lord had his. John had First Blood, Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker and I just had Linebreaker with my Termagants.

Railhead Rumble was an exciting event and the first time I’d had an opportunity to use my painted Tyranids in an 1850 point battle. Overall I scored 9th place out of 50 (7th place if we’re counting ties as a single place) due to soft scores boosting my battle points. My last 3 games were against tough opponents/lists which ended up in the top 6th Overall. I recommend this annual tournament to anybody in the region who is looking for challenging games and a great environment!

Railhead Rumble 2014 Part 1

Railhead Rumble has now wrapped and was an absolute blast! The results are posted here and the Best Generals were playing Salamanders, Eldar and NecTau. It was a really fun event I had not attended before, with an interesting element of bidding for what missions would be played and what deployment used, so you could try to get missions/deployment that played to your list's strengths. Check out the rules packet here. Now, behold the forces Hive Fleet Severus sent to tear man, space elf and fishmen apart!

Hive Fleet Severus 1850 Points

 

HQ

Hive Tyrant 2x Twin-Linked Devourers, Wings, Old Adversary

Hive Tyrant 2x Twin-Linked Devourers, Wings

Troops

Termagant Brood x30

Termagant Brood x30

Tervigon

Tervigon

Elite

Zoanthrope

Venomthrope

Fast Attack

Hive Crone

Hive Crone

Heavy

Exocrine

Exocrine

 

Game 1

My first game was against an Imperial Guard army played by Bruce Stephenson, the mission was Crusade and the deployment was Dawn of War. The image above is from deployment and you'll see a lack of Hive Crones (the other Flyrant is off-camera to the left). My display board wasn't big enough to fit the Crones so they were in a box which I had set under the table before grabbing a drink. I realized in turn 2 I had not deployed them and they came on the board in turn 3, but it cost me some serious threat saturation. Anyhow, I had placed 3 objective markers in the middle of the board, as I have learned well the lesson that this list is an all-in attack on my opponent in a wave of murder by gribbly teeth. As such, I knew by turn 3 at the latest I would have troops holding all three of those objectives and still able to engage my enemy behind his Aegis. I got lucky with my Psychic power rolls and got Catalyst on both Hive Tyrants and the Tervigon with the orange poker chip on its base. Railhead Rumble has bonus missions as well and this one was to accumulate wounds on a Toughness 7 objective in the center of the board. I had both Flyrants move up and caused 9 wounds in the first turn. Beyond that I couldn't do much as my opponent had deployed far out of range of anything that could hit him. Bruce's two tanks and the troops behind it advanced towards the objective I had placed near the center of the board and his Plasma Cannon shots didn't do too much damage to a Tervigon with the 3+ cover it had from intervening models and Shrouded from the Venomthrope as well as Feel No Pain from casting Catalyst. I knew that Plasma tank had to die fast, so I glided my Flyrants in, then shot and assaulted it netting me First Blood. I had Termagants move up towards the same objective in the center of the board and quickly piled them all around it. My opponent lit up my Warlord Hive Tyrant with his Leman Russ Punisher and not even Feel No Pain could save him. I quickly got retribution though as I gave Onslaught to one of the Exocrine from the Zoanthrope so he could Run and Shoot at BS 4. Between the 2 Exocrine's large blast Plasma I put enough wounds on the unit his Warlord was in and he failed a Look Out Sir and Cover Save netting me Slay the Warlord as well. The game ended with me controlling the 3 objectives in the middle of the board and my opponent controlling 2. That plus the bonus mission gave me a full score. Not a bad way to start the tournament!

 

Game 2

In the second game I played Ben Redleaf, who brought a White Scars force with Iron Hands allies, the mission was Crusade and the deployment was Hammer & Anvil. Somehow, someway I rolled Catalyst for Psychic Powers 3 times again on the same 3 units! Finally I've found something other than Leadership in which my low rolls don't lose me models. We only had 3 objectives to place and I followed with my strategy of placing two near the middle of the board while my opponent placed his 6" from a corner in his deployment. The bonus mission for this game was to knock the objective placed in the center of the table to the left of your deployment edge. Ben didn't think either one of us would score the bonus mission, but I gave it a hell of a try with both my Flyrants moving right next to it and unloading into it getting it about 10" from my victory edge (you can see the bonus objective to the left of the bottom group of Termagants in the picture above). I plodded the rest of my force towards my opponent but like last game didn't have much to shoot at in Turn 1. Ben had a Hunter and 2 Thunderfire Cannons deep in his deployment zone that didn't care much about range and after his Orbital Bombardment didn't do much he killed my Venomthrope with the Thunderfire Cannons getting him First Blood. His bikes came at me and as you can see from the image above it looked like 2 waves rushing towards each other. The bike unit with the Iron Hands Chapter Master knocked my Warlord Flyrant out of the sky and assaulted. I challenged and we were stuck in that combat for a couple of turns with my Warlord not doing much to the Chapter Master with his 3+ Invulnerable save and Feel No Pain saving my Warlord from wounds from the Iron Hand's Thunder Hammer. Eventually, my Warlord fell, but I got revenge by Vector Striking Korsarro Khan and finishing him off with my 2nd Flyrant's shooting getting me Slay the Warlord as well as my Termagants moved towards the objectives near the middle of the board and I got a few more inches of movement with the bonus objective. Ben had a squad of Bikes Outflank and try to take out one of my Tervigons but Feel No Pain blocked some of the wounds. I then charged those bikes with the Tervigon and some Termagants while the other unit of Gants which had been moving towards the center objective. Ben moved a squad of Bikes which had Hit and Run out of assault with my Termagants, towards the objective he had the most Bikes concentrated near and used his Thunderfire Cannons to blow large holes into the Gants that had been holding it. My 2nd Flyrant shot the Scouts holding the objective in my opponent's deployment zone into oblivion and there were no Bikes nearby which would be in range to reach it without moving Flat Out and not shooting my Flyrant which could deny its capture. I had one Exocrine try to finally shoot the bonus objective off the table but got it only 2" from the edge in the last turn. However, more importantly, I had my Tervigon in the middle of the board charge the 3 Bikes which had been in the assault on my Flyrant and what was left of the 30 man Gant squad as well as a unit which had been spawned earlier assault Bikes which were trying to block me from getting within 3" to deny it. It all came down to these rolls, my Tervigon smashed the 3 Bikes into mulched meat and somehow the Termagants won the combat on the other unit of Bikes and the Bikes BROKE from combat moving well out of range to hold the objective giving the 'Nids the win!

 

Game 3

I knew I was in trouble when the pairings were posted for Game 3 as I was placed against another Austin player and one who is a TO for Texas Games Con (formerly War Games Con), Chris Carlile. Chris brought the Eldar force with all the Distort weapons which make my Monstrous Creatures cry. The mission we were playing was Crusade, again, with Dawn of War Deployment. The reason Crusade was played so much was because many of my opponents bid on Purge the Alien and Kill Points isn't my list's strongest strategy, especially this space elf list I faced, so I bid to bump it to Crusade. The other challenge was that Chris also plays Tyranids and knows the new Codex very, very well. When I rolled for Psychic Powers I only got Catalyst once on a Tervigon and I got Onslaught on both Hive Tyrants. Chris went first and immediately sniped my Venomthrope getting him First Blood. I flew 2 Hive Crones to try and knock down a Wave Serpent but couldn't get through its cover saves. Similarly, my Hive Tyrants and Exocrines tried to knock down a Wraith Knight but its saves resulted in minimal damage. And thus the pace of the game was made, as I did minimal damage to him and he devastated my forces turn after turn. He was playing with the Iyanden Codex so I forged the narrative that his army were veterans from a past Tyranid invasion and knew exactly how to handle them. Chris killed my non-Warlord Flyrant with Distort weapons and did the same to a nearby Tervigon which caused many Termagant heads to explode. I attempted to assault my Warlord into one of the units of Wraith Guard and he rolled a single 6 in the Overwatch and I just knew he would roll another 6, which he promptly did. By the end of the game, Chris had killed all my Synapse creatures and cleared out the remaining Termagants. If ever there was a hard counter to my list, it was most certainly this. So much range, with so many Instant Death weapons and an opponent who knew how to get the most out of them. After the game, Chris was good enough to buy me dinner and a beer while we shared war stories with the other Austin players.

It was a very fun-filled first day and I really enjoyed the variety to the missions with the bidding system and bonus objectives. Stay tuned for day 2!

Hobby Progress Report: Railhead Rumble

 So I’ve been in a mad dash painting the last couple weeks for my first regional 40K tournament, Railhead Rumble! All told, I converted 2 Hive Tyrants, out-fitting them with a good proxy for Twin-Linked Devourers from the Tyrannofex kit. I’ve also assembled 2 Hive Crones, 2 Exocrines, 2 Tervigons and 36 Termagants and got them to a similar quality in paint as well as based all of the models. I’ve not coated any of the models as they’re all still WIP, but hopefully they won’t get too chipped in travel and during the event. I’ve got a force I’m proud to play with this weekend!