Battle Report 1750 CSM vs. Tyranids

My 6th game of WH40K was against the army I was supposed to play in my first game, the Tyranids. My opponent had a variation of a 'nidzilla army and staring down his side of the table with the number of over-sized models and Monstrous Creatures he was fielding was a bit intimidating.

Total Cost 1737


HQ

295 Hive Tyrant Warlord, Monstrous Creature, Hive Commander, Toxin Sacs, Wings, Leech Essence

295 Hive Tyrant Monstrous Creature, Hive Commander, Toxin Sacs, Wings, Leech Essence


Troops

95 Genestealer Brood

95 Genestealer Brood


Elite

207 Yngarl Genestealer Brood x 9

130 The Doom of Malan'tai with Mycetic Spore

140 Deathleaper


Heavy

240 Carnifex with Mycetic Spore

240 Carnifex with Mycetic Spore


My opponent rolled the Master of Ambush, Warlord Trait. Typhus got the Psychic Powers, Gift of Contagion & Plague Wind. Papa Nurgle was not so rewarding to Damocles and Ebenezar as they were deemed unworthy of Gifts of Mutation. Yuri, however, received 2+ Armor from the god of blight. This fight was starting off with a calm beginning as my opponent only deployed the 2 Hive Tyrants on his end of the map with the rest coming in from Reserves on Turn 2. My troops were closest to an Objective to begin with, but I was planning on splitting my forces to collect 2 other Objectives.

In Turn 1 I moved the Chaos Bikers and a Unit of Plague Marines in a Rhino towards an unclaimed Objective on my side of the board. I then claimed an Objective with my Plague Zombies and the Obliterators moved towards the ruins to get line of sight on the 2 Hive Tyrants. I then moved my other Rhino with the Vindicator to try and take a shot at the Hive Tyrants. On my opponent's turn, he flew his Hive Tyrants straight at my Bikes and killed one with a Shooting attack.

Turn 2 started off rough as my Vindicator and 2nd Rhino couldn't fire at anything, but I moved the Rhino as far as I could towards an unclaimed Objective. My Zombies didn't move and 1 Obliterator got to the 2nd floor of the Ruins but couldn't hit any of the flying Hive Tyrants. My Rhino had disembarked but none of the Plague Marines wounded either Hive Tyrant. The Bikes got off their shots and managed to wound the Warlord Hive Tyrant. At the bottom of Turn 2 my opponent brought in all his Reserves. The Genestealers flanked in as 3 Mycetic Spores spewed out the Doom of Malan'tai and 2 Carnifexes. At the start of my Opponent's Shooting phase the Doom killed a ton of Plague Zombies and an Obliterator. The Tyranid Warlord opened fire, killed some bikes and Assaulted, easily eviscerating the rest of the Bikers. The other Hive Tyrant engaged my recently dis-embarked Plague Marines.

In Turn 3 the Rhino and Vindicator fired upon the Genestealers moving towards an Objective as Typhus unleashed a Plague Wind on the Yngarl Genestealer Brood, killing one. The Lord of Terror then Assaulted, soaked a ton of hits and suffered a couple wounds before he unleashed his Destroyer Hive, killing all but one of the Yngarl which ran for its life. The Plague Marines' Plague Knives stabbed into a Hive Tyrant causing a wound. The bottom of Turn 3 brought devastation to the Chaos force, as the Deathleaper came in from Reserves, all the Obliterators were cleared off the field and the Deathleaper destroyed a Rhino.

Turn 4 started promising as a couple of Genestealers were killed and the Plague Marines in Assault with the non-Warlord Hive Tyrant brought the Monstrous Creature down. The small victory was short-lived as the Doom set its eyes on Typhus and dashed his rotting corpse to the ground and the Deathleaper killed a couple of Plague Marines. Turn 5 and 6 resulted in the destruction of all but one Genestealer, which claimed an Objective, and the Vindicator was destroyed as the Carnifexes made similar slaughter of the Unit of Plague Marines which had killed the Hive Tyrant. The remaining Unit of Plague Marines were being whittled down by an Assault with the Warlord Hive Tyrant. The game ended at the end of Turn 6 with the Tyranids carrying the day. Until next time, see you on the battlefield.

Final Thoughts

The game played out similar to a sci-fi/horror movie with a plodding start followed by an explosion of monsters popping out and ripping apart everything in front of them. My opponent's army was a beast to fight against with needing 6s to hit the Hive Tyrants when flying, to the crazy amount of Reserves that came in on Turn 2. And that Doom of Malan'tai, wow, is it worthy of its name. It made short work of the Obliterators and Plague Zombies, hitting my guys and getting stronger every Shooting Phase. Immediately after the game, I thought I made a poor choice spreading my army out as thin as I did. But upon further reflection if I'd only had 2 groups in my army, that much more would have died when the Doom and Carnifexes came in. The Plague Marines were the stars of this match with killing a Hive Tyrant and putting pressure on another and while I lost Typhus, it's always fun unleashing his Destroyer Hive. Until next time, see you on the battlefield.