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!
