In defence of Orschia - an 8th edition 40k battle report.

 

"Task force Onyx Blade, reporting Xenos presence at marker S351B, confirm" the whispered voice of Sergeant Von Drak came over Lieutenant Albo's vox.

"Confirmed, task force moving into position on your left flank now, gain good firing positions and await the command" the Ultramarine Lieutenant ordered.

Black and silver clad Astartes pushed into the ruins, their armour collecting a patina of dust as they moved. The powered hum of their armour suits vibrating the same dust from any surface it has settled on.

Ruins creaked as they moved and took up positions, and the heavier Aggressors stomped forwards, ammunition clacking as they wound up and tested their electrically charged autoloaders.

Satisfying himself that everyone was in place and affirmed that they were ready for battle, Lieutenant Albo opened a wide vox channel to all his men.

"In the Emperor's name, let none survive. Onyx Blade, engage" Albo calmly ordered, bring the storm to the calm.

*****

To celebrate my birthday on Sunday just gone (29th September) and the fact that I had the new game table, once things had settled down in the evening I pulled together a few things and played out a solo battle of 8th edition 40k.

Why 8th edition? I hear you asking.

Well, to be honest, I just pulled the rulebook and the indexes out of the cupboard as I was searching for something, and using the indexes is the easiest and most balanced thing in the world*.

So with the topper of the table removed...

I grabbed what I had to hand.

A grey fleece blanket I'd bought specifically for this.

My finished ruin scatter pieces and the long suffering MDF built ruins (which I must get round to painting).

They were roughly placed to create a sort of thoroughfare look to the battlefield:

.

Forces were then drawn together from the cabinet, the limiting factor here was the size of the Deathwatch force as I only had around 40 Power of troops painted, I also didn't want anything too extravagant for the first battle.

The Deathwatch force codename: Onyx Blade.

Lieutenant Tassius Albo.

Apothecary Gerhardt.

5 man Intercessor squad, led by Sergeant Ermenrich.

5 man Intercessor squad, led by Sergeant Marius.

5 man Infiltrator squad, led by Sergeant Von Drak.

3 man Aggressor squad, led by Sergeant Soldano.

Tyranids Invaders, Hive Fleet Leviathan splinter.

Tyranid Prime, Command Synapse Beast.

3 strong Warrior unit, Synapse Beasts.

3 strong Shrike unit, Synapse Beasts.

Neurolictor, Infiltration Beast.

20 strong Termagant unit, Horde Beasts.

20 strong Termagant unit, Horde Beasts.

Screamer-Killer, Carnifex, Assault Beast.

Biovore, Artillery Beast.

Timestamp: #19.25 local time (deployment).

With the mission established I rolled up for objectives and got the following:

The contested zone is indicated by the four objectives (circled red), an army holding an objective with a unit above half strength will gain 2 Victory Points per objective.

Additionally, if the enemy Warlord is slain, this feat is worth an additional 3 Victory Points.

With that, the turn initiative was rolled and the Deathwatch were acting first.

Timestamp: #19.34 local time (Turn 1**).

With quick orders, Lieutenant Albo moved his force forwards into cover and firing positions.

Sergeant's Ermenrich and Marius squads moved into the ruined buildings and took up advantageous firing positions.

Sergeant Von Drak moved his squad into the rubble near the right flank objective.

Sergeant Soldano, accompanied by Albo moved up one of the side roads to begin an aggressive push forwards, and Apothecary Gerhardt remained in cover to see where he was needed.

Opening fire, the intercessors and Infiltrators chewed through several Termagants on the flanks, meanwhile Sergeant Marius's squad put a wound on the approaching Carnifex.

Then, with a guy wrenching roar, the Tyranids force moved forwards as one.

Termagants scuttling over the ruins and the Carnifex stomping it's was forward, ignoring the bleeding wound in it's carapace.

Von Draks team came under fire from the Termagants and the Shrikes infront of them, but the living ammunition exploded harmlessly around them.

The shadows moved behind the apothecary as a Neurolictor appeared through the darkness and dust.

Before anyone could react, the stalker-beast pounced and Apothecary Gerhardt found himself fighting for his life against the beast.

Blows were traded from chainsword and rending claw and wounds were suffered by both combatants.

The Biovore at the rear launched a spore mine across the battlefield***, landing a direct hit on the Infiltrators, the acidic weapon slew two of the warriors, Von Drak commanding the remains of his team to stand firm against the Xenos.

Timestamp: 19.50 local time (Turn 2).

Ordering Soldano to push forward and engage the Carnifex, Lieutenant Albo turns to engage the Neurolictor and save his Apothecary.

All other space marines remain on position and open up with all weapons available.

A few more Termagants are killed, not enough to stop the onrushing tide however.

The main focus was the Carnifex, who suffered another three wounds from the attentions of Bolt Rifle and Heavy Flamer.

The Tyranids rushed forward again trying to cover the open ground. Soldano and his unit are charged by the Carnifex, which was supported by the Tyranids Warrior's. In a brutal melee, one of the Aggressors is pulled down to his death and a second takes a wound, in return the Carnifex takes and further three wounds, badly injuring the beat and leaving it on its last wound in the fight.

Timestamp: 20.11 local time (Turn 3).

Sergeant Von Drak and the remaining Infiltrators are killed to a man by another Spore Mine explosion amongst them, leaving the ruins and the objective open to the swarm now****.

Sergeant Ermenrich, after a desultory round of fire, found his squad assailed by Termagants who swarmed the building. Chainswords roaring they accounted for six of the beasts for no losses!

Apothecary Gerhardt, aided by Lieutenant Albo manage to further wound the Neurolictor, however Gerhardt is struck down by the rending claws and falls in service to the Deathwatch.

Timestamp: 20.34 local time (Turn 4).

With nearly everything locked in combat, movement was limited to the Termagants who claimed the objective where Von Drak had been before. The Tyranids Prime broke off from the unit to face Lieutenant Albo and the Shrikes flapped their leathery wings and moved from the top of the building to the street.

One of Sergeant Marius's squad were killed by the Biovore, the mine exploding on the window he was manning.

Combat continued in all other avenues of the battlefield with Soldano brutally ending the Carnifex and two of the Warriors, however he lost his remaining squad mate in the melee, leaving him alone.

Lieutenant Albo finally killed the Neurolictor, taking two wounds, but avenging Apothecary Gerhardt.

Whilst Sergeant Marius's squad wiped out the Termagants without a loss and secured their objective again, Sergeant Ermenrich moved his squad from the building to rush to Soldano.

Timestamp: 20.50 local time (Turn 5).

In the final moments of the battle, Sergeant Soldano moves off to face the Shrikes, destroying two of the beasts, as Ermenrich guns down the last Warrior, the come under fire from the Termagant unit, but suffer a wound.

Lieutenant Albo charges the Tyranid Prime, the leader of the Xenos and in a tense melee wounds the creature twice for no wounds in return. Bolt rounds fly over the tops of the warriors battling on the ground as Sergeant Marius targets the Biovore and wounds the artillery beast twice.

Timestamp: 21.07 local time (Battle's end).

In the final round of combat, Lieutenant Albo is greviously wounded, but kills the Tyranid Prime, and Sergeant Soldano destroys the remaining Shrike.

With no Synapse Beasts remaining, the Termagants flood into the ruined buildings to hide and the Biovore lumbers off away from the battlefield.

Final Scores:

Deathwatch: 7 Victory Points.

Tyranids: 2 Victory Points.

*****

An enjoyable game and an hour spent battling was a good time.

I really like this period of 8th edition, where as I said, everything was more-or-less balanced against each other and may have to play it some more going forwards.

I definitely need to work my terrain sets up to finished status though, as the battle would look so much better with fully finished terrain.

I reckon  I could easily play up to about 1,500 points on my table without it getting too crowded, I just have to modify the deployment zone sized to suit (instead of 12" make it 6", etc).

So the table is very suited to battles of the size I generally played when I was playing regularly in 5th edition, and again at the start of 8th edition, this is a very good thing.

So with victory attained, the Deathwatch now return to their fortress to recover.

Until next time, have nice day...

*Mostly balanced, remember this was the big reset of 40k so everything was rewrote from the ground up. After this codex creep started, then the insanity of Command Point/Stratagem 9th edition and now Competitive 10th edition...le sigh.

**Once deployed, it game some real Space Marine 2 open vibes with the mass of Tyranids Vs the Deathwatch.

***Yes I know this is our of order, I forgot about it at the time and did it just before the turn was over. 

The curse of not playing for a while.

The benefit of solo-play, no-one complains when you backtrack like this.

****Again I forgot about the Biovore, so did it right at the start of the Marines turn...shut up complaining.

Return to Voltistrum - Imperial Guard Vs Tyranids.

 

This is a long overdue gaming day.

The first time we planned it my son brought plague into the house and so it was cancelled whilst we recovered from heavy chest infections.

The second time was work related stuff, so Cardboard Fortress couldn't make it.

We finally managed to arrange the gaming day the past Tuesday (14th May) and so we drove to the wrong side of the Pennines to Element Games in Stockport and prepared to roll the bones.

*****

Captain Caldwalle of the Vanquisher 'Indomitable' was back on the line defending against the Tyranid invasion or Voltistrum.

Alongside the Exterminator 'Righteousness', one of the few survivors of the previous battle, the Imperials had retreated and thrown together an ad-hoc force to buy time to defence the planetary space port for the evacuation.

Infantrymen lined up under the barked orders of their officers and armoured vehicles revved their engines, blue smoke erupting from their exhausts.

The Ordo Tacticus had determined that this was the most likely route that the swarm would take, so the force dug in around a long ruined, part buried settlement and ranged in their guns.

Soon the call went down the line from the scouts that the dust on the horizon was the approaching swarm, with new warrior beasts deployed and driving the aliens forward. In response orders were shouted down the line, encouraging litanies were chanted by units. 

Voices tailed off as the sky turned dark above them, and tentacled Spore Mines began to rain from above.

*****

As is customary, we first had ourselves a game of 40k 5th edition*, and again his Guard army** pitted itself against my Tyranid swarm.

The armies met in the ruins of a long lost city which was slowly being swallowed by the desert.

After the previous debacle, Captain Caldwalle was back in action facing the dreaded xenos, determined to halt the force here.

A platoon of infantry regulars joined his under-strength armoured company, along with a Hydra flak tank and another unit of Ogryns to find out how much they can bite off and get themselves into trouble.

The Hive Mind adapted its will and spawned some larger gun beasts as well A directing a huge swarm of sixty Termagants!

With the dice rolled for first turn/size the initiative, the Tyranids swarmed forward en masse, eager to rend the biomass infront of them.

Spore mines dropped from orbit and exploded on the center of the infantry line, and then the Biovores opened by and threw more spore mines at the thin Guard line.

At the rear of the table, the Imperial Guard Hydra Flak battery was obliterated with one shot by the Shrike with Venom Cannon, firing at full range, the command squad showered with debris and shrapnel but suffered no casualties.

With effective fire from the heavy weapons teams holed up in the ruins wiping out the Warriors squad, severing the link to the hive mind and forcing the mass of Termagants onto their instinctive behaviour.

They became priority targets, and the Lictors and Deathleaper emerged from the shadows.

The Leman Russ Exterminator chewed away at the Termagants, killing half of one squad entirely and the Hellhound burnt a swather the the other. Above the Lictors wiped out the Lascannon squad to a man, before being counterattacked by the Ogryn squad, who whilst wounding the beasts, died to a man.

With bodies rapidly falling to enemy fire and the looming threat of the Hive Tyrant the Guard had a last ditch effort of firing, but it was for naught, as nearly all their infantry was wiped out, the Hydra and Hellhound destroyed or immobile, and the only effective units left on the table were the Exterminator and Vanquisher Leman Russes.

*****

Whilst enjoyable and a good time rolling bones, this isn't my favourite game of 40k which I've had in truth.

From the moment we rolled for the first turn and then I "seized the initiative" by rolling a 6, my dice seemed to be "hot".

I don't think my Biovores missed a single shot due to scatter, and the Spore Mines deep sticking and not scattering was another lucky roll i think.

The Guard may have been too strung out in the line to concentrate fire, a bit like my last game with the World Eaters , but I genuinely think Cardboard was unlucky and I was really lucky with my rolling.

The Hydra could have made a real impact with it's quad Autocannon, but it got blown up on the first turn, likewise the Hellhound managed a good turn of immolating Termagants, but was then picked off in turn, and I do think a normal Leman Russ would have been a better choice than the Vanquisher.

I left my Hive Tyrant too far out on the flank to actually have anything to do which was a waste, a bit of overkill in that he charged and mulched a single officer/sergeant who was all that remained of his squad, and I still need more Synapse creatures in the army overall.

So we had a good day out with friends at Element, and I've got another battle report coming to post.

Until next time, have nice day...

*The reasons for playing 5th edition have been mentioned before in the other battle reports, so I'm not going to repeat them here!

**With a friendly reminder of the Basilisk shortcomings from last time we played. 

Why they made the minimum range 36" on the Earthshaker gun I'll never know.

Infestation - part 10.

 

With a looming gaming day at Element Games, I wrote up a new 1,500 points Tyranid army list and checked off everything I needed for the day when... disaster...I needed a Warrior Prime model and hadn't painted it.

Whilst in conversation with both Fraser and Cardboard Fortress over messenger and with the Plastic Crack Podcast streaming on YouTube in the background I set about this gribbly beasty.

A pair of Rending Claws and a Deathspitter make a powerful offensive combination, which only gets more powerful with the biomorph Adrenal Glands.

This thing can also regenerate lost wounds and command the lesser Tyranid beasts, so they don't fall back on their "instinctive behaviour".

The now familiar Purple and Grey scheme with Bone weapons was quick to apply over a white primer coat using contrast paints, shades and a little drybrushing.

The usual urban rubble basing, no skulls this time, finished the model off.

At 20.00 hours the model was in its base white primer, and I had to give it a quick dust off before I could paint.

By 23.00 it was finished barring a coat of Matte Varnish which was added the following morning.

Then it was into the travel box with it and the rest of the army:

Three hours to take a HQ model from bare primer to fully finished is very impressive and shows the ease of the paint scheme which was chosen for the hive fleet.

I'll obviously be doing a report of the battles to come, but I'm sincerely hoping it doesn't fall victim to "New Model Syndrome*" but we'll have to see.

Until next time, have nice day...

*This is an observable effect, as nearly everyone has a story about a new/freshly painted model which has done nothing/been killed on turn 1/never showed up from reserves or something along those lines.

Often it's a very expensive HQ or Vehicle unit.

Infestation - part 9.

 

The Tyranid force has been growing again, with more reinforcements. These were all meant to be used in a game today, however, due to the onset of a chest infection, I had to cancel. I was driving the eighty-odd miles to Stockport to play with toy soldiers when I can't stop coughing every ten minutes or so...

Anyway, I thought I'd showcase the bits which I have now gotten finished starting with a unit of three Tyranid Warriors:

I bought these after the last game, as I realised quite early on that I needed more Synapse control for the smaller creatures, and I needed some ranged firepower to try to take on the Tanks of the Guard.

The Devourers are a good mid range assault weapon and the big Venom Cannon is a Tyranid Lascannon equivalent. Their melee combo of Bonesword and Lashwhip are just nasty, as they cause instant death on failed leadership tests after s wound is suffered.

The box comes with that many spare parts and options though, that I found an STL of Warrior bodies, and I've made up a Prime on foot and a second unit of three warriors to add in the future.

Next up we have the gristle of the army, lots and lots of Termagants:

Both sets of these are the older miniatures which I bought for cheap off of eBay and refurbished for my needs.

The ten at the top with the Fleshborers will be added to one of the twenty strong units I already finished bringing them up to full size.

The ten at the bottom all have Devourers as their weapon*, meaning they'll give a little more longer range fire whilst we charge at the enemy.

Two more Von Ryan's Leapers:

These two models are the remaining two from the two Leviathan starter sets which started this project off, they're still some of my favourite 'New Nids' of the force reboot, and I have another three to add in due course.

A second Biovore/Exocrine:

The same 3D printed STL as the last one I showcased, with a third waiting to be built, they'll give me some good long range firepower.

And the final Winged Tyranid Prime:

I know that in tenth edition, Winged Primes cannot be equipped with a Venom Cannon, so why have I done it?

Well in fifth edition, the unit called Tyranid Shrikes, we're basically a unit of Warriors with wing upgrades as standard. They could take all the upgrades from Warriors, so I've put all three of the Winged Primes together into one unit to make a Shrikes unit which will accompany my Winged Hive Tyrant and give some mobile fire support.

Lastly, here's a photo of everything I've painted up this year so far for the Hive Fleet:

Not a bad little showing if I do say so.

Points wise for the AHPC points counter we have the following:

Three Tyranid Warriors - counting as mounted model because they're in that middle size category - 30 points.

Fifteen Termagants** - infantry sized - 75 points.

Two Von Ryan's Leapers - infantry sized - 10 points.

One Biovore/Exocrine - large model - 20 points.

One Tyranid Shrike - mounted model as it's the same size as the Warriors - 10 points.

For a total of 145 points added to the total from this lot here, and a chunk added to my total miniatures painted this year as well which I'm pretty pleased about.

I'm going to focus on a different project for the time being, and might add a unit or two to the force in the future but not for a while I think.

Until next time, have nice day...

*Alright there are two in this unit with Spinefists, but I will take what I can get second hand off of eBay, they'll just "count as" Devourers.

**I did already paint five of the Devourer armed Termagants before I started the AHPC tracker, so I'm going to be honest with myself and not count those.

Infestation - part 8.

 

My local hobby supply shop closed down just at the very end of last year, it was mainly a fancy dress/costume shop, but they stocked quite a bit of Warhammer and Bolt Action stuff.

It was really convenient if I needed to restock on paints as it was a five minute walk to the store.

During the last couple of weeks, the store owner offered fifteen percent off of everything, in order to sell stock off.

Understandably a lot of the Wargaming stock disappeared very quickly, but I managed to grab this Neurolictor from there before it too disappeared:

It's a lovely, if fiddly kit to put together, constantly curving back over itself:

As now standard Tyranid Hive Fleet and Urban basing scheme's used, with the addition of the bright blue "Brain" area's for contrast.

I'm going to use this as a "Deathleaper" which is the character Lictor in the 5th edition codex for now, however as I do want a modern Deathleaper model, i may have to talk to Cardboard Fortress about us writing a few homebrew rules to retrofit the Psychic-Neurolictor into long forgotten 5th edition 40k.

Just as in my previous post, here's a scale photo with Lieutenant Albo:

And because this model is completed, here are the Brushrage painting stats from my ap:

One Hour and Eight Minutes isn't too bad for a character model of this sort, especially as I don't have to go too far in detailing it, as it's meant to blend in with the rest of the Hive Fleet, no purity seals or masses of medals to worry about here!

Lastly, not as small as a foot model, but not as big as the Biovore in the last post, I'm going to slot the Neurolictor into the "mounted model" category for the AHPC tracker, adding 10 further points to my total.

Hopefully I'll be able to add some "Hooves on the Ground" next and get some units finished.

Until next time, have nice day...

Infestation - part 7.

 

We're at the end of January, and sadly because of work, I haven't been able to get to where I wanted to with the ongoing Tyranid project.

I have gotten a few things finished, but with just over two weeks to the game (weather permitting, judging by the forecasts) I don't think I'll be able to add that slew of extra gribblies to the army which I wanted.

On with what I have gotten painted though, and one of the benefits of playing at Element Games, is the fact that I can take 3D printed stuff, a blessing really, as we start with fifteen 3D Printed Spore Mines:

Terrifying squid bombs, which explode when they detect life signs nearby, showering their victims in acid...truly awful.

More terrifying is the fact that the Hive Fleet can scatter these in the atmosphere from orbit and just have them drift down to the ground on their own accord!

A closer look at the three types I got in the STL files:

Before I mentioned that they can be dumped into the upper atmosphere from orbit and left to their own accord drifting away.

Below are my plans for these things, they're going to be launched from Living Artillery!

The first Biovore has been printed and completed*, this will give me some long range firepower, something I noted I was sorely lacking in our last game.this came from the same STL pack as the Spore Mines above and it's a nice solid chunky print:

I've used the same Tyranid and Basing scheme with the  urban bases coming in useful here, as the only real variation you can do on this model is the leg positions.

So the flat layers of cork I use to represent broken concrete really plays into my favour here allowing me to get a decent amount of surface area to glue to, the fact that they are pinned at every joint and the base is a bonus as well.

Finally, here is a scale shot against Lieutenant Albo of the Deathwatch: 

I find it useful having a scale comparison, especially as everyone knows what the size of a Space Marine should be.

Points wise for the AHPC counter, the Biovore is a big model, easilynas big as a vehicle, so adds 20 points, and the 15 Spore Mines count as "foot models" for 5 points each, a total of 75 points together.

This adds 95 points onto my total from these models.

More to come in the next post.

Until next time, have nice day...

*Alright, I know "technically" it's an Exocrine model, not a Biovore.

But Exocrines didn't have rules in 5th edition 40k, and myself and Cardboard Fortress are not at the adding homebrew rules into the game yet when we have perfectly good rules to work with.