Service Guarantees Citizenship: Inquisition vs Tyranids

Nobody quits, everybody fights!
It's All-Skype Fight Night!

We've found some kind of smart bug on Planet RAH-59. Two of the Inquisition's bitterest rivals must team up to fight it. I, Stylus, will stay safely behind the front lines with the tea and medals.

But I, Kraken, will lead by example - from the front, disgorging my million young from a beaked maw! Which is how I learned to fight as an RAF cadet, many years ago. 

Mission

Contact Lost - another Maelstrom of War mission, won on points. There are six objectives on the board and you start off with on Tactical Objectives. From subsequent turns, you get more Tactical Objectives for each Objective Marker you control. Game length is randomised at 5-7 turns.

Armies

The God Couple - Inquisition

Many years ago, we played a memorable campaign of Inquisitor. I led the dashing Recongregator Hurous de Vaulot, who frequently butted heads with the inflexible Monodominant Alexander Criminus. Even taking into account the antagonistic nature of the scenarios, those two just would not get along.

That system never really caught on, but it was fantastic for narrative battles. 

It was some of the best wargaming fun I remember, and I think I last saw de Vaulot trapped in a burning industrial complex, like George Peppard in Operation Crossbow. It's how he would have wanted it.

So with Kraken's original models at my disposal, I thought to bring back this grimdark Felix and Oscar for one last job.

Some actual Inquisitor bands amongst the proxies.

As well as the Inquisitor and his acolyte retinue of ablative wounds, the real firepower in this battalions detachment comes courtesy of the 15th Balanthian Rifles. Three squads of meat-shields, and a Commander to tell them to stand still while they get eaten. Two teams of heavy weapons, with a mix of frag and krak to deal with both swarms and big beasties. A Hellhound because I'm trying to squeeze as many flamers in as possible.

Finally, a Vindicare Assassin, who isn't really optimised against an army that doesn't really do human-sized characters. But Criminus always ran with a sniper, and it will make me feel better having something at BS2.

• HQ - Inquisitor Alexander Criminus (Xenos), Thunder hammer, Bolt Pistol. Dominate & Smite. Warlord (Tenacious Survivor)
• HQ - Company Commander, Laspistol
• Troop - 10 x Infantry Squad, Vox-caster, Bolt Pistol & Chainsword (sgt), Flamer
• Troop - 10 x Infantry Squad, Vox-caster, Bolt Pistol & Chainsword (sgt), Flamer
• Troop - 10 x Infantry Squad, Vox-caster, Bolt Pistol & Chainsword (sgt), Flamer
• Elite - 6 x Acolytes, Combi-flamer, Stormbolters, Chainswords
• Elite - Vindicare Assassin, Exitus rifle, Exitus pistol, Blind grenade
• Heavy - 3 x Heavy Weapons Squad, Missile Launchers
• Heavy - 3 x Heavy Weapons Squad, Mortar
• Fast Attack - Hellhound, Inferno cannon, Heavy Bolter

Not wishing to share detachments with his rival, de Vaulot brought along his own vanguard. It's mostly comprised of abhumans, being the outside-the-box thinker that he is. Ratlings may prove better snipers than the Vindicare, since they'll all need high wound rolls, but at least they'll pile on mortal wounds too. Bullgryns are to give me something to equal the Tyranids in close combat. And the Valkyrie is to give de Vaulot something for him and his acolytes to scoot around in until they can jump on a tasty objective.

• HQ - Inquisitor Hurous de Vaulot (Xenos), Incinerator, Power sword. Terrify & Smite.
• Elite - 6 x Acolytes, Combi-flamer, Stormbolters, Chainswords (5), Power Maul (1)
• Elite - 3 x Bullgryns, Bullgryn Maul, Slabshield
• Elite - 10 x Ratlings, Sniper Rifle
• Flyer - Valkyrie, Multi-laser, Hellstrike missiles, 2 x Heavy Bolters

Battalion detachment + Vanguard detachment. 1,200pts, 7 CPs

Hive Fleet Kraken - Tyranids

Wow, I am super-stoked to take 'Nids! Stupid really - I've been pretending to be called Kraken on the internet all this time, and it never occurred to me they might be a good pick. 

Very interesting army, with their Synapse rules covering the disposable meatshield very nicely. Harder to protect the Synapse Creatures from shooting, of course, but quite a lot of those swarmies can hit suprisingly hard for their stats. And the big guys are often tough, fast, shooty or magic (or some hideous combination of those) and not easily disposed of. 

• HQ - Tervigon with massive scything talons, stinger salvos, Warlord (Tenacious Survivor) and the Onslaught and Smite powers (Giant Maggot)
• HQ - Hive Tyrant with double monstrous scything talons, pincer tail, Smite, Catalyst and The Horror powers (Red Dragon)
• Troop - 20 Termagants with 8 devourers and 12 fleshborers (proxied by Misty Mountain goblins)
• Troop - 3 Tyranid Warriors with boneswords and devourers (proxied by Trolls)
• Troop - 10 Genestealers with adrenal glands
• Elite - 5 Zoanthropes with claws and teeth, Catalyst and Smite (proxied by Gnolls)
• Elite - 3 Venomthropes with toxic lashes (Minotaurs)
• Fast Attack - Hive Crone with drool cannon, tentaclids, scything wings, wicked spur and stinger salvos (White Dragon)

1,200pts - Battalion detachment, 6 CPs,

The plan, in so far as I can plan ahead without knowing what objectives will crop up, is to swoop forwards with the Tyrant and the Crone, taking out as much shooty stuff as they can as the rest of the army slobbers forward. Both are big and scary enough that they should attract lots of attention, which is exactly what I want. Especially as the Tyrant isn't my Warlord, despite their usual role. They get the dubious honour of being proxied by my Reaper dragons, in their first ever battlefield debut. Fine character actors, both.

That special honour goes to the Tervigon, which I love. Huge, tough, psychic and able to continously sick up a tide of offspring - why marry for looks when you can have the whole package right here? Today played by a giant Reaper worm, it will be accompanied by a very shooty Termagant squad, able to squirt out masses of close-range firepower. 

Genestealers are fast and vicious, Warriors are a reasonable all-round choice. Zooanthropes in big squads are very nasty, getting bonus Smite damage, as well as being very tough. Hiding in the toxic cloud of some Venomthropes, they ought to be hard to shift. 

Deployment

I am in the midst of various terrain creation projects, but they were semi-painted enough to appear on a proxy-rich battlefield. So there's two GW Sector Imperialis buildings from Kas' collection, and the big black centrepiece is a tall ruined castle on a cliff that firmly blocks line of sight. Woods, ruins and craters round and about otherwise, and the right-hand side isn't in play, as it's a 5x4 map for a 1200 point game. 

After losing the objective roll (they are the grey shield icons on the map, squint to find them all), I get to pick the field, so it's a classic Dawn of War for us. 

The colossus in the bottom-right is Imperial Statuary, so Kraken kindly lets me defend it. I duly castle up the three Infantry Squads (from left to right: Red, Blue and Green) and place the heavy stuff behind them. The Commander goes central, so he can Vox-command everything and Criminus' retinue pace restlessly behind them.

The sniper teams occupy the ruins atop the central hill. It's impassable to infantry, so all they'll have to worry about is shooting, psychic and flyers. Good luck, lads.

The Bullgryns anchor the right flank, and the Hellhound takes the left flank. In the far corner, the Valkyrie, loaded up with de Vaulot's retinue, circles around.

I am wary of the first turn. Either I go first and will have to advance into firing range without closing, or Stylus will and I'll get shot up. So I mostly huddle behind the big central hill, with a rough idea to launch a two-pronged attack round the edge. Although those snipers will have to go, I'm not having them taking potshots at me. 

As it happens, I go second after losing our roll-off. We prefer this to the official method, as it adds a bit of unpredictability so you need to deploy in a more flexible way. 

Turn 1 - Inquisition

I take the first turn! Now this has backfired on me for the last two occasions, but I've got too much dakka to refuse. My first Tactical Objective is No Prisoners, so I ought to be able to kill something.

The Bullgryns edge up the flank and the Hellhound scoots ahead into flamer range. There is no psychic phase, so we're straight to shooting.

I've already decided my target priorities: the Hive Crone, for the speed it can mess up my lines, and also the threat it poses to the Valkyrie. And also the Venomthropes, whose Shrouding Spores are making my average BS even worse. I need to take down one, ideally both, in this volley.

The Commander orders Take Aim! to the Missile Launcher teams and Bring It Down! to the Mortars, which is a neat way to compensate for their respective weaknesses.

The Valkyrie opens proceedings, switching to hover mode and letting rip with everything against its opposite number, the Hive Crone. I do well with the Hellstrike missiles, multi-laser and heavy bolter and the thing is already on half wounds before the Hellhound's Inferno cannon burns off a couple more.

A Krak missile from the Heavy Weapons team also thumps in the Hive Crone and suddenly the thing is nearly down. The Ratlings add their shots into the Hive Crone, score a couple of mortal wounds and a goodly number of hits. The flying beast is dead and I get First Blood!

The only other shots in range are the Mortars, who lay a volume of fire that takes down one Venomthrope. The Vindicare also takes aim, but rolls a 1 to wound (a frustration, as he could have one-shotted a Venomthrope). But I've had a decent round of shooting, and taken an early lead on objective points, so can't complain.

Objectives secured: First Blood (1) and No Prisoners (1)

Turn 1 - Tyranids

Well, that could have been a lot worse. All of that lethal shooting was entirely used up crushing the Crone, and if I lost a Venomthrope too, I have still have enough to keep trucking. 

My first objective draw is Blood and Guts, to wipe out units in the Fight phase. Unlikely to be scored this turn, but I reckon I'll get it at some point! 

Everything advances. The Genestealers hug the central ruins, the Hive Tyrant goes straight up there to deal with the shooters, and the Tervigon and 'gants head up my right flank, joined by a fresh new unit of bugs to go and hold the objective in the ruins there. 

The psychic phase sees me slapping Catalyst on the Tyrant, then smiting a bunch of wounds off everything I can. Six Ratlings bite it from a good Zooanthrope shot, and the Hellhound gets winged by the Tervigon. Shooting is less impressive. I manage to soak the Hellhound's windshield with a maggoty mass of hits from all the nearby bugs, but nothing gets through. More Ratlings die to Devourer fire from the Warriors. Good guns, those!

Finally, melee gets going. The Tervigon can hit hard (once I've let the 'gants soak up overwatch from the Inferno Cannon), but not very accurately, and I whiff my attacks there. The Tyrant pounces on the Vindicare and nearly squishes him, but I'm actually quite glad he survives, leaving me safe in melee for now. 

As the remaining Ratlings flee in panic, I feel I've done well, but no points so far. 

Objectives Scored - Bugger All (0)

Turn 2 - Inquisition

The Vindicare lives! The Hellhound lives! I may have lost the Ratlings due to unwisely positioning them on the railroad tracks, but I think I got away lightly there.

My next two cards aren't so great: Psychological Warfare (so I'm going to have to kill a big synapse beastie before I can even think about that) and Area Denial (I appear to have already surrendered the centre ground)

The Valkyrie swoops into action, flying over the top-left objective. The Hellhound and Vindicare drop out of their respective combats. Having seen what happens when you are in Smite range of the Zoanthropes, the Bullgryns drop back to join the Balanthian Rifles.

Criminus warms up his psychic powers and Smites three wounds off the Hive Tyrant, but whose Catalyst power recovers one wound.

Seeing the Hive Tyrant presenting himself as a tempting target, Blue Squad edges forward into rapid-fire range. They are ordered to First Rank, Fire! Second Rank, Fire! while the Missile Launcher teams once again Take Aim!

I proceed to lob handfuls of dice at the Hive Tyrant: all three Infantry Squads, both Heavy Weapons teams and the Valkyrie. The shots fly around the ruins, but a combination of sub-par rolls and that damn Catalyst power means that I've thrown an entire army's worth of firepower at the Hive Tyrant and he's still got three wounds left!

Objectives secured: None

Turn 2 - Tyranids

Ha haaargh! I live! Er, but I'm a bit tatty round the edges, so a tactical retreat is in order. The Flyrant hops back off the ruins to get out of the rain and also deal with the Valkyrie. Because my new Objective is Take and Hold Objective 4, and guess who just parked on that?

As the rest of the army advances on the Imperial lines, the Tyrant picks off the Vindicare with a smite, then boosts himself with Catalyst. The Zooanthropes likewise boost the Venomthropes, then manage a high-strength smite! Good, I was hoping to pick off those Ogryns before they close with me. Alas, Blue Squad's advance last turn has left them slightly closer, so they get scourged instead. 

The Tervigon coughs up another new squad of scuttlers, then throws them under the wheels of the Hellhound before safely following up into close combat. Where again, I whiff badly - the termagants pick off a wound, but that's it. 

The larger Termagant squad tear a huge strip off Red Squad in shooting, then fail a charge and take a handful of casualties to lasgun fire. 

As the Tyrant charges in, Stylus lights up the red dots for overwatch, and I take what seems like all the available damage! It's a tense roll-off, but judicious command point use and some very lucky save rolls get me through untouched. Where I promptly fail to damage the 'copter at all, which is infuriating! Even worse, I forgot that Stylus drew Area Denial last turn, so by abandoning the middle ground, I've handed him points. Gah!

I felt so robbed with the Valkyrie's overwatch: I rolled a 6 for the Hellfire missile, Multi-laser and Heavy Bolter. Unfortunately, Kraken counted with equally improbable invulnerable saves. I think we used up all our sixes that phase. Normal service was soon resumed.

Objectives secured: Inquisition - Area Denial (1)

Turn 3 - Inquisition

Another round where I think I was fortunate to weather the storm, but the gribblies are going to be among my lines next turn and the left flank is looking seriously exposed to the tide of Termagants.

Despite still only holding two objectives, I get to draw another card, as I fortunately achieved Area Denial in Kraken's turn. I get Mission Critical Objective, which turns out to be the one the Tyranid Warriors are camped on. The good news is that, if I take it from the enemy, it's even more points. The bad news is, it's the one the Tyranid Warriors are camped on.

The Hellhound drops out of combat again, and the Valkrie hurriedly zooms away from the Hive Tyrant. I contemplate a grav-chute drop for de Gautet (I'm really missing having a second psyker), but am not sufficiently optimistic about not rollings 1s.

My castle at the back shuffles around a bit, with the half-strength Blue Squad taking up position in the ruins, the even-smaller Red Squad tucking away in there, and the Acolytes filling in the gaps.

As the only full-strength squad left, Green Squad walks forward into rapid-fire range of the Tyranid Warriors and the Bullgryns move into a comfortable charge range on the Zoanthropes. Criminus then Smites a wound off the Zoanthropes.

In the shooting phase, Green Squad gets First Rank, Fire! Second Rank, Fire! while the Missile Launcher teams once again Take Aim! I decide I have to remove the Venomthropes or all my lasgun volleys will be wasted, so the Missile Launchers take aim and score two wounding hits! The problem comes with the damage roll - a 1 and 6 - and because of the nature of how wounds are allocated, one Venomthrope is obliterated, and the other left on a single wound.

I then become obsessed with removing that last wound: Blue Squads lasguns fail, the Valkyrie's weapons fail, even the Mortars fail. I give in, and use Green Squad's rapid fire on the last Venomthrope, which I only just bring down.

So shooting was something of a bust, but it's nothing compared to the Assault phase: the Bullgryns fail their 6" charge, even when I use a command point to re-roll. So I'm not pushing anything off that objective marker, and now I have to brace for impact.

Objectives secured: none

Turn 3 - Tyranids

Excellent! Although I didn't actually bring an actual Distraction Carnifex, the ersatz ones in my list are working splendidly. The Tyranid Warriors or the Genestealers were both looking vulnerable last turn, so the Venomthropes really did their job. 

I have to score some objectives, I'm behind on points. But I do draw Overwhelming Firepower, points for shooting kills. Best get to it! 

Now we're in charge range, the Tervigon's flank decides to ignore the Hellhound. I regenerate the big 'gant unit up to full strength and close in with everything, although the T4 unit above is sent back to claim objective 4 in the crater. 

The Tyrant is taking down that Valkyrie, no matter what. I figure Stylus has used up his luck on Overwatch for now, so I flap along in close pursuit, and pull the Zooanthropes back to help smite. 

Shooting sees the last of Blue Squad perish in a hail of flesh-eating worms, along with a couple of members of Green Squad too. The smites are either blocked by Criminus or fail to occur, but I throw about some Catalyst to protect the Tyrant and then get on with assaulting people. 

The Tervigon eats a mortar squad, then the termagants somehow fail to kill off the surviving flamer from Red Squad. 


After the Tervigon has fought, I spend two of my precious Command Points to allow the Acolytes to fight first. With three attacks each, rerolling to both hit and wound Xenos, how could I fail to do some damage? Well, I managed it somehow.

The Genestealers lose a few to overwatch, but then engage Criminus and his Acolytes for a fairly impressive score - the Acolytes vanish to a man, and Criminus only picks off a single 'stealer with his cumbersome hammer. 

To compound their disappointing attacks, I learned about the typo on the Acolytes' statline. It turns out, they don't have three wounds each. And I thought they were a bargain.

The Tyrant nimbly evades all overwatch shots to tear some holes in the Valkryie, but the damn thing still has more than half its wounds!

Still, a good turn and I'm in a good place. And I'm scoring at last!

Objectives scored: Overwhelming Firepower (1) and Blood and Guts (1)

Turn 4 - Inquisition

Criminus looks like he's about to chopped into fishbait (damn, he seemed much tougher in Inquisitor), so his rival de Vaulot can show him how it's done.

de Vaulot and his acolytes drop out of the Valkyrie, ready to contest the key objective and threaten the Hive Tyrant. The gunship then zooms off towards the Imperial lines, where it picks up the Green Squad.

The Bullgryns move forward, hoping to find their nerve this time. The Hellhound skirts the backline, glad to finally shoot something that isn't on overwatch. The Mortar team pulls back from the Tervigon, and brave Pvt. Jenkins, Red Squad, scampers over the wall, keeping his trusty flamer away from the enemy (if he loses it, the cost will be docked from his salary).

In Psychic phase, my big hopes for taking down the Hive Tyrant fall flat when de Vaulot only manages one wound, which is negated by Catalyst. I don't think Criminus even manages to cast.

In the shooting phase the Commander orders the Missile Launchers to once again Take Aim! and the remaining Mortars to Get Back In the Fight! I get a good volley of Krak missiles into the Tervigon, forcing Kraken to use a command point to stop some of the damage. The Hellhound's Inferno cannon also burns some off, leaving the thing on six wounds, although I am running short of big guns to finish it.

I switch fire to the lone packs of Termagants, since they've now fallen out of synapse range, and are my best chance of causing some failed morale checks. The Mortars hit the big pack in the top-left, but only manage to kill three of them. The Valkyrie, after failing to hit the Tervigon with its Hellfire missile, throws all the other shots into the smaller unit of Termagants, desperately hoping that I won't kill them all outright. My lousy aim pays off, and only one of the fall.

Pvt Jenkins, Red Squad, opens up his flamer on the large pack of Termagants, but failed to properly adjust the nozzle and only incinerates one of them.

Speaking of poor flamer handling, de Vaulot lets rip with his souped-up Incinerator on the Hive Tyrant, but fails to wound. A shower of Stormbolter shots at close range, plus another flamer, only chip off another wound from the beast, so there will be no avoiding the charge.

In the Assault phase, de Vaulot leads his retinue in against the Hive Tyrant, but the Bullgryns fail their charge yet again (the third double-2 in a row, if you're counting). Everyone thrashes away ineffectually, with de Vaulot's goons no better than Criminus' boys. The Hive Tyrant turns and eats up two Acolytes for sheer spite.

Back with Criminus, he swats two Genestealers before disappearing under a tide of rending claws (meh, he's come back from worse).

Just the Morale phase to go - the large unit of Termagants pass their morale check, but the smaller one fails and the remaining two gaunts flee the battle!

(NB We misinterpreted the Psychological Warfare card: the whole unit doesn't have to disappear to score points, just fail its morale check. Either way, it's another point for me!)

Objectives secured: Psychological Warfare (1), Slay the Warlord (1) to Tyranids

Turn 4 - Tyranids

If it wasn't for the pesky fact that I'm still way behind on objectives, I'd be feeling pretty confident here. My new draw is Domination, which, let's face it, is not happening. At least that small T4 Termagant squad captures objective 4 for me.

But first! The Tervigon packs pour forward through the ruins, spewing fire and death before following up into hand-to-hand. The last Guard squaddies perish with their heavy weapons, leaving the company captain buried under a mound of Termagants. I even sick up a new Termagant squad to tie up the Hellhound again, although I forget that they'll be out of Synapse and thus vulnerable to morale, so I'm lucky that the inevitable Overwatch damage doesn't immediately finish them off. 

The Zooanthropes kill off the rest of de Vaulot's acolytes with a well-timed Smite, after he uses up his vital Deny the Witch attempting to stop the Tyrant casting The Horror. Which he doesn't even manage. Hee! The Tyrant promptly eats him anyway, so it's all moot. 

But I'm still not really scoring here. Maybe my best bet is to hope the game lasts long enough for a clean sweep, but it's already past midnight, and I'm flagging a little.

Objectives Scored: Take and Hold (1)

Turn 5 - Inquisition

With time cracking on, and very few pieces remaining on the battlefield, we agree that Turn 5 will be the last one. I've only got one card in my hand, and don't control any objectives to draw a new one - so it's the Mission Critical Objective or bust!

The Hellhound backs off, but there's no scoring to be had there, so that's a dead end. Similarly, we can assume that the Company Commander isn't going to stand up to the wave of Termagants and Tergivon (although I like to think he staggered to the Imperial Statue and got one hand on it before being torn apart).

The real crux of the battle is going to be around Objective 4. Green Squad are turfed out of the Valkyrie so they can get ground-pounding again. The Bullgryns move up once again, under clear instructions Not. To. Fail. Their. Charge.

The Valkyrie hovers and turns all its guns on the Tyranid Warriors, missing every shot. Green Squad opens up with everything and knocks one wounds off the Tyranid Warriors. They then charge in, followed by the Bullgryns, who combi-charge the Zoanthropes and Tyranid Warriors and actually make it! Yay!

The Bullgryns promptly disappoint me: I split my attacks and the two going for the Zoanthropes whiff horrendously. The Bone 'Ead redeems the unit, however, by thumping the Tyranid Warriors for four hits at double damage. Once again, damage allocation is not my friend, and despite taking eight wounds, one Warrior is left alive on a single pip.

That leaves Green Squad to do the honours. They pile in score a lone wound (struck by former-Drill Sgt Zim, I expect), which kills the last Tyranid Warrior and clears the path to the Objective. Improbably, I've managed to claim it!

In the wrap-up phase, I roll a D3 to see how many points I get for capturing (rather than just securing) the critical objective - it's a 6! That changes everything. Kraken has total dominance of the field, but he's only got one turn left to draw a really high-scoring objective.

Objectives secured: Mission Critical Objective (3)

Turn 5 - Tyranids

That last critical objective draw? Scour the Skies! Kill the Flyer for a single point! Well, it won't win me the game, but it is happening, this I swear.

En route to setting up the charges, I throw a bunch of smites at the Ogryns, killing two of them when the Zooanthropes get a double six, scorch their own nerves thanks to Perils, then get them back with their vampiric Neuranthrope.

The foolish chopper hovered last turn, so the Genestealers soak up its Overwatch fire for the tattered Tyrant to finally close in and finish the job. Alas! The wretched flyer crashes as the Tyrant claws it out of the sky. Miraculously, the Tyrant only takes a single mortal wound from this, although the Genestealers vanish in the wreckage.

Basically the last glimpse of the T Rex in Jurassic Park, is what we're thinking.

Well, that's it! Close, but who gets the cigar?

Objectives Secured: Scour the Skies (1), Linebreaker (1)

Final total: 7 VPs vs 6VPs - a win for the Inquisition!

Hive Had Enough - Medic!

Yow! And I thought I was lucky to snatch victory in our last battle. Taking that final objective and scoring high for it was a streak of luck just when I needed it. It may be a random draw, but it's a great feature that you can claw your way out of a losing situation by keeping an eye on the objectives that you can score. Overall, I reckon a draw would have been a just outcome, and if it went to further turns, Kraken would have bagged it.

Not sure - your valiant final charge was a clincher in my book. You may have lost the battalion, but you certainly won the war! 

If we'd rolled on further, I don't think I'd have handled that Hellhound in time, it was just too tough. And also quite capable of doing things like killing my Warlord Tervigon, or grabbing last ditch objectives. 

As an introduction to the Inquisition, I reckon I handled them pretty badly. Neither Criminus nor de Vaulot got to shine, and I was getting comprehensibly outclassed in the Psychic phase. Kraken suggested that Inquistors work best as surgical-strike teams, which runs against the grinding firepower you need against Tyranids.

Having them both on the table would have helped your pyschic phase. And Domination wasn't much cop for you (rather like Onslaught was a weak choice for me), you'd have done better with the one that makes squads unbreakable. All the same, Inquisitors are kind of squishy for most roles other than surprise assaults, I think. 

Everything else in the army, I was quite happy with. Boosted by the Orders system, the Infantry Squads and Heavy Weapons teams work well. I can see the potential in the Hellhound (despite it getting bogged down, and never rolling above average for its flamer). The Valkyrie gives some great mobility (just don't set your heart on its fire-support) and the Bullgryns can hit very hard - when they get into combat. In fact, stuffing the Bullgryns into the back of the Valkyrie would have solved a few of my problems: getting them into the fight before the fifth turn and letting de Gautet use his Psychic powers, rather than being cooped up in the passenger bay.

The Ratling snipers did well in their single round of shooting, and at least the Vindicare proved a roadblock. They were hopelessly misplaced, but alongside my tactical ineptitude, it can be hard to judge ranges and line of sight via Skype, which makes it hard to play snipers properly.

So I wasn't totally enamoured by the Inquisition, but it's really turned my head towards the Astra Militarum, and I wouldn't rule out getting a little force (as little as they get) of Guard in the future.

I like Tyranids. Quite a lot. Nothing disappointed in my force, other than not getting to see the Crone in action. And it's a toss-up for me whether the MVP was my Tervigon, who's generative abilities are fantastic, or the humble Termagant squad, who can throw out astounding anti-infantry firepower with their Devourers. 

One unexpected bonus of throwing buckets of dice: because there are relatively few 'must-score' rolls, I wasn't so tempted to spend Command Points (hence wasting two on the forlorn Charge of the Acolytes - and I even remembered an hour after the battle than I had one point unspent).

This would leave a Guard army free to buy Stratagems (I didn't use them in this battle, for the same reason I didn't pick a Regimental Doctrine - I felt I was playing 'Inquisition' foremost, not Guard), and I bet they're awesome.

Yes they are! 

Cracking game - and another nail-biter! At the moment, 8th Edition can do no wrong by me.