Cerebrals & Tentacles: Thousand Sons vs Tyranids

The commanders are back in charge of their proper armies - let the grudge continue!

It is I, Stylus, once more at the helm of my Thousand Sons (reigning champions) to try and erase the stain of the drubbing they last received from Kraken's seemingly-invincible Tyranids.

Whereas I, Kraken, would just like to win a game again before the end of the month.

Don't Shoot Until Their Eyes Are White!
It's All-Skype Fight Night!

Armies

The Court of Miracles: Thousand Sons

The core of this list is the one that got tabled in short order (ulp!), but we've upped the ante to 1500pts, so I've got the resources to bring in some of the good stuff: a small pack of Tzaangor, a second squad of Rubrics, another Exalted Sorcerer and, the star of the show, my beloved Defiler.

Aside from the Defiler's lascannons, I'm lacking a bit of range, but I do have a good mix of small-arms and close-combat ability, not to mention two daemon engines to absorb the damage from my infantry and characters. The Daemon Prince is geared for combat, but even he might hang around a bit on the backline.

The Disc Sorcerer is going to be my warlord (I'm already thinking about a quick getaway), and with all my psykers on the table, I'll be bringing nine powers to play (a portentous number).

• Exalted Sorcerer on Disc of Tzeentch (HQ)
  Force Stave, Inferno Bolt Pistol
  Warlord Trait: High Magister
  Relic: Helm of the Third Eye
  Psychic powers: Doombolt, Weaver of Fates
• Daemon Prince of Tzeentch (HQ)
  Malefic talons, Wings
  Psychic powers: Gaze of Fate, Warptime
• Exalted Sorcerer (HQ)
  Force stave, Plasma pistol
  Psychic powers: Death Hex, Prescience
• 5 x Rubric Marines (Troops)
  Force stave, Warpflame Pistol, 3 x Inferno Boltguns, 1 x Warpflamer
  Psychic powers: Glamour of Tzeentch
• 5 x Rubric Marines (Troops)
  Force stave, Warpflame Pistol, 3 x Inferno Boltguns, 1 x Warpflamer
  Psychic powers: Temporal Manipulation
• 10 x Tzaangors (Troops)
  Brayhorn, Tzaangor Blades,
• 10 x Chaos Cultists (Troops)
  Shotgun, 8 x Autoguns, Heavy Stubber
• 10 x Chaos Cultists (Troops)
  Autopistol and brutal assault weapon, Flamer
• 5 x Scarab Occult Terminators (Elite)
  Force stave, 4 x Inferno Combi-bolters, 4 x Power Swords, Soulreaper Cannon, Hellfyre Missile Rack
  Psychic powers: Tzeentch's Firestorm
• Defiler (Heavy Support)
  Combi-bolter, Defiler scourge, Twin lascannon
• Heldrake (Flyer)
  Baleflamer, Heldrake claws

Points: 1500 | Battalion: 6 CPs

Hive Fleet Kronos

So because we all know the terrible power of Hive Fleet Kraken 'nids, I'm taking something else. Just in case I'm missing something, you know, not because I want to make it harder for myself!

I'm also taking a much more swarmy list, leaving the excellent Tyrant at home and taking fewer genestealers than I could in favour of the Tervigon/Termagant horde. A shiny new Sporocyst, which should combine objective blocking with anti-infantry goodness, and a test run of a Tyranid Prime with a nice big warrior squad to boost. And the Gargoyles too, I haven't tried them out, they will be my fast response unit. 

Because this is actually a slower, shootier army. Hive Fleet Kronos, this lot, so reroll ones in shooting if they don't move. This is likely to help the Sporocyst and the Tyrannofex the most, they're the gunline, everything else is going to be assaulting forwards. But there's one more reason to take Kronos - my enemy likes his psychic powers. 

Kronos can take a hilariously mean Warlord Trait that throws mortal wounds on any psyker failing a casting test within 18". Coupled with Shadow in the Warp and the even meaner Strategem that forces your opponent to make a casting test on a measly single dice, and you could really screw with your magic foes, and that's the plan - romp up the middle with the psychic whirlpool round the Tervigon, and use the gribblies to mop up the survivors!

• Tervigon (HQ)
  Massive Scything Talons, Stinger Salvo
  Warlord Trait: Soul Hunger
  Psychic power: Psychic Scream
• Tyranid Prime (HQ)
  Deathspitter, Flesh Hooks, Lash Whip and Bonesword
  Relic: The Reaper of Obilterax
• 20 x Genestealers (Troops)
  Rending Claws, 4 x Acid Maw
• 30 x Termagants (Troops)
  12 x Devourers, 18 x Fleshborers
• 5 x Tyranid Warriors (Troops)
  4 x Boneswords, 4 x Deathspitter, 5 x Flesh Hooks, 1x Scything Talons, 1 x Venom Cannon
• 3 x Venomthrope (Elite)
• 20 x Gargoyles (Fast)
• Tyrannofex (Heavy Support)
  Adrenal Glands, Rupture Cannon, Stinger Salvo
• Sporocyst (Fortification)
  5 x Barbed Strangler

Points: 1500 | Battalion + Fortification Network: 6 CPs  | Hive Fleet Kronos trait

Terrain & Mission

Back on the desert battlemap again, and I really need to break my lifetime habit and paint up some scenery. It's the usual hodge-podge of ruins, plus a very large piece of terrain that shows a lot of promise once I can figure out what to do with it. Let's call it a hab-block - it's the biggest piece on the board and will block a fair bit of line-of-sight, which should help to avoid a straightforward artillery duel between our big beasts.

Our mission is a straightforward one: Kill Confirmed. You get 1 VP for every unit destroyed, plus the usual secondary objectives and whatever other objective cards you draw (but you may not discard any objectives that involve destroying the enemy).

I've got more units than Kraken, most of them fewer in number and some of them are very squishy, so I'm already sweating the potential of this mission.

For my part, I'm liking the odds - my massed shooting probably won't shift the Thousand Sons, but their armour is going to melt under Rupture Cannon hits, and the Genestealers ought to be able to cope with the rest! All the same, there's a lot of firepower out there, and my swarms are going to die in droves on the way in. 

Deployment

Unlike the rulebook practice of  'person who places second objective chooses deployment and picks their side', we decided to roll-off for everything*, which makes things more random and removes a huge early advantage to one player.

*the exception being who places first, which goes to the person who did not pick the deployment side.

As it transpired, once the objectives were down, Kraken chose Front Line Assault (the 'arrowhead' one) and picked the side with the big hab-block.

I spend 1 CP to put my Tzaangor into the webway, and Scarab Occult into the teleportarium. My two units of Cultists spread out across two-thirds of my deployment zone, to prevent any early surprises from the Sporocyst or Gargoyles.

At the tip of the arrow was the Heldrake, because if anyone was going to absorb an early strike, it may as well be him.

I put a squad of Rubrics in the ruins, on one objective; and another squad on the Ophidian Archway (its debut on home soil!), guarding the other. All my characters, huddled safely behind the Archway, next to the Defiler, who was anchoring the end of my line.

My lot basically go in a massed pack in the middle, with the Gargoyles high above in the belly of a Harridan, ready to swoop on any handy objectives I might need. The Venomthropes hide at the back, shrouding the bulk of the army, and the Genestealers lurk on the left flank, ready to speed forward into the enemy lines. 

The Sporocyst (proxied here by this splendid post-soviet doll) slaps right down in the centre, squatting on an objective and ready to throw a massive speed bump into the Thousand Sons if they get cocky and think about advancing. Maybe it's a bit by itself? But at worst, it's going to tie up his shooting for a turn, preserving other, more important units.

(*genuine* Soviet-era doll, thank you very much. A school trip to St Petersburg secured him for a pack of chewing gum and a signed photo of David Hasselhoff).

Despite the odds being against me, I take the first turn (yay!) Just like I did last time (boo!)

Turn 1 - Thousand Sons

I begin with drawing Secure Objective 2 (I'm right on it, good start), Defend Objective 4 (currently in Kraken's deployment zone, unlikely), and Scour the Skies (I'll have to wait for the Gargoyles to appear).

Tempting as it is to be cautious against Tyranids, a gunline isn't going to serve me here. I soar the Heldrake right across the battlefield, where he lands next to the Tyrannofex.

The Rubric squad in the ruins nudges forward (keeping in cover, but getting the Aspiring Sorcerer in Smite range of the Sporocyst), and the other squad comes down from the Archway. The Cultists on the extreme flank string an advance upfield, essentially extending the bubble where deepstrikers can't land.

My Tzaangors remain in deepstrike, by I bring my Terminators down on the flank of the Tyranid Warriors.

For the main event, the Defiler and Daemon Prince both move up against the Sporocyst. The last thing I want is that thing dropping mortal wound bombs against my lines.

In the Psychic phase, I'm careful to ensure that I'm out of Shadow of the Warp and Soul Hunger range, since exploding psyker heads would be very bad for me. But it turns out that the Hive Fleet Kronos have a specific stratagem - The Deepest Shadow - to make me roll a psychic test on a single die - most of my powers at 6 to cast (and all the good ones 7+), it pretty much guarantees Kraken can shut down one power per turn - which he duly does with Prescience on my Defiler.

Everything else goes off well: Glamour of Tzeentch and Weaver of Fates to make my Daemon Prince more survivable, and then a bundle of Smites that chip away wounds from the Sporocyst. I also Warptime the Defiler closer to the Sporocyst so he can't fail the charge.

Shooting next: my Defiler gets a lascannon hit on the Tervigon, blasting away a couple of wounds. My Heldrake breathes on him, taking off a few more. Small arms fire go into the Sporocyst and my Scarab Occult open up on the Tyranid Warriors - aided by Veterans of the Long War, they still only manage two kills, then fail their subsequent charge

The Defiler has no such problems, and makes a huge charge that hits the Sporocyst from the rear. The Deamon Prince follows him in, just to ensure its end. Elsewhere, the Heldrake charges the Tyrannofex, to tie up that devastating Rupture Cannon - he makes it in, but the cannon gets an Overwatch hit and blasts away six wounds!

In combat, the Heldrake and Tyrannofex whiff against each other and the Defiler squishes the Sporocyst before the Deamon Prince can even raise a claw. With such an enormous footprint, I'm then able to consolidate all the way into the Tyranid lines and engage the swarm of Termagants (who hit away, somewhat surprised, but do no damage.)

I rack up my first few victory points, and try to shake the nagging feeling that I've just flung my two hardest hitters into the nest of space-vipers.

Objectives secured: Secure Objective 2 (1), First Blood (1), Sporocyst Kill (1)

Turn 1 - Tyranids

Whaaaat? I'm being hit by first turn charges? Who are these Thousand Sons, some kind of Hive Fleet Kraken in disguise? 

And I was looking forward to trying out the Spore Mines. Still, the Sporocyst has fulfilled its role as ablative-armour-slash-character-lure, and I've got some nice tempting targets nearby now. So, no matter. Snarling up my planned advance is pretty frustrating, but it at least plays into my tendrils. 

The Warriors advance on the Terminators, backed by the Prime, as the Tyrannofex lumbers away from the Heldrake. The Tervigon stomps round to smite the flying pest, the Genestealers lick their lips and scuttle forwards on the Defiler and the Gargoyles arrive on my right flank, camping just next to Objective 3. 

Which I have to hold for two turns, but annoyingly this won't be one of them - I can't quite get close enough to it, thanks to the Terminators. 

The Tervigon smites a wound off the Heldrake, then charges in for a quick game of whiffle-swap. Likewise, the Termagants patter uselessly off the Defiler. And the Warriors shamble forward, barely plink a single Terminator down with their weapons, and even that requires supporting fire from the Gargoyles. Then they go charging in, but alas, the Prime fails his charge, so won't be joining them. 

At least the Genestealers pull off a nice double charge, splitting half on the Defiler, half on the Daemon Prince. Maybe splitting my fire is a mistake? But forty attacks on each of them ought to do the business, I reckon. 

In the Fight Phase, I get very spendthrift with my Command Points - spending two to interrupt the combat and hit first with my Terminators, and then another one on Veterans of the Long War to ensure their strikes count for something.

It almost pays off perfectly - two of the Tyranid Warriors are hacked down, which ensures my survival in the counterstroke, but there is one pesky survivor keeping my guns locked in combat.

At least I kill another of the big blue dustcans. Elsewhere, their awful armour is holding out well. The Daemon Prince takes a battering, losing five of his wounds in short order, but he deals a few back too. 

(Correction: my Daemon Prince only lost three wounds - he was making his invulnerable saves like a boss)

Worse, the Defiler has been kitted out better than I realised for swarm eating, and its high toughness protects it from the damage I was hoping for. Seven Genestealers bite it in total, and the Defiler takes less than a quarter of its wounds - not so good.

And I score no objectives - I'm also supposed to be advancing out of my deployment zone and scouring the skies of the Heldrake. It's all stuff I can do, really, so I don't want to swap out for things that could be harder, but it's a frustrating start to the match. 

Turn 2 - Thousand Sons

I've weathered the first charge of the Tyranids and I'm still alive! My new mission is Big Game Hunter - so killing the Tervigon would do nicely (no easy task, but it's what I need to do anyway). I also have to Defend Objective 3, but that's swarming with Gargoyles, so I discard that at the end of my turn.

My Daemon Prince celebrates his lucky escape against the Genestealers by getting immediately out of dodge. My Defiler is too overwhelmed to move, but at least he can't get shot while he's swatting bugs.

The Heldrake flaps out of combat and perches on top of the hab-block, all ready to breath fire down on the Tyranid Prime. Elsewhere, I shuffle up the flanks: the Rubrics to take on the Gargolyes and the Cultists to try and threaten linebreaker (they'll only survive if Kraken forgets about them, but at least he'll have to divert something to deal with them).

In the Psychic Phase, its Weaver of Fates that gets shut down by The Deepest Shadow stratagem, which means I can at least cast Prescience to increase the Defiler's hitting chances. In more aggressive mood, a series of Smites smash into Genestealers - including a boosted Smite that drops their numbers down below ten, making them much more manageable in combat. I also Warptime the Rubrics into rapid-fire (and flamer) range of the Gargoyles.

But the power I really need to go off is Tzeentch's Firestorm for my Scarab Aspiring Sorcerer. It's a bit like an expensive Smite (although we're playing beta rules where Smite gets more expensive, so it can be cheaper), but you must roll 6s with nine dice.

If I pull this off, I can obliterate the final Tyranid Warrior, leaving my Terminators free to shoot. I cast the power and then roll - only two 6s. That's the last of my powers spent - but I have a stratagem - The Great Sorcerer - that allows me to cast one extra. I give it to my Scarab Sorcerer to cast Smite - he can only do one wound, but that's all he needs. And then it fails to cast.

In the Shooting Phase, the Heldrake coughs out a single hit that fails to wound, and most of the centre of the battlefield is locked in combat. My Rubrics take out their frustrations by gunning down about half the swarm of Gargolyes (who will ignore the hideous morale consequences due to my failure to kill the Tyranid Prime).

In close combat, my Scarah Occult rally round and beat up the last Tyranid Warrior, so I at least secure another point. The Defiler directs all his attacks against the Genestealers, killing six of them and scarcely taking any damage in return. I am concerned that he could end the game surrounded by Termagants that he'll never be able to finish off, but as long as he's still a presence, I might be able to mount a rescue.

Objectives secured: Tyranid Warriors Kill (1)

Turn 2 - Tyranids

This all appears to be going south! My lovely Genestealers are a spent force, and there's a strong risk they'll die uselessly against the Defiler before I can get them into a combat they would shine in. The Termagants aren't going to hurt it, the Tyranid Prime has no chums left, and the Gargoyles are badly depleted. 

Still lots left to play with, mind you! And most importantly, the Rupture Cannon...

The Gargoyles go and grab Objective 3 at last, and start camping. The Prime advances on the Terminators, ready to do what he can to hold them up - combat is actually his safest bet, they'll shoot him apart otherwise. 

The Termagants and Genestealers disengage. I shall hold this forever as a moment of shame, running Genestealers out of combat and into cover, but it's that or lose them. Sigh. 

But it pays off. The Tyrannofex effortlessly murders the Defiler with a single round of shooting, and even plinks the Heldrake with his stinger salvos. I also claim another wound off it with a Smite from the Tervigon, but elsewhere, shooting doesn't really achieve much. The Gargoyles can't hurt the Teminators any more than the Prime can. 

Worse, the damn Defiler explodes! And, thanks to his giant bootprint, takes three of the four remaining Genestealers with it. Gah.

Write 'Booooom' in the middle of this picture, and you've captured the moment perfectly. 

The Venomthropes ooze forward, in the absence of anything else to do, and the 'gants get ready to swarm, but can't shoot yet. The Prime wounds a Terminator, but that's his lot, and he's already pretty battered from overwatch shots earlier. So although I score a point for killing the Defiler, I don't really feel like I'm hitting my potential yet. 

Objectives - Defiler Kill (1)

Turn 3 - Thousand Sons

So long Defiler, at least you went out in a blaze of glory. My new objective is to Defend Objective 2, which should be simple as it's the corner of the field that indisputably mine.

I bring my Tzaangors out of the webway and into the Tyranid back line - I still have that Tervigon marked for death, and with their Relic Hunters rule, they might sneak in a few wounds. The Heldrake adjusts his perch so an easy charge on the big beast is on.

My Cultists continue to move up the table - not advancing this time, as I have that final Genestealer in my sights. The other Cultists camp around Objective 2. My Daemon Prince swoops off into the blind spot of the hab-block, keeping out of sight. The Rubrics nearest the Gargoyles move back into rapid-fire range, but ensure they are in range to heal up the Daemon Prince. Everyone else holds fast.

The Psychic Phase begins ... poorly. In my haste to keep the Daemon Prince hidden, I moved him into Shadow of the Warp range (totally unnecessary - he could have easily landed a few inches back). And of course that mean he only just failed his first spell - Gaze of Fate. This meant that he was also in Soul Hunger range and lost a further 3 wounds. After that, I wasn't about to risk any more spells with him.

Eager to recover some wounds, the Rubric's Aspiring Sorcerer attempts Temporal Manipulation and rolls double 6. I'm all out of re-rolls (gee, a Gaze of Fate would've been useful about now), so I have to take the full Perils, blowing up the Aspiring Sorcerer, and taking out one of his Rubrics, a couple of Cultists and the odd Gargoyle for good measure. I can't remember if he also tags the wounded Daemon Prince, but it really would be the crowning glory for his triage skills.

"Here, let me heal youuuuaaaaaaaaaarggghhhh my head is melting!"

After this heady excitement, the rest of my Psychic phase is muted. I pick up speed in the Shooting Phase, as my lowly Cultists gun down the last remaining Genestealer and my sans-Sorcerer Rubrics wipe out the last of the Gargoyles. Small fry, but it all nets me kill points and Scour the Skies. Speaking of fry, the Heldrake manages to burn a few more wounds off the Tervigon, who is finally starting to show the strain.

Yeah, half my wounds left doesn't feel like enough to make it all the way through, and he's my last synapse unit. Not good. 

The Heldrake then charges in, but the Tzaangor fall just short. In the ensuing combat, he rips off another couple of wounds while the two remaining Terminators hack down the wounded Tyranid Prime - that's another kill point, and two of the three Synapse/Shadow of the Warp creatures down (shame the last one's such a bugger to kill).

Objectives secured: Scour the Skies (1), Gargoyles Kill (1), Tyranid Prime Kill (1), Genestealers Kill (1)

Turn 3 - Tyranids

Well, I have a simple and obvious way to pull this back, and that's skittering forward and eating everything in my path. There's even handy new objectives, which are to kill something in the fight phase, and then take an objective in the back field of the enemy. I later ditch the Secure Objective 3 plan, though, there's nothing over that side of the field any more. 

Between smites and rupture cannon work, the Heldrake is toast as the Tervigon limps away from it. The Termagants find their range and murderate the cultists handily, but even with weight of fire, they don't do more than scratch the Rubrics ahead of them. 

I do pull out a surprise Venomthrope attack, though, the very first time they've hurt anyone in any of the games I've taken them in! A sneaky poison tentacle snaps out and takes the Daemon Prince down to his last wound. He's looking pretty scared now, I feel confident he's not going to be doing much except skulking and buffing for the rest of the game, which is good. He's one of the few things I'd trust to finish off the Tervigon at this point. 

A dribble of handy points is starting to emerge, but I'm way behind. Gotta kill them all...

Objectives: Heldrake and Cultists Killed (2), Scour the Skies (1)

Thousand Sons Objectives secured: Defend Objective 2 (2)

Turn 4 - Thousand Sons

I'm still stuck with Big Game Hunter, so high command gives me a lucky break with Master the Warp, which I reckon I might just about manage.

I'm ahead on points, but seriously deficient in big hitters, so my best plan is to melt away and hope for an early conclusion. My intact Rubric squad starts falling back towards the Archway, while the other one moves towards the Scarab Occult, using the hab-block to screen them. My Tzaangor move close to the Tervigon and my Daemon Prince carefully moves out of Shadow of the Warp range.

Then I get a plan: if my Disc Sorcerer can get close enough to the Tervigon (which would be perched on top of the hab-block), he can throw a Smite on him. This would mean that I'd be leaving my warlord open to getting shot by Rupture Cannon, but if my Daemon Prince were to then Warptime him back out of sight behind the hab-block, I'd have myself a good old 2nd Edition 'pop-up attack'.

Not happy with pretending to be Tyranids, now they're playing at being Eldar. Great. 

I put this into practice during the Psychic phase, and it actually works - three mortal wounds on the Tervigon and my Exalted Sorcerer chuckling from the blind side of the terrain piece. I then boost the Tzaangor's invulnerable saves with Weaver of Fates and call it a day - having secured maximum Master the Warp points, I don't want to push my luck.

Shooting reduces the Venomthropes to a lone gribbly on his last wound, and whittle away a few Termagants, just to force the Tervigon to spit out some more.

In the combat phase, the Tzaangor make their charge easily and land a boatload of hits on the Tervigon, but can't do much against the massive toughness of the beast. It won't be shooting next turn, but it may well be their last huzzah.

As a final squib, my D3 roll for Master the Warp comes out as 1.

Objectives secured: Master the Warp (1)

Turn 4 - Tyranids

Tzaangor? You hope to stop my majestic Tervigon with a rabble of mutant beakfaces? Hah! Calmly, the lumbering monster moves on, and shortly afterwards all the beastmen explode in a hail of beetle fire from the Termagants. Which is nice, because they can't actually see anything else to shoot. 

The lone Venomthrope charges the Daemon Prince, a surprise move that could pull a kill out of the bag, but I get countercharged by the Heroic Intervention of the Magister himself. Still worth it! For the sheer outrage factor. 

It's a quick and quiet phase otherwise, though. The Tyrannofex spatters fire over the Scarab Occults, but their armour mostly protects them. Obviously the Venomthrope dies without effect, but had it survived, it could have plinked a mortal wound off the big guy. 

This is looking increasingly like being a loss to me. The enemy is going to ground faster than I can find or kill it, but at least I'm not getting tabled either - Stylus simply doesn't have the time or firepower to take out the Tyrannofex and all those 'gants, I suspect. At least, as long as I can maintain synapse.

Objectives: Beastman Kill (1)

Thousand Sons Objectives secured: Venomthropes Kill (1)

Turn 5 - Thousand Sons

We're running and hiding, although my orders have different ideas, and issue me Vengeance Long Awaited - which I'll basically score if I kill a unit. This must be the worst time in the battle to receive these order, since I've already wiped everything within my capability and am now faced with the three most unkillable things in the Tyranid army.

I continue my plan of running and hiding - Rubrics and Exalted Sorcerer in the Archway, other Rubrics and Scarab Occult behind the hab-block, Daemon Prince in the lee of the hab-block and the Cultists among the ruins.

Not one to let repetition stand in the way of a good plan, I move to repeat my psychic pop-up. The Disc Sorcerer moves back into Smite range of the Tervigon and cracks his knuckles.

The Daemon Prince warms up with Gaze of Fate - and miscasts! Double 6 again! He promptly loses his last wound and disappears back into the Warp, taking a wound off the warlord and zapping another of the truncated Rubric marines, who must be sick of psychic backlash by now.

Somewhat stunned, the Exalted Sorcerer tries his Smite, but only takes off a single wound and is now left dangling before the entire Tyranid army.

There is one my psychic dice to throw - by Scarab Occult Sorcerer can cast his Tzeentch's Firestorm at the Tervigon. It goes off and I promptly roll nine dice and see no 6s (I got five 1s, if anyone's counting).

What little shooting remains achieves nothing and I can only wait to take my medicine.

Objectives secured: none

Tyranid Objectives: Daemon Prince kill (1)

Turn 5 - Tyranids

But with nothing to see, there's nothing to kill! The 'gants roam forward, and pick off a few cultists, but I don't really have range to them for the full horror of my firepower. I forget to try and charge the Rubrics ahead, but we were actually further off than the map makes it look, and it would have been a dicey attempt at best.

It would be remiss of me not to mention my warlord getting shot at by a freaking RUPTURE CANNON! But fortune swings back my way, and a combination of missed hits and great invulnerable saves means that my Sorcerer is, improbably, still alive on his Disc.

The wounded Tervigon is now struggling to keep up, but I at least score that objective I've been clutching since the beginning of the game - I get the Tyrannofex out of my deployment zone, and score the Advance. Nothing else is achieved! But there will at least be another turn, so there's still hope. 

Objectives: Advance (1)

Turn 6 - Thousand Sons

As my warlord struggles to believe his luck in surviving, he gets a specific command: Priority Orders Received + Secure Objective 3. There's a whopping four VPs to be had with this order, and as luck would have it, it's a short disc ride away.

Ignore the position of my Warlord on Disc - he's actually on Objective 3

I immediately advance my warlord in range to claim Objective 3 (the one surrounded by dead Gargoyles) and bring the last two Rubrics in front of him as a bodyguard. 

The Scarabs continue to slog around the hab-block, but its proving as obstructive for me as it is for the Tyranids. Only the Aspiring Sorcerer can get eyes on the Tervigon; the Hellfyre Missile Terminator has to settle for the Tyrannofex (who is never going down this battle).

I do manage to cast Tzeentch's Firestorm at the Tervigon - this time I manage a single mortal wound, so my luck's improving somewhat. The Hellfyre missiles take another wound of the Tyrannofex and that's me done.

Objectives secured: Priority Orders Received + Secure Objective 3 (4)

Turn 6 - Tyranids

Even at close range, I can't get the Termagants line of sight to a single foe. All those juicy beetles go unfired! The Tervigon is looking dire, hanging on a thread of its last three wounds, so hugs the building and crosses its claws for luck. 

And although I can see the Terminators, the Tyrannofex whiffs the shots, achieving precisely nothing. So a quiet turn for me, but even now, it's not the last - the fight lurches on into the seventh.

Objectives secured: none

Turn 7 - Thousand Sons

Final orders for me - Witch Hunter, as if killing the Tervigon hadn't been my priority for the whole game. Although the combination of  Big Game Hunter and Vengeance Long Awaited (plus Slay the Warlord and a standard kill point), means that the Tervigon is worth 5 VPs to me. 

I fly the warlord back to his precarious perch and try a Smite. It goes off, but only causes one wound! The Aspiring Sorcerer tries Tzeentch's Firestorm again, figuring that, by now, the laws of probability owe me a couple of 6s. Reality disagrees, and I get no mortal wounds on him.

It's down the my final shots of the game: the Hellfyre missile rack. Both missiles hit, both wound. One is saved. Final dice throw, and I need 3 or higher to kill this thing once and for all.

I roll a 2. Nooooo!

Objectives secured: none

Turn 7 - Tyranids

There's nothing to see! Nothing to do! The 'gants still can't draw a bead on the Rubrics, and even fail an easy charge, so can do nothing but grind their many many teeth.

As a clarification, the Termagants were now so close that at least half of them could peek around the Archway to shoot, and they all charged in, taking a half-dozen casualties to Overwatch. But with the combination of cover saves and All Is Dust, my Rubrics are as durable as Terminators. I lost perhaps one marine in both phases. At least it scores Kraken Linebreaker.

The Tervigon and Tyrannofex turn to face the enemy, but don't really achieve much. I fail my smite against the Magister, then the Rubrics are actually a bit closer and have to be shot at, which doesn't really impress anyone (I think the Rupture Cannon butchers one of them, but that's it). 

And then that is, finally and with something of a deflating feeling, it. 

"Jeff! Stick your head out and see if they've gone yet, will you?"

Objectives secured: Linebreaker (1)

Thousand Sons Objectives secured: Linebreaker (1)

Final total: 17 vs 8 VPs - a win for Thousand Sons!

Back At Bughunter's Bar

That was really something! One helluva match and it played out in a way neither of us were expecting. Who could predict that the Tyranids would find themselves penned into their own deployment zone, struggling to get out? Who could predict my Terminators would actually last a whole game? Who could predict that I'd blow up half my psykers with miscasts (actually, anyone familiar with my history in these battle reports).

Aye, it was a grand match. 2000 points is supposedly the ideal for 40K, and I can see why - more going on, a much lower chance of tabling, and it's a lot easier to acheive objectives with more stuff on the table. Despite my early drubbing, I was still very much in the game with a reasonable chance of pulling back all the way through, and it was very enjoyable despite the loss!

My getting the first turn was an important one - board control is so important in 8th edition and once the gribblies start running everywhere, you can kiss your objectives goodbye. Luckily I could play aggressive, and once the initial strikes were over, hide my damaged units to save kill points.

I can't remember experiencing such swings of luck in a game - my dice ran from very hot, to very cold, to downright treacherous and right back again. It seems an entirely fitting way to play Tzeentch.

Even though I find myself at the end of another victory where my forces are hiding behind cover and clinging onto victory points, I thinking maybe that's a decent playstyle for Thousand Sons: get in there and secure objectives, then rely on evasion and durability to survive a tabling.

I'm also thinking that daemon engines are a key part of the army, providing some solid multiple-wound targets that can dish out serious damage. They also make better use of the psychic buffs better than most of the other units. The Heldrake was a splendid nuisance along the backline and the Defiler earned his corn as always. I don't want to lean too heavily on them, but I am going to be tempted by a Maulerfiend or Helbrute in the next iteration.

I reckon if run and hide is your thing, transport tanks would be worth a look at (even if you don't like the models). Rhinos with flamers, for example, or a nice big Land Raider, very reliable and deadly. 

Tracked vehicles? Never! There are no roads on the Planet of the Sorcerers!

Playing with 1500pts was a lot of fun too, as was using the whole battlefield (and it turns out, we did use it all). It makes a difference having a few more elements in the army, to regroup and counterpunch, and it's worth the extra time taken (though I clearly need to expand my collection).

For my ten cents, I'd say that my army needed to be much shootier to take advantage of the Kronos keywords. The psychic defense was invaluable, but taking a Neurothrope instead of the Prime would have been a better idea. Equally, the Sporocyst would have done better in a quieter part of the battlefield, and actually sending the Genestealers forwards and into the squishier part of the enemy instead of getting torn up by the Defiler would have been wiser. I'm sure the Tyrannofex could have dealt with it in shooting anyway, and losing two turns of advance and fire from the 'gants was a sore loss. Still, hindsight and all!

Gorgon next for me, I'm thinking, there's some tempting tricks in there to examine. But not until I've painted some more of the swarm!

A ripper of a battle, and nice to get one over on the 'Nids (who I remain in terror of). Onwards Thousand Sons!