A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall: Tyranids vs Imperium

In the desperate last moments of the Zamaroon Campaign, the Imperium flings an army of its finest troops into the seething teeth of a Tyranid nest. Can they wrest the Research Compound from the vicious remnants of the xenos within? Or will they perish without?

Let's see!


For the fourth of five battles in this campaign, we're using one of the fights from Vigilus Defiant. It's Storm the Lines, a Crucible of War game that we're playing as Matched Play, on the grounds that we're grown-ups who need grown-up rules for Men. 

I, Stylus, am on a bit of of hot streak for the Imperium: we've secured the main compound, received resupply, and even survived our slightly-premature declaration of victory. Now comes the hard part: we need to force a path into the Deep Research Access centre and get into the heart of the hive.

As the back-footed defender here, I'm tasked with keeping all the attacking force out of my back line. But also out of my front line, as that's important too. There are a few bonus strategems about for flavour, as well as some interesting win conditions. But let's see the armies before we get bogged down in the nitty-gritty of how you claim a triumph!

Try-Hardernids

It's not been the finest showing for Hive Fleet Afanc in this campaign so far. Three-nil down, beaten back to our dens and frankly desperate for a better showing. 

But what do I have that can possibly surprise Stylus? He's seen the best and worst of my collection (Hive Tyrants and small Gargoyle squads, respectively). I'm expecting Imperial Soup, so I need to have both anti-infantry to mow down the Stormtroopers and anti-armour to eat up the Marines. At the same time, I need to repel them from my half of the board, and that's not an easy job against tough, mobile opponents. 

In the end, I use my go-to Genestealer squads, two big ones, plus the castle of worms that is the big Termagant blob with Tervigon and Venomthrope babysitters. A Hive Tyrant, a walky-shooty one (they're coming to me, I won't need wings) and a Tyrannofex for armoured pain-dealing. Hive Guard (they're new and need to redeem their last outing), but with the vehicle-killing Shock Cannons. 

And my wild card? It's a Sporocyst. Not because I think it's good (or even that wild), but because the mission rules give me an extra three command points for taking a fortification detachment! That's got to be worth it!

Battalion Detachment

• Hive Tyrant (HQ)
  Massive Scything Talons, twin Devourers with Brainleech Worms, Warlord with the Instinctive Killer trait, Onslaught and The Horror powers
• Tervigon (HQ)Crushing Claws, Stinger Salvo, The Ymgarl Factor and Catalyst
• 18 x Genestealers (Troops)
  4 x acid maws
• 18 x Genestealers (Troops)
  4 x acid maws
• 30 x Termagants (Troops)
  12 x Devourers, 18 x Fleshborers
• 3 x Hive Guard (Elite)
  Shock Cannons
• 3 x Venomthropes (Elites)
• Tyrannofex (Heavy)
  Acid Spray and Stinger Salvos

Fortification Detachment

• Sporocyst
  5 x Barbed Stranglers and a bonus three command points!

Points: 1500 | Battle-forged + Battalion + Fortification Bonus: 11 CPs

Imperial Assault

After two previous missions of single faction, I'm back to Imperium United once again (although no more Assassins ... I would just feel bad about it).

I haven't used Inceptors and Reivers yet, and their deepstrike ability will be useful to get upfield in a hurry. To maximise my deepstrike, I'm also taking three Tempestor squads to grav-chute in (minimum-size, ignore the picture below - they're just photobombing the group shot).

The only other part of the Imperium - other than the ubiquitous pals Badger and Bleeth - are a trio of Bullgryns. They shone against the Hive Tyrant last time, so I'm hoping for them to do some bug-stomping again. So they can get into combat quick, I gave them a Taurox (a common one, so I lose my Tempestus keyword to do it).

For the Space Marines, the standard Captain and Lieutenant, with three squads of Intercessors and trio of flamer Aggressors (I'd take more, but that's all the models they are).

I also technically gave my Captain the warlord trait and relic, but forgot about applying them.

Crypt Angels: Adeptus Astartes - Salamanders

• Captain Corleandro - Captain in Gravis Armour (HQ)
  Boltstorm gauntlet, Master-crafted power sword
  Warlord: Anvil of Strength
  Relic: The Salamander's Mantle
• Lieutenant Segrasso - Primaris Lieutenant (HQ)
  Master-crafted auto bolt rifle
• Squad Tredecim - 5 x Intercessor Squad (Troop)
  Auto Bolt Rifle, Auxiliary Grenade Launcher, Sgt with Power Fist
• Squad Fortuna - 5 x Intercessor Squad (Troop)
  Auto Bolt Rifle, Auxiliary Grenade Launcher, Sgt with Power Fist
  Battle Honour: Sharpshooters
• Squad Hudde - 5 x Intercessor Squad (Troop)
  Auto Bolt Rifle, Auxiliary Grenade Launcher, Sgt with Power Fist
• Squad Exustio - 3 x Aggressor Squad (Elite)
  Flamestorm Gauntlets
• Squad Quimetit - 5 x Reiver Squad (Elite)
  Bolt Carbines, Heavy Bolt Pistols, Grapnel Launcher, Grav Chutes
• Squad Nix - 3 x Inceptor Squad (Fast)
  2 x Assault Bolter
• Squad Siccatus - 3 x Inceptor Squad (Fast)
  2 x Plasma Exterminator

9th Hagan Lampreys: Militarum Tempestus

• Colonel Bunny 'Badger' Crossley-Blythe - Tempestor Prime (HQ)
  Chainsword, Tempestus Command Rod
  Warlord Trait: Faithful Servant of the ThroneAdditional Ability: Hard to Kill
  Relic: Kurov's Aquila
• Commissar Bleeth - Lord Commissar (HQ)
   Plasma pistol, Power fist
• Z.I.S.S. - 5 x Militarum Tempestus Scions (Troop)
  1 x Hot-Shot Lasguns, 2 x Hot-Shot Volley Guns, Vox-Caster, Sgt with Chainsword and Plasma Pistol
• Squad Rogers - 5 x Militarum Tempestus Scions (Troop)
  1 x Hot-Shot Lasguns, 2 x Meltaguns, Vox-Caster, Sgt with Chainsword and Plasma Pistol
• Squad Tyneberry - 5 x Militarum Tempestus Scions (Troop)
  1 x Hot-Shot Lasguns, 2 x Plasma guns, Vox-Caster, Sgt with Chainsword and Plasma Pistol
• Beef Sandwich - 3 x Bullgryns (Elite)
  Bullgryn Maul, Slabshield; Grenadier Gauntlet, Brute Shield; Bullgryn Maul, Brute Shield
• Doris - 1 x Taurox (Transport)
  2 x Autocannons, Heavy Stubber

Points: 1500 | Level: 79 | Battle-forged + Battalion + Battalion + Mission Bonus: 14 CPs

Mission and Deployment

Storm the Lines has some interesting things going on. What seems on first glance like a standard 'can you battle past a tough defender' mission has a couple of twists that make it pretty tough on said defender. 

So the Attacker wins if, at the end of a 5+ turn game, they have even a single model in the Defender's back deployment zone. That's already a tough one for the Defender! But they get to set the battlefield up as a consolation. 

Maybe I could have been even more fiendish, but an impenetrable fortress wall with only a single door seemed good enough defenses for me. It represents the side of the mountain the Zamaroon Deep Research base is built into, and nothing can shoot or move across it (even if they might otherwise be able to do that). 

Here's the field with the zones marked on

The bulk of the Defender's forces set up here, but there's a secondary defense line in the middle. Here, I can set up a maximum of one third of my power value, but don't let the word 'secondary' fool you. If there aren't any Attackers in the main base when the game ends, instead we compare deployed power value in this secondary zone. Whoever has the most wins!

So it's tricky for the Defence. Yes, you can sit back to an extent and shoot whatever is coming in. And the Attacker can't deep strike into any of your deployment zones, which means Stylus will be footslogging in. But he can also return destroyed units to the field as reinforcements, usually from his own (worthless) back line. I'll need to keep my own losses minimal if I'm to be able to outscore him in the middle, as well as keeping the back properly Imperium-free!

I feel terrible putting unpainted terrain out, but needs must sometimes, and at least it's decent looking stuff even without a lick of slap. The Iron Labyrinth from TTCombat is made for Necromunda, but can build upwards as well as sideways, so you can make nice castles and gates with it, as seen above. You won't see it again until it's all painted, which will be a while. This is about a third of the full set!

To this end - all the Genestealers lurk in Infestation Nodes, so I can pop them out later once I know where he's deepstriking from (see later notes for some difficulties here). The Tyrant and Hive Guard lurk forwards, protected by some handy buildings, and everything else stays hidden and dangerous. Particularly the Sporocyst, who can cover the entire back field with its guns and churn out spores all game.

I keep it simple: everything that can deepstrike, goes into deepstrike. Everything else weights the left flank: Bullgryns and Commissar load up in the Taurox, and all the footslogging Primaris surround the vehicle. There's not enough of me to spread out the lines, and for once, I don't really have to worry about Tyranids popping up from behind.

I end the deployment phase by spending 2 CP on a mission-specific stratagem: Dawn Assault (essentially applies the Dawn Raid rules - everyone on -1 to shoot in the first turn).

Then it's a simple dice roll to see who goes first. 1-3 is me, and that's what we get!

Hive Fleet Afanc - Turn 1

The volcano smoked ominously over the teeming jungle. 

The sides were black rock, burnt clear of vegetation by some recent eruption. Why the research archives had been built underneath something so volatile was anyone's guess, but so it had been. A marvel of Mechanicus design, proofed against lava and earthquake, and entirely capable of sealing in legions of vicious xenos creatures. 

On paper, at least. 

How had they escaped their confinement? Nothing in the archives the search had revealed so far had an answer. Now he could actually see the entrance to the base, Commissar Bleeth couldn't see any evidence of damage. The main hangar doors were wide open. Other than the beak-faced gliding lizards that infested the jungle around here, there was nothing moving apart from the rolling plume of smoke from the volcano high above. 

"Forward to victory," he said, and patted the side of the Taurox. 

Nothing to do but lurk for me in turn one. There's a bit of rules ambiguity as to whether bringing Genestealers in through nodes would count as Deep Strike (my feeling is that it would), and I'm not even sure it's the right moment anyway. Popping up and taking long shots with the Hive Guard won't do much in the dim light of dawn, the Tyrant is going to be out of range, and there's no point exposing myself to a round of shooting. So I content myself with doing absolutely nothing! 

Imperial Assault - Turn 1

-- Captain Corleandro to all units. I want this tight and by the numbers. All units advance with me in battle order and ... what is that Taurox doing? --

++ Commissar Bleeth to Crypt Angel support teams! The Bullgryns have taken over the wheel...++

++ FLOOR IT YOUSE MAGGOTS! ++

I kick off with another mission-specific stratagem: Cover Ground. If you advance with a unit, you gain an extra 6" move (and that's on top of the advance roll). So the Taurox tears forward like a Shokkjump Dragsta, right into the grill of the Tyranid forward positions.

The rest of the army jogs forward as best it can. There's very little firepower in effective range, and with the penalties for advancing and Dawn Raid, it's another surprisingly bloodless first turn.

Hive Fleet Afanc - Turn 2

"There!" Bleeth shouted, gesturing with his pistol. 

Over the roof of the outer observation station clambered a trio of monstrosities. Their forelimbs were festooned with ganglia and twitching, entrail-like pipes. Living guns of a form, he knew even before they unleashed a crackling barrage of spines at the Taurox. 

The tank rocked. Each spine was still attached to the monster that fired it by a length of living rope, and even as the tank powered towards them, letting the cables go slack, they pulsed with energy. The engine sparked and flared violently, then the bonnet blew open and the Taurox swerved to a halt. The driver staggered out of the doorway, coughing smoke. 

Ahead of him, round the side of the same building the monsters were roaring on top of, came an even larger beast. A Tyrant!

It raised a pair of scythed talons, each as long as the Taurox, and anchored itself against the supports of the observation deck that ran along the building's side. A second pair of limbs came up, each ending in a dripping honeycomb of orifices. The Taurox driver perished in a terrible hail of buzzing maggots, and the burning remains of the tank sagged and hissed under the caustic barrage. 

Bleeth grimaced, then barked an order into his lapel vox. "Bullgryns, dismount! Charge the foe!"

The back doors of the Taurox banged open, and the heavily-armoured Ogryns stormed out, bellowing. As though in response, almost the entire jungle around the compound doors roared back. Carapaced creatures burst out of holes in the ground, dozens of them. And the shadowy recesses of the research base itself were suddenly alive with movement.

"Stand firm!" Bleeth shouted. They were outnumbered on the ground. But the Lampreys were in the air...

Right - time to get going. It's maybe a risk to pop both Genestealer units up early, but it also spreads my anti-deepstrike bubble pretty wide. As the 'Fex and 'gants spill out of the base, it's an easy enough ask of the Guard and Tyrant to shoot the Taurox to bits. No wonder the Scions lost their keyword, being asked to ride about in such a flimsy jeep!

Nothing much else is in range, so I'll just have to try and ride out the inevitable counterpunch...

Imperial Assault - Turn 2

-- Well, there goes the element of surprise. All Intercessor units take aim at those artillery bugs, I want them cleared off the roof. Sergeant Exustio, take point with your Aggressors. You'll have an assault to weather once that large xenos has stopped eating our Bullgryn allies.--

-- Lieutenant Segrasso reporting. Both Inceptor squads have hit their drop zone, and cleared out a pack of Genestealers. They brought in one the grav-chute Scions with them, but the other missed their target completely and are between the xenos forces. --

-- May the Emperor protect them -- 

I took the Hive Mind's first hit - now we can get down to business! I drop the Plasma Scions in the middle of the two scoring zones, with limited hopes for their survival. I also put the Volley Gun Scions, Bolter Inceptors and Plasma Inceptors on the edge of the secondary scoring zone, ready to unleash hell on the Genestealers.

The main part of my line moves forward, and the Bullgryns hoof it to within an easy charge of the Hive Tyrant.

In the shooting phase, the Plasma Scions have a poor run, failing to scratch the Tyrannofex, but blowing up one of their own.

The wall of dakka that I've assembled in front of the Genestealers does considerably better, and the whole unit goes down in the face of massed hot-shot, bolt round and plasma fire.

On the other side, I put every bolt round and krak grenade my Intercessors have into the Hive Guard, but they're in cover and proving a tough nuts to krak (sic). I eventually manage to reduce the unit to a single model on two wounds ... but find I've run out of guns.

I then remember my Commissar, and a situation that is tailor-made for overcharging a plasma pistol. Sure enough, the hero of the hour executes the last Hive Guard on suspicion of being a Filthy Xenos.

There's only one charge to make, but it's a big one. The three Bullgryns smash into the Hive Tyrant, ready to wreck face just like old times.

Unfortunately, it appears Bullgryns are no good without their little buddy, the Priest, to help them. The three Abhumans whiff hopelessly, knocking a couple of wounds off the big bug before all three of them get promptly eaten.

Well, it takes a bit of chewing. I pop the stratagem for an extra round of combat on the Tyrant, then follow it up with giving him a bonus round of movement plus advancing. Expensive, but it springs him right up in the grill of the incoming Imperials, and I sense a due amount of trepidation from Stylus's end of the comms link!

Hive Fleet Afanc - Turn 3

"Keep holding! Not a step back!" Bleeth snarled. The tide of bugs sped towards him and he snapped off a shot from his pistol, but the target rolled under it with contemptuous ease. 

The Tyrant sprayed a final round of scratching beetles into the Intercessors before charging home. The Marines braced, firing at close range even as the monster's deadly talons started swiping. They made it look like a training exercise, moving round it and avoiding its deadly swings, switching to pistols and firing into its armoured legs without breaking their momentum. 

Bleeth wished he had their armour. The genestealers were too close now, he could smell their weird, chemical smell and hear the clatter of their claws as they darted towards him. 

And only him, he suddenly realised. Rather than fanning out to engage the line, the entire pack was closing in on him. With an oath, he snapped off another fruitless plasma blast, then powered up his sword. 

His first blow was a classic opening move, straight from the Hagan Sabre School, designed to either kill the opponent or open it up for a second, killing, strike. Bleeth never made the second blow. The Genestealer flipped sideways, seizing his wrist in an iron grip that shattered his wrist as it spun. The Genestealer behind it dived straight into him, bearing him to the ground, and started ripping with its claws. 

Hooray for the bug tide! Not a bad round in some ways, I've got plenty of threat on the field. Although I am still smarting from losing half my genestealers. 

Which is why, despite a good charge, a nicely eaten Commissar (for bonus CPs) and the opportunity to follow up into the gunline, I bottle it a bit. I've seen what full squads of Primaris can do in close combat, and decide to merely gang up on the Aggressor rather than gift the enemy a free round of whaling on the bugs. 

My shooting was mostly out of range, but the Tyrannofex easily pukes over the Scions for a quick kill. I do manage a tiny spatter of 'gant shots on the Inceptors, but they shrug it off easily. 

Imperial Assault - Turn 3

-- They're swarming, sir! They're swarming out the Research Centre! --

-- Thank you, Segrasso, I think we've deduced by now this installation was not quite the empty box we'd been told to expect. --

++ I say, any Crypt Angels on the Vox? This is the Badger and I'm afraid my chaps ans I have dropped knee-deep into the soup. Any chance of a rescue before we end up in some Xeno's tuck box? ++

-- We have own lines to clear, Colonel. All squads - follow me in! We're taking down that Hive Tyrant! All Inceptors, establish a fire base and clear out the Genestealers on our flank! --

++ It's just ... it would look rather poor form in the Mess if word got back that you stood by and let us get eaten ... ++

-- Very well. Vox the Reivers to grav-chute in and cover your withdrawal. --

++ Jolly good. But we're not withdrawing anyway until my melta boys have done some bug-hunting. Over and out. ++

And the bugs just keep coming. But luckily, so do I. Although not this turn, as I fail all the rolls to respawn my dead units.

I pull the Aggressor Sergeant (why do I always end up with just an Aggressor Sergeant?) back from the Genestealers, to open them up to gunfire. However, I stay in combat with the Hive Tyrant, because I'm feeling confident enough to take him on.

My Inceptors fly over to support the ground effort, and the Volley Gun Scions edge cautiously forward. Rather more boldly, I drop the Melta Scion right on top of their slain plasma comrades, with a squad of Reivers to give them backbone and Col. Badger for moral support.

In the shooting phase, it's the same story - near-all the Genestealers are shredded by the massed firepower of the Primaris, although that leaves me none to spare for the oncoming Termagants.

Over in the backlines, the Melta Scions have better luck than their predecessors and burn four wounds off the Tyrannofex.

In the assault phase, literally everything I have charges the Hive Tyrant and Genestealer remnants: Captain, Lieutenant and two squads of Primaris all make big charge distances to get into the fight. The Genestealers are quickly dispatched, and with the amount of power fist attacks I can bring to bear, added to the HQ re-rolls, and the Salamander rerolls, I actually manage to smush the Hive Tyrant with relative ease.

There are some massive bugs left on the board, but that's the first wave pretty much wiped out for relatively little loss.

Hive Fleet Afanc - Turn 4

The Crypt Angels reloaded as they marched past the fallen Commissar. His power sword still crackled, clutched in his broken arm. One of the creatures had torn open the side of his skull and appeared to have eaten part of his brain. As they strode relentlessly forward, one of the Intercessors cracked a bolt round into a still crawling Genestealer, putting it down for good. 

The sky was full of the glow of grav-chutes. The Scions were deploying in full force now, and the heavy drone of Valkyrie engines could be heard, approaching from behind the volcano. 

A sea of lesser bugs had poured out of the research bunker. They were only half visible, shrouded in a fug of dark brown fungal smog that seemed to match the hue of the rumbling volcano above. Within the cloud, larger shell-backed monstrosities could be seen, coughing out toxic spores and spines against the tightening noose of Imperial soldiers. 

The front ranks started dropping, faltering as the vast pack of Termagants got into range. Scions screamed as voracious fleshborer beetles started tearing past their armour. The Inceptor squads buckled under the weight of fire, bracing to make another jump to safety. Before they could ignite their jump packs, a torrent of brackish acid covered them, melting armour and flesh into pools. 

But there was no time to mourn the fallen. Reload drill completed, the Intercessors closed in on the bugs. 

---

These endless waves of Imperial soldiers are getting me down! How many do I have to kill before they run dry? Wretched horde armies, no fun to play against. 

Wait! I'm a wretched horde army! And I still have the backline in play!

The Termagants are now in range, so they get gunning. There's nothing like twelve heavy stubber equivalents to get you back in the game, and sure enough, I make a hearty mess of the two inceptor units. Then I use the last of my CPs for a second round of fire, which is much less impressive. Probably because I split the fire, and patter off a lot of Intercessor armour for not much gains. 

The Tyrannofex helps out a bit by skewering a few Scions here and there, before mopping the Inceptors down to a lone survivor, but that's it. Not bad, but there's still melta threat around, and plenty of Marines incoming...

Imperial Assault - Turn 4

-- Captain, the Tempestus reinforcements are arriving! --

-- Well, let's plough the field for them. Everyone target the swarm. Repeat: the swarm is now a free fire zone. --

++ Bunny here again, Captain. We've been cooking up this large bug with the cannon-thingy, but he's looking a mite peeved. Any chance you could spare us a little plasma? Much obliged. ++ 

Reinforcements have arrived! Plasma Scions, Bullgryns and the Taurox all return - probably too late to influence the battle, but I might be able to race them into the secondary scoring zone and weight the power level in my favour.

More crucially, I get my Bolter Inceptors back immediately! I spend two CP on my third mission stratagem: Outflanking Reinforcements, meaning my reserves can come in from any board edge, not just the back one. I pop them in between the scoring zones, and since they can deploy up to 6" in, their guns are still in range of the Termagant swarm.

Speaking of which, all my surviving Primaris also move to gang up on the swarm, including the lone Aggressor, who gets the Cover Ground stratagem to race into flamer range.

Also in the backfield, my Reivers go to ground, while my two remaining Melta Scions show considerably more bravery and move towards the Tyrannofex.

My initial shots are aimed at the Venomthropes, to make the rest of my shooting more effective. Although they prove to be hard to hit (duh!) and it takes quite a lot of my guns to get rid of them.

When there's only one left, I give up and start shooting the Termagants (at least it can't screen the Tyannofex any more). But I only have enough small arms to wipe out half the Termagants - so I'll have to brave the Overwatch if I want to get rid of them (and I do - or else all my hard work will just get respawned by the Tervigon). In better news, the two Melta Scions rip into the Tyrannofex, leaving my Plasma Inceptor Sergeant to overcharge (and not die!) and kill it.

Charging in with everything, I lose two Primaris to the Devourer overwatch, but everyone else makes it in, and stomps the little bugs into paste. Do your part!

Hive Fleet Afanc - Turn 5

There were still a few drifting groups of spore mines floating out of the complex doors, but the tide of bugs appeared to be dwindling. Whatever was left in there was lying low. 

Captain Corleandro murmured a few terse orders into his vox, and the Marines snapped into a firing circle, closing in on the last brood mother. Rearing high on its legs, the Tervigon displayed a hideous, rippling stomach that was already convulsing with the birth throes of a fresh wave of spawn. A tight corona of psychic energy shimmered around its chitinous brow. 

Then it thumped home into the turf and charged, a huge pair of snipping claws held aloft. 

The Marines stopped instantly in place, bolters blazing. Rounds sparked off the armoured shell of the creature as it cannoned into the nearest squad, snapping one of them up and attempting to tear him in half. The noise of tortured ceramite creaked over the gunfire. 

"Execution protocols," Corleandro said. The Marines advanced. 

With but a lone HQ left to do all my dirty work, I make a good fist of it. Alas, it's the Iron Fist Netflix series, i.e. a flappy lot of tosh acted out by good-looking models. 

The Tervigon manages to Catalyse itself, then utterly buggers up hand-to-hand. Decent hit rolls, decent wound rolls, then I let myself down with damage and inflict a pitiful two wounds. One on an Inceptor, one on an Intercessor, and not even a single model off the board! Even the surviving Venomthrope outdoes that, finishing a wounded Intercessor, before being punched down in return. 

I think the last round may be about to commence. 

Imperial Assault - Turn 5

-- The tide is ebbing, Lieutenant. Clear this wave and we've breached the facility. --

-- It's still a powerfully big xenos, Captain. --

-- Not to a son of Nocturne, Segrasso. We eat creatures this size for breakfast. All Crypt Angels - pile in and grab a leg! --

++ Good show, Captain. I'll take it from here. ++

-- Stand down, Colonel! You're not going inside without an escort. --

++ Afraid not, old sock. It's above your pay grade. Takes more than a bolt rifle and a betcher's gland to poke around the Zamaroon Facility, what? Still, I'm sure you'll get a partial report of whatever went on here. Toodle-pip! ++

-- Colonel, acknowledge. COLONEL, ACKNOWLEDGE! --

The job has become very straightforward: everything gathers around the Tevigon and gets ready to clobber it.

The reinforcements race to join me but, even riding in the Taurox, aren't going to get there in time (a common problem with Sustained Assault).

What little shooting I do have is enough to remove the last Venomthrope, and the spore mines, who have finally floated into a position where they can threaten me.

Everything piles into the Tervigon, but it proves a bit more of a tank than the Hive Tyrant, and I'm not quite able to finish it off.

In return, it fails to get the satisfaction of killing my warlord, as the Iron Halo saves my scaly Salamander hide.

The beast is still alive, but pretty much done for. And to top if off, Col Badger is able to walk through the doors of the Deep Research Base unimpeded. With just a Sporocyst to stop me, and heavily outnumbered in the secondary scoring zone, Kraken concedes the fight.

Result: Victory to the Imperium

Aftermath

Ach, that was brutal. I'm more convinced than ever that Scions and Primaris are very good compliments for each other. I'm also increasingly enjoying playing all-infantry Primaris - the vehicles don't do much for me, but the squads can really kick out some damage. It's a small tweak, but I think allowing power fists for the sergeants has helped a lot - giving them a real close-combat threat to go with their durability and firepower.

It was a tough scenario for Kraken to face - defensive doesn't really play to Tyranid's strength (mind you, neither does footslogging across the breadth of a field for Primaris - we deliberately inverted the scenario). But I had more ways to get upfield (love that turbo boosting stratagem!)  and there just wasn't enough firepower to bring me down. Once I'd survived the first turn without a scratch, I knew I was in a good place.

And it's strange for Nids to be short on bodies, but there just weren't enough units to push back at me and create a deepstrike bubble. That, combined with the endless reinforcements rule (although it only affected the Inceptors - and very hand too) meant that I had no trouble getting into the scoring zones.

Still, it's always fun against the bugs - masses of dakka and plenty of carnage. I think my most feared unit is the humble Termagant. As long as the Tervigon lives (and it's hard to remove), it's pointless even trying to whittle them away until you're sure you can do significant damage. And their return fire can be devastating. I was less impressed with the fearsome Genestealers, but then I did do everything in my power to remove them before they could have an impact.

Onwards to victory!

You know what, I am certainly playing bang on form! 

Stylus is a formidable foe these days. Not a single error of judgement these days, and he knows too well what I'm bringing to the field and how best to target it. I think Hive Fleet Afanc may need to regroup and rethink before coming out against these massed infantry lines again. Maybe a few Carnifexes? Even a Haruspex?

In retrospect, I definitely should have tied up the gunline marines with the Genestealer charge. Yeah, they'd have killed a few of us in return, but less than they would have with full shooting as well as charging in too, plus I'd have saved the Tyrant. A bad decision that turned the tide firmly against me, I fear. 

Zamaroon is all but a foregone conclusion as a campaign, I fear. But there are still the horrors in the Deep Research Base to be investigated and/or burnt to a crisp. What will Badger discover in the vaults below the surface?