Biology 101 - Tyranids vs Creations of Bile

New edition, new(ish) army! It's Fabius Bile vs Hive Fleet Afanc!

Someone's gone and left their secret lab in the path of a Hive Fleet, the kind of careless forward planning you don't expect of a subtle mind like Bile's. Whose DNA is he after sampling? Or is this merely a field test of new subjects?

Either way, the Doctor will see you now!

A second helping of 9th for me, Kraken. I'm hosting tonight, taking my beloved Tyranids into the new dawn, whilst Stylus is borrowing the Alpha Legion but under strange new colours.

That is correct. I, Stylus, have been painting away on my Fabius Bile model, and when I realised Kraken had the original one (which has held up well, to be fair), I could resist giving Dr Fabulous a try.

These lists are costed under 8th ed points, so they're a bit bigger than you'll likely see for a thousand in the new system. All grist to the mill, though!

A back-of-the-envelope calculation showed that both our lists come in at around 1,150pts in 9th Ed currency - so we're having a balanced game in either system!

The Spider Who Loved Me - Creations of Bile

Thanks to the new rules in Psychic Awakening: War of the Spider (the whole Psychic Awakening series has been a bit of an odd fish, hasn't it?), if Fabius Bile is your warlord, you get to run your own legion 'Creations of Bile' with its own legion trait, stratagems and relics. These are all a bit one-dimensional, but if you like running forward and punching stuff, you ship has come in!

Alongside Bile (and his little helper), I brought two big packs of Possessed (Kraken assured me he has more than proxies in his chamber of horrors) who will be my main strike force. A Master of Possession and two Greater Possessed will further increase their potency - and I used the Supreme Creation stratagem on one of the Greater Possessed to make him even more deadly.

Some basic troops to sit on my objectives (I'm aware that holding these is key in 9th Ed) and with the remaining points, I brought a full squad of Noise Marines, who have always done well for Kraken and should help me hose away the little bugs.

• Fabius Bile (HQ) (Warlord)
  Rod of Torment, The Chirurgeon, Xyclos Needler, Surgeon Acolyte
  Warlord: Lord of Terror
• Master of Possession (HQ)
  Bolt pistol, Force stave
  Relic: Hyper-growth Bolts
  Powers: Cursed Earth, Infernal Power
• 10 x Chaos Cultists (Troops)
  Autoguns
• 5 x Chaos Space Marines (Troops)
  Champion with power axe, 3 x chainswords & bolt pistols, plasma gun
• 5 x Chaos Space Marines (Troops)
  Champion with chainsword, 4 x boltgun, autocannon
• Greater Possessed (Elite)
  Daemonic mutations
  Stratagem: Prime Test Subject
• Greater Possessed (Elite)
  Daemonic mutations
• 10 x Noise Marines (Elite)
  8 x Sonic Blasters, 2 x Blastmasters
• 10 x Possessed (Elite)
  Horrifying Mutations
• 10 x Possessed (Elite)
  Horrifying Mutations

Points: 1,000 | Level: 60 | Battle-forged - Prime Test Subject: 5 CPs

Hive Fleet Afanc - Tyranids

I'm appalled to discover that I still haven't used all the different Hive Fleets around. Leviathan hasn't had a crack at the lashwhip yet, so this is a termagant swarm list to test out their Disgusting Resistance Lite trait, Synaptic Imperative. 

Warriors to help hold the line, along with a Prime to babysit them. Then a Carnifex and a Tyrannofex to provide close combat and shooting punch respectively, and a final trio of Rippers for a bit of late game objective grabbing. 

Hive Guard complete the team, so this is a slightly more shooty list overall, capable of surging forwards and swamping the enemy with shots and bodies. The Tervigon gets a little extra resilience courtesy of the Dermic Symbiosis adaptation, as they can be a little prone to lascannonitis otherwise, but I'm quietly confident I can outlast the enemy with weight of numbers here!

• Tyranid Prime (HQ) (Warlord)
  Adrenal Glands, Deathspitter, Flesh Hooks, Lash Whip and Bonesword
  Warlord: Pathogenesis
• Tervigon (HQ)
  Massive Scything Talons, Stinger Salvo
  Power: Hive Nexus
  Adaptive Physiology: Dermic Symbiosis
• 3 x Ripper Swarms (Troops)
  Claws and Teeth
• 30 x Termagants (Troops)
  10 x Devourer, 20 x Fleshborers
• 4 x Tyranid Warriors (Troops)
  3 x Boneswords & Deathspitters, 1 x Rending Claws & Venom Cannon
• 3 x Hive Guard (Elite)
  3 x Impaler Cannon
• Carnifex (Heavy)
  2 x Monstrous Scything Talons, Adrenal Glands, Bone Mace, Spore Cysts, Tusks
• Tyrannofex (Heavy)
  Acid Spray, Stinger Salvo

Points: 1,000 | Level: 63 | Battle-forged: 6 CPs

Mission and Deployment

A random roll on the Incursion battles gives us Ransack. The primary mission is to hold the objectives, the red exclamations on the map above, which are set in a rough ring around the battlefield. 

All terrain is adhering as closely to the rulebook definitions as possible, with the buildings doubling as sort-of hills - nothing special about them other than they block line of sight. Otherwise there's a big wood in the middle, a line of Containers down the bottom and a Mechanicus Gantry round the northern building complex. 

The only special rule is the line of trees in the bottom right - they're extra tall and have the Obscuring trait, so you can't shoot through them. 

My Secondary Objectives are:

• Assassinate - kill off those characters, 3 VPs a pop
• Slay the Warlord - kill Bile for 6 VP
  although I realised afterwards that this is from the same set of Objectives as Assassinate and you can't take more than one from each set. So I learned that for next time!
• Thin Their Ranks - eat as much as I can, 1 VP for every ten dead

My Secondary Objectives are:

• Engage On All Fronts - 2VP if I have units in three table quarters and 6" from the centre at the end of my turn. 3VP if I have units in all four quarters 6" from the centre.
• Thin Their Ranks - 1VP for every ten bugs I stomp (including respawned ones!)
• Ransack - the mission-specific one. If I control one, two or three objectives in my opponent's half in my command phase, I get 2, 3 or 5 VPs respectively.

I deploy first, putting both big packs of Possessed in the centre, with all the characters clustered behind them. The Cultists go behind them, ready to run onto the vacated objective, and two Chaos Space Marines go either side, ready to grab their own objectives.

The Noise Marines go on the right flank,which offers the best field of fire. I considered putting them in Strategic Reserve, but I think I'll need all my guns on the table.

Deploying second, I basically camp a section of the army by each objective, with the Termies in the middle. The Hive Guard squat in cover on the big building to the north, with the two bigger bugs also hiding next to them, and the Warriors lurk behind the containers to the south. Rippers in deepstrike, as they should be!

Creations of Bile Turn 1

Under the watchful eye of their master, the two Possessed packs make huge advance rolls (and they're pretty quick anyway) and pile into the central woods.

Ever the busy bee, Bile continues to experiment on the move, and uses his Enhanced Warriors ability to permanently increase the Toughness of one pack of Possessed - that should help their survivability!

The backline support ambles up more sedately, securing my three objectives to start scoring them next turn. The Cultists in particular hunker down and hope they get overlooked this battle.

Cursed Earth is successfully cast, adding more protection to my assault line, and the only shots in range are the Noise Marine's Blastmasters (which are blast weapons - clue's in the name). 

The sonic wall of death picks off four Termagants (and now it doesn't seem pointless to kill little bugs - the Tervigon will replace them, but they're each worth 0.1VP!)

Objectives Scored: 0

Creations of Bile 0 : 0 Hive Fleet Afanc

Hive Fleet Afanc Turn 1

Okay, they're coming right for me. Unusually for 'Nids, I don't reckon I want to run in here - they're in shooting range, and that suits me just fine!

The wings of the army move forward, though, making sure the objectives are covered and giving the Tyrannofex line of sight on the Noise Marines. Alas, this also leaves it out of Synapse (not that it minds too much), as the Tervigon fails to cast the Leviathan power that expands the thought bubble. 

Shooting goes well - the Warriors take out 80% of the plasma marines, the Tyrannofex gets a great roll for acid spray and mulches half the Noise Marines, and the Hive Guard put a decent dint in one unit of Possessed and even a single monstrosity from the others from Tervigon spines. 

My dice had yet to warm up, and it was costing me a lot of my power armoured guys!

The Termagants unload into the treeline, and fail to take down anything at all! Then we brace for combat as a final Noise Marine flees, guitar firmly shipped for flight.

Crucially, the Chaos Space Marine (not the Champion, as I wanted to keep the plasma gun) passed his Morale test with Insane Bravery - so I've still got a foot on that objective (it's not like I've got any reserved to plug the gaps!)

Objectives Scored: 0

Creations of Bile 0 : 0 Hive Fleet Afanc

Creations of Bile Turn 2

That was a rough round of shooting, but at least I can start scoring for being on my objectives. 

The single Chaos Space Marine ducks behind the obscuring trees, where he can still be within 3" on the objective and not get shot away from it. The other full squad comes to double-up on the objective the Noise Marines are holding, and the Cultists jump over to the other side of the central objective, as they've spotted a better cowering position.

Jabbing needles into the other pack of Possessed, Fabius Bile also increases their Toughness for the battle (with a little help from his Surgeon Acolyte, these rolls are pretty accurate). Sadly, he's run out of units to experiment on, but I'll take that!

I use the Macrotensile Sinews stratagem on the lead pack of Possessed, so they can Advance and Charge (and add +1 to each). they leap forward and get right in the grill of the Termagants. Everyone else can't quite clear the woods (which despite offering lovely cover, also slows us down), so they sit tight for the next wave.

The Noise Marines try to whittle down the Tyrannofex, but their weapons could use some tuning, and only one wound is taken from the beast.

The Possessed make it into combat with the Termagants, and roll very high for their number of attacks. They don't hit quite so well (there was a stratagem that could have helped with that, which I must remember) and only bring down fourteen little bugs - of which Kraken saves six with his Synaptic Imperative.

So it wasn't quite a thunderclap, but the lines are engaged, and because I charged forward like mad, I am engaged in three table quarters, so get to score my first Secondary points.

Objectives Scored: 10 (primary) + 2 (secondary)

Creations of Bile 12 : 0 Hive Fleet Afanc

Hive Fleet Afanc Turn 2

Right, the 'ants fall back from combat, shielding the big momma. The Carnifex and Prime then surround the exposed Possessed, with the Warriors popping up over the barricades to lend fire support. 

My psychic phase is a bust again, when Hive Nexus is shut down by the Master of Possessed, so I have to lean hard on shooting again. But that's fine! The 'Fex scourges away most of the remaining marines opposite, and between venom cannons, deathspitters and impalers, I take out more than half the Possessed. 

The survivors get sandwiched between the Carnifex and the Prime, but with Cursed Earth on them, they don't go down easily. The Carnifex stamps a couple more down, after which they interrupt and very nearly take out the Prime! This shocks the poor dear into such a state that it can't land a single blow. That's not good, I was hoping to be done with this wave before the next lands.

All the same, I'm racking up a good kill tally so far. Those delicious characters can't be much further inside the crunchy shell...

Objectives Scored: 10 (primary)

Creations of Bile 12 : 10 Hive Fleet Afanc

Creations of Bile Turn 3

Right: clearly trying to weather the shots of a Tyrannofex is a bad idea (and it only took me twelve casualties to realise this) and I advance what remains of my Noise Marines and Chaos Space Marines out of the beast's threat range (they agree this is a very good idea and give me huge advance rolls).

As my last two Possessed from the first wave duck away from combat (with eyes on the objective behind the crates), my second wave of attacks races forward. The fresh mob of Possessed and the Greater Possessed with the Supreme Creation stratagem (the 'Supreme Possessed' from here on) go for the Carnifex and Tyranid Prime, while Bile, the Master of Possession and the other Greater Possessed veer towards the Tyranid Warriors.

I successfully cast Cursed Earth and Infernal Power, so I'm as buffed as I can be, and my shooting phase is limited to Bile plinking off two wounds from the Carnifex with his Xyclos Needler.

The charges hit like a freight train, and I remember to play The Master is Watching stratagem, which allows rerolls to hit within 12" of Bile. Added to Infernal Power (rerolling 1s to hit and wound), I should be seeing some results here.

And they don't disappoint: the Supreme Possessed (now at S8) smashes into the Carnifex and kills it outright! Bile's little entourage succeed in beating up all the Tyranid Warriors and the huge pack of Possessed have no trouble smashing the Tyranid Prime into the ground. The consolidate into the Termagants, since I'd rather give them a round of free hits than let them shoot at me.

I do interrupt with the Warriors, but they aren't really tooled to deal with a pack of characters! A mere scrape on Bile and a light tap on the MoP before they all fall off their wall.

That was a big chunk of damage inflicted on the bugs - and since I'm now in four table quarters (over-extended, you say?), I get 3VPs on the Engage on All Fronts objective.

Objectives Scored: 10 (primary) + 3 (secondary)

Creations of Bile 25 : 10 Hive Fleet Afanc

Hive Fleet Afanc Turn 3

Oh yes, I have Rippers! Remembering their existence at last, I pop them out in the back line, eyeing up that lone plasma gunner. 

The Termagants continue to fall back as the Tervigon births yet more of them, and I bring the Tyrannofex back. There are some characters who are starting to look a bit vulnerable there, I reckon I can pick off a few choice titbits with luck. 

So it proves - the Tervigon once again stuffs up her psychic powers, and I get to shooting. The Tyrannofex takes out three of the second wave of Possessed, and then the Hive Guard zero in on Bile himself. It's the character targeting rules again - Bile is too far away from his test subjects to shelter behind them, and the impalers open up. 

It takes a double tap, but the spines fall ever in my favour. Bile drops, and his minion is left to drag the porcupined body of his master to safety.

I was so smug when Bile fluked that first round of shooting. A painful lesson in the new rules on screening characters!

The Rippers fail their charge, and that's it for my turn. Not as punishing a response as I'd have liked, but solid all the same!

Objectives Scored: 10 (primary)

Creations of Bile 25 : 25 Hive Fleet Afanc

Creations of Bile Turn 4

I'm still scoring on my objectives, but with the impetus of my attack ebbing away, this is very much a case of clinging onto my tenuous lead.

Now the Tyrannofex has moved on, my Noise Marines feel brave enough to move back onto my right objective.

Everyone else pressed forward with the attack: the Supreme Possessed veers off to tackle the Hive Guard and avenge his master. The Surgeon Acolyte (who somehow survived) lopes off to secure the objective behind the crates. Both packs of Possessed and the Master of Possession eye up the Termagants for a charge.

In the shooting phase, I have to risk overcharging my Chaos Space Marine's plasma gun (since I need three wounds to remove a Ripper base and force a Morale check). He rides his luck and manages to incinerate one swarm.

In the Assault Phase, the mind games begin. I'm fearful of the Hive Guard's overwatch potential on my Supreme Possessed, but since Overwatch is now a stratagem, it can only be used once. So I try and temp Kraken into using it early by charging the Termagants with the smaller squad of Possessed.

He take the bait and Overwatches them - which nearly backfires on my when I lose three of four wounds and the final model staggers bloodily into combat (and then Kraken admitted he wouldn't have used Overwatch for the Hive Guard - so the joke's on me!)

Everyone else jumps into the fray: Supreme Possessed into the Hive Guard; Master of Possession and big pack of Possessed into the Termagants.

As before, there is much squishing of little bugs (I think I get them down to less than ten), but the Supreme Possessed whiffs badly against the Hive Guard and fails to bring down even one (I was expecting a clean sweep from this Carnifex-killer, but he's probably a bit knackered).

More Secondary points for being all over the place, and I'm done.

Objectives Scored: 10 (primary) + 3 (secondary)

Creations of Bile 38 : 25 Hive Fleet Afanc

Hive Fleet Afanc Turn 4

The Termagants are still fleeing, and now I've been driven off my central objective. Not good! I'm even getting chary about replacing them, because it's just feeding Stylus victory points. But the extra bodies will surely grab me the centre field again, so Momma coughs up more. 

She leaves space to get busy in, though, and it turns out she's been saving up her psychic prowess for the occasion. A mega smite totals the Master of Possession, which is timely! 

I've been suckered! Three turns of pretending she can't cast a psychic power for toffee and the Tervigon lures me into Smite range.

The Hive Guard fall back and continue to guard my northern objective, leaving the Tyrannofex where it can dissolve the Great Big Possessed with a quick burst of acid. There's still enough to spray the larger Possessed unit too, but they shrug it all off! 

Tervigons are not great combatants in my experience. Tough, yes, but effectual? Not usually. She's done well today, though - a final spine shot kills the limping Possessed on the end of the line, then she charges the Greater Possessed and shaves a wound off. Better than I've ever seen one perform, not that it's saying much!

Finally, a clash of true titans in the south east. The Rippers make their charge, determined to avenge their deep-fried brethren. Plenty of hits, almost no damage, but it's just enough! Stylus fails the lone save he needs, and I consolidate the scampering tide onto the objective.

That squad failed every 3+ armour save they were called upon to make. Maybe Bile shouldn't have replaced their ceramite with marzipan.

Objectives Scored: 5 (primary)

Creations of Bile 38 : 30 Hive Fleet Afanc

Creations of Bile Turn 5

Not much left to do but cling to what I've got and hope I don't get tabled! At least I score the full 15 VPs for holding more objectives than Kraken (and that brings me to the maximum 45pts for Primaries).

The Greater Possessed falls out of combat to jump into a fourth table quarter (for Engage On All Fronts), the Noise Marines blow away a chunk of Termagants and the remains of the Possessed chew through some more.

"Thank you Objective 2, you've been a wonderful objective. Good night!"

I also get to claim the Ransack secondary objective for holding two in my opponent's half of the field (although the amount of time I've spent here, Linebreaker would have been a better one to pick).

Objectives Scored: 15 (primary) + 3 (secondary) + 3 (secondary)

Creations of Bile 59 : 30 Hive Fleet Afanc

Hive Fleet Afanc Turn 5

The tension is pretty high now - I've put in some good work, but those primary objectives have slipped away from me a bit in the mid game. Only one solution - just keep eating! 

The Tervigon carries on smiting and chowing down Possessed, whilst the Tyrannofex blows bleach over the last of their Greater pals. That's all the characters in the sac, excellent. 

The Cultists have been quietly keeping their heads down, but don't think I haven't seen them. The Hive Guard fluff their shots rather, taking down a mere two, but that's enough to slap Synaptic Lure on them, and get an extra dice for a long charge with the Rippers. 

This is obviously destined to be an epic struggle for the ages, the true underdogs of the battle clashing for supremacy. But the Rippers don't impress - I take hits to overwatch, land a single hit that fails to chew through the cultist's T-shirt, then lose a base to the retaliation. 

Snack time's over, Hive. Let's see how you did!

Objectives Scored: 10 (primary)

Creations of Bile 59 : 40 Hive Fleet Afanc

Post-mission objectives

Looks like a landslide, doesn't it? But Kraken has been saving up all his victory points for the end game objectives: he's killed all four of my characters, including the warlord, and racked up 42 kills.

For my own end game points, I've killed 53 bugs (mostly Termagants over and over again).

Creations of Bile: Thin Their Ranks (53/10) = 5

Hive Fleet Afanc: Slay the Warlord (6) + Assassinate (4x3) + Thin Their Ranks (42/10) = 22

Creations of Bile 64 : 62 Hive Fleet Afanc

Result: Victory to Creations of Bile!

Locker Sac

If this is 9th, I like it! My list admittedly had just one dimension to it, but that's not a bad way to start learning. 

Such a close-run thing! I quite liked the see-sawing of points, and the amount of things you have to consider now (like keeping some boots on the backline objectives). The way it played out feels more narrative, and more coherent (much as I loved Maelstrom cards, they could send you in all directions). 

What a barnstormer! I really thought I'd swung it with all those (slightly illegal) character-killing points, but it wasn't to be. 

Talking it over, I probably would have done better to put the Tervigon in front of the Termagants. A single round of their full firepower could have helped put those Possessed down. Forcefeeding them into the VP generator didn't help either! Also, if I'd kept Stylus's backline free of marines with the Tyrannofex, who really could have had free rule back there, the Primary objectives might have fallen in my favour. 

Typical really - always thinking with my stomach! I focussed on the secondaries, and let the battle slip away from me. 

I'm really sold on the Creations of Bile army - I never thought I'd see Chaos Space Marines pressuring Tyranids in melee as they tried to fall back and shoot - such a topsy-turvy game. With their speed and hitting power (and the fact that Dr Fabius will lend his services to anyone, so there's no restriction on Legion), I could have a lot of fun with him.

Cracking fun, though. Swift at three hours, tense and close as the best ones always are, and I see real potential in this mission system. My hope is that new codices will bring new Secondary Missions specific to each army, I think that would be a great way to play to the strengths and fluff of different armies. 

More 9th soon, please!