Light the Lampreys: Tempestus Scions vs Tyranids

All across Drawbridge, spaceport defence systems shut down. Deprived of their automated turrets, landing pads were smashed to rubble by falling sporocysts or strafed by Harpy flybys. Those spared devastation from above were overrun from within, Genestealers emerging from supply tunnels to devour personnel or tear apart vital maintenance rigs. 

One single terminal remained open, saved for the time being by the desperate sacrifices of the Mantis Warriors - Cullis, a relatively small port on the northern continental mass. It was here that the Hagan Lampreys would have to deploy. 

Overhead, their strike cruiser Millstone of Guilt fought in low orbit to keep a space lane open. Valkyrie strike squadrons raced from hangers in a trio of Imperial Navy cruisers, but their time was limited. Hive Fleet Afanc already dominated the skies, and the larger ships would have to withdraw in scant hours. 

On the ground, the story was no less dire. The remaining defenders of Cullis could see what appeared to be a massive cloud rolling swiftly towards their now-open gates. Somewhere between a dense sandstorm and a black thundercloud in appearance, it would certainly overwhelm the last spaceport. 

Unless the first Lampreys to arrive could create a beachhead in time...

Part three of the Drawbridge campaign! And it's me, Kraken, playing me, Pootle, in an incursion battle as the Scions finally join the fray!

With Clouds Descending

I'm staying in charge of the Tyranids for the moment. This is a big and unsubtle list - a massive horde of Termagaunts and Rippers backed up by their big momma Tervigon, a bit of psychic artillery in the form of a Neurothrope and a trio of Zooanthropes, and then a final pack of Venomthropes to provide cover for everything. 

Simple army, simple tactics - roll forward shooting, and don't stop until I reach the other side of the board! The sheer volume of firepower from the devourer-armed Termies should be great for wiping out the relatively squishy Scions. Not quite as sure how to deal with their vehicles, mind you. Mind bullets from the psykers will help, and the Tervigon has a slightly higher than usual chance of being able to deal with say, a Taurox Prime in close combat than other, tougher vehicles. 

Hive Fleet Leviathan gives me a FNP for everything as long as it's in synapse, which I shouldn't struggle with, and there's a little backup in terms of relics and adaptations. This is definitely one where I'll have to hope the numbers game pays off, though!

Hive Fleet Afanc Battalion Detachment

• HQ - Tervigon, massive scything claws, spine banks and the Resonance Barb relic, Catalyst and Smite powers, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs and Dermic Symbiosis adaptation
• HQ - Neurothrope, Warlord with The Horror and Smite powers
• Troops - 3 x Ripper Swarms
• Troops - 3 x Ripper Swarms
• Troops - 25 x Termagants, 15 with Devourers
• Troops - 25 x Termagants, 15 with Devourers
• Elites - 3 x Venomthropes
• Elites - 3 x Zooanthropes, Psychic Scream and Smite powers

Never send a Marine to do a Scion's job

This is my first time leading the Tempestus Scions, and I've only played against them once in my first ever game of 8th, but they look cracking fun. Because I was going Scions-only (no Inquisition or Assassins), my choice of forces were relatively limited (here's the full menu), but quite suited for what I want to do. I decided to go with six smaller units of Scions, although I know that orders would be more efficient if I had three ten-man units: I'm thinking that claiming and holding objectives in 9th is critical so having more units gives me more tactical flexibility. Three of the Scion squads will be plain hotshot lasguns, and the other three will have more punch to be able to deal with bigger bugs (I've also added voxcasters to those units so it'll be easier to order them as required). Three characters to issue the orders, a couple of Ogryns to guard those characters and maybe even punch some bugs back, and then three shooty vehicles to move my troops around and spray death at the oncoming horde.

One area where I did have free rein was the choice of regiment. I plumped for the 9th Iotan Gorgonnes based on a nice-looking warlord trait, Sanctity of Spirit, which means any enemy psykers within 24" will suffer perils on any doubles. Given my lack of Denying the Witch and invuln saves on the Nid psykers, that could be my best way of killing them! My Tempestor Prime took the Laurels of Command relic, which allows him to order a unit twice on a 4+ on top of the Tempestus Command Rod, allowing two orders per turn. Brilliantly, I completely forgot to take a second relic and warlord trait on the Commissar Lord; never mind, that leaves more CPs to use in the game - and I'll need them to execute my plans to deal with a swarm of little bugs...

Tempestus Scions Battalion Detachment

• HQ - Tempestor Prime, Chainsword, Tempestus Command Rod, The Laurels of Command. Warlord: Sanctity of Spirit
• HQ - Commissar Lord, Bolt Pistol, Power Fist
• Troops - 5 x Scions,2 x Plasma Guns, 1 x Hotshot Lasgun, 1 x Voxcaster, 1 x Tempestor with Chainsword & Hotshot Laspistol
• Troops - 5 x Scions, 2 x Melta Guns, 1 x Hotshot Lasgun, 1 x Voxcaster, 1 x Tempestor with Chainsword & Hotshot Laspistol
• Troops - 5 x Scions, 2 x Melta Guns, 1 x Hotshot Lasgun, 1 x Voxcaster, 1 x Tempestor with Chainsword & Hotshot Laspistol
• Troops - 5 x Scions, 4 x Hotshot Lasguns, Tempestor with Chainsword & Hotshot Laspistol
• Troops - 5 x Scions, 4 x Hotshot Lasguns, Tempestor with Chainsword & Hotshot Laspistol
• Troops - 5 x Scions, 4 x Hotshot Lasguns, Tempestor with Chainsword & Hotshot Laspistol
• Elites - Commissar, Plasma Pistol & Power Sword
• Elites - Ogryn Bodyguard, Brute Shield, Bullgryn Maul
• Elites - Ogryn Bodyguard, Brute Shield, Bullgryn Maul
• Flyer - Valkyrie, 2x Heavy Bolters, 2x Multiple Rocket Pods, Multi-laser
• Dedicated Transport - Taurox Prime, Taurox Gatling Cannon, 2x Autocannons
• Dedicated Transport - Taurox Prime, Taurox Battle Cannon, 2x Autocannons

1,000 points, Power Level 59, 6CPs

Terrain and Mission

We're doing a bit of homebrew to represent the campaign mission. Taking the Sabotage mission from the Crusade missions as a base, we're going to play it as a matched game and cross our fingers it still works!

All the objectives are on the defender's half of the board, and Pootle sets them up. My team can perform an action to destroy them (end of my movement phase, usual rules apply) for 20VPs apiece, but he scores 20VPs for any I fail to eat. This replaces the usual primary objectives, and also the usual limit of 45 VPs for Primaries. So if one of us gets three of the objectives, they're very likely to win, but a tie on two will be settled on secondaries.

Speaking of which, secondaries are going to be played as usual, but we're going to try picking stuff to support the narrative. So I'm going to be aiming to eat everyone including the port itself while the Scions are trying to secure enough ground to get reinforcements down. 

Tyranid Secondaries:

• Linebreaker - I'm trying to overrun his half of the table, so this makes sense.
• Engage on All Fronts - as does this, for similar reasons.
• Grind Them Down - we're both taking this to replace the original 'whoever kills the most' rule from the mission. And it also makes sense!

Scion Secondaries:

• Deploy Scramblers - I'm trying to stop Nid reinforcements arriving by setting up some AA batteries to defend the port - if I perform an action in each of my deployment zone, Kraken's zone and no-man's-land then I'll get 10VPs.
• Cut Off the Head - if I can kill the Brain Bug then maybe they'll slow down?
• Grind Them Down - as above, make sure I sell my lives dearly.

Deployment

I'm the attacker in this scenario, so I start off the alternating deployment. 

By the time we've finished, I've laid down a thick clump of Nids in classic spore cloud formation. So Momma in the middle, with the two packs of Termagants on either side. Zooanthropes out front, Venomthropes behind, the Neuthrothrope overseeing on one flank and one Ripper pack on the other. The last Rippers are underground somewhere, ready to seize any opportunities I can create!

I stick my Valkyrie on the helipad, loaded with a Melta squad, a regular squad and the Commissar. One Taurox on each side: the Battle Cannon one to my left with a Plasma squad and a regular squad; the Gatling Cannon one to my right with a regular squad and the Commissar Lord; the Commissar's Ogryn can't fit inside so he waits attentively outside. There's not room in the Battle Cannon Taurox for the Tempestor Prime, so crouches between it and the Valkyrie accompanied by his Ogryn bodyguard - I also want him out in play from the start so he can start forcing mortal wounds on doubles. I'm pretty sure Stylus would be terrified by this tactic, but will it work against Kraken? He can roll ones like nobody's business, but I don't know how his dice will react to this threat...

Choice of first turn goes to me as well. I dither a bit - his guns are mostly out of position, and at range I can probably shrug off damage. But there's not much to be gained by sitting about getting killed, so off I go!

Tyranids Turn 1

Full fast forward - the whole army pours forward in an impressive pack. Neurothrope and Zooanthropes up into the tower, everything splitting around it with the Venomthropes hiding behind. The Rippers and right-hand Termies roll well too, and already have a toe-hold on that first objective!

But that's pretty much it. Shooting is mostly out of range, and although I manage a little psychic shenanigans (a strat to give the Neurothrope access to everybody else's powers so he can double smite/scream the Valkyrie), so I don't do much. Six wounds off the flyer is a good start, but isn't going to slow it down any, and I also have to waste a point rerolling a Perils. 

I think you started off your rolling with that one, so I was anxiously asking if any of your later rolls were doubles - unfortunately it wasn't to be, but at least I forced you to use a CP. 

Catalyst on the Tarmie Pit on the objective, all the better to keep hold of it!

Now, owing to our somewhat vague grasp of how Actions work, I do give myself a headstart here by chewing up that lead objective, which is why it's replaced by a termagant birth sac in the photos. But that's illegal! You can't start an Action if you advanced or Fell Back in the same turn, and we realised that later on. So although the psychological shock of seeing his precious tarmac devoured by man-high bugs grips Pootle for a couple of turns, it's purely an illusion. 

Objectives Scored: None

Scions Turn 1

I have a plan to make use of some powerful-looking Scion stratagems this turn. I'm going to try to kill an entire unit of 'Gants so that none can respawn next turn. That's a pretty tall order, but would stop the Tervigon respawning them and give me VPs for Grind Them Down too, so let's try it.

First, the Valkyrie scorches forwards and, using Precision Drop, lands a regular Scion squad and the Commissar only 5" away from the central 'Gant unit; I'm planning to use the Grenadiers strat to get 30 Frag grenade shots on this unit in a minute; benefits of Blast weapons...

Next, another regular squad disembarks from the Battle Cannon Taurox and moves so they're *just* within 9" rapid fire range of the 'Gants, with the Taurox itself moving up in support, accompanied by the Tempestor Prime and his Ogryn buddy.

The Gatling cannon Taurox moves forward to draw a bead on either 'Gant unit.

The Tempestor Prime orders both ranks of the (single rank) unit front of him to fire and therefore get four shots out of each lasgun; the Commissar orders his unit to Take Aim (I'm going to regret that in a second). With the aid of the Point Blank Efficiency strat (+1S to hotshot weapons), the massed lasgun fire kills 8 or 9 Gants, but unfortunately Kraken is able to remove the ones who are closest to the other Scion squad so now none of them are within 6" to chuck grenades, and it's now that I wish that they could double the amount of fire with their lasguns. I have played the Killing Zone stratagem (+1 to wound for infantry against a unit who's suffered a casualty to infantry), which helps a bit and a further half dozen or so are cut down. The Valkyrie and Battlecannon Taurox deplete the unit still further, but there are still three left. 

Disastrously, the Gatling Taurox now can't see the surviving three 'Gants so has to console itself by shooting into the other 'Gant unit. It follows up by charging into both that unit of 'Gants and the Ripper swarms next to it to try to block their movement and stop them advancing further into my deployment zone. This was an even better tactical play than I realised at the time, because the objective there hadn't been destroyed the previous turn (as we both thought at the time) so putting the Taurox into engagement range of both units nearby prevented them from destroying it the following turn. 

I've killed a lot of bugs, but Kraken will still be able respawn the 'Gants next turn; rats!

Objectives Scored: None

Tyranids Turn 2

Hmm - not quite as thick on the ground as I was hoping, there, but it certainly could have been worse! 

Bug Momma spews out some replacements and closes in on the Scion lines as the brain bugs leap forwards, ready to hit the flank of the Gatling Taurox. The Venomthropes float along too, the Rippers pull out and camp the objective, then the deep strikers appear behind the container stack. 

The Psychic Phase is pretty much a repeat of the last one. Souping up the Neurothrope lets me hit the Gatling tank twice (it does try to Perils, but it can thankfully reroll ones), then the Zooanthropes hit it again, leaving it seven wounds down. But Bug Momma fails her smite, although she can at least stick Catalyst on her babies. 

After that, it all goes a bit pear-shaped. Shooting achieves virtually nothing at all, although the Venonthropes stick some of their thorny tentacles in the Gatling Taurox's tyres for a single wound. And I get some good charges in - Momma jumps the Tempestor Prime, her children charge the Scion line in front - as well as a crazy one when the Zooanthropes deliberately charge the Ogryn Bodyguard on the back objective! 

But the new Rippers don't reach the Battlecannon Taurox, which I'd hoped to attack with the Tervigon. Failing to shoot a hole in it kept me back, sadly. And my combat doesn't go any better - it's a sum total of one wound, with a single Scion being cut down by Termagants and another lone wound stolen by the Venomthropes from their tanky prey.

In return, the Ogryn pulps a Zooanthrope and a half. Obviously I was expecting to lose here, but I'd rather have them further forward and relying on their force powers for protection, rather than doing just that further back. 

All the same, I'm disappointed this turn, I felt like I could have done more damage than I did. Now I'm really stuck on the speed bumps, and I'll have to weather another round of punishing fire before I can munch on any of that precious landing strip!

Objectives Scored: Linebreaker (4) 

Scions Turn 2

Time to drop the hammer. Kraken and I spend a few minutes talking about where the most effective place to drop my Melta squads in is, and in the end decide that the Tervigon is the sensible thing to aim for. The Valkyrie therefore thunders back the way up towards the helipad and uses Precision Drop once again to land its Melta cargo within 6" of the big bug. The other Melta squad drop in from orbit using Daring Descent to also get within 6". The Plasma squad get out of the Battle Cannon Taurox ready to shoot whatever's still standing, and the regular Scions who had been hoping to chuck grenades at the 'Gants earlier move up so they're (mostly) within 6" of the 13-strong unit that remains and can try the grenade trick again.

The four regular Scions who are in combat with the 'Gants fall back into the Battle Cannon Taurox, which drives towards the newly-arrived Rippers on my left flank.

The last unit of regular Scions and the Lord Commissar leave the Gatling Taurox and move to the edge of the helipad so they can shoot in any direction. 

The Commissar orders the grenadiers to Take Aim, the Tempestor Prime tells both Melta squads that Elimination Protocols had been Sanctioned (reroll wound rolls against monsters), and his Laurels of Command relic allowed him to get one of the squads to Take Aim as well. The Lord Commissar puts First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire on the regular squad near him. 

The Gatling Taurox has stayed in combat and manages to hose down a Venomthrope. I've got two squads and the Valkyrie in reserve who can shoot a number of targets, and I'm expecting to use at least one of them to finish off the 'Gants, but the grenades work perfectly and drop all the 'Gants. Meltas next and here the Iotan skill to unlock extra hits on natural 6s gives me five hits out of four shots, which go on to generate four wounds (due to the reroll order). I'm in Melta-range, but here the dice desert me and, despite rolling four pairs of dice and picking the best results, I only manage to take 11 wounds off and the big beast is still alive.

Fortunately I have a lot of guns to spare. Despite not bothering to order them to Take Aim earlier, the Tempestor Prime leans over and switches the Plasma Guns to overcharge. I think that the Prime himself may have had to chuck a krak grenade, but fortunately there are no explosions and the Tervigon does eventually fall.

That leaves the Battle Cannon Taurox and the Valkyrie to shoot up the Rippers, leaving just one alive.

Over on the other side, the Commissar Lord chucks a krak grenade at the Neurothrope but fails to penetrate the psychic screen. The Scions next to him do manage to slip a single shot through onto the brain bug, and the Commissar Lord orders the Scions to follow him on a charge. The Lord manages to land one Power punch and I risk a reroll of the single damage as it's tough getting through the 3++: I'm rewarded with three wounds, so it's down to a solitary wound now. Can the Scions slip one final wound through? No, they can't!

Objectives Scored: Grind Them Down (3) 

Tyranids Turn 3

Yarp! That's not much army left. Still, I do finally have some units in place for some scoring. First, the lone Ripper uses Metabolic Overdrive to move twice, scuttling over the containers to take advantage of a tiny gap in the Scion line. This lets me start the Action to eat the objective, as the other Rippers do the same on the far flank. 

But that's it - although I can get the Neurothrope over to a third objective, and for a moment we even think I can eat that too (which would win me the game!) but of course he's Fallen Back and can't get his Actions on. Or any psyching, which I remember after finishing off the Ogryn and getting a wound back. Losing it all over again hurts all the more! 

And then that's it - the Venomthropes still fail to finish the Gatling Taurox, the Termies fall back so I can claim Engage on All Fronts, and then I'm out of units and probably chances. 

Objectives Scored: Sabotage (40), Engage on All Fronts (2), Linebreaker (4)

Scions Turn 3

I'm massively ahead on materiel but if I leave any bug alive within range of a double move of an objective then I will still lose. So I've got to clear out everything. 

Everyone moves over to my right to deal with the remaining threats, leaving one of the Ogryns to deal with the last Ripper Swarm. Remembering that I still need to win secondaries, the southernmost Scions unit starts deploying scramblers in no-man's-land and the Battle Cannon Taurox (containing another unit) heads towards the 'Nid deployment zone so they can get the action done next turn there. 

The two Melta squads successfully melt the remaining Zoanthropes and assorted gunfire does for the Rippers on my right, the Venomthropes and, importantly, the Neurothrope (unlocking 6 VPs for Cut Off The Head) - I even have spare guns from somewhere to kill five of the remaining 'Gants lurking behind the tower. On my left the Ogryn surprises neither of us by making short work of the last Ripper Swarm in close combat.

Objectives Scored: Grind Them Down (3), Cut Off The Head (6)

Other Turns

And that's it, really. Three turns of Tyranid action have killed precisely two Scion foot soldiers, which is somewhat underwhelming to say the least! Thinking ahead, I can see I won't be able to reach any more objectives through the advancing sea of Scions. And although I do like to be beside the sea scions, it's also late, so my last few bugs trickle away. 

We agree that there's nothing that Kraken can do to stop me scoring Deploy Scramblers by the end of turn 5 (though I'd ignored the objective until now and only just have time to start the three-turn process to score it), and I'm also likely to score Grind Them Down in turn 4 killing one of the last Ripper Swarm or the seven remaining Termagants. He could get both remaining units into my deployment zone next turn for a final 4 Linebreaker points, but that won't be enough.

Result: 65-54 to the Scions

Locker Room

Ouch! Well, I learned some hard lessons there! 

First - two big Termagant packs aren't better than one very big one. Big Momma can't babysit everyone at once, for one, and I'd have been better served by either many smaller ones or a single maximal one that then freed up points for some better firepower. 

Second, man alive can the Scions shoot when they need to! Weak swarms units are really very vulnerable to Blast weapons, and until the Tyranids get a new Codex with some new or upgraded tricks (looking jealously at you, Tide of Traitors, instead of the awful Endless Swarm strat that costs reinforcement points).

Third, after trying it a few times, I can safely say Leviathan is not the trait for me. That 6+ FNP is just not enough to make it worth taking over Kraken's speed, Jormangandr's armour or Kronos' firepower. Bump it up one notch, I'd be interested, but that's a big ask! 

I knew that the Scions could hit hard (I've vivid memories of a Daemon Prince and a Foetid Bloatdrone being melted in one turn), but thought that they were a lot squishier than they turned out this time; I guess 'Gants are an awful lot less scary than 'Stealers in that respect. The new stratagems to let two units land within 6" make them very powerful, and there are several new strats that further boost the "normal" units. I'd say that they're a pretty potent force in 9th edition: Troops with lots of mobility and hitting power covers a lot of bases. 

I think that if we'd been more on top of how the objectives could be destroyed it might have gone differently - I think that your Zoanthropes could have eaten the left-hand objective in turn 2 if you'd known then it was still available and then it would have come down to whether someone could have done the same to the one to the left of the helipad in turn 3. 

Your turn 3 was unusual - I'd marked up the three destroyed objectives on Battlescribe and mentally adjusted to the fact that I was winning the battle but losing the war/game. Then it all changed! Then my Ogryn died and then came back to life. It was like the end of Wayne's World...

Neither of us were paying all that much attention to our secondaries, and they did decide the game in the end. In fact, the VP differential wasn't at all as big as the (vast) difference in casualties between the armies. 

Fun game all the same, and a well-timed kick in the pants for the Imperial Defence in campaign terms. There's some fun to be had from turning Conquest battles into regular matched play stuff, too, the game worked fairly well (although we were both working to make sure it did rather than taking advantage of any glitches). Worth looking through, I'd say. 

Campaign Update

The leading teams of the Hagan Scions were hand-picked veterans of many similar operations. As the dense spore cloud swirled over the perimeter of Cullis spacefield, Valkyries screamed across the narrowing circle of clear airspace, tiny lights of flaring grav-chutes sparkling in the dimming air of their wakes. 

The Tyranids had launched a ferocious swarm on the final landing fields. Thick knots of Venomthropes hung back at the edge of the cloud, as it disgorged its contents on the defenders - a seemingly endless tide of termagants led by the largest Tervigon yet seen on the battlefield, and an array of Zoanthropes of various sizes pulsed like psychic lighthouses in the sporulous smog. 

Brigadier 'Salmon' Cholmondley-Maugham landed amongst his own vanguard. His expertise was not wasted - identifying key targets, he directed numerous small kill teams as they isolated and exterminated the synapse beasts leading the swarm. The tightening noose of the spore cloud never closed. Cullis remained open. 

Or open for as long as the Hagan Lampreys had, at any rate - within hours, their Naval support vessels were being driven away by massive swarms of Tyrannic voidspawn. Many of the Hagans simply never reached the front, unable to deploy for the moment. 

But with a single terminal still barely operational, Drawbridge finally had a chance. All surviving Mantis Warriors convened on the port, helping bolster an already solid defensive line. The Scions then set up a ring of etheric devices powered by blackstone that would cut the Hive Mind's connection to creatures crossing it. 

Now, if they could somehow restore power to the complex's teleportarium, there was a chance of finding the creatures leading this attack and destroying the Tyranids' command chain on the ground. But to do that, someone would need to leave Cullis and go and look for them.