Kraken and Kas here, throwing Tyranids and Tempestus Scions together!
It's been a while since the Drawbridge Campaign came to a conclusion, and also a while since I ran a campaign. Time for a new one, I reckon, and I'm going to try to pick up where I left off. Guardmen! To battle!
Commissar Haart shivered, pulling his battered trench coat tighter round his shoulders. The winter here on Drawbridge was viciously cold. Tyrannid spores were still cluttering the outer atmosphere, apparently, threatening to bring in a new ice age across the battered planet. Crenel, or at least the remains of it, was locked in thick snow with more on the way.
They were mopping up pockets of the hive fleet. They had been since the summer, when the rest of the Imperial forces had moved out of the system, moving to reinforce wars in other sectors. Wars that were going badly after the punishment the supply lines had taken, Haart heard. Somebody had to stay and clean out the rest of the Tyranids. That somebody had been the 9th Hagan Lampreys.
Were they here because nobody else had the experience of fighting Hive Fleet Afanc, as the Planetary Governor had assured the Hagans? He doubted it. Most likely, it was because there weren't enough of them left to make a difference in another theatre of war. The fighting for Drawbridge had been intense. 86% casualties, a massive deficit of armour and ammunition - it was a good job the Tyranids here were just scattered remnants. Anything else would have been too much.
But Haart had a nagging doubt that even that was the full story. That casualty list, that was a butcher's bill from being used as bait by the Mantis Warriors in the closing days of the war. He'd accused them of it to their armoured faces, and they'd more or less acknowledged it. He'd taken it to a military tribunal, knowing full well the pointlessness of trying to bring the Astartes to task. He might as well have asked the Tyranids for reparations. The Mantis Warriors under Captain Nampo had left the system without even acknowledging a trial was taking place, and he'd been sent, under a cloud, straight back to active duty. Shepherding the few active Scion units as they wiped up the last of the xenos stain was necessary, but it was also his penance.
Something howled in the ruins ahead. They'd been scouting round Crenel for a couple of days, finding tracks and traces of the enemy without meeting them. It sounded like that was about to change. Haart raised a fist, activated his vox link.
"Purifer command, this is Purifer forward. I have contact," he said. "Three hundred metres, due north from my position. Request air recon. Initiating ground sweep with available armour. Let's mop them up."
Tempestus Fugit - Scions
This is a first outing for the Vendetta and for the fourth squad of Scions, so it's a purebred list of lovely Lampreys for me. Taking the Iotan Gorgonnes as our trait for the day (6s are extra hits from infantry if I target the nearest unit), it's a list with heaps of firepower and more bodies on the ground than usual.Are the flyers a bit overpriced? Maybe, but I can't resent them for it - six lascannons and all those magnificent gatling guns feel worth the money. As ever, I know these boys will do wonders if I can focus all the firepower, but they aren't as tough as some armies. Tyranids will rip through them in combat, too, despite the Ogryn Bodyguards I've put in to discourage exactly that.
If I have a plan, then, it's to circle the edges of the battlefield mowing down as many units as I can with concentrated firepower, before moving in to the middle later on. Keep them at range, shoot the pointy bits off, land on what's left in force. Splat!
Tempestus Scions Battalion, 1500 points, 11 CPs
- HQ - Commissar Lord Josephus Haart, power fist and The Emperor's Benediction relic bolt pistol, Progeny of Conflict (1 CP) with the Master of Command trait
- HQ - Tempestor Prime Jolyon 'Big Belly' Bellerophon, Warlord with Grand Strategist trait, power maul and command rod
- Troops - 10 Scions, Tempestor has bolt pistol and chainsword, vox, 4 hotshot volley guns
- Troops - 10 Scions, Tempestor has power sword and plasma pistol, vox, grenade launcher, 2 meltas, flamer
- Troops - 10 Scions, Tempestor has bolt pistol and chainsword, vox, 4 plasma guns
- Troops - 10 Scions, as above
- Elites - 4 Command Squad, Flag, medikit, vox and plasma gun
- Elites - Ogryn Bodyguard, bullgryn plate, ogryn maul and slabshield
- Elites - Ogryn Bodyguard, bullgryn plate, ogryn mail and brute shield
- Elites - Techpriest Enginseer
- Dedicated Transport - Taurox Prime with gatling cannon, twin hotshot volley guns
- Dedicated Transport - Taurox Prime with battlecannon, twin autocannons
- Flyer - Vendetta with 3 twin lascannons
- Flyer - Vulture Gunship with heavy bolter and twin gatling cannons
Monstrous Regiment - Tyranids
Kas is playing the bugs tonight, and has (very sensibly) opted for the all-new Crusher Stampede list. Lots of very big, very angry bugs, and quite bluntly, I'm scared of it.Plenty of command points thrown into this, but there are some very powerful results. Taking an extra warlord trait but swapping it straight away for the Adaptive Physiology instead is a good call. Then to get a third HQ, there's more points going on a reinforcement detachment, plus even more to get as many shiny upgrades as can be jammed in, including upgrading the Warriors with better BS and WS.
And plenty of the all-new Synaptic Links. Most of these creatures are synaptic anyway, so the chances are they'll be flipping their special abilities to wherever they need them. Unless I cut that chain! But there's also a lot of deep strike potential, plus the Leviathan (the Hive Fleet du jour) ability of shifting a few units about after we know who has first turn.
If the idea of Swarmlords throwing Flyrants at you (something like a 44" threat range!) isn't scary, I don't know what is!
Hive Fleet Afanc Patrol Detachment, Crusher Stampede (Leviathan) AoR, 1500 points, 6 CPs
- HQ - The Swarmlord, Onslaught, Catalyst and Smite powers, Bone Sabres
- HQ - Neurothrope, Warlord with the Void Crown relic, Strategic Adaptation trait, Synaptic Barrier, Smite and Aggressive Surge powers, Alpha Leader Beast (1 CP),
- Troops - 4 Tyranid Warriors with Deathspitters and Bone Swords, 2 with Venom Cannons and scything talons, Rapid Adaptation strat (1 CP) (WS2+, BS 3+), Enhanced Resistance adaptation (ignore ap 1 or 2), Bioweapon Bond link (+1 to hit), Adrenal Glands
- Elites - 3 Hive Guard with Impaler Cannons
- Elites - 3 Zooanthropes with Smite, Psychic Scream powers and Psychic Channeling link
- Heavy Support - Trygon Prime with Feed link, Adrenal Glands, Biostatic Rattle, triple Massive Scything Talons, Bioelectric Pulse with Containtment Spines
- Heavy Support - Tyrannofex with acid spray and adrenal glands, Progeny of the Hive (1CP) for Voracious Ammunition adaptation (does d3 Mortal Wounds to one unit that takes casualties to its shots)
- Dedicated Transport - Tyrannocyte with 5 deathspitters
Hive Fleet Afanc Auxiliary Support Detachment (2 CPs)
- HQ - Winged Hive Tyrant with monstrous scything talons and twin bone swords, adrenal glands, Bounty of the Hive Fleet (1 CP) for the Synaptic Hive Blades relic (no invulns), Catalyst, Onslaught and Smite powers
Mission and Terrain
We're out in a smashed city, with open thoroughfares between dense ruined areas. A couple of swamps, a few obscuring towers (the largest of which are to the south and didn't quite feature on the map, annoyingly). Relatively long lines of sight broken only by the tallest terrain bits here and there, but lots of cover to hide in. Also quite a few places the Monsters will struggle to move through, they can't go through the walls. Unless they fly or burrow, of course!
We haven't tried a matched play game in a while, so thought we'd try out the new Nachmund Gauntlet stuff. We are playing Abandoned Sanctuaries, which gives us one of the new split Primaries.
Take and Hold is 4 VPs a turn from turn two for each of these familiar tasks - hold an objective, hold two, hold more than the enemy. But then Secure the Sanctuaries gives 2 extra for holding the middle or for killing a unit that was on the middle at the start of your turn, and 5 if you hold the middle at the end. Nice options there, it makes it easier to pick up max primary points across the game.
Scions Secondaries:
- Deploy Teleport Homers - keep me out of your backyard if you can, you scanty few monsters!
- Behind Enemy Lines - because while I'm there deploying homers, I may as well get paid for it
- Abhor the Witch - because honestly, who doesn't?
Tyranid Secondaries:
- Assassination - I took too many characters for the Scions, didn't I?
- Engage on All Fronts - spread out, score high
- To The Last - protect those biggest three bugs
Deployment
I get to Defend, and pick the top edge, then execute my plan. I'm terrified of a slingshot Hive Tyrant hitting my planes, but if I can take out either Swarmy or said Tyrant before it reaches me, I'm fairly sure the flyers will be okay. So they go in a corner, with a defensive infantry and tank screen around them in case I don't go first. Some infantry to go for the centre, backed by the Tempestor, the Command Squad and the Bodyguards. Both plasma gunner squads are in the Tauroxes.
Kas keeps plenty back - the Tyrannofex is in the ball sack, The Flyrant is circling above, the Trygon below. Warriors and the various breeds of Zooanthropes in the middle, ready to rush the centre, Hive Guard hidden in that tower and Swarmie off by himself on the right flank. Originally he had the Warriors with him, but the warlord trait let Kas swap them in once he knew he had first turn. Which he does!
Tyranids Turn 1
"Acknowledged, Vulture Lead. Swing by and light them up, we're right behind you." Haart thumbed the vox bead off and waved the nearby Tauroxes forward, then thumped the side of the Vendetta transport to focus the attention of his men. "Get in, we've got a short trip to the fight. Fast unto death!"
They shouted the motto back. Hardened veterans of a year of killing bugs, he knew they could get the job done. Then they could all go home.
Kas doesn't have much he can do, this early on - I'm out of sight or range. So the Warriors run forward to the middle as the Swarmlord catapults himself on to the right flank objective. Everything else stays put, either guarding objectives or quite happily camping in the scenery.
There's a little shooting - the Warriors use their venom cannons to scrape the Vendetta and manage to pick off a couple of Scions with their smaller arms. But they're going to be the very devil to shift from the middle, as Kas has buffed them with the Synaptic Barrier power. That's a 4++ to you and me, aand with their harder than average shells plus the options of various strats to protect them, that's not going to be an easy nut to crack.
Scions Turn 1
"Vulture Lead. Enemy command beast, nine o' clock low, moving from cover. Confirm and engage."
"Confirmed, Purifer Forward, we have it. Haven't seen one that size for a while."
"Just take it down, please, Lead," Haart said, trying to keep his voice neutral. There weren't supposed to be any of the big ones left. Where had this thing been lurking?
The noise of the Vendetta's engines drowned out anything else, but he saw the Vulture's fire as a blinding spray of tracers in hot orange. Snow and cobblestones erupted in a circle around the beast, bringing its stride to a halt, turning everything in its area of effect into gravel or paste. Not the creature, though, the tracers bounced away from it, reflecting into the nearby rubble. As the burst ended, it immediately sprang to life again, more or less unhurt.
I can't commit early to the centre, I'll get torn up in melee. And those Warriors are going to eat fire with their enhanced saves, so I decide they are next turn's problem.
No, as my transports hurtle forward (the Commissar and the melta squad jumping into the Vendetta), I reckon I have a better target. If I can kill off the Zooanthropes, I'll be exposing the Neurothrope to fire and also helping cut the Synaptic Link chain to the Hive Guard. Maybe even Synapse itself if I get both!
So all the fire I can muster from both Tauroxes and the Vulture hits the brain bugs. As ever, their reputation for being hard to shift is well deserved. Despite seventy or so shots pouring into them, I can only manage to kill two. What fire I can muster from the reserve Scions at the back patters off the Warriors, as predicted, but they can't reach out to touch anything else.
Trying to snipe the Swarmlord with the Vendetta's lascannons is another sensible move, I decide - it gets Kas off the point as well as removing a very credible threat. But even after all six manage to hit (!), Kas plays Unbreakable Chitin (I can only wound on 4+). Only one gets past its shields, and then for a mere three wounds. Damn Crusher Swarm monsters! So hard!
Tyranids Turn 2
"Shit, what was that?" he heard through the vox as the Scions inside the hull fought to stay upright.
"This is Taurox Lead, we have incoming! They're dropping in, that's..." Screams, static.
"Taurox Second, Taurox Lead is down, repeat, Lead is down. Armour-size enemy engaging. Vendetta lead, watch your six!"
The sky went dark again, the Vendetta rocked violently and went into a dive. The nearest Scion to Haart lost his grip on the overhead rail and toppled towards the open side door. He vanished through the hatch silently, face white with dismay.
Haart watched as a massive boney blade smashed through the Vendetta's wing, followed by a second one. A pair of enormous talons gripped the side of the wing, their tightening grasp half tearing, half crushing through the metal. About a metre and a half of the wing abruptly snapped away, giving him a split second view of a huge spiked head, opaque orange eyes glittering with malice, before the Vendetta's dive became a crash.
It doesn't take Kas long to take the gloves off! The Tyrannocyte and Hive Tyrant drop in level with my push. The Trygon can't quite find space at the back, thanks to the Enginseer (who can't keep up with the vehicles he's supposed to fix), so bides its time.
It may be biding too long to see much action, judging by this turn however. A combination of smites, venom cannons and Hive Guard fire drops the Vendetta to half wounds, then the Tyrannocyte and Tyrannofex manage to blow up the gatling Taurox, killing a couple of passengers and leaving them rather vulnerable to further action.
More of my backline drops as the Warriors, enhanced with their own Synaptic Link, let rip, and Kas boosts them not only with a Barrier but also Catalyst for next turn! There are also extra attacks for the Tyrannofex, but it can't quite reach anyone round the ruins and swamps ahead of it.
Finally, the Flyrant charges the Vendetta, losing a few wounds to Overwatch with Defensive Gunners, but nothing like enough to stop it. Already trailing gas, the Vendetta is forced down in the enemy backline, and the troops get thrown out hard enough to kill one. I suppose it's one way for them to get where they need to go!
The only good news in this is that a combination of rerolls and strats leaves Kas without any CPs. So if I want to put in some body blows, now is the time to do it.
Objectives scored: 14 on Primaries, 2 on Engage on All Fronts
Scions Turn 2
"Fire fire fire, full effect," Haart yelled, as though the Scions needed encouragement. He slammed himself into cover and fumbled with the heavy pack he'd pulled out of the Vendetta - an emergency beacon. A little something he'd taken as a souvenir from his battles alongside the Mantis Warriors. Not quick to activate, but powerful. They'd have support here fast. They'd need it.
He twisted the dials, flicked a row of switches and swore. A techpriest he was not. Someone screamed behind him, someone else fired a flamer.
If I can make a virtue of this mess so far, I can still keep a grip on the game. The original plan was to take a hard right and drop in on the Hive Guard at close range, but that requires a working flyer, so I'll just have to deploy my teleport homers right here, so the Commissar gets to work.
(Note: I can't actually do that, the squad performing the action must be at least three strong! But neither of us spotted this in the thick of the action, and bluntly, the shooting the Scions put in was just as effective as though they'd been performing an action, so never mind too much.)
I bark a few orders to enhance my shooting (mostly Bring It Down, with a bit of Front Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire for what's left of the plasma squad). It all proves pretty feeble - there's not much point in overcharging, as I don't get extra damage against these big bugs, and my dice are also misbehaving to say the least.
So the Scions, in what is becoming rather a set piece for them, charge the Tyrant, hoping to do some chip damage and keep it busy for a turn. Which most of them manage, in fact, bringing it down to its last four wounds, but that is really all I manage. Elsewhere I plink a lone wound off the Tyrannofex, and further wound the Swarmlord with Volley Guns, but it's not the return punch I needed.
Worst is my second attempt to flatten the Zooanthropes. The Vulture lands a pretty good wash of hits, thirteen in total, and Kas saves All. Of. Them. Waa!
Objectives scored: 4 on Behind Enemy Lines, 8 on Primaries
Tyranids Turn 3
The vox was spitting wails and howls, some of it static, some of it casualty reports. Somebody was firing plasma volleys nearby. He heard a tank's engine roar, then stall, then a Tempestor shouting for fire teams.
A green emblem flickered to life on a screen, a digital Aquila.
"Link established," croaked an artificial voice. "State your position."
"In the shit, as usual," Haart snarled back. "Form up on me," he yelled at the men still standing as he stood up, drawing his pistol. "We fight and die for Haga and the Emperor!"
The Tyranids don't let up - as the Hive Guard pepper the Vulture, my other Taurox gets shredded with Venom Cannon and Acid Spray. Oh, that spray - four failed saves out of four when any one would have kept me alive!
I also now have a Trygon Prime in my back yard, but it can't make the charge. Phew - having just lost the Command Squad to Deathspitters, I'm relieved. As I am that the Swarmlord and brain bugs are just hanging around, holding objectives but not really having to actively contribute beyond that. Not, in all honesty, that they really have to right now.
The Flyrant pulls a few Scions to bits, but his heart can't really be in it because he leaves one alive. He's not looking to clever himself, though, on his middle bracket with only a few wounds to go.
Scions Turn 3
Haart fired his pistol, bolt shells shattering on the armoured chest of the winged creature killing his men. He charged forward at the same time, a surreal feeling of deja vu overtaking him. He remembered a creature like this from the beaches at the end of the war. But then, there had been other green armour around him. Astartes, their bolters hammering, their fury ceaseless.
Now it was just men.
The Tyranid shrugged off shots, tore men apart with practised ease. It was huge, three or four times the height of a man. Scarred chitin covered it, chipped and pitted and scorched. He ran up to its leg, primed his power fist and punched as hard as he could, the energy field biting into the hardened shell with a smell like burning hair.
It kicked back, hurling him a pair of metres that ended in an ugly collision with the edge of a corroded junction box. His arm broke cleanly, he heard the snap more than felt it. Black bulbs of light burst in his eyes. The world smelt of iron and snow, a rust red and white kaleidoscope of jagged scents.
What my shooting can't achieve, and sadly that's pretty much anything this turn, I will have to resort to primitive violence to get done. As the Vulture trails smoke back to my own lines, burning the Swarmlord down to his bottom bracket on the way, I singularly fail to do any significant damage anywhere else.
Having lost the cannon Taurox last turn, I at least have the survivors of that wreck to rush out and shoot the Flyrant up a little. Now that he's not busy deploying teleporters (I can't spare anyone right now), the Commissar hands out some orders. Not least to the lone melta survivor from Human Shield Squad #1, who manages a six to hit for an extra shot as he falls back and fires! And then gets double twos for wound rolls. No extra rations there.
So I send the troops to attack again. I have some hope that between its wounded state, the troopers and the Commissar Lord's power fist, I might just take it down. Nope - all whiffs! But the Tyrant sportingly does the same, and can't quite kill the Commissar.
And in the centre, the Ogryn Bodyguards (who really should have been doing this earlier, but seem to have forgotten to keep moving last turn) pile into the Warriors and dole out a decent whacking. Not enough to move them on, or anything, but at least remind them that they might have homes to go to.
Objectives scored: 8 on Primaries, 4 on Behind Enemy Lines
Tyranids Turn 4
"Bring it down!" he roared at the two surviving stormtroopers. "Fire, in Terra's holy name!"
The vox wasn't broadcasting anything intelligible any more. The howls and croaks of Tyranids drowning out sitreps, or the incessant hiss of their shadowy presence cutting off comms, Haart couldn't tell. He could see one of their living tank-beasts advancing on a line of his men, sheltered in the yellowed ruin of a tank as it sprayed them with a drenching jet of brown, corrosive oil. He could also see the dome of fire rising up from the line of ruins he'd just seen their Vulture support plummet into.
He glanced back at his emergency beacon. Too little, too late, he supposed. Perhaps they'll find our bodies.
A green-armoured hulk stepped out from a shattered storehouse, and he levelled his pistol at it.
The pieces are all in place, time for Kas to sweep the board!
The Trygon Prime races into the nearby squad, killing three of them with its spines before eating the last as a snack and consolidating into the Tempestor Prime. He gives it a hearty whack with his swagger stick, but not for any actual damage.
The Tyrannofex stands still and double shoots most of the rest of my infantry away, leaving only a pair of Scions and the wounded Commissar.
And in the middle, the Swarmlord advances towards the middle, gets Onslaught off on himself and then charges the rest of the way, cannoning into the back of the Ogryns. Ogryn, sorry, the Warriors backed off, got the Feed synaptic link boosted over from the Trygon Prime, shot the Brute Shield bearer down and then lets the Swarmlord in as they also charge back.
Kas is feeling sorry for me (always a good sign) - I haven't killed any of his units yet, and the Swarmlord is on his bottom bracket. The Slabshield actually manages to fend off the Warriors, then I pay to interrupt, and just manage take a single wound off the big bug before being pared into salami and fed to his minions.
Objectives scored: Plenty
Result: We called it there, and did a bit of working out. Something like 82:34 to the 'Nids if we were a bit generous and let me score at least one more Teleport Homer before the end, but that's including points for painting!
It wasn't a Tyranid.
Haart stared, staggered. The armoured figure was a Mantis Warrior, his armour battered and almost scraped down to plain grey ceramite, but enough of the original colours remained.
"Who are you?" he asked the warrior, as it strode forward. It held a chainsword, the motivator pack bent and broken at the hilt, the teeth hammered almost flat along the blade - a weapon that had seen use beyond the engine's demise. The helmet's red lenses caught the light and glittered, but the dull glitter of scratched glass. One of the pauldrons of the powered armour was missing, and the bare shoulder of the Astartes underneath was a tapestry of dark scars and bruising.
"I am Brother Captain Okita Nampo of the Mantis Warriors," it said. "I need your help. Deactivate that beacon and follow me."
Locker Room
I found myself wishing I'd been loaded for different bear this evening. More high damage weapons and less pay-and-spray might have helped (a missile launcher on one of the Tauroxes, maybe the Helstrike missiles for the Vulture?), but in fairness, my plan came apart when the big bugs counter-ambushed my armoured column.
Perhaps I should have struck out for the centre, concentrated everything on the Warrior unit and at least tried to take and hold the middle, but I somehow think the end result would have been similar. It's very hard to make much impact on the Crusher monsters, something they weren't struggling with against even my usually slippy Flyers, and hotshot lasguns really weren't up to scratch!
I do rather like the new Primary system, I guess? Does it make things more reliant on Secondaries, though? And does that once again channel you towards very particular lists and styles of play? Open Play or Narrative games get my vote over GT stuff, I think, but I was glad I tried this out anyway. It certainly gives me something to hang a narrative on, so this is part one of a new Narrative Campaign for the year, one I hope to have more than just 40K games in. Stay tuned!
Tough luck against that Crusher list though, but you certainly won the narrative game: great backstory as usual and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next (and hopefully contributing some dice-rolling).
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