Time for a quick Christmas bash!
Nampo looked around the Orion's troop compartment. It seemed almost too luxurious to him. Every available surface was engraved with aquilae or skulls. The sheer black metal of the ship reflected little light, making the crystal blue lamps set at ankle height seem even dimmer than they were. The overall effect was one of immeasurably deep shadow, haunted by half-lit eye sockets and blue-limned claws.
The giants he rode with were underlit by the cool glow. Like statues, they looked, vast and immovable. Relics of a bygone age, memorials to an ancient past that one knelt before and thought on how small and insignificant you truly were.
Except that these titans lived and moved.
None of the Custodians spoke to him. Only their Shield-Captain, Tervaedus, deemed to notice him at all, passing on instructions before an operation.
Such as now.
He was strapped into drop webbing, heading for the heart of some fight he knew nothing about. A sweep and clear operation was all he'd been told. Against xenos of some description, he assumed, as the woman strapped into the cradle next to him was an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos. Helviki Zoge, she'd introduced herself as. Why she was with them, he didn't know.
What unthinkable menaces could be out there, that a Captain of the Adeptus Astartes could not be party to?
There's unfinished business in the long-running sort-of campaign I've strung together over the last couple of years. In the aftermath of the Drawbridge Campaign, Captain Nampo of the Mantis Warriors has had most of his chapter kidnapped by an Alpha Legion imposter. Attempting to get them back, he's fallen foul of Genestealer Cults, the Adeptus Custodes and even the Eldar. Now, he's got a debt to the Custodians to pay off before they'll help him get his chums back.
Pootle is dropping by to help out with this - although he's got form with Nampo, he's taking the enemy position tonight. Speaking of which...
Serving Time
New models to try out here!
Nampo's not the only one on community service. Inquisitor Helviki Zoge (cosplaying here as Kyria Draxus) is also being roped into a fight, alongside the Sisters of Silence and their brand new Rhino.
We're on a tight points budget, so there isn't much else in the list. Four Custodians, three Vertus Praetors and a Dawneagle Shield-Captain. I can't even afford to get the Sisters up to five in a squad!
At least Nampo gets his own detachment and rules, so he can advance and charge as well as having a souped-up hammer. Otherwise I'm going to have to rely on Custodes killing power to get through what looks like a tough Tyranid list.
Shield Host Detachment
- HQ - Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike, Warlord with salvo launcher, Ceaseless Hunter upgrade
- Battleline - 2 Custodian Guard with spears, 1 with sword and board, a Vexilla with a shield
- Infantry - 4 Witchseekers
- Infantry - 4 Vigilators
- Elites - 3 Vertus Praetors (2 salvo launcher, 1 hurricane bolter)
- Dedicated Transport - Anathema Psykana Rhino with storm bolter and hunter-killer missile
- Imperial Allies - Inquisitor Lord Helviki Zoge (Kyria Draxus with standard kit)
Stormlance Task Force Detachment
- HQ - Captain on Bike, Relic Shield and Thunder Hammer, Fury of the Storm upgrade
Gant Rest You Merry
Pootle's also got new toys to play with, in the form of the Barbgaunts, Screamer-Killer and Winged Prime. Fond of my recent painting though I am, I'm a good deal less happy to see it on the other side of the table!
I've chosen a list based on a mix between testing out some models that I have myself and planning to take to the upcoming King in the North session in January, and some of the newer Nids that have recently rolled off Kraken's paint desk; top of that list is the awesome Screamer-Killer conversion - take a look here for more details.
Lots of bugs out there, I'm outnumbered more than 3-to-1. That's okay, that's what Custodes are good at, and if there's one thing I know Tyranids struggle a bit with, it's heavy armour. Pootle's adapting to get Sustained Hits against infantry to help cope, but even so, I'm confident it'll be an uphill climb.
Invasion Fleet Detachment
- HQ - Broodlord with Alien Cunning upgrade
- HQ - Winged Hive Tyrant with monstrous Bonesword and lash whip, Warlord, Adaptive Biology upgrade
- HQ - Winged Tyranid Prime
- Battleline - 10 Gargoyles
- Battleline - 10 Termagants with Spinefists
- Battleline - 10 Termagants with Devourers
- Infantry - 5 Barbgaunts
- Infantry - 5 Genestealers
- Infantry - 3 Tyranid Warriors with Ranged Bio-weapons, 2 Deathspitters and a Barbed Strangler
- Monster - 1 Screamer-Killer
Mission and Deployment
I don't have much to lay out. All the Sisters are in their Rhino, the Dawneagles are together on the right and the Custodians have the Inquisitor with them on the left. Nampo hides boldly behind a ruin near the middle.
Pootle goes for breadth, as you'd expect. His Gargoyles, led by Winged Prime, are in the sky, then the bulk of his stuff (Gants, Stealers, both big monsters) goes towards the top right, facing the Dawneagle Jetbikes and backed by the Barbgaunts. The Tyranid Warriors are by themselves on the left, aiming for the objective there.
Turn 1: Nids
The Orion's ramp opened on a snowy wilderness. Nampo saw the remains of some ancient pleasure garden - colonnaded paths, buried in the drifts. Frozen ornamental ponds. A folly, held up by greying wooden frames.In response, the Praetors (who are -1 to hit because of the Broodlord's ability and -1A each as they're just within range of the Hive Tyrant's ability) tear apart all of the Genestealers but leave the Broodlord untouched...for now.
Turn 1: Imperium
After the Guard play the Sworn Guardians strat to make my home objective sticky I send everything else forward, leaving the Praetors in combat.
The Rhino follows up by charging the Gants, with Tank Shock helping to reduce the unit down to only two models.
Nampo goes next but whiffs, only managing to stick another couple of wounds on. In return the Screamer Killer splits its attention between the Vigilators and Captain Nampo. Half the quiet ladies go down, and Nampo scrapes through on a solitary wound thanks to a CP reroll. That's not going to impress the parole board, Nampo.
Turn 2: Nids
There's no need for anyone to move, apart from the Gants in combat with the Praetors who fall back and spend a CP on Endless Swarm to bring them back up to full strength. This means that they can out-OC the Praetors and steal the objective back again.
Turn 2: Imperium
The main event is the attack on the Screamer Killer. The Hive Tyrant causes the Guards to lose an attack each, so the Praetors swing first and bring down the beast (and then consolidate into the remaining Gants again). There’s a CP to allow it to fight on death on a 4+...but Pootle can’t convert the roll.
Turn 3: Nids
The Tyranid Warriors move to get LoS on the Witchseekers and drop two of them after the Barbgaunts fall back (and lose another one and a half to Overwatch). The lone Termagant in the centre falls back from the Rhino as it's possible that a lone model could steal a useful objective later in the game.
On my left flank the five surviving Termagants once again fall back from the Praetors, taking care to hold the objective.
The ongoing combat with the Hive Tyrant is next, but it's the Imperium to strike first and Kraken decides to go with the Guard first as their weight of numbers might just work. However, because the Tyrant is already wounded, he now has a 4+ FNP and only takes a couple of wounds. My turn!
Turn 3: Imperium
The Witchseekers flame and charge the Barbgaunts, killing them and taking sole possession of Pootle's home objective.
Turn 4: Nids
Unfortunately, but seasonally, his goose is well and truly cooked. I do get my revenge when the Warriors fill the flamer-wielding zealots full of holes so nobody owns the objective.
Turn 4: Imperium
Turn 5: Nids
Turn 5: Imperium
It’s been a vicious and close-fought game - time to tally those all-important multiballs! Pootle is definitely ahead on board control overall, but we've both racked up a fair number of bonuses. And when he rolls his, Pootle gets a fairly pitiful boost to his score. So I reach for my dice...
Result: 17-16 to the Tyranids
Locker Room:
Good stuff! The Custodes don't disappoint, they really are extremely hard to shift, and the Jetbikes really are about as good as it gets. Tough, hard-hitting and mobile. If only there were more of them!
I had to work so hard to take down those Custodes. That CP to resurrect a Praetor really stung therefore. At least I had the numbers to sit on the objectives earlier in the game.
That's where I lost the game in the end, the Tyranids tied up most of my best and fastest long enough that I couldn't quite keep up with board control.
Thanks to Pootle too - without some very gentlemanly narrative choices, Nampo wouldn't have had nearly as much of a game as he got here. Who knows, perhaps next year he'll manage to reunite with his own army!
There were some vague tactical justifications for putting the Tyrant's blows into the Custodes rather than finishing off Nampo, but I did want to prolong his story a little longer and he was whiffing something rotten to start with! It was a great game overall and felt much more like a draw. At least the VP tally was pretty even in the end, which is traditional: Kraken and I have a bit of a habit of nailbiting games around Christmas over the last few years.
Thanks again and see you next year!
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