It's Christmas! That means it's time for some Warhammer!
Kraken and I (Pootle) have developed a habit of playing some really fun (and close) games in the lead-up to Christmas. I'm keen to road-test my Rogue Trader-era Harlequin army that'll be going to King in the North in early February and Kraken is more than happy to help me out.
Forces
Masque of the Red, Yellow, Blue, Green and Purple Death
In the first game I played (with a then mostly unpainted) Harlequins against my son's Raven Guard a few weeks ago I got tabled by the top of turn 3. It was a humbling demonstration of the power of a job-lot of Bolter fire against T3 single-wound models, so I'm not expecting too much tonight. Or maybe I've played out the new-model syndrome and will tear through the bugs tonight?
I've chosen the new Serpent’s Brood detachment that's just been released as it's better than the basic Ghosts of the Webway one, however it's really designed to have Quins leaping out of transports, but as Harlequins didn't have transports back in Rogue Trader days, I don't have any of those! So the only benefit I'll get is that the two units of Jetbikes get Sustained Hits 1 on their weapons.
The four Troupes will hit like a train and cause a lot of pain on anything they charge, but will die to a stiff breeze in return. As long as I keep making 4+ invuln saves everything will be rosy however. The other thing I'm aware of is that Kraken has no real way to deal with my Wraithlords, so they'll be going front and centre to try to cause some trouble.
- Troupe Master leading a Troupe of five Harlequins
- Troupe Master leading a Troupe of five Harlequins
- Troupe Master leading a Troupe of five Harlequins
- Shadowseer leading a Troupe of five Harlequins
- Death Jester
- 2 Skyweaver Jetbikes (Haywire Cannon and Zephyrglaives)
- Spiritseer
- Wraithlord (Bright Lances and Ghostglaive)
- Wraithlord (Bright Lances and Ghostglaive)
1,250 points
Nid Rest You Merry Gantlemen
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| I've only got one Tervigon/T-Fex model (magnetising between the options) so tonight the T-Fex will be played by a Psychophage as it's nearly big enough and is on the right size based |
I’m having the whole family round for Christmas - Big Momma and all her little ones.
This is an Invasion Fleet list, a Tervigon and fifty ’gants at its heart. There’s a T-fex with the rarely-seen Fleshborer Hive, a Neurotyrant with Neurogants, a Winged Prime and Gargoyles and some small units of Genestealers and Leapers to flesh it all out.
The plan is simple - smother the little elves in a blanket of horrible bugs, camp on mid-line objectives to force them to engage, then rely on my high birthrate to replace losses long enough to score.
Invasion fleet helps me with this in several ways. The Adaptive Biology relic helps keep the Tervigon alive, then I have two great strats you can prolong the tarpitting with. Rapid Regeneration gives a unit a feel no pain for a melee, which will help upset the Harlequin troupes if they try and pick on the big packs. And Endless Swarm keeps adding new bugs to depleted units, which is always nice.
Finally, I’m given the option of Sustained into infantry or Lethal into big guys; I take neither, going with Precision on everything instead. Those Harlequin characters are a rough lot, picking them off before they get all murdery on me seems like a wise pick.
- Tervigon, massive scything talons and Adaptive Biology
- Neurotyrant, Synaptic Lynchpin
- Winged Prime, Perfectly Adapted
- 20 Termagants with fleshborers
- 20 Termagants with Devourers
- 10 Termagants with spinefists
- 5 Genestealers
- 5 Genestealers
- 10 Gargoyles
- 11 Neurogaunts
- 3 Von Ryan's Leapers
- Tyrannofex with Fleshborer Hive
1,240 points
Mission
We're playing what's becoming a favourite of mine for relatively simple games: hold-more-kill-more. At the start of each players turn (from round two) that player scores one point for holding an objective, an extra point if they control two objectives and one more if they control more than their opponent at that point. Similarly, at the end of each battle round players score one point if they killed an enemy unit that round, an extra point if they killed two units and one more if they killed more than their opponent.
The battlefield is an old Ork encampment. The Harlequins have arrived looking to recover some old artifacts and expected Orkoid resistance, however discover that the Orks biomass has been digested by a swarm of Tyranids.
Noice - tastes like chorken.
Deployment
As per my plan, both Wraithlords start front and centre, supported by the Spiritseer (there are all sorts of inlocking buffs when he's near them, most usefully +1 WS and BS, which is a good boost given their natural 4+ for each). There's also one of the Troupes alongside them
There's a unit of Jetbikes and a Troupe on each flank
I strengthen my right flank with a second Troupe skulking out of sight in the ruins.
My plan is to surge forwards in a big wave and then kind of hope I can stay there. So the Tervigon, T-fex and Neurotyrant take more or less the centre, with all the Termagants around them.
The Genestealers go on each wing and then scout move out a bit, the Gargoyles are being led by the Prime on my right flank.
It's hopefully an imposing prospect to be running towards! But as Pootle has already realised, I don't have much of a counter for the Wraithlords, so I'm just going to have to try and soak their damage with my mooks for as long as possible.
Then I go and win the roll-off for first turn. That's what I always do when I don't want it, but having agonised over whether or not to risk putting the Leapers out in the middle for a possible first turn charge, I guess that has paid off!
Tyranids Turn 1
Well, I have to commit to my strategy, so everything crashes forwards in a big tide, aiming for as many of the middle objectives as possible.
That works fine on the left and right, but I'm not quite able to get up the hill and grab the middle too. Soon, my pretties, soon!
The Von Ryans go hopping forwards on the left, letting a squad of genestealers take their place. Having Fights First makes them a reasonable speedbump for the Harlequins if they can somehow survive a round of combat. At the least, I might take something useful with me.
Not much shooting, nothing is really in range or position. I tickle a jetbike with some early Gargoyle shots, but that's it. I've definitely started painting the map blue, though.
And the Leapers don't disappoint. They ambush the Shadowseer's troupe and pick him out with Precision, losing a single mini-lictor to the return attacks. Job done at this point, pretty much, anything else is a bonus!
Harlequins Turn 1
On my left flank I move the Jet bikes to shoot up the Stealers and then charge into the Gargoyles, supported by the Troupe who use a strat to enable them to advance and charge. Unfortunately I roll a 1 for the advance and then fail a 6" charge and have no CP for the reroll! The Bikes cut down half the Gargoyles and manage to survive the fight back so I've got away with that somewhat.
I was also expecting things to be worse on my right flank. The Troupe who'd been attacked by the Leapers fall back and the second Troupe and the Jet Bikes move to shoot and charge the bugs. I positioned the Bikes to be able to shoot the Stealers if the Troupe did lots of damage themselves, but in the end the shooting only brings one Leaper down, so I have to charge in. The Troupe Master shows his effectiveness by killing both Leapers by himself!
He does at least lose three wounds to the Leapers first, which is something. Rest well, Leapers, you've done your job.
The two Wraithlords stalk forwards up the hill, abandoning the Spiritseer to his fate (he won't get Lone Operative when he's more than 3" from the walkers). They pour laser fire into the Tervigon (taking it down to only a few wounds) and then charge into the Gants. They're tarpitted, but are in a happy place so I'm happy too.
Apart from anything else, they look cool as anything together!
Scores: we've killed one unit each so the scores are level at 1:1.
Tyranids Turn 2
I think I'm in a happy place here, despite the damage to the Tervigon. She coughs out some replacements for the 'gants being mauled by the Wraithlords, then staggers back.
I've got genestealers to throw in as my second wave. Replacing the fallen Leapers on the left, they zip in and exterminate a bike squad, then use Overrun to fall back towards the middle. I realise later this was a wasted chance - I should have run further forwards, forcing Pootle to stay back from the midline objective if he wanted to deal with them, as I already had spinefist 'gants to hold it there. Ah well!
In the middle, I throw more 'gants on to the middle objective and the top of the hill, then use the T-fex to sweep forwards. Without his lanky pals to hide behind, the Spiritseer is no match for an absolute hail of fire from the big bug. His death also nerfs the Wraithlords a bit, which is good - all the small arms I've got do absolutely nothing to them, and I'm not sure how long I can keep them tarpitted!
The right flank does fine. I lose the rest of the Gargoyles but the Prime kills a bike squad, and the Genestealers jump on a troupe and kill most of it. Picking off the characters is working well, I reckon!
Overall I'm pleased. Three units killed and I've got objective dominance for now. The plan is working so far.
Harlequins Turn 2
I'm holding two objectives at the start of the turn against Kraken's three, so that's a couple of VPs. On my left flank I’ve got a unit of Stealers and a lone Winged Prime to deal with. If I can snipe out the latter with the Death Jester that will simplify things significantly. He’s only got two wounds left and the Jester’s Shrieker cannon is the perfect weapon to deal with this…unless I roll three ones to hit!
The Troupe who were in the centre advance towards the Stealers on my left (I’m planning to use a strat to let them advance and charge, but after I roll a 1 for the advance I realise that I could have just added 2” to their move with an Agile Manoeuvre and kept the CP for something else; but now I’ve advanced them I have to spend the CP to let them charge). In event they do make their charge and kill all five Stealers, so all I’ve got to worry about on this flank is that blasted Winged Prime.
The two Wraithlords aim their big guns at the Tervigon but firing out of combat and with no Psyker nearby to guide them means they’re only hitting on 5s. I do get one shot through and Big Momma drops down to only 4 wounds left. They’re no better in melee either: despite 16 attacks between them, they only manage to squish four of the bugs they’re facing.
Scores: Even on holding objectives (2 each), but the 'Nids have managed to kill three units versus only two for the Quins. The score is 5:4 against the Harlequins.
Tyranids Turn 3
It's starting to look a bit shaky out there, really. I'm low on bugs, and if there aren't many Harlies left, they're still too capable to discount. Time for a Hive Mind Scream, I reckon!
This goes really well. Pootle fails all his battleshock tests! Only the Death Jester laughs it off, but he's not going to be doing much this round.
I reinforce the middle squads as much as I can with Endless Swarm and the Tervigon. The Prime sells his life to little effect on the right, taking a single clown with him, but I've made another mistake in sending him against the big squad. He might have cut the wounded ones down after the Tervigon picks one off with shooting, and that might have tied the other squad to the objective. But hindsight achieves nothing here!
Harlequins Turn 3
I’m on two objectives again at the start of my turn so that’s two VPs as the Nids own the other three.
On my left, I leave the lone Avatar to hold onto the objective amongst the rocks while the uninjured Troupe run back towards the middle. Once again I roll an advance (this time getting a five) before (again) realising that I really didn’t need to: with +2” from Agile Manoeuvres and their ability to ignore vertical distance means that I could easily have got close enough to have had an easy charge. What I absolutely SHOULD have done however is play the Agile Manoeuvre that prevents overwatch as Kraken pays a CP to have the T-Fex shoot its 28 shots at the Troupe. The blizzard of spines (helped by Sustained Hits and Twin-Linked) drops the entire Troupe of five, leaving just the Troupe Master to attack the mob of Gants by himself. That was a really big slip on my part as the Wraithlords manage to kill all but one of the little bugs: P m 100% sure that the overwatched Troupe would have cleaned up the Gants entirely. In addition the Wraithlords entirely fail to hit the Tervigon so it’s still sitting there on one wound!!
Scores: It's swung back the other way, with the Harlequins managing to push the 'Nids off enough points to get more. Harlequins 8, Tyranids 8 at the mid-game point!
Tyranids Turn 4
Harlequins Turn 4
Against all my expectations, I'm still in this game! I spend a CP on Insane Bravery so the lone Avatar on my left holds his objective so that's one VP for holding an objective (the Death Jester had danced out of range of my home objective last turn).
The Wraithlords separate, with one heading back down the hill to shoot and charge the T-Fex (managing to drop the big beast down to only a couple of wounds)
Meanwhile the two surviving Troupe members in the centre charge the remaining Gants and manage to kill all but one, which is frustrating as Kraken can put more bugs back in again next turn!
The other Wraithlord charges into the Neurotyrant's unit, killing all of them this time - no more respawning for that unit at least.
Scores: The Harlequins are pulling ahead by killing more. It's 11:10 in their favour!
Tyranids Turn 5
The Tyrannofex has just one job now, which is to cling on to those final two wounds. Well, and perforate the Death Jester, which it manages tidily. Somehow, it squeaks through the combat on armour saves.
The Neurotyrant is out of bodyguards, so runs away over the ruin. That's fine, it's been very useful at using its expanded synapse reach to keep reinforcing the middle unit with Endless Swarm, which is the only thing keeping me in the game here!
I've got the middle again with replacement bugs, the left is sewn up. Now I'm at the mercy of the dice to see if I can keep the Tyrannofex alive and stop the Harlequins killing more than me in the last round.
Harlequins Turn 5
It's getting late so I'm losing my concentration a bit, but I think maybe I can win if I fall one Wraithlord out of melee with the T-Fex back onto my home objective (scoring at the end of my turn this round) and then use the other one to shoot the big bug to death. I spend another CP on Insane Bravery to make sure I hold the left-field objective and put two Brightlance shots into the T-Fex...but its armour holds firm again!
Post Op
It went down to the wire for Christmas again! After a strong start, I really thought I'd lost that. The Wraithknight problem proved insoluble, as I feared, and I lost a lot of headway when they absolutely punched holes in my army.
Otherwise, though, the plan worked. Killing off the characters really took the edge off the Harlequins. Obviously they can't absorb losses like a big 'nid swarm can, but even a single Troupe Master could easily butcher a big squad with ease. Taking them out of units early helped me a lot.
MVP was easily the Tyrannofex. Those big hive hands did a lot of heavy lifting, and squeaking through on saves won me the game. Only just though!
I definitely feel that Harlequins are a scalpel that needs some skill to wield; I made several mistakes with Agile Manouevres which hopefully I will learn from but was very pleased with how the Wraithlords did - they were very definitely my MVPs.
Thanks again for the game, fight again soon hopefully!
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