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Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2005 4:33 pm
Posts: 193
Location: Ireland
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You can find the pics by clicking on this sentence. Hope you enjoy them.
Batrep Tyranids vs. Blood Angels
Lists used: Tyranids 6.2 and Blood Angel Experimental List
Introduction:
Sven and me decided to play a 2300 points battle to test out the Tyranids and the Blood Angels.
Normally Space Marines and Tyranids are really antithetic armies, but Blood Angels against Tyranids are even more so as they excel in close combat which is the superior field of the Tyranids. With this in my mind I tried to design a not so CC based army which basically got me a limited codex army. Let's say Tyranids are not the optimal opponent for the little elitist Space Marines.
I don't know enough about the Tyranid list to really comment on the army design of Sven but what surprised me a bit was the lack of Dominatrix. Which I should have expected with these scarce points. See the lists below:
Tyranid Onslaught - Tyranid Army
1 Tyranid Warrior formation @ 150 Pts
3 Tyranid Warriors @ [0] Pts
1 Tyranid Warrior formation @ 150 Pts
3 Tyranid Warriors @ [0] Pts
1 Hive Tyrant Formation @ 100 Pts
1 Hive Tryant @ [0] Pts
1 Hive Tyrant Formation @ 100 Pts
1 Hive Tryant @ [0] Pts
1 Harridan Formation @ 250 Pts
1 Harridan @ [0] Pts
1 Expectorator Swarm @ 150 Pts
1 Expectorator @ [150] Pts
1 Genestealer Formation @ 175 Pts
7 Genestealers @ [175] Pts
1 Lictor Swarm @ 150 Pts
3 Lictors @ [150] Pts
1 Lictor Swarm @ 150 Pts
3 Lictors @ [150] Pts
1 Brood Formation @ 620 Pts
4 Gargoyles @ [80] Pts
6 Hormagaunt @ [90] Pts
12 Ravener @ [240] Pts
14 Termagunt @ [210] Pts
1 Support Brood Formation @ 315 Pts
6 Biovore @ [210] Pts
3 Carnifex @ [105] Pts
Formations: 11
Total Units: 67
Total Army Cost: 2310
Blood Red Revenge - Blood Angel Army
2 Tactical Marines + Landraider + Predator
1 Dev + 2 Razorbacks
1 Whirlwind
1 Scout + Sniper
1 Land Speeder
1 Death Company
1 Marauder Bomber Formation
Formations: 8
Total Units: 40
Army Cost: 2300
Battle Report:
Game preparation and table setup:
When I got to Sven (late as always) the table had already been set up by him, filled with his wonderful resin buildings and streets. It was a GT sized table (6feet to 4 feet) with city in the middle. The right table edge had some small buildings representing a radio outpost. Around the table several hills were scattered.
We started by placing the objectives. I placed two of my objectives on the right table side as I planned to focus on this area.The radar station landed on a hill near my deployment zone and the rocket silo inside the radio outpost to the right table edge. My last one landed at one of the outgoing roads on the left, because it really fit in there and I had no better place to put it. I considered it something like a gift to my opponent as I didn't count on getting that close to the enemy. Sven placed one of his objectives directly in the city, one on a hill near my troups and the final one near his central deployment zone.
After that we set up. The Blood Angels started with the Devastators and the 2 Tacticals on the right side of the map. Land Speeders and Death Company were positioned together with the Scouts in the left half of the table.
The Tyranid forces countered the Death Company and the Speeders by placing their Harridan opposite accompanied by the majority of their swarms and an Expectorator. With only the Genestealers and one minor swarm led by a Hive Tyrant on the right side, they focused on the middle objectives.
Turn 1 begins: Forward, Marines
With their low Strategy Rating of 1 the chance of the Tyranids beginning was almost non-existant and I counted on that to block their path to my core army. Thus I pressed my Scouts forward to take defensive positions around the objective in the inner city. The Scouts crawled into the safety of a few buildings and threw curious looks at the amassing hordes of bugs outside the city. Just in this moment the Marauder Bombers delivered their deadly cargo to the biggest swarm, taking out a few gaunts and the Carnifexes - but the synapse creature, a mighty Hive Tyrant, remained unscathed.
The massive swarm takes these losses easily and advances towards the city. The Harridan flies directly next to my Scouts and its transported Gargoyles position themselves in the opposite buildings to prepare for an assault next turn.
The Death Company and the Land Speeders decide that they'd rather fight on the right side and race towards the core of the Marine army. My last Tactical detachment moves towards the radio outpost to occupy the objective placed there. The Whirlwinds park around the radar station.
Turn 2: Let the bodies hit the floor...
Turn 2 begins with a bad surprise for me: two Lictor swarms have infiltrated into the area around the radar station and circled my Whirlwinds, blocking all escape routes. I decide to assault them with my Death Company. One of the Lictors is close enough to the Whirlwinds to take a bite off them. It is an almost even fight. All three Lictors go down in hand to hand fighting or return fire as do two Death Company stands and two Whirlwind. The Whirlwinds decide that this area is too hot for them and that they should better leave the area asap.
The Tyranids now get keen to perpetrate the Marine lines. The Harridan sees an opportunity, loads up the Gargoyles and skims through the Scouts to the Marine end of the city. Unfortunately it fumbles on its initiative roll and only gets to make on move, so no unloading of the cargo this turn. The Marines now have a juicy Harridan in front of their barrels and they clearly want to take it down. The devastators and one Tactical detachment open fire on the Harridan, supported by the Land Raider and the Predator. In the end they score one wound on the Harridan, which will be regenerated during the end phase.
The Scouts are getting nervous now, shouldn't they evacuate now? The fire a few shots at the oncoming swarms, but to no avail. The Expectorator would like to attack them, but he somehow doesn't get his movement appendages sorted out. The same goes for the Genestealers who are caught up in sorting their arms.
The Land Speeders rush to the help of the last Death Company and circle the Lictors. They are unaware of this foe as they never before fought the Tyranids and entangle them in a deadly handfight. One formation of Lictors dies, taking the Land Speeders with them. There is only the Death Company and one Lictor left around the radar station. They eye each other suspiciously and prepare for the final stand.
The Tyranid swarm on the right side, a Hive Tyrant accompanied by Raveners and gaunts, closes on the radio outpost. They are welcomed by a volley of fire from the occupying Tactical Space Marines. To their support comes the Marauder bomber squadron, who take out a few gaunts and Raveners.
Turn 3 - Oops, there you go!
This is the final turn. It's gotten late and the Space Marine need to be back early to say their prayers to the emperor.
Obviously the Scouts got enough of prayers and decide that they wanna be heroes this time. They stay fearlessly in the buildings surrounding the objective to fight the oncoming masses of the swarm, firing a few shots at the Genestealers. The core of the swarm has now reached assault range and this is what they do. The Scouts take the path of all heroes - straight to death and the Tyranids secure the city objective.
During the same time, the last Death Company stand assaults the Lictor. They meet at the radar station and fight bitterly. Just as the final Lictor plunges one of its scythes through the abdomen of the last Marine, he pulls the trigger on his bolter and kills the beast in turn. Both parties obliterate each other. The battlefield is littered with bodies, but no one remains to claim the victory.
The Marine units in the middle area concentrate their fire on the Harridan once again to only cause one wound. The Harridan is not impressed by these meagre efforts and gets a little bored of those tiny marines (hey, they are only 6mm!). It spreads it wings, goes off to the unoccupied radar station and unloads the Gargoyles which gloat over their new and shiny objective. The Marauder bombers lay a carpet of bombs on the Harridan but it shrugs of the explosions as it shrugged of the shells of the Space Marine weapons.
The Tactical Marines at the radio outpost repel the Tyranid swarm in this area and proceed to secure the rocket silo. The Tyranids shuffle their feet in vain and a few shots are exchanged but nothing more happens.
This is the end of the game. The Space Marines did their best, but they simply couldn't hold a defensive position, mainly due to the Harridan breaking through and ignoring all fire. The Harridan must be an almost invulnerable creature and the Space Marine commander swears to himself that he will bring a few titans the next time. Tyranids win and the Blood Angels pack their stuff.
Tyranids have it all (almost) - The Conclusion:
The Tyranids in their current incarnation feel a bit too tough. They've got countermeasures against almost all threats (AA seems to be their only weakness). Lictors and Harridans give this slow foot army the much needed mobility. And one word on the Lictors: They are dead hard with an Invulnerable Save and the ability to teleport. Sure they got no firefight, but they won't lose many units in a firefight. Even if they do no damage they are quite as mean as the terminators by stirring up the back line of your enemy. Watch out for them!
One of the perceived downsides of the Tyranids is their strategy rating. They are not likely to ever gain the strategical upper hand against an opponent like Space Marines. Somehow this was also true in terms of initiative in this game. Sven several times failed to retain initiative and so stuck to only moving one swarm at a time. This was in some way a good decision for him, because he could only react to my movement anyway and so got to counter my strategy easily (strategy? what strategy?). Apart from Harridans and Lictors, the Tyranids on the table were sloooow, so he couldn't put much pressure on me.
Yes, you can tweak your army to take care of Tyranids. Lots of long distance firepower and mobility to move away to safety... the Marines surely have the mobility but they lack the firepower. They need heavy support: Titans and aircraft.
The MVP goes to the Harridan which heroically shrugged of salvo after salvo of Space Marine fire to fearlessly capture an objective in the Marines corner. It looks beautiful, but I would kill it any moment if I could 
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Generosity rules where 6mm soldiers are concerned.
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Looking for players near Dublin - get in touch with me!
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