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2K BATREP - Nids vs Black Legion
Lightbringer
 Post subject: 2K BATREP - Nids vs Black Legion
PostPosted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 4:09 pm 
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Hiya guys

This is a batrep from a 2000 point battle between Wako1302 and myself fought last Saturday at Captain WOK Belli's annual barbeque.

I tried out a the latest list with the latest suggested unit stats as posted last week by E&C.

I'll comment on the units after the report - so onto the action......

Tyranid vers 7.l
(including latest WIP suggested unit changes from tactical command)

Black Legion vers 3.7

All experimental rules.


Forces

Bethesda the Everliving?s Black Fists of Iron
1990 points

Green Retinue - 425 points
7 Chaos Space Marines
1 Chaos Space Marine & Warlord Character
2 Obliterators

Blue Retinue - 475 points
7 Chaos Space Marines
Demon Prince (Bethesda himself?)
2 Obliterators

Grey Forelorn Hope Retinue - 145 points
4 Chaos Space Marines
4 Dreadclaws

Red Forelorn Hope Retinue - 145 points
4 Chaos Space Marines
4 Dreadclaws

Armoured Company - 350 points
4 Predators
2 Defilers

Titan - 300 points
Feral Titan

Spacecraft - 150 points
Devastation Class Cruiser




Hive Fleet Mastodon ? Subdual Advance Force
2000 points

Assault Group - 745 points
Tyranid Warrior Group
22 Termagaunts
10 Hormogaunts
4 Gargoyle
1 Zoanthrope

Attack Group 1 (Garrison) ? 235 points
1 Hive Tyrant
1 Exocrine
1 Zoanthrope
1 Biovore

Attack Group 2 ? 350 points
1 Hive Tyrant
2 Trygons

Attack Group 3
1 Hive Tyrant100
2 Malefactors100
1 Haruspex50
1 Biovore25

1 Heirophant250
(armed with Bio-cannon and Pyro Acidic Spray)

2 Lesser Nodes100

3 Mycetic Spores45


Synapse 550 (27.5%)
Independent 250 (12.5%)
Uncommon 640 (32%)
Common 560 (28%)


Table 4* 4 ? Black Legion chose edge deployment.

Hills are brown, buildings grey. Objectives (crossed circles) were all buildings apart from the blitz objectives.



Spaceships and Garrisons

The Black Legion set up the Devastation Class Cruiser and just the one garrison, The Green Retinue, who bedded down with half their units in the central building complex and the rest trailing back towards objective 6 perched on hill D.

The Bugs garrisoned Attack Group 1 in the eastern shadow of hill C covering objective 3, on overwatch.

Deployment

The remaining Black Legion formations deployed as follows (West to East):

Blue Retinue (west of objective 1)
Feral Titan (in front of objective 1)
Armoured Company (between hill D and woods)
Both Forelorn Hopes were kept off board to be drop podded later in the game.

The Tyranid force deployed as follows (West to East)

Hierophant (West of Objective 2)
Attack Swarm 2 (around Objective 2)
Attack Swarm 3 (behind hills A & C)
Assault Swarm (behind rough ground)
Both nodes held off board.


Turn 1 (?Curse you Chaos Gods for my bad luck!? ? Bethesda the Everliving)

Strategy: Black Legion

No teleports

1. As battle joins, Green Retinue advances towards objective 3, some of the marines leaving the safety of the complex buildings. As the marines raise their bolters to open fire the nearby bugs, Attack Group 1 fires its overwatch fire which tears into the black clad warriors with the loss of a single marine stand. Shaken by the loss, Green Retinue returns fire causing a single hit which is saved by the Exocrine. The Green Retinue mutters a few choice curses.
2. The Hive Tyrant of Attack Group 3 now leads his haruspex and malefactors forward (double) to the western edge of hill C and opens fire on the already shaken Green Retinue. No kills but the retinue takes another 2 BM (man, I love that disrupt!)
3. Bethesda decides it about time to send in some reiforcements and orders his Feral Titan to double up towards objective 5, about level with Green Retinue. The Titan opens up on Attack Group 3 causing just the single hit which is saved by the thick armour of the haruspex.
4. On the eastern side of the board the big Assault Group scuttles (double) forward towards the central building complex. No shots are fired but the swarm is now in range to assault the complex in turn 2 and the bugs are licking their mandibles with anticipation!
5. Back in the West, Bethesda himself leads his Blue Retinue to the ridge of hill B and takes in the view. Seeing Attack Group 3 in his field of vision he orders his obliterators to open fire on the big bugs. Out of breath due to the swift ascent of the hill due to the weight of their big old suits, the usually reliable Obliterator?s aim is totally off and no hits are landed. Bethesda mutters a few curses too.
6. The Tyrant of Attack Group 2 decides that his Trygons should make themselves useful and take out the nearby Feral Titan. Doubling up close to the Titan, the Attack Group unleashes a massive bio-electric field but (unsuprisingly) no hits are caused.
7. Back in the East, the Black Legion?s Armoured Company doubles forward around the western edge of the lake, its guns blaze into the heart of the Assault Swarm. 1 Gargoyle, 1 Termagaunt and the Swarm?s Zoanthrope are blown apart.
8. Uneasy with the proximity of Bethesda, the Heirophant scuttles forward (double) and introduces the Chaos Supreme Commander to his unpleasant breath (and bio-cannon). When Blue Retinue has stopped coughing they notice that one of their Marine Units had coughed itself to death!

End Phase

Black Legion ? All units rally and remove all blast markers.
Spawning ? Assault Swarm spawns back a Zoanthrope.






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Lightbringer
 Post subject: 2K BATREP - Nids vs Black Legion
PostPosted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 4:10 pm 
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Turn 2: (?Who dropped that one?? ? The Hive Mind)


The Hive Tyrant of Attack Group 1 takes over control of 3 Gargoyles and 3 Termagaunts from the Assault Swarm.

Strategy: Black Legion

Teleports: Lesser Synapse Node 1 erupts from the earth to the north of hill D - contesting objective 6, hunkering down in a nook (claiming a ?1 ?hull down? to hit cover modifier).

1. The sky darkens as the shadow of the mighty Devastation Class Cruiser moves into a position to rain death upon the unfortunate bugs. Bethesda roars in frustration as both the Cruiser?s orbital bombardment and its pin-point attack fail to hit any bugs. He does appear to cheer up somewhat at the sight of the Grey and Red Forelorn Hope Retinues droping through the clouds to land behind Attack Groups 3 and 4. The weapons systems of the Dreadclaws rip into both swarms killing a biovore, a haruspex and a malefactor from Attack Group 3.
2. Retaining the initiative the Grey Forelorn Hope Retinue sustain fire on Attack Group 1 having noticed that the Hive Tyrant is now the closest critter. Despite years of training the fearsome scouts fail to land a single shot as the bugs turn their attention to the now empty barreled troops.
3. Still purturbed by the presence of the Feral Titan, the Tyrant of Attack Group 3 launches the remains of his swarm towards the Titan with the Tyrant ducking out of sight behind objective 5. The spine banks of the single malefactor launch a shower of razor sharp spines at the titan but the shields easily cope (no hits) but the all important blast marker is placed ?..
4. the hierophant now attempts to retain to assault the titan but in its enthusiasm trips over a cosmic cow pat (failed activation ? curses!). Recovering its balance the bio-titan once again breaths on Bethesda and his Blue Retinue but time they hold their breath and no damage is caused.
5. Thanking the Chaos Gods for his luck the Titan Pilot levels his guns at Attack Group 2 and opens up with all his might (sustain) ? shards of bio-armour fly high into the air as purple blood pours from open wounds in both Trygons (1 point of damage on each ? no criticals).
6. Retaining, the Red Forelorn Hope decide its time Attack Group 2 met its maker and sustain fires into the swarm ? the Hive Tyrant is targetted as opposed to the war engines and all guns are open up on him! As the dust settles the Tyant looks down and can?t believe it ? no damage! ?(invulnerable save!) - Bethesda curses his luck.
7. Attack Group 1 line up the Green Retinue again some of whom are still out of cover in front of the building complex and attempt to sustain fire. Something is amiss though and the bugs are not sure who the Tyrant wants them to shoot at (another failed activation!) ? the bugs decide to simply fire at the Green Retinue hitting all 3 of the marines out of cover. All 3 fail to save and fall to the ground causing much delight from the hive mind and and another audible groan from Bethesda the Unlucky.
8. Blue Retinue, led by Bethesda himself engage the hierophant in a vicious firefight ? the obliterators show their worth as the mighty bio-titan is floored outright only managing to take a single marine out on the way.


9. Seething at the loss of their bigger brother the Trygons can barely be controlled as they rip into the Red Foreloen Hope Retinue (engage, barge, all CC) ?- not a single marine survives the savage assault and Trygons turn their blood-covered claws to towards Bethesda.
10. Having detected a bug presence behind him and seeing the Assault Swarm closing in on his position, the warlord of the Green Retinue orders a retreat from the building complex back to objective 6. Seeing Lesser Synapse 1 the retinue fires but fails to hit.
11. On the east the Assault Swarm now ignores the building complex and launches a long range assault agains the as yet undamaged armoured company ? hormogaunts charge forward with mindblowing speed and clamber all over the armoured vehicles. For the loss of just 2 hormogaunts, 4 predators are ripped apart and the fearless defilers fall back to a safer range near Green Retine.
12. Lesser Synapse Node 1 holds it ground.

End Phase.

All Black Legion rallies ? the defilers are left with 1 BM as are the Greem Retinue.
One Trygon recovers a point of damage.
The Lesser Synapse Node spawns 2 Hormogaunts.
Attack Group 1 spawns 1 Termagaunt
The assault swarm spawns 1 Biovore



Turn 3 (?Time for the main course? ? translated battle roar of the Trygons)

Strategy: Black Legion

Teleports: Lesser Synapse Node 2 burbles to life at the base of objective 1 on the Black Legion Baseline.

1. Having witnessed the massacre of the Red Forelorn Hope at the hands of the closing Trygons, the Grey Forelorn Hope realise that their days are numbered. Standing boldy in the face of the charging beasts the Chaos Marines sustain fire at Attack Groups 2?s Hive Tyrant, emptying their clips in the process. As the last bolt is fired the Marines are amazed to see the Tyrant completely unharmed (thank you invulnerable save again!!).
2. Lesser Synapse Node 1 decides that it and the 2 hormogaunts it controls are not going to be around for very long and launches the broods at the nearby defilers. The hormogaunts are no match for the dark sinister engines of war and are swiftly torn apart as is the node from the supporting fire of Green Retinue.
3. Over in the West the Feral Titan takes aim at the remnents of Attack Group 3 who are holding objective 5 (sustain), destroying the Hive Tyrant and a Malefactor leaving a solitary Haruspex.
4. Attack Group 1 decides the Feral Titan has to go and shuffles forward and fires. The titan is rocked by the incoming fire losing all its shields and receiving a blast marker.
5. Green Retinue move off hill D to get a clean line of site to lesser synapse node 2 which is holding the Black Legion baseline objective and open fire. No hits are scored and the node wiggles defiantly.
6. Back behind the nid line Attack Group 2 assaults the poor Grey Forelorn Hope ? again the mighty Tyrgons crash into the marines forcing close combat. All the marines are torn apart and both Trygons take 1 point of damage.
7. The Black Legions Defilers are clearly concerned that the massive Assault Swarm is making good progress unchallenged and moves into a good position to fire into the heaving mass of bugs. Again Bethesda curses loudly as all shots fly wide!
8. The Defilers clearly misjudged what they thought was a safe distance from the Assault Swarm! The broods launch an assault on the Defilers sending hormogaunts rushing forwards at tremendous speeds to envelope the black vehicles. 4 Hormogaunts are crushed but both Defilers are ripped apart by the sheer number of incoming hits.
9. Seeing his numbers dwindling Bethesda pulls back to contest his baseline objective and orders his troops to fire at lesser synapse node 2 ? again no hits are landed and a string of expletives is muttered by the dark lord at the lucky node.
10. The lone Haruspex of Attack Group 3 shuffles over to join the Tyrant of Attack Group 1 and feels safe again.

End Phase

Black Legion 0 ? Tyranids 0

All Black Legion formations rally apart from the Feral Titan.
Attack Group 2 spawns 2 hormogaunts
Attack Group 1 spawns 4 hormogaunts (with spore)
Lesser Synapse Node 1
1 Tyrgon recovers 1 hit
The Feral recovers 1 shield.




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Lightbringer
 Post subject: 2K BATREP - Nids vs Black Legion
PostPosted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 4:12 pm 
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Turn 4 (Bethesda?s last stand)

Strategy: Black Legion
No teleports

1 Outraged at the defiant node behind their lines Bethesda orders his feral titan to double back towards objective 1 and destroy the node. One hit thumps into the node but is saved.
2 The node takes a hold action and plumps itself up a bit.
3 Bethesda realises that the retreat of his titan has gifted the nids a victory condition (TSNP) and doubles his Blue Retinue into nid territory contesting objective 5.
4 Attack Group 2 attempts to move and fire upon Blue Retinue but slip on the huge pool of Forelorn Hope blood (failed activation) ? the groups pulles back to secure objective 2.
5 The Hive Mind realises that victory can only be achieved if the bugs take out Bethesda and his retinue. If they can achieve this then the bugs will have BTS and TSNP. With this in mind the Assault Swarm sweeps from East to West through the building complex to fire upon Blue Retinue. The shots fail to kill but place that all important blast marker.
6 The final activation of the turn sees Attack Swarm 1 assault Bethesda and his Blue Retinue in a hope to wipe it out and secure victory. The battle is bloody and furious with 4 hormogaunts, 3 termagaunts 2 gargoyles and the harupsex all falling at the feet of the dark lord and his loyal followers. In return, both the Blue Retinue obliterators are, well, obliterated. Blue Retinue beats off the bugs and holds his ground ? consolidating towards objective 5.




http://i104.photobucket.com/albums....006.jpg
End Phase:

Black Legion 0 ? Tyranids 0

At this point we roll to see if we go to a fifth turn ? which we don?t. Its countback time to decide the winner.

The countback favours the bugs as they win 877 to 725.

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Chroma
 Post subject: 2K BATREP - Nids vs Black Legion
PostPosted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 4:30 pm 
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(Lightbringer @ Aug. 30 2006,16:12)
QUOTE
Black Legion 0 ? Tyranids 0

At this point we roll to see if we go to a fifth turn ? which we don?t. Its countback time to decide the winner.

The countback favours the bugs as they win 877 to 725.

Thanks for the report!

Crazy that it came down so close to the wire.

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Lightbringer
 Post subject: 2K BATREP - Nids vs Black Legion
PostPosted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 4:35 pm 
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I know what you mean !

If it wasn't for the haruspex's presence in the final assault I would have probably missed taking the Blue Retinue down to half strength and the battle would have been a narrow Black Legion win!



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Markconz
 Post subject: 2K BATREP - Nids vs Black Legion
PostPosted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 11:29 pm 
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Great battle report! Thanks Lightbringer.

Good to see it going down to the wire as well.

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Evil and Chaos
 Post subject: 2K BATREP - Nids vs Black Legion
PostPosted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 11:29 pm 
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Well that's one hell of a close game!


What did you think of the stat changes Lightbringer?

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Lightbringer
 Post subject: 2K BATREP - Nids vs Black Legion
PostPosted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:53 am 
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Hena - the hiero had Pyro-Acidic Spray as a biomorph weapon choice (template AP4+. AT5+ ignore cover) - which I wrote up incorrectly as a breath weapon in the report - oops.

Re the army composition - the huge swarm basically closed off the east side of the board but only actually took out the armoured company (350 points). I do like to have large common swarms as it protects the warriors well and keeps the assault modifiers up (more and double = +2). I could probably have gone with a smaller swarm and added a couple more big bugs to my attack groups - and probably will in future.

re other units

The Malefactors - well they both got shot up (Dreadclaws and Feral) without actually killing anything in return. The weakened save does make them that much more vulnerable (E&C's suggested 5+RA). ?I can?t really comment on their effectives as all they managed to do was lay blast markers. Would I rather have the spines at AP4+ and armour back up to 4+RA as you suggest? Yes I think I would. I think the big bugs should be durable but not that great at firing.

The Haruspex - he works and works well. Offers durability with his thick armour and fearsome in CC. The lone haruspex in the final assault helped bring down the 2 obliterators which brought the Blue Retinue down to 50% strength and gave me a narrow win. Personally I would take them as they are again.

The Exocrine - he also works - I did like the old 5+MW (who wouldn't) but actually I think I prefer to be able to actually land a few hits and force some saves - he took out a couple of chaos marines and it was wonderful to be able to garrison him. Fine!

The Trygons - 125 points too little? Bearing in mind that you need to tag on a synapse I think they are about there (2 trygons plus tyrant cost me 350 points). The thing is that anyone shooting at such a formation can choose to ignore the Trygons (they are WEs) - I was ever so lucky not to lose the trygon's tyrant which may well have resulted in them going to ground. If they were independent critters then they should be more points for sure but as broods I think 125 is about there. If they are to be upped then it should be by a very small amount.

Hierophant - well he came, he saw, he got beaten up! He was unlucky to fail the crucial activation, which would have seen him tear open the feral titan. As a result he got assaulted in FF by the Blue Retinue and brought down. He feels fine and I really like having the biomorph options.

I asked Wako what he thought of the unit changes and he thought on the whole they were good. We all agreed the bug army is far more balanced than it used to be. There were so many key points in the battle were things could have gone one way or the other (we had 8 assaults in 4 turns in a 2K battle!). This was Epic A as it should be - balanced, fun and down to the wire.

Lightbringer
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ragnarok
 Post subject: 2K BATREP - Nids vs Black Legion
PostPosted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:00 am 
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Great battle rep.

The 2 trygon 1 tyrant brood looks strange, I thought that it would die quickly and was surprised that it didn't.  Did you hide the tyrant behind the Trygons to avoid being shot?

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Lightbringer
 Post subject: 2K BATREP - Nids vs Black Legion
PostPosted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:25 am 
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Hena - army composition corrected - I wrote my list up without referring to the paperwork - well spotted though!

RE Trygons with infiltrate plus war engine barge is pretty awesome to be honest - this was the first time I have used Trygons ever so its hard for me to compare then with their old incarnation. They worked really well for me like this and I think opponents will think twice about getting too close to them in the future.

Its a tough choice with big critters that rely on CC - do you give them infiltrate or a higher move? I am a big fan of infiltrate for CC specialists as it keeps their regular moves down to a reasonable pace. I would be tempted to say that bio-titans should have a reduced basic speed plus infiltrate.

I would have probably paid 150 for the Trygons if I was being totally honest! :)

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Evil and Chaos
 Post subject: 2K BATREP - Nids vs Black Legion
PostPosted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:37 am 
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Trygons, of all the Bio-Titans, deserve infiltrate the most imho, as while it does represent its rapid overground speed, it also represents the Trygon burrowing underground, then emerging unexpectedly amongst the enemy...

If 40k it is the only model in the game that is allowed to 'deep strike' onto the board, emerge in direct contact with enemy models, and instead of being destroyed like a normal model in that situation, it counts as charging the enemy instead!

I'm not so keen on Infiltrate on the other Bio-Titans, as a way of differentiating them in purpose (A Scythed Hierodule would be almost identical to a Trygon otherwise), and because the larger Bio-Titans like Hierophants are described as moving pretty rapidly anyway.

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Lightbringer
 Post subject: 2K BATREP - Nids vs Black Legion
PostPosted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:47 am 
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Fair Comment E&C, I don't have a lot of fluff knowledge of the bugs so will bow to your knowledge in such matters.

From the battles I have played with my bugs this one was the most balanced in terms of spawning and unit stats. Also I should mention that the reduction of ranged MW did not really hurt as much as I thought it would and in fact steered the tactics squarely onto assaults which is where it should be.

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