Well, my Sunday D&D game fell through, so the one player who could show up did and we played some EPIC instead... so, not a total loss.  *laugh*

I had earlier selected Tyranids as my army, not knowing that he was bringing.  I wanted to put together a "Horde of Tooth and Claw" army... half the army's points were spent on Common Brood creatures!

This has some changes I had been thinking about putting into v9.2.2, but that was before all the recent discussions ans such.  WIP, yes, it's all WIP.

Anyway, here are the armies!

_________________
"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

Rules Used

Epic Update 2008
NetEA Recommendations
Tyranids v9.2.2 (Experimental)

Changes

Assault Group – 3 Tyranid Warriors – 100 points

Raveners – CC4+. +1EA

Gaunts worth 1/2 per kill, rounded up, in an assault

Synapse Swarms that rally from Broken still suffer -1D3 spawning

BTS – More Synapse killed than remaining

Scenario

Tournament Scenario

Armies Used

â€Â

Battlefield:

4x6

Marines chose long table edge.


Deployment:

All Marine formations, except the Land Raiders, were kept in reserve, with the Sword of Glory scheduled for Turn 1 with Squads Ramiel and Uziel in Thunderhawks ready for planetfall.

Tyranids kept both Lictor swarms in reserve.

Neither side deployed garrisons.

Deployment as shown:

_________________
"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

Dude. This is gonna be awesome. Can't wait to see it unfold.  

Turn 1

Three detachments of Terminators appear, with Squad Sariel suffering 2 Blast markers as they show up at the Hero’s Shrine.



Strategy Roll: Marines after a tie!

The Sword of Glory appears overhead and unloads death on the Tyranid Blitz, catching Genestealer Swarms 2 and 3 in the blasts… killing… a single Genestealer unit from Swarm 3!



With heat shields glowing, both Thunderhawks hit the deck, disgorging their deadly payloads.



Squad Uziel sees a target rich environment and request confirmation from the supreme commader before sustaining on the exposed Genestealer Swarm 2… and manages to kill a *single* Genestealer unit!

Now that prey has been detected nearby, Attack Swarm 4 doubles to partially envelop Squad Uziel and puts a Blast marker on them.

Genestealer Swarm 2 then lopes forward to engage them and their intermingled Thunderhawk.  (I actually rolled a “1â€Â

Turn 2

Both Lictor Swarms show up, with Swarm 2 getting a single Blast marker. (I made a mistake here, Swarm 2 should’ve only been three Lictors, not four… but, as you’ll soon see, it doesn’t really matter.)



Strategy Roll: Marines.

The Land Raiders sustain fire on the Harridan, doing 1DC of damage.

Thunderhawk Beta then lands between the Lictor Swarms to *ground assault* Swarm 2… with lotsa support!  The Tyranids don’t stand a chance and are wiped out.  ( Sneaky, so very sneaky!)



Lictor Swarm 1 hopes to do some damage before they suffer the same fate and engage Squad Charoum… but the ZoCs of other enemy formations prevent them from getting to the supreme commander… and they’re quickly dispatched with no losses for the Marines.



The Harridan then flaps forward to engage Squad Ramiel.  Two Terminator Squads are crushed but they still manage to knock the Tyranid beast from the air.



Thunderhawk Alpha needs a little encouragement to return to the battlefield and ground attacks ‘Stealer Swarm 1, taking out 3 Genestealers and breaking the remaining Bugs.

Squad Israfel sustains fire on Swarm 4… and kills a Ravener.

Attack Swarm 3 surges forward to engage Squad Sariel in a firefight… neither side score any kills and the broken Terminators are forced to disperse.



Battered, but not broken, Squad Ramiel advances on Swarm 4, killing a Termagant and a Hormagaunt, which actually breaks the swarm!

Squad Charoum advances and fire on Genestealer Swarm 3, kills a ‘Stealer and breaks them.

Swarm 2 doubles to fire on Squad Charoum… for a Blast marker.

Swarm 1 doubles up close to Swarm 3 near Hero’s Hill…




End of Turn

All Marines rally while Attack Swarm 4 and Genestealer Swarm 2 fail.

Free from distraction, Attack Swarm 1 spawns 2 Termagants and 2 Raveners, and takes 2 Raveners from Swarm 3.

Swarm 2 gets 1 Hormagaunt and 1 Gargoyle.

Swarm 3… 1 Termagant.

Swarm 4… 1 Gargoyle.

_________________
"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

Turn 3

No teleports.

Strategy Roll: Marines… of course!

The Land Raiders double, backing up to protect the two forward objectives on their side, and fire on Attack Swarm 2… dropping 2 Raveners!

Squad Israfel then engages Swarm 2 in a brutal firefight with heaps of Marine support.



The Bugs lose 3 Raveners, 3 Termagants, and 2 Hormagaunts… the Marines lose nothing… and win by *5*… taking out 3 Gargoyles, 1 Hormagaunt and 1 Termagant. (Without the “half gauntâ€Â

Don't quite get this. Assault cannons are 30cm range, stealers charge 40cm - was it intentional then not to enter cc? To survive longer to draw in the supporting fire?

_________________
If using E-Bay use this link to support Tac Com!
'Abolish red trousers?! Never! Red trousers are France!' – Eugene Etienne, War Minister, 1913
"Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography."
General Plumer, 191x

Not sure what the Assault Cannon range has to do with anything in that equation.

The attack was done to allow support fire and minimize casualties on the Stealer swarm for resolution, as there were only 5 Stealers left in swarm, so good chance of it getting wiped out before support.... it just didn't work out.

_________________
"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

Ah, I just naturally assumed teh Space Hulk reflexes would kick and and you would try to assault them hand to hand

_________________
If using E-Bay use this link to support Tac Com!
'Abolish red trousers?! Never! Red trousers are France!' – Eugene Etienne, War Minister, 1913
"Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography."
General Plumer, 191x

Sometimes the Hive Mind is so cunning it hurts... *laugh*

_________________
"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

Looks like quite an interesting game.

The marine army composition however looks quite boring. It would have been good to see a marine player win with more of a diverse range of squads than with what was taken. In effect, I am unsure whether we have seen marines win without having to take such a force (I have not really looked).

Chroma -
1. Do you think the "tooth and claw" would have been more devastating if the squads were not Terminators?

2. Do you think that independant swarms should ignore blast markers and should have an auto charge aspect when within range of an enemy. Like presented in the game, your opponent allowed your stealers to charge even though they failed. This sounds correct. Much like the World Eaters, should they (independant swarms) not have an instinct to charge? IMO, if they fail their initiative and the enemy is within charge range, they should be able to charge. I would go as far as to say, if the enemy is within range, that is all they can do. They know nothing else, or are stealers more likley to be self conscious of themselves?

_________________
Frogbear is responsible for...
Previous World Eaters
Previous Emperor's Children
Previous Death Guard
Previous Imperial Fists
Previous Chaos Squats

But the report made it sound like they didn't reach it rather than deliberately staying outside CC

_________________
www.tneva.net