1500 Tyranids V Space Marines (pics)

[Master Bryss]

Bryss and ‘Scape here again with another battle report. Our last one had over 500 views so it’s clear it was a good one, and this one promises to be even better, for two reasons. One, it’s a bigger game. And two, we’ve got pictures. Quite a few actually.

DISCLAIMERS: The pictures are of mixed quality. Some are great, some are not so great. It’s harder to get good shots with no camera stand. Also, certain things have been edited out with Paint to protect the innocent.
This game was purely for fun. Neither of us care that we didn’t use the Doom of Malan’tai, Mycetic Spores, cloned units or Rhinos. And even if we did, we let our units out of their transports.

So, the armies:

Cyberscape7’s Ultramarines: 1500 points

Captain w/power sword and digital weapons

Command Squad w/Company Champion, standard bearer, power fist and flamer.

Epistolary Librarian w/ Terminator armour (no gun), Smite and Gate of Infinity.

5 Terminators w/no upgrades

Dreadnought w/no upgrades

10 Tactical Marines w/ flamer and missile launcher (FlamTacs)

10 Tactical Marines w/ meltagun and missile launcher (MelTacs)

10 Assault Marines/ Sarge w/lightning claws and 2 plasma pistols

Vindicator w/ siege shield and hunter killer missile


http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/MasterBryss/TheUltras.jpg
The good guys!

Master Bryss’ Hive Fleet Kraken- 1497 points

Hive Tyrant w/ lash whip and bonesword, heavy venom cannon, acid blood, Hive Commander, Leech Essence and Paroxysm

2 Hive Guard

16 Gaunts w/ devourers

Tervigon with scything talons and regeneration

3 Warriors w/ 2 deathspitters and barbed strangler

9 Genestealers including Broodlord w/ scything talons

3 Raveners with devourers

Carnifex with stranglethorn cannon

Trygon Prime

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/MasterBryss/TheNids.jpg
The guys who want food!

We rolled an Annihilation mission with Dawn of War deployment, which was good news for Scape as he only had two Troops choices.


Pre-game Manoeuvres
I decide to use the Hive Commander ability to allow the Tervigon to outflank. The Genestealers will also outflank, and the Prime and Raveners Deep Strike. On the Ultramarine side, the Epistolary, Terminators and Assault Marines will deep strike.

The Ultramarine’s chances are hampered right from the start as the Epistolary’s arm falls off. Fortunately, I do a quick fix using clay so that he didn’t appear in the army photo with only one arm. You don’t see THAT in White Dwarf do you?

The Ultras win the roll-off and decide to set up first, deploying the FlamTacs on the far right and the Command team and MelTacs on the left hand side. In response, I deploy the Tyrant, Warriors and Gaunts on the opposite side of the Meltacs, rendering the FlamTacs near useless for the time being.

The Hive Mind fails to seize the initiative, and the game begins...

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/MasterBryss/Pre-game.jpg
How things looked at the start. Yes that's a real motorbike.

Turn 1.0- Night Fighting in effect
Through the cover of night, the Vindicator and Dreadnought move into the middle of the Ultramarine deployment zone, the Vindicator eyeing up the Tyrant. The Command Squad jumped 3” over the defence line in front of them, again approaching the Tyrant.

The MelTacs open the Shooting Phase with an attempted krak missile shot at the Warriors, but it fails to penetrate the darkness. The Vindicator attempts to shoot the Tyrant, but again the night provides ample cover. Disappointed with the performance of his men, the Captain and his squad jump 6” back the way the came.


Turn 1.5- Night Fighting in effect
The Carnifex arrives on the opposite side of the Flamtacs and moves towards them, unaffected by the urge to Feed. The Hive Guard enter play and promptly go behind nearby cover. The Warriors will the Gaunts closer to the MelTacs, and follow them, while the Hive Tyrant smashes 5” through the nearby ruin, refusing to simply go around it.

The Carnifex aims the stranglethorn cannon at the FlamTacs, but the curse of the night prevents it getting a shot in. The Gaunts have much better luck, killing 3 Tactical Marines with Devourer fire, however they pass the resultant checks. The Warriors try to cash in on this luck by shooting the same squad with the barbed strangler, but they are out of range due to the night again. The Hive Guard run 1” closer to the Warriors, while in the worst bit of Night Fight luck yet, the Hive Tyrant rolls a total of a 9” range for the heavy venom cannon, failing to hit the Command team.

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/MasterBryss/Turn1.jpg
How things looked at the bottom of Turn 1

[Master Bryss]

Turn 2.0- Night Fighting goes away

None of the Ultramarine reserves come in.

The Vindicator changes course and moves at combat speed towards the Gaunts. The Dreadnought goes to confront the Carnifex and the Command Squad runs right towards the nearby ruin.

The Command squad then reach the ruin with a 6” run move. The Vindicator tries to demolish the Gaunts but is again out of range. The MelTacs train another krak missile onto the Warriors but this doesn’t do any damage. The other Tactical Squad fires a krak missile at the Fex and wounds it once.


Turn 2.5

The Raveners enter play safely after scattering near to the Command squad, while the Genestealers Outflank the MelTacs. The two Monstrous Creatures are still lounging about in a bit of tunnel.

The Hive Tyrant comes closer to the hiding Comand Squad, while on the other side of the board the Fex feels a need to Feed and moves closer to the FlamTacs. The Warriors go to higher ground to better direct the Gaunts and Hive Guard, who each swarm around the sides of the plateau.

In Shooting, the Fex runs 6” closer to its intended snack. The Hive Tyrant shoots the heavy cannon at the Command Squad but doesn’t do any damage, but manages to cripple the squads accuracy with Paroxysm. The Warriors run 4” closer to the centre of the plateau while the Hive Guard and Gaunts both run 5” forward. The Raveners shoot their chest guns at the Command Squad but fails to do anything.

In combat, the Broodlord directs his brethren into combat with the MelTacs. He has no need of his psyker powers as the squad massacres the Space Marines and consolidates 6” closer to the Vindicator. (score 1-0 Nids)

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/MasterBryss/Turn2.jpg
End of Turn 2, and the other, less impressive motorbike.

Turn 3.0- Score 1-0 Nids
Both the Ultramarines reserve units come in, the Epistolary-led Terminators coming in close to the Carnifex (if it wants to Feed next turn it’s fethed), while the Assault squad comes in near the Raveners, whom the Captain’s men pivot to face.

The surviving Tacticals jump 6” closer to the Fex over a defence line.

In shooting, the Librarian Smites the Fex, wounding it once, with the squad’s storm bolters doing no damage. The Dreadnought shoots the Fex, but fails to hit the beast with its guns.

The Command Squad shoots the Raveners, but poor luck with the flamer and the power of Paroxysm protects the Raveners from harm. Supporting fire from the Assault squad wounds the Raveners once, plasma weapons dealing no damage, and bolter shots from the FlamTacs fail to wound the Fex. The Vindicator brings its great gun to bear and kills 6 of the Genestealers it was aiming at.

Grudgingly, the Command Squad assaults the Raveners, who kill the flamer Marine and the standard bearer. However, the counterattack from the Command Squad kills 2 of the Raveners and leaves the last one wounded, they remain locked in combat.

Turn 3.5- Score 1-0 Nids
The Trygon Prime leaves the bio-coffee shop in the tunnel and emerges near the Carnifex, taking control of it and preventing it from assaulting the Termies this turn. No sign of the Tervigon.

Now sane again, the Fex goes back to approaching the FlamTacs. The depleted Stealer brood approaches the stationary Vindicator, while the Hive Tyrant approaches the combat in the centre, urging the Hive Guard to follow it.

The Hive Guard then proceed to shoot the Vindicator, but fail to do anything. The Genestealers fleet 6” closer to the Vindicator. The Hive Tyrant aims for the packed-in Assault Squad but only kills one of them. A combination of stranglethorn cannon and bio-electric lightning from the Fex and Prime kills 4 Tactical Marines, who are not pinned.

In combat, the Command Squad, at full WS again, kill the last Ravener (score 1-1). The Genestealers attack the Vindicator and strip it of its weapons. The Fex smashes into the Tactical Squad, sustains no damage and kills the whole squad (score 2-1 Nids). It then consolidates back towards the Trygon 3”.

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/MasterBryss/Turn3.jpg
The end of Turn 3.

Turn 4.0- Score 2-1 Nids

The Librarian casts Gate of Infinity and moves his squad to the left a bit, however the fickle powers of the Warp claim a casualty; namely the Librarian’s arm that I quick-fixed earlier! As the arm falls off, the Dreadnought comes closer to the Fex, and the Assault Marines move to engage the Hive Tyrant. The Vindicator Tank Shocks the Genestealers, who panic and go to cower in the ruins...next to the Command Squad.

The combined firepower of the Terminators wound the Trygon once. The Librarian, as Smite failed, chose to cast Repair Arm, causing his arm to be quick-fixed with some Blu-Tac I found on a dice. The Dread brings the Fex to its last Wound with the multi-melta. The Assault Marines shoot the Tyrant but do nothing. The Command Squad wipes out all the Genestealers, leaving the Broodlord alive and well.

(The Librarian’s arm proceeds to fall off again and we unanimously decide quick fixes don’t really work, and give up)

In an epic combat, the Command Squad charges the Broodlord. The Broodlord causes a rending wound on the squad, which is taken on the 6+ Invulnerable Save of the Company Champion. By some miracle, the Champion passes his save and proceeds to slaughter the Broodlord, with the help of Power Fist Guy. The squad consolidates 1”. (score 2-2)

In something we all saw coming, the Dread charges the Fex and kills it. (score 3-2 Ultras)

The Assault Marines charge the Tyrant and are promptly Whipped to I1, and one is killed by the Tyrant. The squad fails to wound it, but passes their check and remain locked in battle.

Turn 4.5- Score 3-2 Ultras
No Tervigon shows up, for reasons I’ll explain later.

The Trygon Prime slithers towards the Dreadnought to avenge its charge. The Warriors and Gaunts move closer to the Termies’ side of the board, while the Hive Guard advance closer to the Vindicator again.

The Hive Guard’s impaler cannons immobilise the Vindicator, while the Warriors shoot the barbed strangler at the Termies, failing to wound any. The Gaunts run 4” forward.

The Trygon Prime charges the Dreadnought and removes its arms, while the Prime is wounded once. In the other combat, the Hive Tyrant kills 1 more Assault Marines and is wounded twice, causing 2 more to be killed by Acid Blood. The two sides remain locked in combat.

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/MasterBryss/Turn4.jpg
End of Turn 4

Turn 5.0- Score 3-2 Ultras

The Terminator squad moves closer to the Trygon Prime, while the Command Squad moves towards the combat with the Tyrant.

There is no shooting, only war.

In the second epic combat of the game, the Librarian and Terminators charge the Trygon Prime. The Prime and Libby strike first, the Libby doing nothing and the Prime killing the Libby (score 3-3), however the Terminators avenge their one-armed leader by killing the Prime (4-3 SM), and consolidating 4”.

The Command Squad charges the Tyrant, but don’t get a chance to do anything as the Tyrant kills them all (4-4). The Captain fails to do anything while the Assault Squad kills the Tyrant, suffering no wounds from Acid Blood (score 5-4 SM). They consolidate 1”.

Turn 5.5- Score 5-4 Ultras

In the nick of time, the Tervigon shows up in front of the Vindicator, and moves towards it, spawning 7 Termagants that I’ve proxied with Guardsmen, whom I shall dub 'Guardsmagaunts' (better a painted proxy than an unpainted model in my opinion) . The Hive Guard move away from the Assault squad bearing down on them. The other Gaunt mob moves towards the Captain.

In shooting, the Warriors train their guns on the Assault Marines, but they do nothing. The Guardsmagaunts shoot at the Assault Marines but fail to do anything. The real Gaunts kill all the Assault Marines but the Sergeant with devourer fire, and he is not pinned. The Hive Guard shoot at the Captain, and wound him 4 times, but he passes every single save!

In another combat we all saw coming, the Tervigon blows up the Vindicator, the resulting explosion killing a Guardsmagaunt. (score 5-5)

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/MasterBryss/Turn5.jpg
End of Turn 5.

This is it. If there is a Turn 6, two great heroes of the Ultramarines have a epic task on their hands, with the Termies too far away to support them...

There is no Turn 6. The game is a DRAW.

Post-Game Stupidity

Cyberscape realises he forgot his Captain had digital weapons.

The DAY AFTER THE GAME, when I come to write this up, I remember I forgot about the +1 Reserves Bonus from Hive Commander. Damn.

[Master Bryss]

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/MasterBryss/OotM.jpg

Bryss’ Post-Game Analysis

Organism of the Match: Trygon Prime, for putting in a solid performance and for killing Quick-Fix Jimmy the Librarian. It also orchestrated the death of the FlamTacs, thanks to Synapse.

Honourable Mentions: Devourer Gaunts, because they were by far the easiest thing to kill in my whole army and yet they all survived.

Broodlord, for neutering the Vindicator and being in that combat.

Useless Units: Hive Tyrant, as it was so damn picky about killing Assault Marines (one each turn, was it picking names out of a hat?) and its Paroxysm didn’t stop the Raveners from being killed

Tervigon, because it took so long to come in.


I used that game to see how good a tactic outflanking Gaunt farms were (I might need to have another game before I decide) and if the Trygon Prime was as good as it is on paper. It is. That game is probably the single best game I’ve ever had, even beating my first ever win (2000 points Necrons (me) V Black Templars, back in 4th Edition.

I really want to know what happened afterwards to the Captain and Assault Sarge though... I think I have more respect for Ultramarines now!

Hopefully Cyberscape7 will at some point post the highlights and his analysis.

[Cyberscape7]

Well that was a heck of a report! Now I was given the job of giving my analysis and opinions but also the highlights so here I go.

Man of the match: Space Marine Captain
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/picture.php?albumid=72&pictureid=218
Now I know that the capt. didnt wound the tyrant, or kill the broodlord epically but it must be noted that he left the battled un-scarred! And at the end surviing 4 S8 Shots!!! I feel that if there had been a 6th turn then the capt. would have charged into that squad of gaunts, hopefully killed the ones in synapse range made a sweeping advance and kill the lot. Of course that is highly unlikely(mind you, so is a disciplined servant of the emperor constantly losing his arm). Anyway I am just really proud of my capt. for staying alive in the midst of chaos.

Hounourable mentions:
Company Champion- Ok the champion manged to kill the broodlord which is in itself a gr8 achievement. But, he also passed a 6+ invulnerable!!! I find it unbelievable that the one model I have, that posseses orky luck is a SM...
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/picture.php?albumid=72&pictureid=217
Epistolary- You had to see this coming. He kept the monsterous creatures wary, his arm fell off and (I discussed this with Bryss) If I used the GoI when the fex was inbetween the termies and tacts and failed the instinctive behaviour check, then I could in theory have gotten it to run back and forth!!!(BTW my epistolary is FINALLY fixed)

Useless units:
To be honest all of my units served a purpose, however my tactical squads were COMPLETELY useless. Before the battle I had planned to use the flametacts to roast the hordes and use the melttacts to kill the monsters but these tactics werent put to good use.

Moment of the match:
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/picture.php?albumid=72&pictureid=216
The terminators of the 1st compny getting revenge for the fallen episotlary just HAS to be the best point of the game. It was truly a cinematic moment and I could just see the epistolary dying in the arms of the serge. Truly a tear-jerker for the years to the come.

Biggest Shock:
The Tervigon came in! Nuff said...
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/picture.php?albumid=72&pictureid=215
My analysis:
As bryss said this was our greatest match ever! I insisted that I use SM. Partially cuz I used nids in our last game and I wanted to see how he did with them. But it was also the first time I had used painted marines. It was really what the games all about. Man .v. alien. And to be honest you dont get more E.T. than the nids. Now I really enjoy making these reports and I have a feeling that every big game me and bryss play from now on, is going to be chroniclised. All I can say is that next time I'm using Eldar!!! I really hope you enjoy this, better than 'Eavy-Metal Standard', match. Gotta go now. The eavy metal team is goin to hunt me down for saying that.

[xanoasucy]

Great Batrep! Nice pics as well. I'm looking to start posting a lot of Marine vs. "Nids Batreps soon, I 've just been waiting to paint up my "Nids so the pics can come out as great as these! Seeing this painted "Nid army inspired me to get my butt in gear and start painting. Thanks a lot.

Tactics wise I wouldn't have left the Fex all by himself. Tyranids work great when they're attacks are more coordinated and less random. Prime should have also started on the table, since he has fleet and the Marines had very little weapons that could have harmed 3 monstrous creatures starting on the table and he should have deployed close to the Fex if he was going to be out by himself.

I lol'ed when I read you forgot about the +1 reserve! It's what makes that ability worth taking! I've had my share of moments though like forgetting to Infiltrate Genestealers and since I forgot to deploy and didn't call Outflank they come in from my table edge! Or forgetting about shadow in the warp and making the Libby test with 3d6.

As for Marine player, your deployment seemed a little random separating your units like that, and 2 HQ's at this point level seems questionable. Losing some upgrades or trading in an HQ you could have bought 2 Rhino's. For 70 points they would've helped keep your Tacs alive from the Genestealer Assault. Luckily (or not you guys could have planned it beforehand) it was not a Multiple Objectives mission. If you guys were just playing for fun, then disregard this comment as it looks like a fun list to play and it looks like both of you had a great time!

Thanks again guys for the battle report, hope to see more soon!

[Master Bryss]

Great Batrep! Nice pics as well. I'm looking to start posting a lot of Marine vs. "Nids Batreps soon, I 've just been waiting to paint up my "Nids so the pics can come out as great as these! Seeing this painted "Nid army inspired me to get my butt in gear and start painting. Thanks a lot.

You're welcome. Just remember to paint better than us!


Tactics wise I wouldn't have left the Fex all by himself. Tyranids work great when they're attacks are more coordinated and less random. Prime should have also started on the table, since he has fleet and the Marines had very little weapons that could have harmed 3 monstrous creatures starting on the table and he should have deployed close to the Fex if he was going to be out by himself.
I lol'ed when I read you forgot about the +1 reserve! It's what makes that ability worth taking! I've had my share of moments though like forgetting to Infiltrate Genestealers and since I forgot to deploy and didn't call Outflank they come in from my table edge! Or forgetting about shadow in the warp and making the Libby test with 3d6.

YOU lol'd? How hard do you think I laughed when I realised that!


As for Marine player, your deployment seemed a little random separating your units like that, and 2 HQ's at this point level seems questionable. Losing some upgrades or trading in an HQ you could have bought 2 Rhino's. For 70 points they would've helped keep your Tacs alive from the Genestealer Assault. Luckily (or not you guys could have planned it beforehand) it was not a Multiple Objectives mission. If you guys were just playing for fun, then disregard this comment as it looks like a fun list to play and it looks like both of you had a great time!

Didn't you read the disclaimer at the top?! Plus, we're limited by the models we have to hand.
We rolled for the mission.
Yeah, we play mainly to see how epic a story we can get. But I appreciate the tactical advice, it's good to know what I can do better other than improve my memory.


Thanks again guys for the battle report, hope to see more soon!

I hope so too.

On a side note, how did Scape get normal-size pics!

[Cyberscape7]

On a side note, how did Scape get normal-size pics!
i dont know... But I do know that I definitley want to use eldar in a batrep. Mainly because I want to test out my wraithlord but also because it is by far my favourite army :) Anyway I can promise you, there will be another Bat-Rep............................................... .................................................. .............................................i think

[Sir Biscuit]

I don't really have anything to add, just wanted to say I enjoyed the rep. :)

[Cyberscape7]

Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!
My pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!