Introduction
The Astra Militarum Nuns (reinforced by Inquisitor Clotilde) face off against the Tyranid Crusher Stampede (with Kronos backfield shooting) in 1500 points of Frontline Warfare.
It was the first time I could field my magnetized and LED-ed tanks, but as the game points went up, the proxy tanks are back as well.
Battle round 1
I had first turn, as I hoped. The table had plenty of LoS blockage abut the mount of models with put on just opened some firing lines. Time to enjoy the shooting phase!
But first, let's move out. The Heavy Weapons Teams (which started inside the Chimera, for fear of the Hive Guard) disembarked and took up elevated positions. An Infantry Squad and the Inquisitor jumped into the Chimera, and made a run for the middle of the table, with proxy-Pask close behind. The Bullgryns advanced on the right flank, while the Ogryns and infantry on the left flank did their best to hold alongside the Executioner tank commander and the proxy-Manticore, while retrieving Octarius data.
With tank orders available all around, everybody got Strike and Shroud! This meant that I could spread out my psychic buffs, which went off as well.
Now for shooting. I concentrated the Heavy Weapons Teams as well as proxy-Pask into the large Exocrine shaped hole on the right, with some small arms going into the objective holding Gaunts and a lot of failure going into the white Carnifex almost hidden behind the ruin on the right.
The Executioner learnt that -1 damage monsters are all but immune to plasma fire.
The Manticore (with pull payload) killed a grand total of 1 (one!) Hive Guard.
Overall some success, but not as much as I had hoped.
Bug attack! The Tyranids swarmed out from behind the ruins. Shots were fired all around, notice the severe lack of Lascannon teams and the Manticore shaped hole. The Chimera also lost some wounds, so I would say the Tyranid shooting phase was at least as effective, if not more so, than my own.
But then the charge phase came. While nothing made it on the right (not even the middle Tyrant with its 6" charge), the left Tyrant rolled a 2x6 and landed right on the Executioner. With some stratagems, the Tank Commander went down in a single fight phase.
Sad nuns.
Battle round 2
Having already lost of my left flank, I decided to capitalize on the 15 primary points that I made, and hold back the Tyranids while scoring as much as possible.
The Chimera disembarked its contents, with the nun squad retrieving Octarius data. The tank and the inquisitor then prepared to charge, with Pask close behind.
The left side infantry came out from behind the ruins as well, and the bottom squad moved to the right, anticipating another data retrieval.
The Bullgryns made their way towards the Carnifex.
Two squads of scions and their Tempestor landed to threaten the backline shooting.
Psychics failed, so let's get shooting.
The scions failed miserably, killing exactly 1 Hive Guard and 2 meltas doing 0 damage to the Carnifex. The Heavy Weapons teams (with stratagem) and Pask barely scratched the left Tyrant. The middle Tyrant survived as well, but the objective holding Gaunts did not.
The Chimera and the Inquisitor then charged the middle Tyrant. I hoped that a 4-damage daemon hammer and the heavily upgraded inquisitor will do something. She did exactly 0 damage, and then died in one swing.
At least the Ogryns did well, by which I mean barely a couple of wounds, but survived, tying down the Tyrant.
And the Bullgryns never disappoint, charging and killing the white Carnifex.
On the Tyranid turn, the middle Tyrant failed to kill the Chimera. The left Tyrant smote down the Ogryn, but could then only charge the missile squads instead of anything useful. The scions died, but the Tyranids scored no primaries.
Battle round 3
Time to deny more points while removing models! At least Pask decided to show up and roll 21 damage with the Demolisher cannon into the left Tyrant.
The Chimera retreated and charged unto the backfield objective, destroying the Tyranid banner (feromone trail), while the Bullgryns eliminated the right Gaunt squad. The scions once again failed to scratch the Carnifex, but again denied the objective. Pask decided to sacrifice himself by charging into the Tyrant, tying it down.
The Tyranids rampaged on on their turn, but they were losing steam.
Warriors charged the Bullgryns, taking back the objective.
Battle rounds 4-5
The final turns went by rapidly, with almost everything dying. Pask again did his thing, firing everything into the Tyrant and killing it, then killing the Carnifex with the Demolisher cannon. Then he died to Hive Guard.
In the end, I had two decimated infantry squads and the Bullgryn who somehow made it to the end; while the Tyranids had two diminished Hive Guard squads and their leading Neurothrope.
Conclusion
I did a good job of denying points, with the Tyranids scoring 5 primary points while I maxed them out.
We both did a poor job of picking secondaries. At least the Tyranids maxed out Assassinate (as I knew they would), while I scored well (but not great) on Engage on all fronts and Retrieve Octarius Data. The bugs however could barely hold objectives for Vital Ground, and scored 1 point for Raise the banners. For myself, Psychic Interrogation once again turned out to be a bad choice, although I did manage it twice for 6 points.
In the end, a crushing victory for the nuns points wise (68-37), although the state of the table never showed it. I was consistently decimated every round, and I had the feeling of loosing but holding on by the skin of my teeth every single turn.
Overall, a great game and good fun both players.
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