I took the Word Bearers out for a spin against the Tyranids in this 1000 point Tempest of War game.
Note that the warp lightning storms were unusually active, and we both took casualties during the game.
Given the small points size, the main criteria of my list building was all-painted, including the Rubric marines, Terminators...
Chaos groupies dressed as nuns, led by the Dark Apostle...
Blood Pact Cultists, an Obliterator, and two Spawn.
The Tyranids brought staples such as the Exocrine, Termagaunt, Zoanthropes, Neuthropes and Warriors, but also a Harpy.
Battle round 1
I hid most of my stuff, fearing the Exocrine. However, there was not enough cover for everything and I deployed everything on the table. No reserves. I just hoped to go first. I was due one, after all these games going second. And alas, the Gods of Chaos answered my prayers.
The left flank surged forward, exposing everything to give plenty of targets. I learned from my previous mistakes, when I exposed only half the army, only for it to be destroyed piecemeal.
Cultists took the middle.
I took 3 out of 4 objectives, and Claimed them for the Dark Gods. Other than that, a few melta and fleshmetal gun shots at the Exocrine took off some wounds. Both Spawn failed their charges, so that was it.
The Tyranids counterattacked by rushing the exposed Spawn. I only put two Cultists on the objective to keep them out of sight, so the Warriors could take the objective by consolidating on it. Sigh.
The middle Cultists were decimated by psychic powers, but held the line. The Terminators lost two to the Exocrine.
The Harpy flew danger close, intent on sniping the Dark Apostle - but only managed to kill a Disciple.
Battle round 2
The Rubric marines exited the building to flame the Harpy. No AA-weapon like a flamer, amirite? They needed some help from the Obliterator, but we got a counter for Overwhelming Firepower.
I sent the Terminators and the Master of Posession in. Meltas once again weakened, but not killed, the Exocrine, denying Bring it Down. Two Termagants also survived, and would be back to almost full number in the following turns.
Both the Spawn and the Apostle failed their charges, with a reroll. Sad face. I sent in the Cultists, to form a wall and provide Look out Sir!
I also sent in the Obliterator along with the Blood Pact Cultists into the Warriors, but the Obliterator rolled only 3-s to wound, which failed to the Leviathan trait. In return, all the Cultists died.
On their turn, the Exocrine and Gants were locked down, but they still held the objective. Two more Terminators died, even with Grandfather's blessings. And they still couldn't kill the Exocrine. Much sad.
The Cultists were once again whittled down with psychics, but held on. Heroes of Chaos!
The Warriors and their Prime mopped up any remaining resistance, taking the right-most objective for the swarm.
Battle round 3
The Rubrics moved forward. I did not roll high enough on the advance to reach the Warriors, so I flamed the Zoanthropes. Then the Apostle charged in and finished them off. In return, the Warriors tried to take the center objective, but the Apostle bashed in their heads, too.
The Exocrine finally finished off the Terminators
Battle round 4
The Apostle was finally free! It charged the Neurothrope and killed it.
The Master of Possession fell back, and the Rubrics flamed down the Termagants. Obviously, they failed to kill the Exocrine.
However, when the Dark Apostle got into the Exocrine, it fell over dead.
We quickly drew cards and played out round 5 in theory. The Tyranids could still do Deploy Teleport Homers, with the Prime in my territory.
However, I maxed out on primaries. Having taken and claimed 3 out of 4 in the first round brought in a hefty amount of points over the game. The 'nids lagged behind just a bit. I was also ahead with 1 or 2 secondary cards. We both had reasonable draws, and we both had some cards just out of our reach - I held on to both Overwhelming Firepower and Bring it down since turn 2 - but I just got a bit ahead. And in Tempest of War, that is enough. Word Bearer victory!
On the Word Bearers: I used my previous build, scaled down to 1000 points. The Dark Apostle is a beast. Thanks to the small table size, now he actually reached the enemy, and smashed any target he charged. The Rubrics are still awesome, although with no actual synergy to the rest of the list. The Master of Possession failed every attempt at Pact of Flesh, and so the Terminators were slowly ground down. I used Grandfather's Blessing 2 or 3 times, to literally no effect. Oh well, I'll hold on to them while other units are being prepared.
On the Tyranids: the bugs are scary adaptable, and the morale immunity still hurts the opponent. The Termagants coming back like crazy reminded me of Necrons. The Warriors were very strong in melee, with a buttload of 2D attacks. The Exocrine was scary, as always.
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