Uprising!

As we near the halfway mark for 2011, you'll have gauged from the lack of activity on the blog that it's so far been a hard year for Hive Fleet Askepios. 2010 had been a promising year for the Tyranids, but as the mechanised might of 5th edition grinds its gears against the bugs, victories have become few and far between! With the initial assault thwarted, the Hive Mind has taken a step back to consolidate its position, put out feelers, seek fresh feeding grounds. It's time to go back to basics. For Tyranids, that means finding new worlds to conquer, infecting the indiginous population with alien spores that, over generations, manifest themselves as hybrid creatures with an innate desire to overthrow the existing authorities, so that the planet is rife with internal strife by the time the Hive Fleets arive, making them easy prey for the Tyranid invaders!

So without further ado, I introduce the first initiates to my burgeoning Genestealer Cult: The cult of Askepios!

A small sample there of the disturbed creations I'm churning out just now. I've always wanted to do an army like this, obscure and heavily converted, there's an appealing sense of insanity about even taking such a project on! But, like my Brood Brothers, I'm devoted to the cause, and hope to keep the blog updated as to the progress of the rebellion. I've got plans for all the old favourites (from the 2nd edition codex) so you can look forward to seeing a purestrain Genestealer Patriarch, the psychic Magus, and the fanatical Cult Icon Bearer.

So how the Hell do I plan to field such an army, when there aren't any rules for them at present? Well it'll be 'counts as', counting as Imperial Guard. The cult, as I'll be fielding them, will already have had a fair amount of success in overturning the planetary authorities. They've captured munitions factories and 'liberated' transport vehicles, aircraft, and defence batteries from the Planetary Defence Force, and they're ready to use them! So it will be a heavily mechanised army. One of the 1750 point lists I'm looking at has 17 AV12 tanks in it. Yup. Pure cheese. I like to think of it this way - the Tyranids I'm playing are seeking to defeat their enemies by infiltration and disruption, so that's exactly what I'm doing with the Imperial Guard Codex! We'll see how it goes. In the meantime I'll be cutting, hacking, sawing, and getting out some 'Rage Against the Machine' CD's to get me in the mood for a revolution!!

TEAM BATTLE!!!

This weekend a few of us from the club went over to Steve's gaming barn for a team battle: Steve and Paul using 4000 points of Steve's Screaming Eagles vs Alan and I using 2000 points each of our Ork armies. We'd decided to allow ourselves a little leniance with the Force Organisation chart so this was more like an Apocalypse game than a normal game of 40K! It also meant Alan and I could bring all of our Deff Dreds & Killa Kans for a combined total of 17 Ork Walkers!!! With over 100 boyz and a sizeable 'Speed Freak' wing of trukks headed up by Alan's battlewagon, it was a satisfying experience to deploy such a force!

Having been mostly focussed on honing competitive lists, speed-painting beardy armies and getting in as many practice games as possible recently, it was a breath of fresh air to do some gaming purely for fun. Not that I don't enjoy the competitive side of things - quite the contrary! - but it's fun to try something different now and then. I haven't played many team games but they've always proved entertaining, and playing on a saturday makes things so much more relaxed time-wise.

Rather than rolling for a mission, we unanimously agreed that an objective-based mission with Pitched Battle Deployment would be the most fun. 5 objectives went down, and Alan and I won the roll-off to choose first or second turn. Though I tend to prefer going second in objective missions, Alan seemed keen to go first, and when I thought about I didn't reckon 'da boyz' would want to wait for second turn either! We set up our Boyz behind the sizeable Kan wall, with our fast wing under cover of one of our trusty Kustom Force Field to our left flank. Steve and Paul kept most of their force in reserve, deciding to see where the fighting was going to be thickest before committing the entire army to the fight. With battle-lines drawn, Steve thought he might as well have a go at Seizing the Initiative...

...And rolled a 6! The Marines had bagged first turn! A land raider filled with Thunderstorm Terminators and a Terminator Librarian led the advance on our right flank, while the fire support units on the left opened up on our Trukks. Thanks to the Kustom Force Field, the Marines' Turn 1 ended with all the Trukks on the left flank intact, and only one kan lost! Da Boyz were now raring to go, bellowing and whooping as they surged forward to get stuck in!!

WAAAGH!!! It was Turn 2 before we hit the Marine lines, with a decisive assault from Alan's Kommandoes who used their Outflank move to get in amongst one of the Predators on the left flank, and some not-quite-so-decisive assaults from my Trukk-boyz. One hit a Devastator squad, who survived and stood firm for another turn; while another managed a nifty double-assault on another Predator tank and a Dreadnought. We managed to pop the Predator, but the combat with the Dread would rage on for the rest of the game, much to everyone's amusement as the combatants swung ineffectually at each other round after round!! Alan's Battlewagon with its deff-rolla was proved a rather more effective weapon, pulling off a multiple Ram and Tank shock move that chewed through Tactical Marines, tanks and a Dreadnought!

On the left flank we knew things were going to get messy once the Terminators got out of their Land Raider - and they didn't dissappoint. By this time a full squad of Assault Marines with their Chaplain had also arrived to support their brethren. Confident we had enough boyz to repel such an attack we flung unit after unit into what became a meat grinder in the middle of the table! As the turns went on the Orks ground down the elite assault units, and were left free to move onto the objectives. But there always seemed to be more coming in from reserve, and they saved the best for last!

In a final twist, 15 Terminators teleported in behind the Ork lines and opened fire with their Assault cannons and storm bolters on Turn 4. Steve and Paul had a good chuckle as they watched Alan and I do an 'about face' with pretty much every model on the table to meet this new threat - Get 'em boyz!! Intimidating as the Terminators were, they weren't quite enough to turn the green tide and victory went to the Orks - good job ladz! What better way to spend a saturday than having a proper scrap with the Imperium's finest?!

So a good game was had by all. What's great about big games is that there are always memorable moments, like the dramatic arrival of the Terminators towards the end, or the seemingly unstoppable Deff Rolla Battlewagon attack! Most of all though it's always a great experience to play a good game in good company, without scrutinising every move as much as I normally might, or referring to the rulebook every 5 minutes! I find the Orks a particularly good army for playing 'fun' games with - it's easy to get into their character and the Codex is written in such a way that a straight out full frontal assault is seldom a bad tactic! Anyway that's all for now, hopefully we'll be able to set up another team battle some time soon.

X-Legion Tournament February 2011

Having been lucky enough to secure a ticket for the first of this year's renowned X-Legion tournaments held in Southampton, I've been really looking forward to the event for weeks! Though practise games had shown a little weakness in my army list (see report from Rapid-Fire last year for the list), I was confident it was strong enough to contend with the big-hitters that would surely be attending. A few extra gaunts painted in the days before the event and the Nids were ready to rock, and embarked on the long journey South to battle!

Game One - Seize Ground, Dawn of War - Result: Victory!

versus Marcus Rose's Chaos Space Marines:

Tzeentch Daemon Prince with Warptime & Wind of Chaos
3 Terminators (2 with combi-weapons, 1 Reaper Autocannon)
2 x 9 Thousand Sons (including Sorceror with Doombolt) in Rhinos
1 x 8 Khorne Berzerkers (including Skull Champion with Power Fist) in a Rhino
7 Summoned Lesser Daemons
2 x Defilers
3 Obliterators

Using LOS-blocking cover to shield the Tervigons while they spawned away, the Tyranids had the numbers to lock the elite Traitor Legions in combat with gaunts, allowing the Monstrous Creatures to advance and deal with the Daemon Price & Defilers. With the road cleared, the gaunts raced forward to grab 2 out of the 3 objectives and secure a solid win to start things off!



Game 2 - Spearhead, Capture & Control - Result: Loss!

Versus James Taylor's Chaos Space Marines:

2 x Slaanesh Daemon Princes with Wings & Lash of Submission
2 x 5 Plague Marines with 2 Plasma guns, in Rhinos
5 Plague Marines with 2 Meltaguns in a Rhino
5 Chosen of Chaos with 3 Meltguns in a Rhino
3 Terminators with Combi-weapons
2 x 3 Obliterators
Vindicator with Daemonic Possession

Fearing the amount of firepower combined with the lash daemon princes, I went into reserve for this one, relaying on Hive Commander to get a large portion of my army in on Turn 2. This went largely to plan, with the outflanking Tervigon arriving on the left flank to advance on the enemy objective with spawned gaunts while the Hive Tyrant bolstered the defence of my own objective on the right. I lost both Trygons the turn they arrived to plasma gun fire and a combined charge from the lash princes, which was a bit of a blow, but a self-inlflicted one as I should have seen it coming and factored it into my placement of them for Deep Strike! The Doom made his presence felt prominently, killing 4 Obliterators and 3 Terminators the turn he arrived! Around turn 4 James saw that he had a bit of an infestation problem threatening his objective and mobilised his rhinos to form a wall of tanks and plague marines. It was enough to stem the tide of gaunts, killing the Tervigon to quash the attack once and for all. Meanwhile a protracted combat against Plague Marines saw the game end with my home objective contested. A very close game with only 10 VP's in it, but a loss for the Tyranids nonetheless!

Game 3 - Pitched Battle, Annihilation - Result: Loss!

versus Steve Harrid-Jones' Space Wolves

Rune Priest with Living Lightning & Murderous Hurricane
Wolf Lord On Thunderwolf with Wolf Claws
4 x Thunderwolf Cavalry with Storm Shields
5 Wolf Scouts with Sniper Rifles
2 x 6 Grey Hunters (Wolf Guard with Power-fist & Combi Weapon, Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen) in Las/Plas Razorbacks
Grey Hunters as above with Wolf Standard in Drop-pod
2 x 6 Long Fangs (5 Missile Launchers)


Though I struggle the most in Kill Points missions (just can't seem to grasp the concept of not getting my own guys killed!) I was quite optimistic about my chances against this compact Wolf list. Being left with second turn, I didn't much fancy getting shot up by long fangs for a turn without the chance to cast catalyst, so again went for the old Nil-Deployment... which proved to be my undoing. Poor reserve rolls saw only a few units arrive in Turn 2, which were soft targets for the Thunderwolf Cavalry. I never recovered from the early losses, as Steve was able to focus his fire on the isolated contingents, precisely what I'd tried to avoid happening! A fun game but rather embarrassing in retrospect! A far more sound strategy for this one would have been to deploy everything in a solid blob and roll straight towards his gun line from one side, hopefully limitting a bit of fire. I've only really just woken up to the idea of 'blobbing up' with all that T6 and going for gold with them, and it's certianly a tactic I'll bear in mind against lists with no big blast weapons. Every game is a lesson though, and this was an important one: Nil deployment is not always your friend!

Game 4 - Dawn of War, Capture & Control - Result: Victory!!
Versus Phill Wallbridge's Blood Angels:
Reclusiarch
9 Death Company in Rhino
5 Assault Marines (Power fist/combi-weapon Sergeant, Meltagun) in Razorback
5 Assault Marines (Power fist/combi-weapon Sergeant, Meltagun) in twin-las Razorback
5 Sternguard with Meltaguns in Razorback
10 Assault Marines (Power fist Serge, 2 Meltaguns)
3 Sanguinary Priests (all with Power Weapons, 1 with Jump pack)
Baal Pred with Flamestorm Cannon & Heavy Flamer sponsons
Vindicator


Though unnerved to be facing Blood Angels after getting gubbed by Space Wolves, I was rather relieved to see this army list. The Blood Angels have access to more AV13 than any other marine army and Phill hadn't taken advantage of this... however he had been presented the prize for most combined points from all of last year's X-Legion events so the Sons of Sanguinius were obviously in good hands!
I was fortunate in that the board we drew was festooned with LOS blocking terrain, in fact it was nothing but. Phill had first turn and deployed his death company + reclusiarch as far forward as possible in their rhino. I plonked down 2 tervigons in cover, with a plan in mind. Phill zoomed his rhino up in turn 1, bringing on everything but the Baal Pred & Assault Marines from his board edge. Spawning gaunts and advancing on the Death Company Rhino, as the Monstrous Creatures arrived from my board edge, I readied the Hive Guard to bust the Rhino and unleash a devastating pre-emptive strike. However after 12 S8 shots the rhino remained unharmed and the Death Company got that charge off against a vulnerably placed Tervigon. They were wiped out in a counter charge from the Hive Tyrant's unit, but with the other Terv having run dry that was all the spawning for the game. Luckily the Hive Guard were able to take out the vindy, whilst some unfortunate reserve rolls saw the Assault Marines delayed and the Baal Pred outflanking on the wrong side. Meanwhile the Trygons were able to take on the Sternguard & Razorback marines, with the remaining Tervigon guarding the home objective. A solid win for the Nids and a good start to day 2!

It was time then to have a look around and put in the votes for best army! I was quite taken with Ashley Hayewood's Night Lords, which he was playing rather innovatively as Space Wolves!! I was so impressed I voted this as my second choice for best army. First choice went to Andy Pattison's Imperial Guard, with some sweet converted Vendetta's (the rotor blades and cockpits were scratch built - awesome stuff!).


Game 5 - Annihilation, Spearhead - Result: Loss!
Versus Richard Grint's Imperial Guard
I have no idea about the Guard Codex but the list was something like...
3 Chimera's with normal guys inc autocannon weapon teams
3 Chimera's with Special weapon Vets
Chimera with Psyker Battle Squad
3 Vendetta's
3 x2 Hydra Flak Tanks
My heart sank when I saw I'd be facing the guard, I'd seen the Vendettas and Hydras dominating battlefields all weekend - now it was Askepios' turn! Though I have to say my spirits were dampened again when I realised that I was facing the infamous 16-tank list everyone had been talking about! Then again when I saw the barren desert-style board, then again when Richard won first turn....
I still can't see what else I could have done to prevent my swiftest defeat ever! I went all reserve, but with only a small portion coming in on T2 they were annihilated and once again I never made the difference back. The outflanking Tervigon arrived on the wrong side and spent the entire game running for all she was worth, only to be melta-gunned in the face by vets! Nid of the match went to the Doom & his spore, who each managed to wreck a Hydra! But with 4 more where they came from , it just wasn't enough!
There's no denying it was a massacre of comical proportions, and would have been a miserable experience had it not been for Richard being such a good-natured opponent - we had a good laugh about it all and I'd gladly face his guard again if our paths cross in the future!!
Caught a snap of his guard as he was tidying them up afterwards, loads of armour!:

Game 6 - Seize Ground, Pitched Battle - Result: Loss!!
versus Rupert Penwarden's Imperial Guard
Again guard players please forgive my unfamiliarity with yer book!
4 Chimera's with special weapon Vets
Chimera with Psyker Battle Squad
Large squad of normal guys
3 Vendettas
2 Manticores
2 Hydra Flak Tank

With 5 objectives on the board I was certainly on firm ground with the mission, if not with my opponent's army! Anyway in a stroke of luck I won first turn, so elected to deploy everything and try and get as far across the board as possible before getting shot to bits this time! The downside to this was that through trying to cling to terrain I ended up with a slightly skewed deployment, allowing Rupert to weight his own deployment in such a way that, realistically, I was only ever going to reach one wing of his line, whilst receiving fire from the whole lot. Some LOS blocking terrain allowed me to actually hit home with assaults on one side of the board, however it wasn't nearly enough to stop Rupert going for the T5 objective-grabbing tank shock, blowing me off the objectives I held to win the game 3-1! The Nids were not enjoying the tanks, bit again we never mind loosing to a worthy and affable foe, which Rupert certainly was. Another great and memorable game to conclude the tourney!

Hive Fleet Askepios Win Best Army!

In a pleasant and unexpected twist, some people voted us for best army! There I am on the left, a bit blurry bit obviously well chuffed! Thanks to all who voted and to tournament organisers Rob (on the right) and Rob (not pictured). An amazing event, I'll definitely be attending X-Legion in the future. All right, it's off to the spawning vat for a word with the Norn Queen about some anti-tank!!!

War on Octarius!

Blaktoof, the self-proclaimed Overfiend of Octarius, takes advantage of an opportunity to reduce the Tyranid population on the war-blasted world of Octarius Prime. On hearing field reports from his Blood-Axe advisers of a high concentration of 'Big Bugs' right on his doorstep he could hardly hold back: Even the slowest of his boyz knew by now that taking down the big, brainy synapse creatures is the first step to victory against the Tyranids; and by happy co-incidence they tend to fight the best, so promise to give a bit of sport into the bargain!

It's been a bit of a rocky week for Hive Fleet Askepios. With the first of this year's X-Legion tournaments next weekend I've been trying to cram in as many practise games as possible. Tuesday versus Kenny's shooty Space Marines saw the Nids loose in Kill Points. Then at the gaming club on Wednesday they were defeated again, this time by Alan's Ork Horde in a battle for objectives. I'm still confident about the list (see the report from Rapid Fire! last year) but against both armies it was showing it's weakness to high strength, long range AP3 weaponry, and against superior numbers (especially when there are Power Klaws in the midst of them). Against the Orks I think that concentration of forces is the best way to go and so decided to set Hive Fleet Askepios perhaps it's greatest challenge yet: My own army, The Orks of Waaagh! Blaktoof:

Warboss (Blaktoof) with Mega Armour, Cybork Body & Attack Squig
Big Mek with Kustom Force Field
7 Cybork Nobz with Eavy Armour & Stikkbombs (1 with Power Klaw & Bosspole, 1 with Power Klaw, 1 Painboy, 1 Waaagh! Banner, 1 Big Choppa, 1 Kombi-skorcha) in a Red Trukk
12 Boyz including Nob with Power Klaw & Bosspole in a Red Trukk
12 Boyz including Nob with Power Klaw & Bosspole in a Red Trukk
2o Boyz (2 with Rokkits) including Nob with Power Klaw & Bosspole
2o Boyz (2 with Rokkits) including Nob with Power Klaw & Bosspole
16 Gretchin with Runtherd
3 Killa Kanz with Rokkits
3 Killa Kanz with Rokkits
3 Killa Kanz with Rokkits

Rolling for Mission & Deployment came up with Annihilation, Dawn of War. Eager to get stuck in the Orks went for first turn, spreading both the large boyz mobs across the middle of the table, forcing the Nids back. The Nids began the game with both Tervigons, deployed centrally, 18'' from the boyz. First Turn saw the majority of both armies arrive from their board edges, and the boyz scoring a lucky shot with a Rokkit to wound a Tervigon.

With battle lines drawn, the Ork boyz held their ground, waiting for their reinforcements to get in position before attempting a charge. The Doom arrived behind the Ork lines, behind the building to the right in the picture above. There were few tempting targets for him, though he caused a few wounds to the nearest boyz mob. On the other side of the board however the Tervigon launched some of its freshly-spawned progeny into the breach:

Bolstered by their Brood Progenitor with Furious Charge, Poisoned Attacks and Feel No Pain, the Gaunts killed 6 Orks, suffering 6 casualties themselves to draw combat.

Turn 3 saw the first Kill Point of the game being scored as the Killa Kanz nearest the Doom turned round and blasted the floating brain into mush. The combined fire from the other 2 units of Kanz and some Trukk-mounted Big Shootas took one Trygon down to 2 Wounds. The drawn combat from last turn was finished off by the Orks, who butchered the remaining Gaunts and took a few steps back to consolidate. Not allowing them any respite however, the Tervigon spawned a fresh batch of Gaunts in the Nid turn, and moved up to lend its monstrous might to the assault. However once again the Orks stood firm despite taking casualties, causing a few themselves in return! The Hive Guard damaged the unit of Killa Kans furthest from where the Doom had landed, which the wounded Trygon finished off in the ensuing assault. Nearer the 'Nid side of the board the other Trygon charged Blaktoof and his Nob bodyguard, their Trukk having been smashed by fire from the Hive Guard. The Overfiend was struck down, his retinue figthing back with gusto to fell the Trygon. Perhaps the Painboy was able to use his Dok's Tools as the Nobz consolidated past the mangled form of Blaktoof....

The remaining Trygon was taken down by the Rokkit-Kanz in Turn 4, while the Gretchin who had just entered play from reserve pointed their crude blastas at the Doom's Mycetic spore and took careful, nervous aim, wounding the strange and immobile creature. Near the Tyranid board edge, the Nobs and a unit of Trukk Boyz launch an assault each on a unit of Termegants, wiping one of them out. The protracted combat on the Ork side of the table wore on as the boyz again held out despite the odds. In the Tyranid turn the Hive Tyrant decided to take the Nobs, who were feeling pretty smug by this point, down a peg or two by using Paroxysm on them. Blaktoof's finest fell to their knees, twitching in agony as the nearby Gaunts opened fire on them too. Meanwhile the Hive Guard continued their shooting against the Killa Kans, whittling down the centre-most unit. On the Ork side of the table, the large embattled boyz mob had been reduced to just the Nob, who swung his power klaw defiantly, standing against the Tervigon and its spawn. Over on the Nids' side, the other Tervigon had spawned a healthy brood and a combined charge broke the Trukk boyz who fled to take cover in the wreckage of the Nobz' Trukk.

Turn 5 saw every Ork on the table give a great bellow of "Waaagh!!!" as they invoked the powers of their deities Mork & Gork. The fleeing Trukk boyz rallied and turned about to face the Gaunts, ready for more fightin! The large boyz mob near where the Doom landed charged forward towards the Hive Tyrant, confident they would have enough attacks to damage the brute, or at least hold him up and prevent him using Paroxysm again! Despite their best effforts however they failed to damage the Tryant or his Guard and took heavy losses themselves. Never ashamed to run from a fight if it means they live to fight another day they tried to escape but were caught and cut to ribbons by the Hive Commander, who turned his attention back to the Nobz... Things went a little better for the Orks over on their side of the table as the lone Nob not only survived another round of combat but earned his team a second Kill Point by wiping out the Gaunts! The Tervigon remained to crush him the following turn but I was nonetheless amazed that he'd held out that long - Ork of the match! In the Tryanid turn the Hive Guard failed to cause any more damage to the Killa Kans, but the Nobz mob and the remnants of the rallied Trukk boyz were taken care of by the Tyrant, backed up by a Tervigon and more Gaunts.

A roll of the dice decreed there was to be a Turn 6, which allowed the Gretchin to finish off the Mycetic Spore (go grotz!). The remaining unit of Trukk boyz raced forward to scrape a kill point by clobbering a unit of Hive Guard. However things did not continue in such a fortuitous way for those boyz, as the picture below shows, when in the Tyranid turn their Trukk was destroyed by the remaining Hive Guard before they themselves were swamped by Fleshborer fire.

The last Turn saw the Orks assaaulting a Tervigon with some Killa Kans, wounding but not killing the beast. Seeing the Synapse creature wounded, the Termegants nearby scuttled away, anticpating the psychic backlash from the Tervigon's impending demise! The Hive Guard claimed a Kill Point by finishing off the other unit of Killa Kans, while the Tyrant moved up to support the woudned Tervigon. Despite the Tyrant's might, one "shaken" Kan was left standing. The Gretchin pilot inside scrabbled frantically to flick switches and grasped desperately at levers and managed, with his only attack, to take the last wound off the Tervigon!

Result: Orks 10; Tyranids 10!

Afterword

A fun and eventful game, even if I was playing myself! I'm of the belief that you can't have too much practise and in the absence of an opponent this weekend I thought I'd kill a few birds with one stone by having this rather schizophrenic battle with myself. Hey - it gave me an excuse to take pictures and do another blog post! Seriously though I was glad of the experience and surprised at the result. To be honest I thought by about Turn 4 that the Orks had it in the bag. Loosing both Trygons quite early on greatly reduced the killing potential of the Nids, and I was reluctant to spawn too many Gaunts as they are such easy KP's. That said I didn't really stick to that doctrine as there was really quite a lot of spawning going on - with quite good luck on not rolling doubles and getting too many small broods. Neither did I really stick to my plan of concentrating my attack. The Nids started out in close formation but quickly spread out to pre-empt any charges. I'm still not sure if that was the right thing to do and i think the Orks do definitely pose a challenge to the Nid army I'm running just now. I'm hoping though that now having had a couple of goes against them that it's fresh in my mind what they can do and so I'll prioritise my targets better than I otherwise would... I suppose we'll see next weekend, roll on X-Legion!!