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!
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!!!
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!!!
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