With the Imperium falling to infighting on the inner worlds of the system, the last defence against the Tyranids is left to the brave men and women of the Rebel Alliance. After a long and bitter campaign against the xenos terrors of Hive Fleet Ragnarok, the Tyranids have overrun the planet and breached the last defences, crashing an alien filled shuttle behind enemy lines.
Well here’s the write up for the big match to finish up a pig of a year. My older brother and I have been running a ‘Nids vs Guard campaign for a few years now and we finally got around to finishing it. It was a marathon game, taking about 18 hours to play four turns, piles of casualties at a time and plenty of throwing miniatures when they didn’t get the rolls I needed. Without further ado.
The Armies
6250 points of Astra Militarum with Inquisition, and Tyranids with Genestealer Cults. Pretty much my entire rebel army and most of Nic’s ‘Nids. We had three warlords each, the rebels being Lord Commissar ‘Handsome’ Vaul, Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Alexie Tyranoc and the Rebel Smuggler (Officer of the Fleet) Jarran Kell. On the Nids side we had Xenos Rex (walking hive tyrant), Dragon (flying hive tyrant) and the Genestealer Patriarch.
In a match this big we were able to put down our biggest and most beautiful models, with the Rebels bringing the Freeblade Knight ‘Highlander’, the Hellhammer ‘Zeus’ and the Crassus Assault Transport ‘Independence. The ‘Nids brought a Scythed Heirodule and the monster Hierophant Bio-titan ‘Thanatos’. Thanatos is the most imposing model in our gaming group and almost impossible to kill, so I was fully prepared to just stare at it and weep for most of the match.
With piles of vehicles, hundreds of infantry and 7 super-heavies on the table, it was turning out to be one of the most spectacular matches we’ve played.
The Battlefield
Using all of my and my brothers terrain collection, we made a monster 6′ x 8′ battlefield representing the last lines of defence in the tyranid invasion. We were playing the battle at the very end, with the rebels pushed from the battlelines deep into a corner of the city. Nic also had gained a bonus deployment zone within rebel lines from a previous match where his cults had captured a Rebel ship. For the objectives, with split the table into thirds lengthways, with 1 VP available if you held a table third with no enemy units in it. 1 VP was also available for every warlord slain or taken off the table.
Deployment
At the top corner of the battlefield, the Cults vehicles faced off against Zeus and the Rebel armour in the shadow of the aquila shrine.
A horde of Tyranids, including the towering Trygon, crawled out of the crashed maintenance shuttle behind Rebel lines, facing down the Rebel command and heavy weapons in the reactor tower.
On the far edge, next to the manufactorum, Rebel armour faced down against the Hierodule, Hierophant and a swathe of monstrous creatures.
Holding the Rebel’s third of the table, a Tyrannofex, Carnifex and smaller gribblies held the landing platform on the other side of the barricades.
Warriors and Termagants held bunkers along the barricades.
And finally a close-up pic of Thanatos because this thing is terrifying.
Turn One
The Rebels took an absolute pounding in the first turn, losing a pile of tanks and infantry, including the Crassus and the entire platoon (including warlord) inside. Things were looking very grim.
Half the Rebel flyers took to the middle to hit large targets. Zeus held strong, but failed to make a big impact on the Cults’ armour. The Hierodule ruined the Eradicator russ and cleared Veterans from the administratum building, while the Trygon managed to tie down Highlander in the back field.
Xenos Rex and his bodyguard marched up the centre, untouched by Rebel shooting.
Highlander fumbled and only scratched the Trygon in the first rounds of combat.
The Raveners and Hormagaunts claimed the bottom levels of the tower, making the Rebel gunline sweat.
Thanatos ruined the Crassus with shooting, taking out an entire Infantry Platoon and Commissar Handsome in the process.
Inquisitor Tyranoc’s warband in the Corvus Blackstar, accompanied by a Priest and the Pit Slaves in the Arvus Lighter, flew into the Nids’ back field.
The Rebel casualties after just one game turn. The dice gods were not in my favour.
Turn Two
The Rebels mounted a brave counterattack, dishing out heavy punishment to the Nids and Cult vehicles, but were still taking heavy losses and losing hitting power rapidly.
The Lightning fighter ‘Hornet’ swooped in and took out the Goliath Rockgrinder, with the heavy flamers on Zeus wiping the squad inside. The rest of the Hellhammer’s guns focused on the rampaging Hierodule, and reduced it to a steaming pile of ichor. The Rebels lost several vehicles to the cults armour, only dishing out a smattering of hull points to the battle tanks in return.
The Rebel reinforcements arrived, with the Bullgryns exiting the Valkyrie and the Grey Knight Terminators teleporting into the centre ruins. The Blackstar and Lighter flew over to provide a second assault wave.
The Trygon still managed to tie down Highlander, coupled with a horde of Gaunts and a Venomthrope entering the fray. Dragon flew over to hunt down the remaining rebel command, but was grounded by some excellent snap shots from General Nineties First-person-shooter Character (Harker) and the Sniper Vets.
The Rebel Droptroopers entered the field on the other flank, dishing out a heavy toll, taking down a Mawlock, a Carnifex and a horde of Gaunts.
The Black Company Mercenaries bravely held the centre against a rampaging Screamer Killer Carnifex.
Turn Three
Things took an even direr turn for the Rebels, their counterattack being slaughtered across the battle lines, and with the Tyranids already deep into their gunline.
The Genestealer brood, led by a trio of Cults characters, ambushed the rebel reinforcements, rolling a 6 and getting to assault on the turn they arrived.
The cult Vanquisher ‘The Juggernaut’ got a lucky round of shooting in, dishing out 5 hull points and finishing off Zeus.
The Genestealer brood assaulted and wiped out the grey knights, while Xenos Rex charged and took down the Bullgryns.
The Abberants made the field, assaulting the remaining sniper vets and finishing them off. Highlander still fought on with the Trygon, but managed to stamp the little gribblies out of existence.
The Black Company Mercenaries still managed to hold out against the Screamer Killer.
Hybrid Metamorphs emerged from the vents of the manufactorum and unleashed their hand flamers on the company command squad inside, leaving only Brigadier Stubbs alive.
Things were not looking good for the rebels, with the second wave of reinforcements coming in unsupported. The Valkyrie, however, did a stellar job of hovering in place and raining death on the Tyranid infantry.
Turn Three
Things went from very bad to very worse for the Rebels, their lines overrun by swarming monsters, but somehow they still managed to keep a foothold in all three parts of the table, their only hope now was to take down the Tyranid warlords in hope of scraping out a draw.
Dragon and the raveners wiped the rebel infantry from the tower. Major Briggs mounted a desperate charge against the last ravener, but wass wiped before he could swing his power fist. Jarran Kell fled to the bottom of the tower and joined the last infantry squad camping at the bottom. The lone armoured sentinel held his own against the Tyranid incursion force, with the rebel armour in tatters. The rebels still managed to keep a foothold on this edge of the table, securing a crucial Victory Point.
The Rebel Drop Troops were slaughtered in the square, but manage to prevent the Hierophant from getting any closer.
Tyranoc, his Warband and the Pit Slaves made it to the table, while the rebel flyers dealt out heavy damage into the Genestealer brood.
The lone Sentinel, bereft of a weapon, charged into the Hive Guard and tied up their shooting indefinitely. Highlander finally rammed his giant chainsword down the Trygon’s throat, and advanced onto other targets.
The scraps of Rebel infantry still managed to hold onto the centre third.
The Rebel armour had been wiped from the back third of the table, leaving it up to the last of the rebel reinforcements and the flyers to hold the line.
The Rebel flyers and Tyranoc’s squad poured fire and psychic powers into the Genestealer brood, but failed to do much damage.
Very artful dodging from the Valkyrie pilot left him alive, despite being pounded by the Tyrannofex and the Hierophant’s Bio Cannons.
Turn Four
As the battle slipped from the Rebel’s grasp, we decided to call the game halfway through turn 4, mainly cos I was getting grumpy and tired of failing checks consistently over eighteen hours of gametime.
Even with the onslaught of Tyranids and Genestealer Cults, the Rebels still managed to maintain a force in their third of the table, barely but a pass is a pass at this point.
In the centre field, the Valkyrie was blown up and the Blackstar grounded. The Pit Slaves were wiped in the shooting phase and Tyranoc’s Warband assaulted by the Cult Leaders.
The Abberants assaulted Highlander, and the rest of the rebel infantry was wiped from the tower, with Jarren Kell fleeing from the table, scoring the nids another crucial VP.
Swarmed by hordes of nids, the rebels still managed to hold the back third of the table with the very lonely Arvus Lighter.
After all that fighting, the rebels still managed to maintain a force in all three table sections, but after losing two warlords to the Tyranids’ none, the nids bag the match 2-0.
Wrap Up
Despite being trounced by an excellent strategy by Nic, some costly mistakes and some good old fashioned bad luck, in hindsight it was an epic match with some brilliant moments. A lot to learn from this one, from deployment zone setups for big matches down to strategies for my superheavies and reserves. Good game Nic, looking forward to my revenge!
Rebels and Pirates 