Final Battle of Ithacus
...For well over a year the Dark Angels had spent blood and sweat to recover the hidden relics of the planet Ithacus, a known zone of tyranid infestation. In the ruins outside the dead city of Kymeri the the battle was rejoined to attempt to make inroads before the final push....
Hive Fleet Ithacus
HQ
Hive tyrant wings, scything talons
Trygon Prime
Troops
Termaguants with devourers
Tervigon
Hormaguants
Gargoyles
FA
Harpy
Elites
Shrikes x3
Heavy
Hive guard x2
Hive guard x2
Hive guard x2
Deathwing
Belial sword of silence
librarian - bike, PFG, ML1
Elites
Deathwing knights x5 w/ LRC (deathwing vehicle)
Troops
Deathwingx5 w/ asscan
Deathwingx5 w/ asscan
Deathwingx5 w/ CML
FA
Storm Eagle
Deployment and strategy - The list I used was a version of the deathwing plus 2 landraiders list that has been floating on the net for a while. I wanted to try and throw my opponent off the ususal game of pushing me off objectives and overwhelming small arms fire. While this build has less staying power than a dual LRC it is still fun to play and very mobile, so I thought id try it out.
Deathwing + Tyranid1 - with a brief exchange of gunfire the two forces can do little to each other.
Deathwing 2 - The deathwing assault comes on turn two. both squads attempt to fire at the host of gargoyles, leveling their forces, but synapse holds sway the gargoyles are fearless!
In a glaring tactical error the librarian fails to join a squad and as a result the horde sees its chance...
Tyranid 2 - impaler cannons of the hive guard do their deadly work and the librarian dies, the vectoring ammo finding its target regardless of LOS. The Tyrant and Trygon charge, Justinian, the 1st company land raider but even with nine attempts they only penetrate once. The one pentration at first appearing to tear deep into the ammunition storage, but in the end only only stunning the crew. The holy rights of the mechanicus keep the machine in working order (DWV pen rolled 6 -> 2, made me smile).
Deathwing 3 - With the tyranids thwarted by the holy blessings of the emperor, the deathwing counterstrike. The storm eagle blazes into view firing las cannons at the approaching trygon and vengence launcher on the unknowing devil guants lurking near the unholy chaos alter, turning 14 to charred cinder. The crew of the Justinian make a hard reverse, and out of the belly Belial and Captain Ozimandius lead the charge of the deathwing knights into the hulking beasts, cutting down the tyrant and causing the tervigon to cryout in pain. the head of the tyrant would serve as their trophy this day (belial gets the extra VP when his unit kills the Warlord). Deathing sargent Tilos and his men boldly (foolishly?) charge the trygon knowing that its charge will be far worse and hoping to give the sword of secrets time to do its work. Their efforts meet with success as they bring the beast near to death (only 1 wound left).
Tyranid 3 - The deeds of the hive mind are nefarious and vengenful, brothers, and always more nids are available to swell the enemy ranks. Shrikes, the bane of many an encounter with the deathwing appear on the field. The Harpy swoops low crashing into the Kinghts, and slowing their movements with a piercing psionic scream. meanwhile the trygon apeared to recover its strength growing back 4 of the limbs that Tilos and his brothers had only just cutdown (dude rolled 4 sixes to regen all his wounds back!). Sergent Tilos and his brothers were last seen under the swarm of hormagaunts but their bodies were never recovered. The hormagaunt assault also lashed out at the deathwing knight with one brother falling to the sea of talons.
Deathwing 4 - With belial and the knight under heavy pressure the orders are given to put the storm eagle on the ground. In the hail of fire the 4man squad led by Sergent Osler leap inside inside the justinian and make for the corner objective, while the squad aboard eagle 3, led by sergent sergent Achebe, hurl themselves at the harpy to try and relieve the pressure on Belial and Ozimandius. Looking into the eyes of his enemy Belial raises his sword and bellows "My lord is the Emperor, King of kings, look on his works ye mighty, and DESPAIR!" and with his inpiration the knights and members of the deathwing bring their might upon the ruins of their foes...
With the with the dying tervigon in its death throes at his feet, Belial raised his gaze to see the laser blast smoking still smoking its burn into the trygons shell and knew his foes surrounded him still... the trygon bellowed but belials pose and carriage told the beast that by the ancient laws of combat, only one of them would leave the field alive. belials sword stuck first, but the beast was still alive, and its massive talons culled his armor, badly incapacitating him. as he fell he began to lose conciousness but not before...
Tyranid 4 - ... the flash of explosion lit his eyes as the storm eagle erupted in flame an crashed to the ground impaler cannons finding their mark inspite of pilots attempt to jink away. in the midst of the challenge with the trygon ozmandius and the knights were assaulted again by the wave of the hormaguant brood and the shrikes with their whipcoils and boneswords. slowly the knights were falling to the ferocity of their enemies, were the deathwing doomed to fall ?
Deathwing 5 - with their target in sight sergent osler emerged from the Justinian and charged for the objective knowing that the termagauts are outside of the synapse of their master. in so doing he called in fire support from Sgt. Acebe and the assault cannon on the far side of the hill. In the end the assault occurs and the termaguats are routed. Meanwhile captain ozimandius and his brothers, their maces slick with blood and tyranid ichor, succumb to their wounds falling before they can strike due to the entangling whip coils of the shrikes.
Tyranid 5 - Brothers, the hive mind is cunning and a master of strategy. Freed from their battle with the fallen deathwing knights the hormagaunts rush to gain the objective. The trygon and gargoyles attempt a final slaughter of terminators, while the shrikes leap into the deathwing back field. Sgt Achebe kills the first gargole on approach with his mighty storm bolter and the second with his power sword. Finally he looks up to see the jaws of the trygon tearing his arm from his torso and he slumps over a prayer to the emperor on his lips. Brother marelis seeing his leader, captain ozimandius and now his sargent fall to this brute causes something in his mind to snap. With a fearsome thrust he plunges his fist into the creatures brain the warp energies of the arcane weapon crackling down the creastures bloody calvaria, and the trygon stirs no more.
Does the game continue?
No.
Finale
Post game - well if it had gone another turn I would have toasted him but sadly it was not to be. there were a couple turning points in the game.
Librarian tactics - Failing to join the libby to the terminator unit on turn 2. critical mistake there as all the shooting would have been against the 2+ saves of the terminators and the hive guard weapons are AP -. This also meant that I lost the force multiplication that the libby can provide which was a blow and not a mistake I think ill make again, especially if I can find time for more regular games and use the same list. This idiotic move also gave my opponent first blood. regular awareness with regular play will help to cut down on mistakes like this.
It will not die! - holy crap, it sure wont! it seems that this more than anything else really changed the course of the game. when I sacrificed those terminators to try and weaken the trygon I knew it was going to be tough to win the battle, it would have been nice to kill him with the knights but they were tied up getting six wounds on him after he struck first was kind of a small micracle in itsself. but to have him gain all those back was pretty rough.
Storm Eagle - I directed the storm eagles main guns on the trygon which based on the situation seemed to be the right call even tough he got pretty lucky with some saves. I think that the use of the vengeance launcher on the tervigons with POTMS turn three would probably have been better directed on the hormagaunts since they were guaranteed to assault. my troops were fairly well protected from LOS by the land raider, so even if the devilguants had moved forward to shoot I think I still would have been safe. I was worried about the volume of fire they put out as that had really burned me in the past. I think it was also the right move to swap into hover mode when I did since Its always difficult to get the termies out of the plane and into assault.
Knights - throughout the game the deathwing knights performed waaay above there expected average. They took all the tyrant, harpy, and tervigon attacks on 3++ and took no wounds, they took about 35 total wounds from the hormaguants and only failed two saves, yikes. They totally kept me in the game. it wasn't until the arrival of the shrikes to the center combat that I really started to hurt.
Belial and challenging the trygon - I knew it was a risk to challenge the trygon but I also knew that he was capable of doing some serious hurt to the squad of knights and that at some point my saves would start to even out, therefore even with his 4++ I figured I could weather the storm of saves enough to last one more combat and kill him next turn with higher initiative. I did three wounds to him (bringing him up to 5) and he did 5 wounds to me, but I only saved one. what I should have done was to challenge the trygon with ozimandius on the next turn and try to strike simultaneously and kill him with the AP3 on the flail of the unforgiven. thinking about it now though my opponent could have declined this challenge and still would have killed me most likely.
Final turn - the termies emerging from the LRC on turn 5 had two opponents guarding the objective my orginal goal was to split fire with the the asscan onto the termigaunts with flesborers and shoot the other squad with stormbolters. but the split fire failed. Luckily the other squad on the other side of the hill could still see the gaunts with 'borers so it worked out ok. I also knew that the hive guard would come to deny me the objective and after the assault cannon on the "Justinian" failed to wound i couldn't consolidate far enough to block the approach of the hive guard (only consolidated 2". I had this was why the game was able to be won to some extent. but as I mentionen had the game gone one more turn i would have won it. It was nice to feel like i was dictating the game so much though.
I also want to give a shout out to the Hive Mind Commander. His tyranids have gone undefeated in all our games thus far (even i won with them when we swaped armies once!) crazy! Good luck in California! Keep in touch!
Hive Fleet Ithacus
HQ
Hive tyrant wings, scything talons
Trygon Prime
Troops
Termaguants with devourers
Tervigon
Hormaguants
Gargoyles
FA
Harpy
Elites
Shrikes x3
Heavy
Hive guard x2
Hive guard x2
Hive guard x2
Deathwing
Belial sword of silence
librarian - bike, PFG, ML1
Elites
Deathwing knights x5 w/ LRC (deathwing vehicle)
Troops
Deathwingx5 w/ asscan
Deathwingx5 w/ asscan
Deathwingx5 w/ CML
FA
Storm Eagle
Deployment and strategy - The list I used was a version of the deathwing plus 2 landraiders list that has been floating on the net for a while. I wanted to try and throw my opponent off the ususal game of pushing me off objectives and overwhelming small arms fire. While this build has less staying power than a dual LRC it is still fun to play and very mobile, so I thought id try it out.
Deathwing + Tyranid1 - with a brief exchange of gunfire the two forces can do little to each other.
Deathwing 2 - The deathwing assault comes on turn two. both squads attempt to fire at the host of gargoyles, leveling their forces, but synapse holds sway the gargoyles are fearless!
In a glaring tactical error the librarian fails to join a squad and as a result the horde sees its chance...
Tyranid 2 - impaler cannons of the hive guard do their deadly work and the librarian dies, the vectoring ammo finding its target regardless of LOS. The Tyrant and Trygon charge, Justinian, the 1st company land raider but even with nine attempts they only penetrate once. The one pentration at first appearing to tear deep into the ammunition storage, but in the end only only stunning the crew. The holy rights of the mechanicus keep the machine in working order (DWV pen rolled 6 -> 2, made me smile).
Deathwing 3 - With the tyranids thwarted by the holy blessings of the emperor, the deathwing counterstrike. The storm eagle blazes into view firing las cannons at the approaching trygon and vengence launcher on the unknowing devil guants lurking near the unholy chaos alter, turning 14 to charred cinder. The crew of the Justinian make a hard reverse, and out of the belly Belial and Captain Ozimandius lead the charge of the deathwing knights into the hulking beasts, cutting down the tyrant and causing the tervigon to cryout in pain. the head of the tyrant would serve as their trophy this day (belial gets the extra VP when his unit kills the Warlord). Deathing sargent Tilos and his men boldly (foolishly?) charge the trygon knowing that its charge will be far worse and hoping to give the sword of secrets time to do its work. Their efforts meet with success as they bring the beast near to death (only 1 wound left).
Tyranid 3 - The deeds of the hive mind are nefarious and vengenful, brothers, and always more nids are available to swell the enemy ranks. Shrikes, the bane of many an encounter with the deathwing appear on the field. The Harpy swoops low crashing into the Kinghts, and slowing their movements with a piercing psionic scream. meanwhile the trygon apeared to recover its strength growing back 4 of the limbs that Tilos and his brothers had only just cutdown (dude rolled 4 sixes to regen all his wounds back!). Sergent Tilos and his brothers were last seen under the swarm of hormagaunts but their bodies were never recovered. The hormagaunt assault also lashed out at the deathwing knight with one brother falling to the sea of talons.
Deathwing 4 - With belial and the knight under heavy pressure the orders are given to put the storm eagle on the ground. In the hail of fire the 4man squad led by Sergent Osler leap inside inside the justinian and make for the corner objective, while the squad aboard eagle 3, led by sergent sergent Achebe, hurl themselves at the harpy to try and relieve the pressure on Belial and Ozimandius. Looking into the eyes of his enemy Belial raises his sword and bellows "My lord is the Emperor, King of kings, look on his works ye mighty, and DESPAIR!" and with his inpiration the knights and members of the deathwing bring their might upon the ruins of their foes...
Tyranid 4 - ... the flash of explosion lit his eyes as the storm eagle erupted in flame an crashed to the ground impaler cannons finding their mark inspite of pilots attempt to jink away. in the midst of the challenge with the trygon ozmandius and the knights were assaulted again by the wave of the hormaguant brood and the shrikes with their whipcoils and boneswords. slowly the knights were falling to the ferocity of their enemies, were the deathwing doomed to fall ?
Deathwing 5 - with their target in sight sergent osler emerged from the Justinian and charged for the objective knowing that the termagauts are outside of the synapse of their master. in so doing he called in fire support from Sgt. Acebe and the assault cannon on the far side of the hill. In the end the assault occurs and the termaguats are routed. Meanwhile captain ozimandius and his brothers, their maces slick with blood and tyranid ichor, succumb to their wounds falling before they can strike due to the entangling whip coils of the shrikes.
Tyranid 5 - Brothers, the hive mind is cunning and a master of strategy. Freed from their battle with the fallen deathwing knights the hormagaunts rush to gain the objective. The trygon and gargoyles attempt a final slaughter of terminators, while the shrikes leap into the deathwing back field. Sgt Achebe kills the first gargole on approach with his mighty storm bolter and the second with his power sword. Finally he looks up to see the jaws of the trygon tearing his arm from his torso and he slumps over a prayer to the emperor on his lips. Brother marelis seeing his leader, captain ozimandius and now his sargent fall to this brute causes something in his mind to snap. With a fearsome thrust he plunges his fist into the creatures brain the warp energies of the arcane weapon crackling down the creastures bloody calvaria, and the trygon stirs no more.
Does the game continue?
No.
Post game - well if it had gone another turn I would have toasted him but sadly it was not to be. there were a couple turning points in the game.
Librarian tactics - Failing to join the libby to the terminator unit on turn 2. critical mistake there as all the shooting would have been against the 2+ saves of the terminators and the hive guard weapons are AP -. This also meant that I lost the force multiplication that the libby can provide which was a blow and not a mistake I think ill make again, especially if I can find time for more regular games and use the same list. This idiotic move also gave my opponent first blood. regular awareness with regular play will help to cut down on mistakes like this.
It will not die! - holy crap, it sure wont! it seems that this more than anything else really changed the course of the game. when I sacrificed those terminators to try and weaken the trygon I knew it was going to be tough to win the battle, it would have been nice to kill him with the knights but they were tied up getting six wounds on him after he struck first was kind of a small micracle in itsself. but to have him gain all those back was pretty rough.
Storm Eagle - I directed the storm eagles main guns on the trygon which based on the situation seemed to be the right call even tough he got pretty lucky with some saves. I think that the use of the vengeance launcher on the tervigons with POTMS turn three would probably have been better directed on the hormagaunts since they were guaranteed to assault. my troops were fairly well protected from LOS by the land raider, so even if the devilguants had moved forward to shoot I think I still would have been safe. I was worried about the volume of fire they put out as that had really burned me in the past. I think it was also the right move to swap into hover mode when I did since Its always difficult to get the termies out of the plane and into assault.
Knights - throughout the game the deathwing knights performed waaay above there expected average. They took all the tyrant, harpy, and tervigon attacks on 3++ and took no wounds, they took about 35 total wounds from the hormaguants and only failed two saves, yikes. They totally kept me in the game. it wasn't until the arrival of the shrikes to the center combat that I really started to hurt.
Belial and challenging the trygon - I knew it was a risk to challenge the trygon but I also knew that he was capable of doing some serious hurt to the squad of knights and that at some point my saves would start to even out, therefore even with his 4++ I figured I could weather the storm of saves enough to last one more combat and kill him next turn with higher initiative. I did three wounds to him (bringing him up to 5) and he did 5 wounds to me, but I only saved one. what I should have done was to challenge the trygon with ozimandius on the next turn and try to strike simultaneously and kill him with the AP3 on the flail of the unforgiven. thinking about it now though my opponent could have declined this challenge and still would have killed me most likely.
Final turn - the termies emerging from the LRC on turn 5 had two opponents guarding the objective my orginal goal was to split fire with the the asscan onto the termigaunts with flesborers and shoot the other squad with stormbolters. but the split fire failed. Luckily the other squad on the other side of the hill could still see the gaunts with 'borers so it worked out ok. I also knew that the hive guard would come to deny me the objective and after the assault cannon on the "Justinian" failed to wound i couldn't consolidate far enough to block the approach of the hive guard (only consolidated 2". I had this was why the game was able to be won to some extent. but as I mentionen had the game gone one more turn i would have won it. It was nice to feel like i was dictating the game so much though.
I also want to give a shout out to the Hive Mind Commander. His tyranids have gone undefeated in all our games thus far (even i won with them when we swaped armies once!) crazy! Good luck in California! Keep in touch!
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