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Tyranids versus Crimson Fists

Played a quick battle this week with a friend facing off forces from two of my armies to test them out. My brother was looking to clear up some space, so he has loaned me his Crimson Fists. My sister after moving ended up giving me here Tyranids which I painted. I had lists of 1850pts prepared when my buddy told me he was coming over, but after talking with him about the lists he said he didn't want to bother using that much stuff. He hasn't ever played 40k, so starting with a game a little smaller sounded like a good idea. We ended up with some forces that numbered just under 1000pts.

The Crimson Fists list:

  • Epistolary in power armor w/ jump pack
  • 5 Assault Marines one w/plasma pistol
    Sargent w/ power fist and bolt pistol
  • 10 Tactical Marines w/ Flamer and Heavy Bolter
  • 5 Space Marine Scouts w/ bolt pistol and combat blade
  • Predator w/ twin-linked las-cannon and heavy bolter side sponsons
  • Venerable Dreadnought w/ twin-linked las-cannon

The Tyranid list:

  • Tyranid Prime w/ Bone Swords, Rending Claws
  • Old One Eye
  • 2 Zoantropes
  • 10 Genestealers
  • 10 Genestealers
  • 10 Hormagaunts w/ Toxic Sacs
  • 2 Biovore

We got the game underway fairly quickly. Scott set up the marines fairly close to the initial line. He had the Scouts and Predator on his right flank. The Dreadnought in the center of the board flanked by half of the Tactical squad, one group contained the flamer and the other had the heavy bolter. The Assault squad and the Epistolary we set up behind that line of troops.

For my set-up the Hormagaunts were opposite his scouts and the Predator. The Biovore were tucked behind a hill next to them, and out of sight. Then I had One Eye next was the Tyranid Prime, and finally the Zoantropes. When I set up my infiltrators the Genestealers were split by a wood. One directly in front of his main force and the other prepared to assault his scouts.

Since he had the first turn it became apparent quickly Genestealers can't stand up against this kind of fire power. The unit in the center was wiped out and he was still able to land some shots into my Tyranid Prime to take away a wound. Since you can measure first he brought up the combat squad with the flamer within 12" to fire 8 shots into the Genestealers. The second squad hit them with the heavy bolter and one shot each from the marines with bolters. That nearly wiped them out, but the Assault squad finished them off. The dreadnought lumbered forward and chose to fire on the Prime rather than Old One Eye or the Zoantropes.

On his right flank the scouts had a choice whether to assault or get assaulted by the Genestealers. He might have been better served using his redeployment move to put more distance between himself and that unit, but he had used it to advance. With their shooting phase they dropped a couple and then the Predator remained stationary to fire the las-cannon and both heavy bolters into the basically unarmored Genestealers. The assault was roughly five on five, and the Scouts were better off getting an extra attack against the bugs. Eventhough I went first I think I only killed a single Scout. He returned the favor, but neither of us did a lot in close-combat.

On my turn I realized half of my army was out of synapse range. I made the leadership tests and advanced the Hormagaunts close enough to land an assault (6" on the run roll during the shooting phase). They would charge into the Scouts who were locked in combat, but the combat still ended up being a draw the second time. The biovore's template attack landed right on Dreadnought and chained into the Assault squad with the Epistolary. We discovered that dropping a template on them was useless as he made every single save. The poor Zoantropes failed to hit and failed to manifest a power. So basically my first turn was a wash as the Prime and Old Eye advanced toward a solid gun line.

His second turn wiped out my HQ as the Prime fell to a hail of fire. One of the Zoantropes fell, and I lost a Biovore to an advancing Predator. The scouts were cut down to a single guy, but they were now tying up two units so held their ground. At this point we were facing a route. All I had in my arsenal was a single Biovore who not really likely of causing any damage. I had maybe seven or eight Hormagaunts and half a unit of Genestealers. They killed the last Scout on my turn, but actually were in danger of being tank shocked or shot with the Predator. In the center of the board there was a single Zoantrope and Old One Eye facing off against the majority of his army.

We did let One Eye charge into the combat squad with the Flamer and he killed a few marines, the decided to flee the combat to dare him to charge again. Next phase he was going to be charged by the Dreadnought and the Assault Squad with HQ. Especially if the last Zoantrope went down to fire from the heavy bolter combat squad. It completely failed to manifest or hit with a power at all. At some point we realized when I built the lists I had purchased a Razorback for the tactial squad, so that would have been an extra twin-linked Heavy Bolter shot each round. We had gotten confused during the initial set-up and it never made it on the board.

The game was super fun for me. I hope we play some more battles soon. If Scott can get the hang of running the marines, I will always have a friend to run some games with. I would love to run a straight rematch with these points to see how much was just bad dice or setting up.

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