++ Operation Clean Slate is go. Landing zone locked, nav beacon responding. Valkyries on approach, drop teams ready. Safeties off, all teams, you may fire freely. Sweep the DZ clear of hostiles, capture and appropriate local strong points, establish a functional beachhead ahead of reinforcements. Emperor protects. ++





My army selection is being led by the narrative, which at least spares me having to make tactical choices. Basically, I have a Tempestor Prime and some Scion squads escorting a Lord-Commissar into the compound.

The Space Marines are there for support, hence being led by a Lieutenant, rather than the more useful Captain. A couple of Intercessor squads, some Aggressors and Hellblasters for fire support and a Redemptor. Basically a lot of dakka for the swarms, a bit of heavy stuff for the big bugs and some power fists for when I get overrun. I'm also running these with the Salamander chapter tactic, because they seem the likeliest to team up with humans (and I get those handy re-rolls too).

Crypt Angels: Adeptus Astartes - Salamanders

Hive Fleet Leviathan

Mission and Deployment

All buildings from TTCombat - super cheap mdf constructs, tough and easy to build. Quick too, although there's a lot of ground to cover!

The Jungles are home built, mdf rounds with a selection of aquarium plants, random sticks and stones from nearby and the Jungle Basing kit from Warlord Games. Mostly done with some flocking left to finish off.

And my 'Nids fit right in!

The Mission is Beachhead - three objectives, one in the middle and one in each deployment zone. At the start of a turn, you score one VP for your own, two for the middle and three for your opponent's if you hold it. First Strike, Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker also up for grabs.





Overhead View. The entire left hand side is Dense Jungle, granting +1 save and -2" to advance and charge. The buildings are LOS blockers, but the bridge in the middle is open.

I win the roll off for deployment, so I pick the Compound end so I can hide in it! All those guns scare me. Plus lurking in the shadows seems a more cinematic start for the campaign somehow. The Tyrant is in the Tyrannocyst, with spore mines and Gargoyles to help drop in somewhere nice later.

Tyranid left flank...

...and right

Imperial Deployment

Full Deployment

Tyranids - Turn 1

Imperium - Turn 1

Tyranids - Turn 2





++Lead, this is Beta! We're hitting it with everything we've got, and it's doing nothing!++





++Stay in formation, Beta, we're tracking off your fire. Let the Marines do their job.++





++What's it doing? Okay, Lead, the creature is... firing? I guess? There's something coming out of its arms, caustic energy patterns. But it's not hitting us, it's too far off. Can't get us from over there, you bastard. Good job it's too dumb to... wait, there's more! There's more of them, pouring out of the gates! And... shit, we've got hostiles all round us! There's... I can't count them! Too many, they were hiding in the trees! We'll be overrun!++









++Hold position! That's an order!++





++What in Sweet Terra's name is that?++





++Beta? Beta! Report!++





++Saw something land behind us! Something big, the ground shook! But the bioscanner won't lock on, it's... No! Shit! Holyrood can see it, he says there's dozens of them. Like big bats! And a... a thing? I don't know either, Holyrood, stop screaming at me!++









++Beta, hold position! The Crypt Angels will handle it!++





<<I HAVE THE XENOS IN MY SIGHTS. I HAVE SEEN DEATH FIRST HAND. THIS ABOMINATION DOES NOT SCARE ME. SUPPRESSIVE FIRE!>>





[Time to rush forward, I decided, so the Genestealers used Opportunistic Advance to push forward, and I dropped my deep strikers in the back corner, ready to threaten and rush the Imperial objective. It didn't go well - first up, I didn't move my Tyrannofex because I thought I wanted to fire twice. Which is fine if you're in range, but I wasn't.





I was hoping to carve up the Redemptor a bit, but that fell flat too - the Tyrannocyte whiffed its shots, then all my charges failed, thanks to the dense jungle slowing us up. At least it also protected me from the Overwatch fire!]





Imperium - Turn 2





--Watch the front, brothers. Clear out the first wave of Xenos. Get on the Vox and tell the Scions to target the flying swarm behind us. We can't allow ourselves to be surrounded.--





--THE ABOMINATION IS MINE--





--Good hunting, honoured brother Sepulcrum.--









--Sergeant Tredecim here. The first wave has been cleared, but the larger creatures are unscathed. And there's a second wave coming in.--





--Acknowledged. Bring up the Hellblasters, and tell the Scions to call in the reserves.--





--We shall be overrun. We will stand.--





--Hold fast, brother Sergeant Fortuna.--





Tyranids - Turn 3













Imperium - Turn 3





--Fortuna here. The main swarm is all but gone. The Scions have charged in to engage what's left. Another unit have airdropped right into the compound. Keen, aren't they?--





--Must be someone here they're trying to impress.--









[One swarm wiped, and here comes another. I bring the unit of Scions out of the Gatling Taurox to engage the centre, while deepstriking the final unit of Scions to threaten Kraken's home objective and force him to divert resources to attacking them.





Tyranids - Turn 4









[Between the Warrior Prime's Spinefists and the Neurothrope's lucky supersmite, the newly arrive Scions in my backfield didn't last long. The Scions in the middle get two rounds of rather inaccurate Fleshborer Hive fire, but the Tyrannofex is a bit woozy after all the hits to the head last round, and only nips off three of them. That leaves us tied on the objective, though!





So I got my charge into the Hellblaster, the Commissar and the Lieutenant with the Tyrant. And all I'm saying is never split your attacks.





Never.]





Imperium - Turn 4





--Sergeant Fortuna here. The centre is ours, but this psyker xenos is slippery! Every time I get a hand to him, he evades me.--





--Just kill him quick before Colerine can get in there. He looks angry.--









[I finally clear out the centre of Termagaunts, which means I should be scoring the middle objective next turn.





I'm also making headway against my targets. The Tyrannofex is destroyed to a Scion’s melta shot, and everything else goes into the Hive Tyrant. Between it's chameleonic mutation, high toughness and invulnerable save, the best I can manage is taking it down to half wounds.





In combat, the luckiest Lord Commissar in the Imperium charges into centre melee. He can’t punch through the Neurothrope’s invulnerable save, but it's better that facing a Hive Tyrant.





The two Flamer/Melta Scions get into the enemy deployment zone to charge the second Neurothrope. Predictably, both sides whiff the combat.





Tyranids - Turn 5





[With little left to play with, I had to scrape some victory points together. The Tyrant, now wounded, managed a long and iffy charge through the jungle, on to the roof of the building and right into the hapless Tempestor Prime. Slay the Warlord somewhat made up for my previous strike on character slaying!





But elsewhere, there wasn't much left. Two Neurothropes and a Prime, mostly out of position, weren't going to hold that central objective for long...]





Imperium - Turn 5

Tyranids - Turn 6

Imperium - Turn 6

Result: Imperial Victory! Beachhead established

Campaign Map/Aftermath

Squad Rogers +2

Squad Tyneberry +3

Brunhilde +4

Sigurny +2





Squad Tredecim +4

Squad Fortuna +6

(I gave this unit the MVP award, since they managed to hold the centre all game)

Squad Iaculator +1

Spatiator Sepulcrum +1

Squad Exustio +3

You have to score more than 5XP to gain a battle honour, so that means Intercessor Squad Fortuna get a bump. I'm giving them the 'Sharpshooters' battle honour (re-roll 1s to hit in Shooting Phase), since they manged to equal the kills of a 60+ Boltstorm barrage with a couple of well-aimed rifle shots.





Stand by for Part II of the Zamaroon Campaign!

Oh, what a lovely board! My forces start off, suitably enough, in dense jungle and I'm not keen to leave it. I put two squads of Scions, and their commanders, into the Taurox and park them either side of the control bunker. The final squad goes into deepstrike.Of the Space Marines, one unit of Intercessors goes on the bunker, to secure my home objective. The other one takes point, ready to race out and grab the central one. The rest of the units spread out either side - danger can come from all sides![A cautious start from me too - and with most of my stuff out of range, I'm not getting First Strike either. I hold one unit of Intercessors on my objective and bust forward with the other one - sadly, I'm half an inch away from claiming it, so I won't be in a scoring position until the start of Turn 3.The Cannon Taurox applies the handbrake, while the shorter-range Gatling Taurox busts forward. I also unload all the Scions from the Cannon Taurox, so they can spread out some kind of deepstrike bubble.All that's left is a a pot-shot at the Tyrannofex with the Taurox Battle Cannon, which picks off a couple of wounds and just makes it angry.][It's my big chance to unload at the swarm. Those not currently in range moves closer, everything else stays still. The Boltstorm Aggressors have stood still, allowing them to unleash 60+ shots at the Genestealers. Whatever they had loaded in their guns wasn't that effective, and only five bugs fell. To add to the insult, the advance squad of Intercessors caused just as many casualties with their bolt rifles.There's still the backfield to clear, so I put everything else into the Gargoyles and wipe them out before they start tying up my guns. I even have a bit of gun left over for the Mucolid Spore.The big guns are less successful. The Cannon Taurox whiffs against the Tyrannofex, the Hellblasters fail on the Hive Tyrant, and the Melta Scions burn a few wounds off the Tyrannocyte.The only combat I fancy is the Redemptor on the Hive Tyrant. I score three hits - but the invulnerable save stops the lot. The Dreadnought takes a few in return.]The melta Scions are ordered toand duly scrag the Tyrannocyte. The volley gun Scions and Battle Cannon Taurox wipe out the Tyranid Warriors on the back field.In the centre, the lone Boltstorm Aggressor, Gatling Taurox, central Intercessors and flamer Scions mow down 25 Termagaunts. The spare melta Scion takes an impressive six wounds of the Tyrannofex. The Intercessors on the bunker snipe off the last three Genestealers.In combat, the Gatling Taurox takes a long charge on the remaining Termagaunts (to soak Overwatch), but fails. The Scions make it in, stomp on a few more bugs, and crucially deny the objective to Kraken.In terms of objectives, it's been a very low-scoring game. We've each been clocking up one VP per turn for our own objectives, but haven't got any bonus points and haven't secured any other objectives. It does add to the tension - neither of us can afford to slip up.]++It's on the roof! Lead, it's on the roof!++++Lasseter! Bring your guns around, we need fire on that target asap! The Badger is up there!++++Holyrood! Punch it!++++Lord of Terra damn it! What is it doing to him?++++(agonised screaming)++++Badger! No!++++Oh shit, man, it got the Badger! Game over, man! Game over!++--Lead! Beta! This is no game. Lasseter, I haven't forgotten our date after this little skirmish. Pick your balls off the floor, find some pride and SHOOT THAT DAMN BUG!--[I lose every single Hellblaster to Overcharged shots, but at least I'm finally rid of that Hive Tyrant. It was my own stupid fault for making all the rolls together, rather than one gun at a time, but with the -1 to hit, it was always a risk.][The Intercessors and Lord Commissar finally punch down the first Neurothrope, which opens up the rest of the guns to shoot down the second Neurothrope and take the Tyranid Prime to a single wound.]Good game - the low-scoring element made it very tense. Neither of us could afford to let out home objectives slip, any threat against the rear had to be immediately dealt with, and we still had to fight like mad over the centre.It's always fun taking a lot of guns against a Tyranid line, and I enjoyed the Astartes-Scion combo immensely. I had the advantage of a long deployment and some fortunate rolls (which are easier to come by when you have Salamanders), and I think if Kraken had been able to shut down a little bit more of my shooting, it would have gone hard for me.But, I did claim victory, and what's more, we're awarding campaign experience for the units. Following the Chapter Approved 2018 rules, you get points for showing up, killing things and even an MVP award.Characters don't get points, and you lose points for being wiped out - sadly that leave Kraken empty-handed, since his Hive Tyrant, Neurothropes and Tyranid Prime did all the killing, and everything else lost their appearance point because they were also killed.However, the Imperium are looking like this: