Thousand Sons - Turn 1

A simple enough start: everything advances!







I pick a couple of likely avenues and race down them. The top corridor is led by the Daemon Prince, followed by his entourage of Exalted Sorcerer and Sorcerer, alongside the Helbrute and the Cultists.



A single unit of Rubrics takes up firing positions down the long central corridor, aided by the Spawn who bounds ahead.



On the narrow bottom corridor, the second unit of Rubrics wend their way down, followed by more Cultists. This route's very out of the way, but maybe they will keep them out of trouble.



The Psychic phase is very good to me, as I'm out of that pesky Shadow in the Warp. But with so much out of range, nothing of much consequence is achieved. The Helbrute gets most of the buffs, then catapults forward with Warptime to guard a bulkhead.





Tyranids - Turn 1









There's not much for me to do except get out of the gate and start blocking up the board, so in one great big messy pack, my army surges forward down the nearest tunnels. I have to keep a few back, to make sure no teleporters start turning up in the back lines, so the Tyrant, Tervigon and Warriors don't move much. Even so, there's an ominous gap in the bottom corner that I fully expect to be full of Terminators any minute now.





The psychic phase is quiet, because we're mostly out of range. The Gargoyles get Catalyst slapped on them, as that Hellbrute is almost certainly in burning range soon, so I also manage to cast Paroxysm on it to slow it down a bit in combat.





Finally, a shooting sees a single wound plinked off the Hellbrute by Gargoyle shooting. Even that is more than I hoped for, so I settle back and wait for the attack to come.





Thousand Sons - Turn 2

One turn's respite it all you get with the Tyranids. I'm going to be stuck in melee next turn, so I'd better make this one count.







I don't move my Helbrute (I have a cunning plan, to be explained below), but everything else just keeps moving down their respective corridors. There isn't much space in the Tyranid backline for deepstrikers, and I don't fancy dumping my Terminators behind a wall where they can't shoot. I opt for sticking them in front of the Genestealer pack, because they seem like the right kind of hammer for that particular nail.



And now the Psychic Phase: the reason I left the Helbrute standing was because his Fire Frenzy stratagem states that if he does not move In The Movement Phase, he can fire his weapons twice at the nearest enemy unit. So if I leave him standing, but then Warptime him forward in the Psychic Phase, he gets to unload 4D6 heavy flamer shots into that pesky flock of Gargoyles.



Of course, Kraken is expecting this, and once I have finished throwing around all my other psychic buffs, he uses the Deepest Shadow stratagem to force me to roll a single die (and basically auto-fail).



So no flaming for the Helbrute, and my small-arms fire doesn't amount to much. I plink off a Termagant (which will be immediately respawned) and my Terminators gun down a handful of Genestealers, showing their traditional poor shooting post-teleport.



I'm not daft enough to charge anything, so it's over to the 'Nids!





Tyranids - Turn 2





The Genestealers can sense their traditional foe (mostly on account of being shot up by them) so I plunge on in towards combat there. The Termagants seethe into the midfield and the Gargoyles head for the Helbrute, backed up by the Tyrannofex in the second line. The Tervigon pulls back a bit, I'm watching that back corner, and I'm pumping spore mines out from the Sporocyst as I go.





Psychically, I manage to smite off a Terminator and a half from the Neurothrope, and I once again put the Hellbrute in Paroxysms. But no Catalyst, it gets denied by the Daemon Prince, so the poor old death bats will have to chance it without.





Shooting - the Chaos Spawn vanishes under a hail of Termagant fire, and the Warriors pick off a lone Rubric with the Venom Cannon.





Charges! A clutch of Gargoyles get burned on their way in, but they entirely envelop the Hellbrute. I don't expect them to do much except die slowly, but holding the enemy up is going to win me this battle, so that's fine. The Genestealers lose a single member to Overwatch, but there's plenty there to work with.







Except that I roll dreadfully, failing to do a single wound! Although the Terminators at least burn a command point to reroll a save, I think. They chop up a few of mine in revenge, but it looks like quite an even fight developing. Terminator saves really are hard to get through, but hopefully the Neurothrope can keep hitting with Smites from behind.





The Gargoyles do surprisingly well, in that it's Stylus's turn for a whiff. One or two more die, I don't hurt him, and he's well and truly bogged down in combat. Excellent!





Thousand Sons - Turn 3

Turn three, and I'm nowhere near my destination. Time to bring in the reserves...







With a flock of gargoyles blocking my route, I move up my characters to pry them off the Helbrute. Elsewhere, the Rubrics advance down the central corridor, but just fall short of flamer range of the Termagants. I drop one unit of Tzaangor behind them (it's barely out of my own deployment zone, but options are thin).



The other Rubrics and Cultists continue sneaking up the side-corridor, when they suddenly find their way blocked by the Terminator Sorcerer and another unit of Tzaangor (I would have put both beastmen in there, but there wasn't room). These guys have discovered an unguarded path to the Neurothrope, so some cheeky assassination is on the cards.



The Psychic Phase is getting cadge - now that I'm in Shadow of the Warp range and Soul Hunger range and Kraken still has that Deepest Shadow stratagem, half my psykers are too scared to cast. I heal up the Helbrute, put Diabolic Strength on the Daemon Prince and Smite away some of the Gargoyles.



There's no much gun available in the Shooting Phase, and the biggest is the melta on the Terminator Sorcerer, which rolls a '1' to hit, even with a command point re-roll. Ominous.



The charge phase fares little better: my Daemon Prince makes it into the Gargoyles (though he's so big, the Sorcerers can't lend a hand), but the Tzaangors fail their charge against the Neurothrope. So does the Terminator Sorcerer.



Which leaves only two combats this turn: the Daemon Prince and Helbrute plough through the Gargoyles, leaving the last couple to fade from morale. In the ongoing clash of Genestealers vs Terminators, I drag down another four, and then lose one of my own in the process. Could I actually win this one?





Tyranids - Turn 3





The Neurothrope is lucky not to be the bottom of a Tzaangor pyramid, so he backs off quickly behind the Tervigon. The Termagants advance on the Rubrics in the middle, the Tyrannofex stomps forward to block the advance of the Thousand Sons command group and the Tyranid Warriors dance back the way they came, just in case I need them.





I'm dithering enough that I forget to put out any more spore mines, but that's okay - the ones I have float on, ready to die for my cause.





The Psychic Phase nets me a handful of smite wounds on the Tzaangor, and I throw Catalyst on the Tyrannofex, but I'm shut down as much as I succeed. Shooting is more cheerful - I throw CPs into letting the Termagants shoot twice, and the Rubric Squad dissolves under a hail of beetle fire.



Only just though - I think those four Rubrics took around 100 small-arms shots to bring them down.





The Genestealers and the Terminators lay into each other grimly, each pulling down an opponent or two, but it's still too close to call there. At least I'm holding them up!





Thousand Sons - Turn 4

I may not be making much progress, but Kraken has only racked up a handful of kill points, so if I can push through with just a couple of units (and the game ends before I get annihilated), it would be enough for the win.









With all the flappy bugs gone, I move my Daemon Prince and Helbrute to gang up on the Tyannofex. The Tzaangor who failed against the Neurothrope move against the Tergivon, just so they can pick on something. The other Tzaangor head towards the big pack of Termagants, back up by the Cultists.





Psychic is the usual buffs and heals, but nothing too ambitious lest Kraken try and blow up my skull again. I do get over-confident with the Scarab Occult Terminator and try to sneak in a Smite (just to tip the odds in this Genestealer fight), only for it to fail and the resulting backlash kill one of my own Rubricae. Oops.





In the Combat phase, I use Veterans of the The Long War to make the going easier against the Tervigon, and manage to hack away a few wounds. Against the Termagants, my theory that it was better to fight this horde than let them shoot at me was borne out: I lose four Tzaangor to overwatch, and none at all in the resulting melee. Still, as more Tzaangor fade to morale, it looks like the fight's not going to go my way.







For the main event, the Daemon Prince and Helbrute crash into the Tyrannofex, losing nothing to Overwatch. And then the pair of them whiff spectacularly - failing to get their attacks through or Kraken making a huge number of saves. From a potential 30 wounds, I think I inflict about 3. That did not go as planned.



And the ongoing - and hugely entertaining - battle between the Terminators and Genestealers continues. Just two fighters from each side are left standing now - both sides have enough attacks to end this in a single round, but they keep on mauling away at each other.





Tyranids - Turn 4

Techically, the Gargolyes came back in this turn, but I decided that they weren't going to reach anyone in time to be worth the hassle of putting them all back out again. Lovely models, but fiddly to move around!





Better get the Tyrannofex out of dodge while the going is good, it was preposterously lucky of me to survive that charge. He hauls ass backwards and the Tyrant thunders up to take his place.





A Mucolid Spore makes it all the way up to the face of the Terminator Sorcerer, leaving him on a single wound, but he manages to shrug off my smites and screams in the psychic phase. Although I cast Paroxysm on the Daemon Prince, I'm denied my Catalyst.





Shooting - venom cannon and Miasma Cannon fire just about manage to scrape the Helbrute again, but I've no expectation of taking it down. Alas, this proves my undoing - there was a trio of Spore Mines ready to explode all over the Daemon Prince at this point, but scraping the Helbrute provokes it into a fire frenzy, and it melts them all with flamer fire!



That Helbrute is a contender for MVP (if he hadn't whiffed his attacks last turn) - he's been brought back from the dead several times, and now he's wiping out the spore mines in the Tyranids' shooting phase!





That means the Hive Tyrant is going to have to charge, but who against? Whichever I pick, there are characters ready to pull Heroic Interventions, and I'm outnumbered and outgunned in there. Then I remember that the Tyrant isn't my Warlord here, and there's no points for Slay the Warlord anyway, so I chuck him casually into the Daemon Prince.





It's not a good combat phase, though. The Termagants do precisely nothing, the Genestealers and Terminators slog each other down to single models, and I singularly fail to hurt the Daemon Prince with the Tyrant, then take about a third of my wounds from the counterattack. Worse, the Exalted Sorcerer and his magic psyker-killing power sword join the fight, but it's time for another of Stylus's distinctive Whiff Attacks, so it could have been worse.



Why?!? My Exalted Sorcerer had the Seer's Bane relic! It was designed to take on things like the Hive Tyrant! I like invulnerable save a lot less when other people have them.





Thousand Sons - Turn 5

That's two rounds where my big hitters have let me down. There should be two fewer monsters on the table and a clear path to escape for me by now. Ah well, time to scrape the barrel.







The Helbrute can't fit through the corridors to reach either Tyrannofex or Hive Tyrant, so he has to set his sights lower and moves towards the Termagants, backed up by the Cultists (who've been hanging back all this time, probably quite relived to stay out of it).



The remains of the Tzaangors fighting the Termagants back away, so they can be flamed, and move towards the Neurothope.



On the other side of the field, both Terminator Sorcerer and Tzaangor file politely around the Tervigon to pick on the Neurothrope.



The Psychic phase is a shaky one - I really want to cast Death Hex on the Hive Tyrant, but Kraken knows this and can shut it down immediately with the Deepest Shadow stratagem. There's some cat-and-mouse with spells cast, until I try a quick Smite on the Hive Tyrant with my Exalted Sorcerer (who's only got three wounds left) - that's enough to bring out the Stratagem from Kraken. I figure that. as long as I don't take all three mortal wounds, I will still be alive to cast Death Hex unimpeded.



Of course, I take all three mortal wounds and the Exalted Sorcerer falls. Nuts.



The Cultists do rather well with their first shots in the game, and manage to flame and shoot a number of Termagants. The twin heavy flamers on the Helbrute also pitch in (although I've yet to roll even average with these flamer shots).



The only other shot in the shooting phase is a close-range melta blast that hits, wounds, and bounces off the Neurothrope's invulnerable save. So I charge in with the Terminator Sorcerer and the Tzaangor and finally manage to squash the brain bug. Slay the Warlord for me, and no more psychic constipation!



The Helbrute wheels in and squashes a few more Termagants, leaving less than a dozen remaining. The Daemon Prince finally gets some decent luck in ripping through the Hive Tyrant's defences, but can't get rid of the last wound.



And the Genestealer vs Scarab Occult title fight rages on - both combatants on the ropes, but neither one ready to fall.





Tyranids - Turn 5





Run Away! Man the Defences! Stop trying to eat Daemons and Mechs for breakfast, it's not working!





Spitting teeth, I pull almost everything out of combat and steel myself. The Hive Tyrant is nearly dead, but he can still shoot and smite. Not that it helps me, the damned Daemon Prince shrugs everything I throw in with his invulnerable aura of chaotic terror. I do at least finish the Terminator Sorcerer with a smite from the Tervigon, so that's nice.





A lone wound is all the Tyranid Warriors can score on the Hellbrute. But the Tyrannofex hasn't moved and gets to fire twice. At this range, no amount of being warpy and invulnerable can save the Daemon Prince from a good vomit hosing. Down he goes under the Acid Spray, which remains my absolute favourite gun in this army.





The long dance of the Terminators and Genestealers still isn't done - a lone member of each squad dance round each other in the battle's longest waltz. Job done, I feel, I've tied up a valuable and deadly unit for the whole battle pretty much! Although he's done the same to me, it's very much what I'm trying to achieve here.



Points-wise, 20 Genestealers are basically a mirror-match for 5 Scarab Occult Terminators, so this really has been a 'playing for pride' sideshow.





Thousand Sons - Turn 6

With my warlord gone, there goes my best chance for victory. Still, it's his own damn fault that the Tyrannofex is still on the board, so I've got no sympathy for him.









Most of my psychic power and big hitters are dead, all I can do now is push for the goal line.





The top flank that contained so much power is now reduced to a single Sorcerer, facing off against a one-wound Hive Tyrant. Time to be a hero. He fires an overcharges Plasma Pistol, hits and wounds, then fails against the invulnerable save.





The same Sorcerer then charges in, shrugging off the three automatic hits from the Miasma Cannon (any one of which would have killed him), then swings desperately at the Hive Tyrant. One hit gets through - this is all he needs - and it's the invulnerable save fails! Kraken spends his last command point to keep the Hive Tyrant alive (very unsporting, and not good news for the Sorcerer).





The Hive Tyrant then strikes back, but only one of his monstrous rending claws gets through. My plucky little Sorcerer is still alive!





Elsewhere, the Helbrute chases after the fleeing Termagants, wiping them out with flamer and fists.





Everything on the lower end of the table - two depleted units of Tzaangor, Rubrics and Cultists, move in to the Tervigon that is blocking the escape.Small arms fire, followed by a charge, only takes two wounds off Big Momma, but I take nothing in return.







And in the battle that has raged the entire game? The Aspiring Sorcerer of the Scarab Occult emerges triumphant! Dripping in the alien ichor and surrounded by the deactivate armour of his Rubricae, the Thousand Sons champion fells his last Genestealer.

It's a minor and meaningless victory, but it's mine and I'll take it!





Tyranids - Turn 6





Well, my battle line finally caves in.





Unsportingly, I try to smite that brave Sorcerer off the board with the Hive Tyrant instead of risking another round of combat. Instead, I blow myself up, which also blows him up and even tweaks the Tyrannofex.



Hahahahahahahaha!



And the Tervigon finally goes under, pulled down by the sheer weight of numbers against it.



Did a Tervigon just get killed by eight Tzaangor and a handful of Rubrics? I don't think I can complain about poor dice rolls for a while.





It was a tense stand-off to see who could roll Perils first.



But! Although the dice dictate we have another turn, and although Stylus can now finally truck on through to his escape zone, we quickly work out he can't quite get enough units in for a win if we carry on.



My delaying tactics have kept him bogged down for too long - worse, even the three units that could get there would have to face off a full round of attacks from the unscathed Tyranid Warriors and their spore-throwing chum. It's a dicey prospect at best, and it's also quite late at night by this point, so that's where we call it!





Result: Thousand Sons 7 (probably) vs Tyranids 8





Victory to Hive Fleet Afanc!





Locker Room

Shiver my synapses, but that turned out to be a lot closer than I expected! Even though I blocked the limited access points with my dead, and even though the limited lines of sight made a lot of our support units and firepower useless, the Thousand Sons still nearly broke through. Without the terrible fortune of Stylus's leaders against the Tyrannofex in the middle of the game, I would probably have been overrun with ease.





Playing up and down on the field would probably have been a tenser, closer match, all the same. And although the restrictions of a Zone Mortalis made for a good novelty match, I wouldn't want to do it regularly. And even then, probably only for Narrative matches with carefully planned forces.



Yes, I'll take the blame for choosing the short-edge deployment and all its ensuring choke-points. I guess I was thinking that Endless Swarms would be more of a thing (it turns out, it wasn't at all) and that the mission would mostly be my slow-moving units trying to escape off the board while being chased from behind. One of the perils of homebrew scenarios is making the gameplay match what's in your head.



As it turned out, this was more of a breakthough mission where my force has to punch its way through the Tyranids - never a good idea. If I hadn't whiffed the attacks against the Tyrannofex and Hive Tyrants, I would have been with a chance of victory - although there was an entire backline that was untouched.





Over Skype, these two can look pretty damn similar. Actually, the whole board was probably a nightmare to try and visualize well over Skype, so props to Stylus for being game!



As ever with 'nids, I think my board control and weight of numbers won it for me. Stylus couldn't teleport into effective range nearly as much as he needed to keep going forward. Between that and Synapse keeping my bugs in play despite the inevitable drubbing they took, the Thousand Sons couldn't quite make the ground they needed in time.



But you learn from defeat, as I frequently do. I like the double-fist Helbrute as a melee option, and small units of Tzaangor can be effective as surprise character-assassins. Rubric Marines remain wonderfully resilient to small-arms, and I need to remember to use the Dark Matter Crystal, damnit!





MVP for me is the excellent value Neurothrope. So many of Stylus's movement phase and psychic phases were shut down by the need to avoid his deadly aura! Without it, I'd have been harder pressed. The Tyrannofex also did well, but it always does. No points for him unless he really excels.







I also liked the cheaper Hive Tyrant. Leaving off his wings makes him a damn sight more affordable, so might well do that again. Or even take two...



