Here's the field. Objectives placed as follows: 1 in the Parthenon, 2 in the Numinous Occulum, 3 in the middle of the ruined building to the bottom left, 4 to the left hand side of the ruins in the top centre, 5 on the hill in the bottom right, 6 slap bang in the middle of the central riverbed.

Final deployment

Tyranids - Turn 1

And we're off to the races!





Thousand Sons - Turn 1

My first turn of the cards do not bode well: Secure Objective 1 and Secure Objective 6 - both out of reach and surrounded by Tyranids. I also get Big Game Hunter - theoretically possible with the Swarmlord, although I'd have to be very lucky to get him in one-turn.





Tyranids - Turn 2

New objectives are to kill some Big Game and a Character, then to defend Objective 6, which is handily right in my path of advance. Right, time to get stuck in!





Thousand Sons - Turn 2

My new orders are much more useful: No Prisoners (kill things), Psychic Supremacy (successfully Deny the Witch) and Defend Objective 5 (which is on my doorstep).





Tyranids - Turn 3

Hmm, I'm suddenly a bit thin on the ground. Worse, my new objectives are mostly land grabs - the Hive Mind simultaneously wants me on Objectives 3 and 5, with tactical priority on the latter. Well, not impossible, but it'll be a stretch. I can also pick up points for getting something to fail a morale check, which is far more likely.





Thousand Sons - Turn 3

Dead bugs litter the ground, and my castle is still untouched, but I'm still behind on VPs by a country mile. The cards help me out: Master The Warp should be a gimme for Thousand Sons and there's D3 points to be had. Supremacy is actually possible, given my manoeuvrability (not often I say that about Thousand Sons!), and I get Domination which, as ever, is useless.





Tyranids - Turn 4

Eep. I feel like I'm floundering here, all of a sudden. There's not much of the army left, and my objective draw is rather confused. The Hive Mind wants me to Advance and Hold the Line at the same time, and Kill some Witches while I'm about it. Well, that's possible at least.





Thousand Sons - Turn 4

The Tyranids are on the ropes, and I need to push on! My orders agree, and give me Behind Enemy Lines (my Terminator Sorcerer just needs to stay put), Blood And Guts (kill something in melee) and Advance (my backline Helbrute is going to stop that one).





Tyranids - Turn 5

Thousand Sons - Turn 5

I've got the lead, but I can't let it slip. My objectives are Scour The Skies (and there is a floating Neurothrope left), Ritual Slaughter (that won't happen: there aren't nine foes left to kill), and Defend Objective 3.





Final Scores 10 : 8 - a win for the Thousand Sons!

Bolt of Changing Room

As planned, I stuff as much as I can into reserve: Tzaangor, Scarab Occult and Terminator Sorcerer are off the board, so I won't see them unto Turn 2 (unless I really need to reinforce my lines). The Rubrics go into the Rhino, which ends up hugging the backline with the Daemon Prince, Helbrute, Exalted Sorcerer, Tzaangor Shaman and Enlightened.Only the poor Cultists get pushed forward as a screen - it's fair to say that I'm playing for the counter-punch!So with no objectives to chase, I dress my lines and boost where I can. The Cultists move forward to screen the choke-point, and the flying Tzaangor scoot over the Ophidian Archway to get eyes on the Swarmlord.The Psychic Phase is something of a stumble: the only noteworthy spells are gettingandon the Enlightened.In the Shooting Phase, I'm itching to try our the Enlightened's funky Fatecaster Bows: six shots that autowound on 6s, but with the modifiers from both the Shaman and, I'll be forcing saving throws from the Swarmlord on 4+. Naturally, I roll five 3s, but Kraken does fail two of his save as compensation.When it comes to the big guns, my Helbrute lets loose on the Swarmlord. There's enough firepower in there to wipe him out, but two shots miss (maybe I puton the wrong unit) and the final one fails against the invulnerable save.I can't even remember if I used my Cultist's autoguns. Maybe they were too busy tying white flags to the barrels.So no victory points and no kills - a bright begining!(Typical. I'm a much better tactician when it comes to my opponent's army.)I roll eight dice for the disembarking Rubrics and get four 1s! With a CP re-roll, I manage to save one, but I've just lost 100pts worth of crucial firepower because I roll like a chump.I need to start clearing away this first Tyranid wave, so I'd better drop the hammer quick. My Helbrute edges back out of combat, and that's him done for the turn. The Exalted Sorcerer moves within handflamer range of the Gargoyles, while the half-squad of Rubics do the same. The Shaman flies downfield to welcome the imminent Tzaangor, accompanied by the lone surviving Enlightened. The Daemon Prince steps up to the Genestealer pack, hoping he's not the only one who'll be facing them.To close the Movement Phase, the Tzaangor drop down behind the Genestealers, and the Scarab Occult land in the centre, equidistant from the Neurothrope and Termagants.The Psychic Phase is a bit sketchy (as I'm now within Shadow of the Warp range): Ithe Tzaangor Shaman closer to his flock, caston the Daemon Prince and recover a few wounds on the Exalted with. I also get, which is very handy, as rerolls will improve my odds for the charge. A fewhere and there take up the rest of my powers.In the Shooting Phase, I turn all my warpflamers on the Gargoyles, usingto make extra sure of my kills. With help from the Exalted's handflamer, the whole unit gets reduced to a handful. The Enlightened plinks a wound off the Mucolid Spore and the Scarab Occult hose down half the Termagants.Off to the Assault Phase: the most important charge I need to make is the Tzaangor into the Genestealers and, with a fortuitous reroll, I make it in. The Daemon Prince joins them, while the Exalted Sorcerer and Enlightened go to mop up the charred survivors of the Gargoyles.The Scarab Occult also make their charge. I chickened out of facing the Termagant's Devourer overwatch (possibly a mistake there, given my armour could weather it, but I've had bad luck with Terminators on the charge) and just went for the Neurothrope - although I did extend my charge so I could tie up the Termagants and shut down their shooting.In combat with the Genestealers, the Tzaangor use(somehow, I'm not complaining) and Kraken counters with. Between some under-performing attacks from both beastmen and Daemon Prince, plus that damn acid blood, it ends with half the Tzaangor unit slain, and all-but six Genestealers dead. The bugs are out of synapse range, and so melt away, but I spend 2 more CPs to avoid the morale check.I could have positioned my Tzaangor charge to cover Objective 5, but I needed as many attacks as possible against the Genestealers, and I wasn't confident that they'd last two rounds on it.Elsewhere, the Exalted rips up the last of the Gargoyles and the Scarab Occult whiff against the Neurothrope. With two units killed, I'm off the blocks in the victory points, although if I had managed to get another it would have been D3. I may come to regret not picking on the Termagants.I get my second VP for a successful Deny the Witch test - given the odds of me doing that were likely, I now wonder if Kraken would have been better advised to not cast anything this turn and deny me my denial.what they do? Note to self: shoot, shoot, shoot the Spore Mines.Quick to secure, I zoom the Enlightened over to Objective 2 and move everyone to charge the Swarmlord on Objective 5. Way back at the temple, the Terminator Sorcerer makes his late entrance on Objective 1.The Psychic Phase proves to be quite an effort. With nine potential powers, you'd think getting three casts would be easy. But between Shadow of the Warp and Kraken's many denials, it's an uphill struggle, even when I switch to softball powers like. In the end, I manage to caston the Exalted (who's now back up to health), a fewon the Swarmlord. The star of the show is the Terminator Sorcerer, who makes up for lost time by casting a super-on the Termagants. He loses two wounds, but blasts the unit down to a single model.There's not much going on in the Shooting Phase, other than I forgot my two warpflame pistols against the Swarmlord (I always forget pistols) and, surprisingly, the Mucolid Spore did not withstand two lascannons and a krak missile.I throw everything against the Swarmlord: Daemon Prince, Exalted Sorcerer, Tzaangor Shaman and even the Rubric Marines. There's only two wounds left on the Swarmlord, so the Deamon Prince had better do the business before he can pick on my weaker stuff. My D2 talons wound three times, and Kraken only manages two invulnerable saves - the Tyranid Warlord is slain!And then some interesting movement: the Rubrics charged the Swarmlord, and so they can be 'activated' to pile in to the nearest enemy model. Just because the unit they charged is no longer there does not negate this, so the Rubrics move 3" towards the Neurothrope, and now their 'combat' is over, they 'consolidate' 3" towards the enemy once again. It doesn't reach the Neurothrope, but I thought I'd highlight a little-appreciated facet of the fight phase that has allowed my lumbering marines an extra 6" of movement!Elsewhere, the Terminators hack down the Tryannocyst, losing another of their member from the Tyranid Warriors in return.With Slay the Warlord under my belt, I also get 2D3 points for the other objectives - a grand total of 5! I am still chasing the game, but I am back in the game!My Helbrute and Terminator Sorcerer stand still, while everything else races forward, though the Rubric Marines are still outside of flamer range. I dither about where to put my Daemon Prince: easy kills with the Venomthropes, or take on the last big threat of Tyranid Warriors. I opt for the latter, to reduce Kraken's late-game options.The Psychic Phase is an interesting one: I really want to Warptime my Rubrics forward, and Kraken knows it. So he gives me a free reign of spells, so he can save his denial for my last spell. Iboth Neurothropes, wounding one and killing the other, throw around a series of buffs and, when there's nothing left, go for... which I fail.The Shooting Phase is more effective that I thought it would be: the Terminator Sorcerer plinks off a few wounds from a Venomthrope, which proves all the encouragement the Helbrute needs to blast away all three with his heavy artillery.It gets slightly more tense in the Combat Phase: the Deamon Prince rips up two Tyranid Warriors (and doesn't take a scratch back), but the really nerve-wracking fight is the Aspiring Scarab Occult, who needs to kill that last Termagant to claim. He's been whiffing until now, but he finds his swing and pulps the bug with ease. He promptly gets torn apart by the Tyranid Prime, but the damage is already done.Objective 3 is a long way away, but Kraken kindly reminds me that I still have the- that would be a relic I've taken since the codex came out, and *never* remembered to use it. So I gratefullymy Deamon Prince over to Objective 3 - no points for it at the moment, but if the game continues, it's almost a sure-thing.In the Psychic Phase, the Terminator Sorcerer seems determined to make up for last time: he casts he second super-(without the Perils this time) that kills the Tyranid Prime, then takes away the Neurothrope's invulnerable save with. Without that save, the floating jellyfish is up for grabs and the Terminator finishes off by blasting off half his wounds with the stormbolter.With just two wounds and no invulnerable save, you'd think the Neurothrope would be easy pickings for my Helbrute, especially as Prescience means he can hardly miss. Well, he manages to defy the odds and fail with all of his shots - no Scour the Skies for me. The Rubrics ease my disappointment by roasting all-but one of the Tyranid Warriors.Kraken rolls to end the game - and it's over!Yes, this turned into something of a textbook Tortoise and Hare match-up (if the tortoise had heavily artillery and the hare had acid for blood). Kraken racked up so many victory points in the early stages that he seemed to get careless about claiming any more. That let me bring in a counter-punch to clean up. Despite the near-tabling, the points were close towards the end, and a VP here and there would have made the difference.You're telling me. I now have to buyRhino to paint blue.I always breathe a sigh of relief when a Tyrant list doesn't include a Flyrant. For myself, I was reasonably surprised with the newcomers: the Helbrute didn't have a wealth of targets, but it's a nice threat to keep in your backline. And the Enlightened bring a good bit of manoeuvrability. And I was expecting nothing from the Terminator Sorcerer as a solo deepstrike menace (he's not Exalted-level, so doesn't provide re-rolls, and there's not much merit to having him join the other deepstrikers).Assuming you can keep them alive long enough to get into range, Warpflamers are excellent. A Deamon Prince with Otherworldly Presence is just unpleasant. And I'm even starting to get the hang of how to use Tzaangors and Scarab Occult - all in all, a solid game for everyone!