So the big battle happened. And it was pretty interesting. We set points at 1,663. An odd number, but we were just throwing everything we've got on the table without using needless upgrades.
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| The Tau army |
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| The Tyranid swarm |
We rolled the scouring as our scenario, and spread the objectives pretty evenly across the field.
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| The battlefield |
Deployment for the Tau was a standard firing line; two squads of Fire Warriors to cover the middle, with the Kroot infiltrating in front of them. The Commander and his buddy set up behind a large building on the left hand side. Next to them was the third Fire Warrior squad, guns ready to dominate the left side flank. On the far right the Pathfinders sat in their Devilfish. Behind this line were two Hammerheads, one on each flank and the Ethereal who started within 12" of every friendly Tau unit on the table. In reserve were one squad of Stealthsuits and another two Crisis Battlesuits.
My Tyranids really didn't know where to go so the 30 strong Termagants took the middle, confident that the Tervigon just behind would re-fill the numbers. On the left went the Hormagaunts, backed up by some Warriors and a Biovore. The Hive Tyrant parked himself next to a large wood near to the Zoanthrope. The Rippers sat on the far right. To their left, behind a nice large hill I put the second lot of Warriors and the other Biovore. The Raveners and a Spore Mine Cluster chose to deep strike, and my 20 strong Genestealers waited to outflank.
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| Pathfinders Devilfish zooms down the side |
The Tau won the first turn roll off and in a slightly unorthodox move, sent the patherfinders in their devilfish careening down the Nids weak right flank. The rest of the army basically stayed still apart from the kroot who took the centre objective. The Stealthsuits on the right jumped on top of the sewage building, as well as the Commander. Shooting was as to be expected. 9 Termagants, 10 Hormagaunts and a Warrior were taken down. Thanks night fight!
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| The swarm advances |
The Tyranids advanced across the board, with the Hive Tyrant deciding to swoop over to the right flank.
The Tervigon spawned 7 more babies and promptly ran out. Shooting was ineffective, apart from the Termagants. Thanks to 'Onslaught' they were able to run and shoot, and gunned down 10 Kroot.
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| End of turn 1 |
The second turn saw the Tau really bring the pain. The Pathfinders disembarked on the right, training their guns on some Warriors. The second group of Stealthsuits arrived by deep strike right behind the Tyranid lines, aiming for the Zoanthrope. Shooting was even more painful as the Ethereal's ability to up pulse fire saw 16 Termagants shot down. The left flank combination of Stealthsuits and Fire Warriors saw to another 6 Hormagaunts going down, the 'feel no pain' granted by 'Catalyst' saving two of them. The Pathfinders took down 2 whole Warriors, and brought the remaining one down to 1 wound. The Zoanthrope suffered a scratch from the Stealthsuits.
In return the Tyranids continued their advace, the Hormagaunts switching up and heading towards the center. My Raveners arrived from deep strike right at the back of the Tau line. The Hive Tyrants decided to glide closer to the remaining Kroot, hungry for some blood. Shooting was once again a non-event. 5 Fire Warriors fell, none fled. The assault phase was little better. The Rippers tried to charge the Pathfinders, losing a base to snap shots and failing the charge. The lone Warrior managed to get in though, and do no damage to none in return. The Hive Tyrant killed the Shaper and one other Kroot, causing them to run. They managed to escape, leaving the Tyrant right in the open.
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| Goodbye Hivey |
On the third turn the Tau's remaining Crisis sqaud arrived to further bolster the right hand side. There was very little movement apart from getting the jump pack units into good firing positions. The casualties were pretty bad. The Hive Tyrant was shot down by the Fire Warriors. I forgot about his warlord trait granting 'feel no pain'. All of the Raveners were cut down, leaving the Red Terror alone with one wound left. Another Warrior was killed from the other sqaud, leaving one behind. The Zoanthrope also met its end to the Stealthsuits. Being out of synapse range the Red Terror broke and fell back, right into sight of the Commander who then assaulted it. The combat was a draw. The Warrior in combat on the right managed to kill a Pathfinder, before getting cut down itself leaving the right flank completely overwhelmed.
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| All that remains |
Turn four saw the Tyranids get completely torn apart. The concentrations of Tau firepower saw the Tervigon fall, as well as the remaining Warrior plus a handful for Gaunts. There were no synapse creatures left on the table. The Genestealers finally arrived coming in behind the Hammerhead on the right side. There were some great instinctive behaviour roles allowing my Biovores to take down a few more Fire Warriors. The remaining Hormagaunts assaulted the Commander only to be destroyed.
Turn five was it. The Genestealers were reduced to 5, and the rest of the bugs wiped off the board. I made the call.
Result: Uncompromising Tau victory.
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