+ 'Stealer Apoc +

Death Guard player that was stomped in the last weeks painted up a genestealer horde Nid army in 3 days, including the 26 minutes he spent on the (very nice looking) shooty 'fex, and I didn't need to ask if I was fighting it last Saturday. No sense putting this off longer:

Alpha Legion vs. Tyranids [1500] - I hated 'stealers before, and this game didn't change that stance much. He had broodlord + 9 retinue, venom cannon/strangler 'fex, 12-strong genestealers and 4x 6-strong genestealers. I minutely tweaked my list - 8-man champ now has combi-flamer, and speed lord lost melta bombs and switched mutation for furious charge - but that was in general, not really in response to (4+ carapace save) genestealer death. I won first turn but hardly killed anything, except for putting a few happy wounds on the 'fex. 12-strong 'stealers hit his first turn, clearing the 10-man squad (for one dead nid!), which set them up for flaming and counter-charge by the 8-man and dread in my turn. Also in my second turn, daemonettes #1 came in, slammed into the broodlord squad and were vaped by the 'stealers before getting to rend anything! Speed Lord surged into a diminished 5-'stealer squad on the left flank, going simo and killing 3 bugs and then dying. Guh, though he's been pretty disappointing the last games.

Things had already started going to hell for my Legionnaires at this point, but still a highpoint or two. Assassin cultists manned up and hit 6 'stealers, mostly dying but managing to kill the squad in his turn. After cleaning up from the 12-stealer squad, the 8-man (now down to 7) and dread girded themselves for the charge from 6 more 'stealers, and with the help of the other squad of girls (who again mostly died) managed to see that squad off too. Sadly, the AC and single CSM that survived did nothing to the Broodlord and posse, who rolled through the Scouts, those last 2 CSM and up into the Havoks atop a hill. The Havoks had spent the game tickling the 'fex with krak, and deserved everything they got in the last turns, IMHO.

On the mutated vehicle front, dread was rent apart by another 6 genestealers (or remnant thereof), and the rhino, which had been dropping 1-2 'stealers a turn with its havok launcher, was pounced on by everything except the 'fex in turn 5. Amazingly it survived shaken, stunned, immobilized, sans havok launcher but still alive! Next turn the 'fex joined in too, and Strife's valiant crewmen cooked off the havok ammunition, exploding and taking down a genestealer and the final wound off the carnifex. That made everything better.

Loss in the end, but only by about a 500 point margin. I'll take it, and look forward to never playing the genestealer horde again. Considering this was the army's test game, not so sure about that happening ...

Paint Update: 10/10 CSM squad done, 6/6 daemonette squad done, 8/8 CSM squad done! Camera refused to charge the batteries I bought last week, so I need to think about buying $$ digital-strength batteries for it. Gerg.