+ Chaos Goes Big Bug Hunting +

My spiky boys teamed up with their old friends the 1k Sons for a 4000 point game against a massive Nid swarm. With 4 crazy dreads + 1 defiler on our side and 3 combat carnifex + 2 shooty carnifex on his, this was going to be one helluva throwdown.

Undivided & 1k Sons vs Tyranids [4000] I brought my painted 2k, which is basically the standard 1500 plus demo-biker, 3 termies, plasma dread #2 (a FW nurgle one I picked up painted for $40), only 8 demons and the defiler. 1k Sons were sorcerer w/ doombolt & warptime, 5 possessed (furious charge), 2 dreads w/ las, 3x 6 1k Sons w/ wind of chaos in rhinos, 2x 10 demons, 2x loner oblits. And the Nids amassed (lots of upgrades left out, and scuttle on all that could take it):

Flyrant w/ devourers & "3D6 for psyhic tests, drop the lowest" power
Broodlord & friends
2x 4 Warriors w/ devourers & rending
2 Lictors
4x 6 Genestealers
10 Rippers
32 Hormies w/ upgrades
32 Spinegaunts
3 Raveners w/ devourers
2 Gunfex
3 Assaultfex (!!!)
3 Zoanthropes w/ warp blast, synapse
12 Spore mines

Feeling so very outnumbered, the Sons player tossed the die and won us first turn.

Chaos 1 - Sons moved up and most got out, then various shooting tickled big bugs and accounted for maybe 3 genestealers, as he was making cover saves like it was going out of style. My plasma / flamer dread blood raged towards the spine gaunt swarm in front of him, and a 1k Son dread may have gotten pissed too.

Nids 1 - Most everything advanced, except the flyrant cowering at the back and the broodlord in a building right in front of my guns. Smattering of fire stunned the defiler (ha) and immobilized 1 Sons dread. Stealers and hormagaunt mass managed a first turn assault on my 1k Sons, splattering them totally. Stealers consolidated into my biker lord and the hormies spread out and waited to be shot.

Chaos 2 - My demons summoned in and prepared to assault the 32 hormies ... and the shooty CSM squad moved to give the biker lord a hand, as did the fisty CSM to help out the dread with the 32 spinegaunts. Sons moved around some, except for the mobile dread which fire frenzied into the immobile dread and stunned it. Heavy weapon fire wounded a few carnifex, my flamer dread cooked many gaunts and the CSM squad's double flamers accounted for a bunch more. Than I noticed he was pulling from the front to deny me the charge, so held off any more fire on that mob. Noise marines + deathscreamer gutted some stealers that had wandered out of cover, leaving 1. The Sons shot stuff over on their side too but their AP3 was largely going against 2+ armor so can't say how effective that was.

Combat saw the stealers against the biker & marines beaten and caught, for the loss of 2-3 CSM. The 8 demons managed 4 wounds on the hormies (from 24 attaks), and took 7 in return, the last girl popping due to outnumbering. The dread + CSM charged the spinegaunts and cleared their kill zones, pilling in for the long haul. Note that there is 1 genestealer & 1 assault fex nestled in the swarm and ready to counterassault our antiheroes :(

Nids 2 - Hormies moved up to assault my havoks, raveners closed in on my left flank (by the shooty CSM & biker) and broodlord left his bunker over there as well. Flyrant moved from behind her building to get in the game, 1 assault fex ran for the exposed 1k Son sorcerer, rippers readied to pounce on a 1k Son squad far right, 1 assault fex prepped to kill my angry dread, 1 assault fex stomped onto a wrecked shuttle to ... get shot next turn ;D

Spore mines rained all over, accounting for the gun on 1 rhino. Other shooting, I think the flyrant devoured half of a 1k Son squad, and the carnifex missed or didn't amount to much.

Assault time, the hormies dragged down 3 havoks BUT then were beaten by the CSM heavy gunners! They broke but rallied once they hit synapse range (so still just in front of my line). In the big gaunt bash the stealer charged in and might have killed 1 marine, many gaunts died and the carni killed my dread after he missed with his chainfist. The carni, no unengaged, consolidated into some ruins to bask in the 4+ cover. The other assault carni came this close to being force weaponed, but psychic test wasn't passed and the sorcerer was crushed. The rippers barreled into the 1k Sons and the sorcerer in the squad started force weaponing 1-2 swarms a turn.

Chaos 3 - Deep strike! My 3 termies homered in next to the flyrant, 10 demons summoned to assault some more stealers threatening my firebase and then 10 more demons summoned to handle the hormies directly in front of me. The biker lord pushed through some ruins to deal with the raveners and everybody else prepped to kill stuff. Termies opened up and despite 3 overheats knocked the flyrant down to 1 wound, which the nurgle dread took off. Focused lascannon fire from the Sons' dreads and our oblits knocked the assault fex standing on the ruin mid table down to 2 wounds, and my shooty CSM + defiler combined to kill the broodlord's crew down to him + 2 bugs and give the 10 demons nearby just 2 stealers to handle in assault. The deathscreamer, noise marines & havoks trashed the warriors on the left down to just 1 bug.

In combat the biker lord cleared out 2 raveners, taking 1 wound on the return and sticking. Demons easily killed the 2 stealers and massacred into the broodlord, but the other demons slapped against the hormies and lost a distressing number of "horrors" in return, but would stay around with fearless. Over with the spinegaunts the genestealer was punched out and many gaunts died, but were fearless as well, holding my 8 CSM in place again. The possessed furious charged the carni rampaging their lines (who had been wounded a few times by lascannons earlier) and flailed against it to no effect. Finally, more rippers and 1k Sons died.

Nids 3 - Almost everything was locked in combat or shuffled around, except the carni nestled in the ruins which ventured out to kill the 1k Sons near it and the carni on the wreck which stumbled towards the spinegaunt bashfest. 2 lictors appeared in my fire bunker, both declaring an assassination on my deathscreamer lord! A gunfex stunned my nurgle dread, and more spore mines rained down doing nothing of note.

Starting things off, the biker lord splattered the last ravener and masscred towards the Nid backfield. The 9 demons fighting the broodlord killed his buddies and took some loses in return. Demons fighting the hormies sucked it up and were knocked down to 2 demons vs 5 hormies. the 2 lictors allocated all against the deathscreamer, tearing him down to 1 wound left; one lictor died in return. 4 rending warriors charged into the fisty CSM fighting the gaunts, dropping a few CSM for the loss of more gaunts and a warrior. The lurking carni obliterated the 1k Son squad and massacred back into his ruin. The possessed slapped at the carni, but they must have been having some luck as it was killed somehow and they were free at 3 models. And more rippers died in the tarpit combat.

Chaos 4 - Biker lord gunned it for a zoanthrope lurking backfield near the left gunfex and nurgle dread hide to get his gun back online. Over in 1k Son Land the possessed moved to take care of a wounded zoanthrope near the other gunfex. Havoks kraked the last warrior on the left and may have nicked some wounds off a gunfex or bounced off the carni in the ruins. Sporadic las fire took the wreck carni down to his last wound.

Biker lord easily butchered the zoanthrope and massacred into the left gunfex, feeling pretty good about himself. The demons fighting the broodlord did nothing and the 'lord may have killed a demon, beginning a long line of sad combat phases. The other "horrors" were eaten by the hormies, freeing them to hunt my oblit next turn. The remaining lictor didn't fare as well, being wounded by the noise marines and sent running. The spinegaunts were wiped out and the warriors trashed as well, taking 3 fist wounds ftw (they must have lost a member prior to this to some kind of shooting), though the CSM had been reduced to just McFisterson and his 2 buddies in the process. The possessed knocked the zoanthrope down a wound and more rippers died.

Nids 4 - Once again not much to move for the bugs. The wreck carnifex stormed towards the fisty CSM remnants and the hormies ran for the oblit. The remaining unengaged gunfex didn't do much, maybe bothered the 1k Son dreads some. And the lictor rallied.

Combat began with the biker lord rolling a 1 but avoiding a wound, and the gunfex missing him. The broodlord maybe killed a horror but the horrors did nothing back of note. The hormies slammed into the oblit and got 1 through his armor, losing a bug in return and tying combat up. The assault fex hit the fisty CSM squad, killed all but the AC and lost his last wound in return to the powerfist. The possessed gutted the zoanthrope and massacred the 4" into the other gunfex by it. And more rippers died.

Chaos 5 - Nurgle dread blood raged and stomped over to help the oblit out. The fisty AC ran for it but couldn't reach the gunfex with the biker lord. Shooting bounced off the carni in the ruins and the noise marines exploded the wounded lictor.

The broodlord / demon fight was basically a wash, leaving 2 demons left. The biker / carni both whiffed against each other as well, but the oblit died to the hormies, who in turn were stomped and caught by the nurgle dread, who massacred towards middle table. The possessed began writhing against the gunfex and more rippers died.

Nids 5 - The lurking carni left his ruins and went to kill him some blue dreadnoughts ...

The broodlord finished off the horrors through outnumbering the last one, then stood looking down the barrels of my shooty CSM squad. The biker fluffed for the last time and was pulped by the gunfex at last, the other gunfex killed 1 possessed bothering it and the assault fex was killed by the dread that he had charged. Gooooo dread! Also, the last ripper base died at long last, leaving the sorcerer and 1-2 rubrics.

Chaos 6 - Time to mop things up. Nurgle dread blood raged a second time and charged for the gunfex, and looked like he could make it after a strong fleet roll got him onto the wreck the bug had massacred onto. McFisterson also took off running to close with the gunfex. Chaos fire saw the broodlord riddled with bolters and plasma, and then all my AP3 bounce off of the gunfex.

McFisterson slammed into the gunfex, went simul with his fist but couldn't wound the T7, getting pasted in return. The dread rolled 2" instead of the 5" he needed, so stood oozing goo and looking menacingly at the gunfex ahead of him. Some 1k Sons shuffled into combat with the gunfex, failing to force weapon it and losing another possessed in the process.

Nids 6 - Being a good sport, the gunfex moved forward and didn't feel the need to shoot the nurgle dread. Which may have been a mistake, as the dread carved off the big bug's last 2 wounds! The 1k Sons were less successful, everybody fluffing over in their combat with the other gunfex.

Nearly a tabling but definitely a ...

Chaos Win

"Bugs of the Match" goes to the 32 hormies for me, having killed 18 lesser demons, 3 havoks & 1 oblit by themselves, in addition to helping take out the 6 1k Sons first turn. Damn impressive, little gaunts.

Otherwise pleasantly surprised to have 2 dreads + the defiler survive the game in tact, 1 dread immobilized and 1 dread dead. And only 1-2 fire frenzies! Well behaved, crazy dreads.

Tomorrow, I fight the Sisters again, this time with no raider along for the ride.

Painting: 2 Ogre Leadbelchers
Building: N/A