Turns 2 and 3

Turn two.

Tyranids

With the disruption beacon a memory, the coming turn began exactly as I expected.  Monstrous creatures dropping right in on the flank near the only super heavy vehicle I had fielded. 

• ·         The Tyranid movement phase had the chittering mass moving forward, which brought most of the line into firing range.  Meanwhile a pair of Mawlocs and a pair of Lictors landed right on my left flank surrounding The Fires of Retribution. Add to this a pair of Zoanthropes and I felt that I could kiss my big tank good by.
• ·         In the center a Trygon dug up from the ground, unleashing a flood of Raveners behind it through the tunnel, spraying acidic death into the center line troops.  Another half dozen were slaughtered in quick order as they melted from the bio weapons.
• ·         The Mawlocs and Zoanthropes unleashed hell upon the super heavy… destroying the main cannons, and damaging the drive train.  A catastrophic blast brought her down to a single structure point… but otherwise she held fast with her cargo of veteran pathfinder infantry (Veterans)
• ·         In all, with the combined fire from the massive Hyradul and the rest of the monsters, I lost a good twenty men. 
• ·         In the assault phase, the Raveners charged forward, and stuck in against a blob of 36 infantry, including 6 heavy weapon teams.  Over a dozen guardsmen died, but with Die-Hard… they stayed.  A mere two wounds were their answer in return to the beasts.

Imperium

Platoon... Advance!

At this stage I knew I had to get some of my units moving… the entire right flank began to move up to reach objectives.  Moving all 46 guardsmen forward meant I could potentially keep them out of the next wave of deep strikes, and stick to the task of claiming far off objectives.

"Salvation comes on the wings of eagles"

Really need to finish assembling these planes... eerie without pilots

… or at least it did today.  A full combat force from the engaged navy above dropped from the sky.  They rained hell upon the Tyranid lines.  With lascannons and missiles no mercy was had.

• ·         As the Valkrie and Vendetta transports unloaded a full forty heavily armed stormtroopers in rapid assault… 3 Tervagaunts, The last of the Warriors,  and a score of Gaunts met their end.    The Trygon in the center was obliterated by concentrated twin-linked lascannon fire from two of the Vendetta gunships.

o   Justin was shocked by the ability of the Stormtrooper strike force to fire/move/fire on the turn they drop in.  Which led to heavy casualties on them.

Stormtroopers... they make it happen.

• ·         Meanwhile, in the rear the veterans in The Fires of Retribution unleashed meltaguns into the Mawlocs.  With their combined fire, they brought the monsters down with impressive accuracy.  Secondary fire from the platoon nearby helped to bring down one of the Lictors and a Zoenthrope.
• ·         In my assault phase I brought the captain and his squad into battle against the Raveners… with three power fists in the command squad I had a good chance of turning the tide.   Another dozen guardsmen fell, but six wounds brought down a trio of the creatures.  Again, Die-Hard allowed the units to stick in the fight. 
• ·         Also, on a 4+ I was able to repair the main gun of The Fires of Retribution

Turn 3

• ·         Justin smiled as he brought in his Carnifex’s and second Hyradul right into my moving right flank.  Add to that the Doom of Malenti (Truly hate that thing), and it did not look good.  The remnants of his rear forces turned quickly on the stormtroopers.  I figured with forty of them spread out, I could stand a little attention.
• ·         2 tyrants and rippers came in to reinforce the monsters on the left flank near my damaged super heavy.  I felt I could secure this area thanks to the vets… so I was not worried.  
• ·         In the center a unit of Devil Gaunts jumped out of the hole that the Raveners had come out of.  I dealt with them by using the Ambush strategic asset the vets gave me.  I killed a few of them, but pinned them just as I wanted.

The shooting phase saw the obliteration of 46 brave guardsmen as the combined fire from the Doom, Hyradul, and Dakkafex completely destroyed them.  I know guardsmen die in numbers… but damn that was harsh.

RUN YOU FOOLS... RUN!!

In the rear, despite my own thoughts to the contrary… Justin proceeded to make some great shooting and assault decisions. 

• ·         The Venomthrope focused on one of the stormtrooper squads, destroying them with templates of death. 
• ·         A unit of hormagaunts charged and overwhelmed another unit of the emperors finest.
• ·         Elsewhere, the stormtroopers were brought down by a combination of biovore fire, and lucky assaults by another small unit of Gaunts… that were actually outnumbered as they charged, but managed to not lose more than two models.

All of that turn added up to the greatest bloodbath I had yet seen.  The only shining point to the whole matter was that  elsewhere I was fairing better.

• ·         The captain and his men managed to finally bring down the remaining Raveners, with only a handful of losses.  This left me with the command squad, 2 lascannon teams, and 4 guardsmen.  

Could get messy... bring the flag.

• ·         The left flank met with the loss of another twelve men, but considering the Tyrants and the Ripper swarms incoming, this was not so bad.  I still had the vets.

Imperium turn

With all hell breaking loose around them… the infantry was damn happy to see the armoured company incoming.

The single Baneblade Glory and Purity rolled onto the field flanked by a pair of Leman Russ battle tanks.  On the right flank, two hellstorm squadrons charged forward to try and destroy the monsters feasting on the corpses of the platoon there.   The naval presence, save for the Valkyrie carriers moved to intercept other targets… focusing on more monsters.

• ·         In two torrents of fire, the hellstorm squadrons managed to do some damage to the massive Carnifex group… killing two and even wounding the Hyradul.  It was not nearly enough though… not for the points I spent on them. 
• ·         The lascannons from all across the army and navy fired.  The Venomthrope and Biovores became paste, the Flying Tyrants were destroyed, the Rippers became a memory. 
• ·         The Valkyrie carriers focused on the gaunt troop choices… and killed a few little critters, but not enough yet.
• ·         For as big as it was, the Baneblade did nothing… no wounds… no real damage at all.  It did make a nice big target to focus on though.

The end of the third turn saw me in possession of a single objective, and the Tyranids in possession of two.