Warhammer 40,000 Battle Report #9 – Orks vs Tyranids

We’ve got another head-to-head matchup between the green tide and the wall of chitin today, as Blitzdakka’s mob comes back for vengeance against the reaping swarms of Hive Fleet Nug! The mission is The Relic, with Vanguard Strike deployment.

Blitzdakka knew the Tyranids would be coming his way. The voice in his Kap told him so.

Nearby, the Biker Nob’s belly growled. Blitzdakka cuffed him once as a reprimand, but he couldn’t blame the guy. The pile of freshly slain squigs did look awful appealing.

The city was burned, its defenders mostly consumed or beaten by the Boyz. They didn’t matter now; all that mattered was the big pile of Squig bait. The scent of their blood drifted on the smoky wind, but the Boyz had their orders. The bait was for the bugs, to make sure they came back for the fight.

Sure enough, the sound of shuffling carapace permeated the city streets as the Tyranids broke through the acrid cloud. Blitzdakka growled as the Hive Tyrant blotted out the sun, taking wing to survey the ruins ahead of his forces.

“Go get ‘em, Boyz,” he roared over the sound of his new bike. “I want that head fer me pointy stikk!”

The Armies

Blitzdakka’s Waaagh!

Orks – 2,000

HQ

Warboss: WARLORD (Prophet of the Waaagh!), Da Finkin Kap (Strategic Genius); Power          Klaw, Warboss Gazbag’s Blitzbike, Bosspole

Weirdboy: Psyker (Mastery Level 2)

ELITES

Tankbustas: seven additional Tankbustas, Trukk with Rokkit Launcha

Tankbustas: seven additional Tankbustas, Trukk with Rokkit Launcha

TROOPS

Ork Boyz: twenty additional Boyz, 26 Shootas, 3 Big Shootas, Nob with Boss Pole and Power    Klaw

Ork Boyz: ten additional Ork Boyz, Nob with Boss Pole and Power Klaw

FAST ATTACK

Stormboyz: ten additional Stormboyz, Nob with Boss Pole and Power Klaw

Warbikers: seven additional Warbikers, Nob with Boss Pole and Big Choppa

HEAVY SUPPORT

Battlewagon: four Big Shootas, Reinforced Ram

Mek Gunz: two additional Mek Gunz, all are Traktor Kannons

Lootas: ten additional Lootas

Flash Gitz: five additional Flash Gitz

Hive Fleet Nug Assault Swarm

Tyranids – 2,000

HQ

Hive Tyrant: WARLORD (Conqueror of Cities); Wings, 2x Twin Devourers with Brainleech        Worms, Thorax Swarm with Dessicator Larvae; Dominion, Paroxysm, Psychic Scream

Tervigon: Cluster Spines

ELITES

Haruspex: Adrenal Glands

Zoanthrope Brood: one additional Zoanthrope; Dominion, Warp Blast, Psychic Scream

Venomthrope Brood: one additional Venomthrope

TROOPS

Hormagaunt Brood: ten additional Hormagaunts

Hormagaunt Brood: ten additional Hormagaunts

Hormagaunt Brood: ten additional Hormagaunts

Hormagaunt Brood: nine additional Hormagaunts

FAST ATTACK

Hive Crone: Cluster Spines

Hive Crone: Cluster Spines

HEAVY SUPPORT

Carnifex: 2x Scything Talons, Adrenal Glands, Spine Banks

Carnifex: 2x Scything Talons, Adrenal Glands, Spine Banks

Carnifex: 2x Scything Talons, Adrenal Glands, Spine Banks

After Action Review

Man, those Carnifexes can punch!

I really wasn’t sure that I’d be able to stop the Warbikers. The Toughness 5 is rough, but add to that my puny small creatures and the Warboss’s high amount of Power Klaw attacks, and I fully expected them to clean up a flank on their own. When they slammed into the twenty Hormagaunts on the flank and basically cleaned them up with the charge, I knew I was in for a rough afternoon.

The Carnifexes then proceeded to prove me wrong. Bowling through the building’s wall like the Kool-Aid man, they proceeded to tear those poor Bikers to pieces. Although it didn’t show in the video, the combat worked out that the Warboss died before swinging in the next combat phase. I’m more and more impressed by these bad boys with each game, as they’re proving themselves quite capable to rolling through Infantry as well as enemy armor!

Paroxysm also worked out perfectly for me. On the last turn, when my Carnifexes were most vulnerable, the Hive Tyrant used it to knock the Flash Gitz to BS0, leaving his heaviest-hitting (and most expensive) unit basically crippled into inaction for a turn. It just further reinforces my beliefs that the Tyranids were never designed to have one-hit knock out units. Instead, they just grind along, supporting one another until the consumption is done.

I was set to take a serious pummeling in the next Ork turn, and the plan was to get the Relic out of Dodge as quickly as possible. My opponent thought that my Monstrous Creatures had more than enough oomph to stop the Orks in their tracks once they slaughtered through the wave of small creatures. Me? I’m not so sure…

I am definitely looking at dropping in numbers for Toxin Sacs on my Hormagaunts. Conventional wisdom says that it is a waste of points, but I desperately want my opponent to feel threatened by the approach of the swarms. If I can manage to make them a true threat to enemy Infantry, it will further clear up my Carnifexes to do the hard work of killing off tanks.

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