M32 Battle Report 6: Drop Troop Raid on Tyranid Fuel Depot

  "We're in the pipe, five by five."

-Cpl. Zerro, Valkyrie pilot, Xhorik D-99 4th Company

Background:

The war for Xhorik Prime had been raging for a year. Several Imperial settlements had been overrun by either Orks or the strange new Xenos menace. Kozar drop troop scouts and sniper teams had observed something unexpected: the Tyranids were seeking out and consuming liquid vehicle fuel. As a hydrocarbon, the fuel consisted of the same elements as all life (only extremely energy-dense) and could thus be used to rapidly grow the hive fleet more efficiently than the consumption of any lifeform. Raids were undertaken by veteran D-companies of drop troopers to destroy any fuel supplies that had fallen into Xenos control before it could be utilized by the hive. 

Campaign Summary M32: The War of the Beast - The Third Xhorik War

Scenario:

We played the Raven Guard First Strike scenario from IA8: Raid on Kastorel-Novem. The drop troopers would be arriving via Deep Strike and had to destroy at least four of the six fuel tanks. The fuel tanks count as immobile vehicles with AV12 and any Vehicle Destroyed or Explodes! result would destroy it. Alternatively, all attacker units are assumed to be equipped with demo charges which can be attached by assaulting the fuel tank, causing them to automatically explode at the end of the assaulting player's next turn. Night Fighting would be in effect for the entire battle. 

Pre-Game:

We played this scenario earlier in the campaign with the Blood Angels attacking an ork fuel depot. The ork defenders easily won. We had increased the size of both forces to make it a bigger battle, so we wondered if the larger forces favored the defender too much. We also realized that landing at a distance and trying to shoot both the defenders and the fuel tanks was futile; the reliable way to destroy them would be with the demo charges. 

We decided to play it again with the points limit exactly as per the scenario.

Battle:

View from the north: six large fuel tanks are providing energy-dense feedstock for the hive.

View from the south: broods of Tyranids patrol the captured Imperial compound.

The Warriors maintain control of the nearby gaunts while the independent genestealers roam.

View from the west: several tanks serve to re-fuel Valkyries at the landing pad.

View from the east: the pumping station keeps the massive underground network of pipelines moving. 

The hum of Valkyries can be heard getting louder as they approach through the dark night sky. Silently, drop troops of the veteran 4th company jump from the rear hatch,, activating their grav chutes.

Three veteran squads land in the clearing between two tanks on the south side of the compound.

One Valkyrie dives down for an attack run.

First melta stick lands amongst the pipes of the pumping station.

Training their melta guns on the fuel tank, the superheated beams easily slice through the tanks and ignite the volatile contents within. The tank erupts in an enormous mushroom cloud! A shower of flaming liquid and debris covers the squad, taking four brave drop troopers out of action.

A few genestealers are also caught in the blast.

Plumes of black smoke billow from the burning fuel tank.

The Valkyrie directs its considerable firepower into one of the fuel tanks near the landing pad.

The tank explodes as the Valkyrie soars over it.

View from the east: two fuel tanks burn before the Tyranids even knew they were under attack.

View from the south: the Tyanids prepare to neutralize and consume the attacking lifeforms.

View from the west: the Warriors order a counterattack..

The Warriors approach the drop troopers who are preparing to set demo charges.

A squad of veterans works frantically to attach demo charges to the tank while the massive Warriors approach.

The Valkyrie crew cheer the destruction of the fuel tank and search for their next target. 

The Warriors land a direct hit with the barbed strangler, killing most of the squad.

The drop troopers attach demo charges to two more fuel silos, guaranteeing their destruction.

Post-Game:

Well, that certainly turned out differently than the first time we played! A lightning strike raid by the drop troopers to destroy the four fuel silos in two turns. The game was over in half an hour.

The drop troops were able to field a large number of units for the small game size. They were lucky enough to get four squads and a flier arriving on turn one, enough to overwhelm the relatively sparse defenders on the east side of the table. 

This was a great opportunity for the drop troopers to shine. They lack the staying power for the typical 40k slugfest where both sides beat each other's brains out for five or six turns. A scenario like this enables them to use their strengths: rapid, selective deployment and short-range firepower to take out their targets. 

The scenario seems to be very all-or-nothing, given that both games produced lopsided results, but with opposite outcomes. Still, it was a fun change of pace from the standard "line up and smash each other" battles. 

And that wraps up the most intense weekend of 40k we have ever played: six games in three days. It was really fun to get back to the simplicity and fast pace of 4th edition for a change of pace from Horus Heresy. 

Da Scrappaz - Killa Kans of the Skulltakaz Warband

 Da Scrappaz have arrived on Badlanding to fight and collect junk. And the more they fight, the more junk there is to collect!

I got a box of the new killa kans for Christmas. The bodies are a bit bigger than the old metal models, but the biggest difference is the massive size increase in the weapons. The models are nicely customizable. But the box only comes with one each of the four gun options. So in order to make a unit with big shootas, I snagged one from the Deff Dread kit and I even used an old metal gun from my 3rd Edition metal dreadnought (that is the stubby one)! Just like the rest of the warband, I added a variety of skull trophies. 

I decorated the bases with a mix of scrap metal, rocks, and battlefield detritus - namely something on each base from the Crimson Fists (Rhino door, hatch, and shoulder pad). Unfortunately, the dark blue of the Fists is not all that different than the bright blue of the Deathskulls so the marine stuff does not pop out. 

I used a very limited palette for painting them. I did the main bodies with the same Asurmen Blue Contrast that I use on my ork infantry. Normally, I struggle to get a good finish with Contrast on large flat surfaces like this, but this blue is amazing and did a great job. I think the key is to use a primer with a mildly glossy finish to help the paint flow. I kept the bones, tusks, and even the skull shaped plates all the same bone colors, just for simplicity and uniformity. 

The metal parts benefited from a good amount of weathering with grime and rust. The hydraulic pistons were painted a bright metal and left clean since they are moving in and out of the cylinders. 

I added a few decals and had the same unsatisfactory result as with the decal on the test Crimson Fist model. I could not get the decals completely invisible like I get easily with the Horus Heresy decals. I can only assume these old decals are an inferior design than the newer Horus Heresy type. I probably will not use more of these old ones and will look for ork decals in the new design. 

I am happy with my first models of 2026. It always takes a while when you paint a whole unit at once, but its what you need to do with orks. Otherwise, you are stuck for years with one single killa kan or one single rokkit buggy like I have with my Evil Sunz... not super effective on the battlefield. It was a bit of a grind at times to paint three at once, but now I can happily plop down a whole unit of clanking kans on the tabletop. And with orks, "everything counts in large amounts".

M32 Battle Report 4: Hive Fleet Tarasque vs Orks

 "Hey, Boss! I found somefin' new fer da Boyz to fight. And da best part is dey have lotsa big teef!"

-Zigbad, Kommando Nob

Background:

The Ork invasion of Xhorik Prime has unwittingly awoken a dormant Tyranid exploratory tendril that had remained in the stasis of interplanetary travel while buried in the polar icecap of Xhorik Prime. The heat and movement of the arriving and mobilizing Orks caused the Lictors to reanimate. As they found prey and released pheromones, more and more of the frozen Tyranids emerged from their long hibernation and joined in the hunt. Soon, swarms of an unknown type of alien were converging on the main column of the ork war band as they moved south from the polar region. 

Campaign Summary M32: The War of the Beast - The Third Xhorik War

Scenario:

I honestly do not remember what scenario we played, but reviewing the battle, I am guessing Cleanse.

Pre-Game:

Bug Stomp

Phil: I was really excited for this game. I had not used my orks in a couple of years because we had been mostly focused on Horus Heresy. This was a chance to use them with the old classic 4th Edition Codex, which I haven't used in close to 20 years, but have fond memories of poring over it for hours, dreaming of all the armies I would make and all the games I would play someday. Well, someday has arrived. 

I would be playing against Bill's Tyranids, the first time with his army fully painted. So this would be the best looking and most cinematic orks vs Tyranids battle we have played.

In the 7th Edition rules we used in the last few battle reports, the overwatch rules really benefited shoota boyz, who could put out some serious firepower when being charged. And "Da Lucky Stikk" wargear item was just silly overpowered, turning a warboss into a one-man army. With the 4th Edition rules, we would be looking at a simpler rule system without overwatch and without some of the overpowered options. 

Against Tyranids, ork shooting is not too shabby, with their high volume of moderate strength shots. So I needed to use my bikes and trukks to pick my matchups, softening up the big swarms with shooting, and hopefully getting the charge where possible, to take advantage of the boyz' Furious Charge rule. 

Apex Predators

Bill: My army selection is made for me in every battle since I'm using literally 100% of my painted models, about a third of which were painted by my generous brothers. In addition, my deployment is quite rigidly set as well. Warriors, carnifex, and gaunts in the center with speedy genestealers running along the flanks. I do admit it makes me a bit predictable but it's a darn fine tactic. Everyone will move forward and charge whenever possible. The fewer complications to a plan, the better. An opponent's flanks are typically much weaker than their center, giving the stealers a solid advantage and allowing them to swing inwardly and pincer attack the main enemy force after mopping up their rivals along the table edges. A lictor in the rear just helps trap and contain the enemy. 

I fully intended to give those oversized goblins a run for their money! If they want my "teef," they're gonna have to work for it!

Battle:

Pete set up a great battlefield for us. 

The field of battle - the calm before the storm.

Deployment: The two forces approach in the snow of the northern latitudes of Xhorik Prime.

The Broodlord and genestealers scramble ahead of the main swarm.

On the ork left, warbikers rev their engines as they careen through the snow.

The warboss and his big mob of boys form the ork center.

A zoanthrope controls a brood of hormagaunts on the Tyranid left.

On the far left, a second brood of genestealers creeps forward behind the cover of some trees.

Ork tankbustas take up advantageous firing positions on a rocky outcrop overlooking the battlefield.

Engines roar, boyz bellow, and shootas erupt as the cacophony of the orks fills the air.

Zigbad and his kommandos scramble through the rocks to infiltrate a bit closer to the enemy.

The Tyranid center is anchored by warriors and a swarm of termagants.

The warbikes open the throttle and move forward, guns blazing at the genestealers.

The ork center surges forward into the clearing between the woods and rocks.

The Tyranid left scuttles toward their prey.

The warbikers kill four genestealers, but the survivors race forward quickly. 

The Tyranid warriors kill five ork boys with their bio weapons.

The genestealers charge and kill six bikers.

The nob (all alone now) crushes one in return.

Turn 1: The two sides exchange fire as they advance. The genestealers make the first assault.

The 'ard boyz leap out of their trukk, eager to get at the hormagaunts!

Fueled by the power of the WAAAGH!, the kommandos charge the warriors. 

The orks call a WAAAGH! and charge the Tyranid center.

The kommandos use the WAAAGH! energy to assault the warriors. 

Slugga boyz vs termagants!

The hormagaunts can only bring two of the heavily armored orks.

The warriors kill four kommandos.

But the nob brings down four warriors in return with his power klaw, thanks to Instant Death (oops!).

With the charge, the 'ard boyz get the better of the hormagaunts and destroy ten.

Ork Turn 2: The orks call a WAAAGH! and launch three assaults into the heart of the Tyranid force. 

Genestealers swing around the rocks and charge the 'ard boyz from behind!

The other genestealers charge the rokkit buggy!

A Zoanthrope destroys the mega trukk with a psychic blast.

The meganobz are pinned in the rubble of their destroyed trukk.

The genestealers destroy the rokkit buggy, but the explosion kills two in return!

The 'ard boyz nob fights on alone against the genestealers after they maul his boyz. They would bring him down next turn.

The boyz beat the termagants in the middle of the table.

The surviving hormagaunts charge the kommandos and kill one.

The last warrior brings down another kommando and is killed in return.

The last two surviving termagants fall back toward the synapse control of the zoanthrope.

Tyranid Turn 2: The genestealers assault and destroy ork units on both flanks, despite their numbers being steadily depleted. The orks win the melee in the center.

The warboss and his boyz charge the carnifex.

Ork Turn 3: The genestealers finish the 'ard boyz nob as the killa kan joins the fray. The boyz in the center attack the carnifex. The vehicles redeploy to support the beleaguered left flank.

The lictor finally makes its presence known.

It sees the big melee nearby...

And charges into the fray! 

Termagants and genestealers attack and decimate the gretchin.

After eliminating the 'ard boyz, the genestealers turn their claws on the killa kan. They manage to damage a few wires, giving the pilot a shock and shaking the grot's morale. 

The tyranids kill 9 boyz and win combat. The warboss kills another of boys to keep the last of the mob from running. 

The nob hits back and kills the lictor. 

Tyranid Turn 3: The carnifex, lictor and broodlord combine to decimate the ork mob in the center, while losing the lictor. The termagants and genestealers wipe out the grotz skulking in the woods.

Warboss and nob vs carnifex and broodlord.

The meganobz finally join the action and shoot the termagants, killing one. 

They then charge in and kill six in close combat. 

The kommandos join the fray, bringing another nob with power klaw. The broodlord kills the two boys and wounds the nob. The two nobs together kill the broodlord and the warboss inflicts five wounds to the Carnifex. (I think the three ones were Bill's to-wound rolls with the carnifex!)

The carnifex is hanging on, but is facing three power klaws. 

Ork Turn 4: The meganobz charge the termagants on the left flank. In the center the nobz and warboss kill the broodlord and wound the carnifex while only losing a few boyz.

The carnifex finally kills the warboss!

But the nobz kill the carnifex in return. 

Tyranid Turn 4: The orks finally win the central melee but lose their warboss in the process. The zoanthrope destroys another trukk right in the rubble from the first trukk. The lone genestealer charges and kills a meganob before being split in two by a power klaw. 

Ork Turn 5: The two nobs charge and destroy the zoanthrope, the last synapse creature. The meganobz kill three more termagants, causing them to fall back. The last two genestealers and the kill kan remain stuck in a stalemate. 

Orks Win!

 

Post-Game:

"We iz da best!"

Phil: This was a great-looking game. Pete set up a really scenic and fun battlefield for us, which added a lot to the experience of the game. 

Sadly, as I look back now, this is a somewhat hollow victory. We only realized later in the weekend (halfway through game 5) that synapse creatures are immune to instant death. In this battle, my nobs with power klaws were wreaking havoc, taking out a warrior with every hit. The kommandos would never have bested those warriors if they required three wounds to kill instead of one!

Despite that, it still seemed like Bill had a chance to pull off a win in his third turn when he brought the broodlord and lictor into the central melee to support his carnifex. But rolling three ones with his carnifex doomed him. He could have / should have killed all three of my multi-wound orks right there. But it seems Mork intervened to distract the carnifex with a kunnin' trick so that my orks could clobber him next turn!

Other than the mistake with the rules and Bill's critical miss, the battle was full of fun moments. The 'ard boys charging the hormagaunts and stomping them, only to be taken in the rear by the genestealers was perfectly in line with the lore: the expendable gaunts providing a distraction that enabled the stealthy genestealers to pounce. Those rending claws are brutal in this edition, and they made a joke of my 'eavy armor. 

The zoanthrope on the Tyranid right destroying both trukks in exactly the same spot with Warp Blast also felt fitting to me. I can picture it just floating there, lobbing off blasts of psychic energy, blowing up ramshackle vehicles one after another as they try to advance through a pinch point. 

My biggest mistake was my use of the warbikes. I thought they would be perfect against Tyranids, using their speed and firepower to whittle down broods. But I misjudged the distance a bit and they got charged in turn 1. It is tough when you have a gun with range of 18" and your foe has fleet, giving them a 13 - 18" threat range! (Remember, you cannot measure distances before shooting in this edition.)

The meganobz showed both their strengths and weaknesses. With their trukk blown, they struggled to get into the action. But once they finally did, they were very tough and killy. 

But the stars of the show were the slugga boyz and kommandos, big blobs of orks led by a nob with klaw. The boys could absorb plenty of wounds while the nobs smashed everything in sight. And calling a WAAAGH! in my second turn allowed me to make three assaults at once, delivering a hammer blow to the Tyranids that they never fully recovered from. 

A fun game with lots of carnage. Looking forward to a rematch where we get the rules right. I will need to play smarter next time and ensure I get my shoota boys into the action, instead of spending the whole game on the far flank. 

OK, I am almost caught up on 4th edition battle reports from a year ago! Then onto the last phase of Horus Heresy campaign for the Xhorik System.

Bill: Though this had been a game I was eager to forget and Phil posting the battle report felt like ripping the scab off of an old wound that was starting to heal, I was surprised to see how close it was even with my critical rules error and fatal triple 1's. Despite it all, my bugs fought very well, especially those genestealers, and turned the snow green with spilt ork blood! If I rolled only slightly better and kept the warriors in the fight a bit longer, I could have won. Instead of making me feel stupid and defeated, it's actually quite inspiring, emboldening me to fight a rematch in which I fully utilize my immunity to instant death. Those power klaws and rokkits will be significantly neutered in our future clashes.

I've been searching for a narrative way to explain why the tyranids didn't benefit from their immunity to instant death and I can only say that it's because they were encased in ice and dormant for so long that they lost contact with the hive mind, unable to summon up the indomitable will to keep fighting despite have huge holes torn and blasted into their bodies. The warriors and zoanthropes managed to relay a small portion of the hive mind's influence to keep the feral gaunts under control but it was merely a trace of the iron discipline given by the pure, undiluted alien intelligence from the Shadow in the Warp.

Another possible explanation is that the orks were simply too numerous and their combined psychic excitement was able to drown out the hive mind amid thousands of souls ramped up on the thrill of battle. Weirdboyz chanting and channeling the explosive waves of orkish rage created a bright light of chaotic energy that banished the dark psychic dead zone created by the Shadow in the Warp. For the time being, Gork and Mork looked at the hive mind and simply said, "No!"

Perhaps it's a combination of both. Any which way, the bugs were caught sleepy and rubbing their eyes, unable to bring their "A" game. Oh well, it's still always fun to see such radical minis fully painted on the tabletop. 

I do love to look back over our old games and savor the sights of fully painted armies and professional quality terrain. Its all certainly worthy of a blog! My teenage self, drooling over the studio armies and gorgeous terrain in the White Dwarf battle reports never would have dreamed that someday I'd be playing on a table that looks even better and with armies that meet or beat the standards set back in the 90s during 2nd edition. 

As for the battle itself, what can be said? My bugs fought well, reducing many an ork, including the warlord, to gooey shreds. The stealers getting the charge on the warbikes was awesome, preventing a lot of medium strength multi-shot weapons from blasting into my flank all game long. The carnifex got to do some smashing since a battle against another melee heavy army allowed it to get into close combat much more quickly than if I'd been playing against a shooty army that might keep its distance and plink away with ranged attacks. Everything went well enough and I feel quite enthusiastic about another tangle with the greenskins. Surely my carnifex can't roll triple 1's twice!

To combat such frustrating twists of fate, I suggested that in future games each player be given "fate points" which can be used to turn a 1 into a 2 on some critical roll. That way, nobody will get burned on what should be a sure thing, which leads to frustration and the feeling that strategy is secondary to blind luck in a game that should be a contest of army selection, deployment locations, mission adherence, and tactics throughout the match. We may not use them, but I thought it might be nice to make things a bit more controlled. I know I get little satisfaction in winning just because my opponent totally flubbed his dice rolls. Kind of like watching your opponent trip over his shoelaces and fumble the football at the 1 yard line right before a game-winning touchdown. You technically win but know you should have lost. Fate points would mean fewer terminators failing their 2+ armor saves and fewer plasma guns melting down and killing their users. Everyone is spared those "What the fuck?! Aaarrgh!" moments.

Anyway, I've had over a year to lick my wounds and gather up my pride. Soon enough, I'll have a chance to redeem myself. Next time, there will be no gaps in the hive mind's influence and the space dragon bug monsters will reign supreme! Besides, tyranids are never beaten; rippers will gobble up all the bio-mass and reintegrate it into the hive fleet when it arrives. And the fleet *is* coming...