This was the first time my new Iron Hands force hit the table, and I was excited to get a game in with them. My opponent, the lovely-yet-dangerous Swanky Tiger, brought the scourge of the stars... the thrice-damned Hive Fleet Leviathan. We both played a single CAD list, limited to 1250 points.
In her list:
- Hive Tyrant with Wings and x2 TL Devourers (With brainleech worms)
- Haruspex
- 2 Zoanthropes (1 upgraded to Neurothrope)
- 1 Venomthrope
- 10 Gargoyles w/ Fleshborers
- 3 Warriors w/ Deathspitters and Scytals
- 10 Termagaunts w/ Fleshborers
- 3 Rippers
- 3 Carnifex w/ CC biomorphs
In my list:
- Captain in Cataphractii Terminator armor with Gorgon's Chain, Chainfist, Combimelta
- x2 Ten-man Tactical Squads in Rhinos (no special weapons)
- Command squad with 3x plasma and apothecary in rhino
- Cataphractii Squad with Lightning Claws, Sgt with Powerfist
- Contemptor Dreadnought with Kheres Autocannon
- Devestator squad with x4 MLs + Flak missiles
The mission ended up being "Big Guns Never Tire". We rolled 3 objectives, and placed them more or less in the middle of the table in a long line. Swanky won the initiative roll, and chose to deploy second. So I set my spearhead up in the middle of the table with the contemptor on left flank and command squad on right, and put my MLs in the ruin overlooking my side on the right. I held my terminators in Deep Strike reserve.
She wisely deployed her hive tyrant out of the reach of my MLs, and clustered her Carnifexes into a iron fist she intended to ram directly up through the center of the table. The Zoanthrope Brood covered the left side of the table, from my perspective, and she dispersed her troops through the middle. A solitary Haruspex covered my right flank.
TURN 1
I got to go first, so unfortunately for her, my Devestator squad had clear LOS to her warrior squad, which was acting as a synaptic lynchpin for that side of the board. 4 Krak missiles later, and there was no synaptic creatures left on that side, netting me First Blood as well. My rhinos moved up and disgorged their troops, taking defensive positions behind cover and near objectives. My Contemptor was out of range with his autocannon, so I had to spend the turn running with it instead.
On her turn, her Hive Tyrant dusted off. Since I had removed her synaptic lynchpin near her carnifexes and her haruspex, they went a little nuts and started eating themselves, for the most part. But not being able to run limited their mobility for the first turn, for which I was thankful. The Zoanthropes Brood successfully manifested a Warp Blast, taking out a number of the closest tactical squad. Their FnP rolls did not save them... Her gargoyles swooped ahead, peppering my troops but doing no lasting damage. Her Hive Tyrant swooped by, peppering the survivors and further reducing the squad's number to half their original strength. Their resolve was solid, however, and they did not break. During her assault phase, many of her units were out of range for charges.
I rolled lucky, and my Terminators popped in on the first try. They also got a direct hit where I placed them, on the left flank. Rhinos repostioned, and squads redistributed, while my Contemptor closed the distance with the Tyrant. With the Hive Tyrant still out of reach, I peppered the Haruspex with a volley of Krak missiles. A few wounds made it through the beasts' armored hide but failed to kill it outright. The Contemptor spat some rounds at the Hive Tyrant, but failed to do significant damage. One wound was sustained, but it failed to ground the beast. The tactical squads made use of their bolters, peppering the carnifexes as they advanced and scoring a wound or two. My command squad whiffed, getting mostly 1's and only being saved by the unit's Apothecary.
The Hive tyrant, still in it's flying mode, zoomed overhead and peppered the freshly-arrived terminators with Devourer organisms, but failed to score any wounds. The zoanthropes tried to manifest more blasts, but their power waned when I passed enough Deny the Witch rolls. Instead, they cast paroxysm on the terminator unit, which succeed in reducing their WS and BS. She followed that up with volleys of fleshborers from the gaunts and gargoyles, which had no affect on the terminators' tough ceramite plating. The Haruspex moved in, setting the stage for the next turns' combat, and the carnifexes advanced menacingly. During the assault phase, however, she failed her charge rolls, taking minor damage from overwatch, with the exception of her Rippers, which she sic'd upon my Terminator squad while paroxysm weakened them. The lightning-claws still struck first, however, mowing down enough units that the resulting charge had little effect. The reduced WS didn't make enough of a difference. The remaining wounds were quickly dealt with by the unit's powerfist/chainfist combo, earning my terminators a consolidation movement, which I used to move them toward their next turn target: the Zoanthropes.
TURN 3
I moved my units little, already being in position to take most of the objectives. I backpeddaled one tactical squad not already on an objective, to make it harder for the carnifexes to get a charge on them. The reduced squad hunkered down in the rocks around the objective, attempting to stay alive long enough to claim it. The rhinos helped me channel movement and determine where I would manipulate her movement to go. Now that her Hive Tyrant was in range, I let some missiles fly. I whiffed, hard. Only two missiles connected, which being flak, she got saves for. She passed one, and the resulting unsaved wound also failed to ground the beast. Turning my autocannon on the gargoyles along with the built in bolter, my contemptor hosed down the majority of the unit, which my tacticals and rhinos were able to add to with a combined volley of bolter rounds. A few gargoyles remained, but they were removed from the path. This left the zoanthropes exposed, and I charged with my terminators. They made short work of the brainy critters, cutting them down mercilessly.
During Swanky's turn, she railed against the terminators even more, resulting in the unit's first casualty due to combined weight of fire from fleshborers. The tyrant wheeled around, bee-lining to the command squad guarding the 3rd objective, and mowed down the entire unit, save the apothecary. The apothecary was resolute, and did not flee, luckily. The worst of my luck occurred during the assault phase, when her haruspex charged my full strength tactical squad, getting lucky with a fleet roll. The voracious predator devoured a hapless victim, regaining a wound. The marines were unable to inflict a wound in retaliation, but I hoped to be able to tarpit the beast until help could arrive. This plan quickly went out the window when the unit failed the morale roll, breaking and fleeing. They were close enough to the table edge that they ran straight off. One of the carnifexes was close enough to charge my terminators, which managed to slay the beast, but only barely survived the attack with a single lightning-claw terminator, the Sgt, and the Captain remaining.
Peeking around the corner of the rocks, my remaining combat squad lit up the gaunts. The contemptor added his firepower to theirs, and the Venomthrope died to combined storm-bolter fire from the remaining rhinos. The lone apothecary jumped back in his transport and kept it parked on the objective. My missile launchers, changing tactics, ripped through the haruspex with Krak missiles. This left two remaining carnifex, one of which died when my terminators wrecked it in assault.
Swanky didn't have much to utilize during her turn. With only a few gaunts left, her tyrant, and her remaining carnifex, she did the best with what she could. The tyrant landed on the middle objective, and gunned down a rhino chassis. The gaunts sought cover in the ruins, contesting the objective. The remaining carnifex charged and was killed by the last of the terminators, catapulting them close enough to contest the middle objective with their consolidation move.
END:
At the games end, she contested objectives 1 and 2, but we both were playing CADs so neither side had objective secured. My lone apothecary secured objective 3 from the safety of his rhino, however. The total score ended 5 - 0 in the Iron Hands favor.
IRON HANDS SCORE
- +1 for First Blood
- +3 for Heavy Support Units Killed (they were not a single brood of carnifex)
- +1 for Objective 3
HIVE FLEET LEVIATHAN SCORE
- No points awarded
SYNOPSIS:
This was the first game Swanky Tiger made her own list, and I think she put together a decent one with the models she had available. I think she also learned some valuable lessons about the importance of the Synapse Creatures, and won't let them be murdered so easily next time. Should be interesting to see what she decides to use.
As for me, I was reminded of the power of the lowly bolter. Volume of fire ends up being the most effective means of taking down the larger beasts, short of annihilating them with krak missiles. The flak missiles are overcosted... I probably will not be using them again. Better to have a chance at a solid S8 AP3 hit than better chances of T7 hits that don't penetrate a Tyrant's thick hide.
I may do away with the command squad altogether and just divvy up the plasmaguns in the tactical squads for extra oomph. The command squad helped, but another tactical squad would be cheaper and achieve the same result.
The Captain with the Gorgon's Chain is a brick house. He slams through units like a wrecking ball, tanking many wounds with his 2+/3++ (rerollable from cataphractii)/5+++ FNP rolls, and It Will Not Die, with Eternal Warrior on top.. In the Gorgon's Fist, he gets even more tanky with an improved FNP. Pairing him with lightning claw terminators was a good choice. With his relatively low number of attacks, however, it may be worth taking digital weapons to seal the deal. Also, not being able to run with the armor, makes the turn they deepstrike a little risky.
All in all, a fun game. We will be playing again soon! Today, the Iron Hands Proved:
The Flesh is Weak
The Flesh is Weak
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