Anywho, I came up against Andy who was aghast to play against my army. His was Orks with three battlewagons with KFF Mek + Nobz, Grotsnik + Árd Boyz, Burna Boyz, 2x Trukk Boyz and 3x Kanz. Once again I have to apologise for the blurry photos, I do believe macro was on :(. Andy won the roll-off and choose to go first and be very aggressive. He plunked his objective right in the middle of his deployment zone and I put mine in the bottom right corner where it was protected by a big building. He then deployed his whole army straight across from me in an effort to simply push me off the table. I deployed with my Tyrant + Prime around the objective with Termagants screening them and another unit holding the objective. One T-Fex also deployed on this side to keep Andy's Battlewagons honest. Everything else went on the 'left' flank behind the building where the Tervigons could support the army and the Hive Guard could hide and shoot.
The plans for both sides were pretty basic - Andy needed to move forward hope his KFF held and slam 2-3 battlewagons into me Turn 2. I needed to stop that from happening and throw up Termagants as protection. The only really scary units in combat were the Kanz, Nobz and Burna Boyz against my MCs and two of those three units died to Termagants. Parxoysm would also be a huge help. Let's see what happens.
Deployment
Orks Turn 1
Everything moved forward. Shocking :P. Kanz + Killkannon Battlewagon attempted to shoot my Hive Tyrant and did diddly squad though the Killkannon did kill one Termagant. Poor baby :(.
Tyranids Turn 1
Have to enjoy games where the make or break point happens so quickly :P. I either stop most of those Battlewagons now or they get to slam into my lines, increase the chances of the Orks breaking the Termagant lines (Deffrolla hits followed by shooting) and thereby get assaults off on my MCs. Or I stop the Battlewagons and the Orks will get shot lots and have to assault Termagants with counter-assault + poison. Pretty simple equation really! I move my left flank up with the Hive Guard and T-Fexes to get as many side shots as possible whilst the Tervigons move more centrally and spawn some Termagants (13 and 9 - one stops spawning). These Termagants then wrap themselves around my army as much as possible but I am silly and leave a gap which means a unit could potentially assault all three wrapping Termagant squads. Oh well! They both cast Catalyst on the leading Termagant elements as well with the original Termagant squad on the right moving up as well as the Tyrant squad.
It was then time to shoot and two wagons exploded - the central one with the Nobz and the rear one with the Killkannon and burna boyz. Things are looking good! I then pour all my firepower, which is quite a lot considering, into the Nobz who shrug most of it off with some amazing rolls. Andy laments they coming two dice rolls too late (the KFF saves). The Tyrant is also able to get off Paroxysm making them far less scary next turn.
Orks Turn 2
The Orks still need to break through to my objective - if combat starts going there I'm forced to nearly table him as I'm fearless and units can just be chucked into continuing combats (remember the Nid v Nid game?). Andy recognises this and throws everything he can to try and break the Termagant line there and push through to the MCs/Termagants on the objective. The Shoota Boyz in the Trukk move up to help out with this whilst the Kanz advance into midfield and the rear Trukk picks up the Big Mek. Unfortunately with FNP, cover + go to ground, one battlewagon and Ork shooting, it doesn't happen and I only lose a couple Termagants. He calls a Waaaagh and the Burna Boyz assault the Termagants on the left, the Nobz assault the same Termagants and the ones around the Tyrant which include the Prime and the 'Ard Boyz assault the Termagant squad everything just tried to kill.
All of the Termagants end up dying but not before they drop over half the Nobz (Painboy lives) and several Burna Boyz. The Prime fails two of 13 saves so is alive as well! Only the Nobz can consolidate to him though so everything else makes a normal consolidation move and it turns to my Turn 2.
Tyranids Turn 2
The Ork wave hit. The Ork wave killed lots of 5 point Termagants. The Ork wave sits in front of my army. w00t! And thus the Termagants are once again MVPs ;). With most of the Ork army un-engaged I have lots of options to kill things now. The Hive Guard mostly maintain their position to get lots of shots off on the remaining Battlewagon whilst the T-Fex on the left moves up to shoot and then assault the Burna Boyz. One of the Tervigons moves around the building on the left to go for Andy's objective if necessary whilst the other one spawns 11 more Termagants (poops out) and moves up to engage the Shoota Boyz. The new Termagants move up to help out the Tyranid Prime. Catalyst is cast on both these Termagants and the Tervigon assaulting the Shoota Boyz. The Hive Tyrant and T-Fex on the right setup assaults on the 'Ard Boyz to keep them away from my objective with Paroxysm cast as well.
My Hive Guard blow up the Battlewagon and also the Shoota Boyz trukk which Kareens into the Ork backfield. One of the Kanz also gets shaken. With a bunch of shooting quite a few 'Ard Boyz and Burna Boyz drop but neither of them break and everything assaults their intended targets. The T-Fex on the left wipes all but two Burna Boyz who flee, the Tervigon kills two Boyz and takes one PK wound in return whilst the Prime + Termagants wipe the Nobz before they swing and consolidate towards the Shoota Boyz. The Tyrant + T-Fex kills most of the 'Ard Boyz but Gritsnok and the PK Nob live to do some damage of their own (Tyrant down to one wound) and take some more damage from Fearless.
Orks Turn 3
Not much left on the Ork side and it's already Turn 3. At this point Andy should really move his Trukk boyz back to his objective and whilst it's unlikely they'll survive with Hive Guard running around, it gives him a chance at a draw. Unfortunately though it immobilised itself >.<. The Kanz move up to engage my T-Fex in combat and that's about all he can really do. The Tyrant finishes off Gritsnok before he gets to swing and the T-Fex takes a wound from the PK Nob before the Orks are run down. The Tervigon takes another wound from the PK Nob from the Shoota Boyz and kills a couple Boyz herself whilst the Kanz do...jack all. Three wounds on the to wound rolls, nice! The T-Fex also fails to do any damage missing with all three attacks.
Tyranids Turn 3
Hive Guard moved up to get in range of the remaining Trukk whilst the Termagants setup an assault on the Shoota Boyz to help out the Tervigon. T-Fex + Tyrant on the right flank moved up to help out as well and in future be able to smack those Kanz around. Hive Guard + Tervigon on far side of building continue to move towards Andy's objective.
Shooting sees the Trukk explode and Kareen...straight towards me *evil grin*. The Tyrant + T-Fex do some shooting damage leaving the Big Mek, PK Nob and several Boyz alive but with Paroxysm cast on them. The T-Fex then assaults and leaves just the Big Mek alive whilst the Termagants help out the Tervigon and wipe the Shoota Boyz. The T-Fex drops two Kanz but goes down to one wound himself.
Orks Turn 4
With everything engaged in combat, Andy swings and does no damage :(. The T-Fex on the right kills the Big Mek and consolidates towards the Kanz combat.
Tyranids Turn 4
The unegaged T-Fex and Tervigon move up to assault the Kanz whilst the Tyrant runs into Old Adversary range. They manage to destroy the final Kanz and thus table the Ork player who fails to kill off the one wound T-Fex!
Conclusion
Andy played a win or lose game and it was unlikely there was ever going to be a draw. By taking the shortest distance possible to my objective he was looking to force the game on his terms ASAP. Unfortunately with Termagant screens and Hive Guard + T-Fexes in side arcs of the Battlewagons, this didn't happen and his army got stranded far away from my objective. He didn't want to play the Draw mission (where we both diddly around trying to hold our own objective and get to the opponent's and just end up as an odd clusterfudgemuffins in the centre) but I think he could have been less aggressive and had a better chance. By deploying around his objective (and reserving a Boyz squad) and using the big building to his advantage, he could have limited my arcs of fire (not for Hive Guard obviously) and gotten more AV14. Whilst his KFF saves let him down early on, it was unlikely he was going to have all three Battlewagons crashing into my lines T2 and he needed that to really have a chance at winning.
Anywho, the game was great fun. Andy and I had a great chat over the table as his army was unfortunately dismantled and we even traded a special die! He was always going to have a hard time dropping all my MCs and with Termagants being pretty good against Boyz in combat with FNP/poison/counter-attack/furious-charge, well ya it's a tough one. A shellacking of a game though Andy got some measure of comfort by not losing 20-0 as he did quite a bit of damage overall to my MCs and thus lost 18-2 on battle points.
Was a great game if a bit one-sided!
