He won the roll-off to choose and took the top side. The objectives were then weighted on my left flank and his side of the board but oddly it was decided that a large piece of area terrain on my side of the board was dangerous. Right near the objectives. Yay... Jason deployed one of the flamer ASM squads and Scouts right on the 24" line to push any of my deployments back. I deployed my Tyrant + 2 Tervigons just beyond 18" to him so he couldn't assault me but if he got overaggressive I could assault him. If he didn't move his Scouts I could also spawn assault them. The game began with his Scouts scouting backwards and me not seizing. His two melta ASM squads were deep-striking and one of my original Termagant squads was Outflanking - cause it's cool.
Deployment
Blood Angels Turn 1
The Predators and Typhoon came on in the middle of the board slightly to my right. This gave them clear line of sight down the centre of the board to my MCs. The Attack Bikes pushed up my right flank whilst the ASM with Priest and Libby came on the objective weighted side of the left. The forward ASM squad fell back to hook up with these guys. My Tervigon took a wound from Scout sniper fire. This was a fine deployment initially as the Blood Angel player has a significant speed advantage over me.
By deploying across the board he forces me to deploy across the board as well. If I refuse flank (which is hard because there's a massive piece of dangerous terrain where I would want to deploy) he gains massive board control and I basically forfeit the right objective. If I spread out he can re-mobilise and weight the left side where there are more objectives and then use his speedy tanks to push me off the right objective late game. This is why I deployed my Tyrant on the left against the ASM as that is where there is going to be the greatest contention for space.
Tyranids Turn 1
Everything walked on except my outflanking Termagants. The wounded Tervigon spit out some Termagants to ensure I had a line all the way across. With the Tyrant weighting my left flank the Prime went on the right in case any ASM deep-struck on that side. Otherwise as usual with Termagants giving cover to Hive Guard giving cover to MCs. I spread my Hive Guard and T-Fexes out as normal but focused them a little more than usual in the centre where the BA vehicles were so the T-Fexes had clear arcs of fire. Everything ran to get as close to midfield as possible with the Tervigons casting Catalyst on both of the Hive Guards in the centre.
Blood Angels Turn 2
One of Jason's ASM squads comes in from reserve and deep strikes on my right flank. They scatter a few inches away from me. The two ASM squads on the board move up a little but don't move into midfield preferring to threaten with their 12" move. The Preds/Typhoon stays still and the Attack Bikes on the right move up towards the ruins where the objective is.
At this point the Blood Angels player really should have remobilised to the left flank. I have spread my army out to deal with the deployment as much as possible but with the objectives on the far side, made sure most of combat ability was there. Due to my limited mobility however, by moving to one flank (the one with the most objectives), the BA player will have most of their army there whilst I only have part of it. By deploying in a line and staying in that formation + deep-striking the ASM away from his primary force, he is attempting to spread me out but dilutes the effectiveness of his Priest. 40 ASM with FNP/FC is going to be hard to handle. 20 less so. He also needs to drop my Tyrant and by moving to that flank, is more capable of doing so. He may lose the firepower of his Attack Bikes this turn but his mobility for his tanks and speeder ensures he can still put quite a bit of firepower out.
With his shooting then everything goes into the Hive Guard, specifically the ones on the right. The Prime gets wounded and one Hive Guard falls whilst one of the Hive Guard squads in the middle also loses a model.
Tyranid Turn 2
With little damage done to me and the BA army still spread out, I'm quite happy to move forward. Whilst the two ASM squads in the middle of the board are trying to play a denial game with me, I simply move up as I would normally - forcing them to either assault my Termagants and get counter-assaulted or give me midfield. My Tervigon on the right spawns again (and for the final time) to throw some Termagants at the Attack Bikes whilst the Prime and T-Fex on the right move to engage the nicely clumped Assault Marines. The middle part of my line also moves up with intent on the Blood Angel vehicles. My Termagants come in from Outflank and I move them in on the left.
My shooting shakes the Speeder whilst the rest of the Hive Guard kill one of the Attack Bike squads. The combined fire of the T-Fex and Tervigon on the right drop four of the assault marines whilst the Tyrant casts Paroxysm on the Scouts and drops one with his Devourers. Catalyst is cast again on the Hive Guard squads and the Prime + T-Fex charge into combat. The T-Fex ensures he gets into base to base with the PFist and the Prime proceeds to munch half of the squad. The T-Fex leaves only the PFist standing which whiffs and dies to Fearless wounds. Both consolidate towards the ruins where the Termagants have won against the Attack Bikes killing 1 and forcing the other to flee. They consolidate towards it and it flees again the next turn.
Blood Angels Turn 3
The final ASM squad arrives and comes in on the left near my Termagants who outflanked. The Speeder zooms to the left flank to gain a cover save whilst the ASM on the field again play a game of denial. The ACLC Preds don't move. The deep-struck ASM kill five Termagants who flee whilst the ACLC Preds are able to wound a Hive Guard from one of the single model squads.
Tyranids Turn 3
My Termagants amazingly rally on the left flank and hide behind the ruins there. The Prime on the right moves through the ruins to join the bubblewrapping Termagant squad who aim a charge at the Scouts. The Termagants in the ruins hold their position on the objective whilst the rest of the army moves up. My Tyrant on the right keeps his Termagant wedge in front of him with the Tervigon safely behind him. The T-Fex and Hive Guard in the centre move up so the Vehicles cannot move out of range whilst the T-Fex on the right angles up a shot between the ruins. FNP is attempted to be cast on the Termagants in front of the Tyrant but fails due to the psychic hood but Paroxsym goes off against the deep-struck ASM.
The final Attack Bike dies and one of the Predators as well whilst the combined fire of some Termagants, Tervigon and Tyrant drops three of the newly arrived ASM. The Termagants + Prime then assault the Scouts in midfield killing one in return for a single dead Termagant. The two sides engage in combat bringing the Prime to bear, rawr!
Blood Angels Turn 4
All the Assault Marines move forward as one and get ready to lay some smack down on my left flank. The remaining Pred swivels exposing side armor to get four shots off to that area as well and we begin. The combined fire of the Assault Marines, Typhoon blasts and ACLC Pred brings the Tyrant down two wounds, Guard down to one wound and leaves four Termagants left in front of the Tyrant. Good old go to ground for 3+ cover on those Termagants! This stops the ASM squad with Libby and Priest from assaulting as they used their flamers to target the Tyrant and hit Termagants as well. This leaves the weakened Paraoxysm'd squad with a PFist and the other Flamer squad to assault the Termagants + Tyrant squad.
Since the Priest is way at the back and not part of the assault, neither squad benefited from FC (which matters mainly for the strength) and can only kill the four Termagants. The Tyrant + Guard kill five of the Flamer squad in return but both squads of ASM stay. The Prime + Termagants wipe out the Scouts and consolidate onto the middle objective in the woods.
Tyranids Turn 4
By not getting the proper assault off to kill my Tyrant (or simply just focus firing the Tyrant down), the Blood Angels have now really committed their forces and since they are right on top of objectives, they need to shift me off. Meh, good luck ^^. My Tervigon which can spawn spits out a nicely sized troupe of fourteen Termagants which, alongside the two Tervigons + Prime, setup to mass assault the Assault Marines before they can swing to save the Tyrant. The Hive Guard and T-Fexes meanwhile look to get rid of the rest of the Blood Angel's armor so they cannot sit on objectives to contest - they fail killing neither though both are shaken. The other Termagants maintain their positions on objectives in cover whilst the Termagant squad on the left moves back into synapse range (having passed a Lurk test) and moves towards the bottom left objective.
In combat the Tervigons, Termagants and Prime all assault the ASM and manage to wipe the right squad out and leave only three members alive from the left. The PFist is able to land a wound on the Tyrant squad which goes on the Guard killing it and they then all die to Fearless wounds. Consolidating sees the Tyrant throw himself towards the other ASM whilst the Tervigons and Termgants all shuffle towards objectives.
Blood Angels Turn 5
At this point the BA player really has to play for contesting rather than killing me. His Typhoon and Pred are still mobile as are the Assault Marines so jumping the assault Marines over my army to engage the Termagants in the forest and moving both the Pred/Typhoon onto the objectives on the left (using smoke + moves fast for cover) keeps his infantry away from my Tyrant and forces me to kill his tanks so my Termagants can hold those objectives. He moves neither of his tanks and just throws his ASM at my Tyrant + the Termagants in the forest in an attempt to kill them both off. It fails and the Tyrant drops four of the ASM whilst the Priest + Libby kill four Termagants.
Tyranids Turn 5
Not much to do. T-Fexes plus HG move up to shoot down Pred and Typhoon which they finally do. Termagants on left move up to hold bottom left objective. Spawned Termagants in middle + Prime setup assaults on the Libby + Priest which they launch and succeed in killing them whilst the Tyrant finishes off the ASM squad. The game ends in a tabling with me holding three objectives and winning about 18-2 for Battle Points.
Conclusion
Jason spread out way too much. Having a single Priest is going to be annoying to get everyone to have FNP but by sending his two deep-striking units to opposite corners of my side of the board meant there was no way that was going to happen. Supergants + MCs don't really care about solo ASM squads too much, particularly when they don't have FNP. Add in the spread out deployment which never re-mobilised and I was able to fight on all fronts when Jason should have been forcing the fight on one side. He also spread his firepower out too much and really should never have given my Hive Guard shots at all (again - remobilising) on his mech. By deploying them more in the corners and using their speed, he could have kept them out of my Hive Guard range and then focus fired units down (specifically the Tyrantstar).
In the end the Tyrant + Prime just chewed through whatever they touched with MCs + Termagants providing supporting attacks. Jason was a great opponent but never really put me under pressure and allowed me to drop the Attack Bikes and 15 Assault Marines before he really moved up. If he had moved up earlier (and shot down the Tyrantstar) he could have kept me off the objectives and used charging ASM to chew through the Termagants.
Oh well, was a fun game with a good opponent and a nice way to end the weekend!
