This epic battle took place at the 5th Warbarrel in Sobradinho, RS, Brazil.
It took about 8 hours to play as me and my buddy Vitor clashed on a desperate Space Wolves last stand against an endless Tyranid horde.
The setup
- 4.000pts per side.
- Space Wolves would deploy first and have a Fortress.
- Tyranids would deploy last on a relatively open field.
- All Tyranid units respawn on a 4+ at the beginning of movement.
- Tyranids win a Minor victory if they have units in the bastion at the end of the game.
- Tyranids win a Major victory if thet wipe out the Space Wolves on the Bastion.
- Space Wolves cannot win.
- At the end of the 5th round the game ends on a 4+, otherwise the 6th, final round is played.
The Fortress
The fortress is built from a mix of terrain of my collection and lots of custom elements made from molds, you can find it all in a previous post here.
The fortress dominates the backfield with trenches and earthworks dug in where the Tyranid artillery has taken down the walls.
The 3-storied Bastion at the center is the last defense against the onslaught. The Space Wolves must hold it at all costs to secure their escape from the planet.
The Tyranids will approach from the open field.
Space Wolves deployment
The Space Wolves hold nothing in reserve and deploy all of their forces across the wall and the Bastion.
Blood Claws set-up inside the craters to take the first assault as Grey Hunters are deployed along the walls to provide covering fire. Dreadnoughts and Thunderwolves are set for a counter-charge and the artillery and Long Fangs deploy against the back.
The Long Fangs are deployed on different levels of the Bunkers and the Wolf Lord, Wolf Guard Battle Leader and Rune Priest, all with jump-packs, are ready to act as a mobile defense against anything that breaches the perimeter.
Outside of the walls, a vanguard of Wolf Guard Bikers are set to exploit any openings in the Tyranids advance.
Grey Hunters man the walls.
Blood Claws hold the wall breaches.
None expect to survive, they die fighting the Xenos scum!
Tyranids Deployment
The Tyranids deploy in a large phalanx that covers the entire battlefield.
Unending waves of Gaunts followed by hulking Carnifexes.
The Wolves howl back in defiance.
A Tyrannofex and Zoanthropes are flanked by Gaunts and Genestealers.
Hive Guard with Impaler Cannons set-up flanking the phalanx, safe from harm.
Round 1 - Tyranid Invading Horde
The Tyranid horde advance and fire their deadly volleys.
Hordes of Gaunts advance up the field.
The Genestealers and their hulking Brood Lord move towards the Wolf Guard in the readout.
The Broodlord oozes with bloody determination to slice open the enemy defenses.
The Gaunts shower the Bloodclaw with Fleshborer and Devourer shots, killing entire squads in voracious showers. A single Wolf Guard survives the first volley, swearing vengeance for his lost pack-mates and becoming a lone-wolf.
Overwhelming numbers.
The Genestealers on the left flank fail to overcome the earthworks and cannot tie the Wolf Guard bikers in melee.
Round 1 - Besieged Space Wolves
The Wolf Guard bikers move away from the incoming Genestealers.
The Wolf Guard prime their guns back at the horde and fire a devastating volley on the Genestealers.
Their advance is not stopped however, their uncountable numbers across the field. The Space Wolves Long Fangs heavy fire stream across the battlefield and seriously wound the Tyranofex while Grey hunters attempt to thin the approaching horde.
Round 2 - Tyranid Invading Horde
The manned walls prove hard to climb but the unbidden Genestealers charge across the open left flank field towards a breach on the back wall.
In the distance a Tervigon bolsters the fallen Hormagaunts to full strenght, making little work of the Space Wolf fusillade.
The ground trembles and ferrocrete cracks open as a Malwoc emerges amidst the wall defenders.
The Mawloc spreads havoc amongst the grey hunters atop the battlements and starts to open gaps on their defenses.
The beast's presence is felt across the entire space wolf defense line.
Inside the courtyard a Ravener brood sprouts from the ground, protected by mythic spores launched over the wall, they aim their devourers at a unit of Wulfen in reserves behind the wall.
Ample servings of Mjød keep the Space Wolves fighting spirits up!
Hormagaunts and Ripper Swarms quickly make it across the earthworks and reach the wall breach!
They charge towards the Blood Claws howling in defiance within the craters.
A large Carnifex armed with Devourers claims a heavy toll on the defenders across the wall.
The Swarm approaches.
There will be no space to run from the devouring swarm.
A curious construct is inconspicuously hidden in the swarm...
Behind the Carnifexes a single Cult Magos follows in behind the Swarm.
The Hive Guard's Impaler cannons kill Long Fangs in range and the Tyranids assault is ready to begin.
Genestealers and Gaunts climb up the walls in any available space with help from the Mawloc.
All across the wall the Grey Hunter's guns are dropped in favor of knifes and chainswords roaring for their deadly fight.
The high wall holds most of the horde at bay, however.
Franctic fighting takes place at the breaches as the Hormagaunts leap over the edge and into the Blood Claws.
The whole frontlines becomes a whirling melee of armor and chainswords against cthin plating and claws.
Round 2 - Besieged Space Wolves
A second veteran witnesses the death of their packmates and takes on the Lone Wolf vow.
Having cleared a path from the Hormagaunts, the few remaining Blood claws prepare to charge out and pay their due to the Allfather.
Long Fangs prime their guns against the oncoming horde despite their fallen, impaled brethren all around them.
Atop the Bastion the Lascannon long-fangs pick their targets from the mass of incoming enemies, scoring heavy losses on the Tervigon.
The Wolf Guard Bikers see a gap in the enemy formation and drive deep within their lines aiming at taking down the menacing Zoanthropes.
The reserve Thunderwolf Cavalry prepares to counter-charge the invaders and prevent them from reaching the courtyard.
The massive wolves tower over the diminutive Gaunts.
The Wulfen Pack charges up the broken bunker and engage the Mawloc in melee.
The Murderfang is unleashed out of the wall to stem the tide.
The wall holds. The Whirlwind artillery at the back makes short work of the Raveners who had infiltrated the facility.
The left flank is still threatened by the Genestealers.
The fighting is fierce as the savagery of the Vlka Fenryka clashes with the hungering rage of the hive mind.
The Thunderwolf Cavalry clashes against the incoming hulking Carnifexes.
The Space Wolves charge out of the walls.
The Wulfen ferociously fight the Mawloc.
The fighting is thick and the Wulfen fail to kill the beast, taking heavy losses in return.
The Thunderwolves kill one of the Carnifexes and start to fold the Tyranid line.
Round 3 - Tyranid Invading Horde
The Tyranids are bolstered with a reinforcement wave. Every casualty taken by the Tyranids makes it back, mocking the defenses effort and shifting the balance to their advantage.
With the fighting now outside of the walls these will engage in battle much sooner.
The Space Wolves line is spent, the Bloodclaws are no more, save for a few Lone Wolves. The Grey Hunters are silenced and the only defenses capable of firing back at the horde are on the central Bastion.
The Magus charges in with their prole against the remaining Blood Claws outside.
Murderfang and the Thunderwolves are all that stands between the horde and the courtyard.
The Genestealers clear out the remaining Blood Claws on the left flank and are ready to invade.
They approach loping over the dead defenders in the crater.
The walls manage to hold off most of the gaunt horde, but the Mawloc and genestealers are clearing up the defenders with ease.
The way is open!
Swooping down from the skies, the massive shadow of a Hive Tyrant comes down to silence the Space Wolf artillery uncontested.
Out from the shadows, the Deathleaper is seen within the walls.
The hulking shape of the Brood Lord overshadows the Wolf Guard bikers.
The fearsome beast delivers a heavy toll on the Wolf Guard squad, killing most of them in a furious blow.
The Mawloc is finally taken down in the melee against the Wulfen, but has claimed it's toll and overcome the wall.
Murderfang is engaged with the Warrior brood and clears a path to the second wave.
Round 3 - Besieged Space Wolves
With the walls lost to the melee the Bastion holds the last defenses. Their fire wounds the newly arriving Tyrannofex but fails to kill it.
The Wulfen fight the Genestealers atop of the broken bunker.
Murderfang engages the Trygon in combat deep within the enemy second wave.
The Warriors and Carnifex trade wounds, but the Magos is killed and all forces converge on the beast.
The Wolf Command converges and engages the Deathleper, killing the beast.
Round 4 - Tyranid Invading Horde
Fresh reinforcements arrive to the battle, surrounding the Murderfang with malicious intent.
The ancient machine stands proud against the enemy waves.
A horde of hungry Gaunts sarms towards the Thunderwolf Cavalry.
The second wave of the Tyranids is fresh and contrasts against the wounded and spent remnants of the defending force.
From the underground tunnels of the fortress a group of Cultists emerge to disrupt and sabotage the base's defenses.
Genestealers close the distance to the Bastion, seeking to remain out of their line of fire.
Protected from fire they are fresh to climb the walls and kill the Wolves within.
A second Mawloc emerges in the courtyard, dealing mortal wounds to the Space wolves Command.
The Broodlord advanced across the battlefield to end the Wulfen atop the broken bunker.
The battle rages on, with clear paths to the inside of the walls now open for the Tyranids to exploit.
A second group of Raveners emerges within the Bastion behind the defenders.
They charge the closest Long Fang squad that is forced to drop their heavy weapons and fight in melee.
Wounded, the Command Squad converges and heroically intervene against the Mawloc making short work of the Tyranid beast.
Round 4 - Besieged Space Wolves
The Thunderwolf cavalry holds their ground against the Carnifexes but starts to get swarmed by the reinforcements.
The Rune Priest, Wolf Lord and Wolf Guard jump pack into the Bastion to fight-off the Raveners.
The Wolf Banner stands tall as the last of the space wolf defenders hold the Bastion clear!
With no space to run the Whirlwind attempts in vain to fight off the Hive Tyrant, buying time for their brethren.
Round 5 - Tyranid Invading Horde
Termagants swarm the Thunderwolf Cavalry.
The Deathleper, presumed dead, re-emerges on the melee in front of the walls.
Murderfand is now focused by the third wave of reinforcements.
The Brood Lord and Genestealers prepare for their final assault on the Bastion.
The Genestealers and their Broodlord engage the Long Fangs and the Space Wolves command forces.
With powerful artifacts such as the Armor of Russ and the Wulfen Stone the Space Wolf commanders are able to dispatch the lethal Broodlord with their concentrated fury.
The Hive Tyrant finally dispatches one of the Whirlwinds and now focuses on the last one.
Round 5 - Besieged Space Wolves
The defenders take this opportunity to turn their Lascannons against the Tyrant, blasting huge chunks of it's torso with concentrated las beams.
Following their cue a single Lone-wolf with a combi-melta sneaks in behind the beast and scores the lethal blow, taking it down from the air and ending its terrorizing attack.
However, Genestealers are swarming the bastion and killing the Long Fangs on the second balcony.
Even with the intervention of the Command Squad, the Genestealers manage to wipe out the Long Fangs on the balcony and stand their ground atop the Bastion.
Round 5 - Tyranid Invading Horde
We roll the dice and the game ends in round 5. A Minor Victory for the Genestealers.
- Early game Memorable Moment: At the second Tyranid turn, once the Gaunts where in range of their weapons, the devastating firepower of mere gaunts even against marines in cover was devastating. Three squads where almost wiped out if not for their veterans and sergeants who then all became lone wolves.
- Late-game Memorable Moment: The melee across the battlefield with the Carnifexes and Thudnerwolves as well as the Tervigon and Murderfang was the most enjoyable and memorable of the battles. The sheer inevitability of the death of the Space Wolves units made every round they survived an epic moment.
- Space Wolf MvP: The Lascannon and Missile Launcher long-fangs with their Terminator Wolf Guard leaders was capable of both dishing out damage and taking in their share of it. They kept the menacing Tyrannofexes at bay (since they had to come back from reinforcements with the -1 penalty to shoot after moving) every single time it popped it's head out.
- Tyranid MvP: The Broodlord was a beast, moving, charging and killing the entire Wolf Guard Biker squad, then the remaining Wulfen and then reaching the Bastion in time to save the Genestealers from the fury of the Space Wolf heroes. If not for the Armor of Russ forcing it to fight last, it would have probably killed a hero or two on top of that.
Final words
Playing a battle of this magnitude is a major endeavor and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to do so against my great friend Vitor and his beautiful Tyranid force. It takes a lot of time to amass the figure count and assemble all the scenery, not to mention dropping any resemblance of competitiveness and just enjoy the game for what it was: A hopeless last stand against the Tyranid swarm. If you have the opportunity to pull something like this, do not let it pass.
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