My good friend Sean invited me over to his house to play a match of 40k in advance of a local event we are taking part of. I was so happy because its been ages since I last had an opportunity to play and it was about time to finally unleash my Tyranids at a proper game of 40k.
The battlefield was set in an active warzone, backwater imperial city where the populate was on the final stages of a complete demonic incursion when a Nexus Spore of Hive Fleet Kephera exploded in the sector.
The Mission we drew was a search and destroy deployment, with a scorched earth primary and hidden supplies, making the no-man's land really valuable in this battle!
In the desolate, war-torn capital city of Parthon Prime the throes of a demonic incursion was underway when a Nexus Spore from Hive Fleet Khepera detonates, introducing a new cataclysm.
As the Great Devourer collides with the forces of Chaos, the battlefield becomes a crucible that will test the dominance of shadow over pandemonium. The Tyranids launch an aggressive onslaught against the cunning Daemons, a burning stage for the clash of cosmic predators.
The Tyranid deployment was really aggressive
Daemons deployed more tactically, with a large contingent help in the warp to materialize in the battle later.
The Skullcannon was safe at the edge of their deployment as the Tyranids were mainly comprised of melee threats.
The two large beasts flanked the sea of Gaunts, this army represented a Synaptic Nexus, meaning that the Norn Emissary was a threat to content with, lashing out with the power of the Hive mind directly linked though its mind.
The start of the battle had the Daemon Prince of Khorne, wielding A’rgath, the King of Blades, obliterate a brood of Leapers who had infiltrated the eastern ruins.
It was quickly followed and gutted by the Norn Assimilator, who's fearsome psychic tendrils impaled the daemon with a neurolance before it slashed it to pieces.
As I tore through the Leapers with A’rgath, each swing was a masterpiece of carnage, the blood and screams a tribute to Khorne. Feeling the material realm around me, every slice, every life taken, was a surge of elation, a reminder of my eternal war. But then, that aberration, the Norn Assimilator, dared to challenge me. Its psychic assault was a cold void against my inferno, an affront to my dominion. I, who ascended amidst the glorious downfall of empires to chaos, found myself face to face with a foe that mocked the very essence of my power. It wasn't just a battle; it was a denial of my conquest, my right. To be overpowered, outmatched by such a creature... it was a theft of my glory, a moment stolen by the cold embrace of the void, leaving my triumphs in the shadow of its monstrous intellect. The glory that was mine by right, usurped by an entity devoid of blood to spill or souls to claim.
On the western flank, another brood of Leapers charged out of their ambush spot and clashed against a unit of Horrors, tearing their bright orange shapes into lesser forms, quickly getting surrounded by the smaller horrors who spawned out of every defeated foe.
In another grueling melee, the Screamer-Killer carnifex bulldozed its way towards a Nurgle Daemon Prince, who's unholy vigour protected against even the beasts gigantic talons. They would be locked in combat for a long time as neither could overcome the other defenses easily!
Safetly in the back, the Neurotyrant bode its time, enforcing the backfield was covered by its neurogaunt brood and covered by its Psychostatic Disruption so no daemons would manifest there.
As a counter to the Norn Emissary the Skulltaker materialized out of the warp with a full compliment of enraged bloodletters as if to avenge their khornate daemon prince.
The Skullcannon barreled forth towards the center to attempt to hold back the advancing tide of cthin and claws.
The Norn Assimilator could sense the murderous power of the khorne daemons and fell back to fulfill its singular purpose of holding the eastern center location. With the hive mind channeling its sole purpose to that end, it would be nigh impossible to reclaim that section of the battlefield from its grasp. The Skullcannon would be its next victim.
A brood of rippers unburrowed itself at the enemy backlines to engage on all fronts...
... but no sooner they did a beast of Nurgle happily made its way towards what it deemed as playful little pets to be cuddled.
The center of the battlefield had seen the apparition of the Changeling, a legendary daemon of mischief that thwarted the minds and perceptions of the Synaptic creatures at the heart of the battle. It would be a swarm of fangs and teeth that would have to unmake the trickster, but the warp surged it with vitality and it would elude this trap.
Darting through the warp, I find myself amidst the chitin-clad creatures, their bodies a canvas for my fiery art. "A bit of flame here, a twist there," I chuckle, mutating them with glee. The warp whispers, and I'm elsewhere, claiming the heart of battle as my own. "Try me," I dare the mind-bound hunters, their efforts to strike as fleeting as shadows against my mischief. Their confusion is my masterpiece, a symphony of bewilderment. Yet, as the end looms with a scream meant to unmake me, I merely smirk. "All part of the Great Plan," I muse, fading into the ether. What delight, to play my part in Tzeentch's grand design, where even a fall is but a step on an endless path of renewal.
Knowing that the Assimilator would not be an easy prey at its singular purpose location, Skulltaker and his followers traversed the realms of chaos to reappear at their backline.
They managed to charge out of the ruins and obliterate a termagant brood that had fallen back from fighting the Skull Cannon and were skulking towards the heart of the daemonic incursion.
All this while the melee between the horrors and the leapers had been a furious stalemate, with a constant slashing of foes that seemed to multiply at every fatal blow...
In the end, Skulltaker had to make a gambit for the center of the battlefield, and despite his heroic final stand the shadow in the warp cast by the hive mind had been too powerful. With a tempestuous maelstrom of warp energy every daemon on the battlefield was undone as the synaptic nexus achieved its overarching goal. Another planet was not poised to be consumed by the Tyranids, and the primordial annihilator was forced to concede this battlefield to the hungering menace beyond the void.
Alone amidst the carnage, with my bloodletter brethren undone by the alien tempest, a surge of fury propelled me forward. The battlefield, a testament to failure and defiance, was mine to claim. As I cleaved through the Neurotyrant, its skull a trophy for my undying wrath, a bitter pride swelled within me. I stood where others could not, a beacon of Khorne’s might in a sea of weakness. Yet, this triumph was but a prelude to the true test. The Norn Assimilator, its presence a challenge to my conquest, faced me in battle. In the clash of wills, where it sought to deny me my bloodied glory, I emerged unscathed, a testament to my indomitable spirit. Even as victory slipped from our grasp, the satisfaction of survival, of proving my supremacy where the wielder of A’rgath had fallen, was a fierce joy. This battle, though lost, was marked by the triumph of my blade, a beacon of defiance in the endless war that rages in the name of the Blood God.
Final score was 69 to 61 on this 1250pts battle. A close game and a pyrrhic victory for Hive Fleet Khepera as the defeated Daemons provide no Biomass... but they may as well have secured a whole planet, already despoiled and ripe for consumption.
Comments