[batrep] Warhammer 40k - 10e Leviathan GT pack Tyranids vs T'au

Battle Report: Return to War – T’au vs. Tyranids

Leviathan GT Mission – Search and Destroy Deployment

It feels like it had been years since I last played Warhammer, and my opponent, Joe, was returning to the game after nearly two decades away. We decided on a straightforward 'Take and Hold' mission using the Leviathan GT deck, as it was on hand. With Search and Destroy deployment set, we prepared for battle.

T'au deployment with aggressive positioning as they faced very little shooting from the Tyranid side.

Tyranids deployment in hiding behind the central L-shaped ruins templates.

T'au infiltrators set-up at max possible distance on the flank.

The Tyranid Monsters would have to squeeze through a gap at the center of the obstructing ruins.

The T'au pathfinders and Devilfish hold the center of the formation with a strong Broadside support down the central fire lane.

The transport's hull thrummed beneath Shas’nel Ry’ko as the Devilfish skimmed across the scorched ruins, its engines whispering the promise of swift deployment. Through his helmet display, Ry’ko observed the enemy approach from the center: a seething tide of chitinous horrors, their ranks parted by three towering monstrosities—two lumbering juggernauts with shrieking maws and a winged terror that seemed to command the swarm with unseen will.

"All units," he relayed through the comms, his voice steady despite the tension crawling up his spine, "maintain formation. We strike with precision. For the Greater Good."

The Broadsides had pretty good coverage over the center of the battlefield. 

"Stealth Cadre 7 reporting contac—" The line went to static. His display flickered, showing heat blooms where his Stealthsuits had taken position among the ruins.

Ry’ko’s eyes narrowed. From the shadows, bladed horrors with unnerving speed had descended upon his entrenched teams. His HUD displayed the biometrics of his Stealthsuits flatlining as their forms were shredded by scything talons. "Such... savagery." he thought grimly. Even worse, the creatures surged forward, a mass of teeth and claws, toward the Fire Warriors and Kroot nestled deep in their lines.

"Kroot! Hold the line!" he barked, his voice a whip crack through the chaos. "Firewarrior reserves: employ close-quarters tactics and whittle these beasts down where they stand!" 

With a scout move and a charge, the Genestelers and the Broodlord make it to the stealthsuits and engage the Kroot at the T'au home objective.

They also engage the Firewarriors atop the ruins on consolidation due to the 5'' vertical engagement range. 

After surging forward, the Devilfish's hatches blasted open, and Ry’ko surged out with his Breachers.

"Seeker payloads! Fire on my mark!" he ordered, and streaks of death erupted from the transports and escorting Piranhas, hurtling toward one of the towering behemoths.

Pulse blasters unleashed torrents of fire. The beast’s carapace shattered where the volleys struck true, ichor spilling from its gaping wounds—yet it did not fall. It roared, a bone-shaking shriek of defiance.

Ry’ko's fists clenched. "By the Ethereals... it still stands. How can this be?" he thought, his battle doctrine wavering. They had always preached Kauyon—patience, traps, the kill at range. Why had he struck so boldly? 

Was he too eager to prove himself?

The T'au breachers make an aggressive push at the center and tag the leading Screamer Killer that survives with only 4 wounds.

A flurry of urgent comm-chatter broke through.

"Pathfinder Team 3! Multiple contacts! We’re... Etherals have mercy... what is THAT?"

The feed flickered, showing a tide of smaller beasts, their clicking mandibles and needle-like limbs closing in. A grotesque creature with writhing tendrils and a bulbous, pulsating crown seemed to drive them, an unseen pressure creeping into Ry’ko’s mind. His breaths quickened; his pulse thundered. "Shadow... in the mind... So, the tales are true."

A brilliant flash—the Pathfinders' photon grenade detonated, a sudden burst that blinded the enemy advance. Pulse fire erupted, felling dozens. But the horde... it did not stop. It could not stop. 

The screams that followed needed no translation.

A photon grenade gives the infiltrators another round to live before the horde catches up to them.

The Tyranids comit most of their forces on a denied flank.

However, the Piranhas excellent range with their Seeker missiles still enables them to engage their main targets.

The Kroot and Firewarriors stand ground and do not fall back from the Genestealers, using their pistols to whittle down the enemies while being cut down on the ongoing combat.

As a counter-surge to their defiance, the behemots strode out and screamed... a searing heat-wave preceded the bio-plasma torrent. The deaths from his Breachers filled the air before cutting to silence. As the smoke cleared, only Ry’ko remained, his armor blackened, his pulse rifle shaking from the intensity of the blasts.

Then they charged.

Two beasts, their bellowing cries like the death-knell of stars. The first bore down on him, and Ry’ko moved with the swiftness of instinct alone—duck, slide, fire. Claws tore through the air inches from his helm. His shots sparked against the monster’s armored hide, but it pressed on.

The Carnifexes move in and use their Bio-plasma to wipe the Breacher squad.

The Screamer-killer charge in the surviving Fireblade and its transport, that miraculously survives on 1 wound.

The Fireblade survives the encounter.

The horde swarms at all no-man's-land objective markers.

Missiles from his Piranha escorts screamed down, detonating against the creatures, but the wounded one toppled only after a violent spasm—its death throes hurling barbed chitin into the Devilfish's hull.

The vehicle shuddered, its grav-engines failing. Ry’ko barely had time to leap clear before it erupted into flame.

The Fireblade provides guidance to the main gunline.

The earth shook with the measured cadence of railgun fire. Thunderous impacts punched through the towering monstrosities. Both beasts collapsed, a tangle of pulverized bone and flesh.

For a heartbeat, hope flickered.

A chittering wave—those never-ending lesser creatures—rushed the Broadsides. Fresh from devouring the Pathfinders, they swarmed the battlesuits, mandibles clattering against ceramite.

The Battlesuits are engaged by a refreshed unit of Hormaganuts at turn 3.

Then... a shadow. The sky darkened.

"...Shas'nel," came a whisper through the comms. "...Above..."

It landed with a force that cracked the earth, the grotesque flying Tyrant that led the swarm came straight at him.

Ry’ko raised his rifle, his voice a growl.

"You want me, don’t you? I will not bow."

The air grew thick—the psychic pall of its will pressed into his mind. His thoughts slowed; his aim faltered. And then, agony. It was on him.

The end of turn 3 for the T'au spell doom as they cannot score primaries against the horde and are engaged on all fronts.

Silence. Smoke. Death.

Ry’ko lived.

When he awoke, he was alone. Smoke and ruin. His cadre, gone.

The monstrous shadow... gone.

But why? Why had he survived?

The Ethereals taught that there was no room for selfish pride in the Greater Good. Yet, a voice within him questioned:

"Was I spared... for a purpose? Or... was this the creature's design?"

For the first time, Shas'nel Ry’ko’va’n’shi’al’or felt something unexpected.

Doubt.

A solid victory for the hive-mind!