The Great Devourer Takes On The Mighty Valhallans

So, I get together with Matt at our local GW for a campaign game tonight. We decided to play a 2k game. This was the first time I ever battled against Matt. I have been playing pretty much the same list throughout the campaign.

HQ
- DakkaTyrant (2 Twin-Linked Devourers) with Toxin Sacs,
   Enhanced Senses, Warp Field
- 2 Tyrant Guard with Lash Whips
- Brood Lord with Flesh Hooks, Feeder Tendrils,
   Extended Carapace
- 8 Genestealer Retinue with Extended Carapace and
   Flesh Hooks

Elites
- 4 Warriors with Extended Carapace, Toxin Sacs,
   Deathspitters
- Boomfex (Barbed Strangler and Scything Talons)
- Dakkafex (2 Twin-Linked Devourers) with Enhanced Senses

Troops
- 8 Genestealers with Extended Carapace, Flesh Hooks,
   Scuttlers (let's me outflank)
- 8 Genestealers with Extended Carapace, Feeder Tendrils
- 8 Genestealers with Extended Carapace, Feeder Tendrils
- 8 Termagants (fleshborers) Without Number
- 8 Spinegaunts (spinefists) Without Number

Heavy Support
- 2 Zoanthropes with Warp Blast, Synapse
- 2 Gunfexes (Barbed Strangler, Venom Cannon)with
   Enhanced Senses and Reinforced Chitin (+1 wound)

All together this comes out to 1997 points.

Anyway, back to tonight's game... Matt put his list together at the store... quite nasty. He had ran his standard requirements then added in a psyker battle squad in a chimera, his Command unit was in a chimera, a big ol unit of guardsmen along with mortars, autocannons, and some heavy weapons squads with lascannons, heavy bolters, and missile launchers, 2 hellhounds, a griffon, and 2 medusas, and a partridge in a pear tree. Talk about tank shock lol

So we rolled for deployment and mission and of course wouldn't you know it... Annihilation! Geee my favorite lol. And Dawn Of War for deployment. So matt won the roll for deployment as he had a power station that gave him a plus to his rolls. So he deployed first, then me. Only 1 HQ and 2 troops... not much. But luck was with me yet again and i managed to seize the initiative!!

So I moved my other units onto the table then moved the units I had deployed, opened fire on the 2 chimeras and managed to immobilize them. Mat deployed the rest of his army and the battle was on!

His medusas were pretty accurate and took out some stuff, his ratling snipers tried to get a good firepoint but the brood lord and his buddies crashed the party and took them all out! Slicey dicey! Matt returned fire and destroyed more of the xenos menace including the tyrant and his guard... damned hellhounds... nasty nasty.

My fexes kept pounding away at the chimera and when Matt's Valkerie came on the board and dropped out its cargo of veterans, one of my gunfexes tried to take it down; scattering horribly into my sealers trying to get into charge range with the new item on today's menu. 2 stealers were taken out by the barbed strangler and the rest panicked and ran off the board... giving matt a free kill point!

As more and more combat went down, matt was ahead by a few kill points but i was catching up, having assaulted his heavy weapons teams with the brood lord and his retinue. Alas the stealers bit it and just left the lord out alone. My scuttling stealers came in and decimated the heavy bolter squad on the other side of the board but on Matt's turn his Penal troopers finally arrived and between them and the hellhounds took out all but 3 stealers. Then they charged into my stealers losing a few and getting locked in for a few turns. Meanwhile my dakkafex wrecked one of his chimeras and out popped the squad riding inside! So my warriors fired their deathspitters, killing all but the lieutenant from the squad. That lucky guy lived to tell the tale by hiding behind the Chimera pillbox in the middle of the board the last couple turns!

My brood lord assaulted the command chimera and immobilized it! The squad inside, quivered with fear as the creature kept assaulting their transport. The commander inside must have radioed an order for all all units to open fire on his assailant because that's what happened! Almost the whole army tried to kill my brood lord and only gave him 2 wounds! He was still alive at the end of the game with one wound remaining!

Once all the smoke, ichor and lasgun fire cleared, Matt's Valhallan regiment managed to kill off just one more unit than my nids... the unit my fex accidentally destroyed. So instead of a draw, like I should have gotten, the Valhallans were victorious and Hive Fleet Juggernaut retreated... for now. Matt and his Valhallans conquered yet another tile, claiming the Shield Generator in the southeast that was unowned. This brings Matt up to SIX TILES!! Definitely at the top of the heap for the campaign. CONGRATS MATT and GREAT GAME!! I had a blast!

...Next time we play I think I'll try a Nuke Choir list and see how it does instead.

Oh and this just in... It appears that Dom and his dice finally made up last night after I left. The Battle Of The Ancients ended in a six turn draw! So no conquests for the Necrons or Mike's Eldar! More to come tomorrow and the next Official Imperial Communique for the campaign!

Here's the latest Campaign Map:

Only 3 unowned tiles left!


Til next time,
Steevo