Kaiju Swarm vs Blood Angels

It was time to try a Kaiju Tyranid army. Matt was kind enough to brave the unknown and brought his Blood Angels to the party. 2,000 points per side; Big Guns Never Tire was the mission, and I went first.

I had a whopping 22 models, it may have been the first time Matt's marines outnumbered his opponent.

Kaiju Swarm Alpha

Hive Tyrant with wings, Heavy venom Cannon and twin-linked Devourers

Old One Eye 

Haruspex

Three broods of 4 Warriors  

2x Harpies

Two broods of 2 Carnifex(es) or is it Carnifexi?    

Tyrannofex                                  

Not many models, but a whole lot of wounds and toughness 6 creatures. The Blood Angels would be in for a rough time. A little bit over 25% of Matt's points was waiting in reserve, a risky gamble. 

As could be expected my first turn was mostly spent running, but a Harpy did take out the Baal Predator with its Heavy Venom Cannon. A few Tactical Marines were picked off by the Hive Tyrant, and that was it. I had a Carnifex shot up real bad and a few wounds spread out among the beasts. 

Turn Two got the monsters in real close, a few units didn't need to run and shot up the Marine's line a bit more. Tragically for Matt, his Stormraven loaded with Terminators and a Furioso Dreadnought didn't make it on the table this turn. I lost a pair of Carnifex and some Warriors to shooting attacks.

Turn Three went quite well for the Great Devourer. A few wounds from overwatch did not halt the onslaught.                                  

  Old One Eye turned a Land Raider into a smoking crater, the Land Raider Crusader was beaten into junk and a lot of assault marines were lunch for the Haurspex. The rest of the Tactical Marines were felled by the Hive Tyrant and Harpies. The Stormraven arrived and unloaded its deadly passengers.

The Haruspex did meet its end by a really angry Chaplain with a power fist and one wound left, and the Tyrannofex was gutted but the Furioso's Blood Talons. One Harpy took four wounds from the newly arrived Terminator squad. As impressive as the last minute heroics were, it was not enough. At the end of turn four only the Chaplain and a lone Terminator remained for the Blood Angels.  Tyranids 8, Blood Angels 3.

A good game that would have been much closer if not for a few rolls. But that is why we play the game.

6th edition Tyranids do seem to favor the Kaiju style armies so far. I am going to try a list that is mostly little fellows and 'stealers and see how that fares. The unpredictable nature of what kind of Tyranid list you will be facing gives a edge to the 'Nids by complicating army creation for their opponent. It will be fun to see this play out in the games ahead.

Feed the Hive Mind!

Must be Blood!