Monday 22 September 2014

Photo Post: I Hate Bugs! (Blood Angels vs Tyranids)

I recently had the opportunity to play a game of 40k on Games Workshop's new Sector Imperialis gaming table at our local GW and snapped a few pics as the action unfolded between two work-in-progress armies myself and a friend are painting up at the moment. We were on a mission to "out collect" each other and have finally stopped at around 1750pts to let the painting catch up! My jump infantry Blood Angels have finally caught up to the 2009 tank craze, and my opponent has been madly painting up bugs large and small for his new-to-7th-Edition army. Fast tanks and fast bugs always make for a fun game, and this was no exception. As always you can click on the picture for a larger version.

The Tyranids started the game holding three objectives in the Tactical Escalation mission we were playing.

The light vehicle hunting Tyrannofex (far left) was a new addition to the Tyranids.

Playing the length of the table limited the opportunity to use scout moves with the Baal Predators.

The Attack Bike (mid right) is my latest painting project, and also helps to quickly score Objectives.

Tyranids surge forward on their Turn 1.

A wall of flame from the triple template Furioso Dreadnought engulfs the smaller bugs.

Turn 2 sees the arrival of the flying Hive Tyrant and burrowing Mawloc.


Although the Dreadnought survived Hammer of Wrath hits, it was no match for two Carnifexes!

The combination of the Rechlusiarch, Radiation Grenades, and Furious Charge was too much for the Mawloc.

The "Dominate" Psychic Power from the Furioso Librarian kept the Carnifexes stuck in the middle of the board.

The Baal made a quick dash to the centre of the board but failed to remove the last wound from the Carnifex

Meanwhile the combined firepower of over half the Blood Angels downed the Hive Tyrant on the Objective.

The poorly positioned scouts (no Objective!) failed miserably to wound anything all game.

At the end of Turn 5 the Tyranids were up by over 6 Victory Points and the game was called.

All of the Blood Angels mobility was destroyed or on the wrong side of the board for Objectives.

Overall a great game, and excellent use of 7th Edition Tactical Objectives and Psychic Powers really kept the game in the balance right until the end. Hats of to the bugs for distracting the Blood Angels long enough to grab all the Objectives right from under their noses! Most telling was the use of the new Tyrannofex's Strength 10 gun causing Instant Death to the newly painted Attack Bike, preventing it seizing a critical Objective. It's always fun when the model you've just painted plays a critical role in the game!

On a final note, the new gaming surface looks amazing but is terrible to roll on with next to no flat surfaces, so I would definitely get the "normal" board for my own gaming needs, if not make my own for less coin but a lot more mess...

3 comments:

  1. These armies look fantastic clashing against each other. I don't think you could have picked any better opposing color schemes!

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    1. Couldn't agree more. These pics are a wonderful example of what my latest article on my blog was about:

      http://sableandspray.blogspot.ca/2014/09/painted-vs-unpainted-why-even-bother.html?showComment=1411496995299#c6643662161133394093

      Sorry if anyone sees this as highjacking the topic. The topic of painted armies has been on my mind lately, and your pics really resonated with me.

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    2. Kelly, no hijack, it's all in the same spirit certainly. I do agree that painted models are at least 50% of the fun in playing the game, though I found Warmachine quite chess-like so I would understand why a more competitive player didn't want to bother painting the models.

      Greg I couldn't picture the whole army when only one Carnifex was painting but it's starting to look quite amazing on the table. Now I need to lift my game on the Blood Angels!

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