Tigger Visits the Big Apple: 19 Nov 2011 (Intro)

It has been some months since I last played Warhammer 40K.  In large part, that’s because much of my gaming time this year (2011) has been spent playing the following miniatures wargame:

 

That’s only partly tongue-in-cheek, as of course D&D in all its incarnations has always been somewhat “wargamey”, and the current two editions (Pathfinder and 4e) are both particularly well adapted to widespread use of miniatures.

Tigger Visits the Big Apple: 19 Nov 2011 (Part I)

Opponent: Kenton’s Kurindans (Tyranids proxy).  In the past, Kenton’s Kurindans have been filled with many more ‘fluffy’ units, such as Genestealers, Ravagers, Hive Tyrants, Carnifexes, etc.  However, today he was fielding a stripped-down ‘nasty’ Tyranid list, heavy on Tervigons and Termagants and lean-and-mean on ranged shooting and support units (like Warriors).  This is without a doubt one of the better all-comer Nid lists, particularly when playing objective missions.

Kurindans Army (1500 pts Tyranid proxy list)

• HQ: Prime with Rending
• Elite: 2x3 Hive Guard
• Elite: 2x Venomthropes
• HQ/Troop: 3x Tervigon with Catalyst
• Troop: 2x10 Termagants
• Troop: x4,x5 Warriors with Deathspitters and 1x Venom Cannon

Mission: Seize Ground/Pitched Battle.  In this match-up, we randomly generated three objectives, with me placing two, and Kenton placing one.

Terrain: Ruined cityscape with wide avenues, plenty of overgrowth and low ruins in the middle and right thirds of the table, and several sizable multi-story buildings blocking LOS on the left third of the table.

Tigger Visits the Big Apple: 19 Nov 2011 (Part II)

It had been a hard-fought battle, and the last ninety or so minutes had been a frantic whirlwind of activity and death.  But as Krinophora-Adelphe Jones looked upon the field, it was clear to her that the “Swinging Sisters” had won this contest.  The Kurindan position was untenable, and trying to continue the battle would only result in horrific further casualties as they rushed headlong into the superior positions held by the forces of the Blessed Emperor.  There was no shame in retreat; anything else was more than futile, it was stupidity.

And yet, Theophany realized with a cold chill, the Kurindans were not falling back.  In fact, they were rushing forward with increasing speed, and she felt a sudden dull ache in her soul.  The day was not over, and the “Swinging Sisters” were not going to avoid taking pointless, meaningless fatalities.  All for an abandoned Imperial substation on a worthless little dirtball of a planet...

When several of the Rassophora-Sisters under her command looked at her in surprise, Theophany realized she was grinding her teeth so loudly that her jaw was beginning to ache as much as her soul.  “Faith in the Emperor”, she thought to herself, and barked out the order to open fire.

Tigger Visits the Big Apple: 19 Nov 2011 (Post-Mortem)

The new Sisters have significantly fewer options than I remember from before – and don’t appear to have had many new options added in balance.  Although the “Immolator-spam” strategy they employed was largely a matter of limited options in the previous codex, and the new Sisters are back to being the mid-ranged shooting list they were in 2e and 3e, they really don’t do it particularly well.  Their Battle Sisters are basically Tac-Marine-wannabes, and have none of the real benefits of Tac squads (like the ability to Combat Squad, ATSKNF, or Toughness 4).  Although marginally fewer points, they have a minimum squad size of TEN (not five!), and their Faith ability, though versatile, is also unreliable and very limited in terms of what it can accomplish.  It does nothing, for example, to help units armed with flamers in the Shooting phase.