Crusade Battle Report - Tyranids vs Genestealer Cult

Hello!

Back on the Grim Dice Crusade, the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Goliath were 2-2 going into the 75 Power round and finally had moved from Invasion to the Predation stage of the attack. This time it was going to be against Conner (who I've played a couple of times before) and his Genestealer Cult - clearly during our invasion the Cult had been taking control of the planet from within, and now they are met with their 'saviours' and find them somewhat... hungrier than expected.

As mentioned last time, the Tyranids are running as Behemoth and using the following list:

HQ: Tervigon (Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Onslaught, Massive Scything Talons, The Maw-Claws of Thyrax), Tyranid Prime (Adrenal Glands, Flesh Hooks, Barbed Strangler, Lash Whip and Bonesword, Direct Guidance)

Troops: 10 Gargoyles, 20 Termagants (Devourers), 30 Termagants, 3 Tyranid Warriors (Adrenal Glands, Boneswords, 2 Deathspitters, Venom Cannon), 6 Tyranid Warriors (Adrenal Glands, Scything Talons, 4 Deathspitters, 2 Venom Cannons)

Heavy Support: 2x Carnifex (Adrenal Glands, Enhanced Senses, Heavy Venom Cannon, Spore Cysts, Thresher Scythe, Talons)

Flyer: Hive Crone (Voracious Ammunition)

The Genestealer Cult were Impassioned and had an Industrial Affinity, were running a mix of assorted Hybrid units, a gaggle of supporting characters, a unit of Ridgerunners, a beefy Abominant, a powerful Magus and a couple of Aberrant units in Rockgrinders. 

Deployment - as usual against the cults there wasn't much to look at on the other side of the board! The mission was Icons of Domination from Wars of Faith - there's five objectives that can be turned into Icons with an actions, you get points for having active Icons and for having them at the end of the game. For my Agendas I took the classic Hunt and Slay (the targeted units would be the Aberrants, the Ridgerunners and a couple of characters), Priority Target and good old Reaper.

I won the roll for first turn (I think that's every time in this league so far?) and after much thought I opted to let the GSC go first - I couldn't decide what to do against a load of blips!

First turn then, and Conner's Cult rolled out to plant Icons on their closest two objectives. They lined up a bunch of shots on the Hive Crone, damaging it but not destroying. A further volley of fire was avoided due to range - as it turned out the gamble to go second had paid off.

Turn one for the Nids, and the swarm surged forward! Termagants set to setting up Icons, while the big bugs aimed their weapons at some heavy targets. One of the Carnifexes, 'Bunny', blasted a Rockgrinder to bits, while the Crone that flew over their heads took out a few of them with Stinger Salvo and Drool Cannon. A good start for the Nids.

The cult counter attacked by lining up charges into my lines and shots onto the Hive Crone. The mining lasers did for the flyer but small arms was fairly ineffective against the pile of 'gants. Then the Aberrants and remaining Rockgrinder went wheeling in.

Some damage done but the Tervigon proved tough enough to shrug most of the Aberrant's hammer blows, killing a couple in return.

Tyranid counter-counter attack - the left flank surged forward to kill off a couple of the Ridgerunners and dakka away some Neophytes, while on the right the Termagants got out of the way so 'Unicorn' the Carnifex could deal with the Rockgrinder. The Tervigon finished off the Abberant unit, though the remnants of the other were lining themselves up to finish the job. At the end of turn two both sides controlled two Icons so scores were level.

Cult reinforcements arrives behind the Tyranid lines, packing a whole load of hand flamers. Their target priority was a bit conflicted however due to not wanting to deny charges so the Termagants got away with it somewhat.

Charges all over the shop saw the Tervigon and 'Unicorn' fall - though not before the Carnifex took out most of the Acolytes that faced it. The Termagants took heavy casualties across the board but none of the units were destroyed.

The Tyranids lost a bunch of heavy hitters, but the bugs on the ground were still active. The smaller warrior brood moved up to plant an Icon on the middle objective, while the larger brood split fire and charged to remove all the remnant hybrid units on my right flank. The last Carnifex charged the Abominant, but both whiffed their attacks. Still even on points but now the Nids controlled more ground so would be in line for more end game points.

Going into turn four and the Cult were running out of units - pretty much just characters and a few Neophytes here and there. The last 'fex fell but they were unable to claim the centre or do much else.

In the last couple of turns the Warriors finished off the Cult resistance - leaving just a couple of back field characters to flee the world, and spread the word of their cult to another one, starting the whole cycle again.

In the end though the scores were close the Tyranids pulled off a fairly decisive victory, achieving plenty of agendas and getting lots of XP. This was a real fun game, with a lot of back and forth melee action. The added narrative of the Nids coming to the planet due to the call of the cult was a nice little extra bit of spice to the mix. With all the hand flamers and heavy stubbers, I was expecting to lose a lot more little bugs, but as it happened all of my monsters were killed while the other units all survived! Luckily no battle scars however. 

After that success, four of my units reached Blooded rank - the devourer Termagants, the big Warrior blob and both Carnifexes. 'Gants and one 'Fex got ignore light cover and melee hit modifiers, while the other 'Fex became an Onslaught Killer, gaining +1 to hit on the charge. The Warriors developed a psychic shadow, making them essentially immune to enemy psychic powers. In addition the Hive Fleet accrued enough Biomass and Crushed Resistance to move straight through the Predation step and into the Consumption phase. Sadly I can't change the list until after the next game so I have nothing that can benefit from those rules yet. I might skip the Tyranid agenda next game or two so that I can have an excuse to field the Haruspex in the next round!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading. Stay safe!