Battle at Endgame

Finally took my space marines out in public!

Endgame in Oakland, Tuesday night, Space Marines vs. Tyranids:

I was a bit nervous, as it was my first foray out onto the public tabletops of an unfamiliar game store, as well as my first face off with Tyranids.  I was, however, heartened by my opponents reaction to the unboxing of my army:  "Thats a lot of vehicles...and lascannons."

It turns out I had inadvertently designed the perfect army to face-off against his horde.

My Army:

Dark Angels (using 5th Ed. Marine Codex)

HQ
--Librarian (Null Zone; Force Dome)

Elite
--5x Sternguard in HB Razorback (Sarge with powerfist and combi-flamer; 1x combi-flamer; 3x combi-melta)

Troops
--10x Tac Marines in Rhino (Sarge with powerfist and combi-flamer; meltagun; Lascannon) 

--10x Tac Marines in Rhino  (Sarge with powerfist and combi-flamer; meltagun; Lascannon)
--10x Tac Marines in Rhino (Sarge with powerfist and combi-flamer; Flamer; Missile Launcher) 

Fast
--6x Bikes (Sarge with combi-melta; 2x melta)

Heavy
--2x Predators (Autocannon turret, lascannon sponsons)

His Army-more or less, I'm no xenobiologist...:

Tyranids

HQ
--Hive Tyrant with body guard guys

--Tervigon

Elite
--3x Zoanthropes

--2x Venomthropes

Troops
--3 or 4 squads of Termagaunts

Heavy
--2x Carnifex

--Trygon

Setup: 1500 points.  Capture and Control, Spearhead.  Objectives placed in opposite corners.  Opponent won initiative    

           and decided to move first.

(Not going to do a turn-by-turn deal here, since I really can't remember the details)

I spread my army out in front of the objective, on the left hand quadrant closest to me, with predators atop two small hills, one squad of troops on the objective, one placed between the two predators, and one following my razorback (with sternguards and librarian) toward the right side of the board.  Bikes started near the top left.

I immediately raced the bikes toward his table edge (top-left) in an attempt to flank, and sent the rhino and razor back to the right in the hope that I would be able to either draw some of his army away, and eventually seize his objective.  Shot a few lascannon blasts from across the board and I wounded a carnifex and took out a hive tyrant guard.

He ran everything, except the one squad he planted on his objective.

'Nids are pretty quick, so my bikes ended up forming a gun-line at the top of the board, between a hill and the table edge, where they mowed down a squad and a half of charging termagaunts.  Unfortunately the tervigon was right behind them, and kept excreting gaunts as fast as I could kill them.  The bikes were soon overrun, and lost combat.  I decided to fail the morale check and sent them charging back to my table edge.

Meanwhile, the hive tyrant, his guard and a carnifex, were getting dangerously close to my razorback and rhino.  I chose to disembark and make a stand.  A carnifex, hive tyrant (and his guards), and a venomthrope charged toward the sternguard, tac squad, and a nearby predator.  I shot everything and put a bunch of wounds on the carnifex, killed off the tyrant guard, and wounded the tyrant.  He assaulted my predator with a carnifex, eventually killing it, and my tac squad with his hive tyrant, while the venomthrope hung back.  Long story short, the tac squad was raped, although the power fist sarge did some damage, but as soon as everyone was out of close combat, my razorback and sternguards mowed down both the tyrant and the carnifex, and shortly thereafter the venomthrope.  Hellfire rounds are tits against Tyranids.

Meanwhile, near my objective and the fleeing bikes, his Trygon popped out of the ground.  Bikes melta'd and wounded him once before he charged them and wiped them off the board.  The Marines near my objective, and the other predator opened fire on that frightening motherfucker.  Two turns later he was nothing but a bad memory.  Unfortunately a pack of termagaunts and three zoanthropes were coming fast down the middle.  The Zoanthropes went for the squad of marines I had placed between the two predators, and took them out pretty effectively with their powers, but the sarge survived, charged them, killing one (and tying them up for a turn) before he died.  As the end of the game neared they were too far away from the objective to make it in time.  My predator sniped a second one away, and the last could only watch the carnage that was occurring at the objective.

I moved a rhino so that the 'nids had to squeeze through a narrow gap to reach my objective, and the marines that were guarding it spread out.  four squads of termagaunts made it to the rhino but were bottlenecked.  Two made it in and assaulted, one after the other: the first was wiped out, and the second was sent fleeing in turn six.   

At the same time my sternguards and and razorback charged toward his objective, and although they couldn't make it there by the end of the game, did manage to kill enough of the gaunts guarding it that they fled off the board...

The game ended after turn six, leaving me controlling one objective, and him none.

Victory for the Imperium!  The filthy xenos were stomped into the dirt under the adamantine, power-armored, feet of the Dark Angels.  The only trace of their passing, a blackened filthy stain, faded quickly into the earth.  

Praise the God-Emperor!