Tanksgiving II - The Search for More Explosions

Once again, we come upon that most somber of times - The Tanksgiving. We honor our fallen soldiers, lost in the tides of battle, mostly from las-guns and hunter-killer missiles that randomly happen to actually hit for once. And on this auspicious day, we rise from the ashes, and also drop a lot of dice on the ground and go wait, hold on, uhhh yeah that was a six, I swear.

What I'm saying is my FLGS put on a Tanksgiving II and I played. It was really fun. Here's some pictures and a writeup!

My blog started with post about the Heirophant I put together after last years Tanksgiving! So I guess a happy conceptual one-year anniversary too. In that time I've seen very little to no algorithmic growth, which is amazing. Thanks goes out to my readers for that.

Anyway, I'm gonna write up a battle report and pepper in cool pictures of the event. IF YOU ARE IN A PHOTO AND WANT TO BE REMOVED, please contact me and I'll take it down, no questions asked. 

Turn 1

Like last year, the teams were split into "Good" and "Evil" - i.e. Imperial vs. Those Aliens and Chaos Thingies. We set up at opposing sides of the board, the "Evil" legions having a helluva time trying to physically find space to put models.

Some notable models are the Tyranid Heirophant (mine!!!) and the Reaver Titan, some Castellan Knights, three out of the four chaos demons (Great Unclean One, Tzeentch, Keeper of Secrets), a Shadowsword with a score to settle, and then some absolutely gorgeous Imperial Guard tanks and walkers - not to mention literally EVERY OTHER AMAZING MODEL! This was such a gorgeous showcase of all our hard work.

Here's some more pics. 

For the game, we played "pseudo-apocalypse" rules. Teams activated as a group, alternating each phase (i.e. we shoot, they shoot, we charge, they charge, etc.). Destroyed models are removed at the end of each of the phases, and they deadly demise on a 4+... meaning we had a lot of explosions. Several chain reaction explosions, in fact.

During turn 1, the Heirophant was instantly blasted off the board, along with almost the entire front line of both teams. Unfortunately, it has a relatively small range compared to other titans, and only plinked a few wounds off a Castellan nights before going down. The Reaver was also focused, but didn't fall during turn 1.

All models churned forward, advancing where possible, eager to take and hold the center wall. Tanks and monsters quickly bottled up, cramming into the two small entranceway. 

Turn 2

The churn continued apace. Far from the backline, a lone Shadowsword continued firing round after rounding into the Reaver Titan far across the board, finally slaying the colossus. It tragically failed to explode, which allowed the entire battalion of Guard around it to survive to die another day... or literally ten minutes later.

Most of the Tyranids, struggling to get into range and melee charge distance, were cut down from the barrage of fire. The heavy legions of knights stomped forward, lighting up the lines of demons breaking through the fortress.

Far in the backlines, a lone Trygon unburrowed from the ground and laid into Canis Rex, who was hiding at the back of the battle, surrounded by a pair of Ultramarine hover tanks. All three shredded the poor thing.

The chaos demons advanced further, crashing into the heavy weapons of the knights and getting shredded apart. 

Turn 3

At this point in the game, my final model was killed, the valiant Tervigon (nee Malefactor). Overall, my Tyranids were relatively ineffectual against the sheer volume of fire and lack of any squishy infantry to sink their teeth into, never able to reach melee range and actually tear into the vehicles. Tyranids really don't have a strong answer to long range, heavily armored units, huh.

Far in the chaos backline, a squad of Gray Knight Nemesis Dreadknights deep-striked near the Shadowsword in a desperate bid to take it out. They succeeded, dying to an overwhelming wall of fire merely a moment later.

The front lines remained overall unchanged, Guard tanks trundling forward through the burning hulls of their comrades, knights stepping over the gutted wreckage of the one before them. Several Castellan knights fell, the massive things crumbling to the ground. In the center of the board, Canis Rex cowered behind a statue of the emperor.

Turn 4

As the machines of war ground down, their final shells falling to the bloodied, churned earth, our fight grew to a standstill. A handful of heavy imperial knights still stood above the smoking ruins and smashed corpses of the twisted creatures of evil. Guard tanks continued to roll forward, supplemented by Adeptus forces finally making their way to the front lines.

The Imperium stood, and flags fluttered in the wind, declaring victory for the side of Orderous Good in the Universe. The loose coalition of chaos crumbled, driven back into the wastes. The following pictures are all that remain of each team.

And then game ended and we all high fived then headed home to pass out on our respective couches. I literally have dozens (hundreds. Literally hundreds) more pictures, so I might post those occasionally.

What a day.

Thanks for reading!

- Miss Captain Bear