Hive Fleet Thatcher Is Back!

There's been a little bit of traffic about Tyranids on my work's 'miniature wargaming' Slack channel, and it inspired me to get out my Epic40K HOTT armies again for a quick game - specifically the horrific Hive Fleet Thatcher.

I pitted them against some Squats, who defended.

The Tyranids fielded 1 x Airboat General (Harridan), 3 x Knights (Malefactor, Exocrine and Haruspex), 1 x Behemoth (Trygon), 1 x Beast (Carnifex), 1 x Lurker (Lurking worm things) and 8 x Hordes (Bugs)

The Squats consisted of 1 x Blade general, 3 x Blades (Squat Warriors), 1 x Knight (Land Rider), 1 x Behemoth (Land Train), 1 x Airboat (Airship), 1 x Artillery (Thudd Guns) and 2 x Riders (Guild Bikers)

Here are the Tyranids.

The Carnifex made a rush for the ruins on the Squat right, and the Squats moved out teh Land Raider and Land-train to intercept it. The rest of the army was content to sit on a hill, and the Tyranids advanced.

A few turns later. The Carnifex made the ruins and attacked the Land Raider, whilst the Squats brought up their airship to support the Land Train. The Land Train cut through the Tyranid 'tanks'.

The Harridan seemed content to hold back at this stage.

The Squats continued their attack. With the battle now unlikely to reach the hill, teh Squats advanced off their position to support their lead elements. The Carnifex has defeated teh Squat tank, and was now moving forward to attack the Squat artillery.

The Harridan swooped into action, destroying the Squats' airship.

Meanwhile the Carnifex was repulsed by the artillery.

An overview of the battle.

A moment of crisis! The Carnifex destroyed the Squat artillery, and the Trygon was attacking teh Squat warlord with support from a Haruspex. If the Squat general fell, then the battle would be lost.

But he not only fought off the Trygon, but destroyed it.

The Squat warriors and bikers attacked the main force of Tyranid bugs, slowly driving them back and inflicting some casualties. The Tyranids didn't get the PIPs they needed to bring any back.

The Squat warlord turned on the Haruspex, with support from teh Land Train, destroying the monster.

And that broke the Tyranid army, which scuttled off to regroup.

The Tyranids lost 13AP, whilst the Squats lost 10AP, so it was a close game. Had the Tyranids been able to redeploy a few hordes, they could have held on long enough to have maybe inflicted another loss on the Squats, breaking them.