Batrep: 1850 of Ultramarines vs Hivefleet Leviathan

Fresh off the defeat to Marshall in the previous game I am back for another. This time I rushed out my Tyrannocytes but I still have some work to do on them. Washing them is quite difficult owing to their size forcing me to slap that wash in one go where possible. Hivefleet Kraken (belongs to the store) sent 2 Crones to help. This is my list:

Hivefleet Leviathan

HQ

Hive Tyrant with TL Brainleech Devourers

Hive Tyrant with TL Brainleech Devourers

Elite

Zoanthrope

Zoanthrope

Malanthrope (proxied by a Biovore)

Troops

4 Rippers

3 Rippers

3 Rippers

3 Rippers

3 Rippers

Heavy

Carnifex with TL Brainleech Devourers + Tyrannocyte

Carnifex with TL Brainleech Devourers + Tyrannocyte

Toxicrene + Tyrannocyte

Warlord powers.

2nd Hive Tyrant's powers

Rolled for this mission

Marshall brought this Ultramarine list:

HQ
Marneus Calgar

Elites
6 sternguards
Drop pod

Troops
10 sniper scouts
Heavy Bolter with hell fire rounds

10 tactical marines
Combi plasma, plasma gun, Heavy Bolter
Drop pod

10 tactical marines
Combi plasma, plasma gun, Heavy Bolter
Drop pod

10 tactical marines
Combi melta, melta gun
Drop pod

10 tactical marines
Combi melta, melta gun
Drop pod

Heavy Support

7 devastator marines
4 lascannons

7 devastator marines
4 lascannons

Thunder fire cannon

Marshall won the roll off to go first and deployed first.

I took a bit of a gamble by only deploying these 3 units. The plan was to hold as much as possible then drop in my pods

The Ultramarines deployed their Heavy and Scouts

Tried to seize the Initiative but failed. I had to weather 2 rounds of shooting. Night Fight was on due to my Warlord Trait

Scouts made their Scout Move before the Sieze

 Turn 1

3 Drop Pods swoosh in and land in my backfield

All of them opened up on the Tyranids

Marneus Calgar leads the attack but failed to kill the Malanthrope (Biovore proxy) by one wound. Phew! 

Marshall claimed his unit could see my Zoanthrope. What do you think? LOL! Eventually he moved the models to get a better view.

Apparently this squad can see my Malanthrope and Zoanthrope too! 

Yes there were some really iffy calls there but I let them slide because I'm a friendly player!

Tyranids are locked in. I had only 2 units left at the end of Turn 1. Uhoh

I quickly moved my units upstairs! Run away! 

Marshall 3VP

I scored none on my Turn 1 obviously because I had only 2 units on the table.

Turn 2

Marshall scores 5 VP for a total of 7 VP

We spent a bit of time looking at the rulebook for this rule. Marshall managed to destroy the last 2 units on the table, effectively wiping me out at the end of his player turn 2. I have not taken turn 2 yet and based on the rule below, should I have nothing at the end of the Game Turn, I lose. Since my Reserves now come in, I am technically still allowed to bring them in.

Let us know if we interpreted this correctly or incorrectly. Appreciate it guys.

So we decided to carry on.

My Reserves arrived except for the Toxicrene and 2 units of Rippers. 

I decided to drop my Rippers to interrupt the Devastators 

And concentrated all firepower on Marnues. He lost his squad but managed to limp away alive. 

I score these two VP's

Turn 3

The last two Drop Pods arrive and Marshall chooses to drop them onto my left flank to grab objective 1

And ram some firepower up the Carnifex's behind.

While Marnues teams up with another squad of Tactical Marines

Who then choose to charge the other Fex I had taking it out.

Marneues regroups

Marshall scores these 2 and the one below

For a total of 10 VPs

My last Tyrannocyte arrives with a loud thud and my Toxicrene arrives

I managed to wipe Marneus' squad down and force a wound on him but he survives

I finally score 3 VPs for a total of 5VPs 

Turn 4

This combat was very long drawn and will continue for awhile

And almost the same on this side

The Rippers were holding up remarkably well. Must remember to paint them up ASAP.

Marshall scores 1VP for 11VPs

Marnues had joined another squad so I focused on taking him bodyguard down

While the two Crones were in the backfield killing very few Marines with their flaming breath and Vector Strikes

The Toxicrene charges in

Killed off the 2 Marines and wounds Marneus for another. In return I took 3 wounds but the Toxicrene survives! 

Marneus chooses to flee and fall back

While this fight continues

These Rippers here were voracious, killing me two Devastators

I score 1VP for a total of 6VPs

Turn 5

Marshall concentrated fire to try to kill the Toxicrene who was limping on his last wound but the FNP saved it

Marshall charges Marnues up to kill off my Rippers

And scores another 5 VPs for a total of 16 VPs

In a surprising move, I moved the Crone back to my side and took a potshot Vector Strike thinking nothing of it. Marneus dies! 

In desperation I brought my Tyrant (white) down to swoop to capture the Objective 4 

And poured some fire into the Tacticals surrounding Objective 1. My Warlord fell out of the sky manifesting on 3D6 and scoring a double 6. 

Managed to secure 4 VP's for a total of 9VP's

Turn 6

The tide was turning. Marshall didn't have the guns to take the MC's out but had objective secured units hence denying me VP's. He did manage to kill off my Warlord who caused a Perils of the Warp during my turn.

He scores another 4 VP's for 20 VP's

Drop Pods are objective secured. What nonsense! So I had to begin killing them off

Scored 3 VP's for a total of 12 VP's

Marshall brought his Marines in

And scored these two VPs for 22 VP's

There was little I could do but tried to go for the VP's

Scored another 2 VP's for 14 VP's total.

Game end! 22VP vs 14VP. Solid victory to the Marines. 

And that was it. A real tough fight for the Tyranids. I was certain the game was over at Turn 2 but we carried on with the understanding above. It was a tough fight. Marines with Drop Pods meant that they were going to come to me. I should have left the MC's on the board and just drop the Tyrannocytes empty. Have to play a few more games and learn how this army works. I am still struggling with the objectives as well. Rippers are great for stealing those objectives but they can't wrestle the objective away from anything that can sneeze at them.

I am still not convinced about the Toxicrene. Moving 6" down the table is tough even with it's Shroud. Must play more!

Gotta keep working on painting this army up so do bear with me. I have already broken the tasks down and am prioritizing my Tyrannocytes. Once the flesh is complete, the rest will be quite fast!