Patrol This!

There are no little games, only little models!
I went to Discordia to pick up a game and it turned out that the only 40k player was Matt, the guy working the counter. He had a little 4x4 demo board set up there so he could play, though, so we agreed on a 500pt game.

I sat down and created a list. I've been using my Godzilla Shooty army for a while and I quite like it, so I figured I'd bring one of my Tyrants (Venom Cannon, Twinlinked Devourer, S6, BS4, Sv2+, Psychic Scream) and a Carnifex (Dual Twinlinked Devourers, BS3) and 2 broods of 6 Genestealers. When I mentioned that I had only 14 models, Matt was incredulous, so I told him what I had. He said, "You can bring a Carnifex in Combat Patrol?" I hadn't realized he wanted to use the Combat Patrol restrictions, so I redid my list (and gave him a ribbing about his "weak" army!)

I realized that since Monstrous Creatures and Zoanthropes are out of the question for Combat Patrol, I'd have to do something different. At first I thought I'd do a basic Genestealer list, but then I remembered the Constrictor Swarm that I have planned, so I went with something along those lines. It was quite fun to watch Matt's face when I told him I would be bringing 71 models in 500pts!

87 3xWarrior S5 A2+1 Sv4+ Rending Claws/Scything Talons
138 23xTermagant
138 23xTermagant
132 22xTermagant

495pts

Tau List

2xCrisis Suit (Plasma and Missile Pod)
12xFire Warrior
12xFire Warrior
6xStealth Suit

Terrain
Tyranids set up first. There is a good sized forest on my Left Flank and a smaller one just my side of the center of the board. There is a small hill on my right flank. On the opposite side, the Tau get two small hills opposite my large forest, and a Large forest opposite my small hill.

Deployment
Termagant Brood Beta is placed centrally, with Alpha on my left next to the forest and Gamma on my right crowding the hill. The Warriors place behind the forest. The Tau place a squad of FireWarriors on the 2nd hill and another squad in the forest. The Crisis suits join the FireWarriors in the forest, while the Stealth Suits infiltrate in front of the large forest, lurking just out of sight of the Warriors.

Turn 1:
Tyranids win the roll for first turn. Broods Beta and Gamma are out of Synapse range and so they Lurk this turn. Brood Alpha fleets and assaults the Stealth Suits killing one and losing a few Termagants in the process. Meanwhile the Warriors move laterally in the forest to get the second brood in Synapse range.

The Tau FireWarriors and Crisis Suits shoot at Brood Gamma, which fails it's morale test, but stops just shy of the board edge. Termagant Brood Alpha kills off a couple more of the Stealth Suits, who lose their nerve and attempt to disengage. They are run down by the savage Termagants, who then sweep forward toward the FireWarriors on the second hill.

Turn 2:
Termagant Brood Gamma manages to rally on LD5 and Lurks, since they are still out of Synapse range. Brood Alpha moves, fleets and assaults the FireWarriors on the second hill. They manage to lose the combat, but a trail of Gaunts leads back into Synapse range, so they consolidate in and around the FireWarriors. Brood Beta moves and fleets toward the other FireWarriors and the Crisis Suits, while the Warriors move up behind the central forest.

The unengaged FireWarriors and Crisis Suits fire into Brood Beta, killing 6 or 8, but they are in Synapse range and don't care. Brood Alpha wins combat with the FireWarriors and runs them down, turning their focus on the remaining FireWarriors in the forest.

Turn 3:
Brood Gamma is still out of Synapse range and makes a desperate attempt to move forward anyway (a gamble, since otherwise they'll really never get a chance to participate in the game) and lose their nerve, running off the board. Broods Beta and Gamma move toward the FireWarriors in the forest, shoot them and charge in, with the remaining three Termagants of Beta Brood being clubbed to death by the desperate FireWarriors. The Warriors move up, thinking they'll be safe behind the combat.

Crisis Suits hop out from the forest and gun for the Warriors, managing to kill 2 of them. Termagant Brood Alpha continues it's reign of terror by trampling the FireWarriors and sweeping toward the Crisis Suits.

Turn 4:
Alpha Brood (the only remaining Termagants) moves, shoots and assaults the Crisis Suits. The last Suit, with one Wound remaining, loses combat and actually manages to outrun the Terrible Termagants!

Suit tries to shoot the Warrior but misses or is ineffective.

Turn 5:
The Termagants catch up to the Crisis Suit and fill it with Fleshboring Beetles to teach it a lesson.

Final score: 500 to 314 Margin:186 (37%)

Mistakes were made and lessons were learned...

Tau: placing those Stealth Suits too close at the beginning of the game.

Tyranid: placing most of my Termagants out of Synapse, leaving them useless for the first turn and effectively killing off the far unit by my own hand (Claw?) I could have placed the broods slightly closer together to make sure that brood 2 was in, and I could have relocated 3 to the woods right next to where my Warriors would be. Alternately, I could probably have placed my Warriors more centrally. It might have left them vulnerable to the Stealth suits on the first turn, but I probably could have mitigated that.

Bugs of the Game:
Definitely Termagant Brood Alpha. They did almost all the damage that was done to the Tau. Beta Brood got off one small volley and contributed to the death of the 2nd FireWarrior squad, and Gamma Brood pretty much did nothing. The other broods, though, did contribute in terms of getting shot instead of the Warriors or Brood Alpha, which is pretty important.

A Good Feeling
The first real joy of playing such a swarm is the opposing player's reaction of sheer terror at how many bodies you are fielding. It really gives that true Tyranid feeling of overwhelming tides of creatures running across the field and that sense of futility for the defense against them. The second real joy is realizing that you are beating the enemy's best troops with your cannon-fodder. It's like beating somebody at chess while using only pawns. (Okay, so it's a lot of pawns, but hey!)

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