Vs. Space Marines, Implacable Advance

Space Marines vs. Tyranids

Telion setup his spot in an abandoned ruin. He had overwatch across the field. The Auspex scanners lit up the day before, there was a big swarm coming. They had lost contact with the 801st Cadians the night before, it was a sure sign the swarm was moving.

The Marines had managed to setup razor wire to funnel the bugs into a fire lane. The armour rolled up and hunkered down. A predator tank taking refuge beside Telions outpost, and their whirlwind placed behind a hill top. The Northern Wolves Whirlwinds had not been faring well these past months. Lictors had been targeting them exclusively. A few rounds fired from a whirlwind guranteed a lictor crawling out of the wood works. Telions other unit of Snipers took up position next to the whirlwind, hoping to intercept any lictors that may be lurking unseen.

The Commander ordered the first line up, two squads flanked by a dreadnought and an Ironclad. This was a new surprise for the bugs, they hadn't seen anything of this size yet. The arms race had been picking up, what new monsters would be thrown at the Marines? Telion put down his binoculars, and fired off a flare, the Tyranids had arrived. The green clouds that preceeded each attack began to ease forward. Venomthropes for sure, but what was in those forsaken clouds? Telion had hoped for more scouts, but he needed to protect his armour. Once the guns began firing, they needed the protection.

Gargoyles burst from the cloud, leathery wings flapping and being drive forward by the synapse. The marine lines opened up and let loose into the Gargoyles and clouds of poisonous gas. Fleshborer beatles launched into the marines, most plinking off the armour. One beetle found an opening and burrowed into the flesh of the marine, he dropped to the ground screaming before the armour only rustled a few more times. The marines formed rank and opened fire onto the gargoyles. The clouds of gas obscured the vision of the marines, and the gasses ate a lot of the deadly rounds.

"Geez, they're fast!" Whispered Telion, as the gargoyles slammed into the first rank of Wolves. The Garoygles poison spat in the eyes of the Marines, but they held their lines. The gargoyles had been whipped too far from the range of the synapse creatures, and their reluctance to fight waived quickly, as the Marines cut down the leathery creatures. That's when the whirlwind came to life. Incendiary rounds fell into the clouds of poison, igniting everything it touched. It's hard to fire on targets you can't see. The dreadnoughts began to fire on targets in the cloud, lascannons and missiles fired into Hive Tyrants and hormagaunts. The squad protecting the Whirlwind lined up their sights on the Venomthropes giving cover to the swarm. The rifles found home and deflated some of the venom sacks, wounding the creature.

Telion lined up his rifle with the head of the hive tyrant, when his scout called out: "Gaunts, sir! And they're close!" Telion gave a silent cuss, as he knew he had to change targets. His snipers fire true, as gaunts were brought down by the barrage of sniper fire. The hive mind kept driving the gaunts forward, as warriors with Synapse drove them forward. The gaunts were getting too close though. The giant dreadnoughts stepped forward, their armour clanking as they settled in and let their guns belch out destruction again. They would be plugging the hole. And the Terminators would be the ones keeping it together. They teleported in, brought in by the beacon, they landed with pinpoint accuracy. Their flamers wreathed the hormagaunts in fire, and a new target appeared on the auspex scanners; Genestealers! The chaplain radioed to the whirlwind again, as more fired rained down from the sky.

The marines poured every inch of fire into the lane. Tyranids and gaunts fell, leaving corpses as they went. The first wave was done, and the Marines held their own, but the second wave was coming. Gunbeasts lurked in the forest, and Hive guard impaler cannons shot out, the living spears ripped into the front of the Dreadnought, igniting its ammo supply, exploding it, leaving a charred crater on the ground. The hive tyrant came forward, and unleashed Paroxysm on the terminators and chaplain, wracking their nervous system with pain. Tyranid warriors fired their venom cannons at the Ironclad and Predator, their thick arm deflecting the crystalized venom shards into the ground. As the scouts poured their attention to the mass of gaunts and genestealers scuttling forward, a tall lanky six eyed creature appeared from thin air. The Deathleaper stood just a few feet away from the Whirlwind, it had snuck past the scouts and found its prey. Flesh hooks fired and ripped through the side armour, causing a fire on the side of the weapons platform. The inside belched smoke and fire as the vehicle was wrecked, by another lictor. Priorities began to change, as the command squad now focused their attention on the feared Deathleaper. The commander was trying to track the beast. His squad was ready to lay down suppressive fire for the scouts, but he couldn't be sure where it was at, that's when the brush began to rock and sway, as screams chilled those around it. The deathleaper struck and butchered the scouts where they hid.

Telion knew this wasn't it. His previous dealings with lictors taught him that there was now an invisible scent trail leading more tyranids to where it was. Reality soon met thought, as the ground rumbled and a Trygon burst from the soil, shooting high charged static electricity at the unsuspecting marines. Fired rained down on the deathleaper, no one could be sure about where it was, the forces realigned and converged on its last known point. The Marine commander spied some movement in the brush and ordered the predator and Krak missiles into it. The murderous fire cut away the cover and the deathleaper was slightly exposed. A single krak missile curved and arched towards the Leaper, landing square in its torso, ichor and acid sprayed everywhere, as the legs twitched and sputtered dead.

The division of fire served its purpose though. Genestealers, the Hive Tyrant and Trygon plowed into the lines of the Marines, the Commander ordered everyone forward. Claws, talons and powerfists tore into each other. The hive tyrants bonesword cut into marines, as the commanders lightning claws ripped chunks out of the Tyrant and it's guard. The heavy hitting Ironclad dreadnought stormed into action, trading blows with the hive tyrant. Acid blood sloshed across the commanders and chaplains and terminators. It had cost the marines, but of the chaplain, the terminators, the tactical squads and the commander, only the commander remained. The tyrant guard, the stealers were gone, and the Trygon and Hive Tyrant were critically wounded. Telion knew about the big bugs though. Opening began to close, broken shells of armour began to reknit, and snapped broken talons grew back into lethal form. The Trygon ripped into the front of the Ironclad, ripping out key stabilization machinery. The Ironclad was rendered useless and pushed onto its back. The Hive Tyrant roared. it's lash whip wrapped around the Commander and the bonesword cleaved down, chopping the commander apart.

The last tactical squad of Marines had to plug the hole, the small bugs were gone, but the big bugs were still a threat. The Marines put their backs into it, as they began to push the hull of the Ironclad into the gap. Telion ordered immediate cover fire. The snipers began to pick apart the Trygon Accurate shots, ripping through the exposures in it's armour. The giant three story creature could not keep pace, and fell forward like a red wood being felled by lumberjacks. Telion poured his will and fire into the hive Tyrant, it too was being picked apart. Telion lined up the shot he had to abandon earlier. Acid blood and ichor was pouring out of the wounds on the Tyrant, as it looked right at Telion. "Smile for me you son of a *BANG!*" The front of the Tyrants skull exploded and it collapsed to the ground.

Tyranid warriors and the Hive guard began to fire salvos at Predator. Impaler spears and Venom Cannon crystals slammed into the side of it, crumpling the side of it. The weight of the autocannon turret collapsing the side of the tank. It was wrecked, but it could be saved. The Marines pushed the Ironclad into the hole, as Tyranid warriors began to claw and try and rip away the tough armour. The hole was plugged, and the advance stopped. Telion looked over the field, as the Tyranids realized they couldn't puncture the armour of the Ironclad, and they skulked back into the venomous clouds. How many more battles could they fight like this?

Final Score Space Marines-1 Tyranids -1 Tyranids win on Victory points.
It was a very close fight!