The Emperor’s Finger – Warhammer 40K Battle Report

This battle report is of a very casual game of 40k, many of us hadn’t played in a while and we really just wanted to put some models on the table and roll some dice. The objective of the battle was to hold the center of the table.  The imperium forces were trying to recover an escape pod that contained a relic of the emperor.  For the sake of a story it was called “the Emperor’s Finger” a hive fleet had intercepted the signal and thinking that I was genetic material from the emperor himself, sent a swarm to intercept.

“Sir the Heavy Cruiser Divinity has suffered a catastrophic malfunction, cause unknown, the ship is destroyed. 

And the cargo?

 The Emperors Finger was jettisoned and has landed on a remote planet.  Awaiting authority to dispatch recovery team.

Deploy the recovery team.  Do we know what destroyed the Divinity?

Unknown.  There are reports of xenos on the planet, it looks like tyranids.

May the Emperor’s strength be with them”

Sisters of Battle, Dark Angles, Ultramarines and Blood Angels have been dispatched to recover a secret Imperial Weapon known only as the Emperors Finger.  The Tyranid Hive Fleet has also sent a swarm lead by a Tyrant and Broodlord.

Set up for the battle used 6 inch deployment zones along the long edges with both armies keeping some forces flying high above the battlefield (Gargoyles and Tyrant as well as Assault Marines and a Chaplin on the loyal side). No points values were used and side were just best guessed. Loyalist army won the role for initiative. 

Turn 1.  The loyalist conducted a general advance, and directed some very effective fire from the plasma guns in the center on the Carnifix, destroying it instantly.  Bolter fire killed lots of little Termagaunts that couldn’t find the shelter of the bushes.  On the Tryranid turn 1 the Hive Tyrant and Gargoyles landed and the rest of the army moved forward using as mush cover as possible.  A lone Hormagaunt ran for the objective hoping to draw the fire of the marines, and the other Carnifix destroyed a Battle Sister Mortifier.

Turn 2. The Loyalists tried to shoot the lone Hormagaunt but luck would not let them land a shot.  This forced some marines to charge the lone Tyranid and finish it in melee.  Their heavy weapons focused on the Hive Tyrant who had luck on its side and made far more saves then it should have.  The big action for the Tyranid turn was to charge with the Broodlord in the center, after summoning his bodyguard of 15 Genestealers, who all stormed the objective.  The hive Tyrant also started to roll up the fire base in the loyalist deployment zone.

Turn 3. Assault marines and the Chaplin land on the battlefield and charged the Genestealers on the objective with support from the Sanguine Guards (The Chaplin didn’t make it in), but they did not cause sufficient damage. The Psyker in terminator armour also charged the Hive Tyrant and somehow got eaten.  Hive Tyrant destroyed the remaining marines and charged the Canoness (and not the Battle Sisters with heavy weapons). Dark Angles do an awesome job holding up the Tyranid Warriors and Termagaunts from reinforcing the Genestealers on the objective, who do finish off the Sanguine Guards and most of the Assault Marines.

Turn 4. The tide of battle finally shifts to the loyalists who manage to finish off the Tyrant and Broodlord, sadly the Dark Angles finally falls.

Turn 5, 6, 7. The survivors in the center face off, and the Marines clean-up of last Carnifix and Tyranid warriors while the Battle Sister secures the objective for the win.

Observations. Some short observations from someone who doesn’t often play 40k.

Initiative seems so important in a game where one army moves and fights in its entirety before the other.  While certainly the Tyranids could have won it did seem like they were always playing catch up.  If the Tyranids made one major mistake it was not having the Hive Tyrant attack the Battle Sisters with heavy weapons instead of the Canoness.  While the heroic single combat was fun and thematic, the long range heavy weapons covering the objective wee a more important target. Anyways bit of a crummy report but I just wanted an excuse to post photos.  Thanks for reading.