Putting 40k to Use

Some time ago, I acquired a bag of 40-something Warhammer 40k soldiers. Cadian Imperial Guards, as I would discover. Got them at Value Village. While they were (and still are) in various stages of (dis)repair, all were painted, with some chipping.

More recently, but still two or more years ago, I acquired two bags of minis from the same store: Tyranids this time. Some primed, some not, three or four partially painted. Some broken, most in good condition. About six months ago, I chose ten or so to try painting. Not the best paint job I've ever done. But hey! They're giant space bugs! They can look ugly!

I've been wanting to get the two factions together in some kind of skirmish for a while and two or three weeks ago I went on a rules hunt. I downloaded a few free sets and started skimming through them to see which seemed most interesting to me. I settled on Star Breach and went to work on creating the team rosters. What's nice about Star Breach is that while it is designed to be a "use-your-own-miniatures" game, they have stats for army types that fit the description of popular sci-fi wargaming factions: 40k, Star Wars, Star Craft maybe, etc. So it was pretty easy to put together a couple of 100 point bands.

Somewhere between getting the Cadians and getting the Tyranids, I downloaded a battle map from Wargamevault.com called Idn Kar Wastes: Ruined Base. I printed it meaning to use it when I got some Epic Duels stuff done up. The battle map has been sitting up on a shelf... until now. It's gridded, so I used the squares instead of using a tape, but I treated line of sight normally.

So here is the initial set-up. I placed the Cadians (on the left) with a bit of purpose: Engineer with rocket launcher, a Corporal, Rifleman, and Scout in the background; Sergeant, Engineer with flame thrower, and 2 Rifleman in the foreground; Medic in the middle. For the Tyranids I had their side divided into 6 sectors and rolled for each figure to see where to put them. The tyranid force is made up of the Taskmaster (kind of in the middle, alone), a Warrior with a spore cannon, 4 Drone-X, and 5 Drone-Y.

Turn 1: The two sides close. Only shots fired are by the Cadian Scout and the Warrior at each other. The Warrior scored a hit.

Turn 2: They meet and attacks are made, the tyranids score hits hits on many of the Cadians, some quite devastating, and the Scout is first to fall. The Cadians only score a few hits and they are not very effective.

Turn 3: Cadians lose a Rifleman, but the Flamer group manages to down two Drone-X tyranids.

Turn 4: The tide turns as the Cadians take out the Taskmaster, resulting in the reduction of initiative for all tyranids to 1. However, they lost the rocket Engineer.

Turn 5: The remaining Drone-X and the Warrior take down the Medic before being blasted. The Flamer takes out a Drone-Y. The remaining Drones flee the battle.

So there it is. Short on detail because I did not keep track of who did what and I didn't get around to writing this until over a week later, so I don't remember any details. I liked the game though, it seemed simple enough after the first couple of turns, though I know I missed some of the specials on one or the other side that might have made a difference. I'm already aiming to play again, but with 50 point squads instead of 100 points so I can hopefully get a better handle on rules and special abilities.