Second Edition Madness

Wednesday Night Showdown - Squats vs Tyranids

This is just a quick round up of the game of 40k second edition between my Tyranids and Keith's Squats last Wednesday. I'm not going to write a full battle report because I don't really remember who did what to who etc. Also I'm very lazy. For those who haven't had the pleasure of a hearty game of second edition I will summarize the differences below:

1 - The shooting phase uses the archaic system of 'to hit' modifiers based on cover, speed of target etc. There are also restrictions based on model facing and closest target. This turns every shooting phase into a sort of gentleman's agreement.

Me: I'll let you shoot my Termagants if you take a hard cover modifier.
Gentleman Opponent: Very sporting of you old bean. Of course I will expect your Termagants to endure the same hardship upon returning fire.
Me: Damn you Gentleman Opponent!! Ok, we'll say soft cover.
GO: Splendid! Fresh horses and Sarsaparilla for all my men!!

2 - You can cast psychic powers in your opponent's turn as well as your own. This is particularly good fun if he/she doesn't have any psykers.

3 - The colours are brighter, the templates are bigger and everything is 400% more awesome.

Ugly models, garish colours and dice with funny symbols on them. - AWESOME!!!

As Keith was playing the role of gentleman opponent; he was kind enough to let me use the old Armorcast rules for my Haruspex. He then proceeded to immobilize it and destroy half of it's ranged weapons on turn 1. And before anybody asks; yes it counts as a vehicle. In spite of these setbacks it still went on to kill both the Squat Warlord and Engineer Guildmaster before the end of the game.

Always does me proud - no matter the edition.

Other stars of the Tyranid horde were the Hive Tyrant who reaped a steady tally of Squats with his Venom Cannon. The Zoanthrope, who ran riot in every Psychic phase and my warriors, who spent the entire game stubbornly refusing to fail their armour saves. I should probably mention at this point that Keith's army included five mole mortars. FIVE!! That's really the reason why my infantry didn't achieve much. They were either dead or stuck in exploding mole mortar craters.

At any rate, the game ended in yet another victory for the Tyranids. I for one can't wait for the re-match; especially if I can use my Lictor.