Schools League Game two: Shas'el Kau'uit vs the Giant Bugs from Outer Space

So onto game two with a win under my belt (game one here). I was still miffed at the size of table (2'x4') but such is life. Then I realised I was playing horde nids, with a tervigon, loads of termagants, a prime, a biovore and two zoanthropes and all my acceptance fled for the door. Spearhead and three objectives was made slightly better as we agreed to have the objectives 6" on from table edges. Och well, as we say up here, lets see what we can do.

I won the roll for first turn (thank God) and stuck both objectives 6" on, 12" apart. The kroot again decided they'll outflank. All the battlesuits play hide and seek in some ruins in my deployment zone and the piranha hides behind them.
He deploys in Nid Carpet Formation™ the prime inside the carpet (snug as a bug in a rug) the tervigon and zoanthropes behind, the Biovore in the backfield.

Leaping out of cover the battlesuits target the nasty looking giant bug knocking the Tervigon down to three wounds. The piranha leaves them covered in dust as it races round the side of the board. In hindsight I should've flown it across the way rather than forwards (mistake number one).

The carpet rolls forwards tripping over itself, the Zoans annihilate the piranha.


Turn two comes around and the both squads of kroot charge on pulling out their fly swatters. They must have been hungry all tournament, I don't think I'm feeding them enough. One squad assaults into the biovore and Zoans. The battlesuits take aim and only manage to cause a single wound on the Tervigon. In assault, the squad of kroot murders the Zoanthropes but only manages to cause a single wound on the Biovore.

The Carpet of Doom™ stumbles forwards again. The tervigon spits some giant barbs at the kroot who cleverly go to ground, hence being unable to claim or contest the nid objective (mistake number two). The fly swatter armed kroot muderise the Biovore.

The now psyched kroot leap forwards towards a squad of nids holding the objective. I shoot them hoping to rapid fire a few away (mistake number three, I misunderstood which squad had feel no pain and should have charged). The battlesuits shake their weapons to see if some enterprising fio has put superglue in them as they fail to kill the tervigon, again. Shas'el Elro bravely runs towards the carpet hoping to buy some time.

He realises all I have contesting his objective is a squad of kroot in the open. They're promptly filled with more holes than a swiss cheese and flee. Not liking the look of the advancing Elro, the Nid Carpet™ fires wildly at her, slaying the mighty leader in a spray of tiny beetles.

Turn four now, and the fire warriors finally show up, claiming one of my objectives (mistake number four, if I'd strung them out I could have claimed both objectives). My kroot squad heroically rallies and as I grab the dice to run for the contest, the Games Workshop employee gleefully announces time up. I need five seconds, a dice roll, to win this game. And with the largest "I'm in charge" smile I've ever seen, the GW employee forces it to a draw.

I left that game feeling gutted. I needed so little time to pull off a win. Even with me spurring him on, my opponent had again taken his time doing everything. I knew there were errors I'd made that could have won me the game, but that didn't make the fact that we'd taken fourty-five minutes to reach the start of turn four any better. Oh well, a win and a draw isn't bad. discussing scores at lunch, we realised we needed three wins to be guaranteed a victory at the competition. Sharing a quick knowing glance with my Tau Commander, I readied myself for the final game.

Ko'vash