Chaos Marines vs Tyranids: 2k, BAO Scenario

Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking on my friend Pete and his lovely Tyranid horde.  This time we were trying out our 2k lists, since we don't usually get to play that level at our usual gaming night. My list was my fairly normal Abaddon list, plus a snazzy Daemon Prince:

Abaddon the Despoiler Daemon Prince: Wings, power armor, mark of Tzeentch, the Black Mace

10 Chaos Space Marines: Bolters, 2 plasma guns - Rhino: Havoc launcher 10 Chaos Space Marines: Bolters, 2 plasma guns - Rhino: Havoc launcher 15 Chaos Cultists: Autopistols, close combat weapons 10 Cultists: Autoguns 10 Cultists: Autoguns

Heldrake: Baleflamer Heldrake: Baleflamer

3 Obliterators: Mark of Nurgle, Veterans of the Long War Maulerfiend: Lasher tendrils Maulerfiend: Lasher tendrils

Bugsculptor was trying a few new things in his list:

Swarmlord Tyranid Prime: Regeneration, toxin sacs, two boneswords, rending claws

8 Ymgarl Genestealers 7 Ymgarl Genestealers 2 Hive Guard The Doom of Malan'tai in Spore Pod

10 Termagants 10 Termagants Tervigon: Catalyst, toxin sacs Tervigon: Catalyst, toxin sacs, adrenal glands

Trygon: Toxin sacs Trygon: Toxin sacs 3 Biovores

Turns 1-2

Pete, winning the roll off, gave me first turn, meaning I'd have to deploy first.  Turn 1 was fairly uneventful with Nightfight, though it did see the Obliterators put 3 wounds on one of the Tervigons.  Turn 2 however set the tone for the rest of the game.  The Swarmlord failed to cast Iron Arm, and suffered a wound from Perils in the process.  This opened up the opportunity for my two Heldrakes to Vector Strike him (albeit due to the silly wording of the Vector Strike rules), and then I punished him with any other bit of firepower I could muster, bringing the Swarmlord down to a single wound.  Pete's Ymgarl's both showed up, one unit lost a few due to limited space in the terrain, but got them into combat with my squad of Chaos Marines on the objective, while the other unit came up just fine on my flank.  My chaos marines performed admirably against the Ymgarl's and kept themselves from getting cut down in the process.  The Stealers on my flank ended up charging into my Maulerfiend and Daemon Prince (who were currently battling 4 mighty Termagants).  We played it as a Disordered Charge, though since then we've discovered that he could have just chosen to charge the Maulerfiend, oh well. Sadly for the nids, AV12 held up just fine, and my Daemon Prince proceeded to smash them to pieces...

Turns 3-4

Mid game was an old fashioned blood bath.  One Drake finished off the Swarmlord, while the other killed a single termagant that was left holding an objective, before leaving the battlefield.  The Genestealers were duking it out with my Chaos Marines, who were holding their ground, though slowly dying.  After finishing off the Stealers and Termagants, Abaddon was free to claim a Trygon, while the Daemon Prince killed the second one.  There were fewer and fewer monstrous creatures on the board.  The Doom of Malan'tai was being a pain in my neck, causing a panic check on my cultists and making them flee off the board, while also decimating my Obliterators.  The second Maulerfiend engaged it in combat, but Pete's ability to roll greater than 1 or 2, finally kicked into gear.  At this point, both of us were quickly running out of Scoring units, and the game still seemed to be slightly in favor of the Tyranids.  Trying to put pressure on the far objective near Pete's deployment, my 2nd squad of Chaos Marines floored it across the field, only to have their Rhino blown by Hive Guard, then the remains annihilated by Cluster Spines and Termagants, the full squad bit the dust in 1 turn.  One of my Maulerfiends did suffer a penetrating hit (though I don't remember how) and ended up immobilized, meaning it wont contribute a damn thing to the rest of the game.

Turns 5-7

The end of the game was still very close, it was up for anyone to take the win.  On turn 5, I was focusing on still trying to kill any scoring units that I could, vector striking Termagants then blasting them with baleflamers.  My Daemon Prince made it across the board to assault the Termagants holding his objectives, while Abaddon moved in to kill the 1 Genestealer fighting against my remaining 2 marines.  Since I was charging into cover, Abaddon would have to swing last, but what are the odds that a 3 attack Genestealer would kill 2 marines?  Obviously, better than I thought!  Abaddon quickly finished off the Genestealer and joined the Autogun cultists that had moved on from reserves.  At this point, Pete would have won, as he had the Emperor's Will and neither of us were holding the majority for Crusade.  Pete rolled the dice and it came up a 4, on for another turn!  My Heldrakes ended up torching the last of Pete's Termagants, while my Daemon Prince kicked the Tyranid Prime in the jimmy, and the Maulerfiend finally killed the Doom. The game was solidly mine, we rolled the dice, and it came up a 5, one more turn!  At this point, all that was left were 3 Hive guard, which didn't like the taste of Daemon Prince. Victory to the Chaos Marines!

Conclusion

Overall, I'm still very much liking my list.  The Maulerfiends are downright deadly, and having both Abaddon and a Daemon Prince meant that I had even more deadly combat potential.  At 2k, I'm definitely feeling a lack of firepower, but not sure if it's something I'd bother to change.