Necron vs Necron... the thirst of Gods unleashed part 2!

It was now time for Game 6 of the Ordo Fraternitas PlanetStrike League. Each two week round sees the roles of Attacker and Defender reversed. This week I would play the role of Defender... holed up in this Indomitable Fortress. A Necron structure built by one of the clubs members. A large and formidable piece of terrain, the middle section would be the main objective for the mission which was Seize and Destroy.

The main tower was protected by a Void Shield (free strategem for the mission). This was also boosted by a Power Generator (reroll failed wounds) and was Sacred Ground (granted the Fearless USR to closest friendly unit). Atop the central tower was also a Communications Array in assisting with the reserve rolls which for the Defender were at a -2 modifier.

My army was split into two halves. All things equal but one half had The Deceiver and the other half had all the Destroyers. My opponent chose The Deceiver half.

I deployed 5 Scarab Swarms in one tower, 10 Warriors in the other. And a Lord with 13 Warriors in the main objective. To the left was placed a Monolith with The Deceiver behind it. You can see a Flayed One on the hill at the bottom, this was the Ground Observer (reroll Deep Strike scatter) for the attacking Necrons.

TURN 1 ATTACKER
The Firestorm wrecks the tower containing the Scarabs (which also destroys the Missile Silo). A Monolith, Warriors, the two Destroyer and Scarab units, and the Silver Surfer Lord with Wraiths arrive. The Monolith scatters back despite the Ground Observer and takes a hit from my automated lascannon but is not damaged. The enemy Warriors run triggering my Mine Field and a few are blown apart. The attacking Necron's shooting Shakes the tower but little else is done.

TURN 1 DEFENDER
Despite the reroll on reserves I only get two things. The Destroyer Lord and the Heavy Destroyers (who remove the Ground Observer). All fire is concentrated on the unit of attacking Warriors killing all but 1.

A single destroyer attempts to snipe the last Warrior preventing them from making any We'll Be Back rolls but rolls a 1 to hit.

TURN 2 ATTACKER
Only 2 Warriors stand back up so the failure of the Heavy Destoyers isn't all that bad. The rest of the Army of Darkness arrives except a Lord leading 4 Pariahs and a pair of Tomb Spiders. Shooting Shakes the other tower again while the Silver Surfer trys to carve his way into the main objective with his WarScythe to no avail.

The Nightbringer deep strikes behind the Indomitable Fortress. What's he up too? (Off camera there is also a Monolith and unit of Warriors who have also deep struck.)

Scarab Swarms attack my Heavy Destroyers and kill one for no wounds in return. Morale is failed and my Heavy Destroyers flee off the table. A failure of epic proportions...

TURN 2 DEFENDER
Reserve rolls are much better. A Monolith, Warriors and my 5 Destroyers appear behind the enemy.

A Warrior squad of mine also arrives and walks on behind the enemy Monolith and shoots down a few enemy Warriors while my Destroyer Lord assaults and chops down a few with his WarScythe but the enemy Necrons hold on.

Concentrated fire kills more enemy Warriors which forces them to flee, leaving the fallen Warriors unable to make any We'll Be Back rolls. My Destroyers assault the fleeing enemy Warriors to hopefully avoid being shot next turn and knock another one down. The Deceiver assaults a unit of 3 Destroyers but only kills 2.

The fire power unleashed from the main tower destroyers all enemy Wraiths but the Silver Surfer passes morale and brings the central tower tumbling down in the assault phase!

TURN 3 ATTACKER
Necron Lord with Pariahs Deep Strike down and avoid a mishap by 1" from my Destoyer Lord. While the Warriors my Destroyer Lord was in combat with are teleported to safety through the nearby Monolith as well as the single Destroyer that was still engaged with The Deceiver.

The Army of the Nightbringer plays it's hand with Darken the Skies. This makes it Night Fight rules for a turn and also gives all my units -1LD. This combined with the Pariah's Soulless ability means any unit within 12" of them is now a LD6 for the turn. The enemy Lord then uses the Nightmare Shroud to force my Destroyer Lord and a unit of Necrons to take a morale check on LD6 or flee! My Warriors roll a 6 and the Destroyer Lord rolls a 3. This is huge.

Out front, concentrated fire downs a few of my Necrons who were guarding the recently ruined objective. They are assaulted by Scarabs and the Silver Surfer who drops the ball and flees combat leaving the Scarabs to tie me up. meanwhile the Nightbringer assaults the remaining tower and despite penetrating it 5 times cannot roll anything over a 3 on any of the damage results. This bit of the fortress is truly indomitable.

TURN 3 DEFENDER
It should be noted that the Minefield and Night Fight didn't really do anything significant from here on out.
I teleport the Destoyers out of the combat with the few remaining enemy Warriors and along with a unit of my own Warriors (who rolled the big 6 on morale) shoot down the Pariahs and Lord with the Nightmare Shroud.

The Nightbringer finally explodes the final tower. The Deceiver points (as he does)... "There you are!" after wrecking a Tomb Spider. At this point we remove the Necron fortress and replace it with building ruins and craters...

TURN 4 ATTACKER
The Deceiver is shot in the back and wounded twice by the 5 remaining enemy Warriors.

The Nightbringer assaults and crushes a unit of my Warriors running them down in combat and consolidating onto the main objective which is only contested by a unit of my Scarabs (don't think they can actually hold an objective). In the background you may notice the Nightmare Lord has come back to life, assaulted a unit of 12 Warriors and routed them in a single phase... yes I lost 22 Warriors in one turn. You can also partially see a Tomb Spider smashing one of my Destroyers on the right but they live to teleport out.

TURN 4 DEFENDER
Out front there were various melees and teleportations too numerous to list and even more things shot by Gauss Flux Arcs as has happened for the last few turns. A single Scarab base with 1 wound left is still tying up my large unit of Necrons led by my Lord.

Defying the odds of still being alive (functional)... my Destroyer Lord continues to harass the enemy Warriors chopping down three! Things are looking dire for the Army of the Nightbringer.

THE FINAL ACT
The Deceiver would be hard pressed to defeat Nightbringer in a straight up fight...even more so with 2 wounds. It turns it's attention to the small unit of slaves that have somehow managed to stay functional in this madness and obliterates them. This triggered the Army of the Nightbringer to phase out at the beginning of Turn 5.

Well, my plan was to concentrate on killing enemy Warriors before the Nightbringer ate my army and it worked. After my poor reserve rolls and the utter failure of my Heavy Destroyers I thought it was gonna be one of those games. But then a few huge things happened. One was that the Nightbringer didn't arrive on turn 1 and the Nightmare Lord with Pariahs didn't arrive until turn 3. In Planetstrike games the early turns are the biggest ones and every turn your heavy hitters are off the table it can hurt.

The other big thing was passing all my morale checks on Leadership 6. If my Destroyer Lord and that unit of Warriors had run off the table in Turn 3 it would have been an entirely different game.

I must say this was an enjoyable set of games. I had never played or witnessed a Necron on Necron battle and adding in the fact it was PlanetStrike made it even more interesting. Thanks to my opponent Nick for the two fun games. And also to Lee of the Ordo Fraternitas who organized the PlanetStrike league. I'm glad the Necron vs Necron showdown was able to happen without breaking the game structure of the league.

Cheers!

Blog vs Blog BatRep

A few of the members of the Ordo Fraternitas have started up some blogs lately. So Rhellion and I decided to have a Blog vs Blog battle report pitting his 4th Company Ultramarines vs my Necrons... and as fate would have it I left the batteries for my camera in the charger at home so I have stolen all the pics he took of the battle from his blog... thanks bro!

Here is my army. I took The Deceiver, Lord (WarScythe, Res Orb, Nightmare Shroud, Gaze of Flame.) 4 x 10 Warriors. 2 x 3 Destroyers. 4 Scarab Swarms. Monolith. Heavy Destroyers (2 & 1).


Rhellion took his first step into the Drop Pod realm featuring a Captain tooled up with a Jump Pack, Storm Shield, and Relic Blade. Terminator Librarian with Might of Ancients and Vortex. Ironclad Dreadnought in a Drop Pod, 5 Assault Terminators, some Sternguard and 3 x 10 man Tactical Squads all in Drop Pods, 10 man Assault Squad, 5 man Scout Bikes.


The board was a rocky landscape with large LoS blocking mountains and hills scattered around. The mission would be Capture and Control using Spearhead Deployment.


My objective would be in a small ruin while the Ultramarine object was tucked away behind a mountain in the opposite corner...


Rhellion took first turn so I opted to deploy everything. My plan was to send the Deceiver straight for the Ultramarine objective then try and hold mine with the rest of my army... can you spot the 3 Necron HQ choices in the pic below? A Grand Illusion indeed.


Scout bikes are the only Marines on the table and scout forward to position their Locator Beacon. The Deceiver used his Grand Illusion ability to redeploy a unit of Necrons that is a little too close to the bikers...


The Sternguard, Ironclad, and one Tactical Squad drop down in Turn 1. The Sternguard scatter way off target, the Ironclad lands in front of the Monolith and gets a Weapon Destroyed result I believe, the tactical squad and bikers combine fire and send a squad of Necrons falling back... LD10 FTW!




Fleeing Necrons rally. Combined fire reduces the Scout bikers to just the sarge (who will eventually charge into combat and get pummeled before he can swing his fist). Around this time we realize the Destroyer Lord should not be on the table. Too much PlanetStrike (3 HQ choices) with this army and I've used the Destroyer Lord in every battle I've ever had with my Necrons (but this one)... so yeah that's my excuse :P


The Deceiver eventually wrecks the Ironclad in combat...




The Assault Terminators and remaining two Tactical Squads drop down...


One Tac Squad heads for their Objective while the Sternguard boldly move forward...


And promptly get eaten by The Deceiver who can move through mountains...


I concentrate every last bit of firepower to kill Assault Terminators and drop 3 of them.


The last of the Ultramarine reserves, the Assault Marines and Captain arrive in Turn 3 and send a unit of Destroyers fleeing in terror!


Bloody(oily) combat errupts all over. 2 wounds are done to the last two Assault Terminators who promptly roll snake-eyes on their armour saves... huge! Love this picture... nice one Rhellion.


The Deceiver inspects the Drop Pods...


More combat. Tactical Marines vs Necrons = Stalemate. The Necron Lord fails difficult terrain roll to pounce on the Librarian.


The 4th Company couldn't stop the Nightbringer before... they can't stop the Deceiver now...


Assault Marines, Captain, and Librarian smash the Lord and a squad of Necrons... The Lord comes back to life and the Monolith ports him out of combat while some destroyed Necrons join the huge stalemate fight. Shooting makes the Assault Squad "tactically withdraw". The Terminator Librarian makes two huge invulnerable saves to avoid being blasted apart by Heavy Gauss Cannons. Sort of makes up for those snake-eyes earlier.


The Assault squad will eventually come back to join in the big stalemate assault, I'm losing by 1 or 2 wounds a turn but keep making my leadership tests and We'll Be Back rolls.


The Captain and Librarian carve up the Necrons in heroic fashion while the Necron Lord keeps his Warriors in the fight with his Resurrection Orb.


The Warriors port out and the Librarian is finally brought low by Heavy Gauss Cannon while the Ultramarine Captain (Uriel Ventris?) fights to the Necron objective chopping up all in his path... eventually he is brought down by massed shooting despite making an incredible amount of armor and Storm Shield saves.


The Necron squad on the left are champions! They hold back the Marines for something like 8 assault phases...


5 Tactical marines find their way to the Necrons guarding their objective. The assault is a stalemate. The Necron Lord charges in for a chance at victory if combat is won but totally whiffs on all his attacks!


The game ends on Turn 6 with the Necron objective contested and The Deceiver having wiped out the Tactical Squad holding the Ultramarine objective. A hard fought draw!

2000pt Necron Army

Necrons: 2000pts.

HQ
The Deceiver.
Lord: WarScythe, Destroyer Body, Phase Shifter, Resurrection Orb.

Troops
4 x 10 Warriors.

Fast Attack
2 x 3 Destroyers.
3 Scarab Swarms.

Heavy Support
Monolith.
2 Heavy Destroyers.
1 Heavy Destroyer.

Total points: 1996.
Phase Out: 12.


This is my standard list. When I'm not trying to use a third HQ choice (too much PlanetStrike see...) I may replace the Destroyer Lord with a Lord on foot with Gaze of Flame, Resurrection Orb and whatever else may be useful... maybe an extra Scarab Swarm or two.

The Deceiver: This is the ace. Murders anything and everything. The ability to leave a combat automatically, toughness 8, 5 wounds, ignore terrain effects, ignore all forms of saves with his S9 attacks, etc... is just too good. Probably the only unit in the entire codex that is under-costed. For Planetstrike he's even better as he's almost impossible to ignore, can wreck Bastions quite easily, and is almost a guaranteed objective contester/controller.

Lords: Destroyer Lord with a War Scythe, Resurrection Orb, and Phase Shifter. I also have a regular Lord with a Resurrection Orb and whatever else I think may be useful. WS4 is real pain to over come as the Lords can and do whiff regularly in combat. The Destroyer Lord with T6 and a Res. Orb can be a real annoyance for your opponent if you are good at rolling 4+.

Warriors: Well... you gotta take 'em. I take about 40 to 50 in 2500 point games. 30 or so in regular games. Avoiding combat is difficult if not impossible with Planetstrike... so having a Monolith nearby is almost mandatory for a quick escape. I will say this though: the Supply Crates strategem on units of Warriors is 100% win. Necrons with melta bombs, offensive and defensive grenades... yes please have some.

Destroyers: My favorite unit. These guys are great and the only unit I'm considering buying more of. They do most of the real work in regular games as most Necron weaponry is pretty short ranged. T5, jetbike like movement, and a sweet ass gun for a decent cost. What's not to like? I'd take as many as I possibly could.

Scarabs: A very useful little unit here. 100% expendable, they are best used at absorbing charges and bogging down the enemy to buy you time. The Disruption Field can be somewhat useful but a little pricey.

Heavy Destroyers: Classic one hit wonders. One day they will annihilate everything, the other they will fail epically when you really need them and cost you the game. Being one of the more over-costed units they are usually the first thing to get cut if I need to shave some points.

Monolith: Everyone's favorite. The unit that breaks more core rules and causes more confusion then any other unit in the game! To me a Monolith is essential though. Necrons need a way to get out of combat. This is it's biggest benefit I believe. Also it's very tough to destroy making it a great objective contester.

Necron vs Necron... the thirst of Gods unleashed part 1!

Planetstike League Game 5 brought to you by The Ordo Fraternitas Chapter of the 40kFightClub! 20 pictures of unadulterated Necron on Necron action brought to you now... (how often does that happen?)

Mission: PlanetStrike Seize and Destroy.
Attacker: Army of Deception.

Deceiver.
Destroyer Lord... tooled up.
Gold Lord... WarScythe, Nightmare Shroud, Gaze of Flame, Res. Orb.
4 x 10 Warriors
2 x 3 Destroyers
2 x 4(+1) Scarabs
3 Heavy D
2 X Monolith

phase out: 12
strategem: Scorched Skies

Army of Darkness
Silver Surfer Destroyer Lord
Flayed Ones
4 x 15 Warriors
2 x 3 Destroyers
3 Wraiths
3 X 1 Heavy D
2 x Monolith

phase out: 19
strategems: Void Shield (gimme), Ammo Store, Power Generator.

It saw the slaves of it's prey guarding the surface complex leading down to the slumbering tomb of The Reaper. "That ultimate feast..."

The army split: 2 x 15 Warriors, Surfer & Wraith crew, Monolith, 3 Destroyers, 2 x 1 HeavyD.

Scorched Skied a 13! The Deciever unleashed it's fury at the sentry bastion... leveling the structure and annihilating the exposed Necrons. The Deceiver commands to not shoot the main objective... Big D will see to it's destruction personally.
Army of Darkness makes nearly all reserve rolls despite the -2.
30 Warriors rise up out of nowhere.

It's a Trap! Reserves arrive to pounce on the unsupported enemy infantry.

Destroyer Battle 1 of more.

Scarab tarpit. Lord of Attrition hacks some down.

The Deceiver weathers a storm of Gauss terror closing to within assault range of the complex... the time vampire cannot wait to feast on the essence of a fellow C'tan in a weakened state! (that's the objective see...)
While Wraiths shred Scarabs.

Support arrives unexpectedly on the last piece of real-estate in the Drop Zone. Port out of combat, shoot stuff. It never gets old.

Big D explodes the complex, crushing a single necron in the rubble (every little bit helps).
The Lords fight through the cronies to get at each other.

Push them back through the portal!

Big D dies to Heavy D firepower... his fury at being denied his hunger is manifest! 6" S6 fury wrecks 9 Warriors as Big D goes nova! Even the camera was fucked up!

Whole lotta portin' goin' on.

Push them back through the portal more!!

"Behold my Gaze of Flame... " Nope forgot I had it. No one was looking at my Lord anyway...

Gold Lord maxes out killing 3 Flayed Ones! The Silver Surfer loses by 1 in combat... Rolls a 10... Surfer flees to the nearest table edge. Epic battle in the background...

Epic Battle!
Closing in on the goal. The Monolith gets wrecked by a Heavy D! They did something!
Destroyer Lord of Attrition comes back for more... the last vestiges of the Nightbringers guardians are overwhelmed bringing them below the phase out number in turn 5.

So that's how it went down. I was surprised I won since I think the Attacker is hard pressed to win in this mission. But where there's a phase out, there's a way. 13 Scorched Sky Fire Storms demolishing that bastion and the 15 enemy Necrons inside was the best start ever. I weathered an early storm of Gauss fire with some amazing armour saves to start out with too. But there was a point where I failed 8 straight 3+ armor saves and those 30 enemy Warriors weren't dying as easy as expected when the enemy Monolith came on. Then the Deceiver nuked 9 Warriors and all was right again.

Part 2 will come... the Nightbringer will awaken while Big D tries to pull it together in his house... who will win the C'tan showdown?