Hi, here is a report of a small game we had using our favourite armies early in the new year. As usual, the full report with diagrams is hosted at:

http://www.timelesslands.com/battler...rep_6_1_10.pdf

and a full list of our battle reports is at

http://www.timelesslands.com/battlereports/

Text of the report below:

Necronic Doom

1000 points Necrons versus Space Marines

Forces

Necron Force “Kill All Humans” 10101
2 squads of 10 Warriors
3 Heavy Destroyers
4 Flayed ones
1 Destroyer Lord with Warscythe
Monolith

Silver “Don’t call us Shooting Stars” Stars task force (James):
3 Tactical squads (1 Heavy Bolter (in rhino), 1 Missile launcher (led by Captain), 1 multi-melta (in rhino))
2 Dreadnoughts (multi meltas, in Drop Pods)

My main motivation was to use some new models I had recently got (namely 4 flayed ones and another 2 heavy destroyers bringing me up to a full squad of 3). I didn’t expect the flayed ones to achieve anything in such small numbers but maybe serve as a distraction and I was under no illusion that the Heavy Destroyers could reliably take down heavy armour (e.g. land raider or terminators), so I took a Warscythe Lord (also he did well last time vs. Marines, bogging down and killing 2 tactical squads).
Can’t speculate too much about James’ motivation, but dreadnoughts drop podding in behind my lines could easily wipe out my warriors if they get into close combat, plus threaten the Monolith with their close combat weapons too (not to mention Melta-ing the heavy destroyers). Mobile mechanised marines should be able to respond to the situation as required.

Setup

We rolled Seize Ground/Pitched battle, with 4 objectives, We both put 1 next to a building on our side of the map, and 1 in some cover (technically I think the one near my building may have been illegally close to my table edge but we didn’t realise at the time). James wins the toss and chooses to go first, keeping the Dreadnoughts ready in reserve to drop pod in, and spreading his remaining squads liberally across the battlefield (rocket tactical squad with commander behind his building ready to occupy it, and both other squads in rhinos ready to charge down the open lanes between the woods and the glaciers and the courtyard).

I place my Monolith opposite 1 rhino to counter it, 1 squad of warriors with the Destroyer Lord behind my building, mirroring Jame’s deployment, and the other warriors and heavy destroyers hiding behind the courtyard wall, ready to nip out and attack in my turn.

The flayed ones infiltrate into the woods to sit on the objective (although they can’t claim they can contest to slow up James, and also charge out of the woods to either side as needed).

I seize the initiative and go first!

Necron turn 1

I am tempted to send the Necron Lord to destroy the Marines building, but since I am going first now they can simply decide not to go in it, and their commander has a Relic Blade that could do some harm if they get to charge, so instead he leaves the warriors to hole up on my left in my building and turbo-boosts to go and deal with the central rhino. This doesn’t prove necessary however as the heavy destroyers wreck it with a deadly salvo of Gauss fire.

The Monolith begins its lumbering advance up the field – its particle whip scores a direct hit on the other rhino but it manages to resist the blast (another thing we forgot at the time;- the whip is Ordnance so I should have re-rolled that 1 to penetrate!) while the second warrior squad run out from behind the courtyard wall to advance towards the objective in the woods. The flayed ones fan out through the woods since they don’t yet know where they will be needed.

Marine turn 1

The Rhino charges full tilt down my right flank straight towards the monolith, while behind the lumbering Necron machine James’ first drop pod arrives, disgorging a dreadnought to the rear. Although the Dreadnoughts Melta is predictably ineffective against the Monolith’s living metal hull, I know it will not withstand a charge…
The Captain and tactical squad with the missile launcher occupy the building near the objective on my left (James’ right) but have nothing that can shoot this turn.

The middle tactical squad, now out of their wrecked rhino, surprisingly decide to stand still to shoot their multi-melta at the approaching destroyer lord, rather than charging it. Unfortunately they fail to damage it, leading to an end of turn with no casualties inflicted on the Necrons.

Necron turn 2

The warriors occupying the building lashed out with their Gauss Flayers to try and shake the marines building, but achieved nothing. The destroyer lord however charges into the Marines tactical squad, killing a couple while they were unable to penetrate its tough body. Meanwhile, the heavy destroyers charge in to counter the dreadnought menace, firing with deadly accuracy and scoring 3 hits on the dreadnought. Guess what I rolled for armour penetration: 1, 1, 1. The monolith itself fared no better with its particle whip, leaving me open to a S10 Dreadnought assault next turn.

The second warrior squad ran towards the objective in the woods while the Flayed ones spread through the woods towards James’ forces.

Marine turn 2

The tactical marines in the building fire their rocket launcher at the building occupied by the Necrons, to no avail. With a Captain in the Marines building, the Necron warriors are tying up more than their points worth of the enemy for one objective each, but for how long?

Guided by the locator beacon in the Marine drop pod, the second drop pod lands on the Neron lines and disgorges another dreadnought. Although fire from this Dreads Melta proves ineffective against the Monolith, its companion is now free to charge the metal leviathan. Unfortunately the Monolith slips out of the dreadnoughts grip and it fails to harm it. The Rhino containing the tactical squad on this flank retreats around the glacier field to take its cargo of tactical marines further from the Monolith while moving them closer to the objective.

Fire from the drop pods and rhino proves ineffective against the Necrons metal bodies.
The Destroyer Lord continues to cut through the tactical marines in the centre while they fail to harm it in return.

Necron turn 3

Swinging around behind the second Marine Dreadnought, the heavy destroyers discharge their weapons at point blank range into its rear armour. This time no luck saves it and the machine is blasted apart. Meanwhile the Monolith continues to retreat from the other Dreadnought. However, instead of firing the particle whip it uses its teleport facility to summon the nearby warriors into a defensive screen (the wisdom of defending a non-essential unit with a vital and vulnerable scoring unit is debatable, but the main intent was to allow the warriors to rapid fire the dreadnought). The flayed ones also emerge from the woods and run in front of the Monolith adding a second layer of (this time truly expendable) defence against a Dreadnought charge.

While lashings from the gauss flux arc fail to achieve much damage against nearby targets, saturation fire from the Gauss flayers manages to stun the remaining Dreadnought, earning a reprieve.

Marine turn 3

Realising his forces have lost momentum, the Captain in the building decides to take a bold move and leaves his squad behind to continue pounding the Necrons while he runs forward to try and contest their objective. On the other side the tactical marines deploy from the Rhino to control the objective in the glacier field. Firing was sporadic and inflicted few casualties (maybe the tactical marines killed a Necron warrior – certainly the drop pods failed to harm the heavy destroyers).

In the centre more marines went down to the seemingly unstoppable destroyer lord, while they again failed to harm it. Daunted by their failure the marines were forced to fall back off the field.

Necron turn 4

On the left, the Necron warriors fired at the approaching captain but were unable to penetrate his armour. On the right the Monolith tried to dislodge the Marines from their objective with its particle whip. However the shot was inaccurate and the cover of the glacier field helped the few marines who were hit to avoid lethal damage.

Having performed their role of protecting the Monolith from dreadnought assault the Warriors fell back towards the central objective in the woods, while the small squad of flayed ones charged into the Marines, causing one casualty each.

The Heavy destroyers skimmed up behind the second Dreadnought and again discharged their weapons into its rear armour up close, destroying the second Dreadnought.

The Destroyer lord turbo-boosted across towards the tactical marines in the Glacier field to help out the Flayed Ones, but could not join in the combat that turn.

Marine turn 4

As the captain reached the Necron objective next to their building, supporting fire from his comrades across the courtyard struck true on the building the Necrons were occupying, wrecking it and forcing the Necrons out. The Necons sensibly disembarked as far away as possible from the Captain, and took only light casualties from his firing. On the other flank the Marines in the glacier field inflicted heavy losses on the Flayed ones, killing 2 however the Flayed Ones fought back, killing a Marine and refusing to rout.

The Marines had little else left to use – storm bolter fire from the Rhino and Drop Pods was again ineffective against the Destroyer lords and warriors respectively.

Necron turn 5

The Warriors fired ineffectively at the Captain once again from behind the Ruins, while the Heavy Destroyers turbo-boosted across the battlefield to try and assassinate the Captain to recover the objective.

On the other side of the battlefield, while the Monolith fired ineffectively at the Rhino, the Destroyer Lord charged in to help the Flayed Ones. There were more casualties on both sides (the flayed ones just kept on getting back up – none had permanently died so far) and everyone held their position. Further behind the Necron lines a strange phenomenon was observed – the Necron Warriors started forming a conga line out from the objective in the woods towards the one in the glacier field!

Marine turn 5

The commander occupying the Necron objective in the courtyard decided not to charge the warriors (maybe in case it took him too far from the objective, or perhaps because of the dangerous building wreck in the way) – his shooting only inflicted minor damage. Meanwhile the tactical squad in the remaining building opened up on the approaching heavy destroyers, killing 2. The tactical squad continued to fight with the Necrons in the glacier field with nether side gaining the upper hand. Again bolter fire from the Rhino and drop pods failed to achieve much.


The dice dictated there should be a 6th turn.

Necron turn 6

On the Necron left flank, the warriors surged forward into the runs in an attempt to soften up the Captain for the heavy destroyers to finish (thinking about this later it was a bit pointless because the destroyers would inflict instant death if they inflicted anything). Surprisingly the Captains luck deserted him, and the gauss flayers stripped armour, skin and flesh leaving a twisted skeleton to attest to the commanders bravery.

Robbed of their primary target, the Destroyers fired instead on the Marines building, bringing it down.

Meanwhile the battle of the glacier field raged on – the Necrons were gradually killing off the marines, but slowly. The destroyer lord found himself unable to attack due to terrain obstacles preventing him from fitting. The Monolith continued to fail to achieve anything but the Warriors were able to complete their Conga line to the glacier objective.

Marine turn 6

The tactical squad in the courtyard attempted but failed to dislodge the Necron warriors from their objective with firepower. Similarly the rhino and drop pods failed to disrupt the Warriors conga line. I think the Marines held on for another turn in the melee, but the dice declared the end of the game.

Necrons controlled 2 objectives and contested 1 (or possibly controlled 3 – I think the Marines may have been forced to pile in out of range of the objective during the combat). Marines only controlled 1.

Decisive Necron Victory.

Conclusions:-

I mainly wanted to see my new models in action, and they performed fairly well. The flayed ones did better than expected considering they were outnumbered by the Marines, and the heavy destroyers, despite an early duff roll, did their job against the Dreadnoughts.
The Monolith had a bit of an off day with its shooting, but did the important job of distracting the Dreadnoughts which would have massacred the Warriors if they got to charge them (using the Warriors as a screen for the Monolith was supreme stupidity – I should have sacrificed the ‘lith and would have if I’d known how much it would fail in later turns – however the Gauss special rule saved me (people who played 4th edition complain Gauss is worthless now that glancing shots can’t easily destroy a vehicle, but I find they help a lot just by stunning/immobilising/shaking)).
All the Destroyers (including the Lord) demonstrated the advantages of their mobility by turboboosting across the battlefield to help out where they were most needed.

I think the Marines spent a couple of turns doing less than they could – the tactical squad on the Marines left flank stayed in its Rhino too long not achieving anything, and the Captain stayed too long in the building with his men. If the captain came out earlier or if he charged the warriors in close combat the Marines could have controlled both courtyard objectives (with a conga line like the Necrons used) putting the Necrons on the back foot. The warriors were incredibly lucky to take out the Captain in one round of firing (well 3 rounds, I guess their bad luck in the first 2 rounds cancelled with good luck on the last round).

Mark.