Prelude -
The Stormlord stood before the Monolith, his hand tracing over the glyphs inscribed onto the ancient necrontyr construct, his mind full of introspection. Legion after legions of Necron warriors stepped through the dimensional corridors and evacuated the crypt deep beneath the surface of Ishtav VI.
The planet is doomed, its surface reduced to a barren wasteland at the hands of the Ordo Malleus and it is but a matter of time before the core of the planet destabilises.
His campaign on this world had been a successful one. His mindshackled servants were able set his plan in motion, culminating in his near-effortless victory in the cleansing of Ishtav VI and procurement of millions upon millions of fresh fighting forces. However, amongst the vast spoils of his victory, there is yet one object that requires his attention – the arcane artefact with which he instigated the entire conflict, the Tessersect Labyrinth within which holds a piece of raw Chaos, a fragment of the Empyrean, the one power in the Galaxy that he least understood.
‘Lord Imhotekh.’ Nemesor Zahndrekh said with a bow. ‘We have made all the necessary preparations.’
‘Very well.’
The odds of whatever contained within the Labyrinth escaping its prison is minuscule, but instead of contending with the fickle strands of fate, the Stormlord would rather face this threat while he is prepared than allow it to remain a variable that could undo his immaculate schemes.
With a gesture, the Tessersect Labyrinth’s impossible geometry unravelled and sorcerous lightning crackled overhead. In a blinding flash, a legion of Chaos Terminator materialised, at its head stood a simulacrum of the Chaos Warmaster - Abaddon the Despoiler.
Imhotekh looked up and met baleful gaze of the Warmaster and for the first time in untold millennia, he felt a rush of excitement shoot through him.
Overview
I was up against probably one of the best Chaos player around. Back in the day when I played Fatecrusher, I was able to beat him consistently thanks to the overabundance of rerollable invulnerable saves and CC unit that stomped his deathstar to the ground, but alas, my Necron army is more or less the direct opposite of that.
In terms of the story, this is the finale of my 3-part campaign. The first game was played at 1500 against GK and the second game was at 1750 against nob bikers.
Originally Posted by
1850 Chaos Marines
Abaddon the Despoiler
Daemon Prince – Wings, MoS, Lash
10x Chaos Terminators – MoT, 2x Reaper Autocannon, 4xCombi-melta, 4x Combi-plasma 2x Chainfist on Terminator Champions
3x Chaos Terminator – 3x Combi-melta, Chainfist
5x Plaguemarines – 2x Plasmagun, Rhino, Dozerblade,
5x Plaguemarines – 2x Plasmagun, Rhino, Dozerblade
2x Obliterators
2x Obliterators
2x Obliterators
A very interesting list. Instead of the dual lash oblits, he’s got a tough-as-nails block of Chaos terminators with Abaddon strolling down the centre field and 2 termicide squads to deal with stuff that desperately need to die. Feels like a Spacewolf list with podding Melta with Logan/Arjac deathstar and Longfang support (albeit not quite as good).
Mine:
Originally Posted by
Necron 1750
Imhotekh
Lance/Chrono Court
Zahndrekh
Tremorstave Court - Seismic Crucible
5x Warriors - Ghost Ark
10x Warriors - Ghost Ark
6x Wraiths - 2x Coil, Particle Caster
Doomscythe
Doomscythe
Monolith
Mission: Capture and Control
Deployment: Pitched Battle
Turn Order: Chaos - Necron
Deployment & Objectives
Chaos – He deployed his terminator block right up the centre towards me, the rhinos right behind them. Not surprisingly, he reserves all of his obliterators and the termicide squad. The Daemon Prince hides off a flank on his own. His objective was in the mid-field.
Necron – I decided to use this as a practice against the inevitable Vulkan podding marines, as there are some similarities to be had. I reserved everything that can deepstrike, intending to bring them in via Phased Reinforcement. Imhotekh start with the Lance/Chrono court and Zahndrekh roll with the 10-men blob. I really don’t mind if he wants to use his precious DSing melta to pop my Ghost Arks. My board is scarily empty. I placed my objective to the bottom-left corner of my deployment zone.
Seize Initiative: Not attempted.
Turn 1 - Chaos
Everything moves as far towards me as they’re able. Nothing is in range and nothing assaults (duh).
Turn 1 – Necron
Zahndrekh gives the lance/chrono court acute senses and joins the lance/chrono court with Imhotekh jumps into a Ghost Ark and move towards his Daemon Prince. The foot warriors and the ark warriors move back away from his Daemon Prince.
In shooting, lightning zaps a terminator squad. I reroll the number of hits to a 6 and zap a combi-plasma terminator to death. With rerolled spotting distance of 27”, I managed to spot the Daemon Prince and shave a pair of wounds off him.
Turn 2 - Chaos
A termicide squad and 2 oblits arrive. I deepstrike everything I can via Phased Reinforcement. The Scythes arrive near the edge of the board, to the flank of his army (near the Daemon Prince) the Monolith arrive some 25~30” to the flank of his advancing front. The wraiths arrive on the intercept course of his DP.
Nothing was clearly in range and he faces a difficult choice –he can drive the rhino towards the scythes and hope to light it up (and destroy it) or move away from them. He chose the latter.
Due to the proximity of the drop, the warrior ark was able to claim cover from the terminators and is unharmed, however, one oblit squad blows up my lance/chrono ark, the DP lashes them 8” towards his line and clumped them up. The second oblits fire its plasma cannon but the shot scatters off target. The terminators were able to spot them and blast them with bolters and autocannons. I put the AP4 wounds on Zahndrekh and Imhotekh and hoped for the best. When all is said and done, I only lost a single lance cryptek after the reroll and the RP.
He pops smoke on the Rhinos.
Turn 2 – Necron
I pull the Lance/Chrono court out of harm’s way via the Monolith (first time I was able to make use of it). Zahndrekh gives a Scythe Tank-hunter. I decide that this might as well be the turn I go after everything he’s got. The arks and the warriors move away from the DP.
The scythes fly forward and between the deathrays (I managed to get a pretty good 3D6 roll) I managed to destroy both Rhinos and murder a trio of Plague marines. The lance/chrono court shot an Obliterator squad off the board and the Monolith drops a pie plate on the Plaguemarines. After cover save I kill only 2 out of the 5. Between the arks and the warriors shot his termicide squad off the board.
In assault, the Wraiths find themselves in range of the DP, the fact that terrain doesn’t slow them any is a huge blessing and their razor-sharp claw rips the warp-empowered daemon prince to shreds.
Turn 3 – Chaos
His third obliterator squad turns up. He looks at the board and decides that he NEEDs to get the scythes out of the sky. The Oblits arrives and the multi-melta destroys a scythe. The terminators move towards the other scythe and shoot the combi-plasma and autocannons at it. S7 against AV11 is not a guaranteed kill, he succeeds in glancing it twice and pens it once – the scythe is immobilised but living metal saves both shakes.
The oblits shoot at the wraiths and fail the nightfight roll.
Turn 3 – Necron
Night fight ends. The only meaningful movement was made by the wraiths that moved towards the obliterator squad who destroyed my ghost ark on the second turn. In shooting, I elect to go after the troops instead of trying to deal with the terminator blob. The monolith kills a few from one squad and Doomscythe cleans up everything. Lance court shoots the newly arrived Obliterators off the board and the Wraiths wipes out the other.
There is no point fighting on as the only unit he has left on the board was that giant terminator blob. If game goes on until turn 7, he will be able to leg it across to my objective (which is unlikely as I’ll be slowing him via Tremorstaves). Factoring in running, then he might be able to reach my back-field by turn 6 but I’ll simply use the monolith to teleport one of the 2 warrior squads across the board to claim his.
Realising that he can’t even force a draw, he concedes the game.
Reflection
His deathstar blob lacked the mobility he needed and I was able to circumvent it entirely. The Scythes died, but in the process they also succeeded in wrecking all of his scoring capacities. I didn’t mind that trade at all. The Lance/chrono court was an absolute disaster. His low-quality shots weren’t enough to get through the 4+ and in the event where I had to make a LOT of saves, I elected to reroll the RP. I could fail a million saves on one model, but he can only die once, which meant with a resorb and chronometron, I have a 75% chance of getting that model back.
Epilogue -
Standing beside his trusted Nemesor and royal court, Imhotekh watched, with grim satisfaction, as the energy of the Empyrean waned and the ghostly figures of the chaos terminators began to dissipate.
‘We will return.’ The Daemon Prince bellowed. ‘There is no escape from the power of Chaos.’
‘Anarchy, randomness and raw emotion that defies reason and rationality.’ The Stormlord snorted. ‘That is Chaos. We are the embodiment of order, unity and obedience. We are the antithesis of all that you are.’
‘Perhaps.' The Warmaster sneered, his voice echoed in the vacant Necron tomb. ‘But do you understand the magnitude of the power contained within the Empyrean?’ Your boldness is born of ignorance. In time, you will learn to fear us.’
‘No.’ Imhotekh said. ‘The galaxy trembled at the mere thought of us long before the birth throes of your pitiful Gods. Agents of Change, Murder, Decay and Excess. Know that my name is Imhotekh the Stormlord, the Phaeron of the Sautekh Dynasty. Bring my words to your Gods for before long, they too will learn what it means to be afraid.’
Abaddon laughed, his voice became increasingly hollow and eventually, silence prevailed as the sorcerous energy that held his form together was no more.
'Let us depart.' decreed Imhotekh. 'Our work here is done.'
As the last of the Necron forces stepped through the Eternity Gates, the Monoliths themselves began to phase out and before long, nothing was left of the vast Necron legion that slumbered there once.
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