Double Battle Report - Adeptus Mechanicus vs Necrons

Hello!

Recently I took a trip to Warhammer World, which is always fun, to play a couple of games against Dave and his Necrons. My AdMech had previously faced off against the xenos and been victorious, but this time a newer and more sinister force had awoken, led by the Silent King himself! Though it wasn't just the Necrons who had been upgraded - the forced of Ryza had acquired several new units since then as well.

For the first game we played a matched play mission from the GT pack, Battle Lines - four objectives in a cross formation, short edge deployment. I took the secondaries Engage on All Fronts, No Prisoners and the mission specific Vital Ground. Dave picked Grind Them Down, Behind Enemy Lines and Retrieve Octarius Data.

My list was a bit of a mix between attempting to build a sort of competitive army and just picking a load of new stuff to use. I had some Holy Orders, a relic and a trait on the Datasmith, but the only upgrades that were really relevant were a couple of Skitarii upgrade warlord traits on the big blobs, to let one count as being in cover and to ignore penalties for moving with assault/heavy weapons.

HQ: Tech-priest Manipulus (Logi), Technoarcheologist (Artisans)

Troops: 20 Rangers (Assorted upgrades), 20 Vanguard (Assorted Upgrades), 3 Breachers, 5 Destroyers (Plasma)

Elites: Cybernetica Datasmith (Raiment of the Technomartyr, Citation in Savagery), 5 Ruststalkers

Fast Attack: 3 Raiders, 5 Sulphurhounds, 10 Sterylizors

Heavy Support: 4 Kastelans (two guns and a fist on each)

Flyer: Fusilave

The Necron force was from the sinister 'Free movement and all Obsec' Dynasty, and had the obligatory Veil of Darkness on one of the Crypteks and the -1 damage trait on the Skorpekh Lord.

HQ: Skorpekh Lord, 2 Crypteks

Troops: 20 Warriors (Reapers), 10 Warriors, 5 Immortals

Elites: 10 Pretorians, Void Dragon, 5 Skorpekh Destroyers

Lord of War: The Silent King

Deployment - the Pteraxii went in the sky, everything else on the board. We decided to call the industrial terrain features ruins for some line of sight blocking. Necrons got first turn, and used their free move to shuffle around a bit. I forgot the free move on my Serberys Raiders. 

Necron turn one, moving up, mostly out of line of sight. The Silent King and Void Dragon sniped out a few Destroyers, while the Skorpekhs moved up to claim a middle objective. The big news was that the Fusilave suffered severe new model syndrome, getting blasted out of the sky by the Menhirs. Ooof.

AdMech turn one, things moved around to try and claim the two middle objectives. Strats and Traits were popped on the Vanguard and Sulphurhounds to try and drag the Praetorians down with weight of fire. Even with enriched rounds, only five of them fell! On the other flank the robots got a wall of Breachers to shield them from a charge, while the Ruststalkers got a charge into the Skorpekhs. They did well to take out three of them, but one got back up and they wiped the Sicarians in return.

Necrons turn two, everything moved forward to engage. There was some shooting, killing  off the Sulphurhounds, but most of the damage was coming in melee...

The Void Dragon struck first, reducing the Breachers to a single model on one wound. This meant the Skorpekhs couldn't fight unless they piled in and touched my robots, which they wisely chose not to.

Elsewhere the Raiders were charged, and use Tactica Obliqua to run away, leaving the Praetorians to fail their charge and not hold the objective.

AdMech Turn two. The Pteraxii arrived, spreading flame far and wide, then making a big charge into the Immortals on the Necron home objective, finishing them in melee. Elsewhere shooting reduced the Praetorians to two, and the Kastelans charged into the Skorpekhs and their characters, killing all the elites and the Cryptek, but leaving the Lord alive to do some damage in return. The AdMech ended the turn in control of all of the objectives except the one with the Skorpekh Lord thanks to his ObSec.

Necrons turn three and time for the big plays. Reaper warrior blob teleported into my deployment zone for Behind Enemy Lines, and murdering my Manipulus. The Void Dragon got into my robots and killed two, after the Skorpekh Lord had fought this left one remaining - though it was on the objective. The Silent Kind went backwards as well, but he didn't quite clear all the Pteraxii.

In AdMech turn three, I was controlling three of the objectives, so got the big 15 Primary, as well as points for Vital ground. However this turn didn't go so well in terms of actually killing things. Those stubborn Praetorians held on, the Pteraxii flew away and charged the rear unit of warriors, failing to do much damage, and the single remaining robot was unable to do enough damage on the Void Dragon to take it down.

With not much left in the tank, and two big monster units owning the battlefield, the AdMech forces were quickly routed in the remaining turns. A big turn around from the high scoring turn three left me with nothing from the last two turns, and as a result a close looking game came out with a score of 71-42 to the Necrons. I think I probably chose the wrong secondaries, my list was missing some more chaff type units, and I didn't play well around the terrain. I don't like to blame dice too much, but I think I was also a bit unlucky not to wipe the Praetorians in the initial volley. Oh well, moving on to game two...

This time, to ease the pressure on my brain, we played with the Open War cards, with this scenario. Effectively three objectives each in a touching arrowhead deployment. One point for a home objective, two for an opponent's one. The twist was that it's a last stand - no morale at all! I guess this is the last battle for the tomb world, the Necrons fighting to push the Imperial forces off their world once and for all, while the Ad Mech huddles around the drop zone with nowhere to go.

I took a different list this time, a bit simpler with fewer upgrades and a big Knight instead of any Skitarii troops. Definitely not a 'competitive' list, but with fewer moving parts it would probably be more fun to play!

HQ: Tech-priest Dominus (Anzion's Pseudogenetor, Masterwork Bionics), Technoarcheologist (Artisans)

Troops: 3 Breachers, 2x3 Destroyers

Elites: Cybernetica Datasmith

Fast Attack: 3 Raiders, 3 Sulphurhounds, 5 Sterylizors 

Heavy Support: 4 Kastelans (2 guns and fist each)

Flyer: Fusilave

Lord of War: Knight Valiant (Ion Bulwark)

Dave took the same Necron list as before. Obviously the Silent King not wanting to change a winning squad.

Deployment. Everything on the board. The robots taking advantage of the close deployment a bit, while the Necrons mainly concentrated in the flanks. I saved the flyer to deploy last so I could put it out of range of the Menhirs. I won the roll off this time and went first.

Turn one featured a general forward push, with the Pteraxii moving back to cover the central objective. I made sure to deny most of the Veil areas. The bomber actually got to do something, flying and turning to drop on the Skorpekh Destroyers. The Raiders also made a bold move to assassinate the Cryptek - getting enough wounds and mortals through with their sniper shooting but for a passed armour save.

Necron turn one mostly involved trying to deal with what I'd thrown at them, while the Silent King made his move up the centre. The Raiders were removed in short order, as were the Breachers screening the Valiant. However the Fusilave tanked a lot of firepower for only a few wounds. The Praetorians charged the Valiant, perhaps unwisely, taking a lot of damage in overwatch, but their reanimation keeping some of them around. They did 10 damage, then took some stomps, sticking around once again.

Turn two saw the Pteraxii Sterylizors move in to help remove the Praetorians after the Valiant stepped over them, while the Fusilave flew across the board to bomb the Necron Warrior blob. The Robots also charged the Immortals but thanks to stringing out to protect characters, failed to remove them from their objective. The main event was really the showdown between the Lady Helena's Valiant, The Defiant Flame, and the Silent King, Szarekh himself! His Menhirs had fallen already, so he took the full brunt of it's firepower. However a whole load of ones to wound meant he avoided the Thundercoil Harpoon and most of the meltaguns. The Conflaguration cannon did a chunk out of him though. Then the charge - Szarekh, wounded, was unable to kill off the Valiant, but degraded it enough to mean it's titanic feet were unable to destroy him.

Into Necron turn two, once again they concentrated on clearing their lines, failing to take down the Fusilave, but removing some pesky Sulphurhounds. The Void Dragon lined up a charge on the robots, but failed, so it was down to melee. The Silent King did finaly down the Valiant, and I spent three CP on Our Darkest Hour, to try and have her get back up on a 4+ - but alas, it was a three. To rub it in, my robots still didn't clear the Immortals!

Turn three, the Pteraxii made their move towards an objective with previously bombed warriors, while the flyer doubled back and bombed the Skorpekhs again. Powered up Destroyers blasted the Silent King, but he passed most of his invulnerables. The Kastelans eventually took out the Immortals, leaving me controlling an extra objective at the end of my turn and going into the lead.

However the Necrons struck back hard, with the Skorpekhs and the Void Dragon piling into my Kastelans at once, killing them with ease. The Silent King also took one of my objectives to level things up, as shooting finally downed the Fusilave and the warrior blob resisted the Pteraxii.

In a similar story to the first game, the Necrons dominated the last couple of turns, killing off most of my few remaining units. The Pteraxii did eventually finish off the Warriors, but the Skorpekhs moved in to kill them along with the Cryptek bonking the last one with a staff of 3+d3 damage. In the end I had a couple of Destroyers on a far away objective, who did manage to spitefully take out the Silent King with overcharged plasma! The end result was 20-16 to the Necrons.

It was a couple of fun games, and I think we both learned a lot about our armies. Both games I think turned into a bit of a war of attrition, which the Necrons were always going to win. I think the second more than the first hinged on a couple of big rolls - the Valiant's Harpoon failing against the Silent King, and then it's failed attempt to get back up. Both would have made a big difference, but then they were both big gambles and certainly can't be relied upon. I'm learning a lot about how the AdMech book works with my collection - I think in both games I needed more chaff units and less points and CP invested in buffs that weren't doing anything. Even though big blobs of Skitarii are 'in' right now, I think in future I'd run a load of 5 mans where possible in addition to one blob.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed all that, even though I lost both games it was still a fun day out. Stay safe!

Death Guard - Hobbypocalypse Month Six!

Hello!

We've finally reached the end of the Hobbypocalypse monthly challenge, building and painting along with the DZTV regulars. Six months of 250+ points leaving us with at least 1500 points of a new army at the end. As you may have seen recently, I've been going a bit over and managed to hit 2000 points for a game against the Necrons. I've been building my 'dry' Death Guard warband known as The Desiccated, making use of a lot of messy washes and sponging on the metals. It's been a lot of fun, so much so that they have now replaced the Alpha Legion as my Chaos force of choice.

So, to recap, here's what I've got so far:

Month one: Plague Marines.

Month two: More Plague Marines and a couple of characters.

Month three: Plagueburst Crawler, Lord of Contagion

Month four: Blightlord Terminators

Month five: Assorted characters

And now month six: Armour!

This month I added in a Rhino and a couple of little Daemon engines. Couple of significant conversions in here, and a lot of sponging. In fact I sponged on some white over the bone before washing to give it a bit of extra 'highlighting'. Between the sponge and the application of rust weathering powder, I'm very pleased with the end result on this lot.

The Rhino got a propper battering with some clippers and a drill, but most notable of the conversions is the big sac from the belly of the Tervigon on the back. I figure Plague Marines would want to travel in style, in a big sac full of goo. Also note - I added a bunch of sand to the treads in a similar manner to the PBC, which I think is another nice effect to make it look used.

Next is the Myphitic Blight-hauler, no conversions here, but in painting it up I did kind of fall in love with the model. It's gross, but strangely adorable. Look into that big blue eye and tell me he's not cute!

Finally, the Foetid Bloat-drone. This is the standard easy build version that comes with plague spewers, but I decided that I quite fancied the Flesh Mower variant, and I had built an Exocrine for a commission, so I had some spare gribbly bits for the Haruspex. So - this happened.

So, with that, here's the completed stamp card! One completed army done! Though of course, an army is never completed is it? I've got a bunch of chaff, pox walkers and cultists, to paint up, and I've been building some possessed marines, and I've got ideas for a daemon prince...

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this, and stay safe out there!

Narrative Wargamer Podcast - 40k Fun Facts, Warzone Charadon

Hello!

More Narrative Wargamer Podcast goodness, this time something a little different as rather than delving into some crunchy stuff with new rules or missions from a new book, it's a quiz show!

For this episode, Tony came up with a bunch of questions based on the lore in the Book of Rust, which neither I or Dave had read through, and presented multiple choices, including the 'real' answer and some made up ones. It proved quite a challenge to try and work out just how silly and over the top the GW writers are, especially in the 'real Death Guard name, or random name generator' section. Overall it was pretty good fun, and I hope you all enjoy it so we can do it again! Stay safe!

Battle Report - Death Guard vs Necrons

Hello!

This is the first time the Death Guard warband of the Desiccated have taken to the field in full force - this was a 2000 point Open War game against Sharpy (last seen with Eldar against my Orks), who was running his Necrons for the first time.

I put together a bit of a Herohammer list, due to the models I've painted up so far, with two Patrols each led by a Lord of... - I feel like narratively the two Lords are competing for their grandfather's favour. I spent a couple of CP to give both of them a trait and a relic, and spent some extra points on a Deadly Pathogen for them each. As usual, I was using the rules for Mortarion's Anvil.

HQ: Lord of Virulence (Arch-Contaminator, Fulgaris' Helm, Viscous Death), Lord of Contagion (Gloaming Bloat, Warp Insect Hive, Unstable Sickness), Malignant Plaguecaster (Miasma of Pestilence, Putrescent Vitality), Malignant Plaguecaster (Plague Wind, Curse of the Leper)

Troops: 7 Plague Marines (Power fist, Blight Launcher, Sigil of Decay), 7 Plague Marines (Power fist, Blight Launcher, 2 plasma guns)

Elites: 10 Blightlord Terminators (2 Blight launchers, 2 Flails of Corruption, Combi-plasma, assorted axes/swords), Plague Surgeon, Foul Blightspawn, Tallyman

Fast Attack: Myphitic Blight-hauler, Foetid Bloat-drone (fleshmower)

Heavy Support: Plagueburst Crawler (Entropy cannons, Rothail volley gun)

Transport: Rhino (Havoc launcher)

The Necrons were also spending some CP early to bring an extra detachment and an extra relic and warlord trait. Sharpy was running a custom Dynastic Code, and not the normal pregame move and obsec for everyone. These necrons were Rad-wreathed (for their own version of Contagion, -1 toughness for enemies within an inch) and their Canoptek units got extra movement and pile in distance. As usual, I can't remember all the details, so here's the jist of it:

HQ: Lord, Skorpekh Lord (-1 damage), Royal Warden (Veil of Darkness), 2 Crypteks

Troops: 5 Immortals (tesla), 15 Warriors (flayers), 15 Warriors (Reapers)

Elites: 3 Skorpkh Destroyers, Canoptek Spyder, C'tan Shard of the Void Dragon

Fast Attack: 2x9 Canoptek Scarab swarms, 3 Canoptek Wraiths

Heavy Support: 2x Lokhust Heavy Destroyer 

Here's the mission we picked out. Incisive Attack, three objectives outside of deployment, one of which is worth double points. The deployment led to the Death Guard defending the middle, while a swarm of Necrons awoke to surround them. We were also fighting in a Tempest, giving light cover to units being shot from more than 18 inches away - though thanks to the close in deployment zones this didn't really come into effect.

Deployment, we both decided to keep everything on the board, apart from one of the Plague Marine squads in the Rhino. I deployed the Terminators to fight for the left side of the board with two objectives, while the Rhino and squad were ready to jump to the lone objective on the right - which was opposed by the Void Dragon (eek). We rolled to see which objective was the two pointer, and it was the lone one near the C'tan. Then we rolled for first turn, which I won, but after deliberation I decided to go second, since the objectives are scored at the end of the battle round in this mission. So, Necron turn one...

Eeep! That newly painted Rhino doesn't look like it'll last long! And the other two new vehicles, the smaller daemon engines, were in a bit of trouble too, as the Necrons piled in fast. Shooting did some damage spread between the engines, but most of it was coming in melee. The Wraiths also made it into the Terminators and fought first, killing one of them, but it didn't go well for them in return. The Bloat-drone interrupted and munched a few scarabs, before they exploded and took it out. Obviously the Void Dragon made light work of the Rhino. The Skorpkhs had a go at the Blight-hauler, and tagged the Crawler as well, but thanks to it's -1 to hit in melee, they were unable to take it out. Mixed turn for the 'crons, but importantly...

The Royal Warden teleported over to the 2 point objective with a warrior blob - they could prove tough to shift!

Death Guard turn one, time to retaliate! I couldn't let a C'tan rampage through my army, so getting rid of that was pretty high priority. I lined up most of my characters, led by the Lord of Virulence to try and do it in one turn.

I'd also need to get some points, so aimed to take scarabs off the objectives to hold them myself. This was pretty straightforward for the Blightlords, but the Plague Marines on the building would have a tougher job. I could have sent the Lord of Contagion in to the Scarabs, but he was eyeing up the Skorpekh Lord for a charge, and some glory!

I also sent the Plague Marines from the Rhino over to chip at the Warriors on the two point objective. The Blight-hauler did some work by shooting into combat with the Skorpekh Destroyers, allowing the PBC to finish them off with the Entropy cannon, and launch the mortar into the objective holding warriors.

Between psychic, shooting and melee (with the last blow from the Lord of Virulence's Plagueclaw), the characters managed to take down the C'tan, but it exploded and wounded most of them! The Terminators marched through the scarabs to hold an objective, but the marines on the building failed their charge. The Lord of Contagion made it into the Skorpekh Lord, but the Necron managed to shrug him off, and even ignore him to destroy the Blight-hauler. Rude! The Lord of Virulence was definitely winning the favour of Nurgle today!

After turn one, the Necrons picked up 3 points, to the 1 point for the Death Guard.

Necron turn two, and we were already looking at a big pile of destruction. The Necrons' programming determined that all priority should go to holding the main objective. The various remaining units started making their way in that direction, and tried to hold up anything on the way. The crawler took some damage from one of the Lokhusts and then got tied up by Scarabs. 

Necrons fell back from the Plague Marines that had tried to take their objective, lining up to shoot them with the help of the Royal Warden. Between them and some other chip fire, the unit was reduced down to two models.

The Terminators were pretty convincingly controlling their objective, but one of the Crypteks made a token effort by dropping a mortal wound bomb on there for the next turn. Also note - a giant fly chose to sit on one of the Blightlords, truly blessed by Nurgle!

Necron Warriors piled back into the Plague Marines, slowly dragging them down, leaving just the champion - who did manage to punch out the Royal Warden before he fell in the next turn.

Turn two, the remaining characters moved on the priority objective, while the Terminators turned their attention onto the other Warrior squad to take a second objective for the Death Guard, leaving the Plague Surgeon to hold the first one from the Cryptek. The PBC fell back from the Scarabs, while the Lord of Contagion continued to chase after the Skorphk Lord that rudely ran away, while the Lord of Virulence moved around the corner to take out the Immortals.

The Terminators continued their relentless march, wiping out a squad of warriors and looking pretty menacingly at the Lord. Elsewhere the LoV removed the Immortals, while the LoC failed to take out the Skorpekh Lord again, and took a whole load of damage in return.

With that, I took two objectives while the Necrons had the priority one, leaving us on 5-3 to the 'crons.

Necron turn three, and with some limited resources they moved in on killing off some of my characters. The Crypteks both had a go - the most injured Plaguecaster got taken out in melee, while the Plague Surgeon took some mortal wounds, then a gauss destructor to the face. Hilariously, the Lord of Contagion got his quest for glory cut short by exploding scarabs.

DG turn three, all eyes on objectives. The Terminators had one pretty well sewn up - stomping on the Lord while they were at it. Shooting from the squad in the building did the perfect amount of damage to the Cryptek for the Tallyman to run in and stab it with his quill. Meanwhile the LoV and the Foul Blightspawn made their way to the priority objective and started to wade through the warriors - though that's a tough ask with all that regenerating! The damaged PBC turned it's guns on the Skorpekh Lord to finally finish it off, and stop it reaching the objective.

Another turn ending with two points each, now 7-5 to the Necrons.

Turn four, and not much left to hold on with for the Necrons, though they were slowly depleting the Death Guard ranks. Another blast from the Lokhusts took out the Tallyman and finally removed the PBC. A unit of scarabs made it past the gauntlet of Nurgle characters onto the key objective to assist the warriors, taking out the Blightspawn with another explosion.

The Lord of Virulence was having a tough time getting through those warriors, but at the end of turn 4, he did it, removing them and facing off against one scarab base to contest the objective. Holding the other two with Terminators and advancing Plague Marines got the scores to level at 7 all,

And with that, it was game over for the Necrons, being unable to claw back any points - though the last scarab swarm did spitefully explode into the Lord of Virulence to take him out! My last remaining character, a Malignant Plaguecaster, made it onto the objective uncontested, scoring me all four points for a final score of 11-7 to the Death Guard!

Great game, a real brawl with the Necrons starting practically on top of us! I think we both learned a fair bit - especially on the effectiveness of exploding Scarabs. I think in the contest between the two Lords for the attention of Grandpa Nurgle, the Lord of Virulence was the clear winner, taking out a c'tan shard and load of Immortals and Warriors, though both of them did die to Scarabs! I was pretty pleased with the performance of the Blight-hauler, who survived against one of Sharpy's strongest melee threats and did some good damage back to them. The Terminators were also big stars once again - they are so tough and they can put out a load of damage with some strats or buffs. It was also amusing to play against a mirror, with the -1 toughness effect of the Necron dynastic code. Plague Marines getting wounded on 4s by basic infantry was an interesting experience!

Anyway, good game, always a pleasure to play Sharpy (though I think he's now definitely due a win against me next time!) Hope you enjoyed reading, and stay safe.