Death to the Undead Robots!

40k Battle
Mission: Annihilation
Deployment: Spearhead
Size: 750 points
Forces: Dark Angels vs. Necrons

Andy and I squeezed in a non-campaign game of 40k last night. The new rules may be streamlined and fun to play and what-not, but I'm still hazy on them and need a lot more practice. Plus, since I forget half the special rules and special equipment my army usually has, a little practice never hurt. Not to mention it's always god to get in a game of 'pew pew', rolling dice and hanging out. Oh, and Evan Williams showed up too. Good times.


Marines deploy as far forward as they can


The Necron line readies for battle


Scout snipers take up elevated positions

Note to self: in an annihilation scenario, do not deploy your snipers way up in a ruined building. I was able to tag an enemy squad in the first turn, and maybe the third. But the rest of the time I was either trying to move into a better firing position, or just trying to get down off the ruined building. This was a good example of a normally effective unit being pretty much ineffective the entire game.


Proxy monolith!

No, it's not unpainted terrain, it's Andy's Monolith, ahem, proxied! I don't care what the model was on the board, I just know that it was nigh impossible to take down. An all around armor value of 14 is a tough nut to crack for sure, plus it had some funky special rules making it even more formidable. I did have the foresight to equip a couple of meltabombs, and I had a missile launcher out there too, so I had some krak missiles to lob at it, but either way I think I was looking for natural 6's. Fortunately, other than being a big ole floaty mess, it wasn't too much of a thorn in my side.


Othniel's heroic charge

Captain Othniel isn't a combat monster, but he can certianly hold his own. He's kitted out for melee, and charged headlong into the middle of the Necrons, their Lord accompanying them. Even though I was outmatched, I had a trick up my sleeve with the Hit and Run skill thanks to the campaign veteran tables, I never got to use it though, the first time I charged in, they ran after the combat was over! The second time we locked blades however didn't end well...for me.


Othniel's heroic death


Flame on!

I had lost the game, it was all but over. It was the annihilation scenario and we were playing for kill points. Andy had wiped out Othniel, and one of my tactical squads, which was two points already, and he was fast working on killing the stragglers of my second tactical squad, so he was soon to get a third point. For me, I had managed to eliminate only one of his two squads, I hardly scratched the Monolith (I did shake the 'crew' at one point), and his Necron Lord was well protected in the middle of a regenerating squad of troops, wielding an assault 3 glaive.

In a heroic charge, intent on assaulting, Veteran Sergeant Methuselah and a marine armed with a flamer fired as they rushed forward, they were the sole survivors of Squad Antiquis. The flamethrower template got just about as perfect of an overlay as you can get, and then I scored an amazing number of wounds...which in turn Andy rolled an amazingly low number of saves, which further in turn saw four out five failed "I'll be back" rolls!

It was a fairly one-sided battle, the kill points make it seem worse than it was, but I really stood no chance to pull out a comeback win on this one...until this happened. There's a standing rule with the Necrons; once they suffer 75% casualties, the remaining army vanishes from the battlefield. It's the only reason I squeaked out a victory. With nineteen out of twenty tactical marines dead, including my Captain, I think Andy can easily claim a moral win on this one.


"Huh?"

Moment of the game:
Veteran Sergeant Methuselah, squarely in Death's shadow, prepares to die a hero's death...then, there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. The shouts from the distant Scout squads were the only noises to be heard, not a single Necron was to be seen, even their fallen were gone. Were it not for the broken bodies of fellow marines strewn about the ground, it could have all been a dream.


Trooper Brann

Match MVP:
Clearly the most valuable player of the match of Squad Antiquis' trooper Brann. No, I don't normally name each member of the squad, just the sergeants, but the new house rule is that if a fig is the match MVP, they get a name. "Brann" is Norwegian for 'fire', not the most original, but it works, haha. I'm going to add both 'match MVP' and 'match moments' to the way I do battle reports from now on. They've been doing that in the latest White Dwarf reports, and it's a nice touch, so there you go.