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.

All Hail the Nightbringer!

Marine Terminators bathe the Nightbringer in green chemical flame.

...also known as Aw Hell, the Nightbringer! We played another multi-player 40k battle, and the above pic, begins our report with the literal (and proverbial) end.


40k Battle #3
Mission: Annihilation
Deployment: Pitched Battle
Size: 1,500 points
Forces: Allied Necron / Tyranid Contingent
vs. Allied Space Marines / Imperial Guard


Tomb worlds are called such for a reason, but rarely (if ever) do they contain the essence of an elder, ancient, and malevolent C'Tan. Above are Andy's Necrons of the Shattered Sphere.


Chris' Tyranid forces of Hive Klendathu. In a war-torn universe that doesn't make sense, the Necron / Tyranid alliance is about the only thing that seems logical. The Tyranids outright ignore the metal undead (there's no point in eating them), and the Necrons ignore the Tyranids because, well, they're not on the menu.


The anvil of the Emperor, the Imperial Guard. Ray's Cadian force is growing more and more every day. Added since last time are more heavy weapons, and a Sentinel walker.


If the Imperial Guard are the anvil, then the Space Marines are the hammer. Here are some of the Emperor's Finest, the Ultramarines. As a house rule, you can't field anything unpainted, so here I'm using my brother-in-law's expertly painted Marines. They're the older 2nd edition figs, and he's never played a single game of 40k, but he definitely has a preternatural skill at painting.


Biovores launch across the skies, landing amid the Cadians.

Turn 1:
Hammer and Anvil: The forces of good began the turn slowly at first, with Imperial Guard wounding the massive Carnifex only once with heavy weapons fire, and guardsmen eliminating only a single leaping Hormagaunt.

Claw and Steel: The Necrons stayed hunkered down in cover while the Tyranids surged forth; they launched Biovore spores which missed their mark, and a trio of Tyranid Warriros fired upon the Guard, killing two.


Not quite "Hamburger Hill", more like "Snack Cake Hill".


Heads swaying back and forth looking for food, the 'Gaunts are on the move.


Infiltrated Scouts try to dent the carapce of the Carnifex with Heavy Bolter fire.

Turn 2:
Hammer and Anvil: A completely uneventful turn for the allied forces as Marines failed to cause wounds on the Necrons. The assault cannon on the Dreadnought failed to wound anything as well. Around the Shrine of Gideon, the Marine Scouts saw a marginal victory as they engaged Ripper swarms in melee, killing one of the scuttling hordes.

Claw and Steel: Where the human and superhuman fell short, the unnatural and supernatural really poured it on. The Nightbringer, in its cold and otherworldly horror, phased into view, lashing out with a lightning arc and completely annihilating the venerable Ultramarine Dreadnought, Ferox. Speaking of large based terrors destroying vehicles, on the other side of the battlefield, the Carnifex rushed the Guard's Chimera, destroying its tank treads, immobilizing it, and ripped its multi-laser from the turret housing.


A target-rich environment, except for the high toughness and wound values.


Dinner!

Imagine what the Imperial Guard look like in the eyes of a ravening Tyranid. It would be something like a bunch of little chicken legs with green Imperial-issue helmet and lasguns. The Hive Tyrant saw this as it flew into the center of them, unaware that some of those chicken legs were senior and veteran command troops armed with power fists and power swords.


A quagmire of combat.


"They shall know no fear." Whatever!

Turn 3:
Hammer and Anvil: Guard claimed a moral victory as they wounded the Hive Tyrant and more guard escaped out the back hatch of the burning Chimera while they could. The tactical squad of Marines stepped forth to fire bolters at the incoming Nightbringer, to no avail.

Claw and Steel: The large based models stole the show while the 25mm based troops of the enemy were barely a factor (or even noticeable) in the fight. The Nightbringer swept forward, destroying 70% of the tactical Marines in a single turn, sending the rest running.


"I'm from Buenos Aires, and I say KILL THEM ALL!"

Turn 4:
Hammer and Anvil: Especially in a Pitched battle I will never deep strike my Terminators, ugh. Even though turn four is about when they should be expected to turn up, they could've been a lot more effective early on. Well they did show up, thanks to the teleport homer the fleeing Marine sergeant had, they lined up to square off with the Nightbringer. The Imperial Guard command squad shocked the Hive Tyrant by turning the tide on it and besting it in combat. The commander's power fist (and yes, he is from Buenos Aires) cracked and smashed its armored shell bringing the beast down.

Claw and Steel: Well, at this point it was pushes midnight, we got off to a very late start, and it was a work night for all of us. There would be no turn four for the enemy troops.

Conclusion: Tie.

Again, it looked like a foregone conclusion for the enemy at this point, but you can never tell the outcome of the battle until the last turn is played. I think this speaks positively of the new edition of the rules too, it keeps battle close and interesting. In the Annihilation scenario, your goal is to wipe out enemy units, at the end of turn four it was dead even. True, the Nightbringer more than likely would've destroyed the Temrinator squad, but, they are Terminators in the end, so maybe not. At the same time however, the Carnifex would very likely have fallen next turn, as would have the Ripper swarms, so by the end of turn five we might still have a tie game, or maybe a marginal lead by the forces of good. You never know until that last turn has played out.

Aliens, Bugs, and Robots

40k Battle #2
Mission: Seize Ground (3 objective points)
Deployment: Dawn of War
Size: 1,000 points
Forces: Allied Necron / Tyranid Contingent
vs. Tau Empire


My 1,000 point Tau Expeditionary Force.


Andy's compact, 500 point Necron Raiders.


Chris' not so compact 500 point Tyranid swarm.


Hot on the heels of my terrain trio, Andy brings a brand new piece of terrain as well, an Industrial Pump Station. His is a tad more contemporary than mine, heh. Some of his Necrons pose on the catwalk. Hopefully there'll be more of these down the pike...


Scuttling, screaming, clawing forward through the pre-dawn gloom and fog, a clutch of Genestealers rush the Fire Warriors. The Fire Warriors, in turn, calmly sight in their long-ranged Pulse Rifles.

Turn 1: The allied enemy forces won the roll and got to set up first. Due to the Dawn of War deployment, they set up right on the halfway mark of the table, dangerously close to Tau forces and the two objectives. The three objectives were, once again, mushroom stands. Two separate Tau Fire Warrior squads cut down five advancing Genestealers in a crossfire.


An XV8 Crisis Suit team deep strikes into the middle of the battlefield.


The remaining Genestealers close ranks with the Fire Warriors.

Turn 2: The Fire Warriors didn't last a single round in melee with the Genestealers, staving off the additional charging close combat attack with their Photon grenades was but a brief respite. On the other side of the board, just as my six-strong Vespid were emerging from the table's edge, they were completely blown away, by Necron Gauss rifles, the whole squad was wiped out before they ever took to the skies. The Crisis team accurately deep struck into the middle of the action, cutting down one Necron Warrior and four Hormogaunts with their Missile Pods and Plasma Rifles, able to pick multiple units to fire upon thanks to their onboard multi-trackers.




The endless Tyranid swarm scurries forward.


A Tyranid HQ squad holds one of the three objective markers. Being an HQ unit, they wouldn't be able to count as a scoring unit, however, they will deny the objective to enemy scoring units as long as they're holding that position...and staying alive.


Turn 3: Things seemed to go from bad to worse for the Tau forces as another Fire Warrior squad was wiped out in melee by the Genestealer squad, who were living up to their hype as being true combat monsters. Kroot forces, who probably should have infiltrated at the beginning of the game, finally got in position to be effective, catching a Termagaunt squad in another effective crossfire with the Crisis Suits, cutting down a whopping fifteen of them, mainly thanks to the high AP values of the weapons brought to bear.


The Tau Commander stands alone against two squads of Necron Warriors.


Turn 4: Whereas Tau Fire Warriors are supposed to avoid melee, their Kroot allies excel at it. After a successful shooting round wiping out the Termagaunts, they charged headlong, shrill shrieks and sharp blades into the loathsome Genestealers, vengeance on the agenda for the Kroot. Numbers and an unexpected ferocity gave them the edge in battle as they destroyed all of the Genestealers, cracking open their shells and eating them like some type of nightmarish shellfish. There was a single XV88 Broadside Battlesuit on the table, but the majority of firelanes were choked full of terrain, it was relagated to a close combat role alongside the Tau Commander against the Necron Warriors. It's 2+ save gave it staying power, but it wasn't enough in the end and it was toppled. The Tau Commander fought on, slagging two more Necrons, however in the following shooting phase she was gunned down by massed Gauss Rifle fire.


The Kroot became the MVP of the Tau, and propose a most curious scenario. With the Genestealers completely wiped out, the objective marker is completely uncontested, and the Kroot are a scoring unit. Let's look at the other two objective markers. The one in the middle of the table is being guarded by an HQ unit, so it is claimed, but not scored. The last objective marker is indeed swarmed by a full strength squad of Necron Warriors, definitely a scoring unit, however, a full strength Crisis Battlesuit team is engaging them, effectively denying the Necrons the objective. The Crisis Suits are a multiple wound unit with a low 3+ armor save; they can't be wiped out that easily, but they're also not invincible. In the end, a tie would've been nice, I think an outright win is a bit of a longshot however.

There's a good moral here; always play your games to the bitter end, then count up your points, you may be surprised by the outcome, and the end might not be as bitter as you think. It's tougher to say what the actual outcome of the battle would've been, even though it looked like a total route of Tau forces.

I saw a complaint on a forum about this, stating it as "idiotic", though there is more general disgruntled GW rant in there than actual playtesting. By having objectives and goals for each battle you don't just have seemingly pointless games existing in a vacuum for no other reason than to 'fight'. With the missions comes some strategy and tactics of when and where your troops are going to deploy and defend. Sure, you can play for the total annihilation of the other side, but if time runs out and you haven't checked anything off your clipboard objective-wise, a moral victory is all you can claim, at best.

40k: Reboot Dos

Hot on the heels of last week's game (prior post) is another 40k night. We were shooting for a four player night, but for reasons I won't go into length about, one of our players did not show up. His name is Chris. Chris is the player who didn't show up. Anyway, we had a blast, mostly because we felt more comfortable with the rules and played with points values and much bigger forces. Because we had a player not show up, remember his name is Chris, we had to rethink how we were going to play the game. We opted for a 1000 point battle, Andy and his Necrons versus an alliance between 500 points of my Tau and 500 points of Ray's Imperial Guard Cadians. The points value was still not enough for me to sink my teeth into some meaty Crisis Battlesuit teams, Vespids, a tricked out commander, etc. For Ray, it was a hard task to finagle two troop choices and an HQ choice under the points limit, but he shoehorned it all in. We had a go at it, and it did not disappoint one bit. I need to come up with a more concise battle report in the future, but in the meantime I'll just ramble on. Here we go:


We put together a 6"x4" table with a fair amount of terrain. If it looked organic, it was soft cover, if it looked hard, it was. We had some marsh land, a few ruined buildings, and a smattering of leftover industrial equipment.


Like I said, five hundred points doesn't give you a lot of Tau options, especially after you get your two troops choices out of the way. I really wanted to take at least a single team XV8 Crisis suits, here in the 'Fireknife' configuration, this left me with a full squad of Fire Warriors and a bare-boned, absolute minimum squad of Kroot. A low-leveled Commander led the team.


Andy's Necron army, unceremoniously arrayed on top of his codex. There's the requisite choices of Necron Warriors along with some Destroyers, a gaggle of Scarabs, some vicious Wraiths, and some of the flesh-wearing infiltrator guys (whose name I forget). They're all led by the Undead Robot Commander guy.


Ray took pride in setting up his force for the opening shot, and well he should. His Cadians are drop dead gorgeous to look at and have some serious tabletop presence. His mere 500 points had him fielding no less than fifty troopers. A single troop choice numbered three ten-man squads, accompanying heavy weapon teams for each squad, and a five-man command squad. His other troop choice was a ten-man armored fist squad mounted in an Imperial Chimera. A five-man command squad leads the force as his HQ choice.


Our mission goal was to secure various objective markers around the field. I'm looking forward to making up some game-specific markers in the future, but for now we settled with stands of giant mushrooms.


The allied Tau and Cadian deployment line stretched across the entire length of the six foot table. I opted to have my Crisis team deep strike from orbit. I don't think they really drop from orbit, I"m pretty sure they drop out of the back of Manta Transports, but it sounds cool.


Necrons Destroyers eerily glide across the battlefield.


Kroot infiltrators eagerly rush the first objective marker...


...and were quickly pounced upon by awaiting Wraiths, immaterial until the last, deadly moment. The Kroot are no strangers to melee, they inflicted a couple of wounds as well, but their fate was sealed the moment the Wraiths emerged and engaged them.


The Armored Fist squad piles out of their Chimera and open fire on the distant Necron warriors. The Chimera's turret multi-laser was knocked out rather quickly, leaving only the Heavy Bolter team to add punch to the massed firepower.


Gauss Flayer and Pulse Rifle energy ionized the air as these two squads hammered away at each other turn after turn. The Necrons' ability to self-repair each turn, and possibly get back up after suffering a crippling hit, made these types of engagements tiresome at best, heh.


Staff Sergeant Johnson valiantly holds the line, err, mushroom against innumerable odds. Shouting Imperial Chants, fist raised in defiance, he exemplifies the Imperial Decree.


The Flayed Ones (ha, I remembered their name!) infiltrated towards the objective in the middle of the table, and held it all game, almost too effectively; no one even bothered to contest their objective stranglehold. Below their position more Necrons advance under the watchful gaze of their Undead Robot Commander Guy, and no, I haven't remembered his name, haha.


The allied Tau/Cadian forces lost, having failed to secure a single objective marker. The Necron forces, having tread Staff Sergeant Johnson under their steel heels, secured one objective mushroom. Above, had the Cadians been a little swifter, or had we had one more turn, we could've had a tie game on our hands. The Crisis team, being an elite choice, is not a scoring units, but they could've held up the Wraiths long enough for the human grunts to secure the influential fungus.

It was a great game, very fun, and like I said last post, it gets players around the table. The war torn future looks promising. Rock on.