Rapid Fire 2015- Game 4: White Scars vs Necrons

Welcome to my battle report for game 4 from Rapid Fire 2015. This was the first game on the Sunday and I was hoping to add some victories to my tally of games.

 

On a side note, the Saturday night before was when the clocks changed in the UK. Idiot that I am, I managed to put the clock forward instead of backwards. So, instead of getting up at 7 am to travel to Stirling,  I wound up waking at 5 am. Needless to say, I went back to bed for a couple of hours to try and get some more rest before my journey!

 

The first game of day two was Purge the Alien with Hammer and Anvil deployment. My opponent was Martin and his Necron Decurion army. This was possibly one of the worst missions to face against the Decurion. I know from experience how durable the Necron Decurion formation can be and knew this would be a hard fought game to try and wipe out the enemy army.

As a reminder, my army consisted of:
 

Kor'sarro Khan- Moondrakken (with CS)

Librarian- Mastery Level 2, Auspex, Meltabombs, Force Sword, Bolt Pistol (with C)

5 Command Squad- Mounted on bikes, 4 grav guns, 2 storm shields, Apothecary (CS)

5 Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant has meltabombs (GB1)

5 Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant has meltabombs (GB2)

5 Bikers- 2 Meltaguns, sergeant has meltabombs (MB)

10 Tactical marines- Meltagun, sergeant has combi-melta and meltabombs (TS1)

Drop Pod- Storm Bolter (DP2)

5 Scouts- Bolt pistols, close combat weapons, sergeant has meltabombs (Sc)

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy Bolter, Cerberus Missile launcher (LS)

Drop Pod- Deathwind missile launcher (DP1)

Stormtalon- TL assault cannons, skyhammer missile launcher (ST)

2 Attack Bikes- Multimeltas (AB)

5 Devastators- 4 Missile Launchers (D)

Rhino- Storm Bolter (R)

3 Centurions- Grav amps and grav cannons, hurricane bolters (C)

For this game, my psychic powers were once again Presecince and Psychic Shriek. I decided not to combat squad the tactical marines- no point giving up additional Kill Points.

Martin's army consisted of:

Reclamation Region

Overlord- Resurrection Orb, Veil of Darkness, Warscythe (O1)

5 Immortals- Gauss Blasters (I)

Nightscythe (N)

10 Necron Warriors (W1)

10 Necron Warriors (W2)

7 Tomb Blades- Nebuloscope, Shield Vanes, TL Gauss Blaster (TB1)

7 Tomb Blades- Nebuloscope, Shield Vanes, TL Gauss Blaster (TB2)

7 Tomb Blades- Nebuloscope, Shield Vanes, TL Gauss Blaster (TB3)

Royal Court

Orikan the Diviner (Or)

Vargard Obyron (VO)

Overlord- Resurrection Orb, Voidreaper (O2)

Canoptek Harvest

4 Scarabs (S)

1 Tomb Spyder (TS)

6 Wraiths (W)

A tough Necron army. Wraiths are a pain; they are fast, extremely durable in the Canoptek Harvest and can cause a lot of damage in combat. Tomb Blades are fast and can put out a lot of firepower. Scarabs are very strong against vehicles and are useful for tying up units in combat with their many wounds.

My plan was to use the advantage of Hammer and Anvil deployment to deploy as far away as possible from the Necrons. I would chose to go second in the game so that Martin's first turn of shooting would essentially be negated (out of range for most weapons) and I would be able to counter his units one at a time.

I won the roll for table edge and chose the side with cover for the devastators. Martin won the roll for deployment and chose to go first.

The wraiths deployed in the centre of the board, surrounded by the units of Tomb Blades. The scarabs and Tomb Spider deployed to the right, while the Necron warrior units deployed on the hill and in the ruins to the left.

For my deployment, everything deployed within 12" of the board edge; the Devastators in the rock cover to the left with the landspeeder storm behind them. The bikers deployed to the right of the board, away from the Wraiths. The attack bikes and Rhino deployed in the centre of the board.

For Draw Blood, I chose the Necron Warriors on the hill, while Martin chose the Command Squad.

I didn't attempt to seize and Martin got the first turn.

TURN 1- NECRONS

The Necron turn started with the Tomb Spider creating another Scarab base. All of the Necron units advanced with the exception of the Necron Warriors. The Wraiths moved up the centre of the board, running another 3" to get to the enemy. The Tomb Blades all turbo-boosted forward, wary to stay out of the threat range of the grav gun wielding bikers.

With no White Scars units in range, there was no shooting, so the Necron turn ended.

TURN 1- WHITE SCARS

The drop pod carrying the Centurions arrived on the board, attempting to land on the left of the hill, but scattering to the right side between the two Warrior units. The Landspeeder moved forward to get in range with the Cerberus launcher. All other White Scar units stayed in place, waiting for the enemy to advance.

 

In the psychic phase, the Librarian failed to cast Prescience on 4 dice.

In the shooting phase, the Drop Pod fired the Deathwind launcher at the Necrons in the ruins. Despite causing 9 wounds, only one Necron Warrior fell. The Centurions fired at the Necron Warriors on the hill, only hitting with 7 of their 15 shots (I could have used Prescience here), but managed to slay 4 warriors. They passed their morale check and fought on.
 

The Landspeeder Storm fired at the Tomb Blades, the Cerberus launcher causing not wounds but blinding the Wraiths and a unit of Tomb Blades. The Attack Bikes fired at the Tomb Blades (who jinked). One multimelta hit, but failed to wound on a roll of a 1. The Devastators fired krak missiles at the Tomb Blades on the left. Three wounds were caused and three of the jetbikes died as Martin did not make a single Jink save or re-animation roll.

 

TURN 2- NECRONS

The Nightscythe arrived, moving the maximum distance to the middle of the board. The Tomb Spider made another Scarab, while the Overlord used Veil of Darkness to teleport the Wraith unit in front of the White Scar lines. The Tomb Blades advanced, eager to get into gun range of the marines, while the Necron warriors advanced on the newly arrived Centurions. The Scarabs broke cover and advanced on the drop pod.

In the shooting phase, the Warscythe fired at the Landspeeder storm, blowing up the fragile skimmer and killing one of the scouts inside. The Tomb Blades in front of the scouts snap fired at them, killing another member of the squad.

The second unit of Tomb Blades snap fired at the Devastators. They hit twice, wounded twice and I failed both saves. The other unit of Tomb Blades on the left killed one of the bikers from the front grav gun unit.

In the backfield, the two Necron Warrior units fired at the Centurions, the combined fire succeeded in dealing one wound to a Centurion.

Both units then charged in to combat. Obyron challenged and the Librarian accepted, hoping to save the Centurions and give them a chance to escape. The Centurions killed two of the Necron Warriors, while the Librarian wounded Obyron, but could not get past his armour. In reply, Obyron killed the Librarian and one of the Centurions, the Warriors failing to harm the marines. The Centurions passed their morale test, but failed to Hit and Run out of combat.

The Scarabs attempted to charge the drop pod, but failed to make the distance (even with their fleet re-roll).

TURN 2- WHITE SCARS

Seeing the Wraiths arrive in front of their ranks, the White Scars bikers sprung into action. They moved to surround the enemy unit. The second drop pod arrived, landing near to the first one, the tactical marines moving to engage the Scarabs.

In the shooting phase, the two drop pods fired on the Scarabs, the Deathwind launcher causing two wounds. The tactical squad fired at the Scarabs. The two meltaguns missed the target (this was annoying as they would have caused Instant Death on the bases), but the bolters managed to take 5 wounds from them, removing a couple of bases.

The rest of the army focused on the Wraiths. The Devastators opened fire with their Frag missiles. The blasts hit the unit 8 times, but not a single wound was caused! To make matters worse, an attack bike was clipped by one of the blasts and lost a wound.

The attack bikes, command squad, Rhino and four units of bikers opened fire on the Wraiths. Martin activated the Resurrection orb this turn to help the unit out. Twenty-four grav gun shots, 2 multimelta shots and 26 twin-linked bolter shots rang out at the Wraiths. The result? Two unsaved wounds.

In the combat phase, the biker units and attack bikes assaulted the wraith unit. The bikers struck first. I got 17 Hammer of Wrath attacks and 54 attacks from all the bikers unit. The result? Not a single unsaved wound on the Wraiths.  I failed a good 60-70% of my to Hit rolls (needing a 4+).

The Wraiths struck back, but did not cause any unsaved wounds on the bikers. The two Overlords and Orikan struck back, killing the two attack bikes and three bikers.

The Great White Hope.

I lost the combat by a wide margin. Three biker units fell back (the Command Squad and two grav units), one of the grav units leaving the board. Fortunately, the meltagun unit passed their morale check on a double 1 (thanks to Khan's re-roll) and the Wraiths stayed locked in combat.

Strategic withdrawal (sounds so much better than fleeing from combat).

The Scouts charge the Tomb Blades in front of them, the overwatch fire killing one scout on the way. In combat, the scouts caused 1 wound which was saved by the Necron's armour and one scout died in return. The sole survivor stayed in the fight, passing his morale check.

On the other side of the board, Obyron killed another Centurion and the Necrons suffered no damage. The Centurion failed his morale check, but stayed locked in combat with the Warriors.

That was an absolutely awful turn for me. Approximately 60% of my army's shooting capacity and 50% of the army on the board attacked the Wraith unit and caused a whole two wounds. I knew the Decurion was durable, but that was ridiculous. My only bit of luck that turn was that the Command Squad and one of the biker units rolled a poor fall back move and didn't run off the board. Had all three units gone off the board, I probably would have given up there.

TURN 3- NECRONS

The Tomb Spider moved towards the tactical marines, while the Warscythe turned towards the Command squad and the Immortals deployed in front of them. The Tomb Blades advanced on the rest of the White Scars units.

In the shooting phase, one unit of Tomb Blades fired at the Devastators, wiping them out. The Warscythe targeted the grav bike squad, killing two bikers. The squad passed their morale check.

The second Tomb Blade unit and the Immortals fired at Khan and the Command Squad, the combined firepower killing one of the bikers.

In the assault phase, the Scarabs assaulted the drop pod, but failed to damage it. The Tomb Spider attempted to charge the tactical squad, but could not make the distance. Oberyon finally killed the last Centurion and the two squad consolidated towards the tactical marines.

 

The Wraiths and characters wiped out the last of the meltagun bike squad and consolidated towards the Command Squad.

TURN 3- WHITE SCARS

Based on the last turn, my chances of taking out many Necron units was removed, I could instead focus on keeping my own units alive and try to target the weaker Necron units (if there are such things).

The Stormtalon arrived, moving up the board to target the far units in the enemy army. Khan led the command squad, Rhino and other bike survivors towards the enemy deployment zone. They then used their turbo-boost move to increase the distance between them and the enemy units.

The Stormtalon fired at the Tomb Spider. The assault cannon fired, hitting the beast three times. All three wound rolls came up rending and the Tomb Spider took 2 wounds. It was then finished off by the Skyhammer missile launcher, giving me my first kill point of the game.

The tactical squad fired at the Necron warriors on the hill, but their weapons caused no damage. They attempted to assault the unit, losing one marine to overwatch fire. In combat, each side struck, killing one member of each squad.

The Scarabs attacked the drop pod once again, this time causing two hull points damage. The lone scout and Tomb Blades failed to harm one another and the combat continued.

I had managed to score my first point this turn, but I had already lost 6 units in the process. Even assuming that the Necrons did not cause any more casualties to my army (pretty much an impossibility), I doubt I had the manpower left to even the score.

TURN 4- NECRONS

Orikan the Diviner made his special rule roll and gained the stat line of a C'tan. This was good as the Necrons were obviously in need of more help at this stage. He disengaged from the Wraiths and moved towards the lone Scout locked in combat.
 

The other characters joined the Immortals, leaving the Wraiths free to go after the Command Squad. The Warscythe left the field, circling round for another pass.

The Immortals and a unit of Tomb Blades focused their firepower on the Stormtalon, but could not damage the flyer. The other unit of unengaged Tomb Blades fired at the combat squad, causing 8 wounds and killing the Apothecary (I should have been more careful about his positioning). The Necron warriors fired at the Deathwind drop pod, wrecking the transport vehicle.

In the assault phase, Orikan assaulted the lone scout engaged with the Tomb Blades, easily slaying him.
 

The Wraiths assaulted the Command Squad, their overwatch fire causing no wounds. Khan struck at the Wraiths, hitting four times and amazingly causing 4 instant death wounds (rolled four 6's to wound). Unfortunately, three were saved and only one Wraith died. The Wraiths strucked back, causing 4 wounds that were all saved by the command squad's armour. The squad could not damage the wraiths in return, I won combat, but the Wraiths were fearless. I attempted to hit and run, but failed the roll on a 6 (the only roll I could fail on).

The Scarabs assaulted the other drop pod, wrecking it with their attacks. Obyron assaulted the tactical squad engaged with the Warriors, killing two of the marines for no loss in return. The tactical squad managed to hit and run out of combat.

I didn't realise that the Tomb Spider gave the Wraiths re-animation rolls and its loss meant they didn't get any. Had I known this sooner, I may have targeted it for destruction. It would have helped significantly in the combat in turn 2. Also, I really needed the command squad to hit and run out of combat. Had they done so, it was unlikely the Wraiths would have been able to catch them before the end of the game.

TURN 4- WHITE SCARS

The two bikers from the grav unit moved up towards the Necron Warriors in their deployment zone as the Stormtalon also advanced.

In the shooting phase, the Stormtalon wiped out one Warrior unit to give me Draw Blood and another kill point. The bikers fired at the other Necron unit. The grav gun hit twice, but then rolled a double 1 to wound. The bolter managed to miss, even with re-rolls.

 

The tactical squad fired at Obyron, but failed to wound (the meltagun missed once again).

 

In combat, Khan succeeded in killing another Wraith and one of the command squad was struck down. Both units remained locked in combat.

 

TURN 5- NECRONS

Orikan moved up to gain Linebreaker, while the other units advanced on the few remaining White Scars; the Scarabs on the Rhino, Obyron on the tactical squad, a unit of Tomb Blades on the Stormtalon and a unit of Tomb Blades on the Command squad.

The Warscythe came back on the board, targeting the Stormtalon and blowing it out of the sky. The warriors fired at the two man bike unit. They caused three wounds and I managed to fail all three saves, the unit being wiped out.

 

In the assault phase, the Tomb Blades assaulted the Command squad locked with the wraiths. The jetbikes struck with hammer of wrath attacks, causing two wounds on the unit. I promptly failed both 3+ armour saves and the command squad perished, leaving only Khan. Khan struck at the Tomb Blades, slaying two, before the Wraiths cut him down in combat.

Obyron charged the tactical squad, killing four marines for no damage in return. The unit failed their morale check, but could not outpace the Necron character (despite having double his initiative) and also failed their Hit and Run test.

 

The Scarabs charged the Rhino, but failed to damage the vehicle and it survived.

 

TURN 5- WHITE SCARS

With exactly three models left alive on the board, this would be a short turn. The Rhino moved to the Necron deployment zone to claim linebreaker.

 

In combat, Obyron killed the final two tactical marines. With that the game ended, with a sole Rhino surviving from my army.

The end of the game.

 

VICTORY POINTS:

Mike: Primary- 2, Secondary- 2

Martin: Primary- 15, Secondary- 3

 

A decisive victory for the Necrons.

 

AFTER-BATTLE THOUGHTS

That game went pretty much exactly as I expected it to go when I found out the scenario and my opponent's army. I have beaten Decurion lists before, but only in objective-based games or maelstrom missions and I can generally count the number of models I have left on one hand.

 

Martin played a brilliant game (as the result shows), but I made a few errors during the game and had some unlucky dice rolls that cost me dearly. I wouldn't have won the game, but with a few more things going my way, I may have decreased the loss.

 

I think my original plan was ok. Deploying far back meant that Martin had to waste a turn with no shooting to move everything up to me and could not assault with the wraiths before turn 3. The Hammer and Anvil deployment was key for this, as it allowed me to deploy at least 36" away from the Necrons.

 

My first mistake was targeting the Wraiths. With a 3+ invulnerable save (with re-roll of 1's) and a 4+ re-rollable re-animation save (thanks to the Harvest formation and resurrection orb), these are one of the most durable units in 40k. Statistically, to kill a unit of 6 Wraiths, I would have needed to cause 218 wounds on the unit- impossible with my army (and most armies I would imagine).

Instead, I should have gone after the Tomb Blades. Even though they are still pretty durable (4+ Jink save and 4+ re-rollable re-animation), I would have had a better chance of taking them out with the grav units or with Khan's power weapon in combat. This would have gained me some kill points or at least forced them to Jink and diminish their firepower. As it was, the Wraiths didn't actually do that much damage in combat, mostly due to Martin being unable to roll any Rending wounds.

 

Another mistake was wasting the Centurions. I thought they would have been able to kill the Necron warriors on the hill and gain me Draw Blood, but a combination of poor "to hit" rolls and good re-animation rolls meant that only four died. After that, they were assaulted and easily cut down by Obyron. A better plan may have been to go after the Tomb Spider or a unit of Tomb Blades. Had I known it was the Spider granting the re-animation protocols, I would have targeted it to make combat against the Wraiths a bit easier.

 

I also suffered a fair bit of bad luck during the game. Of the four hit and run tests I took during the game, I only passed one. Of these rolls, two could have made a difference. Had Khan's unit managed to Hit and Run in turn 4, they would have likely escaped the range of the Wraiths for the rest of the game and could have taken on the Necron Warriors. With Khan and three command squad armed with grav guns, Obyron and the warriors could possibly have been defeated. The second blow was failing to Hit and Run with the two tactical marines in turn 5. Had they succeeded, the unit would have survived the game. It would not have been enough to win the game, but it may have given me a few more victory points and denied Martin a few.

 

Other particular lowlights were:

• Not hitting once with the meltagun in three turns and failing to hit with the combi-melta on the tactical squad.
• The Centurions failing over 50% of their 'to hit' rolls in the first turn.
• Not rolling a single 5+ on 8 dice for the missile launcher's frag missiles
• Hitting with 6 of the command squad's 15 attacks on the charge.
• Failing about 60-70% of my 'to hit' rolls in combat with the Wraiths.

Some (few) highlights of the game were:

• The Stormtalon taking out the Tomb Spider in one turn of shooting.
• Khan scoring four Instant Death wounds on the Wraiths (ok, three were saved, but I have to take small victories from this game).
• The Scout that would not die against the Tomb Blades (until the C'tan showed up).
• The Scarabs failing to destroy the Rhino on turn 5, stopping me from being tabled.

I really did not see this battle going any other way based on my previous experiences with the Decurion, well done to Martin for such a crushing victory and for almost tabling me in the end, netting 18 tournament points to my 2 tournament points. With two crushing defeats in a row, I was hoping that my next two games would be a bit easier.

 

Rapid Fire 2015:

Game 1- White Scars vs Orks

Game 2- White Scars vs Necrons

Game 3- White Scars vs Eldar

Game 4- White Scars vs Necrons

Game 5- White Scars vs Daemons/Chaos Space Marines

Game 6- White Scars vs Eldar

Armies on Display