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Blood Vow

Happiness is success... (Buddha)

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Necrons • Thoughts on games yesterday




Like I said in my post from yesterday evening I had the opportunity to play my first two games versus Space Wolves (2000 points) and then Grey Knights (3000 points). The second game was versus two players teamed up and as I tend to be a competitive tournament player that game was more of a friendly get together match so I'll focus my thoughts on the first game. This is not a batrep btw - I'm just reflecting on the game.

Here is my current 2000 point army list:

- HQ -
Immotekh the Stormlord

Orikan the Empowered

(both HQ attach to the Warriors)

Royal Court:
— Harbinger of Destruction - Solar Pulse (Immortals)
— Harbinger of Eternity - Chronometer (Warriors)
— Harbinger of Transmogrification - Harp of Dissonance (Immortals)
— Lord - Warscythe, Res Orb, Phase Shifter, Mindshackle Scarabs (Lychguard)


- Elites -
C'Tan Shard - Writhing Worldscape, Transdimensional Thunderbolt

5x Lychguard - Hyperphase Swords & Dispersion Shields


- Troops -
15x Warrior
8x Immortal - tesla carbine
8x Immortal - tesla carbine


- Fast Attack -
10x Canoptek Scarab


- Heavy Support -
3x Canoptek Spyder


Note that I am still working on my Canoptek Wraiths and will use them (one unit of six) when they are built... Not sure yet what they will replace yet.


Here is my opponent's abbreviated Space Wolf list:

- HQ -
Wolf Lord - Thunderwolf mount, thunderhammer, runic armor, wolf tooth necklace, Saga of the Bear

Wolf Lord - Thunderwolf mount, frost blade, runic armor, wolf tooth necklace, Saga of the Warrior Born

Rune Priest - JotWW, Living Lightning (attachs to a Grey Hunter pack)


- Fast Attack -
3x Thunderwolf - 3x stormshield & wolf claw


- Elites -
3x Wolfguard w. power fist & combi-melta (attach to Grey Hunter & Wolf Scout packs)
Wolfguard w. terminator armor, cyclone missile launcher, power fist (attachs to Long Fangs)

6x Scout - meltagun, power sword

- Troops -
8x Grey Hunter - meltagun - rhino
8x Grey Hunter - meltagun - rhino
8x Grey Hunter - meltagun - rhino

(Probably a bit more kit for the Grey Hunters... Not sure what though)


- Heavy Support -
Long Fangs (not sure of the exact build)


We decided to play the new BeakyCon Mission which features four objective markers for Seize Ground (each one placed in the center of a table quarter). Deployment was Spearhead and I got the initiative. I setup in a castle deep in my table quarter and had to wait two turns for my opponent's units to start arriving from reserve. This will be a fairly common tactic versus Tremor Quaking Necrons for mechanized armies as they don't have to worry about the Turn 1 dangerous terrain shennigans. It also can lessen the effect of the Stormlord's Lord of the Storm special rules (Night Fight & Lightning). You'll note that my list has a Harbinger of Eternity so I can reroll for either the Stormlord or Orikan which is very useful and this combination kept the Long Fangs from shooting the entire game (six full turns - no LOS by the 5th turn). I was able to keep Night Fight up for four turns. It's been awhile since I've had to deal with JotWW which only killed two Warriors - it could have been worse so this is definitely something to prepare for in a defensive manner and I'll definitely add a Gloom Prism for my Spyders. The Scarabs popped the rhino with the Rune Priest early in the game which shut down JotWW from that point (4th turn). The Thunderwolf unit arrived during the fourth turn and took out all the Scarabs - I had to send the Scarabs forward as noted to keep the Rune Priest's JotWW psychic power out of potential range.

Now if you think about it for a standard mission I would have contained the Space Wolves and might have won if the game had only gone five turns - the BeakyCon mission features six turns then a possible seventh turn on a roll of 4+. Sure hoping a game only goes five turns is not a good strategy... I'm simply pointing out it could happen (roughly 1/3 of your games for standard missions). By the end of the game I had whittled the Wolfstar down to just the Bear Lord and a squad of Grey Hunters with the Rune Priest charged into assist him. The C'Tan and Orikan (Empowered) were a terror in melee doing lots of damage to the Wolfstar.

I now need to do some serious thinking how I will tweak my list... The main unit I want to tweak is the Royal Court. I need the Harbinger of Eternity to help the Stormlord and Orikan... I'm not sure if the Pulsetek is all that necessary now (forgot to fire his lance yesterday... Oops !!!). I want one Veiltek for a squad of Immortals to grab objectives late in the game. So I'll think about how to optimize the current configuration and report back later.

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