He came over to my place with his Necrons a little while ago, so I thought I'd do a battle report with a new twist to commemorate it. Instead of a tactical play-by-play report I've gone for a more narrated style, as seen through the eyes of my two characters.
+ + + conciousness re-initiated + + +
Disturbance...
No! An intrusion.
+ + + external sensor logs responding + + +
+ + + data flow activated + + +
A particular energy signature as well...
+ + + log query + + + data response + + +
The systems had not registered something like this since the times before the Sleep.
Soldiers of anti-structure must be close to the crypt entrance...
It must remain hidden!
+ + + running activation protocol 4567890 + + +
+ + + war host readiness in 0.00178 local stellar cycles + + +
| The Necron army: (...if memory serves me) Overlord (Warscythe, Command Barge) 8 Lychguards 10 Immortals (Night Scythe) 12 Warriors 12 Warriors 6 Tomb Blades (TL Gauss Blaster) 1 Canoptek Wraith (Whip Coil) 1 Annihilation Barge 1 Doom Scythe | Architecture of Aggression (...the CSM army) Kratos Drak'ftae (aka Kharn) Dark Apostle 20 Chaos Cultists 10 CSMs (AC w/P.Sword, 2 Meltaguns) 10 CSMs (AC w/P.Sword, 2 Meltaguns) 10 CSMs (2 Plasma guns) 4 Chaos Bikers (AC w/P.Sword, 2 Meltaguns) 2 Obliterators 2 Obliterators 5 Havocs (4 Heavy Bolters) |
| Scenario: Deployment: | The Scouring Vanguard Strike |
Chaos won both the roll-off to choose table edge and for deployment. With Night Fight in play for the first turn of the game, Chaos opted to set up first.
One pair of Obliterators set up on the southern flank, with a Melta squad led by Kratos to the north. In the centre, the Plasma squad and the other Obliterators squad set up in a ruin. To their left again, close to the northern short table edge and behind another ruin, was the other Melta squad led by the Apostle. Behind them, in a crater, was the Havocs. The Cultists started in Reserve.
The Necron army deployed 30+ inces away from the Chaos lines, the Command Barge and Annihilation Barge on the northern flank. The Lychguards on their left marked the tip of a blunt spear-formation, with one Warrior squad behind the building next to the Lychguard. The other Warrior squad guarded another objective in the corner farthest from the Chaos army, with the Wraith and Tomb Blades in front of them.
Necrons declined to roll to Steal the Initiative.
The Word Bearers moved forward under the cover of darkness. Most of them was getting into their initial firing positions, but Kratos and his squad ran up towards the large ruin across the road. One of the half dozen impact craters in this area was in there. A few las-bolts shot overhead, but it didn't seem the Obliterators hit anything.
The Plasma squad (closest) and Zelos' Melta squad moves into firing positions.
On the northern flank,a Acolyte Zelos spotted a couple of Necron skimmers approacing. They started from just inside Bolter range, but it would be pointless to even fire at them unless they came within range of his squad's Meltaguns.
As the sun came up, Kratos spotted the eight constructs striding into the ruin next to him. With a few running steps he built the necessary momentum to crash through the broken window and thundered towards the enemy squad. Three glittering skulls was sent spinning through the air with but a single stroke from his axe, and another two was sent sprawling from his squad's charge before a single automaton cleaved a Marine in two. Then... As he prepared to lunge on the remaining two, the entire squad simply blinked out of existence. The three skulls never even reached the ground. First Blood to the Word Bearers.
Command Barge and Annihilation Barge lines up shots at Kratos' Melta squad.
Zelos noted Kratos successfully repelling the Necron spearhead unit, but could also see the two skimmers next to his position pivoting towards the ruin they had charged into. Before he could vox a warning, both the two vehicles and another units of humanoid automatons emerging from behind the inly intact building in sight opened fire. Fully half of Kratos' unit collapsed where they were standing, as green energy beams practically flayed first their armour then their skin and flesh off of them.
The remainder of Kratos' squad quickly fell back out of the ruin again to regroup and administer emergency field repairs to their armour. They re-emerged from the window they'd entered through just in time to see one of the Obliterator squads fire a stream of projectiles and open a ragged hole through what looked like a metallic Whiptail Crustacean.
With Kratos back out of sight of the foe, Zelos knew they would have to shift their battle formation forward in order to engage. It was with a sense of resignation he realized where the robotic army's attention would shift to, and told his own squad to brace as another silver and red vehicle came straight towards them at high speed. He also saw the two skimmers moving up and turning their way before he ruin and his squad was bathed in that hellish green lightning. Another handful of Legionaries fell, and a unit of large metal warriors had appeared right in front of him.
This picture is from before Tom-Erik had finished moving his Night Scythe and deploy the Immortals, but I forgot to take any more pictures after this.
From his position by the front door of the ruined three-storey building, Kratos could see Zelos' squad coming under the same kind of fire his own squad had been subjected to. His pulse rose as he saw the surviving Chaos Marines storm from the ruin and charge a group of larger automatons that had appeared in front of their position. A Lascannon beam from the Obliterators up in the ruin on the other side of the street played across the flyer's fuselage of the flyer passing over them before igniting something close to the engine exhaust and sending it screaming back out over the desert.
As Zelos' Crozius fragmented its second gleaming skull and his squad's chain swords separated metal limbs from polished bodies, their opponents kept disappearing instead of collapsing. There would be no trophies to be had today, but it did make it easier to reach any enemy warriors still standing. As the last few vanished, his squad's champion voxed a warning. Another flyer was speeding towards them, and he could see the two skimmers moving in and powering up their weapons. By the time he made it back to his squad's original position, only a few Legionaries remained on their feet.
Tracing the energy beams back from Zelos's squad, Kratos realized that one of the skimmers must be almost on top of the impact crater he'd denied to the first enemy unit he'd slain. He spotted it as soon as he jumped back into the ruin again, and led his squad straight for it as they thumbed a Krak grenade each. The skimmer burst into flames and exploded before it too disappeared. The flames washing over him merely singed the edges of a few of his impurity seals.
Retaking their firing positions in the ruins where they'd started, Zelos saw that the remaining skimmer lay askew in the ruin next to it. As he judged the distance, thinking to bring it down in hand-to-hand, the robotic lord on top of it fired another salvo at his squad. As the green glow dissipated only Loth, the Meltagun specialist remained by his side. Kratos was left with only his squad's champion, and the Plasma squad had lost both their weapon specialists.
No devastating last volley came from the enemy positions, however. The silent warriors were all gone - leaving nothing but burn-marks and fallen Legionaries.
| Chaos Space Marines Necrons | Four objectives (1+2+2+3) First Blood (Lychguard) Dead Fast Attack (Wraith) Two objectives (3+4) Line Breaker (Doom/Night Scythe) | 8 1 1 10 VPs 7 1 8 VPs |
Very nice report indeed. Looks like a hard fought and close game, and I hope that both sides enjoyed the game equally.
ReplyDeleteRealy liked how you did this report, fun reading!
ReplyDeleteIt was a great game, my plan work well until we started to put models on the table :-)
But it was close, and was not decided until the last saving throws had been made, and they did not go my way this night. Those marines are hard to kill!
Looking forward to the next time I will meet mr. Kratos (god of war?)
Small correction, there where no Lynchguard, but 5 praetorians, and one warrior squad had a cryptek.
A different, but fun battle report!
ReplyDeleteAs usual, and as it is supposed to be, the Word Bearers, under the command of “Kratos”, are very aggressive, embracing hand to hand fighting. And against Necrons, well, the Traitor Veteran Marines have the upper hand I guess.
Still, it looks like the Necrons had their moments, and the tally shows promise once the Necron lord has awaken his other units…. All in all, looked like a fun game.
Really well written report and a fun reading! Looked like a great game!
ReplyDelete