Lord Tenebrous inspected the glittering ranks of his Warriors and Destroyers that he had awoken with the imperative to assemble. Their eyes burned with a dull, vacant hatred; exhibiting a mental blankness that the Necron Lord still had enough of its original personality to hope that it never reached. As of yet there was no indication of what the purpose for the Cell's activation would be, but they had been activated and so they would wait. As living machines that had abided in their tombs for aeons, waiting was something they were used to.
Suddenly, a blast of air blew through the tomb complex that drove whirlwinds of dust and maintenance Scarabs before it. An aura of malice and violence permeated the benighted dais upon which the army had been assembled and nearly a score of Warriors fell out of their perfectly aligned formation and melted into a large pool of molten, living metal which instantly began to reform itself into a towering effigy of the Reaper. The avatar of the Yngir that arose from the dais gave the unspoken order to follow and the assembled host turned as one and did so; marching in perfect unison as the unearthly shriek of energizing Monolith Power Matrices drowned out the sound of metal feet on stone.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
They marched upward on dim ramps and stygian stairways for miles until they reached the place that they must defend, a part of the great work of the C'Tan. This miracle of Necrontyr artifice would not be allowed to be destroyed or tampered with by the living that had befouled the Tomb World. It was a gauss conduit and command node; a massive stone ring engraved with eldritch symbols and forged with technology from the most ancient antiquity, its age measured in tens of millions. Two Monoliths erupted from the ground on either side of the relic, and the Warriors, Destroyers and Pariahs silently took their places. This world had been devoid of life when they had entered their slumber in the distant past. It would be so again very soon.
This is the first game that I'd played with my Necrons in quite some time. Some of you might be familiar with the Space Marines that I generally write for and they are on a well-deserved hiatus while I show my first army some love. I walked into my
FLGS and asked a gentleman named Tyler if he was up for a pick-up game and he was kind enough to oblige me. He was playing a very nicely painted Dark Angels list, and he seemed to know his way around a gaming table. I've been writing a bit of a Necron Tactica in my free time, so I thought I should put my money where my mouth is and post some battle reports featuring the tactics that I have been promoting. Anyway, here goes!
His list:
Belial, Master of the Death Wing
Interrogator-Chaplain; Jump Pack, Storm Bolter, Melta Bombs
Upgraded Deathwing Terminator Squad; Apothecary, Standard Bearer, 1 Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, Heavy Flamer; Sgt with Lightning Claws
Upgraded Deathwing Terminator Squad; Assault Cannon, Chainfist, (3) Powerfist and Storm Bolter
Assault Squad; 2 Plasma Pistols; Sgt with Power Fist
Bike Squad: Flamer, melta; Sgt with Power fist; Attack Bike with Multi-Melta
Venerable Dreadnought with Twin-linked lascannon and missile Launcher, Extra Armor
Dreadnought with Assault Cannon,
DCCW w/ Storm Bolter, Extra Armor
10 Scouts: 4 Sniper Rifles, Heavy Bolter, 4 Bolt Pistol & Combat Blade; Sgt with Bolt Pistol, Power Weapon and Melta Bombs
Predator with Twin-Linked Lascannons, Heavy Bolter Sponsons
My List
The Nightbringer
Necron Lord: Veil of Darkness, Resurrection Orb, Warscythe
10 Warriors
10 Warriors
3 Destroyers
3 Destroyers
6 Scarabs with Disruption Fields
4 Pariahs
Monolith
Monolith
As a side note, I know that it will appear that I have more than 6 Scarabs on the table at first. This is because we had originally planned to play at 2000 points but at the bottom of turn two my opponent realized he was 50ish points short so I pulled off scarabs until the points were equal.
Mission: Annihilation
Deployment: Spearhead
Tyler won the roll to go first, and deferred to me. I set up in the corner containing what appears to be a Stargate, and not fearing his long-range anti-tank put my Monoliths out front with the Nightbringer hiding behind one and the Pariahs behind the other. The Lord and a Squad of Warriors took position behind the Monolith wall mainly to act as bait to get the terminators and assault squad to rush my defenses because as we all know, a smart player ignores the big stuff and goes directly for the Phase Out. Destroyers went on the left flank within 6" of each other for
WBB purposes. My remaining squad of Warriors will stay in reserve, entering from my table edge.
Tyler placed his Chaplain and assault squad in the taller ruins in his DZ, with his Dreadnoughts, Predator, Belial and Command Squad forming what I think is going to be an advancing firebase. He splits his attack bike from the other three and they take a forward position on either side of his assault squad and the other terminator squad is declared to be in reserve. His scouts infiltrate; snipers and Heavy Bolter going in the ruin above the Assault Squad and the Close Combat Scouts deploy 18 inches off of my left flank behind another ruin. Scout moves saw the Bikers taking an aggressive position in the center of no man's land. I was actually surprised that they weren't able to turbo-boost! At any rate, after he had done all of this he attempts to seize the initiative and does not.
Turn One!
Top:
One of the few things that Necrons aren't particularly afraid of in
CC is Space Marine Scouts, particularly if they've been softened up with Gauss Cannons beforehand. One squadron makes a bee-line for the infiltrated scout squad while the other inches up a bit to get in range of the Predator. A key to my strategy here is to neutralize threats to my Monoliths as they play a large role in keeping the rest of my army alive. The Nightbringer peeks out from behind his Monolith at the attack bike and the Monoliths and Scarabs stay put. The Pariahs move to a more central position to get ready for the sudden influx of Space Marines into my deployment zone, I want to have as many units at LD7 as possible when the shooting and assaulting begins in earnest.
In the Shooting phase the right Monolith hits its target and wipes out the three Ravenwing bikers, while the left one scatters off of the venerable dreadnought and damages nothing as the Assault Marines it scattered onto make their cover saves. The Nightbringer fires his lightning arc and
IDs the attack bike. The two Destroyer Squads see two dead scouts(one of which is the Sergeant with the Power Weapon. Yay!) and an Immobilized Predator. The Pariahs run an inch.
The Scouts had passed their Morale check so the Destroyers that shot them assault them(passed their dangerous terrain checks) and kill two scouts, losing none in return. The scouts pass their Morale check again and so we are locked in Close Combat.
Bottom
Since a squad of Deathwing can come in on the first turn, a Squad of Terminators drop in right in front of my Monolith. Losing an assault marine to Dangerous Terrain tests, the Chaplain leads his squad toward the very heart of the Necron formation. The Dreadnoughts follow suit, much more slowly. The Command Squad angles its approach to get closer to the Destroyers that are locked in Assault with the Scouts.
The Assault Squad runs forward 6", giving me absolutely no choice but to deal with them next turn. The newly arrived Terminators unload their Assault Cannon and Storm Bolters into a Destroyer Squad, downing two. The remaining Destroyer makes its save. The dreadnought with the Assault Cannon runs, and the lascannons on the Predator and the Lascannon and Missile Launcher on the Venerable Dreadnought are unable to affect the Monoliths that they targeted. The sniper scouts wound a scarab base.
Destroyers and Scouts in assault continue their slap-fight, the combat is a 0-0 draw.
Score: Necrons 2, Dark Angels 0
Turn 2!
Top:
One of my Destroyers self-repairs and rejoins its squadron. The Warrior Squad in reserve enters play on my table edge as far away from the Dark Angels as possible. Seeing that the Command Squad is getting a bit closer than I'm comfortable with to my Destroyers I decide to turbo-boost my Scarabs between them. The Monolith that has been shielding the Nightbringer moves to its left and the C'Tan moves toward the assault squad. The Monolith on the right moves over some ruins, passing its Dangerous Terrain check. The Destroyers that aren't in combat move away from the approaching terminators.
I shoot 3 Destroyers and one Particle Whip at the Command Squad and kill a grand total of one terminator, while the other Particle Whip Immobilizes the Venerable Dreadnought. The Nightbringer fires at the assault squad and misses, the Pariahs run to make sure they're getting a cover save from the sniper scouts if need be.
The Nightbringer
IDs the Chaplain and kills three members of the assault squad, and thanks to the nearby Pariahs they need Insane Heroism to stick around. They fail and are caught by the Nightbringer and take 6 No Retreat! wounds, losing an additional marine. The Destroyers manage to finish off the scouts and consolidate back away from the terminators, keeping enough terrain between them to ensure a cover save.
Bottom:
The Command Squad moves up and prepares to hurt the Scarabs quite badly. The Assault Cannon Dreadnought moves toward the left Monolith but has its guns pointed at the Destroyers that just left the assault with the scouts. The other Terminator squad prepares to assault the Monolith.
The predator and venerable Dreadnought fail again to harm the Monolith on my right flank with their shooting, but the Assault cannon on the other Dreadnought kills two Destroyers and the remaining one flees 7". Luckily they were within 6" of my other squadron of two. The Command Squad shoots at the Scarabs and removes a base, not that it will make much difference.
In assault, the Nightbringer kills 4 more assault marines who then actually roll the 3 they needed to stay in Close Combat. It's down to the Power Fist and a Plasma Pistol. Again, the Nightbringer takes no wounds in return. The Terminator squad charges and stuns and shakes their Monolith. The Command Squad wipes out the scarabs without breaking a sweat. They consolidate toward the other Terminator Squad.
Turn 3!
Top!
My Destroyer continues falling back, and I get one back to make a functional squadron of 3. They move back along my left table edge to try and get shots on either of the Dreadnoughts or a Terminator squad.
My rightmost Monolith fails its Dangerous terrain check, so there will be no more movement for either of them currently. The warriors are far enough away from the action (so I thought) so they stayed put so fire long range shots at the Deathwing. Pariahs lurk in the shadow of the Monolith on the right.
The Particle Whip from the Immobilized Monolith blows the legs off of the Venerable Dreadnought, not that it matters as it is a gun platform. The Destroyers do nothing to the command squad, and neither do the Warriors. The Pariahs shake the Venerable Dreadnought though, so it won't be moving or shooting next turn.
In assault, the Terminators shake the Stunned Monolith again. The Nightbringer finally finishes off the assault squad and consolidates between the horde of Terminators and the Warriors.
Bottom!
The Command Squad moves toward the Monolith, as well as the Dreadnought with the Assault Cannon with the S10 Death Mitten. The Terminators that had been in
CC with it for the last turn move around to my right, it appears that they are going to all use the Monolith to get an extra 6 inches of movement before storming my Deployment Zone!
In the shooting phase, the Predator shoots at the exposed Nightbringer and does a wound with its
heavy bolter. The scout squad in the ruin then fires, dealing another wound to the Toughness 8 Star God with its
heavy bolter.
In assault, the Monolith suffers a variety of shaken, stunned, and Weapon Destroyed! results. The real benefit of this was that his Terminators are all very close to my lines now that he made those assault moves.
Necrons 5-
DA 2
Turn 4!
Top!
In my hubris, I don't move my warriors this turn. My destroyers move up so they can get a shot at the Dreadnought that is currently beating on the bottom of my Monolith. The Nightbringer moves over toward the Command Squad, eager to feed on their life-essence. The Pariahs, seeing an opportunity, move in to make good use of their Warscythes on the Terminator Squad to the right of the rapidly deteriorating Monolith.
The Particle Whip from the right Monolith scatters 10" off of the Venerable Dreadnought, the Destroyers shake the Dreadnought in
CC with the other Monolith and the Warriors do absolutely nothing to any of the terminators. Shooting from the Gauss Blasters from the Pariahs prove equally ineffective. The Emperor has truly blessed the Dark Angels at this point, but I would soon find out the extent of it in the assault phase. The Nightbringer wounds with his Lightning Arc, and Tyler decides to take the hit on Belial so as to not give up the 3 wounds to combat resolution when the Nightbringer
IDs him. Had we but known.
The Pariahs assault the Terminators killing four and taking no casualties in return from the single remaining power fist, who fails his Morale Check but is caught by the sweeping advance and makes all 4 of his armor saves.
The Nightbringer charges the command squad and hits with one out of 6 attacks, rolling a one for that wound. Nada. The Command squad then hits with 7 out of 9 Powerfist attacks and wounds with all of them, giving the C'tan's 4+ invulnerable save a tall order. Of course I fail all but one of them, and the resulting explosion wounds all four of the members of the command squad. His Invulnerable saves, in order: 6,6,6,6. Oh yeah, and his consolidation roll: 6. Yahtzee! Oh, and the Dreadnought still in Base Contact with the Monolith wrecks it.
We were both laughing pretty hard at this point.
Bottom!
Movement consists of getting up close and personal with my Necron Warriors with a Terminator Command Squad and the Dreadnought moving in to help out the sole remaining terminator fighting the Pariahs.
Lascannons and Missile Launchers incur a -1 penalty on my Gauss Flux arc on my remaining Monolith, snipers are out of range.
In the assault phase the Terminators, predictably, smash the Lord and the Squad of Warriors he was attached to. Thanks to the warscythe Lord Tenebrous did take a terminator with him though. The Warriors flee 9" and thank heaven above that the terminators only consolidate 1". If
WBB is kind, I can rally that squad. The Dreadnought charges the Pariahs, killing 1. The Pariahs respond by doing nothing. The Terminator returns the favor, and the Pariahs lose by 1, making their No Retreat! save.
Necrons 7-Dark Angels 6
Turn 5!
Top:
Dear, oh dear. I am in a bit of a mess right now. Time to crack my living-metal knuckles and get to work!
We'll Be Back gives me one Warrior back, which puts the fleeing squad at 50%. They make their regrouping test; Science be praised!
Destroyers move away from the terminators, one squad of Warriors advances to within rapid fire range. The rallied squad and immobilized Monolith are hopefully going to make their next shooting phase count.
The Particle Whip kills the Apothecary, and between the two warrior Squads and the Destroyers the Command squad goes down in a Hurricane of gauss fire. Whew!
In assault, the pariahs kill the Terminator and the Dreadnought kills a Pariah. Drawn Combat.
Bottom!
Another short turn, as there is nothing for him to really move. His lascannons shake the Monolith and his Dreadnought, after finishing off the Pariahs, races toward the Monolith to hopefully get an assault next turn, if there is a next turn.
Which there is!
Necrons 8-Dark Angels 6
Turn 6!
Top:
Destroyers move to get clear shooting lanes on the Dreadnought that's about to charge the Monolith, the Warriors slink backward toward my table corner as they don't want to give up any more kill points. They blow the Close Combat Arm off of the Dreadnought, rendering it unable to harm the Monolith.
Bottom:
The Dreadnought turns to fire its Assault Cannon at the Destroyers that just removed its Arm, though it fails to rend or get through the 3+ armor save with the 2 wounds that were dealt. Lascannons again don't manage to harm the Monolith.
The game ends!
Necrons 8-Dark Angels 6
Necrons Win!
Lord Tenebrous reformed some time later, emerging from a Portal deep in the bowels of the Tomb Complex. It could tell that the Nightbringer had gone, though whether it had fallen or simply left (as the fickle Star Gods were wont to do) it did not know. Either way, it was better that the Reaper had departed as far as the Necron Lord was concerned. It loathed the loss of what little autonomy it still possessed when the Nightbringer took control of the Cell; at least when Mephet'Ran appeared he allowed Tenebrous to at least believe it acted of its own free will. Tenebrous walked the non-Euclidean angles that would allow him the most direct route to the dais where the army that he had led to battle would most likely be waiting for him by now. Wordlessly, he asked the pylons and obelisks that he passed about the status of the living that they had encountered on the surface and when it found out that they had been routed and had withdrawn it was pleased indeed. Not as pleased as it would have been had it not been killed and remade yet again however. Another shred of consciousness had been permanently lost, and it could feel the vacancy keenly. As it had expected the remaining Destroyers and Warriors had assembled on the dais and were awaiting deactivation. The Necron Lord dismissed all but one Warrior and stood staring into the empty red eyes wondering:
"How long until I am completely gone?"
I think that my Monolith Wall tactics worked out pretty well in this game. I should have been slightly more careful with my Warriors, though I definitely didn't expect the Nightbringer to go down in such spectacularly sorry fashion! I would have been in serious trouble if I hadn't managed to kill the rest of that command squad since the Lord was dead and I had nowhere to run. As I pointed out in my
Tactica, relying on your toughness (those Monoliths took a beating) and making certain that you keep your hard units between the enemy and your soft units makes Phase Out somewhat less likely.
I'll be the first to admit that Dark Angels aren't the most competitive codex out there to test these things on, but I don't have a lot of say as to who happens to be at Hobbytown when I show up. There is a 2K tournament at the end of the month so I will see how things go with the Necrons there.
Black Widow Assault Cadre 2000 Points (Under Renovation- Playable) 
Storm Angels 1st Company 2500 Points (DA Codex) (Under Renovation - Playable) 
Corsairs of Fate 1750 Points (Under Construction - Playable) 
Protectorate of Menoth 11 Points (Project Delayed Indefinitely) 
Imperial Guard Regiment (Unnamed) 1000 Points (Project Delayed Indefinitely) 
"
Necron fo' life! 
Karak Hirn Dwarfs - 2500 
