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Howdy all,

So I'm gonna start play testing my 'Crons... and my first game will be against myself! I'm getting a board this weekend and play it out monday. So who do you think will win?

Blood Angels 1850

HQ
-----
Mephiston
Librarian - Rage, Sword

Elites
--------
5x Assault Terms - 3x TH/SS
1x Sang Priest
Furioso - Talons, melta, SB

Troops
----------
10x AM - 2x melta, PF
10x AM - 2x melta, PF

FA
----
Speeder - MM, HF
Speeder - MM, HF
Speeder - MM, HF

Heavy
--------
Stormraven - TLMM, TLAC, EA
Stormraven - TLMM, TLAC, EA


vs

Necrons Test List 1850

HQ
-----
Overlord - Scythe - Barge (Ravager)
Destroyer Lord - Scarabs, Weave, Scythe
5x Crypteks - All HOD, 1x Pulse (My BA honor guard)

Troops
-----------
5x Warriors (Daemonettes)
5x Warriors (Daemonettes)
10x Warriors (Plaguebearers)
10x Warriors (Plaguebearers)
10x Warriors (daemonettes)

Fast Attack
----------------
7x Scarabs (Flesh hounds, yes I know the bases are incorrect)
7x Scarabs (Flesh hounds, yes I know the bases are incorrect)
5x Wraiths - 2x Whips (Converted Fiends)

Heavy
---------
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge
3x Spyders - 1x claw, 1x gloom (Daemon prince, crushers)



Mission: Annihilation
Deployment: Table Quarters

I roll off and the 'Crons take first turn. Deployment:



I try to steal with the BA but roll a big, fat 1! Off we go

Necron T1
---------------
The Phalanx advances. I turbo my lords barge behind some LOS blocking terrain. FYI all the boxes are counted as LOS blocking, the large ones are impassible, the medium/small ones I counted as difficult. The rags/paper strips are supposed to be forests. I didn't get around to getting any of my table stuff this week lol...

I move the barges up and my wraiths move behind terrain aiming for Mephs raven. My plan is to lock meph with the Wraiths and pummel him, while the scarabs eat the ravens, spyders go for the normal dudes, and everything else cleans up. My spyders/scarabs roll well getting deep into the forest. Spyders poop out 3 scarabs and one spyder takes a wound.

Shooting I either fail to hit, fail to pen, or am too far away. Minus one cryptek that immobilizes the far back speeder behind the haunted house. My scarabs/spyders run.

Necrons 0 KP - Blood Angels 0 KP



Blood Angels T1
-----------------------
Everything turbos that can, the jump marines move up to charge the scarabs in front. My other marines hang back to reinforce next turn if needed.

Shooting the 'Crons make a bunch of saves, I do shake one barge tho.

I then assault the Scarabs with my AM's and due to the priest in the raven I'm str 5! I pummel the scarabs, killing 4 bases. They do nothing in return, and lose 2 more bases.

Necrons 0 KP - Blood Angels 0 KP



Overview of T1: Not a bad turn! 'Crons and the Angels didn't do any lasting damage to one another yet, but its just the beginning!

Necrons T2
---------------
My lords barge turbos over the back raven, missing all 3 attacks.... damn. My scarabs on the right + spyders move to intercept it. My warriors shuffle, my back left warriors move toward a turbo'd speeder. The wraiths hang back to counterassault if things go poorly against the raven. My Annihilation barge that was shaken moves flat out, the other moves up 6" behind the scarabs to shoot the rear assault squad.

Shooting my barge kills 2 marines from the rear squad. My bottom left warriors glance the speeder down there to hell and back, wrecking it. The rest of my shooting proves ineffective. I also poop out 3 new scarabs in the same unit (now 13 bases!)

In assault I run into a quandry; if I do the Scarabs attacks first would my spyders benefit from the lowered armor? Either way it doesn't matter, i peel 4 points of armor from it but the spyders manage to wreck it... I covered the entire base, meaning the furioso and meph are destroyed! Ouch, this is a HUGE blow to the angels, having lost almost 1/3 of their list! My AM's mop up their scarabs.

Necrons 4 KP - Blood Angels 1 KP



Blood Angels T2
------------------------
With things going very bad for me, I need to make a quick offensive or risk getting annihilated. My AM's all move up, picking various targets. My raven drops his load, the terminators aiming to polish off one of the large warrior squads. I need to start cutting through the easy stuff if I hope to make up for my losses. My raven shuffles to get some shots on the barge in front of it.

Shooting I immobilize the front barge and explode the rear barge. My immobilized speeder shoots at the scarabs killing 7 bases! Heavy flamers own now! Nothing much else.

In assault my back AM squad multis into a 5 man warrior squad and the barge. They wreck the barge, and put down 1 warrior, for no losses. The warriors hold and the one that died gets back up. My terminators demolish their target. My other Am's had blown up the barge there, meaning no charge :(

Necrons 4 KP - Blood Angels 4 KP



Overview of T2: So the angels caught up, but the momentum is definitely in the 'Crons court. With no other targets now, the spyders and wraiths will make short work of my marines! Not to mention the 50 gauss shots still left on the table.

Necrons T3
----------------
My scarabs move to charge the immobilized speeder. The warriors all aim to blast my raven/last speeder and the termis. The wraiths fall back targeting my AM's in the middle. Spyders mill about.

Shooting the warriors focus down the remaining speeder. I also manage to pluck both LC termis from their group.

In assault the speeder goes down without a fight, the wraiths completely demolish the AM's (killing 9 of them on the charge with not even a single wound returned!), the last one going down to fearless. I polish off the 5 man warrior squad by running them down.

Necrons 7 KP - Blood Angels 5 KP



Blood Angels T3
-----------------------
My remaining AM's and terminators move to get rid of those wraiths. My remaining raven moves to shoot the lords barge. I have nothing else to move.

Shooting I manage to explode the lords barge. I also shoot everything else into the wraiths, they make all their saves.

In assault Mindshackle goes off and hits a TH termi. The AM's/everyone else kill 2 wraiths, losing 1 TH termi and 1 AM. The TH/SS that swing at his own guys couldn't hit the IC's. The Wraiths pass LD.

Necrons 7 KP - Blood Angels 6 KP



Overview of T3: Things are going well! Only 3 units of angels are left against my scarabs, deathstar, spyders, lord, and 3 units of warriors... Necrons should take this if they can hold against the terminators.

Necrons T4
----------------
Scarabs move up behind the LOS blocking building. Lord moves out of his crater, aiming to go punch something. Spyders mill; about again.

Shooting i blast the raven but do squat.

In assault the battle rages on, Mindshackle hits the Librarian this time after rage went off... he swings and hits the priest twice, but fails to wound! Whew. I manage to insta-gib 2 wraiths, but lose my librarian and 1 AM in the process. Wraiths pass LD again.

Necrons 8 KP - Blood Angels 7 KP



Blood Angels T4
------------------------
Raven shuffles.

Shooting I unload on the foot lord, he rolls baddly for saves and falls over... then fails RP!

In assault I focus all my str 8 attacks on the lord, and he goes down after killing my priest. The last wraith whiffs, then fails ld, getting run down. This leaves the lord dead!

Necrons 9 KP - Blood Angels 9 KP


Overview of T4: OMG! Its soooooo close! Good luck that turn, this means the angels will get into the warriors if they don't go down in a hail of gauss. The raven will probably get owned by scarabs, it only moved like 4" that turn to blow up the lord.

Necrons T5
----------------
Scarabs move. Warriors shuffle. Spyders poop out more babies.

Shooting the warriors unload into the termis and AM's... only one lance hits, and only 2 marines die! Lots of armor saves this turn! Scarabs fleet.

In assault the raven goes BOOM! Being only Av3 lol.....



Necrons 10 KP - Blood Angels 9 KP

Blood Angels T5
-----------------------
Move up. Shoot. Assault. I fail, the necrons fail, leaving both combats a draw.

Necrons 10 KP - Blood Angels 9 KP



At this point I call it as my wife is sick and needed me to bring her stuff at work.... Either way, I have a feeling the scarabs coming over and reinforcing their warriors would have turned the tide and I would have been tabled.

VICTORY FOR THE NECRONS!!!!

So, with my first game w/ the crons under my belt heres how I felt all my units performed....

Destroyer Lord - 10/10 - OMG this guy is awesome! Hidden in a bunch of 2 wound 3++ guys, he can absorb fire and he dishes out some PAAAAINNNN. Scarabs have the potential to wreck face as well!
Overlord w/ Barge - 5/10 - He didn't do much this game, but I have a feeling he'll be invaluable facing Serpent Spam Eldar, Dark Eldar, and IG
Warriors - 8/10 - a 4+ with marine stats is a lot more sturdy than people give credit to. The fact that the marines couldn't walk all over them like I expected was a huge surprise. Plus they're cheap and put out a TON of firepower.
Crypteks - 7/10 - Honestly, one str 8 shot wasn't too impressive... they don't have the benefit of a reroll to hit, or volume of fire. I'll jhave to see how they do the next few games... I"m thinking of running one with the str 8 ap 1 flamer.
Wraiths - 10/10 - These guys are simply awesome. I think ultimately I'll have 6 with 3 whips, 2 pistols, and maybe a beamer for wound allocation. So awesome.
Annihilation Barges - ??? - These guys just got owned this game, so they didn't do much... need more testing
Spyders - 10/10 - Even though all they did was poop scarabs, that alone makes them worth it. They spawned 15 scarabs over the game!
Scarabs - Wow.... These dudes are wicked. I didn't rate them because they're obviously awesome.

Next game I think I'll play my Daemons against the 'Crons but I gotta say; I'm loving em!

I'm liking that cron list. I like them both really, but crons are new so I'm rooting for them.

seeing how bad the cron list is, BA ofcourse.

Lt. Coldfire wrote:I'm liking that cron list. I like them both really, but crons are new so I'm rooting for them.

Figured I'd test my Footcron list and see how it fares against my BA! If they win this one, I'll test them against my DE, if they lose horribly might have to go back to the drawing board :( Best to test before throwing down $500 on a new army

The BA list is nothing special and the Crons have a Solar Pulse that will at least give them a turn to get into position before they get stomped. If they can put out a reasonable amount of shooting in the first turn and mess up the Stormravens they will win, and if they fail to do anything they will lose. Personally I think the Crons have the better shot, primarily due to the Scarabs, but without Ghost Arks to replenish the warriors it might be tough.

Aldarionn wrote:The BA list is nothing special and the Crons have a Solar Pulse that will at least give them a turn to get into position before they get stomped. If they can put out a reasonable amount of shooting in the first turn and mess up the Stormravens they will win, and if they fail to do anything they will lose. Personally I think the Crons have the better shot, primarily due to the Scarabs, but without Ghost Arks to replenish the warriors it might be tough.

The sole reason I'm chosing my BA for my first test run for the crons is because they're quick, short ranged, and mobile. They get to my foes T2 and lay the beatdown; I don't think the solar pulse will have too much effect this game as the majority of my force is effective 12" or less; as opposed to my DE that are best at 24" or greater. So we'll see how it goes! I really like my cron list and it'll give me a feel of where to improve.

As for Arks... I dunno, I'm still up in the air on them for the time being. If I try my Stalker list I might use 'em, but for a foot list I just think they're too many points taking away from other stuff.

Game was carried out today.... very surprising results! More to come later today (or tomorrow, wifes sick :( )

I dont see the reason for Pre-Battle Reports.

Smitty0305 wrote:I dont see the reason for Pre-Battle Reports.

Looking for speculation?

Trying to build intensity?

Lord Magnus wrote:

Smitty0305 wrote:I dont see the reason for Pre-Battle Reports.

Looking for speculation?

Trying to build intensity?

Aye; mostly for discussion purposes. Plus, I get to set up my lists and makes it easier on me when I get around to doing the game

I voted for my favorite faction, and they won :-) although its not as surprising as it used to be with the new 'dex and all.

Smitty0305 wrote:I dont see the reason for Pre-Battle Reports.

As a social scientist, I think that the pre-battle stuff is great. The pre-battle discussion forms the hypothesis, the battle tests it.

Ha! voted before I looked and for once I was right! XD
I think the new crons are a lot more viable than people give them credit...it's just that they tend to look at how each unit behaves individually...when so many units are designed to have two tasks during a game that serve to help other units...

dbsamurai wrote:Ha! voted before I looked and for once I was right! XD
I think the new crons are a lot more viable than people give them credit...it's just that they tend to look at how each unit behaves individually...when so many units are designed to have two tasks during a game that serve to help other units...

I'll completely agree; the new Crons seem to be able to hold their own to be sure! I'll definitely be testing them some more in the coming weeks as I build up my force; but I gotta say, I like how my list plays!

Its also nice to have yet another dex with many viable builds....

How did one HF kill 7 bases? Only S5 so no instagib, and 3 wounds per base should soak SOMETHING up

nosferatu1001 wrote:How did one HF kill 7 bases? Only S5 so no instagib, and 3 wounds per base should soak SOMETHING up

Scarabs are vulnerable to Blast and flamer templates

Go on the Necrons! Excellent report, I'm surprised with the results.

However, aren't Wraiths Fearless?

Wraiths are fearless. Those LD checks should have been armor saves.

Another issue - Fishbowling 40k games vs yourself is not a bad thing (i do it myself every time i get a new army or codex update), but it's not as helpful as you'd think. Here's why: In your head you're already rooting for the new shiny shiny to win, and even though most people will say they're playing both sides equally, subconsciously they are not. Case in point right here: Why on earth would you turbo boost a storm raven containing meph and a dread to within range that the necron player could surround the oval with scarabs? That's asking for trouble right there; you'd have been better off moving 13", still getting a cover save, then moving 12" and disembarking the next turn...even if your models didn't make it to assault they wouldn't have been auto-destroyed. A serious player with BA wouldn't have dropped that play, but it sure did help the necron army look great didn't it? There are plenty of things like this, most of them minor, that take place in solo games and i'm admitting that i do it myself. Just make sure to call a spade a spade when you're posting it because some players who do not do this might not realize the tactical flaws presented here.

Overall thanks for the report, i'm glad you did post it because i haven't had any marine opponents with the new book yet (well except one doubles match where one of my opponents had deathwing). Looking forward to more when you can get in some non-AI games.

Nice.

Nice report

I'm surprised there was no option 4. As in to team up together and fight Tyranids.


I expected the blood angels to win. I just felt like Mephstion would tear apart almost any Necron army.

P-P-P-P-PROXY!

tetrisphreak wrote:Wraiths are fearless. Those LD checks should have been armor saves.

Another issue - Fishbowling 40k games vs yourself is not a bad thing (i do it myself every time i get a new army or codex update), but it's not as helpful as you'd think. Here's why: In your head you're already rooting for the new shiny shiny to win, and even though most people will say they're playing both sides equally, subconsciously they are not. Case in point right here: Why on earth would you turbo boost a storm raven containing meph and a dread to within range that the necron player could surround the oval with scarabs? That's asking for trouble right there; you'd have been better off moving 13", still getting a cover save, then moving 12" and disembarking the next turn...even if your models didn't make it to assault they wouldn't have been auto-destroyed. A serious player with BA wouldn't have dropped that play, but it sure did help the necron army look great didn't it? There are plenty of things like this, most of them minor, that take place in solo games and i'm admitting that i do it myself. Just make sure to call a spade a spade when you're posting it because some players who do not do this might not realize the tactical flaws presented here.

Overall thanks for the report, i'm glad you did post it because i haven't had any marine opponents with the new book yet (well except one doubles match where one of my opponents had deathwing). Looking forward to more when you can get in some non-AI games.

I will agree I made some grave tactical errors with the angels; such as turboing the raven too close. I really underestimated the Scarabs; I figured turboing the scarabs would need 6's, and 4's afterward. As a matter of fact the Scarabs only subtracted 4 points of armor and glanced the raven; then the Spyders hit and penned twice, which wrecked it. The scarabs didn't surround the base, they got about 60% of the base, spyders got abother 25% or so, and the command barge was within an 1" of what was left.

I agree it does seem skewed, but being the first game playing with (and against) the new 'Crons gave me a good idea of what I'm facing. Also, I'm the ONLY player at my shop that plays beasts since our T-Wolf calv players quit. So I was a little too ballsy which cost me.

So I agree, I did misplay the Angels; but definitely not on purpose. As a matter of fact, I really thought the Angels woulda won this one; the plan was for Mephiston to kill the Spyders, the Furioso to mow down the Scarabs, and avoid the wraiths til I couldn't help it anymore. Plan with the 'Crons was to own Meph with the spyders/wraith combo, Scarabs to nom-nom vehicles, and warriors/barge to clean up. If you didn't notice, I also got too close to the angels with my scarabs/warriors which cost me there as well.

Now that I have an idea of what the 'Crons are capable of the next game will be more balanced. I'm going to do my Daemons vs the Crons. I'll know what to focus on, what to keep away from, for both sides.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

BlapBlapBlap wrote:P-P-P-P-PROXY!

Best way to test before throwing down $600!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

BSent wrote:I'm surprised there was no option 4. As in to team up together and fight Tyranids.


I expected the blood angels to win. I just felt like Mephstion would tear apart almost any Necron army.

While I agree (mostly), Wraiths with a Destro Lord are a GOOD counter to any deathstar/meph. They throw down some pain!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Norn King wrote:Nice.

Thanks!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

racta wrote:Nice report

Thanks bud!

My eyes!! Proxies and boxes!!

Just kidding, I am sure you'll get some paint and such when you have the chance. You know, we sell a product you might be interested in called Table in a Box (a Full, painted table worth of terrain plus ground cloth for $200) so you don't have to play on carpet....

But aesthetics aside, good report, very informative.

That charge by the scarabs to take out the raven, furioso and Mephiston was brutal. If not for that, I think BA could've taken this one.

BTW, if you're going to take that many warriors, next time consider a triarch stalker for some twin-linked goodness.

jy2 wrote:That charge by the scarabs to take out the raven, furioso and Mephiston was brutal. If not for that, I think BA could've taken this one.

BTW, if you're going to take that many warriors, next time consider a triarch stalker for some twin-linked goodness.

See a Stalker w/ Particle Shredder has me very interested; TLing mass amounts of units would be neat. My issue would be what to drop.... I really wanna run 2 if I ran them at all. I just feel a D-lord is so powerful, and a lot of people would underestimate him.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Reecius wrote:My eyes!! Proxies and boxes!!

Just kidding, I am sure you'll get some paint and such when you have the chance. You know, we sell a product you might be interested in called Table in a Box (a Full, painted table worth of terrain plus ground cloth for $200) so you don't have to play on carpet....

But aesthetics aside, good report, very informative.

Agreed! I'm actually working on a home-built table; my wifes gonna go with me to home depot and buy some sheets and 2x4's ehere in a few weeks. That sounds like a sweet deal for the less.... cheap-assed people out there I won't even get my 'Cron force til after the new year (what I have I got from winnings)

Those Annihilation Barges have their Tesla Destructors pointing in wierd directions. That is not a turret. It is in a fixed position pointing forward.

There are no turrets on Annihilation Barges. Both guns are fixed.

DarknessEternal wrote:Those Annihilation Barges have their Tesla Destructors pointing in wierd directions. That is not a turret. It is in a fixed position pointing forward.

There are no turrets on Annihilation Barges. Both guns are fixed.

I haven't glued them down is why.