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At Powerfist Gaming last night, played against Dave. Not played against Dave before. Dave is using Blood Angels, he also told me he's not a very good tactical player. Hmmm. Will see how it goes.

Necrons - 2,000 points


HQ

Overlord w/ Catacomb Command Barge - warscythe
Royal Court - 3 x Crypteks w/ - harbinger of destruction & solar pulse

Elites

Triarch Stalker
Triarch Stalker

Troops

5 x Necron Warriors w/ Ghost Ark
5 x Necron Warriors w/ Ghost Ark
5 x Necron Warriors w/ Ghost Ark
5 x Necron Immortals

Fast Attack

6 x Canoptek Scarabs
5 x Canoptek Wraiths - 2 x whip coils
5 x Canoptek Wraiths - 2 x whip coils

Heavy Support

2 x Canoptek Spyders - fabricator claw array
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge


Blood Angels - 2,000 points

HQ

Reclusiarch - plasma pistol

Elite

5 x Terminators - assault cannon & 2 x chainfists
2 x Sanguinary Priests

Troops

10 x Tactical Marines w/ Rhino - plasma gun & lascannon
10 x Tactical Marines - meltagun & heavy bolter
8 x Death Company w/ Rhino - power weapon & 2 x infernus pistols
10 x Assault Marines - 2 x flamers
10 x Assault Marines - 2 x meltaguns - sgt w/ thunder hammer

Heavy Support

Stormraven - twin-linked multi melta & twin-linked assault cannon

Pre-game Analysis

Ok, I think if I get good target priority and pick at Dave's army then I should have this in the bag. The Stormraven will have a big target painted on it as not only does it have multi meltas, assault cannons and bloodstrike missiles which can hurt my vehicles but also the Terminators with chain fists. If I can stop that and gun down the squad then that's a lot of pressure off me. The only thing then to worry about is the Assault Squad running about with dual meltaguns. If I can get all that nailed on quickly then the chances of me surviving this game will increase a lot.

Game: annihilation + dawn of war

Deployment

I win the roll off and let Dave deploy first. In dawn of war games I always like to go second and deploy nothing, this is because the opponent will lose a turn shooting at me and most times they will always put something on the table for me to shoot at.

Dave deploys the two Assault Squads in the top left (ignore the photo with other models on the table).

I deploy nothing.





* Tactical Notes

Ok, Dave has dropped down his two Assault Squads and kept them together, which is good. I know how quickly these can move so I'll have to tackle the melta unit first. Can't really say much else until he brings everything else on.

Turn 1

Dave brings on the two Tactical Squads who walk on the from the board edge, both Priests are attached to these units. The Death Company Rhino and the empty one move 12" towards me on the right flank. The Stormraven carrying the Terminators moves flat out and comes to a stop between two terrain pieces in the centre. The Assault Marines bound down the left flank towards the Stormraven.

No shooty shooty, he he he I am a sneaky cunning fox

My turn; all my stuff rolls on in the centre together. Ghost Arks form the wall while a Triarch Stalker goes exposed on the left to make room for the Wraiths, Scarabs and Spyders - the Spyders spawn two Scarabs by the way. Overlord moves flat out in the Command Barge along the right table edge and uses a large rock ruin to block LOS best I can.

Shooting; Triarch Stalker on the left flank blasts the Stormraven and glances it, Raven saves though anything which fires at it is now twin-linked. Gauss flayers from Ghost Ark blast it but nothing, Cryptek inside blasts with the lance and the Raven makes the save. The other Triarch Stalker has a pop and the Raven is now wrecked - Terminators pass pinning. I then blast the Terminators with everything I've got, one Annihilation Barge is out of range thanks to night fighting, though I still manage to put down two Terminators and force a leadership test, which the Terminators pass.

Kill points - Necrons: 1 Blood Angels: 0





* Tactical Notes

Ok, a good start as that anti tank Stormraven is out the picture and the Terminators have depleted numbers. I just hope they get bogged down in terrain and cannot reach assault as those chain fists will make a mess of my necrodermis vehicles. Something else I am worried about next turn is those melta Assault Marines, I expect them to go to the Triarch Stalker and probably slag it will a flamer unit charges a unit of Wraiths. If this happens, I could at least use one unit of Wraiths to counter assault the melta Assault Marines and Canoptek Spyders to chew on the flamer unit. I guess I will see what Dave does.

My plan for next turn is to tackle those melta Marines in some shape or form. Terminators I will torrent to death with Triarch Stalkers as there's no vehicles close by. Overlord will sweep a Rhino while the Canoptek Scarabs will assault another Rhino.

Turn 2

Dave bounds both Assault Squads towards my metallic vehicle line while the Terminators strangely hold positon. Both Rhinos come roaring down the right flank and move over to the centre. I also declare I am using solar pulse, it's gone dark again!

Shooting; meltas fire at the Triarch Stalker on the left, luckily they are out of melta range and one misses any way - no damage here. Lascannon fires at the Command Barge and it misses. I think that's about it as the flamers aren't in range of the Wraiths.

Necrons second turn; Immortals arrive from reserve and appear on the left flank to fire at the melta Assault Squad.

Canoptek Spyders spawn two more Scarabs, though the Spyder with the claw takes a wound. Vehicles move about so they don't get auto hit by chain fists next turn. Wraiths move out from by the Triarch Stalker ready to assault the melta unit. Scarabs charge towards the Death Company Rhino. Overlord sweeps the empty Rhino and cuts it in half scoring me another kill point.

Shooting; Immortals fire gauss blasters into melta Assault Squad but fail to kill any Space Marines. Heat rays from both Triarch Stalkers blast the Terminators with dual Annihilation Barge support and gauss flayers from the a Ghost Ark and the Terminators are wiped out. Gauss flayers and lances blast the Death Company Rhino and it is immobilised and shaken while a Warrior squad and Cryptek fire into the melta Assault Marines and kill three - squad is fearless by the way as affected by red thirst.

In assault both Canoptek Wraith units charge and wipe out the Assault Marines while the Scarabs auto hit the immobilised Death Company Rhino and it's wrecked. I did attempt to block all doors though only managed to block the sides and the Death Company bailed out.

Kill points - Necrons: 5 Blood Angels: 0











* Tactical Notes

Cracking turn this one, nailed those pesky Terminators, which I am surprised they didn't come out and start cutting me up with chain fists. The Canoptek Wraiths have shredded those Assault Marines and I suspect the flamer Assault Marines will no doubt counter charge them, hopefully the Wraiths can hold out. The Death Company are exposed ready to be gauss flayerd to pieces, though I think I can kiss those Canoptek Scarabs good bye.

Next turn I will send both Wraith units to tackle the flamer Assault Marines and eleminate all threats on that flank. Ghost Arks will move up and rapid fire the Death Company to death along with Warrior and Annihilation Barge support, I'll probably fire a Triarch Stalker at them first so everything else is twin-linked and sweep with the Overlord just to kill one or two more.

Turn 3

Flamer Assault Marines strangely retreat instead of engaging, they also run and take LOS cover behind a bastion. Everything else holds position.

Shooting; Death Company blast into the Scarabs and kill a few swarms, luckily I get cover thanks to the Rhino wreck. Lascannon blasts the Command Barge and scores shaken after I fail cover save, living metal makes the save, plasma from the same unit does glance though I manage to save that one. That is it for Blood Angels!

In assault the Death Company charge the Scarabs and wipe them all out thanks to a huge amount of no retreat saves, to be honest and not to be a sore loser I just take the remaining two Scarabs off as I probably have to make about 14 saves. Dave gets a kill point!

Necrons third turn; I move the Immortals up to blast the flamer Assault Marines while both Wraith units gain chase. Two Ghost Arks move up to deal with the Death Company along with the Annihilation Barges. Both Triarch Stalkers run, the closest probably wouldn't get LOS on the Death Co anyway. Overlord sweeps the Death Co and kills one Marine in black.

Shooting; Immortals are 2" out of range of the Assault Marines :(. Ghost Arks, Warriors, Crypteks and Annihilation Barges blast the Death Company and Reclusiarch to pieces.

Assault; Wraiths rip the Assault Squad to pieces and score me another kill point and secure the left flank.

Kill points - Necrons: 8 Blood Angels: 1



* Tactical Notes

That's the left flank secured and the centre of the board in my control. Just need to tackle two Tactical Squads which are a bit out my range at the moment so I'll have to spent a turn moving up.

Next turn I'll hope to get the Wraiths into assault of the closest Tactical Squad. Overlord will sweep another unit while that same unit will get blasted, if I am in range.

Turn 4

Blood Angels hold position and nothing moves.

Shooting; a few bolters, meltagun and heavy bolter blast the Wraiths and knock a wound off. Plasma gun and lascannon fire at the Command Barge and do nothing - that's it for the Angels.

Necrons move up the right flank and land between two terrain pieces. One Triarch Stalker climbs over the Stormraven wreck while the other lags behind. Both Wraiths move to possibly assault the closest Tactical Squad, one Wraith unit will no doubt be out of range and the other will be touch and go. Overlord sweeps and kills two Tactical Marines.

Shooting; Triarch Stalker fires into the Tactical Squad and kills a Marine after cover saves. Ghost Arks, Crypteks and Annihilation Barges fire into the Tactical Squad the Overlord did the sweeping attack on and kills 5 Marines, luckily they are fearless thanks to red thirst.

In assault one unit of Wraiths charge the other Tactical Squad, the Wraiths lose combat by one though the Priest and a Marine is dead.

Kill points - Necrons: 9 Blood Angels: 1





* Tactical Notes

It appears that the Blood Angels are now on borrowed time. One Tactical Squad is half strength and the other is locked in combat. I think with another barrage of shooting and a supportive assault from the other units of Wraiths that it could be all over. I guess we will see...

Turn 5

No movement for Blood Angels so straight onto the shooty shooty, which the plasma and lascannon just bounce off the Command Barge.

In assault the Wraiths beat the Blood Angels and only three Marines left, they fail and fall back about a few inches from the table edge.

The depleted Wraiths unit moves towards the bigger surviving Tactical Squad while the full strength Wraith unit moves up to the depleted unit. Both Triarch Stalkers move through terrain while Ghost Arks move up, though one does immobilise itself on the Death Company Rhino wreck. Overlord sweeps the Tactical Marines and kills one and then bails out ready to assault.

Shooting; both Triarch Stalkers blast the falling back Tactical Squad and force another morale test, as they are already fleeing they auto fail and fall back off the board. The remaining Tactical Squad then gets blasted with gauss flayers, eldritch lances and tesla guns.

In assault the Overlord and Wraiths charge the Blood Angels, the Angels lose combat.

We roll for next turn, though Dave conceeds, which is furry muff.

Kill points - Necrons: 10 Blood Angels: 1

Summary

I must admit, I was expecting a slightly tougher battle and Dave surprised me with some odd tactics. I guess to be fair he did say he wasn't very tactical. I think if Dave was more aggressive like getting those chain fists to chop things up and get the Assault Marines to actually charge stuff then he would have scored himself some more points. Some better tactics would have helped him too like combat squading the Tacticals and throwing both of them into Rhinos and then popping the Priests with the Assault Marines for more punch.

The Necron list is a modification of the my old and I really enjoyed it. I dropped wargear from the Overlord as he is always sweeping and rarely uses the 2+ armour save and mindshackle scarabs. The extra starting Scarabs didn't make much difference as I soon made up the numbers. The small Necron squads worked fine too, in my previous games the Cryptek is shooting vehicles mostly so the Warriors rarely fire. Not worth investing more into a unit when the unit hardly fires those gauss flayers.

What I gained was another Wraith unit and they did well. I know I was ganging up 400 points of Necrons on about 200 points of Blood Angels, but it worked. The Wraiths probably wouldn't tackle a full unit of Assault Marines by themselves so I needed a double work load.

I am also giving thought to the Scarabs. I really do like Scarabs, though most times they only get one round of assault in before they get blasted to bits. I find that vehicle hunting is what they do and against infantry they are only good for tarpit and that's it. Another problem is because they are beasts I find they end up been outof Spyder's spawn range thanks to the 12" assault range, this means the Spyders have to play catch up. So I am thinking of maybe dropping the Scarabs and Spyders and getting another Annihilation Barge for more shooty and boost the number of Wraiths and add another whip coil and two particle casters to make those units more beefy. I could get another whole unit of Wraiths if I really wanted instead, though triple Annihilation Barges do sound cool.

What do you guys think about Scarabs and Spyders and maybe switching them for a Annihilaton Barge and more Wraiths?

What do you guys think about Scarabs and Spyders and maybe switching them for a Annihilaton Barge and more Wraiths?

First off, good battle report as usual. Your opponent's list was pretty meh and as you said he made lots of weird choices. It happens.

As for the above, I have begun to feel similar about Scarabs. I run one squad of 10 Scarabs, 2 x 6 Wraiths, and 3 Annihilation Barges and love it. The Annihilation Barges are such good bang for their buck. Wraiths are just awesome. I like to have the Scarabs because they tend to soak up lots of fire. Their initial crash can usually take out 1-2 vehicles or surround one which is nice. But you are right, they usually don't survive past that.

I gotta say, that was far more of a rout than I was expecting.

I was actually going to post on your blog yesterday about going away from the Spiders and Scarabs and going for another Catacomb Barge and Annihilation barge. Still get some of that Vehicle killing from the Sweep Attacks and another barge never hurt anyone.

Just not too enthused with the idea of bigger units of assault units that cost you on the same bill as Thunderwolves that are somewhat less durable.

JGrand wrote:

What do you guys think about Scarabs and Spyders and maybe switching them for a Annihilaton Barge and more Wraiths?

First off, good battle report as usual. Your opponent's list was pretty meh and as you said he made lots of weird choices. It happens.

As for the above, I have begun to feel similar about Scarabs. I run one squad of 10 Scarabs, 2 x 6 Wraiths, and 3 Annihilation Barges and love it. The Annihilation Barges are such good bang for their buck. Wraiths are just awesome. I like to have the Scarabs because they tend to soak up lots of fire. Their initial crash can usually take out 1-2 vehicles or surround one which is nice. But you are right, they usually don't survive past that.

Thanks about the report and yes some of Dave's tactics was weird. I didn't think his list was too bad, I've played worse.

Ah, I see someone is in the same boat. I need to take a more indepth look. Unfortunately I haven't got the points to run 10 Scarabs and then the Wraiths and another Barge. If I could get 10 Scarabs in without Spyders I would do it without a doubt. How you finding triple Anni Barges?

Unholy_Martyr wrote:I gotta say, that was far more of a rout than I was expecting.

I was actually going to post on your blog yesterday about going away from the Spiders and Scarabs and going for another Catacomb Barge and Annihilation barge. Still get some of that Vehicle killing from the Sweep Attacks and another barge never hurt anyone.

Just not too enthused with the idea of bigger units of assault units that cost you on the same bill as Thunderwolves that are somewhat less durable.

I admit I was expecting a more fight on my hands. Those Terminators and Assault Marines could have caused more damage at least.

You should have commented, more comments the better . The Scarabs and Spyders are costing me 200 points, so unfortunately I can only get another Command Barge of Annihilation Barge. Do you use double Catacomb Barges?

You do have a good point about the Wraiths. They are ok, but not massively awesome.

I actually go with a doubles approach on everything (I chalk it up to minor OCD). I.e. Double Catacomb, Double Stalkers, Double Wraiths and Double Annihilation Barges. Granted, with the Wraith units, I use 4 man squads as opposed to 5 man squads as I don't see much of a difference.

The double Catacomb barges alone have been priceless as I have had the pleasure of collapsing a Grey Knight gunline using their Sweep Attacks. I would give it a try and see what you get out of it.

At the moment the only thing not in double is the Command Barge. I'll give it a try as I don't think another Wraith unit is going to make much difference nor another Anni Barge.

I like your color scheme and also the stalkers. Very clever!

Can spyders spawn scarabs during turn 1 in DoW?

Thanks about the report and yes some of Dave's tactics was weird. I didn't think his list was too bad, I've played worse.

Ah, I see someone is in the same boat. I need to take a more indepth look. Unfortunately I haven't got the points to run 10 Scarabs and then the Wraiths and another Barge. If I could get 10 Scarabs in without Spyders I would do it without a doubt. How you finding triple Anni Barges?

I love the triple Barges so far. Usually they get enough hits to take on light armor.

I'm also very baffled by the blood angel tactical choices. This deployment was kind of all over the place and I think he got confused when his initial moves didn't do much. This is something I've been noticing vs necrons. You bide you time during solar pulses.


Put out enough stuff to force them to use solar pulse but focus on tactically moving to allow your shooting to be effective when he's out of pulses. (i.e. hide tanks behind LOS, drive up with smoke for position, have something big and scary shooting wise to foce him to use the pulse or they may just save it till later - something I've noticed not all necron generals are that good at figuring out yet,

People are still trying to learn what to do with that thing. Night fighting seems to just make people bog down and cry in the corner I swear. It really shouldn't affect his list that much but I think psychologically he wasn't quite prepared and lost the game in his head then quickly on the board as well.

People forget that necrons have poop for range. he should have denied one flank and just taken shots at the crons vehicles while keeping his assault units held back to counter assault the few fast threats Mercer has. After all it was KP game. But to the BA credit as was stated he was a casual player.

kestral wrote:I like your color scheme and also the stalkers. Very clever!

Thanks man

hyv3mynd wrote:Can spyders spawn scarabs during turn 1 in DoW?

They do it at the start of the turn when they come on.

JGrand wrote:

Thanks about the report and yes some of Dave's tactics was weird. I didn't think his list was too bad, I've played worse.

Ah, I see someone is in the same boat. I need to take a more indepth look. Unfortunately I haven't got the points to run 10 Scarabs and then the Wraiths and another Barge. If I could get 10 Scarabs in without Spyders I would do it without a doubt. How you finding triple Anni Barges?

I love the triple Barges so far. Usually they get enough hits to take on light armor.

I don't think I am going to go triple Annihilation Barges. I am probably going to go another Command Barge, though more than likely ditch the Spyders and make the Scarabs a full unit and use the rest of the points in wargear. The latter is the cheaper option for me, plus I keep my greenstuff Scarabs

sudojoe wrote:I'm also very baffled by the blood angel tactical choices. This deployment was kind of all over the place and I think he got confused when his initial moves didn't do much. This is something I've been noticing vs necrons. You bide you time during solar pulses.


Put out enough stuff to force them to use solar pulse but focus on tactically moving to allow your shooting to be effective when he's out of pulses. (i.e. hide tanks behind LOS, drive up with smoke for position, have something big and scary shooting wise to foce him to use the pulse or they may just save it till later - something I've noticed not all necron generals are that good at figuring out yet,

People are still trying to learn what to do with that thing. Night fighting seems to just make people bog down and cry in the corner I swear. It really shouldn't affect his list that much but I think psychologically he wasn't quite prepared and lost the game in his head then quickly on the board as well.

I tend to use solar pulse first turn. This takes away first turn shooting of the opponent and I can advance and ready for next turn. This works particular well in DoW games.

Red Corsair wrote:People forget that necrons have poop for range. he should have denied one flank and just taken shots at the crons vehicles while keeping his assault units held back to counter assault the few fast threats Mercer has. After all it was KP game. But to the BA credit as was stated he was a casual player.

I would have moved the Stormraven flat out across his own table edge and used the Rhinos to cover the Assault Marines. The Tacticals should have combat squad. The move up, blast something with the Stormraven and Terminators bail out to assault along with Death Co and Assault Squads.

hyv3mynd wrote:Can spyders spawn scarabs during turn 1 in DoW?

No they can't.

Just like tervigons, they have to be in play at the start of Turn 1 to be able to spawn. At the start of DoW Turn 1, they are not in play yet and when they do come on board, it is no longer the start of Turn 1.

Yeah I was pretty sure they can't, but I phrased it as a question instead of a statement because I'm at work and can't look it up.

Nice. Those stalkers do look huge. seemed like a fun game.

jy2 wrote:

hyv3mynd wrote:Can spyders spawn scarabs during turn 1 in DoW?

No they can't.

Just like tervigons, they have to be in play at the start of Turn 1 to be able to spawn. At the start of DoW Turn 1, they are not in play yet and when they do come on board, it is no longer the start of Turn 1.

I'll keep that in mind, though you can't do everything at the start of the turn.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Iago wrote:Nice. Those stalkers do look huge. seemed like a fun game.

Thanks about the Stalkers, bud.

I'd love to see this list against more competitive lists. Good rep tho merc

Very easy win for the Necrons. I am baffled by lots of decisions made by the BA player. I think he could have made a much better game of it. For example the terminators just sitting there and getting shot to pieces made no sense to me.

I'd love to see this list against more competitive lists. Good rep tho merc

Seconded. More even matchups would make for better batreps instead of yawning rollovers against total noobs.

jy2 wrote:

hyv3mynd wrote:Can spyders spawn scarabs during turn 1 in DoW?

No they can't.

Just like tervigons, they have to be in play at the start of Turn 1 to be able to spawn. At the start of DoW Turn 1, they are not in play yet and when they do come on board, it is no longer the start of Turn 1.

wow my lack of tyranid know-how really getting to me. Last DoW game had one guy tell me it was a troop choice so he put a hive tyrant and 2 tervigons in the middle of the board and I had some 20 something termagaunts at by door step by turn 1 >.<

sudojoe wrote:
wow my lack of tyranid know-how really getting to me. Last DoW game had one guy tell me it was a troop choice so he put a hive tyrant and 2 tervigons in the middle of the board and I had some 20 something termagaunts at by door step by turn 1 >.<

They are a troop choice....if you take termagants along with them. For every 1 unit of termagants in a tyranid army, you can take 1 tervigon as a troop as well.

So it appears that your opponent played it correctly....as long as he had 2 units of termagants in the army as well.

It's also a reason why nids are so good in Seize Ground missions. They have T6 6W monstrous creatures who are troops and can make more troops.

jy2 wrote:

sudojoe wrote:
wow my lack of tyranid know-how really getting to me. Last DoW game had one guy tell me it was a troop choice so he put a hive tyrant and 2 tervigons in the middle of the board and I had some 20 something termagaunts at by door step by turn 1 >.<

They are a troop choice....if you take termagants along with them. For every 1 unit of termagants in a tyranid army, you can take 1 tervigon as a troop as well.

So it appears that your opponent played it correctly....as long as he had 2 units of termagants in the army as well.

It's also a reason why nids are so good in Seize Ground missions. They have T6 6W monstrous creatures who are troops and can make more troops.

ahh nm then, it was correct. Just brutal rush against the tank line then. Some 16 MC wounds to try and hold off. Not to mention some swarm right up my alley by turn 1.

Zid wrote:I'd love to see this list against more competitive lists. Good rep tho merc

Thanks man. Against Venom-spam tonight!

-666- wrote:Very easy win for the Necrons. I am baffled by lots of decisions made by the BA player. I think he could have made a much better game of it. For example the terminators just sitting there and getting shot to pieces made no sense to me.

Some of the tactical choices of the Blood Angel player did have me by surprise. He definitely did some weird things.