This is the second game of a series between my son and I to test out my Adepticon build. In short... his Necrons vs. my Mantis Warriors using the new
DA dex. Do I really see the Mantis Warriors as Dark Angels?? No, of course not. But it's the only 6th edition marine dex that even approaches a standard marine build and transferring my army straight over from C:
SM saved over 100 points. So... until they come out with a new C:
SM or even C:
BA (the two codecii I've used in the past), I'm running my guys as
DA. My apologies to all the real
DA players out there.
The first battle can be found
here.
The Armies Thing 1's Steam Crons HQ: Overlord (war scythe,
MSS, res orb) in Command Barge
EL: 10x Deathmarks (these are being proxied by warriros)
TP: 5x Tessla Immortals + Despairtech in Night Scythe
TP: 5x Tessla Immortals + Despairtech in Night Scythe
HV: Annihilation Barge
Gitsplitta's Mantis Warriors (run as DA) HQ: Clothis (Ezekiel - mind worm, prescience, scrier's gaze)
TP: 10x
Tac 1 (plasma cannon, flamer, vet srg w/
PS, rhino)
TP: 10x
Tac 1 (plasma cannon, flamer, vet srg w/
PS, rhino)
FA: 2x Land Speeder Tempest
HV: 5x Devastators (2x
ML w/ flak, 2x
LC)
FT: Aegis Defense Line w/ Quad Gun
The Game Scenario: The Relic (except I screwed up the rules in turn 2, so we cashed it and just did a kill point mission instead)
Deployment: Dawn of War
First turn: Mantis Warriors
The Mantis Warrior librarian Clothis stood in the midst of his men, overseeing the first stages of the field camp's construction. The hastily erected Aegis Barrier had proven effective in helping the Mantis Warriors establish a foothold in this Necron infested ruin. Now it was being re-purposed into a set of defensive walls for their encampment. Land speeders dropped lines which were attached to the walls so they could be placed in the proper arrangement. All was going according to schedule, as one would expect from the Emperor's finest. No sooner had the last wall section been set in place when Clothis' comms clicked on. "Sir, forward scouts report movement on the far side of the ruin. No positive ID yet, but there's something big out there moving just beyond sensor range." "Thank you sergeant, send the Typhoons around the left flank to recon the area. RECON ONLY... they are not to engage!" "Yes Sir."
Clothis leaned on the Aegis line, staring out across the vast, ruined city... straining to make out any signs of enemy activity. The communications officer of one of the tactical squads brought him out of his reverie. "Sir, I've got an interesting reading from one of the sensors on The Green Menace. {the Mantis Warrior warship in orbit - Gits} The radial fractometer has picked up a strong signature approximately 200 yards due east. I think this may be what we're looking for." Clothis nodded and keyed his general comms. "Saddle up men, we have a target to retrieve and enemies at the perimeter. Time to earn your dinners!" Deployment Most of Thing 1's necrons are off the board at the start... his two barges hide in the ruins. I fort up around the Aegis line with the rhinos in position to do a smash-and-grab on the relic.
Turn 1 The rhinos with tactical combat squads inside, make a dash for the relic while the other halves of each squad move cautiously forward into better firing positions. The devastators are able to shoot over their own troops at the annihilation barge (and thanks to prescience... hit a good number of times), and even with improved cover saves... blow it up. Nice start to the game... one less twin-linked tessla cannon to worry about. OH, and first blood too.
Here's a better view...
The Necron overlord decides to play it cautiously and wait for his reinforcements to arrive before exposing himself to fire. (no pic... but then nothing happens)
Mantis Warriors - 2, Necrons - 0 Turn 2 And here's where it all goes wrong....
I grab the relic with one of the squads and they pile into the rhino... so far, so good. Then... ignoring the rules I JUST READ... the rhino goes screaming back towards my board edge 18" (I think more looking at the picture... screwed that up too.) rather than just going the rest of the 6" that the relic's allowed to move in a turn. At this point of course... neither of us grok the fact that I've screwed the pooch on the rules. Everything else stays put, waiting for the inevitable Necron alpha-strike. Clothis casts scrier's gaze to keep the typhoons off the table.
"Sir, scanners report two unidentified blips coming in from the east... fast, must be aircraft. ETA 2 minutes." "Damn..." hissed Clothis through gritted teeth. He keyed a private com to one of the squad leaders at the site. "Sergeant, report!" "Sir... there's nothing here but an old duterium ion reactor core. Highly radioactive and leaking badly... but nothing of any interest." "Very well sergeant. We've got hostile aircraft moving in from the east, get your squads back to the defensive positions immediately!" Clothis closed his comm before the sergeant could respond. "Eyes on the skies men... we've got company coming!" Thing 1 gets 2 out of his 3 reserve units. A night scythe streaks in & deposits a squad of immortals and the despairtech in front of my rhinos. Quad gun takes a hull point off of it at the end of it's movement phase. The deathmarks also deep strike in, but scatter badly away from my line. Still close enough to shoot however. Shooting from the night scythe blows up the lead rhino, killing 1 marine and pinning the squad. The deathmarks, immortals and despairtech completely wipe out the
dev squad but leave Clothis (Ezekiel) untouched... thank the Emperor. For the second game in a row... Clothis sees a devastator squad wiped out right in front of him by a Necron alpha-strike. I worked it out and I made 15% of my saving throws this turn instead of the expected 66%.
Clothis once again contemplates the supreme sacrifice of his devastators... but only for a moment, there is bloody work to do.
Mantis Warriors - 2, Necons - 1 Turn 3 Thanks to scrier's gaze, the typhoons come in on que while Clothis joins the combat squad on the right. I know that that despairtech's weapon can do to my AV3 marines... en' masse. So everything that can opens up on the unit... blessedly wiping them out. I even have one plasma cannon left that did not have to fire... which lays down an accurate salvo and claims 3 of the deathmarks for good measure.
In return, the second Necron night scythe arrives and deposits it's deadly cargo. Unfortunately for most of the game I'd forgotten that my quad gun could fire at things coming from off the table... ah well. The overlord, now being satisfied that I have enough other things to worry about... makes his move through the buildings. Necron shooting kills 2 marines in each combat squad and strips one hull point off of a typhoon (got real lucky there).
It's at this point that I realize my error with the relic... having no way to undo the mistake now that everything's been moving and shooting... we just shift to a simple kill point mission.
Mantis Warriors - 4, Necrons - 1 Turn 4 I know that my survival depends on stopping that command barge and protecting my kill points... and doing something about those d*mn scythes. So, one combat squad piles out of the surviving rhino to man the quad gun. The rhino the zooms ahead to pick up the remnant of the other combat squad. The land speeders shift over to fire at the command barge while the right-hand combat squad bravely stays pat to pour fire into the deathmarks. The typhoons with prescience strip two hull points off the barge while the combined fire of the rest of the army kills a further 3 deathmarks (that's taking into account resurrections). Clothis... not wanting to get run down by the overlord, joins the squad by the quad gun.
The Steamcrons close in for the kill. Shooting takes out one of the typhoons (the undamaged one unfortunately) and kills all but one of the squad in the crater. The overlord sweeps the combat squad in front of him, killing two. We were still trying to sort out the rules for the barge/chariot so if he's not doing everything he could be... it's because we were learning as we went along.
Mantis Warriors - 4, Necrons - 2 Turn 5 I try to make the best of a bad situation. I now have 3 kill points hanging by a single wound or hull point... so I scatter while still trying to do something useful. The surviving typhoon moves back to shoot at the barge. One lone marine heads for the quad gun while the other falls back to the table edge. The sole combat squad in good order moves out to deal with the very real threat of the second immortal squad and their despairtech. Shooting from all quarters (including a plasma cannon from inside the rhino) wipes the immortals out... thankfully. Unfortunately the barge is unharmed and ready to rampage.
In their half, the Steamcrons continue to press their advantage in heavy firepower and muscle. The night scythe strips a hull point from the rhino while the overlord sweeps and ultimately wipes out the 5-man combat squad. Clothis miraculously survives.
Mantis Warriors - 6, Necrons - 3 We roll.... the game continues! (Darn it!)
Turn 6 I'm in trouble... and I know it. I get the rhino & embarked troops the heck out of dodge... trying to preserve it's two kill points. The speeder backs away again & continues to try and stop the barge. Clothis moves to take out the deathmarks. "Mind Worm" kills two of the deathmarks, but his assault does nothing. The typhoon wiffs but thankfully, the quad gun drops one of the night scythes. Huzzah!
For some reason... that one marine I had at the back of the board disappears. Not sure what happened. I have him falling off the table but I'm not sure how that would happen. In any case... somewhere, somehow that marine went bye-bye.
The surviving Steamcron night scythe arrives and immobilizes the rhino. No biggie. The overlord takes out the marine on the quad gun on the sweep and positions himself for an easy charge into combat with Clovis... then rolls snake-eyes on the charge!
Frustrated, the overlord looks on as Clovis finally finishes off the last two deathmarks and prepares himself for the inevitable confrontation.
A great chaos beast from the warp once again marauds around the battlefield, oblivious to the intense action taking place around it.
Mantis Warriors - 8, Necrons - 5 We roll to see if the game ends.... nope. (Double darn!)
Turn 7 With my last chance, I focus the guns of the typhoon on the night scythe, hoping the combined fire power of the heavy bolter and missile launchers might do the trick. Alas, it is not so. Clothis casts Mind Worm on the overlord but does nothing. I don't charge him fearing mindshackle scarabs... probably a mistake.
The necrons waste no time in pressing their advantage. The night scythe drops the last typhoon. And the overlord...
Clothis watched the golden machine sew ruin amongst his troops. One unit after another was slaughtered everywhere that impossible machine went. No flesh-and-blood creature could have piloted a machine with such precision. But the enemy commander was not flesh-and-blood... not any longer. He was himself a machine, seamlessly integrated with the barge's pipes, wires and gears. As Clothis watched... the machine made an impossibly tight turn and was now facing directly at him. The ghoulish grin of it's rider burned with hatred and demonic joy at the slaughter it had wrought. With impossible speed, the barge shot forward in an attempt to run Clothis down. Only his super-human reflexes allowed him to dive and twist in such a manner as to avoid being hit by the prow of the vehicle. Unfortunately, his new position left him helpless. Off-balance, out of position... it was all he could do to pray that by the Emperor's Grace the mechanical monstrosity would pass by so he could collect himself for the next pass. It was at that point he felt a searing hot blade pass through his left arm, severing it mid-forearm. Stims, pain-killers and coagulants started flowing into his body immediately. A fraction of a second later, a second blow bit deep into his now exposed side armor, shearing through ribs and cartilage as if they were made of paper. Through the pain, on the grass of the field...he could see the shadow of his adversary raise it's glaive. Perhaps if Clovis dove to the side he could still survi.... *** 
Final Score:
Mantis Warriors - 8, Necrons - 8 (2 more units + slay the warlord) It's a tie!! Another very fun fight... Nip and tuck to be sure. There's just nothing I can do with
DoW deployment to stop him from picking and wiping out any combat squad he wants to. I like the way the army plays though. Fun and flexible with lots of fire power spread all over the place. If we'd have figured out the chariot rules (which I'm still a little fuzzy on) earlier, I suspect this would not have been a tie. In any case... I thought he played well and was really proud of the way he stuck with it, playing from behind, the whole game until he caught up. Awesomesauce.
If you like the batrep, please leave a comment. As you might imagine a lot of work goes into one of these and it's nice to know people appreciate it.
Thanks! - Gits
Serms like Thing1 really held his own against you though. 
That gave me the win.
10000 pts
6000+ pts NIDS
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