After a recent discussion on how underdog the Necron codex is, I find it highly amusing that I managed to win an
RTT yesterday. Even more so, since I view myself as the underdog in my gaming pit, because I’ve been playing
WH40k for only about half an year, and the Necrons for only a couple of months. Of course, some circumstances conspired to work out in my favor making the win possible (see below). Pictures are attached in a post below.
Army List:
Lord with warscythe, destroyer body, phase shifter, resurrection orb
16 warriors
15 warriors
Monolith
Monolith
5 Destroyers
5 Destroyers
5 Destroyers
First battle – got a default victory (a by). Second battle – win on objectives in 5 turns against
IG (game ends on die roll per standard rules). Third battle – win against another
IG list and player on
KP in annihilation mission after 5 turns (games ends due to time).
Second battle – Imperial Guard:
Company
HQ with officer of the fleet and lascannon team
full squad of psykers with custodian
Veterans, chimera (heavy flamer, heavy stubber), lascannon, demo charge, heavy flamer, 2x flamer, power fist, melta bombs
Veterans, chimera (heavy flamer, heavy stubber), lascannon, special weapons
Veterans, 2x plasma gun, lascannon,
Veterans, missile launcher, special weapons
Veterans, lascannon, special weapons
Hellhound with inferno cannon and heavy flamer
Executioner with plasma sponsons, heavy bolter
Vanquisher with Pask, lascannon, plasma sponsons, hunter killer missile
Manticore with heavy bolter
Mission was 3 objectives along the long center axis of the table. Deployment was pitched battle.
IG won the initiative and chose to deploy and move first. Since this is objectives-based battle, Necrons did not try to steal the initiative, preferring to have the last say in grabbing objectives.
Since
IG would go first, while N had monoliths, I decided to go into the reserve in full. Also, that would minimize the number of turns to withstand
IG firepower, especially going second –
IG loses 2 turns of shooting, while N loses one. On the downside, Necrons can get screwed over on the reserves rolls, especially with officer of the fleet being present. However, teleporting the monoliths in the middle of
IG with so many squads of theirs maximizes the effectiveness of the arc projectors and gives many chances to glance the tanks to stun them and prevent shooting.
Left and right are all judged from the Necron perspective for simplicity.
IG deployed the vanquisher in the deep far left, the
HQ next to it closer to the center, and two vets on foot in front of the
HQ. Another vet on foot and the psykers were deployed towards the center, while the executioner, hellhound, and a chimera crew deployed on the right flank, with the executioner closest to the center. The manticore deployed deep midright flank. The other chimera/vet crew was placed in reserve to outflank.
IG used the empty turns 1 and 2 to advance on my right flank with the executioner, hellhound, and one of the vet/chimera crews towards the right flank objective, while the psykers and one of the vet crews on foot received two turns of “Move, move, move!” orders to advance into the ruined building overlooking the central objective.
IG also put a vet/chimera crew into the reserves with an outflank mission.
IG forgot to roll for his reserve in turn 2. My opponent was a good sportsman throughout the game, so I do not think it was done on purpose, although it was helpful to know where the Necrons would show up before committing the outflankers.
Necron reserves were slow to arrive due to the officer of the fleet and bad luck. Only 2 units arrive out of 8 (even with officer it should be 3). One monolith and one destroyer squad arrive in bottom of turn 2. Necrons deep-struck the monolith right in the middle of the
IG advance tank group on the Necron right flank, teleporting on target.
IG vehicles got pushed out of the way. The monolith had projector range on the executioner, hellhound, chimera, manticore, psykers, and vets on foot.
The single unit of Destroyers flew in from the corner of the Necron right flank, taking advantage of the cover from the ruined buildings and trying to single out one tank at a time from the advancing group, while minimizing returning fire.
The monolith did some damage with the arc projectors: a couple of dead footsloggers in the center, but more importantly, it shook the executioner, immobilized the hellhound, and destroyed its inferno cannon. The hellhound had exposed the back armor of 10 because the monolith teleported behind it, so the projector at S5 could get 2 penetrating hits, which did the damage. The destroyers stunned the chimera.
In top turn 3,
IG remembered to roll for reserves and the vet chimera moved in from the right table side next to the destroyers.
IG poured a lot of firepower into the monolith, including Pask, all vet
HWT, and the manticore direct fire. The hellhound was essentially out of the game (immobilized and turretless) while the executioner was stunned and could not fire. For all the firepower, the monolith suffered an immobilization result. Yay, living metal! The destroyers got shot up a bit, so one took a dirt nap for a turn.
In the bottom of turn 3, Necrons rolled horribly for reserves – none come out of 5 units on a 4+!! I am thinking, this is probably the end, but what do Necrons have to fear of death? So, I marched on. The immobilized Monolith fired the arc projector stunning the executioner again, blowing up the immobilized hellhound by penning the back armor, and stunning the mid-right chimera. The destoyers flew away 12” behind deeper cover from the ruins in the center of the map, to hide from everything but the outflanking chimera. Accurate destroyer gauss fire blew off the multilaser on the outflanking chimera and immobilized it at the right edge of the board.
Top of turn 4,
IG answered with a vicious cannonade into the Monolith, which again did not manage to do anything to the Monolith, other than one weapon-destroyed result, which reduces the projector shots to
d6-1 per squad in range. The psykers tried to reduce the morale of the destroyers but suffered perils of the warp and the custodian executed 3 psykers! But, it is for their own good, right?
The vets from the stunned mid-right chimera assaulted the immobilized monolith with melta bombs and scored two glances that were ineffective as monoliths ignore stunned/shaken results. Yay, living metal! The vets from the immobilized chimera on the right table edge slogged across the field towards the immobilized monolith as well.
After surviving all that furious twin-linked punishment, we must be the luckiest harvester crew in the chrome-dome hosts! Or at least that blessed monolith was.
In the bottom of turn 4, the Necrons roll on 3+ to bring in the second monolith and the two warrior squads (Lord was attached to the 16). But, still 10 destroyers remain off the board!! That is 30 S6 gauss shots that Necrons will not have. With 3 units coming in, and 2 remaining off, the roll was below but close to average. I guess all the luck was spent on keeping the first monolith alive.
The second monolith deep-struck in the center of the top left quadrant of the map, just in front of 2 vets on foot and the
HQ and just a bit over 12” from the Vanquisher in the far deep left. The lord and his 16 emerged from that monolith, while the immobilized one in the top quadrant brought forth the 15 warrior squad. I double-checked with the
TO that warriors can emerge that way in the same turn and he confirmed it twice, which makes sense to me as well.
The executioner and the psykers and the vet on foot in the center of the map received double taps from both monoliths. The executioner got stunned again. Psykers got reduced but made their leadership. The vets got damaged as well. The immobilized monolith achieved a weapon-destroyed result on the manticore, blowing off the launcher and essentially taking the manticore out of the game. Here and there, a few vets got arced but made cover saves. The immobilized turretless hellhound got penned by the arc projectors of the right monolith on the back armor of 10 (projectors are S5) and exploded! The small blast radius hit three warriors but downed only one.
The warriors by the hero monolith on the right unloaded 30 rapid gauss into the executioner, got a couple of glances (statistically average) and managed to stun it again and most importantly blow off the executioner plasma cannon in the turret. The 16 warriors on the left flank unloaded on the pesky command squad that kept giving four orders per turn. The officer told them to go to ground. They also used the cover from the vet squad in front of them and their own camo cloaks shields, so they got 2+ cover saves. So they lost just a couple of their squad after all that fire, but at least they would sit out turn 5, so no
TL for all the lascannons. I thought of shooting the Vanquisher instead, but most of the warriors would be out of rapid fire range. Shutting down the
HQ even for a turn seemed like the surer and better bet.
The single unit of destroyers shut down the surviving chimera but failed to destroy it. Lots of hits but just many stunned/shaken results from the glances.
At the top of turn 5,
IG used everything on the left to down the 16 warriors, including the heavy bolter from the rocketless manticore from the right. Some of the hits were from missile launchers and lascannons, which normally preclude WWB, but the destroyer lord had an orb, so all 11 brought down from the 16 were eligible for WWB. Incidentally, many of the downs were from the plasma sponsons on the Vanquisher, which might have been stunned, but the
HQ seemed the more important target for the warriors. Also, firing the plasma at the warriors meant Pask could not target and pen the Monoliths, while the plasma could have scattered onto guardsmen in those close quarters anyway. As it happened, they were on target, but the hard choice still seems to be the correct one.
The psykers lowered the morale of the 15 warriors on the right. Then the veterans on the right dropped a demo charge right on top of the 15 warriors. Direct hit! Str9 AP3 means no WWB as the lord was too far away. However, they did it from behind a corner, barely seeing the warriors over the rising edge of the immobilized monolith, so cover saves were taken. Out of the 12 under the template, 11 got wounded but 9 of them made the cover saves! The same vets also shot a heavy flamer and a flamer into the warriors, downing a few more. Then the vets charged in, with the sergeant power fist killing 2 more. The vets struck back causing a couple of wounds, but the warriors still lost combat. Then they failed their leadership reduced by the psykers to 5. So, being I=2, they got swept and destroyed completely (no WWB after caught in sweeping advance).
In the bottom of turn 5, the Necrons detached the lord and teleported the warriors on the left through the left monolith, which pivoted for the purpose of disgorging them onto the left objective. I judged it was time to grab some objectives and sweep the
IG away from the same, in case the game ended after turn 5 (33% chance). The teleport also allowed rerolls of failed WWB, so out of the 11 downed necrons, the orb and the monolith worked together to repair 9 warriors! The warriors did not move before teleportation, so they got to move and spread out in the 12.5 inches between the left and central objective, claiming both for the Necron team.
The detached lord had three choicy targets – the vanquisher on the left at the
IG edge of the board, the executioner to the right, and the mauled vets and psykers in the middle. Judging that the game might end after turn 5, chose to throw the lord at the surviving single psyker and the 5 surviving vets, because the former could contest and the latter could claim the middle objective. Pulling them further away from the objective and possibly massacring them in
CC would mean my warrior squad could claim both objectives and win the game for Necrons. In fact, all that was necessary was to win combat and have them run away towards their table edge and away from the objectives. At T6, the lord could only be wounded on 4+ followed by 6+ followed by my failing a 3+ armor save (no power weapons in that squad). That is 1 in 36 chance per wound, and he had 2 wounds left. So, odds were in his favor. The hardest part was to resist the temptation to scythe battle tanks with that beautiful 5+
2d6 warscythe on 10/11 armor and 4 automatic hits (tanks did not move). So tempting, especially since the Vanquisher was the only serious threat to the Monoliths, but discipline prevailed.
Further in movement, the destroyer unit that came in turn 2 moved centrally on the map, lining shots on the vet unit to the right advancing between the middle and right objective. The two new destroyer squads split – one went to the far left along the left table edge to line up on the vets that might decide to advance to the left objective, while the other joined the old unit of destroyers in the center to support the fireworks left or right as needed.
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In the shooting phase of turn 5 bottom, the left monolith fired the arc projector to soften up the surrounding infantry and stun the executioner again. The right monolith arced a few vets all around.
The warriors on the left claimed the left and central objective and rapid-fired into the psykers in the center to prevent a repeat of the psyker attack. The reduction in leadership is equal to the number of surviving psykers, so the psykers had to be decimated. Also, they could contest the central objective and pull out an even game for the
IG. The warriors poured a ton of rapid fire gauss into the psykers, but the psykers were in cover and went to ground as well. Still, the sheer mass killed all but one psyker from the entire squad. The surviving psyker passed his leadership test and remained in battle.
The destroyers received a new mission – kill as much of the forward infantry as possible along the entire battle line, so that scoring
IG units are kept away from the objectives. Again, the temptation was to shut down the Vanquisher, but this late in the game, increasing the survivability of the monoliths was not as important as claiming objectives and keeping
IG off of them. Also, an exploding monolith would kill 4x as many vets than warriors (S3/
AP- means 4+ to wound and 1 in 2 to kill after cover save, so 1 killed in 4 hit vets, versus 5+ to wound, 1 in 3 to fail 3+ armor, 1 in 2 to fail WWB, or 1 killed in 18 hit warriors).
So, the one squad of destroyers by left table edge unloaded on the forward vet squad hiding in the ruins in the center of the top left quadrant of the map. Because of cover saves, about half survived the ordeal, so a second squad of destroyers from the center of the Necron half of the table unloaded on them cutting them down to one model. At this point, I was tempted to unload on them with the third necron destroyer squad from the center, but the squad could fail their leadership for over 25% casualties and fall back anyway, while if the vet made it, then the left monolith would likely arc the single model to death on turn 6. Either way, the left objective was essentially secure for the Necrons, so the last destroyer squad unloaded on the vets advancing from the right objective to contest the middle one. Even after cover saves, that squad was significantly reduced, and it lost the sergeant with the power fist, significantly worsening its chances against the lord in turn 6.
In the assault phase of bottom 5, the lord zoomed into
CC with the lone surviving psyker and the halved vet squad in the central ruins overlooking the central objective from the
IG half of the table. We were wondering of the same model can multiple assault. The destroyer base was big enough to attack both units in
BtB contact, and I see no reason why e.g. a carnifex or a greater daemon would be limited to one squad to assault, especially with their large bases. We were pressed for time (
RTT game), so instead of checking, we just allowed it.
The lord directed all four attacks on the vets, ignoring the sanctioned psyker (no force weapon). The reasoning was that the vets were the scoring unit, so reducing them was more important than killing the lonely psyker, who would have been picked up by the monoliths’ arc projectors on turn 6 anyway (
2d6-1 shots with S5 going his way) even if he passes his leadership in the
CC. The lord killed three of the vets, suffered no wounds, and won the combat. The psyker failed leadership and ran, but the vets made their leadership and prevented the lord from sweeping both. The
CC also kept the vets outside the range to contest the middle objective.
This was the end of turn 5, so I rolled to see if the battle continues. The battle ends! Victory for the Necrons with 2 to 1 held objectives.
Overall impressions:
Imperial psykers working with vets with special weapons are a lethal combination.
Monoliths are a hard nut to crack even for
IG unless one pours enormous amount of firepower in them or gets lucky (just a couple of games ago, a vanilla marine player killed both monoliths in a league game using one landraider in 2 turns of firing).
Orb in combo with monolith teleportation are lifesavers for warriors, but you must have large units, maybe about 16 or so, to make sure enough survive to entitle the others to roll WWB. Statistically, you should get 75% of the downed warriors, and that is regardless of the manner of their death! That is very powerful, especially since the casualties must first be caused on T4 A3+ models. On 2000pts, players are tempted to field 3 monoliths and some destroyers, which leaves them with min units of warriors that tend to get wiped out without WWB.
In my opinion,
IG made a mistake in advancing. He probably would have done better using the pitched battle deployment to stay within 12 inches of his long table edge, put the two chimeras in reserve, and wait for the Necrons to commit. Going second, Necrons are very likely to go all in reserve. If they don’t, the monoliths will take a couple of turns to get in range with the particle whip, waddling across the board 6 inches at a time, which gives more time to shoot and wipe out the softer targets. Also, monoliths do not score objectives and do not contribute to phase out, so shooting at them is likely an error unless there are no better accessible targets.
With conservative
IG deployment, if the Necrons deep strike the monoliths, anything that deploys or arrives before the monoliths can be destroyed piecemeal at range. When the monoliths finally arrive, there will be fewer units exposed to arcing fire and no chimera sides or hellhound back armor would be exposed to penetrating hits from the arc projectors. Conversely, advancing with half of the army means the monoliths can use their mass to teleport directly in the middle of the
IG formation and shower everything with the flux arc projectors. If the monoliths deepstrike about 24-30 inches apart, all the
IG sandwiched between them is sure to receive double punishment. With both chimeras in the reserve outflanking, and a bit of luck, they can arrive exactly when needed to grab the objectives from behind the Necrons. Finally, concentrating on the warriors or destroyers with the manticore was a better bet than trying to pen the monolith on a 5+ after little to no scatter. It would have been far more hurtful to drop the missiles on the T5 destroyers, who would have been denied WWB due to S10.
On my side, I am still debating if it was better to rapid fire the vanquisher instead of the
HQ. The plasma did down a lot of warriors from the left flank squad. After all, the Vanquisher cannot go to ground or take cover saves from the interjecting vets. I think that was probably a mistake – I should have shot the Vanquisher.
Please let me know your thoughts on this report, as I am still learning the game and the armies.
By the way, I will probably post a second report about the third battle of the
RTT against another
IG list and player.
5k 
5k 
6k
65/4/6, 
10/2/1, 
10/3/0, 
2/0/1, 
1/0/0
