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Our local store in Madison (The Last Square) had a series of a few games this summer culminating with the top folks in a championship one day tourney. I hadnt plasyed my Crons competetively since Adepticon so I thought I would give them a whirl.

My list

Deciever
Destroyer Lord (phase shifter, res. orb, phase shifter)
10 x warriors
10 x warriors
4 x destroyers
3 x destroyers
5 x scarabs + disruption fields
monolith
2 x Tomb Spyders

Not the craziest list, went risky with Deciever AND mono AND destroyer Lord in 1650, but with the competition here I figured big risk - big reward. Ill see how this gamble fairs.


First off, I took pics of every battle but I used someone elses digital camera and I couldnt get the pictures out of it and onto my computer so sorry its all text.

Game one.

I end up drawing Nate. A local player who I have not beaten yet. Nate is a tough player but really fun to fight.

His list

Warboss (claw, Invul save)
Warboss (mega armour, invul. save)

7 Nobs (diversified , klaws, painboy, poles) (battle wagon)
4 mega nobz (battle wagon)
14 shoota boyz, (nob Klaw)
12 choppa boyz (truck, nob-klaw)
12 choppa boyz (truck, nob-klaw)
3 Killa Kans (grotzookas)
2 killa kans (rokkits)
10 lootas.



Mission Dawn of war. Kill points primary. Place an objective in each deployment zone, but you had to score your opponents objective to get the secondary. Terrtiary was have both HQ alive and within 6" of the center at games end.

He takes first turn but dets up battlewagon full of nobz front and center with the non mega armour nob. I set up deciever 18" away. He moves his units on spread out. Everything moves up max distance/runs. Battle wagon with nobs squad assaults deciver but I choose not to fight so turn ends.

Bottom 1. Destroyers spot Battle wagon , glance, and wreck it due to open topped. Mono comes on in the center and kills 2 nobz with particle whip. Warriors stay in reserve. Deciever assaults the Nobz, kills three, and takes no wounds in return. I win the resolution and wipe out the squad. Scarabs and lord turbo boost on extreme left to hit lootas possibly next turn.

Top 2. He advances and is just past center line with most vehicles. One truck moves over to hit scarabs next turn. Shooting puts a wound on the Deciever.

Bottom 2. Deciever hits the three kan unit and wrecks one. Scarabs and lord turn the tables on the boyz truck squad and stun it. Destroyers blow up the other truck and I pin the squad inside. Rest of my shooting goes into that squad and kills 4 more. Both warriors come in and I put both on the side that has his objective.

Top 3 His battle wagon full of Mega Nobz goes all out and Waaghs to hit the mono. He immobilizes it and does 3 weapon destroyed. I dont mind as long as its alive. Deciever jumps out of melee with the Kans to move 2d6 towards the mega Nobz. His lootas kill off the scarabs and his 12 boyz assault the lord but he only does 1 wound losing 2 orks in return.

Bottom 3 I gun down the rest of the ork boyz who were pinned the previous turn. Deciever makes the mega nobz take a pin check and he is pinned. Deciever hits two kans then and kills them both. Lord wins melee against the other boyz squad by one, and he breaks. I run down the squad.

Top 4 Lootas shoot lord but only do 1 wound. 1 left. His 14 boyz squad assaults a tomb spyder. This tomb spyder had a wound from creating a scarab swarm earlier and I did not want him to stay locked with me as I would not be able to shoot him up. I allocate alll the wounds I could to the T spyder hoping it would die. I have 3 saves and luckily 1 fails killing my unit.

Bottom 4. I gun down that same 14 boyz squad between warrior rapid firing and a 4 destroyer unit. Deciever and T spyder assault his mega nobz and last warboss. Deciever whiffs killing oonly 1 mega nob. T spyder wounds one only. He kills my spyder and wounds my deciever twice. Deciever has 4 wounds and makes both combat res. 4+ invuls. Lord assaults Lootas but I only kill one and he does nothing in return due to my T6.

Top 5 Deciever jumps out of melee leaving his mega nobz frustrated. Kans run over busted battle wagon to hit warriors but one Kan rolls a "1" destroying itself. Melee continues between lord and lootas.

Bottom 5. Warriors have nothing in front of them so I am running as fast as I can at the objective but not rolling the best due to terrain. Lord wins melee against lootas-they break- I run them down. Deciever pins Mega Nobz. Destroyer unit shoots the last Kan dead. Other destroyers glance the last Battle wagon to death.

We roll and game continues. He only has a pinned Mega Nob squad and a trukk.

Top 6 he has nothing to do but shoot a big shoota at the deciever.

Bottom 6- Lord turbo boosts to within 6" of the center. Deciever pins the Mega Nobz AGAIN. Warriors run as fast as they can but Im about 6" from the objective on his side of the board.

We roll and the game ends.


Well I definately had the field, but since I was short the objective, I only get 18/25 points. Lots of rolls went my way and thats what the crons need. Nate was a good sport for how bad the game went for him. This is the first time I beat him and I was happy about that, but no time to get to thrilled, I had three more games ahead of me and I had a SLaanesh/nurgle prince deamon list to face next. I know the deamons fairly well, but with deamons, you never know how the battle is going to go. It is going to be a tough fight, but I have faith the Necrons can find a way.

Good job and a decent list. Remember as well that you can surround trasports with tubro boosted scarabs and then blow it up killing the stuff inside.

The second game was against Paul and his CHaos deamons. The crons can play keep away from the deamons, but slaaneshi based stuff is hard to deal with as you need to be in rapid fire range to really put them down, but you are just inviting yourself to be charged and run down if the shooting fails you.

Pauls list
Keeper of Secrets
2 x Herald of Tzeentch (bolt, chariot, master of sorc.)
10 deamonettes w/ icon
10 deamonettes w/ icon
6 fiends
Soul Grinder w/ phlem
10 letters
10 letters
DP of nurgle (wings, iron hide, Nox., cloud,
DP of Nurgle (iron hide, breath, nox, cloud)

Mission. PRIMARY Keep them from having a single unit in my deployment zone also Kill all HQ's and most exspensive unit.
SECONDARY Control 2 table quarters with troops uncontested.
Terrtiary Have a scoring unit in ther deployment zone.


Pitched battle.

Well this is a very busy scenerio. Gonna be hard to kill all units in my deployment zone as they can deepstrike their army there. I was planning on gunning down his fastest units which were also his most exspensive (DP with wings) and his HQ (keeper of secrets.) The heralds didnt bother me as I figured if I was going to win the fight, I would have the shots to put them down late. I was going to have to be aggressive to wipe out all his stuff and still be able to get around the board to do all this stuff.
I win roll off and choose to go first.

I deploy the mono in the center. A tomb spyder on each side. I move all those forward 6". I make a swarm with each spyder. I have a destroyer unit on each side of the mono, turbo boost up for a cover save from that phlem and those heralds. The scarabs do the same. Deciever also trots out towards the center.

He rolls and gets primary wave. Keeper and winged prince land about 14" away from my lord on his half the board. Fiends land a few inches away from them about 12" from my large destroyer unit. His deamonettes scatter in some terrain 20" away or so. His SG mishaps and I get to place it, so I place it near my lord so I can try and take it out next turn. I need to have the superior firepower this game and an AP 3 pie plate that does not alllow WBB is not going to be fun to deal with. His herald lands and shoots at my destroyers, but my 3+ cover saves from boosting hold. His phlem conects and the 3+ saves fall my way again.

Top 2. That prince with wings is going to be a problem. I roll reserves and one warrior squad comes in and I walk it on the board away from the action in the opposite corner of all his stuff. The fiends could also be an issue. I cant shoot both dead. I will tarpit the DP with my scarabs, while the lord goes after the Soul Grinder. I had to rely on the mono, and all 7 destroyers to at least cripple the fiends. That should be most his speed. The deciever heads right for the prince and Keeper, but I was another turn away from assault. Lord hits the grinder. The soul grinder puts a wound on me but I wreck it in return. That was big. Shooting is less than stellar. Well, more like he made a ton of saves. After all the bullets flew he had 3 fiends remaining 1 was wounded. Unless he rolled a "1" for fleet he was going to connnect with the destroyers and 3 was enough to wipe out that squad.

Bottom 2 Only another unit of deamonettes arrives off of the first deamonettes icon. Both units are on my half the board, 16" or so from the edge on the right side. His shooting from the herald drops 2 destroyers. His fiends connect and finish the squad. Yikes, they were also rended, so no WBB. Double yikes. Keeper goes to relieve the DP since his S6 would squish the remaining 4 scarab bases. The Keeper succeeds.

Top 3. My other warriors come in. I spread them out 2" apart and walk them on about 4" to just be in rapid fire ange of the newly arrived deamonettes. I figured if I gunned down most the squad the 3 or so remaining would not be enough to damage my crons in melee. I was weary of the breath prince coming in yet, but spreading my warriors was all I could do. Deciever had the chance to assault the DP with wings, but that thing always wounds on 2's. It was a gamble so I figured the Lord could help out and between the 2 finish the thing off. I wbb the 2 destroyers that were gunned down from the heralds as my T spyder was within 12". This made a 5 destroyer unit. My warriors marched up and rapid fired on the fiends killing all but 1. The destroyers opened up and finished them off. My rapid firing warriors shot deamonettes on the board edge, but 4 deamonettes remained. Deciever and lord manage to wipe out the DP of Nurgle, but my lord is killed in the process.

Bottom 3. All his remaining units come in. A unit of bloodletters lands on each side of the monolith to chase down a warrior squad. His breath prince covers 3 and he manages to roll 3 "4+'s" to kill 3 warriors. I roll a morale test and my warriors break and run off the board. Not what I wanted. His keeper falls away from the Deciever to play guard dog on the lord that could WBB.

Top 4. Well I started usint the monlith to face a direction, pull warriors through, and block the other bloodletter squads from reaching me. A T spyder assaults a herald to tie it down. The deciever hits another herald putting 4 wounds on it after resolution. Warriors and destroyers shoot 3 or 4 blood letters dead, and kill a unit of deamonettes. Lord does not WBB

Bottom 4. He closses in on both sides with letter so no matter how I face my monolith he can hit me next turn. The Keeper goes barreling into the Deciever to releive the Herald. He was trying to kill all my HQ's as well and the Keeper was about all he had left with his DP out of position after killing the warriors. His letter charge a T spyder and kill it for some mor movement and both letter squads are about 6" from the warriors. One is in cover.

Top 5 Deciever is not rolling welll and has put 2 wounds on the Keeper after all this time. The herald is dead. The other herald is killed by the T spyder. I rotate the mono facing the bloodletters out of cover to rapid fire and with the help of the detroyers I manage to wipe out all of them.

Bottom 5. He begins wandering the prince towards the center of the board. The deamonettes in my deployment zone are running as fast as they can away from me to hide in my deployment zone. Deciever finishes off the Keeper. killing the last of his HQs and most exspensive unit.

Top 6. Last turn. I have to kill those four deamonettes, but I need a unit in his deployment zone to deny him primary. Warriors are out of position to kill the last bloodletter squad, and I cant tleport them through because I need the particle whip to hit the demaonettes. Destroyers get into his dpeloyment zone but this means only one is in range of the demonettes. Particle whip fires and I kill 3. Destroyer fires and I kill the last. Deciever is about 7" away from the letters so I cant charge. I make them take a pin check to keep them from getting into my deployment zone. He rolls a ...........9. Not pinned.

Bottom 6. Bloodletters move through difficult terrain, and run 5" putting them in my deployment zone bu about 2".


What a game. Back and forth, and a lot of fun. He was left with a DP, and 4 bloodletters left. I still had a destroyer, monlith, deciever, and 10 warriors. I had more of an army, but I was not able to accomplish the many things for the objectives. We split primary and secondary, and no one got terrtiary. I just miss a couple bonus points so I walk away survivng, but only 10/25 pts. That game was also a lot of fun.


Next game I was paired with this years Ard boyz champion from Chicago, Cole. Him and I have a pretty friendly rivalry and our games are usually knock down, bloody affairs where we dont give each other an inch. We always laugh about the games afterwards but they are tense every time. He runs Mech guard and I saw his list squeezed 7 chimeras, 2 vendettas and 2 Russ' in a 1650 list. We have drawn the last three times we met. Last summer while practicing for Ard Boyz I managed a draw with my crons agains his mechanized nightmare.

He says he made a lot of mistakes that game and I know he would not be happy losing to my Necrons here at this tourney. I went to get a sandwich excited for a chance to play him again, to see if I could figure out a way to beat his mechanized force with my Necrons......

Very cool battle report even, without pictures!

Hope the necrons wins. Necrons were my primar army for many years, and i still have a soft spot for them.

The deciver looks like a real beast!

Nice write up, I am surprised he even bothered with the deceiver. Looking at what was left, he was only 4 models from Phase out if he could have gotten something into those Warriors.

@calypso2ts Oh he was trying, I just was porting my warriors around in the mono keeping away from his bloodletters. He had no option but charge into the Deciever to help the herald, or let the herald die and get charged the following turn.




On to my next game with Cole's Mech IG.
His list (keep in mind its 1650)

HQ
command squad (officer of the fleet) 4 plasma guns In chimera

Elites
Psyker squad in chimera

Troops
Squad of 10 in chimera w/ autocannon
Squad of 10 in chimera w/ auto cannon
Squad of 10 vets in chimera w/ 3 flamer
Squad of 10 vets in chimera w/ 3 melta
Squad of 10 vets in chimera w/ 3 flamer

Fast
1 vendetta
1 vendetta

Heavy
Leman Russ w/ laascannon
Demolisher w/ lascannon and plasma sponsons.


That is a ton of fire power for 1650.

Mission

Primary 4 objectives worth points for each you control. 2ndry Win by 300 VP. Terrtiary One of the objectives is an artifact, capture it.

Deployment Spearhead.

He wins roll off and chooses to go first. He deploys in a quarter with all chimeras as close to the center as possible. The russ is as far forward as possible but on the extreme board edge. Demolisher is behind the chimera wall, and the 2 chimera's w/ auto cannons sit in the rear. The vendettas are towards the center of the board behind the chimera wall.

He got to choose table quarters and he put me in the table quarter with very little cover. I had a hill, and some ruins partially in my deployment zone but partially in the quarter on my board edge. It was not enough to hide even my scarabs in. Taking a page out of Admiral Achbars playbook, I go all reserve.

Top 1 He moves up chimeras and vendettas get into a firing position. Demolisher lurches forward.

Bottom 1. I am still thinking of how to approach this.

Top 2. Vendettas flat out to switch posiitions for cover saves. Rest of the army gets weapons ready.

Bottom 2. I roll reserves. I need "5's" so I cant come up with a plan until things become available. The mono I declared as deepstriking and that would be extremely handy to have right off the bat. I roll and I get.........3 destroyers and both squads of warriors. Well this is the worst scenerio possible. I have nothing to go offensive with, and very few models to face him with. I also have the possibility of being phased very early. I come up with a plan. Destroyers move up to get in terrain for going to ground in his turn. I roll dangerous and one dies. I fire at the psyker squad chimera to keep him from fearing warriors off the board but I do nothing. One squad of warriors runs to a small piece of area terrain with the intention of going to ground next turn. The other squad spreads 2" apart from warrior to warrior and walks on using the squad in front of them as cover. I could then go to ground if need be. Now I had to wheather the storm.

Top 3, he advances chimeras and opens up. He shoots my warriors in terrain until only 3 are left and very little else can see them. He fires at the destroyers and even with going to ground, they are killed. He fires everything else at my conga line warriors killing 3. Thats enough for a break check, he psyker squads them and they run off the board.

Bottom 3. Well that was horrible, but maybe I can turn the tide, Ill have to see how reserves go. I get the monlith, a T spyder, and 4 destroyers. Ok something to work with. Maybe I can knock some stuff out and keep these warriors alive. The mono deepstrikes in the center of all his stuff near my warriors. Destroyers move up into the terrain the last squad held. I fire at the psyker chimera and stun it. I roll WBB for the warriors and fail all 7 of the 7 rolls. Well Im close to phase out so I have to port them through the monolith and that means I cant shoot with the mono this turn. I wbb 4 of the warriors. T spyder assaults a chimera and only kocks a scatterlaser off.

Top 4. He adjusts position and shoots every weapon at the warriors. Eventually I roll 1's and 2's so going to ground doesnt matter. The warriors are shot to death and I will phase on my turn. We call the game there.



Well that was one of the worst games of 40k I have ever played. Cole didnt do anything wrong, it was just awful how the reserves panned out. To have just the warriors stand up to that army was not the best case scenerio. My other option would have been to deploy normal, of course hindsight is 20/20 and that might have been better than a turn 4 phase out, but with little terrain in my quarter, I think the end result would have been the same. I couldnt have hidden everything behind my mono, and since vendettas have scout movess they could have moved to spot my squads no matter where I was. The scarabs would have had no terrain to hide in, nor a turboboost for cover. He could have ignored the Deciever and mono for a few turns as they would not be close enough to be a real threat.

I think I played this right, it just didnt pan out. The game was about 25 miniutes, and about 20 minutes of that was me being shot at.

One more game for the day and the tourney would be over. I had to see if I could scrape together some points to salvage a good finish with my crons.

Yeah, That was not a fun game from either end. Shooting for 1 and a half turns and phasing you was not fun. I think you played it right, you just got horribly unlucky Hans. Also the autocannon squads had meltas in them also, and flamer squad was a platoon command squad not a vet squad.

You made the best of a bad situation. Would the Grand Illusion have been an option in this game?

That's the problem with holding your army in reserve versus mech guard with MotF. You came in piecemeal did not get the units you needed early enough.

@ Hemmingway I hadnt considered that, but I dont think there was enough terrain to take advantage of redeploying after the vendettas scout. With the psyker squad and all those guns, and the scarabs not being able to turbo boost, I would have lost most my army before I had the chance to move. Good point though.


Game 4 was against a recent college grad named Adam with his nicely painted Space Wolves.

His list

Logan
Rune priest (jaws, lightning)
Wolf Priest.

3 T wolf Cav with a T hammer.

9 Bloodclaws in Land Raider G Hammer

9 Grey Hunters in Rhino

10 Grey Hunters in rhino

6 Long Fangs, 5 ML in pod


This list looks like ot can move fast and if those Grey hunters get into me it will be a quick phase. My plan was going to be glance the Land Raider and use the Deciever to do all my killing in his deployment area to keep him away from me. Ill see how it goes.

Mission. Dawn of War/ with a twist. Pick a troops unit and there were a list of USR's you could them. I choose relentless so I could run away and fire. Any unit wiped out by this super unit was worth 2 KP. Primary KP mission. Secondary Kill their special unit. Terrtiary- have more units in their deployment zone than they in yours.
He chooses his Claws in the Raider as his.

I won roll of and chose to go first. I deployed Deciever as far forward as possible in the center. He deployed his rhino with Grey Hunters and Rune Priest 18" away near his board edge. I then redeploy my Deciever back 12" to be out of Jaws range.

Turn 1. Mono with T spyder and Destroyers on each flank rolls on. Lord and Scarabs turboboost on one flank 24" forward. Ill see how he reacts.

Bottom 1 Cav. and Land Raider come on in front of the lord about 12". The other rhino is nearby. Logan and the fangs drop in and fire their missiles at the lords unit. I fail a save and smoosh a scarab.

Top 2 The sun has come up and no more night fight. I fire all my destroyers at his L raider but do nothing. Deciever moves up and is 8" or so from the fangs. Lord and scarabs move vertically to the center of the board so as not to be charged. One warrior squad arrives from rserves and I have it in the opposite corner of all the action marching towards his deployment zone.

Bottom 2. His priest disembarks, Jaws and kills the three man destroyer squad. Logan leaves the Fang squad and moves like he will assault the Deciever. Im cool with this as its free killing and saves me some time. He shoots the 5 fangs at the Deciever and wounds me 3 times. I fail all three saves. Hmm.... Now I dont think Ill take that charge from Logan as it might actually finish me off. He charges and I jump towards the fangs. His raider and wolves move closer.

Top 3 Small scarab swarm hits an empty rhino and knock a wepon off and stun it. Destroyers stun the Land Raider this turn. My super squad shows up, takes some long range gauss shots at Logan, but he saves them all. Deciever moves in and butchers the Fangs. I emerge near the stunned Land Raider hoping to kill it and its occupants in the next couple turns. Things are close, but as long as hes in his deployment zone I feel Im winning.

Bottom 3. Priest and squad shoot at destroyers but do no damage. Land Raider takes one shot at the Deciever, he wounds, and I fail my fourth straight save. Cav come close, but choose to not hit the Deciever. A rhino full of Grey Hunter moves full 12" towards me in the center.

Top 4. Deciever hits the Land Raider sitting still, pens it 3 times, and wrecks it. I am behind his cav now and I will neer catch them, but at least that raider is not a threat anymore. Destroyers blow up a rhino and scarabs turboboost back and forth in his deployment zone for cover. Warriors that are special, get ported through the mono to get away from Logan.

Bottom 4. His T wolves move, have a good fleet roll, and just make the monolith. The T hammer pens the monolith once and.....wreck. His blood claws fire a melta out of desperation before the Deciever hits and they wound with the Melta gun. I roll the save and.....fail. So deciever is dead after failing all 5 saves he attempted. My mono is down, and the T wolf cav are about 12" from my warriors. Not looking great at this point.

Top 5. Lord barrels into the wolves and warriors pour fire in while wandering away. It nets me a wounded T wolf w/ t hammer and antoher wounded wolf. My T spyders make a wall to protect my warriors from aproaching grey hunters and cav. The lord is killed. Destroyers start putting shots on another rhino as I need kill points at this point. He jaws a Necron warrior squad but only kills 2.

Bottom 5. T wolves hit a T spyder but I put a wound on them killing a regular wolf. Spyder is wiped out. Grey hunters kill the other spyder without a wound. Things are desperate.

Top 6. Destroyers blow up a rhino. Lord wbb's and heads over to get revenge on the wolves. Warriors fall away from the grey hunters and Logan and open up on the wolves. I do a wound to the other normal wolf. Lord and warriors charge in as I have to go for broke. Lord kills the T hammer wolf. Other wolf kills him. Warriors cause 3 saves on the last wolf and he fails one finishing the last wolf off. I consolidate away from Logan and the hunters.

Bottom of 6 (last turn). Grey hunters and Logan try to assault my warriors but both are about 1/2" short. His claws and priest run into my deployment zone. Game ends.


We tally it up.

He wins primary 9-8. Very close, and if that Deciever had made some saves, he would have ripped up those blood claws. Oh well.

Secondary. We both had our "special units" alive at games end so a draw.

Terrtiary I had 3 units in his deployment zone he had claws, grey hunters, logan, and the priest. Damn IC's costing me the tertiary as well.

So I score 2/25 my last game. I was definately on the ropes, but the score was not indicitive of how close the game was in the categories.

I went from a big win to a dominating draw, to getting wiped out in 25 minutes, to a close ass kicking.

I still love the Crons, but if the dice are not with you on some key rolls, you sure have an uphill struggle.

Hero of the day despite failing all saves in the last game, and not showing up in one game, was the Deciever. He killed a Nob squad and warboss, along with 3 Kans, and pinned a mega nob squad 3 times in the first game. He killed a winged Nurgle prince, a Keeper of Secrets, and a herald of Tzeentch the second game, and even the game he died quickly, he still killed a long fang squad, and a Land Raider in that game.

Destroyer Lord was good, but usually died. Of course I was throwing him in situations where the odds were against him, and he usually did a good job taking out a key unit or slowing the enemies progress.

Destroyers and mono worked great.

Warriors still suck. Other that rapid firing some deamons, they were nothing more than a liability.

I dont know where I finished but Im guessing maybe 18th out of 24 players. I finished with 30 points out of 100 for battle points. Im sure my paint score pulled me up some (sice some people had units without paint) so maybe 16th.

Hell I scored 30 battle points and my little brother played as a ringer last game since someone had to leave early and he scored 24 in that game. So in one game he almost equalled my points. Tough day for the crons but I still had three great games.

Thanks for the battle reports Norbu... you had some pretty hard luck to be sure.

Yeah hard luck the last couple games, but the first game I had awesome luck so I guess it balanced out. The mech guard game though.....that was rough, rougher than bad luck, that was game ending luck.

I got to play Mech Guard for the first time in that same tournament... new experience. Thank God for the KFF.

Nice report. Thanks for keeping the hope of competitive Necrons alive.