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Here we are at week two of this month's campaign and the armies have been increased to 1000 points. Because I was late getting to the store, I was only able to get in one game, but it was against the same Necron player from last time! Seems like the space mummies want a rematch after last week's whuppin' . On a side note, the Necron player informed me that he had made an error in our last game. Scarabs do not have the scout special rule, so their scout move last week was illegal. Anyway, here was my list for the evening:

HQ: 130
Autarch w/ Jetbike, Mandiblasters, Powerblade, Fusion Gun

Elites: 218
x6 Fire Dragons w/ Exarch, Dragon's Breath Flamer (108)
-Wave Serpent w/ Twin Linked Shuriken Cannons, Spirit Stones (110)

Troops: 256
x6 Guardian Jetbikes w/x2 Shuriken Cannons (152)
x6 Dire Avengers w/ Exarch, x2 Catapults, Bladestorm (104)

Heavy Support: 270
Falcon Tank w/ Eldar Missile Launcher, Spirit Stones (145)
Fire Prism w/ Spirit Stones (125)

Fast Attack: 120
Vyper w/ Scatter Laser (60)
Vyper w/ Scatter Laser (60)

Here's a shot of my opponent's upgraded army:

Unlike last week, my first glance of his army actually worried me, particularly his Destroyers, his two Lords, and the sheer number of Warriors. Although not seen in this picture, his first Lord is the one that can deep strike around the table and the second one is with the Destroyers with an AP 3 cannon. I could tell that I was outnumbered and would have a harder time killing all those warriors, but fortune favors the bold, so here we go!

The battlefield:

Although jungle foliage covered most of the board, we did not count it as dangerous/difficult terrain. Instead, we agreed that anyone or anything inside the foliage would get a 6+ save and treated it as normal terrain.

Mission:
This game's mission was a variation on the Dark Eldar "Slave Raid." The objective was to "capture" enemy models as slaves (points) by either defeating them in close combat or by completely destroying them with one of your own models within 18". If you win close combat you get 2 points instead of one. If you captured an HQ, then you roll a d6 at the end of the game and add that many points to your "slave pool." Any model could have been captured; it was assumed that the crew, weaponry, or other vital components of a vehicle would be claimed by the victor.

Eldar doing a slave raid against Necrons? Where's the Farseer who thought this would be a good idea? Oh, well. Let's see how I do.

Eldar turn 1:




Once again, I was forced to take the first turn. The Warhost moved up and shot at the Necrons. My Vypers blew away all of his Scarabs with their Scatter Lasers and I dropped two Destroyers with everything else. My Fire Prism tried to drop the str 9 ap 2 template over all those warriors, but the shot deviated 5" away (rats!). Assault phase, my jetbikes scooted 6" away further into the jungle. Because I had a Vyper within 18" of the Scarabs, I was able to claim them as "slaves" and got a point. I imagined that we sent those Scarabs home as pets for all the Eldar children .

Necron turn 1:




The Destroyers moved up after the two I dropped pulled themselves back together, the first Lord teleported himself and a large blob of warriors next to my Falcon Tank, and the second squad of warriors stayed where they were. His shooting phase really rocked me. The first Destroyer squad wrecked my Vyper and claimed a point, the second squad of Destroyers with the other Lord killed four of my jetbikes and put a wound on the Autarch (!!) and shooting from all the warriors shook my Fire Prism and Falcon Tank. I made the mistake of moving my Fire Prism too close to those warriors, but since I don't play against Necron often I forgot that the range of the Warrior's guns were 24". Must remember that for next time.

Eldar turn 2:




I moved my Fire Prism flat out to the corner, but only moved my Falcon 12" away from the blob of Warriors. I think I was afraid of losing my Dire Avengers if the tank was immobilized or destroyed in mid flight, what with the new rules concerning skimmers. But looking back, I think I should have gone ahead and moved flat out with the Prism. My shooting phase was terrible. Lot of shots hit, but most of them failed to wound. Only my Autarch was able to put a wound on the Lord with his fusion gun. I really didn't want the Destroyer Lord's ap 3 gun to shoot again, so my Autarch, being the crazy glory seeker that he is, charged them in the assault phase. It was going to be difficult because the Autarch was against models with toughness 5 and 6 and he needed 6s to wound. Having 6 attacks on the charge helped (3 base + 1 from charge + 1 from cc bonus +1 from Mandiblasters) and I was able to put one wound on the Lord. The Lord hit back and did two wounds with his power weapon. I passed one and failed one. The other two Destroyers faild to hurt him. *Phew!* Hopefully I'll kill them next turn.

Necron turn 2:




Destroyers advanced while the blob of Warriors marched to the fence for rapid fire range against my Falcon. The jetbikes were gunned down until only the two cannons remained, but they passed their morale check. The Warriors near the tent tried to shoot my wave serpent, but thanks to his second squad of Destroyers being in the way, missed. The other warrior squad, though, brought the pain. They shook the Falcon and immobilized it! Amazingly, my Autarch wiffed four of his five attacks against the Lord and failed to wound, but the Lord and Destroyers also failed to do anything, resulting in a tie combat.

Eldar turn 3:




Fire Dragons jumped out to make some melta magic while the Wave Serpent swung behind the Destroyers, hoping to give the Dragons some cover. I didn't know what to do with my Dire Avengers, so I left them in the tank. I might have had them get out and run away from their immobile tank, but they were still in danger of getting chewed up by Necron shooting. Those poor guys were stuck between a rock and a hard place full of Necrons. In the shooting phase the second squad of Destroyers were dropped thanks to combined fire from the Dragons, Serpent, and Vyper. My Fire Prism got a direct hit on the blob of Warriors harrassing my Falcon Tank, but only killed three (rolled too many s while trying to wound ). In the assault phase my Autarch failed to kill off the Lord and, although he fought valiantly, was incapacitated and taken prisoner. My Autarch's capture put the score to 2-1 in his favor and exposed my very vulnerable flanks.

Necron turn 3:





Only one Destroyer from the second squad was revived and, according to the Necron rules, it was able to attach itself to the other squad. However, this essentially destroyed the second squad and I was able to claim a point, bringing the score to 2-2. I'm not going to complain about a free point, but I don't fully understand this rule, so if someone who is more knowledgeable in the ways of the Necron can explain this I would appreciate it (the nearby Lord had a rez orb, if that matters). Anyway, the Destroyers violated my air space and shut me down. The Lord obliterated my remaining two jetbikes, the other Destroyers shot at the Fire Prism's rear armor, shaking and immobilizing it, and the Warrior squad near the tent mowed down all of the Fire Dragons. I could have had them go to ground, but I gambled that at least some would survive to fight on. That's what I get for playing the odds. Score was at 4-2 by the end of his shooting phase with Necron in the lead. Not good. In his assault phase the second warrior squad charged the immobile Falcon and got lots weapon destroyed and immobilizing results, wrecking it. The Destroyers charged the immobile Fire Prism and punched out its crystal, but failed to destroy it.

Eldar turn 4:


Although it seemed like a lost cause, I saw that I might have been able to eck out a draw or squeak by a win with one point. Since they passed their pinning check, the Avengers moved towards the Destroyers beating on my Fire Prism while the Vyper and Serpent wheeled around to gun down his Lord. Sure enough, it took combined fire from the Vyper and Serpent to kill the Destroyer Lord. The Dire Avenger Exarch ordered a Bladestorm on the Destroyers, but they only dropped one. Praying to Khaine and all the Phoenix Lords for victory, the Avengers charged the Destroyers in the assault phase, but failed to hurt them. The Necron attacked and killed one Avenger, forcing them to roll a morale check. I roll: . Ugh. The Avengers break away, but they were too close to the table edge and ran off, giving the Necron player two points, making the score 7-3.

Necron turn 4:


The game lasted for two more turns, but by this point it was all over for the Eldar. I lost my last Vyper to shooting and, in a last ditch effort, my Serpent tried to tank shock his Warriors near the tent, but they did not break. This final pic summarizes the result of this battle: Necrons grabbing Saim-Hann pilots out from the burning wreckages of their vehicles and dragging them away to whatever grim fate awaits them. Since we each captured an HQ, we rolled a d6 to add to our scores at the end, but the final tally was 11-8, Necron victory.

I really have to commend the Necron player for fielding a much better list this time; I literally ran circles around him and blasted his foot-slogging Necron into oblivion during our last game. Those Destroyers really wrecked my day and all those guns auto-glancing on 6s screwed up my tanks every which way. And talk about your karma! All the bad luck he had in our last game bounced back to me and a certain HQ duel went very much in his favor.

Despite this loss this was a very fun game and much better than our last one. Don't you worry, though. Saim-Hann will be back to exact revenge for their fallen kin...

Next week is 1250. See you there!

Thanks for that I enjoyed reading your report.

Good luck and please write up your next battle.

If you could replay that game what would you change in your army list/tactics?

Great report and nice looking army.

nice pics, and good looking armies. Was fun to read over.

Hangfire wrote:Thanks for that I enjoyed reading your report.

Good luck and please write up your next battle.

If you could replay that game what would you change in your army list/tactics?

Thanks for the comments. I will certainly write up more battle reports in the future.

If I were to replay this game, I would do the following:

Try to keep my vehicles further away from his Warriors. All those shots auto glancing on sixes really messed up my tanks.
Put my jetbikes in reserve so they could stay alive longer.
Focus fire on one of his Destroyer squads in my first turn because those guys were a much bigger threat than his Scarabs.

Aside from that, I believe the rest of my tactics were sound. I was just plagued with real bad luck. For instance, my Autarch might have killed his lord and Destroyers in close combat, or my Fire Prism could have toasted more Warriors if the scatter and wound rolls weren't so awful.

List wise, I think I would replace the Fire Dragon's flamer with the Firepike, or just have six normal Dragons to free up points so I could equip starcannons on my Vypers.

[quote=Autarch of Saim-HannI'm not going to complain about a free point, but I don't fully understand this rule, so if someone who is more knowledgeable in the ways of the Necron can explain this I would appreciate it (the nearby Lord had a rez orb, if that matters).

Ah, I see. Thanks for clearing that up, Warmaster