Tonight at the club my Necrons stepped up to face a fast moving space marine bike army led by Khanh. Khanh was attached to a jacked out command squad led by a chaplain, along with three scoring bike units, and three group of melta missile speeders. Mission was seize ground, three objectives, with a 12” deployment. Two objectives were placed mid field left, and on to the right. I won first turn and of course passed it to my opponent who began setting up.
Deconstructing his army I was worried about the Khanh led bike squad as it literally could rip through my entire army and would be on me in two turns. This is the type of unit that is little seen in my experience, and if you don’t know what it could do, it can and will catch you by surprise. Furious charge, litanies of hate, feel no pain, TH/SS bikers- the works all mounted on a fast moving T5 platform. Most marine deathstar units these days are terminators in a land raider + null libby…
So my opponent deploys the speeders and outflanks everything else. I breathe a slight sigh of relief, now I at least have a chance with the ‘crons- and we’ll get to more of that in a moment. I deploy everything and castle up in the center of the table. Two warrior groups and the C’Tan to the left, immortals and the lord on a hill next to them, and 15 destroyers in the center. You know when elite jacked out marine bikers STILL outnumber you, your codex needs some updating ASAP…
As standard destroyer wing I try to seize first turn and fail…
Speeders move into position and start firing melta and krak missiles at the Deceiver, not a bad choice, but not THE choice of target priority. I understand the thinking- kill the C’Tan and there is nothing to stop the biker command squad, but my opponent is missing a key point, especially surprising since he used to Necrons himself.
My turn has the immortals and destroyers firing at the land speeders- 20 S5 shots, and 45 S6 shots make quick work of them and wipe out all three units. So far so good. I run the warriors closing the ranks in the center of the table, and move the Deceiver to just in 18” of the table edge so he is in range of an outflank assault for the command squad.
Command squad comes in and moves right to the C’Tan. With only two wounds left from eating malt and krak lest turn, and them getting the charge off he is the bait, they smash through him and the rest of my ‘crons are done. My opponent assaults and the Deceiver withdraws leaving theme there out in the open. On my turn every immortal, warrior, and destroyer takes aim as the lord detaches from the immortals and moves into assault position along with the C’tan. With a smile the Deceiver nods and I start rolling some dice. Feel no pain saves a few at first, but forcing so many wounds means the apoc goes down at some point and S5/6 bypasses the T5 of the bikes. Khanh and two bikers are left, as the C’Tan and lord assault…
From there it is just mop up as my warriors move into position to take two objectives as the destroyers single out each bike group and blast away- S6 means marines die like marines. Game ends with me holding two objectives while the marines hold none literally having been wiped out to the last marine.
Now for some after action commentary so this battle report is more than just how awesome I am with Necrons, but rather how not understanding my army really won me the game. Let’s reverse the armies. I’m facing a fast and very mobile shooty army while mine is primarily a fast moving assault army backed by some elements of long range shooting. With so few Necrons on the table I would have just gone for phase out so I can leverage all of my army on my opponent’s no one or two units being sent off to hold objectives. Go for phase out, that said 99% of the time with Necrons you just ignore the mission and go for phase out, remember this anytime you play against the ‘crons, expect when you play me of course, then please go for the mission...
Anyway, I’d take first turn and deploy everything in the center, and then on my turn turbo boost all my bikes right into the center of the ‘crons. With my speeders I’d pick a destroyer squad and fire into them till they are down. Yes they would get their WBB roll since another destroyer squad is within 6”, but then there are only two squads, which can only fire at two targets. Then with my bikes in the Necrons face for next turn assault, those destroyers would have to fire on the bikes to soften a few before the assault, speeders then continue to go to work on the speeders. As for the C’Tan I would just ignore him, I can’t assault him, he will be put into a position to assault me, and will, but the rest of my army would be crashing my lines and then I would pop and phase out. Understand how the destroyer wing works and it’s easy to take out. Since the game ended at 8:30 or so we got in another game vs. my Grey Knights…
GK post tomorrow…
Deconstructing his army I was worried about the Khanh led bike squad as it literally could rip through my entire army and would be on me in two turns. This is the type of unit that is little seen in my experience, and if you don’t know what it could do, it can and will catch you by surprise. Furious charge, litanies of hate, feel no pain, TH/SS bikers- the works all mounted on a fast moving T5 platform. Most marine deathstar units these days are terminators in a land raider + null libby…
So my opponent deploys the speeders and outflanks everything else. I breathe a slight sigh of relief, now I at least have a chance with the ‘crons- and we’ll get to more of that in a moment. I deploy everything and castle up in the center of the table. Two warrior groups and the C’Tan to the left, immortals and the lord on a hill next to them, and 15 destroyers in the center. You know when elite jacked out marine bikers STILL outnumber you, your codex needs some updating ASAP…
As standard destroyer wing I try to seize first turn and fail…
Speeders move into position and start firing melta and krak missiles at the Deceiver, not a bad choice, but not THE choice of target priority. I understand the thinking- kill the C’Tan and there is nothing to stop the biker command squad, but my opponent is missing a key point, especially surprising since he used to Necrons himself.
My turn has the immortals and destroyers firing at the land speeders- 20 S5 shots, and 45 S6 shots make quick work of them and wipe out all three units. So far so good. I run the warriors closing the ranks in the center of the table, and move the Deceiver to just in 18” of the table edge so he is in range of an outflank assault for the command squad.
Command squad comes in and moves right to the C’Tan. With only two wounds left from eating malt and krak lest turn, and them getting the charge off he is the bait, they smash through him and the rest of my ‘crons are done. My opponent assaults and the Deceiver withdraws leaving theme there out in the open. On my turn every immortal, warrior, and destroyer takes aim as the lord detaches from the immortals and moves into assault position along with the C’tan. With a smile the Deceiver nods and I start rolling some dice. Feel no pain saves a few at first, but forcing so many wounds means the apoc goes down at some point and S5/6 bypasses the T5 of the bikes. Khanh and two bikers are left, as the C’Tan and lord assault…
From there it is just mop up as my warriors move into position to take two objectives as the destroyers single out each bike group and blast away- S6 means marines die like marines. Game ends with me holding two objectives while the marines hold none literally having been wiped out to the last marine.
Now for some after action commentary so this battle report is more than just how awesome I am with Necrons, but rather how not understanding my army really won me the game. Let’s reverse the armies. I’m facing a fast and very mobile shooty army while mine is primarily a fast moving assault army backed by some elements of long range shooting. With so few Necrons on the table I would have just gone for phase out so I can leverage all of my army on my opponent’s no one or two units being sent off to hold objectives. Go for phase out, that said 99% of the time with Necrons you just ignore the mission and go for phase out, remember this anytime you play against the ‘crons, expect when you play me of course, then please go for the mission...
Anyway, I’d take first turn and deploy everything in the center, and then on my turn turbo boost all my bikes right into the center of the ‘crons. With my speeders I’d pick a destroyer squad and fire into them till they are down. Yes they would get their WBB roll since another destroyer squad is within 6”, but then there are only two squads, which can only fire at two targets. Then with my bikes in the Necrons face for next turn assault, those destroyers would have to fire on the bikes to soften a few before the assault, speeders then continue to go to work on the speeders. As for the C’Tan I would just ignore him, I can’t assault him, he will be put into a position to assault me, and will, but the rest of my army would be crashing my lines and then I would pop and phase out. Understand how the destroyer wing works and it’s easy to take out. Since the game ended at 8:30 or so we got in another game vs. my Grey Knights…
GK post tomorrow…
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