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Meant to get this up over a week ago. This was my first game of 8th Ed. Playing against my buddy's Necrons. Learned a lot, but ultimately got destroyed. These lists are from memory, so might not be 100% accurate. Raven Guard 2k Points (Outrider and Battalion - 7 CP) Battalion Shrike Chaplain - Jump Pack, Combi-Plasma Contemptor - Kheres Venerable Dread - Twin Las/Missle Launcher Venerable Dread - Twin Las/Dread CCW 3 x 5 Man Scout Squads (4 Snipers, 1 Missle Launcher, Camo Cloaks) 1 x 5 Man Scout Squad (4 Bolters, Sarge with Twin Lightning Claws) Land Speeder Storm - Assault Cannon Outrider Librarian - Jump Pack, Force Staff, Combi-Plasma 3 x 10 Man Assault Squad (2 Plasma Pistols) 3 x Sarge w/ Combi Plasma & Thunder Hammer Necrons - 2k - Battalion Overlord - Scythe Cryptek Triarch Stalker 3 x 10 Immortals (Tesla) 3 x 10 Deathmarks 3 x Heavy Destroyers 5 x Tomb Blades 2 x Annihilation Barges Deployment: - We drew tactical escalation and the new slanted long board edge map I deployed my 3 dreads midfield in the open with good firing lanes. I had high hopes for the contemptor. I deployed all my scouts in area cover, midfield, near objectives (except the storm and boltgun scouts) I placed Shrike, Chaplain, Librarian, and all 3 ASM squads in Reserve to attempt "Shadowstrike Killteam 2.0" My opponent deployed spread fairly wide covering half his side of the board One immortal unit on each flank paired up with a barge The remaining immortal unit in the center on an objective, with the lord and cyptek Tomb blades to one side, Heavy Destroyers opposite the other He had one less unit meaning he got first turn. Battle Round 1, Necron Turn 1 - He drew the kill X units card, bonus for 3, more bonus for 6 He moved all his immortals up a little bit while keeping them in cover. He kept his immortals in reserve. His barges and heavy destroyers squeaked up a small amount to get better firing arcs His shooting phase all his infantry opened up on my scouts, killing nearly every sniper scout. I was left with one sniper and one missle launcher left from one unit on a midfield objective. Both barges, and the heavy destroyers opened up on the contemptor and took it to 4? wounds remaining crippling it (I didn't make a single invuln). During Morale phase, I rolled for the 2 scouts left, and got a 5, thus giving me an 8, so I would lose one scout - I used ATSKNF, rerolled, and got a 6, wiping the squad - Great. He killed 3 units and scored D3, for 3. Battle Round 1, Raven Guard Turn 1 - I drew an objective that was under his lord/cryptek/immortals in the center On my turn I moved my dreads into a better position to shoot at the heavy destroyers, and the contemptor and bolter scouts moved on the Tomb Blades I dropped all my Jump boys in his corner, he responded by fortifying that flank and dropping in all his Deathmarks. I made the mistake of dropping the librarian first thinking he could soak one units worth of interceptor fire to spare me bodies. One unit is double tap snipers (20 shots), and he cranked out 2 mortal wounds and 2 saves, which I failed. Dead libby, never even cast a power. His interceptor fire (whatever you want to call it) from the other two deathmark units killed 4-5 ASMs. In my shooting phase I opened up on the tomb blades and killed 3 of 5. My dreads opened up on the far side flank annihilation barge and took a few HPs off. My remaining HQ and ASMs opened up with all their plasma on the other annihilation barge, overcharged, and with Shrike's reroll took it out quite easily. I attempted to charge the closest unit of Deathmarks. I had 5 charges in total to make, all of which were the minimum distance (9"), and I had the reroll for every charge, and I only made ONE unit into combat. Every single one of my units took overwatch fire, shrike took two wounds, chaplain took one, lost 2 ASMs from one unit, and 1 ASM from the other, and 2 more from the already weakened unit he focused on with Interceptor fire. Ironically the LAST unit to charge and make it in was the unit reduced to 5 guys from interceptor/overwatch. I killed one immortal, and even with my Chaplain nearby to buff LD, I still lost another guy to morale. I didn't score anything. Battle Round 2, Necron Turn 2 - Necrons 3 / Raven Guard 0 On his turn he moved up, secured two more cards (objectives in his deployment, regular hold and the 2 turn hold). The unit of Deathmarks I charged warped out and left me exposed. He opened up with about 50% of his army on my dreads, finishing the contemptor, and wounding one venerable. The remainder of his army on the flank shot up my jump boys real bad. I lost one whole unit, exposing Shrike, then lost Shrike, then lost another 2 guys off the other unit that didn't charge, and I lost a 6th from the unit left scratching their heads after the Deathmarks warped out. At this point I had 0 points, a wounded Dread, a healthy dread, my chaplain on one wound, and remnants of two ASM squads. I decided to concede. SO ON TO LESSONS LEARNED: Deep Strike to try to charge, even with a reroll is REALLY STUPID and should not be tried, ever. Aura buffs are very strong in 8th Ed, and ill be doing everything I can to stack them in future builds/modelling opportunities. It is extremely aggravating there are no Jump Pack options for the buffing elite guys (Apothecary, etc) I was really excited to run the Contemptor, and watching it getting taken to critical wounds and then be worse than a Ven Dread was very sad. I think I need to run more/all Contemptors for saturation, or none. Overcharged plasma with Shrike is great. Relying on assault to do the bulk of your lifting in 8th Ed is a mistake, I think. I used to play a very assaulty-alpha list in 7th, and it worked, but you just need more guns/dice/men on the field in 8th I believe. In hindsight, with this list, I should have dropped into cover on his half of the board, shot him up, then tried to charge the NEXT turn after securing safer charge ranges. Scouts in area cover with Camo Cloaks die like flies when looking in the face of 60+ Tesla shots. Which leads me to my next point: Point for Point, immortals are SO STRONG in 8th with Tesla. You can buff their hit rolls with the lord, so they proc Tesla hits (3 hits off a 6, now a 5 or a 6 with the buff), meaning a 10 man unit can easily garner 25-30 hits every time they shoot. Take into account that it is an assault weapon (with 24" range), so they can run and shoot if necessary, there threat range is quite large. ALSO Deathmarks are probably the 2nd most efficient unit for dealing mortal ones. The fact they can warp every turn, respond to your opponents deep strike, and get to rapid fire is insane. I think the only other snipers in the game better are maybe ratlings because they are so cheap. Also the fact that Snipers put out the mortal wound AND the normal wound is crazy. I kinda wished at the end I had 2 large units of scouts (10 each with rifles), and maybe no missle launchers, just to maximize my odds of mortal wounds. That's it for now, I got a couple other oddities I have noticed about 8E, but it's getting late and ill have to add more later.