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Battle Report 23/12/2017 Overview: This is my first battle against the Necrons in 8th Edition. I was very nervous as the last time I faced Necrons was in 7th during their infamous Decurion days, but I finally felt ready and mature enough to handle whatever happens and treat it as a necessary learning curve. My game plan was fairly simple: focus fire and kill off troops before marching forward, as I thought from experience that if I try to grind them down in combat, they will outlast me unless I’m absolutely outnumber him in combat. For this game, we both utilized new points cost for Chapter Approved, but I declined to use the new Wolf Strategems and relic as wasn't really fitting my list. For my opponent, he would be using the new strategem and relic which allows him to reroll Reanimation again, and also teleport him to wherever he wants to be. Space Wolves Army List: Battalion Detachment: 1st battalion: Wolf Lord on bike with Thunderhammer and master crafted boltgun Rune Priest on Bike with Runic Sword (storm caller) 5 Blood Claws with power axe 5 Blood Claws with power fist 6 Grey Hunters (including Wolf Guard Pack Leader with combi Plasma), 1 plasma gun Razorback with Twin Assault Cannon Predator with Autocannon and Heavy Bolters Venerable Dreadnought with Assault cannon and Wolf Claw Total CP: 3 + 3 = 6 CP Necrons Battalion Detachment: 1 Necron Overlord with Voidblade and Veil of Darkness relic 1 Cryptek with Staff of Light 10 Warriors 12 Warriors 10 Immortals with Gauss Blaster Ghost Ark Triarch Stalker Total CP: 3+3 = 6 CP Mission type : Retrieval with 4 objectives Deployment type: The one along long table edges Game plan: Let him come to me and whittle down his large blob of infantry, as I wasn’t confident that I could beat him in combat with very few power weapons and close combat characters. Until at least one of the infantry blobs were dealt with, I was staying in my base. Deployment : 4 Objectives, one on his side, two at the middle on the longer table edges, and one near my deployment zone. Objectives are those round badges. Turn 1: Necrons Movement : His warriors began their (somewhat) inexorable march forward. Most of his Immortal line went to my right flank to destroy the Dreadnought hiding in ruins. Triarch Stalker also moved to get a shot at the Dreadnought. His Ghost ark moved forward to begin shooting my line. Psychic phase : None Shooting Phase : Quite damaging, the Dreadnought was nearly killed by combined shooting of the immortals and the Triarch Stalker but lived to shoot another turn. The Ghost Ark took some shots at the Razorback but only landed 1 wound. Assault phase : no assault happened. Turn 1: Space Wolves Movement : Predator moved out to start killing his warriors, while wolf Lord moved to boost shooting. Razorback and Rhino stayed put for now. Psychic phase : Casted Stormcaller to boost survivability a little. Smited a couple of wounds off the Ghost ark too. Shooting phase : Shot as much as I could at the Necron warrior blob, nearly killed off the lot about 8 out of 12. Sadly he later resurrected at least half of them. Damn the Ghost ark. Dreadnought took some potshots at the Immortals but not enough went down. Assault : No assault yet. Turn 2: Necrons Movement : Ghost Ark disembarked 10 warriors in front of Razorback. It then moved closer to the middle near the other gang of warriors and immortals marching to other side on to objective and to finish off dreadnought. Triarch moved to aim its cannon down the middle towards the Razorback. But it would mostly sit at same place to camp on objective. Shooting phase : Immortals finished off the Dreadnought. Triarch stalker nearly killed the Rhino which it could see in a tiny gap but thankfully didn’t kill it completely. The warriors and ghost ark then attempted to kill the Razorback but thanks to Stormcaller, the shooting was mostly ineffectual Assault phase : None Turn 2: Space Wolves Movement : Two blood claws squads came out of the Rhino, prepared to assault either the Ghost Ark or the Warrior squad. I wasn’t quite confident on killing off the warriors with just my shooting and smite, but wanted to back both up. Psychic phase : Didn’t get the stormcaller off but smited a couple of warriors. Shooting Phase : In the end, thanks to my Wolf Lord, my Twin Assault Cannon performed beautifully. It alone nearly killed off the 10 man warrior squad which was then finished off by the blood claws pistols. This left my Predator free to fire at the Ghost Ark. Unfortunately it was then I learned how Quantum shielding worked against multi damage weapons. Ironically despite deflecting most of my 3 damage shots, it was my heavy bolters that took down the Ghost Ark to its second wound bracket. All in all very good shooting but it did mean my two blood claws were out in the open, when I had meant for them to charge the warriors, but didn’t expect the shooting to be so good that the entire warrior squad was wiped out. Assault Phase : with little choice, the Blood claws charged the Ghost Ark. There was no hope of pinning it down due to its “Fly” keyword, but hopefully I could further damage it to prevent it from healing itself back to full capability. Sadly only got a wound off with the power fist but better than nothing. Turn 3: Necrons Movement : Ghost Ark floated away from the Blood Claw combat to block the nearest gap to an objective. Remaining warrior blob and Immortals started to bubblewrap the objective nearerst them behind terrain. Shooting Phase : Shooting from the Ghost Ark, warriors and immortals managed to kill just one of the blood claws squad. Triarch tried to shoot predator but was unable to damage it. Assault phase : None Turn 3: Space Wolves Movement : Grey Hunters with plasma and combi plasma moved out of razorback to start shooting. The surviving blood claw gang moved quickly into the razorback as I wasn’t quite convinced I could move near enough to charge the warriors. Psychic phase : Dismal casting, nothing went off. Shooting phase : Due to the ghost ark blocking LOS to the warriors, my Predator and Razorback could only shoot at the ghost Ark. Sadly the Ark proved its resilience to the autocannon again, but still a few wounds were taken. Grey Hunters were a bit more successful, bringing down half of the warriors thanks to Wolf Lord buffing their Assault : Grey Hunters assault the Ghost Ark but couldn’t make a dent in it. Turn 4: Necrons Movement : Ghost Ark moved away and gave a clear line of sight for the warriors and immortals to aim at the Grey hunters. Shooting phase : not much happened apart from the Grey Hunters being killed. The Triarch Stalker proved quite unlucky in blowing up either the Predator or Razorback. Turn 4: Space wolves Movement : By this time I realised to my horror I was on Turn 4 and could only reliably get one objective with a troop choice via the blood claws. I had my two HQs on bikes, but he also had the relic that can teleport him and one other unit, potentially a troop squad, to one of the other objectives to camp on, with the immortals and remaining troops still camping on the other. So I frantically deployed my blood claw gang to the objective while my Wolf Lord and Rune Priest zoomed to deal with the Warriors and immortals. The Razorback also move forward to reach for objective. Psychic phase : Can’t remember but may have smited the warriors a bit. Shooting : Quite fruitful, managed to kill his warriors and much of his immortals between the Predator and the Razorback despite the razorback moving. Assault phase : The Rune Priest made the charge but Wolf Lord didn’t into the immortals. The old guy made a good fight but couldn’t kill the immortals completely. Turn 5: Necrons Movement : Using the Veil of Darknesss Relic, the Lord and the Cryptek teleported all the way to the other side of the table to grab an objective there. His immortals continued the combat and his Ghost Ark moved forward to take potshots at the Blood Claws holding my objective. Shooting phase : Ghost Ark shot some of the blood claws, killed one I think. Triarch Stalker continued to whiff at the Predator. Assault phase: Immortals couldn’t wound my rune priest, but the rune priest only killed one. This time though there was no Crytek to help with reanimation protocols. Ghost Ark charged the Rune Priest too but didn’t do anything. Turn 5: Space Wolves Movement : Razorback frantically tried to advance to the objective with the immortals but it wouldn’t be near enough. Moved forward a bit to shoot the Triarch Stalker. Wolf Lord moved towards the immortals but in a way that was not near the Ghost Ark so that if I killed the Immortals, the Wolf Lord wouldn’t be considered locked with the Wolf Lord. Psychic phase : Smited the Immortals a bit. Shooting Phase : Predator did very badly against the Triarch Stalker. Assault Phase : Wolf Lord made it to assault. But sadly between the Rune priest and the Lord, they failed to kill off the Immortals, meaning if the game ended, he would have controlled two objectives to my one, never mind that I had first blood. However, the game continued to Turn 6!!! Turn 6: Necrons Movement : Well there wasn’t much he could do except hold on to the objective with his Ghost Ark and Immortals. A couple of them came back in this turn. Shooting Phase : Triarch Stalker whiffed yet again this time against either the Blood Claws or the Razorback. Assault Phase : Thankfully, the Rune Priest and the Wolf Lord managed to kill off all the immortals, leaving both Lord and RP near objective. Lord was free to move, but RP remained locked with the Ghost Ark. Turn 6 Space Wolves Movement : Predator rushed forward to cover the last 3 Blood Claws holding on to the objective and block them from the Cryptek’s staff of Light, just in case the game extended to Turn 7. The Wolf Lord raced towards the Triarch Stalker in an attempt to contest the last objective and possibly get line breaker. Razorback advanced to sit on the objective with the Rune Priest. Psychic phase : Tried to smite the Ghost Ark but failed test. Shooting Phase : Nothing much beyond bolt pistol to Ghost ark, and the Lord’s twin bolter at the Triarch Stalker. Neither did much. Assault phase : Wolf Lord charged at the Triarch Stalker. I intended to try get the objective on the Triarch’s side, but sadly, the footprint of the Triarch was HUGE and I couldn’t get my charge high enough to get close enough. Nevertheless, I now had two objectives at this point, which combined with my earlier First Blood, would enable me to win. In the meantime, I smacked the Triarch Stalker with 3 Hammer shots, but once again, his Quantum Shielding saved his stalker from all but one of my hammer hits. Damn, it was more annoying than powerful. We roll if the game ends, and thankfully, it ends on Turn 6. VICTORY FOR THE SPACE WOLVES! Game Analysis During 7th Edition, I felt that Necrons were blatantly indestructible, with their effectively 4+ FNP rerollable 1s, and AV13 shields. This round, I felt they were much more manageable, still tough as nails with annoying get up ability, but at least it happens in the following turn instead of effectively shrugging off lascannon and plasma shots. The Ghost arks I realised was surprisingly not tough at T6 meaning I should have pointed my 1 damage weapons like Assault cannon and heavy bolters at it for a better chance of whittling it down instead of the Autocannon. To be honest, I think I should have lost as I hadn’t realised how close it was to Turn 5 and didn’t push out with my troops and bike HQs until it was almost too late. Thankfully it went to Turn 6 and also thankfully I had first blood. All in all, I’m happy to say the despite being only a 1000 point game, I like the new Necrons and think they are more manageable. I still have nightmares facing the Wraiths, but from what I hear, they’re not as killy as before although still just as tough. And if I face Wraiths in bigger games, I’ll most certainly be bringing my Wulfen. Hope you enjoy the battle report. Comments, feedback and advice on improving gameplay is greatly appreciated.

Battle Report 24/11/2017 Overview: Greetings brothers of the Rout. Had another worthy battle worthy of a saga, this time against a fellow player pitting some of his best toys against me. Being a good sport, I could tell that while probably not competitive, I needed to be wary nevertheless because he was bringing 3 flyers in a game, along with a couple of Land Raiders, one of which would be Forgeworld which I allowed one since he was a good friend who never stomped on me before. The last time I faced him earlier this year in 7th Edition, he had 3 Deredeo Dreadnoughts gunning my wolves down, though thankfully my Iron Priest tanked most of the hits. Nevertheless, he was a great guy and even with his Forgeworld stuff, never made me feel completely helpless or OP. So as we arranged for a game, I decided that despite my restrictions on strategems, I would allow him to bring just one Forgeworld model rather than none. He obliged, choosing the Land Raider Achilles which was basically a Whirldwind Turret on a Land Raider chassis but also armed with a part of twin linked Multi Melta, making it the second most deadly thing anti-tank on his list, the first being the Hellblasters. I wasn’t too worried about the Stormhawks, confident that between Stormcaller and Smoke Launchers, along with the lack of Power of Machine Spirit, I could weather his storm of Assault Canon, missiles and lascannons. Space Wolves Army List: Battalion Detachment: Bjorn the Fell Handed Rune Priest on Bike Wolf Guard Battle Leader on bike with Storm shield and frost sword 6 Blood Claws (including Wolf Guard Pack Leader with combi Plasma) in HB Razorback 6 Grey Hunters (including Wolf Guard Pack Leader with combi Plasma), plasma gun in HB Razorback 6 Grey Hunters (including Wolf Guard Pack Leader with combi melta), melta gun in HB Razorback 10 Grey Hunters (including Wolf Guard Pack Leader with combi Plasma), 2 plasma guns in Rhino 6 Wulfen (2 Shields, 3 Axes and Pack Leader) in Stormwolf with HB Total CP: 3 + 3 +1 = 7 CP Blood Ravens: Patrol Detachment: 1 Techmarine 10 Hellblasters with the Rapid fire plasma version 6 Aggressors Land Raider Achilles - Quad launcher and 2 Twin Multimeltas Land Raider Crusader Flyer Wing Detachment: 3 Stormhawk Interceptors with Assault cannons, Typhoon Missile Launcher and Lastalon Total CP: 3+1= 4 CP Mission type : Retrieval with 4 objectives Deployment type: 4, the one with arrow pointing to middle along long table edge Legend: BJ – Bjorn the Fellhanded R – Rhino RB – Razorback RP – Rune Priest on Bike WBL - Wolf Guard Battle Leader on Bike AGR - Aggressors LRC – Land Raider Crusader LRA – Land Raider Achilles TC - Techmarine HB – Hellblasters STH – Stormhawk Interceptors Obj - Objectives Anyway, without further ado, on to Turn 1: Blood Ravens Turn 1: Blood Ravens Movement : Two Stormhawks surged forwards towards my Stormwolf. The other Stormhawk went the other side to hurt my other flank and pop my transports. The Achilles whose Techmarine was embarked on it, chose to go to his nearest objective to release his techmarine to hold that objective, which he would do and then for rest of the game, we forgot all about the techmarine. His Aggressors moved towards the Rhino wall, along with the Crusader, while the Hellblasters cautiously advanced behind the Crusader which also functioned as a gigantic LOS block. Shooting: Sadly the two Stormhawks DID succeed in destroying the Stormwolf, can’t remember which did the final shot, probably the Lastalons. To make it worse, two of the six wulfen inside perished as they disembarked, their fur caught on fire or something I suppose. The other Stormhawk damaged the right most Razorback to within an inch of its life but it survived. Aggressors tried to take off the last wounds but again, the Razorback protected its cargo like a champ. Assault : No assault yet. Morale phase : Wulfen passed their morale test. Turn 1: Space Wolves Movement : Furious at the Stormhawks, I decided to deploy my full plasma squad and the plasma squad from the near dead Razorback to deal with them. The Rhino and mostly dead Razorback moved forward to block LOS, popping smoke. Other Razorback with melta squad went forward on objective. My other Razorback behind ruins stayed put to use its Heavy Bolters, though out of range of the Bjorn buff. Psychic phase : Rune Priest casted Stormcaller, giving +1 cover save to my battle line. Smited one Stormhawk for a wound. Shooting Phase : Sadly wasn’t as effective as I wished, even with the plasma gunners, heavy bolters and Bjorn, the one Stormhawk I focused fire was taken down to just 3 wounds. Assault phase : no assault happened. Overview: Despite loss of Stormhawk and some Wulfen, so far so good. On another negative side, my plasma squad was now exposed to the quad launcher but being AP 0 with Stormcaller, I took the risk in order to neuter the Stormhawk. And at least one Stormhawk was hitting on 4+, which becomes 5+ for most of its heavy weapons. And more importantly, the razorback survived to annoy him another turn. Also should have put the Stormwolf with Wulfen closer to enemy, as it was unlikely I could hide from the Stormhawks anyway. So now Wulfen were slogging it from the back, thankfully they have fairly good movement that would enable them to get up front later. To be continued…