Marines vs Necrons, 1500

[Rogue]

This game might have been the most fun I've ever had, and certainly the most cinematic - the last few turns had my captain, relic in hand, racing from squad to squad as the C'tan Deceiver chased him down, smashing everything in his path...

 

The game itself felt as if it hinged on a moment in the first turn. My opponent had used the Deceiver to advance a block of twenty warriors (with 5++ saves) right up into the centre of the board, almost on top of the relic - my shooting killed all but one of them, and just as I thought I'd get him through a morale check, Luke pulled out the insane bravery strategem and saved him, gaining thirteen warriors back. I went from figuring the mission was as good as won to thinking that I was in serious trouble in a moment. But from a gameplay point of view, had I nailed that squad straight out, the rest of the battle would likely have been a bit of a turkey shoot; instead, we got an absolute nail-biter with an amazing, evolving narrative (that the report below won't do justice to, sadly).

 

Anyway, have a read if you fancy it...

 

 

 

Report

 

My marines (the Gorgons, playing with Ultramarine tactics) lined up like this: Captain Gabriel (Primarch’s Wrath and a lightning claw) and Techmarine Bezalel; two tactical squads of ten (combi-plasma, plasma, heavy bolter) and one squad of five (combi-plasma and grav-cannon) – the ten-man squads had rhinos with twin storm bolters, and the five-man a razorback with twin assault cannons; two ten-man devastator squads with two lascannon, two missile launchers and a cherub each, and a predator with all the lascannons.

 

Luke’s Necrons consisted of the C’tan Deceiver, a Warlord and the Cryptek who turns into the Hulk; two squads of five Immortals (with gauss blasters and tesla somethings respectively), and twenty Warriors in a single squad; five wraiths, nine deathmarks, and a stalker with twin lascannon-type weapons.

 

The mission was Relic, with deployment along the long sides, pushing forward towards the centre.

 

I deployed with one devastator squad (Issachar) on top of a three-storey ruin front and centre of my deployment zone, and the second (Zebulun) off to the right in another ruin (with line of sight across the relic). Both ten-man tacticals (Levi and Judah) held the centre-left, with the predator between them, and the combat squad in the razorback (Dan) were to the right of the tower. Captain Gabriel and Techmarine Bezalel were both in the tower, with the captain’s bubble covering Issachar’s devastators, the predator, and two of the tactical squads (Judah and Dan).

 

The Necrons had the Warriors in the centre, with all three characters. They were flanked by the Immortals on both sides, with the wraiths facing the flanking devastator squad, and the stalker in the opposite corner.

 

Turn One

 

Before the turn started, the Deceiver used his powers to advance himself, the cryptek and the warriors forward to just over 12 inches from my front line.

 

With such a big target to aim at, and with the threat of the relic being swallowed up by a massive regenerating squad of warriors, both tactical squads Levi and Judah disembarked from their rhinos and prepared to fire. The razorback containing squad Dan advanced towards the relic. The resultant shooting phase saw the warriors reduced to a single model (by the tactical squads and their transports), and the stalker reduced to less than half its wounds (by the predator and Issachar’s devastators). In the morale phase, the Necrons used a stratagem to pass morale, and went on to regenerate 13 warriors. Grr.

 

Having regenerated into the central ruins, the warriors and the Necron centre stayed put, covering the relic. The wraiths advanced on Zebulun’s devastators on the right flank, and the deathmarks appeared out on the left flank of the marines. Firepower chipped away a few tactical marines from Levi and Judah, and the stalker and immortals combined to strip wounds of the razorback.

 

Turn Two

 

With the relic still unclaimed so far, the Dan’s combat squad sprang forward and grabbed it, heading back towards the base of the tower. Judah’s rhino pulled in front of them, shielding them from the Necron lines. Once again, tactical squads Levi and Judah, their rhinos and the razorback (after some repair work from  Techmarine Bezalel) battered the warriors, reducing their numbers, whilst Zebulun’s devastator squad took down two wraiths.

 

The surviving warriors shot down more of Judah’s tactical squad in the centre, while the deathmarks continued to reduce Levi’s flanking squad. The stalker took a wound off the blocking rhino. Then everything charged. The wraiths made contact with Zebulun’s devastators (taking a wound in the process); the warriors charged Judah’s tactical squad, and the Deceiver charged the blocking rhino, smashing it aside and consolidating into Dan’s squad who were holding the relic.

 

Turn Three

 

Chapter tactics came into their own here, as all the engaged squads pulled back. The Dan’s combat squad retreated under the tower, and the last three members of tactical squad Judah moved to impede the Deceiver. With the Necron squads exposed, the firepower of the tactical squads, devastator bolters, rhinos and razorback finally finished off the warriors. Squad Zebulun wounded a wraith (heavy weapons are less useful hitting on a 5+), whilst their brothers on the tower targeted the stalker but failed to beat its shielding. With the warriors gone, the predator found itself closest to the Deceiver, but despite landing three wounding hits, nothing made it past the invulnerable save.

 

By this point, the Necron centre had been thinned out to three characters and a squad of five immortals (still a little way off). But the Deceiver and warlord were bearing down on the relic, and I’d lost lots of infantry myself.

 

The Deceiver flew over the tower, landing adjacent to the relic-bearing squad, and the warlord prepared to charge the last of tactical squad Judah who’d put themselves in the way. Elsewhere, the deathmarks closed in on squad Levi on the left flank. The Immortals knocked a few wounds off the razorback, before the stalker came good and killed the predator in a single round of shooting. Ouch. In combat, the wraiths continued to prove ineffective against the devastators (losing one of their own in return), whilst the Deceiver massacred Dan’s squad. The relic lay abandoned at the back of the tower. At the front, the warlord charged the tactical marines of squad Judah, but was countered by a heroic intervention from Captain Gabriel. He was unable to save the marines, but prevented the warlord from advancing under the tower.

 

Turn Four

 

Again, the engaged units (Gabriel and Zebulun’s devastators) withdrew from combat. Levi’s tactical squad advanced on the deathmarks, and the razorback reversed to bring its weapons to bear on the Deceiver. The central devastators of squad Issachar used the combat squad stratagem – should the Deceiver go after the heavy weapons, the others could head downwards after the relic.

Shooting on both flanks proved largely ineffective, although another wound was inflicted on the wraiths. In the centre, the warlord was now the nearest target to the devastators almost directly above him, and perished in a storm of lascannon blasts and krak missiles. With that threat removed, the razorback targeted the immortals, killing four.

The flanking tactical squad Levi engaged the deathmarks, hoping that combat would provide effective shelter from their guns.

 

The Deceiver leapt to the top of the tower to engage the guns that had felled the warlord, and the immortals (now back up to two) advanced on Captain Gabriel on the ground floor. In the distance, the stalker and other immortals began to advance on the centre too, as the cryptek emerged from cover and headed for the relic.

On the flanks, the deathmarks, wraiths and marines continued to trade blows with the tactical marines and wraiths coming off worst. The Deceiver wiped out the heavy weapons and sergeant Issachar, but Gabriel used the Primarch’s Wrath to gun down the Immortals before they could reach him in combat.

 

Turn Five

 

Gabriel grabbed the relic and headed out of the tower. The second half of devastator squad Issachar, Techmarine Bezalel and the razorback closed in on him, covering all possible approaches. On the right, devastator squad Zebulun (who’d lost only three marines by this point) disengaged again, and headed towards Gabriel’s group too. With only the razorback and retreating devastators of squad Zebulun able to fire at anything, the wraiths were cut down to a single model.

 

As the stalker and immortals continued to advance across the centre of the field, the Deceiver charged in, engaging the ring of marines and killing all four survivors of squad Issachar, but was unable to consolidate into Captain Gabriel. The wraith charged the devastators, tying them up again, and the deathmarks continued to slowly reduce squad Levi. By the end of the turn, Gabriel still held the relic, but had the Deceiver breathing down his neck…

 

Turn Six

 

Captain Gabriel continued his flight towards the devastators of squad Zebulun and away from the Necron forces. The razorback interposed itself between Gabriel and the Deceiver, and the devastators disengaged from the last wraith and formed a protective circle around their captain. In the centre, the last rhino moved up and charged the immortals.

With the wraith isolated, Gabriel blazed away with the Wrath, leaving it a smoking ruin. This left the Deceiver as the closest target, and despite the penalties for falling back and moving, the squad Zebulun’s heavy weapons proved accurate and deadly, landing three wounding hits. With only one saved (and with the use of a command re-roll on the marines’ part), enough damage was done to slay the C’tan shard. Elsewhere, sergeant Levi finally succumbed to the deathmarks, but they were too far from the action to have any further say in the outcome.

 

The Necrons had few options left. The deathmarks advanced but were well out of range. The Immortals disengaged the rhino, leaving them unable to shoot, and the stalker, having failed to damage it with firepower, charged in to hold it in place. The cryptek charged the devastators, killing a couple, but was unable to break through the line.

With Captain Gabriel still in control of the relic, the game ended, resulting in a major victory for the marines (who were left with just a captain, techmarine, razorback and three devastator marines).

 

 

 

TL;DR - I saved the relic, and almost everything died doing it. It was fun.

Edited February 26, 2018 by Rogue

[QuarterPounder]

That is a fantastic game! 40k at it's phyrric finest. Thanks for sharing!

 

Great list, too, by the way. Sounds like a very solid approach. Have you used it in other games, and if so, how has it fared for you?

Edited March 1, 2018 by QuarterPounder

[Rogue]

Thanks, QP :)

 

I've used it a few times now, although it's been slowly adapting each game - a vindicator became a predator, a marine was dropped from the razorback squad to allow plasma cannons to upgrade to missile launchers, that sort of thing. But the basic pattern of the devastator/tank/officers firebase and a mobile tactical element has always been there.

 

They beat a Necron army (same guy, different list) fairly comprehensively, almost tabling him except for his chariot-mounted warlord. The firebase was very effective against his elites, and the tacticals managed to all arrive in rapid fire range on his flank in the same turn, and with a little fire support managed to roll up two 10-man warrior squads. I find that rhinos putting out eight bolter shots at rapid range do add something useful to tactical squads, whilst the devastators were threatening but with the heavy weapons shielded behind lots of extra bodies he was reluctant to waste big guns killing chaff, and never got to reduce their effectiveness.

 

And they took down a Death Guard force of marines, terminators, cultists, various rapid hovering things and the mortar tank. Here, the tacticals gave me a mobile unit on either flank that could grab objectives and strafe units when required. And splitting the firebase proved interesting, as they were positioned to cover each other, but meant that his terminator strike could only go after one half, whilst being shelled by the other squad (near enough to shoot, a fair way to foot-slog between the two).

 

I've found the Ultramarines tactic to be valuable - both the Necrons and Death Guard potentially outclass me in close combat (I mean, I have a lot of guns, but almost no close combat weapons across the whole force), but when they know that I can step back and shoot them with any survivors (and open them up to other nearby squads too), people seem to be less keen to charge in.