Tau vs Necron Narrative Crusade Battle Report

[consistentystpid]

Mission Type - Combat Patrol

Mission - Assassinate*

Attacker - Tau

Defender - Necrons

Tau Agenda - Protect the Leadership

Necron Agenda - Inescapable Retribution

 

Tau Army:

HQ - Commander in Coldstar Battlesuit (Commander Umbrastorm) - A Ghost Walks Among Us, Solid-Image Projector, High-output Burst Cannon, DW-02 Advanced Burst Cannon Prototype, 2x Plasma Rifle

No Slot - 3x Crisis Suit Bodyguard - Shas'vre w/ Iridium Battlesuit, Stimm-injector Prototype, Counterfire Defense System, Cyclic Ion Blaster, Shield Generator.  Other two with 2x Cyclic Ion Blaster and Multi-tracker

Troop - Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles - Shas'ui w/ Markerlight.  1 Guardian Drone, 1 Shield Drone, 1 Support Turret w/ Missile Pod

 

Necron Army:

HQ - Necron Phaeron (Krymtok) - Implacable Conqueror, Veil of Darkness, Resurrection Orb, Voidscythe

HQ - Plasmancer

No Slot - 2 Cryptthralls

Troop - 17x Necron Warriors w/ Gauss Flayer

Elite - 3 Skorpekh Destroyers

 

First Contact

 

Earth Caste scientists led by Fio’vre Kal’vyr Els’im and Fio’vre Kal’vyr Be’tol stumbled upon ancient ruins of unknown origins while exploring the currently Imperial occupied planet of Yorn’po. The planet is mostly uninhabited save for a few small human research outposts which the Earth Caste carefully avoided. The alien technology was far more advanced than anything they had encountered before, and they spent days running diagnostic tests throughout the structures. It wasn’t until they began to run tests on one specific piece of unknown technology that they began to get any response. Green energy began to run through the structure like circuitry, but before the Earth Caste could fully take in what was happening, they were wordlessly set upon by an unknown force.  Els’im and Be’tol managed to escape the structure and put out a distress call to the Fire Caste in the system.  The message was short and to the point.  Large robotic creatures and mechanized skeletons began slaughtering the science crew without warning, and extraction was needed immediately.

 

Commander Umbrastorm, Shas’o Kal’vyr E’yaal received the message and decided to personally lead the rescue efforts.  He employed Lieutenant Stormwall, Shas’vre Kal’vyr Kurami, and her Crisis Suit Team to accompany him, as well as a small squad of Fire Warriors.  As they arrived, Els’im and Be’tol were the last two remaining scientists, with the enemy quickly approaching their position.  Commander Umbrastorm, flying high through the air was able to survey the battlelines and find what he believed to be the one leading these metallic monstrosities into battle.  A mechanized skeleton like the others, this one was dressed in regal attire, almost like what he would see from the Etheral Caste.  Years of experience has taught him that the quickest way to end a battle is to cut off the head of the snake, and with that he had his primary objective.  The Fire Warriors moved up the right flank to try and secure Fio’vre Kal’vyr Be’tol, while Umbrastorm and Stormwall’s Crisis Suits moved up the left flank to secure Fio’vre Kal’vyr Els’im.  Confident that his team had superior firepower they unloaded everything they had into the horde of green-eyed skeletons before them. To the Fire Caste’s horror, however, the enemy began to reassemble and repair themselves even after being blasted straight through with their Ion Blasters.  Without a word, the enemy commander pulled out what appeared to be a glass orb, and from it a green light emerged, causing previously assumed dead combatants to repair and stand back up as well.  From behind the now previously slain enemies burst forth a new foe.  Towering over the rest of their brethren at over 8 feet tall, four-legged monsters with blades the size of a Tau charged forward.  Lt. Stormwall and her team were unprepared with the speed at which these new enemies moved and barely had time to react before their blades began to slice through their Crisis Suits.  Stormwall bought as much time as she could for Commander Umbrastorm to avoid also being set upon, before being forced to retreat off the battlefield, the other two with her being slain.  Umbrastorm took this opportunity to use his Coldstar suit thrusters at full capacity and blasted across the battlefield, landing behind enemy lines.  He proceeded to unload his entire arsenal into the unsuspecting general.  As the commander collapsed to the ground, the body vanished in a flash of green light.

 

On the right flank, the Fire Warriors had tried making their way towards Fio’vre Kal’vyr Be’tol.  The enemy seemed to have almost completely abandoned this flank, and it looked as if extraction would be easy.  Their arrogance would cost them dearly.  Infront of them were only three enemies.  One, a lithe and slender mechanical skeleton, and in front of him two humanoid robots with scythes where their arms should be.  As they approached, they laid down a volley of fire upon the two scythed robots, which to their surprise only one had been slain when the volley was over.  The remaining robot quickly charged forward into their lines, cutting them off before they could secure Be’tol.  This was just the start of their horror, however.  From the slender skeleton figure behind them, blasts of plasma-hot lightning began to lash at them burning through their armor as if it was nothing.  They were able to unsheathe their pistols and gun down the one that had made it into melee with them, but their losses began to quickly add up.  There was a moment of hope, however, as Commander Umbrastorm flew over to their flank, and blasted the lightning thrower with his burst cannons.  That hope was unfortunately short lived.  The mechanical skeleton, just like others before him had begun to self-repair and stand back up.  This time its lightning arcs burnt through Umbrastorm’s suit forcing him to retreat off the battlefield before he could help extract Fio’vre Kal’vyr Be’tol.

 

As Commander Umbrastorm flew from the battlefield, his heart hurt as he watched the remaining Fire Warriors make a desperate, but doomed, last stand.  With the loss of their leader, the remaining enemies simply collected one of the machines the Earth Caste were studying and vanished in another flash of green light.  While this new threat had temporarily been halted, ensuring the safety of the other scientists, Earth Caste and human, on the planet, Umbrastorm felt this to be a loss with too many good lives being loss that day.  He was praised by the Etheral on his ship, Aun’el Atsumo, however for being able to quickly and efficiently deal with the enemy general.  It may have been a pyrrhic victory, but it likely saved more lives and was a victory, nonetheless.  While the loss of life is unfortunate, every Fire Warrior is always ready to lay down their lives for the Tau’va.  Shas’o Kal’vyr E’yaal vowed that their sacrifice would not be in vain.

 

*We messed up and didn't realize the battle is supposed to end at the end of the round when the Defender Warlord is slain, but decided to keep everything that happened afterwards as "canon" for the battle.