Bully Mike from
40kology is a great opponent. We've been playing against each other mostly in tournaments for the last three years, but yesterday we met up for a friendly game to test out his Necrons. Before this game Bully had only played two games with the new book, the last of which he won against my Mantis Warriors at KPs 9-4. In reaction to how well the Monolith and Citan did last game, I decided to bust out the IG and see if the Necron shooting could match the hammer of the Imperium!
Imperial Guard List
Command HQ; plasma*4, chimera
Infantry Command; flamer*4, chimera
Infantry Squad; grenade, power weapon, commissar, power weapon
Infantry Squad; grenade, power weapon
Infantry Squad; grenade, power weapon
Special Weapon Squad; melta*3
Heavy Weapon Squad; missiles*3
Heavy Weapon Squad; autocannon*3
Veterans*10; melta*3, chimera
Veterans*10; melta*2, flamer, chimera
Vendetta (special weapon squad rides here)
Scout Sentinels*3; lascannon*2, autocannon
Hellhound; smoke launchers
Demolisher; lascannon
Demolisher; lascannon
Manticore; camo netting
Although this is not the most tailored IG army, it is far more powerful that something I would generally bring to a friendly match; especially against someone whose only played a few games with their own codex. In the last game Bully took a very similar army, but I took a more close combat oriented SM army. His Monolith and the Citan really did a number me. He Portaled several units away from my assault units which essentially took them out of the game and the Citan's Rising World Scape managed to Immobilize my Landraider, kill two TH termis and about 6 or 7 SMs by turn 3! In this game, with a shooty army, my goal was to mitigate those specific threats while taking a large number of armored vehicles to test the waters against mass amounts of Gauss and Scarab attacks.
Necron List
Storm Lord; Command Barge
Destroyer Lord; res orb, war scythe
Warriors*10
Warriors*10
Warriors*10
Warriors*10
Spiders*2 (different wargear)
Scarab Swarm*8
Wraiths*4
Regular Destroyers*5
Citan; rising world scape, dust one (i think=stealth and grenades)
Monolith
BullyMike bought this army prebuilt and painted a couple years ago when no one wanted Necrons. Besides the new vehicle and new Special Character he is pretty much using every model he bought back then, which is pretty cool that it still came out to 2000pts! Because he is essentially using ever model he owns, his list has not seen much change in the last three games played. Mostly all he's done is switched out special characters and alternated between Annihilation Barge and Command Barge. It should also be noted that he won against Daemons and SMs in the first two games...
Mission: Seize Ground 5 Objectives
Deployment: Pitched Battle
Necrons Deployed First and set up in the forest along the entire length of this board edge. Monolith in the middle with the Spiders and Scarabs. Destroyers, Command Barge, and Wraiths on the left flank.
Imperial Guard Deployed Second with Demolisher tanks on left flank opposite the majority of the Necron heavy hitters. Command HQ was straight in the middle with Heavy Weapon squads on either side. Two infinity squads combined with commissar also in the middle to advance on center objective. Manticore in far right building and beyond that, Hellhound, Infantry Command with flamers and the three Sentinels deployed on extreme right flank facing single Necron Warrior Squad. The two melt vet units were in reserve, as well as one 10man infantry unit and the Vendetta Out Flanked.
TURN 1
Top Turn 1 was Night Fight thanks to the Swarm Lord. His lighting only hit one unit but managed to kill all three Autocannon Weapon Teams. That sucked but it could have been worse. Apart from that he had really good run rolls so almost everything made it to center field. He also 'Portaled' his Wraiths through the Monolith.
Bottom Turn 1 was still night fight so I used a lot of search lights and since he was half way across the board already, most everything got to shoot. I failed my orders and most everything else missed or did no damage. Demolisher tank in center penetrated the Monolith but only stunned it, and the Demolisher on the left only glanced the Command Barge which shook it. On the far right flank my Hellhound did major damage to his Warriors and only three remained after Reanimating! In the center my Command HQ moved into range of the Wraiths and unleashed 8 plasma gun shots. All four guns overheated killing three while only doing one wound to the Necron snakes!
TURN 2
Top Turn 2 started with the Storm Ending (w00t) and a general advance. The three pitiful Necron Warriors on the Right Flank Portaled through the Monolith away from the armored advance; essentially conceding that objective to the Imperial Guard. The Wraiths assaulted the Command HQ Chimera; stunning it and popping off a gun. The Scarabs rolled all 6's for their movement for the second turn in a row and easily assaulted the Center Demolisher ever though it moved backwards. 40 attacks, 20 hits, 10 points of reduced armor... thank you back armor 11! The Destroyer Lord detached from the Destroyer Squad and made an attempt to attack the Left Demolisher on his own. He missed with all his attacks...
Bottom Turn 2 my Vendetta arrived on the left flank, and between it and the Melta Special Weapon squad inside, they were able to kill the Destroyer Lord who failed to reanimate. My center Demolisher, who now had Armor Value 4/3/1 (we called it "see through") moved backwards and dropped its shell on the Scarabs. The Swarm went to ground which saved two. My 10 man infantry unit came in from reserve in the center near the Wraiths and shot them up, doing no damage. My right flank units swung around the buildings and shot the Citan, only doing a single wound. My Infantry blob squad assaulted the center Warrior unit and brought it down to 4 with mass power weapon attacks.
TURN 3
Top Turn 3 the Storm Lord hopped off his Command Barge and assaulted the 10 man infantry unit that just arrived and murdered them. The Citan charged into the blob squad, and although killed three, the combined power weapons managed to take out the remaining 4 Warriors so the Citan took his second wound from fearless saves. The Monolith, now able to move, advanced to mid field and shot the "see through" Demolisher in the center and easily destroyed it. The Destroyers shot at the Vendetta but failed to roll and 6's. The Wraiths moved and assaulted the Hellhound, but because it had moved at Cruising Speed, they only Stunned it. On the far left, with a decent run roll, a Necron Warrior Unit advanced onto an objective near the Vendetta.
Bottom Turn 3 the two Melta Veteran units in Chimeras arrived up the middle and one of them destroyed the Command Barge. The Vendetta gathered up the Special weapon squad and moved to contest the left most objective and shot at the approaching Destroyers, killing one... oh wait, it reanimated! The stunned Hellhound popped smoke in anticipation for a point blank shot from the Manticore at the Wraiths who were still fighting it in combat. The Manticore did 9 hits on the 4 models and with bad armor save rolls, killed them all! On the far right flank the Infantry Command Squad in Chimera advanced onto an objective on that side of the board. The blob squad, unable to hurt toughness 7 Citan, lost a few more models, but held due to the Commissar.
TURN 4
Top Turn 4 the Storm Lord climbed up the ruined building where the Heavy Weapon Squad was missing with missiles all game and easily wiped them out. The Warrior Squad in the center of the Necron back field Portaled through the Monolith to escape the Hellhound that was now free of the Wraiths. After moving through the portal, only three Warriors were in range of the Vendetta, but one got a 6 which and immobilize it! Go Gauss Go! The Destroyers remained in cover and also shot at the Vendetta but were unable to damage it. The Spiders and remaining two Scarab bases charged into the IG blob squad. The Citan took out a couple but the power weapons all targeted the Spiders and Impressively did two wounds to each!
Bottom Turn 4 the Manticore unleashed its final salvo of missiles and took out a handful of Warriors that had come through the Monolith Portal. The Citan missed with all of his attacks, and the combined Spiders and Scarabs killed everyone but the Commissar who proudly held, meaning my right flank was safe for another turn as all other units had been Portaled away from that flank by the Monolith. The Deolisher and the Chimera with Melta Vets on the left advanced and shot at the Destroyers, but were only able to kill one after reanimation. At this point in the game, the IG held one objective and were contesting the only Necron held Objective.
TURN 5
Top Turn 5 the Destroyers moved and contested the objective near the Melta Vets on the left and Stunned their Chimera while the Storm Lord assaulted and destroyed the Command HQ Chimera which had until now been stunned the entire game. The Citan finished off the Commissar and consolidated with the Spiders and Scarabs towards the IG right flank. Combined Gauss fire from the remaining Warrior Squads on the left targeted the Vendetta but did not damage it not enough to destroy it.
Bottom Turn 5 the Melta Vets in the center moved to claim the center objective in the building but because the Citan was still rising my damn world scape, their Chimera immobilized itself just shot. Ugh. My Hellhound swung around the ruins that the blob squad combat had been occupying for the majority of the game and placed its template so that it was hitting both Spiders, both Scarabs and the Citan... Yatzee! 5 ones lol. The Sentinels and the Infantry Command Chimera all shot at the Citan but did nothing. However, after shooting at the Monolith all game, my remaining Demolisher Cannon penetrated and destroyed it. We rolled for the game to continue ended on turn 5.
Objective 1: Contested
Objective 2: Contested
Objective 3: so close, Unclaimed
Objective 4: Unclaimed
Objective 5: Imperial Guard Claimed
So this turned out to be a VERY close game at turn 5. We both had some really bad rolling during the first two turns. The Storm Lord's lightning clouds ended after only striking down one unit and hitting no tanks and the Destroyer Lord failed to reanimate after not even hitting the Demolisher tank in combat. The first three times I had Penetrating hits on the Monolith they rolled 1s or 2s and my Command HQ lost 3 out of 4 plasma guns in their first volley!
This game was a lot of fun and could have easily ended in the hands of the Necrons. Had the game gone an extra turn I might have been able to put models on one or two more objectives, but with the Storm Lord running around my back field and the Citan still with two wounds, it is unlikely that I would have been able to kill either of them and they would have easily contested any additional Objectives I might have tried to claim. I think any additional turns would have only helped the Necrons.
Personally I really enjoy playing against the Metal Undead. They have a lot of interesting units and nothing, initially, screams cheese except perhaps the Citan's Rising World Scape; but even that had little effect on a mostly static gun-line.
