Battle Report! - Warhammer 40k, Necrons vs Adeptus Mechanicus

Just a quick write up of a 1000 point battle I had at my FLGS last night. This was against my good buddy Rich and his terrifying Necrons. We were using matched play rules and playing the Cleanse and Capture Maelstrom mission which has become a staple of our games nights.

Many of these models were used during the battle.

Apologies before you read any further; I didn't take any photos of our game, nor have I included any maps past deployment. I have inserted some bad memes informative images to break up the inevitable wall of text; but if you want to bail out now I won't take it personally.

Rich was playing Mephrit Dynasty which gave all his guns an additional -1ap under half range (scary!) and took the Battalion detachment below: 

Necron Overlord (Voltaic Staff, Merciless Tyrant)

Cryptek (Canoptek Cloak)

Cryptek (Canoptek Cloak)

C'tan shard of the Nightbringer (Antimatter Meteor, Transdimensional Thunderbolt)

10 Warriors

10 Warriors

10 Warriors

3 Destroyers including 1 Heavy Destroyer

They used to be so scary.

Against this merciless tide of steel I had my very own battalion of robots. I was playing Forgeworld Graia (because I like it) and my 1000 points looked like this:

Tech-priest Dominus (Anzion's Pseudogenetor, Magos Biologis)

Tech-priest Enginseer

10 Skitarii Vanguard (3x plasma caliver)

6 Skitarii Rangers (2x arc rifle and Alpha with taser goad)

5 Skitarii Rangers (2x Transuranic Arquebus and Alpha with power sword)

5 Sicarian Ruststalkers (Transonic Blades)

5 Infiltrators (Power Swords and Stubcarbines)

Onager Dunecrawler (Neutron laser and 2x Heavy stubber)

Onager Dunecrawler (Eradication Beamer and Heavy stubber)

Sydonian Dragoon (phosphor serpenta)

3 kataphron breachers (Arc claws and Heavy arc rifles)

6 Fulgurite Electropriests

So, an interesting matchup, although it was clear from the outset that I had far more bodies and wounds on the ground than my opponent. Would the toughness and resurrecting abilities of the Necrons be enough to even the odds?

We set up on a 6' x 4' board using Dawn of War deployment. Rich got the first placement, but I had loads more units than him anyway so he got +1 to the first turn roll off. Even so, I managed to win the roll and Rich failed to seize the initiative.

Deployed for battle.

The Necrons had castled up at the back of their deployment zone in a tight huddle. I had spread my units out more and had my faster moving ruststalkers, infiltrators and dragoon on one flank with my Skitarii Vanguard on the other. I had used my Servitors, Onagers and Dominus to make a little castle of my own in the middle.

Rich had left the destroyers in the open so after some shuffling of various units I opened fire with both Onagers and my servitors. When the dust had settled, the Destroyers had been reduced to a smoking crater. Most of my other stuff was out of range but I did manage to snipe a Cryptek (using my Arquebusiers) who came back to life using the Resurrection Protocols stratagem. I had an excellent card draw this turn which included Overwhelming Firepower, Supremacy and Defend Objective 5 all of which I was able to score. Unfortunately I was only able to get 1VP for Supremacy but it still left me on 5VP coming into my turn two.

A succinct summary of turn 1.

I don’t think Rich had expected to lose the destroyers on turn one and he seemed a bit shaken, but gamely played on regardless. The entire Necron army moved forward but most of their guns were out of range. A few gauss shots were fired which killed a couple of skitarii rangers but that was it. Rich had also had a terrible card draw and failed to score any objectives. From memory he discarded psychological warfare.

On turn two I moved my ruststalkers, dragoon and infiltrators onto the flank; obviously a brilliant tactical gambit (actually I think there was an objective out there that I needed.) I had also moved my plasma vanguard onto the opposite flank. It wasn’t really intentional, but it looked like some sort of genius strategic manoeuvre. At any rate, I shot a unit of warriors off the board with my Vanguard, Onagers and Servitors. I also sniped another Cryptek (who promptly came back to life) and that was my turn. Due to some more lucky card draws I was raking in the victory points, I ended turn two on 7VP.

Sadly for the Cryptek, he wouldn't get the chance.

Rich’s turn two and the c’tan came into play, unfortunately, his powers are basically like super-smites and the closest units were all skitarii. He managed to wipe out a unit of Skitarii rangers and the necron warriors added their fire to kill a few more skitarii from other units. My snipers were reduced to two models but passed their morale check (with a command reroll). Rich had another terrible draw this round but did at least manage to score a point of his own for Overwhelming Firepower.

In turn three I was looking to get a shot with the neutron laser into the c’tan; which would prove decisive if I could get it off. Unfortunately there was a unit of warriors in the way so they would have to be removed. I managed to kill three of them with the Eradication beamer. The servitors hadn't charged their batteries and whiffed big time only felling one. 

The vanguard opened fire along with the infiltrators and managed to bag five leaving just one lonely necron guarding the c’tan. Only one of my snipers could fire this turn (due to having to move the other to maintain coherency) so I lined up the shot (using the Protector Imperatives stratagem for +1 to hit) and promptly missed. With that, I fried the remaining warrior with the neutron laser and the c’tan was left unharmed. I also got a charge off with my ruststalkers into the last unit of warriors and killed a couple. Much to my surprise, they managed to kill a ruststalker in return! So with that, the turn ended.

Haha! What a dork! Oh wait.....

The Necrons were getting a bit thin on the ground, but basically the remaining characters and c'tan all lined up to charge into the ruststalkers. The c’tan fired off its power but pathetically missed on a 1. Then he charged in. The c'tan made it easily but the rest of Necron middle management failed. 

In a show of terrible rolling the dreaded Nightbringer managed only one kill despite hitting on 2+ and wounding on 2+. Basically he got 3 hits, 2 wounds and I made a single 6+ invulnerable save. In return, the ruststalkers managed to put two wounds on the c’tan. The remaining Necron warriors bonked their gun butts against the ruststalkers ineffectually.

In what would prove to be the final turn (my turn four) I tried to line up my guns to target the Necron characters but to little avail. The skitarii vanguard were able to shoot a cryptek though and my snipers accounted for the other one (even though I had already killed both of them once). 

I managed a bunch of charges though, the Sydonian Dragoon into the C’tan and the Electropriests and Infiltrators into the Necron warriors. The Infiltrators and priests managed to kill all but one of the Necrons and then it was time to fight the c’tan. 

The dragoon managed only two wounds despite using conqueror protocols and getting six hits. I did however get a lucky roll with the Ruststalker Princeps' chordclaw dealing two mortal wounds. With that, it was down to the remaining ruststalkers to see if they could chip off the last two wounds. From nine attacks I managed an impressive four wounds (no mortals though). He failed two saves and the mighty Star God was slain. To add insult to injury he didn't even have the decency to explode. With only two models left on the field at this point Rich conceded.

After Battle Thoughts:

So, a fun game which unfortunately led to an early concession. Rich is a great guy and we will undoubtedly have several more games in the future.

Several of my games have gone this way recently and I am at a bit of a loss to explain why. I know my local meta is very casual; but I don't consider myself a competitive player. The list above is pretty much what I would take to any game (although I change it every time so things don't get stale) and I don't think it's super competitive.

I'm also not egotistical enough to think that I'm just a better player than my opponents. It just seems that Adeptus Mechanicus are very powerful in my meta right now. This could definitely be due to playing 1000 point games; I am aware that at a 'low' points level some factions just play better and I think Ad Mech may be one of these.

Anyway, I'd always rather have a game that results in a close loss than an easy win. I don't want to have to shelve my Mechanicus because I love the models and have worked really hard on the army recently. Equally, I don't want to do my opponents the disservice of throwing the game or making bad tactical decisions.

Congratulations if you've made it to the end of this massive ramble, please, leave your thoughts below. What can I do to make the game closer and more enjoyable for my opponents?