Lessons learned BatRep - 1750 Necron vs Space Wolves

  Wow!  What a game.  What a great freakin game.  It was infuriating, excellent,  really long and gobs of fun.  I don't care what anyone says about 6th edition, I'm having a lot more fun with 6th than any previous version.

  Devin came over last night for a rousing, pre-tournament shakedown cruise for the lists.   Devin brought a bunch of Space Wolves, decked out to destroy!  (Hopefully he'll post his list...)  We rolled up vanguard deployment and Purge the Alien for the mission.  That was HUGE for me, since I only had two troop choices, an objective mission would have been devastating for me!  Kills worked just fine!  We both had some pretty good HQs, with Njal and a wolf lord on his side, plus those damnable rune priests ;)

The table layout

more table layout

And more...

Here was my list;

1750 Pts - Codex: Necrons Roster - Phalanx OU-812-1750 V5
Total Roster Cost: 1743

HQ: Imotekh the Stormlord (2#, 305 pts)
   1 Imotekh the Stormlord, 225 pts
      1 Catacomb Command Barge, 80 pts

: Royal Court (2#, 180 pts)
   1 Royal Court, 0 pts
      1 Lord, 90 pts = (base cost 35 + Warscythe 10 + Mindshackle Scarabs 15 + Resurrection Orb 30)
      1 Lord, 90 pts = (base cost 35 + Warscythe 10 + Mindshackle Scarabs 15 + Resurrection Orb 30)

Troops: Immortals (10#, 170 pts)
   10 Immortals, 170 pts = 10 * 17

Troops: Warriors (11#, 143 pts)
   11 Warriors, 143 pts = 11 * 13

Fast Attack: Destroyers (3#, 140 pts)
   3 Destroyers, 140 pts = 3 * 40 (base cost 40) + Heavy Gauss Cannon x1 20

Fast Attack: Canoptek Wraiths (3#, 130 pts)
   3 Canoptek Wraiths, 130 pts = 3 * 35 (base cost 35) + Particle Caster x1 5 + Whip Coil x2 20

Fast Attack: Tomb Blades (3#, 75 pts)
   3 Tomb Blades, 75 pts = 3 * 25 (base cost 20 + Nebuloscope 5)

Heavy Support: Night Shroud Bomber (1#, 225 pts)
   1 Night Shroud Bomber, 225 pts

Heavy Support: Monolith (1#, 200 pts)
   1 Monolith, 200 pts

Heavy Support: Doomsday Ark (1#, 175 pts)
   1 Doomsday Ark, 175 pts

    He won the roll and made me deploy first, go figure...  he wanted to see where the Ark and monolith went before he made his calls.  To make matters worse, he also rolled a 6 to seize the initiative.  So I lost on both fronts, although, I think it may have helped me in the long run.  I put my ark on the right flank, used the monolith to cover the Tombs on the left and had Imhotek bump up the right flank's power with the destroyers.  I tried hard hard to concentrate on the center of the board and not let myself get distracted too badly so I could mass fire on his units.  The immortals, the wraiths and of course, the Night Shroud were in reserve.

My deployment, even though he already started his turn.

    The game boiled down to bloody fights on each flank, with nobody really getting the upper hand.  I used Imohtek to keep night fighting all the way to turn 2... lol.  His lightning storm did go off with pretty decent effect once though.  He also managed to sweep open the rhino over on the right spilling the Space wolves onto the ground.  But then he got into a LONG melee with the lone Rune Priest over there and we just beat on each other with 2+ saves until I finally just had to leave.

  The monolith spent the game trying to absorb shooting (which it did admirably) and shuffling my troops around.  The Ark did a decent job of firing his big gun but he had to move a lot, so only a couple of large blasts from him. 

Some big time lessons learned...

1. Need more terrain.  LOS blocking, buildings and such, I think.
2. Devin managed to roll REALLY badly at certain points and it hurt him a lot...  I'd say cost him the win in a few instances! 

   

   Yeah, 4 ones.  And no blessing to re-roll them

   
   
   
   
   
   
3. The new Night Shroud was - Meh...  It didn't come in till turn 3, and then only made 2 bomb runs.  Of course, But I do have to say, Str10 AP1 bombs that womp are pretty cool!
4. The monolith was worth every penny.  He absorbed a ton of shooting and AV14 rocks.  His eternity gate was useless against the wolves (bad rolling) but the ability to shuffle troops around was priceless.
5. Destroyers are JUMP INFANTRY, not skimmers like I played them on turn 1.  Cheatin bastard, I am.
6. I forgot to Jink with everyone and everything that could have possibly used it.  Dumba$$
7. I screwed up the Ever-Living/Phylactery on Imohtek.  It was way late in the game, but I had read somewhere that the Phylactery mad him come back the first time with D3 wounds.  That is not true, he still has to roll for RP, and if Passed comes back with D3 wounds.  I had him just stand right back up and rolled for wounds. UGH, cheatin bastard.
8. 3 Wraiths, 2 with coils, were able to hold up Njal for a couple of turns.  That was an outstanding result, more than I hoped for!
9. I paid 30 points for Mindshackle scarabs and forgot to use them.  Dumba$$

  But at the end of the morning (yeah, we played REALLY late) it was a Necron win.  We got 8-5 for a point total, but I think it should have been 8-7 (If I had missed the RP roll for Imhotek, it would have been a HQ unit and Warlord for his side.)  Still, a lot closer than I thought it might be, and it was only close because of the mission.  An objective mission would have killed me!

Wolves in the wreck of the rhino...

Njal, Wolf Lord and a Rhino full of nasties... all for the Monolith

Imohtek fights to a draw with a rune priest

Njal about to wack the last wraith.  Saw that one coming :)

Oooops, Tomb blade in CC with marines...  not gonna end well!!!

Ahhh, monolith, how do I love thee...

   So there it was, the battle that was and the things I learned.  I can see I need a lot more practice, and to play a lot quicker.

  As side note, a shout out to my wife who made up spaghetti and meatballs for dinner so we could just keep playing.