Now, a friend of mine, one of my two 40k "Sensei" that taught me a lot about playing and tactics is a staunch Necron player, back in 4th, he tried out every variant Necron list, and won several tournaments with them, in time, he had to watch as his Robotic badboys crumbled away with 5th edition, slowly watching them get worse and worse as each new round of big boys came out. Well, when he heard about the Necrons codex coming out for 5th edition, that changed everything, he's back and in fighting form, and we've been vowing to face each other on the field of battle since i took my Knightly vows and renewed my membership to the Inner circle of the Grey Knights...
today was that day!
My friend is also heading down to the PAW tournament (i'm starting to quite lament not being able to join them all) so we played 1500 points, this time i opted for a bit more of a trimmed down list but with a second dreadknight compared to my last game.
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| The Necrons holding the Objective in No Mans Land. |
We rolled up Capture and Control (one objective each) with a Dawn of War deployment and i lost the roll for first turn/deployment (again!). The Necrons opted to place their objective fairly close to the baseline (the large base on the left of the Ghost Ark in the picture to the left.) and i opted to place mine in the extreme right hand corner of the board (to the top right and just out of shot in the pic).
The Necrons deployed a Ghost Ark and a unit of two Necron Lords behind the Grand vestibule on top of the hill, the Grey Knights opted to just walk on in the first turn.
But in a slight reverse of fortunes, i managed to seize the initiative! And i didnt even need Coteaz' sneaky re-roll to pull it off!
Roll tape...
Inquisitor Coteaz is a tireless agent of the Imperium. Continually bringing new worlds into the protective fold of his remit as Lord Inquisitor of the Formosa sector, in addition to his tireless persecution of heretics within his realm. Not for him the rest of delegation from a command throne, no, Torquemada Coteaz continues to meet the foe face to face and crush them under his mighty Force hammer. A potent reminder to any who would usurp the Emperor's peace.
Nijea is one such new world that has been settled by the forces of the Missionarius Galaxia, and for several years all had passed without event, until the sporadic loss of contact with ground forces revealed all was not well...
Talk of "Daemons with the visage of death itself" were all that could be ascertained from garbled vox-reports and Coteaz' Astropaths relayed messages of distress and unrest in the warp, and while the Inquisition sometimes carries the heavy heart of Exterminatus, it will equally defend a viable planet in an attempt to spread the light of mankind to the darkest of stars. With these thoughts fresh in his mind, Coteaz dispatched a strike force of Grey Knights to strike into the heart of what was quickly becoming a losing battle for the forces of the Imperium, only to find the aforementioned Daemons were in fact cells of Necrontyr awakening from their aeons-old sleep, with death as their calling card...
GREY KNIGHTS TURN 1
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| The Grey Knights make their presence felt. |
NECRON TURN 1
While the Ghost Ark may have been annihilated in a swift display of power, this troubled not the pair of Necrontyr standing closeby, Vehicles could be reconstructed, Human flesh could not, they strode into the open to confront the heavily armoured elite warriors with an air of arrogance, confident in their imperviousness. This solitary display wasn't enough to hold the Grey Knight's attention for long though, the horizon blackened with twitching stark shapes and a horrible chittering noise filled the air as an entire warhost of Necrontyr flooded the battlefield, Canoptek Spyders, Scarab Swarms, Immortals and Necron Warriors shambled into view, and it was clear this fight would be a dear one indeed.
GREY KNIGHTS TURN 2
The Necrontyr's arrogance hadn't gone unnoticed, the Dreadknights came to a halt and dowsed the machines with blessed prometheum from their heavy Incinerators, the ancient metal burning and crumpling to a pile of components in no time at all.
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| The Dreadknights confront the Necron Lords. |
During this exchange Coteaz' acolyte henchmen had found their tactical timing to be flawed and they found themselves entering the battlefield before the battleplan was fully in place, they took the time to shelter in a ruin and await further orders,
As this all unfolded, the two Necron Lords who had been reduced to molten slag moments before reconstructed themselves before the Dreadknight's eyes, until their forms were near pristine again, such foul alien sorcery! The Grey Knights would not relent.
NECRON TURN 2
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| The Necron Monolith makes landfall. |
As if to stir seeds of doubt in the Grey Knight's minds, the skies darknened as the bulky mammoth form of a Monolith descended from the heavens, Coteaz' had prepared for just such an eventuality, and the Imperial Rottweilers blazed away at the Alien Warmachine, damaging it yet not enough to cripple it's advance. As it descended, the Portal on the front of the Alien machine stirred into life, attempting to pull the Vindicare Assassin through and to a demise, he managed to cling to a nearby tree firmly enough to avoid instant fate, meanwhile unrigging his Exitus pistol with his free hand...
A Great Beam of light descended from the Crystal atop the Monolith, bathing the Terminators of the Imperial Rottweilers with light before rising to a crescendo of burning laser energy, two of the great warriors were immolated inside their armour, their great forms slumping to the ground as their companions pressed on.
Anrakyr the Traveller, leader of the Necron host banked over the Large ruin that had become focus of this battle in his Command Barge, heading towards the Grey Knight battlelines with wanton abandon.
The Pair of Necron Lords fearlessly charged into the closest Dreadknight, a cloud of Mindshackle scarabs flying from their outstretched arms and swarming the machine, the pilot was powerless to watch as the combat harness began to turn on its wearer, a Nemesis Doomfist rising up and attempting to throttle the pilot inside his own Warmachine.
GREY KNIGHTS TURN 3
The Grey Knights soldiered on fearlessly, And with the Psychic input of Grand Master Valdek, two Grey Knight Strike Squads were summoned to battle, teleporting either side of Anrakyr's command barge in an attempt to secure the Battleline and stop them from becoming overrun.
The Terminators chose to press on past the almighty form of the Necron Monolith, confident in the abilities of their Vindicare Assassin to protect them from harms way, they followed in the wake of the unengaged Dreadknight as it charged into the ruins atop the hill to confront the chittering mechanical horrors that lurked within, he fired a great gout of prometheum into the building, killing vast swathes of the incoming Scarab Swarm and injuring one of the foul robotic creatures that were producing more of them all the time.
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| The Vindicare annihilates the Necon Monolith. |
The Vindicare Assassin, still holding onto the tree for life in the wake of the Monolith's Portal, cocked his Exitus Pistol and selected a Turbo-Penetrator round, despite the situation, the Vindicare's cool head and relaxant-stimmed body contributed to him still being able to fire a perfect shot, the ridiculously high-bore shell entered the body of the titanic machine, penetrating deep to its core, and in either a show of complete luck, or insane proficiency, the Alien monolith sank to the ground and burst into flames, whatever had powered it was destroyed, and it was rendered inert, with this the Vindicare was dropped back to the ground and he retrieved his Exitus rifle, loading a new shell into the chamber as if nothing had happened.
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| The Grey Knights take the fight to their foe. |
The Grey Knights had fought off the invasion of their position, but they still had the menacing forms of the Necron Lords and Anrakyr to contend with, and the wave of scarabs converging on their position...
NECRON TURN 3
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| The Scarabs advance upon the Dreadknight |
The withered form of a Cryptek mounted on anti-gravity suspensors lowered an archaic staff weapon towards the Vindicare Assassin and a great beam of energy seared across the landscape, annihilating the operative where he stood and reducing the wooded area around him to cinders, retribution for the destruction of the Monolith.
Anrakyr charged into the Acolytes and cut them down to a man in a fierce and bloody slaughter, their attacks raining down upon his metallic body with the effectiveness of falling rain, he paused after the slaughter and turned to face the Grey Knight Strike squad which were now moving towards him reloading their weapons..
The Dreadknight reeled against his tormentors in combat, but the Necron Lords failed to do any more damage to him, he was holding out for as long as possible and help was finally close at hand...
GREY KNIGHTS TURN 4
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| Strike Squad Ovidius piles into the Necron Lords |
Strike Squad Ovidius charged into the Necron Lords fighting the Dreadknight, one of the battle brothers succumbing to the mindshackle scarabs but managing not to attack any of his brethren, Justicar Ovidius felled both the Lords with a cleaving blow from his Nemesis Daemon hammer, the marines consolidated back to their battle lines, withdrawing towards their own objective.
While the Grey Knight's backs were turned, the Lords both slowly pulled themselves together and staggered back to their feet, refusing to die yet again.
Strike Squad Decimus piled into Anrakyr and he cleaved one of them in two before succuming to a series of punishing blows, whatever essence contained within his shell sucked out by the Force weapons, leaving an empty metallic husk..
The other Dreadknight strode amongst the ruins, flaming great swathes of scarabs to death with his heavy Incinerator and charging a pair of the monstrous Canoptek Scarabs, destroying them with his Nemesis Greatsword.
NECRON TURN 4
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| The Scarabs swarm towards the Grey Knight battle lines |
The Scarabs swarmed accross the hill and into combat with the Strike Squad in the ruins as well as the damaged Dreadknight, and despite the great amounts of damage wreaked by both, the sheer number of scarabs managed to kill both the pilot and reduce the squad of greyknights to bloodied remains, a dark day for the Grey Knight Brotherhood.
The Necron Immortals fired volley after volley of shots into the Grey Knight Terminators, wounding Coteaz and felling another one of them, but the Grey Knights held firm and continued to press forward, The Necron Lords charged into them again but were deflected yet again, as much as they refused to die, their skill in combat was no match for the superhuman warriors.
GREY KNIGHT TURN 5
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| Grand Master Valdek and company heroically defend the objective |
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| Add caption |
The Grey knights strike out at the Immortals before them, killing several and taking no casaulties in return, The Cryptek raises it's staff to fire upon the Grey Knights, but the bearer of the Brotherhood Banner reaches out with his free hand, grabbing the Alien's face and closing his grip, servoes in his armour grind and whir, but eventually the metal caves in and the Cryptek's head is torn from his shoulders, as the Standard bearer holds it aloft for all to see. But despite this, the remaining alien machines hold fast and with time running out bringing the engagement to a hard fought conclusion...
NECRON TURN 5
With most of the forces locked in combat this would be the deciding factor in the battle, The Scarabs that had succeeded in killing the Strike Squad and Dreadknight pile into Squad Ovidius, killing all of them bar the Justicar himself, who returns the favour and crushes vast swathes of them with his Daemon Hammer.
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| Scarabs swarm accross sergeant Ovidius. |
The Grey Knight Terminators renewed with the death of the Cryptek redouble their efforts and cut down the remaining Immortals, but their hearts sink as a great cloud of Scarabs crests the Ghost Ark wreckage and sweeps towards them, time had run out, Grand Master Valdek gave the order to withdraw, though neither force had gained the upper hand this day, the losses were unacceptable to the Brotherhood. They would have to return with reinforcements to cleanse the planet...
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Well. That was a gruelling game ending in a draw altogether, i would say it was fun, but it really wasn't haha, though no fault of my opponent's, the Necrons are top-tier customers now, but i can't help but feel the game dynamics of Scarab-producing Spyders and Mindshackle scarabs are a little generous in the game mechanic... though i'm sure things will reset quite well when 6th edition rolls around..
People complain about Grey Knights, but i just don't see it, they still die like normal marines and there are less of them, sure they have definitely got above average offensive capability, but they don't really have many tricks to stop them dying (bar perhaps the obscene number of points i've spent on my Grandmaster to aid his unit in combat with Grenades).
I look forward to a rematch in future, at 1750 points, i don't really like 1500, the game seems to have moved away from it, it's odd how the extra 250 points makes a list seem less clumsy and just more rounded out, plus, that game was filled with some obscene rolling for the Necrons, the game actually went to turn 7, but i paraphrased the last couple of turns into one as it was bogged down into such a slug fest.
One important thing i learned post-game is that it is actually possible to stop an Ever-living model from coming back to life if you can shunt enough bodies over the token for him once he dies, he needs to be able to be placed within 3" of the marker and not within 1" of an enemy model, so i could have actually ensured the cursed pair of Necron Lords stayed dead the second time i killed them, i have however, honed lots of tricks for fighting Necrons that will be useful in future, this was more of a measuring of the army than a titanic struggle.
Still good old Grey Knights performed pretty admirably in the situation, and i still love the Vindicare Assassin, taking out the Monolith in one shot stopped me being rolled over completely.
Onwards!
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