The Roost of Turkadactyl

Jerrod and I haven’t played each other for a couple of months so we were due for a game.  I requested to play against Jerrod’s Necrons with the list I used for the Out Of The Basement event.  Jerrod’s list is tough as I found out with my Sisters.  He dishes out a lot of firepower and those blasted robots keep getting back up for more punishment.

Carcharodons Gladius Strike Force

Battle Demi-Company

• Captain- power armour, power sword
• 5 Tactical Marines- sgt, bolter, boltgun, close combat weapon upgrade (Carcharodons can give Tacticals a CCW for one point per model)
• 5 Tactical Marines- sgt, bolter, boltgun, close combat weapon upgrade
• 5 Tactical Marines- sgt, bolter, boltgun, close combat weapon upgrade (Carcharodons can give Tacticals a CCW for one point per model)
• 3 Assault Centurion Marines- siege drill, twin-linked flamers
• 3 Devastator Centurion Marines- grav cannon and grav amp, missile launchers

Strike Force Command

• Tyberos- Warlord (Preferred Enemy- Infantry)
• 5 Honour Guard- chapter banner

1st Company Task Force

• 10 red Brethren Assault Terminators- lightning claws
• 5 Assault Terminators- thunderhammer and stormshield
• 5 Sternguard- 2 missile launchers

• Overlord- Warlord (gains Hatred if opponent refuses a challenge), resurrection orb, gauntlet of fire
• 20 Necron Warriors
• 15Necron Warriors
• 3 Tomb blades- particle beamers
• 10 Immortals

• Destroyer Lord- warscythe
• 3 Destroyers
• 3 Destroyers
• 3 Destroyers
• 3 Heavy Destroyers

• Doomsday Ark
• Annihilation Barge
• Annihilation Barge

We are playing the Maelstrom Tactical Escalation mission.  That means we start the game with one objective card.  Each turn the player can hold the same number of cards as the turn number.   I win deployment and first turn.

I choose the end with the Shrine in the middle of the deployment.  It will be a great location for the Sternguard to fire missiles from.  There is also an objective on the top-level.  If Jerrod had that side his Heavy Destroyers will be able to snipe my advance.   A Tactical Marine squad takes cover on the second level of the Shrine.  They are close to three objectives.  They can respond to an objective when needed and act as a reserve in case the Necrons evade my assault force.

I split my army into two.  There is a ruin on my right with a tactical objective.  I hide a Tactical Marine squad in the ruin.  Their soul purpose is to camp on the ruin and jump out as a reserve force if necessary.  The Devastator Centurions station themselves on the second and third level of the ruins for maximizing fire.  I combat squad the Red Brethren and place one squad between the Shrine and ruins.  Tyberos joins that squad.  They are accompanied by the thunderhammer Terminators.

On my left I have the Assault Centurions, second combat squad of Red Brethren, Captain with the Honour Guard and third squad of Tactical Marines.  The Marines purpose is to claim the objective.  the other units will plow forward to into the Necron defences.

Jerrod splits his forces into two.  The Fortress of Redemption stands in the middle of the field and will cut off his field of vision.  Jerrod knows I will be running towards him.  He ensures that both lanes of fire are covered.

Most of his force is placed on his left side.  The Ghost Ark sits at the back of the field on top of the hill.  The Ghost Ark will see Tyberos and company advance and has line of sight to the Assault Centurions and Captain for a couple of turns.  The Heavy Destroyers set up shop in the ruins on Jerrod’s left.  They are sitting on an objective.  A unit of Destroyers with the Destroyer Lord are parked in front of the ruins along with the unit of 15 Warriors.   The Immortal and an Annihilation Barge are to the right of the ruins.

The Tomb Blades and a unit of Destroyers are hiding behind the Fortress.

The second Annihilation Barge and the third unit of Destroyers set up camp in one of the Fortress battlements.  The Overlord and the unit of 20 Warriors hide out in the ruins on Jerrod’s right.  These units will attempt to stop the advance of the Assault Centurions and Captain.

Jerrod fails with his attempt to seize the initiative and there is no night fight.

Turn 1

As expected I advance my front line forward.  The mysterious objectives are rolled and I roll a bomb for the ruins and Shrine.  Well nuts.  Everything runs that can.  Tyberos will not run as he needs the time to assess his target for the orbital bombardment.  Tyberos will be scolding the communications officer during debrief.  The blast scatters and one warrior is killed.  The Sternguard target the Annihilation Barge in the Fortress and cause one glancing hit.  We are tied 0-0.

The Tomb Blades and Destroyers advance forward towards the thunderhammer Terminators.  The Immortals progress through the trees slow and methodically.  The Annihilation Barge triggers the objective in the ruins and gets +1 to cover.

The Doomsday Ark powers up, analyzes the field and targets Tyberos.  The blast scatters but manages to kill 4 Red Brethren.  Tyberos emerges from the ashes and is taking numbers.

The Heavy Destroyers have the Grav Centurions in their site and kill one.  Lady luck is on the side of the floating robots for their mysterious objective is +1 to cover.

The Immortals, Warriors, Annihilation Barge and Destroyers target the thunderhammer Terminators and cut the squad down to two.

Jerrod’s right flank target the Honour Guard and two are killed.

Turn 2

My front line advances forward more.  I drop my tape measure on top of my blob of models and two Tactical Marines pop off the base.  Project time!  That squad will move like molasses for the rest of the game.  I rolled a 4 and 2 for difficult terrain in the first turn.  Every turn after I rolled a 2 and 1.  The Assault Centurions claim the objective and get targeting relay.

Shooting doesn’t solve much for me.  One Destroyer in the Destroyer Lord’s unit is killed.  The Destroyer Lord takes a wound.

The full combat squad of Red Brethren attempt to charge the Annihilation Barge and come up short.  They had to cover a big distance and were unable to scramble up to the battlements.  The thunderhammer Terminators attempt to charge the Tomb Blades and come up short.  One is shot down to overwatch.

Tyberos charges the Tomb Blades and is successful.  What makes the assault even better is two Tomb Blades are killed and they pass their leadership.  That most certainly spells the doom for the sole surviving thunderhammer Terminator.

I score one victory point for claiming objective three.  The score is 1-0.

The Destroyer Lord and Immortals advance on Tyberos.  The plan is to overwhelm disgusting flesh covered organism and win through attrition.  The 20 man unit of Warriors advance forward.

This will come as no surprise.  The thunderhammer Terminator is killed for first blood.  I had two saves to make and failed.  The Heavy Destroyers target the Grav Centurions again and kill another model.  The Overlord and Warriors target the Honour Guard and kill another esteemed veteran and put a wound on the Captain.

The Destroyer Lord with Destroyer entourage and Immortals charge Tyberos.  They manage to do some damage but it is not enough.  The sole Red Brethren is killed and Tyberos takes three wounds.  The Doomsday Ark pissed him off.  Now he is infuriated.  The Destroyer Lord is killed in a challenge and one Destroyer is killed in the process.  The Red Brethren lashes out at the Tomb Blade and kills it before he is overwhelmed by the Immortals.  Jerrod ties the game 1-1 with first blood.

Turn 3

The Honour Guard, Red Brethren and Assault Centurions advance towards the Overlord and Destroyers.  The Tactical Marines in the woods advance two inches towards the objective.

Shooting doesn’t solve too much for me.  The Honour Guard target the Overlord and two Warriors are killed.  The Sternguard and Grav Centurion are spectators more than anything else this battle.

Tyberos kills the last Destroyer and survives the attacks from the Immortals.

The Honour Guard fail their charge into the Overlord and the Assault Centurions fails the charge into the Annihilation Barge.  The Red Brethren are successful with their charge into Destroyers.  One brother is lost to overwatch and the Brethren unleash their fury and kill two Destroyers.

Then a bomb goes off.  The Sternguard were complacent and failed to see the trap self-activate.  The bomb explodes and three Sternguard are killed with two of them carrying the missile launchers.

I gain a victory point for killing one unit.  The score is 2-1.

The Warriors on Jerrod’s left hug the edge of the board and try to avoid Tyberos.  They advance forward to my board edge.  Jerrod is keeping a unit of Destroyers close to the Immortals.

The Overlord senses the time is now to rid himself of the Sharknado.  He has no chainsaw available so uses the next best thing- gauss.  I make every lookout sir roll except one and that ends up causing a wound on the Captain.  Thank you Artificer Armour.  The Doomsday Ark powers up and targets the Captain and Honour Guard.  One wound is caused and the Captain is killed.  The Sharknado Chapter Banner survives.  The Annihilation Barge on the Fortress targets the Assault Centurions and kills one.

Combat goes in favour of the Imperium’s finest warriors.  The Red Brethren eliminate the last Destroyer and advance towards the Overlord.  Tyberos obliterates two Immortals.  The Immortals cause no damage and fail their leadership.  Tyberos follows them.  The Red Brethren and Tyberos now have Rage.

Jerrod hold the line with three units within twelve inches of his board edge for one victory point.  The score is 2-2.

Turn 4

My Tactical Marines in the trees finally make it to the edge closest to the objective.  It appears they strayed off the path in Mirkwood and they have finally found their way out.

The only shooting that did any damage was my two Sternguard had the Immortals in range and killed one.

Tyberos was torn.  He had a unit of Destroyers and the Immortals to choose from.  In the end he decides to finish what he started and charges the Immortals and kills three.

The Red Brethren and Honour Guard charge the Overlord.  The Red Brethren make it in, however, the Honour Guard fail.  Five Warriors and killed and cause no damage in return.  The squad was spread out and the Overlord was unable to swing into the combat.

The Assault Centurions make a successful charge into the Annihilation Barge.  The Veteran Sergeant drills into the power supply and the contraption explodes.  The Centurions hop off the ledge and out of sight from the Doomsday Ark.  I destroy an enemy unit in its deployment zone for one victory point.  The score is now 3-2 for me.

The Warriors on Jerrod’s left advance forward.  They fire on the Grav Centurion and kill the last member.  I had five saving throws and rolled two ones.  Jerrod scores one victory point for destroying a unit.  the Destroyers sneak past Tyberos and advance forward to the Shrine.

The Doomsday Ark sees the Tactical Marines standing on the border of Mirkwood and sends a blast as a reward.  The Marines feel at home in the woods now and go to ground.  They survive the onslaught.

Now it is time for the Carcharodons to have fun.  Tyberos kills 1 Immortal.  The Overlord fails the Fear test and three Warriors are slain.  The Overlord fails the leadership and they fall back six inches.  The Red Brethren follow in silence waiting to strike again.

The score is tied 3-3.

Turn 5

The Tactical Marines in the Shrine and the Sternguard target the Destroyers and take a wound off.  The Assault Centurions hug the Fortress.  They know the Doomsday Ark is waiting for them to emerge and are willing to play a game of stalemate.  Sharknado advances into the ruins to hide from the doomsday Ark.

Tyberos kills the last two Immortals and consolidates to objective number six for a victory point.  The mysterious objective grants +1 to cover.

The Red Brethren charge the Overlord again.  They kill five Warriors and sustain no casualties.  The Overlord fails the leadership test and they run of the board.  I roll a D3 for a slay the warlord card and a D3 for killing a character.  I roll a one for each.  I also score one victory point for Slay the Warlord.

I am winning 7-3.

The Destroyers and Warriors advance forward.  The Destroyers shoot the Sternguard and kill the last two.

The Doomsday Ark targets the Red Brethren and eliminates one brother.  The Annihilation barge and Heavy Destroyers target Tyberos.  Tyberos goes to ground and has +2 to cover with the objective bonus taken into account.  Tyberos survives the volley of fire.  Jerrod claims objective two for one victory point.  The score is 7-4 for me.  We roll for turn six and Jerrod has a chance to catch me.

Turn 6

The two Tactical Marine squads jump out of the ruins and Shrine and advance towards the Destroyers.  The squad in the ruins is down to two models.  Three had been picked off during earlier turns but I didn’t document it.  The Assault Centurions hug the Fortress and advance back to my deployment zone and in range of the hurricane bolters.  The combined shooting takes off one wound from the Destroyers.

The Red Brethren hide in the ruins.  A door blocks line of sight from the Doomsday Ark.  Sharknado makes a dash for the Fortress and makes sure he remains out of sight.  I made a mistake on Linebreaker.  I thought the ruling was opponents deployment zone but it is twelve inches from the opponents board edge.  I thought I would get Linebreaker but they would not score.

The Tactical Marines in Mirkwood roll a six for difficult terrain.  They advance out and claim the objective five.  I had two cards so they score two victory points.

The other two Tactical Marine squads charge the Destroyers and score a victory point for a successful charge.  The Tactical Marines cause one wound.  The Destroyers pass the Leadership test.  The score is now 10-4 for me.

Jerrod points the Doomsday Ark, Annihilation Barge and Heavy Destroyers at Tyberos.  Tyberos is still holding the scatterfield objective and has a 4+ cover save in the woods.  I decide to take a risk and not go to ground.  I realize that I will potentially be giving up Slay the Warlord but if Tyberos survives and we go to turn seven he will destroy one of those three units.  Jerrod opens fire and when the dust settles Tyberos is staring the Necrons down.  Tyberos had one wound left since round two and lives to fight some more.  This was an exciting and anxious round of shooting for both of us.  The Heavy Destroyers claim objective six.  Jerrod has two cards and scores two victory points.

The Tactical Marines swing first in combat and kill a Destroyer.  The Marines take no casualties in return.

The score is 10-6.  We roll for turn seven and the game ends.

What a great game.  Necrons dominated the shooting and Carchardons dominated the assault.  It didn’t take too many models for me to get in to turn the tide.  Jerrod made a few reanimation protocol rolls but it wasn’t enough compared to the savagery the Carcharodons can dish out.  Model count wise it looked liked Jerrod was going to take this until I got into his front lines.  Tyberos was a beast this turn.  He took out a Destroyer Lord, two Destroyers, the Tomb Blades, Immortals and survived two rounds of shooting from the heavy weapons.  He was the man of the match for sure.

Jerrod and I will be playing this Friday.  GW West Edmonton is doing a campaign over the next few weeks.  A random draw was done and my Tyranids are up against Jerrod’s Tau.