Necron Nommy Con: Tyranids vs Necrons

It's a time for a clash of two titans - that's a clash of titans whose combined dice rolling can only ever add up to two - All Skype Fight Night!

Iiiiin the TyranRed Corner

It's me, Kraken! And I'm loaning General Rapid's smashingly painted Hive Fleet Bwlch for the evening, presumably named for the noises they make after eating Necrons. 

Seven hundred and fifty points conveniently buys me almost exactly what he has painted. Two big genestealer squads, a Broodlord to lead them and a winged Tyrant with an adaptation I haven't tried before, namely the Ravenous Ammunition for his guns. If his shots kill a model, the unit takes a d3 mortal wounds at the end of the phase, which might help the robots stay properly dead. 

Hive Fleet Kraken is the most sensible way to run genestealer-heavy lists, so that's what I'm taking. It's been a while, and it feels like coming home!

Tyranid Patrol Detachment, 750 points and 6 CPs

• HQ - Hive Tyrant, twin Deathspitters with Slimer Maggots, Lash Whip and Monstrous Bonesword, Wings, Chameleonic Mutation relic, Ravenous Ammunition adaptation, Adrenal Glands, Smite, The Horror and Synaptic Lure powers and quite possibly a growth that looks like a kitchen sink
• HQ - Broodlord with Catalyst and Smite powers
• Troops - 14 Genestealers with Rending Claws
• Troops - 13 Genestealers with Rending Claws

Necriiiiin the Blue Corner

Taking the reins of the opposition is General Rapid, whose Necrons have been stealthily growing in number over the last year. This is very much a no-frills army, three units of Warriors captained by a Lord, who is in turn captained by his Overlord. 

They've got a couple of handy relics, the Veil of Darkness for a teleport slingshot and the Orb of Eternity to bring back any Warriors who forget to reanimate the first time round. The whole lot are blessed with a pair of army traits that make them very nasty at close quarters, with their rapid fire weapons gaining strength as well as enemy losing toughness in melee. And this is before you take into account their big flying ambulance, the Ghost Ark. Nasty!

Necron Battalion Detachment, 748 points and 5 CPs

• HQ - Overlord with Warlord with Thrall of the Silent King trait, Veil of Darkness relic, Tachyon Arrow and Hyperphase Glaive
• HQ - Lord with Orb of Eternity Relic (dynastic heirloons strat, -1 cp), Staff of Light
• Troops - 11 Necron Warriors with Gauss Flayers
• Troops - 10 more Necron Warriors with Gauss Flayers
• Troops - You guessed it, 10 more Necron Warriors with Gauss Flayers
• Dedicated Transport - Ghost Ark
• Dynastic Choice - Custom : Isolationists (+1 to rapid fire weapon strength within 12in), Rad wreathed (-1 to enemy toughness whilst within 1in)
  

Mission and Terrain

Maelstrom of War for us tonight! Never Surrender, where the current loser gets a bonus objective, which has been a hit with us on the blog to date. 

Tyranid Objectives: 

• Heroic Deeds (mostly kill stuff with characters) 
• Raid (get out there)
• Brought Low (kill stuff, particularly vehicles and monsters)

These are very aggressive objectives. Get in fast and nasty and hope I can do the damage I need, because trying to hold objectives is going to get me shot full of holes at arms' length, the exact weakness of this list!

Necron Objectives: 

• Eradication (wipe them out, all of them)
• Holding the Line (don't let the wrong ones in)
• Brought Low (as above)

Rapid is hosting, so this splendid battlefield is courtesy of him:

It used to be a nice neighbourhood until those Blood Angels went and smashed their rides all over it

Deployment

Once the objectives are out (we're going from the short edges, my 1 and 2 are labelled A and B), both of us reveal that we've got no deep strikers or flankers. 

I stick one unit of Genestealers on objective B, inside the church, with the others screening the Broodlord to the south. The Hive Tyrant goes a confident front and centre, knowing that he's the big dog on this battlefield and happy to draw any fire he can. 

Rapid's Necrons camp out in the ruins, almost as far back as they can get so that I can't charge them on turn one if I go first. Which I do. 

Tyranids Turn 1

Objective Draw:

Tyranids: Overwhelming Assault (raid), Slay the Defenders (raid), Crippling Blow (brought low)

Necrons:  Hit them Hard (eradication), Fall Back Position (hold the line), Overwhelm (brought low)

So I've got lots of points on offer if I can rush out, grab objectives 1 and 2, kill an enemy unit and bracket a tank! 

From this distance, it's a bit of a tall order. Not completely impossible, though I reckon trying to grab both objectives will leave me dangling a bit. 

As such, the northern Genestealers make a 18" Opportunistic Advance, getting them to within a long leap of the Ghost Ark, and the Tyrant backs them. The other unit heads for the middle, but even with the Kraken advance rolls I don't get as close to the central objective as I need and bunker them into a crater instead. 

Catalyst on the larger Genestealer pack, a big smite for four wounds off the Ark along with Synaptic Lure for a free reroll to charge it - the psychic phase is everything I could have hoped for! Shooting is short and tame, though, as even with Caustic Slime on my Deathspitters I can only get a single hit through on the Ghost Bus, and my dream of an easy bracketing falls short. 

The Genestealers can't quite run the ten inches they'd need either, so I'm going to have to hope there's enough left after the inevitable shootery coming my way to get them all later. 

Necrons Turn 1

(Command Protocol: Protocol of Eternal Guardian - Directive 2)

My worries of a first turn charge are abated, but its pretty clear that turn 2 for the 'Nids is going to end up in combat. I decide to disembark the Warriors from the Ghost Ark, pushing them forward into the crater and over the objective marker. Maybe this will help towards 'Overwhelm'. I'm also pretty keen to see how the custom dynasty traits Rad Wreathed and Isolationists help out.

I saw the Veil of darkness as a way to get a squad and HQ out of the way, clearly I'm about to get trapped in my deployment. Pushing a squad to the other side of the board is giving Kraken something else to think about. It also allows me to shoot his Hive tyrant as well. 

Deciding that the Broodlord is the tastier and more easily kill-able target, My Overlord shoots his Tachyon arrow into him, taking him down to 1 wound! Damn! The surrounding warriors finish him off. Split fire was an option, but my luck doesn't hold out like that.

All in, 8 Genestealers and the Broodlord is taken down. Not a bad showing but its about to get a lot more hurty.

Points Scored: Tyranids 0, Necrons 10 (Fall Back Position and Overwhelm)

Tyranids Turn 2

Objective Draw:

Tyranids: Overwhelm (BL), Coordinated Strikes (BL), Take and Hold (raid), Driving Rush (raid)

Necrons: Hit them Hard (eliminate), Outmanouver (Brought Low), Crippling Strike (Brought Low) 

Overwhelm and Take and Hold tell me to grab his home objectives, Driving Rush is have an unengaged model in his territory, so that's all achievable. Coordinated Strikes is a tricky one, I need to have two or more units work together to kill the Ghost Ark, but I can see a way of doing it. 

As such, the Genestealers all sprint at the Necron deployment zones, with the Tyrant bounding down between the Ark and the recently disembarked Warriors. It then showers them with smites and hungry worms, but the damn things keep getting back up! Six wounds done but only two dead. 

The Tyrant also paints some more bacon smell on the Ark with Synaptic Lure, better to help the other Genestealers reach it. Then he and they charge it while the smaller 'Stealer unit pounces on the battered Warriors. 

I've carefully worked out my ordering here - the Necrons could interrupt, so the small Genestealers go first. They do well, leaving just two standing, but they've taken losses from Overwatch and vengeful slapping. And where there are two standing, there could easily be a lot more soon, and I need that point! So I have to spend all of my remaining CPs to go round again, and this time the last Necrons stay down.

 

I was really hoping he didn't kill them all. The Ghost Ark could have reanimated D6 in my turn. This was well executed by Mr Kraken. DAMN.

The other Genestealers do a stirling job of weakening the Ghost Ark (the bacon smell really works), but the Tyrant is clearly concentrating on other things and completely whiffs his attacks. Dammit! At least it's bracketed temporarily, although it partially grows back in the next round. 

Necrons Turn 2

 (Command Protocol: Protocol of Sudden Storm - Directive 1)

Whilst the 1 squad of warriors was dead, the Ghost Ark miraculously survived. Dropping the strat for 4+ invuln and its shields did a great job. 

Its about now I realise the last squad of Warriors in my deployment zone are about to get rinsed by the bigger Genestealer squad, they want more metal... Metallic balls to the wall, the warriors push forward. My will be done from the Lord gives me re rolls of 1 on these boys. +1 to the weapons strength from my dynastic trait.. The whole squad of Genestealers are erased! Couldn't believe that worked so well!

The warrior squad sat in the enemies back yard shoot 3 of the 4 left over Genestealers down, leaving one to hide in the crater.

Leaving Kraken with a single Genestealer and the HT,  I begin to wonder how the HT is going to be killed. There aren't many high Strength or AP weapons. Weight of dice is the only available option

 

Points Scored: Tyranids 10 (Take and Hold and Driving Rush), Necrons 5 (Outmanouver)

Tyranids Turn 3

Objective Draw:

Tyranids: Crippling Blow (BL), Overwhelming Assault (raid), Push Them Out (Raid), Bigger They Are (BL)

Necrons: Cut the Head from the Serpent (E), Targets Held (HtL), Hit Them Hard (E)

The last Genestealer hides as far in the crater as it possibly can. If I can somehow keep it alive, there are plenty of points to be had for holding enemy objectives, but I can't say I'm hopeful!

My best chance for points is to kill the Ghost Ark, then spend command points to Overrun the Tyrant back on to Objective A. Holding more than the enemy could score me Overwhelming Assault in theory, although it won't take much for a bunch of Warriors to take it off me. 

The plan is sound. The achieving of it? Not so much. I slap The Horror on the southern Warriors to possibly help them miss the Genestealer, shoot a few away with my hungry caterpillar gun, then hit the Ark as hard as I can. But it's another whifforama, and the only wound I can scrape off is a single point smite that will regenerate almost immediately! Rapid keeps giving the barge extra Quantum shields with a strat, plus I keep a barrage of ones and twos throughout. Not a great turn!

Necrons Turn 3

(Command Protocol: Protocol of the Hungry Void - Directive 2)

This Ghost Ark is made of some tough stuff.. Its still alive! He moves out of combat, not wanting to give Kraken the points for its death, although its very likely to die soon.

There isn't much i can do this round apart from move the Overlord and Warrior squad out of the building, but keep in range of the objective just in case. 

 

The other squad of warriors move forward to get a bead on the single Genestealer. He's dealt with, taking away Kraken's ability to hold an objective and netting me some points. 

 

Rapid fire into the HT plinks off some wounds but doesn't really do that great deal. The HT is going to take some killing..

Points Scored: Tyranids 0, Necrons 5 (Hit Them Hard)

Tyranids Turn 4

Objective Draw:

Tyranids: Tear Down Their Heroes (BL), The Bigger They Are The Harder They Fall (BL), Slay the Defenders (raid), Savage Duel (Heroic Deeds)

Nec: Coordinated Strike (BL), Expunge the Witch (eliminate), Cut The Head (eliminate)

The objectives are the best news I've had all game. Multiple results that I couldn't achieve (usually holding multiple objectives) lets me cherry pick a selection that could really get me back in the fight. 

That Ghost Ark is the most expensive unit on the Necron team. Tearing it down will net me some big prize fight cash, and the Hive Tyrant is absolutely the best unit to do it. Pausing only to regrow three wounds with Rapid Regeneration, mostly as a finger in the eye to the tryhard Necron vehicle, the big bug leaps into battle. 

And this time, he's woken up! My poor rolls from previous turns vanish, and between smites, giant flesh-eating maggots and some good, old-fashioned whipping, the Ark finally comes apart. Score!

Necrons Turn 4

(Command Protocol: Protocol of Conquering Tyrant - Directive 2)

My objectives all include the death of the HT to score me 15 points. I resolve to throw the warriors at the HT, its not really a sound tactic, but stranger things have happened.They charge into him and plink off a few wounds and in return losing 3 Warriors. The -1 to toughness made no difference in combat due to his higher toughness.

Points Scored: Tyranids 18 (Tear Down Their Heroes, The Bigger They Are, Slay the Defenders), Necrons 0

Tyranids Turn 5

Objective Draw:

Tyr: Slay the Defenders (Raid), Outmanouver (BL), Push them Out (Raid) 

Nec: Cut the Head from the Serpent and Expunge the Witch (Eliminate), Outmanouver & Overwhelm (BL)

This is looking very close. Even just one objective could be vital here, and there's a few potentials. However, I'm bogged down in melee, and if I flee, I won't be doing any fighting. So the path to victory is through the mangled steel of the Necrons. 

I've got a lone command point, and the plan is (as before) to kill the Warriors, then Overrun to Objective 1 for a potentially uncatchable 10 point score. This starts badly when the Tyrant fails his Smite, however, and I dither about using the point to just kill the Warriors instead. 

No! I decide, stick to the plan! For I can shoot in combat too! Spraying ravenous eels in all directions, I lay into the Warriors for all my worth. 

It's good, but it's not right - I kill seven of the nine, and then one gets up again, taps the others on the shoulders and tells them its time to go. Aaaaargh I should have rerolled that Smite!

Necrons Turn 5

 (Command Protocol: Protocol of undying legions - Directive 2)

 

Very very much surprised the Warriors survived that! Being behind, I'm allowed an additional objective. Killing the HT and holding the points could give me 20 points and push me back into the lead. 

Starting with a tactical withdrawal from the warriors towards the point, there isnt much that the HT can do about that.The lord moves up for a long charge into the HT.

The last squad of warriors move closer, its more symbolic than anything. 

All the bullets fly into the HT and plink of a solitary wound! Damn. 

My last option is the Lord. He attempts a charge but fails. 

Luckily I score 2 of my objectives which gives me 10 points.

Points Scored: Tyranids 0, Necrons 10 (Outmanouver and Overwhelm)

Result: Victory to the Necrons, 30:28!

Locker Room

Smashing game! Even with just a single model to fight with, I had every chance to take this. That early teleport strike really did a number on me, though - the Broodlord would have made a big difference here, and losing his Catalyst and general prowess was a nasty hit that I should have seen coming!

 

Usual for for me is to forget such useful options, but this time there was a clear hole left for me to push forward. I was terrified of the first turn charge. It want that far off being achieved by Kraken though! 

The extra objective for the tailing side is a great help in this game. Although I'd like to try some of the other Maelstrom missions, it's hard to see how they'd beat this mechanic. 

 

This is a great mechanic, the last round could well have ended up a 25:28 instead!

Looks like I have some reading to do about Necrons! Fun to play against, certainly, with a good mix of frustration as they get up against knowing I could outrun them or beat them with focussed attacks. Masochist that I am, it's also fun getting smashed up by bizarre and esoteric weapons that I only dimly understand. Given that this was a pretty vanilla list, there's lots more weird glowy death out there to experience, and I'm looking forwards to it!

 

Looking back, the protocol choice was quite poor by myself. Not even sure i used them. Its all learning!

The custom dynasty traits are fun though. -1 to toughness really does make things more tasty. Warriors wounding T4 (T3) units on a 3 is a nice uptick.

+1 to strength within 12in on rapid fire weapons is also great. This was proved with the decimation of that genestealer squad. 

Ive been toying with my Necrons as a custom awakening for a while. I believe these might be the ticket to their shenanigans. May have also discovered a play style for me as well. 

Thank you for an awesome game Kraken!

Cheers to Rapid for a great game, and as ever, there will be more to come!