Endurance Cron-test: Necrons vs Death Guard

 

Pootle here! I fancied a game and Rapid obliged me, choosing to take command of some of my Death Guard. I've only played one game with my Necrons since I got Indomitus, so I decided to give them another crack. Two very resilient armies here: will both sides refuse to die or will someone break?

Necrons - Szarekhan dynasty

Last time I played as Novokh and I think that's a pretty strong dynasty. In the interest of trying out other rules though I decided to be Szarekhan this time (each unit gets to reroll one wound roll when shooting or fighting and everyone gets a 5+++ against mortal wounds).

I've got a few newly painted units that I want to put into the list today. Top of the list is a Doom Scythe, which looks fantastic but could be brittle with T6 and no invuln save. More great-looking models are a Skorpekh Lord and three Skorpekh Destroyers; I'm sure these guys will be very effective (though two of the Destroyers have damage 2 weapons, which will be wasted against Disgustingly Resilient). I spend 2CPs to beef up the Lord, giving him the Nanoscarab Casket relic (he'll recover 2 wounds per turn instead of 1 from Living Metal) and the warlord trait Enduring Will (-1 damage from all attacks - appropriately mirroring Disgustingly Resilient). My warlord is an Overlord with the Szarekhan warlord trait The Triarch's Will (so he can pick the same Protocol twice) and I give him the Orb of Eternity to boost his Resurrection Orb to reanimate on 4+ once per game. I'm deliberately avoiding the fantastic Veil of Darkness relic this time to try a few other relics.

The boots-on-the-ground are provided by 20 Necron Warriors with the short-range Gauss Reapers, 5 Immortals and two units of 3 Scarabs.

Necron Patrol Detachment

• HQ: Overlord - Warscythe, Resurrection Orb, The Orb of Eternity, The Triarch's Will
• HQ: Skorpekh Lord - Extra relic: Nanoscarab Casket, extra trait: Enduring Will
• Troops: 20 Necron Warriors - Gauss Reaper
• Troops: 5 Immortals - Gauss Blaster
• Elites: 3 Skorpekh Destroyers
• Fast Attack: 3 Scarab Swarms
• Fast Attack: 3 Scarab Swarms
• Flyer: Doom Scythe

Points: 1000 | Power Level 48 | Battle-forged - Extra Relic & Warlord Trait = 4 CPs

Death Guard - The Inexorable

I've not run these many times before, and certainly not in 9th. Those times in 8th were great fun and I hope for a repeat this time.

I claim to be no expert with Death Guard so I decided to go with a few simple ideas. Marines with big sticks in a Rhino to get up the table. Bloatdrone for all that mowing, lets see if I can mow some stripes down those metal skeletons. Poxwalkers for tar-pitting and Terminators to drop in and cause some havoc.

I love Daemon Princes and decided to kit him out with wings and the Suppurating Plate relic to attempt to kick back some mortal wounds. 

Death Guard Patrol Detachment

• HQ: Daemon Prince - Hellforged Sword, Foetid Wings, Miasma of Pestilence. Warlord trait: Revoltingly Resilient, The Suppurating Plate
• Troops: 7 Plague Marines - 3 x Boltguns, 1 x Bubotic Axe, 1 x Flail of Corruption, 1 x Bubotic Axe & Mace of Contagion, Champion with Daemonic Plague Blade, Boltgun & Power Fist
• Troops: 7 Plague Marines - 5 x Boltguns, 1 x Blight Launcher, Champion with Plague Knife, Boltgun & Power Fist
• Troops: 10 Poxwalkers
• Elites: 5 Blightlord Terminators - Bubotic Axes and Comb-Bolters
• Fast Attack: Foetid Bloatdrone - Fleshmower
• Dedicated Transport: Rhino - Havoc Launcher

Points: 1000 | Power Level 57 | 6 CPs

Mission, terrain and objectives

We randomly generated Show of Force as our mission, deployment on the left and right of the table below. The mission-specific secondary (which we both took) is Minimise Losses, which gives 15VPs if we have 75% or more of the starting number of units at the end of the game, 10VPs if it's 50% or more and 5VPs if there are 25% or more.

For my secondaries I choose Engage on All Fronts (as the Scarabs and Doom Scythe should be good at zipping around the table), To The Last (5VPs for keeping each of the Doom Scythe, Warriors and Overlord alive at the end of the game), and Minimise Losses. 

I chose Stranglehold (for the Poxwalkers and one marine squad), To the Last (Daemon Prince, Bloatdrone and Terminators) and Minimise Losses. 

Deployment

The Poxwalkers are placed on the objective first, with the Plague Marines underneath the building, I hope they get the chance to run forward and take one of the middle objectives. 

Daemon prince tactically positions himself behind the Poxwalkers for some protection, and a good spring off point. 

Knowing my Rhino is going to be targeted soon on, especially if I don't get first turn, I hide it as best as possible behind the building but still able to spring forward to the objective and discharge some plague marines with big sticks!

The Bloatdrone is hidden and ready to spring out. It's keenly eyeing up the warriors and revving the mower with glee! 

I deploy the Scarabs ready to rush onto each of the two objectives in the midfield, with the Immortals and Skorpekhs on my home objective, ready to go left, right or hang back depending on what happens. The Doom Scythe is in my backfield as its tremendous speed means it can get anywhere it wants. 

I decide to place the Warriors and Overlord on my left flank to square off against the Rhino and its contents.

I win the roll-off for first turn, here we go...

Turn 1 - Necrons

I'd like to target the Daemon Prince with my Doom Scythe, but to do so would put the flyer danger-close if he doesn't kill it (which I doubt). So I fly down the southern flank to aim the Death Ray at the Rhino and the Tesla Destructor at the Poxwalkers.

Both units of Scarabs scuttle forwards to just claim the midfield objectives. The Warriors tiptoe forwards just a few inches to make sure that I'm more than 20" away from the Bloatdrone as although I have no flesh to mow, that thing will chew through skeletons in short order.

The Skorpekh contingent inch forwards to lurk behind the bulk of the hill and hold my home objective, whilst the Immortals move forwards ready to fire a few shots at the Rhino (I can just see the Doom Scythe knocking it down to one or two wounds remaining).

I start off putting the Doom Scythe's Tesla weaponry into the Poxwalkers, spending a CP on Malevolent Arcing so that any units within 6" take a mortal wound on a 4+. The DP is unscathed, but I do knock a wound off the Rhino (which may help later). I'm hoping to kill half the Poxwalkers, but a load of sixes cause the Tesla to generate a boatload of extra hits and Rapid then fails to roll a single FNP, so the whole unit is destroyed! Now onto the Rhino. Rapid spends a CP to pop smoke, which will make this harder. I need a CP reroll to get two hits for the Death Ray and then need the Szarekhan wound reroll to get both to wound, but both burn straight through the armour and as they're damage D3+3 the Rhino is destroyed, and, to add injury to injury, two of the Plague Marines fail to exit the wreckage alive. Wow, first and second blood to me, and that went a hell of a lot better than I'd dared to hope!

Objectives: Engage on All Fronts - 2VPs

Turn 1 - Death Guard

Well that absolutely smarted. My charge with the Rhino is blunted, and the Plague Marines are left with no wheels. My original plan needs some.. well.. tweaking. 

It's a big decision on whether to go for the Doom Scythe, considering the damage its done. I decided to reposition the DP for a charge down the middle and push forward the Plague Marines on my left, advancing onto the middle objective to steal it from the Scarabs. Both the DP and marines try to keep of Warrior shooting range. 

In shock, the big stick Plague Marines decide to hide behind the building, while the mini-great unclean ones orbiting their heads dissipate. I can't reasonably run these towards the Warriors and expect them to be alive on arrival.

My Bloatdrone moves over to my home objective: I need some points next turn. Without its Rhino backup, I don't fancy its chances getting to the Warriors. 

Objectives: none

2:0 to the Necrons

Turn 2 - Necrons

I'm on two objectives at the start of my turn, so that's 10VPs on Primaries. 

I move the Warriors forwards onto the northern objective, daring the Bloatdrone to charge them - it's now got a choice to make about where to go and this could be critical for the game. Meanwhile the Scarabs who were on that objective edge into the north-east table quarter for Engage purposes.

The Skorpekhs drop back onto the home objective and the Scarabs retreat from the southern objective to form a screen so the DP will have trouble charging them without a seriously good charge roll. The Immortals also fall back to screen against Blightlords teleporting in.

The Doom Scythe does not want to land anywhere near the Bloatdrone or DP as either could tear it from the sky, so flies into the far south east corner, from where it can still see the Bloatdrone (though I'm slightly intrigued by the acrobatics that would have been necessary to fire its forward-facing guns at that target). I unload everything at the daemon engine...and fail to cause any damage whatsoever. Hmmm, well I guess that balances out my hot shooting last turn.

Objectives: Primaries - 10VPs, Engage on All Fronts - 3VPs

15:0 to the Necrons

Turn 2 - Death Guard

My aim is to pivot my army around and consolidate my forces on my left. My big stick Plague Marines move onto the home objective and the Bloatdrone gets itself forward to try and do something. The Daemon Prince is looking for a fight and is doing his best to minimise his charge, eyes set on the those pesky Scarabs.. 

It's time to get my Terminators down from the teleportarium and join the party. 

After some diabolical shooting I plink a wound off the Destroyers. My Daemon Prince casts Miasma of Pestilence for that lovely -1 to hit. 

The Daemon Prince makes his charge and takes care of those deadly Scarabs. I was unlucky (this whole game) to get a short charge so I was unable to get around the Scarabs and chew into the Destroyers. After killing the Scarabs I choose not consolidate into the Destroyers though: I'd be giving away a free round of punching to the Destroyers otherwise. 

Objectives: Primaries - 10VPs

15:10 to the Necrons

Turn 3 - Necrons

Another ten VPs for Primaries and I'm starting to open up a lead in both points and materiel. But I know that it’s hard to put the Death Guard down, so I have to keep my foot on that gas. I won't get a better chance to kill the Daemon Prince, though I'm far from certain that I'll be able to take him down. 

The Doom Scythe turns left and soars along the Death Guard rear, shooting up the Plague Marines in the backfield and targeting the Bloatdrone with the Death Ray once again. However it's not a great round of shooting, managing to kill a Marine, but again failing to put any damage on the Bloatdrone, which could be a big problem next turn.

The Skorpekh Lord and his Destroyers stalk forwards ready to charge the DP once the infantry have finished peppering him with their Gauss weaponry.

I need to advance the Warriors to get more than half a dozen in range, but roll well and everyone ends up able to fire. Spending a CP on Disintegration Capacitors means any natural 6 to hit auto-wounds. I feel a little dirty picking up 40 dice and Rapid ends up failing almost all his daemonic invuln saves and also makes very few Revoltingly Resilient FNPs - his dice have been truly awful this evening. 

Rapid does play a CP to make the Daemon Prince explode in an Eruption of Filth, causing the Skorpekh Lord to suffer two mortal wounds (it would have been three but I - just - remember the Szarekhan FNP against mortals). I try to charge the Destroyers into the Blightlords to tie them up and prevent them shooting my Warriors next turn, but fail.

Objectives: Primaries - 10VPs, Engage on All Fronts - 2VPs

27:10 to the Necrons

Turn 3 - Death Guard

I've not many tools left now! The Terminators go charging into the Destroyers to see what they can do: not a lot is the answer!

You did kill two of them, but I reanimated one straight back again...then, alongside the Skorpekh Lord, they killed a couple of the Blightlords. The Plague Marines also shot up the Necron Warriors a bit, killing seven of them (after reanimations).

My Bloatdrone is within 6 inches of the Necrons and I'm dying to actually get the Fleshmower into something: that weapon has the potential to really hurt those Warriors...but alas! I fail the charge, even after a re-roll! Devastating!! So many 1s!

I had so much hope for the close combat Marines to hit their way through some Warriors, but all they've done is sat at the back of the board, admittedly earning me some points. With nothing else to do, they sit there looking pretty (for disgusting creatures).

 

Objectives: Primaries - 10VPs

27:20 to the Necrons

Turn 4 - Necrons

We're almost done here. The Overlord pops his Orb of Eternity to bring back three of the downed Warriors and maximise their shooting.

They promptly apply Disintegration Capacitors again and, with the Immortals, unload onto the Bloatdrone, knocking it down to just one wound whereupon the Doom Scythe, which has screamed back into the midfield, drops another Plague Marine on Rapid's home objective with its Tesla and (finally) kills the Bloatdrone with a full salvo from the Death Ray.

Rapid hangs on to see if his Blightlords can at least kill the Skorpekh Destroyers, but it’s not to be, he doesn’t   manage to kill even the one on one wound, at which point the Lord and remaining Destroyers carve through the surviving Terminators (who manage to fail almost all their invuln saves).

Objectives: Primaries - 10VPs, Engage on All Fronts - 3VPs

40:20 to the Necrons

Rapid concedes at this point and we calculate that whilst he will hold his home objective with the remnants of his close combat Marine squad (who will also give him 5VPs for To The Last), I'll be able to kill the other unit in short order and score another 13 VPs in turn 5 plus the full whack of 15 for To The Last and 15 for Minimise Losses (Rapid ended up killing only one base of Scarabs, four Warriors and one Skopekh Destroyer...ouch).

Result - 93: 50 to the Necrons

Locker Room

Ouch. I don't like to blame dice, but Rapid had some terrible luck there. I had a storming first turn, and although the Doom Scythe's shooting was sub-par in the following two turns, it gave me a very strong start by forcing the combat Marines to hang back to hold the objective. 

The mission-specific secondary coupled with both of us taking To The Last really exaggerated the VP scoreline. It was always unlikely that, resilient armies though we both were, we'd bounce off each other without killing anything much. That turned secondaries into a "win more"; I only edged the Primaries 40-35 in fact, which is interesting.

Rapid has a Necron army of his own, so we both knew that the Warriors were extremely dangerous to anyone within 12" of them. Whilst it was unlucky for the DP to fall to them in one volley, I had strong hopes of killing him as I had the Immortals and Skorpekhs in reserve.

We commented after the game that all of my units did pretty much exactly what I'd hoped they would do - normally you find one or two underperform or are killed before they can carry out their plan, but everything fell into place here. Conversely, Rapid's army had a run of bad luck with the Rhino and Poxwalkers destroyed before getting to move at all, which in turn marooned the powerful combat Plague Marines in the backfield. Critically, the two potentially most destructive units (Daemon Prince and Bloatdrone) managed to kill exactly two bases of Scarabs between them - hardly a good return. I don't think Rapid did anything wrong tactically, he was just undone by the Dice Gods. 

I'm glad I didn't use the Veil of Darkness, now I know that I don't need that relic for the Necrons to be seriously impressive.

 

I cannot add anything to the above: spot on. We also discussed playing this game again with me going first, to see how it would go. It will be a curious one... especially if my dice rolling is like this game! Thoroughly enjoyed it, as I always do with Pootle.

I suspect that going first won't make a huge difference, it was more your bad dice coupled with me having a great set of rolls on turn 1. We'll sort it out soon though and try it out. Thanks for the game though, always good fun.