'Crons try to even the Scor(pion): Chaos Space Marines vs Necrons

Kasfunatu is testing another variant of his CSM army to take to Weekend at Burnie's in March and I, Pootle, want to try out a larger Necron list so I headed over to his for a battle.

Shh - spoilers ;)

Red Corsairs

After a few games as Khorne only World Eaters, I was feeling the lure of chaos, and so tried a version of the list as Red Corsairs. Given the boon from the chapter (3 extra CP if I have enough CSM units) I took three units of Marines (but minimum size due to points) and two Helbrutes as they would benefit from the advance-and-charge trait.

I hoped for a nice combination of aggression and protection when compared the to the WE ferocity. 

The newly painted Master of Possession and Warpsmith from Kraken studios were two who wanted to see the field and could help protect the Scorpion with repairs and Cursed Earth; and the Sorcerer to provide Prescience (as no Disco Lord) and Warptime (as no Corsair trait, nor Soulforged pack anymore).

Filling the detachment were some Berserkers and Havocs (in the Termite) and a Drop Pod for one of the Helbrutes. 

Battalion:

• HQ - Sorcerer: Jump Pack
• HQ - Warpsmith
• HQ - Master of Possession
• Troops - 5x Chaos Space Marines: Flamer
• Troops - 5x Chaos Space Marines: Missile Launcher
• Troops - 5x Chaos Space Marines: Heavy Bolter
• Elites - 5x Berserkers: Chainswords & Chainaxes; Champion with Power Sword & Lightning Claw
• Elites - Helbrute: Twin Lascannon & Helbrute Fist
• Elites - Helbrute: Multimelta & Helbrute Fist
• Fast Attack - 4 Bikers: 2x Melta Guns; Champion with Combi-Melta
• Fast Attack - Dreadclaw Drop Pod
• Heavy Support - 5 Havocs: Lascannon, Reaper Chaincannon, 2x Missile Launchers; Champion with Melta Gun
• Dedicated Transport: Terrax-pattern Termite

Superheavy Auxiliary:

• Greater Brass Scorpion

Necrons

I've only played a couple of games with my Necrons (1,000 point games against Ultramarines and Death Guard) and both have been disappointingly one-sided. I'm pretty sure that Kas's army will be a serious test though as I know he's keen to field his new Brass Scorpion again, which, whilst probably over-costed for what it is, is a hell of a distraction Carnifex.

I've decided to go for the Novokh dynasty again. I'm keen to try a number of different dynasties out and am slightly reluctant to repeat already, but I've seen the reports of the battles between Kasfunatu and Kraken recently and think I will need the close-combat punch that Novokh offers (+1 to charge rolls and +1 AP on the charge).

An Overlord leads the army with an underwhelming warlord trait to boost his aura abilities by 3". His main function is to give a nearby unit +1 to hit and carry a souped-up relic Resurrection Orb (once per game I trigger it in my command phase and reanimation triggers on a 4+, rather than the 5+ the normal orb gives). He will probably hang around near twenty Warriors with the short-ranged by deadly Gauss Reapers (12" range but Assault 2, S5, AP-2)

A Skorpekh Lord will accompany five Skorpekh Destroyers (which are pretty punchy even unbuffed), with a warlord trait to give him a Disgustingly Resilient-alike -1 damage along with a relic that means he heals two wounds in each of my command phases (rather than just one like other multi-wound Necrons). The Skorpekhs are also accompanied by a Canoptek Plasmacyte, which can inject a stimulant to give them +1S and +1A but will kill one if I roll a 1.

A Technomancer will also hang around near the Skorpekhs as he can heal wounds and also reanimate a dead model in my command phase; in addition his Implacable Conquerer warlord trait allows all core units within 6" to reroll charges.

My last HQ is a Chonomancer (the two Cryptek units together only occupy one HQ slot) with the near-compulsory Veil of Darkness relic (teleport him and a nearby unit around the board once per game); he has a natural ability to grant one nearby core unit a 5++ and reroll to charges.

Two units of five Immortals with longer-ranged Gauss Blasters will be objective campers (and fairly hard to shift with T5, 5+ save and reanimation protocols).

I've also brought ten Lychguard with swords and shields (essentially Power Swords and Storm Shields) and three units of five Scarab swarms to screen my troops from first-turn charges and grab objectives.

Last, but not least, are a pair of Doomstalkers (who will want to stand still at the back with their Doomsday Blasters, which reduce to merely D6 shots at S8, AP-2 and D3 damage if they move) and a Doom Scythe, whose Heavy Death Ray is even better, though it's pretty brittle with only T6 and no invuln.

• HQ - Overlord: Warscythe, Resurrection Orb; Warlord Trait: Thrall of the Silent King; Relic: Ork of Eternity
• HQ - Skorpekh Lord: additional Warlord Trait: Enduring Will; additional Relic: Nanoscarab Casket
• HQ - Technomancer: Canoptek Cloak, additional Warlord Trait: Implacable Conquerer
• HQ - Chronomancer: Entropic Lance, additional Relic: Veil of Darkness
• Troops - 20x Necron Warriors: Gauss Reaper
• Troops - 5x Immortals: Gauss Blaster
• Troops - 5x Immortals: Gauss Blaster
• Elites - Canoptek Plasmacyte
• Elites - 10x Lychguard: Hyperphase Sword and Dispersion Shield
• Elites - 5x Skorpekh Destroyers
• Fast Attack - 5x Canoptek Scarab Swarms
• Fast Attack - 5x Canoptek Scarab Swarms
• Fast Attack - 5x Canoptek Scarab Swarms
• Heavy Support - Canoptek Doomstalker
• Heavy Support - Canoptek Doomstalker
• Flyer - Doom Scythe

2,000 points; Battalion - 2 extra warlord traits - 2 extra relics = 8CPs

Mission and Terrain

We used the Open War deck to generate a mission and get a diagonal deployment with a mission where we place 6 objectives initially but one objective will disappear at the start of each battle round after the first. We'll each score one VP for each objective we control at the end of our turns. The twist is that nobody will suffer from morale at all (though this isn't a big deal as Kas has small units and my Necrons have Ld 10)

We'll be fighting on a ruined cityscape on a brand new battle mat tonight and I think it looks pretty cool!

Deployment

Kas wins the roll-off and takes the South-West side of the battlefield so I get the North-East. 

I stick a long line of Scarabs on the very front of my lines with the Warriors in the centre, the Lychguard to their left and Destroyers to their right. This was so I could get my Overlord and both Crypteks within range of all three units to give me choices on buffing when it was my command phase.

Each flank was held by a unit of Immortals, with the third unit of Scarabs on my right flank and the Doom Scythe right in the back corner. One of the Doomstalkers sat on Objective 3 - it's not got a great view of Kas's lines right now but hopefully it can stand still all game. The other Doomstalker went with a great LoS up the street that the Scorpion will be coming down.

I try to protect as much of my force as possible; I am not more threatening up close, and want as much protection for first turn. 

So Marines behind walls (one in the centre, one on the right flank)

Scorpion trying to hide behind the only thing big enough (and it still wasn't)

Bikes on the left flank

The Sorcerer  and Lascannon Helbrute try to hide with the Scorpion, leaving the Havocs, Warpsmith, and Berzerkers in the Termite, and the Melta-Brute in the Dreadclaw. 

Kas wins the roll-off for the first turn, so I'm going to get a Scorpion in the face...

Red Corsairs: Turn 1

I am making a bold push. The Bikers head towards obj6 on the right flank (they can't make it and have nothing in line of sight/range) and the righthand Marines head for obj4, but are equally slow. The central Marines stay hidden behind the walls but prepare to pounce on anyone jumping on obj1. 

The Brute steps out from one side of the tower, and the Scorpion scuttles out from the other; the Sorcerer Warptimes the Scorpion further forward.  

As the Marines did not make it, the Claw and Brute drop in to secure obj4 and eye up some Immortals. 

I want to charge the Warriors - I think if I can crash into them, I can do some damage, engage something else and be a problem in the backlines whilst everything else moves up or arrives.  To do this though, there are an annoying amount of Scarab swarms that need to be shot first. 

Shifting these swarms is more problematic that I would have hoped, and end up using inefficient weapons to ensure they were gone, freeing up the Scorpion charge.. which makes it in.

However these space aged terminators were tough, not only had I not weakened them by shooting, I had also not really dented them in with the 21 s8 attacks, and then 3 of those I had killed stood right back up; and that's all with the knowledge there was a resurrection orb in play that could bring more back... oh...  

VPs scored: 2

Necrons: Turn 1

Right, time for a bit of work! Losing the first turn was always going to mean that I'd get a Scorpion in the face, and all things considered, I survived that better than I thought I might. 

...or I expected!

First up, I decide to pop my Overlord's Resurrection Orb on the Warriors. I've only lost seven of them, but I might need all the firepower I can muster and may not get another chance. I get three of them back; not too shabby (and at 13 points each just worth the 30 points the Orb cost). 

I decide against trying to advance my rightmost Scarabs towards Objective 6: they couldn't get there even with a maximum advance roll and the Bikers will nuke them with their Meltas next turn. Instead, they fly forwards to get just within range of Objective 5.

On my left flank, I also decide against charging the Immortals onto objective 4 as I don't think they'd last long against the Dreadclaw. Instead, they burst through the wall and head back towards the rest of the army. They will give me some options on shooting as they can put ten S5 shots at AP-2 into the Scorpion, the Helbrute or the Dreadclaw.

The Scarabs who were in combat with the Scorpion fall back to hide in the central building and grab objective 1; this will give me three VPs this turn.

Everyone else forms a semicircle around the Scorpion, Lychguard to the left, Destroyers to the right, and Warriors staying in front. Unless I roll horrifically badly (and/or Kas rolls horrifically well - neither of which is as unlikely as I'd hope) I'm reasonably sure I can kill the thing, the question is whether I have to put absolutely everything into it in both shooting and combat. But I absolutely do have to kill the thing - I cannot have it lurching into turn 2 on a couple of wounds left.

I spend a CP on the Chronomancer to ensure his Entropic Lance auto-wounds (it's a promising D3+3 damage) but Kas makes his invuln save. This had better not be the start of a trend! The Warriors go next, and I spend another CP on Disintegration Capacitors to mean 6s to hit automatically wound. The two Doomstalkers fire their massive cannons next and after most of the shooting is done, the Scorpion is about halfway down (on something like 14 wounds). 

I should put the Doom Scythe's Death Ray into it as well, but I'm worried about the Helbrute and his Multi-Melta so decide to shoot that and bring it down to a single wound remaining. The Immortals then finish it off with their Gauss Blasters.

I've still got quite a few wounds I need to chew through in close combat, but the Skorpekh Destroyers are buffed up with +1 to hit from the Overlord, an extra attack each from injections from the Plasmacyte (which luckily doesn't kill any of them) and another extra attack from the Blood Rites stratagem. The Skorpekh Lord, Lychguard and Warriors all charge in as back-up, but the Destroyers manage to finish the job by themselves.

Kas then rolls to see if the Scorpion blows up (on a 5+) and it doesn't. For a giggle we roll to see how big the explosion would have been and the 2D6 come up boxcars. Given how little the Scorpion has killed so far we decide that it would be much more fun for the game if we say that in fact the Scorpion did blow up after all. Kas spends a CP as if he had an auto-explode stratagem and then starts inflicting D6 mortal wounds on practically my entire army! I have a mix of good and bad luck here - quite a few units only suffer one or two wounds (which I'll be able to regenerate through Living Metal in my next turn), but I lose both the Chronomancer and Technomancer outright along with the Plasmacyte and a couple of Lychguard; my warlord loses four of his five wounds too.

I breathe a huge sigh of relief as I've broken the back of Kas's turn 1 attack, and although my screen has disappeared and I'm somewhat out of position to defend against the Termite appearing next turn, things would have been awful if I'd failed to kill the Scorpion.

VPs scored: 3

Score: 3-2 to the Necrons

Red Corsairs: Turn 2

Well I suppose I deserved that for charging one model at pretty much an entire army. Very sporting of Pootle to suggest the explosion. It's an hour or so drive each way, I suppose he wanted more of a game than packing up after turn 2! 

Some work to be done to give the game he deserves. 

First things first, we need to see which objective disappears: it's objective 4 under the Claw. 

With that both Marines move towards the central ruin, and the Claw moves behind the Scythe as my best anti-flyer option. Having lost one objective, the Bikes make it to their target. 

In the centre, the Termite arrives and unloads Berzerkers and Havocs.

My charges would be long, and so opt to hold and clean up the majority by shooting. I wanted to grab the objective under objective 5, but fail to do enough to swarms to make the charge viable.

The Havocs and Helbrute kill several Skorpekh Destroyers and the Brute charged into the Scarabs, killing three of them, but that still leaves a couple of bases to deny the objective to Kas.

VPs scored: 2

Score: 4-3 to the Red Corsairs

Necrons: Turn 2

I'll be getting 3VPs this turn as I'm on numbers 1, 3 and 5. That's OK, so my priority this turn is killing things! One option is to focus fire on the Termite as I know from experience how nasty it is, but there are lots of other, slightly easier to kill units so I decide I'm better off trying to take down the Dreadclaw, the remaining Helbrute, the Berzerkers and the Havocs. Sounds almost too easy...

The Warriors advance towards the Helbrute (the Overlord put My Will Be Done on them to counteract the -1 for shooting Assault weapons they'll get), whilst the remaining Lychguard and Skorpekhs move towards the Berzerkers and Sorcerer respectively.

The Doom Scythe screams overhead towards the Bikers. Between them, the Warriors and Doom Scythe destroy the Helbrute and the Doom Scythe's Tesla Destructor kills a couple of Havocs, with another falling to the Skorpekh Lord's Enmitic Annihilator.

I decide to target the Bikers with my righthand Doomstalker as, if I'm lucky, I could kill the lot of them meaning Kas won't be able to score objective 6 next turn, but only two fall. Worth a go though.

On my left, the other Doomstalker unexpectedly fells the Dreadclaw (only one shot got through but I rolled a lucky six for damage, which turned out to be exactly how many wounds were left).

Things are going well - almost...too well...

The most important thing in the combat phase is to get the Lychguard in on the Berzerkers. It's a 6" charge, but having had some luck so far this turn I proceed to fail this even with a CP reroll! I divert the solitary Skorpekh Destroyer to fight the Berzerkers, and he does make it in and though he does fairly well to kill three of them, he dies to the counterstrike. I try a long-bomb charge from the Skorpekh Lord on the Sorcerer, but that fails. 

Overall that was a reasonable turn: I did well in shooting but am slightly exposed now to the combination of the surviving Berzerkers and that Termite.

VPs scored: 3

Score: 6-4 to the Necrons

Red Corsairs: Turn 3

The objective under the swarm that the Helbrute had wanted now disappears (along with the Helbrute itself!) 

I send both squads of Marines into the central ruin, hoping to claim that with a number of obsec bodies. 

My remaining Bikes edge to get the Scythe in Melta range and bring the flyer down.

I am still holding obj2 with reduced numbers

The Termite trundles forward to shoot what it can and drill the rest away.  

VPs scored: 3

Score: 7-6 to the Red Corsairs

Necrons: Turn 3

Losing objective 5 is a slight pain as that was one of the ones I could get to. My Doomstalker is still squatting on objective 3. My Lychguard and Warriors head into the central ruin; between them I'm confident I can kill all the marines in there and grab that objective. It all goes fairly well, but one Champion manages to survive. Still, I've very definitely got the objective!

The two Doomstalkers try to shoot up the Termite but only manage to put five wounds on between them.

On my right, the Immortals move towards the Bikers and objective 6. I have a cunning plan: shoot a couple of wounds off them, then charge in to finish them off in combat and take the objective! What could possibly go wrong? 

Well, I'll tell you: my shooting goes a little too well and I end up killing both bikes with my fire. It was a close run thing, and Kas had to spend a CP to reroll a successful save. Eh? Yes! Four wounds made it through and Kas saved one of them, but CP-rerolled it to a fail. That means I've got nothing to charge so won't get the VP for that objective now! Gaaaah! But great use of a CP!

Having lost that option, I decide to charge the Immortals into the two Berzerkers. Not hugely sensible perhaps, but the five of them will put out ten attacks at AP-1 (Novokh bonus) so although it's not likely, I've a reasonable chance of killing them both and stopping them charging me next turn. Unfortunately I only kill one and the Champion goes to work on the unit, killing three of them (considering how many attacks even just he kicked out, that's quite a good result really).

VPs scored: 2

Score: 8-7 to the Necrons

Red Corsairs: Turn 4

Objective 2 that I was camping on in my back line disappears, so it's time to move out. The Jump pack-equipped Sorcerer makes it over to objective 6. He will be exposed, but needs to grab the points. He will need to Warptime to get on to it though.

The Termite slingshots round the building. The plan is soften up the Doomstalker and drill it to death and occupy the objective. 

The remnants of my forces target and pick off Necron stragglers.

Warptime is a success and the Sorcerer grabs objective6. 

That was a hell of big move that I wasn't expecting and worth an invaluable VP!

Termite shots go too well and the Doomstalker is melted. This means I can't get onto objective 3, so the drill diverts to the centre and crashes into Overlord and his Lychguard.

I realise that if my lone champion had run away from combat in a different direction, he could have held the objective... but he was not thinking straight. I suppose seeing all your comrades carved to pieces by crazed metal skeletons will do that to you.

VPs scored: 1

Score: 8-8 draw

Necrons: Turn 4

It's all horribly (brilliantly) close! I've not got a lot of bodies on the ground, and that blasted Termite is going to keep killing things if I'm not careful. Securing VPs is the order of the day, so the Immortals on my left hotfoot it over to objective 3.

With two Lychguard I'm still controlling the central objective, so that'll be two VPs for the turn (as long as I don't do anything stupid like charging the Termite).

The Overlord charges through the wall and easily cleaves the surviving Marine Champion in half - it's a bit of a suicide mission but taking out an ObSec unit seems like a good idea.

The Doomstalker keeps clipping wounds off the Termite, but it's still in its middle bracket and still extremely dangerous.

VPs scored: 2

Score: 10-8 to the Necrons

Red Corsairs: Turn 5

The outcome of which objective disappears was going to be pivotal. If 6 it was a loss, if 1 or 3 we still had a fight. Luck was with me and the newly claimed Immortal's objective 3 vanishes. 

My Sorcerer is feeling okay, but beckons the lone Berzerker to come join him just in case as a second meat shield. 

The Warpsmith goes to the spot the Champion should have moved to to help hold the central objective and the Termite does a handbrake turn to try to stop any metal skeletons stealing it. 

VPs scored: 2

Score: 10-10 draw

Necrons: Turn 5

Very quick for me now: the game hinges on two things: the Doomstalker has to kill the Termite and then the Immortals have to make an 8" charge on the Warpsmith lurking behind the wall in order to get onto objective 1.

Part one of the plan goes well: five shots from the Doomstalker finally melt the iron heart of the Termite, freeing the Immortals up for a charge. 

They fail.

I have a CP!

They fail again!

So really, when they realise their Overlord is dead, they instruct the Doomstalker to escort them back underground.

VPs scored: 0

Result: 10-10 draw!

Locker Room

That was such a great game! That's three drawn games in a row for me! A draw was absolutely the right result here (and in any case, there were several might-have-been moments earlier that could have swung the game either way). Well it was the right result for the game given the Scorpion forced explosion. And I'm glad you did that, as it made for a nail-biter and a cracker of a game! 

I was very glad to be able to focus my attention on the Scorpion on turn 1 (we talked about running it down a flank rather than front-and-centre into all the guns, though with the battlefield we set up there was really only one option for it here). It's certainly a mega-distraction Carnifex and absolutely has to be dealt with. In some ways it was a shame it didn't cause more damage, but as I've seen how much damage it can cause from reading previous battle reports - causing 54 wounds to a Knight when in its middle bracket scared me most I think, though I'm amused to see there were echoes of its performance in this battle, where it caused most of its damage from exploding in a huge fireball. Yes, he can be swingy in effectiveness, but as a distraction does well. 

I did enjoy playing the Necrons again. Their resilience was good but not annoying for Kas - I hope (all good here) in the way that playing old-style Death Guard sometimes was (I suspect I can still make Stylus shiver by writing "Bloatdrone on 1 wound"). I think the biggest effect was that when I started turn 1 after the Scorpion had crashed into my Warriors, I was only four bodies down from starting strength after two rounds of reanimation. That's quite scary given the Scorpion had 21 S8 attacks (though hardly optimal for killing Warriors).  Yes, I really didn't get the points I paid for him. He did kill around 400 points when you add in the damage from the explosion; that's not the 525 points he cost, but heading in the right direction.

I'm looking forward to trying a different dynasty out next time out, which will complicate my ability to learn how to use the army most effectively!

Picking an MVP is tricky as nothing really stood out. I'll plump for the Doomstalkers I think. Although they fluffed several damage rolls early in the game (repeatedly rolling 1s), they did kill the Dreadclaw and (eventually) the Termite. One of them surviving the game alive elevates them above the other contenders, the Doom Scythe (for killing two Helbrutes and some Havocs) and the Skorpekh Destroyers (for killing the Scorpion).

Thanks for hosting the game Kas, always particularly good when we get a close game!

Until next time!