It's King in the North again! And this is the last time Brapscallion is running the event (because he wants to play rather than organise, which is fair enough). I've been painting up my lead Harlequins with the express purpose of bringing something special along to this event.
Masque of the Red, Yellow, Blue, Green and Purple Death
I played this list in a test game against Kraken a few weeks ago and it went well (much better than I expected at least - I still lost, but by a much narrower margin than my humbling against my son's Raven Guard in their first outing).
I'm using the new Serpent’s Brood detachment as it's better than the basic Ghosts of the Webway one, however it's really designed to have Quins leaping out of transports, but as Harlequins didn't have transports back in Rogue Trader days, I don't have any of those! So the only benefit I'll get is that the two units of Jetbikes get Sustained Hits 1 on their weapons.
The four Troupes will hit like a train and cause a lot of pain on anything they charge, but (as I've proved twice now) will die to a stiff breeze in return. As long as I keep making 4+ invuln saves everything will be rosy...
- Troupe Master leading a Troupe of five Harlequins
- Troupe Master leading a Troupe of five Harlequins
- Troupe Master leading a Troupe of five Harlequins
- Shadowseer leading a Troupe of five Harlequins
- Death Jester
- 2 Skyweaver Jetbikes (Haywire Cannon and Zephyrglaives)
- Spiritseer
- Wraithlord (Bright Lances and Ghostglaive)
- Wraithlord (Bright Lances and Ghostglaive)
1,250 points
Necrons!
My first opponent is Sami, who's brought a lovely army in the classic rusty metal and shining green (very similar to my scheme for my own Crons).
- Overlord leading 10 Necron Warriors
- Overlord leading 10 Necron Warriors
- Skorpekh Lord leading 6 Skorpekh Destroyers
- Canoptek Reanimator
- Canoptek Reanimator
- Canoptek Doomstalker
- Triarch Stalker
Mission and deployment
As normal, the missions at KitN are silly and fun. The first mission has mortal wounds aplenty on offer: at the end of each battleround players score D3 Victory Points for each objective they control, but one unit controlling the objective suffers the same number of mortal wounds, unless they're a Monster or Vehicle, in which case it's D6 mortal wounds. In addition, at the end of each round the player who's leading in VP nominates one of their units to take D6 mortal wounds (or D6+2 if it's a Monster or Vehicle). None of these mortal wounds can be negated by feel-no-pains (but obviously Necrons will reanimate them).
For deployment, I spread out fairly evenly across the table, with the two Wraithlords holding the centre alongside two Troupes, and a Troupe supported by two Jetbikes on each flank.
Sami's deployment puts most weight on his left, with only the Triarch Stalker holding his right flank.
Harlequins - turn 1
Both my Wraithlords move to aim their Brightlances at the Doomstalker; they pur fire in but can't quite kill it, which is a problem as it'll reanimate those lost wounds back...
One of the central Troupes gets a lucky 6" advance and takes full advantage; I spend a CP to let them advance and charge, needing an 8 to get into the Necron lines, but fail (and I've spent my only CP so can't reroll it).
On my right flank I move the jet bikes to shoot at the Reanimator; if I can kill that then it'll really help my ability to cut through the Warrior horde. However, the shooting doesn't perform and only a couple of wounds sneak through the FNP. Meanwhile, I decide to keep the nearby Troupe out of range of the objective so I won't get VP there, but they're still hiding behind the ruin so it's not easy for Sami to shoot them.
Similarly, on my left flank I keep the Troupe lurking behind a ruin and not on the objective - mortal wounds are horrific for Harlequins my combat effectiveness will drop off incredibly quickly for each one I suffer.
Necrons - turn 1
On his left, one of the big blobs of Warriors walks forwards to shoot at the Jet bikes who'd fired at their Reanimator, destroying them with perfect efficiency.
The other Warrior mob in the centre also walk forwards slightly and, to my complete lack of surprise, cut down the aggressive Troupe who'd failed their charge.
The Triarch Stalker had moved to also be able to shoot at the Troupe in the centre, but in the end its support wasn't required and it didn't have anything else to shoot at.
The Doomstalker shot at one of the Wraithlords, getting a couple of hits through its armour and reducing it to just four wounds left.
At the end of the round we're each on one objective and both roll a fat 3VPs. I put the corresponding mortal wounds on the undamaged Wraithlord. Sami puts his mortal wounds on the Warriors (who'll reanimate those back soon of course).
Score: 3-3 Draw
Harlequins - turn 2
In retrospect, I was too aggressive running the Troupe forwards in turn 1, so I decide to be more circumspect this turn. The Spiritseer heals a wound on one of the Wraithlords and I abandon my home objective (temporarily) and get both Dreadnoughts to shoot at the Doomstalker once again, this time supported by the remaining Jetbikes. I'm even hoping that if I can kill the Doomstalker easily, I can move on to targetting the Reanimator! What's that about pride?
Distressingly, all the shooting whiffs entirely and I only cause a couple of wounds on the big Necron machine (which had already healed most of the previous turn's damage). Oh dear...
On my left flank, I do move the Troupe into the ruin and within range of the objective (I need to try to score something).
Necrons - turn 2
In the centre, the Necron Warriors move forwards to shoot down the last Jetbikes, and the (infuriatingly resilient) Doomstalker finishes off the forward Wraithlord with contemptous ease.
On my left, the Triarch Stalker moves to draw line of sight on the Troupe trying to hide in the ruins but its shots fail against my invulnerable saves.
On my right, the Necron Warriors move forwards to finally lay claim to the midfield objective in full knowledge there are Harlequins nearby.
At the end of the round we all roll high for VPs/mortal wounds: I hold one midfield and Sami a midfield and his home objective.
Score: 9-6 to the Necrons
Harlequins - turn 3
Unfortunately, my battle plan so far has really just fed a unit or two at a time for the Necrons to kill and I'm already in last-chance saloon and rapidly running out of money for drinks. Time for a bit of fun at least as there are multiple charges available now.
In the centre, one Troupe leaps forwards and, after hosing the Necron Warriors down with pistol fire jump into the centre of them, killing all but one Warrior (I just couldn't quite finish the unit off!!).
My Spiritseer once again only manages to put one wound back on the injured Wraitlord, and his injuries continue to show as he's unable to put down the Doomstalker (not really surprising as it was back to full health at the top of the turn).
The three remaining Quins on my left flank move towards the hulking Triarch Stalker; there are no points on offer here but I'm keen to kill things, and three Fusion Pistols in Melta range do a good job.
View of the centre - the large unit of Destroyers are a problem for another day...ish...!
On my right, the other Troupe attack the Warriors but underperform significantly here and, in return, lose three of their number to melee attacks from the Warriors (the ignominy!)
Necrons - turn 3
In the centre, the remaining Necron Warriors I'd failed to kill reanimate a couple and fall back onto the home objective. I spend a CP to get my remaining Troupe members to move 6" backwards beyond the ruins in a vain attempt to hide from the Skorpekh Destroyers...
...but it's all in vain as they make their charge and tear the clowns apart with ease.
On my right flank the Reanimator charges into the Harlequins and, assisted by the Warriors, finishes the last three off there too.
I think that I did manage a consolation kill on the Triarch Stalker but I'm not 100% sure to be honest. And I think that the Doomstalker managed to kill the last Wraithlord so, with only a very few models left I conceded the game.
Final score: 17-7 to the Necrons
Locker room
That was a great first game! The mechanics of the mission didn't favour me at all (Harlequins are particularly susceptible to mortal wounds, and Necrons are particularly resilient to them) and I made a couple of questionable decisions too that didn't help my chances, but it was still a fun game, and I'm glad I managed to make it into combat at least.
Thank you to Sami for being a great opponent: his army was beautifully painted and he was exactly the kind of opponent you want to play (and I expect at KitN) - very relaxed and generous in victory.
Next, onto round two where I face Ultramarines...
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