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The low down:
- The Relic
- vanguard Strike
- Ben won deployment, but elected for me to go first and then went on to win the Initiative on a 6 even though Imotekh wins it on 4+ [which I forgot]
- Warlord Trait - Night Attacker, so if I elect not to use night fighting it does say 'for the game' so it shouldn't come in on turn 5 right? Equally how does that fit with Imotekh and his rule that Night Fighting is in play turn 1? Should we roll off to see who gets the drop on the night?
So both Tervigon's were out in the open...
and they faced a wall of living metal
Even with the 4+ steal Ben gets a 6 and seizes the initiative from me.
Lightning strikes - Hive Guard take a wound and my Plain Tervigon, the one with Endurance but no chance to use it manages to suck lightning and Tesla fire by the bucketload, passing save after save. The Triarch Stalker does manage to put two wounds on her though.
And then another round of Tesla [I think the last of Ben's shooting] manages to put 5 wounds on her and this is my saving throw!
She implodes in acrid spark of electricity and ozone. First Blood to Ben and the second time in two games I've lost a Tervigon in turn 1! But I know I can still perform with only one, even if the odds are already stacked against me. I am at this point thinking the 3 Hive Guard, single Hive Tyrant and Mawloc list may have had a better chance though...
My Tervigon spawns 13 which head for the Relic to stall the cron advance and scuttles off to secure the Comms Relay. Something has to be in base contact with it and with my other Tervigon dead, the Hive Guard in the building to get in range and only one set of gaunts the CC Tervigon is my only option to ensure the success of my reserve rolls.
The Hive Guard manage one penetrating hit on the Stalker. At least it's shields are down and thanks to open topped I destroy it's main gun! Suddenly my Bastion is looking untouchable with very little weaponry able to harm it. Still, I think 3 Hive Guard would have helped my odds here.
Lightning strikes the Gaunts and 4 die. More Scarabs are spawned.
The remaining gaunts are wiped out.
Once again the Swiss Army Knife of the 40k universe shows its mettle/metal [pun intended]. The Scarabs swarm the Bastion chewing it to pieces. Luckily the Hive Guard escape with only 1 wound. Things look bleak.
Here comes the cavalry. Drop pods land and I can secure the Relic, the Doom only manages 1 extra wound thanks to cover saves!
Flyrants also Swoop in, although I should have put them both in the woods.
Shooting was good, wounding was less so. Combined fire can only put down the 9 remaining Immortals, but at least they won't get back up again. Imotekh stands untouched, but not unbowed because, what's this? Oh yeah in his bag of tricks there's a St4 Ap5 template weapon that roasts the Devgaunts off the Relic and even wounds the Doom!
The Tervigon and Scarabs come to blows. Not sure who instigated this but being tarpitted by them doesn't sound like something I'd do. Eventually I take 2 wounds and that means I no longer have a saving throw! My only hope is to Enfeeble the Scarabs next turn so they cannot damage me.
Tactical decision time. An Annihilation barge was where the Flyrant is at the bottome of the picture. The choice was whether to leave it and hold the centre or end it, prevent Line Breaker and get my Flyrant out of range. Ideally the other Flyrant would have been better. My Warlord has +2 Iron Arm and would be more durable but the other Tyrant was too far away to make the Vector Strike. So I go with the Warlord and it completely destroys the Barge, blowing it up 5 ways of Sunday - all 5s and 6s on the pen chart for open topped!
The Tervigon Enfeebles the Scarabs, so he's safe but can only manage to kill one base! Meanwhile the Triarch Stalker smashed it's way through the Dooms pod. The pod actually got a couple of hits on it before it was smooshed but failed to penetrate, yes even St8 Smash attacks! It may have taken a glancing hit though.
Spyders assault the Devgaunts, I fail to make enough wounds on them in overwatch. The Spyders only have a couple of wounds left, it's getting frustrating at this stage. The Flyrant manages to kill a couple of Immortals I say a couple, he probably killed about 4 or 5 it's just the buggers keep getting back up!
The Spyders continue to maul on the gaunts, they just keep making their saves even when I do damage them, and they're Enfeebled too [not that it makes any difference with my damage rolls].
The Stalker goes for seconds of Mycetic Spore Pod but I manage to get a single overwatch hit!
And glance the metal walker to death! Sweet, if meagre, revenge!
AND my luck runs out, I roll my Iron Arm and Perils with 3 wounds on the clock! With the Flyrant on the board I had a chance but with this darned luck I think I'm out of the running.
The Doom and Imotekh have been battling on and off. With the Doom down to 2 wounds and the Overlord on 1. Without the Strength to damage him and his 2+ save it meant I needed reinforcements.
Bottom of turn 5 and the Flyrant jumps in, to help.
Meanwhile my Tervigon had killed the remaining Scarabs, he's literally 6" away from the Relic. I can capture it and win the game [barring it continuing on to turn 6] if I can get a 6 clambering across the wrecked Triarch Stalker...
...fiddlesticks!
On the plus side Imotekh was smooshed when my Tyrant Gloriously Intervened in the Challenge that had been raging. Yes I recently found out the Doom is indeed a Character so this melee had been a Challenge all along.
However, Imotekh gets back up again! And we roll for turn 6.
Imotekh appears back in the ruins while his Spyders finally munch the last of the Devgaunts and head for the killing field. The Ghost Ark moves behind the Tyrant
and disgorges a bunch of Warriors right on top of the Relic.
I literally have no idea what this roll is, perhaps it's the first time Ben rolled the dice without getting a 6 for Tesla or overwatch ;)
But immediately after I'm getting roasted by Imotekh's gauntlet of fire again and the Doom is down to only 1 wound!
Oh yeah, there's a Night Scythe too! Any other extras you want to bring to the table? I think it kills the Tervigon
The Flyrant assaults the Warriors.
they lose, flee and their Cryptek reanimates to find himself on his own next to a big monster, "Hey you guys?!" But what's this? Imotekh down on his a$$ again? Having come out of cover he pays the price and the Doom sucks him off, erm... moving on.
aaannnd he's back up again! Seriously, you're saying the Doom is CHEESE? We roll for turn 7 and it goes on.
There's a couple of options here. There is an Annihilation Barge in my Deployment Zone, Ben has First Blood, Slay the Warlord and Line Breaker, so it's 3:0 I can definitely get Line Breaker for 3:1, hope the Doom takes out Imotekh, I mean he's done it twice already, what's a third time right? That'll make 3:2. I can get the flyrant to attack the Annihilation barge, maybe killing it for 2:0 with the Doom/Imotekh saga rounding out 2:1. Regardless I can't win and I opt for the first choice. Vector Strike/Shoot the Warriors in the wood but they probably got back up. I'm not sure what happened to Imotekh but at 1:30am the game was over, bitter defeat yet again.
This was such an awesome game. Perhaps if I'd remembered all my past defeats to Ben it would have had a different outcome. That sounds like sour grapes but it's my own fault. The fact is in the past I hardly ever got to see reanimation protocols in effect, I was spending all my time dealing with barges and fearing Mind-shackle Scarabs! But I think Necrons really are one of the best armies, I'm amazed they seem to have dropped off the radar competitively. Imotekh is an absolute beast, d6 St8 Ap5 hits on EVERY unit EVERY turn on a 6! Honestly the Doom pails in comparison and was completely nullified by him too. Every unit seems to have extra levels of tricks up it's sleeve, even if it's just they stand up after being killed on a 5+
I had some poor rolls later in the game but early on I was doing my usual 5s and 6s like a fiend, I don't know if the alternative list or a different mission would have garnered different result. I was happy to play on so late given how close it was but here's a thing do I get 2 Slay the Warlord points for killing Imotekh twice? If so, does that mean we drew 3:3 ;)
