Semi-finals! I made it. Now to just go a bit further... Game 5 was against Rupert and his Scarabfarm who made the top 4 at 3++con, too. Mission is two objectives primary with them placed in non-deployed quarters (deployment is spearhead) and secondary is table quarters. Basically modified C&C with a secondary. Again, no KP which is good for me and once again, Mephiston is the trump card. Nothing he has can really go toe-to-toe with Mephiston for any length of time and he can easily deal with whole squads through sweeping advance or instant death so I just need to make sure he keeps on trucking. Lightning strikes are going to screw with my vehicles so stopping that ASAP should be my top priority. Unfortunately, I don't think about this. There is also a video feed for this report which I'm editing currently, will add up when it's done.
Rupert wins roll-off, only roll off I lost! and gave me first turn. I picked the opposite side I was on to ensure I had decent fields of fire and movement lanes though this would obviously be restricted by Night Fight. With a WW C'Tan I didn't want to go through terrain much! My list can be seen here, Rupert's below.
Necrons
Imohtek
Veiltek, Chronotek, Warscythe Lord
C'Tan w/WW, Time warp thingo
10x Immortals
14x Warriors
5x Warriors
2x3x Scarabs
8x Spyders
Deployment
I deploy along the edge of the DZ with one RBack as close as possible trying to entice the Scarabs forward - take a tank, kill the Scarabs, move forward. Sounds good! The Preds, Attack Bikes and Dread all deploy behind the Flamerbacks with Mephiston deployed centrally to get where ever he wants. Scouts infiltrate into top left objective.
As suspected, Scarabs and Spyders deploy up front to try and get a first turn charge off with large Warriors + Imohtek, Chronotek, Lord off to the right and Immortals + Veiltek to the left. C'Tan + Wraiths protecting Warriors on the right.
Rupert seizes with his 4+.
Necron Turn 1
Eight new scarabs are added to the lead squad which moves up towards the lead Razorback - a fleet roll of 3" will get them there. One Spyder hurts itself. Wraiths + C'Tan move up on the right - C'Tan is fully exposed and relying on Night Fight, leaving him further back and behind some terrain would probably have been better, otherwise deploying him centrally so LoS was harder. Warriors move towards bottom right objectives and are all spread out but protected by the rest of the army in front of them. Immortals advance and drop some Tesla fire in the Scouts who go to ground but still fail two saves.
Scarabs run 1" so won't be in charge range, nuts! Lightning drops a Pred and takes a weapon off a RBack.
Blood Angels Turn 1
I move everything up - two RBacks leading a bit more than theothers to take the brunt of charges and several move slow enough to land templates on the Scarabs (killing around 7-8). Mephiston maintains central position behind RBacks whilst Attack Bikes, Dread and Pred all look to drop the C'Tan but only half see and it fails two saves.
I get my positioning horribly wrong here with the Pred & Attack Bikes on the right however, both are now within assault range of enemy Necron units.
Necron Turn 2
Scarabs get farmed again, Warriors don't come in. Night Fighting continues. Wraiths jump over towards the Attack Bikes on the right, well within assault range (woops). C'Tan moves back to hide a little bit whilst Spyders & Scarabs advance (leaving a big hole in front of the Warriors). Immortals shuffle along on the left and drop another Scout. Lightning opens up both of lead Razorbacks giving Scarabs and Spyders some good assault targets. Warriors shoot at ASM on right and leave only Sarge left, which allows Scarabs to punch through to the Pred with a good fleet move. They do so and Wreck it whilst doing only one AV damage to the RBack. Spyders kill all but 1 ASM on left who runs away.
Blood Angels Turn 2
Few positioning mistakes my last turn hurt - Pred & Bikes should both still be alive, oh well. Lightning was perfect for Rupert in opening my tincan boxends but now his Troops are vulnerable. Despite thinking this, I only go for one unit. I disembark my ASM on the far left with their Priest and move them towards the Immortals - going to be well in range. However, Mephiston follows them to try and protect them from the counter-assaulting Spyders. Pointless move - I'm trading a Troop for a Troop when I have six to his three and Mephiston cannot take down all three Spyder groups. What he should have done since the Necron zone opened up, was jumped over RBacks into the middle of the Necron army and fleeted towards the Warriors. He'd have been in range to assault them and out of range of the Mindshackle Lord so could have done 4-6 deaths on that squad and quite likely run them down in CC - this would have stopped Lightning (see picture). I'll take both his Troops for one of mine (and a Priest) any day of the week but I got too caught up in trying to keep that unit alive when it was already dead.
The ASM on the right hop out to help out their lone brother whilst the squad in the centre stays tucked up for the moment. Dread and Bikes move around with the Bikes trying to shoot down a Spyder and the Dread trying to drop the C'Tan - they both fail.
Assaults happen and more Scarabs on right fall, Mephy kills one Spyder squad but because he mutli-assaulted (was able to touch another squad's base as he moved directly into BTB with another squad), they did four wounds to him with some nice to hit rolls. The ASMs swept the Immortals off the board.
Necron Turn 3
Remaining Spyders not locked in combat move towards the ASM which just killed the Immortals but not before buffing the Scarabs and sending them at the Attack Bikes. C'Tan moves up to lend it's body to the fray in the centre of the board whilst the Wraiths jump over the Scarab combat to play whack a mole with tanks. The Warriors move through the ruins towards the other objective.
Lightning does some more damage to vehicles and kills the lone fleeing ASM. Scarabs assault bikes and lose a couple to fearless. Spyders halve the ASM squad and take a wound themselves. Mephy finishes off other Spyders and consolidates towards Warriors. Wraiths stun the RBack they are in combat with but no more and the other ASM drop several more Scarabs.
Blood Angels Turn 3
Mephy moves over to the Warrior squad but since I didn't engage them a turn ago, I have to go through terrain and deal with the Mindshackle Lord + he's only on one wound. The final ASM jump out to help destroy the C'Tan whilst the Dreadnought moves up to shoot the C'Tan or help out the Bikes in combat. All my other vehicles are dead or unable to move.
The ASM kill the C'Tan with some well placed melta, could have multi-assaulted into the Scarabs and dropped a lot of Fearless wounds on him but wanted to kill him before the assault phase so Mephy didn't have to make a dangerous terrain check nor let him munch on some ASM. Dread then assaults into Scarabs and wipes them with some ID hits, Spyders finish off their ASM bait and Mephy assaults and kills Lord (couldn't let him live with Warscythe).
The pictures don't show Mephy however because we forgot the C'Tan was dead at the beginning of the assault phase so he rolled his dangerous and died. We remembered just as Rupter was moving his Wraiths so re-did that bit since nothing lasting had happened since then.
Necron Turn 4
Little to do now in terms of what's happening on the tabletop. Wraiths jump over the Scarab combat to get to the final ASM squad who just killed the C'Tan whilst the Warriors finally arrive from reserve and shockingly set up near the objective in the top left. The remaining Spyders move up to engage the Attack Bikes and we get some lightning happening.
Lightning destroys the remaining two vehicles which were mobile, including the one protecting my Scouts which was about to tank shock the Warriors and BLoS to them. Damnit! The Warriors kill one Scout but the Sarge is left. The Wraiths kill off their ASM unit in combat but don't lock themselves with the other ASM as they tried to get Priest - this means they could break free. But they don't. Mephy runs down the Warrior squad + Imohtek in combat, two turns too late, and the Spyders kill an Attack Bike.
Blood Angels Turn 4
The Scout Sarge moves into terrain to make sure he's as survivable as possible whilst the Dreadnought moves around the outside of the ruins to shoot at the Warriors. He kills two but they stand firm. Mephy jumps in to save the day from the Wraiths and manages to kill a couple and survive combat, phew. The ASM drop the Scarabs down to one and we go to Turn 5 with the Attack Bike still holding up the Spyders.
Necron Turn 5
Warriors move and get ready to assault Scout Sarge and that's it. Mephy dies to a Rend but the ASM also take out the Scarabs so can consolidate towards objective. The Attack Bike is also killed so the Spyders move towards the Scout Sarge who survives the assault by the Warriors who remain at three strong.
Blood Angels Turn 5
Both ASM squads high tail it towards the objective with one reaching it easily, the Dreadnought runs towards the Scout to make sure he's within contesting range just in case. The Scout sarge lives and the game ends in a very tight finish.
1-0 on objectives and 3-1 on table quarters (I had that top left quarter by about 5 points).
Conclusion
If the game had gone on, Rupert had me. Wraiths would have chopped up both ASM squads, Spyders would have downed the Dread and Scout at some point and I wouldn't have had an army left. Excellent close game in the end but I feel I let the game get away from me by not having Mephiston charge the Warrior + Imohtek squad in Turn 2 - that was two more turns of Lightning I needlessly took and it would have freed Mephy up to clear out those Scarabs/Wraiths much earlier - who cares if the Spyders took out my guys on the other side of the board if Mephy was still bouncing around? I was too preoccupied trying to protect those squads when I needed to focus more on the mission and the support Lightning was giving the army - without it, my tanks would have just kept trucking once the Scarabs were tied up.
Regardless, good game and more lessons to learn with Mephiston! A well-deserved 3rd place in the end for Rupert. I'll try to get that video up ASAP.
