NECRONS vs. ELDAR 1250pts

March 14th 2007

Necron Forces Once More We Tread The Earth (PDF)	Eldar Forces
Mike Adams	Adam
HQ Necron Lord, Warscythe, Destroyer Body, Gaze of Flame, Chronometron Troops 10 Necron Warriors 10 Necron Warriors Elites 7 Necron Immortals 6 Flayed Ones Fast Attack 3 Destroyers 2 Wraiths Heavy Support 1 Heavy Destroyer 1 Heavy Destroyer 1 Tomb Spyder	HQ Farseer, Jetbike, Spirit Stone, Doom, Fortune Troops 7 Pathfinders 9 Dire Avengers 1 Dire Avenger Exarch, power weapon Wave Serpent, Scatter Lasers Elites 6 Harlequins Fast Attack 5 Shining Spears 6 Warp Spiders Heavy Support Falcon grav-tank, Shuriken Cannon, Holofield, Spirit Stone

Battlefield & Mission

The battle was played at the excellent Quimera shop in Madrid, in their 'gaming dungeon' below the shop. All the terrain was supplied by Quimera. It's a pleasure to play over such lovely terrain.

After setting up the terrain, we rolled up the RAID mission. Adam rolled highest for choice of table sides.

Setup & Deployment

The battlefield with the forces set up before the first turn (more Eldar out of shot)

Mike: I could see straight away that Adam had this time chosen a fast assault army from the huge selection at his disposal (grr!). This included two tanks/transports and some jetbikes. My army was less mobile and with few close combat specialists, so I knew I had to deploy carefully. If my army was spread out, he could pounce on one part, destroy it through a concentration of force, then proceed to roll up the rest. I also needed distance between me and him, although with 4th edition rules I knew he wouldn’t be assaulting on turn one. So, I tended to put the bulk of my army bunched up in the centre of the battlefield.

There are quite a few other reasons behind the deployment – like positioning the Tomb Spyder in the centre to benefit from its 12" 'We’ll Be Back!' advantage, positioning fire troops to maximize fields of fire across the whole battlefield, and so on, but mainly the principle was mutual support.

So – I placed the Tomb Spyder first in the middle of the battlefield. This denied Adam anywhere within 24” for his own deployment, immediately giving me maximum space. I put both Warrior squads close by. The Heavy Destroyers were placed apart, with one by the Tomb Spyder and one behind cover on the RHS. The tricky deployments were: the Lord, the Wraiths, the Immortals and the Flayed Ones. The Destroyers I placed last.

I decided to place the Immortals protecting the left hand flank of the central "phalanx", as a defense against the fast tank-borne and jetbike assault I was expecting on that flank. I decided to place the Lord with the Wraiths on the right hand flank, opposite the other tank transport and the Warp Spiders. There was a ruined building and a wood between them and the enemy, but I knew that the Wraiths could go straight through them (and use them for cover – they need that because they are so fragile) and the Lord could fly over the top.

As usual, I agonised whether to deploy the Flayed Ones by Deep Strike or Infiltration. There are pros and cons for both. Deep Strike can drift badly, and they are impotent on the turn they arrive, just targets for shooting. However, without obvious cover they would also be targets for shooting if they infiltrated. The advantage of Deep Strike is that they are a fresh 'reserve' unit, always useful, 'an extra card up your sleeve', and they are likely to arrive when there is less enemy firepower around because more units are either dead, disabled or in combat. So I opted for Deep Strike. I though they could arrive behind the Rangers, or else behind another ‘soft’ target like Dire Avengers.

The Destroyers are my most versatile troop choice. The question was, do I deploy them to target the left hand attack or the right? Well, as the enemy was coming to me, in the circumstance it made sense to put them in the centre so they could react either way. I have to say at this point that everything did in fact work just like my plan above, apart from a little bit of bad luck, which always happens. But essentially I have no regrets over my deployment. When the battle started to go against me, it was for other reasons. Anyway, on with the story…

Adam: After Mike put the Tomb Spyder in the middle I had to make sure I controlled the right hand side where there was a trench, a building and a forest (lots of cover). I Put the Falcon (with 'Harlies') and the Warp Spiders on the left hand side behind cover, but I knew that if I didn’t get first turn the Necrons could move to the side and deny my cover. I also set up the Rangers in a bunker, and the rest on the right totally in cover except my War Walker who was used for 'area denial'. Necrons rolled highest and elected to go first.

Eldar Warp Spiders and Falcon Grav Tank (unpainted, straight from the factory)

Necrons Turn 1

Mike: Movement - Well, my army was all set up to go second not first. But it’s a waste not to take the first turn opportunity. I had virtually no changes to make to my disposition, and a lot of the Eldar units were concealed behind cover, so my options were limited. I moved forward my Lord and Wraiths (towards their targets on the RHS – Warp Spiders and Falcon tank) and I moved forward my Tomb Spyder towards the Rangers (I decided that the Tomb Spyder would steadily advance on the Rangers, drawing fire and absorbing some of it with the Scarab Swarms it would create). I also moved forward my Destroyers and Heavy Destroyers into positions were they could draw lines of fire on the Falcon.

Destroyers and a Heavy Destroyer lining up for a shot

Shooting - I rolled for my first Heavy Destroyer...missed. ****! Why does that always happen? Second one…hit! Yeah, better. To cut a long story short, I got a Crew Stunned result. The problem with Necrons is that it’s hard to get penetrating hits and especially against skimmers. The Glancing Hit table always seems to come up with some paltry result like Crew Stunned. Anyway, the good news was that the squad inside had to bail out! Now I knew where those pesky Harlequins were!

When it came to the firing of the Destroyers, I targeted the Warp Spiders. These were a bit of an unknown quantity, and I thought it was a great opportunity to get some shots in against this evil looking enemy. With hindsight it might have been better to target the Harlequins further back who had bailed out of the Falcon. Anyway, I took out one or two Warp Spiders so first kill to the Necrons! Next I targeted the pesky War Walker. After a quick blast from the Immortals both weapons were blown off. (BTW, I’d learned from previous games that I had to assault the Rangers and not waste fire against them.)