New Toys for the Sehkenmat Dynasty - Orks vs. Necrons Battle Report

So once again today I played against my good friend Matt, this time against his Necrons. The idea behind this one was to see how I'd hold up against both a shooty army, and a player who has a lot of tournament experience with a competitive, but not overpowering Necron army, which can tear it up with the best of them!

Sehkenmat Dynasty at Throne of Skulls May 2013

He's able to put out a lot of firepower, AND knock out tanks quite happily with a load of Gauss weapons. Original list generally does VERY well indeed, so will be interesting to see how this one goes!

On my part, there were no changes to the list. It was still a full on Green Tide, as written in a previous post. Conversely Matt did change his list up slightly to try out some new toys in his list. This involved dropping his Doom Scythe, Triarch Stalker, and 5 Scarabs, but in return getting 10 Deathmarks, and a Doomsday Ark. Also allowed him to take some different Wargear on one of his Crypteks. The list worked out something along the lines of:

Overlord - Resurrection Orb, Semper Eternal Weave, Mindshackle Scarabs, Warscythe.
Cryptek - Abyssal Staff, Veil of Darkness.
Cryptek - Tremor Staff, Seismic Crucible.
10 Deathmarks
2x15 Warriors (Crypteks in here)
10 Immortals (Overlord in here)
3 Wraiths
2 Annihilation Barges
Doomsday Ark

We also agreed that the Necrons can happily take their Warlord traits straight from Imperial Armour 12 - The Fall of Orpheus, namely because it's just far more characterful for them to do so.

So the basics:
Scenario: The Relic
Deployment: Dawn of War
Night Fight in effect.
Warlord Traits: Orks - Legendary Fighter. Necrons - Predictive Strategist.

Necrons won the initial roll-off, electing for the Orks to deploy first. Entire Ork army deployed on the board. Vast majority of Necrons deploy too, leaving the Deathmarks in reserve. They tried to steal the initiative, but unsuccessfully.

Orks Deployment

Necrons Deployment

Orks Turn 1
The orders were bellowed out and Badklaw encouraged his lads to go full steam ahead, ploughing straight towards the Necron lines. The big mob of Gretchin however choose to ignore his orders and plod slowly into the crater, holding up the Waaagh!, much to nobodies amusement.

The Blood Axes throw caution to the wind and run out into the darkness.

Shooting phase turns out to be fairly uneventful. With the vast majority of Orks out of range and shouting at the Gretchin, it was left to the rangy stuff to do some damage. The Wartrakks and Kannons on the left flank unleash a volley onto the Doomsday Ark, in an attempt to knock out it's protective Quantum Shielding. They only succeed however in causing a few ripples as the shields hold. On the right flank, the Killer Kans fire a torrent of Big Shoota rounds at the Wraiths, knocking a single wound off. The Wraiths respond quickly by phase shifting through reality, causing the rest of the shots, and a volley from the Wartrakks to sail harmlessly through them.

Necrons Turn 1
Ready to destroy, the Wraiths glide straight through the bunker towards the Wartrakks.
The sound and light show takes a moment to warm up. The ground begins to rumble as one of the Crypteks lowers his Tremor Staff towards the Shoota Boyz and Meganobz, killing a single Boy, but slowing both units as the ground begins to tear apart.
The Immortals and second Warrior unit begin the first true shooting attacks of the game, attempting to strip the metal shells of the Grotzooka Kans and turn them to dust. Systems appeared to be sluggish however as the darkness hides the Kans well. The Annihilation Barges on the other hand have no problem with this, discharging lightning bolts straight through the three of them, blowing one to pieces, and wrecking the other two. First blood to the Necrons.

Annihilation Barges succeed in wrecking up the Kans.

Finally the Doomsday Ark charges up, firing a shot into the Ork lines, killing a Gretchin, a Shoota Boy, and more importantly a Meganob.
The Wraiths attempt a charge on the nearby Killer Kans, but the sluggish awakening results in an incorrect distance calculation.

Orks Turn 2
The Orks continue their usual shenanigans and run forward full pelt towards the Necron lines.
Suddenly a loud fizz-crack is heard from the Ork lines as the Weirdbot fires up it's tellyporta, taking it's unit of Shoota Boyz along for the ride. As the story would soon be passed around, they arrived to the battle three hours before it started, Necron time-displacement fields causing them to appear at the correct where, but the wrong when.
Scuppering the plan somewhat, the Wartrakks and Kannons continue their bombardment of the Doomsday Ark, trying to give the Shoota Boyz a safe place to reappear. The Quantum Shielding continues to ripple away however. On the opposite flank, the remaining Shoota Boyz grin as the Wraiths are sitting around in standby mode, and fire 49 shoota rounds off straight in their direction. Once again, one takes critical damage and phases out of existence. The remaining two once again phase shift to avoid damage. Not wanting to make the same mistake as last time, the Wartrakks nearby fire on the Annihilation Barge in the crater instead. Quantum Shields are also strong on the barge as the shots once again ripple off.

Sensing an opportunity for looting, the Gretchin scamper forwards and capture the Necron gubbinz!
In an attempt to utilise a nearby "speedbump", the Kanz and the Shoota Boyz charge the Wraiths. The Kans make it, the Shoota Boyz stand around arguing. While it seemed a good idea at the time, the Wraiths phase shift back into reality and tear apart two of the Killer Kans.

Necrons Turn 2
Aided by the presence of their Overlord, the Deathmarks choose this opportunity to attempt to assassinate Warboss Badklaw, phasing in nearby. The Warriors move in to engage the Wartrakks next to the Doomsday Ark.
The sound and light show makes a massive impression in this turn. The Deathmarks quickly make their presence known, gunning down 3 of the Meganobz outright.
The Doomsday Ark and Warriors make their presence known too, vaporizing both of the nearby Wartrakks in a volley of Gauss fire. The Doomsday Cannon finishes warming up again and fires another volley at the Shoota Boyz on the other side of the battlefield this time, killing eight of them. The Annihilation Barges also open fire, blowing apart the other two Wartrakks.
Registering that the Gretchin have looted their technology, the Immortals, Warriors, and nearby Cryptek disintegrate 10 of the Gretchin, and cause an earthquake under their feet to prevent their escape. This however catches the Deathmarks off-guard too. The Gretchin panic in the wave of such fire and begin to scurry off. They quickly return to the battle when the Runtherds set their squigs on them, eating one of their number.

Assassination Protocols Engaged

The Wraiths attempt to destroy the last of the Kans, but not to be outdone, the plucky Kan pulls one of them apart.

Orks Turn 3
Things are going pretty badly for the Orks. The Weirdbot is still completely out of sync with everyone else, and a large chunk of their number has just vanished. Still, they attempt to get some glory back and run fowards full pelt.
Not enjoying being shot at, the Gretchin try to prove a point and fire on the Warriors, cracking one in the face, causing him to phase out. Likewise, the Kannons give up firing at the now covered Doomsday Ark in favour murdering a few Warriors from the other unit who just blew up their mates in the Wartrakks, succeeding in causing four of them to phase out.
Ready to do some smackin', Warboss Badklaw leads his lads straight into the Deathmarks. Tricksy blighters they are though. Even though 5 of them get torn to shreds by the Power Klaws, they're quick to teleport away. The Boss figured they'd all be pounded to scrap, but with the cold logic against his flawless plan, this just wasn't turning out to be his day.

Deathmarks flee from the oncoming slaughter.

Necron Turn 3
Now was the perfect time to wrap the battle up. Their job done protecting the Doomsday Ark, the Warriors nearby teleport to the opposite side of the battlefield with their Veil of Darkness, in an attempt to surround the dwindling Waaagh!. Predictably the Deathmarks also rally.

The Sehkenmat Warriors move into position for their final onslaught.

The overly accurate Doomsday Ark fires once again, killing the last two Meganobz, and wounds the Warboss. This isn't helped out when the Deathmarks lower their rifles and attempt an assassination on the Warboss again, their flight proving only to be a feint. One shot pierces the armour, whilst the final shot hits the Warboss straight in the head. Logic escapes them here as this shot to the head only serves to wind the Warboss up, as his Cybork bits take the blow. He's quickly stunned and knocked out into silence when a Tesla ark shoots straight through his Mega Armour, causing him to do what the Grots describe as the "Shokky Dance" they usually do when having to fire the Zzap Gunz, knocking him unconscious.
A slight to the Cryptek's honour earlier earns the Gretchin a wrathful response. 18 of them are gunned down by the Warrior squad, and further knocked into difficult ground by the accompanying earthquake.
The remaining Annihilation Barge and Warriors continue to shoot at the damaged Shoota Boyz, killing another 10, including the Nob.
The lone surviving Wraith sneaks up on the small unit of Gretchin, and begins to dismantle them. They try to run, but their courage steps up tenfold when their nearby squig devours one of their number.

Orks Turn 4
The battle is pretty much over for the Orks, through a combination of bad behaviour and cowardice from the Grots, and both efficient teleporting and shocking attacks from the Necrons. It is at this point the Weirdbot finally appears at the right when, but unfortunately not in the correct where, appearing from the fringes of where they arrived in the first place. Quickly attempting a rescue operation, they try to fire at the Warriors who had just appeared on the nearby hill. Forgetting to aim didn't help matters, causing only one warrior to phase out. Uneventful.

Lone Wraith continues to victimise the Gretchin.

Necrons Turn 4
The Orks just don't know when to quit! Their mission almost complete, the Necrons begin their final advance on the relic. Deathmarks finish the Gretchin unit off, Warriors knock out the wrecked Shoota Boyz unit. Finally both the Warrior Squad on the hill, and the Doomsday Ark blow 15 Shoota Boyz off the table. The Blood Axes are stubborn as old boots though and insist they're going nowhere without a good scrap!
The Gretchin fighting the Wraith have other ideas however. Two are cut down by the Wraith, two are eaten by the Squig, and the survivors do a runner, their Runtherd chasing them with his Grabba Stick trying to throw them back into the fight.

Orks Turn 5
This was it for the Blood Axes, do or die! With only the Shoota Boyz remaining, the Weirdbot reminds everyone exactly what da Boss would do in this situation and bellows out a deafening WAAAAAAAAAAAGH!, causing the remaining Shoota Boyz to join in on this final frenzied charge. Whilst they hurtled towards the Warriors, the Kannons, the only remaining things, open up again on the Immortals. However their reanimation protocols kick in and they just self repair any blast damage.

WAAAAAAAAAGH!!!

The assault connects, albeit badly. 20 attacks swing in from the Boyz and the Weirdbot, but only succeed in bashing one Warrior to scrap. The Nob is ridiculously wound up at this point and eyes up the Cryptek. In self defence the Cryptek tries to unleash the Nob's worst nightmares and fears upon him. The move was too logical. His worst nightmare is not getting a scrap, and by Gork, reminding him of that made him even more fighty. The Nob quickly grabbed hold of the Cryptek in his Power Klaw and repeatedly smashed him into the floor. Once, twice, three times, four times. Wiring flew out of the Cryptek, and his body dashed across the battlefield, phasing out to repair what can only be be described as completely excessive overkill.

Necrons Turn 5
Mission complete. The Necron Warriors move up to grab the relic, and the Wraith is now free to move into the Ork deployment zone to have a run at the camp. Now having completely maxed out their victory, one better would be to wipe the verminous Orks from the field of battle. The Doomsday Ark fires on the Kannons, obliterating all three and their crew.
In their final act of defiance, the Shoota Boyz and Weirdbot pound another three Necron Warriors to scrap, as more and more Necrons begin to phase in around them..
Badklaw was nowhere to be found at the end of the battle.. the Gretchin who got away insisting that they've seen Weirdbot v2.2 and a few Boyz looking a bit bedraggled about the workshop, having once again teleported away to some point last Tuesday.

Game Ends: Necrons 6 - 0 Orks = Overwhelming Necron Victory

Wow.. so.. compared to my last couple of games, that was pretty damned terrifying and a complete wake-up call to how my army will play out against a tournament standard Necron player. Admittedly a couple of mistakes were made, and bad luck was to be had, particularly:

1. It's fine with the Wartrakks picking on the likes of the Doomsday Ark, but the Kannons SHOULD have been firing Frag rounds at the Warriors turn 1, keep them being menaced early on.
2. The teleport in turn 2 pretty much lost me the game. Took a unit completely out of position and off the board. While they did turn up again, they turned up completely in the wrong place at the wrong point in the game.
3. Combats in general were a bit of a let-down for me, with the Deathmarks surviving the Meganobz charge, and particularly late on when rolls to wound completely deserted me against the Warriors in the final combat. At that point however, it was a moot point.

Still.. had the advance of the Grots not been stalled early too, the Seismic Crucible and the Tremor Staff would have done a number on me and completely stalled my advance.

Needless to say, I'll be reverting my list back to a modified version of the Battlewagon list I was attempting to run, only more assaulty and far less static, which I'll post at a later date.

In review though, it was a fun game and gave me a good wake-up call on this incarnation of the Green Tide. Whilst it's done ok before, and it's probably too soon to write it off, the realisation was that there's pretty much nothing I could have done against Matt's Necrons without a faster assault element, which, even if I'd lost the Wagons early, would have meant I could have gotten in amongst the Necrons and at least started wracking up the casualties. Still, live and learn. The tide might well see light of day again, but while I need to get a working 1500 point list painted, it might not be for a while.

Units of the Match:
Orks - Kannons. It was a tough one to call, but they were the only real constant in the army. The WarTrakks were unable to get through armour which might have swung it differently. Late game when the Kannons changed their targets, they were at least causing some threat.

Necrons - Doomsday Ark. This was it in my eyes. It had a VERY accurate game, not scattering once in five turns, causing catastrophic damage. The army does synergise very well, the Deathmarks getting a special mention for their ability to mark a target and bloody well make sure it's dead. They're an interesting one too!

Should hopefully be more reports in the future, but hopefully for my first one, this was a good one!