[Battle Report] The Last Dance | Tenth Edition | Strike Force | Reawakening | Necrons vs. Blood Angels

 It's the end, but the moment has been prepared for...

Mr. Roath has been reassigned to Foreign Parts; his tour of duty is up and he is leaving the country, taking his Blood Angels with him, but not before he faces his final test. On the planet Kavadah, deep in the Pariah Nexus, there is one chance and one alone to strike at the heart of the awakening dynasty. The Blood Angels, sadly absent their Sororitas allies (Harper had better things to do, apparently), have descended to the surface with a single target in mind: the Monolith. Destroy that, and this is over...

Alas, the Supreme Overlord is ready for them.

In the interest of expediency, knowing there was a tight time window involved, I set up the scenario, terrain and my army ahead of time. This feels like being a Good Host and I am probably going to keep doing it, for opponents who trust me and my Forever GM powers. In this case, I thought we'd do something a bit special, that would encourage us to go to the full five turns: a stripped down version of the Reawakening scenario from Pariah Nexus.

In this mission the usual array of divots have unusual characteristics. Objectives marked A are the only ones active in the first and second battle rounds; in the third and fourth battle rounds, they deactivate and can no longer be scored, while the B objectives come online; and in the fifth round, only Objective C in the dead centre of the board is operational. Scoring likewise changes gear: for the first four rounds it's straightforward "control one for 5, control more for 5," but whoever holds the centre at the close of hostilities picks up 20 extra points.

I also put a special bennie on the table for this encounter. I have frequently only won games against Mr. Roath because he has two small children and I have time on my hands, ergo I score Battle Ready and he does not. For this game, he could score 10 bonus Victory Points if he managed to destroy the Monolith (I hear rumours that if you do so, this is over).

Terrain-wise, I put the "ruined cyber-relay" around that central point, and aligned the various flat-tops, walls and power generators with it, then gave some ruined structures to the honourable Attacker for his little red men to lurk in for the first turn.

Forces

Blood Angels

Detachment: Sons of Sanguinius

Captain with relic shield, master-crafted power sword and heavy bolt pistol
Lieutenant with combi-weapon (Artisan of War)
Judiciar & Bladeguard Ancient leading 3 Bladeguard Veterans in Impulsor (heavy stubber, Bellicatus missile array)
Librarian in Phobos armour leading 5 Incursors (haywire mine, multi-spectrum array)
Chaplain 
Chaplain with jump pack & inferno pistol leading 5 Death Company with jump packs (thunder hammer, power swords and inferno pistols)

5 Tactical Intercessors (1 grenade launcher)
5 Assault Intercessors
5 Assault Intercessors

3 Aggressors (auto-boltstorm gauntlets)
3 Eradicators
3 Outriders

Necrons

Detachment: Awakened Dynasty

Overlord (Overlord's blade, tachyon arrow) leading 10 Warriors (gauss reapers)
Overlord (staff of light, resurrection orb) & Technomancer leading 10 Immortals (gauss blasters)
Royal Warden leading 10 Warriors (gauss flayers)
Royal Warden leading 10 Warriors (gauss flayers)

Hexmark Destroyer

5 Deathmarks
3 Ophydian Destroyers (Plasmacyte)
3 x Canoptek Scarab Swarms
Monolith (gauss flayer arrays)

Necron reserves: I may not be playing Hypercrypt, but I want some tunnelling, teleporting or transmaterially portalling shenanigans. Roath's Death Company were likewise in reserve, awaiting their free Rapid Ingress (since he was down on points, I thought Advantage and the bonus VP for Monolith murder would even the score).

Battle Round 1

Scoring: Blood Angels 0, Necrons 10

The Blood Angels took the first turn, and moved out from their cautious deployment, drawing beads on the Immortals and Monolith. As they cleared the starting blocks, the sand behind them went all a-flutter as three things that were not Wraiths emerged from beneath the ground: once again, there was a crack in the lines through which a Rapid Ingressing Necron unit could cause some problems. Here is the face of an opponent who has just had a Rapid Ingressing Necron unit cause him some problems:

Ineffective bolter fire across the field defined the first Astartes shooting phase, although the Eradicators did place one solid hit on the Monolith. Then the Outriders did what they do best (especially on my tiny board) - unleash a blistering turn one charge into the Necron Immortals! With the substantial bonuses from the Sons of Sanguinius detachment, they killed five for a single wound in return, but the Resurrection Orb of their attendant Overlord pulled those five right back to their feet again.

For their part, the Necrons sent forth a wave of Scarabs to colonise the rightmost objective; they couldn't secure it, but they could wrap it and slow down the substantial Astartes push on that flank. The Hexmark Destroyer teleported in behind them to provide support (and an Objective Control stat worth mentioning), while the Deathmarks manifested in the central building (shown in the top-line image for this article, because I was quite pleased with the camera-flip photography here).

The Necrons' shooting was considerably more effective, deleting most of the Assault Intercessors from both squads and the Eradicators from existence altogether. Come the Assault phase, the Ophydians charged the flanking Impulsor: with the Protocol of the Conquering Tyrant in force and their Plasmacyte detonated for the cause, I was reasonably sure I could destroy one fairly light vehicle and not at all sure what else I could do if it didn't work. Success! Also, one Bladeguard Veteran died during the emergency disembarkation from the flaming wreckage. Good start. But they were much, much closer to my units than they've ever been before...

Battle Round Two

Scoring: Blood Angels 0 - Necrons 10

Enter the Death Company, striking like thunder from the sky (but not, sadly, behind the Necrons: the Scarab swarms were screening too effectively for that). Their arrival was greeted by snapfire from the Deathmarks, which tidily killed their attendant Chaplain. Once again, shooting was something of a damp squib, with the Protocol of the Undying Legions restoring the handful of fallen xenos. The mass charge that followed was considerably more eventful: while the Hexmark Destroyer cheerfully shot down the lone Intercessor who charged him, the lone Chaplain made it in, and forced a resurrection via the Protocol of the Undying Revenant. The Aggressors likewise charged the Scarabs in front of them, battering them into good country paste, and the Bladeguard unsurprisingly vanquished the Ophydians. Sadly, the Death Company's assault stalled out; not even their Black Rage re-roll could carry them into the Monolith.

The Monolith, of course, took full advantage, barrelling into the centre and - pausing only to annihilate the Assault Intercessors on its left - charging the Death Company themselves. Additional Necron Warriors led by a second Overlord manifested along the way, in position to eliminate those annoying Outriders who'd prevented me from scoring bog-all on the right flank while the Immortals fell back to collect themselves. The Necron Warriors likewise pulled back and across, concentrating fire and motion on the B objective. My collapsed flanks were no longer worth holding; all power was being diverted into the central relay hub. In combat, the Monolith didn't exactly excel - all that extra reanimation had left me a bit short on Command Points with which to Tank Shock, and the Portal only slurped up one member of the Death Company in return for a good whack from the thunder hammer.

I went into Round Three with confidence; now the B objectives were about to come online, and I held both of them, while Roath controlled the useless A objectives. Surely now we'd see some points on the board?

Battle Round Three

Scoring: Blood Angels 0 - Necrons 10

Or... not. I'd done my best to screen the Immortals out, with more Scarabs interceding between them and the Aggressors, but what I hadn't banked on was the Incursors showing their courage and moving out to engage my newly-arrived Warriors, while the Aggressors pulled back and lined up their considerable antipersonnel firepower in support. By the time the Incursors charged into combat, not even the Protocol of the Undying Legion could save me, and a Warrior squad had bitten the dust, although my Overlord (barely) survived and cut down three Incursors.

Things went no better on the other flank, where the Bladeguard and the trailing Astartes officers rolled through my Warriors like they weren't even there. Insult to injury, the Judiciar wrapped up by decapitating the Royal Warden and awakening his full combat potential. I wasn't... entirely sure what I was going to do about those. Meanwhile, the Death Company sold their lives dearly, point-blank Inferno pistol shots and another mighty swing of the hammer taking a further chunk out of the Monolith.

In my turn I did the only thing I could do: concentrate my efforts on the centre, and hope it could hold out. The Monolith, somewhat the worse for wear but still operational, brought my Immortals and their associates into the centre to unleash the Protocol of the Sudden Storm on that morass of Bladeguard. The Immortals and Warriors killed one each between them, despite their Going to Ground, and wounded the Ancient, but now I had a problem. With their Bodyguard unit destroyed, the Marine characters had become independent, and had to be targeted separately. 

Unsure how to proceed, I allocated one gauss flayer array to each of them and pointed my particle whip at the Aggressors. Good news: the Aggressors did not survive having their particles whipped. Bad news: the Captain took four wounds, but nothing else I threw at the Astartes command structure made a dent. The Deathmarks attempted to finish the job, but only managed to plug the Ancient off, with the Captain and Lieutenant saving everything I threw at them.

Battle Round Four

Scoring: Blood Angels 15 - Necrons 15

Roath had very firm control of the B objective on my left, but thanks to timely swinging of the Overlord's Blade and the presence of nearby Scarabs, I still held the B objective on my right, with only a lone Librarian left to despoil my Overlord's day. 

This was to be cold comfort, however, as the Astartes command elements piled into the central structure, unleashing sufficient bolter fire to chip a wound off the Monolith, throwing a grenade into the workings for another four mortal wounds, and then charging. With Our Finest Hour and Red Rampage up and running, the Captain had 10 Attacks, 2 damage each, at a -3 AP and Devastating Wounds; he was actually quite capable of doing exactly what he did. Three Devastating Wounds went through, and I absolutely failed to save either of the other blows that landed...

The resulting Deadly Demise detonation killed the Captain, but the Judiciar and Lieutenant endured; it did a wound to the Deathmarks and Scarabs that would be Reanimated away in short order; and a mighty five wounds to the Immortals, forcing a final Protocol of the Undying Legions to remain in any sort of control of the central objective.

At least I killed the Phobos Librarian.

Battle Round Five

We shall draw a veil over the proceedings here, as there were precious few Astartes remaining, and quite a lot of Deathmarks and Immortals pointing various implements of death in their direction. No Blood Angels would return from Kavadah, but it is said the Emperor wept a single tear for their Company Captain...

Scoring: Blood Angels 15 - Necrons 35
Only In Death Does Duty End

Debrief

Damn me down dead, but that one went to the wire. Everything I could have hoped for from our final engagement: the Bladeguard got to do a thing, the Necrons got to shrug off entire turns of shooting casualties, the Monolith was every bit the decisive presence it should be and Roath got to prove that it can be killed.

I'd made the decision early on to abandon the outer objectives and set myself up to score in the later turns, which halfway worked. That brick of Bladeguard went through everything it touched, though, and the one turn where I had no choice but to split my fire and see what I could take out ensured some of the rock hard characters got to survive. Sons of Sanguinius definitely showed its quality as a Detachment here, with most of the Angels wounding on threes or twos when they charged and really cleaning up my somewhat fragile Warrior squads. Roath's Stratagem game was sharper this time, with well-timed rerolls and extended consolidation moves enclosing those A objectives and putting him in position to start sweeping inwards. If I'd been playing Hypercrypt, I wouldn't have had half the reanimation tech I had here, and that proved to be decisive, keeping my Immortals upright long enough to take the bag.

A fine game and a fine conclusion to our eighteen month career of violence. I wish him well in his travels, and live in hope that he can pay it forward, and spread the sickness of ham-slam enthusiasm to a new carrier.

Now, I rest. And tomorrow, I try and stick all the broken Destroyer arms back on.