[Crusade] State of the Dynasty

We Post, on this occasion, to celebrate the amnesty declared over Orders of Battle in the Maledicta Sector. Due to administrative errors made by all belligerent parties in the proper application of Enhancements, the misallocation of Requisition Points and Weapon Enhancements, and use of Agendas prohibited by the protocols of honourable engagement, it became necessary to redraw the battlelines, review the forces, and arrange the Honours and Scars thus far accumulated to better serve the Narrative and improve the quality of experiences at Table. And this gives me an opportunity to bang on about my roster, the characters who've emerged, where we're at and where we're going.

We're back on Crusade thanks to New Recruit now supporting it, in a more helpful at-table way than the competing applications. With the capacity to blend our various upgrades into the datasheets and have a single point of reference for what our units can do, the cognitive load inherent in Crusade play should be reduced to bearability.

NEKTHYST DYNASTY ACQUISITION PHALANX 

• 2000x Supply Limit, 6x Battle Tally, 3x Victories, Transtemporal Acceleration 

Game of two halves, innit? Efforts to regain control of the tomb/prison complex on Mer'thyr'od definitely peaked in the middle, with the first and last encounters being absolute tonkings. System failures cascaded in an attempt to prevent premature Monolith detonation, and we only retain a limited capacity for translocation. Reanimation systems must be a priority in the new battlespace.

Fortunately, the arrival of a full-fledged harvester vessel allows systemic support equivalent to a planetary emplacement, and once the Ravenous Entropy is secure in low orbit around a target planet, crypteks predict satisfactory projection of force to complete reconquest. The Supreme Overlord has commanded aggressive action against invader holdings east of the Firestorm Nebula: disrupting their operations and securing the interior while additional fleet assets are en route. 

Kopekh's been retrofitted to the tachyon arrow and glaive configuration:
he can't join units any more, so what's the point in a Resurrection Orb?

CHARACTERS

Kopekh the Shrouded: 1x Overlord (Blooded) (105 pts, 0 Crusade Points)
• Overlord's blade, Tachyon arrow
• 15x Experience Points: Honour (Martial Apotheosis), Scar (Creeping Madness), Enhancement (Unflinching Will)

Teznet the Loyal, Voidlord of the Endless Legion: 1x Royal Warden (Battle-hardened) (50 pts, 2 Crusade Points)
• 16x Experience Points: Relic (Armour of the Soulless Sentry), Relic (Veil of Ancients), Warlord

Azhad the Ascended: 1x Technomancer (Blooded) (100 pts, 0 Crusade Points)
• 15x Experience Points: Enhancement (Dimensional Sanctum)

Our... hasty withdrawal from Mer'thyr'od has not been kind to Kopekh, who has resurrected with... something of a complex. According to him, the dynasty's honour is now contingent on him "soloing" Talassar Kaine, and "nothing else matters, least of all the priorities of peons." He refuses all attempts to assign a bodyguard, and has overclocked his combat protocols to 130% efficiency in an attempt to match the Astartes captain's capabilities.

Given his... shift in priorities, tactical command has devolved to his attendants. Azhad the Ascended, senior cryptek of the phalanx and master of its hierotek circle, has long been commander of covert operations forces (hence granting his unit Infiltrators), but he's locked out of the command protocols for the phalanx as a whole. As such, Teznet the Loyal has stepped up, activating contingencies that promote him to full despotek and enable defensive capabilities on par with true nobility. He answers to the Supreme Overlord, not to his increasingly unhinged polemarch.

Azhad is so, so done with everything, especially his own busted-up base and missing drone.
I should sort out a new Technomancer model at some point.

BATTLELINE

Cohort of the Cold Dawn: 10x Immortals (Blooded) (150 pts, 1 Crusade Points)
• Gauss blaster
• 15x Experience Points: Honour (The Will To Serve)

Cohort of Endless Servitude: 20x Necron Warriors (Battle-hardened) (200 pts, 2 Crusade Points)
• Gauss flayer
• 19x Experience Points: Honour (Engrammatic Imprinting), Honour (The Will To Serve)

The common soldiery and elevated civilians making up the core of the phalanx have benefitted from new standards in upgrade protocol. Resurrection protocol failure rates have fallen to trace levels, and tactical engrams have been improved, eliminating the need for direct supervision in battle. 

(Frankly, it makes more sense to me that "experienced" Necron infantry units gain improved systems rather than skills per se, and The Will To Serve allows me to skip the Out Of Action checks and simply reanimate another wave. Engrammatic Imprinting - rerolling ones to hit with a character merely nearby - is fantastic, especially since Kopekh's gone sideways and can't lead a squad any more.)

Bronze tide, bronze tide...

OTHER DATASHEETS

Cohort of the Crimson Sands: 6x Skorpekh Destroyers (Blooded) (180 pts, 0 Crusade Points)
• 2x Plasmacyte
• 13x Experience Points: Honour (The Will To Serve), Scar (Engrammatic Degradation)

Cohort of the Biting Wind: 3x Tomb Blades (Blooded) (75 pts, 1 Crusade Points)
• Twin tesla carbine, Shieldvanes, Shadowloom
• 6x Experience Points: Honour (Riders of Ruin)

Heart of the Black Star: 1x Monolith (Blooded) (400 pts, 1 Crusade Points)
• Particle whip, Portal of exile, 4x Gauss flux arc
• 11x Experience Points: Honour (Heavily Armoured), Scar (Engrammatic Degradation)

Overseer Obsekh: 1x Triarch Stalker (Battle-ready) (110 pts, 0 Crusade Points)
• Heavy gauss cannon array
• 3x Experience Points

Engrammatic degradation has become a factor among those elements of the phalanx exposed to the most severe battlefield conditions. While the afflicted elements show reduced initiative (neither accelerating nor withdrawing in response to the tactical situation), direct interface with their command protocols has become notably more efficient. Of particular interest is the improved economy of hyperphasic recall and dimensional corridor deployment, allowing for rapid and aggressive relocation of the skorpekh cohort without significant attention deficit elsewhere in the command system.

Overseer Obsekh and the Biting Wind continue to serve as the eyes and ears of the phalanx, with the Triarchal representative corroborating reports made by Nephrak warrior units. Obsekh's comparative lack of combat experience, having been sentinel of an abandoned world for much of the interregnum, must be amended if he is to retain authority as sole Triarchal representative. 

Part of me wishes the Order of Battle was just "everything we own." It'd be a lot easier.

Still not quite lagging far enough behind the Sworn Hunters to earn a second Crusade Blessing, but I'll take a bonus Agenda for our next game. This'll let me pick the dead easy Immortal Servitude and hopefully power up my Resurrection Flux, keeping the Necrons rolling when they're under half strength, and take something appropriate to my strategic goals. I'm thinking Reestablish Communications and Critical Resources if we're trying to reach the Supreme Overlord for new orders, or Territorial Imperative and Kingslayer if we're fighting across the border and putting Kaine in his place.

Now I just need to decide what to spend 630 points on to match Garbutt's fully armed and operational war crime of a roster...