An old battle report from 9th ed before the guard codex came out.
The refinery at Tanners Hill had gone dark. That was never a good sign. In the recent years raids had often hit remote locations such as Tanners Hill to disrupt supplies. With every ingot and pressing required for the war effort the PDF and Imperial guard had been deployed to hold key infrastructure throughout the planets surface. 14th company had been dispatched under Captain Scraff and was accompanied by Sergeant Major Domm leading four platoon of the fearsome "Highlanders". Utilising their tracked Chimera transports and light vehicles that fell back once the troops deployed the Highlanders pushed into the edge of the Refinery.
The buildings were dark. There was still power. The trrops could hear the refinery's machinery thrum . The generator was still active.
As they advanced they could here a buzzing noise like a nest of bugs was nearby but they couldn't pin point the source of the sound.
Something scuttled past the lead platoon causing the nervous troops to call in alarm. Lasguns were trained on the shadow of a inlet pipe that went deep underground where the thing had disappeared into.
The Srgt major called for a light and scanned the area. The small beam only penetrated the murk so far and he couldn't see anything. As he clicked off the light he could then see a pin prick of light. As he focus'd on it the lights rapidly multiplied and seemed to seethe towards him.
"FLAMER!" he yelled throwing himself backward.
Guardsmen Edwards from the command squad jammed his barrel into the pipe and pulled the trigger. There was the whoomph of igniting fuel and a screeching from the pipe. Then silence.
Green light filled the evening sky and shafts of green energy like giant rain drops fell from the heavens bursting on the ground in front of the imperial guard.
Metal xenos stood within the refinery where once there had been only open ground. Each one looks like a skeletal version of a man, three huge versions moved forward on insectal legs and a grav barge like something out of legend floated around the corner of the refinery and headed towards the Srget Major's team.
"Contact, enemy front, enemy flier!" came in over the vox net.
Captain Scraff raised his sword. "For the Emperor! Engage the enemy!"
Necron forces
I was looking forward to taking my new vehicles and wanted to try out the reaper armed warriors.
Unfortunately they were only partially painted.
Necrons - Incursion - Eternal War ( 6CP - 1000PT - 0PT )
Necrons Battalion Detachment ( 3CP - 1000PT )
SUB-FACTION: Mephrit
HQ
WARLORD: Overlord (100)
TRAITS: Enduring Will
Plasmancer (70)
RELICS: Veil of Darkness
TROOPS
Immortals (85)
5x Immortals
Necron Warriors (130)
10x Necron Warrior with guass reapers
Necron Warriors (130)
10x Necron Warrior with guass flayers
ELITES
Deathmarks (90)
5x Deathmarks
Skorpekh Destroyers (105)
1x Skorpekh Destroyer with hyperphase reap-blade
2x Skorpekh Destroyer
DEDICATED TRANSPORT
Ghost Ark (145)
FLYER
Night Scythe (145)
Total Points: 1000/1000
Imperial guard forces
IG incursion
Astra Militarum - Incursion - Eternal War ( 6CP - 996PT - 4PT )
Astra Militarum Battalion Detachment ( 3CP - 921PT )
SUB-FACTION: 89th Highlanders, wilderness survivors, expert marksmen.
Imperial guard I had to just pretty much take everything available. My forces lacked any real heavy support so the only tanks on the field were the two Chimera which would carry the non heavy weapon infantry squads.
HQ
WARLORD: Company Commander (35)
TRAITS: Master of Command
RELICS: Kurov’s Aquila
Inquisitor (70) Plasma pistol, Power sword
Lord Commissar (45) Power fist
TROOPS
Infantry Squad (80)
1x Guardsman: Vox-caster
1x Guardsman: Grenade launcher
1x Heavy Weapons Team: Missile launcher
1x Sergeant
5x Guardsman
Infantry Squad (55)
1x Sergeant
9x Guardsman
Infantry Squad (80)
1x Guardsman: Vox-caster
1x Guardsman: Grenade launcher
1x Heavy Weapons Team: Missile launcher
1x Sergeant
5x Guardsman
Infantry Squad (55)
1x Sergeant
9x Guardsman
Militarum Tempestus Scions (125)
1x Militarum Tempestus Scion: Vox-caster
1x Militarum Tempestus Scion: Plasma gun
1x Militarum Tempestus Scion: Grenade launcher
1x Militarum Tempestus Scion: Meltagun
1x Tempestor: Power sword
5x Militarum Tempestus Scion
ELITES
Command Squad (14)
1x Veteran: Vox-caster
1x Veteran: Regimental standard
2x Veteran: Sniper rifle
Command Squad (15)
1x Veteran: Vox-caster
1x Veteran
1x Veteran: Grenade launcher
1x Veteran: Flamer
Platoon Commander (27) Boltgun
FAST ATTACK
Armoured Sentinels (140)
1x Armoured Sentinel: Lascannon
2x Armoured Sentinel: Autocannon
HEAVY SUPPORT
Heavy Weapons Squad (50)
3x Heavy Weapons Team
Heavy Weapons Squad (50)
3x Heavy Weapons Team: Autocannon
Heavy Weapons Squad (65)
3x Heavy Weapons Team: Lascannon
DEDICATED TRANSPORT
Chimera (85) Heavy stubber, Hunter-killer missile
Chimera (80) Heavy stubber
Total Points: 996/1000
The Map
The refinery was based around the Ttcombat industrial terrain set with a big 2 level tower in the centre. Radiating out from this is single level structures leading to the two deployment zones so forces could start on the structures to push into the centre.
Either side of the battlefield on opposite corners were two large buildings (again from tt combat) to represent office or plant buildings for the site. On the left hand side was a big pipe structure piece that blocked line of sight and restricted movement. On the right there was a big crater/cess pool. This didn't block sight but again restricted movement. Idea would be to push the forces into the industrial terrain.
There was scatter terrain with the trees and a generator looking pice that went next to the main tower.
Mission
The mission was chosen from the open war deck as Take and hold. Basically objectives are worth one point if held in the command phase from Turn 2 onwards.
Deployment
Necrons
First thing to go down was the flyer. It didn't matter about hiding that from fire really.
Imperial guard
Sentinals
Necron T1. 5CP 0VP
Night scythe moves to centre. Ghost ark moves up to take the left. Destroyers move to the barracades. Immortals stay still as they are just in range and can hold the objective. I consider sending in the warlord with the destroyers but don't want him to get isolated up front if the destroyers get taken out.
Night Sycthe takes out Las cannon heavy support squad in a single pass. Immortals disintegrate 3 guardsmen in the right hand missile launcher squad and the Ghost Ark strips a wound from the Chimera in front of it.
The guardsmen fail their morale test on a 6 and another flees but the rest hold firm. Forgot to leave them in range of the Commissar and banner.
Imperial Guard Turn 1. CP 6 VP0
The chewed up guardsman squad and the Chimera on the right move up with the heavy weapon team holding still to secure the home objective and get ready to face the Skorpeth Destroyers.
The Sentinels hold position hoping to get some fire on the Night scythe.
The squad on top of the building move to the roof to capture the objective ready for next turn and get a line of sight on the Ghost Ark with their missile launcher.
The lightly wounded Chimera moves towards the Ghost Ark blocking the street and the Srgt Majors squad including the inquisitor advance move up behind it taking cover from sight.
The CO orders the mortars and the Autocannon heavy squads to "Take Aim" and the Srgt Major orders the same thing on the missile launcher infantry squad above him.
The mortars open up on the immortals and 13 shots erupt on the top of the building. When the smoke clears all of the immortals made their saves.
The sentinels tried to take down the night sycthe their attacks would determine where the other attacks would go. They either missed the mark or failed to penetrate the scythes armour.
The autocannon heavy weapon teams leveled at the Skorpeth destroyers. Wasn't expecting much but two shots penetrated and dropped a Destroyer.
The infantry squad opened up against the same target but the krak missile bounced off their silver hides.
From their new position overlooking the street the second infantry squad takes aim at the ghost ark and fluff their shots.
The Chimera on the left shoots the ghost ark too its hunter killer misses the necron transport and the multilaser blasts a wound off. The rest of the small arms bounce off.
The right Chimera manages a single wound on the Skorpeth.
With just one model off the table the Necrons seem to have got off lightly this turn.
Necron T2. 6CP 2VP
It was time to unleash hell with a big push on CP. If the Necrons could break the Guard forces on their left flank then it would be 4VPs to 2VPs or even one for the rest of the game. There was still the Scions to come but one good round of shooting and those elites would have a lot to do.
Movement.
The Night sycthe looked for a good spot to drop its load of 10 Necron Warriors. With 15" reapers (Mephrit bonus) the Warriors could rip into the Guard hard and then charge in.
I wanted to drop them closer to objective 2 in the IGs lines but the Night Sycthe couldn't fit in the right places with its 20" min move without being on top of some guardsmen or unable to unload. In the end I dropped it on the edge of the board near the chemical pool.
The flyer armed warriors in the ghost ark jumped out in front of their vehicle to put the hurt on the tank.
The plasmancer get two wounds on the Chimera to the right with his harbinger ability.
Shooting phase
The Night Sycthe opened up the shooting aiming at the autocamnon squad. The light cover was stripped away with a solar pulse (1CP) and then the tesla was augmented with (1CP) to give another mortal wound onto units within 6" on a 4+. The tesla ripped the heavy support squad apart and blew one of the snipers out of the command squad.
The plasmancer then shoots and fails to wound the Chimera in front of him.
The Overlord shows him how to do it with his tachion arrow going straight through for 6 wounds.
The immortals try to take the last two wounds off the tank but fail to penetrate
Warriors take only one wound off it
Finially the death marks see a gap in the armour plating and its a straight shot to the engine block.
Didn't explode one guy died on the way out.
Now it was the turn of the warriors in the other side shooting the Chimera blocking the path to the Inquisitor. I went all out. Disintegration capacitors (1 CP 6s auto wound) , talent for destruction (1 CP 6s to wound cause a mortal wound in addition) and the exploding 6s one.
(1CP)
20 shots rained in with the extra AP from mephrit.
Half of them missed and I only got one 6.
Then I only got one 6 for the wounds.
Sigh.
In total the Chimera took 2 wounds not even dropping the bracket.
The Ghost Ark added its fury and manged 50% of the damage without any command points bringing down to 6.
I continued with the plan and charged the reaper warriors into the weakened infantry squad on the right.
The guard sergeant called for grenades. (1CP) and overwatch (1CP) The 6 remaining guardsmen hurled 16 shots at the warriors killing one on the way in.
In a fit of dice rage the warriors on the left also charged. Thanks to the house rules overwatch could be used again and the Chimera also through on defensive gunners and blew two warriors down. The ghost Ark potentially could replace them.
The reaper warriors sliced up 3 guardsmen and took another causulty in return.
Then the flyer warriors bounced off the Chimera's armor. It in return rolled three 6s. Crushing 2 more warriors. No reanimations I'd managed to lose more models in my own turn than the Guard had managed to kill in theirs.
Imperial Guard turn 2 2VP 3CP
The necrons damp squib of a strategem bomb had done a lot less damage than it could have done. The question was how to respond. The right flank needed shoring up. Taking its mid board objective seemed unlikely but if I could kill the warriors this turn and turn and face the Skorpeth coming at me I could hold my own objective.
The Stormtroopers are able to come down this turn with their light anti tank weapons. I could use them to pressure the Necron Overlords position but they'd be unlikely to kill him or take his objective. Dropping next to the Ghost Ark seems a better move. The anti tank should make the Ark less effective and then they can charge it to secure the objective its parked on. That would even the score as Necrons are due to score 4 points next command phase.
Command phase
Gained a CP (4)
Movement.
The sentinels rush around to shore up the battered flank (right). Two of them had to advance but get poor rolls. I was hoping they'd be in a better position to shoot next turn but we're they ended up I could have walked and got shots in at the warriors too. The last autocannon can still put steel on target.
The embattled guardsmen in close combat fall back to the rubble and are joined by the Commissar. The Company commander and banner tick more under the overhang toward the heavy support squad to issue orders and avoid a charge. The "dismounted" guardsmen form a firing line and prepare to rapidfire into the warrior in front of them.
The inquisitor wiggles through the gap between the hero left Chimera and the building. The Srgt Major and his squad move up to shout some orders at the Scions that drop into the centre of the board to form a firing line on the Ghost Ark.
The company commander yells a string of orders demanding the 4 remaining guardsmen get back in the fight. At the mortar team he yells for them to take aim. He finishes yelling the 9 guardsmen from the Chimera to take aim as well as they prepare their grenades.
The Srgt Major shouts through the vox at the newly arrived Scions to "take it down."
The shooting starts with the only sentinel that can shoot at the only thing he can see. The reaper warriors. Two shots, one misses the other clangs off the mighty necron metal hide. The command squad and the commander open up against the reaper warriors but nothing goes in.
The grenadiers strat is played on the 9 man squad and they score 36 attacks and a disproportionate amount hit and wound forcing the warriors to roll 13 saves. But averages slam back into place and only 3 fail their save and two of them regenerate.
The 4 man guards squad try and redeem the situation with a single frag grenade from the sergeant and a krak from the launcher. Nothing goes through though.
I was hoping there would be a few less undead warriors.
The Chimera opens up against the flyer warriors in close combat. Another warrior falls to the heavy bolter.
The motors drop 14 shots on the warriors and this time two fall only to regenerate. Necron warriors are tough things.
The Scions throw everything they have at the Ghost Ark. 6 hotshot Lasguns burn two wounds off the thing and the meltagun misses. The plasma gunner goes for the overcharge and promptly blows himself up but does two more wounds. The grenade launcher chucks a krak at the tank and it bounces off the armour. To bring it down by 5 from 14 leaving it on 9.
The 9 guardsmen and Lord Commissar charge the reaper warriors while the inquisitor works around the side of the Chimera to attack the warriors there.
The Scions fail their charge meaning the guard won't deny the Xenos from gaining 4 VPs next turn.
The Inquisitor strikes first attacking twice with his power fist and once with his sword. The fist crushes two warriors but the sword fails to wound. Both warriors regenerate and appear the otherside of the unit away closer to the guardsmen ready to pile in. The guardsmen do well at the hitting but all their attacks bounce off.
The inquisitor gets a strike in on the warriors and carves one more down. They strike back at him and cause a wound putting him down to 4.
The reaper warriors pile in and three Strike at the Commissar and three at the guardsmen. The Commissar loses a wound to bring him down to three.
Necron T3 0CP 6VP
Command phase
Gained a CP
Changed to the hungry void protocal
The Ghost Ark spent the new CP on reconstitution protocols to add D6 model back to the unit in front of it and got lucky with a 5. The warriors reanimated back towards the objective putting the new 5 close enough to contest the objective should the Scions survive to come wheeling in next turn.
The OverLord placed his will be done on the immortals
Movement
The ghost Ark twisted under the gantry to block the Scions from charging the backs of the newly re formed warriors.
The Skorpeth destroyers closed in on the melee with the Reapers and the plasma cert followed them. His Harbinger power brought down two more guardsmen as fought against the warriors.
Shooting phase.
The immortals fired down on the three guardsmen in the rubble. The sergeant on top of the create was just in range and allowed his squad to be picked off from the back of the board. The plasmancer couldn't see anything to fire his lance at.
The Ghost Ark rapid fired at the Scions killing 8 of the remaining 9. The only man left is the vox operator. I smell tricks up the guardsmen sleeve.
Charge/fight phase
The plasmancer leads the way with charge of 8. The Skorpeth destroyers only manage a 5 which is enough to get them in past the plasmancer and ready to start towards the objective next turn.
The plasmancer fails to kill anything with his living lightning but skewers a guardsmen with his lance.
The Destroyers rip into the squad killing a further 6 leaving just the Srgt.
The Commissar hits back and punches down another warrior.
The Inquisitor slices into a flyer armed warrior but the damned thing gets back up again. I thought he was supposed to be the expert.
The Srgt desparately hacks at them and hits and wounds every time but he only brings one down and again the warriors prove extremely robust. I thought about being gamey and putting that warrior behind the Srgt so he couldn't retreat
Morale phase
The Srgt was made of stern stuff and thanks to the Commissar and the banner he held on a 2. 2CP were dropped on the Scion vox caster to get him to hold.
Imperial guard T3 1CP 4VP
Command phase gained a CP (2)
Movement
The Vox caster sprinted like a mad man around the central tower away from the ghost Ark with a 6 but keeping in range of the Srgt major's vox.
The sentinels move up to shoot at what they can.
I decide to fall just the guardsman out of combat
Shooting phase
The Srgt Major voxed the Scion. Move Move Move. Get to the generator! The Scion was tired but and only managed a 1 which just brought him into range of the objective. If he stayed alive the guard could be looking a 3 points next turn.
The sentinels shoot at the immortals. The autocannon take one down but the lascannon despite drilling its target has its shot regenerated. The mortars open up at the same target but only get 6 shots and manage to take down a second.
The close range shots against the Skorpeth bounce.
In close combat the Chimera takes another warrior and the inquisitor claims one with his plasma only to have it regenerate. (The warriors are doing so well I had to check the rules to male sure I was doing it right)
Fight phase.
The Commissar punches out another reaper. The inquisitor survives being attacked but does no damage in return and the Chimera fails to run over anymore.
No morale to take. In conclusion to this turn it looks unlikely the Guard will beat the Necrons on points. The Crons will be 2 points up going into turn 4 and the Guard will only be able to claw some back if they are very lucky on the left.
Necron T4 0CP 9VP
Gain a CP
Change the protocol
My will be done on the immortals again.
Movement
Plasmancer flies over Chimera to attack command squad. Harbinger comes off and blasts all three off the board. This adds lots of options as to where to put his lance attack and charge. The Warlord is in the open. The Setinel needs to be shut down.
Night scythe comes back into the mid board where the are lots of targets. Most likely going to aim for the objective holding squad on the roof. For a combined attack with the Ghost Ark and Death Marks.
Shooting phase
The immortals kick things off trying to take out the lone hero scion. The cover protects him from the guass blasters. (I feel the immortals are going to gain a mark of shame for this day's performance)
The plasma cert manages 3 shots from his lance into the company commander and stops two wounds off of him.
The ghost Ark took down two of the guardsmen on the building and the death marks killed a further two. Realising that the Srgt and vox caster had been positioned badly.
Curses.
Charge phase.
The plasmacer went into the company commander.
The Skorpeth destroyers charged the srgt and the Commissar. I placed the reaper close to the Commissar to put the damage 3 on him.
his lightning attacks killed the brave Srgt staring down the Skorpeth but failed to strike the commander or the Sentinel.
The commander parried the plasmancers thrust and stuck back to cause a single wound. The Commissar brave stand was cut down by the giant reaper blade. The Skorpeth consolidated into the lascannon sentinel who missed his kick.
On the close combat that won't end on the other side of the board the inquisitor missed his attacks and got wounded twice in return bringing him down to a single wound. The Chimera did nothing.
Imperial Guard turn 4 2CP 6VP.
Despite the Scions heroics the Crons stretch their lead to 3 points. It's time to throw caution to the wind with three CP to burn.
The plan is to disembark the squad from the Chimera and grenadier the warrior squad with combined fire from the command squad and the missile launcher squad to hopefully kill enough of the warriors to back them up to the objective then flood it with objective secured troops.
On the other side the sentinels and the mortar squad will blow the snot out of the warriors there amd charge in with the sentinels hopefully holding up the Skorpeth while the mortars charge in to help the company commander bring down the plasmancers and outnumber the Crons on the objective. The guard will then hold 4 objectives to the Crons 2 come turn 5.
Movement
The squad disembaks and crawls alongside the tank slowed by the terrain. The command squad slots in behind it with the platoon commander (Srgt Major).
The Chimera backs up to hold the building objective should the infantry squad be blasted by the night sycthe.
The inquisitor limps back to the cover of the drain to call in reinforcements to take back the refinery.
The sentinels inch over to lock in the warriors and skorpeth away from the objective when they charge.
The scion ducks behind the generator to hide from the immortals fire and to hold the objective
Shooting.
The Srgt Major calls on the squad in front of him to take aim.
The commander does the same to the mortar team.
The infantry on the left pull the pins on their grenades and get 42 shots.
The bucket of dice only takes down three warriors and one regenerates.
The rest of the fire only takes one more down. Every little helps but the charge isn't going to sweep those warriors away.
The motars stick to the original plan and concentrate fire on the squad of warriors in front of them. 9 shots only kill one pesky necron. Who Regenerates. Not only that but regenerates closer to the objective and steals it. Necrons are back on 4VP next turn.
Charge phase
The inquisitor orders the troops in front of him to charge into the warriors and tag the ghost Ark. They just manage to shuffle enough models close enough to out number the warriors.
The Srgt Major (platoon commander) goes in with the boys but his command squad hang back failing to keep up with the boss, making themselves a juicy target for the Night Sycthe.
Fight phase.
The infantry smack one necron down and guess what. He regenerates. The Srgt Major fails to wound but the attacks back from the warriors bounce off.
The plasmacer misses his attack on the company commander and the commanders attack back takes a wound off of him.
Necron T5 0CP 12VP
The night sycthe slashes down to lock onto the mortar team. The Skorpeth close up on the sentinels. The immortals shuffle onto the other roof to take aim at the Scion and the Warlord takes up position on the roof to survey the battlefield his troops have surely secured for him.
The plasmacer uses his veil of darkness to move into the centre of the board at 9 inches from the infantry squad in close combat on the left and uses his harbinger ability to bring 2 down.
The night sycthe claims its third heavy weapons platoon with ease.
The warriors dispatch the company commander.
The ghost Ark fires into combat leaving just 5 guardsmen alive.
The immortals fluff their shots on the hero scion. They are getting a mark of shame for this performance.
The Death marks kill two more infantry on the opposite roof.
The Skorpeth charge the sentinels.
Close combat sees guard die 3 more guardsmen die. The Skorpeth bounce splitting their attacks and the reaper only does 3 damage and the other one only does 2.
The infantry on the roof break and run as does a member of the infantry in combat with the warriors leaving just the Srgt who holds firm.
Imperial guard T5 0CP 8VP
Well its over. The infantry fallback. The command squad moves to cover the retreat.
The Chimera takes down a warrior and the command squad mange to kill 3.
The Skorpeth finish off the sentinels neither of which blow up.
