Eldar Vs Necrons 1750: Ancient Foes

The ancient foe has stirred, coming from their tombs and threatening an imperial world. Normally nothing to bother the Craftworld of Dem-Kirath, but if they are not stopped the seers have had visions of many eldar lives being lost in the future. The Battle is Eldar vs Necrons 1750, game type crusade with dawn of war deployment.

The Armies

Eldar 1746

Farseer – 100 w/ guardians (warlord: nothing useful)

[Doom, eldritch storm, guide]

Spiritseer – 70 w/ guardians as well

[Empower, conceal]

10 Guardians – 90

Wave Serpent – 145

Twin-linked Scatter laser, shuriken cannon, holo field

5 Wraithguard – 160

Wave serpent – 145

Twin-linked Scatter laser, shuriken cannon, holo field

10 Guardians – 110

Bright lance

6 rangers – 72

5 Shining spears – 160

Exarch, starlance, hit and run

2 Vypers – 140

Scatter laser, shuriken cannon

Crimson hunter – 160

Fire Prism – 140

Holo field

2 War walkers – 140

Scatter laser, bright lance

3 Dark reapers – 114

Starshot

Necrons 1750

For the warlord trait my opponent uses the necrons traits found in imperial armour 11, they seem quite good.

Overlord - 160 (warlord: re-roll fail reanimation within 3 inches of objective) w/ Immortals

Resurrection Orb, Warscythe, Semiternal Weave, Mindshackle Scarabs

Cryptek – 60 w/ warriors

Abyssal Staff, Veil of Darkness

Cryptek – 65 w/ warriors

Eldritch Lance, Solar Pulse, Gaze of Flame

Triarch Stalker – 150

10 Deathmarks – 190

10 Immortals – 170

15 Necron Warriors - 195

15 Necron Warriors – 195

3 Wraiths -135

3x whip Coils

5 Scarabs – 75

Annihilation Barge – 90

Annihilation Barge - 90

Doom Scythe – 175

The Mission

Rolling for mission we get Crusade (3 objectives) with a nice and simple dawn of war deployment. The necrons win the roll for deployment zone and then again win the roll for first turn! Placing objectives I place one in my deployment zone on top of a building to my right. In turn he places one just in front of his deployment below a building and then I place the 3rd in a creator just outside his deployment hoping to attack it later.

He keeps the Doom scythe in reserve along with the Deathmarks. On the actual field of battle the lord and immortals deploy on the left in a ruin next to his objective. On the far left the scarabs deploy, with an annihilation barge next to them. Behind them the warriors with crytpek (with veil of darkness) deploy. In the middle the Triarch stalker and second annihilation barge are placed, finally the second unit of warriors deploy to the right of them alongside the wraiths.

My deployment and I keep it simple, the farseer and guardians go on my objective on top of the ruin. On the far left I place the prism hidden behind a ruin so it can’t get killed first turn. Behind that the vypers are ready to spring out and act, the shining spears surround the prism as well. In the middle I place both wave serpents and behind them the war walkers. In a creator the dark reapers take cover. In reserve I have the crimson hunter and I out flank the rangers aiming for some sneaky trickery.

Deployment

Night Fight: Turn 1

Steal the initiative: No

The Battle

Necron turn 1

I though darkness was my ally, I was wrong, he uses solar pulse to make the battle field bright as day. The scarabs go up the left flank, immortals go forwards to claim the objective. The warriors on the right attempt to move towards the objective in the crater but roll badly and only move forwards 2 inches. Both annihilation barges move forwards to see a target while the wraiths move straight towards the farseer and friends. To finish the movement phase the cryptek uses his veil of darkness and deep strikes towards the guardians, they scatter a little but can still see the guardians.

 

Warriors deep strike into the Eldar lines

Both the scarabs and wraiths run. The stalkers shoots at the wraithguard wave serpent and hit it (making everyone else shooting at it twin-linked) but fails to penetrate its armour.  The left annihilation barge targets it as well but he rolls badly and only gets 2 hits which both fail to even glance the tank. Shooting from the immortals targets the dark reapers and rolls well, getting 9 hits which ends up killing 2 of them. Rapid fire from the warriors targets the guardians, and the cryptek uses his abyssal staff and ends up killing all bar 1 guardian, and even wounds the farseer! The hold though. The other annihilation barge targets the guardian’s wave serpent and gets a single penetrating hit, but the serpent shield reduces it down to a glance.

Eldar turn 1

With the warriors coming so close I have no choice but to doom them, but I get double 1 and use the ghost helm to prevent the wound. As I only have 1 warp charge left, instead of storming the warriors (I can’t do it now, its warp charge 2) I guide the war walkers. Jumping out of their serpent, the guardians engage the warriors next to them. The other serpent move forwards while the vypers move to target the warriors, I have to kill them off in a single turn. Finally the shining spears move to charge the scarabs.

 

The Eldar line assaults the warriors

Starting with the guardians, they blade storm the warriors and manage to kill 4 warriors and even down the cryptek. The wave serpent then shoots at them with its scatter laser and shuriken cannon, killing an extra 2. Shots from the vypers reduce them by 4 more models, the farseer and lone guardian attempts to kill some and kill 1 more, so the war walkers are forced to kill the last and manage to, gaining first blood! Hoping to take out an annihilation barge the lone dark reaper shoots a starshot but fails to do anything. The prism does the same but misses. To finish off the last wave serpent shoots at the immortals and kills a single model (who doesn’t get up). End of the shooting phase and reanimation of the cryptek, he stays down.

Assault phase, and the shining spears charge into the scarabs, but as they are going though terrain they are striking last. The scarabs drag down two aspect warriors but 2 bases of scarabs die to the lance hits, winning the combat, but they are fearless.

Necrons turn 2

Reserve rolls and only the deathmarks come in, they deep strike next to my guardians but scatter 12 into the middle of them and mishap, he rolls on the mishap table and gets a 2, so I can place them where I want and go straight in to the far top right hand corner hopefully staying out of the game for a while. The wraiths go straight for the farseer and get in assault range. The necron warriors hold the objective in the crater. Both the annihilation barge and stalker in the middle move up to gain better line of sight as the immortals take the second objective.

Assassins!

With nothing to shoot the deathmarks run a fancy 1 inch. The stalker targets the wraithguard’s wave serpent but misses thankfully; unfortunately the annihilation barge on the left is much more accurate and causes 2 glancing hits on it. A final volley from the immortals is all it takes to strip the last hull point off the wave serpent forcing the wraithguard to get out. On the other side of the table the warriors target the other wave serpent and even at long range get enough glancing hits on it to wreck it in a single turn (I failed a lot of jink saves). Finally the annihilation barge on the right shoots at the guardians killing 4, and the shot doesn’t arch onto anything else.

Assault phase and the wraiths appear from under the feet of the farseer and companions charging them, murdering them with ease, the guardians, spiritseer and farseer all die. On the left the spears fail to do any damage to the scarabs, but the scarabs also fail to do any damage, with the combat a tie the spears hit and run away towards the annihilation barge on the left.

Eldar turn 2

Sneaking on the table, the rangers outflank on the left side of the table and hide behind some large rocks, hoping not to get too much attention. No crimson hunter yet though. The wraithguard move though the wreck towards the stalker but roll low and only a few make it in range. With the wraiths so close I have to deal with them, the guardians, war walkers and vypers move back but still keep them in range. On the left the shining spears move behind the annihilation barge.

Lance shots from the spears attempt to hit the rear armour of the barge but fail do any damage (a shame, I wanted to run away in the assault phase). The fire prism uses its small blast mode and knocks down 5 immortals thanks to the shot hitting. The dark reaper shoots at the immortals with his swarm star shot and kills 1 more. They take a moral test but hold. The wraithguard target the stalkers but only 2 are in range, only 1 hits and doesn’t get past its armour. More importantly in my deployment zone the guardians deal 1 wound to a wraith, the vypers deal 4 more, leaving a single wraith on 1 wound, so I have to waste the war walkers to try and kill them off. They do it thankfully; I couldn’t let one of those run lose around my deployment zone.

Like the knights of old, the shining spears charge headlong into the annihilation barge and wreck it thanks to strength 6 and 8 hits. But they are now in the open ready for a pummelling from teh immortals.

Necron turn 3

Just when I didn’t want it, the doom scythe comes in from reserve straight towards the wraithguard. Continuing on their march the deathmarks move up. The remaining barge moves to the right to get a better sight of the battle field while the immortals move to the shining spears. The scarabs go straight for the fire prism.

Death ray, what a name of a weapon, the death ray only goes 4 inches across the table but still kills 3 wraithguard and catches a war walker glancing it. The tesla weapon then finishes off the wraithguard. Shots from the warriors can see a few guardians and 2 fall to the ground, dead. The annihilation barge shots its true nature, targets the war walkers and both explode killing a guardian in the process. It’s all too much for the guardians and they run straight off the table.

Assault phase and to my surprise the immortals charge the spears, the overlord issues a challenge but I refuse, if I can just stay alive I can hit and run away. Unfortunately its not the case and the immortals kill a single spear, and the lord kills off the other 2. They consolidate back onto their objective. The scarabs charge the fire prism and wreck it, the little buggers.

Eldar turn 3

Like a bird of prey the crimson hunter sees its chance and comes in form reserve, straight for the doom scythe, not allowing it to desecrate any more eldar souls. With not much left the vypers turn to face the scarabs, they have to die or they will just strip the vypers down to scrap next turn.

Firing all of its guns the crimson hunter rips the doom scythe it bits, every shot hits its target, penetrates and he fails to jink out of the way. A shot must have hit a major part of the machine as its explodes sending debris everywhere. The vypers cut down the scarabs thanks to their large amount of strength 6 shots killing all the bases. For a laugh the lone dark reaper takes a shot at the annihilation barge but fails to do anything.

Necron turn 4

Again the deathmarks move, maybe next turn they can shoot at something. The annihilation barge carries on its course of destruction while the immortals move forwards a little but still keeping the objective.

Again the annihilation barge annihilates a vehicle squadron of mine, exploding both of the vypers. The immortals rapid fire into the crimson hunter but fail to even hit.

Eldar turn 4

It’s make or break time, I have to go for the hail Mary pass as I will lose if I don’t. I move out the rangers towards his objective held by the immortals. The crimson hunter moves to see them as well.

I run the rangers towards the immortals then fire their pistols, and manage to down a single immortal. The crimson hunter kills 2 more and the dark reaper does nothing. It’s enough to cause a moral test, but htey pass and then all the immortals stand back up.

Necron turn 5

The immortals move to charge the rangers.

Shooting from the annihilation barge kills the lone dark reaper (a little over kill if you ask me).

Immortals charge the rangers and kill them all and again consolidate in range of their objective.

 Eldar turn 5

The hunter is in such a position it can’t target the immortals do goes after the annihilation barge but fails to do anything to it.

We roll to see if the game carries on and it does.

Turns 6 and 7

The necrons hold both objectives but jsut can’t seem to do any damage to the crimson hunter who eventual manages to destroy the barge turn 6 but fails to do any damage turn 7.

Necrons: 7 (2 objectives, slay the warlord) – Eldar: 1 (first blood)

Least I didn’t get tabled.

Post-Battle

Well that went quite badly, I was on the defensive form the start, got caught in a corner and just died. Not having a single unit to deal with the wraiths was a bit of an issue and might be something I need to consider in future. This necron force was very different from the 2 I faced in the past, and I still have a lot to learn about them. It’s odd, I have the codex but you need to play against them before you truly understand what they are capable of. Did I learn much?

• Know your foe: I need to play against necrons more often, each time I am surprise what they can do and that’s not something that should be happening. Maybe a rematch is in order?
• Combat unit: I need to add in a assault unit to deal with wraiths, either someone to hold them up or to put out enough attacks to scare them. Maybe some dark eldar beast masters? I doubt scorpions or banshees will be able to do it. Would a wraithgknight stand a chance or just get rended to death?
• Attack: getting stuck on the defensive and only reacting to his moves spells doom. I can’t let that happen again; again maybe a powerful unit can swing that in games?

 So what did you guys think about this battle report? What would you have done differently? Was it my tactics? Did my list have an obvious flaw I didn’t see? It would be great if you commented.