It's Raining Power Armor, Necrons vs. Grey Knights

[Render Noir]

One of the unique features of the game of 40k is the meta-game, or the fact that players spend more time tweaking army lists, painting, converting, surfing the internet, and just talking with other players about the game then we do actually playing. For this battle report, the meta-game played as much of role as the actual battle.

It starts twenty four hours prior to the battle when a let my wife know that the game is on. I love my wife, and she is a supportive 40k widow. She finds the positive in even the most horrific paint jobs that look like the creative styling of a blind man on a pogo stick. Or the fact I killed an entire Saturday to finish last in a tournament. So when she responds,”You haven’t won in while,” I was stunned. I was both elated she was actually listening to me as I described my past games, but realized even she was losing hope that victory would come before a new Necron codex or other divine intervention would occur.

Twelve hours later, the meta-game ramped up ten fold. Eating my lunch in my car, I cruise my favorite forum to uncover a massive post regarding leaked information pertaining to the new Grey Knights codex. I text my opponent if he had seen this, only to respond,”Reading it now.” Both of us giddy with excitement, we both pass our Leadership test, allowing cooler heads to prevail. We choose to forgo play testing the rumored changes, with the exception that Grey Knights may use Combat Squads in our battle tonight. Cue the foreshadow music hear.

I kept my usual flavor of the month destroyer spam with one change. The pariahs were out, and replaced with a second Necron Lord with a Resurrection Orb to bolster the ranks when the other Lord goes Veil hopping across the landscape. My opponent dusted off an equally old codex of Grey Knights filled with the Emperor’s nastiness. I cannot remember the names, but it amassed to 3 units of Grey Knights, one unit of the Grey Knight devastator squad with Psycannons, and a large HQ model. All are armed with halberds, giving them St5 force weapon in assault, fearless, power armor, and storm bolters.

The mission roll favored my opponent. As long time opponents, we have agreed to disagree on how to approach games. I build armies to win objectives, so my Necrons are built to hold objectives with countless We’ll Be Back rolls and contest others with annoying last minute teleport. My opponent follows one simple rule: all must die. You can’t hold objectives if you’re holding your teeth in your hand. Real subtle, I know. I have the bruises to show for from our previous battles. So an Annihilation mission was definitely in his favor.

Deployment gave me an entire table half to plunk down my token two troop choices and lone HQ. The Grey Knights to shelter in the ruins to my left. Though being in cover would seem sensible, the Necrons were so befuddled by Night Fighting conditions the Demonhunters could have set up in an airfield wearing orange ponchos and remained unseen by the unblinking of eye of my robotic morons. Fearing a massive assault, I grew restless as the Grey Knights remained in cover to end turn one.

The second turn showed that my units were more like political talk show guest: lots of points but highly inaccurate. My expensive Destroyers and Heavy Destroyers made a little dent into the Grey Knight numbers. I doubt it would meet his deductible, so it would go unreported. Things were about to get worse.

The Grey Knights split into combat squads, and rained down onto the field. Four units dropped in, scattering a total of 3”, directly in front of and behind my gun line. In a blaze of bolter fire, the Emperor’s Loyalists fell both units of Heavy Destroyers & my scarab screen. After two turns, I was down 3-1 and surrounded. Here’s a tip for all you young Necron players: It is never too early to check your phase out number.

The next two turns were a blur. Seriously, it is as if the Shroud wiped my memory clean. Or perhaps it was the shock and awe of a second wave of Grey Knights dropping from the heavens. All I remember is shooting. My arms grew weak from picking up mass buckets of dice without consequence as my gunline turned tomb fired at anything in front of them. The choice to split into combat squads was starting to back fire for the Inquisition. The weight of fire was too much for each of the small squads as my dents were starting to become craters.

Enter the moment of the game. My Immortals were where no Necron short of a C’Tan should find themselves: in assault with ST 5 halberd wielding loonies. Adding insult to injury, my large Warrior squad was also being assaulted. I figured I could at least hold them up for a turn, but the assault would block line of sight for half by army. Worse, the knights would continue to roll into my phalanx. Doom was near. The Immortals lost combat to no one’s surprise. What did happen next was a complete surprise. I roll a staggering eleven, so the Immortals broke. But before all you Necron players start yelling this is why the codex and 5th edition do not play nice in the sandbox, the Immortals were able to escape certain doom by outrunning the Grey Knights. That’s like being the cop trying to explain how a man carry a plasma TV got away in a foot chase. As it rolled up to the Necron turn, I teleported the Warriors out of assault and had the rest of the army open fire on the two combat squads. Some quick math in my head tells me I should be close to tying up the score.

The final turns involved some long range shooting with the remaining units bunkered in the ruins and the game came to a quiet end. Remember that foreshadow music about using combat squads? My math was a little off, since each combat squad counts a kill point, not the full unit like I thought. After a final tally, the Necrons win the game 8-3.

Both my opponent and I know this would a different battle after April when the new codex is released. None the less, we had a good time and enjoyed the twist and turns of the dice. Not sure what he will change in his list for next game, but my best suggestion would be add some Terminators to the first wave. Their stay power would create a screen for the rest of the Grey Knights to deep strike behind.

[VoidAngel]

Yes, it rained power armor - but unlike Blood Angles, Grey Knights have no jump jets to soften the landing. They merely designate the ground 'evil' - and stomp on it. Great theory, but it leaves them a bit addled.

Short squads work in Blood Angles because you can make them superheroes. In Grey Knights by the current codex...not so much.

The all-power-armor Grey Knights experiment will have to be repeated with the new rules, but it was definitely both ill-considered and alot of fun in the present version.

Necrons...so many return customers. Gah. Puts me in mind of Brother Captain Wolfe's last words: "I'm going to KILL you! And I'm going to KEEP killing you, until - you - DIE - from - it!!"



Fun game.

This post has been edited by VoidAngel on Mar 9 2011, 01:35 PM