Because it had been so long since I had played a game, and since we were still using proxy units to flesh out our armies, we kept the point total to a reasonably low 500 points. We were planning to play a 1000 point game as well, but after starting late, and taking a break for supper we decided to play a game of Zombies!!!! instead. It was cool, but lasted a long time (we finished that game up after a 3 hour marathon session). Had we known we were going to spend that much time on that game I probably would have voted to play 40K again.
Random rolls teamed myself and Steve up against Steve’s son Connor and James. We then rolled to get an annihilation game with a spearhead deployment. Steve and I won initiative, decided to attack first and kept initiative when James and Connor tried to steal it.
A couple caveats. When it comes to the actual playing of 40K, we are infrequent in our ability to play games, and can be considered relatively new when it comes to actual gameplay. Second, we had to fudge the list rules because Connor plays the Necrons and it was really hard to have him fit his army into our points limitation and be viable, so we let him take a higher points total with only one troop choice. We also did not require the Space Marines to take two compulsory troop choices to give them some variety.
Also, to James, Connor, and Steve, if I missed a move forgive me. I was trying to write down what we were doing and play the game so I was finding myself trying to catch up after the fact. So if there was a big move I missed then please put it in the comments.
Hit the jump to see the army lists and round by round breakdown.
Connor – Necrons
HQ – Necron Lord – 100 points
Elite – Flayed Ones x4 – 72
Troops – Warriors x10 – 180
Heavy Support – Monolith – 235
James – Tau Empire
HQ – Commander Shas’o – 143 points
Troops – Fire Warrior x10 w/Devilfish & Gun Drones x2 – 200
Troops – Fire Warrior x8 – 80
Heavy Support – Broadside Battlesuit - 75
Steve – Blood Ravens Space Marines
HQ – Space Marines Librarian in Power Armour – 150 points
Troops – Tactical Squad x9 w/Sergeant & Rhino – 230
Elite – Dreadnought - 120
Me – Orks
HQ – Warboss – 90 points
Troops – Boyz x19 w/Nob and Big Shootas x2 (part of 19) – 140
Troops – Nobz x5 w/Trukk – 180
Heavy Support – Deff Dread – 90
Looking at the armies, one would think that the army made of Necrons and Tau (two armies desperate for updated codices for 5th Edition) would be at a disadvantage, well let me just tell you the Dice Gods heard their supplications and smiled upon them to help even the playing field.
Let's get this party started already
We deployed Spearhead with Connor and James mingling their armies, while Steve and I ended up each taking half the board. I kept my Nobz in their Trukk in reserve while Connor kept his Lord in reserve.
Round One
The round started with Steve and I maneuvering our armies to get closer. Steve was able to put a wound on Commander Shas’o with his Dreadnought, and Ork shooty sucked like it always does.
Two things from this picture, James placed that building to make his Fire Warriors more difficult to get to.
More importantly, though, look at all those beautiful Ork Boyz. I missed them all after Round One.
The Car is a Rhino (minus the back window and rear end) and the Cell phone is the Devilfish.
Oh yeah, this is Before
And this is After.
At this point I thought we’d be lucky to get 3 rounds in before this game was done.
Round Two
The crappy rolling continued when Steve tried to take out the Battlesuit with his Hunter Killer Missile. Sadly the scatter roll had it go off the board. Meanwhile my remaining Ork Boy and Nob continued to fail morale tests and ran some more. My Nobz in their trukk came onto the board out of reserve.
Connor then shook the crew of Steve’s Dreadnought with the Monolith as his Necron warriors fired ineffectively against my Deff Dread. James’ Tau on the other hand took out 4 Tactical Marines between his Fire Warriors and his Broadside. And then there was Steve’s Libararian. Before he could do a single thing besides move James’ Devilfish killed him as he was mired in difficult terrain.
Here Come the Nobz, but that black rocky outcropping is awful empty now that the Librarian is gone.
Round Three
Fortunes began to change for us, a little. My Deff Dread moved close enough to shoot at Connor’s Necron Warriors with its Scorcha. He then assaulted the Necrons, but missed on all his attacks. Steve’s Space Marines fired but missed the Broadside. Steve then popped smoke on his Rhino and Dreadnought for cover. My Trukk zoomed closer taking full advantage of being painted Red and some fortuitous Flat Out rolls.
The gun drone in the corner is actually a Broadside Battlesuit. And the Space Marines
next to the Rhino are in for a world of hurt.
Connor passed his one and only We’ll Be Back roll bringing one of his Warriors back (one of the few areas we could actually count on a bad dice roll for these two). The Necron Lord moved in from reserve. James’ Commander Shas’o took out a Space Marine, his Broadside took out another, and the Firewarriors took out 3 more. That left the one lone Space Marine with his plasma gun left to try to take out the Battlesuit.
Round Four
Steve and I both independently decided to Tank Shock James and Connor’s HQ units. Naturally we both failed as both had a Leadership of 10. My Nobz then disembarked from the Trukk. My Deff Dread continued its assault taking out another Necron Warrior. Steve was able to wreck the Devilfish with his Dreadnought. Unfortunately when his lone Tactical Marine fired it’s plasma gun at the Battlesuit the gun overheated and killed the last Tactical Marine.
James shot and wounded two of my Nobz. My Warboss was looming at the fringe of being able to assault so Connor shot and wounded him with his Necron Lord. His Flayed Ones then attacked and wounded him again. As I took more wounds than the Flayed Ones (hey, they saved every hit) I attempted his Morale Check and failed it. My Warboss fell back but was able to avoid a Sweeping Advance by the Flayed Ones. James also destroyed Steve’s Rhino leaving a crater where it once stood.
Oh Mister Necron Lord...'Ere Come Da Nobz
Round Five
My Warboss passed his morale check. He tried to shoot the Flayed Ones, hit but didn’t wound. My Trukk moved in to block James’ Fire Warriors from having line of site at anything else on the board. The Big Shoota in the Trukk shot and killed a Fire Warrior. My Deff Dread continued to whittle away at the Necron Warriors, wounding another one. My remaining Nob and Ork Boy from my Boyz Squad had moved back into the fight and attempted to assist the Deff Dread. They died. My Nobz assaulted Connor’s Necron Lord, but he saved. Steve shot James’ other Fire Warriors with his Dreadnought's Heavy Flamer. He wounded 5. The Fire Warriors failed their Morale Check and fled off the edge of the board.
I think it's safe to say Steve's best unit was his Dreadnought. James' was his entire army.
James was finally able to take care of that thorn in his side when he immobilized the Dreadnought. It could shoot, but no more assault. Connor assaulted my Warboss with his Flayed Ones and killed him without taking any damage.
Someday, when my Deff Dread and Connor's Necrons are all painted this pciture will look badass.
Round Six
Having been given another round, I made the most of it. My Ork Trukk tank shocked James’ remaining Fire Warriors. They failed and fled off the edge of the board. My Nobz then continued their assault on the Necron Lord, killing him.
Even in the pictures, the dice...they mock me.
Connor was rather irate with my Nobz for killing his Lord so the Monolith shot, taking out one Nob and leaving the rest wounded.
The game ended at this point, with Steve and I losing by one Unit/Squad. Connor and James took out 5, while Steve and I managed to take out 4.
To the victors go the ridiculous poses.
In the end, this is how the armies were at the end of the game:
Connor – Necrons
Monolith
Flayed Ones
Warriors
James – Tau Empire
Commander Shas’o
Devilfish
Fire Warriors
Broadside Battlesuit
Steve – Blood Raven
Tactical Squad
Dreadnought
Me – Orks
Boyz
Nobz
Trukk
Deff Dread
I have to commend James for his tactics. Other than the one Fire Warrior squad in one corner and his Broadside Battlesuit in the other he used his movement and Devilfish to really try to keep out of direct assault conflict. Connor just pounded away at me, effectively keeping my focus on him and from helping Steve. Even though they mixed their armies it really came down to myself versus Connor and Steve versus James.
I thought we recovered well from that first round, but after they nearly wiped out my Ork Boyz they played with a lot of confidence in their tactics and dice rolls, convinced they were going to win. Steve and I clawed back, but our losses early on were costly and it was hard to come back from those early rounds. I mean to have 140 points sunk into my troop unit that did nothing, and to have Steve’s 150 point Librarian taken out before he could even fire a shot were devastating losses. Of our side’s combined 1000 points there was 290 points right there. That’s 43 points short of 1/3 of our force effectively taken out of the battle.
I’ll take the moral victory in the face of defeat, because I think we did well with our remaining 710 points against their combined might. And as the game progressed and our forces moved closer I could really see the advantages of having more up to date Codices to rely on. Honestly, though, I don’t think we could have done more than get a draw at the end if we had been given another round. Had we gotten it, my remaining Nobz were going to engage the Necron Warriors to try to finish them off, which at best would have given us a fifth unit destroyed. But then again, all my Nobz had one wound so given their ability to roll thunder and lightning it very easily could have gone bad and they could have won 6-4.
Win or lose, though, it was invigorating to play the game again. 10 months is far too long to go between dice rolls. And the fires are stoked so let me finish this up so I can go paint, read, and plan my strategies for the next time. Because, oh yes, there will be a next time.
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