The UltraBlog: May 2013

Since 6th edition began, I have been playing my Necrons almost exclusively. Despite the favoritism towards my first army, I have been eager to play my updated Ultramarines which I have been gearing towards competitive play. I believe that 6th ed. has been a good change for Space Marines. I think that there are a few units that are now very good, such as Thunderfire Cannons and Storm Talons. Also, since the key weakness of the Marines is the troop choices, the ability to ally, especially with Imperial Guard, make the marines able to utilize their better units and still be able to score objectives. Here is the first list I created:

@2000 points

Tigurius

2 Dreadnoughts with Autocannons

2 Tactical Marine Squads with Melta, Combi, and Missile in Rhinos

2 Storm Talons with Skyhammer Missiles

2 Thunderfire Cannons

IG Co. Command Squad

IG Platoon Command Squad

5 Infantry squads

Vendetta with Heavy Bolters

Manticore

The idea behind this list is to utilize the thunderfire cannons and storm talons by backing up the marines with guard. The Manticore adds to the type of damage the cannons do, and the vendetta adds a more anti-flyer punch. My tactical marines can split either in the rhinos or put the missile on an objective in the back. The marines have land raider preventative while not really being a threat on their own. The guard blob is lead by Tigurius. I know he is expensive, but I believe he is worth it. He knows all SM powers, has the gift of prescience which is essentially a comms relay. Funny it is called gift of prescience, but he cannot cast prescience because it is a divination power. Oh well!

If Tigurius keeps his marine powers he has access to null zone which has never lost its usefulness. He can also cast gate of infinity, call upon any of the SM shooting attack powers and most importantly, give telekine dome, or a five up invulnerable save to the blob! If I decide these powers will not help, he can still sub out for 3 powers which can really help if I choose telepathy powers such as invisibility and hallucination, the two charge ones. You see, a regular librarian cannot make use of two powers a turn such as null zone and telekine dome. In fact even the upgraded mastery level 2 librarian only knows 2 powers and he is 150 points! For 80 more I get level three, more powers and the reroll for reserves. Lets see how Tigurius fared going against Dan and Will in my first two test games...

Ultramarines/IG vs. Daemons

This game vs. Dan was a great matchup for me. Dan is trying out his new Daemon army. Dan ran many seekers and a large hound squad in addition to horrors and daemonettes for troops. He threw in a nurgle soul grinder for a tougher target. Since Null Zone is so effective against Daemons, I decided to keep the book powers. As you can see in the few pics I took Dan got close but Null Zone and the shooting was too much for his army to handle.

Deployment. Dan set up with one squad of seekers in reserve. He also scouted the dogs, as I chose to go first. The mission was objectives Nova Prep missions.

My manticore did a number on the dogs which are bloodletter models on the right. Null Zone combo with doubled toughness barrage meant dead dogs!

Turn 2 dans lage seker squad moved up and Null zone did its best work. My newly added offense did a number on his cavalry. His bottom turn was eventful as the seekers and soul grinder deep struck.

On the 3rd turn I drew the dreadnought to assault the seekers and tie them up for a round while the rest of the army shot at his troops. My forces were able to move up and take objectives. It was down hill from there. Dan, a great sport, handled his first game with the army well. Bad matchup, but I expect Dan to bounce back and make this army tough to beat.

Same list vs. CSM/Daemons

This game was against Lil Will. Will had beaten me for the first time recently and I needed to pay him back. Unfortunately, this was now the bad matchup for me. He had some invul saves on his oblits and drakes so I decided to keep book powers again. Also invul saves would really benefit the blob because of all the template weapons will can put out. He also had a soul grinder and zombie squads which he joined typhus to.He ran a bloodthirster and plague bearer squad to join in the daemon allies. Very similar list that will has been playing with before and I could not deal with it. The mission was 5 objectives with vanguard deployment.

Result: WIN!

Turn one, I am going second. Will shoots up a dread but I go unharmed otherwise. I move up my blob and attempt to pick off his plague marines with lasgun fire. I also

Turn 2. As the flyers come in the game vector strikes kill me big time causing both combat squad units in the rhino to be pinned! This really hurts as now I have two sitting duck units with drakes flying about.

My attempts at his flyers fail as he continues to make invul saves despite Null Zones effects

Turn 3 I begin to do some damage with my ignoring cover shots from the Thunderfire cannons. Here is where I made a grave mistake. Will believed that the ignore cover blast was Str 4 where I would need 3+ to wound his zombies. I believed that they were T4 so I assumed he was right. The wound on 2+ would have helped kill his zombies easily. These errors can cost you!

Last turn heroics could not save me. our game had to end early on turn 4 and I was unable to route a few zombies so I lost 2 to 1 objectives.

The blob turned out to be able to withstand heavy fire power. This army would deserve another chance, but it needed to be revamped to compete against these high toughness and armor armies. The lesson learned is always know your enemy. I will never forget zombies are T3 again!

Result: LOSS

Ultramarines/IG vs Space Marines/Tau

Ed is using a his Marines for the first time in a while, coupling them with the new Tau codex. Ed ran 2 Thunderfire cannons like me, a Librarian, 2 tactical squads with multi meltas instead of missiles like I run, and a terminator blob. He also stuck in a Tau commander with iridium armor and fusion guns. He also outflanked 2 Kroot squads and a stealth suit team. I knew this would be a blood bath due to all the offense we both put out. The key for my victory would be if I could kill the termies. I therefore kept null zone and the book powers again. I feel like it is my security blanket and I dont want to deviate yet.

I was running a similar force as before, but I cut a dreadnought out in favor of a chimera and meltas for my command squad. Since this game was 1850 points I eliminated the Manticore and also took off my heavy bolters on the vendetta. The mission was 5 objectives, quarters and then kill points in the Nova missions primer.

Ed made me go first and then stole initiative! In his turn one he mostly moved up with his force as it was out of range in night fight. He killed some IG with one Thunderfire cannon.

On my turn, I moved up everything to get in range of his Terminator blob. With the help of null zone and my meltaguns, I was able to kill 7 terminators and the Librarian. This was key becuase it was first blood and slay the warlord at the same time.

He then failed his leadership and fell back. I also picked off a marine squad who ran off the board. What a great turn.

The termies would regroup and with the Tau commander they would reach combat with my marines. He attempted to take out all my small scoring units while I tried to negate his damage dealers.

His Talons came on one at a time. He had 2. My flyers would then be able to deal with both his flyers and focus on gound units which the talons are best at. His outflankers were a distraction but I was able to deal with them promptly.

Ed also moved out to claim quarters and objectives.

I reduce the terminator squad down to nearly nothing before my turn three does them in for good. I see the game becoming mine as I eliminate his troop choices and biggest threats.

With less of his offense on the board I can now focus on killing the cannons and claiming objectives. The Thunderfires are tough to kill in cover, but enough lascannons and rending shots will eventually do them in. I also find that the hover ability on the talons and vendettas is a huge tactical bonus. Even after playing necron flyers who have the ability to drop troops off, hover is a great way to assure you always get the shots you need instead of being forced to fly off the board for a turn.

My dreadnought is able to pick off his final talon and the stealth suits finally die. This pretty much secures the game as the other fire power is put on his kroot and tacticals.

Final shot of the board after game turn 5.

Result: WIN

Necrons: 40-12-3

Ultramarines: 3-2-0

IG: 0-1-0

BA: 1-1-0

Overall: 40-14-3

A quick overview of my April Games. This includes a tournament at the Only Game in Town store in NJ. But first a game against Ed...

Necrons/GK vs. Dark Angels/IG

Mission was modified Kill Points with an objective in each deployment zone from Nova Missions Primer.

Ed was running 2 IG blobs. One with 5 Lascannons and the other with Axes and grenades. Azrael, a Librarian in the axe squad and a Primaris Psyker in the Las. He also ran a squad of 2 Vendettas, 2 Whirlwinds, and 3 Ravenwing Bike squads with meltas. I was running my BFS League list with the Deathmarks, everything else pretty standard.

I went first and decided to try and kill as many units as possible early rather than worry about the objectives. Here is my deployment.

Since Ed ended up outflanking many of his bikes, I was able to grab first blood on a whirlwind without worrying about him meltagunning my barges. I flanked his right with the Dreadknight and Necron fast attack. He decided to attack the Dreadknight putting only a wound on him.

My reserves do not come in. I charged the weaker IG blob with wraiths and scarabs and slowly whittled them away. They would be locked most the game. The Dreadknight unfortunately beat the bikers in CC too easily and was out in the open. Other shots went into Azraels squad.

Ed's Vendettas arrive as well as 2 of the three bike squads and attack bikes. I made a huge error. Anticipating these bikers I set my Barges past 24 inches from the side of the board. For whatever reason, when his bikes came on my model was within. Maybe it moved, or maybe I measured incorrectly, but he was just within 24 and I had nothing to defend against the 2d6 armor pen. Vendettas banged up the middle barge immobilizing it and knocking off tesla destructor.

He also picked off my dreadknight as well as took cover and linebreaker for the time being. I could have really used a few Jynx saves but I missed them all.

My reserves came in turn 3 I killed one of the bike squads and killed 2 multi melta bikes. I had to double back with the Strikes and the henchmen in order to get into position for later turns. My flyers did their job killing the vendettas.

We continued to turn 4 but we were running short on time at the club. It was close but Ed edged me out by a few points. Result: LOSS!

Only Game in Town, Somerville NJ. Game 1

Necrons/GK vs Chaos Space Marines (Brad Nichols)

Kill Points with one objective in each deployment zone.

I recently played Brad at Templecon where I won in an objective mission. Here he tries to extract some revenge and beat me in game 1. Brad ran a small force of 2 Khorne Juggernauts, 19 man CSM squads, 2 small Cultist squads, 2 squads of Obliterators, and 1 Hell Drakes.

Since this was an 1850 point tournament I ran 2 Warrior Squads with Crypteks rather than my Deathmark bomb. I also cut out the scarabs which was difficult for me to do, but they were my weakest link.

I chose first turn in order to gain cover with my skimmers and advance my Dreadknight. Shooting but oblits save many wounds. Wraiths flank opposite the Dread.

Turn 2 my flyers came in and I shot up his troops as the Dreadknight and Wraiths assault. I do significant damage to the one CSM squad with my shooting and then charge the obliterator squad with the Wraiths. On the left, I charge his warlord with my Dreadknight and challenge. This may have been a bad idea. Normally I would beat a character no question but with the demon weapon and his rerolls for outnumbering me, he puts 3 wounds on my big guy. I do cause 2 wounds but his invulnerable save is successful!

On Brads turn he flamed my immortals but Zandrekh makes his 2+ armor saves. His cultest remain in reserve and charges in his CSM's at the wraiths. His second obliterators blow up Coteaz's chimera and charge him killing most the squad. The real shocker was when the Dreadknight then beat his Warlord in combat! He rolled a 1 on his demon weapon! The Dreadknight snuck one strength 10 wound on him and the tide turned. His marines also failed leadership and fled. The Dreadknight helped out by then killing the obliterators. Huge turn for me.

After dealing with the Drake using Tesla in the rear armor, Brad's cultists came on and he bested the Wraiths freeing up his CSM's and other Juggernaut. But I did not see how I could lose after dealing so much damage out. Brad counted up Kill Points and surprisingly, It was close! On my turn 4 the Dreadknight flamed nearly one whole Cultist squad and I failed to do much damage to his Juggernaut and marines. The bottom of 4 ended up being our last turn. He killed the Dreadknight by rapid firing bolters while the Juggernaut slaughtered my Necron Warriors, now freeing up his objective.

He ended up beating me by 2 Kill points, causing me to have a major loss! This was shocking as I had nearly all my shooting power still on the board. If we had one more turn, most likely I would have won, but Brad was able to squeak by me! Result: LOSS!

Game 2

vs. CSM/Necrons (Zach)

Zach was a young player, only 14! But don't let that fool you, he brought 6 flyers!

The mission was objectives with the Relic as the center. He made me go first and naturally I set up attempting to kill. He had deployed his Demon Prince, obliterator squad, and 2 cultist squads in the corner to prevent me from tabling him before his reserves came on.

On my first turn I cant do much except wound one obliterator. I advance in order to maximize damage next turn. He retaliates putting a wound on the Dreadknight. I save his jump move for turn 2

Both my flyers come in and I end up killing the Cultists with the Dreadknights flamer and Warrior shots from out of the flyers. My scythes pick off the Prince and the rest of my army shoots at the oblits. Unfortunately for him, Coteaz and the prescienced Strikes pumped 18 wounds on the remaining 2 oblits. He had one wound oblit, with one wound left when he rolled his final dice. The result was a 1, but it had an odd bounce. Seemed as though he did not roll it. At first I thought about taking the win, but it would be an anti-climactic victory and so I decided to have him reroll it. Battle wages on!

One oblit remaining!

His flyers come on and ravage me. Vector strikes are successful and scythes take out one of mine. Coteaz ends up saving some wounds from the squad as they then cover the relic.

The next two turns, on my heels, I fight back trying to kill the easier scythes but not much luck. I manage to down one Scythe and one Drake on my turn 3. Even with rear armor and Tesla, I cannot get all three wounds off the Drakes and they continue to ravage my troops. Luckily my barges are AV 13.

On turn 5 which ended up being the final turn I had eliminated all other threats except for a scythe which scored in my deployment zone. I score on the top left with Zandrekh and the remaining 3 Immortals. My wraiths charge his overlord and immortals, pulling them off the objective. My one grey knight that had the relic remained from the previous rounds Hell Drake fire. He runs into the chimera for safety. He passes his save against the residual flame rolls! Therefore the result was a slim Necron WIN!

Game 3

vs. Orks (My brother Ryan)

Objectives with Scouring

My brother and I have played many games in 6th, so this game was familiar and relaxed. Both of us were out of contention for a placing but we had a lot of fun.

Ryan ran 3 Loota Squads, 2 Lobba Squads, 3 Dakka Jets, 3 Boyz Squads, a warboss on a bike, Gretchin and an aegis with comms.

Ryan went first and decided to shoot at my dreadknight but I shrugged off all the loota shots. The lobbas tried for my Strikes but I was unaffected. My turn 1 I jumped to the right flank with my Dreadknight and shot up some boyz.

2 of Ryans Jets came in and nearly destroyed all the strikes! Coteaz included. He also glanced to death the chimera and pinned the henchmen. Things were not looking great.

I had a plan for my retaliation. One flyer would kill a Jet but all other tesla fire failed to hit his flyers.I then had to use all my other firepower that would have gone against lootas or boyz on snapfiring shots. The Wraiths did tie up the boyz in the middle though.

Ryans other Jet comes in and does a number on my army. from shooting.

Ryan also assaulted my Dreadknight and luckily kills him.

Failure to kill Dakka Jets will haunt me as the mission is the Scouring where fast attack count as extra mission points.

My wraiths manage to survive but I lose by 1 mission points because I could not kill any more jets.

Result: LOSS!

Here we have an instant classic.

Necrons/GK vs GK/IG (Dan)

Classic game against Dan that came down to the wire. Mission was objectives with Big Guns. Dan ran Coteaz and 3 stike squads, 2 dreadnoughts with autocannons, 1 dreadknight, a manticore, 2 vendettas, platoon squads and a commander in a chimera with 4 meltaguns.

Dan goes first deploying at the edge of the Hammer and Anvil setup. His manticore pounds one barge while his Dreadnoughts kill 4 wraiths. Darn strength 8! My turn comes and I shoot up the Dreadknight but put only 2 wounds on him. My Wraiths miraculously make a 10 inch charge and tie the dreadknight up for one turn. My dreadknight jumps to distract coteaz.

Dan's Vendettas come on but my army holds strong as I avert much damage. My dreadknight jumps right into the IG squad in the ruin in order to stay alive. He makes them run however, and becomes vulnerable.

My Coteaz and strikes shoot into his dreadknight and kill it.

His Coteaz and stikes shoot into mine but do not. He has to waste his Command Squad and meltas on him to finally remove him. My scarabs take care of the chimera and I tesla destructor the command squad

My reserves come on and our Strikes trade shots! My coteaz had misfortune but it failed twice.

I am able to take out the Vendettas on the next turn while dropping haywire staffs to kill both a dreadnought and the manticore. One hull point left and the dreadnought remains to be a problem destroying my other annihilation barge in the late game.

I made the mistake of moving Zandrekh too close to his Coteaz. He was able to whittle down my other units and take the center after a successful CC. The issue was I was too far away due to Hammer and Anvil and Dan had 3 Objectives to my 1.

I flew my flyers off one at a time. This is preparing for last turn shots. I have to get my henchmen out of their immobile chimera and cover the last objective. Due to Big Guns, I had two units that can score there. I need to deny Dan's objectives some how. At this point, assuming I get the two objectives in my deployment, Dan was winning by 4. My saving grace was that I had killed nearly all his heavy support units which counted as a victory point.

On turn 6 I fly and shoot up his final strike that is not with Coteaz and kill his dreadnought. he now can only control 1 objective on his side and the center.

Turn 7 Dan runs the IG to cover both objectives and Coteaz kills my second barge. I set up for last turn heroics and shoot at his IG with my scythe.

Turn, 7 I force a leadership on his IG and they run!

With almost all hope gone, Dan decides to have on last hurrah! He shoots at my henchmen killing three forcing a leadership which they fail. Coteaz attempts a charge at the barge. He fails by a few inches and that chinches the game.

Result: WIN!

Necrons/GK vs. Vulkan Space Marines (Matt Scheibner)

Matt is a newcomer to the club. He found our new location pretty convenient after playing the the BFS Rtt this past weekend. Here is our game. Kill Points book mission. I am running an alternative Necron force. I run one Scythe with warriors and a Ghost ark with a squad of 9. I sacrifice one barge to get a command barge and cut the other scythe for Spyders to farm scarabs.