The UltraBlog: April

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.