Battle Report - Space Wolves vs Necrons

Another week, another battle against those ever-living robots. Again the points value was set at 2,000pts with a standard annihilation match set up. This battle was to settle the draw from last time out, one army was to take it all.

I am not 100% sure, but my Necron friend had something similar to the following list:

Imotekh the Stormlord
Necron Destroyer Lord

C'Tan Shard
Lychguard x 5 with Cryptek

Warriors x 5 with Cryptek (4 units)
Warriors x 6 (attached to Imotekh)

Destroyers x 5 (2 units)
Monolith

For my Space Wolves I fielded the following list:

Ragnar Blackmane
Rune Priest, Runic Armour, Jaws of the World Wolf, Murderous Hurricane
Wolf Priest, Runic Armour

Lone Wolf, TDA, Thunderhammer, Storm Shield, Fen Wolf

Grey Hunters x 8 men, Standard, Melta Gun, Rhino, Wolf Guard with Frost Blade (Ragnar Attached)
Grey Hunters x 8 men, Standard, Melta Gun, Drop Pod, Wolf Guard Arjac Rockfist
Grey Hunters x 8 men, Standard, Melta Gun, Rhino, Wolf Guard with Wolf Claw (Wolf Priest Attached)
Grey Hunters x 5 men, Standard, Plasma Gun, Plasma Pistol, Razorback, Wolf Guard with Powerfist

Land Speeder x 2, Heavy Bolter, Multimelta

Long Fangs x 6, 3 x Missile Launchers, 2 x Lascannnon, Wolf Guard TDA with Cyclone missile launcher (Rune Priest attached)
Long Fangs x 6, 5 x Heavy Bolter

From the deployment it looked as if the Space Wolves were outnumbered and, given they were going second, were about to take a lot of firepower if the Necrons could see through the night generated by the Stormlord. Imotekhs lightning attack came to full force in this battle, operating for 5 of the 6 turns and laying waste to both a Rhino, Razorback and a Land Speeder, while also taking out three members of the Heavy Bolter Long Fangs squad. By the start of turn two the Space Wolves were looking at footslogging across the board to meet the Necron forces, while the C'Tan shard was sitting comfortably 10" from Ragnar and his recently evicted squad of Grey Hunters.

In addition to losing all transports and one Land Speeder, the other Land Speeder was prevented from moving or shooting for a turn, and Arjacs drop pod had come down in a decent position, but his hammer throw, melta gun shot and seven rapid fire boltgun shots failed to leave a single mark on the warriors they were closest to. The entire squad bar Arjac then fell, leaving the man mountain on his own against an army of Necrons. Things were about to get interesting.

After their initial successes the Necrons were finally met by the Wolves going into the second and third turns of the game. The Long Fang squad with Rune Priest took a couple of wounds from the C'Tan. From here on in this report while focus on what each of the heroes of the Space Wolves contributed to the battle.

Lone Wolf

Footslogging this beast across the battle field would never be an easy task, but when the Necron Destroyer Lord turbo boosted to within 8" of him in the first turn, the slingshot was set to get him moving. Having seen the Lord lose one wound to Plasma fire from a nearby Grey Hunter squad, the Lone Wolf and his Fenrisian Wolf launched into assault knowing two wounds was enough for victory. Having seen his pet cut down, the Lone Wolf obliterated the Lord, causing 3 unsaveable wounds from a possible three. Consolidation saw him move toward the halfway point of the board, and close enough to reach a squad of Warriors and a Cryptek in his following turn.

This battle lasted a little longer, with 4 assualt phases passing until the Lone Wolf was again victorious, causing the Warriors and Cryptek to break and run. It was then a simple case for the Lone Wolf to babysit the fleeing mob until they ran off the board.

Arjac Rockfist

Probably the man of the match. Having seen his Grey Hunter squad cut down, in consecutive turns he took down 3 squads of Warriors with Crypteks after throwing his hammer at them and utilising both the Necron and Space Wolves assualt phases to wipe all clean from the battlefield.

After he had finished with the Warriors he moved onto the squad of Lychguard that had moved toward him. Throwing his hammer at them, the attack was bounced back on to himself, which he duly saved using his own Storm Shield. In the first round of combat Arjac knocked down three Lychguard and the Cryptek, seeing them duly pass their leadership test to remain in combat. In the next round one Lychguard returned, but the three were smashed apart, but did cause a wound on Arjac.

Following on from this Arjac then completed his final assault on the last remaining Necron squad, containing Imotekh and his collection of Warriors. With the help of the Wolf Priest this squad was also massacred, clearing the table of all Necrons in the process.

Wolf Priest

With a kill tally slightly shorter than that of Arjac, the Wolf Priest and his squad of Grey Hunters saw off the resurrected Necron Destroyer Lord for the last time before taking down 4 Destroyers from one squad. With this the Monolith stepped in and wiped out all the Grey Hunters and Wolf Guard accompanying the Wolf Priest. Not to be deterred the Priest then finished the remaining Destroyer from the other squad before launching a joint final assault against Imotekh and his Warriors, which saw the Stormlord defeated.

Ragnar Blackmane

Ragnar, his Grey Hunter squad and Wolf Guard had the sole responsibility of taking down the two toughest units the Necrons had. This wasn't the initial plan, he would've been much more suited to butchering the Warriors, Lychguard and Imotekh, but the drop pod scatter and Rhino destruction put pay to that plan.

Instead Ragnar set his sights on the wounded, but still potentially dangerous, C'Tan. With the Shard being down to two wounds, Ragnar launched his assault, gaining three bonus attacks for the charge giving him 8 attacks at initiative 6 and strength 6. These attacks alone were enough to slay the former deity, with the explosion of the dying creature causing a wound on the young Wolf Lord.

Next up Ragnar led his remaining squad toward the Monolith and having them open up their melta fire on it, resulting in an explosive ending to its slow movement across the field.

So there you have it, the four key players in the Space Wolves victory over the Necrons. For conclusions I would say that mech really does not like going up against the Necron firepower, especially the lightly armoured units against Imotekh lightning attack. However, Space Wolves in close combat against Necrons is still a no contest, as can be seen be the sheer amount of uncontested combats fought. Having said that, at the start of my second turn I did not think I stood much chance of victory and its only down to the luck of the individuals mentioned above that the tide was turned back against the Necrons.