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.

Battle Report, of Sorts... Space Wolves vs Necrons

Last week I put a 2000pt Space Wolf force up against 2 1000pt Necron armies. The main conclusion I have drawn from this first combat is that Necrons are still very powerful at range, even more so than in their last incarnation, and while still slightly more durable thanks to the removal of the phasing out rule, are still relatively weak on the close combat side if you ignore the C'Tan shard that floated around the place.

As a new layout for this element of the blog, I am going to only comment on what I think worked during the battle and what can/should be removed and/or improved for the next game.

Space Wolves

Wolf Priest - Runic Armour, Wolf Tooth Necklace
Rune Priest - Runic Armour, Wolf Tooth Necklace

Wolf Guard - 8 men with Wolf Claws, Land Raider Redeemer (Wolf Priest attached)
                     1 man TDA with Cyclone Missile Launcher (attached to Long Fangs 1)
                     1 man TDA with Assault Cannnon

Grey Hunters - 2 squads with 9 men, Standard, Meltagun, Rhino (one had the Rune Priest attached)
                        1 squad with 8 men, Standard, Plasma Gun, Rhino
                        1 squad with 6 men, Standard, Plasma Gun, Plasma Pistol, Razorback

Land Speeders - 2 with Heavy Flamer and Multimelta

Long Fangs 1 - 6 men, 3 x Missile Launchers, 2 x Lascannon
Long Fangs 2 - 6 men, 5 x Heavy Bolter

Necrons (Using two Force Organisation Charts)

Imotekh the Stormlord
Nemessor Zahndrekh with Cryptek Royal Court

C'Tan Shard of the Nightbringer
Lychguard
Immortals

Warriors - 1 squad of 10
                2 squads of 5 (one with Imotekh attached)

Ghost Ark
Annihilation Barges - 2
Destroyers

Having little to no cover on the Wolves side and going second was always going to leave me open to the potential of taking a first turn pounding, but due to the night fighting rule in place and being able to stay out of range in the majority for the first turn of Necron shooting, meant most my army remained unharmed. One unit that took a huge bash however, was the Long Fang squad which had missiles launchers in it. This was quickly whittled down to just one lascannon Long Fang and the Cyclone Missile Launcher Wolf Guard. Deployment was relatively successful as none of the mech had been damaged.

Thanks to the remains of the Long Fangs squad decimated in the opening turn, their sharp shooting through the game removed an Annihilation Barge and the Ghost Ark from play in consecutive turns. Luck rather than tactics I think had a huge role to play in that, as AV 13 all round should be relatively optimistic of surviving against one lascannon shot and two krak missiles a turn for only two rounds.

The heavy bolters on the other Fangs and Razorback made light work of Necron Warriors, I was unaware their armour had been downgraded to 4+, leading to all wounds killing Necron Warriors left, right and centre. This initially lead to Imotekhs squad being reduced to 2 men and himself and trying to flee the board at the start of the second turn. Thankfully for the Necrons, the Ghost Ark swung into range and repaired one Warrior and allowed them to regroup just in time, given they were no more than 2" from the table edge.

The destroyers were taken apart initially by the plasma gun and pistol in the squad from the Razorback, with eventual assistance from the Assault Cannon TDA (once his squad had been wiped out), a Land Speeder and the Razorback itself. The destroyers kept on getting back up and were the only really persistent unit that really refused to die. Eventually a couple of rending shots from the Assault Cannon put an end to their existence.

Now for a quick report on the hammer unit of the army - Wolf Priest, 8 Wolf Guard all with Wolf Claws in a Land Raider Reedemer. 24 power weapon attacks on the charge from the WG with re-rolls on both the hits and wounds thanks to the Wolf Priests Preferred Enemy rule. The LRR got immobilised 10" from a squad of Immortals and Warriors who had tried to get out of charge range, but it wasn't enough for them. Within one round of combat the Wolf Guard and Priest had assaulted both units simultaneously, wiping out the Immortals completely and leaving four Warriors to be swept away in a 16-0 victory for the Wolves.

The consolidation move put the squad into terrain, but didn't stop it being assaulted the next turn by the C'Tan shard and Lychguard. I am sure that if it were a straight up battle Wolf Guard v Lychguard that I would've come out on top, but the C'Tan was pretty much unstoppable with what I had in that squad and as such the unit was wiped out in two rounds of combat, only claiming 3 Lychguard in return. Thunderhammer and Storm Shields are in order as you now also get invulnerable saves against the C'Tan. Alternatively you can just stay away from it and shoot it with high power weaponry.

Finally, Imotekh did fall in this battle to the Rune Priest and his squad of Grey Hunters. The Rune Priest had had quite an abysmal battle up to the last round of combat. Up to this point he had failed the psychic test twice (rolling 11 both times - very weird) and not really been involved in much. Then his squad dove into action against Imotekh and his remaining squad, killing the three warriors and forcing Imotekh into a leadership test that he once again failed and swept away in the process. Again in this combat no Wolves were hurt.

So, after my first skirmish with the new Necrons, I can definitely say that they are now a lot more competitive than they used to be. There is a lot in that Codex I did not come up against. For instance, if there were Scarabs on the table I would've feared a lot more for my tanks. As it was, the tank options helped to get me a lot closer more safely than if I had not had them. The C'Tan is still an obvious hard element in the Necron armoury and my army really had no possible reply to it outside of luck, which meant it went the game unscathed.

Based on kill points the game ended 9 - 9. Not a bad result and I enjoyed the game (which is what its all about really!).

Space Wolves and Imperial Guard vs Necrons. Report 2

Deployment Necrons v Space Wolves & Imperial Guard

I finally managed to get at least a partial game in this week, with my Space Wolves joining up with 1500pts of Imperial Guard to take on 3000pts of Necrons. The game only got as far as turn 3, so I won't run out full details of what happened, but I will look at two units I deployed and what they achieved in their short time on the battlefield.

Space Wolves 1500pts

Ulrik the Slayer
Rune Priest - Runic Armour, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane

5x Wolf Guard - Arjac Rockfist, 3xCombi-Melta, Combi-Plasma, 2xWolf Claw, Powerfist, Power Weapon
6x Wolf Scouts - Melta Gun

8x Grey Hunters - Flamer, Drop Pod, Standard
8x Grey Hunters - Flamer, Rhino, Standard
10x Grey Hunters - 2xFlamer, Standard

2x Land Speeder - Heavy Flamer, Heavy Bolter

6x Long Fangs - 3x Missile Launchers, 2x Lascannon
Arjac Rockfist

Firstly we will look at the Anvils contribution to the battle. Coming in on turn one with the drop podding Grey Hunters, Arjac had the choice of chasing down the phase out total and smashing apart Necron Warriors, or going after the living God, the C'tan The Nightbringer. Needless to say, Arjac was in God hunting mood and dropped as close as possible to the C'tans position.

With Arjac out of the drop pod, began by firing off his hammer at the monstrous Nightbringer, scoring a wound in his very first attack while under my control, taking it down to 4 wounds. Further lascannon and missile fire saw the wound counter drop to three before the end of that turn. I was hoping to see some close combat with Arjac and his Grey Hunters against the C'tan, but it moved away instead choosing to try and hunt down the Rune Priest.

 
Following the Nightbringers attack on the Rune Priest and his squad, they were forced to fall back and flee, leaving the C'tan perched nicely on the top of a hill. Arjac followed closely behind, taking another wound from the enemy with his flying thunder hammer, reducing it to 2 wounds, which were quickly reduced even further down to zero thanks to some crack shooting from the Long Fangs. Unfortunately, the explosion from the dying Nightbringer caused a wound on Arjac, but the man mountain remained standing as of the end of turn 2.

Ulrik the Slayer
Starting off in a Rhino, the main aim with Ulrik for this game was to get him as quickly as possible to the front lines and then unleash him on the Necron Warriors he found there before moving on to the Destroyers that were hiding out behind them. In the two turns we played, objective one was achieved.

Ulrik took his rhino 12" from his first turn, before the transport was targeted and immobilised on the Space Wolves/Imperial Guard right flank. From here Ulrik and his pack of Grey Hunters set out on foot, managing to get into close combat with a full squad of Warriors. With Ulrik going first, he personally took down 4 Warriors while the remaining 8 men in his squad managed only 1 between them. The strike back from the Warriors caused no casualties and the Wolves sweeping advance saw no Warriors remaining.

During turn two the Necrons took some incredibly heavy casualties, losing two squads of Warriors, one squad of Destroyers with another squad waiting on their 'We'll Be Back' rolls and a Lord down as well. On kill points at the time the game ended it was Necrons 3 - 5 Wolves/Guard.

Conclusions

While Arjac and Ulrik both contributed during the battle it is still a little too early to decide whether or not they were used to the best of their abilities and indeed what those abilities entail. Arjacs hammer throw can damage even the mightiest of opponents, but luck must've played a huge part in getting two wounds out of two off the C'tan. The drop pod delivery system for Arjac also hampered his ability to get into close combat for the first turn, something that could potentially be remedied by the use of a Land Raider in future.

As for Ulrik, the delivery system was fine and got him to where I needed him to be in the time frame I required. He ripped through the Warriors without too much trouble, which leaves me wondering whether he would have been better used going after slightly tougher targets (as his rules suggest) or if using him to take out the most amount of Necrons possible in the quickest time possible was just as useful. Either way, his one turn of use was incredibly productive and leaves me wanting to try using him again.