The Center of the Tesseract Vault
I like big models and epic games, and thus I wanted to add a large-scale model to my force early on. Given the current rules and Force Organization Chart(s) choices, it's straightforward to add a single Lord of War to any given force. So it was time for the Tesseract Vault (also knowing that Craig has about six Superheavy Vehicles in his massive Imperial Guard army to choose from). I'm pleased with the paint job thus far--still need to do some green touch-ups and lining on the armor sections, and some highlights to the orange eye of the crypt-spyder-minder robot on the top. But it's good progress. Painting the rest of the sections will be some work, but I'm up to the task (I think...).
Two Canoptek Scarab Swarms
I also completed two more Scarab swarms for my force. I can't help it, I love these models. They're so cute. They're not particularly effective in the game, as even a strong breeze can kill them with ease. But still, I dig them enough to add two more to my force.
That's it for painting progress. Now on to the battle report. 2,200 points of Necrons against 2,200 points of Craig's Imperial Guard.
The Necrons awoke to the sound of tromping boots and steel treads. What brought the interlopers to this world was unknown--the Overlord marshaled his forces together regardless of reason. Living creatures were anathema, and their death was certain. Unfortunately for the creatures, this world was a repository of the star-shards: the Overlord brought forth a captive C'tan in a Tesseract Vault, as well as a Transcendant C'tan to do his bidding. His other forces were units of Immortals and Warriors, Canoptek Scarabs, a small group of Lychguard, and a mighty Monolith. Emerging from their crypts, the forces surged out and began leveling their weaponry at the invading living creatures.
The Imperial Guard had arrived on the planet as a part of a detachment designed to quell local unrest against the rule of the planetary governor. They had easily subjugated the local tribes, but did not pay attention to their superstitions: stories of the great plains that should not be disturbed were ignored or thought to be diversion. The commanders instructed a battlegroup to explore the area and report back. Given the unknown, the Imperial commander took a mixed force: an Infantry Platoon with supporting heavy weapons and two veteran squads, an Armored Sentinel, and a unit of Stormtroopers. They also brought armor support, in the form of a Baneblade, a Leman Russ Vanquisher, a Leman Russ Executioner, and a Hydra Flakk Tank.
The Imperial Guard force sent to the world was from a feudal levee, their forces being composed of peasantry raised up and trained at arms commanded by the nobles of the society. While their uniforms were not as regulation as many other divisions, the force had been very successful at weaponry--being located very close to a Forge World. Their tanks and heavy weapons were in pristine condition, and the troops marched proudly alongside their mighty metal gods of death: especially the company Baneblade.
The company's Knight commander, who drove the vehicle-busting Leman Russ Vanquisher, called a halt in the battle line--the sensors in his tank were displaying an odd variation of signals coming from the plains ahead. The troops were quickly ordered to assemble entrenchments, and the Knight commander took cover anticipating attack--his radioed message to the rest of the force was "heads up, something is coming."
The other units in the force stopped and took cover where they could--strange abandoned remnants of structures were scattered on the plains, as if the culture of savages on this planet had once been more industrial. The buildings were clearly built by long-lost Imperial settlers, but why they were abandoned no one knew. Foot soldiers and armored support alike paused and waited.
Suddenly, the ground ahead shifted and things began to rise. A set of glowing eyes emerged first, as a huge swarm of tiny beetles seemed to be flowing in the direction of the Imperial Forces. The forward troops consulted their Imperial Primers for an understanding of the foe: the fabled Necrons had scarabs such as these. With a shout, fire from the Imperial side began to decimate the assaulting robots.
Self-deploying metal barricades appeared, emitting waves of light energy that protected those behind from attacks. The cracks of laser light energy, in all its varied forms, issued from the Necron forces and their emplacements. More worrisome, perhaps, was that a being that glowed as bright as a sun seemed to be walking alongside the enemy forces. The Imperial Commanders poured their firing into the great beast, hoping that it led the Necrons (they were mistaken on that count--it was merely a slave of the robotic Overlord). Between the hot shot lasguns of the Stormtroopers, the Leman Russ Executioner, and orders to "Bring it Down" from the command to the Heavy Weapons Teams that bore Lascannons, the great burning beast fell before reaching the Imperial lines.
The enemy Necrons seemed content to move within range and then exchange fire with the Imperial Guard. While the Imperial plasma shots seemed to penetrate the robots' armor, a surprising number of them simply stood back up and self-repaired as they continued to fire. The answering blasts of Gauss weaponry from the Necrons tore through the Imperial armor and forced them to cling to what little protection they could find in the grooves of the pockmarked battlefield.
While many of the Scarabs had been shot down, there were still ample numbers left. They rushed right up to the Leman Russ Executioner and tore it to bits in an instant. Thousands of tiny micro-lasers rendered the armor broken, the weapons inoperable, and the machine wrecked. A nearby unit of Guardsmen and the two Stormtroopers who had survived the withering fire from the Necron lines led a charge against the Scarabs. Their attack was extremely successful, cutting down every single remaining Scarab in a frenzy of bayonet strikes. A cheer went up from the Imperial lines at seeing their fellows successful.
The success there prompted other units to advance forward--there was some abandoned debris in no-man's land that formed a critical objective for the Imperials, and their troops rushed to secure it. Taking cover in the treeline and behind the ruins, the Guardsmen proved to be harder for the Necron weapons to strike down.
At the same time, the Necrons were suffering a punishing amount of fire. Between all the plasma gun shots and the devastating cannon of the Baneblade, more and more units were falling unable to repair. Even the defense grids were not enough to prevent casualties against the sheer weight of fire being directed at the Warriors.
In particular, the Imperial Guard Master of Ordinance was giving them fits. He hid behind the great bulk of the Baneblade with what remained of the Command Squad, and called in coordinates for artillery support. Massed Basilisk units fired from far off, their shots ranging in on the Necron Warriors and rendering their defense lines null thanks to barrage artillery.
As the Necron forces thinned, the Imperials continued to advance to their lines in hopes of breaking through. The Necron Overlord and his squad of Immortals were rushing to try and grab an objective in a central ruin, hoping that the Baneblade was otherwise occupied by their Tesseract Vault. However, the tank turned its mighty turret and leveled a massive shell into them--killing every one of the remaining Immortals serving as the Overlord's bodyguard.
The Imperial vox-casters started broadcasting for the forces to continue the push: "Breakthrough, breakthrough, draw them out of position for support elements to finish them" came the order. The Hydra Flakk Tank responded, hitting the engines as fast as it could and tank-shocking through the Necron lines. In a short time, thanks to flat-out speed, it was in the Necron backfield and leaving them behind. It weathered their return fire--the Gauss bolts warping the weaponry with their energy (as good a reason as any to deal with the fact that the Forge World resin for the Flakk Tank pieces was warped... time to grab a hair-dryer and straighten them). Yet the tank held together enough to drive, and disappeared in the distance with the Baneblade and the advancing troops units following the assault against the scattered Necrons.
It was a great game, but another loss for my Necrons. Objectives were close, but I trailed early in the game. While I managed to tie it at 4 in my fourth turn, the Imperials managed to pick up two late objectives by destroying units and getting the Hydra Flakk Tank into my deployment zone on the bottom of turn five. I've got to work on the flexibility of my forces, as I'm finding that I'm not able to respond to changes in the battlefield as quickly as I should. Time to think about a way to get more maneuverability into the force. The Monolith alone as a mode of repositioning units isn't going to cut it--especially because everyone seems to direct all their fire into the Monolith from the start. I had a lot of fun, though, and there were some really epic moments: the five Lychguard shrugging off a Baneblade Cannon shot with zero casualties was my favorite... not pictured above because the Lychguard are sadly still in a state of being under-painted... I need to change that!
Battles (40k):
Total 2015: 4 (Win/Loss/Tie: 0/4/0)
Necrons:
0 Wins
4 Losses (Imperial Guard 1, Nurgle Chaos 1, Grey Knights 1, Chaos and Ultramarines team 1)
0 Ties
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