Ravenwing to the Rescue

 

The rumors of Fallen seeking ancient weapons on Angamar had been enough to cause the Dark Angels to deploy in force.  As soon as word had reached Grand Master Azrael that fallen marines had infiltrated the planet, he immediately dispatched his champions, Belial and Sammael, to track down the relics and capture their quarry.

However, by the time the Dark Angels arrived, the xenos invaders had already entrenched themselves across the planet.  The world-wide battles provided the perfect cover for the Fallen to pursue their nefarious plans.  Belial and Sammael knew that the xenos had to be driven from the planet in order to flush the traitors from hiding.  They split their forces, with Belial and the Deathwing pursuing a report of Fallen in one of Angamar's desert wastelands.  While the Deathwing hunted the traitors, Sammael and the Ravenwing would hunt down and destroy a band of strange, feral Necrons near Command Bastion A15.

1500 Dark Angels vs. Necron (Written by Noah)
Noah Vs Forest

Deploy: Dawn of War (Old Pitched battle)
Battle: Big Guns Never Tire

Noah could not remember all the details of the army lists/assets, but he was kind enough to write a pretty cool narrative report!  Enjoy!

Allies No Longer

This is what happens when you don't provide real pics...

Even before the distress signal arrived, the Blood Angels had already departed at full speed towards the Angamar system.  Brother Corbulo's research into the Blood Angels' gene seed flaw had discovered rumors of an ancient artifact capable of dampening psychic influences or even manipulate emotions.  Such a device might might hold insights into how to mitigate the bloodlust of the Red Thirst and Black Rage, and buy the chapter time to cure the affliction of their geneseed.  Mephiston and a contingent of Blood Angels had been immediately dispatched with the orders to secure the artifact at ANY cost... 

 

Within minutes of arriving in the system, Blood Angel Drop Pods and Thunderhawk Transports had delivered squads of Tactical Marines, Devastators, and Assault Marines into the heart of three of Angamar's manfactorums and mining structures.  Not only were the facilities vital to defending the planet from the marauding Xenos, the planetary surveys they contained might offer a clue to the location of the relic. 

 

Mephiston had personally accompanied the Assault Marines sent to secure the manufactorum on the Cifius lava plains only to find Necron forces massing against it.  He gazed across the acrid  landscape to watch as the shambling, metallic horde took up firing positions.  However, the unruly mob before him was not the same adversary that the Blood Angels had faced in the Gehenna Campaign.  While the Silent King's forces had been unrelenting, soulless automatons, these Necrons instead resembled a pack of feral Orks.  Orange "warpaint" streaked their bodies,  and they milled about their positions with halting, jerking movements.  Even though the Lord of Death knew the Necrons were nothing more than metallic husks with no other thought than the destruction of all living things, it almost seemed that something was driving them mad.  Regardless of the strangeness of the Necron's actions, Mephiston and the Blood Angels would prove that they still "died" all the same...

 

Blood Angels vs Necrons (Written by Jeff)

Jeff vs Forest

Necron Deathstar... the missing piece! (Or not...)

Destroyer Lord... now a team player

I started working on my Necrons in late 5th Edition and never settled on a list that I really like.  A big part of that is I always felt they were missing something, specifically in the anti-tank category.  However, the new vehicle rules makes both Gauss and Tesla much more useful at killing tanks,  which means Surf Lords, Scarabs, and Lanceteks are no longer "required" to kill tanks.  Now almost any unit in the codex can do a decent job of killing tanks, which really increases the number of viable builds.

EDIT:  I incorrectly thought Destroyer Lords were Fearless... which completely breaks my analysis.

/SQUEEE White Dwarf Flyer Pics!

GW... take my money NAO!  I know a lot of people are not going to like the Stormtalon, but I personally like it.  I may be forced to adjust my Smurf lists to include at least one (I'm hoping they can be squaded), but I am going to at least buy one to build/paint.  The Necron Scythes are even sexier.  I already incorporated one into my 2K Necron list which I plan to blog about in the next day or so.  I have been trying to put together a post/list for several weeks now, but work hasn't cooperated.  It also didn't help that I have been having a major issue wrapping my head around the Necron Codex.

More updates to follow...

Honorguard are afraid of the dark? (GK vs Necron Batrep)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had the opportunity to play in a 2K tournament on Sunday.  My first round was a lucky, but convincing win against an SW list.  My list was:

Draigo
Paladins (5) with DH x2, Halberd x2, Pyscannon x2, and Banner
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
Venerable Rifleman
Rifleman Dread
Stormraven with TLMM and TLPC and SL
Dread Calgar with Teleporter

The tournament itself was a three-round tournament with each of the three deployments. The objectives for each round were the same: three sieze ground objectives, two capture and control objectives, and KPs. Winning an objective was worth 10 points, draws were worth 5, and losses 0 for a max of 30 points per round. I didn't get army lists from my opponents so I am going from memory.

Round 2
Deployment: Pitched Battle

For the second round, I was paired off against a Newcron player with an interesting list.  He was still in the process of finishing his army, so he was lacking some of what I would consider the harder units in the codex.  His list was:

Stormlord
3 Lords with Scythe and Res Orb
1 Transmorg Cryptek with Harp
20 Warriors with Ghost Ark
20 Warriors
20 Warriors
5 Lychguard with Scythes
7 Deathmarks
1 Heavy Destroyer and 3-4 Destroyers

Necrons have arrived!!!

That glare you see is the solar pulse....

The Tomb World just coughed up:

3 Barges
5 Immortal/Deathmark Boxes
2 Warrior Boxes (Tournament Spoils)
2 Ghost Arks

I love brick and mortar stores with 20% discounts! This should pretty much cover my Nemesor with Lychguard force. I would rather have Wraiths, but I have to wait for Wave 2. I plan to tear into these and start building within the next day or so....

Building a list around Lychguard...

Necron version of TH/SS Terminator

As I mentioned in a previous article, I think that Lychguard are not only beautiful models, but have decent rules.  However, they REALLY need some support to make them worthwhile.  They have several major weaknesses and I personally think that Wraiths can do almost anything a Lychguard unit could better and cheaper.  Wraiths have better invulnerable saves, are faster, are cheaper, and have multiple wounds.  9 times out of 10, if I was looking for a counter assault unit, I would go with the Wraiths.  However, that is not the point of this exercise, so I am going to focus on ways to mitigate the weaknesses of Lychguard and look at how they can differentiate themselves from Wraiths and Scarabs.

2K Necrons with Nemesor Zahndrekh

As I have looked through the Necron Codex, several shiney things caught my eye.  One of my biggest "failings" in making competitive lists is that I generally like to field big, flashy HQs and/or a centerpiece deathstar unit.  My favorite Smurfs lists had Calgar or Librarians leading Honorguard or Assault Termies riding in a Land Raider.  My Honorguard lists are built around Draigo and Pallies (the very definition of overpriced deathstar).  I have never been much for many of the MSU-style shooty builds, as they lack what I consider an "epic" character--both figuratively and literally.  Nothing against them (they are generally much more effective), but I enjoy having some sort of hero character/unit in my armies.  As I was reading through the Necron Codex, I was immediately drawn to three entries--Lychguard, Nemesor Zahndrekh, and Vagard Obyron. 

Necrons... dun dun dunnnnhhhhhhh

A new threat arises....

So I have been acting like a little kid lately--saving up money from my birthday, Christmas, and extra jobs to buy my next new toy.  However, as I am also masquerading as a "grown-up", my toys are more expensive and of the plastic crack variety.  The new Necron codex has caught my eye and I plan on building a 1500-2000 point army list to act as a foil to my Ultramarines Second Company and Honorguard.  I have the devious goal to try and get my friends hooked on plastic crack too, and I think the best way to do this is through intro games with two well-painted, evenly matched armies.