Battle Report: 1,500 pts vs Necrons

This was the biggest battle I've yet played with my Adeptus Mechanicus, pulling them all together for a 1,500 pt game- once again using Codex: Space Wolves. I was playing against Deke, a GW Oxford staff member. He's got a Necron army, and for this game we were road-testing some unofficial Oxford house rules for the Necrons. The main changes were that Gauss weapons were Rending but a bit more short-ranged, Lords were WS & BS 5, and Wraiths had Power Weapons. Plus there were points increases and so on, but that gives you the basic idea!

MISSION
The game was a simple kill point one, deploying in opposite table quarters. The board was quite heavily covered in ruined urban terrain, so there was lots of cover saves but not too much blocking LoS.

ARMIES & DEPLOYMENT
The Necrons had the Deceiver (needed for fluff purposes in the campaign), a Lord w/ Res Orb, 2 big squads of Warriors, 2 x 3 Destroyers, 3 Wraiths, 3 Heavy Destroyers.

I had:
Rune Priest
2 Iron Priests (each with 2 Heavy Bolter servitors, 1 normal servitor)
10 Grey Hunters + 1 Wolf Guard (2 plasma, power fist on Wolf Guard)
10 Grey Hunters + 1 Wolf Guard (2 melta, power weapon on Wolf Guard)
2 x 5 Grey Hunters + 1 Wolf Guard in Razorbacks (each with a melta, power fist on Wolf Guard, and a heavy bolter on the tank)
3 x 6 Long Fangs (each with 1 Lascannon and a mix of Heavy Bolters and Missile Launchers).

The table was pretty much split into 2 sections. My left flank was inside a ruined cathedral. It contained 2 Long Fangs, 1 Iron Priest, 1 Razorback + Grey Hunters and 1 Footslogging Grey Hunters + Rune Priest against the Deceiver, the Wraiths and both squads of Destroyers.

My right flank outside the cathedral had 1 Long Fangs, 1 Iron Priest, 1 Razorback and 1 Footsloggers vs his Lord, Heavy Destroyers and both Warrior squads.

BATTLE
The battle inside the cathedral on the left flank initially went well. My Razorback bombed forwards, providing cover to the Footsloggers & Rune Priest advancing behind. In shooting we destroyed a Destroyer squad, and managed to get a couple of wounds off the Deceiver.
But then the other Destroyers took out the Razorback, and the Deceiver ate the squad insided. Next the Deceiver got into combat with the Footsloggers & Rune Priest, and this quickly turned into a tar pit. He killed the Rune Priest before I could Force Weapon him, then slowly worked his way through the Footsloggers who couldn't do anything to hurt him in return. Eventually he killed them all, but it took all the game.
The 2 Long Fang squads and Iron Priest blew up a Destroyer, and then 1 Long Fang squad was torn to shreds by Destroyer fire combined with a Wraith attack. Ouch. In revenge the surviving Fangs & Iron Priest shot up the Wraiths. Then they were charged by the Destroyers, and that became a big static combat that went on for ages until I finally killed the buggers.

On the right flank, my Iron Priest and Long Fangs blew up the 3 Heavy Destroyers. Meanwhile the Razorback Hunters and Footslogging Hunters advanced towards the 2 squads of Warriors & Lord, and much shooting took place. The new rending Gauss weapons ate both my Grey Hunter squads very comprehensively, whilst my shooting kept being foiled by the dreaded combination of "We'll Be Back" and the Res Orb.

So at the end of the game I'd killed 2 Destroyer squads, the Wraiths and the Heavy Destroyers. He'd killed 4 Grey Hunter squads, 1 Razorback, my Rune Priest, and 1 Long Fang squad. So another defeat for the Mechanicus, but not such a bad defeat as my recent tablings- I still had some squads alive (2 Long Fangs, 2 Iron Priests)!

LESSONS LEARNT
I'd never remembered to use my smoke launchers before. They were great, must remember to use them more often.

The Necron playtest rules were possibly a little powerful. 18 pts for "We'll Be Back" plus Rending is nastier than Marines. We're not sure how to improve matters. Make Warriors 20 pts? Or make them Slow & Purposeful?

Battle Report: 1500 pts Doubles vs Chaos Space Marines (loss)

So, part 2 of GW Oxford's campaign. 1,500 pts per side, in pairs (so 750pts per player). Once again the Adeptus Mechanicus were Space Wolves, paired with Uncle Rich's Deathwing. This time, we were up against the Iron Warrior Chaos Space Marines.

MISSION
The mission was simple: 1 objective in the dead centre of the board. The person with the most squads within 6" of it at game end wins.
The board had quite a lot of terrain in our deployment zones, with a big empty killing zone in the middle.

ARMIES & DEPLOYMENT
The Iron Warriors had a Lord & Berserkers in a rhino, a big group of Plague Marines in a building, a Terminator squad in reserve, 2 Vindicators and a Predator. Ouch.
As always, 750pts of Deathwing got Uncle Rich Belial, 2 x 5 terminators, 1 x 5 man tactical squad.
I went for a higher model count this week: Rune Priest, Iron Priest & Servitors, 2 x 10 Grey Hunters (2 plasma guns) and 2 x Long Fangs (mix of Heavy Bolters and Missile Launchers).
Uncle Rich put both terminator squads in reserve. I put both Long Fangs up on top of buildings in the corners of our deployment zone, with good lines of sight. Rich's Tactical and my Grey Hunters were in the middle, ready to run for the centre.

BATTLE
The first terminator squad popped out next to one Vindicator and the Predator. They were shot at lots (by 1 Vindicator, 1 Predator and the Plague Marines), and only 2 of them were left alive to get into combat with the Vindicator but failed to do anything. They were shot at again. And died.
My Long Fangs destroyed the other Vindicator. "Well, Uncle Rich, I killed my Vindicator" was my refrain...
Meanwhile in the middle of the table the Berserkers and his Terminators ate both my Grey Hunters, my Rune Priest, my Iron Priest, his Tactical Squad and 1 Deathwing Terminator Squad. Ouch. He cunningly chased my broken guys off the edge of the board, never giving us a chance to regroup.
After that it was all over bar mopping up. The remaining Vindicator started pie-plating my Long Fangs, and we were tabled.

LESSONS LEARNT
At this point, I decided that basing my army purely around shooting was pretty crap and I needed some better close combat troops. And started work converting a Skitarii Assault Maniple (to use as Blood Claws or Wolf Guard).

Battle Report: 1500 pts Doubles vs Orks (loss)

GW Oxford has been having a campaign recently. Most of us have been playing in doubles, 750pts per player so 1500pts per side. I've been using my Adeptus Mechanicus as Space Wolves, paired with my old friend "Uncle Rich" and his Deathwing Terminator Army.

MISSION
Our first game was vs. Orks, deploying in opposite table quarters. Objectives in table centre and the centre of both empty quarters.

ARMIES & DEPLOYMENT
The orks had a bikeboss with biker pals, a boss in battlewagon with nobs, a trukk mob and two big footslogger mobs (1 sluggas & 1 shootas). And a bunch of dreds & kans.

Uncle Rich's 750pts of Deathwing is always much the same: Belial, 2 x 5 terminators, 1 x 5 man tactical squad. Uncle Rich started with both his terminator squads in reserve.

My 750pts of Space Wolves was Rune Priest, Iron Priest (2 Heavy Bolter servitors, 1 normal servitor), 2 x 5 Grey Hunters in Razorbacks (each with a power fist, a flamer and a heavy bolter on the tank) and 2 x Long Fangs (mix of Heavy Bolters and Missile Launchers).

BATTLE
1 terminator squad popped down on the left hand objective, whilst my Razorback squads zoomed towards the right hand objective. The rest of our forces hung back and shot loads.

A trukk & battlewagon full of orks and a warboss landed on my Razorback guys, and we both destroyed each other. Meanwhile a bikeboss and bikers hit the terminators, along with mass shoota boyz. The termis took out the bikers, but were destroyed. I shot lots, but not enough and the orks cunningly used the battlewagon & trukk as walls to block my line of sight.

The game finished early (as the store was closing), before the 2nd terminator squad arrived! The shoota boyz had the left objective, slugga boyz had the right objective, and the kans had the centre objective. So not a great success for the Imperials there.

LESSONS LEARNT

I still hate orks in close combat! Also, that "using vehicles as mobile walls" tactic is dead cunning.

Battle Report: 1,000 pts vs Orks in Apocalypse (draw?)

MISSION
For the end of the campaign all the 1,000 pts armies were put together in a huge Apocalypse game. It was mad!

ARMIES & DEPLOYMENT
We used the same army lists again.
I had two Necron armies on my left and 4 marine armies on my right, with huge numbers of orks opposite me. Oh dear.

BATTLE
It was all a bit of a blur, can't remember much! I know it was carnage, with lots of awesome shooting and huge charges and so on. Madness.
I managed to kill Wazzdakka in close combat (after merrily shooting away all his bikers), and by the end of Turn 5 I'd killed lots and had lots of my stuff killed in return. There weren't any enemies left near me, but I only had 5 guys left and didn't capture my objective. Luckily, neither did the orks. And the Necrons next to me got their objective- for the Mechanicus, surely that counts as a moral victory?

LESSONS LEARNT
My main lesson from this game was that Apocalypse is awesome but mad. No surprises there. But it was lots of fun! Also, I'm still terrified of orks. And think I need to improve my close combat. Blood Claws look tempting?

Battle Report: 1,000 pts vs Orks (defeat)

My next 1,000pts battle was against orks. This went considerably less well!

MISSIONS
In the first battle we used the Vanguard mission, again with me as the attacker. Once again there was an objective in the centre, plus one in the middle of his table edge and one that I got to place. The battlefield was again quite plain, except for a hill in the centre.

ARMIES & DEPLOYMENT
We had to keep the same army lists.
He had four big squads of orks and a looted wagon. One squad of orks and the wagon were in reserves, the other 3 squads were gathered on the right side of the board. The third objective went on the centre line to the far left, and my guys walked onto the board.

BATTLE
My gunline stuck to the back, and happily munched through two squads of orks. The other squads advanced, seeking to get the two objectives on the centre line.
Then the remaining orks hit me. Blimey, they're good in combat. Scarily large buckets of dice! They quickly demolished all three squads of Grey Hunters. If the game had ended on Turn 5 I would have just won (two objectives clear, one objective held by the remains of my last Grey Hunter squad). Sadly it didn't, and by the end of Turn 7 I was pretty much wiped out.

LESSONS LEARNT
Again I was impressed by how shooty my army was. But also terrified of how good 30 orks with a warboss are if you let them get close...

Army List & Battle Report: 1,000 pts vs Dark Eldar (win)

My Adeptus Mechanicus were designed to be quite flexible as to which codex they could count as: they could be Space Marines, Space Wolves, Dark Angels, Witchhunters or even Necrons. In their first outing they were Space Wolves- largely because Grey Hunters are better than Tactical Squads, whilst Iron Priests & Long Fangs are just so cheap!

This army list was made for a 1,000 pt Battle Missions / Apocalypse campaign weekend at Games Workshop Oxford. This was the first time I'd played 40k in over half a dozen years...

HQ [100 pts]
Technomagi Aether-Adept (Rune Priest) - 100

ELITES [90 pts]
Technomagi Machine-Seer (Iron Priest w/ 1 Servo-arm Servitor, 2 Heavy Bolter Servitors) - 90

TROOPS [545 pts]
Protector Maniple (10 Grey Hunters w/ 1 Power Fist, 2 Plasma Guns) - 185
Protector Maniple (6 Grey Hunters w/ 1 Power Fist, 1 Meltagun; Razorback w/ Dozer, Armour) - 180
Protector Maniple (6 Grey Hunters w/ 1 Power Fist, 1 Meltagun; Razorback w/ Dozer, Armour) - 180

HEAVY SUPPORT [265 pts]
Protector Support Maniple (6 Long Fangs w/ 1 Heavy Bolter, 4 Missile Launchers) - 135
Protector Support Maniple (6 Long Fangs w/ 2 Heavy Bolter, 3 Missile Launchers) - 130

MISSION
We used the Prepared Assault mission, and I was the attacker- so there was an objective in the centre, one in the middle of his half of the board and one that I got to place in his half of the board. The battlefield was fairly plain except for a 3-story building right in the centre. I placed the third objective on the centre line of the board, on the far right side.

ARMIES & DEPLOYMENT
He had two big squads of Warriors, and a very tooled up Archon with Incubi & Drazhar in a Raider. One squad was on the central building/objective, the other was in a ruin near the back of his side of the board (on my left), the Raider was behind the building waiting to pounce. I deployed one Razorback ready to grab that objective and one ready to head deep into his deployment zone. The Rune Priest and big unit were set to charge towards the central objective, whilst the shooty squads were set up along my back board edge.

BATTLE
Then we shot at each other, lots. The Archon, Incubi & Drazhar carved up one Long Fang squad but was left in an exposed position- and went down under a wall of fire. I also wiped out the central squad. Meanwhile he took out the Razorback squad heading into his board half and most of the Rune Priest's squad.
It ended as a victory- I held the far right objective whilst the remains of Rune Priest's Squad were contesting the central objective with the second Warrior Squad.

LESSONS LEARNT
The game confirmed to me just how shooty my army was. It was bloody, very bloody!