2008/11/23: PAGE Sunday Night Fights!

A large multi-player showdown in the nearly empty, long abandoned ruins on the outskirts of an Imperial city! Necron forces have awoken in the hills far outside town, engulfing the countryside in death and metal. Entreated by local government to stem the undead plague, several companies of Space Marines descend to deal death and the Emperor's will upon the monstrosities...

Rules

Jon, Akil, and Joe fielded 1000pts each, each following a separate force organization chart. Joe & Jon played vanilla Space Marines, Akil on Space Wolves. Justin and Lovell fielded 1500 pts each of Necrons, more or less following a unified force organization chart (one C'Tan---the Deceiver).

Each player was assigned a number of cards equal to the number of units they fielded. Game flow was modified to have global Movement, Shooting, and Assault phases. Before the Movement phase, cards were shuffled. They were then revealed in turn, with the corresponding player moving a unit or rolling for reserves as appropriate. Shooting and Assault phases then followed the same card order. Cards were removed at the end of a turn for eliminated units. Deployment was done using the same scheme.

Battle!

Deployment

Kingbreakers units reached the field first, with Devastator 1 establishing a commanding view from the top of elevated temple ruins in a corner of the battlefield. Tacticals 1 and 2 quickly moved to reinforce their position, taking cover in the foreground behind a long abandoned bunker and the wreckage of a destroyed shuttle craft. Terminator 1 remained shipside, checking and polishing their weapons as they waited for the Deep Strike call sure to come.

Meanwhile, a tribe of Space Wolves deployed alongside the Kingbreakers, braced for the onslaught sure to come in the center of the battlefield. A company of Ultramarines in turn joined the battle to guard their flanks.

The Necron menace, meanwhile, slowly developed a long battleline stretching full across the field of war. Warriors and Immortals stood implacable, with Heavy Destroyers and Tomb Spyders in the background, all awaiting the command of their Lords and hateful C'Tan god.

Turn One

Kingbreakers establish several units of approaching Wraiths as their primary concern. Tactical 2 moves into better cover while Tactical 1 puts out suppression fire. Devastator 1 meanwhile lays down heavy support, tagging the Wraiths with repeated plasma cannon and bolter hits. The metallic horrors brush aside the attacks however and continue their slow forward press.

Turn Two

The Wraith units split apart, moving to catch the Tactical units in a pincer grip. Tactical 2 falls back just enough to prevent a potential assault but the action is unnecessary---combined fire from both Tacticals and Jericho's Devastators manages to inflict severe damage on the lead Wraith unit! Too far from their supporting unit after the pincer movement, the Wraiths' self repair protocols fail and they dissolve into dust! Attempting to support the assault, Necron commanders call in a unit of Flayed Ones to support the Wraiths. The Emperor's will strikes against them though, as the automatons miscalculate and beam themselves directly into nearby terrain, locking the unit in immovable rock for all time. Meanwhile, Space Wolves units wedge their Land Raider between Tactical 1 and the remaining Wraith unit, preventing the Wraiths from a devastating rear assault on Tactical 1. Blowing charges and storming out the assault door, the Wolves quickly tore the Wraiths to shreds, howling in victory. Space Wolves Bikers and an Ultramarines Predator also make short work of the Necron Heavy Destroyer unit looming in the background. Several Ultramarines Tactical units advance in an attempt to flank the Necron line, but the movement is stalled as several units are forced to turn and engage a full contingent of Immortals teleporting in behind the Ultramarines' lines in the command of a Necron Lord. The Ultramarines' efforts are also hampered by the mischief of the C'Tan Deceiver, obscuring the lines of battle and twisting the Ultramarines' perceptions and orders beyond all recognition.

Turn Three

Hoping to counterattack, a Necron monolith Deep Strikes down in the face of the Space Wolves. The Wolves' Land Raider and Ultramarines' Predator immediately center on the new threat, raining lascannon fire down upon its living metal shell to little effect. Meanwhile, Necron Warriors both advance upon the Kingbreakers' positions, as well as portal through the Monolith to directly engage the Space Wolves. The Necron Lord also re-teleports his flanking Immortals, re-appearing to directly threaten the Space Wolves' rear. Responding in force, the Wolves take the initiative and entangle the Necron Lord and his troops in close combat so howling Bikers can turn and rampage through their ranks, eliminating the Necrons entirely. Ultramarine positions however are engulfed by hordes of Scarabs, swarming over their Predator and significantly damaging critical systems as well as crippling the main lascannon. At the same time, the Necrons reinforce their crumbling center line with another Deep Striking monolith, which immediately begins teleporting units into the fray.

Turn Four

Sensing the battle to be on the brink, Ultramarines and Kingbreakers leaders make the call for waiting Terminator units to Deep Strike from orbit and hopefully turn the tide of the battle beyond all doubt. The Ultramarines' Cyclone-equipped unit nails their drop to the battlefield, arriving square in the rear of the Necron positions and immediately opening fire upon the machines. Kingbreakers targeting equipment, however, suffers a devastating failure in the middle of an ambitious but risky Deep Strike into the middle of the Necron forces and are consigned permanently to the farthest reaches of the Warp, a tragic mishap for the chapter. Choking down their shock at the loss, Tactical 1 channels their rage and confusion into a punishing assault on an approaching Necron Warrior unit, eviscerating the fiends beyond all hope of repair.

Results

Game cut short at four turns due to time. Seven units and 1154 points of Necron dead. Five units and 1148 points of Space Marines dead. Loss of the Kingbreakers' Terminator squad and their corresponding 440 points worth of models proved to be a pivotal loss for the Imperial forces, swinging the battle from the jaws of decisive victory to a solid draw for both sides.

Lessons

The Monoliths' guns did not prove to be as much of a concern as initially feared. Their ability to teleport units into the thick of the battle is a notable problem, however. Unfortunately, something serious needs to be planned to deal with these. Massed lascannon fire may do the trick, but simply taking potshots won't cut it. Getting Terminators up against it with Power Fists may also work, but could take some work to actually deliver them on target.

Deep Striking should be down very carefully with expensive units! It's simply not worth the risk, especially if the unit has weapons with enough range to inflict some damage at a good standoff. The downside here, however, is the risk that they won't be able to engage in close combat in time...

Kingbreakers' Devastator squads should be rebalanced, probably moving to a 2 Missile / 1 Heavy Bolter / 1 Plasma Cannon arrangement. While the Plasma Cannon is useful, it is often difficult to put on target due to scatter. Missiles offer many more tactical options as well as being cheaper. In particular, they have a (small) chance of damaging Monoliths, but can also put down Insta-Kills on many Necron (and other) units, preventing unfortunate We'll Be Back and Feel No Pain rolls.

Notes

The card system seemed to work reasonably well. Downtime was definitely reduced. Game dynamics are definitely changed by the approach, but not necessarily for the worse. In particular, it seemed as though units were able to engage much faster under the approach as they both move before shooting and assaulting. This may also alleviate some of the advantages of rolling for the first turn. Keeping the same order through the phases definitely made things simpler and enabled some pre-planning, though it's not obvious that switching it up in the middle would be bad.