Bash from the Past: Who let the Crons out? Tau vs. Necrons

November 2009

Got a game in with Greg, who I played in the previous report: Psyker Purge

Instead of SoB vs. Heretics, this time it was to be Necrons vs. Tau, a Xenos-on-Xenos deathmatch!

Mission was a Seize Ground, with three objectives (represented by the obelisk and archways from the Arcane Ruins set) with a Pitched Battle setup. We had some special rules for the central pylon and the "research stations" around the corners, but they never actually came into play. 1850pts.

The battlefield prior to the armies' arrival:






Snapshot of the Tau forces with pile o' kroot behind them:


I had:
Shadowsun
Three groups of stealth suits - 2x6, 1x3 which had one guy with fusion gun
2x10 Fire Warriors
4x12 Kroot
2xBroadsides
2xSniper Drone Teams
2x6 Vespid

The Necrons:


Greg had:
Lord w/Orb
2x10 Immortals
2x10 Warriors
2x5 Destroyers
Tomb Spyder
Monolith

Greg won the roll-off, and chose to pick sides/go first. He deployed in three groups - two groups of warriors behind immortals, and a third group on his left with both destroyer groups. I spread out facing the immortals/warriors, trying to avoid the destroyers initially and figuring they could redeploy away from me if I tried to concentrate on them too early. I kept three squads of kroot and the small stealth team in reserve to outflank, Greg kept the Monolith back to deepstrike it.




Pregame thoughts:

I was worried about the immortals and destroyers, as they could kick out a lot of shots on the move. They could vape squads if they caught them in the open, and could make it hard for the stealth teams to keep away from them. I was less worried about the warriors due to much shorter range if they moved. There were a couple of ways to deal with the monolith, chief among them the broadsides. Hopefully they wouldn't get shot up before the monolith showed up, though the lack of AP2 necron weapons made me feel pretty safe with them. Also some EMP grenades on the FW could serve as backup.

Turn 1:
Necrons move up, shoot up the central fire warrior squad in the woods. Have several blown spotting checks to target sniper drone teams.

Tau take out Tomb Spyder with the Broadsides, move up along my left flank. Shoot up a few destroyers and immortals.





Turn 2:
Monolith does not come in. Immortals move to get a clear shot and vaporize flanking Fire Warrior squad.


Destroyers move closer to the center, take out one sniper team. Two Necron units fail to spot due to stealth fields.


Tau turn - two kroot units arrive on right flank behind destroyers.


Vespid, Stealth Suits and Shadowsun move up on other side to engage Immortals/Warriors.

Shooting weakens the immortals, and Vespid charge in to tie up the units. One destroyer unit is taken out by firepower, Kroot charge in to the other.



The Vespid, being Vespid, don't defeat their enemies but they do manage to pin them in place. The Kroot overwhelm the Destroyers, and since both units are down they don't get to make WBB and disappear.

Turn 3:
Though they did well to take out the Destroyers, the Kroot are now out in the open. Bad when there's a warrior squad in rapidfire range, a unit of immortals nearby...and now a Monolith.
View before Necron shooting:

View AFTER Necron shooting:

One Kroot breaks and runs, the other one decides today is a good day to die and continues on.

The Necrons continue to pour fire into the FW squad in the middle, breaking it and running it off the board.


Tau: Start taking some shots at the Monolith, immobilize it.


The Warriors+Lord beat the purple vespid, but the green ones continue to hold the immortals with the help of Shadowsun and her drones who apparently know how to hit a robot where it hurts.


Last Kroot squad also came onto my left flank (by the close combat).


Turn 4:
Lord and Warriors reposition and shoot up a few Kroot.

Central Kroot get shot up and fall back.
CC continues


3-man stealth suit squad arrives on left flank. They join in with the Kroot and another stealth squad in pounding the warriors...who fail their morale check and start falling back! Stealth team uses its jet pack move to keep close enough to keep them from being able to rally.


Turn 5:
The warrior+lord unit, unable to rally falls back again but is still on the table. They shoot up the Stealth Squad escorting them off, but one manages to survive. The Vespid are wiped out by the immortals, but Shadowsun holds. Immortals move over to the center while the other warrior squad hides behind the monolith on one of the objectives. The Kroot move over and join the scrum to help Shadowsun.






Turn 6:
The lord+warriors finish routing off of the table. Shadowsun and Kroot finish off the immortals in CC, and the Tau reposition to pound the remaining Immortal squad.



Shadowsun charges the remaining two Immortals but everybody flubs their attacks.


Turn 7:
The downed Immortals fail their WBB checks, taking the army below 25%, and the remaining Necrons Phase Out. Victory for the Greater Good!




Postgame thoughts:
This was a nailbiter for me. Taking out the Destroyers early helped, but as my Troops units kept running away I was getting worried. I was down to the last Kroot unit, which was saved by a round of good cover saves and the breaking warriors+lord squad.

If the game had ended on Turn 5, Greg would have won 1-0 as the Immortals were still contesting with the Kroot. Ending on turn 6 would have been a 1-1 draw. Only going to turn 7 got me the phase out and the win. Opposite of my last match with Greg, where the momentum went his way.

It was interesting seeing two shooty type forces go at it, and to have Kroot as the nastiest CC units on the table (well, aside from the lord himself and the tomb spyder). It was also nice to see the army perform more like I hoped it would when I originally built it - it's first outing didn't work out quite as well - see Dining Room of Death.