Necrons vs. Dark Eldar – 510 pt. modified Cruiser Clash at Highland

Highland had their monthly meeting, but few showed.  Rob wanted more Gothic (will he catch the Gothic bug?) so he tried out my Dark Eldar, and asked that I play…

…Necrons.

Yes, THOSE Necrons.  How did he fare?  Let’s find out!

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Bozeman – Necron Harvest Fleet, 510 pts

-Scythe class cruiser Awakener.

-Shroud class light cruiser Desert Whisper.

-Dirge class raider x2, Khopesh Squadron.

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Rob – Chosen of Shadow Dark Eldar, 500 pts

-Torture class cruiser Gift of Discord, Launch Bays

-Corsair class escort x3, Banes of Joy, Phantom Lances

-Corsair class escort x2, The Jesters, Impaler Assault Modules

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Mission: Cruiser Clash

Modifications: 510 point limit, added celestial phenomena, no restrictions other than those in fleet list, victory points.

Location: Inner Biosphere (one Solar Flare)

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Setup:

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Turn 1 – Necron Harvest Fleet

Before turn 1 begins, A SOLAR FLARE OCCURS!

All ships go on All Ahead Full.  Thanks to Inertialess Drives, the Scythe makes it all the way across the board and surprises the Dark Eldar.  One lance Corsair is destroyed.  The rest of the fleet moves up.

The Scythe surges ahead.

Necrons can be surprisingly fast.

Turn 1 – Chosen of Shadow Dark Eldar

Dark Eldar bombers bounce off of the Scythe, but Impaler Assault Modules disable the Lightning Arcs and prevent the Scythe from turning!  So close to the edge, the Scythe is in danger of disengaging involuntarily.  The entire Dark Eldar fleet goes on Come to a New Heading and turns fire on the Dirges, who brace to avoid damage.

Ancient enemy?  Hardly.

Turn 2 – Necron Harvest Fleet

Scythe goes on Burn Retros to avoid going off the board edge.  Dirges take out one more lance Corsair.  Shroud continues to advance.

HIT THE BRAKES!

Turn 2 – Chosen of Shadow Dark Eldar

Reloads give the Dark Eldar enough ordnance to put 2 damage on the Scythe, re-applying the repaired critical effect preventing it from turning.  Battery fire kills a Dirge despite Brace for Impact.

Turn 3 – Necron Harvest Fleet

Damaged, and unable to Burn Retros again, the Scythe chooses to move its full distance off the board to automatically disengage.  The surviving Dirge also disengages.  The Shroud goes on All Ahead Full to surprise the Torture cruiser Gift of Discord, causing 2 damage.

Turn 3 – Chosen of Shadow Dark Eldar

The Dark Eldar turn to face the Shroud.  Necrons choose to trust their armor, and lucky battery fire causes 2 damage, crippling the Shroud.

Ouch!

Turn 4 – Necron Harvest Fleet

Lightning arcs from the Shroud do little to the Torture.

Turn 4 – Chosen of Shadow Dark Eldar

Brace for Imapct saves the Shroud from more damage.

Turn 5 – Necron Harvest Fleet

Amazing battery fire despite being crippled and on Brace causes the Torture to take 2 more damage, crippling it and applying a Prow critical result.

Turn 5 – Chosen of Shadow Dark Eldar

Phantom lance causes 2 damage to the Shroud, reducing it to a drifting hulk.

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Final score:

Bozeman – 100

Rob – 554

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…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I haven’t had a loss this bad since I first got into 40k.  That’s a 454% margin of loss.  Plus, Rob scored more victory points than the game was worth.

Necrons can’t split up or they get picked off.  Plus, charging forward was stupid as it left me in a position to get forced off the board.  I also set up weird, splitting my forces so that Rob could refuse the flank.  Rob got screwed by the Solar Flare, but recovered nicely.

Next: a game at AFK!