"Chaplain, There is activity in the valley. They're excavating something. Scouts have reported necron canoptek entitites digging for something" said Sergeant Morius.
The Chaplain stood at the edge of the cliff and peered down into the misty valley. The ancient ruins of Alhaymah lay below him. Once a great city, a gleaming gem, now only crumbling remains of a once great bastion of imperial power. An explorator team in this area had gone missing weeks earlier. Such trivial events where usually beneath the Legion but the team managed to send a garbled distress call just before their demise. The Chaplain listened to the distress call one last time: "The bones... The bones....walk! +++stripping flesh, they ar++++run! ++++ They rise! they rise!."
2000 points game - Crusade (5 Objectives) - Black Scorpions (rottimus) Vs The Traizio Dynasty (rik)
The battle would be about claiming 5 important objectives. 2 in the Black Scorpion deployment, 3 in the Necron deployment area. The Necrons went first! ***Sorry for the bad pics, my camera ran out of battey so the iphone took its place***
The Black Scorpions were led by Chaplain Ramius and 9 death company. Behind him was a tactical squad behind an Aegis with a Quad cannon. A 10 man Assault squad, 4 dreadnoughts and 2 contempters deployed aswell. Lazarus (Corbulo) lead 5 terminators on the right. A small elite force.
The Court of Traizio was led by Behat-zalia the Sentinel riding a command barge. 3 Wraiths, 10 triarch pretorians and Destroyer Lord Soilik Arma deployed on my right flank. 20 Warriors deployed within an Aegis, Quad gun emplacement. A Stalker and some Scarabs moved into the ruined Church. Other forces included a Monolith, an Annihilation Barge and 5 Deathmarks. A Night scythe would be available too.
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| My right flank was full of nastiness! |
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| They come for us! |
The Necrons moved out on the right flank towards Lazarus and my lines. An agressive first move. The Black Scorpions then moved out in full force, 2 dreadnoughts, a contemptor and the terminators moved out. The blasted away at the wraits with assault cannon fire and bolters. They downed 2 Wraiths.In close combat the last wraith was killed. FIRST BLOOD! The contemptor failed miserably killing only 2 pretorians. Return hits immobilised the Contemptor.
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| Close combat! |
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| The Wraiths are killed, First Blood! |
The Necron second turn ended quickly as Rik rolled 3 1's for his reserve rolls leaving him with no reinforcements. He moved his Lord on the barge close to the swirling melee. The Annihilation Barge shot at the dreadnought removing 2 structure points. In the assault phase, the Contemptor, angered at having been immobilised, went mental and cause 7 wounds. 5 downed Pretorians and 2 wounds on the The Destroyer lord (Rik rolled two 1's) The lord then rammed his warscythe into Contemptor's reactor, blowing it sky high!
The Black Scorpions quickly moved to avenge the harsh loss of contemptor. Corbulo and his terminators engaged the pretorians. Corbulo was issued a challenge by the destroyer lord and the slugged it out. The terminators made short work of the pretorians, wiping them out. The dreadnought charged the Command Barge, the following combat was quick:
Ancient Tybaltus raged inside his sarcophagus, he witnessed the Necron Destroyer Lord slay his brother before his eyes. Tybaltus would have his vengeance. He screamed with anger and roared toward the Necron Lord arrogantly gliding along in his chariot contraption. Tybaltus clambered onto the chariot, grabbed the Lord in his mightly fist and tore the lord limb from limb with all the malice he could muster.
Behat-zalia the Sentinel, crushed beyond repair failed his everliving roll. SLAY THE WARLORD!.
In the other combat Corbulo was still locked in combat. He suffered 3 wounds but saved them all due to his ridiculous 2+ feel no pain. Stalemate!
Turn 3 saw some of Rik's reinforcements finaly appear:
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| Deathmarks and Immortals |
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| A Nightscythe! |
The Nightscythe blasted away at the Dreadnought killing it with Tesla powered doom! The annihilation barge also opened fire on the death company dreadnought scoring 3 glancing hits, wrecking the dreadnought! A turn of effective fire from Rik!
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| The dreadnought is slain! |
Lazaruss close combat continued with the Destroyer Lord. He swung his sword left and right missing his hits whilst the Lord hit home twice. Again Lazarus' body absorbed the blows, 2+ feel no pain.
In my turn I moved up with remaing two dreadnoughts near the church, the Death Company and Chaplain Ramius edged ever close to the church aswell. In the assault phase Lazarus finally wounded the Destroyer Lord with an accurate thrust of his sword.A single 1 was rolled and The Lord fell! and did not get back up! Lord Soilik Arma was no more!
Turn 4 was the start of Necron deviousness!
The monolith appeared and 20 warriors were spewed forth from it's teleporter gate.
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| Oh noes! |
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| Oh NOES!!!! |
The Necron warriors blasted away, the monolith opened fire. All the death company were slain and the chaplain took 2 wounds! The Nightscythe again took aim and removed 2 structure points from the Furioso dreadnought. Rik and his 6's!!!! Ugh!. Scarabs moved out toward the dreadnought lurking by the church door.
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| Scarabs! |
The Scarabs charged. Overwatch fire killed one base. The dreadnought slew another with his fist. The scarabs swarmed overhim reducing his armour to 10 on all facings.
The Necrons noose was tightening, a tactically great move by Rik shifted his troops over to another objective and simultaneously removed the only real threat I had at breakin his lines. It order to win I'd have to stave off his forces, delay them as much as possible. The Contemptor fired his dual assault cannons at the Nightscythe, pummeling it with shells. It rocked, shuddered and the crashed into the ground. Wrecked!
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| Dakka Dakka Dakka! |
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My Chaplain and the furioso moved toward the closely packed warriors. The furioso's frag cannon erupted, belching out two strength 6 templated with rending, scoring 19 wounds! 11 warriors were eventually downed. The chaplain and furioso charged in killing another couple of warriors. The Lord however slew the furioso.
The scarabs were also killed by my remaining dreadnought by the church.
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| A glorious end? |
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| Lazarus sallies forth! |
We rolled to see if the game would contine. a FOUR. Another turn would commence. Rik fired at Lazarus and the terminators scoring a ridiculous amount of wounds thanks to the targetting relay on the Stalker. Lazarus shrugged off most of the wounds but 2 terminators fell. The monolith was unable to move due to placement problems. The brave Chaplain hacked away at the warriors slaying 2 before being killed himself. SLAY THE WARLORD!
My Turn 5 was short, my dreadnought by the church killed a Catacomb barge and that's about it. We rolled to see if another turn would occur.... a TWO... The game ended.
We tallied the score:
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| The Grail - Black Scorpions! |
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| Necron Remains - Black Scorpions |
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| Mysterious Comms Array - Traizio Dynasty! |
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| Necrons Remains - Traizio Dynasty! |
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| Mysterious Archaeotech - Unclaimed! |
The Scorpions had First Blood, Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker + two objectives = 9 Victory Points
The Traizio Dynasty had Slay the Warlod + Two Objectives =7 Victory points
VICTORY! but only just. I only figured out that I had Linebreaker whilst writing this report. Lazarus and 3 terminators were actually in the enemy deployment zone at the end. A truly GREAT game, went right down to the last turn. Can't really fault any tactics. Rik was possibly too aggressive with his Praetorians as they charged headlong into 3 dreadnoughts and a terminator squad. However, things could have gone very differently if were not for Rik's tripple 1 roll for his 2nd turn reserves. The Court of Traizio clearly need to work on their communication! Good game!
Sergeant Morius surveyed the smoking battlefield. These Necrons were unlike those he'd seen before. They fought with steely determination, with fluid tactics, not the usual mindless march foward. This valley was littered with ancient articfacts and ruins. Forgemaster Hephæn would be pleased! Morius could only guess as to the purpose of excavating these items. He was soldier, not a scientist. All he knew was that they were better off in the hands of the Black Scorpions. He knelt down and picked up the shattered head of a Necron Praetorian. He examined the fine but faded hieroglyphs, the once fine and elaborate decorations now worn down by the eons. Something stirred within Morius' soul, a deep unease. He'd seen these hieroglyphs before, in the histories of the Ægyptus of ancient Terra.... he wonderered if.......He cast out these thoughts, quickly silencing his doubts. We are the Black Scorpions, and we suffer not the alien to live! He threw head on the ground and crushed it with his boot heel.
