The Event
Twisted Warp is a collaboration between Twisted Dice and Greetings from the Warp, located in Irthlingborough in the UK. Originally planned as a 120 person GT it ended up with just over 80, because of, as something we’re all sick of hearing now, COVID. That being said, 80 people is the largest event I've been to since the LGT. It's also been on our books for a long time, with the tickets purchased over 19 months ago!
The terrain was a mixed bag, all utilising varying amounts of hills, ruins, woods and craters. This meant some boards were a heavier mix of the traditional GT L-Blockers whereas others had a more unique approach. For my list this wasn't the best, as a primarily combat focused Necron list I need good line of sight blocking in the mid-field to help me get to my opponent without being blasted away. However, the TO’s had been very upfront that there was no standardised layout so it was something that we knew going into the games.
Other than that minor point, the event was super smooth, no issues came up and they even had a trolley with snacks on that made its way out to the tables (something that I absolutely think should be at every tournament from now on.)
- The Missions
- Game 1: Priority Target
- Game 2: Surround and Destroy
- Game 3: Overrun
- Game 4: Sweep and Clear
- Game 5: Battle Lines
- Game 6: Retrieval Mission
The List
Moving onto the list, it's something very similar to what I ran at Luton RTT. It did me well there, so as the old saying goes “don’t fix what's not broken.” I’ve done very minor tweaks, effectively swapping some wargear around and adding a Resurrection Orb on the Command Barge. I’m not running some of the more traditionally strong Tournament Necron placeholders such as Relentlessly Expansionist or Eternal Conquerors Detachment Traits so it should be interesting to see how this goes! I do think Novokh can have some real teeth and I'm trying to get a build I both enjoy playing and can fight up at the top tables (or at least give some good games to the guys who might actually win the GT!)
Battalion - Novokh
HQ
Catacombe Command Barge - Tesla Cannon, Rarefied Nobility (Enduring Will), Voidreaper, Resurrection Orb
Chronomancer - Aeonstave, Veil of Darkness
Illuminor Szeras
TROOPS
5x Immortals - Gauss Blaster
5x Immortals - Tesla Carbines
20x Necron Warriors - Gauss Flayer
ELITES
2x Cryptothralls
Hexmark Destroyer - Gauntlet of the Conflagrator
6x Skorpekh Destroyers
20x Flayed One
FAST ATTACK
3x Ophydian Destroyers
Supreme Command Detachment - Szarekhan
SUPER HEAVY
The Silent King - Warlord
Game One
Toby’s Assassins and Custodes
Vanguard Detachment
ELITE
Eversor Assassin
Vindicare Assassin
Callidus Assassin
Culexus Assassin
Vanguard Detachment
ELITE
Eversor Assassin
Vindicare Assassin
Callidus Assassin
Culexus Assassin
Patrol Detachment
HQ
Shield-Captain - Captain Commander, Victor of the Blood Games, Storm Shield and Guardian Sword, The Veiled Blade,
TROOPS
Custodian Guard - 1x3 - Shield and Sword
ELITE
Allarus Terminators - 1x6
Callidus Assassin
HEAVY SUPPORT
Venerable Land-Raider
So, this is a great list. Every now and then you’ll come up against someone mad enough to take a list like the above. Toby was a great guy and he’s army looked magnificent, I believe he won best painted unit and you could tell he'd poured hours into the army.
Secondaries
Purge the Vermin
Assassinate
Priority Targets
I’d taken Purge the Vermin as even though he has characters, I should be able to dispatch them quite quickly when they arrive, leaving me to score 4-6 at the end a few turns to make up for the lack of points I'm likely to get in the early turns. Assassinate was an obvious one… with 10 characters. Finally Priority Targets is a good one for me and I much preferred this combination over Stranglehold/Code of Combat. Stranglehold is tough against Custodes as sometimes you need to kill that last model but don’t because they’ve got a 3+ or 4+ save and they spike the wrong way on their saves which has cost me Stranglehold points in other games.
So Purge seemed a much better choice as once I pick up his characters, I should be pushing him out of quarters. Similarly Code of Combat is a great one but the Silent King actually has to do 5 kills. It sounds simple in this list but I’m predicting once I start killing his units, they'll drop quickly.
The Game
So I was given the Second turn and Toby moved out with the Custodes. He Unleashed The Lions with the Allarus and kept the Captain inside the Land Raider. With 5 of his Assassins in reserve (The Callidus’ and Eversors.) He spreads out with most of the forces, tagging the objectives where he can and holding the middle of the board with the Land Raider. He takes some pot shots at the Warriors and Command Barge with his two Vindicares but nothing major.
I moved up with the Skorpekh keeping them hidden just behind the ruin, the Warriors lumber forward and the Silent King comes out of hiding. I put the Land Raider down to 4 wounds with the King who puts his other shots into one of the Allarus. Illuminor fails to hit with his 2 shots into the Land Raider. I pushed out with the Flayed ones to wrap and trap his Culexus but he’s just a little short so I advance them up instead and turn 1 is looking pretty quiet.
Turn 2 is the time of the Assassin, as all 3 Callidus appear behind my lines where my Cryptothralls and Ophydians are and the Eversors come on opposite corners to keep Toby his Engage on all Fronts. I do bring the Hexmark down with Aetharic Interceptions but he only manages 2 wounds on one of the Callidus. The Land Raider takes a few shots at the King but only takes 1 Menhir down. All the Assassins do make their charges. The two kill the two Cryptothralls but bounce on the Ophydians thanks to their Whipcoil Bodies rule. His Eversors also make their respective charges. The one in the top left kills the Immortals quite effortlessly
The Ophydians kill the Callidus in return and the Flayed ones take a good number out of the Shield Captain, reducing him to 2 wounds. I did lose about 12 here but tying up three of his characters is critical. I've also Veil of Darknessed the Warriors behind the Vindicares but failed the charge and failed to kill one of them!
It kind of then spiralled away over the next few turns, the Land Raider went down along with 2 more Allarus, both Culexus dropped with all three Callidus dead by turn 4 - It did take two turns of the Ophydians bouncing off of their 4++ saves though! Toby had his two Vindicares, 3 Shield-Sword Guard and 1 Allarus by the start of his Turn 4 and by turn 5 I’d tied the net and tabled him.
This was a weird game, Assassins are actually incredibly annoying and frustrating to play against, the problem is they’re playing in a meta with -1 damage and much less reliance on characters. At 100 points they're not efficient enough to give any form of tradeable value. With 9 of them each one needs to be pulling almost twice its weight for the cost of the 3 points you lose to Assassinate.
Game Two
Johns Iron Hand Successors - Whirlwind of Rage and Master Artisans
Patrol Detachment
HQ
Primaris Chaplain on Bike - Warlord, Master of Sanctity, Paragon of Iron, Target Protocols, Wise Orator, Benediction of Fury
TROOPS
5x Incursor Squad
ELITES
Redemptor Dreadnought - Macro Plasma
Redemptor Dreadnought - Macro Plasma
FAST ATTACK
Land Speeder - Multi Melta
Land Speeder - Multi Melta
Vanguard Detachment
HQ
Lieutenants - Primaris Lieutenant, Rites of War, Vox Espiratum
ELITES
Company Veterans - 3x Storm Shields 2x Lightning Claws
Vanguard Veterans - 3x Lightning Claw, 4x Storm Shield, 1x Thunder Hammer
Vanguard Veterans - 3x Lightning Claw, 4x Storm Shield, 1x Thunder Hammer
Vanguard Veterans - 4x Lightning Claw, 4x Storm Shield, 1x Thunder Hammer
HEAVY SUPPORT
Devastar Squad - 2x Grav Cannons, 2x Multi-Melta, Signum
Devastar Squad - 2x Grav Cannons, 2x Multi-Melta, Signum
DEDICATED TRANSPORT
Drop Pod
Land Speeder Storm
I’d had the unfortunate experience of being brutalised by this by Nassim at the Kent Wargames GT last year so I knew the killing power this brings on turn 1. Even worse is we’re playing on a table with no L-Blockers to hide the King behind and it's a Dawn of War deployment so I can't even use some distance between us to keep him out of range. Sadly, this game is probably going to be lost if I don’t get turn 1.
However, historically my Necrons have always done very well into Marines so I’m keen to get going on this one and see how I can fare against arguably the best Marine faction at the moment. The Silent King is critical against Marines with his weaponry arguably being most suited to killing T4 3+ 2 Wound Bodies.
Ever the optimist I try not to let it taint my secondary picks and take Code of Combat, Retrieve Octarius Data and Stranglehold. Code of Combat isn't awful if I lose the Silent King, the Command Barge with his -4 weapon can cut through Marines quite quickly. If I do go first, Land Speeders with 6 wounds and 5 man Marine Squads are easy game.
Secondaries
Code of Combat
Retrieve Octarius Data
Stranglehold
I deploy very heavily on the left hand side of the board and keep the Flayed Ones in reserve. I only have the Ohydians on the Right Hand side.
We roll off and thankfully I do get the first turn. The Ophydians start ROD - I’m unlikely to get another chance in this corner and if my plan goes well I'll get at least 8 on it. I push out with the Warriors, Immortals and Command Barge forming a bubble of 24” away from the King. This forces John to be unable to drop-pod assault the Silent King and will keep him safe for another turn. The Warriors can charge the Incursors and push this further out. Equally after the Skorpekh and Chronomancer have Veil of Darkness’d over there. There is no way he’s getting near him with the Devastators which will give me at least a 2nd turn with him. The King pops a Land Speeder taking the first 3 Code points and the Warriors take care of a Single Vanguard Veteran despite using Solar Pulse.
The critical thing this turn however was making those two charges, which were a 6 and an 8 respectively. The Skorpekh do use the Chronometeron re-roll but do make it into the Vanguard Vets and take them out. They line up completely blocking the way of the two Redemptors which also means they can’t turn their Plasma Cannons on the King. I get Strangehold, my first ROD and 3 on Code of Combat
John strikes back hard as expected and clears out 5 Immortals (won thankfully due to some key reanimations stopping him targeting the Command Barge with anything) all the Warriors and the Skorpekh. What was key here is his Dreadnoughts are kept in his deployment zone and his Drop Pod has now come down so there’s no more threat of that massive Alpha Strike.
Turn 2 is the real swing here as the Silent King really comes out to play picking up 9 Code of Combat points with the Land Speeder, a Squad of Devastors and a lone Incursor. The Flayed Ones come down in the top right and swap out with the now deceased Skorpekh, they make the Charge onto the Redemptors and with Storm of Flensing Blades and Blood Rites they take down one of them and wrap around the other. The Ophydians charge the Chaplain on Bike, kill him and pile into the Character Contemptor.
Thankfully due to some outrageous luck one Ophydian remains! John scores max for Oath as he takes down the Command Barge and his lone Devastator holds the middle. His Redemptor barely makes a dent into the Flayed Ones with his shooting but does pick another handful up in melee. I’ve also brought the Hexmark down onto the objective the Ophydians were on which sets me up with a nice Hold More on 4no. objectives for the following turn.
By Turn 3 we’ve moved around so I effectively hold the right hand side of the board and John holds the left. I zip the Ophydian away with Burrowing Nightmares. The King marches into the middle of the board as the remainder of the Immortals run towards to Redemptor to tag the Flayed Ones out.
The Contemptor continues to rip my Necrons a new one through the late stages of the game, picking up everything but the Silent King who survives on a single wound! Fortunately my early game lead has snowballed and at the end of the game the only thing John has left is his Un-targetable Contemptor and his Company Veterans. The score ends with 97:73 and a Second Win!
Game THree
Giles’ Drukhari
Patrol Detachment - Kabal of the Black Hearth
Ur Ghul
Ur Ghul
Ur Ghul
HQ
Archon - Ancient Evil, Tolerated Ambition, Animus Vitae
TROOPS
Kabalite Warriors - x5
Kabalite Warriors - x5
Kabalite Warriors - x5
ELITES
Incubi - x5
DEDICATED TRANSPORT
Raider - Dark Lance
Raider - Dark Lance
Raider - Dark Lance
Patrol Detachment - Cult of Strife
HQ
Succubus - Mass Attacks Combo
Succubus - Mortal Wound Combo
TROOPS
Wyches - x9
Wyches - x9
Patrol Detachment - Artists of the Flesh
HQ
Haemonulus
Drazhar
TROOPS
Wracks x5
Wracks x5
Wracks x5
HEAVY SUPPORT
Talos - x3, Heat Lance, Chain Flails
Talos - x3, Heat Lance, Chain Flails
2:0 and I was waiting for something spicy, Giles Drukhari list is slightly different to the "Thicc City" list but still brings 6 Talos and the familiar Succubus’s, Archon and Drazhar. It’s a really tough list and if I'm honest my brain fell out when picking secondaries. I was so nervous about playing Drukhari on this map that I ended up picking choices that were not amazing and thinking back now, I can't even remember my reasoning for them.
Secondaries
Retrieve Octarius Data
Grind Them Down
Purge the Vermin
He gets the first turn and moves up with the Talos into the middle of the board and flanks either side with his raiders. And that's… about it for his turn.
Recognising he’ll win the movement and attrition game I know I’ve gotta hit really hard this turn so everything bar the Skorpekh moves out. The King one shots a Raider and the threat of the Ohydians forces him back with the Wyches so they can’t get charged. Elsewhere Illuminor deletes 3 Wracks.
My Immortals look to charge his raider, if i make a big one here i can pile in and consolidate with them onto the objective and deny him hold 3. Unfortunately even with a CP re-roll I fail to get a big enough roll to do so. They just lumber into the Raider, little more than a road block here. The Flayed ones similarly make a charge into the talos but I roll just what I needed, I could've done a lot more to pull them the distance but I’m looking to get 8no. In. I trail back to the Silent King to make sure they’re within range of his re-rolls. With a Blood Rites and a Storm of Flensing Blades stratagems they do kill 2 and half Talos. The Fell No Pains here were a bit spikey but it's to be expected. It was a good experience as now I know 20 Flayed ones would effortlessly kill 3 Talos.
He Agent of Vects my Blood Rites stratagem which was absolutely the right call here, the access to that strat at 2CP is a large enough cost that it becomes a lot less worth it on things like my Warriors.
Unfortunately that was really the game, Giles took the upper hand and wiped out the Flayed Ones, Ophydians and half the Warriors. His Succubus flew across the board 16-20” and one shot Illuminor, my Hexmark came in to kill an Ur-Ghul (a big mistake as I should have kept him back to get the back-field units on his Objectives, Kabalites are a perfect target for him) and Giles passed 3/4 6+ saves. He puts his Ob Sec units on the board out of his Raiders and continuously takes me off 2 of my 3 objectives consistently, denying me my Primary all game. (I completely forgot my Reanimations from the Resurrection Orb actually got me 5 points for Hold Two here on turn 2 but the game was already spiralling away at that point.)
Giles played a solid game and really it was textbook Drukhari, fast movement, up-trading on all his units with a solid brick holding the middle. The one saving grace moment was when the Silent King, in an ongoing fight killed a Succubus, then died and used the Curse of the Phaeron Stratagem to kill Drazhar, an Archon and 3 Incubi.
The game ended with a poor 26-94 and my worst tournament loss in 9th. It was deserved, I played a poor game, gambled too hard too early and took bad secondaries.
But games like this are great learning experiences and I learnt that if I play well my list does have legs against Drukhari, 8 Flayed Ones killed 2 and half Talos, so 20 without fighting twice should kill a unit of 3. In the future if they can multi-charge two 3-man units I should be able to kill 6 in one turn...
Still 2:1 on Day 1 and I'm feeling somewhat confident going into Game 4 Day 2.
Game FOur
Nicks Chaos Knights
SUPER HEAVY DETACHMENT
Chaos Cerastus Knight - Psyker, Vow of Dominance
Knight Desecrator - 5++ Invun, Dreadblade Knight
Knight Tyrant - (Valiant Version) 12” Aura of -1” to charge
War Dogs - 1x Autocannons 1x Melta and Chainsaw
War Dogs - 1x Autocannons
Honestly, Chaos and Imperial Knights have a staggering amount of buffs and extra abilities that after Nick had gone through it all, I’d forgotten half of them, especially when they've got Freeblade/Dreadblade buffs thrown in there too!
I’ve gone for Bring it Down - It scores slightly more than Titan Slayer if I only kill Two Big Knights and maxes out at 15 if I table him, Purge the Vermin, once he starts losing models this is an easy one for me to get later on, and Direct Assault. Similarly to Purge the Vermin once he starts losing models it should be easy to get onto these objectives and possibly contest his backfield one with my Ophydians and/or Hexmark.
Secondaries
Purge the Vermin
Direct Assault
Bring it Down
The Game
Nick gets the first turn and runs at me with his two big Knights, leaving them in the center. His Cerastus charges the Warriors after he kills the two units of Immortals. He only needs to kill 16 Warriors with his 18 Attacks. Unfortunately for me, he pops Trail of Destruction, hits with all 18 and wounds them all at his -3 I don’t get a save. Statistically I should lose 14-15 and then be able to Reanimate but sometimes this happens and really it's a light loss turn 1 despite points wise it being almost ¼ of my army. What Nick has done is set me up to be able to kill two Knights in Combat, one at Ranged and deny him his Grind Them Down for this turn.
The Silent King kills his Wardog and Puts a bit of hurt on the Tyrant but the real phases here is the Charge and Fight phases.
The Silent King goes into the Cerastus after the Skorpekh but because the Tyrants ability is an aura (I didn't realise this at the time as it was one of the abilities I’d forgotten and rolls a 3” which was actually a fail, so I have to Command Re-Roll to get him in. The Barge goes into the Tyrant First to absorb the overwatch, the Flamer is less scary as it’s only Damage 1 against him but I pop a Quantum Deflection anyway, what I wasn't expecting was taking 4 damage from the Top Cannons and 10 damage from the Melta Guns…
The Flayed Ones try their charge and need a 6” and roll a 5” which is in with the Novokh Trait.. except the Tyrant’s Aura of -1 to Charge cancels it out, so I use the Chronometron ability and roll a 4”... this is brutal as 20 Flayed ones near the Silent King do rip through a Knight and my plan of taking down 2 this turn looks like i’ll only manage 1. So we start the Fight Phase and I go with the Silent King who does a reasonable 9 wounds. The Skorpekh go in and I spend Blood Rites and Disruption Fields on them, with their Hyperphase Threshers they manage to bring the Cerastus down to 5 wounds. The Hyperphase Reap-Blades now go in and I get 5 wounds. Statistically the Knight should be dead but Nick rolls his dice one at once and I’m sat in disbelief staring at 4 6’s… meaning he’s on 2 left.
As Nick falls back with the Cerastus I pop the Cut Them Down basic stratagem. I’ve got 7 Models within Engagement Range but I only need 2 6’s. Stranger things have happened… but not today as I only roll a single one.
Turn Two Nick consolidates his lead holding the Sticky Objectives gets him 15 Primary. His Tyrant and the War Dogs unleashes onto the Skorpekh and take them all down despite a WHirling Onslaught. The Cerastus and Desecreator Charge into the Flayed and ones and kill roughly 8-9 of them (another 3 run away to Morale later.) The Flayed ones then use their own Blood Rites stratagem as well as Storm of Flensing Blades and take down the Cerastus, Nick rolls his saves and staggeringly passes over 50% of them… I’m once again staring at a Knight with 1 wound left…
My Turn Two is looking… Roughly with 1 Knight on a Single Wound and his Tyrant Still looking healthy the Silent King marches into the middle of the board ready to face him down. After Shooting and Fighting I do take him down to a respectable 12 wounds but I'm likely to lose him next turn. The Ophydians come down ready to charge the back War Dog and the Hexmark tags the objective and fires into the Desecrator. He does do two wounds but unfortunately Nick passes both 4+ saves. Illuminor Szeras fires into him, a single wound is made but another 5++ appears so he charges in only needing two wounds to damage him here. I roll three 2’s and two 1’s for his attacks and another 1 and a 2 for his leg attacks… He deserves his swift death. Elsewhere failure is abound as the Ophydians, who are within range of the Silent Kings Re-rolls… do a meager 9 wounds to the Wardog who… doesn’t get a save against these attacks.
Fortunately due to the Flayed Ones Terrifying Foes ability the Desecrator does fail his Burden Check. On his turn three his Desecrator does fail to kill my Chronomancer and he picks up a few more Flayed ones. His Tyrant going in against the Silent King but barely brushing him this turn with a lot of hot 4++ saves from me, only taking down a Pylon and doing 4 wounds on the 2nd. In Nick's 3rd turn however, the saves go against me as his Wardog Takes down the Pylon and does 9 wounds on the Silent King, the Tyrant finishing him off exploding and taking the Knight down to 9 wounds.
The Sticky Objectives come in use for me now as I score 3 Direct Assault and 15 Primary on Turn 3 and 3 Direct Assault and 10 Primary on Turn 4. The Ophydians finally bring the War Dog down and now hold his deployments objective. I advance my Chronomancer out of his building into the next one along right up against the wall. Give Nick a choice, if he goes for my Character he loses the game as i’ll score 15 Primary, but if he goes for the Objective he’ll lose on Direct Assault and Primary as I’ll run into the middle. He has to do both which is a big ask.
Turn 5 Nick Full Tilts his Tyrant to tag my back objective and makes a gut-wrenching 10” charge onto my Chronomancer. Despite hitting on 5’s he scores 6 hits and 5 Wounds. I fail all my Invun saves. My only saving grace here is a 4+ on Resurrection Protocols. If I roll this… I will win the game. I roll a 1…
This was a super super tight game with 4 points between it. But it did feel like a bit of a hollow loss. Statistically the Skorpekh and Silent King do 33 damage not 23 to a Knight Cerastus even with his “Transhuman” buff, the Ophydians do 13 not 9 to a War Dog, 11 Flayed Ones do 27 not 23 to a Knight Desecrator and my Command Barge shouldn’t have died in Overwatch (think he should only take 2-3 damage on average.) Usually you may get 1 or two of these in a game, but to have consistently below average rolls really hurts. Then again, another way to see it is that: It’s unlikely it’ll ever happen again! Onto game 5!
Game FIve
Dan’s Blood Angels
Patrol Detachment - Blood Angels
HQ
Primaris Chaplain on Bike - Master of Sanctity, Angel Exemplar, Armour of Indomintus
TROOPS
Infiltrators Squad - x5
Infiltrators Squad - x5
ELITES
Company Veterans - Chainsword and Storm Shields
HEAVY SUPPORT
Whirlwind
Vanguard Deatchment
HQ
Dante
Sanguinary Priest
ELITES
Sanguinary Guard - x6
Vanguard Veterans -x10 Lightning Claw and Storm Shields
Relic Contemptor - Twin Vulkite, Cyclone Missile Launcher
Relic Contemptor - Twin Vulkite, Cyclone Missile Launcher
Bladeguard Veterans - x5
Blood Angels are an interesting one, they have a few pretty scary tricks like the Forlorn Fury with Death Company and taking a unit up into the sky and re-deepstrike them. They also naturally hit hard in combat with their +1 attack, +1 to wound and +1 ap on turn 3 onwards so he definitely hits as hard or harder than I do in combat. We’re also playing Battle Lines so the board is long-ways and it’s a tough one for me to get up in. I'm predicting he’ll take Relentless Assault so I want to go into his deployment zone as much as possible so I take Behind Enemy Lines. I follow up with a Code of Combat and Vital Ground. Code because the King should pick up a few here and if the Command Barge can help that’d be great too and Vital Ground because it pairs up nicely with Behind Enemy Lines.
Secondaries
Vital Ground
Behind Enemy Lines
Code of Combat
Blood Angels are an interesting one, they have a few pretty scary tricks like the Forlorn Fury with Death Company and taking a unit up into the sky and re-deepstrike them. They also naturally hit hard in combat with their +1 attack, +1 to wound and +1 AP on turn 3 onwards so he definitely hits as hard or harder than I do in combat. We’re also playing Battle Lines so the board is long-ways and it’s a tough one for me to get up in. I'm predicting he’ll take Relentless Assault so I want to go into his deployment zone as much as possible so I take Behind Enemy Lines. I follow up with a Code of Combat and Vital Ground. Code because the King should pick up a few here and if the Command Barge can help that’d be great too and Vital Ground because it pairs up nicely with Behind Enemy Lines.
I get the first turn and cautiously move up, I've deployed my Noble Keyword guys on either side of the board, Dan’s gone heavy on the right hand side so I’ve gone heavy on the left. I advance the Silent King and the Skorpekh out of their hidey hole up behind the next L-Blocker making sure his contemptors can't reach me and pass the turn over with very limited shooting.
Dan fires out his Contemptors and picks up a good chunk of Warriors, that many that it now means his other contemptor has nothing to shoot but 5 Immortals who quickly bit the dust. I reanimated 60% of the Warriors thanks to some lucky re-rolls on the warriors and ended up with 14 left! The big meat of Dan’s list, the Blade Guard and Sanguinary Guard move up on the right hand side to meet my Command Barge.
At the start of turn 2 Illuminor resurrects 2 Warriors which gets me onto the middle left objective, scores me 10 Primary and 2 on Vital Ground. Illuminor pokes his head out with his 2 bodyguard Cryptothralls behind a wall and the rest of the army bare the Flayed Ones who are hiding behind a wall ready to be Veiled once the Infiltrators are gone.
The Silent King picks up a unit of Vanguard Veterans in Shooting but only kills 3 after he’s made his charge into the other combat squad’d unit. Dan rolled 5/5 saves for the Scepter of Eternal Glory so only the Phaeron of Blades took his toll of Astartes. The Warriors had wrapped round the Incursors and the remaining two Vanguard Vets tying them up.
The Command Barge charges into the Sang Guard, as he’s -5 they won’t get a save, but sadly I miss 3 times thanks to their Death Masks. The Hexmark pops in the back right corner to get the first 2 points on Behind Enemy Lines and takes a few shots at Dante but only manages 2 wounds. (I do another 2 in overwatch and almost survive the combat.)
With the Incusor tied up I kill him in his turn and move the Silent King forward ready to charge the Whirlwind. He pushes on with the Bladeguard leaving the Sang Guard to try kill the Barge and runs into my other unit of Immortals killing them outright. The COmmand Barge, not one to stand for such insolence, cuts down 4 of the Sang Guard effortlessly.
By turn 3 I’ve racked up another few points on Vital Ground and the Silent King moves closer to Blood Angels board edge, picking up 4 points for Behind Enemy Lines (with the Ophydians) and charging into the Whirlwind, destroying it instantly. I then consolidate with the Pylons tagging the Contemptor. I pick another 3 points up on Code when the Barge finishes off the Sang Gaurd totalling 12 now. Unfortunately, both the King and the Command Barge are short lived as they take the brunt of charges from the rest of Dan’s forces. The Command Barges drops to the blade guard but I make Dante, the Chaplain and the Death Company Fight Last so the King goes to swing out at the Death Company but Dan uses Angels Sacrifice and pops his 3++ Invulnerable Save on the Chaplain and the Silent King bounces off the shield! A minute later the Silent King has fallen but not before a Curse of the Phaeron is employed to put Dante to 1 wound left, kill 2 ½ Death Company and put the Chaplain to 3 Wounds left.
At this stage the game should be mine, I finally pull the Trigger on the Flayed ones who teleport up to the back objective just away from where the Silent King was, they charge in and finish the Death Company and Chaplain off. I’ve got the Warriors holding the middle objective and the Skorpekh rerouted back to deal with the two Vanguard Veterans who re-deepstriked on turn 2.
The game ends with Dan getting another No Prisoners point leaving the final score 92:67 a win for the Necrons!
Game Six
Lee’s Thousand Sons:
Battalion - Thousand Sons - Cult of Duplicity
HQ
Ahriman
Exalted Sorceror - Prism of Echoes, High Acolytes
Infernal Master - Umbralefic Guidance, Warlord, Master Misinformer
TROOPS
Rubric Marines - x10, 1x Soul Reaper Cannons, 1x Icon of Flame
Rubric Marines - x10, 1x Soul Reaper Cannons, 1x Icon of Flame
Rubric Marines - x5, 1x Icon of Flame
Rubric Marines - x5, 1x Icon of Flame
ELITES
Chaos Contemptor Dreadnought - 2x Twin Volkite
Scarab Occult Terminators - 2x Hellfyre Missile Racks, 2x Soul Reaper Cannons, Rites of Coalesence
Tzaangor Shaman
FAST ATTACK
Chaos Spawn - x5
Chaos Spawn - x5
Oh dear… Thousand Sons… I have no protection against Mortal Wounds and it's a match up everyone knows Necrons struggle with. He’s Cult of Duplicity which is no major surprise, it's one of the stronger ones and gives him a lot of board presence and maneuverability. It even gives him access to secondaries like ROD which he does take.
My main concern here is going to be the lack of protection I’ve got against Mortal Wounds. He can and will chew through whatever I throw at him.
I take Behind Enemy Lines, Abhor the Witch and Code of Combat. Behind Enemy lines should force him to keep in his deployment zone, the board is… lacking of line of sight blocking bits so I’m really going to struggle to get up the board and not get blasted off the table. If I can hold 3 take a few units of Rubrics and Spawn down for Code and Abhor I should be able to clinch this.
Secondaries
Behind Enemy Lines
Abhor
Code of Combat
This was probably my favourite game of the weekend, it was such a good back and forth game. We both deployed heavily behind these enormous bunkers which we’d agreed were impassable terrain before hand. (always a good thing to do before you deploy, agree what keywords you’re going to use on the terrain.) We’d both been very cautious, I ensured that the only forward units I had were Immortals and Warriors whereas Lee had Spawn and Rubrics on the front lines. I’s also kept the Ophydians right at the back of the board to stop any deepstrikes. When I get my turn, be it 1st or 2nd I’ll Burrowing Nightmares them so they can deepstrike Turn 2 like normal.
I get the first turn and notice there's a small gap I can fit my Flayed Ones in that's within 9” of his Shaman, his Scarab Occult and Spawn. I pull the trigger on Veil and send them to the gap, I pull a few of them back so I can keep the Immortals in range of the Chronomancer to make sure he can't be shot.
With Blood Rites, Disruption Fields and Storm of Flensing Blades the Flayed Ones rip apart the Tzaangor Shaman, 4 Scarab Occult and all 5 Spawn on this flank. A pretty solid start.
Unfortunately the Psychic potential I was worried about comes to fruition so early as Ahriman kills 13 Flayed Ones, with the other Pyskers killing the rest. This opens up the Chronomancer to be shot, who does die but returns thanks to Resurrection Protocols. I also loose both units of Immortals.
Start of my Turn 2 I do get 10 Points for Holding Two but with the mind to try and get up the board I advance the Skorpekh up the board with the Silent King who takes out 3 of the 6 remaining Scarab Occult. The Command Barge runs up ahead of the Warriors and the Ophydians pop up next to him after returning from their turn 1 Burrowing Nightmares.
I charge into the Spawn and Rubrics with the Command Barge and Ophydians respectively. I kill 2 of the Spawn and all the 5 man Rubric Squad. In return Lee destroys both of these units and holds his lines steady, just toe-ing onto the objectives with his large Rubric Squad and his remaining 3 Terminators. He also teleports his Rubrics JUST on the bottom right objective with his Veil scoring him Hold More this turn. I could really have done with some more bodies in this match up…
I pick up 6 Code of Combat points by finishing the Spawn and Rubrics off and gives me a bit more movement with the SIlent King. The Hexmark drops in behind to score another Behind Enemy Lines and Lee teleports 5 Rubrics in my deployment Zone ready to score ROD or Mutate Landscapes.
The Warriors charge into the Rubrics and tie them up, they take the objective but are blasted away by the Pyskers again suffering another 11 mortal wounds leaving only 3 left. Who do heroically survive until my next turn!
I throw Illuminor at the Rubrics but with his shooting and melee he kills 1… I'm starting to see a theme with this guy this weekend. The Hexmark did survive a turn, tries to kill the Exalted Sorcerer, I do 4 wounds in shooting, charge him but he saves the 3no. 4+ saves he had to make and kills my Hexmark in return. This was big as it was effectively a 5 point swing away from me in what was shaping up to be an incredibly close game.
With the Hexmark and Illuminor failing, the Skorpekh resigned to holding an objective and the Silent King a little too far away the game slips away from me and with a couple of failed T5 charges to try and pull it back the games ends 69:89, in what was a crazy close game right to the end. Lee had a great army, played it very well and deserved the win. But it was great to see my Necrons give what is a bad counter a good game.
His ability to just dish out 15-17 Mortal wounds on my Flayed Ones and Warriors was just brutal to try and deal with, when my units cost 260 points I really need them to trade well and even though the Flayed Ones did, once they are gone I’m left with a huge hole in my army that I can't really fill.
Post Tournament THoughts
Well 3:3 is a respectable score and I had a lot of fun with the Necrons. There are some glaring holes in my list and some obvious fixes to start.
Negatives
Skorpekh:
The guys were… meh to be honest. The one time they should have shined was in the Chaos Knights game and they flopped (albeit un-statistical rolling) and even though they played a key role in the Iron Hands victory, that’s not something that couldn’t be replicated by Wraiths. They're the same cost, a much better save and slightly less AP. Which in a world of 4++ invuns doesn't really matter, especially as Novokh they're still AP -3 on the Charge, AP -4 on 6’s with Hungry Void.
Similarly they’re much more reliant on Veil than Wraiths are, which keeping the Flayed Ones and Warriors in the list means I either HAVE to put the Flayed Ones in deepstrike or walk the Skorpekh up the board.
Hexmark:
The Necron With No Name. Man was he swingy this tournament, I always find when I have him he underperforms or I don’t come up against the lists I want him in, when I dont I wish i had him. He’s the last thing I’d cut in a list and unfortunately he’s been cut. I will miss him I’m sure.
Catacomb Command Barge:
The combination of Void Reaper and the Tesla Cannon was... Not great. Void Reaper was an interesting pick but the -4 is mostly irrelevant, and the ignore abilities that would ignore wounds was nice but didnt come up outside of one game. He wasn’t consistent enough in trying to grab Code of Combat points for when the King died. With this in mind I’ve swapped him out for a Staff of Light (to take the Voltaic Staff) and Gauss Cannon.
Illuminor Szeras:
… He was super disappointing to be honest. I thought he’d be a nice pick with the S8 -4 D6 damage lance that can shoot 36” and be bodyguarded but really he was a bit of a paperweight. Four times he gave the melee units BS rather than S or T and really, when it's random it needs to be useful whatever you roll. I’m not running Praetorians in my list so its a bit of a waste. Especially when at 160 pts I could take a Lord and a Technomancer, where I get more consistency from my other units with the Lord and a faster reanimator with the Technomancer.
Because of Illuminors disappointing anti-tank weaponry I really felt I was missing a large shooting hole in my list outside of the Silent King. A nice big unit of Lokhurst Destroyers would be a real treat here…
Positives
Ophydians:
These guys were a really nice pick and came in real clutch for some of the Secondary picks, however, their combat potential is pretty swingy. Also with the new Retrieve Nacmund Data forcing you to roll for the action, they’re not good candidates for it. If I had the points, I’d love to keep a unit of 3 in the list alongside a Hexmark but it's unlikely I’ll get both.
Flayed Ones:
Storm of Flensing Blades and Blood Rites is a crazy good combo and the Flayed Ones were all stars this weekend, Consistently putting out pressure, trading up and being generally all round great. This was a big showing for them as it really proved to me their use in a Novokh list, the Core changes have been a real good change and combined with the Silent King they are flat out nasty to fight.
Silent King:
What can I say, this guy is a heavyweight champion, carrying a lot of the Necron codex on his back. He was excellent, useful and pulled his weight in almost every game, either through his buffing abilities or his shooting and combat potential.
The New List
With Nottingham GT on the 22nd and 23rd, I’ve made a bunch of changes, as the last ITC event i’ll be going to it’s a good idea to test a few things out.
With the above in mind:-
Battalion - Novokh
HQ
Catacombe Command Barge - Tesla Cannon, Rarefied Nobility (Enduring Will), Voidreaper, Resurrection Orb
Chronomancer - Aeonstave, Veil of Darkness
Technomancer - Canoptek Cloak
Lord - Orb of Eternity
TROOPS
5x Immortals - Gauss Blaster
5x Immortals - Tesla Carbines
20x Necron Warriors - Gauss Reaper
ELITES
20x Flayed One
FAST ATTACK
6x Canoptek Wraiths
HEAVY SUPPORT
3x Lokhurst Heavy Destroyers - Gauss Destructor
Supreme Command Detachment - Szarekhan
SUPER HEAVY
The Silent King - Warlord