Battle Report - 1000pt Necron vs Codex Marines

Managed to get in a quick game last night with my friend Garrett's Codex Marines. He built them back in 3rd Ed when he was a kid and had a few 3rd Ed models including an old school Rhino. He picked up the 5th Ed codex and set on making his list for 1000pts. He was surprised by all the changes and especially that he could fit so many units in 1000pts compared to the old price totals. I figured I'd dust off my Necrons since I've really only been playing my Blood Angels lately.

Marines:

• Captain
• 1x Tactical Squad (Melta-gun)
• 1x Scout Squad (Snipers)
• 1x Sterngaurd
• 1x Dreadnought (Assault Cannon/Arm)
• 1x Attack Bike (Multi-melta)
• 1x Terminator Squad (Assault Cannon)

Necron:

• Destroyer Lord with Solar Pulse
• 5x Destroyers
• 2x10 Warrior squad
• Monolith

This is the first time I fought non-Chaos marines, so I don't know exactly what to expect or how his army will work. We stick to pitched battle for simplicity, but roll for missions and get 5 objective points. He wins roll off and passes 1st turn to me. I set up along the length of the table and he does the same.

 

(Click for larger pics)

 Nothing too amazing happens as I take out his lonely Captain (the guy at the bottom of the picture of marine deployment) with my Destroyers. I move up the Monolith and catch the edge of the tactical squad with my Particle Whip, wounding a few. My Warriors were there to basically hold the line, which would not last. To keep things simple, I kept whittling away his units with shots while his Termies and Dread advanced with guns blazing. He assaulted my left most Warrior group and swept them with the Dread. I took out his tactical squad and scouts, leaving him no troop choices to hold. 

He swung his Termies at my last Warrior squad in the center bunker. They had chainfists that tore open that bunker like a can opener. It ended in a draw: I held one with troops but he contested and he had 0 with no troop choices. Since it was years for him, and like 6 months for me, we were both constantly going "Oh damn it, I shouldn't have done that!" and basically lots of learning happened. I learned I hate terminators when I throw 30 shots from Destroyers and Monolith at 5 dudes and I only take out one from a warrior in the bunker plinking him in the head. Garrett didn't realize the power of assaulting Necron til turn 4 and he said he will be more aggressive next time. I shake my fist at the monolith again for surviving, but not really helping much. His cannon is literally hit or miss, so he doesn't always make his points back that another 4 Destroyers maybe could or another Warrior Squad n' Lord to help hold the line more.

Next time he'll be better prepared, but I also want to play my Blood Angels again. I'm actually a fan of the old 'dex now, even after all the rumors going around. So I want to fit in a couple more games in with the old system. He will also be getting his hands on his armor from back home which will be more Rhinos, a Vindicator, and a single Land Raider. Guess it's time I start building and painting again, lol.

On the Horizon

Just a short update since it's been a while. I'm starting to slowly gear up to play more 40k again. My time off has been spent in the realm of video games like Mass Effect 1 and 2 back to back and Left 4 Dead 2. But as we know, Blood Angels are making their come back soon and also a new Dawn of War 2 expansion in March will help me stick to the 40k universe more. A friend of mine is thinking about offering himself up to the 40k gods and will learn the game as something to do with friends. He doesn't want to invest in an army or paint, but that's okay since I have two armies myself in the works, and my friend's Tau are sitting on my shelves. I'll teach him the basic rules and then get a feel for what sort of army he'd like (Shooty, assaulty, drop pod, etc) and have him play that with the other models as stand ins.
I also ran into the guy I mentioned before that has an army and would like to start playing again from a few year break. He gave me a quick run down, but basically it sounds like a foot-slogging Codex Marine list, built in 3rd or 4th edition. Lots of tacticals, sniper scouts, termies with land raiders, etc, but no Rhinos/Drop Pods to speak of. We'll try to get some games in soon I hope and the battle reports will start to flow again. I haven't taken on Marines before, except of the Chaos variety and I've only ever drawn against them. He is also interested in going to the local independent store for 40k Fridays each week, so that could open things up even more.

As for the latest BA Codex floating about, I dunno. I'm not terribly happy with it. Hoping a bunch of that stuff is debunked later on, but who knows. I'll miss the Furioso Venerable Death Company dreads and the Baal Pred is now 10 points more expensive and weaker with the new Over-charged engine rules I think. The new lander is meh. You have a dual-twin-linked Assault Cannon... but one shot and it's bye-bye. 16 capacity, but that means 5-man assault squad and an IC or odd number squads that don't get benefits like double special weapons or combat squads anyway. Can carry a dread, but no assault ramp so he still has to hide a turn before doing anything. All it would do is get around the drop pod rule that we'll get updated to. Anyway, hope some things get polished up more and we don't have so many "FAQ" incidents like the last couple new codexes.