New BA Sprues and a Weekend of Kill Team

 Well I got my legit codex, box of Death Company and new Baal Pred in the mail on Friday! Gotta say, the quality of the new parts are excellent! So much bloodly blood drops and skulls and chalices and more blood references everywhere on these guys. Each DC will be magnetized as each one will be a Sgt for my assault squads and can take normal CC weapons, power weapons, the new Infernus pistols, or even the mighty Thunder Hammer. The kit comes with all those options, and even both Jump Packs and Power Packs, so I can take them in either a JP or Mech list in one simple switch. Since they will never carry their bolters I can sprinkle their ornate bolters into my normal Tac squads so it isn't such an obvious difference between ASM and Tac units in terms of bling. The should pads that come with are also amazingly detailed and over the top in variety. As for the new Baal Pred it includes the two normal sprues that all Rhinos use, and one additional sprue that has a billion pieces on it it seems. Two cannon choices, two sponson choices, and BA icons, all detailed and seems redesigned a bit. The sponsons look a bit more beefy than normal Pred choices and the TL-AC is plastic finally. The directions for both are also a bit more pro, which seems necessary for the level of detail and options they are giving us.

The weekend was also full with some Kill Team missions amongst a number of my friends and armies. The first was my BA vs some Tau fielded by a friend who hasn't played since 3rd Edition. I brought my Death Company as usual and he took a number of Warriors and a single Crisis Suit with plasmas and a Marker Light Drone. One of my guys was equipped with a power fist and fleet, who was singling out his suit. I was able to fleet and get that suit, which saved me a big headache, but it still wasn't a cake walk. Since everyone has to slog it to assault the Warriors and his drone consistently got a marker light on one of my guys, increasing a shot to BS 4 each turn. He got me to half strength before I got him and I failed my first leadership test (8) but we continued playing, at which point I was able to wipe him from the table, but he still got the official victory.

I also got a friend that has never played before to play against a different 3rd Edition friend to play another Kill Team game of my Necron Warriors vs Space Marine scouts and a Dread w/ MM. The scouts stayed in cover and took pot shots all game while the Dread advanced. The new guy, Jason, pulled off the incredible rolling a single to-hit, a six to glance, and then a 6 to immobilize the Dread in the middle of the board. With it relegated to a stationary turret, the main threat of assault was gone and he preceded to shoot out the scouts for a victory! Finally, on Sunday those two guys teamed up on me for a 2 on 1, 400pt Kill Team battle royale, where I also got double the Force Organization to be fair.

The SM player took normal Termies at an even 200pts and the other repeated his 10 Warriors. I took a Furioso with Frag Cannon (mostly to test this baby out) with fleet, a 5-man Sternguard all with a combi-melta and one being relentless, and 4 Death Company with 3 power weapons, one being preferred enemy. They won roll off and gave me first turn, so I deploy closest to the edge of the deployment zone, ready to open fire and assault. And again, Jason pulls it off with a '1' roll, which steals initiative in Kill Team. This leads the Termies to assault me first instead of the other way around. I lose FC and one attack in this case, but I still strike first in combat, so not all was lost. He charged a Sternguard and two assaulted a DC in range, the others did not make range or specifically avoided my preferred enemy DC. He cut down the Stern, but I took out one of the Termies with the other DC before he was punched to death. My PE DC fell back for a turn or so but then got assaulted by two termies. I split my attacks between them, and was able to cut down both! He then assaulted the Termie Sgt that carried a power sword and FC to gain the upper hand. Since I still got to go first with an extra attack and strength, I cut him down as well, making that DC my MVP. My Furioso Frag Cannon also proved to be valuable, taking down 3 Necron in one blast and then another 2 a turn later. No AP and I never rended, but putting two wounds per model is a sweet deal. The only other thing of note was using the Vengeance rounds on my Sternguard that resulted in blowing away a Necron and then failing a save for Gets Hot and killing myself. Oh well, the price of AP 3 weaponry. And I actually whiffed in assault against a single Necron with a DC, letting him attack back with 1 shot, and Jason actually hitting and wounding me! I failed my armor, but then was saved by FNP; a very close call to embarrassment on my part.

I've interested these guys to play a bit more often, especially Kill Team for it's small scale and ease of use. After they get used to 5th Edition more, I'll try some other Battle Missions and then get them up to 1500pt battles again. Overall a good time was had by all.

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.