Size: 4000 points per side
Date: February 2013
Players: Joni (Necrons) vs Kimmo/Mikko (Orks)
Scenario: Crusade
Deployment: Vanguard
Objectives: 3 (generating 3 points each)
Ruleset: Warhammer 40K 6th edition.

Pre-game

Necrons chose their deployment side first. They did not have a preference so opted to cause harm to Orks instead and chose the side on which was located the only high point of the game area (a 3-story high ruin) thus denying Big Mek and his squad of Lootas an excellent deployment location.

Ork deployment

Orks won the option to decide who is going to go first and chose the Necrons to go second with a strategic reliance on Deff Koptas in order to secure the First Blood objective as quickly as possible. Orks did not leave much in the reserves and placed a massive horde of hundreds of miniatures in their deployment zone. The deployment was spearheaded by Deff Koptas, seconded by a Battlewagon full of Ork goodies and a Deff Dreadd. The flanks were manned by a Trukk followed by Gretchins and Boyz and on the other side by Big Mek leading Lootas and a squad of Warbuggies. A selection of Boyz, Gretchins and Kommandos were left in reserves. Orks decided to go for a full onslaught tactic even knowing that Necrons had made moving in normal terrain a terrifying ordeal (by forcing Difficult Terrain and Dangerous Terrain tests even on normal terrain in the first turn).

Necron deployment

In reaction to how Orks deployed, Necron player decided that Monoliths were a safe enough bet to disperse all around in an intention to block Ork movements and left several units of Warriors as reserves that would ideally disembark from the gates of the Monoliths. Necron player was at a clear advantage in that he was able to place two of the three objectives and placed both firmly on his own deployment zone thus creating a need for the Orks to advance heavily if they wanted to win. Two units of Necron Scarabs were deployed reactively directly opposite to Warbuggies and Battlewagon in an effort to create a powerful deterrent to possible Ork vehicle movements. Necrons placed highly costly Deathstar units of powerful close combat troops opposing the Battlewagon in an effort to create superior dominance in the center that would also block Orks one crucial accessway to the objectives looming deep in the Necron deployment area. A unit of Wraiths backed up Immortals were placed in anticipation of the Deff Koptas, but still in relative safety behind a hill. The Nightbringer backed up by a unit of Destroyers and another unit of Destroyers backing the Deathstar units in the middle were placed as well making these highly mobile heavy weapons platforms to act as support units instead.

Turn 1 – Orks

As anticipated, Necrons were able to force a night time fight. Orks moved the Deff Koptas to aggressively close as a scout move before they moved forward with full force. Orks made a decisive first move by moving a unit of three Deff Koptas in turbo boost mode over the Necron Deathstar units to almost at the Necron deployment zone’s edge. This move allowed the unit to drop bombs on unsuspecting Scarabs that happened to be conveniently packed. The Orks were able to move their Trukk and Battlewagon without difficulty even with the forced Dangerous Terrain tests and created a nice tactical advantage to Orks because the Ork Trukk (fully loaded with a unit of Burna Boyz) was able to instantly move close enough of the Necron Wraiths. Even if this meant they would now be placed directly in front of the Immortals and between the Gauss Cannons of two Monoliths! A bold move, but one that was very … Orky. The bombs dropped by Ork Deff Koptas were spot on and was just nicely adequate to wipe out the entire unit of Scarabs!  The Scarabs would have annihilated the Battlewagon with ease on Necron players turn and this was also an easy enough target to go for hunting the First Blood point. Burna Boyz and the remaining Deff Koptas then jointly targeted the Wraiths with flamers and rokkits and were able to wipe all but one Wraith due to obscenely high number of good saves by the Necron player. Some additional fire targeted the other Scarab unit, but mostly Orks were now running in order to advance without the forced Dangerous Terrain for each model moving. Ork Lobba was successfully used to take out a couple of Immortals.

Turn 1 – Necrons

A rolling mayhem of thunder strikes was to follow. However now Necrons were able to inflict remarkably bad results by killing only a few Gretchins. An audible sigh of relief was heard since the Ork players anticipated much more devastation from their weather controlling opponent. Necron player was both pissed and relieved by the fact that only one Wraith was left standing. He decided to use the remaining Wraith as a decoy and moved it in front of the Battlewagon preparing to charge it soaking the Overwatch fire from it’s passengers (Nobz led by Ghazghkull Thraka and a unit of Tank Bustas). This would allow him a safe attempt to charge the vehicle with his first Deathstar unit that was closing in as fast as possible. Immortals resurrected one of their dead companions and now only rearranged their position in order to focus their deadly fire on the close by Ork Trukk. A joint fire salvo by Monoliths, Destroyers and Immortals wrecked the Trukk and killed two of the Deff Koptas, but the Burna Boyz were left unharmed and disembarked from the trashed wreck right on the toes of the Immortals grinning and lighting their incinerators in anticipation of the coming barbeque. At this point the Necron player understood that the Immortals would not live another day. Destroyers in charge of the Nightbringer protection fired on the three bombing Deff Koptas hovering about behind Necron lines and were able to inflict some serious damage on them killing the entire unit. Full advancements were made in the other flank by the Scarabs and the Nightbringer, but the Monoliths around the game board all but remained stationary. Their use of Particle Whips resulted in next to no damage to Orks. The remaining Scarabs were ordered to charge Big Mek and his unit of Lootas hiding in the bushes instead of the Warbuggies which would have been closer. No doubt the Necron player wanted to tie Big Mek in CC because his Shokk Attakk Gun was one of the more devastating weapons of the Orks. Necrons then charged the Battlewagon with the sole remaining Wraith taking one wound in the Overwatch fire. The actual Necron strategy, however, was to charge the Battlewagon also with the Deathstar unit (Lychguards, Trazyn, Lord with a Resurrection Orb, Imotekh and Anrakyr). They failed to make the distance and remained stationary. However, the lone Wraith was more than enough and set the fuel tank of the Battlewagon blazing resulting in a massive bowl of fire (explosion of no less than 6 inches radius!). Nearby Gretchins took some nasty burns and even some of the passengers weren’t able to take the heat reducing the Nobz and Tank Bustas by a few. They were able to resist being pinned by the ordeal and snugly fit the space the Battlewagon left. The other close combat initiated by the Scarabs was remarkably dull and ineffective and true enough – Necron player looked happy because he thought Big Mek would remain locked in CC for quite some time.

Summing up

A huge effort of 3 hours was spent on the first round and although Necrons had inflicted nasty damage to the mobility of the Orks, the green-skinned dudes were still numerous and had themselves managed to wipe out more than expected. Necrons failed to create any meaningful impact with their weather pattern changes. And the night fighting actually seemed to harm Necrons more than it did the Orks.

Turn 2 – Orks

No more hindered by Dangerous Terrain tests, Orks advanced more freely all around in the battlefield. Some Orks were sent in from the reserves and placed conservatively along the left flank of Orks’ deployment zone.  Warbuggies circled around the Monolith gaining a LOS to Destroyers. The center area was rapidly descending into a full-fledged blood-bath with Ghazghkull, Mad Dog, Deff Dread, Nightbringer and two Necron Deathstar units dancing into positions. Tank Bustas were moved out of the way and prepared to charge the closest Monolith. 3rd wave Orks moved and subsequently killed the lone Wraith that would otherwise prove problematic. A nasty group of Orks Boyz advanced to the CC holding Big Mek and prepared to annihilate the Scarab annoyance once and for all. Nob Bikerz put their helmets on and started to advance towards the Monolith on the right side of Orks’ deployment area. A big unit of Gretchins snailed their way and the remaining Deff Koptas hovered in to a position to charge the leftmost Monolith (looking from the Ork side). Rokkits did zilch though and the koptas formed to do a charge. Some shooting resulted in a downed Destroyer (by Warbuggies), downed Lychguard (by Lobba), crispy steaming hot unit of Immortals (by the Burna Boyz) and … that’s it. Close combat was imminent and the first Deathstar unit of Necrons was pressed hard by Orks charging it with three units (Nobz led by Ghazghkull, Gretchins led by Mad Dog and Deff Dredd). Orks won the close combat without breaking a sweat and killed all the individual characters along with some Lychguards. Tank Bustas fared far more lousily and managed to inflict only two meager hull points’ worth of damage to their target Monolith. A total catastrophe dawned when it became apparent that a grave game-changing mistake was made by the Orks: the Deff Koptas were unable to harm their Monolith at all – something that should have been seen as glaringly obvious to the Ork players prior to the charge. A wasted effort that essentially saved the Necrons a unit of Destroyers which would have been an easy prey. But Big Mek was quickly freed up by the Ork horde although it later proved to be most useless Ork unit of them all.

Turn 2 – Necrons

A marvelous string of rolls revived pretty much everything that was downed during the Ork turn (excepting the black spot that used to be Immortals). Trazyn, Imhotek, Lord … all were good as new and ready to turn up the volume a knob or two. Necron warriors appeared from the Monolith pested by the Deff Koptas, another small group jogged along the table edge towards a close by objective, another popped up conveniently in front of the Burna Boyz and yet another streamed in to barrier the rightmost Monolith (from Ork perspective). In the middle field, Necrons regrouped into another bout of CC and were joined in by a Cryptek and even more Lychguard. The Necron god hovered closer as well hoping to engage in the carnage as well. Destroyers and newly arrived Warriors shot down the remaining Deff Koptas and another Warrior group shot the Burna Boyz into oblivion (leaving only one alive; he then failed his morale check and ran away in). Another shower of energy was thrown at the Boyz by another newly arrived Warrior unit, but it hardly made a dent to their ranks. A major cock-up was made by the Necron side in the middle field as the Necrons decided to shoot the Deff Dredd with their template weapon in order to catch a few Nobz under the same template. This resulted in no casualties, but denied the Necron player the option to charge the Nobz since the Deff Dredd was their target for shooting. Well the Necron player could have charged multiple units, but didn’t elect to do so. They did, however, make the Deff Dread go *poof* in smoke.

Summing up

Orks were at a problematic disposition: one of the Monoliths was now blocking the stream of Orks from the Ork players left side thus making it highly improbable that they would reach their objective in time. Only a single one man wide path existed between the hill and wrecked Trukk and dozens or Orks would need to fit through that and still soak the Monoliths‘ Gauss weapons turned on them. A more direct approach was needed and the need to push through from the middle became clear. A string of good revival rolls made the Necrons kept the center area heavily contested and denied the Ork horde quick access towards victory.

Turn 3 – Orks

Kommandos arrived from reserves and immediately target a small group Warriors that just arrived previously and were now guarding an objective. Unimpressive shooting results in only two dead Warriors and now the Kommandos are themselves vulnerable too because Necrons are probably positioning some of their remaining Warrior units there to strengthen the objective. A huge central battle commences … again … and … again … Thraka’s team kills a number of resurrected machines. As Mad Dog’s Gretchins take part in this mayhem, an interesting event happens: Necron character uses a Mindshackle against a Gretchin. That Gretchin manages to kill another Gretchin under the Necron characters mind control ju-ju, but I gotta say the gods of random dice were seriously against Necrons for choosing a Gretchin. A Nob with a Power Klaw or Mad Dog himself would have been a much more optimal target! Oh well … maybe the poor bastard was just confused after it’s reboot/resurrection. Warbuggies targeted the same Warriors as the Kommandos did in an effort to kill them all, but some serious saving throws keep the Warriors in play. But the Orks are already starting to overflow the Necron perimeters and killing the Warriors disembarked from Monoliths. One special face palm moment presented itself during a close combat: a large group of Gretchins first shot and then charged the Warriors that had just killed the last Deff Koptas and in the resulting mayhem the Gretchins themselves were wiped out without scratching the paint on the Warriors helmets! Mental note: don’t ever assault with Gretchins!

Turn 3 – Necrons

More Warriors check in and instantly start shooting at the Kommandos. Options for Necrons are rapidly running low and at this point it was beginning to dawn to the Necron player that he isn’t going to gain access to the Ork objective at all and instead his war had turned into a defensive battle of attrition: can he kill enough Orks before turn 5, still control two objectives and hope for the game to end? Unfortunately the Warbuggies had already broken through the first line and behind them a stream of Orks were following. Necrons opted for a very limited movement and the Nightbringer charging and assaulting Thrakas’ Nobz in the center area was the only really interesting event of the Necron players turn. That didn’t turn out that well either and the god managed to kill only one Nob.

Turn 4 – Orks

Breakthrough! Orks made aggressive movements towards Necron lines and are really only hindered by the Nightbringer anymore. Nob Bikerz take out the right Monolith (from Ork players perspective) without a problem and make it go boom. The entire flank area has now been opened up to Orks with only three Destroyers putting up a defense against a horde or Orks. “Mister Underachiever” – Big Mek with his Shokk Attakk Gun – finally gets a clear shot to the remaining Monolith and hits! However … a dismal snake eyes roll … and the device explodes killing Big Mek and his entire squad of Lootas (which were equally useless killing only a few Scarabs in the entire duration of the game). A fitting end to a day of constant failures to Big Mek and his group.

Turn 4 – Necrons

Necron Warriors are now the only viable shooters left and one group of Destroyers are forced to retreat and try to cover Necron Warriors guarding an objective. The Nightbringer is unable to create serious mayhem in close combat until it dies … and explodes! The ensuing fireball engulfs an easy ten Orks and kills a decent number of them – mostly Nobz. So it turns out the god wasn’t that useless at all although it took it’s own death to make shit hit the fan.

Summing up

Orks are now in a free-flowing mode footslogging towards the objectives at the heart of the Necron DZ. One Monolith remains, but it’s position effectively make it useless now since it’s so far away from the deep left of the Necron DZ where the battle has now been shifted. The revival rolls by Necrons have been absolutely obscenely incredible, but still that hasn’t been able to change the flow of events to Necrons’ advantage. The center area is now effectively controlled by the Orks and remaining revived Necron characters Imhotek and Necron Lord  have now abandoned the fight and opted to deny Orks an even grander victory (if permanently dead, Imhotek would give an extra victory point to Orks since he is the leader of Necrons and these two characters are the only two possibilities of linebreaker units the Necrons now have left).

Turn 5 – Orks

Rapid advancement to positions in which the Orks will win if the game happens to end at the end of the round.

Turn 5 – Necrons

Doesn’t look that good. Destroyers trying to slow down Orks by mopping up heavy weapons fire, but resulting in only minimal damage killing one Nob.

Turn 6 – Orks

A few remaining Boyz that were hit hard last round positioned into a ring around the objective in the heart of Necron DZ, but didn’t manage to shoot down any Warriors.

Turn 6 – Necrons

Pretty much nothing important anymore. A quick turn ends in Necron losing all the remaining close combats (both Destroyer units are now defeated)

Turn 7 – Orks

The final round was a quick one and it really played out in 10 minutes the only reason being seeing would the Necrons lose 8-1, 8-4 or with obscene luck maybe even 8-5. Orks secured one of the objectives with a horde and shot everything they had towards a few visible Warriors still guarding the last contested objective. Many Warriors met their maker and a unit of Warriors was brutally manhandled by the remaining Nobz and Ghazghkull Thraka himself resulting in a nice consolidation move that placed Ghazghkull and one Nob within contesting range of the objective and in cover even. Looking good towards a 8-1 victory.

Turn 7 – Necrons

The remaining Monolith did no impact – again – and the few remaining Warriors shot enough to kill all but Ghazghkull Thraka who then ended up contesting the objective alone and denied Necrons 3 victory points.

Summing up

A decisive 8-1 victory for Orks. A blood-bath really. The objective on the Ork DZ was held by a unit of Gretchins the whole game and Necrons made no effort to even try taking it. It all boiled down to the massive CC in the center area that determined control of the most obvious passageways into the enemy DZ. Orks proved decisively more proficient this time around even with Necron revival rolls working over time. The Nightbringer was brought into the mix, but it was a turn too late to make an impact. A lesson well learnt by the Necron player I would imagine. The Nobz with PKs led by Thraka is a massive blob of CC goodness and rightly awed.