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Joined: Wed Aug 10, 2005 11:44 pm
Posts: 1891
Location: Katy, Republic of Texas
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Turn 2
It was at this point that the Necron Evironmental Protection Agency descended from orbit after detecting illegal levels of grav emissions from the Eldar vehicles. Hoping to correct the problem before any permanent damage was inflicted on the local flora and fauna, several automated grav-tuners were offered to the non-resident vehicle owners on a non-contract basis, but this offer was rejected.
Well, this was a most amusing turn. It started with a heavy rain of Monoliths and Obelisks on the Eldar right flank. The assumption was that I would trash those two formations and with the support of the Pylons, start working my way down their line. Twas not to be.
My first assault went so-so, in that I attacked the end Vyper and Falcon unit thinking that the mighty +1 for everyone in 15 cm would take out a large chunk of those units. Also by pulling in three other Monoliths, plus some other Obelisks, I was pretty certain that they were doomed. They weren?t. In fact, although I caused more casualties, the resolution modifiers were against me (getting BM from teleporting on 1/3rd of my units did not help), which caused me to shed valuable units as my surviving monolith turned tail and headed over the woods for safety. I retained with one of my pylons fired on the Cobras, sustaining, and missed. Not good.
The Eldar response was quite energetic and literally wiped out four Obelisks and two Monoliths. To complete my humiliation, The other pylon sustained on the Fire prisms and missed.
It was at this point that I realized that my assumptions of how the Necrons should operate were wrong. Unfortunately, I had lost quite a few units due to the plethora of Eldar shots and in spite of all the wonder saves that the Necrons get, got beat up pretty bad.
So, I quickly had to come up with a plan to pull this out of the bag or it was going to be a long week having to listen to John pound his chest over his victory. Actually, he wouldn?t really do that and he?s a great person to play against. Still, it would be nice if I could do something about this.
In an interesting turn of events, John?s rallying die rolls are nearly as pathetic as my to hit rolls, so at the end of the turn, very little of his blast markers are removed?of course, at least he still has units on the board, mine have either undertaken their own pollution control exercise or decided to go check out what?s playing at the Cinemark Tomb Complex.
John?s comments:
Since you're doing the batrep, original priorities (in order):
1. Quoting bad Japanese monster movie DESTROY ALL PYLONS. Brought War engines (because they are cool) and to help with two falcon formations to pop up and then stand as a a stone wall against your advance (taking advantage of Pulse-I did not know my firestorms had a grudge against your necrons heh heh)
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2. drop monos or try to remove some and funnel troops.
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3. When you teleport right next to the wraithgate, hit that unit with formation and tree kicking Avatar. I just knew you would do that...oh well.
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4. ?Then move to objectives or try to start breaking your troops to funnel them. ?
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5. Was worried about titan. ?Suicidal attack was only option if placed well.
Planned attack: ?
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-two formations of falcons and war engines would go after the pylons with pop up. I figured pylons in center or near my gate and near your tomb.
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-two formations of falcons and fire prisms to flank and hit monos, again hit and run and pop up (eldar hit and run makes me forget about pop up)
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-vipers would suicide or shoot at monos and try to concentrate on troop formations. ?Secondarily they would go for objectives
Turn 3
Attempting to maintain comfortable diplomatic relations with the anti-environmentalists in red tights proves troubling. No reasonable measure of dialogue appears to convince the intruders that the impending disaster has generational impacts to all. Additional units are sent, including a facilitator with advanced negotiation skills, to emphasize our willingness to find a common ground.
So it?s the money turn and I start off by bringing what few monoliths I have back and placing the Deceiver in a position to support the pylons. It is only a short while later that while, observing John dazzle me with his firepower and mobility, I again have an epiphany and understand I am in serious trouble. I put my monoliths on objectives to try and stretch the elder out across the table, but what I really ended up doing is isolating my units and putting them in positions where they were not supported. John quickly capitalized on this mistake and drove me off of the objectives and secured good field position for himself.
My few moral victories consisted of blowing up a Cobra with a pylon, wiping out a vyper unit with the monolith and phalanx on the hill, and rushing a second phalanx up to contest the central Eldar objective.
However, kudos to John for picking up the flaw in my changed plans and taking advantage of it.
End of Game
After Action Report
The store was closing, so we had to call it quits after three. I think the way we figured it, John was ahead 1-0 and it was only going to get uglier as I had failed to kill enough of his units. He certainly had me on points as I had lost all but two monoliths and all my obelisks.
Later priorities:
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-turned out ignored pylons completely. ?They were to the side by the C?tan. ?I thought could hammer them eventually but placing them in enfilade while at the same time surrounding my army with monos (I xpected 4) ?"freaked me out" and I tried to bail out of the line of fire. Play that game again and your monos take that side handily.
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-After that it was tag the monos. ?I was very aware of the turns and felt I could make a run for the objectives. When you put several of the monos in isolated areas I almost kicked myself for missing the opportunity to hit more of them. ?I ?would advise against that in the future unsupported, at least with some pylons or monos. They are tough but statistically can be overcome. If you do teleport them like that can you immediately portal or do you have to activate? If not then dump troops out immediately.
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Observations:
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-monos are bad mammas as I thought. ?They are vulnerable if not completely supported as they will be ?a prime target.
My comments:
1. Although the Necrons are capable of teleporting everything, in hindsight, I think I over did it. As it turned out, a large number of my monoliths showed up with one BM on them before doing anything, thus breaking them. So, they ended up being much more vulnerable than I expected.
2. The Gauss whiplash smile weapon was nice, but at +5 it wasn?t the wonder weapon I expected it to be. I think it adds a lot of value when you support a monolith with infantry. As it was, I tried to support monoliths with monoliths and was only partially successful.
3. I will completely rethink my deployment strategy in my next game. I think there needs to be a balance of ?some? teleporting units and ground troops when dealing with high mobility or high armor save forces. The teleport bear hug just might work against big Ork mobs or Tyranid swarms, but unless you want to sacrifice monoliths unnecessarily, which will compromise your ability to influence the battle later on, then use them in a manner that is wiser than I did.
4. The list felt right. When I used the portal to get troops into assault, then supported with a monolith, I liked how those units worked together.
So next time I play with these guys, I?ll have a better idea of how they can be effective.
DVD Scenes included in the Directors cut:
Farseer Bob waited for the shimmering haze to pass as the Necrons left the field. ?As he looked on, survivors of the blasted Cobra climbed out of hatches. ?Columns of smoke from burning vipers rose
from at differing points in the battlefield. ?
Farseer Ralph appeared, fresh from hiding from the Ctan under a fallen tree. ??That was a brilliant tactical move Farseer Ralph, allowing your formation to get ambushed by half the necron line. ?Your later ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? counter move to put your surviving bikes in the middle of the monoliths, pylons, and all those little guys was subtle.
The average onlooker would think jeez what a moron, he's going to get blasted out of the sky, but we all know your tactical brilliance don't we troupe!" Snickers and various ?tee hees? were heard between
swallows of wine and cheese.
Suddenly the Avatar stumbled through the trees, renting and raving. "Another brilliant move by our celestial leader, waiting in the van until the last turn, appearing completely away from anyone and hoofing it back to the wraithgate. With such leadership how can we fail troupe!" More snickers.
The Avatar, spotting a bush, roars his ancient roar and attacks it, tripping along the way.
Farseer Bob's sidekick chimes in, between bits of Rochefort cheese.
"Whats the deal with Falcon commander Ebenez?"
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Farseer Bob, looking at the label of bottle and casting it aside in disgust "Who brought me El Toro Red?
Someone will pay for th?oh, all I know is she took a shot from that hip flask of hers, shouted `OOH AH' and something about `objective denial' and sent her tanks h*ll for leather across the field. Not every day you see main battle tanks fly full speed to land in front of three thousand necrons coming out of their tomb. ?
Lucky for her she left or it wouldn't have been pretty."
In the distance, the Avatar stops in mid stride "ooh flower pretty!"
Farseer Bob then turns to his troops, "Another great victory for Craftworld Bandito. And how do we
celebrate boys?"
"Drinking beer until we throw up, hitting on every howling banshee in the bar, and breaking a pool cue over those ?wussy dire avengers?"
The Avatar re-appears ?and starts kicking a rock. "Yes, but first we must celebrate in traditional Eldar fashion with more wine and cheese. And someone give the Avatar a pill or something."
Until next time...
_________________
Honda
"Remember Taros? We do"
- 23rd Elysian Drop Regiment
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Nice maps too ! 
) and it worked OK, even though at one point I was very lucky my opponent's dice decided to fail him completely.
Pansy Eldar ... the S/Banshees are quite "Butch" !