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4K Necron vs Tau cityfight

 Post subject: 4K Necron vs Tau cityfight
PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 11:07 pm 
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Pre-Battle Research and Planning

Shas’el Sav’lynu [lit. Steadfast in the Future] scratched his head as he walked away from the Virtual Reality station in the Sept’retha
[here the Colonial Library]. Long VR-sessions always gave him a headache.

The discovery of a Necron Tomb complex on the planet had come as a horrible surprise to the colony. Initial combat reports indicating
they were a totally different kind of threat. Ethereal Or'sha'is [lit. Powerful Wind/Storm] was certainly wise to have suggested looking beyond
just the immediate Shas’retha [Fire Caste military academy] records.

Having again encountered the Human military’s mantra that “Amateurs argue Tactics while Professionals discuss logistics” in his VR research,
Sav’lynu was glad that Aun’o Or'sha'is had also brought with him the four new Kass’l [Troop Dropper(?) or Orca] of the 5th Orbital
Transport Squadron. They were certainly going to make it easier to deploy the battle worn Crisis Suits of the Colonial Defense Force.
But with a new foe threatening the Tau, tactics were also going to be important.

Research on the TacComs historical archive had certainly offered tactical advice in plenty, but surprisingly few records of actual combat.
Certainly an almost complete dearth of after action combat reports from Tau encounters with the Necron. An almost ominous silence.

Sav’lynu mentally reviewed his options:

    (1) Set up troops on overwatch to ensure defensive fire at Necron infantry appearing out of Portals. Well that would suit him,
    although not a commonly used tactic against adversaries previously encountered on the Colony World.

    (2) Keep formations in close supporting positions but ensure that they are not intermingled.

    (3) There appear to be few barrage weapons in the Necron arsenal so it might be possible to deploy units in more closely interlinked
    positions. Although the C’tan Deceiver and some other large war engines could produce devastating barrages.

    (4) Deploy scout screens to protect formed positions. The legendary performance of the Sept Pathfinders would likely have ensured
    this happened anyway. Although with the threat of teleporting pyramid portals those screens may well get pulled in tighter than usual.

    (5) Destroying portal carrying enemy units seemed obvious but trying to ensure that the weight of fire was either sufficiently
    overwhelming to take out all of a formation or light enough to ensure that they did not re-position [if broken] would be a challenge.
    Hitting formations with Portals that had already been used might finesse this.

    (6) Try to maximize AT fire in preference to relying on heavy Titan Killing weapons. Well that would be easy, the colony world
    was still woefully short of the sophisticated TK weaponry.

    (7) As much as possible keep heavy weapons in reserve for use against infantry targets. The Living Metal armour on Necron
    vehicles seems to be immune to MW fire.

    (8) Destroy any Necron infantry formations that get trapped on the battlefield. The Kor’vattra [Air Caste/Fleet]
    Tiger Shark squadron with their Kor’vesa [Air Helpers or Tau Drones] would be the ideal force to be tasked with
    that job. Deploying XV88 Broadside Suits from Orcas might also fit the bill.

    (9) Keep focused on the objectives of the engagement. The tendency of broken Necron forces to ‘phase out’ (leaving the battlefield)
    means that denying the enemy victory conditions and counting the survivors would be a path to victory.
    Maintain a strong patient presence on the battlefield would suit his leaning towards the Kauyon [patient hunter] Tau mantra.
    Winning the logistics battle might just see those Orcas of the 5th OTS landing on objectives late in the battle.

    (10) Aiming to break the main enemy force [BTS formation] later in the engagement [turn 3 or 4] might just secure a victory.

    (11) Spreading tactical objectives was recommended by several commentators because Necron’s on the battlefield
    (as opposed to teleporting elements) are slow. Keeping the enemy at arms length with scouts and outmaneuvering
    them to grab objectives certainly seemed possible.

    (12) The inherently more capable battlefield strategic mobility of his Tau forces [strategy rating 3 cf 2 for Necrons] should
    allow more flexible placement of his own stealth troops and some more immediate action to combat developing Necron threats.

Mulling the list over Shas’el Sav’lynu had a few thoughts of his own as well.

Recent tactical exercises with a second concealed ring of scouts may well force teleporting Necrons to attack away from their otherwise
preferred target. [‘Defensive Teleporting’ by stealth suit formations placing them behind a portal formation within their 10 cm scout ZOC].
The newly configured Stealth Suits [re-roll and failed Blast Markers when Teleporting in] certainly improved that option.

Carefully selected coordinated fire missions should ensure that Pylons and the other smaller Necron War Engines get silenced in a timely manner.
Organising to also get other engines get placed under close observation at the same time should get the most out of his Pathfinders.
[Markerlight one target, pop-corn it with indirect guided missile fire, and cover other engines with a scouting ZOC].

A wry smile stole over Sav’lynu’s face as he remembered the archived Gue'la [Human] survey report he had found in the Gue'vesa [Lowest Helper,
Human members of Tau Society] records. An original archeology survey of a Necron Tomb Complex found on the Fen’dal’ton Continent.
Imperial Survey Report 2014.04.25.ANZAC

Image

Although he was not a specialist it seemed to Sav’lynu that there was a dominant obsession with groupings of four.
Four groups of four sided pyramids hovering in the mid-ground behind four infantry formations.
Four open four-armed death-ray “pylon” structures backing the whole assemblage.
Looking closer there were four Lords and four clusters of blade weaponed elite troops.
Four gun mountings on the hovering war engine. Four four-sided boundary markers on
the large tomb complex and a total of four larger centre spires that looked for all the world
like Kinetic Barrier projectors from the Exodus War project.


Shas’el Sav’lynu stepped into the hanger space that was serving as a temporary workspace for the Tau Kavaal [Strike Group].
A ripple of awareness swept the echoing volume but the Fio [Earth Caste] workers and their Shas [Fire Caste] colleagues stuck
resolutely to their tasks. Not for them the Gue'la [Lit. Lowest Beings, i.e. Humans not aligned with the Greater Good] habit
of jumping up and waving their hands around, Sha’is’cha Lit. gas movement action].

A lot of work was being done bringing old Broadside Drones out of storage and arming them for battle.
Another cluster of activity buzzed around the looming Kass’l [Troop Dropper, Orca] of the Orbital Transport Squadron. They would
be lifting with the last Nars’al [Lit. small stone, so less than a kilogramme] on their Shas’ka [Fire Caste Strike] across the planet.


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 Post subject: Re: 4K Necron vs Tau
PostPosted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 9:39 am 
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Cool, cool novel pre-battle background! Keep it coming!
I love when the epic battle become narrative!

...and wonderful necron army

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 Post subject: Re: 4K Necron vs Tau
PostPosted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 10:19 am 
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All right here's my report, forgive my lack of excellent in character narrative!! I'll leave that to Andrew!
http://hordesofthings.blogspot.co.nz/20 ... fight.html


Image


Image

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 Post subject: Re: 4K Necron vs Tau cityfight
PostPosted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 10:30 am 
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Thanks for the show guys!
Liked a lot!

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 Post subject: Re: 4K Necron vs Tau cityfight
PostPosted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 10:40 am 
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Wow !!! :wah
2 Great armies ! Absolutely well painted and a great table full of wonderful FW sceneries !!! Love it (i'm jealous !) ;D

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 Post subject: Re: 4K Necron vs Tau cityfight
PostPosted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 11:41 am 
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Great report - both the narrative and armies :)


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 Post subject: Re: 4K Necron vs Tau cityfight
PostPosted: Sun Jun 15, 2014 10:14 pm 
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Great report! Thanks alot!

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 Post subject: Re: 4K Necron vs Tau cityfight
PostPosted: Sun Jun 15, 2014 10:42 pm 
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Wow!! So cool. This is what it's all about. Two great armies on beautiful terrain. Thanks for taking the time to put this together and share.

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 Post subject: Re: 4K Necron vs Tau cityfight
PostPosted: Mon Jun 16, 2014 2:00 am 
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Cheers guys, as someone on TMP said, it was a bit like "Dropship 40K" with all the airlifts etc happening in a city!

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 Post subject: Re: 4K Necron vs Tau cityfight
PostPosted: Mon Jun 16, 2014 4:00 am 
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Great batrep guys!

Sidenote: Those aren't the epic drop ships but they look great. Are they simply a random model you found or did you convert them?

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 Post subject: Re: 4K Necron vs Tau cityfight
PostPosted: Mon Jun 16, 2014 5:09 am 
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Hi Hulk, Andrew made them using some equipment at his work! Pretty clever. :)

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 Post subject: Re: 4K Necron vs Tau cityfight
PostPosted: Mon Jun 16, 2014 11:27 pm 
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Hulksmash wrote:
Sidenote: Those aren't the epic drop ships but they look great. Are they simply a random model you found or did you convert them?

Yeah, the Orca's are "home made" out of, mostly, 6 mm MDF. Used a 60 W laser cutter and at work and loved the whole metaphor. Epic drop ships under laser fire. Re-entry vehicles with fumes and flame flashes streaming off their leading edges in the machine's airflow. Relatively easy, and CHEAP, to mass produce!!

Making up plans to cut a Manta at some stage.

Of course my August Institution has just purchased a 3-D printer, it is in the room next door printing a test building drawn up by one of the students, . . . . serious distraction.

Now back in character.


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 Post subject: Re: 4K Necron vs Tau cityfight
PostPosted: Mon Jun 16, 2014 11:47 pm 
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After Action De-Briefing

An eerie quiet descended on the briefing room as Shas’el Sav’lynu [lit. Steadfast in the Future] ushered in Aun’o Or'sha'is [lit. Ethereal Powerful Wind/Storm]. Every T’au in the room was embarrassingly aware of the irony that Sav’lynu had left it far into the future of the battle to arrive and take his steadfast place in the line of the battle. Turning to the assembled Caste Ui’t [Leaders/Experts] Sav’lynu gave a wry smile and acknowledged, “Once again I have arrived late to the scene. The steadfast old Kass’l [Troop Dropper(?) or Orca] finally got me home to a future seating.” The gathering erupted in T’au laughter as the complex pun broke the tension in the room.

Sav’lynu brought the room back to order and began his review. “The reported ruins proved unexpectedly large with several red and grey city blocks very far from the wrecks intimated in the archeology report. Thankfully the craters in the spaces between the buildings proved sufficiently cavernous to provide protection to our light pathfinder vehicles and the bulkier broadside suits and drones.”
    Counting them as ruins was mentioned in the 5 minute warm-up but probably that ought to have been for infantry only. Thankfully Mark conceded the more generous terms when the skulking piranhas and tetras came under fire.
“Aun’o Or’sha’is”, with a polite nod toward the Ethereal, “arrived with the main party and set up a secure base in the main city, little suspecting that the ruins to the east were in fact the centre of the Ves'ron [lit. Robotic Being, ie Necron] presence.”
    I’d not appreciated the number of new buildings that Mark has been working on, and certainly had no idea he’d sourced some many terrain bases to put them on. The game proceeded: Tau deploy garrisons, Necrons don’t. Necrons deploy a little, Tau don’t. Necrons vacillate about teleporting, “no, yes, No, YES. Then, horror/outrange/ok only slightly against the odds, Necrons win initiative.

Gesturing politely to the Water Caste Negotiator, the Pur’el took over the account. “We intercepted several transmissions over the course of the engagement that appeared to come from the Necron God C’tan. Although translation is proving problematic The Deceiver appears to have been controlling the enemy forces. The sub-text from the transmission burst before the first Necron forces arrived is still proving problematic,
    ”I feel like I am wasting things it I don’t make use of this one chance.” Clearly the dice of the gods rewarded the vacillations with a pair of double ones for activating the C’tan (including the supreme commander re-roll). “Who was he Deceiving”, but my early crowing was similarly rewarded when I threw ones on the first two turns in an attempt to activate the Orca carrying the Shas’el and the larger Crisis Battlesuit Cadre.
“Initial translations on other transmissions are also revealing,” the Pur’el continued,
    “It doesn’t matter what it is. I’ve got to do something.” Came just before a critical combat between an Necron Phalanx and a unit principally composed of previously mothballed Broadside Drones; 3 kills on the Necrons, none in return.
“Having secured control of the battlefield we are in the process of extending our translation protocols using the physical remnants of the Necron Monoliths and Infantry,” concluded the Pur’el.

“The operation and control of the Necron portals remains Da’noh,” [lit. a mystery not yet unraveled by the Earth caste] the Fio’vre [Earth Caste Overseer] offered in response to a gesture from the Shas’el. “We have however confirmed that the armour on the Monoliths and Obelisks we have recovered from the battlefield are not as tough as previously thought. Initial fire testing with the new penetrator rounds for the Hammerhead Rail Guns on not-Living samples of the armour suggest that they will not however be effective.”
    Mark was using the Epic UK version of the Living Metal Armour, a 4+ invulnerable save. I must say that I liked it as a very clean mechanism and that it left MW and TK fire stepwise more effective than common AT weaponry. Sadly it leaves Lance and the new Tau Lance vs Vehicles as an ordinary AT shots.
“We believe that pin point orbital support fire would be more effective than previously thought,” the Fio’vre continued, “and therefore recommend that a Lar’shi’vre [Protector] or even a pair of Kir’qath [Defender Class Starships] be repositioned to overfly Fen’dal’ton prior to any future engagement.”
“The four newly completed Kass’l [Orca Dropships] of the 5th Orbital Transport Squadron performed flawlessly in support of the Shas’ka [Fire Caste Strike],” from the tall, lightly proportioned Kor’vre [Air Caste Pilot]. “Our more venerable first wave Kass’l is Ko’vash [a Worthy Cause] and currently undergoing a refit of the Sho’aun’or’es [the Heart of the Reactor of the Power Plant. We trust it will secure you a Ko’tol Sav’lynu,” [lit. Worthy Position Steadfast in the Future] the Kor’el concluded to another round of appreciative T’au good humour.
Shas’el Sav’lynu brought the meeting back to order with a projection of the battlefield on the central display unit. “The overwatch position adopted by the Fire Warrior Cadre clearly proved its worth when it cut down and broke a full Necron Phalanx before it could complete its engage action. Although the follow-on attack killed may brave warriors the steadying presence of our Aun’o,” another courteous nod towards the Ethereal, “on the battlefield steadied our troops and help the position.”
    The overwatch fire killed a pariah, a lord, 3 warriors and caused two other disrupt blast markers. Embedding a pair of pathfinders in the formation clearly paid off (two sniper shots and markerlights). The Ethereal gives the whole formation fearless, a useful extra protection against losing the BTS.
“We are grateful that the Air Caste could evacuate the Fire Warriors before they were overrun”. Another nod, this time toward the Kor’el.
    The idea was that they would rally off board, in the Orca, more than 30 cm from enemy, and the return. But sadly successive fails on that and the formation remained in the air until turn three when it deployed to ensure the BTS was still on the board.
“The operational state of the Broadside formations is a testament to Fio’la [Earth Caste Workers] efforts.” A nod this time towards the Fio’vre. “Getting three formations onto the battlefield proved invaluable. The reduction in effective range was a small price to pay for fitting the extra units into the available transports.”
    The Broadside Drones 10 mm diameter disks of plasticard with square brass rod rail guns and staples for antenna. Slightly cheaper and certainly easier to make than my ‘regular’ Broadside Suit conversions from a plastic orc dreadnought. The current test list sees the range dropped from 75 to 60 cm with a matching 25 point drop in price to 300 points. They are effective some actual AT firepower in my army and tough RA4+.
“This was the most effective deployment yet of our Crisis Suit Cadres. The Fusion Guns proved more effective than expected in penetrating the monolith armour,” again a confirming nod toward the Fio’vre, “and thankfully our Kass’l finally delivered us into position to drive a Necron Infantry Phalanx from the field.
    For the first time my Crisis Suits did not complete evaporate due to being broken by enemy fire. Getting within 15 cm of enemy infantry was gold. Given my almost complete inability to use them efficiently I was tempted to just use Fire Warrior formations. Decided not to on account of no AT capability with the Fire Warriors. Might have been better ignoring the Necron AVs even more, . . .
    Having Init 1+ troops in Init 2+ transports at the start was perhaps not the best use of the dice options. The only successful uses of Crisis Suits on the Epic UK tournament stats seems to be when combined with Orcas for mobility. Still some work to do on that clearly. Later on in the game I was more careful to use the Crisis Suit Init 1+ to ensure at least one activation succeeded before handing the turn back to the Necrons. Next time I imagine that Init 1+ activations will more frequently be to go onto Overwatch, . . .
“Our Pathfinders once again stood forth for The Greater Good. We have learned though, and in another encounter we will move them more promptly from their screening positions and so out of the immediate firing lines. The units, newly equipped with Stealth Suits proved their worth screening and providing marker light targeting for many units. The Sniper Drone formations proved even more tenacious successfully breaking an Aeonic Orb for no loss. Truly they are honoured within The Greater Good.”
    I probably should have moved more of the Tetra/Piranha formations out of harms way. Perhaps instead of using them in coordinated fire missions to try and cause damage (sustained fire) they could have doubled away and still fired sufficiently effectively to break the small war engines. I really should not have opened up space for the Necrons to teleport in on top of my Blitz. Oh well, live and learn, . . .

“In hindsight we should have deployed in the more distant ruins, in cover with more open lines of fire. But we have now learned that the Necron do not necessarily place their main complexes in the large cities. The Necron threat remains, Pur’el [Water Caste Negotiator], what shall we make of this Fu’llasso?” [lit. Cursed Mind Knot, ie political mess, to be unscrambled by the Water caste].

“Several Kroot Kindred have offered their services in join in battle against the Necron menace. With your approval,” and here the Pur’el inclined his head toward the Aun’o, who nodded in reply, “we will bind them in contract and begin the Hunt.”

The Kroot negotiating team.Image

    I have been meaning to get my Onslaught Miniatures Kroot painted up for a while. Those first three stands were completed (well not finished the basing yet) in, . . . oh, January, . . .
    Now 10 strong scouting formations should keep the teleporting Necron a little further away, . . .


Aun’o Or'sha'is rose to end the meeting. “We have a plan. It only remains for me to acknowledge the efforts of Sav’lynu in leading our Shas'shi Fire Caste Victory; or Victorious Warriors] the first successful Ta’ro’cha [Three Minds – One Purpose, in this case referring to Tau Battlesuit teams] deployment on the colony world. We take pleasure in conveying the command of Aun't'au'retha [Ethereal Council of T'au], “Shas’el Sav’lynu is promoted Shas’o, effective immediately,” Tau’va [For the Greater Good].”

    Every previous deployment, by me, of Battlesuit Cadres has seen them wiped out. Each time that happens I’ve omitted a supreme commander from the subsequent line-up. Perhaps next time it will be a bigger swarm of battle-suited warriors, and a supreme re-roll, . . .


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 Post subject: Re: 4K Necron vs Tau cityfight
PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 10:30 am 
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Thanks for the report, looks like it was a good game.... But where were the Pylons?

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 Post subject: Re: 4K Necron vs Tau cityfight
PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 11:12 am 
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Great report. Lovely table and armies. Thanks for taking the time to write it up for us.

/Fredmans


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