Hi,

more than a year after my last batrep, I'm back to playing Epic. So here we go, army lists :

Rules used

Handbook 2008 rules
Epic Raiders Necron army list
Codex Astartes army list from Handbook 2008 with house rule allowing the Marine player to swap (for free) a Tactical or Devastator detachment's transports with a Dreadnought

NECRONS

Tomb Complex - 75 (actually free since I forgot to include it in my list...   So I actually played a 3075 point army)

Armored Phalanx - 300
Armored Phalanx - 300

Eques Maniple (6 Destroyers, 1 Necron Lord) - 400
Eques Maniple (6 Heavy Destroyers, 1 Necron Lord) - 400
Recon Maniple (3 Wraiths) - 200
Recon Maniple (3 Wraiths) - 200
Monolith - 125
Monolith - 125

Pylon - 200
Abattoir - 750 >>> BTS objective

TOTAL 3000



SPACE MARINES

- Tactical (2 Razorbacks w/lascannon, 1 Razorback w/heavy bolters, 1 Vindicator, 1 Hunter) >>> BTS objective
- Devastator + 3 Dreadnoughts
- Thunderhawk carrying 1 Devastator (Librarian) and 1 Assault detachments
- Terminator w/ Supreme Commander
- Land Speeders (inc. 1 Tornado)
- Land Raiders
- Whirlwinds
- Thunderbolts

DEPLOYMENT



I deployed the Pylon and one Armored Phalanx directly instead of teleporting them in order to "protect" my Abattoir by offering multiple targets. Also, I wanted to avoid BMs on the Pylon.

Flogus garrisoned his Devastators w/Dreadnoughts and put them on Overwatch.

TURN 1

Teleportations

Both Monoliths come in, one on each flank. Again, this is both to threaten the Marines AND divert Flogus' attention from my Abattoir.





Strategy roll

Marines win.

Turn 1

- Land Speeders make a double move straight ahead towards the ork buildings. The Tornado shoots at the Pylon (+1 BM).
- For lack of a good target, Whirlwinds go on Overwatch.

* The Destroyers come out of the Monolith on my right flank, the Devastators on Overwatch kill one of them before losing two stands to the Necrons return fire.



* The Armored Phalanx moves forward and shoots at the Devastator. In spite of the crossfire bonus, only 1 Dreadnought is destroyed.

- The Land Raiders double forward and shoot at the Destroyers (only 1 BM).

* The Heavy Destroyers come out of the Tomb Complex and fire their guns at the Land Speeders : 2 casualties, +3 BM.

- The Thunderbolts laugh at the Pylon's pitiful attempt to hit them and break it.

* The Monolith on my right flank advances and adds 1 BM on the Devastator detachment.

- With the Pylon now broken, the Thunderhawk makes a Ground Attack ont the Heavy Destroyers, killing 2 of them.



* The other Monolith moves and pops-up to shoot at the Whirlwinds, who chose to stay on Overwatch.

- The Tactical detachment doubles and shoots at the Destroyers, killing one and breaking the formation.

* Wraiths come out of my Monolith and attack the Whirlwinds. The Overwatch fire kills one stand but the Wraiths still win the assault by a small margin. Both formations end up broken and hiding in the nearby woods.



* Finally, the Abattoir doubles and shoots at the Devastators, breaking them.

End of turn



Necrons > The Wraiths rally... but neither the Pylon nor the Destroyers do.

Marines > All broken formations rally.

TURN 2

Teleportations

The second Armored Phalanx teleports close the Marine base, behind the Woods (0 BM).



The (rather ballsy) Terminators teleport just in front of the Abattoir!!! (2 BM)



Strategy roll

Space Marines again.

Turn 2

- The Land Raiders Sustain Fire on the Abattoir (1 BM).

- With the Pylon now out of the way, the Thunderhawk can unload its cargo right under the nose of the Abattoir and launch an assault with the support of the Terminators. Unsurprisingly, I lose the assault by the Abattoir only loses 2 DC. Battered and broken, the Fearless War Engine does not retreat.



* I'm at a loss and don't really know what to do. The Marines center position seems unassailable, so I fall back on the Whirlinds. My Wraiths assault them... and get destroyed in the process. Losing an assault to Whirlwinds is something I was NOT expecting!!!    
* My Heavy Destroyers fare better : they destroy (ha ha) 2 Land Speeders by shooting at them and break the only survivor.

- I realize I have made a mistake by not moving my broken Abattoir when Flogus declares another assault, this time with the Terminators. This time, though, and despite the support of the Devastators, Assault Marines and Thunderhawk, the Marines are outnumbered and the battle resolution comes to who rolls highest (no bonus on either side). I win the roll and the surviving Terminators go hide in shame in the closest woods.
- The Whirlwinds then destroy 3 Obelisks... despite a measly 1BP!



* In preparation for a suicide assault, my Monolith shoots at the Devastators close to the Thunderhawk.

- The Thunderbolts strafe the Armored Phalanx next to their base, but only add 1 BM.

* The other Monolith moves next the Marine base and shoots at the Whirlwinds (+1 BM).

- The Devastators w/Dreads regroup, shoot and break the Monolith close to the Abattoir and remove all of their BM.

* The Armored Phalanx on my right flank also regroups: they move in cover behind a hill and remove their BM.

- The Tactical detachment then moves in and destroy 1 of the Obelisks.



* The other Armored Phalanx fires at the Whirlinds and destroys them.
* Last activation, the suicide assault: 3 Wraiths come out of the Abattoir's portal and attack the Devastators. 2 of them die in the process, but they still win the assault and no Devastator survives to tell the tale.

End of turn

Necrons > The surviving Wraith, the Monolith and the Destroyers don't rally. Luckily, the Pylon and the Abattoir do.  

Marines > The Terminators, still fearful of the Emperor's Wrath, refuse to listen to their Supreme Commander and stay hidden in the woods.

No end of turn picture, sorry. My camera is getting old and tired... Well, at least I know what to ask to Santa Claus now.

TURN 3

Teleportations

No teleportations.

Strateggy roll

Surprise, surprise... Marines win the roll easily.

Turn 3

- Again, the Land Raiders move and shoot at the Abattoir, only adding 1 BM (which still amounts to a total of 4... very close to breaking).
- Determined to get the BTS objective, Flogus assaults my Abattoir again, this time with his huge Tactical detachment. But the Necron Harvester proves too tough for them (10 consecutive saves!!!) and win the fight. This is the decisive moment of the game.

* Having resisted to 3 assaults and won 2 of them, the Abattoir can finally (FINALLY!) launch an assault of its own. It turns its tentacles towards the unlucky Land Raiders... and literally devours them. 12 CC2+ attacks and 11 hits (including 3 TK hits) are way too much for the Land Raiders to handle and they are utterly crushed even before battle resolution.



A sign from the gods (or was it the C'tan): all the pictures I took after this one got somehow lost in the Warp. My camera was probably horrified by the slaughter...

- Flogus still has some punch left, but his Assault Marines prefer to move away from the (living) metal monster and double towards the nearest buildings.
- The Devastators w/Dreads fire at the Abattoir, hoping to break it, but their depleted numbers only manage to add 1 BM.

* The Pylon, probably surprised it's no longer broken, completely misses the Assault Marines (its only visible target).
* The battered Armored Phalanx also misses the Assault detachment, but the automatic BM is enough to break them.

- The last surviving Land Speeder misses its activation... and breaks.

* With no target in sight, the Heavy Destroyers simply raise 2 of their fallen comrades from the dead.

- The Thunderbolts, hoping to destroy at least 2 Obelisks and prevent them from controling the Marine base, miss their target entirely (and so does the Pylon during their approaching move...).
- Finally, the Thunderhawk also misses its activation... and it's the end of the battle.

End of turn

Necrons 4 (Blitzkrieg, Break Their Spirit, Take and Hold, The Shall Not Pass)
Space Marines 0

DEBRIEF

I think I got really lucky with my Abattoir's saves. If the Tactical detachment had won the turn 3 assault, the game would have gone very differently. Retrospectively, I guess Flogus should have just fired at the Abattoir in order to break it.

Armored Phalanx

A good formation : it's fast and powerful but pricey and relatively fragile. It's quite useful and offers an interesting alternative to the Infantry Phalanx.

Destroyers/Heavy Destroyers

Again a costly formation, but it's really solid and worth 400 points.

Wraiths

A formation of 3 Wraiths is only really useful for suicide assault, but they're really useful in this role. A 6-strong Maniple would probably be more resilient, but not necessarily more useful.

Monolith

Expensive but well worth it. They're no longer assault monsters and that's a good thing. Flogus deliberately avoided shooting at them in order to slow them down. I think it's a good tactic, but it didn't affect me much since most of my reserves were on the table by the end of turn 1.

Pylon

Utterly inefficent, but far from useless since Flogus had to divert part of its army to neutralise it.
To be honest though, I've come to think that more than 2 Pylons are really hard on air-heavy armies. More precisely, I'm concerned by the possibility of the combo 3 Pylons + C'tan, which I'd definitely use for a tournament army. The Abattoir and Orb are nice and fun and I really love them, but no competitive Necron player would go to a tournament without a Supreme Commander and a Strategy Rating of 3 instead of 1...  and the possibility to still get 3 AA shots of death with that seems a bit too powerful.

I know the list review is only due in the distant future, but I'd like to propose a points increase both for the Pylons (+25) and for the C'tan (+50). That way, it wouldn't be possible to take more than 2 Pylons with a Supreme Commander. Also, the C'tan are a bit cheap at only 300 points, particularly the Deceiver and its 6 BP Disrupt attack. 350 points would be on par with the Warbarque.

I'm expressing the concerns of several French players (see the recent discussions after the Lyons' Epic Week-End on the epic_fr forum). I personally believe the Necron army is fun and well-balanced and that it only needs a few tweaks.

Abattoir

Well, I loved it before, I love it even more after this game. I know I got lucky in many ways but I finally got to use it to its full potential and, well... that's priceless.  

Well, I really enjoyed reading that, thanks. Loved the photo's too.

The Pylon/C'Tan question I can't answer as I'm way too new at EA but I'll keep the cantaddulator on standby in case they should increase in cost.

_________________
My head is full of War...

[img]http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk120/Warhead40k/Tyranid%20Swarm/DSC02262.jpg[/img]

Thanks for the battle report, Hojyn!  I've never seen an Abbattoir on the field... very nasty!

Have you looked at any of my "Plethora of Pylons" list battle reports?  I haven't done 3 Pylons and a C'Tan yet, but I did have three and a Warbarque.

_________________
"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

Hoyjn, thanks for the batrep.  It was interesting to see the Thunderbolts and Thunderhawks shrugging off the Pylon attacks.  As is my experience, these WE's are overrated, but pretty well balanced.

Now with that said, I think you had an illegal army.  You had 2 core formations and 7 support formations.  I'll double check with Corey today but the Pylons fall into two categories, both as support formations and toward War Engine allocation which is why they are presented on the list as such.  With this said, you couldn't have fielded the Pylon or would have needed to change your points elsewhere.

_________________
author of Syncing Forward and other stories...

It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.

Thanks, Chroma!

Yes, I read your report (I love reading battle reports), both your "Plethora of Pylons" reports actually.  I think it showed that Pylons are not unmanageable, BUT... both games were "unconventional" in the second game, the Pylons were used more as a self-destructing/suicide assault unit rather than an AA cover unit.

Against most armies, I think 3 Pylons and a SC (be it a C'Tan or a Warbarque) are OK, but I'm afraid armies with lots of air transport (Marines, Eldar or even Orks) will have a hard time. 1 Pylon is no big deal, 2 Pylons are tough to deal with but still manageable. 3 Pylons, I'm not so sure an unprepared "air assault" army can deal with them.

If you add that to the fact that most Necron tournament armies will have a Supreme Commander (not taking it is too risky outside of casual games) AND that taking a Supreme Commander prevents you from taking either an Orb or an Abattoir, there's no reason not to max out on Pylons as they provide both TK shots are terrifying AA cover when deployed in numbers.

Air assault armies are generally light on artillery or long range weapons, so they'll be hard pressed to deal with more than 2 Pylons, I think. Hence my suggestion of a slight points increase for the Pylons and C'tan. C'tan are vastly more powerful than the Warbarque anyway, the only advantage of the barque is its portal. +50 points for the C'tan would be fair, in my opinion.

Ouch, you're right.    

Well, luckily the Pylon didn't play an important role in the battle, but it certainly would have made a difference.

The thing is, in facing that kind of AA umbrella, the "air assault" army player can just decide to deploy the transported formations "normally", and save the air transport for later in the game; they aren't *forced* to keep troops loaded in aircraft.

I understand their concern, but I don't think it's as bad as they may assume.

_________________
"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

It IS an option, but you would be putting yourself at a serious disadvantage by doing this, no? Personally, my favorite solution would be to include a spacecraft in the list just in case and to Planetfall your aircraft in order to avoir the AA shots.

Don't get me wrong, I think the Pylons are OK and that players should come prepared to face any army. I just think that, in order to take Pylons, the Necron player should have to make the same choice he does when he has to chosse between a Supreme Commander + a SR of 3 and an Orb/Abattoir.

Surely 600 points of AA should be pretty effective? 600 points of hydra would be pretty damn good too, and unlike the pylons would be pretty good against ground forces too.

Still, some way of limiting pylons to 2 in 3000 points is probably a good plan, but not by upping the points cost of individual pylons. 1 per 1500 points?

_________________
http://www.troublemakergames.co.uk/
Epic: Hive Development Thread