Battle Report #16: Lahkers Destroyer Decurion vs. Red-Marauders-Raven-Guard-Raptors Marine Party

An absolutely unfair fight.  There's only four Destroyers to flail at Shadow Captain Shrike.

Apologies for the long absence, life has been busy.  But I'm back now, with another Not-Apoc game for you, featuring the Lahkers and entirely too many Space Marines.

Ike's Task Force Odin (Red Marauders with Iron Hands Tactics):
Techmarine w/Conversion Beamer, Bolt Pistol, Power Axe, and Servitor w/Heavy Bolter
Techmarine w/Boltgun, Bolt Pistol, 2x Servitors with Servo-arms
10x Tac Marines w/Flamer, Missile Launcher, in Drop Pod
5x Tac Marines w/Flamer, in Rhino
Ironclad Dreadnought w/Hurricane Bolter, Ironclad Assault Launchers, Seismic Hammer, Heavy Flamer, in Drop Pod
Venerable Dreadnought w/Multi-melta, Power Fist, in Drop Pod
3x Venerable Dreadnoughts (one with Assault Cannon, two with Multi-meltas)
Vindicator w/Siege Shield
Aegis Defense Line w/Quad-gun emplacement

Nathaniel's Strike Forces Hugin and Munin:
Raptors Combined Arms:
Lias Issodon
Dreadnought (proxied by Penitent Engine)
5x Tac Marines w/Heavy Bolter
5x Tac Marines w/Heavy Bolter
5x Tac Marines w/Heavy Bolter
5x Tac Marines w/Heavy Bolter
5x Tac Marines w/Heavy Bolter
5x Tac Marines w/Heavy Bolter
2x Attack Bikes (proxied by Skyweaver jetbikes)
4x Centurion Devastators w/Vet Sarge
Raven Guard Allies:
Shadow Captain Shrike
5x Tac Marines w/Grav-gun
10x Assault Marines

This time around Nathaniel and Ike teamed up against me and my first full-strength (almost) Destroyer Decurion.  It was also the first time my new lords had taken to the table, namely Lord Nihkyanh, the ancient Lord Byrahn-Zoht, and Phaeron Shahk-ah-Nihl himself, all eager to get back into the conquering groove after 60 million years of dusty hibernation.

Mission was Big Guns Never Tire, deployment was Vanguard Strike.  My Warlord trait was Enduring Will (Eternal Warrior), Ike's was Conqueror of Cities (Stealth and MTC in Ruins), Nathaniel's was Master of Ambush (Warlord and 3 non-vehicle units get Infiltrate).

I won the initiative roll-off, and deployed on this side of the board for the high ground and area terrain.  I put the Canoptek units to the left, to root out anybody that would take cover in the terrain in that direction, and concentrated the Destroyers on the right, where they had a nice open field of fire.  The big yellow rectangle there was a piece of custom-made "Necron terrain" with custom rules Ike had written up, similar to Mysterious Objectives.

Nathaniel and Ike deployed in a semicircle around my army.  The Raptors Tac squads spread out to maximize their fields of fire, deployed around the Vindicator proxy (made up at the last moment by taping a recoilless rifle to a Rhino).  Nathaniel's warlord, the Raptor special character Lias Issodon, proxied by the green TacMarine, sat with a Tac squad in the ADL and manned the Quad Gun.  Nathaniel deployed his Attack Bikes nearby to presumably counter the Wraiths if necessary.

Raptor squads proxied by Eldar, and the saddest Vindicator ever.

Ike's footslogging Dreadnought squadron and Tac-squad-in-Rhino hid behind the hill, and the 10 Assault Marines, the Centurion Devastators, one 5-man Tac squad, and Shadow Captain Shrike sat on the hill.  That, or they had scout or an appropriately bird-themed special rule to get up there.  I forget.  They were there, and that was that.

Just before the game started, Lias Issodon used his crazy Infiltrate, Isolate, Destroy ability to knock 1 HP off my Stalker.

GAME TURN 1

Turn 1 - Me

I moved the army forward at its usual cautious advance, with an emphasis on bringing as many guns to bear on the hill on the right.  The Assault squad there was the nearest and greatest threat, and with the fire from basically the entire right flank, I wiped out the Assault squad, as well as the 5-man Tac squad with them (with the exception of the Sarge).  Meanwhile, on the left flank, the Wraiths hopped forward, and the warriors and Stalker killed one of the Attack Bikes.  The Heavy Destroyers, my chief source of anti-tank, took a single hull point from the lead footslogging Dreadnought.

Turn 1 - Ike and Nathaniel

Both Dreadnoughts dropped in, the Ironclad on the Necron terrain, the Venerable on the left of the hill with the Heavy Destroyers, worryingly right behind my Stalker.  Since the Ironclad had dropped on the custom terrain, we rolled for the result, and got "Tesla Overcharge".  Hurricane Bolter and Heavy Flamer with Tesla?  The Machine God is pleased.  The Raptor Tac squads stood still in order to do Rending damage with their bolt weapons, and the Dreadnought squadron started their march across the field.  

Shadow Captain Shrike made his first move, jumping over by my rightmost squad of Destroyer, and failed to wound with a krak grenade.  The saddest Vindicator ever put its woes aside and lobbed a Demolisher shell into the Wraiths, failed to wound them, but wounded my Destroyer Lord.  The Venerable Dreadnought one-shotted my Stalker with its multi-melta, and my Ghost Ark jinked the S10 Conversion beamer shot Ike's Techmarine fired off.

Nathaniel used the Tactical doctrine to get Tac squad re-rolls (thanks to the Demi-Company formation) and yet the entire left flank of Marines only knocked 1 wound off my Wraiths.  Stay OP, guys.  The CentDevs killed 6 of my 10 Immortals, and Shrike assaulted the Destroyer squad, killed one, and got locked in combat.

GAME TURN 2

Turn 2 - Me

I rolled for reserves and got one squad of Praetorians, the 4-man Destroyer squad, and the Night Scythe in.  I had the Scythe, which contained Phaeron Shahk and 10 warriors, fly onto the left side of the board to deal with the pesky Raptors.  The 4-man Destroyer squad followed them, for the same purpose.  I had the Wraiths continue towards the Raptor Marines, and sent the Spyder, Scarabs and the Destroyer Lord to deal with the VenDread (can't have that running around your back lines).  Kobeh and his surviving Immortals shuffled towards the Tesla-charged-Ironclad, and the other Destroyers jockeyed for the best firing position.  I dropped the Praetorian squad near Ike's Aegis line, and then forgot about them for the rest of my turn.

My shooting on turn 2 was very disappointing, the entire Lahker right flank fired at the Ironclad and only knocked 1 HP off it.  The Night Scythe's tesla destructor only removed one Marine from the table, and apparently the Destroyer reinforcements were still getting their bearings.  To compound all this, I completely forgot to have my Wraiths charge any of the nearby Marines, and with the VenDread charged first with the Scarabs and blocked the Destroyer Lord out of assault.  Kobeh and the Immortals assaulted the Ironclad, and did eventually get into combat with it, but precisely when is not recorded.

Turn 2 - Ike and Nathaniel

The last Drop Pod came in, holding the 10-man Tac squad, led by Sergeant Dakon.  They dropped onto the wooded hill on my side of the board.  Ike's Rhino scooted across the board parallel to the marching Dreadnoughts, who a few moments later opened fire on and destroyed the Ghost Ark.  I lost a Heavy Destroyer to what I believe was the Conversion-beamer-toting-Techmarine, and lost a Wraith or two to massed Raptor bolter fire.  Maybe the sad Vindicator?  I forget.  The Penitent Dreadnought saw my abandoned Praetorians, and charged and locked them in combat.  At this point, the Ironcland and Kobeh's squad were definitely in combat.  The Immortals jumped in front of the Ironclad's blows while Kobeh carved it up and finished the job, destroying it.  My Spyder and Scarabs took the VenDread down one more HP.

GAME TURN 3

Turn 3 - Me

My other squad of Praetorians came in, I dropped them on my left flank by the Rending Raptors and killed a single Marine.  The Destroyers nearby killed a few more Marines, and my Night Scythe flew over the patch of forest in the area and dropped Shahk and his warriors out.  They glanced the saddest Vindicator to death in one volley.  The Heavy Destroyers and the warriors from the exploded Ghost Ark wrecked the Rhino, forcing the Tac squad inside into the open.  Assault time rolled around, and I had Kobeh and Co. join the Shrike-Destroyer combat, and had the Destroyer Lord and the warriors with the new Lords Nikyanh and Byrahn both charge Squad Dakon.  New Model Syndrome asserted itself, and the warriors whiffed their charge roll.  The Destroyer Lord managed to get in, let the Marines flail at him, and then carved Dakon up.  Kobeh got into the Shrike-Destroyer combat, challenged Shrike, and pulled his attention away from the non-CC models.

Turn 3 - Ike and Nathaniel

After an intermission, Ike and Nathaniel began their third turn.  The Dreadnought squad continued to march across the field, Ike moved the Techmarine in front of them for cover saves.  Nathaniel tried to redeploy his Raptors on my left flank, and got crappy MTC rolls.  The Raptors took their frustration out on my newly-arrived Praetorians.  I was okay with this, I preferred the Praetorians becoming fire magnets over my Destroyers.  The CentDevs were still alive, their shooting was ineffective, however.  In the assault phase, Shrike proved infuriatingly difficult to wound.  The combined attacks of two Destroyers, the Cryptek, an Immortal, and Kobeh still only put one would on him.  The leftmost Destroyer squad was charged by the remaining Attack Bike, they got lucky and slew it before it could tie them down.  At this point, the Scarabs and Spyder finally killed the VenDread, and move on to seek other targets.

GAME TURN 4

Turn 4 - Me

My final reserves, the Tomb Blades, arrived, and I sent them onto the left flank.  I faintly recall the Wraiths and Praetorians moving towards the enemy side of board to capture the left objective, and to fight Lias Issodon.  I sent the Scarabs into the board center to block off and eat the Marines there.  Shooting was minimal, with most of my shooting units tied up in combat (i.e. me failing to play Necrons properly).  The Scarabs did get into combat with Ike's Techmarine and ate his servitors, and the Destroyer squads not locked in combat jet-pack-moved to better firing positions, nearer to the center of the board.  Shrike finally fell, leaving Kobeh, his Cryptek, and the two Destroyers to head back towards the Lahker lines.

Turn 4 - Ike and Nathaniel

Ike and Nathaniel thinned down Shahk's warriors and the remaining Praetorian squad, and spent a lot of dice trying and failing to wound my Spyder and Destroyer Lord (who finally died to a Rending bolter shot).  Thank you T6, 3+ armor, and 4+ Reanimation.  The CentDevs opened fire on Kobeh and the Cryptek.  In a twist of fates, Kobeh threw himself in front of the hurricane bolter fire to save the Cryptek, who had the Chronometron (squad-wide 5++ against hostile shooting) and as an IC could make an expensive Destroyer squad a little more survivable, especially against heavy weapons and Dreadnought multi-meltas.  Assault this turn was a failure for me, the Wraiths and Praetorians failed to wound Lias and the Scarabs whiffed against the midfield Techmarine.

GAME TURN 5

Turn 5 - Me

At this point, I tried to pull my army back into something resembling coherency, focused around the objectives.  It was another turn of very little shooting, and ineffective at that.  I'm not sure why I jumped that central Destroyer squad forward, maybe to kill the Drop Pod...maybe the Dreadnoughts?  I split Lord Nihkyanh off from Byrahn and the warriors, the latter jogging off down the hill to punch some Marines, the former joining the Spyder in punching the Drop Pod, which was contesting the adjacent objective.  Their combined efforts brought the Pod down to 1 HP, and Byrahn and the warriors didn't do too shabby against the Marines.  Shahk decided he had to live up to his title as Phaeron, and charged the Penitent Dreadnought, tactfully using his warriors to absorb its attacks.  The Scarabs got their shit together and wounded the Techmarine.

On a trivial note, the Night Scythe came back on, got intercepted by the Quad Gun, and lost its only weapon, thus becoming a fancy waste of 130 points.

Turn 5 - Ike and Nathaniel

Nathaniel sent Marines towards the left objective to contest it.  Ike had his Dreads conga-line around the central Drop Pod and towards the right objective and a very uncomfortable Cryptek.  The one free squad of TacMarines took my Spyder's last wound with a sneaky bolter volley.  The rightmost Destroyers, just freed from Shrike, died from massive blunt trauma thanks to the Dread squad (as well as the Cryptek, I believe).  The Dreads also captured the right-flank objective.  Ike's Techmarine whiffed amusingly against the Scarabs, and nothing of note happened in the Wraith-Praetorian-Lias combat.  In better news, Shahk got his first kill in millions of years on the Penitent Dreadnought, and consolidated towards the nearby objective.

We rolled for game end, and got another turn.

GAME TURN 6

Turn 6 - Me

I pulled my central Destroyers back from their questionable position, and the two Marines that had survived in center field for several turns died to gauss-fire.  The leftmost Destroyer squad sat on their objective.  Shahk's depleted squad charged the Marines on Ike's leftmost objective, sent them running, but not out of range of contesting the objective.  The warriors in the center joined the Scarabs and helped them put an end to the Techmarine.

Turn 6 - Ike and Nathaniel

Nathaniel's surviving Raptors fired on and took a few wounds off the leftmost Destroyers.  Pretty sure the Dread squad fired at something, likely the central Destroyers.  The last Wraith and Praetorian killed Lias and secured Slay the Warlod.

We rolled and the game ended.

Final score: Lahkers held one objective (3 VP), had two Heavy Support kills (2 VP), and Slay the Warlord, Line Breaker, and First Blood (3 VP) for a total of 8 VP.  The Marine alliance held three objectives (9 VP), one Heavy Support kill (1 VP), and Line Breaker (1 VP) for a total of 11 VP.  The Emperor's Angels took this one home.

Final Thoughts:

• I should not have sent my Destroyers on the right flank so far forward so soon.  Shrike more than made his points back tying them up for the game.
• Ike asked why I hadn't focused fire on his Dreadnought Squad...I looked at that wall of AV 12, with a total of 9 HP, and decided to treat it like a Wraithknight: it would be easier to kill the army around that rock first rather than wear myself down on the rock and have the rock's army kill me while I did so.  (A note: in a recent game, Ike fielded a similar Dread squad, and that time I tried and succeeded at stopping it with the Heavy Destroyers.)
• The new Lords did very well in their first game, in fact exceeding my expectations.  Aside from the whiffed charge at Squad Dakon, that is.
• This got me into playing Destroyers for a while, in order to win with something fast, mobile, and something other than Footslogging Necron Cheese.
• Shadow Captain Shrike has the coolest title ever, and is also harder to hit than Batman at midnight, during a power outage, at the zenith of an eclipse.
• You know what, Shrike is probably straight up Batman.

Extra Pics:

Saddest Vindicator ever, duct-taped together by Techmarines fifteen minutes before the battle.

"Not again..."

Now you see Assault Marines...

...now you don't.

Coming in for a broadside.

RIP Distraction Praetorians, thanks for keeping that thing away from my army.

Shahk's first deployment in 60 million years.

Nihkyanh and Byrahn engage with Squad Dakon.

Kobeh finally gets to grips with Shrike.

"Look out, son!"

The rather anticlimactic fight with the Techmarine warlord.

Shahk's first kill! 

Looks like it's Destroyer-Stomping Day.

Workbench #5: Foam-Board Barricade

Finally rearranged my workspace so it's 1) cleaner, 2) higher (don't have to hunch over), 3) brighter, thanks to a new lamp, and 4) larger, so it's not quite so cramped.  And after that, I decided to just sit down, build a barricade, and, of all the things to do, have fun.

I am very pleased with it.  It's a nice way to add some variety to the battlefield without needing to plunk down a whole hill.  Plus, Guardsmen really need that cover save.

Battle Report #15: Lahkers & Tau vs Red Marauders

The Lahkers and the Tau couldn't agree on many things, but the need to teach those uppity, Dreadnought-spamming Red Marauders a lesson was one of those things two xenos races could concur on.

This was another Not-Apoc game, 4,000 points, from late summer, with me and Nathaniel teamed up against Ike.  We knew what each other were bringing, Ike with a special Iron Hands Dreadnought/Ork team-up, Nathaniel with his anti-tank Tau, and me with with an early iteration of the Lahkers' Destroyer Cult, along with my first try at fielding a Deathbringer Flight consisting of my Doom Scythe and my B-2 stealth bomber model.

Deployment was Dawn of War, mission was good old kill points.

My list. Destroyer Lord is the Warlord.

Nathaniel's Galactic Empire-themed Tau.

Ike's list (4000pts total)

Red Marauders Space Marines (Iron Hands Chapter Tactics)
Librarian w/Auspex, Digital Weapons, Mastery Level 2, Force Sword, Jump Pack
2x Techmarines (one with bolt pistol, boltgun, servo arm, other with auspex, boltgun, servo arm, storm bolter)
2x Servitors
Master of the Forge w/Conversion Beamer
2x Venerable Dreadnoughts w/extra armor, multi-melta, power fist/storm bolter, both in Drop Pods with Deathwind misisle launcher
2x Venerable Dreadnoughts w/assault cannon, power fist, one with storm bolter, one with heavy flamer
Ironclad Dreadnought w/hurricane bolter, Ironclad assault launchers, Seismic Hammer/heavy flamer
5x Scouts w/camo cloaks, heavy bolter w/hellfire shells, 3x sniper rifles
5x Tactical Marines w/vet sarge (armed with boltgun) and flamer in Razorback w/dozer blade, storm bolter, TL heavy bolter
5x Assault Marines w/2x flamers, vet sarge with combat shield and power axe
5x Devastators, 2x heavy bolters, sarge w/bolt pistol and chainsword, in Rhino

Orks
Painboy w/Gitfinda
Warboss w/attack squig, Bosspole, Cybork Body, 'eavy Armor, Kombi-Skorcha, Power klaw
Weirdboy Mastery level 2
4x Nobz in Battlewagon w/'ard case, extra armor, Grot Riggers, Kannon, Reinforced Ram
17x Shoota Boyz w/'eavy armor and Nob w/bosspole
10x Slugga Boyz in Trukk w/rokkit launcha
Burna-Bommer w/6x Skorcha missiles
2x Big Trakks w/2x Big Shootas, Grot Riggers, Supa-Kannon
Deff Dread w/extra armor, Grot Rigger, Power Klaw, Rokkit Launcha
Deff Dread w/extra armor, Grot Riggers, 2x Skorchas
4x Lootas w/Mek armed with Rokkit Launcha

Skitarii
5x Skitarii Rangers w/Transuranic arquebus, Ranger Alpha has galvanic rifle and refractor field
5x Skitarii Vanguard w/arc rifle, enhanced data-tether, plasma caliver, Vanguard Alpha has arc maul, conversion field, digital weapons, phosphor blast pistol

Inquisition
Ordo Xenos Inquisitor w/Conversion Beamer, Power Armor, Psychotroke Grenades, Mastery level 1, Rad Grenades, 3x Servo Skulls, Warlord
Henchmen Warband, 3x Acolytes w/boltguns, carapace armor, laspistol, 3x Jokaero Weaponsmiths, 1x Servitor w/heavy bolter

Deployment

Our deployment.  Me and Nathaniel roughly split the battlefield halfway for our armies.  The anti-tank guns were spread as evenly as possible across the board.  His Pathfinders were placed up on terrain for better markerlighting, my Triarch Stalker stood in a big crowd of Necrons to make its buff as effective as possible, and I put my Master of the Forge and his Scouts on the tall ruins at the top of the picture for maximum coverage with the Conversion Beamer.

Fire Prism and Raider are Hammerheads, walkers and Wraithlord are Broadside suits.

Ike's deployment.  He put a blob of boyz behind his Aegis line on his left flank, with the interceptor Quad-gun, put the Iron Hands armor in the center, and on the right flank put the Warboss and Weirdboy in their Trukks.  His Scouts infiltrated on the square ruins near our lines.

Full deployment, examples A and B.

And that was that for deployment.  On to the battle.

GAME TURN 1

Turn 1, ex. A

Turn 1, ex. B

Turn 1 - Us

The combined Necron-Tau force walked forward a bit.  Not much happened.  We were able to kill a Scout and a Loota, and mentally prepared ourselves for what was to come.

Turn 1 - Ike

Ike's turn began with a Deathwind-armed Drop Pod landing in our left corner, deploying his Vendread with the multi-melta.  His forces moved into and behind any available cover, and the Warboss and Weirdboy drove their Trukks forward according to standard ere-we-go tactics.  In the shooting phase, he killed two Destroyers, and the Drop Pod VenDread immobilized a Hammerhead gunship (the Raider).

GAME TURN 2

Turn 2, ex. A

Turn 2, ex. B

Turn 2 - Us

The action started to pick up this turn.  Both Praetorian squads came in, along with the Doom Scythes.  I sent the Scythes towards the Razorback, AT-ST Deff Dread, and the footslogging Ironclad Dread, and dropped the Praetorians in on Ike's right flank.  On our right flank, the Lahker troops and Destroyers made it to the square-based ruins, backed up by the Stalker and Crisis suits.  In shooting, we killed a few more scouts, my Heavy Destroyer knocked 1 HP off the Big Trakk on Ike's left flank, and my Destroyer squad in the middle (under the Scythes) killed the Weirdboy's Trukk for First Blood.  The Praetorians killed off Ik's right-flank Big Trakk, Nathaniel's Fire Warriors charged and grenaded the Drop Pod Dread to death, and the Hammerhead repaired its Immobilized result.

*Possibly this turn, possibly next turn, my Dev-proxy MoTF and Ike's Inquisitor began a conversion beamer duel, and I made this to commemorate it.*

Wait...conversion "beamber?" Dammit...

Turn 2 - Ike

Ike's Burna-Bomma, not about to be left out of the battle, flew onto the field.  The barely-assembled Skitarii Rangers and Vanguard made it onto the field, outflanked on Ike's left flank.  One of the Tau units Intercepted the Vanguard and killed 4 of the 5 men in the squad.  Ike poured on the shooting, however he only inflicted minimal casualties, mostly warriors and a Praetorian.  He did get some boyz into combat with the Tau on our left flank, not sure how.  Darn meddlin' orks.  The lone Skitarii Vanguard valiantly assaulted my warriors and was slain.

GAME TURN 3

Turn 3, ex. A 

Turn 3, ex. B

Turn 3 - Us

Our Necron-Tau infantry line didn't move much further this turn, they stood and fired.  The Riptide moved towards our left flank to provide fire support against the Orks and Dreadnought.  The Doom Scythes homed in on the Aegis defense line and killed the remaining Big Trakk hiding in the woods.  The Deff Dread (real model) approaching the Lahker-held ruins was destroyed, and the other Dreadnoughts were damaged.  My MoTF had a Conversion Beamer duel with Ike's Inquisitor, and killed a few of his acolytes.  The Praetorian squads then assaulted the Inquisitor's squad and the remaining Dreadnought on Ike's right flank.  (Bad move against the Dread, Praetorians with Rods of Covenant can't glance AV12)

Turn 3 - Ike

Ike's second Drop Pod finally arrived, putting his repainted Dreadnought down almost in our center field...it got Intercepted and exploded.  He began to inch his Orks and Lootas on his left flank up at this point.  The Burna-Bomma decimated the midfield squad of Fire Warriors, killing all but one model.  The Librarian and Assault Squad deep-struck into our right flank.  Ike caused light casualties across the board otherwise, and assaulted Lord Nahz's squad on the square ruins with the VenDread.  His Inquisitor's squad suffered losses at the hands of the Praetorians.

GAME TURN 4

Turn 4, ex. A

Turn 4, ex. B

Turn 4 - Us

The Doom Scythes moved into ongoing reserves.  My warriors and Stalker, finding themselves in range of Lootas, a Rhino of Marines, and the Assault Marines, decided to back up and re-form the line.  The Immortals gaussed the AT-ST Dread down.  The Rhino that had been hovering in the midfield near the square ruins was finally wrecked as well.  One Hammerhead and the Riptide put the Warboss and Nobz down.  In an unlikely intervention, Nahz had his Necron ass saved when the Crisis suits joined his combat and killed Ike's Dreadnought with an Onager gauntlet.

Turn 4 - Ike

Ike's forces had pretty much been removed from the lower half of the board at this point.  He focused his efforts on killing Nahz's squad and the Crisis suits.  The Crisis suits died to the joint effort of a Big Shoota and the Ironclad Dread, and Nahz was tackled lethally by the Librarian and his Assault buddies.  The Razorback charged onto our side of the table, I'm pretty sure it took a shot at the Stalker, but thankfully failed to kill it.

GAME TURN 5

Turn 5, ex. A

Turn 5, ex. B

Turn 5 - Us

The Doom Scythes swooped back onto the field, went after the Burna-Bomma, spammed the tesla destructors, and knocked it out of the sky.  The rest of the Necron-Tau force consolidated towards our side of the board in general, finishing off the mauled enemy units within range.  The Praetorians overcame the hardy Inquisitor and got Slay the Warlord at long last (the others got squished in their ill-considered Dreadnought combat), and a Techmarine and his servitors wandering around in the midfield were slain.

Turn 5 - Ike

Ike's Shoota Boyz made it far enough they could hose the Destroyers on their end of the board, taking a few of them out.  The Librarian charged my Destroyer Lord, whiffed his attacks, and then dodged the return attacks and...survived?  Maybe?  The record is incomplete here.  The Praetorian squad is listed as "kill", who or what is not specified.  They may have been killed, they don't show up in any pics at that point.  Ike's Scouts, battered but alive, still hunched in the square ruins, somehow hanging on through the slaughter going on around them.

The game ended the bottom of Turn 5.  Final score: Lahkers and Tau 17 kill points (counting Slay the Warlord and First Blood), and Ike got 11 kill points.  Victory for the Greater Good and the Dynasty!  (But more importantly the Dynasty.  Necrons rule.)

Final thoughts:

• Deathbringer Flight was a lot of fun, honestly more cool than effective for their points...still, they shot down the Bommer, destroyed a Big Trakk, and took a few HP off the Ironclad Dreadnought.  Not too bad.
• Destroyers do NOT belong on the front lines or in assault, not at all.
• Stalkers do a lot for your army when they're alive...hint hint, Gabe, put that Stalker in cover.  Maybe even in reserve.
• Funnily enough, Praetorians are better tank-busters with the voidblade (Rending, Entropic Strike) and the S6 particle caster pistol, rather than the nasty but low-strength Rod of Covenant.
• Be very, very thankful you were on the friendly end of the Tau guns this game.

Extra Pics:

Pictured: grand prize winners of the survive-the-match contest.

Ike's Lootas.

Ike's Inquisitorial warband, complete with what I believe are Battletech proxies for the Jokaeros.

The Warboss and the Weirdboy Wyrdfang da White.

An advance slightly more orderly than the 5k-point game.

I may have enjoyed this moment more than was necessary.

Skitarii...uh...Rangers outflank.

Skitarii Vanguard outflank, right before getting Intercepted.

We let Ike use Battletech's "flippy-arms" rule so his Dreadnought could bring his guns to bear on the Praetorians.

The Burna-Bommer lets fly with a skorcha missile.

Wyrdfang da White (left) charges into combat.

Ike actually had another conversion beamer on the field, but he got left out of the duel. Sorry MoTF.

The very nicely painted Dreadnought, which got intercepted when he dropped in.

MOST DEFINITELY NOT AS PLANNED

I may not be a great nemesor, but by the Silent Kings I can get good shots with them.

The Inquisitor-Praetorian combat. He did not go down easy.

The dramatic aerial pursuit of the Burna-Bommer.

That jump Librarian may not have survived after all.

"Guys, guys!  We're alive!  Who woulda thought?"