Battle Report #27: Lahkers vs Adepta Sororitas

That's right, Necrons vs Sisters, Sanctuary 101* style!  This was another game with Chappie, who previously battled me with his Daemon army and the Bloodthirster of Insatiable Adjectives.

We played another of the Old School 40k missions; this one was "Tempest", where we set up in an L-shape on the short edge and half the long edge of the board.  We also had the option to destroy (remove completely from the game) a single Objective every turn.

Lahkers:
Anrakyr the Traveller (warlord, Implacable Conqueror)
Lord w/Solar Staff, Resorb, Phase Shifter
10x Immortals
2 20x Warrior squads
10x Praetorians w/Voidblade and Particle Caster
Triarch Stalker w/Particle Shredder (large blast)
5x Canoptek Wraiths
3x Tomb Blades w/Nebuloscope, Particle Beamer, Shield Vanes
2 2x Heavy Destroyers

Order of the Ebon Chalice:
Saint Celestine
Uriah Jacobus
4 10x Battle-Sister squads, all with Rhinos
5x Dominions w/flamers in Immolator
5x Arco-Flagellants
10x Seraphim w/bolt pistols
7x Retributors w/5 heavy bolters and Banner
2x Exorcists

We deployed objectives roughly equidistant from each other around the board.  My original plan was to march up to center field, kill everything in my way (overestimating the value of mass gauss vs T3 3+ here), and grab the center objectives.  If the Destroyers had to, they would hop down and destroy an objective or two, in case Chappie had sneaky ideas about causing trouble in my deployment zone.

Chappie set up a right-angle of Rhinos, with an Exorcist on each flank to drop melta missiles on me.  Everyone was in their transports, with the exception of the Flagellants (right by the left Exorcist below), and the Seraphim and St. Celestine, who deployed right by the bastion.  The Dominions and their Immolator deployed near the Flagellants also, on the same board side as my Stalker.  Jacobus and the Retributors went in the bastion nearest to my short board edge, with a nice big field of fire around them.

Chappie did not steal the initiative, and we went ahead to Turn 1.

So, Turn 1.  I had my Destroyers where I wanted them, I just had to get the rest of my army in range.  I moved and ran my Warriors, and had the Wraiths hop up on the near side of the adjacent hill.  The Tomb Blades moved behind their hill, waiting for the right moment to pop out and shoot.  Anrakyr shot his tachyon arrow at one of the Rhinos, and would have penned it had it not made its cover save.  The Heavy Destroyers failed to pen the bastion, but did take 1HP from the left-side Exorcist.

Chappie rolled out towards center field with his Rhinos, most of them at Cruising speed.  The silver Rhino moved just beyond the bastion and popped smoke to cover for the other Rhinos.  The Arco-Flagellants made threatening moves towards the Wraiths.  Jacobus then helped the Retributors pass their prayers to gain Shred, and they KO'd 9 of my Warriors who I had so blithely marched into their guns.  The left-side Exorcist moved partly into cover and then snap-fired and failed to hit my Destroyers.

Turn 2.  I should've focused my ire on Jacobus' Bastion of Badasses, but this being my first time playing Sisters combined with my immortal hubris (both in-game and IRL), I decided the Rhinos had to die so I could mass-gauss the Sisters to death.  First things first, however, I rolled for reserves and got my Praetorians in.  I should have dropped them in front of the Seraphim to keep them from getting at my Warriors, but no, that would be too easy.  I dropped them to one side of the Seraphim.  The right-side Destroyers got First Blood on the black Rhino in front of the green crystals.  The Praetorians shot at the Seraphim, but since I'd armed them with AP5 particle casters rather than AP2 rods of covenant, I killed only two bolter babes.  The other Warrior blob, which had gone untouched so far, took a few HP off another Rhino, and the Stalker ran for the second time.  The Tomb Blades moved on top of the hill, and tried and failed to kill more Seraphim.  (Chappie's spacing was 2 inch perfection, I hit only 3 models.)  The Wraiths then assaulted the Rhino on the other side of the hill and wrecked it, and the Sisters piled out.

Chappie's turn, he moved both squads of black-primed Sisters (both from previously wrecked Rhinos) to surround my Wraiths, with the of the Arco-Flagellants.  His intact Rhinos rushed into the center field and blocked off my LOS to the black-primed Sisters.  The silver Rhino by the bastion deployed its Sisters by the Praetorians.  The Seraphim and Celestine, seeing I had not screened off my shrinking Warrior blob, lunged for it.  Chappie then rolled for (and got) all the Acts of Faith.  Preferred Enemy, Shred, Rending, all of them.  (Jacobus burned his 2nd-use AoF on this round.)  The Warriors near the Seraphim were quickly reduced to 2 models, the Tomb Blades were blown away, I lost most of the Wraiths, and 6 of the Praetorians as well.  The Seraphim miraculously rolled crap to charge my Warriors.  The Arco-Flagellants got into combat with the last of the Wraiths.

 

Turn 3.  I finally got my whole Warrior blob (the remaining one) and the Stalker into range.  Anrakyr and the Immortals, having been too passive for the past 2 turns, moved up to try and make up for lost time.  The Destroyers blew up the Rhino immediately in front of my Warrior blob, and I killed 5 Battle-Sisters after that, with all 20 BS5 gauss flayers from the Warriors blob.  Dat 3+ save, man.   I sent the Praetorians after the Seraphim to lock them down, but Celestine killed all four of them at I5, and consolidated towards the Immortals.  The Wraith-Flagellant combat went on, in my favor.

On Chappie's turn, the Immolator took off at Cruising speed, heading right for my Stalker.  The Sisters pressed their advantage and advanced on my forces.  I lost most of my Immortals (I believe to the Retributors), they failed their morale check, and ran.  Celestine and the Seraphim charged them, and began killing them off.  Celestine challenged, and I had Lord Nihkyanh and his 4++ take it up.  He got killed right off, but that left Anrakyr to fight on a little longer, and the combat went on.  My last Wraith finally killed the last Flagellant, only to find himself surrounded by angry nuns with guns.

Turn 4.  I was pretty sure this was it, but I decided to go one more turn to be sporting, and to kill a few more models.  I did in fact kill off the fully-painted Battle-Sister squad.  The Destroyers fired at a few things but did nothing of note.  Celestine's squad killed off the Immortals, and Celestine herself struck down Anrakyr.

Chappie drove his Dominions up alongside my Warrior blob, and for the first time I realized they were using flamers.  Turns out 5 flamers (including the Sister Superior's combi-flamer) can really ruin infantry's day; I lost 11 Warriors in one go to them.  The Exorcists coordinated their hymns and missiles to annihilate my Stalker.  The Battle-Sisters finished off the last Wraith, leaving me with a couple Heavy Destroyers atop my bastions.

I conceded the game.  Sanctuary 101 had survived the first wave of Necrons.  Score was First Blood and 1 Objective to me, and 3 Objectives, Line Breaker, and Slay the Warlord to Chappie.

After Action Report

In hindsight, maxing out my FA slots on Destroyers may have been the better idea.  I went in thinking "My S4 across the board should have no problem against T3", and came out with the knowledge that without AP3 to go with that S4, exterminating Sisters is nearly as tough as killing Space Marines.

Jacobus and his Retributors was my particular bane this game.  Chappie said if I'd focused the Heavy Destroyers on Jacobus' bastion first thing and blown him out of it, as well as dropping my Praetorians farther back to protect my warriors, it would have been a different game.  (That, and Chappie has double-digit 40k experience compared to my measly 4-5 years in the hobby.  Biting off more than I can chew, that's me.)

This guy right here, he's trouble.

Still, I got to face Sisters!  That was the biggest thing about this game.

Extra Pics

 

Should have been more aggressive and farther up the center with Anrakyr and his special Immortals.

Battle Report #26: Lahkers & Chaos Marines vs Hive Fleet Basilisk

TYRAHNID INCAHSHUN!

After discovering how truly crap I am at 40k, I needed a plain old fun game.  I got together with Ike and Nathaniel once again, and we had a 2v1 of me and Ike's Necrons and CSM versus Nathaniel's Tyranids.  They are the splinter fleet Basilisk, based off Hive Fleet Basilisk, with the Endless Swarm formation.

Lahkers:

Overlord (Phaeron Shahk) w/Warscythe, Phase Shifter, Phylactery, Resorb

5x Lychguard w/sword and shield

Triarch Stalker w/heat ray

10x Immortals

3 10x Warriors

Ike's CSM:

Chaos Lord w/ MoS, Chainaxe, Burning Brand of Skalathrax

20x Noise Marines w/ Icon of excess, 19 sonic blasters, champion w/ chainaxe, doom siren

Rhino w/ Havok launcher, dozer blade

10x Chaos Cultists w/ flamer

Sonic Dreadnought w/ Blastmaster, warp amp

Vindicator "Vindictive George" w/ Demonic Possession

Hive Fleet Basilisk:
Endless Swarm

2 17x Hormagaunts
2 18x Hormagaunts (Both with Toxin Sacs)
2 13x Termagants 3w/ Devourer
14x Termagants 4w/ Devourer
3 Warriors
(Devourer, Scything Talons, Toxin sac)
(Deathspitter, Lashwhip & Boneswords, Toxin sacs)
(Deathspitter, Scything talons, Toxin sac)

Hive Fleet Detachment
Hive Tyrant (Boneswords, Heavy Venom Cannon, Prehensile Pincer Tail, Regeneration, Shreddershard beetles, The Norn Crown, Toxin Sacs)
5 Genestealers
5 Ripper swarms W/spine fists
3 Warriors (Dethspitter, Rending claws, Toxin sacs) (Boneswords, Deathspitter, Toxin sacs) (Boneswords, Rending Claws, Toxin sacs)
10x Gargoyles
3x Raveners W/devourer
Carnifex W/Bone Mace, Crushing Claws, Regeneration, Toxin Sacs
Trygon Prime W/Acid Blood, Prehensile Pincer, Regeneration, Toxin Sacs)

We played with the custom Crash Site mission I'd played with a few weeks earlier, from the gaming club.  There were the 4 objectives in the table corners, worth 1VP, and the center objective worth 2VP in the 24" bubble of permanent Night Fighting.

Me and Ike parked our forces on the bottom left of the board, around the ruins.  We had discussed earlier that Ike's list would be the high-Str/Ignores Cover shooting, and I would be the meat shields and general anti-infantry shooting.  We had a vehicle on each flank (two on our right) and my Lychguard in the center to block hostile 'gaunts.  Phaeron Shahk was present for his second battle ever, eager to break some skulls and show off his fancy new coat of paint.

Nathaniel threw down a field of critters.  Termagants were in the center, with Hormagaunts flanking them, with Warriors and the Hive Tyrant spread out to provide synapse.

Nathaniel stole the initiative!

Turn 1.  Nathaniel's living carpet of models advanced across the board, and the first thing the Rippers did was walk out of synapse.  He got Dominion off on his Tyrant and got them back in synapse range, however.  A smattering of shooting killed 4 of my Necron Warriors and a Lychguard.

On our turn, I advanced the Lychguard out to tie up the nearest Hormagaunts, and our combined shooting killed a Hormagaunt blob for First Blood and then wiped out the Genestealers on on our left flank.  The Noise Marine blob and Vindicator did the majority of the killing.  Ike forgot to have his Cultists hop into the adjacent building and sealed their fate as 'nid snacks.

Turn 2.  All Nathaniel's reserves came in.  The Trygon Prime erupted in the middle of our defenses, and the Gargoyles and Raveners deep-struck on the right and left flanks.  Sheer weight of fire killed off the rest of the Lychguard, leaving Shahk to stand alone.  A few Marines died as well, and the Rippers ate the Cultists for lunch.  Shahk got charged by both units of Termagants, and got into an extended combat with them.

During our turn, we hosed the Hormagaunts in the ruins on the left, and also blew the Raveners off the board.  I inched my troops back and killed off Gargoyles, the Night Fighting bubble saved a few of the flying bugs.  The Stalker took a wound from the Trygon Prime, and I think Ike had his Marine blob charge it in the assault phase.  We also realized Shahk's fight with the Termagants was the most ludicrous tarpit ever; at S3 they could only wound him 1-2 times a phase, he could easily save those wounds, but he couldn't kill them fast enough to get out of combat.  That was in my and Ike's favor, though, since that was 2 whole blobs of Termagants not shooting and charging our other more important units.  (Sorry, Shahk, you weren't the spotlight of that game.)

Turn 3.  The Rippers had drifted out of synapse range again, but Nathaniel turned it around again when he made their Ld5 instinctive behavior check!  Good for the little buggies.  The Warriors and Carnifex got closer to our lines, and the last few Hormagaunts on our left managed to lock my Immortals in combat.  The Shahk-Termagant combat went nowhere, as predicted.  (Not that Shahk wasn't having a great time, chopping up 'gants left and right.)

Ike advanced his Sonic Dread towards the Shahk-Termagant mess, my Warriors on the left headed down to the left bottom objective, and the Stalker climbed into the ruins to help out with the Trygon-Marine combat.

Turn 4.  The Tyranid swarm was really getting into our faces at this point.  Nathaniel finally got an Endless Swarm roll off, and brought a unit of Termagants in by the Trygon.  Putting the Trygon in our backline, and having it pull our fire away from the regular bugs had definitely worked out for him.  The Hive Tyrant hoofed it into combat with Shahk and challenged, and they duked it out.  Shahk got 2 wounds in on the Tyrant and took 1 wound in return.  The Trygon Prime turned around and punched my Stalker into next week.  It exploded and killed most of the 'gants that had just come in.  Welp.

Me and Ike moved our units to cap the left-board objectives, the Rhino at the top left, my Warriors at the bottom left, strung around the ruins to give some fire support to the rest of our forces.  The Tyrant slew Shahk, and it and one unit of 'gants consolidated towards my Immortals, leaving the Sonic Dread to deal with the other unit of 'gants.

Turn 5. The 'nids had all but eaten my warriors on the bottom edge of the board.  The Tyrant and a couple Hormagaunts that had survived (or come back from Endless Swarm?  I forget) charged and wiped out my Immortals.  The Noise Marines killed the Trygon Prime at last, but it had done its job already.

Our turn, the Vindicator and Rhino were still alive and plinking away at the Warriors and Carnifex.  Not a lot happened, we pulled our units towards the objectives and killed off 'gaunts of both types.  The Sonic Dread won its assault and consolidated onto the center objective.

We rolled for game end.  It went to Turn 6.  Nathaniel seized this chance for all it was worth, sending his Hormagaunts into my Warriors, his Carnifex into the Sonic Dreadnought, and the Hive Tyrant into Ike's Chaos Lord.  My notes do not record what happened to the Warriors, however the Hive Tyrant slew the Chaos Lord, and the Carnifex blew up the Sonic Dread.  We were about to roll for game end when Ike, being a good sport, reminded Nathaniel still could make his assault consolidation move for his Carnifex.  Nathaniel did so, and consolidated just barely into range of the center objective.

With both our warlords dead (we counted them as separate warlords, both giving Slay the Warlord for 2VP together), and the Carnifex's clutch consolidation, the Tyranids took the game.  Nathaniel had 5VP–2VP for Slay the Warlord twice, Line Breaker, and the center objective worth 2VP.  Me and Ike had 3VP–First Blood and two objectives.

I didn't care that I lost.  Shahk got to show off his new paint job (done the night before), I got to see Nathaniel's newly-painted Tyranids, we had a fun afternoon.  It's easier to lose to friends.  It's okay to be the underdog.

Lahker Tactics: Past and Present

The Lahker Dynasty: picking the wrong battles for 65+ million years.

This post both works to clarify to myself what the hell the Lahkers think they're doing, and may provide additional insight into why I can field a Decurion and still lose.

Forces of the Lahkers, mid-2016
3x Overlords, 3x Lords, 2x Crypteks
40x Warriors, 10x Immortals, 3x Tomb Blades
10x Wraiths, 12x Scarab bases, 2x Spyders
5x Lychguard, 5x Praetorians, 5x magnetized Lychguard/Praetorians, 10x Deathmarks
1x Stalker, 1x Ghost Ark, 1x Doom Scythe/Night Scythe 

A Short History of Immortal Hubris

In those very first, very special days of playing Necrons, all I knew was to rapid fire everything, always buy warscythes, and never ever get anyone other than the Overlords into melee.  This went as planned slightly less than 25% of the time.  I had fun anyways; I was just starting, so it was crazy goofy fun at the time. 

This is as serious as 40k ever needs to be.

Gradually I switched over to running MSU-style lists, with units with specific purposes in mind.  There were the Warriors blobs, the backfield 5-man squads with Eldritch-lance-toting Crypteks (how I miss those), my Overlord would run around with his 10 Immortals and use them as meat shields while he chopped things up, and my Wraiths were the linemen of my army, always fielding the nastiest hostile melee unit, or bullying weaker infantry squads.  I still had a poor grasp of tactics, but I had fun and didn't mind the losses too much.

The coming of 7E, also known as "offensive Relentless charges everywhere, no matter what".

Then Codex: Necrons 7th Edition came along, and I discovered I had accidentally collected the near-perfect Decurion detachment.  My tactical development slowed to a crawl while I marveled at sending waves of Warriors across the board, rapid-firing and charging as they went.  Tactics schamctics, all I needed was all gauss all day.  Yet even with the Decurion, I still managed to lose constantly.  (I don't think I've ever hit the 1:1 win/loss ration I have casually aimed for.)

After about a year of this nonsense, I realized I was still crap.  Ever since then, I've been actively considering and predicting the tactics and moves of my army and the enemy army.  Thinking about positioning, about the consequences of making one move or another, paying attention to the actual models on the actual board.  It hasn't paid magical dividends, but it is helping a little.

Standard deployment in action.

Use of the Legions

I usually play infantry-heavy with the Lahkers, by necessity of most of my army being infantry.  I have the models to play a mechanized/mobile list (Night Scythe, Ghost Ark, Veil of Darkness), a very mobile and shooty list (Destroyer Cult), and, of course, the undying Decurion with a maxed-out Royal Court and Reclamation Legion.

Standard practice is to form a gunline of 2-4 infantry squads, put the vehicles (Stalker, Ghost Ark, Annihilation Barge) immediately behind the line, and march forward, aiming to be at midfield around Turn 3 or 4, and having rapid-fired most of the opposing army off the table.  Having Wraiths in a Canoptek Harvest front and center to tackle the enemy melee/deathstar/whatever is a HUGE help.

When I want a more mobile force I go with the Ghost Ark and Night Scythe and put my HQ in a Catacomb Command Barge.  Season to taste with Praetorians and Destroyers.

Terrain

You mean the decorative stuff that keeps blocking my LOS?  Necrons can hack it without terrain, but that isn't to say it's not useful.  Area terrain is useful for the Warriors and Destroyers, who need insurance against being charged, and can also make use of the cover save.  Destroyers especially need cover, being the expensive min-maxed ranged units they are.  My Stalker needs LOS-blocking terrain since it's a valuable unit and target priority for the enemy.

Could I have used this building to bubble-wrap the Rhino and stop the Chaos Lord from getting out? Of course. Did I? NOOOOOPE.

This is an area that I really can improve.  I haven't used terrain enough; I should be paying attention to, say, how I can position to force enemies to assault through difficult terrain.  Things like that.  I should think about that more, when I play.

The Enemy

This is my biggest weakness, besides not learning from my own mistakes.  I haven't paid much attention to the varied tactics and abilities of the other armies of 40k.  Previously, it seemed like too much extra effort to imagine myself in the opponent's place, to imagine where I would put my units if I were Dark Eldar or Daemons or Tau.  (Space Marines are the one exception.  I've played Ike for so long even I've picked up on "bubble-wrap your Stalker or get a multi-melta to the rear arc")

The above is one of the few times I did bother thinking about the enemy (Nathaniel's Dark Eldar, a deep-strike-heavy list) and how they would deploy.  The Wraiths I put in the center so they could either go forward and push back enemy melee, or fall back and clear my backline if Nathaniel dropped his guys behind me.  He did drop dudes in my backline, and I was able to swing the Wraiths around, engage them, and lock them down long enough to win the game.

My Attitude

I like to think I'm a good sport.  Truth be told, it's way easier losing to my friends than to strangers at an event.  I don't mind losing as much if it's a close game.  Close games I like; one-sided landslides I don't like so much, even if I'm winning the landslide.

When I started Warhammer, I named the Lahkers so because I wanted to have fun with 40k, to hang out with other people and enjoy the game and the hobby.  There was a guy at the old FLGS I attended who fielded Blood Angels in crazy, silly lists which were fun just to watch.  We had some crazy games there, with dropping Drop Pods on Drop Pods, challenges atop Rhinos, and on and on.

The Future

I shall stop whining, observe the battlefield, think about the units, and facetank it like a real Overlord.

Okay, the last one is there because Necron superiority, but still.  Dare to have fun.