Battle Report #18: Necron Mirror Match, Jan '16 League

This was game #2 of the FLGS January casual league.  Overlord Byrahn, confident that last week's loss was just a fluke, marching his cripplingly specialized army onto the field, and realized he had already lost the More Egyptian Than Thou Contest.  A quick glance up and down the enemy line suggested that, if tactical brilliance was not exercised, Byrahn would lose the plain old beat-em-up contest as well.

The league parameters were Maelstrom missions and 1750pt lists.  Game #2's mission was Contact Lost (after turn 1 generate only as many objectives as you control), with Dawn of War deployment.  My opponent was Jason and his fully Egyptian-themed Necron army, right down to the dice and dice box.  Maximum style points.

I ran the same list from last week, just to see if it would work.

Jason's CAD
Cryptek w/Staff of Light, Veil of Darkness
10x Immortals
10x Immortals
10x Triarch Praetorians w/Rod of Covenant
6x Canoptek Wraiths w/Whip Coils
Stalker w/Heavy Gauss Cannon
The Deceiver (holding the spear)
Transcendent C'tan (two swords)

Tactical objectives were placed as shown below.  We rolled for warlord traits and night fighting; night fighting did indeed take place on Turn 1, and I rolled Eternal Warrior for Byrahn, and Jason rolled the Strategic Table trait that subtracted -1 from my reserve rolls.

Jason won the deployment roll-off, and set up centered on his side.

I set up opposite him.  In hindsight, it may have benefitted me more to set up on the right side, and force him to come to me.  But pride demanded I face another dynasty head-on...

Jason used the Deceiver's special ability to redeploy the Deceiver, the Transcendent C'tan (furthermore referred to as the "other Ct'an") the Wraiths, and his Barge farther to his left flank.

GAME TURN 1

Turn 1 - Jason

For tactical objectives, Jason drew Secure Objective 6.  He wasted no time in sending his Wraiths and C'tan forward, moving his troops towards Objectives 4 and 5, and using the Veil of Darkness to drop the Cryptek and his Praetorians right in the midfield.  The Praetorians killed two of my Immortals in the nearby squad off, and I lost one Immortal in the other squad from Jason's Immortal squad.  (Boy, this is going to get confusing...)  Both C'tan and the Annihilation Barge fired at and wiped out my Praetorians by my Stalker.  He got 1VP from achieving Secure #6 and 1VP more for First Blood.

Turn 2 - Me
I drew Secure #1 for my first tactical objective.  I didn't move much, I had the rightmost Immortals step aside to let the Praetorians and Lychguard conga-line through.  I chose to focus my fire on the Cryptek-Praetorian blob (except for my right-side squad of Immortals, whom I foolishly and uselessly had plink at the Deceiver), and killed only two of them.  My Annihilation Barge did get two glancing hits on his Stalker.  I had the Lychguard run, and then rediscovered the basic rule that you can't assault after running.  The Praetorians lunged in on their own, killed none of the foe, lost three out of four models, but stayed in (kind of as planned?).  I achieved Secure #1 for 1VP.

GAME TURN 2

Turn 2 - Jason

Jason held four objectives at the start of his turn, and drew Ascendency, Scour the Skies, Secure #4, and Secure #1.  He moved his Stalker and Barge towards Objectives 6 and 3, respectively.  The C'tan lumbered towards my lines, and the Wraiths got in my Lychguards' faces.  His Immortals wiped out my mauled squad of Immortals, but left my Cryptek untouched.  The Stalker fired at my Barge, and the Barge successfully jinked the shot.  The Lychguard soaked up fire from Jason's other Immortals (no wounds), made a 6+ Reanimation roll against the Transdimensional Thunderbolt from the one C'tan, and lost a single member to the Deceiver's Time's Arrow.  Then the Wraiths assaulted them, and the Lychguard soaked up the hits, and with the Royal Court's help dealt a single wound to them.  My single Praetorian was unsurprisingly slain by his brother Praetorians.  Jason achieved Secure #4 (1VP) and Ascendency (2VP) for a grand total of 5VP.

Turn 2 - Me

I could not generate a new objective, as I held no objectives.  I got one squad of Deathmarks in, Jason's warlord trait prevented the other one from arriving.  I dropped the Deathmarks back by Objective 4 in a delusional attempt to take it and to wound Jason's Immortals.  Since my Barge was already Jinking, I had it cruise over to Objective 2.  I sent my Stalker forward, determined to take Objective 3 or die trying.  The lonely Cryptek ran over to my other Immortals and joined them.  In assault, the Wraiths killed two of my Lychguard, and my models dealt one wound back to them.  No objectives were achieved.

GAME TURN 3

Turn 3 - Jason

Jason drew Scour the skies, Big Game Hunter, Secure #3, Secure #6, and had Secure #1 (left over from last turn) for his objectives.  The C'tan got within striking distance of my Stalker, and the Immortals near Objective 4 headed for my Deathmarks.  His Immortals then killed three of my Deathmarks, and both C'tan whiffed on penning my Stalker.  His Praetorians killed off one of my remaining Immortals.  The C'tan assaulted my Stalker, and managed to deal a penetrating hit, but didn't quite kill it.  (It did nothing to them.)  Luck turned my way briefly in the Lychguard-Wraith combat, I took no wounds and killed two Wraiths.  Jason achieved Secure #3, #6, and #1, raking in 3VP to bring his total to 8VP.

Turn 3 - Me
My Barge held Objective 2, I was able to draw a single objective, which was Secure #4.  My Deathmarks failed to arrive again, but the Doom Scythe made it, I sent it on from my left corner.  My Barge finished off his Stalker, and the Doom Scythe fired its weapons in a display of awesome power, aaaaand managed to kill a single enemy Immortal.  Room for improvement there.  The Deathmarks didn't even have that much luck with their shooting.  In assault, the C'tan shards finished off my Stalker, and my last Lychguard was killed.  The Royal Court, alone now, slew a Wraith to avenge their fallen bodyguard.  I achieved no objectives.

GAME TURN 4

Turn 4 - Jason

Jason drew another Secure #1, Secure #4, and Hold the Line for his objectives.  He moved the Praetorians and C'tan in to surround the Royal Court-Wraith combat.  The Praetorians killed my last Immortal squad (and got the Cryptek too this time), and then both C'tan jumped into melee and swiftly stomped the Royal Court into the ground.  Jason got Slay the Warlord, Hold the Line, Secure #4 and #1, and Big Game Hunter, gaining 5VP and bringing his total to 13VP.

Turn 4 - Me

My last act was to deep-strike my last Deathmark squad on Jason's side of the board to get Line Breaker.  I then conceded the game.  Jason got Line Breaker as well, with room to spare.

Final score: Egyptian 'crons 14VP, Lahkers 2VP.

I do believe I need a different list.
At least I had the honor of being beaten by a fully-painted army.  And with C'tan shards, too!  Jason has the distinction of being the only other player I've seen field Shards.
Coming next week: the Lahkers add two heaping teaspoons of tactical sense to their army!

Extra Pics:

Silver lining: the Annihilation Barge survived a game, for once.

Battle Report #17: Lahkers vs Eldar, Game 1, Jan '16 League

After a long absence, the Lahkers sent a detachment to join the casual league of the FLGS.  I got to field Lords Byrahn and Nihkyanh, as well as my repainted original Cryptek and my scratchbuilt Cryptek.

The league parameters were Maelstrom missions and 1750pt lists.  The first mission was Cleanse and Control, with Dawn of War deployment.  My opponent was Justin and his Eldar Craftworld army.

I decided to chill out, run a CAD, and bring out the models that hadn't seen the gaming table for months (namely, the Doom Scythe and Deathmarks).

The fact that I named this list after a Weird Al song tells you just how deadly serious it is.

Justin's Combined Arms list (recalled from memory)
Farseer w/Executioner, Mind War, Guide, and Fortune
10x Guardians w/3x Monofilament artillery platforms
10x Dire Avengers
10x Dire Avengers
10x Warp Spiders
5x Fire Dragons in a Wave Serpent
5x Dark Reapers w/Reaper sights
2x Fire Prisms
Wraithknight w/2x Wraithcannons

Maelstrom objectives were placed as follows: #1 on the far left center in the woods, #2 in the center woods on my side of the board, #3 in the cathedral, #4 by the square-topped tower on Justin's side, #5 in the small building on Justin's left flank, and #6 in the ruins on my right flank.

I won the deployment roll-off.  Remembering painful lessons of games past, I put the Stalker and five Immortals in cover, and put the Annihilation Barge and other Immortals farther to the right.  Byrahn, Nihkyanh, Nahz, and the Crypteks went with the Lychguard in the center, ready to advance to the cathedral or deep-strike across the board.

Justin set up with his Fire Prisms up to cover my left flank, had his Wraithknight cover my right flank, and put his infantry between them.  Guardians and artillery went behind the wall on his side, with the Farseer.

He stole the initiative.  I blame the Warp Spiders.

GAME TURN 1



Turn 1 - Eldar

For tactical objectives, Justin drew Secure Objectives 5 and  Big Game Hunter.  The Fire Prisms and Reapers opened up first; they failed to deal any damage.  The Wraithknight fared better, decided to turn the overkill dial to full, and one-shotted my Stalker.  The Wave Serpent moved towards the Annihilation Barge, and it and the Monofilament artillery hosed the Immortals, killing three Immortals total.  Justin achieved Big Game Hunter for 1VP, got First Blood, and achieved Objective 5.

Turn 1 - Lahkers

I drew tactical objectives and got Secure Objectives 1 and 4 and Kingslayer.  I decided to use Byrahn's one-use deep-strike to drop over by Objective 1, and Run to it during Shooting.  The Barge fired at and failed to damage the Wave Serpent.  That was it for me.  The real punch of my list was still in reserve, and nothing on the field could shoot beyond 24".  I achieved Objective 1 for 1VP.

GAME TURN 2

Turn 2 - Eldar

Justin's Turn 2 objectives were Secure Objective 1 and 5, and the Eldar-specific Combined Strike (I believe it was kill 1 unit in Shooting and Assault phases each).  His Warp Spider came in, and landed on my side of the board.  (I tried to bring in my Deathmarks with Ethereal Interception, but they scattered, rolled a mishap, and went back into reserve.)  The Wraithknight and one squad of Avengers headed towards my right flank, the other squad of Avengers moved towards my Lychguard, and the Wave Serpent drove up to the Barge and dropped off the Fire Dragons.  In the Shooting phase, the Fire Prisms killed a Lychguard, and the Immortals were mauled by the Monofilament artillery, broke, and ran off the table.  The Fire Dragons shot at my Barge, and it jinked the Dragons' meltas, but not the Wraithknight.  It went boom.  And then Lord Nahz died to the Wave Serpent's shuriken fire because I was too lazy for Look Out rolls and went straight to rolling for saves.  Justin achieved Combine Strike for 1VP.

Turn 2 - Lahkers

I still had Secure Objective 4 and Kingslayer, and the new one I drew was the rather unlikely Overwhelming Firepower.  I got one squad each of Deathmarks and Praetorians in, and the Doom Scythe as well.  The Deathmarks I dropped to the left of the Guardians and Monofilament artillery, and the Praetorians scattered but managed to land right up against the cathedral's wall, in LOS of the Fire Prisms though.  The Doom Scythe flew on by the cathedral and aiming at the Prisms.  The Deathmarks cleaned up half of the Guardian squad (thank you for 2+ wounding, Hunters from Hyperspace).  The Praetorians fired at the Warp Spiders, and discovered Warp Spiders can jump-move when fired on.  They hopped out of their 12" range, and the Doom Scythe discovered it was out of range of the Eldar tanks, targeted the Spiders, and the Spiders hopped away again.  (Apparently there's no limit on how far they can hop, time to put flypaper in my next list.)  The Royal Court and Lychguard closed with the nearby Avengers, hosed them with the fancy Necron S7 AP2 one-shot flamer, assaulted them, and cleaned them right up, consolidating towards the Guardians.  I achieved no tactical objectives.

GAME TURN 3

Turn 3 - Eldar

Justin still had Secure Objective 1 and 5, and drew Behind Enemy Lines.  The Wraithknight moved ominously towards the Royal Court and Lychguard, and the Fire Prisms scooted towards Objective 1.  The Warp Spiders, Wave Serpent, and Fire Dragons moved within 12" of my table edge, the latter two units also angling to pick off my last Immortals on the right flank.  It was then I discovered that the Dark Reapers' Reaper sight disallows jink saves against their attacks, and also gives them twin-linked against flyers.  In short order they penned my Doom Scythe and it crashed.  The Wraithkknight shot at the Royal Court, and vaporized Nikyanh.  The Fire Dragons and Fire Prisms killed my Praetorian squad.  Justin got d3+1 VP for Behind Enemy Lines, rolled a 3, and got 4VP total for it.

Turn 3 - Lahkers

With barely anything left, I decided to try to kill the Farseer and Guardians at least.  The last Deathmarks and Praetorians came in; I dropped the Praetorians near the Avengers coming up my right flank, they scattered and landed right in front of the Guardians.  This suited me fine.  I dropped the Deathmarks by the Avengers, and this time they landed dead on.  They shot and killed enough Avengers to force a morale test (they passed), and the Praetorians failed to wound the Guardians because the artillery platforms tanked the hits.  I moved the other Deathmarks towards Objective 4, remembering only later that the Reapers were contesting it.  The Royal Court decided to go out gloriously and charged the Wraithknight.  They got into combat, and miraculously lost only one Lychguard and Cryptek, but then broke and ran.  I achieved no tactical objectives.

GAME TURN 4

Turn 4 - Eldar

Justin had his Farseer mind-war Byrahn and won it.  Byrahn got his WS penalized, but saved the wound, thanks to his 4++.  Justin moved his troops to surround my remaining forces (Warlord and squad, 2 Deathmark squads, 1 Praetorian squad), and at the end of his player turn I conceded the game.

Final score: Eldar victory, Eldar 8VP, Lahkers 2VP.

Lahkers achieved one objective (1VP) and got Line Breaker on the second Praetorian squad (1VP) for a total of 2VP.  Eldar got Behind Enemy Lines (4VP), First Blood, Big Game Hunter, and Combined Strike (1VP each, 3VP total), and secured Objective 5 (1VP).  He got one more from either Objective 2 or Line Breaker, bringing his total to 8VP (maybe nine if he got both of those.)

A bit of a rough first game, but I've had worse (cough, mass flyrant, cough).  Justin had a painted army too, which I appreciated.  Three colors at least, with especially good work on the Reapers, Fire Dragons, and Fire Prisms (with translucent crystal cannon bits!).  Best part was being back at the gaming store and rolling dice with a bunch of people who appreciate 40k.  Looking forward to next week's match, come what may.

Extra pics:

Justin's paint job was excellent, however my camerawork was not...

Guy on the table by us had a badass Fire Raptor.

The Fire Raptor had a friend.

Very nice Caestus Assault Ram on another table. 

It's 2016!

Happy belated New Year, Necrons, Imperials, xenos, and other assorted life-forms!  This year I aim to finish painting the Lahker army, start an Imperial Guard Armoured Company (I hope, at least), and give my lonely Space Marines some attention as well.  I also want to streamline my painting process, eventually put up a "how I paint" post, and learn the ways of the airbrush.

Stay tuned, new posts coming soon.

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.