I had the opportunity to play an awesome narrative mission against Gustavo's Ultramarines, now bolstered with a few more weapon options on his tactical squads and a squad of five Terminators with a Cyclone Missile Launcher!
A flash of green energy tainted the twilight of the rising sun over the desert. Two imposing metallic figures now stood alone against the rising yellow sun that reflected over their shining metallic bodies.
It was unnatural that the teleport homers would malfunction like this, thought Voch’ats’um the herald of destruction. He and his lord had been brought planetside a hundred yards from their intended location, the entrance of the Crypt-vault. Autharok already sensed somtehing was amiss, his alert protocols scanned the area for threats and in an instant, five of his honored Lychguard teleported by his side – "We are to be ambushed Voch’ats’um" the Overlord voice booming in low tones breaking the windswept silence of the desert – and the Cryptek immediately opened one of his nano-vaults, opening a portal and bringing forth an Attack Barque to transport them the rest of the way.
Their embarkation was stopped by the streaking sound of a Krak missile and a volley of bolter fire, followed by the rapid blasting of Plasma shots. The ambush was started, and no quarter would be given to these trespassers, whomever they may be.
Mission: Ambush
- Necrons have to make it so at least 1/3 of their force escapes via the opposing board edge.
- Ultramarines deploy in hidden positions and must simply prevent the Necrons from escaping.
Ultramarines force
- Captain in Terminator armor with the Burning blade and Storm Bolter
- Librarian with Bolt Pistol and Force Sword
- Venerable Dreadnought with Heavy Plasma Cannon and Heavy Flamer
- 5x Primaris Intercessors
- Tactical Squad with Melta Gun, Plasma Cannon, Power Fist
- Tactical Squad with Plasma Gun, Missile Launcher
- Terminators with Powerfists and Storm Bolters, Cyclone Missile Launcher
Necrons force
- Overlord with Warscythe
- Cryptek with Staff of Light, Veil of Darkness, Chronometron
- 8x Immortals with Gauss Blasters
- 8x Immortals with Tesla Carbines
- 16x Necron Warriors with Gauss Flayers
- 5x Lychguard with Warscythes
- Ghost Ark
Deployment
Without many options, the Necrons have deployed in a fortified column at the center of the Battlefield. They have the protection of the twilight of the rising sun that impairs enemy shooting on the first round of battle, but nothing else to cover their march across the board. Since the enemy is deployed in hidden positions they can at best guess what are the different markers left by the Ultramarine's player on the board.
The appearance of the Xenos Vehicle signaled to the Ultramarine Captain that the ambush had been indeed discovered. Breaking vox-silence he ushered his marines to reveal their positions and open fire on the incoming xenos. The plan was to capture one of them, but given reinforcements extreme prejudice of the annihilation protocols had to be enacted.
Emerging out of the long shadows cast by the rock outcrops, space marine tactical squads flank the Necron force. |In an act of defiance the large body of the venerable Dreadnought walks in and stands right at the passageway towards the Crypto-vault entrance. A squad of Intercessors provides fire support from a vantage point.
A tactical squad positions themselves under the protection of a Librarian right at the front of the Necron Force armed with heavy weaponry to disintegrate the enemy vehicle.
The Ultramarines fire everything they have at the oncoming silver tide, the long shadows cast by the metallic figures being broken by blue-white hot plasma shots and the streaking bolter rounds. The darkness envelops the Necron lines and the fury of the astartes is somewhat ineffective against the enemy: Limbs crawl back and re-attach to their hosts, grievous wounds knit together as the Necrons reanimation and repair protocols kick in.
The unrelenting stride of the Necrons is towards the extraction point. Bolstered by the Ghost Ark's constant reinforcements, the warrior squad is practically unscathed by the incoming fire.
Seeing an opportunity for an early kill, the lychguard move towards the closest tactical squad and attempt to charge up the rocky outcrops. Incoming overwatch fire is ineffective but so is the Necron charge, failing to connect despite the expenditure of a Command Point, leaving the Lychguard unit exposed!
The sun finally rises and the Ultramarine captain contrasts against the foul red sky of the desert planet. Now already in position and not suffering from the -1 modifier from the twilight, the space marines unleash their full power into the Necron lines, focusing especially on the enemy Lychguard who posed the greatest threat.
With a thunderous clap of a teleportarium a squad of five terminator veterans join their brothers in the battlefield. Their storm bolsters joining the hail of fire hammering down the Necron infantry. From the back of the formation a streaking pair of krak missiles passes over the destruction aimed at the fearsome Necron Ghost Ark. It's unnatural quantum shielding simply making the pair of missiles dissipate into thin air as if ice rapidly melting in the searing heat.
Huge momentum drive the venerable dreadnought forward in a ponderous charge that shook and cracked the desert soil under his weight. "Suffer not the Xenos to endure" cried the ancient warrior, joined by an unstoppable charge from the terminators. Both the venerable and terminators connect their charges and crash against the Necron infantry lines.
Intent on not allowing Necron forces a chance to reanimate, the Sergeant of the tactical squad charges down the rocky outcrops trusting his mighty power fist would crush the weakened enemy to bits.
Sensing a worthy adversary, the Necron Overlord strides across his infantry to face the venerable dreadnought in combat.
The line Lychguard is quickly overwhelmed and taken out of action. The terminator squad digs deep in the Necron lines, felling both Immortals and warriors with little regard for what is what under the weight of their power fist strikes.
The venerable dreadnought fails to damage the overlord, his form phasing out of the way of strikes that carry the power to bury the warrior in the sand. In return, precise cuts of his warscythe open deep gouges on the armored bulk of his adversary, opening the way for the ruined body of the interned warrior within. For the first time in half a dozen centuries, the venerable gazes upon his foe with his own eyes. The dry winds of the desert wash over the ancient warrior and he steels himself for the emperor's duty.
Darkness envelops the large immortal squad spared of the worst by the intervention of the Overlord. The Cryptek uses Veil of Darkness and reappears with the infantry just as they reanimated to full force once more. They position themselves free of the melee, across the Battlefield. The Necron Warriors fall back from combat and head to the escape path.
The ultramarine heroes watch their work undone as more warriors emerge from the Necron vehicle as it flies across the battle ready to escape. The Necron Overlord stands in combat with his enemy.
The Necron Forces reposition the battle towards the escape route. With the Terminators locked in combat with the Immortals the rest of the Necron army swivels around and has a clear path towards the escape route!
The gunners on the Ghost Ark unleash a salvo of accurate Gauss shots in the exposed Ultramarine lines, reducing the tactical squad who destroyed the Lychguard to only a few members.
The Tesla Immortals open fire with their fearsome lightning weapons, snapping through the static charged dry air of the desert, it cooks marines inside their own armor and jumps from one target to the other in deadly arcs of blue-white death. The Sergeant watches in horror as eight space marines are felled.
The Necron Overlord is finally wounded by the ancient warrior, but still manages to survive on his last remaining wound. More strikes of his Warscythe injure the ancient warrior, who also stands on his last wound remaining.
As powerful as the terminator squad is with their powerfist strikes, the bulky weapons are not match for the reanimation protocols of the Immortals. Seeking to reinforce their veteran brothers, the tactical squad whom had just finished off the Lychguard prepare to charge into the fray.
With a warcry of vengeance for their fallen brothers, the captain leads a charge down the hill at the Necron Warriors in the crater below in an attempt to prevent them from escaping the ambush. He withers harrowing overwatch fire and survives on a single wound left, crashing against the Warrior lines brandishing the Burning Blade chapter Relic he manages to kill four Necron Warriors alone. His charge is followed by the surviving Sergeant and the lone heavy-weapons space marine from their squad, intent on stopping the Necron Escape in their tracks.
Bolstered by the warcry of the captain the Venerable Dreadnought finally brings down his nemesis. The Necron forces reel with the loss of the Overlord and the Immortals are wiped by the combined might of the terminators and space marine tactical squads.
Defying all reason the Overlord's Resurrection Protocols kick in. Thousands of repair scarabs return he shape of the crushed Overlord as it stands back up with crackling green energy flowing between its ribs. It readies it's Warscythe once more to attack its foe.
The Whole Necron force Retreats towards te edge of the battlefield. The Cryptek can already feel the pull of the teleport stasis tombs coming within range – a mere meters away and he would be able to summon his Canoptek hordes to their aid.
The Immortals, uncontested by enemies like the rest of their forces, ready their Tesla Carbines and unleash a final volley into the surviving sergeant as well as the Primaris Marines that threatened their flank. Once more blue-white lightning cut the air and cooked the warriors of the Ultramarines inside their armor. none survived their crackling, deadly salvo. It would be up to the surviving marines to hold the Necrons from escaping now.
In a final decisive duel, both warriors spent from fighting, the fury of the emperor stood strong as the unyielding ancient warrior refused to die, despite grievous wounds inflicted upon his already broken, exposed body (the ultramarine player rolled double-sixes and saved the damage on his FnP). Not expecting his opponent to have survived such a strike, the overlord let his guard open and was crushed one final time into the ground. Reanimation would come much slower, this time.
Invigorated by the kill, all Ultramarine forces converge towards the Necrons, but they charge across the difficult terrain of the crater and there is a real possibility of the units failing their charge rolls. Concentrated plasma fire from the Venerable Dreadnought finally cuts through the living metal of the Necron Vehicle as it crashes down to the ground and explodes, taking several Necrons with it.
Burning Blade held high, the emperor's wrath was set upon on an incredible charge from the Captain, driving his will deep within the Necron lines and engaging all Necron Units, save for the lone cryptek at the edge of the battlefield.
Knowing that the battle depended on this last charge all Ultramarine units manage to get in the fray following their captain. "Give no quarter o the Xenos" cried out the terminators as they punched Immortals and Warriors into showering metallic gore with their powered weapons.
The Space Marine captain, brandishing the Burning Blade with skill and fury, swept away the last of the Immortals.
With his infantry defeated, his Ghost Ark destroyed and his Overlord lost, the lone Cryptek fled through the Ultramarine Ambush and vanished from this plane into a pocket dimension. The Ultramarines had secured a solid victory over the Necrons and prevented them access to their Crypt-vault.
Aftermatch
Ultramarine MvP: The Terminator Squad arrived precisely in time and lended much needed fire support and melee might to the Ultramarine forces. Not failing a single 9'' charge for the entirety of the game they surely had the blessings of the emperor this day.
Necron MvP: Unsurprisingly the Tesla Immortals are a threat to any infantry squad on the battlefield, especially if bolstered by the Overlord's my will be done. They never fail to deliver a tremendous amount of hits and are capable of inflicting horrific losses to T4 squads.
Memorable Moment: The duel of the Venerable Dreadnought and the Overlord lasted for several turns and could have swung to either side. On one hand the Dread had no saves but their Unyielding Ancient FnP roll and the Overlord had not enough wounds to sustain the S12 D3 strikes of the venerable. It was a desperate fight that had many tense deciding moments where both combatants simply refused to die.
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