Necrons vs. Dark Eldar

Tuesday night is here again. Another chance to act just like a teenager, but in an adult way.
Tonight I am up against Nick and his Dark Eldar at the Charing Cross Gaming Club. I have never come up against Dark Eldar before, so this should be fun. We had arranged to have a 1750 point game.

I took the following:

HQ
The Deceiver

ELITE
4 x Pariahs
6 x Flayed Ones

TROOP
3 x 14 Warriors

FAST ATTACK
4 x Destroyers
4 x Scarab Swarm bases

HEAVY SUPPORT
3 Heavy Destroyers

They were facing:

HQ
Archon – Punisher and Tormentor Helm, Combat Drugs, Plasma Grenades, Shadow Field, Animus Vitae

ELITE
Dracon – Punisher and Tormentor Helm; retinue of Incubi; Dhazhar – all mounted in a Raider with Dark Lance

TROOP
4 x 10 Warriors – two Dark Lances in each squad
2 x 5 Warriors – Splinter Cannon and Shredder mounted in Raiders with Dark Lances

FAST ATTACK
5 Reaver Jetbikes – 2 with Blasters. Succubus with Punisher and Tormentor Helm
Talos

HEAVY SUPPORT
2 Ravagers – 3 Disintegrators each

We rolled the Seize Ground for the mission and Pitched Battle for the Deployment. The terrain was a fairly dense cityscape. We set up our objectives and rolled off for setup and first turn. Nick rolled higher, but gave me the first turn.
I had set up looking to take the two closest objectives early (one on my right flank and one just left of centre). I set up the Deceiver in a central position so that he could react to anything major. I set the Pariahs and Flayed Ones up on my right in order to move forward using the cover available. Nick only set up two of his Warrior squads and his Talos in a building in his deployment zone. Everything else was in held back in reserve. I used Grand Illusion to move some of my units. I moved the Pariahs and Flayed Ones in a more central position, just opposite Nick’s Warriors.

TURN 1

For my movement I moved all of my Warrior squads closer to their closest objectives with one unit actually doing so. The Flayed Ones, Pariahs, Scarabs and the Deceiver all ran forward. My Heavy Destroyers and Destroyers moved into firing positions. The Heavy Destroyers unleashed the first shots claiming two warriors. The regular Destroyers claimed a few more from the same unit. This caused them to fail a Leadership test and run.

Nick’s warriors cemented themselves in the building they were stationed in and opened fire on my Heavy Destroyers. The combined efforts of four Dark Lances took out two.

TURN 2

The Warriors on my left moved to claim another objective. The Warriors in the centre moved to get into firing range. The Flayed Ones, Pariahs, Scarabs and Deceiver continued their advance towards the Dark Eldar. The remaining Heavy Destroyer claimed the life of another foe. The Destroyers didn’t so as well as the previous turn dispatching only two. The Scarabs were in assault range so they swarmed forward in order to tie some warriors.

Nick rolled for his reserves but only got his Reaver Jetbikes. The Jetbikes and Talos advanced forward. Nicks Dark Lances sang again taking down the last of the Heavy Destroyers and two of the Destoyers.

TURN 3

I failed my We’ll Be Back rolls from the previous turn. The Pariahs and Flayed Ones edged closer to the enemy. The Deceiver sighted the Jetbikes and homed in on them. My central most Warrior unit opened fire taking the lives of two more Eldar. The remaining Destroyers failed in their shooting. The Warriors on my left, shot at the Jetbikes dispatching with one of them. The Scarabs continued to hold up a unit of Warriors in combat. The Deceiver launched himself at the Reavers, killing two.

The rest of Nick’s reserves arrived on the table on both flanks to reinforce his line. His Archon and retinue came in on my left. The Archon disembarked and moved toward the isolated Flayed Ones. The Talos joined the combat with the scarabs after successfully shooting at the Pariahs, killing two. The reaming Warrior units combined the take out the rest of the Pariahs. One of the Ravagers to my right felled the remaining Destroyers. The Scarabs were swiftly taken out of the game. The Deceiver killed more of the Reavers, who promptly broke and fled.

TURN 4

Not much action this turn! The unit of Warriors on my left ducked into cover. The Necron Warriors in the centre aimed at the Dark Eldar opposite, to little effect. The Deceiver engaged the Talos and failed to hit.

The Archon Charged the Flayed ones and killed half of the unit. The Incubi and retinue carried on toward my left and opened fire at the closest Warriors killing nine. The Dark Eldar Warriors whittled down the number of Necrons in the centre of the table. The Talos, while still engaged with the Deceiver shot its tail laser thingy (I forgot its name) and took out four Necrons in the centre. The Talos survived the combat for another turn.

TURN 5

Again I couldn’t do much this turn either The Necron Warriors decided to shoot some pointy ears, again with little effect. The Deceiver took out the Talos.

Every available Dark Lance on the table concentrated on the C’tan and banished him from the physical realm. The Incubi and its retinue wiped out the Necrons on my left. The Archon charged the Warriors in the centre of the table and wiped them out too. He then consolidated towards the remaining Warriors.

TURN 6

With the game poised at on objective each, it was important my last remaining Warriors stayed alive. So they hid in a building.

Nick charged forward with his Archon, who threw a grenade before engaging the last Necrons. The effect of this was to cause my metal minions to Phase Out!

END OF GAME

Quite a thrashing, don’t you agree? Nick played very well, concentrating on the main threats in an orderly fashion. Also, everything went wrong for me. Shooting was bad, WBB rolls and combat rolls too. It didn’t matter at the end if my remaining Warriors had survived. They were engaged in combat by the Archon, which meant the objective they were holding was now contested.
But it was an enjoyable game. As pretty much all of the games at the club are friendly, so you cannot really feel bad about losing. You just have a drink and talk about the good dice and bad luck.
Despite playing on and off for 15 or so years, I got to see a more experience player in action, whom I can learn from. I also got to see a different army play and learned about their style too.