Fond Farewell to 7th - Warhammer World Narrative Battle - Guilliman vs Imotekh

Hello all, after Warhammerfest on the Saturday, Lord Halfpenny and I decided to use the Sunday for a battle at Warhammer World, our yearly pilgrimage. This time we wanted a last foray of 7th to be special, Lord Halfpenny had recently painted Roboute Guilliman and I had never used a Decurion, so we decided on a narrative battle, two waves of Necrons, firstly a scout force, a second major wave - followed by a climatic clash between RG and the Overlord.

The UM force vanquished the upstart Tau on the fringes of the Ultramar Region, but the ensuing battle had disturbed the slumbering Tomb beneath the lush green fields. The UM unaware of the enemy beneath, set about stripping xenos tech with Guilliman's new approach of using xenos tech for the advantage of man and fortifying the Tau base with a Mechanicus Plasma Obliterator installation, fed from the xenos power grids, xenos in origin but nevertheless efficient, some would say techno-heresy, but Cawl and Guilliman would disagree. RG since his awakening has become a lot more open to utilising such energies to further the Indomitus Crusade.

The initial auspex scans indicated movement from the base outer nodes, firstly to the North, past the main power installation held by Marneus Calgar's personal bodyguard. Then to the North East through the trees...

The UM forces stood-to, the main armour positioned itself between the installations, their main guns had the range to turn the tide to the North or South if needed. The Scouts and Snipers overwatch from the Tau communications tower...

Auspex returns indicated more movement to the South East and then to the nearest node to the South West, just outside the perimeter, the UMs confirmed visually, foul Xenos scum - the Necrons had awakened, just as RG had suspected - there was more to the Necrons involvement than Cadia had indicated. But the Indomitus Crusade would stamp humanity's claim over all others.

Roboute marshals his forces from the main Tau complex.

Marneus Calgar holds the Power installation.

Wave 1 - Necrons scout the invading forces, they advance on the defenders to map the strengths and weaknesses...

The Necron Warriors proved resilient, resisting 6500pts of fire for two turns.

After two turns of furious defence, the battlefield was again silent.

The Terminators from the northern Power Generator had sallied out and met the Warrior constructs in battle, crushing the foul xenos constructs beneath Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield.

At the southern base, a Tactical Squad sallied out destroying the Warriors who ventured too near their lines. The UM forces now alert to the enemy beneath re-positioned their forces to combat this new xenos threat. UM losses were 1 Sternguard Veteran and 2 HPs from the Contemptor in the southern base, but the Techmarine regenerated on HP. To the north, a Terminator with Powerfist was dragged down by the Gauss fire and the mighty Leviathan suffered a HP. Insignificant loss in effectiveness, but RG felt every loss of his sons.

Wave 2 - Where their was silence, again auspex returns pinged into life, this time greater returns all around sounded the main advance, the Warriors had merely been a scouting force.

The Necron Second Wave appeared at random from the five nodes around the main base (a roll of a six meant Units could be selected to appear at a node of my choice). The main forces were split between the Northern Power Generator where the majority appeared to combat the relatively weaker Marneus Calgar.

Each node provided an entry point to the battlefield, the UM forces were surrounded, but the Big Guns centred in the middle could respond to all angles.

The second wave crashed into the marine forces, Marneus Calgar taking the brunt of the fire, a Shard of the Nightbringer targeting the Terminators along with the Necron Gauss energies slaying 3 Veterans. A Tactical Squad in the northern base lost four Battle Brothers.

To the south, the majority of the incoming fire was ineffective, striking the battlements or wasted in the Psychic Gloom manifested by Tigurius - casting Shrouded on the majority of the tightly packed defenders.

In this first and last battle of 7th with my Tokens painted up, I was glad to indicate the Marines counterfire from the Techmarine on the Jetbike with a Conversion Beamer immobilised the Triarch Stalker!

The Marines reply to Wave 2 was brutal and effective, Vargard Obyron teleported in with a Warrior squad to glance the Land Raider Spartan but failed and 8 Warriors were wiped out by the Marine fire.  The Typhon Landraider Cannon struck and wounded the Vargard Warriors Squad, also glancing his own Leviathan Dreadnought, the Vindicare Assassin high in the watchtower targeted the Triarch Stalker slaying the pilot! In Combat Marneus and Terminators with Chaplain Cassius charged the Conclave of the Burning One C'Tan Shard and Crypteks slaying a Cryptek and wounding the Shard.

The Annihilation Barge was wiped out by the Fellblade and the Accelerator Cannon wounded all three Canoptek Spyders.

The Centurions to the south wiped out the Tesseract Ark, the Thunderfire Cannon killed Warriors, the Sternguard and Tactical Squad killed Warriors and the Kheres Contemptor blew up the Ghost Ark!

The Custodes sallied out to combat the southern C'Tan Shard, but due to Writhing Worldscape failed the charge!

Wave 2 Turn 2 - The Necrons continued their advance, three Night Scythe flyers swooped above the battlefield failing to penetrate the Marine vehicles. The Conclave fought on with Marneus and Cassius, Marneus was wounded by the C'Tan and the Cryptek torn down a Terminator before being Power-fisted to the face and dying!

The C'Tan Shard to the south bolstered by the Necron Lord attacked the Custodes, the Custodes easily cleaved the Lord down, but were tied up in combat with the Star God entity, the Watch Captain was killed.

The nearby Heavy Destroyers targeted and killed the Kheres Contemptor Dreadnought.

The Hunters from Hyerspace Deathmarks materialised and slayed two Assault Marines.

In the forests the Canoptek Scarabs swarmed forward towards the Superheavy Tanks. The Obelisk deep struck and Tesla fire rained down onto the marines, but holy power armour and ceramite plate protected the Space Marine forces.

The Destroyer Cult swarmed over the barricades gutting the Tactical Squad holding the line. The Destroyer Lord cleaved the Leviathan Dreadnought in two.

 

The Scarabs swarmed over the Landraider Terminus Ultra, eating the mighty vehicle and Vargard Obeyron cleaved the vehicle in two with his Warscythe for good measure - (it was already destroyed!).

The Marines fought back, Marneus continued to battle the C'Tan, a Terminator with TH SS, a Terminator with PF and the Sergeant died to the Necron deity, wounding Marneus again leaving the Ultramarine on 2W, the C'Tan was wounded and reduced to 1W, leaving Marneus and Cassius.

The Typhon tank shocked the Scarab but only wounded one base, the Fire Raptor appeared and destroyed a Night Scythe, the southern base opened up at the swooping Night Scythe closest to them and took it down, The Sicaran Battletank and Fellblade targeted the third Night Scythe taking off two HPs. The Plasma Obliterator hit the Tomb Blades taking one out.

The Tactical Squad charged the Immortals in the south but failed to strike and the Immortals hit back killing one.

The Custodes continued to battle the C'Tan in the south, but two more Custodes were bought low.

The Necrons continued to advance through the fire and trees keeping the pressure on the Marine forces... (One of these Scarab bases went MIA... if you find it among the trees at your next visit to WHW, let me know Thanks)

The Southern Base with Roboute held firm but with the Northern Power Generator now overrun by Necrons, the power grid was down and Imotekh seized the chance to imprison Roboute once again in a Terreract Vault, using the opportunity to teleport himself, the two C'Tan and Roboute into the Tombs below!

In the Vaults below, Roboute struck with the Emperors Sword laying the wounded C'Tan Nightbringer low...

In the second round of combat he dispatched the second C'Tan Shard! Imotekh struck several times but failed to get through his Indomitus Armour!

Imotekh fought back withstanding six crushing blows and two D hits to no effect, but finally Imotekh succumbed to the superior God-Like powers of the warrrior Primarch! The Necron forces above started to withdraw from the battle at Imotekh's command, back into the shadows beneath - Roboute avoided imprisonment in the Tesseract Vaults to emerge amongst his embattled forces Victorious! Free now to continue the Indomitus Crusade... Huzzah!

Well, that was MEGA FUN. We both had an excellent time at Warhammer World and a fitting goodbye to 7th Edition. Narrative play can be excellent and as (mainly) luck had it, the battle was very cinematic in places, heroic in others with a liberal splattering of awesome and the ridiculous (Custodes failing a 3in Charge!). Marneus sallying out to crash into the Necron ranks was awesome, the firepower of Centurions and Plasma Sternguard obliterated the south, the hardy nature of mere Warriors and the Destroyers swarming over the defences to take the Northern Power Generator! Great stuff.

We hope you enjoyed the narrative and the pictures! If you are in the UK and haven't had a battle in WHW, get yourself along there, and the food and beer is good too. Thanks for dropping in, Lord Halfpenny and Siph.