Jules vs Glenn

Battle Report

Jules on his forces:

Well Glenn stated he was taking a 'claws only' force from the outset, 
so to 
avoid the 'cheese' factor, I will avoid anything that just can't 
really be hurt.
  
Let's face it, if you have troops that you don't have to worry about, 
you are not going to get the same kind of excitement from the game.  
Having said that, I will need to take 
something that can negate 2+ saves, as these will be quite 
disheartening, so 4 heavy destroyers it is - they simply pick 
themselves.

Next. Guns - long range guns, how can I max out on those without 
being 
cheesy.  Right, follow the advice from the group, make up 40% troops 
and no-one can 
complain. So 6 destroyers it is. 

Give the Lord the orb and VoD for when the trouble starts and that 
leaves enough points for scarab bases to be used as a slow-down 
tactic.

Right, my forces are sorted.  With all those guns, a BS of 4 for 
everything 
what could possibly go wrong?

Glenn on forces:

Prophetic words indeed from Julian there. Despite him posting his 
list before I'd finalised mine, I decided not to read it and design 
my army only taking into account the facts that neither a C'tan or a 
Monolith would be used.

I measure up the table (it's 6' x 4') and possible deployment areas, 
then try out some practice setups given the 'corner to corner' 
deployment. I work out the possible/likely firepower of a 1700 point 
Necron army and go over the 'Cleanse' rules once more in the hope 
that I've missed something, but I haven't - it's beyond a nightmare. 
Put simply, this particular battle seems virtually unwinnable from 
the outset for any army I can put together. In some respects this 
frees me from difficult deliberation during army selection - I'll 
just choose the models I happen to like...

So, a buff walking Hive Tyrant (one of my favourite conversions) and 
3 Guards (my new ones) seems like a no-brainer. In my opinion, wings 
would probably be a handicap and points flushed, given the mission, 
the table size and the opponent.

2 Units of Three Warriors, not because they are really likely to be 
of any use but because I've spent a lot on the models (they're the 
most expensive in my collection) and a lot of time converting them. 
I'm NOT leaving them entirely out of my first game, and what is 
likely to be my only game of 40k for ages, it's that simple.

72 Scythegaunts (3x 24) including 1 Hive Node and 3 RC Mutants per 
brood of 24. Gotta go cheap, cheap, cheap - every point spent on 
leaping or stat increases in this particular game _will_ be a point 
wasted - the Necron firepower will kills leapies as easily as 
cheapies, and at a greater rate, proportional to the total number of 
models. I'd have more if I could, but lack either the models or, more 
importantly, the points.

36 Gargoyles (2x 18) including 3 RC Mutants in each brood of 18. At 
10 points a model these could be risky, incredibly so if there's not 
much terrain - which I KNOW will be the case because I do not really 
own any... Julian could probably destroy the lot in just one rounds 
shooting. Nevertheless, once again, I've spent a lot of time making 
the models, I like them, and if I don't use them in this battle, when 
will I? ...so they're in.

2 Carnifexes with ST's. In my heart I know I'm just flushing points 
here, but these are my cherished scratchbuilt models, so once again I 
simply cannot leave them out. The last few points buys me 2 of my old 
Tyrant Guard conversions for one of them.

If nothing else I'm pleased that I've managed to include most of my 
favourite models and conversions in this army.

After going over Julians list, I note with dismay that he can afford 
to lose every last Warrior, yes, ALL of them, and not phase out! That 
means that I have to not only kill every single Warrior but that I 
then have to somehow catch and destroy 4 Destroyers or his Lord and 
Immortals to phase him out. Models that have either 12" jetbike 
movement or the VoD. Using close combat Tyranids. As if... Of course, 
the chance of enough of my units being over half strength to contest 
quarters with these 5 units at the end is unlikely, given the 
powerful long ranged shooting they're capable of - realistically, I 
can only possibly win by phaseout.


The setup.

Jules:
Glenn wins the roll for quarter and picks well - the only quarter 
that would 
allow me an instant kill zone.  Never mind, I get the hill with cover 
on it - that could 
be useful

(prophetic words indeed...).

Glenn:

As I suspected, it looks pretty much over before it's begun. We have 
hardly any terrain (I don't own any, okay?) and the entire central 
area of the table which I must cross to get to the Necrons will a 
completely open and unobstructed killing ground whichever corner I 
choose. Worse still, on the 6' table, Julian could easily deploy so 
far back in whichever corner he ends up in that my TMC's cannot 
possibly reach his lines in 6 turns and even my Scythegaunts, with 
average FoF rolls, cannot reach him until turn four at the earliest. 
Unless I want to give Julian what little difficult terrain there is 
to defend and make my Gargoyles useless, or the perfect open setup 
zone for a shooty army, my choice of corner is made for me. I go with 
it.


Troop set up:-

Jules:
Yippee!!!  I win the roll and get to have a couple of turns grace at 
shooting!  Place the sacrificial lamb (well - totally unpainted 
destroyer acting as an HD) in the corner of my deploymemnt zone and 
expect him to die horribly on turn 1.

Place the scarabs near him so that they may charge one unit of 
Gargoyles to slow them up and place all the troops on and around the 
hill.  The remaining Destroyers (all types) have a nice clear view of 
the centre of the board for a good kill zone, and my Lord and his 
immortals stand next to them. Looks like I am set for a good night's 
turkey shoot...

Glenn:

I'm pushed back 18" from the centre and have to deploy 122 models 
including 14 on 40mm bases and 36 Gargoyles on a 25" frontage -  if I 
want to start as close as possible to the Necrons - which I need  to 
do (at this point it became clear to me what an instant game winner a 
Monolith or the Nightbringer could have been...)

From the left - Carnifex 1 with 2 Guards, 24 Scythegaunts (1) Tyrant 
with Guards, 24 Scythegaunts (2) Carnifex, 24 Scythegaunts (3) All 
Gaunts in dense columns with a frontage of 4. Both Gargoyle broods 
are packed in as tight as possible behind the left hand Carnifex 1 
with Guards, with the Warriors 1 & 2 at the back left and right of 
the mass.

By accident or design, Julian passes up the chance to secure the game 
outright in the deployment phase. On top of this, he actually deploys 
his unit of Scarabs well forwards! If he'd deployed his army just a 
bit further back, and kept his Scarabs out of the way, not only would 
he delay contact by my Gaunts for a turn or two, but it would mean 
none of my TMC's could possibly contact _any_ of his troops in the 6 
turns the game will last - assuming they even survive the 24 Heavy 
Gauss Cannon shots they'll receive in that time! 

Even so, as things stand, Julian has still deployed most of his 
Necrons far enough back that turn three is the earliest my Gaunts can 
make contact in numbers (and with just one unit) assuming decent FoF 
rolls. Currently, my Tyrant, his Guards and Carnifex 2 cannot get 
into contact before turn 5, and there is probably  just ONE Necron 
unit that Carnifex 1 and it's Guards can possibly reach all game 
(unless for some crazy reason the Necrons advance) I'm well aware 
that he still has time and space to backpedal his Warriors for an 
easy win if he spots this early enough, so I keep my thoughts pretty 
much to myself for now... (choosing for the time being to believe 
that this IS indeed an error, and not a magnanimous and sporting move 
on Julians part to make a game of it instead of a massacre)

Table Setup Picture 1	Jules's Necrons	Glenn's Hive
Glenn's Hive - Close Up	Table Setup Picture 2	Table Setup Picture 3

The game.

Jules wins the roll to go first.

Turn 1  Necrons.
I can't believe my luck.  I managed to push him back, and I get to 
choose 
who goes first.

Right, leave it to Glenn, or do I shoot?  Nope I shoot.  Pulling the 
HD back 
means I *could* kill a TMC in one turns fire as I will still have 4 
AP2 weapons.

HD moves back far enough to avoid any form of fleet/charge and fires 
at  
Carnifex 1 wounding a guard.  The other three HDs move up and fire on 
the same guy, missing with two shots but taking down a guard with the 
other.  Not great shooting but a good start.

The other two destroyer squadrons move up and at a decent range 
seriously 
lay into a Scythgaunt squad 2 inflicting 19 casualties.

Everyone else does not move because I want the rapid fire and 24" 
range 
rules on my side...

Your move bug monsters!


Tyranid Turn - 1

To add insult to injury, the Heavy Destroyer that forced me back gets 
clean away due to Julian getting the first move. Maybe Drake was 
right and I'm cursed... Anyway, no great thought needed here, or even 
possible. Most of my models HAVE to go straight for the nearest 
Necrons by the shortest possible rout or they simply won't arrive in 
time to do anything before the game ends. Both Gargoyle broods duck 
behind the large hive structure ahead and to their left for cover, 
Warrior brood 1 heads for the woods forwards/left and the right 
Warrior brood 2 go into the rocks forward/right. Everything else just 
moves straight towards the Necrons at maximum speed.

End of Turn 1

End of Turn 1 - Nid Perspective

Turn 2

Our spectator says "They are getting awfully close..."  (clearly 
unaware of _actual_ Tyranid movement rates and Necron weapon ranges 
and firepower! - Glenn) so time to do something about halting their 
advance, so charge the scarabs into gaunt group 3. Bang. The gaunts 
go first and kill a base (wound another) and the scarabs kill two 
gaunts. 22 left, oh joy.

Warrior troop 1 manage to see 4 Gargoyles poking their heads around 
the corner of 
cover and promptly open up on them - killing all four.

The six destroyers once again open up on the SG2 and blast away 8 of 
them.  And the heavy Destroyers do chuff all!  Get some shooting 
lessons you bozos - keep that up and the biggies will be in the troop 
lines...

Your go bugs...

Tyranid Turn 2 - 

Julians second error of judgement in my opinion, compounding on 
deploying his Scarabs so far forwards. He might still have avoided 
giving me any real mileage by simply pulling them back, but instead, 
by charging Scythegaunt brood 3 they put themselves just within 
charge reach of both Carnifex 2 AND my Tyrant. Just like that, I'm 
gifted nearly 9" extra movement forwards for 2 of my TMC's (charge 
plus consolidate) or effectively amost a free turn and a half, 
bringing their earliest ETA at the main Necron line forwards from 
Turn 5 to turn 4.

Scythegaunts 3 kill only one base of Scarabs (plus an odd wound) and 
then Carnifex 2 utterly stomps all three of the remaining bases due 
to S9 v T3 insta-kill (Note that, in all the excitement of being 
given a 'free' move, I actually did that completely wrong. My Tyrant 
and his Guards, with their Initiative of 5, should have gone BEFORE 
the Carnifex (Initiative 2) Ultimately, it didn't affect the price of 
bread one bit, as the Tyrant alone had 6 attacks, all S6 so would 
each insta-kill a Scarab base with every hit - AND he had Implant 
Attack, which does 2 wounds against multi-wound bases! So, utter 
overkill any way you work it out) Guess what? Yup, everyone 
consolidates forwards 3".

Rest of the army continues forwards - Warriors 1 ducks into cover in 
the woods on the left, Warriors 2 hides as best it can in the rocks 
on the right. Gargoyles both advance a little, ready to assault the 
nearest Necron Warriors next turn as Scythegaunt broods 1 and 2 FoF 
to join them so as to also be in position to charge simultaneously. 
It's a perfectly judged 13" all round, so no Rapid Fire from the 
Necrons...

Necron Combat Turn 2

Tyranid Combat Turn 2

End of Turn 2

Necron turn 3
Ouch! ouch! ouch! ouch! Clearly still thinking like a Tyranid, and 
now two walking death machines are much closer to my lines!

Right, Destroyer squardon 1, get up on that hill and take down as 
many of Gaunt squad 3 as possible, sdqn 2 move around the back and do 
the same.

Warror squad 2 on the hill, any that are still alive and you can 
reach shoot!  Yippee, scratch one entire brood of gaunts!  Good 
shooting to the little guys.  

Warrior troop 1, open fire on the second bunch of gargoyles now about 
to hit you...  Ah well, at least some were shot down.

Hmmm.  Sweep, sweep and sweep.  Something I did not consider when 
setting 
up.  Best move the Lord and his gang via VoD to the Nid deployment 
zone now that it is clear, so that I am in a good position when the 
quarter contest happens.  I am sure there were some warriors in the 
game at the beginning...  Ah well, off we trot.  Lord Rusty - press 
the button...

Oh - there they are!  Right, first of all see if you will miss the 
hill, yep 
DS roll OK, now where shall we land.  Oh hell - could be charged if I 
scatter too close to 
the 6 hiding warriors - and trust the two squads to be equidistant 
from where I want to 
land.  Risk time! place marker 6 inches from the table edge and pray 
the scatter does not 
point in that direction.  Here we go lads...  Hell, the scatter is 
pointing in the 
direction of the table edge!!!  Roll the dice...  SNAKE EYES!  Who 
dares wins!  Clearly Lord Rusty and his gang are members of the SAS 
elites.  Oh look, two warriors are within Blaster range of 5 of the 
gang...  scratch 1 warrior.

HD's fire on that Tyrant!  No! The Tyrant! ...but we killed a guard 
boss...  
Oh, I'll let you off then.

Destroyers, shoot as many gaunts as you can!  Good more dead gaunts, 
but we hardly seem to be scratching the surface.

Time for bug moves..

Nid turn 3

An incredibly risky (and seemingly unnecessary) move in my opinion, 
provoking the comment 'Balls of Steel' from me! Julian not only 
gambled nearly 400 points of models by Deep Striking them right near 
the table edge, but by doing so he completely removes 7 Gauss Blaster 
shots a turn AND the Ressurection Orb from his battle line just 
before there is going to be a wave of close combat that includes 
loads of Rending Claws and TMC attacks! He has 3 full turns left 
after this in which to to take quarters, and four 'jetbike' movement 
Destroyer type units plus of course the VoD/Immortals to do it with, 
so I'm pretty surprised by this.

Anyway, Tyrant and Carnifex 2 continue advancing towards the unit of 
14 Warrior in the centre and the two surviving Warriors in the rocks 
try to hide from the Immortals Gauss Blasters as best they can. 
Warrior brood 1 on the left retreats deep into the centre of the 
woods (taking no further part in the battle)

Carnifex 1 shuffles up a bit so as to be just in charge reach of the 
Necron Warriors currently being assaulted by my entire Gaunt 
contingent, which are in fact the ONLY Necron unit they now have any 
likelihood of ever reaching. If my 60 - plus Gaunts can't handle just 
12 Necrons without help from a Carnifex... well, guess I'll wait and 
see for now anyway, it's not like there's anything else for him to do.

Oh well, it's showtime - Gargoyles 1 & 2 move forwards, fire their 
Fleshborers into the unit of 12 Necron Warriors (26 shots, 1 goes 
down) and charge. Scythegaunts 1 & 2 FoF and do the same. Due to the 
Gargoyles 12" move and some god FOF rolls for the Scythegaunts, I'm 
able to totally surround the Necrons with something like 63 models - 
every Gaunt I have left alive (three deep in places!) and get every 
single RC Mutant and Bioplasma attack in. 32 Bio-plasma attacks drop 
onr Warrior, and despite having about a gazillion basic S3 Gargoyle 
and ST attacks (well, 60 plus) just one more Necron goes down. Then 
the RC mutants step up to bat, and earn their keep in spades -  the 
crowd goes wild as 24 attacks score five 6's. 8 out of 12 Necrons 
down and who cares what the remaining 4 did to me! (it wasn't much) 
It's morale check time at at minus 6! (under 50%, outnumbered 4:1+, 
Psychic Scream) Julian rolls a 10 and it's flee, run down and 
annihilated for the Warriors, followed by a sweeping advance into the 
next unit defending cover on the hill behind and to the right.

Tyranid Combat Turn 3

End of Turn 3

Necron Turn 4

So what did all those gaunts have against my warriors?  Perhaps it 
was the 
fact that they were trying to shoot them?  Rending claws - they 
really tell.  OK  WBB - one 
up, one dead.

Join the unit on the hill and let rip... 26 shots!  Yee har!  loads 
of dead gargoyles  - but still loads remain. Warrior troop 3 rapid 
fire 28 shots...  Now this is more like it, about a third now 
remaining.  22 out of 24 gaunts gone from Glenn's Gaunt squad 2.  
Warriors 
can shoot - destroyers take note!

Warrior troop 2 now gets HtH on the hill - simultaneous against 9 
rending claw armed nasties (18 attacks).  Great saving throws against 
both bio plasma and talons, but deaths beginning to happen with the 
troops - however, gaunts going down too due to their lack of 
toughness!

Heavy destroyers open fire on the untouched Carnifex 4 shots, 4 hits, 
4 wounds. The carnifex blows apart like a balloon full of hydrogen 
floating onto a candle.  Nice shooting guys AT LAST!  Phew, that's a 
weight off.

Finally, destroyer squad 1, I can see a warrior trying sneak up on, 
well, 
the centre of the board.  There is another one somewhere, go and see 
if you can take it out and reduce the unit to below strength - you'll 
need to come off the hill to do so.  Scratch one warrior! Unit to 
below strength.

Well, that was exciting, bug turn!


Tyranid turn 4

With the complete destruction of the most advanced Necron Warrior 
unit last turn by the Gaunts, and due to the distance to the next 
nearest unit, Carnifex 1 and it's surviving Guard now have no 
realistic chance of _ever_ making contact with any other Necrons all 
game. They have little choice but to about face and start moving back 
into the Tyranid Starting quarter to contest the Necron Lord and 
Immortals hold on it, simply for want of a more constructive move. 
The Warriors (1) hiding in the woods no doubt see this as even more 
reason not to show their faces - let Mr 'Look at me, I got a 2+ 
save!' go play in front of the Gauss blasters!

Continuing combat on the hill, Gargoyles 1, 2 and SG1 see all 9 RC 
attacks once again fail not only to roll any 6's, but also fail to 
score a single regular wound. 27 RC attacks on the trot now with no 
effect whatsoever - surely some kind of record? By now the defending 
Necrons have scored not only a personal best but a new world record, 
against an avalanche of Bio-plasma and regular S3 attacks, having 
made 13 consecutive successful 3+ saves on the trot! I actually lose 
the close combat this turn, but at least Syanapse makes this 
academic. Tyranids demand new dice...

Julian uses 9 of his Gauss Cannon shots to kill just one Warrior from 
brood 2 instead of pouring it onto my Tyrant and his last Guard - a 
definite result for me (the other remaining Warrior from the brood 
was completely out of LOS, so couldn't be hit whatever) Tyrant and 
Guard charge the large unit of 14 Necron Warriors this turn, along 
with the 2 RC Mutants, the only survivors of Scythegaunt brood 2 - 
that's the spirit! It's a massacre - my Tyrant wades in and in an 
orgy of destruction kills six Necrons, the Guard drops another one 
whilst the two Gaunts just cheer the boss on, doing no actual damage -
 just like the Necrons! Their time is soon to come - the Necrons fail 
their morale check due to Psychic Scream, and fall back, outpacing 
the Tyrant... but not the fleet-footed Gaunts, who handsomely 
outdistance them, overrunning and annihilating all seven. Stitch that!

Sadly, it makes no real difference. At this point, I have just 3 
units left strong enough to claim quarters - the Hive Tyrant, 
Carnifex 1 and Warrior brood 1. Julian still has 5 which are simply 
uncatchable by me, and in total they number far more models than he 
needs to avoid phaseout - as I mentioned before, he can actually 
afford to lose every simgle remaining Necron Warrior without  losing 
the battle by phaseout.

Tyranid Combat Turn 4

End of Turn 4 - Necron Lord & company

End of Turn 4 - The Front

End of Turn 4

Necron turn 5

Well.  Game is won.  Lots of units for taking quarters.  Lord Rusty's 
gang start shooting at the Carnifex now coming toward them - oh look, 
killed his guard and put a wound on him, crumbs his unit is now below 
strength too... (Glenn  - not true - the Guards were already under 
half strength, but the Carnifex, a separate unit in itself, still has 
3 wounds left)

Now all I have to do is do something about 'Sauron' here.  I still 
think 
there are bits of warrior in my hair after that unsporting display of 
incredible carnage (I 
hate Psychic scream too!).  Heavy destroyers - fire on the Sauron 
here and his bod.  Dead 
bod + two wounds on Sauron.

Destroyers sqdn 2, well if you move you won't shoot anything because 
the jungle is in the way, if you do move you will be safe for the 
rest of the game.  I know, lets allow the stupidity gene worthy of 
the Darwin awards to take over and leave them in charge range of 
Sauron, despite watching 14 warriors fly off the table in all 
directions only moments before.  Destroyers shoot at the gaunts 
remaining but not in CC.  Dead, good!

CC on the hill, my man up there is incredible - he is clearly Arnold 
Schwarzenegger and must be unkillable - just like some of his mates - 
13 straight saving throws!

Over to you Sauron!


Tyranid Turn 5 -

Okay, this time I really can't believe it - Julian has yet again 
failed to take the opportunity to secure certain victory. All he had 
to do was move his Destroyers away from my Tyrant. Oh well, I suppose 
I should take the chances I'm being given, and my Tyrant tears into 
the Destroyer unit, annihilating them almost effortlessly.

Carnifex 1 parks just inside my starting corner and puts his faith in 
his 2+ save. Nothing else he can do, only one turn left after this 
and he's still over 20" from the nearest Necrons - the Lord, with a 
veil of Darkness and 7x Immortals with 24" ranged Assault 2 weapons. 
How do YOU spell impotent?

On the hill the RC Mutants finally figure out how to remove the 
rubber safety covers from their rending claws with impressive 
results - of the eight RC attacks left, three roll 6's and another 
wounds (even though it's saved, you can't blame the Gaunts for that!) 
leaving just one Warrior standing. He refuses to flee, defiant to the 
end.

Despite (or even because of) all the chances Julian has given me, 
it's looking pretty depressing. It's now impossible to phase out the 
Necrons in my turn 6 regardless of casualties as they only test at 
the _beginning_ of their turn and there IS no turn 7. Mind you, if my 
5 remaining Gargoyles somehow destroy BOTH the single Heavy destroyer 
AND either Kill 2 of the other unit of three or rout them next turn 
I'll get a draw, with one uncontested quarter each.

End of Turn 5	End of Turn 5	End of Turn 5	End of Turn 5
End of Turn 5	End of Turn 5	End of Turn 5

Necron turn 6
Ouch and Sauron never even broke trot!  Ah well what a twit and a 
half.  One 
dead Heavy destroyer and I am at 14 necrons - my phase out point...  
But wait, it's 
turn 6 I can't phase out.  Phew.

Heavy Destroyers fire at Sauron!  Cover save...  nope, big hole in 
the ground where Sauron the Tyrant used to be.

Destroyer sqdn 1, shoot at that Carnifex in the middle of the board - 
unless you can see some warriors anywhere, I swear there were some 
once... The Carnifex does have a tough back side doesn't it!  Ok 
Rusty's gang, you try... bounce bounce bounce bounce. 23 hits and all 
bouncing!  Gotta love that extended carapace!

Ah..  Arnie finally died in CC, now the hill belongs to the 5 Gaunts 
and 5 
Gargoyles left in the game.

OK Bugs - wotcha gonna do, and where are those Warriors - I'm getting 
jumpy 
here...

Tyranid turn 6:

First last chance for a draw then - with the Tyrant dead and no other 
Synapse, Gargoyles 1 (2 models) Gargoyles 2 (3 models) and 
Scythegaunts 1 (5 models) all take and pass their IB rolls (SG 1's 
Hive Node is still alive) All have to fleet to have a chance of 
reaching the Destroyers, so no Fleshborers. The Gargoyles make it 
easily due to good rolls and their 12" move, but even though SG1 is 
slightly closer, they roll low and fail to get close enough to 
charge. All 5 Gargoyles have rending claws, so it's 10 RC attacks to 
kill 3 Heavy Destroyers for a draw, or kill two (the CORREST two!) 
and hope a failed morale check on LD10 with a minus 2. Not good. 
Brood 1 takes out the lone Heavy Destroyer whilst brood 2 downs one 
from the 3 model unit, I lose nothing. Second last chance fails - not 
enough casualties to prevent them claiming the quarter. Final last 
chance - the Heavy Destroyers have to take a morale test for losing 
close combat, if they fail it's a drawn needing an 8. They pass. 
Julian wins, three quarters to two.

End of Turn 6

Afterward.

Jules
What an epic battle!  Really well played by Glenn (not so sure of my 
ability) and a nail biter almost to the end.  VoD was risky but 
actually served it's purpose by contesting a quarter and assisting in 
reducing the strength of some mythical warriors.

Man of the Match (or most valuable player as they say in the USA) was 
definitely Sauron the Tyrant.  What a display, insta kills, warriors, 
destroyers - all a blow torch through butter.  Exciting stuff.

I was extremely lucky with my saving throws - but looking at the 
averages I was going to make most of them anyway.  Rending Claws on 
ALL creature types are definitely needed, and without the Gargoyles 
to get into CC quickly, my gauss guns would have had even more of a 
field day.

The VoD and the Carnifex shoot were my force's highlights and just 
goes to show how effective Necron shooting really is.

I am glad we agreed on a draw in the end, it was the only fair result.

Glenn, many thanks once again for the awesome game.

Glenn:

An great game indeed, though Julian is far too generous - don't let 
the closeness of the quarters count at the end fool you - I was 
hammered out of sight. Julian could have utterly humiliated me if 
he'd wanted to, and there's not a single thing I could have done 
about it. 

Firstly, remember, he _seriously_ handicapped his army from the 
outset by voluntarily denying himself the legitimate use of either of 
it's two most powerful assets against my army - Nightbringer and the 
Monolith. On top of this, I can't avoid the suspicion that he made 
just a few too many serious 'mistakes' and 'oversights' during the 
game for a man of his obvious intelligence and relative experience. 
The fact that he's also such a great guy does little to allay my 
suspicions! In the end though, despite giving me chance after chance 
after chance (intentionally? genuine errors? ultimately, it doesn't 
matter) and, in my opinion, never making a single bad  move myself 
(guess I'm fairly pleased about that, if nothing else) there was ever 
any realistic possibility of  me winning this game through my own 
efforts. Losing both the first deployment roll and first turn may 
have made things worse, but they were certainly NOT pivotal factors 
in my opinion. After terrain placement, Julian could have pretty much 
chosen to guarantee his victory at many points in the game from 
deployment onwards, no matter who went first. 

Oh, in case anyone thinks I'm getting a bit big for my boots about my 
wonderful generalship, I should say that it seemed to me that the 
right moves for the Tyranids were always blatantly obvious in every 
single case, so they really made themselves. About the most I can say 
about my performance is that I simply avoided making any totally dumb 
moves, in a situation where the smart ones were complete no-brainers! 
My 'tactics' basically amounted to - "Move towards the nearest Necron 
unit at full speed, avoiding 'Rapid Fire' range where possible, 
charging at the first opportunity. Sweep/Repeat". I had little choice 
here due to the distances involved and the game's six-turn limit. As 
a result, I never really felt in control of the army in any 
meaningful way, or that I made any real decisions, and at no time did 
I feel the Tyranids had any possibilty of winning through my input. 
At best, I might have scraped a draw at certain points with a LOT of 
luck, but then ONLY because Julian had made a significant oversight  
(or he had deliberately not made a game-winning move to allow me to 
make a fight of it and to avoid humiliating me) not  because of 
anything clever I had done for myself. Indeed, with hindsight, the 
fact that every single one of these simple game-winning opportunities 
was not taken, and so many avoidable opportunities were gifted me is 
a great credit to Julians generosity and sportsmanship.

It's interesting to note that by choosing to go first, whether he 
realised it or not, Julian guaranteed that he could not possibly be 
phased out after turn 5, something that didn't strike me until much 
later. This, along with simply deploying no closer than 37" to any 
part of the Tyranid Start line with his Warriors and Scarabs, would 
have been enough to virtually guarantee victory from the outset.

-Glenn

From both the Tyranids and Tyranid-Players Yahoo! groups.

Hive Naginata vs. Doom Force

The game.

Afterward.