This Cadians vs Necrons game is for a league at Boards and Swords, but not this league I am in. This is for a 40-player league split into four divisions of ten players. The top players of each division will play off for a final winner sometime in Feb/March next year. There are ten players in a division, you play everyone once, and there is one game per month. So my games will be completed nine months from June.

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In my division, there are the following factions taking part;

• Astra Militarum (me)
• Tau – Game 1
• Craftworlds – Game 2
• Thousand Sons – Game 3
• Death Guard – Game 4
• Necrons – Game 5
• Custodes – Game 6
• Flesh Tearers – Game 7
• Grey Knights – Game 8 or 9
• Orks – Game 8 or 9

This game was at Boards and Swords in Derby.

I used the GoonHammer Tabletop Battles Beta app for this game, which is why the output at the bottom differs from the usually ITC app output.

Pacificus Division

Here are the current standings before this game… I think I am solidly in the middle, with two wins and two losses.

Updated League Table

Cadians 1,500 Points List

Cadian Battalion Detachment

This game was using the Nephilim GT Book.

Again, similar list to the one I used vs Death Guard and Thousand Sons. But I added in three Regimental Standards in this game – they are partly painted, and no one is getting the 10VP for being painted in this league… so I just took them.

I dropped the Relic of Lost Cadia too. Necrons are obviously not Chaos – so that made sense and saved me a CP.

I wondered about switching some of this up a bit, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Command Points

• 1CP for my first Relic – Gatekeeper
• 1CP for a Tank Ace
• 1CP for a Warlord Trait, which I do not use and instead take the free Tank Ace instead of a Warlord Trait
• I will be starting on 3CP

HQ

• Pask with Demolisher, Heavy Bolters and Lascannon
• Demolisher Tank Commander with Multi-Meltas and Lascannon
• Gatekeeper Tank Commander with Heavy Bolters and Lascannon, Weapon Expert Tank Ace

Troops

• 3x Infantry Squads with Vox Caster, Lascannon and a Meltagun, Sergeant with Plasma Pistol and Power Sword
• 3x Infantry Squads with Vox Caster, Lascannon and a Plasma Gun, Sergeant with Plasma Pistol and Power Sword

Elites

• 3x Platoon Commanders with Plasma Pistol and Power Sword – one of these is my Warlord
• 3x Command Squads with Regimental Standard, Medi-Pack and Vox-Caster

Heavy Support

• 1x Full Payload Basilisk with Hunter Killer Missile
• 1x Basilisk

Cadian Secondaries

• Inflexible Command
• Boots on the Ground
• Raise the Banners High

Necrons 1,500 Points List

This is from memory, so might be slightly incorrect;

• Nightbringer
• A character
• Another character
• Maybe another character
• Command barge
• 3x Immortals
• 3x Heavy Destroyers
• 6x Skorpekh Destroyers
• 5x Lychguard
• 2x units of 5x Scarabs

Necrons Secondaries

• Auto Take Necron Secondary 1
• Auto Take Necron Secondary 2
• Auto Take Necron Secondary 3

The Mission – Conversion

Score 4VP for each other the following;

• Control 1 or more Objectives.
• Control 2 or more Objectives.
• Control more Objectives than the enemy.

Then at the end of each player’s turn;

• 4VP if they control the Objective in their opponent’s deployment zone.
• 2VP if they control one or more Objectives that are in no man’s land.
• Lose 1VP if they do not control the Objective in their own deployment zone.

A Battle Plan

Because we know the mission ahead of the game, and this is the third time I have used this list, and because I have played against Necrons a number of times – I felt like I could make a decent battle plan for the game.

Things to consider;

• The Conversion Mission focuses on the enemy Objective and on those Objectives in the centre.
• Necrons can hit hard in combat with some units.
• Necrons have the ability to sit back and shoot – and delete tanks.
• Necron Warriors need removing in one Shooting attack, and their small arms fire melts my infantry.
• My Infantry Squads are key in the late game, and my tanks are key in the earlier game.

The Centre

So the centre I figured will be useful for three reasons in this game;
– It contains an Objective, and said Objective is worth 2VP because it is in No Man’s Land.
– A Regimental Standard in the centre scores me a single VP per turn.
– It’ll be the focal point of the game because of the Deployment Zones.
Heading into the centre is likely to go badly for my army. I have no melee attack and have no real staying power – especially in melee.

I need to be aware of this fact throughout the game. The Regimental Standard scoring a single VP for Boots on the Ground is nice, but it’s likely to draw me into a fight I will lose. It’ll also give the enemy something to leapfrog into, towards my army, with a charge.

I’ll keep away from the centre until it’s reasonably safe to do so. Then commit to it with a Command Squad, a Platoon Commander and two Infantry Squads.

No Man’s Land

The centre is in No Man’s Land, but two entire quarters of the battlefield are in No Man’s Land too.

This is especially good for Boots on the Ground. I can whip a unit left and right to start scoring this as soon as possible in turn two. Boots on the Ground can’t be scored in turn one.

Finally, with a decent turn Shooting Phase in turn one, I could free up one side to allow me to securely score than Objective plus my own and also safely get Boots on the Ground in at least two quarters while also holding two Raised Banners.

Deployment

With the battlefield in my mind, I can turn to deployment.

I must try and stay back. Until there are safe areas. Moving forward too soon will spell disaster, and there will be the urge to do so because of the 2VP for No Man’s Land Objectives and because of my Standards. I must resist!

I can split my infantry into three different sections, all the same;

• 1 Platoon Commander
• 1 Command Squad
• 2 Infantry Squads

One can screen the centre and be ready to move to the centre once the coast is clear. The other two sit on either flank to screen out the Veil of Darkness trick! They can also move up on turn two for Boots on the Ground. The Medi-Pack Veteran can bring back a model, turn on a 3+ or heal the Platoon Commander. I can also Consolidate Squads to make the Platoon Commander’s one Order go a bit further – but that will cost a CP, and they are rare these days.

This map lends itself well to a castle-style deployment, there is one corner which has depth, and there is no long edge to defend. There will be a balance here, though, do not castle up too much and miss the opportunity t move up for Objectives, but I do not want to move up too soon and be killed easily and allow the enemy to charge in and jump from unit to unit.

Those three infantry-based blobs can, when the dice Gods smile at me, put out some damage. In recent games, they have picked Wounds off the toughest of enemies – Custodes, for instance. Each blob of infantry all in is putting out;

• 6x BS3 Lasgun shots
• 20x BS4 Lasgun shots
• 2x Lascannon shots
• A Melta Gun or Plasma Gun

This is without any orders and without any Stratagems like Cadia Stands to give them an extra AP at half range. Consolidating two Infantry Squads with Plasma Guns, the Cadia Stands Stratagem and the Take Aim order will put out at 12″;

• 40x Lasgun shots at AP1
• 2x Lascannon shots at AP4
• 4x Plasma gun shots  at AP4
• 2x Plasma pistol shots  at AP3

All with Hammer of the Emperor and re-rolling all misses. That is enough to down about 4 Skorpekh Destroyers on average!

Turns 1 & 2

This is the time of movement restraint. Sit back, let them come to me and within 24″ of my Demolishers. The Gatekeeper and Basilisks should be picking off units at long range. My infantry blobs should stay in cover and not move forward.

Turn 3+

This is the time for Move, Move, Move. The Gatekeeper stays with the Basilisks for Inflexible Command, and the other Tank Commander and Pask can move up to obtain targets. While being screened by any remaining infantry who can move to the table quarters and onto Objectives. And the centre – if it is safe to do so.

Deployment

Everything from this point was written after the game… here goes!

Deployment went well. The Necrons had their pre-game move thing going on, so some of them ended up closer than shown below.

Turn 1

Astra Militarum

As planned, I moved out right and left and not much else.

I got the 3 Wounds off the Nightbringer in the Shooting Phase and then killed all of one Scarab unit and two from the other. Two Lychguard went down as well.

Nothing too spectacular, but some decent damage and clearing one flank of the Scarabs felt like a good move.

Necrons

The Necrons all shuffled up, but not enough to get any charges off this turn. I lost the right Infantry Squad and a few Wounds from the Demolisher Tank Commander. It was bracketed, though.

Nothing too catastrophic.

Turn 2

Astra Militarum

I shifted left and right again, and not towards the middle. The Demolisher Tank Commander did shift towards the middle to get range on the other Scarab unit, which was destroyed this turn.

I Consolidated the two squads on the left to put a lot of fire into the Nightbringer – who again took his 3 Wounds this Shooting Phase. I shifted my central Infantry Squad to the left side. The right side was all quiet now, with the Skorpekh Destroyers being far away. But the left side had the Nightbringer coming at me.

I killed a single Heave Destroyer in the backfield.

Necrons

A Heavy Destroyer came back to life.

The Nightbringer and Skorpekh Destroyers moved forward, ready for charges.  I lost some of the right Infantry Squad to shooting, enough to extend the Skorpekh Destroyers’ charge distance. The Tank Commander survived again!

The Nightbringer got its charge off and killed all my Infantry on that flank. Meanwhile, the Skorpekh Destroyers failed their charge, and they were left in the open on an Objective.

Turn 3

Astra Militarum

The Nightbringer was back up to five Wounds. It can only take three Wounds per phase and regains one at the start of each of the Necron turns.

My Infantry Squad from the centre moved around again to screen the Gatekeeper Tank Commander from the Nightbringer. I removed three Wounds from the Nightbringer in my Shooting Phase, placing it on two Wounds.

Elsewhere I shifted around for line-of-sight and killed three of the six Skorpekh Destroyers.

The Heavy Destroyers were killed this turn by long-range shots from Gatekeeper. Who then also removed five Immortals at range using its Heavy Bolters. Good work!

I was gradually getting their numbers down…

Necrons

The Skorpekh Destroyers killed my Infantry Squad on the right flank, and the Nightbringer came forward to attack my screening Infantry and Tank Commander. But he rolled poorly on his powers and only dealt a single Mortal Wound to the Infantry Squad in front of it. I put this on the Heavy Weapons Team – so no models were removed. This left the screen intact.

The Nightbringer did kill all the Infantry, but it was not able to get a charge into the Tank Commander. It did Consolidate into it, though. In Overwatch, the Infantry did one Wound to it, bringing it down to one Wound. That would have been something…

Turn 4

Astra Militarum

I rushed to the middle now to get my Regimental Standard there for some late VP.

I fell back the Tank Commander from the Nightbringer, who was then finished off.

I could not kill the Command Barge in the centre nor the Lychguard. They are so tough and needed more firepower into them than I was able to do at this stage.

Necrons

My Infantry in the middle died, and the Lychguard charged my Demolisher Tank Commander. It survived again!

Turn 5

The points were all done now, and we just rolled to see what would die – and that was the game done.

Summary

A great game! Thanks, Charles!

It was close in the end, and it felt good to score so well in a loss – thanks to the new Astra Militarum Secondaries.

The Basilisks, you will notice, did not get a mention. They were really disappointing. I might switch them out on my next game at 1,500 points because they do not feel like 250 points and a Tank Ace worth.

Final Score

Astra Militarum – 63
Necrons – 79

Necrons Victory