Death Guard vs Necrons – Warhammer 40,000 Battle Report

Another day, another battle. Today at the Maelstrom we’re taking two of our strongest performers and pitting them against one another, with the resilience factions butting heads for the very first time. Stay tuned for Death Guard vs Necrons!

The Armies

Nuntius Cacotheus

Death Guard – 2,000

Battalion Detachment

HQ

Winged Demon Prince of Nurgle: WARLORD (Arch-Contaminator); The Suppurating Plate,       Pair of Malefic Talons; Smite, Miasma of Pestilence

Malignant Plaguecaster: Smite, Blades of Putrefaction, Curse of the Leper

TROOPS

7 Plague Marines: 2 Plasma Guns

7 Plague Marines: 2 Plasma Guns

7 Plague Marines: 2 Plague Spewers

7 Plague Marines: 2 Blight Launchers

ELITES

5 Blightlord Terminators: 2 Combi-Plasma/Bubotic Axe, 2 Combi-Plasma/Balesword, Blight             Launcher/Balesword

FAST ATTACK

3 Myphitic Blight-Haulers

Fetid Bloat-Drone: 2 Plaguespitters, Plague Probe

Fetid Bloat-Drone: 2 Plaguespitters, Plague Probe

TRANSPORTS

Chaos Rhino: Combi-Bolter

Chaos Rhino: Combi-Bolter

Chaos Rhino: Combi-Bolter

Dagon Dynasty

Necrons – 2,000

Battalion Detachment

Sautekh Dynasty

HQ

Catacomb Command Barge: WARLORD (Immortal Pride); Lightning Field, Gauss Cannon,        Staff of Light

Cryptek: Chronometron, Staff of Light

TROOPS

16 Necron Warriors

16 Necron Warriors

16 Necron Warriors

10 Immortals: Gauss Blasters

10 Immortals: Gauss Blasters

FAST ATTACK

3 Destroyers

7 Tomb Blades: Shield Vanes

7 Canoptek Scarabs

HEAVY SUPPORT

3 Heavy Destroyers

TRANSPORTS

Ghost Ark

After Action Review

I was sure the Necrons were going to shoot me to pieces. When that initial shot came in from the Heavy Destroyers, I felt a sick sense of precognition, waiting for the death to continue coming. For a brief moment, I believed Nurgle had abandoned me.

Fear not though, for the Plaguelord ever loves and watches over his children!

I’ve been wanting to add a second Cryptek to my army for exactly situations like this. From playing the army myself I know how much it relies on the scientist, and with that knowledge I targeted him as soon as I could smell his blood. This led to the end result, with so little able to come back from Reanimation Protocols.

I still think targeting the Demon Engines is a mixed bag. It takes so much firepower to bring them down, and even when one or two fall it seems like it leaves too much of the enemy army intact. That said, ignoring them always seems to leave a ton of damage to come in. I wonder if it might have been best to go ahead and lock them up with some Warriors, just to free the rest of the Necrons to start making an impact on the enemy.

I also wonder if a different deployment type might have helped the Necrons. Their front was extremely narrow, and it really allowed the short-range Plague Weapons to get their choice of targets before I went into close combat with other units. That second turn in particular was nasty, with almost every unit in my force pulling double duty to whittle down the Necrons.

I think a lot of that second Necron shooting phase hinged on the damage the Heavy Destroyers could have provided. If they had been able to survive my shooting, then maybe they could have brought down a Demon Engine or two. Yet they had to be as close as they were, since they barely had range to the Rhino to begin with. Maybe it would have made more sense to target the Blight-Haulers with that opening volley, but I know Josh was relying on my legendary Disgustingly Resilient rolls foiling any attempt on their lives. At the end of the day it did score him a couple of points, and I don’t think at the time he could have fully guessed the damage they were going to take. I’m still a fan of multiple Heavy Destroyer squads, to prevent just such a crippling blow to anti-tank from occurring. I really need to buy/build/paint a second squad and see how it works out!