On the Imperial right flank, advancing Necron warriors were supported by a Triarch Stalker and Monolith, two powerful armored units that easily overwhelmed opposing Imperial tanks.

Battle’s Start

The company command squad was positioned in a bastion in the middle of the battlefield. From there, it was in range to give orders to all three three massive platoons. What’s more, the bastion’s height gave the squad’s plasma gun incredible lines of sight with which to take pot shots at passing Necron vehicles.

This was a giant City of Death fight, and I quickly realized that taking large blobs of infantry was perhaps not the best idea for an urban setting. Maneuvering these large units was a nightmare: Even running, one platoon took two turns to clear the city’s the dense urban terrain and deploy into a better firing position.

What’s more, I made the mistake of becoming intimidated by the Necron firepower. I hesitated and kept my platoons in the “safety” of the ruins (and the 4+ cover save), waiting for the Necrons to come to me. I think I should have taken the fight to them, overwhelming them with ranged fire and close combat

Well, I didn’t do that. I sat in my defenses and let the Necrons dictate how the battle would be fought. Big mistake.

On the Imperial right flank, the Triarch Stalker and Monoith, supported by a passing Doom Scythe, began pelting the Imperial line with heavy weapons fire. The Necron infantry held back, as there was no reason to advance into fire range until the Necron vehicles had thinned out the guardsmen’s defensive line.

Imperial casualties mounted.

Organized into a massive unit, the converged Tallarn platoon lacked mobility and stayed on the defense, allowing the xenos to determine the moment of their attack. When the Necrons finally made their move, they charged into melee with multiple units.

Single Envelopment

Noting that one of the Imperial platoons was poorly deployed, and it would take time to move them to a better position,  the Necrons did not press the Imperial center. Instead, they sent their fastest troops—formations of Destroyers and Tomb Blades—in a sweeping arc that slammed the entire Necron right wing into a building defended by a converged Tallarn platoon.

The Tallarn’s heavy weapons caused some casualties. But it was impossible to bring to bear all 50 lasguns of the platoon against the xenos, due to terrain, and the Tallarn volleys fell short of what was needed to slow the xeno advance.

In other words, by staying on the defensive, I basically let the Necrons time their attack perfectly. A unit each of Canoptek Wraiths, Destroyers, Warriors, Lychguard, and Tomb Blades all struck the Tallarn platoon at the same time, completely overwhelming the Imperials and slaughtering them to the last man.

The Imperial left flank was crushed.

With Imperial armor swept away on the right flank, the Triarch Stalker and Monolith again  turned their massive guns on the infantry, with the result that Imperial casualties rose quickly. When a Doomsday Scythe arrived to strafe the line, the guardsmen had had enough—they broke and fled.

A Killing Spree

On the Imperial right flank, Imperial casualties continued to climb, and the platoon commander needed to do something. But retreat was unthinkable. So, he chose to advance.

Leaving the defensive cover of the ruined buildings around them, the platoon moved forward. As their depleted numbers brought 40 lasguns to bear, their fire began to cause casualties to the cybernetic xenos, and Imperial morale improved (well, I felt better for a few minutes).

But the Necrons stood fast. The xenos first targeted a Lemon Russ Predator and Hellhound was in support of the Imperial attack. These vehicles were almost instantly taken out of action.

With the armor threat gone, the vehicles turned their combined fire, most notable that of the powerful gauss flux arcs of the Monolith, on the guardsmen and wiped out squad after squad of troops. The slaughter was so overwhelming that the morale of the men broke, and they retreated.

At this point, the reserve platoon was moving into position to continue the fight. But the Doom Scythe strafed the unit, its heavy death ray and telsa destructors ravaging the troops. When an advancing Doomsday Ark fired its massive Doomsday Cannon through a gap between two buildings—and the blast killed eight guardsmen and the platoon commander—this unit also broke and fled.

The fall of Yrora gives the xenos control of one-third of the planet’s hive cities–and also means the death of of approximately one-fourth  of the planet’s population. That severely restricts the population pool upon which Imperial authorities draw  new recruits for Myopolis’ Planetary Defense Force (PDF).

Aftermath

The Necron victory was total. Two of my three Imperial platoons were wiped out, and the third shattered. I’d lost what little armor I had, and I didn’t even bother to finish the game or count the objectives.

The city of Yrora had fallen to the xenos.

Final Thoughts: Solo gaming is fun, and it’s a great opportunity to practice tactics for your next competitive game. I certainly learned a few things with this battle.

First, the idea of blob platoons for Imperial Guard units has potential. I’m not quite certain how to use this tactic, and I question its value in an urban setting. My understanding of blob tactics is you advance and shoot, moving forward to overwhelm the enemy. But, in urban terrain, you can’t maneuver well—nor can you  position all your models with a line of sight on the enemy.

It’s also clear that, against Necrons, I’m wondering if I included enough heavy weapons to  deal with the Necron vehicles.  Despite numerous hits, not a single Necron armored unit was destroyed. They’re that tough. I should have replaced my tanks with more heavy weapons teams with lascannons, with every gun firing at a single target until it was dead.

(Of course, in a city setting, would that even be  possible? There was a lot of blocking terrain. Perhaps blob armies are betters suited to more open terrain.)

Clearly I need to experiment more with a blob-style army.  Also, I  definitely need to be less of a wuss as a general. You rarely win battles when you sit there and let your opponent dictate how the battle is fought.

Click here to return to Part 1.

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The Corvus Cluster is a Warhammer 40K blog documenting our gaming adventures in the fantastical sci-fi universe of Games Workshop.