Chaos Daemons vs Necrons, 29.03.2025

A second game with Shadow Legion, just after the one against the Custodes. This time against a beginner player, so no tournament-level shenanigans (except some misunderstood rules). Just some beautifully painted mossy necrons and the most vanilla Take and Hold mission.

Battle round 1

I had first turn, so I ran up a squad of Flesh Hounds to erase the infiltrating Flayed Ones. Took objectives on the flanks, and kept everything hidden otherwise. On their turn, the Necrons advanced up and show down my exposed hounds.

Battle round 2

The same amount of action. I ran out a squad of Flesh Hounds to Cleanse, brought in the Chosen and made the Nurglings stand behind the wall to block charges.

Some Skorpekh got in, but only killed the Nurglings. Nothing of value was lost.

The Necron line advanced ever forward.

Battle round 3

Finally, some action. I moved out literally everything.

Be'lakor failed his rerollable 7", but everything else got in. Literally. Everything.

With their full frontage in combat and attacking first, the Bloodcrushers did good work, taking out the Skorpekh Destroyers.

The Necrons interrupted, taking down some Bloodletters and Chosen. But then it was my turn. I foolishly did not strike down the Reanimator first, allowing extra Warriors to return. But then the Bloodthirster shredded it, and a good number of Warriors died. Not that many, because... well, we thought they had a 4+ FnP. They definitely did not. Also: stupid Cryptothralls.

The backlines saw action as well, with two Hexmarks landing in previously, and me sending in the Plaguebearers to keep them busy.

On their turn, the Necrons counter-attacked. The Bloodthirster was whittled down by shooting and then killed in combat. The Nurglings and Bloodletters also died. We realized that the Warriors don't actually have a FnP so they died quickly to the Chosen, as well.

Battle round 4

Points were pretty close, but I was a bit ahead due to keeping the Necrons back in the middle. So I continued doing that. I charged in the Bloodcrushers as well as Be'lakor.

The fighting in the backlines continued to the end of the game, with no tangible results. Other than the Plaguebearers keeping both Hexmarks busy.

And this is how the board looked after round 4. Szerakh and whatever surviving forces all entered combat, and my entire center was deleted. Be'lakor died after two rounds of fighting the Silent King. He barely killed 1 Menhir. Great.

Battle round 5

I was ahead in points, but badly losing units. So I scrounged up whatever points I could, by trying to shoot down a Hexmark unsuccessfully. 

The Necrons also tried an indirect fire to destroy my Marked for Death Havocs. Everything failed.

Conclusion

Points were still close at the end. I liked how fast the first two rounds went by, with no action, and then everything exploded in round 3. Round 4 was cleanup. Round 5 just a desperate scramble for points.

A much better showing for the Shadow Legion, thanks to the Bloodcrushers actually pulling their weight. Of course, I would have blasted through the Necrons lines faster without their fake FnP, but this made a great game, with both sides despairing after the other's successful turns.