BFG:XR Battle Report - Imperial Navy vs. Necrons - 1500pts

[Blacksails]

First battle report ever! Played a 1500pts match against my friend's brand new Necron fleet. We are using the BFG:XR rules, so there'll be minor differences from the original game, but its mostly in point values and weapon configurations, the base game is mostly unchanged.

Any feedback on the format and style is welcome. I'm hoping to document all my games, and eventually a campaign if all goes well.

Without further rambling...

Lists
Imperial Navy
Inquisitor - Ordo Xenos, Ld9/50pts (no re-rolls on stock inquisitors)

Emperor Class Battleship 'Clear Skies' - Shark Assault Boats, Deathwatch Kill Team (adds +1 to all HnR attacks, including ordnance)/385pts

Armageddon Class Battlecruiser 'Firehawk' - Inquisitor goes here/235pts

Lunar Class Cruiser 'Bastion' - Nova Cannon/200pts
Lunar Class Cruiser 'Bulwark' - Nova Cannon/200pts

Dominator Class Cruiser 'Lord Rhei' - /190pts
Gothic Class Cruiser 'Solar Castellan' - /180pts

729 Long Range Patrol Squadron 'Predators' - 2x Cobras/60pts

Necrons
Tomb Ship - Sepulchre/600pts

Scythe - /315pts

Shroud - /200pts

Dirge x4 - /180pts
Jackal x4 - /200pts

Setup

We have no pretty terrain and we're still getting a handle on the basic mechanics, so we opted to run an open space field. We used the cruiser clash set up and scenario.

Imperial Turn 1
 
Imperials move forward with the Cobras blasting up the right flank and the Emperor class battleship 'Clear Skies' sliding across the back. Shooting is minimal with only the Nova Cannons going off dealing decent damage to the Scythe and the Armageddon’s lances doing some minor damage as well. Torpedoes are launched, and the Emperor drops 8 Sharks.

Necrons Turn 1
 
Necrons move forward with most of the fleet locking on. Shooting sees the Lunar and Armageddon take damage, but the Lunar chooses not to brace and the Armageddon fails, crippling it.

Imperial Turn 2
 
The loose line abreast formation allows for a few of the cruisers to shoot off both broadsides this turn. Unfortunately, the highest leadership vessel with the Inquisitor on it decides he would be too busy yelling about purging Xenos than commanding the fleet. The Firehawk fails its Lock On roll, and with no re-roll leaves the Imperials with no ordnance from the Emperor or Cobras. Broadsides open up and decent damage is dealt but the lack of Lock On is felt keenly. On the left flank, two Jackals are destroyed by combined firepower from the Lunars and Armageddon. Nova Cannons all fire at the Tomb Ship, dealing minor damage. The Scythe feels the broadsides of all five cruisers and is promptly crippled and braced. Finally, the Cobras on the right manage to snipe a Jackal with their single weapon battery.

Necrons Turn 2
 
The Necrons return fire with a vengeance. The Scythe sails past the cruiser line to take pot shots at the Emperor. The remaining escorts all beeline for the Emperor as well, and some lucky rolling sees the shields taken off line for the remainder of the game. The Shroud deals minor damage to the nearest damaged Lunar, while the Tomb ship silently slides into the fray and destroys the badly damaged Armageddon and full health Dominator. The Imperials are now left with a crippled Lunar on the left, a full health Lunar, and a full health Gothic, as well as the untouched Cobras and yet to be crippled Emperor. The end phase shows the might of the Ordo Xenos aboard the Clear Skies who eliminates a Jackal.

Imperial Turn 3
 
Orders go off this round due to the Inquisitor losing his ship and being stranded in an escape pod. Secondary command assumed by the Captain of the Emperor, though the Cobra squadron remains the most able on the field. The Emperor re-arms and re-fuels her wings and launched 8 bombers. The Cobras re-load torpedoes and line up for an attack run. The Lunar and Gothic both Lock On and move up on the Tomb Ship. The Lunar on the left unleashes both broadsides into the Tomb Ship and the Shroud, crippling the Shroud and damaging the Tomb Ship. The Gothic’s lances wreak havoc on the heavy armour of the Necron capital ship and manage to cripple the mighty croissant. The Emperor’s attack wings manage only light damage on the Scythe and more teleport attack bring down another escort. The cobras harass the Tomb Ship, managing another point of damage. Finally, the crippled Lunar receives orders to disengage, but confusion on board the vessel keeps it on the field for a little longer.

Necrons Turn 3
 
The Necrons sensing the potential loss of their valuable capital ships, blink out of real space. The Shroud and Scythe both escape, but the Tomb Ship stays in pursuit of the Emperor, hoping to destroy the vessel before it can transmit all the captured date from the engagement. A lone Jackal turns to engage the Gothic while the Dirge continues to chase the Emperor. Shooting from the Tomb Ship cripples the Emperor, with minimal damage done by the escorts.

Imperial Turn 4
<Forgot to take picture>
The Imperials attempt to disengage all around, but continued confusion leaves most of the fleet on the field for another round. The Cobras stay in pursuit of the Tomb Ship and refuse to leave until the Emperor warps out. Minimal damage except for another point of damage done from the elite crew of the Cobras.

Necrons Turn 4
<Forgot to take picture>
With most of the Necron fleet disengaged, it was a race for the crippled Tomb Ship to close the Emperor and bring her down. More damage piles on the Emperor, but she continues to warm up her warp drive.

Imperial Turn 5
 
All of the Imperial Cruisers disengage, but the Emperor experiences problems with her warp drive. The Cobras attempt to screen her escape and deal another point of damage to the massive Necron ship.

Necrons Turn 5
<Forgot to take picture>
Much the same as the last turn, leaving the Emperor dangerously close to destroyed.

Imperial Turn 6
 
The warp drive activates and the Emperor slips into the warp. The cobra squadron, satisfied with their performance, follow suit, leaving the Necrons to salvage what they can of their own technology.

Minor Necron Victory

Great game overall. My opponent thoroughly enjoyed the Necrons, and I had a fun time figuring out how to bring them down. I brought a well balanced fleet in terms of lances and weapon batteries, and knowing I was against an ordnance free list, I felt the Emperor was all the ordnance I needed. Once I get my Retribution/Apoc, I'll likely run that as the battleship and have a dictator as my wing support. I wanted to try an inquisitor as my fleet admiral and it turned out to be a bad decision. While he's Ld9 base, the lack of re-roll was what crippled me on turn 2 when I flubbed the first command check on my Inquisitor's ship. Going a whole turn without the Emperor dropping new ordnance or not having lock on on all the cruiser that almost all had dual broadsides was a big setback. This snowballed in that he wasn't braced or crippled as bad as he could have been, which hurt me in the next turn. The Inquisitor allowed me to take the DW upgrade on the Emperor though, but I feel it wasn't that useful as the attack run it conducted was immediately repaired by the Necrons 4+ repair ability. So hit and run attacks weren't as good as I thought they would be.

Otherwise I felt like I could have tightened up the cruiser wedge/line abreast thing, but I was overall pleased with my positioning and target priority. The Armageddon didn't get much time to shine, but longer range lances were welcome on the turn they did fire. Lunars were excellent all around with nova cannons softening up early and good combined broadsides. Dominator/Gothic duo was likewise solid for much of the same reasons. Emperor did its thing with long range batteries and ordnance. Losing the shields hurt in the end game as I could have killed the escorts if I wasn't bracing constantly.

All in all, I'm going to take leadership a little more seriously in my fleet building, going with either a Ld9 Admiral w/ re-roll, or Ld8 with two re-rolls, and I'm seriously considering bringing a secondary commander (+1Ld to an assigned vessel) for ships that I need to perform. I'll also likely sacrifice bringing a cruiser for taking a full size escort squadron. I have two brand new sealed Firestorm boxes that will do nicely.

As for my opponent, he realized he should have AAF on the first turn to get in my face immediately and reduce the impact of my nova cannons and maximize his three area affect weapons (two solar pulses, one nightmare field). Plus, most of his shooting is 30cm or less anyways. He warped out when he was crippled which saved him a lot of victory points, and his escorts were great harassers.

On other notes, I have the original card cutouts for planets and asteroids on the way, so that'll brighten up the playing field. I also need to paint my Armageddon as its currently cursed.

Oh, and I need to remember to take more pictures and take better notes.

Feedback, criticism, tactical advice welcomed.

Thanks for reading!

[horizon]

Good stuff! Nice board, nice battle!

In warp rift there are templates for minefields.

I hope you kept the doctrine versus necrons as well: first weapon batteries then lances.

[Blacksails]

The board was a game changer for me.  I ran a few demo games with my local club to generate interest before I had the mat, and it was a little lame.  Thankfully my painted fleet and how fun the game is sold some people.  The mat makes it look sooo much better.

I'll have to check out Warp Rift for those template.

As for the doctrine of WB first then lances, I'm not sure its that useful against Necrons.  Seeing as they have no shields, they generate no BMs to obscure WB shooting.  It kind of feels like it doesn't matter which order I fire in, as if he braces, everything hits on a 4+, while no bracing makes the lances hit hard and the WB not so much.

Still, out of habit, I tend to roll WB first anyways.

My opponent would always get excited whenever he rolled a 6 on his lances, as they ignore shields on a 6.  Too bad for him he also shoots WB first, so joke's on him, I didn't have any shields!  Oh wait...that's not good either.

[Bozeman]

For your gaming pleasure:

http://fourstrandshobby.com/battlefleet-gothic-printable-terrain/

[Thinking Stone]

Thank you for the report, Blacksails! I saw it over on Dakka, too (though I resisted the urge to read it twice, I'm not quite that desperate for BFG battle reports... yet ). I also have battled and lost against the Necrons (though my fleet at the time had more leadership bonuses with a Ld10 Emperor and some Detection-Cobras). Stinky Necrons. It can, however, be quite humorous when the ridiculously-fast Necrons overshoot your fleet!

I think horizon is referring to keeping discipline regardless of enemy (he always has looked suspiciously like a Commi—BLAM). Forcing the Necrons to brace is a good way to reduce their firepower, though!

I like the nebula mat, too! It's a pity ordinary space isn't quite so interesting most of the time... . BFG is one of those great games that doesn't strictly need the models but can look really awesome (in addition to playing awesomely) with a little help. It helps those who are more visually-oriented get into the fun too.


Thinking Stone

[horizon]

Nah, in the past there was a popular tactica that adviced shooting lances first against Necrons and then the weapon batteries. That article negated the psychological factor in the game.

[Thinking Stone]

Ah, I see! Though I would have thought lances first against Necrons was most sensible since weapons batteries are just as dangerous to a braced Necron (and large numbers of lances would encourage bracing for my Necron opponent because bracing is so effective against them).

Which psychological factor are you referring to?

[horizon]

You need to think meta and not with direct dice in this case.

If you fire lances first the chances that the Necron player will brace the precious vessel is high. So batteries won't do much more.

So, fire batteries first and the Necron will be more in doubt to brace or not. If he doesn't brace against the weapon batteries from, for example a Lunar, those batteries might hit or not but it also means the lances can fire against an unbraced vessel. (Because one may only brace against attack from a ship, not wait on per attack). Check?
Does the Necron player decide to brace? Then target your lances at another Necron vessel. Get it? Two braced vessels.

So, it is not about hard dice in this case. But about a different aspect. Make the Necron player think. It works best of course with ships or squadrons with mixed weapons.

[Blacksails]

I had hummed and hawed over this particular tactic for a while before the match.  I figured even if just for habit reinforcement, I'd go with batteries first, then lances.

Plus, I always declare all of my shooting from one ship before rolling instead of one type of weapon at a time per ship.

Now that you've explained the advantages of WB -> Lance firing order even against Necrons, I'm sold.

Thanks for the help!

And as a side note, can anyone clarify when my shields come back online?  Is it the moment I leave contact with BMs?  As in, I have shields up at all times when there are no BMs in base contact (and likewise, up to the amount of shields based on the number of BMs in base contact), or do they take a turn of being clear of BMs to 'charge up'?

[horizon]

Yup, when you leave the blastmarker the shield is back.

[Thinking Stone]

@horizon Ah, I see what you mean! It seems the key point is that a target may only choose to brace at the start of a ship's attack. As an interesting aside, I think I have always played it that the target could choose to brace after an attack (so after weapons batteries from a Lunar but before that Lunar's lances)—the caveat being that the bracing is less efficient with the same downsides.

With mixed weapons, this seems like a good idea though the other side of the coin is that the weapons batteries are relatively more effective against braced Necrons than lances are (both are reduced by the 2+ save but you get 4+ armour to roll against with both). Maybe the ideal tactic is to force braces with multi-weapon ships and lances (and maybe ordnance) and use a big bruiser with weapons batteries to punish the poor Necron at the end....