The Battle for Bunker 111
"I can feel them coming! Terrible alien bodies made of metal with hatred towards all life!!" Butch's eyes rolled backwards in their sockets as the company psyker staggered dramatically across the mess hall before his apparent premonition was cut tragically short when a particularly hard cob of Valhallan corn bread bounced off his head.
"Cram it Zandimuus!" Sergeant Cobra growled as he eyed the psyker furiously while reloading his best corn-throwing arm. "One more word and you'll be spending the night in the brig again"
"But...." Zandimuus started, veins still pulsing around his eyes, an edge of desperation to his voice.
"I don't want to hear it - the last time you had a vision of an imminent attack we ended up pulling an all-nighter just because you wanted to try and convince that attractive widow she should spend the night in your tent for safety reasons!"
A raucous outbreak of laughter broke out across the mess hall as the Valhallan 94th sat through another bout of amateur dramatics to accompany a bland meal.
"This time it's really happening... probably" Butch mumbled into his beard as he sat down again sullenly. He picked up a spoon to poke at a still too hot plate of algae protein gumbo.
Colnel Kurn's cybernetic eye clicked as she watched the exchange. Her enhanced senses detecting just the faintest elecromagnetic residual of psychic activity around Butch's pouting face.
"Double the watch" the almost silent command spoken into her vox bead was communicated instantly to the command center.
Scenario;
Bunker 111 - a remote research station housing a research team dedicated to investigating "the relic" an ancient data storage device said to contain knowledge of the Necron menace... data the Necrons were determined to destroy or even capture for themselves.
The goal of the game was simple - the Necrons were aiming to defeat the Imperial defenders who were trying to hold the installation - the Bunker entrance to be exact. It was the goal of the Necron force to capture it! It would be worth 6 victory points for the Necrons to capture the Bunker.
Army Selection:
The imperial forces were allied - split between what was painted of Valhallans and Space Wolves. I'd been working hard to get the Valhallans battle worthy and had around 750 points ready. 600 points of Space Wolves were backing them up. The Necron army was 1350 points in total.
The Necron Raiders:
Necron Lord - Staff of Light
1 Necron Destroyer
26 Necron Raiders
4 Scarabs
The Valhallan 94th (750pts)
1 Command HQ - Colnel Blazdemona Kurn - power fist, master crafted plasma pistol, bionic arm , conversion field
Comm-link, Flamer
Butch Zandimuus - Champion psyker, Force Rod, bolt pistol
Infantry squad - Mortar, Sergeant - Jim Cobra - chainsword and hand flamer, Meltagun
Infantry squad - Missile launcher, Bolt pistol and chainsword, Flamer
Leman Russ - storm bolter
Ragnar Blackmane's First Company
Ragnar Blackmane
5 Blood Claws - 2 power fists, 2 plasma pistols, 3 chainswords, 2 bolt pistols, hand flamer
5 Wolf Guard Terminators, 2 with Lightning Claws, 2 Storm Bolters, heavy flamer, 2 power fists, 1 chain fist.
A word on rules...
The game was second edition, which I'm still learning, so hopefully rules were followed correctly. It's also worth mentioning the rules for Necrons are very powerful in 2nd and the imperial side would have their work cut out. Every warrior is toughness 5 with a 2+ Save and regeneration (meaning if they are killed they are knocked down and each turn a dice is rolled and they either die permanently on a 1 or come back on a 6). The Necron scarabs are outrageously hard to kill at T8 with a 2+ Save- meaning they are immune to most ordinary guns entirely. Every Necron also gives off a field with a 6 inch radius that gives a -1 to hit for ranged attacks (this stacks!!) AND
.....
THEY ARE IMMUNE TO WEAPON STRNGTH BONUSES! - Meaning in hand to hand they get hit by a power fist like you're punching with a normal weapon...
Knowing all that... maybe Butch's premonition of doom would be all too accurate...
Deployment:
An elecrical disturbance lit the sky as Necrons phased into the forested area East of Bunker 111. Terminators and Blood Claws Deployed from the Bunker to accompany Ragnar (His banners can be seen flying just behind the Bunker entrance)
A unit of Valhallans manned the landing pad with missile launcher deployed up top with a good line of fire and in cover. The Russ, Blazdemona's command squad one the other Infantry squad deployed in cover further to the flank - hoping to hold the line against the terrifying alien menace.
The Necron line with the destroyer seen at the far end just past the golden Necron Lord.
Pre game draws and Bombardment
Before the Necrons automatically took the first turn (because when you play Necrons the only thing you don't get is loaded dice...), the Imperial guard began a preliminary bombardment. With only the one heavy vehicle in attendance Colnel Blazdemona Kurn was able to provide coordinates for one 2 inch blast. The strength 8 shot had to be aimed at the closest unit of warriors she could see - this time it was a unit of warriors in the centre.
Taking careful aim, she called the shot - with a direct hit from the blast hitting 3 warriors and blasting two of them to the ground - down, but not necessarily out...
Slightly before the bombardment had occurred, Butch pulled 2 psychic powers - getting the very apt Machine curse (a debilitating remians in play template that could disable "robots" which we agreed would work on Necrons) and The Carmine Assassin - a force 1 card that would instantly kill a model in 18 inches if it failed a toughness check (these guys are T5, but at least every Necron casualty was worth a good deal to the imperial side...
Ragnar sharpened his foot Claws in preparation for battle... and also played a strategy card, delaying one of the Necron units so it would have to be deployed from the rear of the table on Necron Turn 1.
Necron Turn 1
Striding forwards with glowing red eyes, the Necrons scanned for life... and found it. Despite the bombardment knocking 2 down earlier, one was immediately back on its feet... the other phased out of reality defeated.
The Destroyer sped forwards towards the terminators and the Gauss Cannon thrummed to life as it took aim at the exposed terminators - the skimmer was easily in range as it moved silently over the hilly terrain.
The Necrons advanced squad by squad, with their delayed squad entering the field and running to try to get in the fight. In the centre, a unit of 5 warriors took aim at the Valhallan squad on the pad and to my horror got 2 hits despite their hard cover. Luckily, their coats appeared to be gauss flayer resistant as the shots failed to wound with a double 2 being rolled.
The gauss cannon also hit the terminators, but failed to penetrate the relic armour.
The psychic phase began and ended. Butch was out of 18 inches, but pocketed a force card into his rod for later use. With no psykers in attendance for the Necron side, their turn came to an end.
Imperial Turn 1:
The comm link fired up - and I rolled for EM interference... rolling a 6. This was the number that would have to be rolled each turn to pull supporting fire, and critically there would only be further bombardments on the roll of a 6. Not a great start, but fitting given the disruption fields in effect from the Necron Raiders. A jam symbol was used for the photo to represent just how bad the signal was - we can assume that rather than reaching fire support, he had a Pizza place on the line ...
The squad on the flank moved up - taking cover in the ruins and splitting from the mortar team. This squad contained the melta gun. It was getting g dangerously close to the scarabs already, which had flown in close on the Necron Turn, all too likely to disrupt vehicles and shooting soon.
The terminators advanced past the Bunker on the other flank and opened up with their heavy flamer towards the Destroyer. Despite a good set of hits, the weapon failed to wound the pilot and did not have the penetration to be able to damage the machine itself.
Dripping with burning promethium, the raider was lit up like a Christmas tree and ripe for rhe picking. Taking aim from the landing pad, a krak missile streaked out from the valhallan position and collided with the body of the machine. It easily penetrated the armour and the machine crashed to the ground and exploded. Despite the damage wrought to the machine, the Necron pilot strided from the flames unharmed.
The Leman Russ opened fire alongside the mortar and flank squad. The mortar misfired and achieved nothing. The melta hit, and wounded, but the scarab he was firing at saved on a 6! Shots blazed out of the russ. The lascannon missed a second scarab, but the battle cannon felled another warrior. The heavy bolters took another warrior down, but both sponsons jammed and would not be able to fire next turn.
In the psychic phase, Butch attempted machine curse on a group of Necrons, but it was dispelled, he attempted Carmine Assassin, but the power needed a 5+ to kill and the Necron he targeted passed his test.
Overall, it was a successful turn, but the scarabs were getting closer and would be hard to deal with once their negative shooting modifiers came into effect.
Necron Turn 2:
One warrior in the mid field stood up and advanced with the force. Scarabs descended on both the terminators and the Leman Russ with a further scarab appearing on the landing pad. It was enough that the Russ would have -2 to hit next turn and they were headed for the tank's armour to reduce its strength further.
Necron warriors opened fire on the landing pad - killing 3 of the valhallans and forcing a a morale check which the unit passed.
In the upper edge of the field, Necrons crossed the jungle and emerged ready to make a rush towards the Bunker.
The psychic phase passed without incident, much to the mechanical joy of the Necron Lord.
Imperial Turn 2:
"Flame units on the line!" The Colnel's order was clear. Only a fool - even a machine approached an entrenched Valhallan position. Ragnar howled with fury - trippling rhe charge range of the Space Wolves. Declaring a charge from the terminators, the Space Wolves bound forward just far enough to engage the Necrons peacemeal in front of the Bunker.
Ragnar charged a scarab - a more difficult situation than you might expect.as at S5 he would need 6s to wound...
Flamers surrounded the scarabs. Jim Cobra's hand flamer and a flamer from the command squad breathed promethium over the scarabs assaulting the Russ while a further flamer on the pad lit up the remaining scarab. Despite being unable to harm the steely bodies of the scarabs, all 3 were set ablaze and without help or a bit of luck, would lose control and move randomly the following turn!
(I really need some counters, but red dice were used to show flaming robo bugs...)
The terminators charge into the Necrons and 2 reach the Necron lines and combat begins. With swirling lighting Claws, one warrior is cut down, but a lucky blow sees the terminator with the heavy flamer laid low when he rolls a double 1 for his save. Ragnar overcomes the scarab after scoring 7 hits on it and managing a 6 to wound which sneaks through the armour save.
Necron Turn 3:
After a near death experience, the scarab Ragnar just killed gets up and starts fighting again! In the Necron combat phase, he fails to kill it despite scoring 8 hits! Tough little bugs!
Flaming scarabs scatter randomly, but one near the command squad goes out while warriors continue to rise again. The march in the centre field continues. Necron warriors open up on the entrenched unit on the landing pad and kill another 2 guardsmen. This time they roll an 11 for their leadership test and decide to hide in cover - effectively taking them out of the action.
In the psychic phase, Butch draws enough power to enact a machine curse on the Necros in the centre field - pinning a unit in place and preventing them from moving or shooting until his hold on them could be broken.
Necrons begin a slow march towards the objective, realising they only have a few more turns to secure their objective!
Imperial Turn 3:
Terminators rush into combat and Colnel Blazdemona charges into the newly not-on-fire scarab next to her command squad. The squad in the ruins reposition further forward and begin to pump shots into the oncoming Necrons. Having cleared its jams, the Leman Russ provides covering fire for the guardsmen and blasts 2 necrons to smithereens with its battle cannon.
Combined fire chips away a few Necrons, with one falling to a lucky lasgun shot. The mortar continues to do nothing.
Combats are fought with Blazdemona killing the scarab she is engaged with - all thanks to the additional strength provided by her bionic arm. Ragnar fights another unsuccessful round of combat and despite inflicting another 8 hits, the scarab passes its armour save against Frostfang. In combat, the terminators begin to reap a heavy toll - wading through the Necrons and cutting them down.
In the psychic phase, Butch attempts to cast a power, but is thwarted by a sudden daemonic incursion - he rolls a check and gets a 1... and is summarily pulled into the warp and is removed from the table! His machine curse remains in play, but the psychic advantage is well and truly over!
Necron Turn 4:
The Necrons in the centre begin a run towards the Bunker, avoiding fire from the hiding squad on the landing pad and making straight for their objective. The scarab that was just killed by Blazdemona gets up again... but she kills it again in the combat phase. There is some solace for the imperial side when one of the burning scarabs flies off the field never to be seen again!
Somewhere in the swirling melee, a terminator with a chain fist gets a monstrous 7 wounds on a Necron who was recently resurrected... all on 5s by some odd twist of fate and the Necron is downed and we can only assume carved into tiny bits by the hulking Wolf Guard... perhaps foaming with rage at the loss of his battle brother with the flamer!
Combat rages, with the Necron Lord suffering 2 wounds in combat with a terminator with lighting Claws, with his relatively low weapon skill, the Necron Lord appears to be on the back foot despite his toughness.
In the psychic phase, the necrons continue to fail to get rid of the machine curse which at this point is trapping about 200 points of essential reinforcements - Butch laughs somewhere in the warp as he struggles with his daemonic adversary as his final gift is given to the valhallan commander when the necrons pull no nullify cards while the imperial side gets 4 for some reason that can only mean the Emperor's blessing is upon them.
Imperial Turn 4:
Hold the landing pad! The squad in hiding have passed their morale check and re back in the fight. Blood Claws break from cover and move to engage the advancing Necrons before they reach the Bunker.they fire plasma pistols at the Necrons, bit the weapons ping harmlessly off the armoured bodies of the aliens.
Everything with a gun opens up and Necrons in the center field are downed again - they're still hard to stop though! Necrons fall to a crack missile, master crafted plasma pistol rounds, a lasgun and the fire from the russ, but as they won't break it hardly seems to slow them down!
The Necron Lord fights on in combat, this turn inflicting 2 hits on his adversary with his Staff of Light, but they fail to penetrate the tactical dreadnought armour of the Wolf Guard. Ragnar kicks the scarab to death finally and takes its head as a hard won trophy!
Necron and Imperial Turns 5 (Final Turn):
Fearing the Bunker is almost unreachable even if the game goes to 6 turns, the Necron Warriors advance again, but are charged by the Blood Claws in the Imperial Turn. Necron shooting claims the lives of another pair of guardsmen.
In the combat phase on the Imperial Turn, the Blood Claws battle fiercely. The Necron Lord is finally brought down by the terminators, who by this point have ganged up on him, although he does manage to kill the Wolf Guard with the chain fist on his turn before he's brought down.
In the Necron psychic phase, they do manage to finally nullify the cursed machine curse, bit the unit is well out of the fight by that stage.
Howling with glee, Ragnar claims the Bunker for himself - planting his dual flags in the plating firmly. Guardsmen and Necrons continue to exchange shots on the landing zone. Throughout the game the comm link has failed to establish communication even with 2 turns where it has rolled a 5... characterful, but frustrating!
With the Necrons unable to take the Bunker and with the Necron Lord slain, the game ended with an imperial victory... but who could say when the menace of the necron Raiders might return!
Post game thoughts...
Well, that took a long time to write up. I hope someone will read it. I've been enjoying trying to use better lighting to get photos for these battle reports lately. It was a real push to get the Valhallans in fighting order for the game - with me finishing a squad of 10, Butch and the mortar all in the last week to get them in the game. The Necron army has been a project my brother Ed has been working on alongside his Space Wolves (Berserkerblade blog), with the necron army being painted entirely in the last 2 or so weeks. This was our attempt at a fairer version of the classic Sanctuary 101 style battle, but set out to be more even and fun as a knock-around game, especially as we are learning the 2nd edition rules.
Playing against the Necrons we both felt they were a really scenic characterful force - a bit like battling zombies, they just keep coming. We intentionally limited the number of scarabs as at toughness 8, with the ability to fly and generating a -1 to hit field, they do appear to be one of the most broken things in the game. They are vulnerable really only to anti-tank fire and to strength 5 and above - making them incredibly hard to kill. Still, setting them on fire seemed to work well. I didn't take many notes for this battle, so some of the report may be a little muddled here and there, but hopefully will make for a fun read. This battle was fought on Easter Sunday 2026 - and written up in the evening. Maybe there will be a part 2 in the coming weeks as more Necrons roll out and hopefully a few more imperial reinforcements arrive too!
