Batrep: Necrons vs Tyranids 1850 Shield of Baal: Exterminatus

The swarm has been hurting over the past few weeks. The swarm is not able to push through the living metal prey to the actual prey. The larger beasts were dying to yellow arcing lights. It was time. Through the aeons, the Hivemind has kept its biggest and most powerful evolution in check to prevent the unnecessary use of biomass. It was time. The hive ships would unleash the Queen. Bedecked in bio-symbiotes and bristling with mutations, the Queen was unleashed on Asphodex. The hunger can wait no longer. 

As the armies converged, the Servo Skull quickly captured this pict-feed before a shot from the Necron lines took it out.

Managed to get a game in with Henry for the Shield of Baal Week 5. The mission required the Necrons or Imperials to capture the 3 points the Tyranids set up on their side. 

Knowing that I had to hold objectives and was basically given a free Flyrant, I pimped mine out with almost every weapon I could. I ended only using 2 weapons though! The Obliterax and Twin Linked Brain Leech Devourers. The other upgrades did come in handy though, especially the Adrenal Glands and Prehensile Tail.

I would also get returning Gargoyles, Termagants and Hormagants so I pumped my army full of them without blunting my attacking force. This was my list:

Combined Arms Detachment
Flyrant: TL Brainleech Devourers, Wings
Flyrant: TL Brainleech Devourers, Wings
Hive Guard x3
Malanthrope
Malanthrope
Hormagaunts x18
Hormagaunts x18
Termagants x19
Termagants x20
Carnifex: TL Brainleech Devourers

Living Artillery Node
Exocrine
Biovore x3
Tyranid Warriors x3: 2 Devourers, 1 Barbed Strangler

Skytyrant Swarm
Gargoyle Brood x15
Gargoyle Brood x15
Flyrant (The Queen)
Acid Blood, Adrenal Glands, Electroshock Grubs, Hive Commander, Indescribably Horror, Old Adversary, Prehensile Tail, Regeneration, The Norn Crown, The Reaper of Obliterax, The Ymgarl Factor, Toxin Sacs, TL Devourers with Brainleech Worms, Wings.

The Queen was given a flock of Gargoyles to mask its presence. The Hivemind wanted the prey to be caught in a flurry of attacks and then have the Queen lop off its head. 

The swarm gathers

Henry brought a different list from Jason. His was more durable with the Decurion and heavier use of vehicles. This was his list:

Reclamation Legion 
[Core]
Immortals x7: Gauss Blaster in Night Scythe
Overlord: Phase Shifter, Staff of Light, The Veil of Darkness
Tomb Blades x3: Nebuloscope, Particle Beamer, Shield Vanes
Warriors x10 in Ghost Ark
Warriors x10 in Night Scythe

Auxiliary
[Annihilation Nexus]
Doomsday Ark
Annihilation Barge with Tesla Cannon
Annihilation Barge with Tesla Cannon

[Destroyer Cult]
Destroyer Lord: Phase Shifter, Staff of Light
Destroyer x3
Destroyer x3
Destroyer x3

Mephrit Dynasty Cohort
Anrakyr the Traveller
Transcendent C'tan

The prey slid into view

Not attempting to mask themselves at all, the Necrons enter the battlefield boldly knowing that they had the initiative

Necrons had the choice of going first and took it. I gladly let him have it.

The foot force moved up on the right flank while the Destroyer Cult anchored centre. The Annihilation Nexus held back

The Hivemind knew that to move too soon would give the prey the initiative and held the swarm back. It had to bide its time, to let the prey come to it. The Hivemind knew that the prey had wanted something and was coming towards it. Let them come.

With a synaptic feed, the swarm advanced

The floating prey had guns that negated the Malanthropes' shrouding cloud. It had to be brought down. The Queen opened up and tore them all down from the sky. No one would disrupt her brood.

First Blood went to the Tyranids

The twins flanked the Destroyers

Calling on the Hivemind, the Shark ran up to get within lethal range of the Destroyers. Yet, Necrons only lost one Destroyer

The Hormagants would be used to hold the prey in place

Turn 2

The skies were filled with high pitched whining. The prey were sending in flying metal beasts. 

Necron reserves arrived

The Necron Warlord pulled back to let them use their guns to thin the Tyranid line

And thin them the Necrons did.

The prey were predictable. They react as prey would. The swarm will continue to push forcing the prey to make hard decisions.

Aerial combat started

The Butcher had rents in its carapace. The prey were concentrating all their weapons on it to bring it down. 

Vector strike took off 2 HP from the left most Night Scythe

Aerial combat! 

A rare spawn turned up and bought a lot of Necrons

A lot! 

The Queen charged into the unit of Immortals and Warriors only to fail the charge into the Immortals (I forgot my reroll due to Adrenal Glands) but managed to charge into the Warriors for a disordered charge. The Queen's unit wiped the Warriors out

The Queen was playing its role. As the prey lost more resources, it would only be a matter of time before this old adversary fade back into the stars. 

Turn 3
A bright spark lights up the skies. The Hivemind shies away from this spark. In its deep dark mind, it recognized that spark. It was from a battle far away. In a time long gone, in another system not akin to this. The Hivemind recoiled. It was the C'tan shard Nyadra'zatha. It burns!

Betraying all laws of gravity, Nyadra'zatha slowed its meteoric descent and lands toe first to blast a wall of fire into all swarm

An echo could be heard: IT BURNSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Shrugging off the pain, the Hivemind pushes the swarm forward and destroyed the Ghost Ark

The Hivemind knew that this Nyadra'zatha would be the end of its swarm if it was allowed to keep its wall of fire up. The Queen needed to take it out.

The swarm backs off from the C'tan and would deal with the Necron Warlord while the Queen moved up

The Destroyers charged in with the Lord to tie up the Shark

A new unit of Hormgants spawn but was not able to charge. That allowed the previous Hormagant unit to continue plucking away at the Necron Warlord who was sitting on the objective

The Queen closes in on the C'tan

The Termagants milled about to prevent the Necrons from advancing on the objectives

QUEEN, PUSH INTO THAT Nyadra'zatha C'tan SHARD! 

Bounding forward on muscular limbs, the adrenal glands in the Tyrants body started pumping profusely to power the monstrous creature. Hurling itself into combat like a spear, the Queen started hacking away at the star God. Tough as the star God was, the Reaper of Obliterax chewed through its Necrondermis, first chipping then slicing through it. Using every part of it's body, the Queen's prehensile tail whipped back and forth seeking rents in the star God's dermis. As they fought, dust clouds formed. The Gargoyles could not keep up and were only an irritant to the star God but that was sufficient. The Queen found a chink large enough in the star God's armour and lopped off its head with a loud THUNK. In a show of spite, the star God exploded taking out a few Gargoyles.  

Epic fight between two very epic contestants

The Necron Warlord killed off the last of the Hormgants only to flee back towards the Necron lines

Turn 4

The Necrons channeled every gun available on the Queen 

And took it down from the skies in one turn

While the Shark kept on fighting with the Destroyers

Turn 5

Termagants keep the middle ground saturated

The Hivemind reeled when its most prized creation fell to the green arcs of lightning. However it was amused that the Queen was able to pull down a star God, albeit a minor one. Now was the time to push the swarm back on. With a synaptic call, it unleashed the swarms. From the skies, from the ground, they all came.

The swarm returned

The frustration on Henry's face was worth the work it took to bring this army to the store! 

The Hormagants advanced to charge into the Warlord to attempt to keep him at bay

Only to break and fall back! 

The other unit of Termgants swarmed forward and engaged the last Destroyer in one of the units

While the rest of the army milled around the objectives, daring the Necrons to come within attack distance

Surge forward! 

The centre field was now clustered

Victory Points:
Necrons: 1 - Slay the Warlord
Tyranids: 9 (objectives) + First Blood = 10 VP

Tyranid Victory!

Game end notes:
There was little that the Necrons could do. I basically had the option of bringing on another few fresh units that he killed. As long as Henry was not able to kill off my entire army in one turn, I would bring the Hormagants, Termagants and Gargoyles back on. It was hilarious.

The free Flyrant (Queen) was amazing. Granted no one would probably take a pimped up Warlord like her but she was able to take out anything she came in touch with. The upgrades worth taking are definitely the Reaper of Obliterax, Adrenal Glands and Ymgarl Factor. These stack to make it a true CC beast.

It was done. The prey were moving back towards their metal pods. Knowing that they would only serve the Hiveminds' hunger by lingering, the prey pulled back. Asphodex was now in the Hivemind's grasp. The other