Birthday Spankings--Monsters vs. the Machine: Post-Game Analysis  by Patrick Eibel
Man, so close and yet not close enough. The game was tense throughout, and with slightly different deployment or a few better dice rolls, the outcome would have been in my favor. My strategy for picking my army was to bring only units that were Fleet of Claw or were winged. I hoped to minimize the effect of Kenton’s shooting by maneuvering my army as a whole and hitting his line en masse. Unfortunately, the plan suffered as the few units on the left flank were too fast and they were chewed up quickly, thus blunting my attack. If I had a few more units that were closer at the start, the left flank might have held a little longer. Even with that, had the Necron Lord with the Veil failed his "We’ll Be Back" roll, I would have still been a position to win. 

In the end, it was a beautiful day, a good game, and lots of fun – what more could you ask for your birthday?   

Post-Game Analysis  by Kenton Kilgore
In preparing for this game, I was struck by the similarities to the games Pat and I played in last year’s Goth Girls Gone Wild! Campaign, between Pat’s Sisters of Battle and my Kurindans (Lizardmen using Tyranid rules). Pat’s Sisters had 3+ armor, limited mobility, and few long-ranged weapons, similar to the Necrons I would be bringing. The Kurindans had lots of Genestealers and Hormagaunts, similar to Pat’s Tyranid army. In Battles #2 and #4 of that campaign, deployment had been crucial: the Sisters had spread out, the Tyranids had caught one flank, and the result had been two bitter defeats for the Goth Girls. I was going to do my damndest not to let that happen to my Necrons.

To that end, I chose a “hedgehog” formation that packed all of my models along one quarter of the board length (using 24" out of 96"). Going into the game, I thought of two possible outcomes: either I would be able to concentrate all my firepower on one chunk at a time of Pat’s army at a time, while he would be unable to throw his whole weight against me; or, he would rush his forces into my front line, blocking line of sight and swiftly defeating me. Win big or lose big, I had thought. The battle actually turned out quite differently, more like a game of “tag,” with my ‘bots moving about desperately to avoid the ‘nid clutches.   

MVP award of the game must go to Necron Lord Lucifer 1.0 and his Veil of Darkness, who kept yanking Destroyers out of close combat, allowing them to shoot and shoot and whittle down the Tyranids. After the Monolith was effectively neutralized by Pat at the top of Turn 3, Lucifer was the only mobility I had. 

I do, however, realize that Lucifer’s heroics were necessitated by me putting myself in a tight spot by flying the Scarabs out to intercept the oncoming Termagants and Genestealers: all that did was allow Pat’s two closest units to move closer (thanks to charges and sweeping advances) and hide from my guns in the safety of close combat. What I should have done was kept the Scarabs back as a counterassault unit to hit any broods that made it to my front lines.   

Though I’m happy that I scored my second win for Yblis’ Bzrkx (and only my second win against Tyranids since 3rd Edition began), there’s still plenty of room for improvement. 
 

Posted May 2007
 

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