Warhammer 40K Battle Report: World Eaters vs Necrons
Eightbound painted January 2024 to finally learn the game…
The lead-up
Another Friday, another game at the Drogheda Tabletop Lodge. The Necron wraiths flayed the world eaters 88-68. Feel free to drop by or inquire as this is the regular group I play with. You find our schedule here and on the Facebook group.
After Adam and I didn’t make it to the Drogheda Tabletop Lodge League Knockouts which are in full swing we decided to have a go at the new armies for the year and see what they can do. While Adam stocked up on wraiths from his Christmas bonus I made my way to Anthony Vanella’s world eaters list. Yes, I am a filthy meta-chaser and confess my sins to be forgiven by the Chaos Gods.
Our first try at this matchup ended prematurely with a collapsed table and fortunately with no armies majorly harmed. I felt bad that I got away unscathed while Adam had some minor repairs to do. This time we made the full 5 turns and it was a blast.
About the Vanella list
Anthony Vanella won an event with World Eaters against the expectations of the meta when World Eaters were not in a good place. He and the list are still going strong at the beginning of 2024.
With that, he changed the perception of the faction in the community going up to a win rate of 54% at some stages which is close to Eldar filth levels of bathing in the sun of Wins. He brought Kill, Maim, and Burn back on the map for the Red Angel and his axe-swinging compadres.
My logic for starting my second army with World Eaters was to do something exactly different from my Iron Hands army. While playing for almost two years regularly I still do not have the full mechanics of the fighting phase down. There is not a lot of pile-in and consolidating when your main combat trick is to tank shock a Redemptor Dreadnaught at the target straight ahead. It also helps if your new army is not utter trash in the meta as I am not a world-class player trying to find the worst army in the game and then put it back on the map like Anthony did.
Apart from that I was also eager to own and play a big mean centerpiece model like Angron. The Iron Hands thoroughly lack cool and good characters to field compared to other factions like Calgar, Ventris, Papa Smurf, or the Lion. Don’t even get me started on the big bats and Age of Sigmar dudes riding dragons. It is tempting me to start Sigmar, but I haven’t caved in yet.
Here is what Anthony has to say about his list on Reddit:
Hello everyone!
I definitely hit a pretty favorable run, playing no Eldar, but in some practice games before the event I found that even that matchup was doable with a little bit of luck and help from other's inexperience against WE considering how weak they were earlier in 10th.
Insofar as insights go, as my name might suggest I played the list really aggressively with the goal of keeping my opponent's primary score to 30 or less and doing my level best to disrupt their scoring. The competitive community in general seems to be taking tactical a little too often still, and that can be easy to disrupt when you're afraid of going near the angry red men with axes in the middle. My own secondary scoring goal was essentially to score enough that it wasn't actively losing me the game, typically taking Homers and Assassinate when possible, or playing Tactical if that wasn't going to work.
As far as character attachment goes, Kharn goes with 10 KB in one Rhino and the MoE with 5 KB in another, Invocatus attaches to the 6 Ex8Bound as the event ruled he could give his unit scout and then the other Jugg lord was solo and played very safely to preserve Favor as late into the game as possible.
When it comes to getting into WE, a combat patrol and essentially as many boxes of Eightbound (since it builds both types) as you can get. I generally recommend learning the faction without Angron in your list so you can get used to all the melee nuances of movement, charging and piling in to maximize your melee value.
While WE have been my favorite army since release, they're also the one that stresses me out at events the most as it definitely is giving your opponent the most agency in how they try and deal with you since you don't have any ranged weapons. They're also probably the army most effected by going first or second, on top of the randomness of the Blood Yahtzee roll.
Hope this helps! Catch me on Stat Check or Art of War if you're looking for more info ;)
Here is how my first (full) game went with them.
Deployment
Based on the first unfinished game my goal was to keep the Eightbound, exalted Eightbound, and Angron closer together to get the re-roll hits aura from Angron, and the reroll wounds Aura from the Eightbound.
It also seems to be better to strike as one fist where it hurts most rather than serving the Eightbound up piecemeal.
Rhinos went middle and right flank, Lord Invocatus in the middle to dish out scout moves, and Jackals and Lord on Juggernaut were positioned to hold the backfield.
Adam spread the 3 wraith units equally middle, left right while setting his two Ctans up to take the center. The lokhust destroyers were feasting on the chance to pulverize Angron as I left him too far out for a T1 charge.
Turn 1
Adam got first turn and moved the Ctans for center. Wraiths moved on the exalted Eightbound that I scouted. Three died and the other exalted were untouched.
Lord Invocatus was hanging out but tanked the Ctan shooting on his invulnerable save.
The 6 lokhust destroyers only managed to put 5 wounds on Angron which surprised both of us. Lots of 2s from Adam and Angrons invulnerable save did them dirty.
I moved the Rhino in the center and disembarked the Berserkers in front and to the sides. Angron and the gang pounded the first wraiths unit to the ground but there was more to come.
Master of executions and his Rhino stayed still and just hopped out to then advance and charge. That left the Rhino to tank shock the Lolhjsy destroyers on the far right killing one base and bringing the second down to 1.
Turn 2
Ctans cleaned up the Rhino and Berserkers in the center.
Wraiths moved on Lord Invocatus failing the charge. He shrugs the shooting on his invulnerable again.
Wraiths on the right kill Master of executions and five Berserkers.
Angron and the gang mill the Wraiths on the right in response. Center is lost to the two Ctans.
From there we trade blows but the game is decided as Adam controls the left flank and center and I only control 2. The Eightbound whittle but clean up the Destroyers and the Hexmark destroyers come in the backfield and on Adam’s home.
Learnings
Very fun and big thanks to Adam for his patience with my new army basically learning the game anew with focus on fighting. I definetly think this army needs more skill to pull off and will hopefully make me a better player overall
Keep Moving
Leave spots for Angron to fit into when you charge Ashe usually comes last
You don’t HAVE to scout your Exalted Eightbound when you go second. The wraiths would have to come out anyway so charge them then rather than serving your second most valuable unit up to chipped into for free
Angron moves 14 so if I commit him to a flank I might as well put him in the off center ruin rather than hanging him out the center ruin for more move paths but also more options to be shot
Angron is very tough first game he survived the lokhust blast on 4 wounds this time on 11
Angrons real power seems to be to sweep up the back field T3 latest if he isn’t dealt with. I was surprised to control 2 with so little on the board because he moved with ease behind and splatted the Hexmark.
You don’t have to move the Rhino if you go second. You can disembark first and run towards the enemy with the Berserkers. That leaves the Rhino to annoy a key unit or bully chaff driving off in a different direction.
If there is a melee threat in center that can’t encircle the Rhino but mince them keep the Beserkers in there (Ctan, Mortarion, Abaddon, Papa Smurf)
I think move blocking / playing around the Ctans was the right choice, just need more skill to do it better
If you disembark the Beserkers without the possibility to charge because you moved the Transport you put them behind the Rhino. Then vehicles and monsters have to work through the Rhino or walk around especially with terrain blocks. That might have given them a fighting chance against one Ctan with lethal and sustained hits.
Don’t forget that you roll Blessings of Khorne at the beginning of the battle round, not at the beginning of your turn.
Got conflicting advice about which Blessings of Khorne to take. That needs more experimenting for timing and scenarios.
Wraiths are very tough with 4W, 5+ FNP, 4+ Invulnerable and Reanimation protocols. Seems a little broken to me that it needs 6 exalted and Angron to put them 6 feet under for 220 points. On the other hand I had my fair share of broken stuff (iron hands leviathan…) so just deal with it.
I think Adam’s choice to bring Hexmark destroyers instead of death marks makes sense. Maybe one death mark squad for the higher OC as anything can walk up and take the objective from the Hexmark with OC1.
Keeping The hit and wound auras together against tough targets is essential. Would be interesting to see whether they can kill guardsmen / cultists and T9 models separately for … less optimised lists :)
Master of Executions wiffed this time around, but might also be more about putting him into the wraiths rather than the Ctans.
Any comments welcome to improve
Lists
Adam swapped the tomb blades for more scarabs and the Deathmarks for Hexmarks.
++ Army Roster (Xenos - Necrons) [2,000pts] ++
+ Configuration +
Battle Size: 2. Strike Force (2000 Point limit)
Detachment Choice: Canoptek Court
Show/Hide Options: Legends are visible, Unaligned Forces are visible, Unaligned Fortifications are visible
+ Epic Hero +
C'tan Shard of the Nightbringer [255pts]
C'tan Shard of the Void Dragon [270pts]
+ Character +
Technomancer [75pts]: Autodivinator
Technomancer [80pts]: Dimensional Sanctum
Technomancer [75pts]: Hyperphasic Fulcrum, Warlord
+ Infantry +
Deathmarks [65pts]
. 5x Deathmark: 5x Close combat weapon, 5x Synaptic disintegrator
Deathmarks [65pts]
. 5x Deathmark: 5x Close combat weapon, 5x Synaptic disintegrator
+ Swarm +
Canoptek Scarab Swarms [80pts]
. 6x Canoptek Scarab Swarm: 6x Feeder mandibles
+ Mounted +
Lokhust Heavy Destroyers [100pts]
. 2x Destroyer w/ gauss destructor: 2x Close combat weapon, 2x Gauss destructor
Lokhust Heavy Destroyers [100pts]
. 2x Destroyer w/ gauss destructor: 2x Close combat weapon, 2x Gauss destructor
Lokhust Heavy Destroyers [100pts]
. 2x Destroyer w/ gauss destructor: 2x Close combat weapon, 2x Gauss destructor
Tomb Blades [75pts]
. Tomb Blade: Shadowloom, Twin tesla carbine
. Tomb Blade: Shadowloom, Twin gauss blaster
. Tomb Blade: Shadowloom, Twin gauss blaster
+ Beast +
Canoptek Wraiths [220pts]
. 6x Wraith w/ claws and particle caster: 6x Particle caster, 6x Vicious claws
Canoptek Wraiths [220pts]
. 6x Wraith w/ claws and particle caster: 6x Particle caster, 6x Vicious claws
Canoptek Wraiths [220pts]
. 6x Wraith w/ claws and particle caster: 6x Particle caster, 6x Vicious claws
++ Total: [2,000pts] ++
Pascal
The wrath (1975 Points)
World Eaters
Berzerker Warband
Strike Force (2000 Points)
CHARACTERS
Angron (415 Points)
• Warlord
• 1x Samni’arius and Spinegrinder
Khârn the Betrayer (80 Points)
• 1x Gorechild
1x Khârn’s plasma pistol
Lord Invocatus (140 Points)
• 1x Bolt Pistol
1x Coward’s Bane
1x Juggernaut’s bladed horn
World Eaters Lord on Juggernaut (130 Points)
• 1x Exalted chainblade
1x Juggernaut’s bladed horn
1x Plasma pistol
• Enhancements: Favoured of Khorne
World Eaters Master of Executions (105 Points)
• 1x Axe of dismemberment
1x Bolt pistol
• Enhancements: Berzerker Glaive
BATTLELINE
Jakhals (70 Points)
• 1x Jakhal Pack Leader
• 1x Autopistol
1x Jakhal chainblades
• 1x Dishonoured
• 1x Skullsmasher
• 8x Jakhal
• 8x Autopistol
1x Icon of Khorne
7x Jakhal chainblades
1x Mauler chainblade
Khorne Berzerkers (200 Points)
• 1x Khorne Berzerker Champion
• 1x Berzerker chainblade
1x Icon of Khorne
1x Plasma pistol
• 9x Khorne Berzerker
• 7x Berzerker chainblade
8x Bolt pistol
2x Khornate eviscerator
1x Plasma pistol
Khorne Berzerkers (100 Points)
• 1x Khorne Berzerker Champion
• 1x Berzerker chainblade
1x Icon of Khorne
1x Plasma pistol
• 4x Khorne Berzerker
• 3x Berzerker chainblade
3x Bolt pistol
1x Khornate eviscerator
1x Plasma pistol
DEDICATED TRANSPORTS
World Eaters Rhino (75 Points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Combi-bolter
1x Combi-weapon
1x Havoc launcher
World Eaters Rhino (75 Points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Combi-bolter
1x Combi-weapon
1x Havoc launcher
OTHER DATASHEETS
Eightbound (135 Points)
• 1x Eightbound Champion
• 1x Heavy chainglaive
• 2x Eightbound
• 2x Eightbound eviscerators
Exalted Eightbound (150 Points)
• 1x Exalted Eightbound Champion
• 1x Paired Eightbound chainfists
• 2x Exalted Eightbound
• 2x Eightbound chainfist
2x Eightbound eviscerator
Exalted Eightbound (300 Points)
• 1x Exalted Eightbound Champion
• 1x Paired Eightbound chainfists
• 5x Exalted Eightbound
• 5x Eightbound chainfist
5x Eightbound eviscerator
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