Part 10: Day 10, The Western Barrens, Attack (Victory)

Necron it is. We march on the Western Barrens.
Shas'o, you have an incoming call. They say it's urgent.
Who is it?
Patching it through.
Hold on--
Shas'o Kais. I know you are planning to attack the Necron. I have seen it.
T-Taldeer?
Your race is too young and naive to understand what forces they meddle with, which is why you must pull your army back and allow me to cleanse this planet of the Necron scourge.
That's--not going to happen.
As you fumble your way through the darkness to your death, remember that all you had to do to save yourself was leave Kronus.
What are you--she hung up. Huh.




Honour Guard, rush forward. The Necron are too busy with the Imperial Guard on their eastern flank, they will have become complacent. Strike fast and eliminate their bases before they can bring their Monoliths online!


There it is, Shas'o, just north of our position.


Aside from a few Gauss Turrets, it's completely undefended. Remarkable! No wonder the Necron went extinct for so long.
I don't think that's how they work, Shas'o.
The Necron Builder Scarabs are a pretty decent construction unit. They cost nothing to produce and cost nothing to reinforce. They can only have three units in a squad, but that's still enough to act as a screen for escaping enemy fire. They build slowly, though, and need to build Obelisks on strategic points to increase their build speed. Fun fact: Necrons don't need requisition. All of their tech and armies are built through power--so they need a LOT of it. Scarabs are also detector units and are the only Necron forces that can capture strategic points. They're useful, but having so many responsibilities can be a draw back if the Necron are trying to build and some humble Tau forces keep killing all their Scarabs--like we're going to do.


Those Gauss Turrets have some solid range, and deal decent damage. They're fragile, though, so we'll take those out first.


Those wrecks surrounding the deactivated Monolith? Tomb Spyders. Dangerous foes. Powerful melee, but they can also be upgraded with powerful Gauss armaments. Fortunately, the Necron need a lot of power and a lot of Summoning Cores to get them working. If we can keep the Scarabs from building, we'll never have to worry about them.
We have EMP Grenades, Shas'o, we never will have to worry about them--not at the speed it takes to activate even one Tomb Spyder.


This is a Snare Trap, by the by. Only I carry them. They are proximity mines that dramatically slow down enemy forces. Great for making a getaway or slowing down incoming defensive forces while you level their bases. Though no Necron have shown up to defend this position. Strange tactics, these ancient machines have.


One Monolith down, sir. The other one is likely just a little south-west from this position.


!!!
Well, that is where the Necron Lord finally came from. Follow it. Disable it.
...


Necron Warriors sighted!
...
They, too, are fleeing. I thought the Necron were supposed to be dangerous? What was Taldeer rambling about? Necron Warriors are an extremely powerful infantry group when fully upgraded. They are basic Necron infantry and cost nothing to produce. Nothing at all. However, with each constructed Necron Warrior squad the construction time gets longer and longer. They're slow, but when they amass in large groups, they're able to march ever inexorably towards their destination.


All Necron are disabled.
They die like idiots. What is that?
Recon reports that damaged Necron are occasionally able to reboot their systems and keep fighting.
Yes, but they reboot at half their health. Keep an eye on the corpses, break them into tiny pieces if they get back up.


There's the second Monolith! They've brought some of its systems back online.
I want this province to become a buffer between Tash'n and the Necron. Standard de-claw procedures. Ensure our Stealthsuit squads are capturing as many points as possible and that our Earth Caste Drones are building up defenses. I want a Mont'ka Command Post active before we leave.
Of course, Shas'o!


Flayed Ones. Necron draped in the bodies of their foes. Ghastly things. Their presence can weaken troop morale--but they'll never get close enough to affect my Fire Warriors.
Well, Shas'o, that's not entirely true. They can spawn anywhere on the battlefield, bursting through the earth.
I know that, I was trying to sound--
They could burst directly beneath our feet if they wanted too. Great at disrupting infantry, particularly with their great melee.
*sigh* Just disable them please.


More fun facts about the Necron: most infantry have the ability to teleport to most Necron structures. This could make base assaults a huge headache, but since the Necron left the Barrens more or less unprotected, we don't have much to worry about. That's an Obelisk, by the way. It's the worst Listening Post in the whole Dark Crusade. It comes with zero defensive capability. The first upgrade gives it a powerful single-shot cannon that requires a huge cooldown between firing, and only the last upgrade attaches a Gauss turret to it. Necron tech is so backwards.


Shas'o, a Tomb Spyder activated! They must have a Summoning Core somewhere that we missed!
Not a problem for us.


It's down.
Another fun fact about Tomb Spyders: they can salvage corpses from the battlefield. If they gather enough, they can construct a Necron squad on the spot: Necron Warriors, Flayed Ones, or Necron Immortals--which are anti-vehicle Necron. It can be a pain if you allow Tomb Spyder's to wander unobstructed.


DEFENSIVE MEASURES ARE COMPLETE.
Good work, tear down that Monolith.






You have done well, Shas'o. Welcome back.
New report: Gorgutz is on the move again. Towards Chaos territory this time.
Lousy, Thule. Well, perhaps the Orkz will keep the Chaos Lords occupied for now.


Also, check it out! You can see the Imperial Guard testing out their big cannon on the map! Pretty cool, huh?
Uh--
Oh, and we have a new Honour Guard squad to assist you:




Oh, oh, oh, and Thule has returned to the Space Marines Stronghold.
It's almost as if he just wanted to annoy you, Shas'o.


Chaos are on the move. advancing towards the Necron.


We have many avenues before us, Shas'o.


Taking Pavonis would not only deny Thule of his resources, but would allow the Air Caste to insert us into any battlezone on Kronus.


The Van Der Mar Mountains would be another easy conquest against the Necron, if the last battle was any indication.


We could attack the Necron Stronghold at the Thur'Abis Plateau and eliminate them once and for all.
You just received a text, O'Kais. It's from Taldeer. She says we "got lucky" and that we're "not ready". How shall I respond?
Don't reply--
I said: "lol, no u!"
Oh for--okay, what else?


The Janus Savannah looks like it could be a simple attack against the Orkz. It'd be easier than going to Hyperion--
Don't even say the name. Not right now. Alright, War Council, decide our plan of attack.