Finally, A New Appearance Of An Old Foe.

Well, I had another 40K battle Yesterday, and intend to do a proper battle report for it. There will even be photos as soon as the Iron Priests figure out how to transfer them off the Vid-capture to the Cogitator Device.  Anyway, for once, the Space Wolves were not fighting their old traditional rivals the Dark Angels. No, this time, my forces faced an old foe, one they had not fought in some time. Arrayed against the Adeptus Astartes were the grim, deathless, implacable Necrons, led by their hideous deity, the Nightbringer. The Space Wolves had learned that there was an artifact amongst the Necron lines, that could hold secrets to aid in bringing them down. Meanwhile, the Necrons sought to sieze and disable the Space Wolves landing beacon.

The lines were formed up. The space wolves had on their left flank, A squad of Long Fangs perched on a low rise, lead by one of the Wolf Guard. They were defended by a pack of Grey Hunters some five strong, sporting a Plasma Gun, one of the Wulffen, and even a warrior bearing a Power Fist and Plasma Pistol, and a Land Speeder Typhoon, with its Assault Cannon primed and ready. On the right flank, they had a Land Raider Crusader, loaded up with Terminators, flanked on the left by Grey Hunters, a similar pack to that defending the Long Fangs. On the right flank of the Land Raider stood the Wolf Lord, Wulf, Riding the Thunderwolf Sarath and surrounded by a pack of Sarath's lesser brethren.

Arrayed against them were a squad of Immortals on the Necrons left flank, stood on a low rise. Just to their right was a squad of Scarabs and behind them a Trio of Wraiths. Just left of the Necron center was the Monolith behind which hovered the Nightbringer, their hideous, hungry deity in manifest form. The center, and just right of the center was anchored by a pair of Warrior squads, and on the far right, screened by a low mountain peak, a quintet of destroyers floated, waiting for the signal to advance.

Reacting with the speed that characterized their kind, the Space Wolves began their advance. The Land Speeder jetted towards the base of the mountain, Assault Cannon and Heavy Bolter blazing away at the Destroyers, not as well covered as they had thought. The Long Fangs loosed a pair of Lascannon shots at the monolith, to no avail, whilst the pair of Plasma Cannons felled several warriors, some of whom would never again rise. The Land Raider and its escorts advanced, blazing away at the scarabs, and felling most of them, as well as a Wraith that stood again shortly after.

In response, the Necron Immortals fired on the Wolf Lord, felling all the wolves accompanying him bar the one Cyberwolf. The Monolith and the Scarabs and the Wraiths all advanced towards him, the Nightbringer remaining hidden behind the great floating tower. As the monolith slowed, a squad of warriors came through the portal at its front, firing at the Grey hunters, who shrugged off their blows. Meanwhile, the other warriors advanced firing at the Land Speeder, crippling its engines as it began to descend from the plateau it and the Long Fangs had been on. The destroyers sped out of cover and felled all but one of the Long Fangs, leaving behind a solitary Lascannon trooper. The Scarabs managed to reach the Wolf Lord, Who struck them down with ease, his power fist making short work of them. He took advantage of the chaos caused by his victory to dart between the wraiths and warriors.

'Twas time again, for the Wolves to once again take the initiative. The lone Long Fang fired again for the Monolith, but to no avail. Meanwhile, the grey hunters behind him moved towards the destroyers, pistols blazing. The other grey hunters fired on the warriors who had just come out of the monolith, pouring bolter fire and plasma blasts into them, but to little avail, whilst the Land Raider directed its fire at the Wraiths, felling one of them.  The Wolf Lord charged the Monolith, and crashing blows from his mighty fist caused it to explode. The explosion engulfed him, but left him no more harmed than he had been before. Finally the grey hunters who had began to rush at the Destroyers reached them, and felled the first of them in close combat.

The Necron Immortals fired upon the Wolf Lord, slaying his Cyberwolf, and injuring him greatly, whilst the Wraiths charged the Grey Hunters, who felled them without losing a man. The Warriors trotted to the side and fired upon the Land Raider, Laming the mighty iron beast. The other warriors advanced further, gunning down the last Long Fang, whilst the Destroyers fell to the Grey Hunters they were engaged with. Sadly, they did not die alone, two of the sons of Russ falling with them. Finally the Nightbringer advanced over the Wolf Lord, Mortally wounding him and his mount, and beginning to catch up to his own lines.

The Land Raider disgorged its Terminators, who immediately fired upon the Nightbringer, who ignored their feeble attempts. At this insult they rushed him, although not one of them lived to tell the tale. Meanwhile, the Land Raider fired on the Immortals. One of them failed the test of their name, and failed to rise again. The grey hunters aside the Land Raider charged at the Warriors who had crippled their only tank, and slaughtered them, breaking their will and running down those who fled. The other grey hunters, the three survivors, took shelter behind the crippled land speeder, as the Necrons again began their inexorable advance.

The last of the warriors moved as rapidly as they could towards the rise the Beacon was sat on, whilst the Immortals felled those Grey Hunters who had just slaughtered the warriors. Only one survived, dropping back behind the Land Raider, just as the Nightbringer wrecked it with swings of his scythe.

At the last minute, the few survivors on the left flank of the Space Wolves rushed the Warriors advancing on their beacon, stopping them before they could harm it. The last Grey Hunter on the right flank loosed his plasma gun at the Nightbringer, who promptly felled him for it. And whilst there were barely any Space Wolves left on the field as the battle finished, they had at least forced their opponents into a tactical draw... (Which is better than they've ever pulled off against the 'Crons before)

And now, I have been informed that the Iron Priests have sorted our technological difficulties and thus am retroactively putting the pictures where they go in the tale... And yes, I know the Land Speeder be in Ravenwing Colours... That be because it was on loan from the Dark Angels...