If there's one thing I love about playing friendly games is that I get the chance to cut loose, throw off the shackles of competitive list building for a moment and just use the models I want to use - this is the real joy of detachments in 10th edition.
Now for those who aren't aware or haven't figured it out, I'm a big ol' fan of Destroyers and Flayed Ones. Can't get enough of them really. Heck it's why I made sure I had one of each unit painted and ready for the table. The thing is the Annihilation Legion detachment is, how do I put it? A bit rubbish. But I wanted to give the detachment a go anyways and I had a 1000 point game booked in on the weekend so I figured... why not?
Before I unveil the list I used it is worth noting that my opponent was using Space Marines, but of course I wouldn't know which detachment they were running until we actually started playing, so all I was expecting lots of multi-wound 3+ armour infantry models. With that out of the way, this was the list I chose to use (thanks to Battle Scribe for compiling this list for me!):
++ Army Roster (Xenos - Necrons) [1,000pts] ++
+ Configuration +
Battle Size: 1. Incursion (1000 Point limit)
Detachment Choice: Annihilation Legion
+ Character [280pts] +
Hexmark Destroyer [70pts]: Close combat weapon, Enmitic disintegrator pistols
Lokhust Lord [90pts]: Ingrained Superiority [10pts], Lord's blade, Resurrection orb
Skorpekh Lord [120pts]: Enmitic annihilator, Flensing claw, Hyperphase harvester, Soulless Reaper [20pts], Warlord
+ Infantry [440pts] +
Flayed Ones [70pts]
. 5x Flayed One: 5x Flayer claws
Flayed Ones [70pts]
. 5x Flayed One: 5x Flayer claws
Ophydian Destroyers [100pts]: Plasmacyte
. 3x Ophydian Destroyer: 3x Ophydian hyperphase weapons
Skorpekh Destroyers [200pts]: 2x Plasmacyte
. 6x Skorpekh Destroyer: 6x Skorpekh hyperphase weapons
+ Swarm [40pts] +
Canoptek Scarab Swarms [40pts]
. 3x Canoptek Scarab Swarm: 3x Feeder mandibles
+ Mounted [240pts] +
Lokhust Destroyers [90pts]
. 3x Lokhust Destroyer: 3x Close combat weapon, 3x Gauss cannon
Lokhust Heavy Destroyers [50pts]
. Destroyer w/ gauss destructor [50pts]: Close combat weapon, Gauss destructor
Lokhust Heavy Destroyers [50pts]
. Destroyer w/ gauss destructor [50pts]: Close combat weapon, Gauss destructor
Lokhust Heavy Destroyers [50pts]
. Destroyer w/ gauss destructor [50pts]: Close combat weapon, Gauss destructor
++ Total: [1,000pts] ++
Created with BattleScribe (https://battlescribe.net)
The Strategy
Me and my opponent decided to use the Leviathan Mission Deck for our game, a standard practice for most non-crusade games so I was fully preparing my list for both Primary and Secondary objective grabbing whilst simultaneously robbing my opponent of those same chances. Therefore I developed a 4 prong strategy for my list:
- Deep Strike Screening: A fairly commonplace tactic for most games, I assumed that my opponent would be wanting to deep strike all over the place for those juicy secondary objectives. Turns out I assumed correctly as my opponent set up a good chunk of his army in Deep Strike and fielded Uriel Ventris with his Master of the Fleet special rule. To counter this I spaced out my Scarab unit alongside my singular Heavy Lokhust Destroyers who were partially fielded as separate models for this very reason (alongside giving me more target options during the game) to deny my opponent from taking any secondary objectives such as Behind Enemy Lines or, to a lesser extent, Investigate Signals.
- Secondary Objective Grabbers: This is where my Hexmark Destroyer and, to larger extent my Ophydian Destroyers come in. Whilst I wanted to prevent my opponent from achieving their secondary objectives, I needed units to score mine. The plan was to Deep Strike these units where needed to score me some juicy secondaries as they came up, with the Ophydian Destroyers having the benefit of jumping off the table back into reserves at the end of my opponent's turn. This worked out like a dream for me and between the two units I was able to score the Behind Enemy Lines, Capture Enemy Outpost and Deploy Teleport Homers secondary objectives which arguably won me the game.
- The "Cockroaches": Kind of furthering the deep strike screening idea, I deployed both 5 man units of Flayed Ones forward and out of line of sight, ready to jump out and nab objectives whenever they needed to. This kind of worked, however I failed to see a unit my opponent set up behind a large building that out and out flattened a a squad of Flayed Ones turn 1. The other unit meanwhile finished the game on full strength (having reanimated multiple times) and even did a ton of damage to an Infernus Squad that foolishly charged my Skorpekh Lord in the previous turn and therefore robbing themselves of the ability to overwatch.
- The Battering Rams: It was then left to my Skorpekhs and remaining Lokhusts to act as my forward troops, taking the place of battleline units as I didn't actually have any battleline units in my list. Theoretically this should have been utterly devastating for my opponent, however as my they were forced to Deep Strike their units right in front of me and having somehow made 3 (yes, 3) 10" charge moves I was thoroughly unprepared for the Marine's counter assault. My Skorpekhs got wiped save the Lord who then went on a rampage, killing a unit of Terminators, a Terminator Captain, half an Infernus Squad and a Terminator Librarian all by himself. My Lokhust Lord meanwhile chipped away at an Aggressor Squad that charged him and his unit, eventually wiping them out after 3 turns.
What I learned
Now it is at this point I want to remind all you readers that this was a friendly game, and whilst I did not expect to win even then I certainly would not expect my list to win in a more competitive game. However it did teach me a few nifty things I would not have otherwise considered that really helped everything go according to plan.
Ophydian Destroyers are vital for Secondary Objectives
Yes, that Destroyer unit that you all overlook can absolutely win you games like they did for me. To put this into perspective the game ended 58 - 51, 11 of those points were scored by my Ophydian Destroyers on secondaries alone, and that was purely down to them coming off the board and jumping back on to nab whatever secondaries I had drawn that turn.
Now I hear you all say "but that is a trick you can pull with the Hypercrypt Legion detachment" or "Ophydian Destroyers are available in all detachments", and yeah that's true, however as Ophydian Destroyers are a Destroyer Cult unit it means they have full access to the Annihilation Legion's stratagems. I know they're not great stratagems but they can help in a pinch, speaking of...
Don't overlook the Masks of Death Stratagem
It is by no means the game changing stratagem that other detachments have (I'm looking at you Cosmic Precision!) but Masks of Death may very well be the stratagem you utilise the most in this detachment. With how surprisingly fragile our Destroyer units can be to mass firepower, Masks of Death can be that ace up your sleeve that dampens the damage a little, and with how few units you are likely to take in a game using this detachment having a -1 to hit all phase might just mean your opponent will have to decide between shooting a less threatening unit or at the big scary harder to hit unit who are flailing their hyperphase weapons around like madmen.
In this game however I typically employed the Masks of Death stratagem to offset the Space Marine's Oath of Moment rule. Sure they still got to reroll those misses but it did act as a large enough hinderance for my opponent to miss a significant amount of those rerolls.
Soulless Reaper is an auto include Enhancement
I swear my Skorpekh Lord would not have survived the game were it not for the Soulless Reaper enhancement. Whilst it is fairly commonplace for players to utilise the "fall back, shoot unit with another unit" tactic, Space Marines using the Gladius Task Force have access to the Tactical Doctrine, and there are few things scarier than an entire army of Astartes falling back, shooting at the unit they were just engaged with and charging again to get those strikes first bonuses.
At one point my opponent's Terminator Squad (which consisted of 2 Terminators and a Terminator Captain at this point) tried this little trick against my Skorpekh Lord but the Soulless Reaper enhancement just straight up "noped" them, allowing him to still get his licks in before those power fists started raining down. Also even if you don't roll the necessary 3+ to prevent your opponent falling back there's always the Blood-Fueled Cruelty stratagem to fall back on (pun totally unavoidable) if you have the CP.
Another quick note to add here, you'll notice my Lokhust Lord had the Ingrained Superiority enhancement in my list. I'll be totally honest, I completely forgot I even took that enhancement incase anyone was wondering how that worked out.
And that is, as they say, it. I honestly don't think there's really anything else I can say on the matter. What are your thoughts on the Annihilation Legion? Are you interested in trying out the detachment at some point in the future? Have you already used the detachment in game? Let me know down in the comments!
- D J Driver
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