The Tomb Reawakens III - Wraiths Progress & 1st Tournament Games

Finishing at 5 in the morning before the tournament I got the Wraiths up to gaming standard so I could take them to the tournament (I also quickly added some blue to my WIP Sypder as well).  At 2 in the morning I released I wasn't going to finish them at the rate I was going, so you'll notice that I didn't paint the red in between the tail sections on the back 3 Wraiths.  They are very very far from finished, but I still got compliments about them at the tournament which is nice.

Practice Game

For this game and the tournament games my (1500 point) list was:

Combined Arms Detachment:
Lord (just stock with a Staff of Light)
2 x 10 Warriors
3 Spyders

Canoptek Harvest Formation
1 Spyder
5 Scarabs
6 Wraiths

Destroyer Cult Formation
Destroyer Lord (Voidreaper, ie. a Warscythe with Master-crafted and Fleshbane)
3 x 3 Destroyers
3 Heavy Destroyers

The Thursday before the tournament I got to play my mate's Grey Knights army.  It was a very elite army, but had a lot of 2+ saves to deal with, 2 dreadknights & 2 units of terminators (one with a lvl3 librarian) accompanied by 2 units of purifiers in rhinos and another grey knight unit with the shunt jump packs.

We played maelstrom hammer and anvil, and in hindsight the deployment played into my hand, as it stopped the Grey Knights using their mobility to pick on isolated units because out 24" wide deployment zones were so packed.

Bad target priority meant I took a wound off a dreadknight while leaving a rhino on 1 hull point (should have focused on the rhino), however some destroyers on the other flank killed the other rhino to get me 1st blood.

Next turn I tied to whittle away wounds on the dreadknights while continuing to build up the scarabs.  I was taking a few casualties, but not much as the Grey Knights did not have too much firepower (particular with a terminator unit in reserve).  I charged one of the dreadknights with wraiths and attacked destroyer lord, but the destroyer lord did not make it into combat and the dreadknight lost by 1, ran away, and I did not catch it.

3rd turn the dreadknight flamed some destroyers, but it left the last model from the unit out of range, while the dreadknight the other side charged and killed a unit of destroyers.  My response was to kill a dreadknight with the wraiths, bring the other dreadknight down to 1 wound with the mainly with the heavy destroyers over a couple of turns, with the destroyers doing a number on the advancing purifiers.  The scarabs who were quite big charged the Libby who was with the remaining purifiers and drowned them in attacks, but it still took a few combat phases for the Libby to die.

Although a unit of terminators had deep struck into my back field, the other had had to move backwards to get an objective, so with me having a large lead in the maelstrom points the game was effectively over

Overall my army had nice mobility without reducing it's firepower, and in this game I got lucky in that the maelstrom cards went my way, and my opponents saves were a bit poor at the start of the game.  A good opening game for the Necrons at 1500 points.

1st Tournament Game vs Khorne Daemonkin

A cracking game against another mate.  I went into the game a bit to confident, thinking of all the internet hype that khorne deamonkin made chaos better but still not in any way good.  Never underestimate an army you have never played before.  The Khorne army was a very fast assault army, that imho had been built very well to use the advantage the army had.  It had 2 units of blood letters in rhinos, another in reserve, a unit of khorne hounds, a Maulerfiend (think dreadnought with 2 special close combat weapons that can move 12" a turn), 2 Soul Grinders, 2 small units of bikes and to round everything off a bloodthirster.

Because my opponent had a maelstrom card to kill a character he moved the centre of his line (mainly the bloodthirster) towards one flank that had the necron lord with some warriors, so i mainly went the other flank - I wasn't scared of the bloodthirster.  We both cleared up our respective flank, my wraiths clearing up any infantry they encountered, and the destroyer shooting doing well.  I cleared up the 2 units of bikes, 3 units of bloodletters and 2 rhinos, while Khorne had killed my necron lord, 1 warrior unit, the unit of spyders and the formation spyder.  So I only had my destroyer lord with wraiths as a heavy hitter, while Khorne had most of their big hitters.  Luckily for me the game had to end turn 4, and I had won by 1 point, only because I killed a maulerfiend with the last shot of the match for 2 maelstrom points.  If the game had gone on I think the Khorne would have pulled it back and even had a chance of tabling the necrons if the game had gone on to turn 7.

Big lesson was not to underestimate fast assault armies.  The mobility of my army was very useful to move away to one flank and concentrate my shooting and assault, a more static army would have been rolled over a lot easier.

Tournament Game 2 vs Tau

I wasn't expecting the New Tau, but the codex had come out just in time.  However the player doing the tournament comp, to put in mildly, doesn't like Tau, so made a few rulings that were definitely anti Tau.  This had nothing to do with the new codex's coordinated firepower rule, just plain arbitrary rule changes; snap shots could not be modified (the only army that can modify snap shots is Tau), plus GMCs could only fire 2 weapons (which although is sometimes debated, no tournament I've heard of has ruled it that way).  Out of all the formations in the game the Firebase Support Cadre was one of 2 banned, and this was the same comp that did not modify anything to do with Necrons or Eldar at all.

We were playing the diagonal deployment and the mission was Purge the Alien.  Running across the battlefield into Tau guns was not going to do my infantry any good, so the necron lord and 20 warriors stayed in 2 ruins near my corner of the board and were ready to go to ground if anything looked at them.

The board was dominated by a big building section.  It was a big L shape that blocked line of sight for infantry, but the opponents Riptide and Stormsurge could see over it.  the building had doors so units could go in it.  Looking from my table side, I was deployed in the bottom right, and the buiding started in the about 12" on the bottom left, came accross to nearly the middle of the board, and went up towards the other side of the board stopping about 20" from the other table edge.  One door was at the top of the building, and the other was at the side close to the edge of my deployment zone.

[The layout I faced was more of a large L shape with a door and one end of the L,
and another at the corner of the L shape]

It was really nice terrain, but I think it was better suited to a role playing or small skirmish game, but we have to deal with the terrain that's set-up at the table, and being able to pick table corners I got a massive advantage.  For those interested in the terrain you can follow the link here.

To take advantage of coordinated firepower my opponent had taken lots of small infantry units, a unit of 4 drones (his auxiliary for his formation), 2 units of 5 pathfinders, 3 units of 6 fire warriors.  This was complimented by some big hitters; a Riptide, a Stormsurge (with the shorter ranged main gun), a Hammerhead, plus a Commander with some Crisis suits.  The infantry and drones looked like 6 easy kill points, so I aimed to ensure they died as soon as possible.

After set-up almost everything went to plan.  The Wraiths went through the building for a turn 3 charge, while the scarabs were built up by 4 a turn to also rush round the building for a turn 3 charge.  The destroyers used their mobility (6" move, D6" run, plus 2D6" assault move) to rush up the board with even the spyders running every turn.

Return fire from the Tau was minimal, particularly with the Heavy Destroyers instant killing the broadside, the Spyders regenerating the Scarabs faster than they were being killed (mainly from scattering blasts), and the Destroyers losing a couple of members due to their good toughness & armour saves.

My opponent got very unlucky with the turn three assaults in that the pathfinders charged by the scarabs rolled double 1 for their morale test and got locked in combat.  One of the 3 units of infantry the wraiths were in combat also did the same thing locking them in combat.

Rather than counter charging with the Stormsurge, it just shot at the destroyers and spyders.  So when the wraiths and scarabs were free he following turn (having killed their opponents in the Tau turn) they set up a massive single combined combat.  After the destroyers killed the crisis suits, the scarabs charged the commander, some rallied pathfinders, and the hammerhead, while the wraiths charged some rallied firewarriors, the commnder and the riptide.  The fire warriors and pathfinders were slaughtered, the hammerhead was wreaked, the commander and riptide didn't do much and then didn't roll double 1 for their break test and both ran off the board, leaving the Tau with just the Stormsurge, and a double digit deficit in victory points.

[It's nice to have a Stomp option]

We got to see the Stormsurge in action, and he did roll a 6 on one of his stomps killing 3 wraiths, luckily they had fearless to give the rest of the army time to run away :)

This game mobility and speed was again key, any extra infantry I took in my army to make it a decurian would'nt have added anything, and would have reduced what could run at the enemy with any change of getting there.


Coming Next

Two big wins, and the next game was against Eldar, which will follow in the next post, along with I thought of the army and how I will tweak it going forwards.

Until then, Happy Gaming :)

Rathstar

The Tomb Reawakens II - Converted Wraiths [Necrons]

The Tomb continues to stir !!  I wrote a few weeks ago (here) that the Necrons were dithering between being sold off on ebay or becoming one of my fewer remaining main armies, and in another post a left the teaser picture below:

[I think the scarab gave the wraith away]

.Although the Necron army is undoubtedly strong, I wanted the playstyle of the army I play to be mobile, as that's the playstyle I enjoy the most.  If I was going to keep the army I wanted to update my Wraiths, not only were the old models wraiths a bit small compared to the new ones, but it was an excuse to convert a nice unit to big a nice center piece.

[a comparison of the old and current wraith models]

However the another reason for wanting to replace them is that they look very bland and not too impressive (in my opinion). As my armies get large I like to add in something different, I also find it fun to come up with a new design or conversion.

So off to the internet I went for inspiration. Oddly enough there weren't many recent alternative wraith conversions, probably because people use the GW official model, as it is after all a good sculpt.  However there were a few that were done when the wraiths originally made an entrance in the necron codex. At that point there were no wraith models, only pictures in the codex to go on.

One really nice conversion I found was from dakka dakka forum [link here], however I thought it was way beyond my modelling skills:

I really liked how the conversion melded the wraith and flayed one ideas. Follow this link to the forum post if you want see other work in progress pictures of the conversion.

Another conversion I found was from Warhammer with Zail blog (link here)

The only thing I wanted to change was to increase the height slightly, and make the model a bit bulkier in the torso area, to make the model more in line with the dimensions of the current wraith model.

After looking at the GW range of models to see if there was a tail I could use and deciding there wasn't really anything suitable (unless I wanted to use the tail of the existing wraith model), so I made the tail out of a bent paper clip and circular tubes of plasticard that I cut into small sections.

The plasticard was from Gale Force Nine's Assessory pack:

I used the 2 smallest circular tubes, and here's my first work in progress pics:

I bulked out the torso by adding 2 of the big shields from the lychguard to the upper back of the torso, and 2 of the small void blades from the same bit to the lower back torso. Here's pictures of the first model fully converted:

Since then I've undercoated and put a black wash on 3, and started the painting on one, while converted and undercoating 3 more to give me a unit of 6:

The plan now is to get the one I've started painted up to gaming standard, and then to get the rest of them up to the same stage tomorrow evening, as after a ptractive game tonight they'll be having their proper run out in a tournament this weekend.

There's still loads to do with them.  I wanted the gaps in between the tube tail to look like it's glowing, so I need to put a lighter red line in the middle of the gap, and highlight the edges of the tail sections.  Putting more detail on the rest of the model (including glow effects on the chest and eyes) and more highlighting will also be needed.  However all that will have to wait till after the tournament.

Let me know what you think of the conversions, and let me know what conversions you're working on.  How do you try to make your army stand out from the crowd ?

Rathstar

The Tomb Reawakens [Necron]

Yes it's all happening for my 40k armies at the same time, and my Necrons have resurfaced.

With increasing family requests on my time, and realising that I have way too many 40k armies and mini projects that I am never going to get round to, the Necrons were on the edge between becoming one of my main armies or being destined for ebay.

With their new codex they were undeniably a strong force in 40k now, but to stay as one of my main armies they had to be able to be played in a playstyle that I like.  My favourite is my Dark Eldar, I also like my Wolves who rush accross the board to get in close combat, while even my Tau is based around moving the infantry forwards to get them in range for the Ethereal to do his Storm of Fire ability.  So basically gun lines are not for me, and I like mobile armies.

Looking at the units which are fast in the Necron army, Destroyers stood out as having a pretty good buff; they went from 1 wound models back to 2 wound models, which I think is one of the biggest buffs in the codex, and that's before you put them in the Destroyer Cult to give them (effectively) Monster Hunter and Tank Hunter in the shooting phase.

Luckily my army had quite a few destroyers, a unit of heavy destroyers, and a second unit if heavy destroyers that needed to be repainted to my paint scheme.  So first game repairs:

 Not surprisingly with years in storage, even in good cases, there were a few repairs.  unfortunately the last destroyer (at the front) had lost the arm connecting the torso to the weapon, but luckily this last model wasn't needed for my first provision army list).

So to start the core of my mobile Necron force below is the Destroyer Cult:

[extra flying bases have since been obtained]

After my first couple of games I decided to lose the Heavy Destroyers in the small Destroyer units for normal Destroyers to keep the unit focused on one range, maybe it was just the Tau commander in me wanting standard weapons across the unit.


Early Test Games

I've had a few games down my local GW with my Necron force.  At 1200 points I've just used the Destroyer Cult along with an Canoptek Harvest, which makes a very small 30 model force.  Currently at this points level I am running:

Canoptek Harvest (430 pts)
1 Canoptek Spyder
7 Canoptek Scarabs
6 Canoptek Wraiths

Destroyer Cult (770 pts)
Destroyer Lord (Voidreaper) - Warlord
6 Destroyers
3 Destroyers
3 Destroyers
3 Heavy Destroyers

The list has nice mobility, and against the right targets (in one game I played a Raven Guard assault marine force) it can be devastating to MEQs (once they come out of cover).  However I need to see it against horde and mech forces.

Expanding the force I just add a Combined Arms Detachment, and even without the 4+ reanimation protocol of the Decurion Deatchment it has performed well, and more importantly the speed of the force has been nice to play with.

[GW's Reclaimation Legion Boxset]

A Quick Note on the Decurion

I've been avoiding the Decurian Detachment, as the main elements are slow foot troopers (you need at least 25 infantry models), and I can't have anymore of a model I really like (but more on that later).

The decurian core detachment gives a slow very resilient force, which I'm not sure I would enjoy playing, maybe sometimes, but definitely not all the time.  At 479 pts for a minimum Decurion Core detachment when I only normally 1500 or 1750 points, it's a bit much in models I don't really like (or to form the core of my army).  I don't mind a cheap Lord and 2 Warrior Squads (at the much cheaper 310 points) which allows me to spend more points on the models I like.

So expect a few more posts in the future on how I'm finding the Necrons.  The biggest advantage they have over my other armies is that the full 1750 point army fits easily into one standard KR case because I'm not using any vehicles (so are easier to carry nto work).  My case even contains 20 Immortals & 9 Lychguard I haven't used yet, and 10 Flayed Ones that have only had one game,


So how are you finding the Necrons, and have you seen many non-Decurion armies ?  Have you seen any unusual army builds ?

Rathstar

Haywire - An 80's boy band, or a solution to tanks ?

Hi,


Sorry to disappoint any readers flocking to see a witty exposé on the merit's a 80's boy bands and the timelessness of their hairstyles, and while I like an occassional trip down memory lane and a rewatching of Lost Boys, this post is about the changes to Haywire in 6th edition and why it'll be making an entry in my lists going forwards.




My Issues with Haywire in 5th Edition


1) If you wanted any realistic chance of doing more than shaking a vehicle you had to roll a 6 for the effect of the haywire weapon to give you a penetrating hit
2) The biggest anti tank issues I had was stopping a moving transport with assault troops on board (once they were on the ground I could use my manoveability to run rings around them).  A vehicle moving more then 6" was 6's to hit in close combat
3) Another one of my bugbears was dealing with dreadnaughts as needing 6's to hit in combat with grenades meant that there was little chance of killing it in combat


With the changes in 6th edition all these issues have gone away.  Only needing 3's to hit moving vehicles, means that you get 4 times as many hits as trying to hit a vehicle moving full speed in 5th edition.  Also the fact that a glancing blow is anywhere from a quarter to half a vehicle dead means it doesn't take too many attacks to kill a vehicle.  Grenades hitting normally in combat against dreadnaughts means that a squad of wyches should kill a dreadnaught for the loss of one wych.


One final minor benefit of haywire is that you are more likely to wreak a vehicle rather than cause it to explode; very usful if you are near it with DE fragile troops for example, plus it can give you cover the following turn..




Haywire - The Options

Dark Eldar - Haywire Grenades:  These will allow wych units to easily kill any vehicle they charge.  Also because multi-charging doesn't reduce the number of attacks the wyches get, they are perfect for multicharging vehicles.  A full wych squad should be able to easily kill 3 vehicles, and has a good chance of finishing off 3 weakened vehicles.  At a measily 20 points for a full squad it's a bargain for the reliability it can kill tanks.  Plus the increased ability to kill vehicles in combat will take pressure off the shooting anti tank and the possibility of rubber lance syndrome causing a big issue.

Dark Eldar - Haywire Blasters: Available to Taloi and Scourges.  Scourges normally compete with Reavers with Heat Lances.  Reavers in 5th edition were the better all round option, being faster, able to move backwards in the assault phase after shooting heat lances at short range, and better able to make use of cover.  None of this has changed in 6th edition, but the haywire blaster being so good at stripping hull points gives Scourges with Haywire Blasters a good advange over the reavers in the anti tank arena, being the ability to operate at range.  Also although weaker the scourges can be in squads of 5 and still have 2 special weapons.  Reavers still have many advantages such as their slashing attack and the fact they are much better in combat (a Hammer of Wrath impact hit, plus 3 attacks on the charge), but if taken just for their anti tank the Scourges are now in contention for a place in peoples list.

[Talos Picture courtesy of Warseer's Tale of 40k Painters, click here to see the full thread]

The Talos could take either the Haywire Blaster or Blaster as shooting options.  The Haywire Blaster was usual taken for suppression fire as the Talos advanced, now being able to take the final hull point of weakened vehicles could see the Haywire Blaster taken more.  However I think the Talos' main strength is combat, so I would rather go with a cheap weapon as a backup (such as a splinter cannon) and then take chain-flails and an additional close combat weapon.  Running the Talos each turn to get it into combat would be better and mean your army is attacking more at the same time rather than bit by bit.

Necrons - Harbringer of the Storm: These guys come with a Voltic Staff, and come in 10 pts cheaper than the popular Harbringer of Destruction.  Their weapon has only 12" range, but has a good chance of killing any 3 hull point vehicle on the initial shot, as it fires 4 haywire shots.  It's high rate of fire also makes it good against infantry after tanks are gone.  My biggest issues is it's short range, particularly as basic infantry can assault up to 18" in 6th edition.  However the addition of a Lightning Field (D6 Str 8 Ap- hits on any unti charging the cryptek's unit) could deter some units.


I'll probably try out Harbringers of the Storm in my two large units of Immortals, as they are more likely to survive a charge if it comes to it, plus they tend to move forwards more that the small squads of warriors I have..


However Necrons anti tank got a huge boost in 6th edition, as they have a number of units that can charge tanks (Overlords charging on their Barges which are now chariots, Warscythe wielding characters, Wraiths, Scarabs), plus Guass weapons already can glance anything.  Therefore whether my necrons need the addition of short ranged tank killing will be something I'll be looking at carefully.


I think Haywire is one of the gems of 6th edition, and improves the Dark Eldar anti tank, meaning I may be able to rduce the amount of anti tank I have elsewhere in the list, as I think there will be a slight shift from anti tank to anti infantry in 6th edition.


In my Dark Eldar list to experiment with Haywire in 6th Edition, I'm going to swap Reavers Jetbikes (which I still think are a good unit) for Scourges with Haywire Blasters.  With the lower unit size requirement to get two special weapons it allows me to give the squad of 9 wyches haywire grenades (my new 6th edition practice list at the bottom of this post).


What do you think of Haywire, will it change your lists ?  Have you had experience using Haywire in your early 6th edition games, how did they do ?


Rathstar 






6th Edition Dark Eldar Haywire Try-out List:

Haemonculus Nalix Soulseer - 65

  with Venom Blade & Liquifier Gun

4 Trueborn with 4 Blasters - 108

  in Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons - 65

4 Trueborn with 4 Blasters - 108

  in Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons - 65

4 Trueborn with 4 Blasters - 108

  in Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons - 65

10 Wracks with 2 Liquifier Guns - 120

  in Raider with Disintegrator - 60

9 Wyches with Haywire grenades - 123

  including Hekatrix with Venom Blade

  in Raider with Disintegrator - 60

3 Wracks - 30

  in Raider with Dark Lance - 60

3 Wracks - 30

4 Beastmasters - 198

  accompanied by 5 Krymerae and 6 Razorwing Flocks

5 Scourges with 2 Haywire Blasters - 130

Ravager with 3 Dark Lances - 105

Ravager with 3 Dark Lances - 105

Razorwing Jetfighter - 145

  with 2 Dark Lances, twin-linked Spinter Rifle & 4 Monoscythe missiles

Total: 1750 Pts, 19 Kill Points

NB: Lance weapons reduced to by 4 to 21 (and it's more concentrated, in 7 rather than 10 places), offset by Haywire inclusion.  Anti Infantry increased with the inclusion of 2 Disintegrators, 3^rd Liquifier gun, and Scourge Shard Carbines.

Battle for Planet OG VII - Tournament Intro (18 hours to Game 1)

It's now 18 hours to my first 1750 point tournament game of the year (so far I've had seven 600 point tournament games this year).

I got in my last practice game last night at my local club against an Eldar player that was returning to the hobby.  It was a nice relaxing game, as there wasn't the competitive tone to our game, as he was just getting used to 5th edition.  He had a surprising good list for someone recently returned to the hobby, but Eldar do struggle in the current meta, and could do with a codex update.

I tried out a list without the Veil of Darkness Harbringer.  I may occasionally miss the AP1 flamer, but at 60 points I didn't think I was getting enough use out of the Veil Harbringer.  Deepstriking can be great when it works but is also very risky, and it can be hard to find a safe spot to deepstrike that is also a good place from the point of view of how it will affect the game.

So with this in mind I have lost the Veil Harbringer for 1 Immortal, 1 Warrior and 2 Scarabs making my final list:

Overlord - 100
  with Warscythe
  in Catacomb Command Barge - 80
    with underslung Gauss Cannon

Destroyer Lord -140
  with Sempiternal Weave

Royal Court - 125
  Harbringer of Destruction with Solar Pulse
  Harbringer of Destruction
  Harbringer of Destruction

8 Immortals with Tesla Carbines - 136

8 Immortals with Tesla Carbines - 136
6 Warriors - 78
5 Warriors - 65
5 Warriors - 65

8 Canoptek Scarabs - 120
8 Canoptek Scarabs - 120
6 Canoptek Wraiths - 255
  with 4 Whip Coils and a Particle Caster

Annihilation Barge - 90
  with underslung Tesla Cannon
Annihilation Barge - 90
  with underslung Tesla Cannon
3 Canoptek Spyders - 150

Totals: 1750 points, 65 models (including 3 vehicles)

The solar pulse harbringer goes with the 6 warriors, and the other 2 can either go with the small warrior squads, or if I want to put both small warrior squads in reserve they can go with the immortals.  However I have noticed that putting Harbringers of Destruction in with Immoerals forces hard choices regarding the target for the immortals. If they target a vehicle and they waste the immortal shooting, or target infantry and the lance shot is being inefficient).

I do have space to put another harbringer in (and still have one warrior squad which can go in reserve), however I want to see how the list will get on with less anti tank). I'm hoping that the Annihilation barges can suppress some tanks to make up for it.

The two annihilation barges did well in my game night, although they rarely killed anything (apart from vipers) they did suppress the elder tanks nicely.  90 pts to suppress a falcon (with a pulse laser, a missile launcher and an underslung shurken cannon) was points very well spent, plus it allowed the scarabs to eat the falcon easily rather than having to roll 4+/6+ to hit first.  The barges were also a good distraction to stop the enemy focusing on the wraiths / scarabs.


Assembling / Painting Progress

I've attached a painted particle caster to one of the wraiths, and undercoated, washed and painted the base colours on an unpainted wraith.

The annihilation barges are half assembled (just enough for me to play with them last night), so tonight I have to finish them off (thrusters, the curved vanes at the back, the pilot control panels and arms, and finally the underslung weapons.

If I have time tonight after I finish constructing the army I'll update this post with a pic, if not I'll try to post tomorrow during the tournament.

Pic Update: The overlord has reinforcements:

 I will upload a pic of the army as a whole tomorrow during the tournament.


The Competition

The draw for the first round has been made, and I am facing Imperial Guard for the first game.  I'm 3 out of 3 for facing the only imperial guard player at these small tournaments.  It may be the person I played in the last round of the last Planet OG tournament I went to.  If so I don't think he will overestimate the Necrons they way he did that battle.  The full line up is:

Grey Knights
Blood Angels
Tyranids
Chaos Space Marines
Dark Angels
Orks
Space Marines
Blood Angels
Imperial Guard
Necrons (me)

So 6 MEQ and 3 Non-MEQ for me to face.  The gloves have come off as this is a practice for the Vanquish tournament the following weekend in Bristol (previously Planet OG tournament normally have more Timmy comp, and their annihilation mission counted vehicles and monstrous creatures as 3 kill points).  This will the first good test for my Necrons, and I will have a better idea of their tournament viability in 24 hours...

More posts to follow tomorrow...

Rathstar

Tournament Schedule - Too many too quickly ?

Hi,

Well I've done almost no painting since my last tournament in January.  My Necrons need painting to get them up to 1750 pts fully painted, and my Dark Eldar need Razorwing Flocks and more Trueborn painted.  As always I've found that if I sign myself up for some tournaments, then even if I don't manage to get everything done, I'll have got a significant amount of the way there.

With that thought in my head I've signed up for quite a few tournaments, but have I over done it and will I burn out.  My tournament schedule is:

Battle for Planet OG VII (24th Mar) - I'll be taking my necrons as this tournament allows unpainted models, so I just have to build 2 annihilation barges.

Vanquish (31st Mar & 1st Apr) - With the requirement to have a fully painted army I'll be taking my Dark Eldar.  With the comp I have kept using my incubi, so I don't need to build and paint more trueborn, however I do want to build and paint my razorwing flocks (I'm using forgeworld flying rippers).

Aldershot 'Ard Boyz (28th & 29th Apr) - Another run out for the Dark Eldar, hopefully I'll be able to get more trueborn assembled and painted, so I can try out going to 3 x 3 trueborn at the expense of the incubi.  Most times I lose games it seems to be more anti tank would help, however losing the incubi will leave it to the beastmaster unit to perform well as my best close combat unit.

Rapid Strike (5th May) - After my win last year, I couldn't take anything apart from my Dark Eldar to defend their title :) Whether I'll be too burned out, or my other half would have killed me for not having enough family time will remain to be seen.

With so many tournaments I'll be forced to get more painting done, and I should try to get some practice games in.  Talking of which I was working at different work office last thursday, so I was able to get back in time to make it down my local club.  I got in a game with my Necrons against Marines, and everything worked well, and I can't wait to build my annihilation barges so I can add them into the mix.

Annihilation Barges - such lovely models, but made from so many many bits !!

Rathstar

Foot Necrons, Anrak'yr the Traveller & Quick Battle Report

Hi,

I've got a 1750 point tournament in under 20 days, and I'm still dithering of which army to take and even which list from said armies to take.  The choice is between Dark Eldar and Necrons.

I have been trying out my necrons recently, and I've been getting a few games down by local GW (last battle report here).  Vehicle wise I have one command barge and 2 monoliths painted.  As I believe a list has to built around monoliths to make them worthwhile that leaves me with only one vehicle.  I have 2 Annihilation barges ready to be built, but whether I'll be able to built and paint them in time with the bits of painting I'd have to do on the rest of the army is a bit of a gamble.

If I have one vehicle my options are:
1) Use just one command barge (with the risk that it always get shot down early and doesn't achieve much)
2) Use no vehicles at all (with the risk that the wraiths and scarabs take more instant killing shots earlier)
3) Use my one vehicle as an annihilation barge (which could draw some firepower while not having to get so close to the enemy to be effective like the command barge)

The command barge always shows that it has the potential to do well in games, however it doesn't tend to do that well at the moment, as it is normlly targeted by most of the enemy's anti tank.

For my game last week at my local GW I decided to try out a list swapping the usual Overlord on a command barge for Anrak'yr the Traveller.  Now I wouldn't have any vehicles but I do have wraiths and scarabs which are succeptable to being instant killed by those heavy weapons that I have given no other good targets.

I ended up fighting a poorly constructed space wolves army.  My opponent decided to swap his landraider for a wolf lord as soon as he knew I was playing necrons :) His list was as follows:

Wolf Lord, tooled up for combat with twin lightning claws, eternal warrior, necklace, belt of russ, 2 wolves.

Rune Priest with Living Lightning & Murderous Hurricane

4 Wolf Guard, all with Frost Blades
[one joined a grey hunter squad who were to sit on the space wolf objective, while 3 others joined the wolf lord and rune priest to form a mini hammer that was very small and had no transport, why they didn't nab a grey hunter rhino i'll never know]

1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with a cyclone missile launcher who joined the long fangs.

Lone Wolf with terminator armour, storm bolter and storm shield [WTF ! - no that's not a typo with the equipment]

3 x Grey Hunter squads each 10 strong, with meltagun, plasmagun, plasma pistol & powerweapon.  All three squads had a rhino.

1 Long Fang Squad with 3 Lascannons & 2 Plasma cannons

Predator with Autocannon & Heavy Bolter sponsons

Vindicator

A quick recap of my list following the adjustments:

Anrak'yr the Traveller - 165
Destroyer Lord with 2+ Save, Midshackle scarabs - 160

10 Immortals - 170
Harbringer of Despair with Veil of Darkness - 60
[joined by Anrak'yr the Traveller]

10 Immortals - 170
Harbringer of Destruction with Solar Pulse

3 x 5 Warriors each with a Harbringer of Dstruction - 100 each
6 Wraiths with 4 Whip Coils - 250
2 x 9 Scarabs - 135 each
3 Spyders - 150

We played the 1 objective each mission, and they were placed in diagonally opposed qradrants.  The space wolves deployed agressively accross from my objective with the long fangs (plus cyclone wolf guard) in a ruin, the vidicator and predator behind the ruin, and the mini hammer of the wolf lord, 2 wolves, rune priest & 3 wolf guard next to the ruin.  One grey hunter squad sat on the space wolves objective (on the other flank) joined by a wolf guard, while the 2 remaining grey hunter squads sat in the rhinos in the middle of the deployment zone aong with the lone wolf.

I decided to deploy agressively opposite the long fangs.  The wraths and destroyer lord formed a line on the edge of my deployment zone with the spyders and both scarabs units behind.  The traveller and the immortals with harbringer of despair was on my flank.  2 small warrior squads trailed away from my objective in the corner to give the harbringer on the other end of the unit a decent line of fire.

On the flank with the space wolf objective I placed the other immortals with the intent to just walking up the flank shooting the unit on the space wolf objective, to hopefully be reinforced later with the other immortal unit once the other flank was secured.

The last warrior unit went in a ruin in the middle of deployment zone to target the rhinos.

I got lucky and seized the initiative.  The traveller's immortal unit was able to move up and just be in range of the long fangs, and bad rolling, meant that the cyclone wolf guard and a couple of lascannons died, 2 further lance shots meant that a further lascannon and one of the wolf guard with the wolf lord died (even though both had cover saves).  The wraiths moved up to just behind the centre line of the board with the scarabs and spyders right behind.  The harbringer with the warriors in the middle of the deployment zone blew up a rhino, killing 5 marines in the explosion (so statistically improbable), and the immortals on the flank with the space wolf objective killed a couple of grey hunters sitting on the objective.

My dice were running hot, and my opponents dice were so cold they were frozen.  I popped the solar pulse at the start of the opponents turn and awaited his response.

The vindicator moved 6", spotted the wraiths and fired it's cannon as well as lighting the wraiths up for the rest of the army.  The vidicator hit 3 wraiths and 2 scarab bases behind.  The destroyer lord took one wound for the team, and the wraiths saved the other 2 hits.  The scarabs failed one of their 3+ cover saves and 2 base exploded.

The predator shot the wraiths, one shot got through the destroyer lord's 2+ save leaving him on one wound and another normal wraith was wounded.

The wolf lord's mini hammer moved forward a bit - note: combat units that's aren't just counter attack are almost useless without mobility.

The grey hunter squad in the middle that still had their rhino moved forward the 12" got out their rhino and fired into a scarab unit.  Unfortunately I had advanced to go round a ruin in the middle of the board instead of going through it, so I had no cover save from the rapid firing plasma gun, plasma pistol, meltagun, and loads of bolter shots, and the scarabs were reduced from 10 bases to 5.

The immortals on the space wolf objective flank did not take any damage from grey hunters sitting on the ruin, and the remains of the grey hunter squad who had been blown out of their rhino hid by some terrain near the centre of the board.

With little damge taken I moved onto my 2nd turn with the intention to gut the enemy resistance on the long fang flank.  The wraiths moved to charge the wolf lord and rune priest's unit (while ensuring they weren't in the way of the trveller's immortal unit).  A larger scarab unit went to charge the vindicator, and the small unit went to charge the rhino of the grey hunter squad that had shot it last turn.

The traveller with his squad moved up and was just in range to fire on the wolf lord and rune priest, and with the wraiths not giving the unit a cover save both fernsian wolves died, a further wolf guard died and even the rune priest took a wound.

To add insult to injury and prove how hot my dice were running,  a single lance shot blew up the vindicator that the scarabs were about to charge.  The scarabs tried to charge the predator but were to fire away leaving them in the open in front of two plasma cannons.

The immortals on the space wolf objective flank killed a few of the small grey hunter squad (who had there rhino blown up and were hidding in terrain in the centre).

The wraiths charged the wolf lord's unit.  The wolf lord passed his mind shackle scarab test.  Careful positioning of the whip coil wraiths meant that the necrons all stuck first.  The last wolf guard died, the rune priest lost his last wound, and the wolf lord lost 2 wounds.  The wolf lord tried to finish the destroyer lord, but failed to roll a 6 to wound.  the lord broke and the wraiths consolidated so he was within 6", so next turn he ran off the board.

The scarabs against the rhino only reduced it's armour by 2.

The space wolf response was weak again, with the large grey hunter squad in the middle, shooting, then charging and killing the small scarab unit.  The long fangs killed 6 scarab bases in front of them (but that only meant that the spyders behind could bring them back to their starting number the following turn by adding 2 more back).

My turn 3 and it was time to end this as a contest.  The spyders tried to charge the large grey hunter unit in the centre of the board who had just despatched the small scarab unit, but were slowed down to much trying to go through a ruin, so it was left to the wraiths.  A plucky grey hunter tried to kill the destroyer lord but failed, allowing the destroyer to kill 3 grey hunters.  The couple of grey hunters not next to whip coils did another wound to the wraiths (they had not lost one model but had 2 models on 1 wound each).  Next the wraiths killed 4 more grey hunters.  Combined with a couple of wounds the middle warrior squad had inflicted on them this left one grey hunter which broke and ran.

The remaining scarab unit wreaked the predator.  Also this turn the overlord teleported to the flank with the space wolf objective, a kind scatter left them more than 12" away from the lone wolf that side.  One immortal unit finished off the small grey hunter squad hidding in the centre, and the other continued to kill 2 or 3 of the squad sitting on the space wolf objective.

The game was effectvely over now and the space wolves were tabled next turn.  A large scarab unit killed the last 2 long fangs, spyders and destroyer lord killed one rhino, while immortals with harbringer of destruction killed the other, wraiths killed the last grey hunters on the objective.  The harbringer of despair's staff failed to wound the lone wolf, and just when the trveller thought he'd get to use furious charge the immortal unit he was with gunned down the lone wolf.

So a comprehensive win, but mostly due to a weak space wolf list, my hot dice, and my opponent's cold dice, so more importantly what did I think of the changes I had made:

Anrak'yr the Traveller:
With Anrak'yr you're paying 65 points extra over a basic Overlord with a Warscythe. For that you get furious charge & counter attack, the ability to give furios charge & counter attack to one unit of immortals for the game, a tacyon arrow and (the biggie) the ability to take over an enemy vehicle within 18" for one shooting phase on a 3+

In this game I did not benefit from any of his extra abilities.  As he was with a large squad of immortals, each turn I'd rather fire the immortals into infantry rather than use his tacyon arrow on a vehicle and waste the immortals shooting.

His unit was never in combat, so his furious charge & counter attack, or the furious charge & counter attack he had given his unit, was never used.  I could see how it could come in useful.  On the charge he would have 4 str 8 attacks and each immortal would have 2 str 5 attacks, good enough to take on non combat specialists.  Also it would allow me to risk deepstriking better because I wouldn't need to worry so much about scattering within charge range of some units.  However how much better is this combared to just having a basic overlord with a warscythe, particulrly when the unit should be doing it's best to avoid combat.

I was really looking forward to taking over an enemy vehicle, however the enemy vindicator was dead turn 2, the predator turn 3, so before he was in range to use it the enemy was down to rhinos.  Now other armies will have more vehicles, but now that the FAQ has stopped him using his power from a command barge I'm not sure he's worth it.  Being within 18" while on foot takes a 2-3 turns and can be very risky getting that close (particularly if it's as assult or open topped vehicle which would put you in charge range).  Also vehicles coming forward tend to be light transports, apart from landraiders (but if they are coming forward coming with 18" puts you well within charge range of ny unit the landraider is carrying).  Ideally the traveller wants to target a decenty amed tank in the enemy's backfield allowing it to shoot some decent guns into the rear of vehicles that have gone forward.

Overall the FAQ stopping the traveller from using his special power from on a command has really hit him hard, and I think I'll stick with a basic overlord for now, but I'll try out the traveller in a few more games before I write him off.  The 65 points saving will be put towards having my first vehcile.

Having No Vehicles:
Normally this tactic works well because all the anti tank guns the enemy has bought will be inefficient firing at infantry all game.  However in my army there are some units, manly the wraiths and scarabs, who are very succeptable to being instant killed by anti tank guns.  This game in particular showed how fragile the scarabs are when the right sort of weapon fires at them (ie. str 6+ templates/blasts or just str 6+ outside cover).

My army feels like it is a fragile deck of cards, and if the right point is hit hard the whole deck will come crashing down.  Ie. Hit the scarabs and wraiths and my army will have very little, almost non existant, anti tank killing ability or close combat power.  The infantry tends to gets less attention from the enemy who are dealing with the wraiths and scarabs, but this would change if the wraiths and scarabs were killed early.

The vehciles are good because they are an alternative target for the enemy's anti tank firepower, and they give me more anti light tank killing.  I will ask my mate to give me  game against his mech marines to see of the traveller can shine when there are more vehicles, but if that does not go well I will go back to using some vehicles, first adding the either the command barge or an annihilation barge back in, while I build the two further barges I have on sprues.

For my next games I will switch the traveller for a basic overlord and lose one scarab base for a command barge, or 2 scarab bases to try out a annihiliation barge.  Once I build two further barges I will try fielding the list further down.

Let me know what you think of the Anrak'yr the Traveller, foot necrons, my new list or what you think is a good balance between mech and infantry for a necron army.

Rathstar


Necron List I'm Building Towards:

Overlord with Warscythe - 100
Command Barge - 80

Destroyer Lord with 2+ save - 140

Royal Court - 185
Harbringer of Despair with Veil of Darkness (joins 8 Immortals)
Harbringer of Destruction with Solar Pulse (joins 7 Immortals)
2 x Harbingers of Destructions (joins 2 warrior squads, other warrior squad left in reserve)

8 Immortals (Tesla Carbines) - 136
7 Immortals (Tesla Carbines) - 119
3 x 5 Warriors - 65 each

6 Wraiths (4 Whip Coils & 1 Particle Caster) - 255
2 x 7 Scarabs - 105 each

3 Spyders - 150
2 x  Annihilation Barges - 90 each

Totals: 1750 pts, 62 models,

Further Necron Experience

As I was working from home yesterday I was able to make it down my local GW, and managed to get a game in with my Necrons.

It was a 1500 point game, so I did't get to try out the veil of darkness which is only in my 1750 point list.

Here's the list I was playing:

Overlord with Warscythe in Command Barge - 180
Destroyer Lord with 2+ save & mindshackle scarabs - 160
Royal Courts consisting of 3 Harbringers of Destruction (one with solar pulse) - 125
2 x 8 Immortals (Tesla Carbines) - 136 each
3 x 5 Warriors - 65 each
2 x 8 Scarabs - 120 each
5 Wraiths - 175
3 x 1 Tomb Spyders 50 each

I was facing:

Chaplain in Terminator Armour
5 Thunder Hammer / Storm Shield Terminators
in Landraider with Cronus special character
2 x Dreadnoughts with Assault Cannons & Powerfist with storm bolter
10 Tactical Marines (Missile launcher & Meltagun)
10 Scouts including Telion with Missile Launcher
7 Tactical marines
Thunderfire Cannon

All the special characters made the list small, and I was mainly worried about the terminators (who had a 21" threat range with the landraider which couldn't be stunned with the special character) and the thunderfire cannon which could do nasty things to the scarabs

We rolled up dawn of war and the bore draw mission (one objective each).  The marines won the roll of and decided to go first, he deployed the scouts in a tall ruin which had his objective in,  The techmarine with the thunderfire cannon had upgraded the ruin to 3+ cover save, and telion gave the scouts stealth giving them a 2+ cover save.  The larger squad was deployed towards the other half of the board near my objective which I had placed right in the corner of the board as far as possible away from my opponents objective.

I deployed nothing, my crypeks went with the two squads of immortals and one of the warrior squads.  The remaining warrior squads went into normal reserve with the rest of the army coming on turn one.  My plan was to have the wraiths accompanied with the destroyer lord kill the scouts on the objectives.  The lord would advance and try and sweep the landraider.  The scarabs and spyders would deploy centrally and sacrifice one unit to kill the landraider and/or dreadnought if they went towards my objective.

The marines advanced the landraider flanked by both dreadnaughts in the middle.  The small tactical squad advanced behind the landraider, and the thunderfire cannon advanced next to the ruin the scouts were in.  My opponent smoked the landraider and dreadnoughts (which I thought was a mistake as my long ranged fire was limited and it was night fighting).

I replied by advancing and running everything up the board.  One immortal unit and a warrior unit went on the far right where my opjective was hoping to wittle down the tactical squad.  The other immortal unit went opposite the ruin with the scouts in it.  The wraiths and destroyer lord advanced on the ruin trying to stay out of line of sight as much as possible.  The overlord turbo boosted forward, hoping to be able to sweep the landraider next turn if it moved agressively forward.  With no shooting as everyone ran it was back to the marines.

At the start of the marine's 2nd turn, i popped the solar pulse to make it night fighting for them again.  The landraider only pivoted on the spot to fire all weapons and the dreadnoughts advanced a bit.  However poor night fighting rolling meant I got off without any casualties helped by the destroyer lord taking a sniper fire hit for the wraiths.

Next turn I had to change my plans as the landraider had not gone for my objective.  Rather than risk an iffy charge on the scouts (they were up the ruins) I decided to advance put stay more the 21" away from the landraider.  As my overlord could not reach the landraider he decided to boost 24" and sweep the thunderfire cannon, unfotunately only 1 of his 3 attacks hit and that rolled a 1 to wound against the tech marine.  The crytek suporting the wraiths/overlord side immobolised a dreadnought, while the squads on the right took 3 of the large marine squad.

The marines responded by the terminators leaving the landraider to charge the command barge.  I was very lucky and it was not destroyed but was stunned and shaken.  The thunderfire did a few wounds to the scarabs but I made all my 3+ cover save (as they were approaching by ruins).  The full tactical squad killed 2 immortals and one got back up, while a dreadnought who was immobolised kill a syper who had lost a wound generating scarabs the turn before.

Next turn the wraiths and destoyer lord charged the scouts (the destryer due to bad positioning and a poor differcult terrin roll didn't get to fight), and slaughtered the squad down to telion and 3 scouts.  They broke and ran near the command barge.  Thinking the command barge nearby would stop them rallying the wraiths consolidated away from the terminators (who were in combat with the command barge).  The overlord, knowing his ride was about to die jumped out of the barge and sprinted to charge the landraider (it could be used to contest objectives, or claim if the small tactical squad got inside).  The overlord managed to immobolise it.  Over the other side of the board I keep whittling away at the full tactical squad, killing another 2.  In the combat phase the terminators finished off the command barge.

The marine response was the terminators went over and killed the overlord, but not before he hit the landraider three more times, but unfortunately doing nothing.  The scouts rallied and fired a few shots into the wraiths.  The thunderfire cannon fired the str 6 shots and got 10 hits, I was lucky ad out of the 8 wounds I only failed 2 of the 3+ cover saves which killed 4 bases (bad luck would have seen the whole unit killed).  Another immportal was also killed.

For the final turn, my turn 4 as the shop had to close.  The wraiths killed the remaining scouts.  We stopped the game there, because  a unit of 9 scarabs would have charged the mobile dreadnought going for my objective, and everything else would have focused on the dozen marines stranded in mid field.

A quick win, helped by my opponents list having imho too many special characters and only having the landraider to offer him and mobility.  Losing the chronus special character on the landraider could allow him to have 2 rhinos for the tactical squads.

Here's a quick run down of what I think of the units I'm using:

Overlord: Frankly overlord's are essential for unlocking royal courts.  In this game bad dice meant he was a bit ineffective, but he normally does ok when he can sweep a vehicle or two.  In my list however because he's on the only vehicle it tends to be the one target of anti tank weaponry.  At 1750 pts I'm thinking that building some annihilation barges to be a distraction would help him perform even better.  An alternative would be to lose the command barge for more warriors and make the overlord a pharon, my only concern is that I do have units, mainly the wraiths and scarabs, which are succeptible to anti tank weapons because they get instant killed.

Royal Court:  Essential for their anti tank, but they can do other nice tricks which I haven't tried out yet, such the as veil of darkness.

Destroyer Lord:  He works so well with the wraiths.  He gives them a bit more punch in combat, they give him fearless, he can take missile launcher hits with his 2+ save and T6 to stop instant killing.  However careful positioning must be used to ensure that he doesn't slow down the unit (as he doesn't ignore terrain).  One thing I am considering is losing the mindshackle scarabs to give the wraiths 2 whip coils.  It all my games it hasn't done much, while the coils would allow me to strike first against some troublesome characters and/or high initiative units.

Immortals:  These always do well, whittling away at infantry, and tesla is allows them to keep up their full rate of fire up to 24" away while being on the move.  In objective games the crypeks will join the warriors rather than them allowing them to focus on anti infantry shooting, but in some missions I like keeping one or two warrior units in reserve to grab objectives later.

Warriors:  In this game none of the warriors fired a shot, they did win the game for me by camping on the objectve.  Maybe I should combine 2 of the warrior units into a 3rd squad of 8 immortals. What do you think ?

Scarabs:  These are a nice deterant to vehiles and weaker units which can be killed by the weight of attacks the scarabs can put out.

Tomb Spyders:  Again they do great creating scarabs early game, and the being a nice monstrous creature counter assault unit that can lend a few str 6 ignoring armour hits to a combat.

I need to get some 1750 point games in, so I can try out the veil of darkness to see if I like it, plus I need to assemble a couple of annihilation barges.  At 1750 points I'm dithering between losing the command barge to have no vehicles and having the overlord be a pharon with an orb who would join 16 warriors wih a veil of darkness crypek.  Alternatively adding 2 annihilation barges could be an easy upgrade to 1750 points.

Have you had any experience with or against a large warrior/immortal unit with a pharon lord jumping around with veil of darkness ?  Was it effective, was it hard to play with/against ?  Or do you think only having 3 vehicles (command barge and 2 annihilation barges) enough ?  Vehiles tend to do better when you have more of them to overstretch the enemy's anti tank guns.

That's all for now.

Rathstar

Necron Crypteks: Trying more out

Hi,

Until I build two annihiliation barges I have 180 points to try out other stuff in my 1750 point list.

For my last battle I converted two models to be Harbringers of Despair.  I use the Pretorians models as the base, then added the lychguard loin cloths, filed down the shoulder pads where the jump infantry equipment would attack, and finally used deathmark heads.

Going back to my last battle, I took the list I showed in my last post minus the annihilation barges, and added:

  1) Whip Coils for the Wraiths, and 2 extra scarabs instead of one annihilation barge

  2) 2 Harbringers of Despair, one with a Veil of Darkness instead of the other barge

The idea behind adding the Harbringers of Despair was to add some low AP weaponry to the army, and to more mobility to one of the large immortal units with the veil allowing them to better support the wraith & scarabs and threaten distant objectives.

I won't go into much detail of the game, as we only got 2 turns in each, but it was looking like it was heading towards a tabling of my mech guard opponent.  He had lost a lemn russ, a leman russ with the str 6 ignore cover turret (nightmare against my scarabs), 3 chimeras, and one gun from a hydra.  I had lost 3 wraiths, the command barge, and one scarab squad had been mauled down to 2 bases (after being on 12 bases at one point).  I had next turn, and 2 hyrdas would have died to scarabs and my dismounted overlord, a manticore would have died to the wraiths and destroyer lord, and the last chimera would probably died to lances or immortals would have wreaked through weight of fire.

But how did I think the extra stuff I added to the army instead of the annihilation barges performed and whether they would stay:

Whip Coils: This upgrade didn't have the opponents to test them, but I think they will be useful against opponents which have multiple high str attacks (eg. dreadnaughts and grey knights).  Allowing the wraiths and particularly the destroyer lord attack first against such opponents could be crucial.  I will playtest more with these upgrades, as they are expensive (at 60 pts for the squad) and do nothing against powerfirst and thunderhammers.

Extra Scarabs:  After 2 turns the scarabs normally go from 16 to 22 models, so they normally rech combat, however I say how certain weapons could wipe them out very quickly, and sometimes there is not the cover or intervening models to give them a 3+ cover save.  If possible I will look at my list to see of I can fit in any more, eg. losing an immortal from each squad to fit in 2 more scarabs.

Harbringer of Despair:  I was not too impressed with these.  If the immortals do their job they should not be in flamer range of the enemy, particularly as they have assault weapons to move away from the enemy.  I think I will drop the basic Harbringer of Despair for 2 more scarabs immediately.

Veil of Darkness:  Although not used in the 2 game turns, I could see myself using the veil in turns 3 or 4 to threaten the guard objective held by 30 guardsmen, allowing me to target them with both immortal units, as well as the depleted wraiths.  I will give the Veil a few more test runs.  The ability to move a large unit accross the board to where the action is or to capture an objective should come in handy.

A last thought I had from the game, was that again the warriors did nothing.  The Harbringers of Destruction killed a chimera and took one weapon off a hydra.  I could lose one unit, but for the moment I think I keep them as losing the basic Harbringer of Destruction will leave me with 39 scoring models.  Normally that would be a good number, but as all of mine are on foot, slow, and without a transport to hide in, I may need all I've got if the enemy decided to target them.

That's all for now.  I should have another game with my necrons later this week, plus I be posting up Starsmash Part II which is all about deployment.

Rathstar

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Necrons Slowly Rise

Hi,

I just came back from my local Games Workshop, and I got in a quick 1500 point with my Necrons.  I've still got to assemble 2 Annihilation Barges, but the lists I've been using so far have had over half the points in agressive assault units, which is odd given that Necrons are a mid range shooty army, but the army has been fun to play.  For 1750 points I'll just add in the Annihilation Barges to even it out.

Below is  the list I intend to take down my local club, and the army should get some good test games over the xmas break.

How does my list fair against the local necron lists you've seen or played against ? Do you think necrons will have any effect on the tournament scene ?

Rathstar

Necron 1750 Point Army List:

Overlord - 100
  Warscythe
Command Barge - 80

Destroyer Lord - 160 (joins wraiths)
  2+ save, Mindshackle Scarabs

10 Immortals (Tesla Carbines) - 170

10 Immortals (Tesla Carbines) - 170

5 Warriors - 65
Cryptek, HoD**, Solar Pulse - 55

5 Warriors - 65
Cryptek*, HoD - 35

5 Warriors - 65
Cryptek*, HoD - 35

7 Scarabs - 105

7 Scarabs - 105

6 Wraiths - 210

3 Spyders - 150

Annihilation Barge - 90

Annihilation Barge - 90

Total: 1750pts, 66 models.

* Crypteks sometimes join the immortals allowing the small warrioir squads to go into reserve.
** HoD = Harbringer of Destruction, so has a lance (Str8, AP2, 36" range, Assault 1)

I may drop 2 immortals to give the overlord a 2+ save and mindshackle scarabs, but so far the overlord tends not to voluntary get off his barge.