This week my Necrons took the field vs. James’ Ultramarines as we played out the relic mission. James was running a fast assault based list including Shrike with vanguard vets, scouts, a jacked command squad on bikes, terminators in a land raider, tactical in rhinos for support and two groups of land speeders for some fire support.
My list had fifty warriors, some spyders + scarabs, deathmarks, destroyers, a destroyer lord and of course Stormlord.
Deployment was the short side table edges, which I’ve been playing a lot and of course I’m wondering about how this deployment will work logistically in tournament play- you know with a row of tables set up side to side with no end room. Till now all our 40K games were played across from the table, and now I’ll be bumping into guys playing a similar mission or worse having to run all the way around to the other side to access half my models, unless you have freakishly long arms and a back of iron. Trivial points perhaps?
So what’s the plan with the mission?
I’ve kind of been developing this plan as a starting template for this mission- take or steal first turn, run up with a warrior squad and grab the relic, and then swarm the other side in warriors, gauss, and scarabs as I run with the relic. Destroyers act as a reactionary unit as needed.
I won the roll for first turn, and deployed making a mistake. I put my warriors out in a line, but then destroyers on both the left and the right flanks. This allowed James to deploy castled up and half my destroyer group didn’t make it to him till turn two rather than blasting right away. Should have put them center and then they could have hit from anywhere.
I expected James to heroic intervention his vanguard vets, but instead he infiltrated them with Shrike to the front…in front of 50 warriors (soon to be 80) and ten destroyers. Needless to say with the new shooting rules they didn’t survive even with the 4+ cover save for the trench they were hiding behind. Stormlord lightning also got really lucky and took out two speeders….which brings me to how I’ve updated my thinking for 6th with him.
Previously I took Stormlord + chrono to give me the night fight to protect my advancing scarabs and units, but now that nightfight has changed do I still need him? Yes!
With the advent of bonus points err…secondary goals, first blood is a big deal, so not only do I want to go first if I can, but also I want first blood. Stormlord lets me do that- with the 4+ steal, and the lightning strikes (potentially) on vehicles, speeders, etc. Of course I’m still trying to get first blood with my shooting, but as much as I can stack in my favor I want to do. On the flip side I’m also in the process of streamlining my Necrons so nothing can be killed easily first turn thus denying my opponent the first kill bonus point.
Back to the game…
I know I need to slow down James’ bikes so I move up a destroyer group to blast them with the AP 3 and I kill one as James makes those 3+ SS saves. Bikes then of course assault the destroyers and I later on pile on the scarabs to keep them in place.
James then has the dice gods turn against him as his Land Raider get’s immobilized and now the terminators have to walk- well this changes everything since I grab the objective on turn two and start moving away from it- throwing warriors and destroyers at his marines gunning them and the rhinos down with gauss as the terminators get stuck with my second destroyer group and my lord who accepts the challenge from James’ librarian and cuts him down before the terminators beat face on my destroyers and the lord breaks (He’s out of my list now, for many reasons…) From there is piling on robots and rapid firing gauss weapons and by the end of the game I’ve got the relic, James has a single bike and terminator left and an immobilized land raider with two hull points left. The immobilization hurt big time, and of course I was rolling my reanimations like a champ and even some good robot punches in the assault.
Tactically where do we go from here?
Well clearly it is a race to the relic and then playing keep away.
How best to do this?
What can get you there turn one to pick it up so you can be moving away turn two?
Infiltrating scouts?
Jetbikes?
At 4:50 in you get a taste of my awesomeness with reanimation and then at 7:00ish you can feel the agony of Brother Captain James. I should also say that James and I are good friends so I tend to talk a little more smack than usual, he deserves it for all the times he’s crushed my Eldar on the table…
What are the reasons for dropping the Destroyer Lord now, rather than before? I thought we might see him around a even more now that we don't need Crypteks to take down tanks, thanks to gauss being back to where they were.
ReplyDeleteBasically points for more warriors...
ReplyDeleteAssault is much more iffy now, and while the destroyer lord isn't bad in the assault he isn't that great either, esp with all the points spent to get him where I want- m scarabs, orb, etc. He potentially gives up a seconday mission point also.
I could see him as taking the first batch of wounds on destroyers if you join them- which is what I was doing, but again, more warriors or flyers if he goes.
Also with Crypteks, we no longer need the lance spam, which open up more solar pulses and even a veil cryptek to get back into the deployment zone for that bonus point.
Ok this should be a reply to the above but I think blogger hates me. Anyway, I'm glad to hear the crypteks are able to be more varied (they get some cool toys).
ReplyDeleteHowever,with regards to the destroyer lord, is his AP1 warscythe not a pretty strong point for him, as so few weapons now can cancel 'the dreaded 2+'?
There seems to be a ton of focus on beating 2+ armor saves, but is this really true? Even I'm not 100% sure yet, but now with vehicles getting super nerfed (or perhaps put back in place from where they should have always been, unlike 5th edition) I have lots more troops on the table. Every game I've faced so far with my Necrons has had 5-10 terminators present since 2+ is awesome now, and in those games they have gone down pretty fast to just regular shooting- Land raider gets taken out and termies are on foot, I feed them a warrior squad which they smash in the assault and then they eat rapid fire gauss from 40+ warriors and just vanish under the weight of rolling "1"'s.
ReplyDeleteThe AP 1 on the destroyer lord is nice, but right now I'm just seeing more warriors instead, since 40K seems to be evolving to a mass infantry game. I feel like I'm watching Star Wars attack of the clones where the clone army and the droid army just walk towards each other shooting.
That said, don't scrap the lord yet, these posts are more and very much WIP, as I figure things out and kind of relfect more of where I am in the moment, then 100% law...
I tool my Destroyer Lord up with an Orb, mindshackle scarabs, sempitermal weave and place him in a unit of 20 warriors. Giving this unit preferred enemy against everything, re-rolling one's to hit and also one's to wound is just too good to miss out on.
ReplyDeleteHowever in assault I find he can handle himself, even if challenged, mindshackle is the first hurdle the opposing player has to get over, second is his 2+ armour save, most power weapons now being AP3 and lastly his Warscythe hitting at I2 str 7 AP1 allowing him to strike out before any unwieldy weapons which can negate his 2+ armour save.
Ok, its not garanteed that he will still succeed even after all this, so I normally have a back up Necron Lord (from the court) in the same squad that can accept a challenge if its not favourable for yourself.
This will at least give you a turn with which to counter the assaulting unit with something that can hurt it (me I normally use a Command Barge mounted Lord.
It worked for me, try it out, you never know it might work for you
I see your point, mass firepower is probably at least as effective. Particularly, if you can isolate them. I was just curious what with power weapons (an old strategy) being rendered moot.
ReplyDeleteI think the meta is starting to swing in the favour of massed infantry backed up by lots of fast attack.
ReplyDeleteGw want to sell more of the models that never used to sell in the past, FA and Infantry fill this roll.
Also with each new codex the points are geting lower, which means more models on the field. More infantry and fast attack = more profit and more hordes.
I think I will call this edition Warhordes 40k.
Hey Fritz. So I posted this on another site, but thought I'd throw it your way as well. Flyer Spam.
ReplyDeleteDoom Scythes and Night Scythes are both flyers now. 3 doom sycthes plus 6+ night scythes. With the Night Scythe: Invasion Beams (errata) you can move 36″ and disembark! As well as fire to full effect. (24″ if you want the occupants to shoot well also). You can totally can dictate objective control through denial and/or concentrate fire by dropping all your troops near 1 objective.
Drawbacks; 1)reserve rolls. your force will almost always be a few flyers down at the beginning. even at 3+.
2) Scythes are relatively fragile at AV11. They can only be snap shot by most weapons and they’ll get their cover saves and all, but still heavy bolters can glance them down. Watch out for pulse rifles.
3)You might encounter mass missile launcher flak spam. if you get enough scythes out you should be getting enough firepower to strike them 1st however and hopefully do enough damage. Know your targets.
4) The relic will be a tricky mission for this force. An opponent could make a 1st turn burn for the relic and surround it. After that it will be hard for you to kill off the carrier.
5) You're going to need to know how to use the flyer rules to set up attack runs, as your likely only going to get 2 rounds of shooting, maybe 3 if you got the balls to slowly zig-zag across their front lines from one side to the other. Maybe a good way to use your Doom Scythes to get maximum effect and draw fire away from your transports.
So it may take some practice to think 2 or 3 moves ahead with your force. Also if it's early in the game don't be afraid to leave the board, especially with transports. As from turn 4 you’re back on automatically... plus you’re coming on from your board edge, so you can aim straight at em. If you stay on the board it will take you an extra turn to turn around.
So turn 2 zoom on, shoot; turn 3 bank and shoot; turn 4 off the board; turn 5 on the board and set up a run to drop off units/harass/deny/shoot… if you had a juicy target deep in your deployment zone I might turn back to get some turn 4 shooting in. Also if a bit hairy you can always bug out and zip over their heads off the board to come back on turn 4.
You can always deep strike with scythes as well, which should guarantee you're in weapon range the turn you come in... but risky.
As for night fighting... It seems obvious you want night fighting if possible. Max 36" range on shooting and stealth/shroud rules to stack on. At first I was thinking Imotekh was an obvious HQ for this force. Always night fight, seize the initiative on 4+, lightning damage to unengaged units. But by making sure you have night fight 1st turn, you won't get it late game, which may be of more benefit. And it may fizzle after the 1st turn. Necrons do have solar pulse to control this though, but the crypteks have to stay alive until then. If fighting orks you won’t be able to see the initiative at all. Still overall a good choice, just not overwhelmingly so. I doubt the following, but does anyone know if they can use their solar pulse while in a transport? I know they can't if they’re not on the board at the start of the turn... but so far can’t find the rules regarding use from a transport.
Also Deathmarks might be a good choice for this force as they’re cheap elites that can take Night Scythes. They also they may be crucial in getting the Slay the Warlord, Firstblood and maybe even Linebreaker secondary points. With their rapid fire sniper rifles and Hunters from Hyperspace they should do alright in that regard. Just remember ALL Deathmarks get the bonus from 1 “Hunters” targeting.
Well, I've personally been toying around with the following idea, and you can you use it with any power armour codex (except GK's):
ReplyDeleteTake a squad of bikers with all the fun stuff
(Add a priest if you're playing BA's)
Take a land raider.
- Turbo the bikers forward, and flat out the land raider just behind them
- take the relic & embark in the land raider
- Now it doesn't really matter you can only move 6", your opponent will still have a hard time beating the land raider... Unless he's playing crons
Hey fritz how can I email with you about some rules items that I think all the people in 40 K land would like to know the way they are being used in game play or not being used in game play. I have figured out the outflank / reserves rules that you and brother James had a bit of a mess with, and overwatch / snap shot different. Would like to talk some time I been play for 24 of GW 25 years they been around.
ReplyDelete