Necrons: Pre-emptive Strike

[DarkGuard]

Well I suppose grit your teeth and get to it. Against Grey Knights though make sure to load up on plasma, at 500pts they're likely to be a foot force, as they perform well on foot, but again, they are more expensive than your Marines, so plasma will hurt them.

[Project.2501]

Well I am afraid to say that the points totals will not be changing any time soon.

I totally agree that Space Marines really suffer under 1000 pts but there is precious little I can do about that if I want to continue playing with my current gaming group.

Since most of them are friends of 20+ years I am unlikely to move away from that, fortunately I don't have to play Necrons again this tournament but I do have to face some Grey Knights.

 

May I ask how the 'group's' decision to play at 500pts. came about? Because outside of certain scenarios (like doubles/teams that split a 1000pt total or 40k in 40min and killteam for instance), I've never experienced less than 1,000 points being used. Even the BRB and GW website feature 1,500pt sample lists. Not that I'm saying anyone is wrong mind you, just genuinely curious.

[Guest Bucelufe]

I believe it was done that way with 2 things in mnd:

1. Rapid games

2. Certain players within the group (myself included) who were getting disillusioned by the constant BS that was going on. Too many special characters and unconventional annoying crap.

 

As it turns out the points limitation doesn't seem to have prevented the latter occurring with certain codices namely Imperial Guard, Grey Knights and Necrons who can still field absurdly powerful armies at low points values.

That said I have enjoyed all the games bar 1 (against Necrons), my encounter with Imperial Guard was a slaughter as I used an awful army and was very game rusty so made a lot of errors so the only reason that one was unfun was due to my own short comings.

I have a trip to Warhammer World planned in early March for a 2 (SM) v 2 (CSM) 750pts per players so that should be a bit more balanced and enjoyable.

[DarkGuard]

Fair enough, good luck with that. I don't quite understand the special characters gripe, I really like the lifting of restrictions on special characters, allows more creative and diverse forces to be built. And you're not forced to use them either, but neither is their inclusion down to the whims of your points size game or opponent.

 

But thanks for the contribution, it's interesting to hear that Necrons do well at 500pts, obviously will have to think of tactics for taking on Necrons at that level.

[falldown]

So as a Necron player, 500 pts is a dream for us.

 

With that in mind, unfortunately your list was almost tailored to be swept by his. Scarabs are good at two things, insta-gibbing mechs that have not moved and tarpitting. With a full list, the scarabs have to pick a mech to charge. With this list, the Destroyer Lord could easily take the Dread, which only leaves one tasty Pred as a target. Assuming he popped out a scarab base per turn per Spyder, you're looking at 7 bases charging the Pred on turn 3, 9 on turn 4, etc. That equals 35 attacks at WS3 on turn 3. If he HITS with 14 your Pred is wrecked. If your Pred didn't move the turn before it is auto-wrecked, because the scarabs auto-hit. Once that tank is down, you are out a ton of points and the scarabs can run amok. Keep this in mind for future games.

 

Scarabs are really squishy. Str6 insta-gibs a base per wound, use this to your advantage. Also remember that the Spyders cannot create new units, only add to existing ones. So if you wipe out the scarab squad, those spyders cannot make any new scarabs.

 

Final thought, the Destroyer Lord likely had Mind-Shackle Scarabs, which on a failed 3d6 leadership roll do cause you to attack yourself. The thing is that the target of the MSS is randomly assigned among all models in b2b. In this case, there was only one target, in future games, get more models in b2b to limit the likelihood that your powerfist turns against you at the START of the assault phase.

[Guest Bucelufe]

Thanks for the reply and I had concluded the same from my initial post game analysis. At 500 pts there is not much I can change to play it any differently than I did so next time I shall just not bother and give him the win and use my spare time more wisely, perhaps a nice balanced game of Battletech instead....

[falldown]

Well, I wouldn't be that negative about it honestly. Just don't play into their strengths. If I were going against Crons in a low point game, I personally would not dump half my points into mech. Be prepared for scarabs, and depending on the rules for the game, maybe one or two front AV 13 skimmers. You don't need to completely tailor your list for them, but just know what they are capable of. If you have a Pred, keep it behind your marines.

 

Scarabs in this game were your biggest problem. They move as infantry, assault a long ways, and eat mech like it is nobody's business. However they get owned by templates, blasts, and concentrated fire. Yes they have 3w, but they also only have a 5+. Destroyer Lords can deal some damage in CC, but are Init2. If he has mind-shackle scarabs, don't send a single model against him. They can be beaten, it just seems that the game you played went completely against you.