Nearly guaranteed linebreaker?

[Shas Oh Dear]

So I thought this combo up the other day to more or less guarantee the full 15 points of linebreaker against most armies. Combo is as follows;

 

Either deceiver or transcendent c'tan with transdimensional displacement and any cryptek with veil of darkness relic and prismatic obfuscation arkana.

 

Turn 2 you can deepstrike your c'tan and veil your cryptek into the corner of your opponents board edge with the c'tan in front. Now your opponent has 3 turns to kill the c'tan which is impossible without doing damage in multiple phases. The cryptek can't be targeted because it will never be the closest model until the c'tan is dead.

 

This tactic also helps achieve deploy scramblers as the cryptek can do the action in the enemies deployment the turn he veils.

 

Obviously the downside is you're putting a minimum of 360 points somewhere that it can do very little. If you choose deceiver it's 440. Between ctan powers and a plasmancer you can do some annoying chip damage to anything within 24" but not much else. If you're confident you can keep your c'tan alive and not let your enemy position themselves to attack the cryptek you could use them to push onto your opponents backfield objective.

 

It's not game breaking and certainly not without a commitment of resources but I think any tactics we can add to our arsenal is worth mentioning.

 

Thoughts are appreciated.

[Miek]

If an isolated c'tan can't be killed in this situation I'd say something seems very broken (in 2000-ish games). I must say it looks more like a gift for your opponent than anything else. If you can take other units with you then it's a whole other picture.

[Shas Oh Dear]

Most games your opponent has moved 80% of their forces out of their deployment. And the corners are usually left relatively unguarded. I'd say you would at very minimum get 12 points out of linebreaker even if your opponent committed to getting rid of your ctan which in itself would seriously disrupt their army.

 

You could of course veil another unit with you, the above was just the core concept. You could bring a unit of warriors for redundancy and also to ring fence the ctan to ensure he can only be shot at this further cementing his durability.

[Miek]

Thanks, I must've been traumatised by a few non-representative games where I tried something similar in previous editions. I think this could work well with what I suggested in my "going second" thread; I'll keep that in mind.

[tychobi]

Seems a solid strat. Might not work a second time vs the same opponent but it is a smart way to score secondary points

[Debauchery101]

I'm still learning necrons but in general with 9th edition I have found that you may find some nifty little trick to pull with some units...cool but are you using them for what they do best?

I would say for these guys that's a definite no. But depending on what else you're running it might be OK so long as your opponent can't snipe the cryptek.

I've seen the ctans played mostly pushing up and making opponents deal with them. But also surrounded by other things creating those damned if you do and damned if you dont situations

Edited October 28, 2020 by Debauchery101

[Shas Oh Dear]

The cryptek can't be shot, the arkana he's got makes him untargetable unless he's the closest unit. If he's in the corner with the ctan in front it's literally impossible to shoot him.

 

It's true that method is best if you're trying to use them to dominate the mid board or generally go on a killing spree which is valid if your secondaries require you to.

 

That's also the point though, secondaries. If you're scoring the points the units aren't wasted and I think this is a pretty good way against quite a few opponents to max one of those secondaries.

 

This is one of those dammed if you do dammed if you don't situations you mentioned. If you've left enough in your deployment zone to deal with this then you've probably already lost. And if you choose to ignore it you have a ctan behind your army.

 

Like I said in the the initial post it's not a win all tactic but you could choose to go for it or not depending on the match up. A veil of darkness cryptek isn't going to be a waste if he doesn't do this and neither it's a ctan. Just gives some tactical flexibility.

[MasterDeath]

Well, if you do this turn 2 chances are good that your opponent has stuff in strategic reserve. So he could just pop a unit directly into cc with the technomancer (like a Powerfist sarge with his buddies.)

[Shas Oh Dear]

Well, if you do this turn 2 chances are good that your opponent has stuff in strategic reserve. So he could just pop a unit directly into cc with the technomancer (like a Powerfist sarge with his buddies.)

That is a good point, it's something you'd have to bare in mind and in that situation probably a good reason to drag another unit along with the cryptek. Im finding it hard to visualise in my head (I'll game it out later) but your opponent may actually struggle to get your cryptek still. The idea here being you literally jam the cryptek in the corner of the board with the ctan in front. Depends if your opponent can fit the relevant models around the base of your ctan in the corner. Could be an advocate for using the transcendent over the deceiver (he has a 60mm base).

 

If this is really a worry then you can set this up turn three instead, only 12 points but if you're going second your opponent will have no reserves.

Edited October 29, 2020 by Shas Oh Dear

[Get Thokt]

Not sure if you're refering to the Deceiver's relocation ability, but it has been changed to only redeploy within your Deployment Zone

[Shas Oh Dear]

Not sure if you're refering to the Deceiver's relocation ability, but it has been changed to only redeploy within your Deployment Zone

No, just his ability to deepstrike. Technically you could do this with any deep striking unit but these two combine uniquely durable models with fairly small footprints.

[BolterZorro]

The annoying thing in this strategy is that almost one quarter of your army is stuck somewhere far away where it can't do anything else, meaning that you basically FIGHT with a 75% army against an ennemy at 100%. Extremely risky because you can loose a lot of units, you can loose a lot of map control and be left way behind in the primary objective score.

It seems even more risky because of the point above where the enemy send a CC troop against you in that corner or something just to glue you in that corner.

Your 12 or 15 points are not guarantied but the lost of your army is or would be ;-) 

Edited October 29, 2020 by BolterZorro

[Mr4Minutes]

I think it a potential strategy, but is match up dependent. Mass screening units, ds denial bubble, etc could make it difficult to execute.

 

Something I’ve been considering to take advantage of line breaker/deploy scramblers is an overlord and 10 lychguard using the veil. The idea being to get behind the opponent early, be less concerned with making the 8-9” charge because you’re performing an action or taking up space, and then be in position to make the charge your following turn.

 

Again, it’s all match up dependent. But, I think Necrons have good list building tools to have a strong list capable of scoring multiple secondaries and adjusting what is taken depending on the opponents army.

[Shas Oh Dear]

I think it a potential strategy, but is match up dependent. Mass screening units, ds denial bubble, etc could make it difficult to execute.

 

Something I’ve been considering to take advantage of line breaker/deploy scramblers is an overlord and 10 lychguard using the veil. The idea being to get behind the opponent early, be less concerned with making the 8-9” charge because you’re performing an action or taking up space, and then be in position to make the charge your following turn.

 

Again, it’s all match up dependent. But, I think Necrons have good list building tools to have a strong list capable of scoring multiple secondaries and adjusting what is taken depending on the opponents army.

Exactly this. Just another arrow in the quiver.

[Shas Oh Dear]

I had a game today against my friends death guard and decided to try this in the field my list was:

Novohk patrol

Hq

Anrakyr the traveller; warlord tait - 140

 

Troops

20x warriors - 260

 

Elites

Nightbringer; gaze of death, transdimensional thunderbolt - 350

 

Fast attack

3x Wraith; claws - 105

5x Scarabs - 75

 

Mixed patrol

Hq

Technomancer, canoptek cloak, prismatic obfuscation, veil of darkness (novohk) - 100

 

Troops

5x Immortals (novohk) - 95

 

Elites

Deceiver; cosmic insanity, antimatter meteor - 350

3x Skorpekh destroyers (nephrek) - 105

2x Cryptothralls (Novokh) - 40

 

Heavy support

DDA(Novohk) - 190

DDA(Novohk) - 190

 

The mission was battle lines, I won the role off but elected to go second as I couldn't accomplish much turn 1 anyway. I deployed the doomsday arks on the backline early in deployment to draw his plagueburst crawlers forwards. Turn 2 I veiled the technomancer and a unit of immortals in the back corner of his deployment and dropped in the deceiver just in front of them. The immortals deployed scramblers and the 3 units got me linebreaker. Turn 3 my friend conceded, he'd lost control of the centre because of the 20 man warrior blob and couldn't stop the linebreaker (I'd picked off any threats with the nightbringer).

 

As we've already covered there are lists thay this will not work against but when it does its pretty much a done deal.

[QuarterPounder]

I like that this strategy gives you options, but doesn't require you to commit by list building around it. The Cryptek and C'tan would both be useful regardless, but this is a nifty trick to have in your back pocket.

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

*Edit... spelling...

Edited October 30, 2020 by QuarterPounder