Sunday 11 December 2011

Guest article: Bloody Necrons and their night fight.

I have been pestering Bringer of Death (Steve) to write something for the blog. Steve games with most of the Sons on a very regular basis and attends tournaments with us all. He is a very close friend to the Sons and we treasure his insights... or it could be that I find his 'rants' quite funny...I had hoped he would deliver a Bringer rant, but instead..he delivered a real article!

I still hold out for a comic rant from Bringer on why and how his dice fail him on an almost permanent basis!

So without further ado, Bringer's thoughts on how his newly refurbished IG can take down Night Fightin' Necrons..

I have just started playing Guard and am enjoying it.
Well, that was until I played a couple of games against Ven and his Necrons with their 2 turns of night fight and I found myself fucked. I know Ven is a good player (don't tell him I said that he may get a big head) but in the couple of games we played I felt that there was very little I could do so here it is:

What can I do to make guard work well against Necrons and still be a well rounded list?

What is causing me so much agro?
1. Tough troops and vehicle
2. Night bloody fight
3. Can be fast moving
4. I roll like shit.

These are the main points that I can think of.

1. So let me elaborate. They have access to cheap av 13 vehicles. I know once you get a pen on them they will go down but it's still av 13. Then you have the reanimation protocol. There is nothing worse than after killing most of a unit, half get back up.

2. Now night fight is a big one because if you can't see them then you can’t kill them. A 45point model can turn night fight on at the start of his enemy's turn and they have a special character that in theory could make night fight all game. I know not likely but they still could and then hit you with a strength 8 shot.

3. I know that most of the bog standard units are slow but put in a veil or monolith's and they can be jumping about all over the place. And then you have a couple of fast skimmers like the doom scythe or the night scythe, and then you have the command barge. This one is a big pain as they can move 24" and get a 4+ cover save and still kill a tank. Bad times.

4. Then you have my ability to roll like shit when it matters.

Now what can I do to get around the points. Let's start with 1. The easiest is to kill the vehicles with mass strength 9 , 10 and melta weapons. Now this I can do now that I am playing IG. But how to get round the reanimation protocol. Well the IG dex has some nice high strength blasts. All I need to do is focus fire on one unit at a time- easier said than done.

2. This is the biggie for me as this stops me from killing things. I have 2 options. One is to get close and personal. IG don't do this well as it puts them in harm’s way, but Straken may have the answer to this with 20-30 strong blob squads. This I am not sure about so the second option is to light them up with search lights. This has its problems too as I will need to get close with fast moving vehicles which will probably die. And then you have stormlord and his strength 8 shots from his arse. The only way I can protect myself from this is to kill him, hide in a vehicle /terrain or ignore it as there is not much you can really do.

3. With most fast moving things, I find countering them with other fast moving vehicles like vendettas or hellhounds work well.

Or killing them works well too.

4. I have tried getting new dice but they let me down. Praying does not work so I have 2 options left:
Sacrifice a goat or roll so many dice that it does not matter as much. I don't know where I can get a goat, so I will try rolling so many dice that it does not matter as much. So mass shooting is needed.

Now for a list that may work.

These are1850 lists as the next tournament it 1850.

Command sq Straken Plasma x4 Chimera.
Psyker sq x 8. Chimeras. 145
Marbo.
Platoon hq 4 x melta. Chimera.
Infantry sq 1. Melta Auto. Chimera.
Infantry sq 2 Melta ,Auto. Chimera.
Vet sq 3x melta chimera.
Vet sq 3x melta chimera.
Vendetta.
Hellhound. Multi-melta.
Hydra x2
Manticore.
Medusa.

Or…………..

Command sq 2x las, camo Chimera.
Lord commissar power fist
Psyker sq x 8. Chimeras.
Marbo.
Platoon hq Plasma x4 Chimera.
Infantry sq 1. Melta Auto.
Infantry sq 2 Melta ,Auto.
Vet sq 3x melta chimera.
Vet sq 3x melta chimera.
Vendetta.
Vendetta.
Hellhound. Multi-melta.
Hydra x2
Manticore.
Medusa.

So what do we think of my thoughts, and any ideas on the lists? And does anyone know where I can get a sacrificial goat - still worth a try…

13 comments:

  1. I've got to be honest Bringer...without sacrificing that goat bud..you'll never beat me!!
    Like list one more than two..but what about a second vendetta?
    One will just get gunned down and they are still just so good!
    I'd say change the 4 plasma down to 3 melta, lose Marbo, change the Medusa over to 2 more Hydra's and add a 2nd Vendetta..
    I think that'd be better tbh.
    You still get the Manticore for ordnance fun, and you'll notice I've not slagged off the PBS... :)
    Now, shall I share my goat-source with Bringer?..

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  2. ya second the more hydras and vendettas

    i say you drop your autocannons, marbo, pyskers, commisar. pick up some special weapon teams with melta, and switch your command squads over to melta. should be plenty of melta to take down any av13

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  3. I also prefer the first list to the second but I would never leave home without Marbo, especially if I'm up against a force where there will be a chunk of infantry.
    By all means try to get a 2nd Vendetta in there otherwise as Ven says the first one will be shot out of the sky, but keep Marbo he has always caused me major problems when I'm not tucked away safely inside my big steel boxes.
    Tom

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  4. I'm not sure Straken on his own really adds much to the list..I think he has to have an army built around him..not sure it does that here.. maybe keep Marbo, and find the points for that second Vendetta?

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  5. I agree on the second vendetta but not sure more hydras will help against av 13
    I will have a tinker with the list and see what I can do

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  6. You did also ask for balanced building...

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  7. and the hydras will help against warriors, instant killing scarabs and killing any necro flyers.

    I also agree with the advice to get a 2nd vendetta.

    Rathstar

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  8. How does this look
    Command sq 1
    Plasma X4

    Command sq 2
    Plasma x4  Chimera.       

    Psycer sq x 8.  Chimera.              

    Platoon hq 30
    4 x melta.Chimera. 
    Infantry sq 1. 
    Melta Auto. Chimera.                
    Infantry sq 2. 
    Melta  Auto.  Chimera.      


    Vet sq
    3x meltachimera.
    Vet sq
    3x meltachimera.

    Vendettta
    Vendetta.
    Hellhound. Multi-melta.  
    Hydra x2
    Manticor

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  9. solid, but take flamers on the platoon command. oh wait, thats my list...

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  10. Andy, Andy...it's got Psykers...it's definately not your list brother!
    Steve loves these crazy fuckers.

    Steve - you running those hydras as a squadron or seperately?

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  11. would be the first thing to go in if i had more points, though i'd probably take two squads of 4, or one of 4 and one of 6.

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  12. You think that size still works? Is that based off of Weaken Resolve purely? What sort of strength is Soul Storm like that? 4/6? The variable AP making that work?

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  13. arg, i forgot the fact that i use stormies, and can only take one more elite. one squad of 6 on foot then. yeah, based largely off weaken resolve, very few entirely fearless armies out there these days, and a S6 large blast hurts most things on a 2, with a good chance to ignore most armour. it isnt like i need more anti-tank after all.

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