Spam and Cheese

So, it's a little more challenging to publish weekly updates than I had figured, and great job to the guys that do it, especially to the youtube channels that manage to shoot and edit multiple videos every week. So from here on out, I'll commit to a bi-weekly post.

I have a couple exciting things in the works, including some experiments that I'm sure all miniature gamers will appreciate. So check back in two weeks for some cool stuff.

Today, however, I want to share my 1500pt Necron army that I'll be fielding in the Neverland Games monthly tournament this Sunday. Missions will be determined at random before each round, and we are allowed to bring two 1500pt lists, where 1000pts of each list has to be the same. I believe the only thing I'll be swapping out is Trazyn the Infinite instead of the generic Overlord.




1500 Pts - Necrons Roster



Total Roster Cost: 1500



HQ: Imotekh the Stormlord (1#, 225 pts)

   1 Imotekh the Stormlord, 225 pts



HQ: Overlord (1#, 215 pts)

   1 Overlord, 215 pts = (base cost 90 + Mindshackle Scarabs 15 + Sempiternal Weave 15 + Resurrection Orb 30 + Phase Shifter 45 + Upgrade to Phaeron 20)



: Royal Court (3#, 125 pts)

   1 Royal Court, 0 pts

      1 Harbinger of Despair, 60 pts = (base cost 25 + Harbinger of Despair 5 + Veil of Darkness 30)

      1 Lord, 65 pts = (base cost 35 + Resurrection Orb 30)



: Royal Court (3#, 125 pts)

   1 Royal Court, 0 pts

      1 Harbinger of Despair, 60 pts = (base cost 25 + Harbinger of Despair 5 + Veil of Darkness 30)

      1 Lord, 65 pts = (base cost 35 + Resurrection Orb 30)



Elite: Deathmarks (5#, 95 pts)

   5 Deathmarks, 95 pts = 5 * 19



Elite: Deathmarks (5#, 95 pts)

   5 Deathmarks, 95 pts = 5 * 19



Troops: Immortals (5#, 85 pts)

   5 Immortals, 85 pts = 5 * 17



Troops: Immortals (5#, 85 pts)

   5 Immortals, 85 pts = 5 * 17



Fast Attack: Canoptek Scarabs (5#, 75 pts)

   5 Canoptek Scarabs, 75 pts = 5 * 15



Fast Attack: Canoptek Scarabs (5#, 75 pts)

   5 Canoptek Scarabs, 75 pts = 5 * 15



Heavy Support: Canoptek Spyder (3#, 150 pts)

   3 Canoptek Spyder, 150 pts = 3 * 50



Heavy Support: Canoptek Spyder (3#, 150 pts)

   3 Canoptek Spyder, 150 pts = 3 * 50



Validation Report:

c-1. File Version: 1.42 For Bug Reports/www.ab40k.org; b-1. Roster Options: Special Characters; a-1. Scenario: Normal Mission

Roster satisfies all enforced validation rules



Composition Report:

HQ: 2 (1 - 2)

Elite: 2 (0 - 3)

Troops: 2 (2 - 6)

Fast: 2 (0 - 3)

Heavy: 2 (0 - 3)



Created with Army Builder® - Try it for free at http://www.wolflair.com

What's in this can is still scarier than an army of zombie robots....

The Spam
Two units of 3x Canoptek Spyders and two units of 5x Canoptek Scarabs allows for some major spamming. That's increasing my Scarab units by 60% on the first turn. Even though the Scarabs can't conga line across the board since the FAQ, the are still beasts, with a potential 24" assault range. With 4 base attacks and entropic strike, these guys should eat any vehicle on the field, and hold up to any other unit below S6. All the while, adding more scarabs to the unit. Imotekh's night fighting combined with Stealth makes the Scarabs extra hard to shoot at too, so I shouldn't have to worry about losing too many before they get where they need to be.

I've encountered a few problems in playtesting. First is making sure that the Spyders keep pace with the Scarabs, with a 12" assault move, it's easy to leave the spyders in the dust; and considering I just took a unit of bare-bones Spyders, I'm not getting the most use out of that 300pts when they're sitting in the back trying to play catch-up. Additionally, save for vehicles (which the scarabs can eat alive), the two Scarab units should have different targets. Getting all your scarabs tied up in a single combat for 3 turns is a horrible waste.

The Cheese
If you didn't already see what I was doing, each Deathmark unit is getting joined by a Harbinger of Despair with a Veil of Darkness as well as a Necron Lord with a Ressurection Orb. Additionally, my Independent Characters are joining each of these units as well to confer Relentless on the units. The Veils of Darkness allow my Deathmarks to move around the board via Deep Strike, and thus enter from reserve via Deep Strike even though not all the models in the unit are allowed to, as you can use the Veil of Darkness to move in from reserve (FAQ). But the real point of all this, is the Abyssal Staves. For those unfamiliar, an Abyssal Staff is a S8 AP1 Flamer, but it's power is significantly leveled by the fact that it rolls against the opponents Leadership in place of their Toughness. However, Royal Court members joining a Deathmark unit benefit from the Hunters from Hyperspace rule (FAQ). This means so long as you're using it against a marked unit, you're hitting with an AP1 Template on a 2+, ouch... Of course the Resurrection Orbs are there to make the unit more durable.

The rest of my list is just my two minimum required troops in the form of Immortals to claim objectives. And as I stated before, if playing a mission such as Seize Ground, I'll be swapping my generic Overlord for Trazyn to give myself an extra scoring unit.


Remember, check back in two weeks for the results of one of my experiments! Comments, Questions, and Requests are always welcome!

Special Mid-Week Update!

Today's update is in response to a supposed leak of Warhammer 40k 6th Edition. A link was posted on Dakka Dakka yesterday, which was removed, but another link was provided here. 

My first suspicion about this not being a 6th Edition Rulebook is the first page of the pdf, which to be honest, I'm sure most people skipped over being that it's just the same old introduction. But of note is one particular paragraph:

"We recommend playing at least some games with

the basic rules to learn the core mechanics. Even

experienced gamers might want to switch back to

them when playing really apocalyptic games with

thousands of points. For this reason it is no shame

to come back to this book when you have some

games with the introductory rules under your

belt."

This is the first paragraph of the book, so no fluffy introduction about the universe of 40k. If you look at page 1 (different from first page) of the 5E Rulebook it says that these are the Basic Rules. Why would a 6E Rulebook not contain basic rules?

This leads me to believe that if this leak is legitimate, it is actually a type of expansion book rather than a 6E Rulebook. Possibly a 5.5E...

The other notable absence is comprehensive Codex updates. Even though the Necron Codex is new, some of the new rules, particularly the changes to Rapid Fire, would still require an update. So why would GW not update a brand new codex? Obviously there are rumors that the Necron Codex was designed with 6E in mind, but I really believe that some of the new rules would still require an update, even if slight.

There ARE updates however, for BOTH Chaos Space Marines and Tau Empire. More than likely, one of the two will get a new codex in March. Why bother updating the old one unless this "6E" is coming out in February.

Additionally, for a rulebook that is not the "Basic Rules", it still contains the rules for Annihilation and Seize Ground.

In my opinion, this pdf is a fake, for the reasons listed above, and for the fact that it is way too formatted to be a playtest copy. There may be some clues to 6E changes, but I wouldn't get too excited about them.

If it's not a fake, I'd say to keep a lookout for an expansion book, because this is not a replacement for 5E.

As a side note, I don't condone any violation of Non-Disclosure Agreements. If you're a playtester, keep it to yourself, it's not worth the trouble.