I know that everyone has been waiting breathlessly for me to post the results of the team tournament I mentioned earlier, so I'll discuss how it went down for this week's topic.
Spoiler Alert: We didn't win.
I ended up using a simple list of a Lord with Gaze of Flame and Veil of Darkness, 10 Warriors, 8 Destroyers, and a Monolith. My partner switched over to Tyranids at the last minute, using a Flyrant, 3 Zoanthropes (each one taking a seperate slot to increase durability and allow shots to different targets), and two squads of 14 Genestealers + Broodlords.
Our first match was against Vanilla Marines and Tau. The Marine player had a Predator (autocannon turret), two tac squads with lascannons, flamers, powerfists, and razorbacks, a landspeeder with a Multi-Melta, a Vindicator, and a Librarian on a bike. The Tau guy was using a Shas'el (cheaper HQ, only BS4) with Plasma Rifle and Missile Pod, two squads of 2 Crisis Suits with the same weapons, two squads of Fire Warriors, a squad of Pathfinders, and 2 Broadsides. The mission was essentially Dawn of War with Seize Ground, but the 3 objectives were all in a line across the center of the board, and one of them required a scoring unit from both team-members to be near it. Ultimately, I got extremely terrible reserve rolls (my Monolith waited until turn 4 to come in, and the Vindicator killed it on its first shot), so my Destroyers were too busy putting out fires in the form of rushing Razorbacks and keeping the Vindicator from firing to be of much real use to my partner. The game was finally decided when two marines passed their Morale test and stayed on the one objective our opponents were controlling, while we had none. He needed a 9, and rolled the 9 exactly. Oh well.
Second game was against two Black Templar players, and I don't know that army well enough to give much specifics...I know there were three Tac Squads (one with an Emperor's Champion), two Assault Squads (one had a chaplain), and a Terminator Squad. I had a complete brain fart at the beginning of the game and moved my Destroyers too close to the Rhinos with Tacs in them, thinking that "Rhino's aren't assault vehicles, so I'll be fine." Silly me, forgetting that you can still assault if the vehicle doesn't move before you disembark. However, we still came out on top, because he couldn't get his squads into cover quickly enough to avoid severe casualties from my Monolith's AP3 Ordnance...I was killing 5-7 marines per turn with that awesome gun. The Flyrant used Deep Strike to hold the enemy objective (wierd quirck about the scenario: each player could assign one non-vehicle unit to count as scoring), while my Monolith contested the second. A sound victory for us!
Third game was completely retarded. I knew going in that our biggest weakness was probably going to be Dreadnoughts, because they could usually outrange the Zoey's with S8 or better weapons, and Stealers have a very hard time against walkers in assault. It was almost as if our opponents tailored their list to deal with one like ours: Dark Angels (Belial, 3 Deathwing Terminator squads, and an outflanking Scout squad) and Vanilla Marines (Master of the Forge, 10-man Tactical Squad with a Meltagun in a drop pod, Dreadnought with Multi-Melta and Missile Launcher in a drop pod, and THREE Ironclad Dreadnoughts in drop pods). Since the game was based on which player on the team got the least kill points, we were at a marked disadvantage...it was bordering on impossible for my Nid ally to go net-positive on kill points with her fragile squads, and I only did remotely well getting them because I had a lord running around targetting drop pods with his Warscythe. The numbers were close, but the game surely was not - all the Nids had left on the board when the game ended were two Stealer squads that were broken and had no chance to rally, and all we had to show for it was two dead Terminator squads, Belial's death, and one of the Ironclads destroyed (and a drop pod or two, but those hardly affect the game).
Though we did not win the tournament, that is not to say that we did not win a prize! My teammate is absolutely amazing with a paint brush and does awesome conversion work, so between that, the awesome display boards she made for us, the green-glowing Monolith that she created for me, and a distinct lack of completely painted opponents, we were able to take home the prize of best paint job! If I was able to get a hold of a decent camera, I'd post pictures of our armies and the trophy, but alas, such is the life of a college student.
Anyhow, I've been putting it off because it's fairly simple, but next week I'll be talking about Annihilation's do's and don't's.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Necrons: Capture and Control
So next in our lineup for missions is what I like to call the Drawmaster: Capture and Control. I say this because there are only two objectives for this mission, one in each deployment zone. Basically, I have my objective and will defend it with everything I've got, and you've got your objective and will probably do the same. However, Necrons do have a few tricks that can steal a win in this sort of game.
The most obvious tactic is to try just shooting your opponent off of their own objective. It's not terribly sophisticated, but hey, he can't control his objective if he doesn't have any troops, right? The problem with this is that it'll put your opponent into draw-seeking mode, where he'll rush forward with his non-troops (vehicles are particularly effective in this against Necrons) so that he can contest your objective. As I said before, it's very hard for Necrons to stop enemy vehicles from doing this unless you're packing a Lord with a Warscythe or, even better, the Deceiver. If he wants to sit that Land Raider on the objective, that's fine. It means that we don't need to roll to hit in close combat with it.
If you're bringing a Monolith along for the ride, take an especially long look at your opponent's list. If he doesn't have anything that can actually destroy it, in close combat or otherwise (Eldar lists without a Wraithlord or Wraithguard are prime examples of this), this battle could become really easy for you. So easy, in fact, that only one objective will ever need to be focused on. Deep Strike your Monolith near the enemy's objective, and steadily move towards it until you're standing on it. If he can't destroy it outright, there's no way for him to get it off of there, so he'll need to focus all of his efforts on getting your objective. You can plan for this before the game even starts, but your opponent may not, leaving several units awkwardly out of position. If things get too rough on your side of the board, try to move your Warriors close enough to teleport to that Monolith and steal his objective right from under his nose.
Naturally, you'll also need to worry about your opponent going after Phase Out, but that's essentially the same as in Seize Ground, so I won't go over the details (read my last post).
Sorry this is a bit short, but there's really not a whole lot to say that's unique about Capture and Control (it's also my least favorite game type). Many of the strategies from Seize Ground still apply, so look over those again but apply them to the two-objective scenario instead of 3-5.
Next week, rather than going over Kill Points, I'll give you guys a rundown of the team-tournament I'll be going to on Saturday. It's 1000 points per player, with 1 HQ and 1 Troop minimums and each team shares a FOC. I'll be using my Necrons with an Eldar player who likes her jetbikes. Just because the idea of having 2 T8 monsters on the board at once seems fairly nasty, she'll be bringing one Wraithlord along for the ride. My list will probably be as follows:
Deceiver
10 Necron Warriors
10 Necron Immortals
Monolith
Simple, but has the potential to be brutally effective when combined with some Jetbike scoring units and other vehicular support. I'll let you all know how it goes next week!
The most obvious tactic is to try just shooting your opponent off of their own objective. It's not terribly sophisticated, but hey, he can't control his objective if he doesn't have any troops, right? The problem with this is that it'll put your opponent into draw-seeking mode, where he'll rush forward with his non-troops (vehicles are particularly effective in this against Necrons) so that he can contest your objective. As I said before, it's very hard for Necrons to stop enemy vehicles from doing this unless you're packing a Lord with a Warscythe or, even better, the Deceiver. If he wants to sit that Land Raider on the objective, that's fine. It means that we don't need to roll to hit in close combat with it.
If you're bringing a Monolith along for the ride, take an especially long look at your opponent's list. If he doesn't have anything that can actually destroy it, in close combat or otherwise (Eldar lists without a Wraithlord or Wraithguard are prime examples of this), this battle could become really easy for you. So easy, in fact, that only one objective will ever need to be focused on. Deep Strike your Monolith near the enemy's objective, and steadily move towards it until you're standing on it. If he can't destroy it outright, there's no way for him to get it off of there, so he'll need to focus all of his efforts on getting your objective. You can plan for this before the game even starts, but your opponent may not, leaving several units awkwardly out of position. If things get too rough on your side of the board, try to move your Warriors close enough to teleport to that Monolith and steal his objective right from under his nose.
Naturally, you'll also need to worry about your opponent going after Phase Out, but that's essentially the same as in Seize Ground, so I won't go over the details (read my last post).
Sorry this is a bit short, but there's really not a whole lot to say that's unique about Capture and Control (it's also my least favorite game type). Many of the strategies from Seize Ground still apply, so look over those again but apply them to the two-objective scenario instead of 3-5.
Next week, rather than going over Kill Points, I'll give you guys a rundown of the team-tournament I'll be going to on Saturday. It's 1000 points per player, with 1 HQ and 1 Troop minimums and each team shares a FOC. I'll be using my Necrons with an Eldar player who likes her jetbikes. Just because the idea of having 2 T8 monsters on the board at once seems fairly nasty, she'll be bringing one Wraithlord along for the ride. My list will probably be as follows:
Deceiver
10 Necron Warriors
10 Necron Immortals
Monolith
Simple, but has the potential to be brutally effective when combined with some Jetbike scoring units and other vehicular support. I'll let you all know how it goes next week!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Necrons: Seize Ground
This is the game type where there are D3+2 objectives, and they usually manage to not be in the deployment zones (Dawn of War being the obvious exception). Overall, I find this one the hardest for Necrons, simply because we can't afford the abundance of scoring units that other armies can (6 points for an Ork Boy? Really?). Even at the 2000 points level, I try to keep with only 2 squads of Necron Warriors, so for me this game type devolves to one real goal: hold a single objective and ensure that all the others are contested. Keep that in mind as you place the objectives.
Against assault-oriented armies, that means you'll want one of the objectives on your side of the table, and all the others on the opposing side. It sounds silly when first said, but if you think about it, it'll make sense - in assault-heavy armies like Orks or Tyranids, few options exist for true ranged scoring units. Thus, in order to keep hold of these objectives, your opponent will have to leave some of his assault troops in the back.
This is where we, again, try to create the win-win scenario: If they try to win through objectives, they can't send their full force against the objective we're holding, and we're free to contest theirs on the last turn with sudden, lightning fast movements like turbo-boosting Scarabs or a Veil of Darkness teleport. Or, if you think they're going to try to Phase you Out, have your Warriors come onto the field through Deep Striking Monoliths or, again, Veil of Darkness them to the opposing end of the table. This both prevents the Phase Out (it's nigh-impossible to Phase Necrons Out without killing the Warriors) and gives you multiple objectives to choose from, where most of their forces will likely be concentrated around the single one on your end of the table.
Against shooty armies, you'll be doing the opposite, trying to hoard as many objectives near you as possible to keep them from gunlining you down. This will turn the game into a shooting war, but Necrons excel at focus-fire, so you should be able to quickly eliminate your opponents scoring units to secure victory. The real danger to watch for here is high-power shooting from vehicles - Leman Russes and Hammerheads being prime examples. These are dangers that must be suppressed, because with AV14 or a cover save regardless of whether the vehicle is in the open makes it very difficult for you to truly end such a threat. Allow one or two of your units to specifically deal with such threats - A squad of Immortals with a Veil of Darkness Lord excels at this duty. Once you destroy the main gun, ignore the vehicle and continue down the list of such threats. Only deviate when one of the crippled vehicles starts dashing forward - This means that your opponent is going to try to contest your objectives by sitting a vehicle on top of it. Make sure, at all costs, that this does not happen, because it is nearly impossible for the Necrons to actually destroy a vehicle. Sure, you can immobilize it and remove its main gun, but that doesn't stop it from contesting the objective unless you manage to immobilize it before it gets there. If a vehicle does slip through, you're probably better off trying to move to another objective than trying to destroy the tank.
Another important note when it comes to this game type: A single unit can hold multiple objectives. You've got 10 warriors in a squad. Each one can be up to 2" away from the next, and you need to be within 3" of an objective to score. That means that you have a range of up to 24" for controlling objectives. If they're placed properly and you get lucky by not losing any warriors (unrealistic, I know), you can potentially hold 3 objectives with a single squad! More likely, this means that a squad down to 5 Warriors can still potentially hold 2 objectives at once. Never forget this opportunity to steal a victory by getting two points with one scoring unit.
That's all for now, next week I'll go over how to win the Draw-master: Capture and Control.
Against assault-oriented armies, that means you'll want one of the objectives on your side of the table, and all the others on the opposing side. It sounds silly when first said, but if you think about it, it'll make sense - in assault-heavy armies like Orks or Tyranids, few options exist for true ranged scoring units. Thus, in order to keep hold of these objectives, your opponent will have to leave some of his assault troops in the back.
This is where we, again, try to create the win-win scenario: If they try to win through objectives, they can't send their full force against the objective we're holding, and we're free to contest theirs on the last turn with sudden, lightning fast movements like turbo-boosting Scarabs or a Veil of Darkness teleport. Or, if you think they're going to try to Phase you Out, have your Warriors come onto the field through Deep Striking Monoliths or, again, Veil of Darkness them to the opposing end of the table. This both prevents the Phase Out (it's nigh-impossible to Phase Necrons Out without killing the Warriors) and gives you multiple objectives to choose from, where most of their forces will likely be concentrated around the single one on your end of the table.
Against shooty armies, you'll be doing the opposite, trying to hoard as many objectives near you as possible to keep them from gunlining you down. This will turn the game into a shooting war, but Necrons excel at focus-fire, so you should be able to quickly eliminate your opponents scoring units to secure victory. The real danger to watch for here is high-power shooting from vehicles - Leman Russes and Hammerheads being prime examples. These are dangers that must be suppressed, because with AV14 or a cover save regardless of whether the vehicle is in the open makes it very difficult for you to truly end such a threat. Allow one or two of your units to specifically deal with such threats - A squad of Immortals with a Veil of Darkness Lord excels at this duty. Once you destroy the main gun, ignore the vehicle and continue down the list of such threats. Only deviate when one of the crippled vehicles starts dashing forward - This means that your opponent is going to try to contest your objectives by sitting a vehicle on top of it. Make sure, at all costs, that this does not happen, because it is nearly impossible for the Necrons to actually destroy a vehicle. Sure, you can immobilize it and remove its main gun, but that doesn't stop it from contesting the objective unless you manage to immobilize it before it gets there. If a vehicle does slip through, you're probably better off trying to move to another objective than trying to destroy the tank.
Another important note when it comes to this game type: A single unit can hold multiple objectives. You've got 10 warriors in a squad. Each one can be up to 2" away from the next, and you need to be within 3" of an objective to score. That means that you have a range of up to 24" for controlling objectives. If they're placed properly and you get lucky by not losing any warriors (unrealistic, I know), you can potentially hold 3 objectives with a single squad! More likely, this means that a squad down to 5 Warriors can still potentially hold 2 objectives at once. Never forget this opportunity to steal a victory by getting two points with one scoring unit.
That's all for now, next week I'll go over how to win the Draw-master: Capture and Control.