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What the title said

Chaos,then Nids...

Necrons.

Depends on who's writing the BL novel

In non-BL fluff probably Orks or Nids.

The truth is, almost every faction could claim being the hardest to beat in battle.

Orks with their we never lose, we either win the fight today or live to fight and win another day

Daemons with being just hard ass mofo's from the warp and immortal

Nids with their consume your biomass to increase their numbers which is already nigh infinite and their rapid adaptability

Necrons with their superior technology and the capability to get back up when you're not looking and stab/shoot you in the back

Eldar with their stupid stupid "Just as Planned!" cackling and decently high tech levels

All in all, the only thing that's really undisputed is that the easiest to beat are the Tau. puny blue fishfaces.

Bleeping "Death Ray". Hey, GW, go find the moron who came up with that thing. Then fire them. Tell him the Tau made you do it. No worth while freaking AA with out buying new stuff...yeah...I see what they did there. Worth noting. It's 1:30 AM and I cant sleep. then I saw a post with one word. Necrons. The only guy I have to play right now has them. I'm sick of looking at 'em. Maybe tommorow I'll edit this post to say fluffy bunnies or something else worth commenting to the OP.

But I hear they get ate by Tyranids real good.

...Stupid death ray.

Nids easily. They're basically antithetical to every strategy the Space Marines employ.

Bugs. Either way what happens, in all sci fi, all bugs dominate, so naturally

BlaxicanX wrote:
Nids easily. They're basically antithetical to every strategy the Space Marines employ.

He has a point. Without Guard support... 1000 guys ain't much against a Horde of millions no matter how hardy.

Sale prices!

Mat Ward

 Trondheim wrote:
Mat Ward

THIS.

In all seriousness, it's probably orks. Orks are the only army that gets stronger the harder you fight them.

Well, that's not true, there's also Khorne. I guess Orks and demons are probably tied, then.

With every other foe, there is a limited number, and they get weaker with casualties.

Orks are connected to Gork and Mork, who are more powerful than Khorne or any other warp entity.

What?

Orks only get stronger if they live long enough, and even then it's on an individual basis. If you fight the same waaghh over two year period, the orcs within the waaaagh will never be stronger than before so long as you manage to kill them each time.

As well, the Octavius war showed us that killing a single warboss can throw an entire waaagh into disarray. Space Marines excel at deep striking into the enemy camp, killing the leader, than pulling out.

Orks are probably a Space Marine's most preferred enemy besides regular humans.

On-topic, I'd say Necrons, due to their superior technology. As BlaxicanX said, taking out the Warboss would cause the Waaagh!!! to fall apart allowing Imperial forces to take advantage and wipe them out, and DoW II show that by using surgical strikes are effective in delaying the Tyranids until Naval and Guard forces can build up the numbers to counter-attack, while simultaneously weakening the Hive Fleet by the loss of so many synapse creatures. With regard to the Forces of Chaos, its arguable those are what the Space Marines were originally meant to fight against, or rather, Chaos-tainted factions during the Great Crusade. The Eldar's psychic superiority can be said to be neutralized by the raw power of Librarians. Dark Eldar and Tau prefer hit and run strikes, which Space Marines excel at, and since the latter do not really fare well in melee, it just makes them easier prey for Space Marines.

Daemons, Nids and Necrons. Most chapters do not have the resources to contend with warp beings and warp rifts short of exterminatus. Nids, as someone pointed out before, are virtually immune to most tactics. They feel no fear, they have vast numbers, knowledge of tactics and strategy and are tough. Necrons are innumerable, high tech, souless robots led around by a few intelligent AIs, strategy and tactics just delay the inevitable.

 Tadashi wrote:
On-topic, I'd say Necrons, due to their superior technology. As BlaxicanX said, taking out the Warboss would cause the Waaagh!!! to fall apart allowing Imperial forces to take advantage and wipe them out, and DoW II show that by using surgical strikes are effective in delaying the Tyranids until Naval and Guard forces can build up the numbers to counter-attack, while simultaneously weakening the Hive Fleet by the loss of so many synapse creatures. With regard to the Forces of Chaos, its arguable those are what the Space Marines were originally meant to fight against, or rather, Chaos-tainted factions during the Great Crusade. The Eldar's psychic superiority can be said to be neutralized by the raw power of Librarians. Dark Eldar and Tau prefer hit and run strikes, which Space Marines excel at, and since the latter do not really fare well in melee, it just makes them easier prey for Space Marines.

This actually led me to realise another point that makes the Necrons a greater threat than most factions.

While Tyranids and Orks are formidable, they have a known infrastructure that can be shattered by killing the synapse creatures and Warbosses respectively.

With the Necrons, such surgical strikes are not as effective, it is incredibly difficult to truly destroy a Necron Warrior, let alone an Overlord, and if bested, they usually simply phase back to their Tomb and the battle still goes on as it had before.

The Necrons are one of the rare races that can't be quelled by surgical applications of extreme force, which even Daemons can (Taking out what's keeping them in the Materium, whether it be a big bad leader Daemon, a Sorcerer, etc.). The Necrons back this aspect up with superior technology and numbers (Over Space Marines anyway).

The Necrontyr, easily. They have a limited number unlike Chaos or Nids, but to actually bring that number down is damned difficult. Kill one, it stands up. Kill it again, it stands up. Grab a melta-gun and destroy it permanently, it teleports back to the nearest base, a Canoptek Spyder repairs it, it teleports back down in the next available unit. In Fall of Damnos, a unit of Warriors was flanking a Monolith, the Marines destroyed the Warriors, and then another squad identical to the first walked through the portal. Nids are infinite or near as damn it, but they can be killed, you can target synapse creatures and break the link to the Hive Mind. Orks are almost without number, but killing Chieftains and Warbosses can throw them into in-fighting, making it easy to pick them off as they squabble amongst themselves. Chaos Daemons are immortal, but again, they can be sent back to the Warp, you can make defences against them. But what do you do if indestructible machines with technology that far surpasses that of any species in the galaxy crawls out from beneath the ground itself? Weaponry that can bring down a Battle Barge in a single shot? Ships the size of PLANETS that can singlehandedly wipe out an entire sector whilst its shields repel EVERY weapon the Imperium has to offer? You can't target leaders, they just respawn. You can't crush them in weight of numbers because Marines are few. You can exterminatus a planet, but they'll simply shift to the nearest Tomb World and potentially wake that one up as well. If you systematically wiped out planet after planet after planet, you'd reach the last one to fight every Necron in existence all at once.

Having said all that, if I were a Marine I'd hate fighting Nids. It's hard to get that squishy ooze off my boots.

I wonder how Space Marines manage to beat Necrons at all, honestly. Necrons have stronger weaponry, are more durable, and have more numbers. Because they're essentially walking computers, they aren't vulnerable to fear or shellshock. What advantage do Space Marines possibly have over them?

Necrons and Tyranids are both races that I think the Guard are better suited for fighting.

TBH, Guard will be slaughtered by Necrons. And I have no idea how anyone wins against 'crons.

Depends how many Guardsmen and what regiments...
Also depends on the capabilities of the Necrons in the area...

It would all come down to the actual circumstances of the battle.

All have had their ups and downs.

Necrons, Daemons and Tyranids, for most of the reasons listed already.

Guard would have a rough time of it too, but they're a better match for Necrons than Space Marines by nature.

Necrons are a slow, lumbering race who's general strategy in most fights it to clump up in a massive gun-line and slowly advance upon the enemy, firing their weapons. Though they have fast moving vehicles like Void Ravens and the like, they aren't generally a mobile race, like the Tyranids or the Eldar/DaElder, and they don't often do things like deep-strikes and outmaneuvering, like Space Marines. They also don't bother to hide their troop movements.

So from that perspective, they're arguably the most vulnerable faction to things like mass artillery strikes, orbital bombardments, etc.

Necron weaponry is predominantly mid-ranged focused, and extremely powerful, which makes it good for killing durable but not too numerous targets like Space Marines, whereas it's overkill and provides diminishing returns against MSU such as the Guard.

Space Marines love close ranged combat, which falls right into Necron hands, whereas the Guard prefer to pour out huge volumes of fire from a distance.

Space Marines can't afford wars of attrition, whereas fighting grinding wars with massive casualties suits the Guard just fine. In fact they can afford to lose more men than the Necrons can.

Again, not saying that it would be easy- as history has shown the Guard have arguably lost more battles against the Necrons than won (sans the infamous Calvary charge lulz). But I still think they're a better match for them than most of the other factions.

Though Necrons would be hilariously fethed if the Tyranids managed to evolve a resiliancy to gauss/tesla weaponry. gg

Though nids are basically without number, same for chaos daemons, its the crons that are the greatest threat to anything.

Look towards the cadian gate and you realize their power, they can contain the warp.

The nids have a similiar ability, they blanket the warp with their presence into nothing.

One side has the ability to adapt, nearly on the fly, and the other has technology that rips the universe asunder or seal it shut.

Their equal threats, but with different means to achieve such a threat.

I agree with the assessment that necrons are probably a good match for space marines, but not that they're the greatest threat ever. People seem to be assigning them some serious infallibility that just isn't there.

1) Theyre not unfeeling, fearless, logical machines. They're mortal beings put in machine bodies, with many of the same vices and issues multiplied by a million in their new forms. Even the warriors aren't immune to fear, it says so in the dex and it's the reason none of them are fearless, they still have instinctive fight or flight responses. Put that on top of the various madnesses that afflict the upper classes, not to even mention Flayed One craziness, and they're dangerous but not cold, calculating bastards who will always win.

2) Theyre not cohesive. Saying nobody could ever stand up to "the necrons" would be like saying alien invaders wouldn't be able to take on all the armies of earth: this is assuming we could all work together. There's tremendous infighting among the necrons and it's not likely to end soon seeing as every overlord's mindset is "well, our mighty empire must be reunited and must span the stars....under MY leadership. And I'll make the other overlords serve me robocoffee. What will Iake my goofy helmet crest look like...?"

all in all, I'd say necrons' biggest flaw is that they're the cackling, superintelligent bond villain of the 40k universe. Their sinister plans to take over the world(s) will be ultimately thwarted by extreme ego and a dash of their own craziness.

Like what most say

Necrons are the hardest.

Tyranids are the next

BlaxicanX wrote:
Guard would have a rough time of it too, but they're a better match for Necrons than Space Marines by nature.

Necrons are a slow, lumbering race who's general strategy in most fights it to clump up in a massive gun-line and slowly advance upon the enemy, firing their weapons. Though they have fast moving vehicles like Void Ravens and the like, they aren't generally a mobile race, like the Tyranids or the Eldar/DaElder, and they don't often do things like deep-strikes and outmaneuvering, like Space Marines. They also don't bother to hide their troop movements.

So from that perspective, they're arguably the most vulnerable faction to things like mass artillery strikes, orbital bombardments, etc.

Necron weaponry is predominantly mid-ranged focused, and extremely powerful, which makes it good for killing durable but not too numerous targets like Space Marines, whereas it's overkill and provides diminishing returns against MSU such as the Guard.

Space Marines love close ranged combat, which falls right into Necron hands, whereas the Guard prefer to pour out huge volumes of fire from a distance.

Space Marines can't afford wars of attrition, whereas fighting grinding wars with massive casualties suits the Guard just fine. In fact they can afford to lose more men than the Necrons can.

Again, not saying that it would be easy- as history has shown the Guard have arguably lost more battles against the Necrons than won (sans the infamous Calvary charge lulz). But I still think they're a better match for them than most of the other factions.

Though Necrons would be hilariously fethed if the Tyranids managed to evolve a resiliancy to gauss/tesla weaponry. gg

This really isn't true at all. Necrons have honed a lot more tactics than just "Clump and fight" After thousands of years of infighting, and fighting against the Old ones and other races of the galaxy. A lot of times this is how Warriors are depicted, but it's far from how all (Or even close to all) Warfare has been conducted by the Necrons.

There are plenty of examples in the codex of Necrons completely tactically outwitting opponents. Zahndrekh and Imotekh are probably the best examples of this.

As for Tyranids evolving, I don't think there is a way to evolve against something that strips your atoms apart, lol.

 Sasori wrote:



This really isn't true at all. Necrons have honed a lot more tactics than just "Clump and fight" After thousands of years of infighting, and fighting against the Old ones and other races of the galaxy. A lot of times this is how Warriors are depicted, but it's far from how all (Or even close to all) Warfare has been conducted by the Necrons.

There are plenty of examples in the codex of Necrons completely tactically outwitting opponents. Zahndrekh and Imotekh are probably the best examples of this.

THIS. Even with the Imperial Guard, they just don't always use meat grinder tactics. Same with Necrons - basic tactic is the 'implacable advance', but the newcrons are dangerously versatile in terms of tactics. Only completely random enemies like Orks have a long-term guarantee against them.