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A couple of days ago, I came across the masterpiece that is BoLS' 'Macharian Crusade play aid' (http://belloflostsouls.blogspot.com/2008/07/play-aid-macharian-crusade.html)
Aside from being a really well-done publication, it's loaded with interesting takes on IG armies, not to mention their adversaries. It's one of these that caught my attention:

The Adrantis Union

What little that is known of the Adrantis Union seems to stem from the 2nd Edition IG codex. There's some information on it written in the MC-play aid as well. Here's what Lexicanum has to say about them:

Adrantis Five was a human, hyper-technical planet which had been separated from the Imperium for over five thousand years. It was conquered by Lord Commander Solar Macharius during the Macharian Crusade in the Segmentum Pacificus.

The planet's population were hyper advanced, and when Macharius arrived he said that they had 'turned to the dark certainties of science, and created many new and wondrous machines'. Even so, Macharius still had to conquer it. He was held at bay for two years until the planet finally succumbed to a redirected comet. 'Of its secrets, nothing now remains' were the last words of Macharius on the subject.

- http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Adrantis_Five

Ever since I started with 40k, I've had a thing for hi-tech IG. Or rather, I've missed them. For some reason, the possibility of a steam-drived Leman Russ doesn't cut it for me. So, when BoLS tossed up some rules for these, I got interested.

Here's what they propose in their MC-play aid:

- Codex: Tau is used with the following substitutions:
- Necron Warriors replace Kroot
- Necron Destroyers replace Vespids

- http://belloflostsouls.blogspot.com/2008/07/play-aid-macharian-crusade.html - page 80 of the pdf

This replacement is, by my guess, to symbolize the robotic minions that the Adrantis Union had invented. As for modeling, they only have a picture of one trooper. From what I can see, they've used a standard Tau Fire Warrior, and substituted the head with a Cadian one (the one with the headset)

With the above-mentioned in mind;

- What do you think of this idea? Would you play against it?
- Having never played neither Tau for Necrons, how would these to substitutions work with the rest of the army? Is it simply a fluff-thing, or does it actually do some good?

Thanks in advance,
al-Majid Agandhjin bin Ahfal al-Rashid

Well let's see:

It gives the Tau yet another good (too good, really) Fast Attack Choice.

The Tau do not need massive S6 firepower that does not compete with their Elite slots.

The Tau need Kroot in 5E. Fire Warriors are suckers as troops, if they can't stay in their devilfish they're dead.

So would I play against it?

I will personally play against anything. I've played against alot of questionable stuff, and some not so questionable.
A local has a very nicely converted Skaven Marine army. Still sucks, but it's nice to play against a loyalist chapter with a greater demon running around.

Do I think this is a well thought out addition? No. Most of the BoLS stuff is a joke to me. Lots of effort, but it varies in quality greatly and virtually none of the lists they've provided have any originality or balance.

It's harsh, but that's the way I see it.

So go ahead, kick someones but from across the table. They won't want to play you again.

15 Crisis Suits, 2 FW, 15 Destroyers, Rail Guns as you see fit (tank or suit mounted)? Only Eldar can match you in mobility, but you can overwhelm even seer council saves with this and play stay-away?

What's the weakness? Close combat? Who will make it? Hard enough against good tau armies, now you add 3 crisis suit teams and...game over.

Thanks for the quick reply Stelek, feedback appriciated

So what you're saying is that this would basically give the Tau added strengths when it comes to shooting, making it unbalanced?
Well that would certainly be a change on my behalf; usually when I go for fluff first, it tends to come out worse than the original

Now, how's about another take on it? What if one simply used Necrons as 'counts as' models for Kroot, in order to get that robotic
apperance? At first glance, my suggestions would be:

Kroot - Necron warriors (as much a question of $ as viability. Making units of paraiahs or flayed ones would be really expensive)
Shapers - Tau sniper drone controller or similar(since the rest of the army would be Tau, he'd be the unit 'controller')
Kroot Hounds - Scarab swarms
Krootox - Wraiths w/added gun on the side

Of course there would be some modifications involved to make them fit with the rest of the army, and there would have to be a
matching colour scheme. But how would they look together?

Comments on this approach, and perhaps suggestions for Vespids? Perhaps add some jump-packs to fire warrior/pathfinder models?

al-Majid Agandhjin bin Ahfal al-Rashid

Mmm... Necrons + Tau on the same side. Faced that before. Not pretty results.

The Necrons and the Tau don't like fighting one another, and with the old Tau Codex the matchup almost always ended in misery for the Tau player.

But put them together and you've suddenly got a very, very scary army.


I'd love to play against them. It'd be a challenge.

BYE

Yes, this kind of change would make the Tau too powerful. They have NO real issues in 5E besides their troops aren't awesome. Everything else is, and adding to that awesomeness...that'd be bad.

You can do anything you want as 'counts as' so long as it makes some kind of sense and isn't another army replacing another in the same range.

i.e. I use WHFB Lizards to represent my Orks. I think it's Kosher. Using Necrons to represent my Orks? Not so much.

However, I think if you use the 'counts as' you'll miss out on the possibility of a neat army for friendly games.

What you might consider doing I'll detail in a moment.

When you combine units from different armies, you have to think about why you are doing it and how it will all work itself out.

Critical analytic thinking is required.

Tau are:

Bad at close combat, very bad.
They don't do squad upgrades.
Kroot can stay around a long while versus shooting (especially in woods, 2+ cover saves if they pin?), but against a decent CC unit they usually fold right away. Only Hounds make up for this.

Necrons are:

Bad at close combat, pretty bad but not as bad as Tau!
They don't do squad upgrades.
Necron warriors die in CC, but are ok versus most shooting.

HQs:

Necron HQ choices are overpriced or weaksauce.
Tau HQ's are mighty.

Elites:

Necrons have Immortals. Not what they used to be.
Tau Crisis Suits are mighty.

Troops:

Both troops stink.

Fast Attack:

Necrons have two excellent units (Destroyers and Swarms) but actually need both and can't bring 6 slots worth.
Tau have alot of FA choices, some good some not so good. Piranha's are however excellent for what they do.

Heavy:

Hammerheads for the win. Broadsides with lots of drones and cover saves, most impressive.
Monoliths are nigh-unkillable. Heavy Destroyers are however really required to nail tanks.

There are alot of parallels between the armies. Both are essentially mobile shooty armies.

The weakness for Tau has always been CC. Why would they make shooty machines that suck in CC? They have that already!

To make a decent hybrid list that people will WANT to play, you need to make sacrifices...tradeoffs.

So I'd suggest this:

==============================================

Lord:

Necron Lord. 1+ if any Necrontyr units (Pariahs, Flayed Ones, and Scarab Swarms) are taken in the army.

Elite:

0-1 Pariahs. Squad size is equal to the largest Flayed Ones squad size (So, 4-10). Does not have FNP (isn't a Necron).
As this is a shooting slot, they get to shoot still.

Troops:

1-2 Flayed Ones. Does not meet minimum requirements. Yes, it is 1+ just as FW are. You may have 1 Pariah or Scarab Swarms unit in your army for each Flayed Ones unit in your army, but never more than 1 of each.

Fast Attack:

0-1 Wraiths. Squad size is equal to the largest Flayed Ones squad size (So, 4-10).

Changes:

Res Orb allows you to FNP hits you otherwise would not be allowed to.

Lord comes with a Warscythe for free, has FNP, counts as a JET PACK unit. Cannot upgrade to Staff of Light or Destroyer Body (Tau have no jetbikes).

Wraiths are JET pack units instead but do ignore terrain still. (Tau don't have Jetbikes, sorry...but they do have tech to ignore terrain.)

Veil of Darkness cannot be taken (Tau don't have teleporters either...)

Gauss is lost. Tau don't need to glance your vehicles with S10 AP1 weapons around.

Disruption fields cannot be taken. See above for why!

Wraiths and Flayed Ones have FNP and Rending.

The Necron WBB and Phase-out rules are ignored.

So, what this does is:

It gives you flavor.
It gives you useful CC troops.
It restricts the units so you cannot min-max the additional units.
It makes the units perform without having a full Necron list to back them up.
It removes effectively 2 units of Crisis Suits from the Tau army. This is a hit.
It removes 1 FA slot, as who wouldn't want to run Wraiths...but it's also a hit in certain Tau builds.

This isn't something I'd mind playing against. It gives the Tau something unique, but it detracts from their main strengths to do so.

Agandhjin wrote:BoLS' 'Macharian Crusade play aid' (http://belloflostsouls.blogspot.com/2008/07/play-aid-macharian-crusade.html)

The Adrantis Union

- Codex: Tau is used with the following substitutions:
- Necron Warriors replace Kroot
- Necron Destroyers replace Vespids

- http://belloflostsouls.blogspot.com/2008/07/play-aid-macharian-crusade.html - page 80 of the pdf

- What do you think of this idea?

I think it is depends on the Special Rules and restrictions.
- Trading Kroot for Necrons isn't a bad trade in concept, as they're both basic Troops picks. Necrons are shooty, while Kroot are one of the few fighty units the Tau have available. Gauss isn't a huge improvement over the basic Tau Gun, however it does solve one limitation inherent in the Tau list: highly-restricted Anti-Tank capability available to Troops. The big problem is that Kroot are overpriced to encourage Tau Warriors; Necrons are underpriced due to Phase Out, lack of Transport, and lack of variety. And while Kroot are good at resisting shooting, Necrons have WBB and are also pretty durable in HtH. So point for point, being able to take Necrons instead of Kroot is an definite upgrade.

- Trading Vespids to get Necron Destroyers is a similar kind of upgrade, especially if they retain the Heavy Destroyer option. Now, Tau no longer have to balance Railheads against Ionheads, nor Railheads against Broadsides.

So on net, the Tau have gotten *much* better with these swaps.


Now, that isn't to say that the concept lacks merit and can't be fixed. For example, suppose the "Necron" were replaced with something like this:

Warbot WS2 BS3 S4 T4 W1 I2 A1 Ld10 Sv3+ FNP Fearless
Flayer 24" S6 AP- Rapid Fire Rending
Infantry - 25 pts/model
5 to 10 models per unit
May not be taken as compulsory Troops.

Thus:
- Reduced WS, BS and I down to Tau norms, as they're non-sentient automata.
- Simplify WBB to USR FNP.
- Increased cost to encourage Tau and remove Phase Out.
- smaller unit size to reduce durability capacity
- Require Tau as core Troops

Stats are not as good as a 23-pt Plague Marine, but the gun is better than a Bolter. Far more durable than any Tau, they're better at serving as picket or tarpit.


The Destroyer equivalent could follow similar logic. But I'd want to restrict them with short-ranged guns, with an (expensive) upgrade to a mid-ranged gun.

JohnHwangDD wrote:- Reduced WS, BS and I down to Tau norms, as they're non-sentient automata.

Uhh...that's what they are now...

Except they're not made by factories with hypertech to support better stats.

Another option is shooty eldar. Nothing says tech like high speed high strength shooters backed by superlative armor. Heck jetbikes and warpspiders are just mini manga crisis suits when you think about it. DA's with bladestorm represent uber short range shooty. And what says advanced tech tanker love better than a prism/falcon.

Put advenced trooper pig iron heads on guardians/DA's and voila-instant high tech troopage.