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Don't see this making it onto many Necron lists. At Str 10 with infinite range for 30 pts, it seems like something that you may want to try to get a first turn pop of something important. Why no love?

It's 30 points for a possible miss, possible glance/pen, possible not a stun....

That's a lot of points for a large gamble.

1 in 3 chance of a miss. 1 in 6 chance of no wound, or a 1 in 6 chance of only a stun on a vehicle. So your 30 point one shot weapon has a 44% chance of doing nothing.

Then you have to start factoring in cover and invulnerable saves and armor pen rolls.

If you happen to be taking a Chrono for other reasons, taking a Tachyon Arrow may not be all that bad. But I'd rather have another Scarab base or two most of the time.

Its good in high point games and in fun games.
But can still turn the game around for you if your lucky....

I see it as an auto include in a unit with a chronometron cryptek. Last game I took two. Destroyed a landraider with one, and weapon destroyed (taking out a twin-linked las cannon) on another landraider. Against most armies you will be able to pick out one vehicle or target that absolutely must die.

With a chronometron it's better than twin linked. If you didn't miss, twin linked to pen. If you hit and pen, re-rollable on the damage table. It easily makes it worth 30 points.

I'd say it depends on what you field. If you already have (or don't need) long range anti tank it is a waste of points. But it can work wonders against IG artillery when you do not want to bring anything else to that otherwise empty flank of the table...

Nemesor Dave wrote:I see it as an auto include in a unit with a chronometron cryptek. Last game I took two. Destroyed a landraider with one, and weapon destroyed (taking out a twin-linked las cannon) on another landraider. Against most armies you will be able to pick out one vehicle or target that absolutely must die.

With a chronometron it's better than twin linked. If you didn't miss, twin linked to pen. If you hit and pen, re-rollable on the damage table. It easily makes it worth 30 points.

This.

If your running your overlord with a chrono already, it's really bad form to not take it. With that universal Reroll it has a reasonably good chance of hitting its mark.

With a chrono you have a .61 chance to glance or better a LR, and a .556 chance of popping an AV 11. That's really not bad at all. Personally I would advise using it on the softest, largest threat, not necesarily a LR or the like. Blasterborn Venoms still chilling in your opponents deployment zone for instance are a .556 Immobilise or better. So every other game you'll seriously cripple one of your prime threats. I would say that's worth it for 30 points (again, assuming the chrono).

I use a tachyon arrow to differentiate my two destroyer lords when i run them together in a list, so i can attach them both to 1 6-man wraith squad and run around the table wrecking stuff with wound allocation shenanigans. the s10 ap1 shot is just a bonus, some games I never even fire the arrow.

rigeld2 wrote:It's 30 points for a possible miss, possible glance/pen, possible not a stun....

That's a lot of points for a large gamble.

You can mitigate this gamble with a chronometron.

Being able to reroll that 'to hit', the penetrate, or the damage result can make a significant difference if its effect.

It's an example of how the necron codex is full of synergy. By itself the Tachyon Arrow is a glorified HK. With the ability to reroll, its not a bad option at all.


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ShadarLogoth wrote:With a chrono you have a .61 chance to glance or better a LR, and a .556 chance of popping an AV 11.

Assuming, you did not need to use the reroll on the 'to hit' you have a 55% of penetrating and 75% of having an effect. That's assuming your happy if you get a glancing roll on the first dice roll.

If your waiting for the right chance to use the reroll, the math gets more confusing that I can do. I built a simulator that can run weapon/armor checks and if there is enough demand I can make some code changes for the chrono-Tachyon chances this weekend and post the results.

As people have noted, a Chrono-tek makes it much more attractive. And it is one of the very few guns Necrons get that is either AP 1 or S8+.

I don't think buying a Chrono just because you want to use Arrows is a good idea though. That shifts the cost to 55-80 points per Arrow, depending on one Arrow or two.

The Grog wrote:As people have noted, a Chrono-tek makes it much more attractive. And it is one of the very few guns Necrons get that is either AP 1 or S8+.

I don't think buying a Chrono just because you want to use Arrows is a good idea though. That shifts the cost to 55-80 points per Arrow, depending on one Arrow or two.

Don't forget you also get the benifit of having the chrono in the squad. If you wanted to run without a lord but 2 teks, you could bring a lance to the party and reroll on that as well.

Another thing worth of note is the power of AP1. The ability to get a +1 on the damage result is huge, and increases the destruction chance by 50% (from 1/3 to 1/2) when penetrating.