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I have a Tomb Stalker model i have yet to build. Bought it a while ago and was waiting for the new 'dex to hit. Just never got round to it.

I've had a look at the rules in IA-A-2nd and they just seem a bit......meh.

It seems to have decent attacks, I, S and T....but it is a BIG model (so hard to find cover) and without something like Fleet to get it into combat quicker it just seems like it will get stuck in the middle of nowhere and gunned down.

Also, at S6 and no invul save, it seems to me that, for tank killing anyway, you would be better served by getting a BargeLord (tougher, faster, higher S)

Has anyone used on of these? If so, how did it do? Should I build and use it or take the model back for £40 of store credit?

Depends on who you're going against. Against poison heavy armies (Tyranids and Dark Eldar) it's particularly trolltastic. Additionally it just flat out ignores all attacks S3 and under, so if you charged a mass of GEQs they would literally be unable to touch you. Also, T7 is very rarely seen out of apocalypse these days, and it's quite useful as it lessens the effectiveness of missiles and plasma guns against it by quite a bit. And of course, the model is pretty short for a monstrous creature thanks to it's centipede build, so you can get cover a lot more easily than say; a Trygon. And of course, the T7 is a handy trump card against other monstrous creatures who tend towards S6. And if that Trygon you're charging brought toxin sacs? Well too bad for him, he's actually become *less effective.*

I tend to play against MEQ, IG and Nids. Every now and again an Eldar or DE army might pop up, but it's pretty rare.

I think my main worry is it's speed. with out any kind of boost it just has the normal 6" move, 6" charge.




EDIT - my bad. It does have Fleet. but with the rules sayign it is "extraordinarily fast" i think it woudln't have been game breakign to make it charge like Beats (12" charge) or increase its initial movement.

just foudn the original experimental rules buried on the FW site. Not sure what the justfication was for increasing its cost when non of the rules actually changed.

Praxiss wrote:I tend to play against MEQ, IG and Nids. Every now and again an Eldar or DE army might pop up, but it's pretty rare.

I think my main worry is it's speed. with out any kind of boost it just has the normal 6" move, 6" charge.

And Fleet. Not to mention Hit and run which can (if tactically pulled of right) give you a burst of speed at the end of your opponent's assault phase.

The Stalker's shortcomings are it's lack of an INV save. AP 3 and 2 weapons with high strengths absolutely destroy the stalker, but it's bonus against poison weapons make it very effective against DE.

Deep Strike behind cover then charge without LoS and Move Through Cover. Remember it's also a Monstrous Creature so you ignore saves and get 2D6 penetration, so vehicles aren't going to be much of a problem. You get a huge bonus against DE, being near immune to their small arms fire.

Praxiss wrote:I tend to play against MEQ, IG and Nids. Every now and again an Eldar or DE army might pop up, but it's pretty rare.

I think my main worry is it's speed. with out any kind of boost it just has the normal 6" move, 6" charge.

The Tomb stalker can defeat pretty much any Tyranid Monstrous Creature outside of a bonesword and lashwhip Tyrant and the Swarmlord itself with it's superior toughness, initiative, and nigh on poison immunity. Assuming the other guy actually brings out a Carnifex, the Stalker's better WS, weight of attacks, and initiative will mean it will kill the Carnifex before it can strike back. Against a Trygon it's better toughness can carry it through, and if the Trygon has toxin sacs then the Trygon will find itself only hurting a Stalker on a six, which is terrible. The Tyrannofex and Tervigon tend not to do well when attacked by other monstrous creatures and will go down after a round or two.

Against Gaunts, unless they're hormagaunts with the charge and adrenal glands or have toxin sacs they aren't going to be able to do anything once the Stalker is in assault, and even if they have the biomorphs to hurt it, the Tomb Stalker's impressive armour save and large number of wounds means that the Gaunts are unlikely to be hurting it any time soon. Genestealers with their ability to rend will be more of a problem, but you generally should try to steer the frak away from Genestealers in Assault.

Assault oriented warrior bricks are an issue, but like Genestealers, these guys should never be assaulted if you can help it as once again the Tyranids bring a strong contender for the most destructive close combat unit in the game.

99% of Tyranid shooting cannot penetrate a Stalker's armour save so you can be comfortable in footslogging your way to them.

Against the Guard, a Tomb Stalker's toughness rating means that the moment you get in assault with a guard unit, that guard unit becomes nothing more than free kill points, as the number of things that the Guard have that can actually wound a Stalker in melee can be counted with your hands, I.E; Rending Penal Legionnares (not that anyone takes them), Ogryns (still can't get past the armour save), Furious charging guardsmen (but if you have the assault these guys still do nothing, and again, armour save), Power fists, and Eviscerators. None of these are exactly common in IG lists.

Against MEQs, you should probably be more cautious and hug cover before getting in to rip open a tank or slaughter a cover camping sqaud. Try to avoid melee with dreadnoughts outside of your own terms as they both can wound you pretty easily and ignore your armour save while at the same time not having garbage initiative. And of course, like all Monstrous Creatures, Stalkers hate Mr.Sergeant with a hidden power fist.

I have played against Tomb Stalkers as a Space Marine player, it's a great psychological deterrant. You can it leave in cover as support for a squad sitting on an objective which makes you think twice about assaulting that area, or you can send a couple of them forward to rip open tanks or assault weaker squads (avoid high strength squads like TH/SS Termies).

As previously mentioned its downfall is the lack of Invul. So hug the covers until you can get into CC as lascannons, plasma and melta guns will make quick work of it.

Valkyrie wrote:Deep Strike behind cover then charge without LoS and Move Through Cover. Remember it's also a Monstrous Creature so you ignore saves and get 2D6 penetration, so vehicles aren't going to be much of a problem. You get a huge bonus against DE, being near immune to their small arms fire.

I would never deepstrike the Stalker. You are putting it out of the game for at least 2 turns, if it doesn't mishap completely and lose you 200+pts. Plus, on the turn it arrives, most armies have things able to move around any cover that might protect the stalker, and have a few free shots at it, since it can't assault on the turn it arrives.

Have to wait and see how/if deep strike is tweaked in 6th Ed.

I can only assume something will change since the necron codex alone has 2 or 3 units thta can DS in the enemies turn. Seems a bit of a stupid rule unless it might make sense afteer 6th hits.

I cried when it was not added to the normal necron codex in the recent release.

tgf wrote:I cried when it was not added to the normal necron codex in the recent release.

Unless FW units are allowed in basic games, as the rumors have suggested.

NecronLord3 wrote:

tgf wrote:I cried when it was not added to the normal necron codex in the recent release.

Unless FW units are allowed in basic games, as the rumors have suggested.

In which case boing!!!!!!

Kain wrote:Against a Trygon it's better toughness can carry it through, and if the Trygon has toxin sacs then the Trygon will find itself only hurting a Stalker on a six, which is terrible.

Anyone who puts toxin sacs on a Trygon outside of maybe Plaguemarine or Wraithguard heavy armies deserves to lose anyway.

I've used my Stalker several times against a variety of enemies and it's never failed to get it's points back, so long as I don't do anything stupid like assaulting a Bloodthirster with it (and even then, it has a decent chance with good rolls).