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Had a thought about the A barge as an anti horde unit.

At 90 points, the barge is a fantastic bargain to place in any list.

The question is. Can 3 trem-teks be more effective for the same cost.

The barge has a strength 7 twin linked tesla destructer.(assualt 4) And the chances are you will hit your 4 shots off and to wound you will most likely need 2's to wound.. So its highly likely that you will get 3/4 wounds out not to mention any 6s to hit will provide 2 more hits. So lets say 4 wounds on average.
(Im not a mathematician so please, if you know the exact averages feel free to comment.)
Theres is also the arc which is a bonus if you get it but very unlikly to make an impact.
Yes you get 13av and a speedy vehicle and you also get the snap firing teslla cannon which for impact purposes i cant say you can rely on.

Now compare this to 3 trem-teks with a strength 4 blast weapon, vs hordes you can probs cover 5 enemies per blast and you have 3x
So 15 total (yes there is scatter but vs hordes you should still be hitting something nearby. So 15 potential hits then your most likely looking at 4s to wound? Thus giving you approx 7/8 wounds on average?
Also you have the quake rule which slows down those hordes.

Im trying to work out why i never see this as a better choice when i look at other necron lists from other users.

Maybe i have missed something but please can i get a few comments and opinions on this?

There is even another case for tomb blades too with there upgraded heavy weapon but i have yet to fully read up on them. Again feel free to mention

Annihilation barges don't scatter nor have to worry about smart horde players that space out their units to minimize the damage of blast weapons. Lastly, it's a LOT harder to kill an annihilation barge than it does to kill 3 tremor-teks.

Lastly - 3 tremor-teks take up 3 Cryptek spots in a single Royal Court (max 5 per court) so depending on your build, you may be wasting cryptek slots.

Actually, snap firing 4 shots with the twin-linked Tesla weapon is brilliant and tactically effective.

You stand to hit as many times as if you were 'not' snap firing, since any 6's you roll result in additional hits and any non-6's can be rerolled. I believe the math on it works out to 8 chances to roll a 6, so statistically you'd end up with 3-4 hits per shooting phase, the same as if you were not snap-firing it.

Carl4t7 wrote:

Now compare this to 3 trem-teks with a strength 4 blast weapon, vs hordes you can probs cover 5 enemies per blast and you have 3x
So 15 total (yes there is scatter but vs hordes you should still be hitting something nearby. So 15 potential hits then your most likely looking at 4s to wound? Thus giving you approx 7/8 wounds on average?
Also you have the quake rule which slows down those hordes.

No.

5 units hit per large blast shot is absurdly optimistic, 3 is far more reasonable.

 Neorealist wrote:
Actually, snap firing 4 shots with the twin-linked Tesla weapon is brilliant and tactically effective.

You stand to hit as many times as if you were 'not' snap firing, since any 6's you roll result in additional hits and any non-6's can be rerolled. I believe the math on it works out to 8 chances to roll a 6, so statistically you'd end up with 3-4 hits per shooting phase, the same as if you were not snap-firing it.

Not quite. 4.9 hits from 4 shots if not snap firing. 2.6 from 4 if you are snapfiring. Still bloody accurate for snapfire!


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That means that tl tesla snap firing is almost on par with tl bs3!


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Actually... scrap that. It would be more in line with standard bs4. Snap firing tl tesla hits on average 0.65 per shot - just 0.017 difference with standard bs4.

Poly Ranger wrote:

 Neorealist wrote:
Actually, snap firing 4 shots with the twin-linked Tesla weapon is brilliant and tactically effective.

You stand to hit as many times as if you were 'not' snap firing, since any 6's you roll result in additional hits and any non-6's can be rerolled. I believe the math on it works out to 8 chances to roll a 6, so statistically you'd end up with 3-4 hits per shooting phase, the same as if you were not snap-firing it.

Not quite. 4.9 hits from 4 shots if not snap firing. 2.6 from 4 if you are snapfiring. Still bloody accurate for snapfire!


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That means that tl tesla snap firing is almost on par with tl bs3!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Actually... scrap that. It would be more in line with standard bs4. Snap firing tl tesla hits on average 0.65 per shot - just 0.017 difference with standard bs4.

This. Finally ran into a 'Cron player with my Flying Circus ( I'm pretty new to daemons), and I did not respect the efficacy of snapfiring with anni barges. In two instances he got more hits snapfiring (9 freaking hits! each time!) than he did shooting at full BS (6 hits, lel).

So to answer OP's question, it seems that you see anni barges more because not only are they anti horde, but they reliably handle AA whether in be flyers or flying monstrous creatures. AV 13 is also a good deal more survivable in today's meta than in yesteryear.

So let me get this right. You would snap fire the destructor as opposed to the cannon. As the cannon is assault 2 not 4

Typically you'd snap fire both.
(you want that barge moving every turn, after all, to make the most of that jink save).

Carl4t7 wrote:
So let me get this right. You would snap fire the destructor as opposed to the cannon. As the cannon is assault 2 not 4

With the Tesla Destructor, you want the 6's from snapshots and being Twin-Linked means you have a better chance of obtaining such than normal BS. Truth be told, I find the under-slung gun to be a bit unnecessary in the barge. It's there to help prevent a weapon destroyed result.

Snap fire both of them is typically the way I go with them. (though I usually go with gauss for the under slung gun instead of tesla for the occasional chance to take some potshots at marines, vehicles and the like) I tend to want push them up as close as possible to the enemy lines to make their target priority have to take into account jinked AV13, having to snap-fire be damned. For their cost they are absolutely brilliant, one of the more efficient options available in the entire codex.

Barges all the way.
They could cost 120 and they would STILL be a steal.