Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey Dakka!

So my first set of units is bought and almost painted up (not liking their faces so won't be posting pictures until they look less...crappy) Thinking of what to buy next. Currently have Overlord, 2 warrioors (24 total) 6 scarabs, and an anhilation barge. I was thinking of filling up my troop options and was looking to immortals. They are only a few points more than my warriors but in my eyes there is no stat difference than then immortals having a +1 better Armor save (SV are armor saves right?) So i am assuming the difference is in the weapon options. While I can tell that the +1 AP is proably significant, the Tesla has no AP, and while the rapid hits seem like a good thing, I feel like the superior AP of the gaus blaster, and the fact that the blaster can take out a tank when fired on-mass, makes it a far more viable option than the Tesla? Thoughts? Suggestions? Before you say anything mean! I am a noob and have yet to play a proper game (i.e when my friends and i just played we spent 90% of the time looking up the rules)

For starters, going from a 4+ save, to a 3+ save is a pretty big deal.

The Tesla Carbine, despite having no AP value, edges out the Gauss blaster in most scenarios. Against MEQ (Which is generally the most common foe) The AP value on the Gauss Blaster doesn't matter. The Tesla Carbine will tend to get more hits and wounds on targets, outside the 12' rapidfire range of the Blaster.

The Gauss blaster edges out the Carbine as far as tanks go.

The value of the Carbine also helps with Overwatch, for every hit you get, you actually get 3 hits, thanks to the Tesla Rule. Not a huge deal, but it's nice to have.

Overall, I prefer the Carbine more. The AP 4 doesn't make that big a difference normally, (Between cover and the prevalence of 3+ armor saves) and while the Gauss glancing is nice, it's not enough of a factor to swing me to pick the blaster over the Carbine.

In essence, they are both good choices, it will likely come down to personal preference.

Yeah, Gauss is nice against tanks. But the Necron codex is not lacking for anti-tank in its other choices. What it needs is anti-infantry, which the Carbine gives you.

Between Tachyon Arrows, Heavy Gauss Cannons, Entropic Strike, and Death Rays, the Necrons don't need Gauss to hunt vehicles.

Tesla is superior to all armies out there on Immortals. MEQ, TEQ by default. The Gauss' AP4 would come into play vs. GEQ or Tyranids, but in the former case, you are most likely to encounter tons of vehicles with a miminum troops that are weak enough to drown in Tesla and for the latter, you don't want them at <12'' of your troops

So in most lists, Tesla easily outperforms Gauss.

Rule of thumb:

>12'' => Tesla wins
<12'' => Gauss wins

And as Sasori already stated: it's hilarious when your Immortals get charged and 10 Immortals decided to throw 6 or more S5 hits towards the enemy unit! Best result I had yet was 9 Immortals firing at a charging unit of assault marines, resulting in 15 hits that killed the entire squad

Enemy: (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Mathwise, Tesla is equivalent of increasing shots by 50% while firing BS4.
As far as firepower is concerned, on BS4 models two Tesla Carbines equal single Heavy Bolter if you discount AP. So question is: Do you want 1.5 shots to 24" at S5 AP-, or S4 rapid fire to 24" with AP5. Personally, I'd take the 1.5 shots almost always.

Alright so taking the Tesla but what about warriors to immortals? Is it worth it to get immortals over warriors? 5 models to 12?

Both serve different purposes.

Gauss -> Anti-Vehicle -> Warriors
Tesla -> Anti-Infantry -> Immortals

Tesla is better IMO. You do more damage at >12 and are safer there.

The safety via distance is what does it for me.

Don't forget the unit size and transport changes. Immortals can't take arks, and are limited to ten, which means your two basic immortal units are either 5 with no lord, cryptek of some kind optional, I usually like quake. I use these to objective sit, harder to budge than warriors, and I always go tesla. The other option is a more hard-hitting footslogging assault unit with shacklescytheorblord and a despair cryptek. These guys work with either gauss or tesla and are tough to budge with shooting and suicide to assault with small units thanks to overwatch, that ap2 flamer, and mss. They really only fear power weapon blobs like banshees or th/ss termies.

With warriors you generally want to either make them an ark squad or a big 20 man foot blob- the two units really fill totally different roles.

I'd go with the Immortals too. Give your army a bit more variety since you already have 24 warriors.

In my 2000pt lists I run 1 squad of Warriors in a Ghost Ark(goes up the middle) with Destrotek for the Solar Pulse, 2 squads of Tesla Immortals(one on each flank) with Quaketek, and 1 squad of Gauss Immortals with my VoDtek and a kitted out Overlord which includes the Phaeron upgrade to boot.

The Ghost Ark seems to draw the most fire in my list, and it doesn't bother me that it usually goes down first, because then I just park my only squad of Warriors on a back objective while taking pot shots with the Destrotek.

At first I thought paying for the Phaeron upgrade would be a waste until I actually played a few games. I thought that I would be porting all around the battlefield and that I would only gain from the Relentless rule maybe once a battle at most. Instead the games I have used it I generally have ported into the enemies deployment behind cover, run to spread out the squad, and then next turn Rapid Fired and Assaulted, only to do the same a turn later when my Overlord finished of the squad during my opponents assault phase. It has worked beautifully twice and only so so once.

The Rapid Fire ability really has worked well with my set up, but I wouldn't field Gauss Immortals without giving them a specific purpose. I have thought about fielding a second squad of Gauss Immortals in a Night Scyte with a Staff of Light Lord as a clean up fast response team. Tesla Immortals however are more field and forget. Whatever they shoot at that has a Toughness Value instead of an Armor Value tends to die.

Warriors have their purpose, but I don't think it is on the front lines. Since missions are random I would never NOT field at least one squad of 5-8 with a Tek simply because I would feel having a Immortal squad sit still on an objective to be a waste of their talents. The most fun thing for me about Necrons is that you need to be moving to be effective, and a 4+ ain't gonna cut it when you gotta dash out in the open every now and then.

*side note

curently I have 36 Warriors and 40 Immortals. My Tesla Immortals are nothing more than Warrior torso and legs with Immortal arms and heads. The extra heads I bought as bitz on ebay and I have to say they look good. People don't realize it unless I tell them because of the White Stripe you can put down the Immortal head really makes them look cool and correct. I am still trying to think up something to place on their shoulders to fill them out even more, if anyone has any ideas besides green stuff let me know.

Otherwise this many Immortals can really set you back.

I like the idea of an immortal heavy army. I am trying to build my army with an Egypt-Persian era. Similar painting and army fluff. Do you have a buyer to recommend? I am always paranoid to buy off eBay.

I usually buy from bits-world or hoard-o-bitz(not sure about how he spells this one). Bits-World and Hoard-O-Bitz is easy to recognize because they alway have the picture of the stuff with a blue(bits-world) or green(hoard-o-bitz) border. They usually have Immortal heads as buy it now for about $5 for 5 heads including the shipping.

Had a ten man unit of immortals overwatch a squad of ork nobs yesterday, rolled 3 sixes, 9 hit overall, killed 2 nobs, and shot him out of charge range
Tesla Carbines rule
That being said, the Gauss Blasters themselves just look a tad cooler

x13rads wrote:
.

I am still trying to think up something to place on their shoulders to fill them out even more, if anyone has any ideas besides green stuff let me know.

My friend put a little piece of bent cardboard on his and it works quite well