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So, beyond just loadout lists, does anyone have any other tactical advice about how one gets the best out of a C'tan shard?

I've adapted a pretty cool model and I want to play it without just getting blasted off the board. I'm thinking Gaze of Death and something else (maybe TA?), but key is I then want to get it into, and keep it in, combat for the rest of the game.

The only thought I had was whether it might be possible to use the Vargard to port him into the thick of it, then have him charge into folk. Only concern is that then I've got Vargard getting stung by the GoD too, right?

I know they are "bad value for their points" but I just want to play it as a cool mini and for the joy of the fluff...

Thoughts?

I usually run Entropic Touch and Swarm of the spirit dust and keep him back to counter assault anyone who gets too close. Keep him in ruins and you'll have a decent cover save, plus defensive grenades. Also you'll have entropic touch so even if the c'tan goes down he might be able to strip the saving throw off a tough creature or rip through a vehicle without having to smash.

GoD is too overpriced for an already expensive MC.

When I use one I take writhing worldscape combined with massed tremorteks and orikan and then slap pyreshards on for some cheap s4.

A monolith is the fastest way to get it into cc.

If you really want cc beatsticks then tomb spyders, wraiths, dlords, and Olords are the way to go. The C'tan is just too slow for what he offers and is better off being more of a support unit

But I want a big ancient God surrounded by a swarm of Tyranids or Orcs, smashing them to pieces....

:-(

I like to combo bad with bad, but it actually turns out okay most of the time. I will run one or two monoliths and either use it as LOS blocking for the ctan and use the ctan as counter assault for the monolith. Maybe dabble with the lord of fire ability and then the monolith is "protected" from melta shots. My other strategy which has worked with varying success is DS the monolith and pull the Ctan through the door to drop two big nasties on their side of the field. Because if they kill the shard there is a monolith pounding and pulling all manor of troops through the door and if they kill the monolith there is a Ctan chilling pounding on things.

You have to support your C'tan with other assault units. I would say 3 units of wraiths and a D-Lord or two. You will not be able to join Obie to him as the C'tan is a monstrous creature. Along with the wraiths just run him straight at whatever you want dead until he gets there. He is running with a 4++ and the wraiths have a 3++ so just get into combat ASAP. I usually run mine with pyre shards and moulder of worlds cuz I'm running him until assault range anyway, and if I'm throwing him at any blob, this is an excellent way to thin the herd.

 Dumah12 wrote:
My other strategy which has worked with varying success is DS the monolith and pull the Ctan through the door to drop two big nasties on their side of the field. Because if they kill the shard there is a monolith pounding and pulling all manor of troops through the door and if they kill the monolith there is a Ctan chilling pounding on things.

+1 this. Just don't forget to turn the monoliths gate away from the enemy, so they can't shoot the shard the turn he comes in. then next turn monolith moves out of the way, and the c'tan charges.

the other good c'tan combo is to use a c'tan with times arrow along with whip coil wraiths. the whip coils reduce the target's initiative to 1, so the times arrow kills on anything but a 1. One time I used this to one shot the swarm lord, which was one of the most satisfying things I've ever done in 40k.

That whip coil combo doesn't work because characteristic test use the models base not a modified characteristic. Times arrow is hilariously op against tervigons and carnifexes with I 1

 Dumah12 wrote:
That whip coil combo doesn't work because characteristic test use the models base not a modified characteristic.

Please show me where it says this in the rules.

Hm... So tricky without either lurking in cover or bringing a monolith. Which is a thing I neither have not want (don't really like the model). Funny the idea of sinking 250 pts into a god, then hiding him either behind or in a shed...

Yeah, c'tan shards aren't very good. CURSE YOU MATT WARD!

As with most new codexes. To figure out which units are good in the necron 5th edition codex, look up which units they released new models for.

Personally, when I've ran C'Tan shards, I find they perform far better than the world at large wants to give them credit for.

Gaze of Death makes him expensive, but it also makes him awesome. If you're going to be pushing him into as many assaults as possible, this is the ability you want. Don't spend points on any of the shooting attacks when speed is the one thing holding shards back. You're going to want to run him in any turn where you're not in position to assault, and sometimes the urge to shoot some crappy power you spent points on is hard to resist. Take Lord of Flame or Swarm of Spirit Dust to pair with Gaze of Death and move on...

Don't hide your C'tan. Run him straight at whatever you want dead. You do this for a few reasons. One, he's an amazing beatstick that'll kill nearly anything in the game. Two, your opponent will have to spend A LOT of his resources to take it down. It is true that rocking only a 4+ invul for any wounds that do get through his high toughness can be a tad risky, but if you're opponent is shooting most of his army at your C'tan, he's not killing any of your other units. Even if he does take the C'Tan down, most of your army will go unmolested in that turn. It's a victory...

I personally have played my C'tan as more of a speed bump against other aggressive assault armies, and I've always come away amazed at the assaults it wins. I'll intercept an enemies hammer unit just hoping to tie it up for a few turns and end up killing it outright. It cannot be overstated how great Gaze of Death is in these circumstances, helping to regen a wound here and there while thinning down the enemy resistance. Seeing your opponents confidence evaporate once he realizes how F'd he truly is when his 5 Nob Bikers, Warboss, and Painboy fail to take the C'Tan out after 2 rounds of assault, Gaze of Death just finished off his Warboss, and the C'tan just regenerated a wound. It's awesome.

It's not all rainbows. The Gaze of Death C'tan is a slower assault unit in a hyper shooty environment, but everyone seems to think it sucks, when in reality it's just high priced and slow. High priced and slow doesn't keep it from wrecking face when it gets where it's going.

 Voidwraith wrote:

 Dumah12 wrote:
That whip coil combo doesn't work because characteristic test use the models base not a modified characteristic.

Please show me where it says this in the rules.

I looked. Perhaps I confused it with 5th edition rules my apologies.

 Dumah12 wrote:

 Voidwraith wrote:

 Dumah12 wrote:
That whip coil combo doesn't work because characteristic test use the models base not a modified characteristic.

Please show me where it says this in the rules.

I looked. Perhaps I confused it with 5th edition rules my apologies.

Could have sworn the FAQ addressed this ages ago (works, though not very easily done).