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NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
Even if they're magnets for anti-tank fire, their 48" range means they can help screen your deep-backfield from deepstrike, etc... while still contributing.

I don't think they're auto-include tier, but they're far from Annihilation Barge tier, as well.

If only they would give the anni barge ap-1 on it's tesla cannons!

 Xenomancers wrote:

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
Even if they're magnets for anti-tank fire, their 48" range means they can help screen your deep-backfield from deepstrike, etc... while still contributing.

I don't think they're auto-include tier, but they're far from Annihilation Barge tier, as well.

If only they would give the anni barge ap-1 on it's tesla cannons!

No! No AP, only more strength!

(seriously in this age of everything getting a little AP it feels so weird that even the heavy tesla has no ap)

 Vineheart01 wrote:

 Xenomancers wrote:

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
Even if they're magnets for anti-tank fire, their 48" range means they can help screen your deep-backfield from deepstrike, etc... while still contributing.

I don't think they're auto-include tier, but they're far from Annihilation Barge tier, as well.

If only they would give the anni barge ap-1 on it's tesla cannons!

No! No AP, only more strength!

(seriously in this age of everything getting a little AP it feels so weird that even the heavy tesla has no ap)

Str 8 or shred would also be nice. It is a durable little platform that I would like to use.

An article on Goonhammer has me looking at the Psychomancer again. Pretty sure it's still terrible though. Anyone actually used it?

I'm thinking it would be one of the only HQ choices that actually wants to get veiled out with some warriors. The Veil sometimes feels like a bit of a hot potato in my lists- all the characters would rather stay back supporting other units than be the guy that flys off on an aggressive maneuver.
A Royal Warden, or Noble with a Res Orb might be useful if the veiled unit is still there the next turn, but they don't add a lot the turn the Veil is used.

The Psychomancer could use it's always fight last ability to help protect a unit of 20 Warriors it's veiled up. My Veiled Warriors are usually Novokh that have MWBD on, so anything charging them could be hit with 40 S4/5 AP-1 attacks hitting on 2's, before it gets to swing.
I'd probably give the Psycho a Cryptogeometric Adjuster (-1 to hit for an enemy within 12" in the shooting phase) too.

So, a psychomancer to make warriors fight first, a technomancer to reanimate them, a chronomancer to give them 5+ inv, a plasmancer to inflict some MW on the enemy melee unit, an overlord to MWBD them.... Looks like a lot of HQ support to me.

i just dont see what the psychomancer is supposed to do.
His gun sucks
His abilities go off at the wrong time (except obsec denial) so they take forever to actually do something.
All he has going for him is his specific Arkana at least does some mortals.

Lot of necron abilities feel like they go off at the wrong time but he's the ultimate example of that crap. If he triggered in the movement phase i'd probably be hard pressed to NOT include one.

I wouldnt even say veil'ing warriors over and making one unit fight last is a benefit because its only a 12" reach, meaning either you plopped your warriors in the middle of the board or theyre gonna shoot the unit out of reach of him before his ability can go off, again thanks to crap timing.

But he's so pretty!

 p5freak wrote:
So, a psychomancer to make warriors fight first, a technomancer to reanimate them, a chronomancer to give them 5+ inv, a plasmancer to inflict some MW on the enemy melee unit, an overlord to MWBD them.... Looks like a lot of HQ support to me.

Well I only actually mentioned a Psychomancer and MWBD. You would probably always take a Chronmancer before the Psycho though as he's much better support for 20 Warriors. Any more than those 3 would be too much (and wouldn't fit in a patrol).

I wouldnt even say veil'ing warriors over and making one unit fight last is a benefit because its only a 12" reach, meaning either you plopped your warriors in the middle of the board or theyre gonna shoot the unit out of reach of him before his ability can go off, again thanks to crap timing.

You would be intentionally dropping within 12" of an assault unit in order to use the ability, but shooting something else.

 p5freak wrote:
So, a psychomancer to make warriors fight first, a technomancer to reanimate them, a chronomancer to give them 5+ inv, a plasmancer to inflict some MW on the enemy melee unit, an overlord to MWBD them.... Looks like a lot of HQ support to me.

Very nice.
But how many points is this?

Psychomancer is underrated and definitely better than the Technomancer (which is a trap) and Plasmancer.

The only Despair ability that is really affected by activating in the morale phase is the no overwatch & fight last one. Otherwise it's a great toolbox of powers designed to deny the enemy from scoring points and stop a unit from getting a lucky charge in their turn.

Nightmare Shroud is very powerful because it is -1 to both leadership and combat attrition. 6" range is frustrating but that's why you should run it with Flayed Ones. Let them engage and have the Psychomancer sit behind them, buffing their ability to make enemies run.

IMO the Psychomancer is certainly more of a niche selection and I really don't see him getting picked in a silver tide style list over a chronomancer, or even something like a reanimator if you've to the points spare to be totally honest.

Where I genuinely could see him getting chosen is in those canpotek obsec lists. They're often much more aligned to the MSU style, so, being able to turn off obsec on a bunch of ork boyz for example and then nick the objective with a couple of wraiths could actually come in really clutch.

I think his abilities are certainly more powerful when you're running smaller obsec units at least

Edit: The other thing is there's a chance that the psychomancers ability doesn't actually go off, albeit a small one most of the time. Its certainly not ideal when the rest of its utility is so minimal

Cynista wrote:
Psychomancer is underrated and definitely better than the Technomancer (which is a trap) and Plasmancer.

The only Despair ability that is really affected by activating in the morale phase is the no overwatch & fight last one. Otherwise it's a great toolbox of powers designed to deny the enemy from scoring points and stop a unit from getting a lucky charge in their turn.

Nightmare Shroud is very powerful because it is -1 to both leadership and combat attrition. 6" range is frustrating but that's why you should run it with Flayed Ones. Let them engage and have the Psychomancer sit behind them, buffing their ability to make enemies run.

What makes you think the Techno is a trap? The control node with Thrall of the Silent King, Voltaic Staff, and Fail Safe Overcharger in the Canoptek list has been kind of an all star.

In a canoptek list the technomancer is brilliant. But in general, I reckon you'd be better off with the points invested in units.

The Plasmancer has been a surprising hit for me. Particularly as a veil carrier.

I've run a Technomancer a lot without going full canoptek. There's usually a Wraith unit and some scarabs for the control node to buff, which wouldn't be worth 90pts on it's own, but I often find he makes his points back in resurrected Lychguard and Warriors. It's not uncommon to get a Lychguard and a couple of Warriors back in a turn with the strat.

techno with the cloak is incredible. Give voltaic staff and res d3 warriors a turn and heal something. Just having a fast character is useful enough too.

Psychomancer has almost no value by comparison it does damage...woot. Plasmancer is cool and actually useful but all it does is damage - not needed - what you need is more warriors.

LiMunPai wrote:

Cynista wrote:
Psychomancer is underrated and definitely better than the Technomancer (which is a trap) and Plasmancer.

The only Despair ability that is really affected by activating in the morale phase is the no overwatch & fight last one. Otherwise it's a great toolbox of powers designed to deny the enemy from scoring points and stop a unit from getting a lucky charge in their turn.

Nightmare Shroud is very powerful because it is -1 to both leadership and combat attrition. 6" range is frustrating but that's why you should run it with Flayed Ones. Let them engage and have the Psychomancer sit behind them, buffing their ability to make enemies run.

What makes you think the Techno is a trap? The control node with Thrall of the Silent King, Voltaic Staff, and Fail Safe Overcharger in the Canoptek list has been kind of an all star.

That's 120 points for a model that can't repair anything, can still only move 5" and can still be sniped easily. And has to be the Warlord for Thrall, so no CCB in that list. It would be an all star if it could take both wargear options. Since it can't, it's a trap IMO

Pretty sure any advantage you gain by taking a 120 point Technomancer will be done better by simply taking more of Wraiths or Scarabs. The only time I ever see it being useful and worth the cost is with a squad of Spyders. But I don't think they're particularly great either. And sure, you do need to take HQ's, true - and there's 3 or 4 options that are just better for their points.

while im not agreeing that techomancer idea is good, you totally can have thrall of the silent king w/o him being your warlord....

Warlord traits granted by a strat to non-warlords are considered warlords for the purpose of that trait.

That being said i find it hard to not put thrall on whatever noble i got (assuming he isnt named) because 9" MWBD makes a big difference. Mostly because i dont want them in melee majority of the time and the other traits SUCK ROYAL ****

Ok fair, I forgot about Rarefied Nobility. But then that is even more investment and as mentioned, can't give it to a better suited HQ (like one with MWBD)

I don't think the Technomancer is terrible, just not as great as it first appears and certainly not a no brainer, hence a trap.

For sure, chrono is the only auto-take cryptek and probably the only one i'd be hard pressed to scrap for something else.
Techno is fine but i dont think he's amazing, so good inclusion just dont hinge anything on him

Have to admit though i didnt notice he can take the voliatic staff. Thats nifty, since his base weapon sucks and that opens up the tesla strat for AoE mortals. Overlord always has the Orb, so i never get to use that staff.

Cynista wrote:
Ok fair, I forgot about Rarefied Nobility. But then that is even more investment and as mentioned, can't give it to a better suited HQ (like one with MWBD)

I don't think the Technomancer is terrible, just not as great as it first appears and certainly not a no brainer, hence a trap.

I disagree. I think it is auto include. The control node techno is kinda a trap as the units it buffs are ether too fast for him to keep up with or just want to sit in the back not moving - it is not a good situation. A cheap 80 point techno with canoptec cloak can zip around the table and provide supporting fire (voltaic staff) res warriors (d3 per turn) heal vehicals (ghost arch/silent king/ect). In that case - your CCB can take the relic res orb (IMO the only reason to take a non TSK noble).


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Vineheart01 wrote:
For sure, chrono is the only auto-take cryptek and probably the only one i'd be hard pressed to scrap for something else.
Techno is fine but i dont think he's amazing, so good inclusion just dont hinge anything on him

Have to admit though i didnt notice he can take the voliatic staff. Thats nifty, since his base weapon sucks and that opens up the tesla strat for AoE mortals. Overlord always has the Orb, so i never get to use that staff.

Yeah - Voltaic staff is essential for him. It more the triples his offensive output.

The control node Techno has been really good in the Eternal Expansionist Cryptek List. The pregame advance is a big deal when you're that slow. He's mostly been able to apply all his buffs and get all his volt staff shots as a result. Wraiths with 3+ to hit and an extra attack are pretty murdery against non-DG/DA with the standard. I also play Doomstalkers that move towards the mid table with the pre game advance to get better LOS to the table in that list, which love the extra to hit.

I haven't played that Mephrit list I've been spinning up yet, and I might see the problem with his mobility in that build. Could be a trap, I suppose. I think the extra 3 inches on the Volt staff in Mephrit is pretty relevant there. No overcharger in that build; he's just supporting the Doomstalkers, shooting, and rezzing. I have considered giving him the deepstrike arcana, but I want to play it first to see if his mobility is actually a problem there.

I think the cloak techno at 80 points with the volt staff (A different list) is also a good buy if you're playing with some higher wound models he can repair and a brick of core units he can rez. I ran this guy in my Silent King build for a while until he got replaced with the cheap orb holding Lord.

He earns his spot as a cheap volt staff caddy with a lot of added utility, I think. His main competition for that role is the 100 point lord with Res Orb and Volt Staff, which gets the nod when you need the Lychguard support.

I've been loving the technomancer in my lists. Now I do run a pair of doomstalkers so him sticking near them helps their BS. But bringing back d3 warriors a turn has made my warrior blobs incredibly resilient and bringing back the warriors is a sneaky way to snake across the battlefield and get a bit more movement out of your crons.

2-3 turns of bringing back warriors pretty much pays for the model itself and anything else you can accomplish with it is gravy.

Also if your worried about getting sniped cryptothralls are pretty cheap and can perform most actions/act as a counter charge.

I've enjoyed playing with a sudo castle involving 2 doomstalkers, technomancer with node, cryptothralls, and a 20 warriors block.
The warriors screen out a lot of the army while threatening objectives, the doomstalkers provide Overwatch for them and anti-tank duties, the technomancer hugs the doomstalkers and returns warriors(really easy to string one back to him/the doomstalkers) and the cryptothrall provides sniper protection if needed otherwise acts as a counter charge for the warriors and action monkeys.
It's a 670pt block but it holds ground pretty well and the units synergize nicely with one another.

 Punisher wrote:
I've been loving the technomancer in my lists. Now I do run a pair of doomstalkers so him sticking near them helps their BS. But bringing back d3 warriors a turn has made my warrior blobs incredibly resilient and bringing back the warriors is a sneaky way to snake across the battlefield and get a bit more movement out of your crons.

2-3 turns of bringing back warriors pretty much pays for the model itself and anything else you can accomplish with it is gravy.

Also if your worried about getting sniped cryptothralls are pretty cheap and can perform most actions/act as a counter charge.

I've enjoyed playing with a sudo castle involving 2 doomstalkers, technomancer with node, cryptothralls, and a 20 warriors block.
The warriors screen out a lot of the army while threatening objectives, the doomstalkers provide Overwatch for them and anti-tank duties, the technomancer hugs the doomstalkers and returns warriors(really easy to string one back to him/the doomstalkers) and the cryptothrall provides sniper protection if needed otherwise acts as a counter charge for the warriors and action monkeys.
It's a 670pt block but it holds ground pretty well and the units synergize nicely with one another.

That's really similar to what I'm planning to do in my Mephrit list, but it's 2 Immortals squads and 1 Warriors squad. I'm going to try to get him next to the warriors, but rezzing 17 instead of 13/26/39 points is a good consolation prize if I can't. I wish Thrall of the SK added to the Rites range for that purpose, but them's the breaks.

In fairness these are good problems to have. The fact I'm not on board with the Technomancer means our codex is pretty balanced because it's not a bad unit. I just want to take a CCB & Chronomancer. And a C'tan, and Wraiths and a big blob of Flayed Ones. You only have so many points after all and choosing between lots of decent options is the place you want to be as a faction.

Cynista wrote:
In fairness these are good problems to have. The fact I'm not on board with the Technomancer means our codex is pretty balanced because it's not a bad unit. I just want to take a CCB & Chronomancer. And a C'tan, and Wraiths and a big blob of Flayed Ones. You only have so many points after all and choosing between lots of decent options is the place you want to be as a faction.

I think we can all agree with that.

I feel like there's 3 or 4 competitively viable list structures in the book, feels good.

Hey guys, I just finished playing a game against the new Dark Angles and thought I'd tell you about it.

We played Priority Targets. My list was a Warden (with veil) + 30 Immortals in a custom dynasty with 3" extra range and rapid fire at full range from stationary, with the SK and an obsec/expansionist Outrider with 17 scarab bases, 2x4 wraiths, 10 lychguard, a chrono and a lord with the voltaic staff.

My opponent took 20 odd terminators in one brick of 10, one squad of 5 and a couple command squads, 9 attack bikes, Ezekiel, Azrael, 2 Talonmasters one of witch could overwatch on 2+, a Ravenwing Apothecary with the drop invuns to 5++ thing and a bunch of servitors.

For secondaries I took Priority Targets, Purge the Vermin and Ancient Machineries, while my opponent took WWSWF, Priority Targets and Stubborn Defiance.

The Dark Angles took the first turn and played fairly cagily, moving up his screening servitors while putting the attack bikes and talonmasters into position to shoot. I did under-estimate how much shooting his list had and lost a squad of immortals straight off the bat. Id deployed them fairly aggressively in the hopes that if I went first, I'd lock down some good firing lanes right across the board. Those Talonmaster putting out 18 shots each in devastator doctrine is pretty savage, especially when you havent had a chance to put any invuns up. The rest of his shooting cleared a couple scarab bases and there wasn't any declarable charges so that was pretty much it turn 1.

In my turn one, I had the canobsec detachment push forward hard to try and peg the dark angles back, with one scarab squad landing on an objective to set up ancient machineries. My opponent hadnt given me too much to shoot at, so between the SK and my two remaining immortal squads, I was able to kill one of the servitor units and knock a couple models off the big 10 man termy castle which had been deployed very aggressively. My charge phase was quite big though. I was able to tag the big termy unit with 1 of the wraith squads while the second wraith squad made a 7" charge against a servitor squad, wiped them and used the consolidate to clutch touch a back objective. My other scarab unit rolled an 11" charge against a 4man servitor unit, killed them off, then between the pile ins and consolidations was able to screen out a huge part of the board and tag the central objective. The 1st wraith squad pulled down another terminator and lost two of their number in return.

In the Dark Angles 2nd turn my opponent actually fell back with the big termy squad to try and free up some space and shoot the remaining 2 wraiths off the board, which in hindsight was a big mistake as I rolled super hot on the wariths 4++ and only took 2 damage from a talon master and an attack bike unit. Ezekiel slammed the scarab unit trying to perform ancient machineries with a power that took away their obsec and made them fail their action while the rest of my opponents shooting removed 5 more scarab bases. An attack bike squad then charged the ancient machinery scarabs and fell back using a strat to pull them just out of engagement range before i could punch back so that they could still contest the objective. The 5 man termy squad then made a short charge against the central scarab unit, killing a base which allowed me to pull the last 3 bases out of engagement range while remaining on the central objective. The second Wraith unit got charged by a 2 man command squad and ended up in a protracted combat with them on a backfield objective to contest it. The wraiths would eventually come out on top.

My second turn was the biggest swing in the game i think. I was able to veil a unit of immortals close to my opponents Priority Target objective, which also happened to be held by his stubborn defiance command squad, killing one of the models and wounding the other in the shooting phase. I was also able to wipe the attack bike squad that had pushed up onto the objective between my other immortal squad and the SK. The wraiths also moved through the big termy brick to tag both Ezekiel and Azreal, dropping Ezekiel to a single wound in the fight phase, with the last wraith surviving with 1 wound left in return. The main swing was the Lychgaurd making their charge onto the central objective and stripping the 5 man termy unit to just 1 model. The veild immortals did however fail their charge which I think would have practically been game then and there as I would have had obsec on 4/5 objectives.

From that point forward I was able to kind of pull the Dark angles apart. They had to use their attack bikes to try and contest objectives as i was able to pretty effectively kite the big termy unit (which actually ended the game with 8 models left thanks to the apothecary's healing ability!), drip feeding my remaining scarabs, and, eventually, immortals into them. A Talonmaster span round to help deal with the vield immortals only to end up reanimating them onto the priority target objective, while the lychgaurd held down the centre objective for the rest of the game! One final highlight was actually being able to catch a talonmaster with my chronomancer and lock him in combat.

Overall, I think my opponents game plan was solid if not executed poorly, as I was able to keep them to a 5 on primary over the last 2 turns. That said, they still scored a 15 on WWSWF (the last remaining termy from the 5 man squad fell back and was able to last out the game via some clutch 4++ saves) . Had the Dark Angles been able to screen out their backfield more effectively, they would have easily got 15 for both Priority Targets and Stubborn Defiance; veil was basically my only way of reaching said objective. Overall the game finished 86 to 73 in favour of the Necrons, so still pretty close, even though it certainly felt like I was in control from the end of the 2nd turn - my opponent was able to keep me to a 6 on Ancient Machineries and 10 for Purge while I maxed out both Primary and Priority Targets.

In terms of how my units performed, the wraiths have been the standout picks over my last two games. They're outrageously fast with the 6" pregame move and super effective at locking things in combat early enough into the game to make them a lot more manageable in the later stages. Lychgaurd remain a fantastic hammer unit and IMO should be close to an auto include in most lists. I don't really miss protocols, obsec scarabs more than make up for the loss of utility. Finally, rapid fire from stationary only really came up a couple of times but was certainly effective at catching the faster aspects of the dark angles nonetheless. I'm gonna keep it for my next couple of games to test it out more, but honestly between the base 5" move and rapid fire at 16.5" you really don't use it that much; in which case I think i'll switch it up to Mephrit for the extra AP.

Anyways, well done to anyone thats actually read this far! I've got a game against orks tomorrow and we're 1 for 1 at the moment, both games have been really close. If you guys have enjoyed reading this then let me know, I'm happy to write up the next game too.

Thanks a bunch

Peace!

TheNEWnew wrote:
Hey guys, I just finished playing a game against the new Dark Angles and thought I'd tell you about it.

Spoiler:

We played Priority Targets. My list was a Warden (with veil) + 30 Immortals in a custom dynasty with 3" extra range and rapid fire at full range from stationary, with the SK and an obsec/expansionist Outrider with 17 scarab bases, 2x4 wraiths, 10 lychguard, a chrono and a lord with the voltaic staff.

My opponent took 20 odd terminators in one brick of 10, one squad of 5 and a couple command squads, 9 attack bikes, Ezekiel, Azrael, 2 Talonmasters one of witch could overwatch on 2+, a Ravenwing Apothecary with the drop invuns to 5++ thing and a bunch of servitors.

For secondaries I took Priority Targets, Purge the Vermin and Ancient Machineries, while my opponent took WWSWF, Priority Targets and Stubborn Defiance.

The Dark Angles took the first turn and played fairly cagily, moving up his screening servitors while putting the attack bikes and talonmasters into position to shoot. I did under-estimate how much shooting his list had and lost a squad of immortals straight off the bat. Id deployed them fairly aggressively in the hopes that if I went first, I'd lock down some good firing lanes right across the board. Those Talonmaster putting out 18 shots each in devastator doctrine is pretty savage, especially when you havent had a chance to put any invuns up. The rest of his shooting cleared a couple scarab bases and there wasn't any declarable charges so that was pretty much it turn 1.

In my turn one, I had the canobsec detachment push forward hard to try and peg the dark angles back, with one scarab squad landing on an objective to set up ancient machineries. My opponent hadnt given me too much to shoot at, so between the SK and my two remaining immortal squads, I was able to kill one of the servitor units and knock a couple models off the big 10 man termy castle which had been deployed very aggressively. My charge phase was quite big though. I was able to tag the big termy unit with 1 of the wraith squads while the second wraith squad made a 7" charge against a servitor squad, wiped them and used the consolidate to clutch touch a back objective. My other scarab unit rolled an 11" charge against a 4man servitor unit, killed them off, then between the pile ins and consolidations was able to screen out a huge part of the board and tag the central objective. The 1st wraith squad pulled down another terminator and lost two of their number in return.

In the Dark Angles 2nd turn my opponent actually fell back with the big termy squad to try and free up some space and shoot the remaining 2 wraiths off the board, which in hindsight was a big mistake as I rolled super hot on the wariths 4++ and only took 2 damage from a talon master and an attack bike unit. Ezekiel slammed the scarab unit trying to perform ancient machineries with a power that took away their obsec and made them fail their action while the rest of my opponents shooting removed 5 more scarab bases. An attack bike squad then charged the ancient machinery scarabs and fell back using a strat to pull them just out of engagement range before i could punch back so that they could still contest the objective. The 5 man termy squad then made a short charge against the central scarab unit, killing a base which allowed me to pull the last 3 bases out of engagement range while remaining on the central objective. The second Wraith unit got charged by a 2 man command squad and ended up in a protracted combat with them on a backfield objective to contest it. The wraiths would eventually come out on top.

My second turn was the biggest swing in the game i think. I was able to veil a unit of immortals close to my opponents Priority Target objective, which also happened to be held by his stubborn defiance command squad, killing one of the models and wounding the other in the shooting phase. I was also able to wipe the attack bike squad that had pushed up onto the objective between my other immortal squad and the SK. The wraiths also moved through the big termy brick to tag both Ezekiel and Azreal, dropping Ezekiel to a single wound in the fight phase, with the last wraith surviving with 1 wound left in return. The main swing was the Lychgaurd making their charge onto the central objective and stripping the 5 man termy unit to just 1 model. The veild immortals did however fail their charge which I think would have practically been game then and there as I would have had obsec on 4/5 objectives.

From that point forward I was able to kind of pull the Dark angles apart. They had to use their attack bikes to try and contest objectives as i was able to pretty effectively kite the big termy unit (which actually ended the game with 8 models left thanks to the apothecary's healing ability!), drip feeding my remaining scarabs, and, eventually, immortals into them. A Talonmaster span round to help deal with the vield immortals only to end up reanimating them onto the priority target objective, while the lychgaurd held down the centre objective for the rest of the game! One final highlight was actually being able to catch a talonmaster with my chronomancer and lock him in combat.

Overall, I think my opponents game plan was solid if not executed poorly, as I was able to keep them to a 5 on primary over the last 2 turns. That said, they still scored a 15 on WWSWF (the last remaining termy from the 5 man squad fell back and was able to last out the game via some clutch 4++ saves) . Had the Dark Angles been able to screen out their backfield more effectively, they would have easily got 15 for both Priority Targets and Stubborn Defiance; veil was basically my only way of reaching said objective. Overall the game finished 86 to 73 in favour of the Necrons, so still pretty close, even though it certainly felt like I was in control from the end of the 2nd turn - my opponent was able to keep me to a 6 on Ancient Machineries and 10 for Purge while I maxed out both Primary and Priority Targets.

In terms of how my units performed, the wraiths have been the standout picks over my last two games. They're outrageously fast with the 6" pregame move and super effective at locking things in combat early enough into the game to make them a lot more manageable in the later stages. Lychgaurd remain a fantastic hammer unit and IMO should be close to an auto include in most lists. I don't really miss protocols, obsec scarabs more than make up for the loss of utility. Finally, rapid fire from stationary only really came up a couple of times but was certainly effective at catching the faster aspects of the dark angles nonetheless. I'm gonna keep it for my next couple of games to test it out more, but honestly between the base 5" move and rapid fire at 16.5" you really don't use it that much; in which case I think i'll switch it up to Mephrit for the extra AP.

Anyways, well done to anyone thats actually read this far! I've got a game against orks tomorrow and we're 1 for 1 at the moment, both games have been really close. If you guys have enjoyed reading this then let me know, I'm happy to write up the next game too.

Thanks a bunch

Peace!

Nice report!

Just want to point out that the Chrono buff is <dynasty> in case it comes up in future games, though you only mentioned not being able to put up the buff and immortals dying without necessarily linking those things.

How did you feel about the performance of TSK in this game? You have 790 points that he is buffing in this list. Seems like it might be enough, but let me know your impressions.

LiMunPai wrote:

TheNEWnew wrote:
Hey guys, I just finished playing a game against the new Dark Angles and thought I'd tell you about it.

Spoiler:

We played Priority Targets. My list was a Warden (with veil) + 30 Immortals in a custom dynasty with 3" extra range and rapid fire at full range from stationary, with the SK and an obsec/expansionist Outrider with 17 scarab bases, 2x4 wraiths, 10 lychguard, a chrono and a lord with the voltaic staff.

My opponent took 20 odd terminators in one brick of 10, one squad of 5 and a couple command squads, 9 attack bikes, Ezekiel, Azrael, 2 Talonmasters one of witch could overwatch on 2+, a Ravenwing Apothecary with the drop invuns to 5++ thing and a bunch of servitors.

For secondaries I took Priority Targets, Purge the Vermin and Ancient Machineries, while my opponent took WWSWF, Priority Targets and Stubborn Defiance.

The Dark Angles took the first turn and played fairly cagily, moving up his screening servitors while putting the attack bikes and talonmasters into position to shoot. I did under-estimate how much shooting his list had and lost a squad of immortals straight off the bat. Id deployed them fairly aggressively in the hopes that if I went first, I'd lock down some good firing lanes right across the board. Those Talonmaster putting out 18 shots each in devastator doctrine is pretty savage, especially when you havent had a chance to put any invuns up. The rest of his shooting cleared a couple scarab bases and there wasn't any declarable charges so that was pretty much it turn 1.

In my turn one, I had the canobsec detachment push forward hard to try and peg the dark angles back, with one scarab squad landing on an objective to set up ancient machineries. My opponent hadnt given me too much to shoot at, so between the SK and my two remaining immortal squads, I was able to kill one of the servitor units and knock a couple models off the big 10 man termy castle which had been deployed very aggressively. My charge phase was quite big though. I was able to tag the big termy unit with 1 of the wraith squads while the second wraith squad made a 7" charge against a servitor squad, wiped them and used the consolidate to clutch touch a back objective. My other scarab unit rolled an 11" charge against a 4man servitor unit, killed them off, then between the pile ins and consolidations was able to screen out a huge part of the board and tag the central objective. The 1st wraith squad pulled down another terminator and lost two of their number in return.

In the Dark Angles 2nd turn my opponent actually fell back with the big termy squad to try and free up some space and shoot the remaining 2 wraiths off the board, which in hindsight was a big mistake as I rolled super hot on the wariths 4++ and only took 2 damage from a talon master and an attack bike unit. Ezekiel slammed the scarab unit trying to perform ancient machineries with a power that took away their obsec and made them fail their action while the rest of my opponents shooting removed 5 more scarab bases. An attack bike squad then charged the ancient machinery scarabs and fell back using a strat to pull them just out of engagement range before i could punch back so that they could still contest the objective. The 5 man termy squad then made a short charge against the central scarab unit, killing a base which allowed me to pull the last 3 bases out of engagement range while remaining on the central objective. The second Wraith unit got charged by a 2 man command squad and ended up in a protracted combat with them on a backfield objective to contest it. The wraiths would eventually come out on top.

My second turn was the biggest swing in the game i think. I was able to veil a unit of immortals close to my opponents Priority Target objective, which also happened to be held by his stubborn defiance command squad, killing one of the models and wounding the other in the shooting phase. I was also able to wipe the attack bike squad that had pushed up onto the objective between my other immortal squad and the SK. The wraiths also moved through the big termy brick to tag both Ezekiel and Azreal, dropping Ezekiel to a single wound in the fight phase, with the last wraith surviving with 1 wound left in return. The main swing was the Lychgaurd making their charge onto the central objective and stripping the 5 man termy unit to just 1 model. The veild immortals did however fail their charge which I think would have practically been game then and there as I would have had obsec on 4/5 objectives.

From that point forward I was able to kind of pull the Dark angles apart. They had to use their attack bikes to try and contest objectives as i was able to pretty effectively kite the big termy unit (which actually ended the game with 8 models left thanks to the apothecary's healing ability!), drip feeding my remaining scarabs, and, eventually, immortals into them. A Talonmaster span round to help deal with the vield immortals only to end up reanimating them onto the priority target objective, while the lychgaurd held down the centre objective for the rest of the game! One final highlight was actually being able to catch a talonmaster with my chronomancer and lock him in combat.

Overall, I think my opponents game plan was solid if not executed poorly, as I was able to keep them to a 5 on primary over the last 2 turns. That said, they still scored a 15 on WWSWF (the last remaining termy from the 5 man squad fell back and was able to last out the game via some clutch 4++ saves) . Had the Dark Angles been able to screen out their backfield more effectively, they would have easily got 15 for both Priority Targets and Stubborn Defiance; veil was basically my only way of reaching said objective. Overall the game finished 86 to 73 in favour of the Necrons, so still pretty close, even though it certainly felt like I was in control from the end of the 2nd turn - my opponent was able to keep me to a 6 on Ancient Machineries and 10 for Purge while I maxed out both Primary and Priority Targets.

In terms of how my units performed, the wraiths have been the standout picks over my last two games. They're outrageously fast with the 6" pregame move and super effective at locking things in combat early enough into the game to make them a lot more manageable in the later stages. Lychgaurd remain a fantastic hammer unit and IMO should be close to an auto include in most lists. I don't really miss protocols, obsec scarabs more than make up for the loss of utility. Finally, rapid fire from stationary only really came up a couple of times but was certainly effective at catching the faster aspects of the dark angles nonetheless. I'm gonna keep it for my next couple of games to test it out more, but honestly between the base 5" move and rapid fire at 16.5" you really don't use it that much; in which case I think i'll switch it up to Mephrit for the extra AP.

Anyways, well done to anyone thats actually read this far! I've got a game against orks tomorrow and we're 1 for 1 at the moment, both games have been really close. If you guys have enjoyed reading this then let me know, I'm happy to write up the next game too.

Thanks a bunch

Peace!

Nice report!

Just want to point out that the Chrono buff is <dynasty> in case it comes up in future games, though you only mentioned not being able to put up the buff and immortals dying without necessarily linking those things.

How did you feel about the performance of TSK in this game? You have 790 points that he is buffing in this list. Seems like it might be enough, but let me know your impressions.

Cheers dude!

Yeah sorry, the chrono buff is primarily for the scarabs. I dont have a 5++ for the immortals in this list, but even if had managed to put an invun up on them I dont think it would have made much difference that first turn!

It was a tough game for TSK, I had to play pretty cagey with him between all the multi meltas on the attack bikes and the terminator bricks getting to re-roll wounds against him, not to mention that psychic power to turnoff an aura. Honestly, for the best part of the game he was only buffing one immortal squad - it certainly wasnt his best match up.

Tbh I was fine with that though. The lord is there to babysit the lychguard when they need to move out of the SKs auras to Crump something, while veiling an immortal squad was essential in winning the match. On top of that, as a late game piece, I think a healthy SK is second to none anyway. The menhirs were still fairly consistently dropping 6 damage a turn on top of the other chip he was doing which added up over time.

In other games where I can castle up a little more I think I'll definitely get more out of him, I just really didn't fancy having a lot of my units in the same place against that dark angels list lol

What are the basic building blocks of the Necrons? It seems like the codex seems very versatile.

In particular is the Relentlessly Expansionist custom trait any good? It seems very good but I do not know how much you give up. Also, I am not sure if Necrons benefit from beeing close to the opponent.

 Niiai wrote:
What are the basic building blocks of the Necrons? It seems like the codex seems very versatile.

In particular is the Relentlessly Expansionist custom trait any good? It seems very good but I do not know how much you give up. Also, I am not sure if Necrons benefit from beeing close to the opponent.

Building blocks are Warriors which should be fielded in larger units.
Immortals are more elite and are not a must have.
An army needs to be well-rounded to battle the enemy at all threat ranges.
Here cc oriented units and units giving long distance support come into play as are fast moving or deep-striking units.

 Niiai wrote:
What are the basic building blocks of the Necrons? It seems like the codex seems very versatile.

In particular is the Relentlessly Expansionist custom trait any good? It seems very good but I do not know how much you give up. Also, I am not sure if Necrons benefit from beeing close to the opponent.

Necrons have multiple interesting and viable playstyles available to them. I'd say the only indispensable part is the Chronomancer. A big block of 20 warriors goes in most builds, but the faction can easily play without troops by taking a bunch of scarab swarms+chronomancers for the best screening in the game and back that up with some real elite killers like C'tan. Mephrit Immortals are also pretty core to that playstyle, but even Mephrit will likely bring 1 big block of 20 warriors.

Relentlessly Expansionist is excellent. Scarabs, warriors, and melee options all want to get up the table as quickly as possible to dominate the objectives. People often pair that trait with Eternal Conquerors to give everything pushing onto the objectives objective secured. The main competitors to that dynasty are Novokh for the short range punching power builds and Mephrit for the longer range shooting builds. I've seen some Warrior/scarab spam builds that Nephrek looks good for, but I haven't seen that put on the table, and it does look a little ridiculous to build.