Warhammer 40k D weapons and Superheavies? Is the Sky REALLY Falling?

Of course it's not! But that doesn't mean things haven't been falling apart for the 40k community recently. In fact, all this anger on both sides of the conflict has finally prompted me to put my word in. Now first off I want to clear up a few things. I am not a competitive tournament player anymore. I lived that life years and years ago but I have not been much since late 5th-6th edition as it stands. But understand this: I am a VERY competitive player. I don't like to lose. I like to win but not at the expense of my opponents. To me now as I enter my older and (hopefully wiser) years in this hobby I am starting to the WHOLE picture. To me now, the game is at its peak hobby wise.We have gorgeous new models every month and new supplies and ssupplements to go with them. There is so much us players can utilize now, it is insane! Enter the recent SUPPLEMENT Escalation, which takes our game for a curve. Destroyer weapons and superheavies allowed in regular games? Yup. It finally happened.

And I love it.

You see there are two sides. There is the side who embraces GW open and creative thinking. These players are mostly in my experience like myself. Competitive,but not necessarily by tournament or big event standards. They see the game as a hobby and not only a game to be played.

The other side is made up of the more serious minority (but still just as important partof our community!) Of dedicated gamers who view these changes and as a ruiniation of the actual game itself. These players are very knowledgeable and strategic and usually k now what they are talking about, yet sometimes both sides end up in what I call Hypothetical Hyperspace.

The biggest culprit and topic of discussion right now is the Elder Revenant titan. At 900 points and putting out for 4 D blasts a turn this single unit has changed our game. As players scramble to find ways to counter the hypothetical scenario in which they could face one has taken the internet by storm
 But you see, the reality of it is, is the Revenant Titan should not have caused such an uproar but it has. And now a community is divided over what to do. To me the real threat is not the Revenant itself, but the attitude it has inspired. That it cannot be beat unless by some other extraoridnary means. That they will somehow be included in every list under the sun. And that they and any other thing deemed to much by a minority should be auto banned.

I can count the number of players I personally k ow with a Revenant with one hand. Sure this unit is awesome but let's face it. How many people do we know that have this guy? And of that  how many are not proxying and have dedicated Eldar armies to accompany them? You see those that own them are in 3 groups In my opinion. The first is the dedicated Elder player who wanted one for his collection. I have no problem with this and respect it immensely. The second group are the bandwagoners. Those that started Elder armies or recently added one with the sole purpose of crushing others. And the last group is the WAAC players who bought them to only win tournaments.

Those are the only 3 groups I can really see bringing one to the table.

Finally. I want to close by saying that the game is changing. It is SUPPOSED to change. This edition is meant for it. No longer can we be stuck and unwilling to adapt to the game in hopes that it will somehow adapt to us because it isn't. The game is moving. Those that refuse to move with it are being left frustrated and bitter and are poising the rest of us who are trying to enjoy the ride. Escalation and Stronghold assault are just new doors to new places. You don't have to open them yourself but don't stop someone else from deciding to open one. And for those that hate it before they have tried it, I Implore you you: Go at play a game with a Lord of War. Try it yourself. Don't sit on the computer looking at negative and fictionous posts about things. Go out and be the hobby. Play the game. Learn. Grow. Change.

-James

Kutlakh the World Killer and other Necron Forgeworld news!

Hello everyone! I have been terribly innactive. However i do have this one bit. Yesterday on 9/12/13 I sent FW an email regarding the status of the 2 missing Necron characters. Today they responded. Though the answer is sad I think this is some closure and I thank forgeowrld for the respons

Via forgeworld:

Hi there.

"We have no current plans to produce models for any of the Necron Characters from IA 12 unfortunately.  However, the intended look for these characters was designed so that they can be easily converted from the existing Necron Character range."


So there you go. That's a big disapointment but oh well!

Doomsday Arks: Worth taking?

Why yes, that IS one of my Doomsday Arks...

So this post isn't very related in terms of what I have been discussing recently but I felt the need to make this post anyways. As the the title says I will be taking about DoomN Arks and if they are worth it in most lists or should they just be continued to be skipped all together.

The Doomsday Ark was one of the new kits that came out in 2011 (hard to believe it was that long ago) I first thought the concept of this unit extremely Necron cool. The WD also had its unit entry and i liked what I saw....unfortunately many people didnt or still dont.

Now admittedly there are some problems, being a 175 points for a mega gun is pretty expensive especially on such a light skimmer. You will almost never regain the point value Of this unless you have some very good rolling.
The Doomsday Cannon itself is marvelous being a whopping Strength 9 and ap1 large blast at bs4. It also has a 72“ range. This gives your list a nice long range pie plate that often Necrons lack ironically. Yet even after many games this still feels underwhelming against vehicles. Would it be too much to ask for ordanance or Ignores cove? Apparently. But like i said, if you have good rolling, this thing will win you games.

My personal experience has been surprisingly positive though. Managed to fell a landraider, terminators, tau fire warriors and other things. They are incredibly powerful but you must build your list and strategy around them. A good rule of thumb is too treat these like they are going to die next turn. Therefore, one should prioitize aginst targets you know will be hurt a lot by this (which is almost anything not in cover)

So yes, i do like Doomsday Arks. Are they for everyone? Of course not, but i would like to see them more on the table besides just 3 Annihilation Barges. But i guess im down for anything that has the word Doomsday in it afterall...

So my fellow gamers, what do you think about these? Let me know.

40k Rumors: Introducing Warzone: Damnos

Hello everyone! So i have pretty much gotten all caught up on what I missed this week. One of the rumored lists of products being released in September had something i found very intriguing. A new Warzone called Damnos by Phil Kelly.

Now if you dont know what Damnos is it is basically a epic battle of the 2nd company of Ultramarines vs. The Necrons. Some of tje events are written in the novel Fall of Damnos which was a pretty good read itself. It would appear however this planet is being revisited and with an apocalyptic scale of battle.

Remeber to my post yesterday about the lack of rules for the Superheavy Gauss pylon in the core Apoc book? Well i highly suspect it will be included here! In Fall of Damnos about half of the Strike force is led by Tigurius to destroy theNecrons superheavy pylons, so i could see them in here easily. I am also going to expect the formation for 3+ pylons and maybe the one for the triangle of Monoliths. But just know that this is WISHLISTING. None of this is confirmed yet!

On the Ultramarine side i would expect rules for Sicarius and his 2nd company.

Overall i am really excited for this and i cant wait to hear more!

Necron Gauss Pylons: The Supreme Titan Killers

It never ceases to amaze me at the fact when one is gone out of the world of War hammer but for a week you can miss so so much. I've been trying all day to catch up on the news+rumors with the new Space Marine release which is shaping up to be MASSIVE.

But now that I am back it is time to catch up and get into routine. So I tthought I would continue an in depth look at various Necron units that are featured in IA 12 with this one being the Gauss Pylon.

Now the Gauss Pylon is by no means a new unit for it has long been the only Necron Super heavy. Interestingly enough the most *current* rules for this can be found in IA 12, yet it is absent from the core Apocalypse rulebook. However, rumor is there will be a Warzone Damnos which will VERY likely have the Pylon in it (more on this later)

The Gauss Pylon is clocking in at about 400 points. It is a fairly durable unit being av14 all around and having a 5++ which it confers to nearby units. The only weakness is only 6 hull points though we will have to see the official amount because it was never clarified in IA 12.

But the offensive capabilities of one of these is spectactular. Each one fires 3 Strength D shots. at a 120“ range. I ddon't know about you, but D weapons got a massive boost in my opinion and these pylons are capable of putting out some serious firepower. I usually run minimums of 3 in any apoc game. 9 D shots is terrifying at whatever you are trying to destroy. Oh, and aircraft are no safer because sky fire and interceptor. It also has the flux arc which was changed from d6 shots at EVERY target in range to 2d6 shots at just one unit now which is a bummer.

In conclusion: If you play Necrons and want to play some apoc games up with the big dogs, bring a few pylons next time. Even if you don't, they still make a great army center piece.

A Message from beyond: Site Update

Just a quick update I wanted to give. The good news is that the site has recently passed 10,000 page views which is incredible so THANK YOU! But I also have some bad news (for you at least) in that every year or so I like to take a camping vacation with the wife and kids. I'm usually gone for a week and there is no internet where we go. That means I am going to be completely out of the loop in terms of 40 k news. But it is a lot of fun catching up on the rumors and info. So thanks everyone and I will be back in about a week!

-JD

Necron Tomb Citadel: Introducing the first official WH40k xenos fortification!

Besides flyers, the 6th edition of WH40k brought us another new unit type, the fortification. While there are many options all things considered, they are all imperium terrain. Unless you do some awesome converting your xenos army will have to use human emplacements. But now 1 xeno army is freed from this, yep, IA 12 brought this beast and it is by FAR my favorite unit in the book!

The Tomb Citadel has a plethora of awesome rules. The easiest way to explain them all is by dividing the citadel into 2 parts, the Ziggurat and the power Crucible. But the entire tile offers plenty of bonuses as well. Like ALL Necron units get t o re roll All failed reanimation protocols of a 1. The next benefit is any unit that attempts to deep strike on here perils if they roll doubles.My favorite part is that the Ziggurat and Power Crucible are av 14 structures. But instead of rolling on some chart to calculate the damage after they are penetrated,  they are destroyed on a solid roll of a 5+. So even destroyer weapons need a 5+ to kill each structure!

The Tomb Ziggurat has a built in scarab hive (on a d6 roll of a 2+ you get to spawn 1 scarab base) and it has its own portal of exile. The interesting feature of the ziggurat is that you can either dock a Monolith or Sentry Pylon. The benefit is +1 to its weapons strength. This is pretty handy especially with a gauss pylon.

The Power Crucible is fantastic. Basically, it gives all units on the 2x2 board a 3+ invunerable save! Seriously, stick 20 warriors with a res orb in here and they will NEVER die!

Did i mention that this thing easily covers an entire square section of the realm of battle board? Because it does. So how much is this ultimate buff giver? 300 points! But it is the most awesome 300 points you can spend in non apoc games. Oh, i just realized that this thing can take 2 Gauss pylons for some AA defense for 100 points each or 50 points for a skyfiring tesla destructor! Seriously, dont fuck with this fortification.

Now there are some pproblems. Your opponent will likely not allow this for multiple reasons. It is a huge piece of terrain and it is extremely good. I know most casual gamers would be very hesitant to play against one of these. Even some tournaments might restrict this based of some reading I did. Nevertheless, don't let that interfere. This is a really great game unit and it adds tons of cinematic flavor. Seriously I've seen some awesome dioramas of these. SThe Tomb Citadel is the first xenos terrain and I firmly believe there won't be anything this good! My favorite unit by far.

Sentry Pylons: The Ultimate Heldrake Counter?

It probably wont surprise you when I say i often scour various 40k forums. Though I dont have accounts on any of the big ones like Dakka Dakka or Warseer, I do like to read the forums and sometimes wish i could put my 2 cent in. One of the few universal truths i have come across it seems is that of the the almight chaos Heldrake. When you mention this particular unit words like "game-breaking" or "WAAC players" often get thrown in. Now I have encountered the dreaded heldrake lists and yes it is annoying but it is MASSIVELY overrated. gamebreaking? Not even close. But there are many who just havent found ways to beat these things and while there is no 100% fullproof solution (yet) there are ways to fight back. Enter the Sentry Pylon:

Now the rules for the Sentry Pylon can be found in Imperial Armour 12 in the Necron list though they can be taken in normal Necron armies as a heavy support choice. The great thing about these units is there sheer eefficient. Because while these things will wreck flyers you can use them for ANY vehicle.

The Sentry Pylon comes in three different flavors but by far the best is the Gauss Pylon. The Gauss pylon comes with a 120“ Strength 9 ap2 heavy 2 cannon with sky fire and interceptor. Yeah that will wreck most flyers pretty easily. But wait! How is that efficient? Won't it die the next turn if you fail to make a kill? Well the 2 main factors that makes these so damn good is the fact that they are 130 points each and they can be taken in squads of 3(!). Yep for A little less than 400 points you can get 6 shots from these in one FOC chart. That is just really good. It may not seem like much in theory but bin practice 3 of these provide a formidable counter to held rakes. And what of defense? Well the pylons are toughness 7, 3 wounds with a 3+ save which means many weapons are going to bounce off it( ie: baleflamers) so these are durable. If you are really worried about survival you can take a15 point upgrade to get It Will Not Die!

Gauss pylons are a great unit for the points. 135 is a steal for dedicated AA of this kind. If you dont play Necrons and arw having flyer problems, then ally with them to get these 3 pylons in 1 FOC slot. Its very efficient. The sentry pylon is honestly the gem of the new necron units in this book. In tournaments where i know im going to face lots of flyers, i dont hesitate on these anymore. Heldrakes BEWARE!

Tesseract Tactics: How to get the most out of your Vault 101.

So the other day I had a 20,000 point apocalypse game with just me and my friend at my LGS. In this game i really learned alot about Tesseract Vaults and how they are much different units than most super heavies. Me and my opponent discussed what made them good and how I could improve my usuage. So i thought id share the conclusions we came too ( he is also a necron player and used his own vault in our game) . So here are some tips to hopefully get the most mileage for these things.

1. THIS IS NOT A TITAN: The Tesseract Vault is not a vehicle intended to sit back and blast away. Rather it should be actively supporting your forces rather than hiding it in your deployment zone.
2. PLAY AGRESSIVELY: This goes to the previous point. Unlike most superheavies like a baneblade or shadowsword, you cant just camp this. The weapon ranges are too short. Instead you need to drive this thing to the heart of your enemy to maxamize on the shorter ranged powers or too catch side armour shots. Dont be afraid too crash this into your opponents lines because when this dies you will always get a TITANIC explosion so you can actually suicide bomb this if you know it doesnt have long left. *Note though this tactic should only be used when the situation is appropiate. Dont send this to the heart of the storm for no reason.*

3. YOU DONT HAVE TO KILL THE BIG THINGS! Now while it may be cinematically cool to watch your superheavy duke it out with others you really shouldnt. The Vaults weapons are good but most of the time your gonna be up against some tough armour. Instead use this as a supporting fire weapon to clear squads of lighter vehicles or elite troops. But if you think you can go for the big takedown then go for it. But just dont be upset if you realize this may not be the Vaults best field of attack.

4. Understand that sometimes this unit will underperform . Yes it is sad, but i think it should be mentioned. Sometimes its the powers you pick and sometimes its the dice but no matter what you gotta play it smart. You are gonna have to be crafty with these. You can do tons and tons of damage or you can end up spending 500+ points for nothing. It's really up to you.

These are just the main conclusions we got. This is still a very good unit but it is by no means an instant problem solver. Rather this should be your tool for anyjob, and the Tesseract Vault can do it all.

Tesseract Tactics: What to put in your Vault Part 2.

First off,i know thats an Obelisk not a Tesseract Vault. Second this post will cover the last 3 powers you can take. These 3 all have very solid rules so it can be difficult at times to know just what to take. But hopefully this clears things up a bit.

Wave of Withering: The Wave of Withering is awesome. Why? Because it is the Vaults only Destroyer weapon! And destroyer weapons are brilliant and much better now. But there are some problems sadly with this power. The destruction of this power is only limited by your imagination...and its HellstormTemplate for its range. Yep. That awesome D Ap1 weapon is fired from that small template. Though the hellstorm is much bigger than a standard template, remember you MUST measure all LOS and range from the Ctan in the Vault itself. And considering the Ctan is buried in the middle of this huge model,  you are losing a bit of range on top of everything else. This is a good power and can be great but you're gonna need to use this thing very agressively to really get the full destroyer effects.

Antimatter Meteor: ITS A HUGE METEOR, THAT HAS NO MATTER!!!! But seriously, this thing is pretty fluffy cool if you can imagine a huge meteor crashing down. In game the antimatter meteor is using that new apocalypse MEGABLAST (notice a trend on using the new templates? Very clever, GW) I have already discussed the stats and rules for this power in another post, so you can look it up, but the damage output is pretty good. Since you have a BS 5 then it is almost impossible to miss something at the very least. Use this for hordes and large concentration of light vehicles (vindicators, leman russes) to maxamize damage.

Transdimensional Maelstorm: Its pretty simple here, this fires a 7“ mega blast at strength 9 ap 2. Seems good? It is good. This is actually the sleeper for the new Tesseract Vaults powers rule wise. It gives you a good coverage and high strength with low ap. You can seriously wreck anything shy of a super heavy with this. The only bummer is the 36“ range so you will have to be a little too close for comfort, but one shot is usually enough. I would take this over the Antimatter meteor personally for damage output but hey!

So for the few of you who read this blog, what do you think? Did I value these powers rules too high or too low? Let me know.

Tesseract Tactics: What to put in YOUR Vault.

So by now I have gotten a few games in using the new Necron Tesseract Vault .I've used just about every possible combination of its 6 powers and I think Ive come to conclusions on all of them by now. So lets take a look at 3 powers first that you can select:

Seismic Assault: Now this is the most expensive upgrade being 200 points but man, this is the best power in the Vault from my experience. 6d6 shots usually averages to 20+. Now remember in the vault you are hitting on 2's so probably 3/4 of your shots will hit all the time. The Strength of 8 is actually really great because you can bog down other super heavies in sheer volume of fire. In my games I destroyed a War hound (without void shields however) Titan with one of these. I've also wrecked a couple of baneblades with some shots at side armour which is brutal if you can get low armour. I also came 1 wound short of killing a squiggoth outright once. This thing is also great for killing marines and that NEVER ENDING SWARM of Tyranids with that sexy ap 3. This should be your primary power if you want to be really competitive and do list of carnage.

Next power : Cosmic Fire: OK so let's be straight here, this IS the worst power but it IS  the cheapest. A Strength 6 ap2 hell storm while"good" is just not enough for any vehicle attacking role. It does do great aganst swarms but there is a MUCH better hellstorm power you can take anyways. But 60 points is good if you dont want to spend alot on thr Vault as a whole.

Sky of Falling Stars: This is my favorite power in terms of fluff. And it usually is my 2nd choice just because the area you can cover. It fires that cool appocalypse barrage amd you get to roll the dice 6 times to see where each shot lands so depending on how you roll this can do some good killing. My only reall bummer is a strength of 7 so you can't really use this against supetheavies or vehicles with av14. But this is the second cheapest power and its just too good to pass in most cases. One final note is since this is a barrage weapon you do not needLOS so if you can, you can hide your vault and blast away (but remember its only 48“) But this tactic is usually better with the Transcendent Ctan but still worthy of note

So what do you think? What would you put in your vault? Soon ill put up part 2

Canoptek Acanthrites: And you thought real dragonflies were scary...

...or maybe you dont. But thats besides the point of this post which is about these bugs. So first off you may or may not have noticed but these Acanthrites were released long before Imperial Armour 12 was (with expirimental rules to use in the meantime) But they are here now and these things are pretty cool actually.

Now first off, I really like this model. It is one of my favorites. It looks like a dragon fly but it doesnt in the same way a Tomb Spyder doesnt look like a real spyder either. Having some of these personally (18) i can tell you they are a bit of a pain to assemble. At first. So you gotta be very patient when assembling these guys.

Now for the rules. Each one of these guys is gonna cost you 50 points each so the same as a tomb spyder and 15 more than a wraith. But i think these are a lot more versatile than both.

The statline of these things is also pretty solid with them being toughness 5, 2 attacks, and having 3 wounds EACH. Yeah and considering you can take these in squads of 9....thats a lot wounds coming at you.

Their wargear is also very good and you can handle vehicles, infantry, and terminators  equally easy. The acanthrite comes packed with a voidblade, so now you have rending and entropic strike goodness in your attacks. So nothing is immune to you. really. But the acanthrite also has a cutting beam which is a 12“ Strength 6 MELTA weapon.

So lets think, these guys are jump infamtry who can can be taken in squads of 9 with toughness 5, 3 wounds oh and they have stealth so an always cover save of 6+, these things can wreck anything you send them at. They are just so well equipped. The bummer is the 50 point price so if one of these dies that is alot of points you can lose in these guys. Nevertheless these things can tackle any MC or vehicle in the game.

To sum it up:

-If you like running Wraiths these are for you.

-If you are looking to try a different unit in your fast attack slot besides
wraiths, take these.

-If you want to brutally shatter ypur opponents riptides and wraithknights (entropic strike FTW) take 9 of these.

-If you are hesitant to sink 50 points each for these things and are still unimpressed then dont take these.

-If you have a phobia of draginflies (especially the robotic type) please avoid these at all costs then!

Necron Tesseract Ark: What a gunboat!

Well this week has been a tough for me. There was a death in the family so thing have been pretty emotional here. But im trying to get past that and continue the Imperial Armour
at the new Necron units. I thought i had covered this one but i guess i hadnt so lets change that promptly.

Now when we first look at the Tesseract Aek ine might be lead to believe its just some famcy annihlation barge or something. But that could not be more wrong. This thing is just filled with rules and wargear, more so than any other unit in this book.

The fluff of the Tesseract Ark is it has something called the Singularity Chamber which is used to hold a dying star...as an epic weapon. As a result this not only gives you awesome long range power (something Necrons lack) but very good durability as well. Lets look at the primary fire mode out of 3 for this. And i guarantee you will use this one 90% of the time anyways.

Solar Pulse: 48“ Strength 7 AP 2 Heavy 3 blast

That right there is very nice, it gives some good long blasts which can eat a terminator squad if lucky.

The next power works like the Necron Deathray and autohits everything under a ling with Strength 5. But it also has armour bane which is actually nice if you roll well.

The last power is a template weapon which will kill hordes and marines equally easy but sadly, its not a torrent weapon.
Now that is a very impressive firepower but not w for the durability. The Ark is AV 12 all around BUT it has Quantum Shielding so its AV 14 14 12 really. The Singularity Chamber also gives this guy a 5++ Invunernalble save which is great. The Chamber also forces enemy units who wish to assault the ark to take dangerous and difficuly terrain tests! Oh, and any unit counts as making a disordered charge regardless. This gives you a nice defense from assaults, but you should never be that close as the Ark is a HEAVY vehicle so you can move and fire its epic gun and TWO tesla or gauss cannons.

So how much for this guy? 175? 200? 225? Thats right 250 points!!! This is easily the most expensive Necron unit you can take in the codex (which counts as a heavy support slot in a regular army list)

As usual there is a catch: if thing suffers a weapon explodes on a 4+ the entire Ark dies too. But this sshouldn't happen....
I really like this thing but it is extremely fickle. USE WITH CAUTION! But by all meams use thisunit. Its very versatile and awesome.

Apocalypse in regular Warhammer 40k games: Home Rules

So apocalypse has now been released and I'm really enjoying it so far. But there is one thing that just bugs me. Gamesworkshop releases all these awesome super heavy vehicles but limits them to only apocalypse. Now i dont know about you but sometimes you just want to use that new shiny toy and not care. And apocalypse games take time and planning (at least the good ones do). So thats kind of a slap in the face personally. To counter this my awesome gaming group all sat down and discussed ways to include super heavies in our normal games. Yes that might be a little crazy but im really happy with what we got. So here is what we decided for our personal playing and maybe whoever reads this will take an idea or two or add a suggestion. So here we go.

1. You may take one sulerheavy vehicle in lieu of taking any allies. For games using double FOC you may still have only 1 super heavy but no allies still

2. A single superheavy vehicle can NEVER be more than 25% of your point value in your force unless...
3. In games of double FOC you may have a superheavy worth up to 35% of your overall points. This is not cumalitive. However ddepending on the actual game amount you can increase this as needed.
4. Destroyer weapons are not allowed.

5. Superheavies are subject to normal damge now like weapon destroyed or immobalizations. Glancing hits reduce 1 hull point. For penetration Hits you roll on the Vehicle Damage table as in the War hammer 40k rulebook. If you roll an Explodes! Remove d3+2 hull points.

6. Superheavies may never be scoring. They also can never claim first blood.

7. You cannot take two of the same weapon system on any Titan.

I think thats mostly it. I may not have gotten all of them but that's the basic idea. So what do you think?

The Transcendent Ctan: This ain't your ordinary shard...

So, if the Tesseract Vault is good and the obelisk is extremely average...what about this guy? Now a lot of people may not have realized it but the Transcendant Ctan is its entirely own seperate unit. And boy this thing is fucking awesome!

The Transcendent Ctan is actually a collection of shards so it is not a full Ctan. Nevertheless this thing is one hell of a beast. Lets look at it in closer detail:

First off you will notice that this thing costs a little over 400 points standard and it is a GARGANTUAN CREATURE. So you get a slew of extra rules like Feel No Pain and more. Now lets look at this statline that made my jaw drop.

WS:6 BS:6 S:9 T:9 W:6 I:5 A:8 LD:10 Sv 3+/4++

That right there isincredible. This thing can easily slug it out with greater Daemons or Tyranid monsters. But thats not the best part.

The Cyan MUST choose 2 from the 6 powers you can get from the Tesseract Vault but the point costs are still the same. However the Ctan also MUST pick 1 of 3 unique powers. The one you SHOULD ALWAYS take is the one I'm only going to be saying now.

Basically in the movement phase, the Cyan can move 18 inches in a straight line. Anything that the Ctan moves over ( friend or foe)takes an immediate DESTROYER hit! But it cannot assault in the turn it does this sadly. Wow that is brutal. Imagine the potential of this unit!
Move 18 inches inflicting D hits than firing your2 other powers. So fly over and get those D hits, then fire a 6d6 Strength 8 ap 3 shots or cast down meteors or use the other Destroyer weapon...there is just so much devastation you can cause with this its ridiculous.

Now a word of caution! Keep this away from anything with Destroyer weapons because the Ctan will get NO SAVES OF ANY KIND.  Also when this thing finally dies everything within 4d6 is going to die most likely so keep ypur precious units away from this!

But the Transcendent Ctan is easily the best unit for the Necrons in this book. However it willcost you over 700 points to do the tactics i mentioned. For any Necron players tht have extra Ctan like the Nightbringer or Deceiver, I see no reason why you can use them as these beasts. Really go nuts. These things are awesome.

Necron Obelisks: Rev up those flyers!

Continuing our in depth look at the Necron in Apocalypse games is the alternate build to the Tesseract  Vault, which is named the Obelisk.

Now i really wanted for this to be something special. Not just an alternate build. But sadly, this thing is plaugued by incredibly stupid rules. Now before you think thats a bold statement let me continue...

The Obelisk will cost you about 20 points more than a standard Vault. But here is where the stupidity starts. Its an av 12 12 12 with only 6 Hullpoints. Yeah. That is pretty bad. This thing is gonna get gunned down quickly in apocalypse. One destroyer shot from anything and this will go down.

The next stupid rule is when you deploy the Obelisk, you can elect to have start in "power down" mode. You cant shoot or move but you do get a 3+ invunerable save. The dumb part is once you want to move or shoot it can NOT return to powered down mode ever again. Yeah, thanks Kelly... totally no bias as an eldar player right?

The good tthings about the Obelisk is its Gravity pluse. In both your shooting and you lr opponents phases every flyer or skimmer takes a Strength 8 hit on side armour. That's great until you realize the 24 inch range. It also has 4 Tesla spheres which are 5 Tesla shots at strength 7 but sadly, to twin linked.

So what could have been an awesome unit is sadly mediocre. This thing should be allowed in normal 40k games because there is nothing ridiculous about it. The part that just ruins it is the armour. Why is it that a Tesseract Vault which is open is Av 14 but the closed Obeliskis only av 12? I really would like to know what went on in either Jervis JJohnson or Phil "Eldar" Kelly's head here.

The Apocalypse is now: The Tesseract Vault Rules and Review

So I finally got my hands on the new apocalypse rulebook and i must say it is a very beautiful book. But thats not why i got it. No, I got this for the new Necron units in there. And for those of you who dont have your copy yet hopefully you find this satisfying. These are most of the Necron Tesseract Vaults rules here.
Now to start the Tesseract Vault is clocking in at 315 points and AV 14 all around. But a couple things that were not mentioned was a Ballistic Skill of 5! It also has a rule where if its destroy suffers a Titanic explosion. So try and keep this somewhat isolated.

Now for the real meat. As i stated in another post you MUST pick 2 of 6 powers. I have already discussed 3 of them previously but here are the other 3

Antimatter Meteor: Drops a huge apocalypse MEGABLAST on something. The range is 48“ and the damage is dealt in that funky style depending on what zone the blast template is on. For times sake ill tell you.

5 inch Center= Strength 10 ap 1

5-10 inch middle- Strength  8 ap 3

Last layer- Strength 6 ap 5

Next power is a Strength 9 AP 2 7 inch apocalypse blast. So nothing fancy, but still effective



The last power is the weakest but cheapest power which is a hellstorm that is causing strength 6 hits at an ap of 2.

So there you go. I personally really like this thing. My only complaint is a lack of a good range D weapon but there's a formation for that...If i had to pic two powers it would have tobe the Antimatter Meteor and seismac assault ( both of which are the mkst expensive powers though) or maybe i would drop the seismac assault for Sky of Falling Stars because who doesnt love meteors being dropped on them?

Necron Tesseract Vault and other Necron apocalypse rules.

First of all these are not mine. These rumors or rules came from a QnA over at Faeit212 which you should check out. Big thanks to I. For answering these questions

Tesseract Vault: Is av 14 all around with 9 hull points. It costs 315 points base (which is cheaper than I thought.) But the cost goes up as you must pick 2 from 6 powers available. The powers he described were:

-A  48in Strength 8 Ap3 Heavy 6d6 attack which is awesome. But apparently is the most expensive power.

-A hell storm template that is a Destroyer weapon with an ap of 1

- Sky of Falling Stars- Which is 48“ Strength 7 Ap 3 primary weapon 6, apocalypse barrage.

Other formations/info

The Obelisk who's job is to ward off flyers does so with a Gravity Pulse that auto hits flyers or skimmers within 24“ with a strength 8 hit on the side armour. That's pretty good.

The Baleful Necropolis which is the one with 9 monoliths + a vault. Monoliths within a certain distance of the vault get IWND and a 6+ Invul. They also give the vault an extra D weapon and increase its range.

Infinite Phalanx: Here is the fun one. First off the formation gives everyone fearless+relentless. However you can opt to take a unit of 100-150. The more warrior you add the better the bonuses:

100 Warriors= Fear

100+ Models= Renaimation protocols are on a 4+

150 Models= Reanimate on a 3+(!)



There you have it. It all looks really good. Hopefully we get more details but this will suffice. If you have any info you can contact me at ciaphis@gmail dot com. There is no dot its just .

A friendly reminder this 4th of July....

This isn't hobby related but I still feel obligated to mention it. If you didn't know I am a registered Doctor in southern California ( I'd love to meet you but let's hope we never do under those circumstances.) Anyways every year 4th of July comes around and that means fireworks. Which means idiots causing horrific injuries to others or themselves. You would not believe how much I've seen in  20+ years in medical. 1st degree burns. Even a few amputations. Face injuries. Its just horrific. So please....DO NOT USE ILLEGAL FIREWORKS and please BE CAREFUL anyways. Its not worth it.

-James

Canoptek Tomb Sentinel- Guardians of the Tomb

On the surface (or below it for that matter) the new Necron Canoptek Tomb Sentinel seems exactly like its cousin the Tomb Stalker. And while to two do remain many similarities there are a few big differences. The tomb sentinel itself is a very tough machine. Toughness 7, 4 Wounds, 3+ save and a Monstrous Creature is very impressive. It also has the War Construct rule which means that poison and fleshbane are only wounding you on 6's. Cry me a river Dark Eldar. 

Now here is where it begins to deviate from a a Tomb stalker. First it is a whopping 10 points cheaper. The next is that it occupies a fast attack slot unlike the sentinel which takes an elite ( really FW?) The fast attack is already a very tight space with wraiths, scarabs and the new Acanthrites. So this is already in some bad light. It also only has just 2 attacks but it is initiative 4!

The biggest difference and the main reason you would take this is because of the exile cannon. The exile cannon is a 12inch( again FW, really?) Small blast. Models that are under the template must take a Strength test or be removed with no saves allowed. Vehicles are automatically penetrated. 

While this seems good it really is not. Unless you know you are going to face Elder or Dark Eldar, then these things just won't be that effective against anything else. The gun is too short of range to really be a threat and since it has to get that close you are going to get shot with plasma or melts long before you are in an ideal position. Though it does have outflank, and Deep strike (lol) so if you don't give a damn and just want to throw caution to the wind go for it. 

In conclusion this is not a very efficient unit. The Necron codex thrives on its unparalleled efficiency from most of its units but this one just doesn't fit. I wouldn't take one in a competitive game but maybe in a casual game.  

Also the model is pretty nice. But it can also easily double as a tomb sentinel if you want. I doubt most opponents would even notice a difference between the two anyways.

Nightshroud Bomber- Look out below!

Continuing our Fall of Orpheus Necron coverage is the new Necron flyer the Nightshroud Bomber.

This thing on the surface seems epic first of all. It an Av 12 All AROUND flyer! What's not to love? It comes with the standardard Tesla destructors which are very nice. But unlike the doom or night scythe the Night shroud is a bomber and boy does it carry an interesting load.

The bombs on the Night shroud are Strength 10 and ap 1 large blasts. Oh and they have blind in pinning. Now before you go screaming OP, let me explain why this is a fickle unit.

1. Point cost. This thing is a 220 point flyer. A good amount of AA will scrap this thing eventually. And as GW releases more fortifications with AA (screw you GW) then this thing will seem less ideal.

2. The bomb limit. It should be well noted this only carries 5, of those epic bombs. At first that might seem like more than enough but remember: Your flyer is automatically off the boar turn 1. And then there is the chance for rolling poor for reserves. So it is a high possibility you might only ever get to drop a single bomb in a game!

Despite this those bombs are still brutal. Also it should be noted that flyers that drop bombs, the bombs only scatter d6 inches. And I don't see where it says you can't subtract your Ballistic Skill (which is 4) so at most your bombs are only ever going to scatter 2 INCHES on a large blast. Wow. Oh and your bombs go off before interceptor shots so you get at least *one* chance to blow something to hell.

Overall this is a good unit. Most of its downsides are really beyond your control anyways so I don't see why you shouldn't take this if you can.  Just be wary of any AA and try to knock bit out quickly. This unit is fickle but if played right it is downright brutal.

If you really want to make someone rage, take Toholk the blinded and give this monster It Will Not Die for some giggles.

As always feel free to comment what you think.

Kutlakh the World Killer- Leader of the Maynarkh.

The first unit I want to talk about is Kutlakh the appropriately named World Killer. Now remember how most armies have at least one absolute close combat monster? Well it could be argued that the Necrons lacked such a character. Oh sure MSS overlords are brutal but this guy is just oh so much more epic. Lets take a closer look.

First there is not much fluff about him which is sad. But hey! You never know.

Kutlakh clocks in at 220 points which is a lot (but 5 point less than Imotekh which is interesting.) Anyways this guy is a COMBAT MONSTER. Let's take a look. He has a basic overlord stats except he has a WS of 5 and 4 attacks! He also has a 2+ 3++ and phylactery so good luck killing him without Instant Death! His special rules are even more ridiculous. He is a fearless fear causing Phaeron. Oh, did I mention he has Adamantium Will too?

He also has a unique rule that represent his insanity. Basically it has a chance of lowering an opponents WS and if hits 0 they can't fight. But this also makes him accept any challenge (which isn't a problem anyways) He also has a pre-selected warlord trait giving him the Crusader so now you can have a better chance of sweeping up fleeing units.

But perhaps the coolest piece of warhead he has is the Obsidax. Its basically an ap2 INSTANT DEATH weapon. So now you can instance kill that 300 point wraithknighy or Mephiston. Good times.

So in summary this guy is awesome. The only thing stopping you from using him though? HE DOESNT HAVE A MODEL YET!!! One way I would run him is with a group of 5-10 Maynarkh Lychguard (more on them later) with a Night scythe and a res-orb lord. Maybe add a few lightning field Crypteks and you have one monstrous CC that can beat nearly anything.

I return! and Imperial Armour 12

Before I start let me just say I KNOW I haven't been active here at all. And a thousand apologies. But I am here now and I have some great news!


So as you may or may not know I am a HUGE Necron fan. In fact I get a little to excited for anything Necron. One of the new releases was Imperial Armour 12: The Fall of Orpheus. Now I've had the book for a long time but I haven't really expresses my thoughts on the book. More disturbingly, I have not see a single breakdown of the Necron in this book. Well that's gonna change because I am going to do a COMPLETE breakdown of the Necron forces of the Maynarkh Dynasty. Starting right now.

Game Review: Bioshock Infinite

Hey all. Sorry I've been SUPER behind. I apologise immensly. So with that cleared...

As you might know I enjoy 2 things. Warhammer, and video games. One of my favorite series is the Bioshock series. I love good, detailed story lines and characters and Bioshock is the best. I love the first game because it took on current tooics but put an awesome spin mixed with great gameplay. Fastforward now to Infinite. I was curious as to how Irrational could top their first work but after 4 play throughs I think it's safe to say they have outdone themselves here.

I wont go into full detail here because I want you to see it yourself, but let's just say you play as down on his luck detective with a rough past, named Booker DeWitt. DeWitt is tasked to retieve a special girl. Who just so happens to alter space and time.

Throughout the game you journey as a pair. Bookers rough outlook mixed with her innocence mixes nicely. Although I never grow extremely connectex to her as i hoped, she still made it worthwhile.

The combat is fun and intense. Skylines are great fun and so are vigors. The game reward expirementation and exploration so dont worry.

And finally...dat ending. Wow. If you havemt reached it yet all I can say is when you get it it. DONT PANIC. Stay calm and THINK. Trust me, it ALL MAKES SENSE. Just think. The ending is amazing and ties tge story better than anyway I had imagined. If you dont plan on getting gamejust imagine it like a Shutter Island+Braid+Inception+Infamous type ending.

My only complaint was the game IS short but its worth EVERY minute. Alas that it what DLC is for now , eh
?

9.9/10

Dark Angels Post Reaction: Flyers. Lolwut?

Hey again. Been busy etc. But I did manage to get a look at the NEW DARK ANGELS CODEX!!! So because i have an apparent obsession with Flyers in our game I thought id do tradition and tell you what i think.


To start we have THE DARK TALON!!! This Flying Church Flyer had me scratching my head while uttering the phrase "lolwut". You see this is supposed to be an anti infantry thing( But wait. isnt that the Nephilims job???) The 2 main reasons you are paying the 150+ Points for this is the stasis bomb and Rift Cannon.

The Stasis bomb is a sneaky way of saying "BEDTIME!" to any unit hit. -3 to WS and intiative is cool. Problem is you only get 1 chance, and if you dont send in another unit to capatalize on this then you just wasted this units potential.

The Rift Cannon is now the main focus of my rage. Like what the hell was Vetock thinking? Writing this awesome fluff weapon then backing it with terribly underwhelming rules. A Strength 5(!) blast weapon that causes a BLIND test and an AP of -. Uh what? Thats it? What does that do??? NOTHING! The potential for this thing was huge. I mean a RIFT CANNON!

How I would have done it:


Str 5 Ap- Large Blast.
Special Rule: Blind, Rift Breaker

Rift Breaker: Units hit by the Rift Cannon cou t as being in both Difficult AND Dangerous terrain there next movement phase, and may not attempt any Overwatch for the duration of next turn.

See? Even that makes this a little better. Imo

JD Out.

Necron Galleries!

Yes! Finally pics of my fabled Necrons. Now note that my entire force is 20,000 points, most of which are in boxes in the Garage. So please enjoy a critique away! Ill be putting more soon!

2012: A hit or miss year for 40k?

Well hello everyone. Hope you all enjoyed your holidays! I know I did :). Now time to sink back into my "normal" routine. For starters I've been looking at what's rumored for 2013 and it looks like a lot. Im really anticiating a new Tau codex. An eldar codex would.... eh I'm a Necron player, who cares ;).

But i cant help hearing that 2012, even though it was the 25th anniversary was a little lacking. Yep. Im gonna say it now. You're an idiot. Lets see what 40k players got this year

-New Space Wolve kits

- New Tyranid Kits

- New NECRON Units!

- Sm, Ork and Necron flyers!

- 6th EDITION CORE RULES!!!

- Dark Vengeance!!!!

- Lots of Finecast stuff

-New Chaos Space Mehreens Codex!


That list may not look big but look at those awesome minis. Plus a new rule set.. I really think this was one of the best 40k years ever for me. Lots of fun stuff. Here's to 2013! may it be just as prosperous!