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.