Friday 31 August 2012

Necron Tactica: Warriors

 My first Necron unit Tactica, which does go againts this blog's title.

 Overview
The basic foot soldier in Necrons, as they were irrevocably in the last codex, being the ONLY troop, but now there are Immortals. They are best at holding objectives, or using massed Gauss to kill vehicles (40 shots will on average glance a Land Raider to death). They are quite hard to kill, owing to 4+ armour (Not so good, giving the frequency of Power Armour, but halves damage from most sources.) and the awesome powers of T4 and Reanimation Protocols makes these guys tough to shift, especially on an objective with Lord and Ressurection Orb.

Transport
Ghost Ark: Very useful to keep a squad at strength, as well as the punishing Gauss Flayer Arrays, make this a good weapon in the right hands. More survivable than most, with impressive 13-13-11 (With Shielding) makes this worth 3x a Rhino.
Night Scythe: Great in the Dawn of Flayers as the are difficult to shoot down, greater shooting other flyers down and to top it all off, the best transport in the game (15 capacity, and the Invasion Beams rule [Necron FAQ]). I deal to zip around for 5 turns then drop down to secure the objectives late game.

Thursday 30 August 2012

CSM Tactics:Khorne Beserkers

 As this blog is under 'new' management I can hopefully get blogging rate, and hopefully quality up. Next up is the archetypal assault troops for CSM. The higher WS, furious charging Khorne Beserkers.

 Overview
As I have said before, these Khornate warriors are the best troops in assaults, in terms of killyness. It is argued that Plague marines out-survive them (Which is true) but Beserkers far excel in shocking the enemy to pieces in a single charge. Because of this a transport is very useful, as is an upgraded CC weapon, which will be discussed later. The basics of use is get them as close to the enemy as possible in a transport, get out, then charge next turn into a unit which is determined by a range of factors: Strength of unit; wargear (Both squads); Orientation (Is target shooty or punchy?); Range.

 Upgrades
Only get it for special weapons or  Meltabombs. Unless points are tight as hell, these is brilliant for the lucky raider or walker kill, unless a PF is taken. Speaking of power fists they have become less effective, considering their use againts walkers being mitigated by the new assualt rules for grenades. They are still brilliant for IDing the enemy, or taking out Terminator armour with that AP2. If you take a PW any variant is useful. Want Initiative but going againts power armour? Take a sword. High toughness, low armour? Take a Maul. Lots of TEQ? An axe is the way to go.
 Never Ever get Plasma Pistols.15 points for these are completely useless, baring a lucky shot, but you should never rely on these guys to take casualties with shooting.

 Transport
Raider - With the assualt ramps this is a legitimate option for a large squad of these guys. Give them something like a Lord or Kharn (Who has became Shit with the new axe rules!) then charge. Lascannons provide anti-vehicle and TEQ, as well as a nigh impervious method of transport
Rhino - Extra Armour, the. Up 18", pop smoke, jump out then charge. Not as effective but worth the 50points IMO.

Thursday 2 August 2012

WoC Tactics: Chaos Warriors

My second overall post, but more importantly my first Fantasy post! The honour of this goes to this systems core unit, the Warrior of Chaos.
Overview
A close combat monster, an almighty 2 attacks at WS & I of 5, backed up with phenomenal S & T for a core unit, all for a cost of 15pts plus weapons. If you factor in the 4+ Chaos Armour you have a nugh-unstoppable whirlwind of destruction. The bad news is you have no ranged attacks to speak of, with points to match the ruthless efficiency.
Command
As usual, Standard Bearers & Musicians are virtually imperative due to the ability in  combat and additional maneuverability. Champions are less important, unless you want them to absorb a challenge at an attached Sorceror. NEVER tool these Champions out. You will seldom get your points back.
Loadouts
As is typical about WoC you have a pretty broad spectrum of wargear to arm them, from the bonce crushing force of Great Weapons (Always Strikes Last really hurts these guys, especially with I6) to the Sword n' board technic which can make these guys pretty resilient (3+ saves for 16pt models anyone?). Giving a horde of these guys dual hand weapons and Mark of Khorne means 50 attacks, which any unit will be hard pressed to stand against. You can mix these as well - Sheilds and Hand weapons means a 3+ againts shooting then you can bury them in the trademark whirl of blades, but Shields and Halberds makes these guys nigh unstoppable.

Thursday 12 July 2012

CSM Tactics: Chaos Space Marine

   Well. First post and the honour goes to the posthumous Chaos Marine. Yes, the standard 15pt troop choice. And yes, before you ask, because I want an easy bit first. 
  Overview
Your standard troops choice with one major advantage over their Astartes counterpart: The humble Tactical Marine, which should give you a decent idea about their purpose already. This advantage is the presence of a Pistol and CCW, giving them effectively 2 attacks basic, as well as bolters. This does have a downside, as they lack ATSKNF and Combat tactics but then again this means they have the same stats as Sergeants, with their Ld.
 Great for holding objectives, but are still worse than Plague Marines (Nigh-on impossible to budge), Noise Marines (Great anti-horde) and the 1k Sons (Anti heavy infantry is a specialty). The upside is cheaper. And nothing else, other than upgrades
 Upgrades
Champion: Extra attack and access to CCW Weapons. Arming the guy with either a fist or Power weapon (Axe or Maul) & Meltabombs gives them good multi-tasking. A personal icon is only useful with Daemons or Deep- Strikers, so without these they're useless. 
Heavy/Specialist Weapons: 
This is where your main decision comes in - Static defence unit or mobile strike force. The prior will make maximum use of the multiple heavy weapons, most probably the missile launcher but heavy bolters really hurt against things like hordes. The enemy will general dictate deployment. The next type is loading the squad with meltas or flamers, with an upgraded champion then sending them to hunt out vehicles. Plasma is almost a no-go as this squad will probably fit best as an assault squad, although a Plasma Pistol may be a good decision.
Icons: Generally too expensive unless in beefy squads. As a rule of thumb Tzeentch & Slaanesh are not that useful, although Nurgle will make them great at camping objectives whereas Khorne will make them an assault force to be reckoned with
Transport
Raider: No. Period.
Rhino: Good for both deployments, just to give something else to kill for campers whereas assault units will massively benifit from the mobility to strike at expensive unit.


  Well, hope you enjoyed it. More to come shortly.