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[Neruz]

IG infantry armies can work in very specific circumstances. There's been a couple of instances in tournies where an unexpected IG infantry army has surprised people who went with the standard anti-vehicle response to an IG player and taken an easy win, but they're extremely hard to play and if your opponant catches on in time to change his lineup then you're usually in deep shit.

Even with Kasrkins, they're just too expensive for fodder, and normal Guard die too easily without vech support.

[Neruz]

Tell me, how do tournaments work, in general? Say you had to field a 1500 point army. Could you bring more than that along and simply field what seems like the best option against the army you're facing?

It varies from tourny to tourny. Some demand that you have a fixed line-up that you stick with for the entire tourny, others let you modify the lineup between matches. Almost all of them require that you decide on a lineup before the match though.

I did play in one tournament where you had 10 minutes to set up your army; you could change it around as much as you wanted but when the bell rang whatever you had on the table was your army, and you were disqualified if what you had on the table was more than the point allocation.

That was surprisingly entertaining; each player trying to outsmart the other player. I had a memorable win against a Nid player who had watched me carefully setting up an infantry dominated Necron lineup and was completely caught off guard when, with 5 seconds left, i suddenly swept half the troops off the table and plonked a pair of Monoliths down. He was not a happy chappy.


Usually though, you have one build and you stick with it, hence why tournament builds are invariably geared for all-roundness and anti-space-marineness, since SM's tend to be about 1/3rd t 1/2 of the entrants, and are imba.

One of the reasons why i enjoy Necrons actually; a standard anti-SM\anti-vehicle tourny build gets it's ass handed to it by a competant Necron player. It's fun to mix it up, especially fun when the other guy is experienced and you hear them swearing from across the room when they look at who they're up against next

[Aqizzar]

with 5 seconds left, i suddenly swept half the troops off the table and plonked a pair of Monoliths down. He was not a happy chappy.

[Jackrabbit]

Still hilarious.

[Neruz]

with 5 seconds left, i suddenly swept half the troops off the table and plonked a pair of Monoliths down. He was not a happy chappy.

Monoliths are awesome, don't deny it.


They're such a massive psychological attack as well as a horrifyingly powerful piece. Invariably whenever i drop a Monolith onto the table the other guy immediately wets his pants and focuses everything he has on the Monolith, which, due to being obscenely tough, usually survives for a couple of rounds before going down.

Then he turns to me with this smug ass "I killed your trump card" look, whereupon i point out that in the 2 rounds he was focusing on the Monolith my Flayed Ones got into melee with his Fire Warriors, and look at that, they're all dead!

[Aqizzar]

Which is why smart players know that when fighting Necrons, start by shooting the Warriors and don't stop until there aren't any Warriors.  That 265 points sunk into each Monolith is 265 points that doesn't count towards phase-out.  The Big Black Block isn't nearly so intimidating when suddenly it's the only thing on the table when the rest of the army vanishes.

[Jackrabbit]

So you essentially field Monoliths to use them as giant bullet shields that occasionally kill something with every intention of killing them to get your weaker but more numerous warriors closer?

Man, I like you.

[Neruz]

So you essentially field Monoliths to use them as giant bullet shields that occasionally kill something with every intention of killing them to get your weaker but more numerous warriors closer?

Man, I like you.

Invariably that's what inexperienced players do; they focus all their shooty on the Monolith and it serves as a marvellous distraction.

Which is why smart players know that when fighting Necrons, start by shooting the Warriors and don't stop until there aren't any Warriors.  That 265 points sunk into each Monolith is 265 points that doesn't count towards phase-out.  The Big Black Block isn't nearly so intimidating when suddenly it's the only thing on the table when the rest of the army vanishes.

Ah but you see, that's the thing; point for point Monoliths are hands down better than Land Raiders, so you can start to shoot up my warriors (of which i field vast amounts, i usually match 3-4 units of phase out dudes for every 1 unit of non phase out dudes), but warriors, being annoyingly tough and boosted by that wonderful ressurection orb, are a bitch to take down.

Meanwhile Mr. Monolith is dropping Particle Whips on yo-ass.


I will admit though, fielding a Monolith in a 1k point army is usually a bad idea. Definitely field one in 1.5k though, and if you're 2k or higher go wild. Hello deep striking teleporting land raider-cum-siege weapon, who's a good monsterous battle machine? You are!



All in All, Necrons are a funny army. They're 'easy' to play because they have such an excellent selection and some of the best racials around, but it's very easy to get distracted by all the shiny stuff and get whacked by that annoying phase out rule. Which is why big balls of Necron Warriors with a Lord + Ressurection Orb in the middle are so much fun! Oh noes, he's dead *roll*, no he isn't!

No other race has that same psychological hit when your opponant looks out at all the guys he's killed and notes that 2/3rds of them have just got back up. Even the pro's get a bit twitchy when a Necron army goes on the board.


Hell, when i'm up against an enemy Necron army i get a bit twitchy. My fucking god Necrons are annoying.




Mind you, not quite as annoying as seeing yet another Space Marine army. Experienced SM players who mix it up a bit and know how to fight Necrons are fun to play with, but so many people just field standard cookie-cutter SM armies it's depressing


I should probably bring my Orks out more. They've been getting all dusty lately, havn't had any good campaigns to use them in.

[Aqizzar]

Ah, but you're forgetting their biggest, most important flaw.

Spoiler: Toasters are fucking boring. (click to show/hide)

I think that's enough image spam for one day.

[Neruz]

Heh, goddamn Space Marines

[Jackrabbit]

My plan is to get a run-of-the-mill SM army, then learn how to 'mix it up a bit'.

Then maybe, oh, let's say Tau. Then Orks.

What do you mean by mix it up a bit anyway? Because having a normal Space Marine army will eventually bore me.

[Neruz]

RHINO RUSH!

I'm not an experienced SM player (used to be two editions ago, now i despise the Spaze Mareens), so i have no clue how to mix it up with them. The Chin might know.

[Aqizzar]

I don't, per se, but I know someone who does.  Behold the Fighting Tigers of Veda, the personal site of a really cool guy who's been playing with Marine armies since 1987.  Has a wealth of tips on strategy, painting, theory, interest, and gamesmanship, especially on Marines but also pretty much every army and the hobby as a whole.

Really, it's awesome.

[Neruz]

Neat site, hafta check it out when i have some free time.

[Jackrabbit]

Wow, that's cool.