Quick Hits - June 2018 Necrons

Our next quick hit is the Necrons.

Special Rules

Reanimation Protocols
Models with this rule that are slain can potentially rejoin their unit in future turns. This can make large units of Necrons nightmare-ish to shift. Especially once you start looking at the buffs this roll can get from other things in the Codex. Remember that Necron Warriors can come in units of 20 and are good at holding objectives.

Living Metal
This allows a lot of the characters and vehicles to regain a wound a turn. Again pushes up the survivability of your units.

HQ

Imotekh the Stormlord
Can My Will Be Done two units a turn, and has an improved Living Metal. Decent weapons and stats and makes a really great Warlord. Lord of the Storm is fantastic too.

Nemesor Zahndrekh
He is expensive, but the ability to turn off character aura buffs is...interesting.

Vargard Obyron
An expensive bodyguard for Nemesor Zahndrekh with a super conditional re-deploy ability? Pass.

Illuminor Szeras
Adds 1 to Reanimation Protocol rolls and gives permanent, yet random, buffs to units. A pretty good named Cryptek.

Orikan the Diviner
Gives nearby infantry an invulnerable save, and can potentially change into a much stronger profile. Also no too expensive.

Anrakyr the Traveller
Gives an attack buff and has an ability that just got better; shooting with the weapons of opposing vehicles. That seems really good with some of the new Knight weapons, you've just got to get him close enough.

Trazyn the Infinite
Surrogate Hosts can make him hard to kill, but I'm not sure he is worth the effort over a regular Lord.

Catacomb Command Barge
Increased stats over a regular Overlord, and increased range on My Will Be Done. Quantum Shielding also makes this unit very resilient against normal anti-vehicles weapons and makes Living Metal more valueable. May take a Resurection Orb for extra Reanimation Protocol rolls.

Overlord
If you don't fancy paying extra for the named characters, this is your go to source of My Will Be Done, after taking a Catacomb Command Barge. May take a Resurection Orb.

Lord
An aura of re-roll 1s to wound and access to a Resurection Orb.

Cryptek
Adds 1 to Reanimation Protocol rolls, and can either give a small aura of invulnerable save or a cloak for Fly and enhancing units with Living Metal.

Destroyer Lord
I would leave the Staff of Light on this guy and hang around Destroyers to give the re-roll 1s to wound in shooting. Can also take a Resurrection Orb.

Troops

Necron Warriors
Your standard troops with no options. Decent enough stats and Reanimation make them great for sitting on and holding objectives. Movement might be a little slow though.

Immortals
For a few more points you get a better save and a choice of better weapons, but a smaller unit size. I'm a fan of the Tesla, as the more shots you get the more likely you are to roll 6s to generate extra hits. I can see an arguement for Gauss Blasters though.

Elites

Lychguard
A pure melee unit, I'd keep the Warscythes and go hunting enemy vehicles via one of the deep strike options in the Codex.

Deathmarks
I like this unit a lot, but it's hurt by the newer FAQ. They won't be able to follow enemy units in the first turn if they deploy in their own deployment zone but not within 12" of your deployment zone. If your opponent is waiting with their reserves though, these guys are still golden.

Flayed Ones
Good for slaying chaff units, as they increase the difficulty of their Morale test and re-roll wounds. They are melee only though and I think this limits their utility, as they struggle against non-chaff.

Triarch Praetorians
Assault troops with a decent move. I'd keep the Rods of Covenant as they have the better ranged profile.

Triarch Stalker
Quantum Shielding and Living Metal, plus it buffs the shooting of any units shooting it's target that phase. I'd keep the Heat Ray for the melta-esque profile and the really good Overwatch.

C'tan Shard of the Deceiver
Grand Illusion allows you to re-deploy and infiltrate the C'tan plus d3 other units. This alone is really powerful. It also has access to 2 powers of the C'tan and is a monster in melee.

C'tan Shard of the Nightbringer
Not as good as the Deceiver and not much cheaper. Means he's gonna get crowded out a lot.

Fast Attack

Canoptek Wraiths
Fast, tough and witha 3+ invulnerable save, these guys are good. Ignore the shooting options and get them in melee asap.

Canoptek Scarabs
Not as easy to shift as the look due to having 3 wounds each and easily finding terrain to hide behind. They never need worse than 5s to wound in melee and have 4 attacks each making them a threat to high toughness units too.

Tomb Blades
I'd upgrade to the two Tesla Carbines and the Shadowloom for a fast moving, hard to kill threat to infantry. Maybe adding Shieldvanes if I have points spare.

Destroyers
I'd stick with the Gauss Cannon and hunt down heavy infantry and light vehicles.

Heavy Support

Heavy Destroyers
Here are where you keep the Heavy Gauss Cannons for mobile, accurate anti vehicle fire.

Canoptek Spyders
A support model hiding amongst the Heavy Support, so it lacks the Character keyword. It can return dead Canoptek Scarabs to play and heal vehicles. I would always upgrade to the Gloom Prism to give some much needed defense against Psychic Powers.

Monolith
In most Codexes, this would be a Lord of War. It can deep strike, to protect it in your first turn, and also put some units in reserve with it. It has a lot of firepower and the Portal of Exile makes assaulting it very dangerous. It's expensive, but I really like it.

Annihilation Barge
A light tank, it can score a lot of hits when equipped with Tesla weapons, but Toughness 6 means that it can easily die to weapons that sneak under the Quantum Shielding.

Doomsday Ark
A light tank like the Barge, but with nearly double the wounds. The Doomsday Cannon is a powerful weapon, but Toughness 6 still feels like a liability. It's range does allow you to keep it away from the guns that ignore Quantum Shielding though.

Transcendant C'tan
Similar to the named C'tan but with a Fractured Personality. You can either choose 1 trait, or roll for 2. I'd choose Cosmic Tyrant, everytime.

Dedicated Transports

Ghost Ark
Quantum Shielding and a transport capacity, what makes it truly unique is allowing embarked models to continue to roll for Reanimation Protocols and allowing nearby Necron Warriors to roll again at the end of the movement phase.

Flyers

Doom Scythe
Nothing really makes this a stand out flier, the Death Ray is nice but gets -1 to hit because the Doom Scythe always has to move.

Night Scythe
This, in combination with your Monolith, allows you to deep strike in units really close to the enemy. It gets around the overall slow Move value of units like Lychguard.

Lord of War

Obelisk
Having 20 Tesla shots is really good, but this is a much worse Monolith for more points. Pass.

Tesseract Vault
For more points that the Obelisk, you get access to 4 Powers of the C'tan and the ability to use 3 a turn. It almost feels worth it. Almost.

Dynastic Codes

These are all interesting, but none of them really stand out. That allows you to pick the one that suits your playstyle.

Stratagems

Stand-out Stratagems

• Enhanced Reanimation Protocols
• Emergency Invasion Beam
• Enhanced Invasion Beam
• Damage Control Override
• Repair Subroutines
• Quantum Deflection
• Extermination Protocols
• Adaptive Subroutines
• Translocation Crypt
• Talent for Annihilation

Warlord Traits

A couple of stand out ones, but some real duds too.

Artefacts of the Aeons

Stand-out Relics

•  The Orb of Eternity
• Lightning Field
• The Veil of Darkness
• The Nanoscarab Casket

Powers of the C'tan

These can't be Denied, unlike Psychic Powers, but they all do Mortal Wounds. That's still really powerful, but not flexible.

FFG Europeans and UK Games Expo

You may have noticed a break in my weekly publishing schedule recently. That's because I was away for a couple of weeks. The second week was a Stag Do (what happens on tour stays on tour), but the for the first I was working at the FFG Europeans and attending the Asmodee Uk Retailer Summit.

All of this was held at the UK Games Expo, a yearly convention to celebrate all things gaming. I was fortunate and had a short period of downtime across the weekend to have a quick explore. There was a lot to see and do, far too much for the hour I had available and probably far too much for just a one day ticket. I did get a chance to check out a game a playtested a while ago that's coming soon and will talk about that more once my NDA allows.

If you are into gaming, especially tabletop,  it is the UK event to check out.

As an employee of G.I.Games, I was able to attend the Retailer Summit this year. It was an interesting event, almost a mini-convention in itself, with presentations from some companies and the ability to walk around and talk to representatives from others. It was a really good opportunity to network, as well as see some of the things that are coming soon from the big companies like FFG, Wizards and Wizkids. I can't go into too much detail on information we were given, as a lot of it was confidential, but we did get an early look at the X-Wing Second Edition Rebel Conversion Kit.

The bulk of my time was spent working at the FFG Europeans. This was the 2018  European Championships for Star Wars X-Wing, Android Netrunner, Game of Thrones, Star Wars LCG, Star Wars Armada, Star Wars Imperial Assault, Runebound and Star Wars Destiny, plus side events for all those games. That's a lot of players playing a lot of games across three days. Speaking as a Judge for X-Wing, we had nearly 500 players in the main event. I believe Netrunner had 300. It was huge and involved long days for players and Judges.

The X-Wing was split into two Day One events, with the top players in each day qualifying for the Day Two knockout rounds on Sunday. That allowed us to manage 500 players without needing 250 tables for one game system and without needing to do 7 rounds. It's only 1 less round at 250 players, but it makes a difference.

I enjoyed the weekend, despite the long hours. The highlight was seeing two of our local players; Matt Coles and Mark Smith, make it through to Day 2. With such a large field that's a real achievement, especially with the current World Champion, last years European Champion, the current UK National and other high caliber, known players in attendance. I'm really proud of them especially flying lists made up of ships they love, not just flying what the zeitgeist says is good.

Next year, the Europeans are going to be in Poland. Hopefully I'll be able to judge at them. Judging in another country will be an interesting experience. The current Judge Team are all fantastic and Alec Thorne has taken over the reigns from Alex Watkins. Also, UK Games Expo will be hosting next years FFG UK Nationals which will keep us doing big tournaments there.

Shout-outs to the following people who made the weekend the great experience that it was;

• Alex Watkins
• Alec Thorne
• Corina Cretu
• Dawn Stangroom
• Dan Eggle
• Matt Coles
• Mark Smith
• Pete Yarwood
• Chris 'Preeko' Preece
• Ian Atrill
• Matt Vicary
• Chris Thomas
• Les Harvey
• Vince Kingston
• Kris Mitchell
• Liam Hall
• Seb Brady
• Craig Barrett
• Carl Sheppard
• Nick Bond
• Paul Cadwell
• Brad Andres
• Pierre-Anthony Corrado
• Poul Holmelund
• Fernando de la Torre
• Wojciech Pe
• Kasia Wlazlo
• Tomas Zelazko
• Rasta Maice
• Simeon Dellapina
• and Ben 'Bengar' Cox

Plus the rest of the Judge team, most of whom I didn't get much time to speak to.

Lando's Friday Challenge

In an effort to play more Warhammer 40,000, and try out more armies, I have pencilled in Friday afternoons for taking on challenges. It's a convenient time slot for me, as I'm in Antics running FNM anyway and not actually play Magic while I'm there.

Hopefully, it will also give me time to play against more people and more armies, plus regular gaming should incentivise me to get models actually fully painted. I plan on doing reports on those games in this blog, with pictures, assuming I get each opponents consent. I'll let my opponent decide on the Mission, my only stipulation being that the game is Matched Play at 2000 points.

So, what army am I trying out for the first few games?

Harlequins

Veiled Path Battalion

• Troupe Master, Fusion Pistol, Harlequin's Caress (Warlord - Player of Twilight)
• Shadowseer (Relic - The Mirrorstave) (Psychic Powers - Fog of Dreams, Veil of Tears)
• A Troupe of 6 Players, Fusion Pistol, 6 Harlequin's Caress
• A Troupe of 6 Players, Fusion Pistol, 6 Harlequin's Embrace
• A Troupe of 6 Players, Fusion Pistol, 6 Harlequin's Kiss
• Death Jester
• Death Jester
• Death Jester
• Voidweaver, 2 Shuriken Cannons, Prismatic Cannon
• Voidweaver, 2 Shuriken Cannons, Prismatic Cannon

Veiled Path Battalion

• Shadowseer, Neuro Disruptor (Psychic Powers - Twilight Pathways, Mirror of Minds)
• Shadowseer (Psychic Powers - Shards of Light, Webway Dance)
• A Troupe of 6 Players, Fusion Pistol
• A Troupe of 6 Players, Fusion Pistol
• A Troupe of 6 Players, Fusion Pistol
• Solitaire, Harlequin's Caress, Harlequin's Kiss
• 6 Skyweavers, 6 Zephyglaives, 6 Haywire Cannons
• Starweaver, 2 Shuriken Cannons

Comes in at 1967 points, with 13 Command Points.

I plan on always using the Great Harlequin Stratagem on my Troupe Master, and having the whole mask re-enact the dance known as "The Folly of Khaine". Leaping straight into the opponent and trying to break their back, while throwing the Wailing Doom in spear form, represented by the Skyweavers.

If nothing else, it'll be a gloriously short game. Mobility should let me hit hard and fall back to claim any objectives. It will be interesting seeing how this fares, especially once the fragility of the Aeldari meets the weapons of the enemy. We shall also see how often the Riddlesmiths ability actually comes into play.

Quick Hits - June 2018 Blood Angels

Our next quick hit is Codex Adeptus Astartes Blood Angels. Rather than restating reviews for units from Codex Adeptus Astartes Space Marines (see here http://hiveoffunandsilliny.blogspot.com/2018/05/quick-hits-may-2018-space-marines.html?zx=a67457f84ddec227 ), I will focus only on the units and abilities that are unique to the Blood Angels.

Special Rules

Black Rage
An extra attack while charging and a feel no pain is good for the limited units that have this rule.

HQ

From Codex Space Marines
Techmarine, Primaris Lieutenants, Lieutenants, Captain in Gravis Armour, Primaris Captain, Captain in Terminator Armour, Captain in Cataphractii Armour, Captain, Chaplain, Primaris Chaplain, Chaplain in Terminator Armour, Librarian in Terminator Armour, Primaris Librarian, Librarian.

Commander Dante
Built for hunting and killing characters in epic duels, he is actually to be feared when used in this capacity. Keep him away from hordes though, the weight of numbers will bring him down.

Gabriel Seth
Surprisingly good at tearing vehicles and monsters apart. His abilities to fight again and score extra hits are a little too random though.

The Sanguinor
Gives your infantry +1 Attack, so makes a really good character to back up your main assault unit.

Brother Corbulo
Has a personal re-roll once per turn and his Grail can generate extra attacks. Otherwise not actually better than a regular Sanguinary Priest.

Sanguinary Priest
Like an Apothecary, but also buffs the Strength of nearby Blood Angels. This actually makes a massive difference for wound rolls in melee if the Red Thirst rule is in play.

Chief Librarian Mephiston
Can Cast and Deny two powers and has his own feel no pain. The Sanguine Sword is amazing, especially when combined with Psychic buffs.

Librarian Dreadnought
A dreadnought with the Character keyword and the protection that comes with it. Can Cast two and Deny one. Interesting choice if you want a tougher Psyker.

Astorath
Gives an aura of re-roll hits in melee and once per game can also give +1 to hit. Feels a little expensive for these buffs though.

Lemartes
Like a normal Chaplain, but also lets the units re-roll failed Charges. Well worth the points to upgrade from a normal Chaplain.

Tycho the Lost
Swaps Rites of Battle for Black Rage. Flavourful, but not useful.

Captain Tycho
 Like a regular Captain, but with a bonus against Orks. Again, flavourful but not useful.

Troops

From Codex Space Marines
Scout Squad, Intercessor Squad, Tactical Squad.

Elites

From Codex Space Marines
Redemptor Dreadnought, Contemptor Dreadnought, Dreadnought, Sternguard Veteran Squad, Vanguard Veteran Squad, Tartaros Terminator Squad, Cataphractii Terminator Squad, Terminator Assault Squad, Terminator Squad, Reiver Squad, Company Veterans, Company Champion, Primaris Ancient, Company Ancient, Servitors, Aggressor Squad, Primaris Apothecary.

Sanguinary Guard
Like an Assault Squad, but on steroids. I can see why this is a key unit for the Blood Angels. Great shooting to thin out screens and then decent melee weapon choices for taking on the real target.

Sanguinary Ancient
Essentially a Lieutenant with a Jump Pack and all the benefits for being Sanguinary Guard. Worth taking to buff your key assault unit.

Sanguinary Novitiate
An Apothecary with a different name.

Death Company Dreadnought
A melee Dreadnought with an extra Attack and a feel no pain. Upgrade the Furioso Fists to Blood Talons and start tearing things apart.

Death Company
An Assault Squad with extra Attacks and feel no pain. A large unit of these has to be dealt with and is a pain to shift.

Terminator Ancient
An Ancient in Terminator Armour, although their banner re-rolls melee attacks instead of the usual effect. Your Captains should be in place to do this though, so probably not worth taking.

Furioso Dreadnought
A close assault Dreadnought. I really like the Frag Cannon upgrade, to send it out to mess up infantry.

Fast Attack

From Codex Space Marines
Inceptor Squad, Scout Bike Squad, Land Speeders, Attack Bike Squad, Bike Squad, Assault Squad.

Heavy Support

From Codex Space Marines
Land Raider Redeemer, Land Raider Crusader, Land Raider, Vindicator, Whirlwind, Stalker, Hunter, Hellblaster Squad, Predator, Devastator Squad.

Baal Predator
Twin Assault Cannon plus Two Heavy Bolters makes this really food at killing infantry. I'd pass on the flame weapons as they are far too short ranged. The Overcharged Engines don't really do anything either.

Dedicated Transports

From Codex Space Marines
Repulsor, Land Speeder Storm, Drop Pod, Razorback, Rhino.

Fliers

From Codex Space Marines
Stormtalon Gunship, Stormraven Gunship, Stormhawk Interceptor.

The Red Thirst

This rule is the Real Deal! Adding 1 to your Wound rolls means that Tactical Marine fists are wounding Imperial Knights on 5s. So any Strength increase becomes unreal, and you end up being able to wound a lot of things on 2s and 3s in melee. It encourages you to build an assault army and focus your shooting on clearing screens. The high Toughness of Vehicles and Monsters is less relevant to your army. This is an amazing rule.

Stratagems

Stand-out Stratagems

• Forlorn Fury
• Strike of Archangels
• Upon Wings of Fire
• Killshot
• Auspex Scan
• Descent of Angels
• Red Rampage
• Vengeance for Sanguinius

Warlord Traits

The Speed of the Primarch is okay, but the best choice here is Artisan of War. A Captain with this and a Thunder Hammer hits on 3s, re-rolls 1s and is Strength 8 with plus 1 to wound and does 4 Damage a strike!

Relics of Baal

Stand-out Relics

• The Angel's Wing
• The Veritas Vitae
• Standard of Sacrifice

 Psychic Powers

The best powers in the Sanguinary Discipline are the character buffs. They can make units like Mephiston and the Librarian Dreadnought terrifying in melee, plus Wings of Sanguinius can get them there quicker.