So the latest round of previews have been completed and if I am honest I was extremely disappointed. More focus on the Imperium and whilst the Stern sculpt is impressive it is simply another hero (jumping from a rock but that is another issue) for GW to drive the Imperium narrative forward. Psychic awakening has been full of it and one army remains unloved and neglected. The necrons. Since receiving one of the early eighth edition codexes they have been largely ignored. Miniature wise they have likewise had nothing for a long time; hell, their characters are all still in finecast and the warriors have not had any changes since I first started collecting them in 2004! Likewise their rules are a horrible mismash of close combat rules and abilities which do not match the stat lines, high points costs and a resurrection capability which does not quite cut the proverbial mustard. To me it has long seemed that GW has never been sure what to do with them. Strong gun line? Strong close combat? At the moment they are neither and in competetive play they struggle unless you field one or two very specific lists. The introduction of the primaris marines has also made matters worse when basic troop choices for the imperium can have two wounds to warriors one.
I will be honest though and say that I never expected much from psychic awakening. The hints and rumors of the Silent King being introduced as a playable character were interesting but as PA rolled on it seemed unlikely. Lots of old characters have returned/been upgraded but no completely new character has come (new Primaris captains do not count as new in my view. Sorry) out of the series. Personally I held out hope for a mechanicum v necron narrative as that would have at least allowed a new C’tan to be introduced but it seems that Knights v Knights is the way GW is going there. So Pariah is essentially the last hope for the Necrons in PA and it seems likely that it will be against Sisters given the preview. A lot immediately assumed that Pariah would refer to the old unit but I never saw that happening. GW is happy to do a retcon but seldom retcons a model back into production for 40k (though it may make an appearance elsewhere) and bringing the scrubbed pariah back would be a big admission of oops. GW does not like admitting oops. That’s a real shame as the unit had a great back story with the assassin element and there was something very apt about them using one of the younger races as little more than cattle for a troop choice.
Still, I do think there is scope for a new pariah type unit or upgrade based on the reveals. The below is my opinion and is based on my own love of deus ex machina, the dramatic and also an admittedly dark imagination. My story would go:
Stern is on the run at the outset. The Inquisition is after her due to her past and also Chaos because of the threat she poses. The Harlequin troupes likewise are hunting her down because of her association with Kyganil. The Sisters of Battle though are staying away because she was one of their own and they are leaving the Inquisition to clean this one up.
The necrons however come to notice her. Tarzyn desires to add her to his collection but also notes that she is a capable weapon against the warp. At the same time illuminor szeras starts to take an interest and sees her as a potential asset.
Tarzyn manages to capture her but due to his own pariah status in necron circles is forced to hand her over to illuminor who begins to experiment on her on solemnace to see what makes her tick.
The Sisters decide that this is really not on and decide to get her back and take on the necrons in force.
The harlequins actually manage to infiltrate Solemnace and escape with Stern (With the aid of Kygnil).
The inquisition think they have dealt with the necron threat but an astropathic waystation is destroyed by a new necron force which is able to completely destroy psychic ability and there is a realisation that Illuminor managed to learn enough and take enough tissue samples to create a new canoptek construct.
The reasons I would go this way are that there is a history in the fluff of necrons and sisters in battle (this was the early fluff when the necrons first appeared) but it also makes the most of the following:
Stern is a pariah and Tarzyn is undoubtedly one in necron circles;
A new construct would mean a new model and mean GW can avoid having to admit to an oops moment
It lets Stern continue to run around the Imperium (GW will not introduce a model to kill the character off).
It fits the necron approach to using humans as a resource
Provides a nice excuse to update the Illuminor and the Tarzyn models from finecast to plastic. They also need much better rules as at present oTarzyn is pretty much useless on the board.
GW can let the Sister’s claim a battlefield victory (We know the Imperium doesn’t like loosing).
No doubt GW will do something different and the necrons will end up with a unit they don’t need or some more pointless relics but who knows. MAybe, just maybe they will get something useful. The Silent King? For me this is a new codex character driving forward a new narrative and as much as an aura character is needed I don’t see it coming in just yet.
When I first got into table top gaming I was at university. My house mates had been playing for years (though only one had a fully painted army) and were quite seasoned players. It was 5th edition back then and I plumped for a necron army. At the same time though I became aware of the specialist game Battlefleet Gothic. I never played more than one or two skirmishes but something about the game captured my heart more than 40k ever has.
When I put the hobby down post university I thought that I had binned all the models that I had. Turns out that I was wrong and when I cleared the parents loft I found my entire Imperial Fleet, Space Marine fleet and Blackstone Fortress. My Chaos ships were never painted and were not even built.
I decided to spend March working on these and enhancing the ones which were already painted. Ebay has also provided a new Eldar squadron and some other goodies…
So, the Venator is finished (well bar varnish but I cannot do that until the weather improves).
If I am honest this project turned into a real chore. The model itself is an old one and was built easily (twelve years or more ago) but putting my kind of character into it was hard. There was just not enough detail on the hull surfaces to pick out and what details existed I could not set off with my meagre skills and kit.
On the plus side I am pleased with the result and I have tested a few new colours and techniques. Some, like GW contrast paints I probably won’t use again but others I may.
I have a new backdrop on order so may put some better shots up in the future. Just got to find how to pose and store this beast (nearly half a meter bow to stern) now.
If nothing else it will be handy to use as a backdrop for some of the x-wing miniatures I hope to buy this year.
So the venator is coming along nicely now. The army painter strong tone wash really lifted the hull beyond my expectations. I did try using different shades of grey but it did nothing (other than the humbrol dark). The strong tone was a bit last resort to give some character but I am really pleased with how it looks. Engines are about half done and I am doing some detailing on the lower hull next.
Not decided yet whether or not to paint the red stripes on the wings (I no longer have the decals and besides I hate decals) or to freehand a rebel alliance phoenix. That will be the last thing I do pre-varnish either way.
I had planned to either sell or give the model away when finished but I think I will keep it as a photography and scale testbed. Especially as it is a great scale for x-wing miniatures and will make a fine backdrop.
So there was a bit of a background to this game as Jon’s Blood Angels had faced my necrons a few weeks earlier and tabled them by turn two. On consideration (and given the litany of victories Jon has in our little casual group) we both wondered whether or not his primaris force was broken due to the rules more than anything else. He rarely looses to anything not primaris and my necrons have a good record against most armies other than primaris. As a result we decided on a rematch where he would use the older tactical marines in order to see if that made a difference…
Blood Angels
+ HQ +
Captain [5 PL, 86pts]: 2. Artisan of War, Master-crafted boltgun, Relic blade, The Veritas Vitae, Warlord
As I had come prepared for a 1000 point game I had to make some hurried changes to my list and as a result ended up playing at 760 points. Just how we roll.
For me the aims were:
Survive into turn 3 and still have a realistic chance of winning
Test out the tomb blades
Try and minimise my exposure to Blood Angels close combat units
Try and concentrate my firepower and make better use of the necrons synergistic traits.
We were playing the maelstrom of war missions and had six objective markers set up on the board. We chose the ‘Dawn of War’ deployment due to this being a casual game and Jon chose to be the attacker and deployed his units first with me following. Post deployment the board looked like this
Markers six, three and two were on my side of the board (two in the building on the right on the first floor) and six on the top of the gantry on the right. Five was in the building on the top right and one was behind a container. In essence we both controlled three markers each.
Turn One
Jon had a tactical objective which meant he was more limited in what he could move in the first turn if he wanted to get the victory point. As a result he moved the Baal to just above the lake (impassable unless you had fly) and advanced his Captain and Lieutenant to keep pace with it. Neither of us had psykers so it was straight into shooting. As the captain had and Lieutenant had advanced they could not shoot. The tactical marines on the top of objective five managed to inflict a wound on a tomb blade with a heavy bolter but did nothing more. The Baal unleashed the fury of its assault cannons and heavy bolters to knock down five warriors but some good save rolls allowed the rest of the squad to survive.
The necron first turn saw me keep the tactics cards for secure objective two (which I was already on), slaughter the living and honourable combat. I discarded two others which were even less useful than honourable combat!! The resurrection protocol roll saw one fallen warrior restored. My movement phase saw me advance the destroyers and the tomb blades up the board from the middle and right. The annihilation barge moved up on the left flank and all three units had line of sight on the Baal. From past experience I know this can be a pig to take down and it can do a lot of damage so I wanted it gone! The destroyers went first and with merciless destruction hit with all nine shots and a nice wound roll saw seven wound rolls of five plus. Jon failed five of the needed six plus armour saves and the damage rolls removed the Baal from the board! First blood to the Necrons. The initial explode roll was a six but Jon re-rolled to avoid immolating his own HQ. The annihilation barge lit up its tesla cannon and destructor but only managed to inflict a single wound on the captain. Finally the tomb blades took the shot with the particle beamers on the lieutenant and managed to take him off the board as well.
A brilliant first turn for the Solar Legion saw them claim three VP (first blood, objective 2 and slaughter the living). Jon had one victory point on the board.
Turn 2
Jon had the cards for defending objective five which would take two turns and was now able to move his forces. The captain beat a hasty retreat to escape the cross fire of the barge, destroyers and tomb blades and put other units closer to the necrons. One tactical squad moved to support and another moved to challenge the annihilation barge. The sanguinary guard dropped into the space behind the necron lines and prepared to assault. The shooting phase went better for the Blood Angels this time. The tactical squad on the roof took down two tomb blades and the sanguinary guard took down the warrior squad to two members before charging. One sanguinary guard took a wound from overwatch but the lord and the two man squad were now locked in combat. The annihilation barge did take out one marine on overwatch but was likewise now in combat. The guard swiftly took down the remaining warriors to remove the unit from the board but could not slay the overlord though he was taken down to two wounds (some very very lucky invulnerable save rolls on my part).
Taking in the fact that I had survived the guard’s deepstrike (which has hammered me many times in the past) I drew my objectives. I had advance, behind enemy lines (which Jon under the specific rules assigned two VP to) and defend objective six. My immortals held objective six and they had no threats on the board near them so left them be. Given the current state of play I went on the offensive. The annihilation barge made use of its fly ability to fall back and moved into Jon’s deployment zone. My lord had moved close to the full warrior squad and used his own relic – the veil of darkness to also jump into Jon’s deployment zone. The destroyers shifted position to also see the squad hiding behind cover as did the remaining tomb blade whose resurrections had failed. Another turn of shooting saw the squad behind the barge exterminated in a hail of rapid fire gauss blasts from the warriors. They shooting was made easy by the barge felling one marine and the methodical extermination stratagem boosting the warriors hit rolls. The tactical squad on the roof was reduced to one marine with a heavy bolter. The immortals made a small contribution and felled three of the marines who had been previously assaulting the barge. The overlord stayed in combat with one wound back from his living metal (along with the barge) and his hyperphase sword did remove on sanguinary guard from the board (the one with one wound already!).
Two victory points to zero to the necrons on this turn.
Turn 3
Things had by now become quite fragmented. Both sides had forces all over the board but the necrons retained a large concentration in Jon’s deployment zone. Jon had the objective cards of capture objective six, defend objective five and assassinate. I allowed slay the assassinate to count as two on the basis that he was going to get objective five anyway. The captain scooted away into cover and in a surprise move the sanguinary guard fell back from combat into the cover of the building in the centre of the map. The shooting phase saw a destroyer loose a wound to the tactical marine’s heavy bolter whilst the overlord lost another wound to the guard’s bolters.
For my turn I still had the advance card, defend objective six and dust and ashes (keep one character alive for the rest of the battle). Jon nominated this for two VP and my plucky little lord was nominated. A fortunate resurrection protocol roll saw both tomb blades returned to the battle; a handy boon indeed! I moved to consolidate my forces by advancing the tomb blades to join up with the barge and the warriors at the back of the board. The lord was moved toward objective three to keep him out of harms way! The shooting phase saw the tactical marines in the open destroyed along with their pesky plasma gun which had stubbornly refused to overload and blow up (Quite a common occurrence for Jon). The captain managed to withstand the combined firepower of the barge and tomb blades before finally falling in a flurry of rapid fire gauss shots.
One VP for me this turn.
Turn 4
Jon had little left to play with but did move the sanguinary guard so that they were between the overlord and the destroyers. His tactical marine tried to snipe the overlord with the heavy bolter but failed though the guard did finally bring him down with their bolters giving Jon the assassinate VP.
For the necrons I moved the destroyers, warriors and tomb blades and the resultant round of shooting removed another two guard. At this point Jon conceded the game.
Final score:
Blood Angels 3 victory points
Necrons 6 victory points before concession
Lessons learned
This was a tactically well fought battle which swung on the loss of the baal in the first turn. Jon’s use of the blood angels aggression has stood him in good stead in the past but today it backfired. The consolidation of the necron firepower and the use of the merciless destruction/methodical destruction stratagems was devastating against single wound marines and lower point characters.
The destroyers were the necron star of the show; followed closely by the tomb blades in their first outing. That being said the lack of AP was a problem and in a larger point game I would certainly look at equipping the barge and blades with gauss weaponry to force the armour saves up.
Would this battle have gone differently against primaris marines? Potentially but the early loss of the baal and the lieutenant skewed things a bit. Certainly it was a longer and more entertaining battle but for me I remain unconvinced by the necron warriors. They either need a buff or a points cut to avoid being consigned to the storage tray.
So February’s project on the modelling front is to finish the Revell Venator Star Destroyer from Revenge of the Sith and the Clone Wars series. This was always my favourite version of the Star Destroyer class ships which you see across the saga and I saved for ages for the model when it came out. Resources at the time and other matters meant I base coated it and then completely forgot about it until I moved home. Clearing the loft at my parents resulted in it being unearthed.
This is a big model and I decided that I would start by painting the command bridge first. My first idea was to use Citadel Basilicanum Grey contrast paint over a grey base coat. This failed dismally as the whole thing was just too dark and the finish was uneven. One respray later and I tried again.
This was a basic grey spray for the base coat with some Revel battleship grey and light grey to lighten and darken select panels. The red was completed with some Citadel red foundation paint, an army painter bright red top coat and a citadel red wash. Finally some army painter strong tone was used on the whole piece and I am delighted with the results.
Just got to do the rest of the monster now!!
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Welcome to ‘Roll 3’s to Hit’; my blog for all my Warhammer 40k, Kill Team and other miscellaneous modelling and hobby projects. I will hopefully include some of the 40k fan fiction I plan to write this year (in addition to my normal science fiction writing) and will also include battle reports, updates and comments.
For 40k fans in the Northwest of England who are looking for a a bit of casual gaming on a Sunday I would recommend checking out ‘Northwest Miniature Gaming’ who play at Element Games when there is casual space. You can find them at https://www.facebook.com/ElementGamesNWGC/ (we do also consider other venues).
A little about me then. In my spare time I play 40k though for me the painting and the lore is more interesting than the actual game play. I left the hobby for a long time but have rebuilt my Necron army and am regularly tabled by the marine players in the group! In addition I have an interest in the following other games:
Roll 3's to hit 