Nova Open:  30 Days to Go!

07/30/2012

10 Comments

 
Its been a week and no real new content.  Sorry about that!  Busy week!  Which was topped off with me being a bit under-the-weather.  Let's hope the worst is past.  Spent a goodly amount of time answering emails during that time though, though I still have a great deal left.  Been playing 6th Edition a bit more, as well as building and painting up my Nova Open list.  MVBrandt got the FAQ out, and there was nothing that was terribly crushing to my army, so I'm just going to go with what I have.  FINALLY got all of my Forge World stuff the other day (*insert rant about having to reshape all of the resin*), so I've spent a good deal of time the past couple days assembling and painting the IG portions of my army.  I opted to go with a simple desert-camo look for them, with hostile environment suits.  That will fit well with my self-imposed modeling habit of not using marines without their helmets.  Fortunately, they required much less detail work than my BT do so they should take little to no time to paint.

As Algesan noted, the only real concern is its ability to "claim" Table Quarters since I don't have jumbo-sized squads worth a whole lot of points to eat quarters.  I'll do some playtesting to see whether or not putting one my my Veteran squads inside the Valkyrie for late game Flyer/Troop shenanigans is worth-while.  I wanted to fit in the Veteran Autocannons that MVB suggested, but I couldn't figure out a good way squeeze the points and no one really offered up a suggestion.  So, I'll probably just keep it as is.

Next up, I'm going to be continuing our codex review here in the next couple of days, starting with the Transports.  This section is going to merge a little bit with Heavy Support, as I'm going to be lumping Land Raider Crusader into the Transport section as opposed to the Heavy Support.  EDIT:  Decided against this.  This will also be my "reply" to the B&C thread regarding transports, specifically regarding the value of the LRC.

One thing I want to mention, and I haven't gotten a chance to really dig into it yet here on the blog, is how our armies have changed.  5th Edition is over folks.  Unfortunately, 6th Edition is rather harsh to our good lists in the previous edition.  Adjusting is going to take some time, but one thing is for certain:  what was good in 5th Edition does not mean its good in 6th Edition.  You'll be seeing lots more hybrid lists, a slight fall in the number of vehicles (non-flyers), and a good deal of Allies.  Including for us.  I don't buy into that extra "tax" of needing another HQ unit.  Why?  Because more times than not, that allied HQ unit is something that I'd happily spend points on in an Elites/Fast Attack/Heavy Support slot.  And they are usually pretty cheap, with great value (i.e. IG HQs) or unlock nice combos (i.e. SM Biker Captains).  It doesn't have to be a bad thing and I hope to prove as such at Nova.

Another thing to note.  Close combat is very much alive.  Its stupid how good some of our units have gotten in their CC roles.  Most are not meant to plow through everything in your opponent's list, but that is perfectly okay.  Strategic charges can, and will, break your opponent's game plan quickly.  And our Terminators CAN decimate everything in our opponent's list.  Just saying.  ;)

Anyway, expect to see a few more emails posted up, as well as the review here shortly.  I also plan to get WIP pics up for ya'll, as I'm going at a pretty good clip for painting.  I don't want to have another Nova Open 2011 episode where I'm finishing my painting the night before.  :P
 


Comments

waterbat12 link
07/31/2012 12:28am

I agree we are going to be seeing quite a few more hybrid lists except for maybe necrons who got a boost becuase of the increased toughness of AV 13 vehicles.(Quantum Shielding FTW...) I wouldn't be suprised to see a necron player bringing 10 or so AV 13 vehicles in the near future.OH! And I do hope you feel better!

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Trignama
07/31/2012 4:18pm

Actually I have been playtesting my brothers Necron army for him (since he is guam) I came up with a list, proxy tested it, had him buy the models, then built them, played the list and took it to gamesday.

at 1850 it sports 10 AV 13 vehicles, I played several oppenents (orks, tau, wolves, and grey knights) everyone I played quit by turn 3-4, Necrons are dumb now....

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Marshal Laeroth (Admin) link
07/31/2012 10:16pm

Aye, the Necrons are definitely powerful...but I echo Algesan in saying they are far from unbeatable. 6th Edition definitely buffed them, but not to ridiculous heights. Its important to note that Necron flyers do not have quantum shielding, so they are vulnerable to pretty much everything you have. Likewise, they are also hindered by not being able to Hover.

Besides the Command Barge, no AV13 vehicle is so scary that I need to overly worry about it.

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Sharpie
08/02/2012 11:08am

*Cough*Doomyscythe*Cough*

Ive had to face my local GW manager that plays 3 of these things in a 1000 point list, and he has even tabled a 2000 pt army in 2 turns according to him. I played him today and he tabled my 1000 pt Guard army with 3 Leman Russes by turn 3. If that isn't broken I don't know what is.

Algesan link
07/31/2012 5:29pm

Tough, yes, unbeatable, not at all. The biggest problem for most people vs Necrons is that when I say "I'm bringing Necrons" you have no clue what I'm bringing. Massed infantry, massed vehicles, massed scarabs, massed flyers, massed tricknology (and which flavoer), some hybrid of two or more of these? These are all viable list types.

Another issue, at least for tournament play, is that several versions of the "best" LGS buttkicking Necron lists are likely to suck major wind against NOVA opponents. Heck, if my first six games are against some of the touted uberlists, then unless dice totally fail me on both sides of the table, then I'll probably be playing Sunday morning for sure. The last few IG ally BT lists I was working on would have made serious hash out of vehicle heavy Necron lists.

@Marshal Laeroth

You are starting to sound like me in 5th about CC. ;)
Of course, that is probably why I felt the sting of the AACNMTO nerf more than most, especially as I did play in that little 5th Ed team game with 3xTLC, 2xTH/SS in a LRC and got to see what that could rip through for old times sake and compare it to my games of 6th where my Terminators ended up, well, meh.

Yep, you have about half my points in scoring units, but I always did have a solution for that in 5th...Kill Them All. If the enemy has no more scoring units left...then you can win 1-0 in objectives. OTOH, you do have a decent amount in denial units, which will also work for this purpose. You Master of Sanctity's squad may never manage to claim Quarters, but they are a nice ph4t unit for denying Quarters.

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Lucion
08/02/2012 10:26am

@Algesan It would be nice to see more elaboration on those Necron list archetypes, and which one's prove to be most effective.

Likewise I am curious to observe what happens with the Templar list archetypes now things have been shaken up a bit.

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Marshal Laeroth (Admin) link
08/04/2012 6:54pm

Unfortunately, the updated BT 101 will be delayed until after Nova Open is done. That includes an update to our viable archetypes, as while I can give you a basic understanding of the current ones, I'd like to see what's on the table at a competitive tournament first. It'll give me more perspective.

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Algesan link
08/02/2012 11:36am

Massed flyer lists with MSU Warrior squads with some side variants. Like the Destroyer Lord/Wraith Combo. Or the Deathmark w/ Veil Cryptek. Or Destroyer Lord/Lychguard. Or triple Doomsday Arks.

In other words, more fragile Kill Them All lists that depend on body count to win.

IMO, they are shot, but I think I depended more on CC than most running a Gunline style army. Wading in shooting and then punching them in the face really just doesn't work as well as it used to. I did make up a BT/IG Black Tide list with Triple Vindicators that would probably win more than its fair share of games. For the future, it has really boiled down to what GW does with RZ. If it stays anything near the current Righteous Mild Enthusiasm, then it will look a lot like I see it now, dull, boring, useful for fluffy army builds.

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Algesan link
08/02/2012 11:29pm

@Sharpie
Company Cmd, Plt Cmd, 2xInf Squads, 2xAC HWS, Vet Squad, 4xChimera, 2xHydra, Aegis w Quad, leaves about 70 or so points to add goodies. You can split the Hydras or keep them together.

Co Command sets up with the two HWS with the Aegis and provides orders to them with one of his troops manning the Quad for BS4. The other squads go into Chimeras for mobility. You can actually use the Quad to try and shoot down one of the DS before it can shoot (and give orders to his own squad to mitigate the Jink rule if they are shooting the Quad).

Just shoot stuff then. The problem with a triple DS is that it is a "Kill Them All" list that can only win by killing all of your troops so you cannot score against it in five out of the six scenarios. It eats 525 points of his 1000 and since the minimum for a Necron HQ is 80 points IIIRC (Naked OL), he doesn't have much left over.

I don't know what he has in the way of other vehicles, but if you get lucky on your AA, then you might be "stuck" with a pair of Hydra. I wish I had such problems.



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Marshal Laeroth (Admin) link
08/04/2012 7:04pm

Aye, the Doomscythe in a 1000 point army is ridiculous. I don't expect any list to be able to bring them down. But that can also be a boon, as it is probably easier to deal with the rest of their list. Its a survival thing and if you can manage to claim your objectives, its likely you've got the win.

But in a 2k point battle? They don't scare me. I've got more than enough to deal with them. Plus, they can't hover so I'll happily play the mobility game denying them shots. Let my opponent blow a precious 525 points on them. AV 11 goes down quicker than you'd think, even with the new flyer rules.

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