Greetings gentlemen,
my posting
rate on this blog is as slow as ever and my response similarly delayed. But I
assure you, I do this in order to make sure that the content you read
maintaints some quality. Recently, I participated in the 1st greek tournament
after the release of 6th edition, and I believe I got quite a good taste of how
the new metagame looks like. Of course I would like to share this with you.
So, the
tournament was titled “Anvil of Heroes” , it took place in a fairly new gaming
club called “Legion Wargaming Club”. 24 Players attended the tournament, with some of the “well
known” players of our community being there.
This post
will not be about me or my performance in this tournament, but just for
those who are interested, I will include
my list at the end of the post.
To begin
with, compared to 5th edition
era, there were few GK players…actually, only 1, which used henchmen instead of
regular GK marines…ouch..
Actually, there were people representating
most armies ( I saw a tyranid player, SoB , SM all kinds of stuff ) which was very
interesting. However, most people used Necrons and IG..which of course, was to
be expected , and for a good reason.
I will be very straightforward:
at this moment ,the current 40k metagame insists that the only true winning
armies/lists come from those two codexes. Each of them has its own flavor that
makes it good and unique and is also set apart from the rest because of that.
I will
start from the Necrons. My 1st match was against the Necron player
who later won the tournament. He used a very flyer-heavy necron list, with 5
Nightscythes and two Doomscythes ,as well as some very cheap Ork allies ( a
bare big mek and 20 gretchins )
This list
proved to be very, very effective under the current conditions. I got tabled by
turn 4, got a bit mad during the game and even made some grave mistakes.
Overall the list is very well balanced although it is extreme by nature. What I
mean by that is , this list , although being flyer-heavy has enough ground
force to secure objectives, as well as prohibiting the enemy from killing all ground stuff
before the croissants pour in.
However,
the true power if this list lies in its flyers. The Doom Scythe , and most
importantly , the Night Scythe. Let’s examine this unit and compare it to the
rest of the flyers out there.
First of
all , it is a dedicated transport, meaning that you can spam it alongside other
usefull troops and , for a mere 100 points it is a truly imbalanced bargain.
It is an AV
11 all-around vehicle with 3 hull points that ignores Crew Stun& Shaken
rather easily ( on a 2+ and 4+ roll respectively , due to its Living Metal
rule)
It has a
str7 heavy 4 weapon , twin-linked with the tesla rule. The only weapon in the
game that rolls 4 dices and can pass 6 wounds. It is great against everything and you can also use it in
great numbers!
The whole thing gets even more
ridiculous when you compare the Night Scythe with the rest of the flyers in the
game. I wont bother you with the details , but the Night Scythe stands as the
best 100 points you can spend for a model.
Oh the
other hand, GW seems to be really fond of the necron codex , and specifically,
with the Deathmark Unit.. this is why this unit gets boosts after boosts with
every single FAQ.
Yes, it was
rapid fire weapons with both the rending and Precision shot rules. Yes it chooses
a unit when it deploys and wounds it on a 2+, , …. And yes, this ability is
shared with any IC that enters the unit… even cryptecs… I close my care here
and leave the rest up to you.
If you don’t
play Necrons , perhaps you should consider to do so, and if you don’t want to
you should tune you list and make it able to be a little more efficient against
them.
And now , I
will move on to IG. Well , I believe that there is no reason to explain why the
Guard has always been a blessed race… I struggle to remember a day when a
played could say the following “ My IG suck hard! I will sell them and buy Tau
istead!”. And this is of course , because they have always been a top-tier army
, and they remain to be in the dark days of 6th edition.
Not only
they have the second best flyer available , but they are very versatile when it
comes to allies! They happen to be , the only army who can abuse Prescience
with a bulk of firepower. This well known big, 50 man-strong platoon with the
15 autocannons hidden in it now can make it’s weapons twin-linked against
everything! They can reroll their close combat attacks ( although I don’t know
if even this can make them tough enough to survive an impact from a melee
specialist). Just add in a cheap BA or SW librarian and enjoy the incredible
number of dice you get to roll.
Furthermore,
things get even better for IG because of the new barrage weapon mechanics.
Another good reason to remove the dust from the old Basilisk and perhaps invest
in a Mandicore or a Medusa. Because now , Barrage are almost 100% better against
armor and a fair deal more accurate when they fire.
Finally, Vendettas
are excellent flyers ,and real cheap too. 12 armor is very tough for flyers,
and its 3 twin-linked lascannons can almost guarantee a vehicle wreck every
turn.
All in all,
the IG remain as dangerous as always. They are now , the epitome of balance,
quantity and quality. You can get their best when you pack some allies with
them, but even alone are more than sufficient against any enemy. A remarkable
codex that should become the principal for all future codexes.
All things
considered, it is definitely not my intention to suggest that IG and Necrons
are undefeatable. However, it is an undeniable fact that, during the first
months of 40k tournaments they will be just a cut above the rest. I don’t worry too much though. Both the Necrons and IG will lose some of
their light soon. Whether it comes from new codexes, codex updates or FAQ’s I
am sure that they will follow the path already tread by 5th Edition
razorspam or even Nob biker lists.
** Finally
, as promised, he is my BA list for the 1st Anvil of Heroes
Tournament:
HQ
Librarian-125pts
Jump pack,
Power Sword
ELITES
Sanguinary
Guard- 230pts
Power Axes
Chapter
Banner
Sanguinary
Priest- 75pts
Jump Pack
Troops
Assault Marines- 215
10 models
Sergeant
with Power Axe
2 Meltaguns
Assault Marines- 215
10 models
Sergeant
with Power Axe
2 Meltaguns
FAST ATTACK
3 Attack
Bikes-150 pts
Multi-melta
HEAVY
SUPPORT
Vindicator-145
Vindicator-145
Stormraven
Gunship- 200pts
-Twin-Linked
Multi-melta
-Twin-Linked
Lascannon
I hope you enjoyed this article, all C&C are welcome.
Stefanos Kapetanakis, out.
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