Honorguard against Steel Rain... for all the marbles

As I mentioned in my two previous posts, I had the opportunity to play in a 2K tournament on Sunday. My first round was a lucky, but convincing win against an SW list, while my second round was solid victory over a Newcron army.  My list was:

Draigo
Paladins (5) with DH x2, Halberd x2, Pyscannon x2, and Banner
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
Venerable Rifleman
Rifleman Dread
Stormraven with TLMM and TLPC and SL
Dread Calgar with Teleporter

The tournament itself was a three-round tournament with each of the three deployments. The objectives for each round were the same: three sieze ground objectives, two capture and control objectives, and KPs. Winning an objective was worth 10 points, draws were worth 5, and losses 0 for a max of 30 points per round. I didn't get army lists from my opponents so I am going from memory.

Round 3
Deployment: Spearhead

So I rolled into the third round with 60 points and was paired off with a Space Marine player who had also received 60 points from his previous rounds.  I don't think either of the next two people had 40 points, and I think I had a sizeable VP lead, so I just needed to force a draw to win the Tournament.  However, when I saw his list, I knew I was facing an uphill battle:

Vulkan
Tactical Squad with PF, MG, MM, and DP
Tactical Squad with PW, Flamer, MM, and Rhino
Tactical Squad with PW, Flamer, ML, and Rhino
Scout Squad (10) with Snipers and Cloaks
Ironclad with DP
Ironclad with DP
Devestators (5) with MLx3 and LC and TLLC Razorback
Devestators (5) with MLx3 and LC and TLLC Razorback
Thunderfire Cannon

Honorguard are afraid of the dark? (GK vs Necron Batrep)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had the opportunity to play in a 2K tournament on Sunday.  My first round was a lucky, but convincing win against an SW list.  My list was:

Draigo
Paladins (5) with DH x2, Halberd x2, Pyscannon x2, and Banner
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
Venerable Rifleman
Rifleman Dread
Stormraven with TLMM and TLPC and SL
Dread Calgar with Teleporter

The tournament itself was a three-round tournament with each of the three deployments. The objectives for each round were the same: three sieze ground objectives, two capture and control objectives, and KPs. Winning an objective was worth 10 points, draws were worth 5, and losses 0 for a max of 30 points per round. I didn't get army lists from my opponents so I am going from memory.

Round 2
Deployment: Pitched Battle

For the second round, I was paired off against a Newcron player with an interesting list.  He was still in the process of finishing his army, so he was lacking some of what I would consider the harder units in the codex.  His list was:

Stormlord
3 Lords with Scythe and Res Orb
1 Transmorg Cryptek with Harp
20 Warriors with Ghost Ark
20 Warriors
20 Warriors
5 Lychguard with Scythes
7 Deathmarks
1 Heavy Destroyer and 3-4 Destroyers

Honey Calgar don't care!

Dread Calgar... he takes what he wants!

I had an opportunity to make it out to a small 2K tournament yesterday, so I dusted off my Honorguard (Counts As GK) army and bumped it up to 2K.  I didn't use the 2K list I posted earlier because some models are still under construction.  Here is what I took:

Draigo
Paladins (5) with DH x2, Halberd x2, Pyscannon x2, and Banner
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
Venerable Rifleman
Rifleman Dread
Stormraven with TLMM and TLPC and SL
Dread Calgar with Teleporter

FAQ Day!

https://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=1000018&pIndex=1&aId=3400019&multiPageMode=true&start=2

They updated 99% of the 40K books, including the Necron Codex.

Necrons
1.  Taking two Courts means you can attach two Royal Court members to a unit.  (Huge Buff)
2.  Abyssal Staves calculate ID against Leadership... not toughness (aka they don't) (Nerf)
3.  Created Scarabs must be spawned in coherency with the unit's footprint before the turn started (Needed Nerf)
4.  Stormlord benefits from Chronometron (Buff)
5.  Stormlord does not get lightning attacks if you use Solar Pulse to see during your phase. (Nerf)
6.  Whipcoils got hit with the Lash Whip nerf, so modifiers such as FC or Halbreds apply after you get reduced to I1.  (Nerf)
7.  Trazyn does not replace a model until AFTER he has failed his Everliving Roll (Huge buff for him)
8.  Entropic Strike works before rolling to penetrate and is distributed evenly across squadrons.

Counts As Thunderwolf Cav....

Note: In the video, Buffalo Cavalry >>>> potential Bear Cavalry.

Things have been busy than I expected this week, so no new Necrons yet.  I did finish building my Stormraven which I intend to use in an upcoming 2000-point tournament.  I will throw up a quick post of my planned list and hopefully be able to give some battle reports after the tournament.


Necrons have arrived!!!

That glare you see is the solar pulse....

The Tomb World just coughed up:

3 Barges
5 Immortal/Deathmark Boxes
2 Warrior Boxes (Tournament Spoils)
2 Ghost Arks

I love brick and mortar stores with 20% discounts! This should pretty much cover my Nemesor with Lychguard force. I would rather have Wraiths, but I have to wait for Wave 2. I plan to tear into these and start building within the next day or so....

Building a list around Lychguard...

Necron version of TH/SS Terminator

As I mentioned in a previous article, I think that Lychguard are not only beautiful models, but have decent rules.  However, they REALLY need some support to make them worthwhile.  They have several major weaknesses and I personally think that Wraiths can do almost anything a Lychguard unit could better and cheaper.  Wraiths have better invulnerable saves, are faster, are cheaper, and have multiple wounds.  9 times out of 10, if I was looking for a counter assault unit, I would go with the Wraiths.  However, that is not the point of this exercise, so I am going to focus on ways to mitigate the weaknesses of Lychguard and look at how they can differentiate themselves from Wraiths and Scarabs.

2K Necrons with Nemesor Zahndrekh

As I have looked through the Necron Codex, several shiney things caught my eye.  One of my biggest "failings" in making competitive lists is that I generally like to field big, flashy HQs and/or a centerpiece deathstar unit.  My favorite Smurfs lists had Calgar or Librarians leading Honorguard or Assault Termies riding in a Land Raider.  My Honorguard lists are built around Draigo and Pallies (the very definition of overpriced deathstar).  I have never been much for many of the MSU-style shooty builds, as they lack what I consider an "epic" character--both figuratively and literally.  Nothing against them (they are generally much more effective), but I enjoy having some sort of hero character/unit in my armies.  As I was reading through the Necron Codex, I was immediately drawn to three entries--Lychguard, Nemesor Zahndrekh, and Vagard Obyron.