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Tactica Fast Attack [Broken HTML]

Submitted By: Date: June 2, 2006, 04:49:59 PM Views: 2010
Summary: <p class="body">Greetings readers, this article will instruct you in the control of the fast attack choices available to the necrons. These tactics and advice are based on my experience as a necron player for several years. I won’t be describing any specific rules so as to not violate copyright laws so I will assume that you know the necron rules when I write this article. Necron fast attack are a diverse bunch but after you finish this article you should have a good grasp of their strengths, weaknesses and some of the better ways to use them.</p>

<p class="heading">Wraiths:</p>
   <p class="subheader">The Basics:</p> <p class="body">These strange creations are awesome in pictures and are not slouches on the battlefield.  Wraiths are fast in both movement and attacking, they have excellent strength and a good number of attacks and their movement and ability to go virtually anywhere makes them well suited for searching out and attacking enemy weak spots.  Since wraiths count as jet bikes they get the turbo boost rule with which they can scoot across the entire board in two turns if necessary.  Wraiths also have an invulnerable save but since their numbers are so limited and they only have 1 wound each they are very vulnerable to large amounts of attacks.  I am much more afraid of having some imperial guard shooting their lasguns at my wraiths than I am of a space marine firing a krak missile at them.  While a wraith stands a good chance of making a single saving throw against a strong weapon, having to make multiple saving throws can result in the loss of one, or even a whole squad of wraiths.  So be careful where you move your wraiths.</p>

   <p class="subheader">Tactics:</p> <p class="body"> The use of wraiths is pretty straightforward.  You don’t have enough of them to attack the enemy head on (wraith squads are only 1-3 models strong and they are expensive) and they won’t do much for counterattacking for the same reason.  They are for attacking enemy weak spots.  Heavy weapon teams, support platforms, devastator squads and in the case of tau just about any of their units; all of these are targets for wraiths.  Wraiths should head for the squads who are sitting at the enemy rear and providing fire support, as these are most vulnerable to close combat.  Even if the wraiths can’t kill an entire squad the fact that they are in close combat means that they can’t shoot.  Wraiths are also decent at destroying light vehicles.  Wraiths have S6 and 3 attacks so three wraiths are pretty good at taking down light transports as well as things like whirlwinds and basilisks.  I once got lucky and look out a leman russ (hitting its rear armor).  Wraiths also completely ignore terrain of all sorts, even impassible terrain so use that to your advantage (you can’t hide wraiths in a mountain to stop people from shooting at them but you can move through dense forests or buildings without worrying about getting hurt or having to roll for difficult terrain.)  Giving a necron lord a destroyer body and maybe a wargear item or two can boost a wraith squad’s effectiveness greatly.  Finally, wraiths can come in useful where you need to get objectives.  They are prefect for capturing counters in loot and search and rescue missions and they are good at capturing last minute quarters in cleanse missions or getting an extra unit into the enemy deployment zone in a recon mission.  Remember, a unit’s value is not based solely on how well they kill the enemy.</p>

<p class="heading">Destroyers:</p>
   <p class="subheader">The Basics:</p> <p class="body"> I am not quite sure why destroyers are classified as a fast attack choice as they are heavy fire support.  Anyway, they can move quickly when necessary but for the most part the shouldn’t need to zoom around much.  Destroyers’ main strengths are in their weapons, the gauss cannon, and their ability to fire it on the move even though it is a heavy weapon (they are jet bikes so they can move and fire heavy weapons.)  The gauss cannon is excellent at destroying light and medium infantry as well as most vehicles.  It has 3 shots so even the smallest squad of destroyers can put out a large amount of fire.  However, in order to get line of sight on the enemy you may have to expose them to return fire which is bad as the destroyers are expensive and you can’t get many of them in a squad.</p>
   <p class="subheader">Tactics:</p><p class="body">  Destroyers are pretty simple to use.  Have them take out key enemy units at long range before they can close in on you or if you are going up against a shooting army then just use them as long range fire support while the rest of your army moves up.  If your opponent is mainly an assaulting force without much firepower then you don’t need to worry about hiding the destroyers, all you need to do is concentrate on the most dangerous enemy targets.  Destroyers are excellent at taking out vehicles of all types.  Their weapons are gauss weapons and have a decent strength but the fact that they are long range and have a good amount of shots means they can take out enemy vehicles before they get near you.  It is much better to take out an enemy rhino at 36 inches than to have to destroy it at 12 inches and to hope the passengers don’t get the jump on you on the next turn.  Gauss weapons are great at taking down vehicles but remember they always glance so unless your weapon is really high strength enemy transports won’t suffer the really nasty penalties of penetrating hits.  Destroyers are good at taking out infantry but they only have AP4.  Don’t waste your destroyers shooting phase trying to take out a bunch of terminators, leave those for massed fire from warriors, a monolith’s particle whip or a lord with a warsythe.  If you happen to be going against an army with decent firepower then try and start your destroyers behind cover.  If the enemy is coming towards you put them in a position to control certain fire lanes (put them behind cover so that when the enemy comes towards you he has to move through their field of fire).  In the case of armies like tau and imperial guard who don’t move much and just shoot it becomes more difficult.  Try and move your destroyers so they are open to as little enemy return fire as possible.  Have them move out and hit an enemy squad or vehicle but try and keep cover between them and most of the enemy forces.  Of course, if you play on boards with little or no cover then most of these tactics don’t help at all.  In that case just keep them behind your army and hope the enemy doesn’t get lucky shots off at them.  I don’t use destroyers as much these days because of the fact that they can be easily killed by things such as krak missiles and lascannons (which have an even longer range than the destroyers).  I generally only take them when facing an enemy who won’t have as much long range firepower so I can be sure they won’t die too soon.  If necessary they can also turbo boost (being jetbikes) for example if their happens to be a particularly annoying mortar team or whirlwind behind some trees that the rest of your army can’t see then they can get around side of it and open fire.  But on the whole I suggest using them against close combat armies in general.</p>


<p class="heading">Scarab Swarms:</p>
<p class="body">These guys are fun.  I don’t use them as serious close combat troops as they are just too weak for that but they are very fast (also counting as jetbikes as far as movement so they have turbo boost).  I normally get one or two squads of these guys with 3 scarabs in each squad.  They are meant to distract and tie up the enemy.  If your opponent is tau or imperial guard or another shooting army they are perfect as decoys.  Turbo boost them towards the enemy army, they can get very close in just the first turn.  If the enemy opens fire on them then they are leaving the rest of your army alone and scarabs are cheep and heave 3 wounds so they are excellent as expendable bullet magnets.  If your opponent makes the mistake of ignoring them then they can be of even more use.  Charge enemy fire support teams with them; devastator squads, mortar teams, tau fire warrior squads etc.  Scarabs can last quite a surprising time in close combat and they are fearless so they will stay on the enemy to the last man.  And while the enemy is tied up in close combat they are not shooting you.  If you know the enemy will be bringing lots of vehicles you can give them disruption fields which makes them a serious threat to enemy vehicles but in general I don’t bother with this upgrade as necron warriors, immortals, destroyers and every other model with a ranged weapon is perfectly capable of handling vehicles of all types.  I would suggest two small squads of scarabs as opposed to one big one for the purposes of distraction.  For one thing two squads can hold up more enemy units and your opponent will have to split his fire between them.  An imperial guard battle cannon is perfectly capable of taking out a squad of scarabs single handedly but if you have two squads of scarabs then the enemy will have to use something else to take out the second squad.  Against really weak close combat armies such as tau and imperial guard you may even want to make larger squads of scarabs so that they can actually do damage in close combat.  In those cases move scarabs through terrain whenever possible.  They get a bonus to their cover saves and don’t get penalized when moving through difficult terrain.  Scarab swarms can also deepstrike but I have never really used this much.  They can turbo boost which gets them places much quicker and deep striking has the risks of falling off the table, crashing in impassible terrain or landing right in front of the guns of an enemy squad.  Scarab swarms are not a vital part of an army in most cases but they can make the game much easier for you by distracting and delaying the enemy which can make all the difference.</p>

<p class="heading">Conclusion:</p><p class="body"> This concludes my article on necron fast attack tactica.  Much of it is actually common sense but there are a few tricks that I have pointed out that many people don’t think of.  Use these as guidelines so you can get the feel of how a unit should be used and then develop your own methods.  Hope this article was helpful, good luck gamers.</p>

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