Warhammer 40K Tabletop X: "Everybody Expects The Inquisition!"

[Wraith]

Mmm, I see. So, you find the presence of a Phoenix Lord is not menacing enough to protect the army by having more fire directed the Phoenix Lord's way?

For 200 points and without an Invulnerable Save? Not a chance!
Certainly, not with Karandras, who will probably be Infiltrating/Scouting with his unit, and thus not a very easy target. Asurmen could probably get away with it, but as you said the Avatar is probably a better choice.

*Independant Character*

Ugh, sorry, my bad - For some reason I always forget that bit of the IC rules. It's another reason for me to NOT use Phoenix Lords more often; I don't have to bother relearning the Close Combat rules, when instead I can just take more Scorpions and throw piles and piles of dice at the enemy until they go away

Huh... I have to admit, I had never given consideration to a shooty Autarch, being so fixed in the mindset that a warrior HQ belongs into close combat. So, an Autarch that is there to shoot stuff and stays out of combat can be worth it, too?

Oooh, that would open up so many possibilities.

Not necessarily staying out of combat, even.

I often run an Autarch with Fusion Gun, Mandiblasters, Power Weapon and Jump Generator, so that he can do the 'Phoenix Lord' trick with my Warp Spiders.
They all Deep Strike in as a squad (and so he avoids being sucked into the Warp on his lonesome) and then goes on their separate ways. The Warp Spiders go after their targets (Light vehicles, high toughness infantry) while he goes after his (heavier tanks and lone IC's).
There's no reason as to why your Autarch can't do the same except with a Jet Bike instead of a 'Pack, and if someone tries to stop him.... Surprise! My guy has both kinds of grenades and five attacks with a Power Weapon at I6, sucker!

[Closet_Skeleton]

Truth be told, I always assumed that was her real face. It looks that way, too.

Why would it be her real face? It looks nothing like a real face, she has a banshee mask in her equipment list and all the other pheonix lords have masks. Did you think Maugen Ra really has a skull head too? (well, to be honest he might)

The face isn't really the bad part of that model. Its just the pose and a few other things that contribute to you not really being able to see what's supposed to actually be going on with it. I had a similar problem with the old Lelith, which wasn't that horrible.

The only Phoenix Lord models I actuallly like are Baharoth and maybe Maugen Ra.

Taking a particularly ugly mask would kinda defeat the purpose of using a better model.

Why?

Howling banshees are supposed to reflect the aspect Khaine gained from dealing with the crone godess. Not the hot sexy bimbo assassin godess.

Or are you now going to sell all your Ogres because they're ugly?

[Winterwind]

For 200 points and without an Invulnerable Save? Not a chance!
Certainly, not with Karandras, who will probably be Infiltrating/Scouting with his unit, and thus not a very easy target. Asurmen could probably get away with it, but as you said the Avatar is probably a better choice.

Alright.

Ugh, sorry, my bad - For some reason I always forget that bit of the IC rules. It's another reason for me to NOT use Phoenix Lords more often; I don't have to bother relearning the Close Combat rules, when instead I can just take more Scorpions and throw piles and piles of dice at the enemy until they go away

Which sounds like a perfectly reasonable approach to me.

Not necessarily staying out of combat, even.

I often run an Autarch with Fusion Gun, Mandiblasters, Power Weapon and Jump Generator, so that he can do the 'Phoenix Lord' trick with my Warp Spiders.
They all Deep Strike in as a squad (and so he avoids being sucked into the Warp on his lonesome) and then goes on their separate ways. The Warp Spiders go after their targets (Light vehicles, high toughness infantry) while he goes after his (heavier tanks and lone IC's).
There's no reason as to why your Autarch can't do the same except with a Jet Bike instead of a 'Pack, and if someone tries to stop him.... Surprise! My guy has both kinds of grenades and five attacks with a Power Weapon at I6, sucker!

Hmmm... and on a Jetbike, I could get a Lance instead of a regular Power Weapon, thus negating the problem with the low Strength.
I'd probably go with the Reaper Launcher or a Death Spinner instead of a Fusion Gun, then, as my Jetbikes usually serve the purpose of killing infantry; he could stay with the unit, contribute to shooting, and be able to leave the unit and attack if it ever should seem prudent.

Why would it be her real face? It looks nothing like a real face, she has a banshee mask in her equipment list and all the other pheonix lords have masks. Did you think Maugen Ra really has a skull head too? (well, to be honest he might)

Well, no, I didn't think that about Maugan Ra, but at least on the official GW pictures, Jain Zar's face does look like a real face to me. Perhaps it's different with the real model...

The face isn't really the bad part of that model. Its just the pose and a few other things that contribute to you not really being able to see what's supposed to actually be going on with it. I had a similar problem with the old Lelith, which wasn't that horrible.

The only Phoenix Lord models I actuallly like are Baharoth and maybe Maugen Ra.

True, they could all be standing in a more dynamic stance.

Why?

Howling banshees are supposed to reflect the aspect Khaine gained from dealing with the crone godess. Not the hot sexy bimbo assassin godess.

Or are you now going to sell all your Ogres because they're ugly?

Well, no, of course not, but I was not looking for beauty amongst Ogres. With Eldar, I'd much rather have models reflecting their supposed superhuman grace and beauty than something that looks like the cross between a Dark Eldar and an Ork.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Well, no, of course not, but I was not looking for beauty amongst Ogres. With Eldar, I'd much rather have models reflecting their supposed superhuman grace and beauty than something that looks like the cross between a Dark Eldar and an Ork.

Eldar are graceful, but they're not supposed to be beautiful in the human sense. The pretty ones are beautiful in the disturbing uncanny valley sense.

The're space fairies. They have a faction called the Wild Riders of Saim Hain for extra obviousness. Jain Zar's mask is based off a goblin.

The Avatar isn't exactly good looking either. I can't think of any (craftworld) eldar model with a pretty face apart from like 1 head you get in the guardians box. They're either have helmets, grotesque masks or whatever the viper crew have. Checking the website there's just Yriel and the jetbike Autarch.

The bareheaded farseer in DoW 2 made no sense to me since aren't Farseers supposed to have screwed up bodies that are turning to crystal?

[Lowkey Lyesmith]

Units have fluff and their names are part of that.

Chaos Raptors are an organisation made up of all the jump pack marines of the original traitor legions that consider themselves elite forces but are mainly seen as nutjobs. They aren't just "chaos marines with jump packs".

Both true and false. Units overall have names that reflect their fluff. However a unit might not be restricted to the name/fluff combo.

Okay, their fluff was only actually explained in an ancient White Dwarf article and is badly summerised in the codexes and there's a bit of conflicting information in some pictures. But some guys like to paint their aspect warriors in the same colour scheme as their guardians, so whatever.

That would be like saying Striking Scorpions aren't a special organisation with their unique traditions, just Eldar storm guardians in power armour. You can convert some Storm Guardians to have heavier armour, use the Striking Scorpion rules and say that they're a unique kind of guardian from your homebrew craftworld but I thought we were talking about using a traitor legion with established fluff.

The fluff of striking scorpions is explained in every single codex, every single article that has them says the same things. To become a strinking scorpion you must undergo specific training (or whatever you want to call it). You must wear lot's of different and weird/hard to come by wargear.

To become a Raptor you put on a jump pack and say you worship chaos. That's it. Any chaos worshiper that wears a jump pack at any time is a Raptor. Wich is an unique army.
A world eater puts on a jump pack. Now he belongs to the Raptor legion. Death guard? The same.

I don't buy it. The raptors might have their own customs and all chaos marines that call themselves raptors share those customs.

But all chaos marines with jump packs are not raptors.
How can you not see this?

While gaining crappy combat skills.

Just like equiping yor Guardsmen with pulse rifles and bulking up their armour gives them crappy WS and I. But makes them look and act like Fire warriors.
If we are only discussing competetines then you should play Night lords as Space wolves and just go with it. Or as normal Chaos marines and just use Cult marines in rhinos.

[Winterwind]

Eldar are graceful, but they're not supposed to be beautiful in the human sense. The pretty ones are beautiful in the disturbing uncanny valley sense.

The're space fairies. They have a faction called the Wild Riders of Saim Hain for extra obviousness. Jain Zar's mask is based off a goblin.

The Avatar isn't exactly good looking either. I can't think of any (craftworld) eldar model with a pretty face apart from like 1 head you get in the guardians box. They're either have helmets, grotesque masks or whatever the viper crew have. Checking the website there's just Yriel and the jetbike Autarch.

The bareheaded farseer in DoW 2 made no sense to me since aren't Farseers supposed to have screwed up bodies that are turning to crystal?

Response in the Fluff thread.

[Cheesegear]

so Leman Russ Tanks.

Here's something I prepared earlier. A few people have complained that I left out the Eradicator. My response; I forgot about it when I wrote it, and that should tell you more than enough about the Eradicator.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Units overall have names that reflect their fluff. However a unit might not be restricted to the name/fluff combo.

As I stated in my post using the example of refluffed Striking Scorpions in the very post you quoted?

But all chaos marines with jump packs are not raptors.
How can you not see this?

The ones specifically stated to side with Night Lords are Raptors.

Any theoretical non-Raptor jump pack wearing chaos marine is nothing to do with the Night Lords, who were being talked about. Even the guys wearing Night Lords colour scheme who have no reason to be Raptors are specifically stated to be Raptors.

When asking what is the best book to represent established fluff, theoretical homebrew fluff for your custom army is irrelevant.

If you want a custom version fo the Night Lords intended to represent a deviant warband or even an alternate reality army you can do whatever you want. But that's not relevant if you want to make fluff accurate standard Night Lords.

The fluff of striking scorpions is explained in every single codex, every single article that has them says the same things.

Excepting things like the pheonix warrior fluff discrepancy mentioned earlier in this thread?

I'm pretty sure the 3rd ed Eldar codex was pretty obscure and useless about defining what Striking Scorpions actually were. It being a 3rd ed codex and all. Raptors, being introduced at the start of 3rd ed, just never had a consistant source for their fluff.

The Night Lords on the other hand had a whole Index Astartes article, some books and a page in the 2nd 3rd ed codex. So what they're like is pretty much known even if it doesn't all make sense when put together.

Just like equiping yor Guardsmen with pulse rifles and bulking up their armour gives them crappy WS and I. But makes them look and act like Fire warriors.

There's at least a logical reason why Tau trained humans would suck in melee as badly as the Tau that trained them.

If we are only discussing competetines then you should play Night lords as Space wolves and just go with it.

I didn't say anything about competativeness. Scout armies aren't completely uncompetative, they're just made up of guys who don't represent ancient fully trained warriors in power armour.

[Partof1]

RE: Night Lords

They don't wearjump packs commonly? Hm, I suppose I just figured that because the first Night Lords book I read centered on a Night Lord with one, but he musta been an exception.

Shrike would work for that.

Though, i could stick to chaos, and sub the Night lords for Khorne Bererkers, perhaps. Their rules seem like they would mirror the Night Lords decently, but not exceptionally. I'll put more thought into it.

[Craftworld]

The bareheaded farseer in DoW 2 made no sense to me since aren't Farseers supposed to have screwed up bodies that are turning to crystal?

Only when they are old and decrepit.

[Cheesegear]

RE: Night Lords

They don't wearjump packs commonly?

Yes. Yes they do.

[Borgh]

Here's something I prepared earlier. A few people have complained that I left out the Eradicator. My response; I forgot about it when I wrote it, and that should tell you more than enough about the Eradicator.

ooh, nice. Thanks!

[Incomp]

Perhaps some parts of this discussion should be taken to the fluff thread.

I, also, was almost certain Night Lords really liked their raptors. In fact, I was under the impression there were "jump pack chaos space marines" belonging to the Night Lords legion, since there are raptor minis in the chaos codices (plural as I'm including the older one) which are painted up like Night Lords. Furthermore, in the older chaos codex, if you wanted to play a Night Lords army, the 0-1 restriction on raptors was removed. To compensate, you had to put silly wings on all your guys.

[Winterwind]

RE: Night Lords

They don't wearjump packs commonly? Hm, I suppose I just figured that because the first Night Lords book I read centered on a Night Lord with one, but he musta been an exception.

Using lots and lots and lots of units with jumppacks is, like, the defining Night Lords characteristic. In the old codex, Raptors were a 0-1 choice, and Night Lords were the one legion for whom this 0-1 limitation did not apply.

EDIT: Gah, that's what I get for starting to write the post and then getting distracted by something else.

[Cheesegear]

Using lots and lots and lots of units with jumppacks is, like, the defining Night Lords characteristic. In the old codex, Raptors were a 0-1 choice, and Night Lords were the one legion for whom this 0-1 limitation did not apply.

Pretty sure they also had 4 FA Slots, so long as the fourth was spent on Raptors.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Pointless arguement continued in fluff thread.

I have 1 day tournament on saturday at Warhammer world of all places. Apparently because GW would prefer its tournament players to endure a 3 hour bus ride rather than hire a large enough hall in Wales.

Its 1500 points Battle Missions.

My successes in test games with my planned army have been variable.

The Emperor's Champion has been quite good.

The Assault terminators with furious charge have been absolutely amazing except in one game where they got shot to pieces and then defeated in close combat by Immortals.

My Chaplian keeps failing to wound and not doing much. I'm going to try replacing him with a techmarine again (only tried it once so far and he was so so). I'm starting to think a martial with lightning claw and storm shield would be better but its possibly too late to get the model.

Taking two land raider crusaders with blessed hull restricts my army building freedom too much, but they have done quite well and occaisonally even last until turn 3. I hesitate to think how you could try and fit 3 land raiders into a 1500 point list. Seems like you wouldn't have any points to put anything in them which kind of seems to ruin the point to me.

My crusader squads haven't been doing too badly but throwing my only two scoring units into the fight hasn't always gone well.

[Wraith]

I have 1 day tournament on saturday at Warhammer world of all places. Apparently because GW would prefer its tournament players to endure a 3 hour bus ride rather than hire a large enough hall in Wales.

Put yourself in their shoes: Pay the rent on an open space large enough to contain 1000+ people and the necessary tables for several days, or host it in the building that GW already owns and have Players pay their own expenses?

For all of GW's other perceived evils, I can't say that I blame for not wanting to pay for a venue when they already have one ready and waiting. And if nothing else, at least Nottingham is in the Midlands so on average it's equal distance away from everyone - unlike the 1 day event that I went to which WAS in Wales, and drew much ire from the guys who had to catch a 4am flight from Newcastle, London and Lincolnshire....

Having said that, I live 5 miles away from Lenton, so I don't really have any right to tell you whether or not to be annoyed, I guess.

Speaking the tournament, what are the requirements for attendance? Can you turn up on the door, or must you be seeded? I might just drop in and watch, if I get the chance (though probably won't risk my pride by actually playing )

[Timberwolf]

Speaking the tournament, what are the requirements for attendance? Can you turn up on the door, or must you be seeded? I might just drop in and watch, if I get the chance (though probably won't risk my pride by actually playing )

Just out of curiosity, how do people hear about tournaments ? Not that I'm thinking of it anytime soon, but I may feel like it once I get my knowledge of the rules more consistent.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Put yourself in their shoes: Pay the rent on an open space large enough to contain 1000+ people and the necessary tables for several days, or host it in the building that GW already owns and have Players pay their own expenses?

Its only 1 day. But the tables thing is a good reason. Its just that previous tournaments were played in downstairs rooms at GW fine. I suppose its a matter of scale.

Speaking the tournament, what are the requirements for attendance? Can you turn up on the door, or must you be seeded? I might just drop in and watch, if I get the chance (though probably won't risk my pride by actually playing )

You have to buy a ticket from a GW in wales. Pretty sure submission closed a month ago too.

Pretty sure you can just turn up on the day if Warhammer World is open.

Just out of curiosity, how do people hear about tournaments ? Not that I'm thinking of it anytime soon, but I may feel like it once I get my knowledge of the rules more consistent.

If its a club tournament, through members of the club. If its a GW one, by talking to employees or looking at the website. But the website only mentions big ones like Throne of Skulls.

[BoSheck]

Got a batrep to post from a game I had at the end of last week. Fairly exciting, though I was sick as a dog when I played.

Spoiler

Show

280 - HQ - Valkur: saga of the warrior born/wolf claw/storm shield/thunderwolf/runic armor/2x fenrisian wolves/wolftooth necklace/
205 - HQ - Canis: 2x fenrisian wolves
110 - HQ - Rune Priest Tyr: chooser of the slain; living lightning/jaws of the world wolf; wolf tail talisman
260 - Fast - 4 Thunderwolf Cavalry storm shield; melta bombs; power fist
155 - Elite - Iron Priest: thunderwolf mount; 4x cyberwolves
145 - Elite - 6 Wolf Scouts: 2x power weapon; melta gun; mark of the wulfen
205 - Elite - 5 Wolf Guard combi melta/power fist; terminator armor/cyclone missile; terminator/thunder hammer; combi-melta/power weapon;
170 - Troops - 10 Grey Hunters: 2x plasma gun; wolf banner
165 - Troops - 10 Grey Hunters: 2x meltagun ; wolf banner
75 - Troops - 5x Grey Hunters, 1x flamer
40 - Troops - 5x Fenrisian Wolves
40 - Troops - 5x Fenrisian Wolves
145 - Long Fangs: 2x missile launcher; 2x lascannon


Iron Warriors:
2x obliterators
2x obliterators
Defiler
Demon Prince, Mark of Tzeentch, bolt of change
Demon Prince, Mark of Tzeentch, bolt of change
10 man squad in a rhino with meltaguns and a power fist
10 man squad in a rhino with meltaguns and a power fist
10 berserkers in a rhino with a power fist, icon of Tzeentch
land raider, 5 terminators
I think thats all.

Batrep: Wolfwing versus Iron Warriors
We end up setting a nice muddy mountainous looking table up with plenty of big terrain pieces. Game type is Sieze Ground, 3 objectives. Dawn of War. One bottm left (to my eventual deployment zone), one center, one center-right. Harald Deathwolf's elite take first turn. I break off the CML terminator into my melta Hunters, the hammer man into my plasma huntres, the vanilla one into my long fangs. Combi melta/power fist into the scouts, combi melta/power sword into the 5 man flamer group.

10 wolves spread out in 2-inch coherency across half the board, Valkur joines them. The melta gun hunters take up a foward position between a mountain and some wreckage. A rhino of marinse and a demon prince behind it hide on the other side of the large hill that the melta hunters have taken up a position near. The Berserkers park behind a rock, giving their rhino cover from any distance shooting.

First turn, assorted grey hunter squads come on near the closest objective, with the cavalry and iron priest taking a central position. There is a large rocky hill for the long fangs to climb up, offering them a fair vantage point of most of the battlefield. Not wanting to miss out on the battle, Valkur advances slowly, bogged down by terrain and further impeded by a poor Run! roll.

The Iron Warrior deploy nearly everything across from the grey hunter squads near those objective. A few attempts at shooting occur and 2 wolves die. Berserkers zoom toward the Long Fangs

Turn 2: Scouts fail to come in. Fenrisians creep up the board toward some Oblits, Valkur falls back, running to meet Canis and the Cavalry as they advance up the board. Iron Priest makes a detour toward the Berserkers, the forward grey hunter squad turns around and starts marching through terrain, back toward the 'zerker rhino. Tyr blows the weapon off a different Rhino. Woofs charge oblits, nobody gets hurt.

Chaos fires the other oblit squad and the Defiler on the rear Hunters and their rune priest. A few good men die. He creeps forward, expecting scouts and putting his Land raider between the juicier pieces and the Thunderwolves trajectory. . The other Daemon prince moves to support the berserkers. Fenrisian Wolves lose combat and break.

Turn 3: Scouts come in, melt the Defiler to scrap. Thunderwolves get bogged down in terrain, and can't make it to the land raider this turn. Grey Hunters do their best to get in position on the Berserkers while staying out of charge range. The 5 man squad takes up good cover near an objective and waits. Long Fangs crack open the 'zerker rhino, Iron Priest charges in and loses a couple wolves to the Rhino wreckage--boo. Kills a couple of 'zerkers, but dies horribly. Berserkers consolidate 6 toward the forward grey hunter pack.

Chaos takes his big turn, zooming his LR and third rhino forward and popping smoke. The Daemon prince on the far enf of things sets up on those hapless Wolf Scouts, Oblits march up shooting at Thunderwolves and kill a couple of Wargear woofs. Zerkers and Daemon Prince charge the melta-hunters. Four men left standing, they take a few down and stay in combat. Other Daemon Prince plays fisticuffs with the scouts who manage to bite back and hold morale.

Turn 4: Thunderwolves run toward the Land Raider, Priest pops open the third Rhino with living Lightning, Long Fangs bounce a few shots off the Land Raider. Thunderwolves charge in, knocking a few guns off the thing, but not doing much else. The rest of the Melta Hunters gets gibbed by that Demon Prince, berserkers start hiking toward their home objective, Demon Prince flies toward the Long Fangs. The Wolf Guard attatched to the scout unit remains the sole survivor of his combat with the other Prince, running at top speed past several Chaos Marines, laughing all the way.

Chaos unloads everything he has left into the Thunderwolves, killing the last ablative wolf-wounds and putting a few single wounds on the less valuable squad members. Attempting to Tank shock his Raider into my hunter lines, a Death or Glory! meltabomb blows the land raider up, sadly the terminators within all survive. The Space Marines near the surviving wolf guard melt their former brother without mercy. Two obliterators, 5 terminators, and a Demon Prince charge into the Cavalry. Canis and Valkur begin carving up the terminator armored traitors, while the rest of the squad unleashes their fury on the Prince. He puts a few wounds on them, which are distributed accordingly, preventing the loss of men. Canis and Valkur take a hit as well from their combats.

Turn 5: Without much shooting left, The rear grey hunter squad marches up toward the closest objective with an eye on the large combat before them--ready to reinforce should they be needed. The Long Fangs ignore the demon prince in front of them and fire at the retreating berserkers, taking a few down. The small hunter squad moves onto the midfield objective. Combat goes as expected, Canis and Valkur cleaning up the Terminators, the remaining wolves tearing the Demon Prince down after his single hit bounces off a storm shield. Consolidate 2 inches.

Iron Warriors' remaining rhino speeds toward the midfield objective, a bit late, but so it is. The remaining demon prince charges long fangs, locking them up, but not wiping them out. The full squad charges the thunderwolves, Valkur and Canis annihilating them before they even draw their weapons. Good Consolidate toward midfield, with Valkur leading the way.

Turn 6: Valkur sweeps into the final remaining Iron Warriors squad midfield, Saga of the Warrior-juiced with 11 attacks on the charge, killing the remains of the squad, who had been thinned down by small arms fire. Iron Warriors concede after a good, long game.


Conclusion: Get shot at for a turn or two, don't make dumb choices then Thunderwolves kill everything. Pretty much the same game I play every week, just this time with scouts!

[Timberwolf]

I had a good game tonight, which I won, but only because my opponant had to go. One more turn and I would have been left with 2 Sternguard, my Librarian and an Assault Sergeant vs an angry squad of Khorne berserkers and Ahriman, which would have been ugly.

This won't be much of a batrep I'm afraid, but I'll do my best.

The lists

Spoiler

Show

Me - Blood Angels

Librarian 125
Jump Pack
Unleash Rage
Sanguine Sword

Sanguinary Priest 75
Jump Pack

Assault Squad 1 235
Meltagun x 2
Power Fist

Assault Squad 2 215
Flamer x 2
Power Weapon

Scouts 1 85
Sniper Rifles
Missile

Scouts 2 85
Sniper Rifles
Missile

Sternguard 205
Powerfist
Combimelta x 4
Drop pod

Spoiler

Show

Opponant - Chaos

Ahriman

Khorne Berserkers x 6
Powerfist

Plague Marines x 5 (I think)
Flamer
Plasma gun
Rhino

Defiler
4 CCW
Battle Cannon

Land Raider

We used a battle mission, he was defender and had to start within 12 inches of the middle. I came on from the side. Scouts in a nice 3 story building, everyone else prepared to go for them

He got first turn.

Turn 1

Spoiler

Show

He moves everything towards me bar the Rhino. the Defiler pie plates Assault Squad 1, Ahriman and Berserkers jump out of the Landraider and assault Assault Squad 1 (set up in the middle, of course so within range). Plague marines jump out of the Rhino and assault A Squad #2. Predictably, Ahriman and the berserkers walk all over the remains of squad #1. My Librarian, leading squad # 2 gets some kills in on the plague marines, but not enough to make them run. My Scouts, set up in the building, kill a couple of Berserkers who have consolidated towards them.

My Drop pod arrives. I ignore the land raider and hit the defiler, as it's the biggest melee threat to my sternguard. 4 Combi meltas fire, 4 hit, 4 penetrate, 4 roll 2's, thankfully upgraded to 3's for being melta. I take all 4 of his DCCW's off him. At this point, not good for me due to losing a goodly proportion of my assaulting power really cheaply

Turn 2

Spoiler

Show

He moves towards the scouts with Ahriman and the others and tries to kill them with the Defiler. One dies to the berserker shooting. He detaches Ahriman to try to shoot one squad and turn them into spawn while the berserkers assault the other. Combat continues between the plague marines and assault squad who finally finishes the PM's off

Ignoring the impending Khorne Berserker doom approaching, my scouts all fire at his Rhino. Everything misses or doesn't penetrate aside from one lucky rend that wrecks it. . My Librarian assaults the Landraider, but only manages to Shake it. My Sternguard assault the Defiler and kill it with a powerfist

Turn 3

Spoiler

Show

He does his best to get into assault on my scouts, but only the Berserkers make it. The Defiler fires at the scouts , misses entirely and kills two of my Sternguard, who were about 7 inches away

The berserkers kill 3 of a 5 man squad, who kills one back. Ahriman is stuck on the bottom floor having his powers canceled by my psychic hood.

I have another go at the Landraider with my Librarian and destroy a weapon, I also assault it with the Sternguard and do nothing. The berserkers kill another scout.

We had to call it there as he had to go. He scored 2 Kill points (Priest, Assault Squad) to my 3 (Rhino, Defiler, Plague Marines) but I don't think I would have won if we had have had more time. I could have peppered him with Dragonfire bolts while he got out of the building I guess, but it wouldn't have done enough. Poor old Ahriman got one power off the whole game, the rest got psychic hooded, so although my rolls for armour save sucked the whole time, at least I got some luck there.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Played a noise marine/lash sorcerer/obliterator list with my Black Templars.

Due to the mission (troops and heavy support get to deploy, everything else has to go in reserve and units with dedicated transports also have to go in reserve) I had no units until turn 2, where I had 1 rhino. So nothing actually happened until turn 3 where my land raiders came on and I managed to kill 1 obliterator with a multi-melta.

He ended up giving up after his 6 obliterators spent two turns doing nothing but causing stuns and weapon destroyed results on my land raiders and I managed to wipe out two noise marine squads (one through shooting pistols and another in combat despite being outnumbered) and kill three more obliterators.

He rolled kind of badly. On turn 5 he hit a land raider with three melta shots and only got a single glancing hit which took out my multi-melta.

One turn he managed to hit a unit with two lashes of submission and send them to the other side of the board. But with righteous zeal and running I got them back to where they started.

So now I know I can beat a lash list, but not how to.

[Cheesegear]

Just out of curiosity, how do people hear about tournaments?

Clubs will generally tell you.
GW Staff will tell you if you ask.

The back of White Dwarf.

[Craftworld]

Just out of curiosity, how do people hear about tournaments ? Not that I'm thinking of it anytime soon, but I may feel like it once I get my knowledge of the rules more consistent.

Or run one yourself!

[Wraith]

Pretty sure you can just turn up on the day if Warhammer World is open.

Fair enough, thank you.

Just out of curiosity, how do people hear about tournaments ? Not that I'm thinking of it anytime soon, but I may feel like it once I get my knowledge of the rules more consistent.

Also, they sometimes list them on GW's UK website. Usually only the bigger events or "half term" mini-campaigns that they can reliably prepare for, but they're there.

[Squark]

I'm thinking about getting into 40k as a Necron player. I'm sorry if you get this a lot (I didn't notice a post about starting in the last 30 posts, but I was just skimming, and that is not necessarily a promising sign. It could just mean the other people are smarter and know a better place to ask)

Anyway, I was looking at the 1st post, and noticed battleforces. Doing a little research, I've figured out roughly what they are (premade, pseudo-starting armies). So the Necron one contains;
28 Warriors (2 squads +4 extra. What are these extras for?)
7 Scarabs (3 scarabs appear to come with each squad, so this leaves 1 extra. They appear to be designed to harass enemy vehicles.)
3 Destroyers (These are Fast Attack. Are they useful or not)

The post linked to in the 1s post mentioned I might be better off buying 3 squads of warriors. This is because I need more warm (Or rather, cold metalic, but you get my meaning) bodies to fend off Phase out, correct?

Also, what is the new codex supposed to entail?

[Cheesegear]

28 Warriors (2 squads +4 extra. What are these extras for?)
7 Scarabs (3 scarabs appear to come with each squad, so this leaves 1 extra. They appear to be designed to harass enemy vehicles.)
3 Destroyers (These are Fast Attack. Are they useful or not)

What's all this 'extra' business? You're getting free models. Those 'extra' models are for you to use. Necron squads come in sizes of 10-20.

I once wrote up a huge play-testing post for Necrons. Except both my Google-Fu and my Search-the-Playground-Fu fail me at this time.

The post linked to in the 1s post mentioned I might be better off buying 3 squads of warriors. This is because I need more warm (Or rather, cold metalic, but you get my meaning) bodies to fend off Phase out, correct?

Yes. More bodies to fend off Phase Out.

I'll tell you straight up, though; Necrons don't really get good until you hit the 1500 point mark. Luckily, they're still Necrons and their currency to points ratio is still pretty good.

Also, what is the new codex supposed to entail?

There's a new Codex?

[Incomp]

I'm thinking about getting into 40k as a Necron player. I'm sorry if you get this a lot (I didn't notice a post about starting in the last 30 posts, but I was just skimming, and that is not necessarily a promising sign. It could just mean the other people are smarter and know a better place to ask)

Welcome! I'm the only one that bites. The rest...just sorta sniff you a little.

Anyway, no, this is the right place to ask.

28 Warriors (2 squads +4 extra. What are these extras for?)

Wouldn't that be...2 squads of 14? No extras? Granted, that is an odd size for squads...

7 Scarabs (3 scarabs appear to come with each squad, so this leaves 1 extra. They appear to be designed to harass enemy vehicles.)

I don't know enough about scarabs to say anything useful here.

3 Destroyers (These are Fast Attack. Are they useful or not)

Yes. Oh my yes. These babies are your pride and joy. They are pretty much the shootiest freakin' thing in the army, and they can deal with any target fairly reliably.

The post linked to in the 1s post mentioned I might be better off buying 3 squads of warriors. This is because I need more warm (Or rather, cold metalic, but you get my meaning) bodies to fend off Phase out, correct?

Yes. More warriors is good. You like not phasing out, because then you lose.

Also, what is the new codex supposed to entail?

Why, it's going to entail a redesign of the Necron faction. Replete with new rules, models, and unit types, as well as a vastly expanded (and if you ask the old-schoolers, most likely butchered) fluff section. Not good enough for you? Tough, I haven't heard any spoilers.

Damned Ninjas!

[Squark]

^So they haven't said anything specific about what the new codex will change? (I'm familliar with the basic idea of updating codexes annually (at least for the popular factions))
----------------------------------------
Okay let me clarify something- In a hypothetical scenario, assuming 60 Necron warriors (I don't know how realistic this is), which would be better; 3 squads of 20, or 5 squads of 12.

Or, to put it in general terms, should I go for lots of squads at minimum size, or a couple of squads with a good bit over the minimum number of troops.

Lastly, dumb question. I should buy the core rulebook when I get a chance, I assume. And how often does GW update that?

[Winterwind]

I don't know enough about scarabs to say anything useful here.

They can serve two purposes: One, hunting stationary tanks (the probability for them to actually damage a tank is too low if the tank has been moving, so little point trying to intercept Rhinos or something, but going after Imperial Guard artillery or such is perfectly fine), and two, binding enemy units in combat for a round or two, giving the rest of the Necron army time to deal with other threats before having to care about these enemy units again.

Yes. Oh my yes. These babies are your pride and joy. They are pretty much the shootiest freakin' thing in the army, and they can deal with any target fairly reliably.

Though one should point out that, due to the way We'll Be Back works, a single unit of three isn't that good, as it will be killed rather quickly; what one wants are two (or three) units, so even if one of them should be completely exterminated its members still are allowed a We'll Be Back roll.

EDIT:

^So they haven't said anything specific about what the new codex will change? (I'm familliar with the basic idea of updating codexes annually (at least for the popular factions))

They haven't even announced that there will be a new Necron codex any time soon, and codizes are not updated annually. Even the most popular ones get a new one only once every edition, i.e. maybe once every four years or so.

Okay let me clarify something- In a hypothetical scenario, assuming 60 Necron warriors (I don't know how realistic this is), which would be better; 3 squads of 20, or 5 squads of 12.

Or, to put it in general terms, should I go for lots of squads at minimum size, or a couple of squads with a good bit over the minimum number of troops.

Lots of squads at minimum size. Definitely. It's superior for a huge number of reasons: You can hold more mission objectives, you can split your fire more efficiently, and if one of your squads should be caught by something that is really good in close combat, you will lose less models should you be overrun (which is the biggest danger for Necrons, as it allows no We'll Be Back).

Few big squads is only sensible on units that are supposed to go into close combat and win it. Necrons are a shooty army.

Lastly, dumb question. I should buy the core rulebook when I get a chance, I assume. And how often does GW update that?

Once every edition. Since Warhammer 40k was created, we've moved into the 5th edition, which is still moderately new.