Unit Review: C'Tan Shard

Me.

C'Tan shards make me sad.  I really like the fluff behind them, and I really like the units.  I really like having two of the coolest models in 40K, gods incarnate, floating and gliding down the field and tearing into things.  I don't even mind the price.

What I *do* mind, however, are the fact that they... well... gosh.  There's no eloquent way to phrase this - they just aren't that good.  They come with a plethora of options, which is always cool, but precious few of those options come close to justifying their hefty price tag.

Let's start with the basic stat line.  It's pretty solid!  High strength, high toughness, four wounds, and a 4++ save.  They're monstrous creatures to boot, so they make very efficient vehicle killers.  With a base S7+2D6 for penetration, even AV14 has a lot to worry about with a C'Tan Shard in close proximity.

Along with fairly respectable stats, the C'Tan gets to pick two abilities from a pool of eleven.  These abilities have different costs, and I'll address them in turn:

• Entropic Strike - This ability gives your C'Tan all the power and destructive prowess of the mighty... Canoptek Scarab.  With this, you're just giving your C'Tan shard the ability to chip away at armor.  This isn't even remotely useful on this model, and it makes my head hurt to think that someone might field it.  As stated infra, your C'Tan Shard is going to be hitting a vehicle at S7+2D6, which averages out to around a S13 hit, which is more than enough to reduce most vehicles in the game to dust.
• Gaze of Death - This one's actually alright.  If your C'Tan gets locked in combat with a footsquad, it's likely that they're going to spam numbers at it until it eventually withers away and dies.  With this, you're very likely to get 1W back per turn that you're in assault, which should be more than enough to negate any slow losses you take over time. However, it is *50* points, so... yeah.  Worth considering, anyway.
• Grand Illusion - Redeployment.  I could see this being very situationally useful, but hardly ever useful enough to really merit taking a C'Tan Shard just to use it.  You're redeploying D3 models, which is much worse than the Deceiver's ability of old.  I guess the kicker here is that you can move things in or out of reserve, but I've still never really been able to justify it.
• Lord of Fire - This is a defensive ability designed to make the opponent think twice about using meltas around your C'Tan.  In practicality, it's not all that functional. For every melta / flamer / etc used, the weapon has a 1/6 chance of exploding and causing the host model to be gibbed.  I don't really think that the 1/6 chance is enough incentive to make someone not use a melta though.  It's a very small chance with very low repercussions.
• Moulder of Worlds - The C'Tan throws a big rock and does S4 damage.  I guess this would be alright on Orks or a horde army, but it's really not worth writing home about.  It's worth noting that, as I write about this ability, I'm starting to run out of ways to say "meh."  This is a very accurate summary of how I feel about most of these abilities.  Just not worth it.
• Pyreshards - Much like Moulder of Worlds, this is a S4 shooting attack, but it's assault 8 instead of large blast.  Not bad, and it has the potential to be versatile.  
• Sentient Singularity - What this boils down to is essentially another 1/6 ability.  Every vehicle moving around your C'Tan shard has to make a dangerous terrain test.  This might sound useful, but really, it's just another 1/6 test to see if the vehicle is immobilized.  It's not all that effective.  It also imposes mishaps on units deep striking within 6" of your Shard, but if you're deep striking within 6" of a shard (absent special circumstances or a whole lot of confidence,) you need your head checked.
• Swarm of Spirit Dust - Defensive upgrade.  Given the price, probably not worth it.
• Time's Arrow - A character killer.  This is alright if you're planning on assaulting into special characters, but even then, it's unreliable, and the C'Tan hits hard enough to make killing things it can target a non-issue. However, against some higher wound models, it might be invaluable.  Not a bad upgrade at all.  
• Transdimensional Thunderbolt - A good upgrade.  A one-shot, assault, vehicle killer.  This would make a great compliment to a C'Tan who was going vehicle hunting.
• Writhing Worldscape - Here's one worth talking about.  Writhing Worldscape makes all difficult terrain dangerous and all dangerous doubly so.  When paired with other abilities in the Necron army (read: Orikan, Tremorstave Crypteks), you've got fair potential to have a pretty solid gimmick army.  From what I understand, such an army recently won a big tournament.  Cool stuff.  Even by itself, it's not bad at all, and it will almost surely cause at least a few wounds in any given game.

Now, let's talk about the big negative of this unit:  the price.  In most cases, it's just not worth it.  Let's discuss why:

I'm putting gimmick lists regarding movement aside here - in such a list, a C'Tan is invaluable.  Let's take a "vehicle killer" C'Tan such as one discussed above.

Base: 185pts

Transdimensional Thunderbolt: 45pts

Now, normally I'd stop here because I feel that those two abilities are all that the C'Tan would need, but it *has* to take two, so let's throw on... uhhh.... Pyreshards: 15pts, for a grand total of... 245 points.  It's worth noting that, even at 245 points, this is a very moderately priced C'Tan shard.  So for 245 points, you've got a hulking, vehicle smashing, ass-kicking monstrous creature.  Okay.

Let's see what else you could have to kill vehicles with for 245 points in the Necron Codex.  I consider all of these to be better options than the C'Tan:

• 18 Warriors (or, even better, 10 and a Ghost Ark)
• A Triarch Stalker + 95pts remaining
• A whole squad of Wraiths (!)
• Lots of scarabs
• A heavy destroyer squad
• Etc, ad infinitum

Not to mention, the C'Tan is ridiculously killable.  Yeah, he's got a high toughness, but at only four wounds and only a 4++ save, he's going to fail a lot of saves and die quickly to even moderately-strong shooting.  He has no real way (sans dimensional corridor) of getting close, so your enemy will have a *lot* of time to shoot the C'Tan.

Through all this, I'm not trying to make a case against the C'Tan - to the contrary - I really like the model and the fluff, and I really wish it were better.  It's not.  Everything it does (with the exception of gimmick lists), something else does better, and for cheaper.  Sad.

Unit Review: Necron Immortal

This is the first in a series of reviews I plan to do on the whole Necron army.  There's no rhyme or reason on the order in which I examine each model - it's just a matter of what strikes me at the time.  At the moment, I'm at work late and I need to clear my head, so I'm starting with the first installment a little sooner than I'd planned.

NECRON IMMORTAL

The Necron Immortal.  Man, I used to love the Necron Immortal in Third Edition, even though it was crazy expensive.

The price!  Good god, the price.  An immortal used to cost 28 points per model. Considering they had, essentially, a Space Marine statline with a slightly higher toughness and We'll Be Back!, they were entirely too expensive.  When coupled with a low initiative, you were just begging for your 10-model, 280 point squad to get sweeping advanced by a much less expensive (read: any) comparable unit. 

However, it really used to shine when it came to firepower.  Assault 2, St. 5, Ap 4 Gauss?  Yessir.  Pair them with a Third Edition Necron Lord, and you had a deep striking, Hellraising, tough as nails unit that might - MIGHT - have approached its point value.  I used to run said unit every time I played, and they usually did fairly well, so long as I stayed out of reach of any assault unit.  Orks were always problematic - funny how they have a way of sneaking up on you in assault.

With Fifth Edition came changes.  Now, the 28 point unit has its cost almost halved.  It retains its 3+ armor save, and the new We'll Be Back!, Reanimation Protocols, is much improved.  Why, then, do I almost never field a unit of Immortals?

Three reasons, in order of importance:  Weapon changes, unit size, and transports.

1. Let's begin with my biggest beef with the new immortals:  Changes to weaponry.  Gone are the days of Assault 2 Gauss, and now we have rapid fire.  Here's the thing:  I never want to put my Immortals in assault range.  They're always much better shooters, and if they're in assault, they're very prone to get sweeping advanced.  However, now, if you want to shoot, they have to stay still unless you stick an overlord with Phaeron on the squad, and I think that's a horrible waste of an Overlord.    If you put them within 12", yeah, they'll get a lot of shots, but they're going to get charged the next turn.  "But Adam," you say, "what about Tesla?  It's assault, and very effective!"  I agree.  I think Tesla's a great option for the Immortals as they can move and still shoot 24".  However, while it's, in my opinion, the best option for the unit, it's still doesn't make me want to field immortals.  Here are the other two reasons:
2. They're still capped at a unit size of ten, while Warriors, the only other Necron troop choice, can be taken in a squad of 20.  If you're going to be marching a unit of troops across the board, you're probably going to want those 20, unless you're just using them for objective-holding purposes.  Immortals aren't that much better than Warriors.  Slightly better weaponry and slightly better armor saves still aren't enough to justify a more expensive, half-sized unit.  The only option besides marching them across the field are...
3. Transports.  Good god, transports. The only transport option (unless you want to do something goofy like using a dimensional corridor) is the Night Scythe, which is a fine unit.  However, at 100 points, it's somewhat costly, especially for a transport that's a lot more vulnerable than the Ghost Ark.   In the event that it's destroyed, the units inside also go back into reserve, which is... awkward, at best.  I'll do a separate review of the Night Scythe at a later date, but, for now, I'll just say I think the Ghost Ark is much better at doing what a transport does:  Transporting, and shielding the units therein so they can blast things.

I like Immortals, I really do.  I wish that I could find a reason to field a squad of them over a squad of nine Warriors and a Cryptek in a Ghost Ark, but I... just can't.  Maybe once the fliers come out this fall and I start messing around with the Night Scythe, I'll figure out more uses for them.  Until then, I'll happily choose Warriors every time.

Omnibus.

Imotekh, Lord of Cookery

It's been a while since I've updated.  I make no apologies or excuses - I'll flat out say that I was very hesitant to catalog my thoughts on the new Necron codex until I was damn good and ready to wrap my mind around it.  I'm swiftly approaching that point now, and I'd like to resume writing.

After several months and dozens of games with the new codex, I can say that it's good.  It's very good.  The really striking part, to me, is its versatility.  I'm constantly surprised by how effective the Necrons are in melee now.  Melee!  Crazy.  Highlights, of course, include the Wraiths and Scarabs.  I've been winning a lot more games than I've lost, and it's not because I'm a better player than those whom I was up against.

I plan on doing a model-by-model breakdown of the new codex over the upcoming weeks / months, and continuing to post battle reports.  I'll also be putting some pictures of completed models and units up as I finish them.  It's funny - I had *almost* finished painting the entirety of my army, and then second wave is announced for May 5, 2012.  It's damn near Sisyphean.

So yeah, I know that this update lacks in substance a bit, however, I'm anxious to begin writing again now that I feel I can write about something I know.  Looking forward to it.