Necron Scarab Battle Report Vs Orks

Nick speaking,

Necron Scarab Battle Report Vs Orks. I try out the Necron Scarab Farm in 8th edition. I know the rules are not very good for Scarab Farming in this edition, but still, I am sure we can make it work! Warhammer 40,000 8th edition battle report 1800 points. Necrons Vs Orks...

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Living Tomb Formation - C'tan and Base Started

Nick speaking,

I know the Transcendent C'tan isn't actually part of the formation, but as my Obelisk is magnetised into the Vault, I want to paint the C'tan up at the same time, plus I think I am probably going to feature him in my Living Tomb list somehow anyway! It took me a long time to figure out how I was going to paint this bad boy, but I have finally decided to go with a metal body and have it morphing into green on the power tendrils! So far I have just done the metal, but I think my scheme is going to work quite nicely...

As for the base for the Obelisk/Vault, I thought it would be pretty cool to use the extra Scarabs and Vault pieces I didn't use from the kit and make a little Swarm of Scarabs that would follow the Vault, repairing it as it moved along. The base is done and I am pleased with how it is looking, I just need to paint it now...

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Necron Scarab Farm Battle Report

Nick speaking,

Still having lots of fun in 6th Edition with my Scarab Wave, this time I am up against a double Landraider Blood Angels army!

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Scarab Farm Battle Report

Nick speaking,

Continuing on from my previous post where I looked at making the Scarab farm work in 6th Edition, I take my Scarabs up against Blood Angels in this 1750pt battle report. I also had a bit of fun making a little shout out for my YouTube buddy madgolem, with a little prelude at the start of the video. I have had a good response to the prelude on YouTube, so I hope you enjoy it also. Here is a little refresh of my Scarab Wave list...

HQ

1 x Overlord/Scythe/MSS/Weave/Labyrinth/Orb (180)
Royal Court:
1x Stormtek/Lightning Field (35)

TROOPS

10 x Warriors (130)

10 x Warriors (130)

10 x Warriors (130)

16 x Warriors (208)

ELITES

9 x Deathmarks (171)

FAST

10 x Scarabs (150)

10 x Scarabs (150)

10 x Scarabs (150)

HEAVY

2 x Spyders/Gloom Prism (115)

2 x Spyders (100)

2 x Spyders (100)

1749 points

 

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The Scarab Farm in 6th - Wave List!

Nick speaking,

Well, from what I have seen and read, the Scarab farm has pretty much been written off in 6th Edition. I am not talking about a few Scarabs and Spyders here and there in a list, I am talking about using three maxed out Scarab units backed up by as many Spyders as you can get! I was reading an excellent article over on 3++ by Kirby a while back about the Metatransition of the Scarab Farm. The article was discussing how 6th Edition has effected Scarabs and the best way to use them now, which got me thinking about my old 5th Edition Scarab Farm list and how I could possible find a way to use my 60+ Scarabs now in 6th!

Kirby wrote...

"Right so let's look at what changes we have specifically for Scarab Farm...

• vehicles are hit on a 3+ at worst. Scarabs chew through vehicles now. Think the Mummy series and imagine those human beings are tanks and those scarabs are...soulless scarabs. Ya, vehicles hate combat now and Scarabs are one of the best at it.
• Fearless rocks - Fearless sucked before for Scarabs as they would often lose combat and then lose several more bases for their efforts. Anything which could ID them would wipe out entire farms in a matter of seconds but now, well now they are a great tarpit. They aren't going to kill infantry still but they can at least stick around and annoy the crap out of them.
• movement & charge changes make Scarabs faster over a period of turns thanks to a 12" move plus RCL (Random Charge Length) but in a given turn, RCL reliability can bite Scarabs on the bottom. They generally aren't engaging infantry units though so Overwatch isn't that scary despite their poor statline.
• Cover changes hurt Scarabs a lot - they used to be cheap with an annoying durability but now getting such a good cover save is harder. Still possible but harder. 
• And Night Fight is no longer what it was. Although most armies generally had a counter to Night Fight through things like Searchlights, it's a lot easier to completely IGNORE Night Fight on some very specific units. You know, like a building Scarab farm which coupled with the above change, makes growing the farm a lot harder to do.
• Spyders are scarier with RCL however since they got potential movement gains though cover reduction hurts them as well - they were pretty easy to get a 4+ for before base on 50%.

And then of course you have all the awesome changes for Necrons in general with Gauss & Tesla loving Hull Points, fake AV13, Jink saves, etc. So what's this mean for Scarab farm?

So if you were really looking to add something like this to your army, I'd be looking at keeping it as simple as possible. Scarabs have some pretty nice upsides in 6th edition and make a nice tarpit unit for your normal Necrons but if you go for a full farm you're losing a lot of extra firepower by not taking the Barges. Rather than consider this an army template, I'd more think of it as a plug-in for a basic Necron army. Hell, it could even be used as an Ally plug-in though you'd obviously only have one Fast Attack unit.

2x8x Scarabs

3x Spyders, 1 w/Gloom Prism

Totals: 395 points

You don't want Imotekh as he stops your own shooting. You don't want mass Spyders as that takes away from Annihilation Barges. You want two Scarabs so you have a 3rd Fast Attack slot for Wraiths if you want and you have a second layer of Scarabs. One works as well though, particularly if you're running it as an Ally plug-in. You're not fiddling around with all the extra goodies Necrons can get like a Writhing Worldscape C'Tan + Tremorteks (Crypteks with Tremor staves) because that takes points away from things which actually drop crap dead in the Necron codex. It's a simple mini-farm which can plug into lists if you're looking for a screening option and back-up MCs all for less than 400 points. Hell, the Spyders aren't even needed - I'd still rather another Annihilation Barge and let the Scarabs do their thing - pop some vehicles, delay the opponent." 

Most of what Kirby said what pretty much spot on, but even so, it doesn't mean I can make a full farm list work, does it? Well lets have a look at what I can come up with. First up, I am going to ignore my previous list, which rightly so, included Imotekh. As Kirby said the Stormlord list concept isn't going to work like it used to. So, with that said a new army build template is required, and I think a Wave template fits in perfectly for a Scarab Farm army and that it the direction I am going to go...

My list is going to be for 1750 points as that is the main level I play at, I have found that six Spyders is about the maximum that I can fit into the Farm at this points level and still have enough points left over for everything else needed, plus I only own six Spyders anyway! So the front Core of my army will be three groups of ten Scarabs, backed up by three groups of two Spyders. Back to the Scarabs themselves and the biggest benefit they now have is being Fearless, no more Fearless wounds means these guys will be around much longer, so Scarabs in numbers is what we are after...

Turn one and two will be used to bolster two units of Scarabs as the full Phalanx moves forward. These two large Scarabs units will be the first wave in the list and will probably end up out of range of the Spyders, so the Spyders will start to boost the numbers of the third group from turn three ready to send them out as the next wave. All three groups of Spyders will make the next wave behind them, spawning as many bases as robotically possible. So that's the Farm section of the list out of the way, and obviously I don't expect any of it to still be around at the end of the game, it's job is to push forward to kill and hold up as much of my opponents army as it can for as long as it can!

Running behind the Farm will be the next wave, sixteen Warriors and a Jacked up Overlord. I have had a huge success with this unit so far, with the Overlord being amazing in Challenges with Mindshackle and Labyrinth doing what they need to do very well, whilst his Resurrection Orb helps to keep the Warriors alive for longer. I have also added a Stormtek to the unit to help with any challenge issues. I don't want the Overlord attacks wasted due to being tied up in a challenge with a nobody! Following up at the rear, is the last Wave of three groups of ten Warriors. There main job it to offer some mid range fire support and to take any mission objectives at the end of the game...

The last wave is going to be nine deep striking Deathmarks. They will be wave two, three or four, depending on when they arrive from reserve, and they will be aiming to come down near or in my enemies deployment zone offering a wave from a different direction!

So what about Flyers? Well, I am not seeing many Flyers in my gaming group at the moment so I am not too concerned with them, if one turns up I will have to hang on and hope that the Warriors will throw down a lot of sixes! If I do find it becomes an issue, I can always group the Spyders into two sets of three and then drop some Warriors for an Annihilation Barge, or maybe even take an Aegis Defence Line with a Quad Gun.

Here is my final Scarab Farm Wave list and army deployment strategy. Of course it all depending on circumstances, but at least I will be going to the table with a plan of some sort...

HQ

1 x Overlord/Scythe/MSS/Weave/Labyrinth/Orb (180)
Royal Court:
1x Stormtek/Lightning Field (35)

TROOPS

10 x Warriors (130)

10 x Warriors (130)

10 x Warriors (130)

16 x Warriors (208)

ELITES

9 x Deathmarks (171)

FAST

10 x Scarabs (150)

10 x Scarabs (150)

10 x Scarabs (150)

HEAVY

2 x Spyders/Gloom Prism (115)

2 x Spyders (100)

2 x Spyders (100)

1749 points 

WAVE 1 (turn 1 and 2)

10 x Scarabs (16x after Spawning!)

10 x Scarabs (16x after Spawning!)

WAVE 2 (turn 2, 3 or 4)

9 x Deathmarks

WAVE 3 (turn 3)

10 x Scarabs (16x after Spawning!)

WAVE 4 (turn 3 or 4) 

2 x Spyders 

2 x Spyders  

2 x Spyders 

WAVE 5 (turn 5) 

1 x Overlord 

16 x Warriors

WAVE 6 (turn 6+)

10 x Warriors

10 x Warriors
10 x Warriors

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Necron Super Scarabs Vs Orks BatRep (not video)

Nick speaking,

With Nemesor making my Scarabs, Super Scarabs. I take on Orks for the first time with my Necron Scarab Farm list...

My List:

1 x Stormlord

1 x Nemesor

1 x Cryptek/Chronometron

9 x Immortals/Tesla

5 x Warriors

5 x Warriors

2 x Ghost Arks 

10 x Scarabs 

10 x Scarabs

10 x Scarabs

3x Spyders/1x Gloom

3x Spyders/1x Gloom

The Orks list was something like this:

1 x Trukk with Thraka, 5x Nobz a FNP dude
1 x Trukk with 4x Mega Nobs and a Big Mek
20 x Shoota Boyz
20 x Slugga Boyz
15 x Rocket Boyz
10 x Kommandos and Snikrot
10 x Lootas

Mission: Seize Ground, three Objectives, Pitched Battle

Deployment

Orks won the roll off and put me in first, which was fine by me, as it meant I could start spawning from the off, and maybe get a couple of lucky lighting strikes on his Trukks. I new my Immortal group was going to have trouble with the Kommandos coming on from my rear, so I put a unit of Scarabs in a ring around them on my board edge for protection. I then put two groups of Scarabs as far forward as I could with the Spyders behind them and the two Ghost Arks either side of my group. Orks just lined up ready to charge, as you would expect them too. 

The Plan

To be honest I was a bit concerned with what I was facing, but I set out a plan as best as I could. I would make as many Scarabs as possible on the two groups in front until the horde got close. Then go in for as much killing as possible with the Scarabs, using the Spyders as a back up. The Scarabs at the back would have to deal with the Kommandos, so that the Immortals could take the objective on my side of the board, whilst the Ghost Arks would have to survive to contest the other two objectives...

Turn One

Necrons

I spawn three Scarabs in each of the front two groups and move them up into terrain. The Ghost Arks move out to the flanks and the Stormlord lighting attacks kill a Shoota Boy

Orks

Both Trukks move forward fast, with everything else moving and running toward me. The Rocket Boys go behind terrain to my right flank, and the Lootas try to shoot me, but fail their night fight roll.

Turn Two

Necrons

I generate more Scarabs on the front groups and look to take out both Trukks. I give one group furious charge from Nemesor and they take on one Trukk each, exploding both. Thrakas group failed their pinning check, which I was very happy to see. Night fight continues but the storm hits nothing.

Orks

Kommandos don't come out, and everything gets close enough to shoot out large quantities of Scarabs. I end up with six left in the group next to Thraka, and the other group gets assaulted by some Boyz and Mega Nobs to leave three bases left. The Rocket Boys come forward and assault one group of Spyders, the Spyders hold but are reduced to one wound each.

Turn Three

Necrons

The centre of the board is starting to look a bit thin of Necrons now. I give furious charge to the Scarabs on the left and assault the Thraka unit hoping to take away a few saves on the Nobs. I generate three Scarabs on the back unit with the second unit of Spyders and send the Spyders in to assist the other Spyders in the assault with the Rocket Boyz. I wipe them out and one unit of Spyders get reduced down to one model, I then consolidate the single Spyder forward as bait to save the rest of my backfield. The storm continues thanks to the Cronocryptek, but does no damage and the two Arks stay out of trouble staying on the flanks. One Ark takes out half a unit of Boyz on the right flank.

Orks

The Kommandos come out this turn and with my Immortal group protected still, they come on the board next the Ark on the right. They manage to destroy one Flyer Array and stun it, of which I fail to stop the result with my Living Metal. The Mega Nobs take my bait and assault the single Spyder killing him without any problems. Thraka leaves the Nobz on the left objective to chase after my Ark on the left, but even with a Waaagh roll, comes just short to assault it.

Turn Four 

Necrons

I roll a five for the storm to continue and get three sixes causing two wounds on Thraka, a wound on a Nob and a couple on the Lootas who haven't been able to do anything all game. I generate three more Scarabs and shoot the Immortals into the Mega Nobs, before sending in the Furious Scarabs. I kill the Big Mek and one Nob leaving three left with one wound each and a couple of Scarabs die. I keep the Spyders near the Scarabs and in front of the Immortal group for protection. The Ark on the right was still locked in combat and this time is immobilised by the Kommandos, and the left Ark moves away from Thraka, but in range of left objective, ready for the next turn. 

Orks

Five Boyz bunker into terrain next to the objective on the Ork side and the Shoota Boyz hold the middle ground in terrain ready to take any objectives next turn. Nothing happens from shooting because of night fight, and Thraka tries to get the Ark again, but rolls a one and two for is terrain roll and fails once again to assault. This time the Kommandos destroys the Ark, and the Warriors bail out losing one in the explosion and failing their pinning check. The assault with the Mega Nobs continues and one Nob survives.

Turn Five 

Necrons

It is currently two objectives to Orks and none to me. The storm finally stops and I generate three more Scarabs and move the Spyders up. I was hoping to contest the Ork objective with the right Ghost Ark, but with it gone the Spyders need to make a long hard slog towards it, in case game goes on. Nemesor takes away Furious charge on the central Boyz as his Immortal group moves behind the Spyders to claim the objective on my side. The left Ark moves 12" and contests the objective the Nobz are holding, and the last Mega Nob dies for me to consolidate the Scarabs to contest that objective as well.

Orks

With night fight gone, the Lootas open up on the last Ark taking of a weapon. The Shoota boyz can't get to my Immortals as the path is blocked by the Scarabs and Spyders, so they spread out for the other two objectives. Thrakka finally gets into assault with the Ghost Ark and destroys it, killing one Warrior in the explosion. Both the Warriors and Scarabs are still contesting that objective and we have one each of the other two.

We look at the time and decide we would be in trouble with the Wives if we carried on any longer, so call it a day with one objective each and the third contested, a draw!

Conclusion

This was certainly a fun game, and I was a bit surprised how well I did. The Scarab ring worked a treat at protecting my Immortals and if I had negated the stunned roll on the Ark, I would have moved it 12" away from the Kommandos and may have had a chance to contest the last objective. I am wondering if I made an error sending in both units of Scarabs to the Trukks at the beginning, as maybe if I had multi assaulted both Trukks with one group of furious Scarabs, it may have been enough to take them both out, but needing sixes to hit from them moving fast was reason enough for me to send in both units, It  certainly would have been very annoying not to have taken both Trukks out when I had the chance! More farming experiments needed..

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Necron Super Scarab List!

Nick speaking,

Previously, I looked at a dual Doomsday Ark list with my two recently painted interchangeable Arks. In this post, I want to look at using those two models as Ghost Arks instead, which I am sure is what they will end up being most of the time anyway. I have recently got myself another OOP Tomb Spyder, giving me six in total, so maybe it's time for me to start working on my first Scarab Farm list with my sixty three Scarab bases...

So, with thirty Scarabs filling out the Fast Attack slot and the accompanying six Tomb Spyders, what else to take? HQ wise, it has to be the Stormlord to keep those Scarabs as safe as can be with his night fight ability, and the mandatory Crono Cryptek, to keep the night fight going for long as possible. As this list is basically based around the Scarabs, then why not focus on that, and take it one step further and make them Super Scarabs? Enter Namesor for his furious charge buff! A lot of points yes, but I think it could work, as long as I have enough points to get some troops in! Two Ghost Arks with five Warriors in each will leave me enough points for a unit of nine Immortals, for the Stormlord and Crono Cryptek to join, which hopefully will just about be enough...

Super Scarab List (v1)

HQ

1 x Stormlord (225)

1 x Nemesor (185)

Royal Court:

1 x Cryptek/Chronometron (40)

TROOPS

9 x Immortals/Tesla (153)

5 x Warriors (65)

1 x Ghost Ark (115)

5 x Warriors (65)

1 x Ghost Ark (115)

FAST ATTACK

10 x Scarabs (150)

10 x Scarabs (150)

10 x Scarabs (150)

HEAVY SUPPORT

3x Spyders/1x Gloom (165)

3x Spyders/1x Gloom (165)

1743 Points

Once again, any comments and thoughts are most welcome...

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Necron Scarab Farm - 63 Scarab Bases Done!

Nick speaking,

Been very busy with the Scarab making, here are my three units of twenty one Scarab bases, ten to start on the table, and eleven for spawning. I have one unit of original GW Scarabs, and the other two rock and rubble units are all made from my single green stuff cast...

Now for the Tomb Spyders

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Necron Annihilation Scarabs Battle Report

Nick speaking,

My first game, and maybe my last, with this version of my Annihilation Scarab list, was against a Jump Pack based Blood Angels list. Right from the outset, I knew It was going to be an up hill struggle. Necrons, in a spearhead, annihilation mission, against a Dante based deep strike list with loads of FNP re-rolls, was always going to be hard. I was also hit with two Flanking Baals on my side of the board, which really didn't help. I learnt a lot from this game, and it really was nice to see my Annihilation Barges in action for the first time. They perform really well and I am now thinking that I need to get myself a couple of Ghost Arks as well! What do you think?

Here is my list and the Battle report, if you dare watch it!

HQ
1 x Stormlord (225) (Joins Immortals)
Royal Court:
1x Cryptek Harbringer of Eternity/Cronometron (40) (Joins Immortals)
1 x Cryptek Harbringer of Despair/Veil of Darkness/Nightmare Shroud (70) (Joins Warriors)

ELITES
1 x C’Tan Shard/Spirit Dust/Writhing Worldscape (240)
5 x Flayed Ones (65)

TROOPS
1) 10 x Necron Immortals/Tesla (170)
2) 5 x Necron Warriors (65)
3) 5 x Necron Warriors (65)
4) 5 x Necron Warriors (65)
5) 5 x Necron Warriors (65)
6) 5 x Necron Warriors (65)

FAST
10 x Canoptek Scarabs (150)
10 x Canoptek Scarabs (150)
9x Canoptek Scarabs (135)

HEAVY
1x Annihilation Barge/Tesla Cannon (90)
1x Annihilation Barge/Tesla Cannon (90)

Points 1750

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Necron Annhilation Scarab List

Nick speaking,

OK, so onto a list for my Annihilation Barges, and this time I want all my green stuff Scarabs in the list as well. I recently saw a Necron list over on Fritz 40K featuring thirty Scarabs that he took to Conflict GT a few weeks ago. It has some interesting concepts to it, so I thought I would build on that list as a starting point for my Annihilation Scarabs. Fritz didn't use any Annihilation Barges, so I had to switch a few things around here and there to get my two Barges in it. Please check out this post by Fritz to see his take on the list.

HQ
1 x Stormlord (225)
Royal Court:
1 x Cryptek Harbringer of Eternity/Cronometron (40)
1 x Cryptek Harbringer of Despair/Veil of Darkness/Nightmare Shroud (70)

ELITES
1 x C’Tan Shard/Spirit Dust/Writhing Worldscape (240)
5 x Flayed Ones (65)

TROOPS
10 x Necron Immortals/Tesla (170)
5 x Necron Warriors (65)
5 x Necron Warriors (65)
5 x Necron Warriors (65)
5 x Necron Warriors (65)
5 x Necron Warriors (65)

FAST
10 x Canoptek Scarabs (150)
10 x Canoptek Scarabs (150)
9 x Canoptek Scarabs (135)

HEAVY
1 x Annihilation Barge/Tesla Cannon (90)
1 x Annihilation Barge/Tesla Cannon (90)

Points 1750

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Green Stuff 'Rubble Scarabs' Finished

Nick speaking,

Second unit of green stuff Scarabs done...

Click here to see the first 'Rock Scarabs' unit I did

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Green Stuff Scarab Unit Done

Nick speaking,

To my surprise, it didn't take me long to knock out fifty green stuff Scarabs with my home made cast. As usual with Necrons, it was even quicker to paint them, and in the end, I only had a couple of rejects. The rejects were still good enough for me to use on a base I made for my next project, re-painting a second hand Tomb Spyder that I purchased. Overall, although not perfect, I think they generally came out well. So, here are the final results of my first unit of ten Scarabs Swarms, all made out of green stuff...

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