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

Read more ...

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..

Read more ...

One more Spyder

Nick speaking,

I managed to get my sixth and final OOP Tomb Spyder from eBay the other day. I always have one Gloom Prism in each of my Spyder units, for the usual wound allocation and for a bit of psychic defence, so this puts me in a nice position to introduce some of the new models into my army. I plan on getting myself three new Gloom Prism Spyders, and putting one of each in the three sets of two old models I already have. I will then have a chance to use some of the nice new minis, but keep some sort of uniform look to the army.

Sadly the model I got from eBay wasn't very well packaged and the gun broke off, so I was left with some pinning for it. I also decided to go for a different pose and have it in a sitting position for a bit of variety. To get the head looking forward I ended up having to do a bit of green stuff work, which I think came out pretty well. To make the model have some surface areas to glue it onto the base, I put some green stuff on the base and made some indentations so that I had something to glue it to when it was dry...

Here is a before picture and a few after shots that I took for your viewing pleasure...

Read more ...

New Necron Wave - My Thoughts!

Nick speaking,

Just a few of my thoughts on the new wave of Necron models...

The HQ's look cool, shame they are Finecast! As the cloak of my Stormlord has broken off three times already, I can see no hope for the cloak on this dudes arm at all!

The new Spyder does look sweet, but I already have six old ones already! I still haven't decided if I should splash out for three new ones or find three old ones on eBay for the last unit, I think I will wait and see them in the flesh before I make my mind up. Not sure why they have put them on small flying bases though? I see the Tomb Blades are on small bases as well? I think I will up size all mine to match in with the rest of the army. The Tomb Blades look exactly like everyone has converted them to be, which is great all round.

Same for the Stalker really, all those ghost Ark conversions were spot on. I have to admit, I never did like the idea of the Stalker walking on the spine things, I am not a fan of the model design really, I would prefer something hovering like the rest of the army.

Again the Wraiths look nice, but the Whip Coils look like such a weak point and very vulnerable, at least they are not Finecast! I will again, wait to pass full judgement until I see them in the real. I already have six old Wraiths, so another unit of the new minis is not out of the realms of possibility.

So what do you think? Will the new Wraiths and Spyders match in with my old models? Or is it time to start stalking eBay?

Read more ...

Mercer Canoptek Spyders done!

Nick speaking,

Before and after pictures of the two Spyders I got from Mercer over at Imperius Dominatus. I hope you like what I have done with them mate.

Before...

 

After...

Read more ...

Two more Necron Canoptek Spyders...

Nick speaking,

Many thanks to Mercer for supplying me with a couple of his old Necron Tomb Spyders, we swiftly negotiated a very reasonable price and they are now in my hands. If you are not already following his Blog Imperius Dominatus, then please go and check it out as soon as you have finished reading this post and start following him.

The two Spyders will need a bit of work to get them ready for my Soulless Necron army, and I intend to strip them down, add a bit of green stuff to a few areas and file them down ready for painting. One of them has a Particle Projector, but the front of the gun has gone astray. I am going to add the front section of a Gauss Cannon as a replacement, and I think I will reposition some of the arms whilst I am at it.

As you can see from the picture, one of them has a sticky out leg. I am not sure if this was on purpose, or if it's had an accident one day and broken off. Either way, I like it, and plan to make it a main feature. I was thinking of having a load of Scarabs running down and around the leg as if it's making some swarms! Maybe something like this...

Well that's it for now, going to start work on these guys and get them painted up the same as my other three Spyders. Thanks again Mark

Read more ...

Next Canoptek Spyder Done

Nick speaking,

Like most Necron players using the old Codex, Tomb Spyders weren't a major part of my army ideals. I had a couple, and I did use them now and again, but of course, things are different now. A few weeks ago I found myself a nice cheap second had Spyder in my local hobby store, which I quickly purchased. It had a half decent paint job i.e. it was dry brushed silver, but it didn't match the rest of my army. Time for a quick strip down, repaint and a bit of extra detail to the base, including a few of my green stuff Scarabs to bring it all together...

So, that gives me three Spyders in total, not bad, but how many Spyders should I aim for? Nine sounds good, and with my green stuff scarabs working out so well, I could easily get together sixty Scarab bases, but is that over the top? What is the ideal amount of Spyders/Scarabs in a 1750/2000 point list?

Read more ...

New Necron Codex Review - Tomb Spyders

Nick speaking,

Next up in the Necron heavy support choice to get a New Necron Codex review, is the Tomb Stalkers little brothers, the Tomb Spyders. Generally Tomb Spyders only make it into my list if I end up with a few points left over after taking all the stuff I want, but these big daddy spyders do have a few good things about them...

With only the Monolith around for all the Las and missiles to shoot at, the next obvious target is going to be your toughness six Tomb Spyders! with only a 3+ save, and no invulnerable save, they can go down pretty quick.

Taking advantage of 5th edition rules for Tomb Spyders is where Spyders are best used, and pooping out a single Scarab Swarm into cover is how you do it. Now you don't have a montrous creature that has to be 50% in cover for a 4+ cover save. You have a toughness six unit, that chooses the Scarab Swarms 2+ cover save!

On a side note, why is it that one of the rolls I can never make, is not taking a wound when pooping a Scarab! For some reason I nearly always roll a one!

Anyway, when the pooping rule gets the nurf hammer, and there is no longer a 2+ cover save from shooting. The Tomb Spyder really is not going to last that long if they stay the same, especially with only two wounds and no invulnerable save. Of course, they do have the ability to extend the distance for the WWB unit coherancy rule. This can be a great advantage if you keep them at the back between your spaced out Warriors, and behind cover, stopping your opponent from wiping out two units who would normally be standing close to each other for the WWB.

So what about these guy's in the new Codex? Will they still poop? How about if they pooped a random amount of Scarabs like the Tyranid Tervigon?  Or had more wounds? Maybe they will get some linked in rules with the Tomb Stalkers to beef them up? Will they change the Spyder enough for a Tomb Spyder spam list?

What do you think?

Read more ...