My Necron Terrain and LOS!

Nick speaking,

Today I would like to take you to the Soulless Necron home world, to see how 5th edition line of sight rules have effected my terrain. I've noticed that there has been a lot of discussions going around regarding the true LOS rule recently, and most of it has been negative!

All of my Necron terrain was built around the time when 3rd edition was coming to an end, and 4th edition was just about to come out. In 4th edition everything was about sizes and I could really see the benefits. Everything became standardised and things like a size three model could gain a cover save from a size 2 barricade, but not a size 1 barricade, simple!

Nowadays, with true LOS, what was then a size three monstrous creature, can only get a cover save if 50% in cover, leaving an opening for someone to dispute it. On a side note, why was there no size four in the old rules? Surely a Monolith and some larger pieces of terrain could warrant an additional size. But that was then and this is now, and lets face it, both of these versions give us some problems and can slow the game down, but in my opinion, the true LOS rules win hands down.

For me, getting down to see what my models can see to determine if they can shoot or get any saves really does bring me into the game more. Yes, I have had my fair share of annoying disagreements with certain players, but hey, just take a 5+ cover save instead, or roll for it if it's that bad! With everything else like the assaults being speeded up in 5th edition, the game is already a lot quicker anyway. LOS is pretty simple for my terrain in 5th edition now, as most of it is solid and you are either behind it or not.

My latest army, The IDIC Eldar, is loving my Necron terrain as it's perfect for hiding a contesting tank or scoring jetbike squad behind it, but at the same time, it can mean that your shooting ability is reduced.

Most of my terrain is based on the Necron Codex. One reason why I fell in love with Necrons was because of the Codex pictures, and that's how I wanted my Necrons to look!

I made all of my tombs from foam board. If you are able to do so, an angled cutter can make it easier to join your edges together. All of the additional patterns and sticky out bits ware just pieces of cut out cardboard stuck on to the surface.

Back in the days when I made my tomb, you could buy separate sprue's from GW and I purchased two Monolith sprue's to get the two crystal sections at the top of the towers. Most of the other terrain was made from a base of foam/polystyrene and filled in with poly filler. When it came time to paint it, I used a base coat of Chaos Black, then Dark Angels Green with a dry brush of Snot green and Scorpion Green to finish.

I then did some barricades and objective markers to finish off...

Read more ...

How to Convert Eldar Jetbikes

Nick speaking,

New Eldar jetbikes? When? Will it ever happen? Well yes one day! But the question is, is the current old school jetbike really that bad? Well, in my opinion, if you don't bother with the dodgy flag and exchange the supplied rider with a 'real' Guardian, it actually still looks pretty cool.

To be honest, when I first got around to doing my bikes, I was going to use the original leather jacket guy and just cut off the heads. I thought that rotating them around a bit so they were looking in different directions, and glue them back on would do the trick!

It didn't take me long to realise that putting a 'real' Guardian on the bike would look so much better, and match in with the rest of the army as well. In this post I will show you how I did it...

First up, build the Jetbike as standard, the flag pole on the back is optional! Use the original Jetbike legs , but don't glue them on yet. Then, take a standard Eldar Guardian and glue the front and back of the torso together. When dry, take some clippers and cut of the small sticky out bit at the bottom of the back section as pictured below.

This will let the torso fit down onto the legs better. The section were the torso joins the legs will also have to be cut, giving a straight edge to make it easier for them to fit together

Next, Glue the two jetbike arms onto the torso, let them set slightly so that they still move but will not drop off. Remember not to glue the guardian to the Jetbike to make it easier for painting in the future.

When ready put some glue on the top part of the legs and slide the torso into position Make sure you put the hands onto the handle bars first as you go. The arms may slide back a bit out of the armpit sockets, but not enough to be be noticeable. You may also have to raise the legs up slightly with the other hand to join the legs and torso together. Again the legs may not be 100% sitting on the seat, but not enough to be noticable. All that's left to do is put a small bit of green stuff where the legs meet the torso to finish them off.

Of course, you could really start to make them stand out and try some different poses as well. I found that changing one arm every third model was enough to make the unit stand out a but more...

Now you can really start going to town and put Guardians everywhere. Here you can see my Vyper with a 'real' Guardian manning the gun...

Next up, Shuriken Cannon Jetbike conversions

Read more ...

Necrons @ 1000pts

Email in:

Could you take a look at this 1000 point Necron list for me?

HQ

Necron lord-Veil Of Darkness-resurrection orb

200 points

ELITES

5 x Immortals

140 points

TROOPS

10 x necron warriors

10 x necron warriors

360 points

Fast attack

x 3 wraiths

x 3 destroyers

273 points

973 point

Reply out:

Nick speaking,

Your list seems to be going in the right direction, but here are a few things to consider...

The fast attack choice is one of our best choices and you need to take advantage of this by maxing out. I would suggest either two groups of Destroyers or two groups of Wraiths. My preference is the Destroyers for their S6 long rage guns, toughness five and fast moving ability, either way make sure you keep them within 6" for the WBB synergy.

The Lord and Immortals Veiling about is always nice, but I would drop the Orb (check out my Lord with an Orb post for more details). I would also suggest getting Solar Pulse, this is a fantastic piece of wargear and with a 33.3% chance of playing night fight, it can really help out those Destroyers get a round of shooting. Nightmare shroud is another piece of wargear worth considering, especially if your enemy is not fearless!

In my 1000pt list I prefer to use up the last fast attack choice, and opt for a unit of Scarab Swarms to join a Destroyer Lord. Turbo boost the unit out for a 2+ cover save and give your enemy a distraction. Get them into cover and pop of Nightmare shroud as often as you can...

Hope this helps

Nick

Read more ...

New Necron Codex Reveiw - Wraiths

Nick speaking,

Continuing on with fast attack chioces for my New Necron Codex Review, brings us nicely onto the Necron Wraiths. First thing to say about this model is don't buy the one that has the wires coming out of the bottom! Yes it looks cool, but it is a weak point and is very susceptible to being bent and broken!

Anyway, Wraiths have some nice attributes, including weapon skill six, strength six and a great 3+ invulnerable save. So what are they lacking in 5th edition? Easy, you can only have a maximum of three models in one unit! Oh, and of course they are over priced compared to current Codex's.

Wraiths could make an excellent bodyguard for a Destroyer Lord, if they had the numbers. At the moment though, that job will have to be left to Scarab Swarms, more to come on these guy's later.

So, what do we want for the Wraiths? Bigger units, lower point costs, maybe some gun upgrade options, and surely those big claws on them should be rending!

Read more ...