NI24 Army review - Necrons and Tau

With the tournament over it's time to look back over the lists and see what worked and what didn't. 

We'll start with the Tau forces. Overall the force worked as intended, and there isn't much that needs to be changed or altered. There were a few options that needed tweaking, partly because the wrong option was taken on the submitted list but also because a few didn't work as well as intended. The rampagers were very hit and miss but taking a full size unit would make a big difference, to room for 3 extra models needs to be found somewhere, possibly by dropping the strike team and devilfish. However, I think that next year my son will be taking Orks, provided he gets it all built and painted.

As for the Necrons, there will be some significant changes. The young man has some tomb blades that were not built at the time of the tournament, and while at the tournament he acquired a Doomsday arc. Combine this with the Silent King he received for Christmas and you have a very different list.

The trouble is, what do you get rid of? First up would be the wraiths and technomancer. While these are good units for holding up the enemy, they lack much punch. Replacing these with the tomb blades keeps a fast unit, faster intact, but also gives greater firepower. Additionally dropping the scarabs and the spider frees up some points. Now scarabs are useful for rear screening but in terms of output and versatility they are now lacking due to 0OC. Using the pints towards the silent king or Doomsday arc would be better I think. Additionally, removing the flayed ones and deathmarks frees up some points. The flayed ones were useful for grabbing some points turn 1 in a few games but in general I think the points could be spending elsewhere, the same applies to the deathmarks, as their shooting output is not great although they were useful deep striking for secondaries. 

There is still quite a while between this tournament and the next and there will be at least 2 if not 3 balance data slates plus we can expect a whole new mission deck around June this year, all of which will have an impact on the lists. 

Here are some parade photos of the necrons