Paradigm Shift; Anti-Tank and CC: Scarab Swarms

Not so long ago the world firmly believed that antitank in CC was weak, unreliable and shouldn't be attempted. With the new necron codex, many players have pointed to scarabs and the awesome antitank that they are. The question is, what has really changed? Is there some fundamental reason why scarabs are that much more effective, or have people just simply learned to see the game in a different light as a result of the new necron codex?

One of the main reasons why people opposed antitank and CC was that in order to destroy a tank, you had to be in base contact with it. Thus, you are committing yourself in order to achieve the simple goal of destroying a rhino. With scarabs, that's no different. Scarabs do come in big units (especially with the help of 9 tomb spyders) allowing multiple combats, allowing you to attempt to destroy more then one vehicle once you commit. Is this really because scarab swarms are so much better, or because opponents don't what formation to adopt when fighting scarab swarms. By layering your vehicles (preferably with flamer-weaponry or otherwise threatening squads/tanks in front) you should be able to get the scarab player to either a) commit his scarabs to take out the first layer and be susceptible to the inevitable counterattack, or b) take those units to the face and try to get in range of the second/third layer of the tanks before commiting.

Scarabs are more cost effective then other units, that's a given. On the other hand, scarabs also require numbers to deal damage, due to the mechanic of entropic strike. In addition, when compared to a higher strength, entropic strike needs to roll a couple more dice to get the same results. This pretty much evens out, as scarabs throw down more dice to hit, penetrate etc., but require an extra phase to do damage. I still don't believe that scarabs are lightyears away from other armies with regards antitank in CC.

You can get perfectly good results in CC with units that are otherwise more diverse then scarabswarms. Scarabs just introduced a new mechanic that seems different. In the end, it's just a slight difference in probability. Same elements from a strategic point of view (you still suffer from an effective range of 0") and the same playstyle as any army that pops tanks in CC.

DE reserving when going second

When going up against a shooty army that wins the roll-off, it is often better for the DE player to reserve rather then deploy. Sometimes, you might be able to find enough los block or migitate the opponents firepower enough to deal with going second on the board, but even this has drawbacks. These drawbacks are most apparent with a venomspam list, which utilises mostly blasters for antitank. 18" range blasters means that you've just committed your models on the battlefield, but will have to zoom forward from that corner you're hiding in in order to get in range. Sometimes, this really isn't worth it.

When reserving you're always gonna be fighting with about 50% of your army against the entire opposing army when you come in on t2. However, DE have so many units placed in reserve, that you can expect pretty average results. It's easier to score that 50% average with over 10 units in reserve, compared to armies with less unit choices. The main advantage in reserving vs deploying in a corner is that you are not committing any of your forces in deployment, but you'll be able to strike anywhere across the entire board edge on t2. You're keeping the initiative in the game and aren't stuck in a certain place with your weapons. You wouldn't believe how many people come withing 32" of your board edge (range of disembarking blasters), meaning that you'll be getting all your shots off, just as if you were alphastriking a poorly deployed opponent. It's a difficult situation for your opponent. If he stays outside of blaster range, that's 2 turns of movement away from him.

It's good to remember that you don't have to fully reserve your army. If you have losblock in your deployment zone, you can stack the amount of venoms/lances that you'll be getting for your t2 betastrike(?). I would deploy units that have a longer range, like ravagers. Thus, you're still able to strike pretty much anywhere on the board and aren't limiting your options on t2. Deploying troops is a little risky. By deploying them, you are commiting them to a certain point on the battlefield. In objective missions, you might want to rather have them in reserve and see where you want to have them once they come on.

So, when reserving you want to maximize the gains from it. Steal 2 shooting phases from your opponent and maintain the ability to strike anywhere along your long board edge. When you come on, it's generally better to pick off a weaker side of your opponent's battleline and try to annihilate it first.

Although DE is one of the few armies that frequently goes into reserves when going second, the same applies to any army that is looking to go full reserves.

Made it onto the Finnish ETC team

Sorry for the lack of content, really busy with school atm. However, a brief announcement. I managed to make it onto the Finnish ETC team for 2012. We are still considering what army I'll be bringing and I won't be able to discuss that here (they are very strict on what I'm allowed to say on the blog :D), but since this was already announced on the Finnish WH Forums, Sotavasara, I might as well put it up here.