Know Your Enemy

Okay, so earlier in the week I said that I wouldn't be writing one of thos Sun Tzu missives. Well, getting almost tabled can change your viewpoint very quickly. Yesterday, I lost very heavily to a Necron army and it was mainly due to the fact that I had no idea what they could do.

Veil of Darkness

I deployed my army in quite an aggressive formation only to then have the initiative stolen. The Necron Lord then used his Veil of Darkness to Deep Strike behind my Vindicator and blow it up. Had I know they could even do that I would have deployed differently. I'd vaguely heard of VOD but I didn't realise that's what it could do. Never mind, there's a good learning.

Gaze of Flame

With the Necron Lord and his Immortal buddies deep in my lines, I decided to assault them. However, they have Gaze of Flame which takes away my bonus for charging. Now, if I'd know that I would have given some serious thought to charging and I would probably have double tapped the Bolters and then accepted the charge back. Again, another good learning.

Scarabs

I'd heard Andy talk about these things and now I can see why. Move like jetbikes but never have to take Dangerous Terrain tests? Wow. Plus they glance any vehicle on a 6? The bane of Land Raiders by the sound of it. Again, if I'd have know how fast they were I would have deployed further back to prevent a turn 2 assault on my Predator.

We'll Be Back

Now, I'd seen this in action in a game against Graham and I knew how much of a PITA it can be. However, I didn't realise that it worked like FNP and hence doesn't work against AP2. I put down a couple of Immortals with Plasma Gun shots only for them to get back up. Hmm.

Phase Out

This is something else I vaguely knew about. However, in the heat of battle I kept trying to take out Scarabs rather than moving my Assault Cannon Razorback forward to try and kill Warriors and hence cause Phase Out.

Conclusion

Well, I know a lot more about the Necron tricks now. Plus Scott was very kind to spend some time talking about the kinds of things I might see at Open War. Including the Wraith/Monolith teleport trick which can see them move and assault across practically the whole width of the board. I am slightly worried about a dual/triple Monolith army but only because I think it would be hard to kill rather than because it's especially killy. The multiple Wraith build sounds like it might be more likely to appear at Open War. Then again, the Necrons are quite an old army and we might not see any. If we do, I'm a lot more prepared than I was 24 hours ago.