The Tactical Squad

The first pack in the Death World Cycle, Jungles of Nectavus, introduced some new themes and mechanics to the game. Two of these new concepts have been the introduction of cheaper army units that provide a boost to Elite units at the same planet and cards with the Deep Strike mechanic. With the Unforgiven War Pack just around the corner, The Tactical Squad is very happy to warp in some spoilers and share two Eldar cards that continue with the concepts mentioned above.

The first card is the Adherent Outcast. Its ability pretty much translate as elites will now be harder to kill through attacks at this planet. Most elites will in theory end up with 8 to 12 health while at a planet with this unit. However, unless this unit can be protected, most times it will probably be the first unit attacked and thus in practice the extra health will not be a factor over multiple attacks. This card with just a single Elite at a planet is not going to swing the battle in a big way, but if it is a close battle with either an Elite vs a swarm of army units or one Elite vs another, this card might be just enough to turn the balance in your favour or keep a damaged Elite unit alive long enough to get one more attack off before it dies. Some interesting units to play with this are the Fire Prism, with its ability to effectively cancel two attacks per round or the Sa’cae XV88 Broadside with the ability to gain Area Effect (2). You could even Gift Of Isha it in in a pinch to hopefully throw the math in your favour, although I think that is a pretty desperate play. Even more interesting is this card being used in a Necron deck with the [whc]Lynchguard Sentinel[whc], as they can protect this unit while they are ready. Overall, I am not completely sold on this card, I feel I would rather just take another 2 cost unit that hits harder and just hope my elites survive long enough to get their attacks off before they die.

The second spoiled

card is Concealing Darkness and is a Deep Strike event that has no regular cost and thus can only be played through Deep Strike. For a cost of 1 resource, in addition to the 1 resource to put the card in reserve, you are now able to ambush in any Eldar units at that planet until the end of the phase. This can allow you to threaten a planet win with a lesser deployed force. If the enemy ends up sending their warlord to that planet or deploys a lot of units there you can easily counter, if they don’t you can hopefully win with the few units you have at the planet and save those units in your hand for the next planet. However, with the decent command that most Eldar units have, it is tough not to play them out during the deploy phase to take advantage. This is especially true of units with the Mobile keyword or the ability to jump to another planet. Where this event becomes really useful is for units that are usually first targets for any attacks. Some examples are the [whc]Iyanden Wraithguard[whc], [whc]Starbane’s Council[whc] or the [whc]Furious Wraithblade[whc]. Being able to bring these units in on your terms allows you to get the most of the damage they are dealing. We also can’t forget about the [whc]Mighty Wraithknight[whc], being able to exhaust every enemy unit along with Warlords is something that shouldn’t be taken likely. Note that you don’t have to Ambush in your units all at once, you can pull them in one at a time, only as necessary and only when it is your turn to swing. I think this card fits nicely with how the Eldar play, they already have lots of units with Mobile or Mobile-like abilities and this card just allows them to be more versatile in what planets their units decide to fight at. Hope you enjoyed the two spoilers from the Unforgiven warpack. The Tactical Squad would like thank Fantasy Flight Games for allowing us to share these with you. Until next time.

Welcome to the first article in what we hope will be a series dedicated to looking at deckbuilding strategy and sharing some of our deck ideas.  Since the release of Legions of Death, Victor and Travis have spent a lot of time talking about what makes an effective Necron deck and trying to come up with competitive decks for either warlord. Travis Provick: It can be a bit tough to know what to put in a Necron deck.  You have the whole card pool of common units to pull from and you can choose to add any number of different factions as allies.  All that choice is exciting, but it can also be a bit overwhelming. Victor Naqvi: Absolutely.  Figuring out the right angle of attack for a new Necron deck can be challenging.  You want to be careful about not going to crazy with the number of allied factions and consider whether your non-unit choices favour allied units or Necron cards more. TP: Anrakyr the Traveller seems like a more straightforward deck to build between the two warlords, but my first deck with him was relatively mediocre.  But I’ve been very impressed by a couple of the Anrakyr decks you’ve come up with.  They have been very strong.  

Anrakyr - Discard Toolbox

Anrakyr the Traveller (50 cards)

[table width=“250px”] Army (29)[attr colspan=“2”] 2x Death Korps Engineers 2x Decaying Warrior Squad 1x Elysian Assault Team 1x Freebooter Kaptain 2x Harbinger of Eternity 1x Praetorian Ancient 5x Pyrrhian Eternals 3x Rogue Trader 3x Sacaellum Shrine Guard 2x Sanctioned Psyker 2x Standard Bearer 2x Steel Legion Chimera 3x Tallarn Raiders [/table]

[table width=“250px”] Attachment (6)[attr colspan=“2”] 2x Promotion 1x Pyrrhian Warscythe 3x Resurrection Orb[/table] [table width=“250px”] Support (3)[attr colspan=“2”] 2x Eternity Gate 1x Slumbering Tomb[/table] [table width=“250px”] Event (12)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x Awake the Sleepers 3x Drudgery 3x Mechanical Enhancement 2x Reanimation Protocol 3x Recycle[/table]

VN: Anrakyr’s biggest asset is his discard pile.  Every card in his signature squad cares about this resource.  To that end, I wanted to build a deck that was all about treating my discard pile as a toolbox from which I could pull cards I needed for whatever situation I was in. TP: That’s a great way to look at it. VN: This deck didn’t need to fill up my discard pile as quickly as possible, so the deck eschews dedicated mill cards like Weight of the Aeons and even Flayed Ones Pack.  Instead, the only card I included beyond Anrakyr’s sig squad was 3x Recycle.  Effects that allow me to discard from my hand allow me to pitch units that are far more useful in the discard pile from my hand; units such as Decaying Warrior Squad and the first 2-3 copies of Pyrrhian Eternals. I then needed to decide which faction was to be my enslaved faction for this deck.  I chose to stick with one faction to increase consistency, so I needed to have a faction that had a lot of utility in their units.  Enter the current golden child of Conquest, the Astra Militarium.  AM units are cheap to play out, have good command presence, and can function as either command cappers or combat units.  I also had access to some really good situational cards like support hate in the form of Death Korps Engineers, increased survivability with Steel Legion Chimera, and a nasty combat surprise with the new Standard Bearer.  All three units are excellent targets for Drudgery, so I have no hesitations in discarding them for use later. Harbinger of Eternity is almost what I would call a ‘secondary warlord’.  Once he hits the table, your discard toolbox expands even more.  Discarding an event to shield one of my units and still having the ability to fire off the event reduces decision pressure and. especially in the case of an event like Mechanical Enhancement, can result in a virtual +4HP to one of your units (2 shields + 2 HP).  Harbinger also gives my Recycles a second chance, allowing me to dig through my deck even more. TP: It’s tough to play against you when I don’t just have to worry about what you might have in your hand, but what you have in your discard pile. VN: Having all these tricks means I need more money than cards from the command struggle, so I included 3x Rogue Trader.  I don’t worry about having too many tiny bodies. If I’ve discarded my Praetorian Ancient I can use Anrakyr’s ability to get him back in the late game as a scary 5 ATK, Armorbane juggernaut.  And in a pinch, I can always rotate my enslavement dial to whatever my opponent is playing and pull the biggest guy from their discard pile. After playing this deck a few times, I’ve found that the deploy stall game is huge.  It’s not unusual for me to have turns where I will play Recycle, then play Eternity Gate, then activate my Slumbering Tomb, then use Reanimation Protocol to heal my warlord, then use my Eternity Gate - all before playing a single unit to a planet.  It’s not hard to outmaneuver my opponent on command this way.  

Nahumekh - Steel Wheels

Nahumekh (51 cards)

[table width=“250px”] Army (30)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x Assault Valkyrie 4x Destroyer Cultist 3x Doom Scythe Invader 1x Harbinger of Eternity 1x Leman Russ Conqueror 3x Piranha Hunter 3x Rogue Trader 3x Standard Bearer 3x Vash’ya Trailblazer 3x Warriors of Gidrim 2x Wildrider Squadron 2x Wildrider Vyper [/table]

[table width=“250px”] Attachment (5)[attr colspan=“2”] 2x Gauss Flayer 2x Promotion 1x The Staff of Command[/table] [table width=“250px”] Support (6)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x Obedience 2x Sautekh Complex 3x STC Fragment[/table] [table width=“250px”] Event (12)[attr colspan=“2”] 2x Backlash 2x Hate 2x Mechanical Enhancement 2x Reanimation Protocol 3x Recycle[/table]

TP: I started off with the goal of making a 3-ally Nahumekh deck to leverage his ability and the ability of his signature unit (Destroyer Cultist). To maximize that value, I wanted to be able to keep my units from non-Necron factions alive for multiple turns - something that Mobile facilitates really well.  I also wanted to try to get my Staff of Change in play as quickly as possible.  This led me to Earth Caste Technician and Vash’ya Trailblazer in Tau.  I already knew that resources in Necron decks could be an issue, so I also put in Sael’um Pioneers.  With two scouts in the beginning of the list, my first deck attempt went all in on a Scout/Tomb Blade Squadron strong command deck to see if the Tomb Blade’s ability was perhaps stronger than I originally believed. VN: And how did that go? TP: Not well, which was largely as expected.  After a few losses I went back to the drawing board with a better feel of how a Nahumekh deck plays in practice.  My next experiment was going to be an Elite deck, and I was curious about the power level of the Doom Scythe Invader.  Trailblazers would still be great, so Tau stayed.  Piranha Hunters would guarantee me card draw even in situations where my opponent would challenge me for command - a problem that my first deck had, and they would never die.  I’d really liked the impact Standard Bearers were having in other decks, and I thought being able to ready exhausted Elite units would only increase their contribution. AM also has great vehicle targets for Doom Scythe, so I chose them as my second ally. Wildrider Squadron seemed like one of the best targets for Doom Scythe in the game, and Wildrider Vyper are great Elite units that have the survivability via Mobile that I like to have in a Nahumekh deck, so Eldar rounded things out for allies VN: Yeah, I think you hit on a viable list with this one.  You were a bit light on resources at times, but it was a tough deck to deal with. Any advice for someone who brings this deck to a game night? TP:  It’s ok to let your opponent take the first planet or two as long as you are building some command presence and tools for later rounds.  Try to use Recycle to seed at least one target for Doom Scythe early.  Be careful how much damage you let Nahumekh take. You really want to be able to use his ability in critical fights and 6 health is not very much. Don’t forget that you can use Obedience to move units from HQ at the beginning of the command phase. I don’t think this deck is top tier, but it is a lot of fun to play and it can be pretty competitive.   Please let us know in the comments what you think of either of these decks.  Or tell us about the Necron decks that you’ve built.

In this episode Travis and Victor talk about the latest news out of FFG and review the huge selection of new cards released in the Legions of Death deluxe expansion. Deathworld War Pack 5 spoiler article https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/5/24/against-the-great-enemy/ BD Cosmos, Laval https://www.facebook.com/pages/BD-Cosmos/163609810320339

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The 40k universe is full of interesting stories, legendary characters and expansive, exotic locations. These stories are one of the reasons I enjoy games set in the 40k universe and one of reasons the Conquest LCG drew my eye. It has been just over a week since Legions of Death hit the store shelves and the new deluxe expansion  introduces the Necrons as the last race to join the battle in the Traxis sector. I have always wanted to shed some light on the lore of Warhammer 40k and I think this new race is the perfect focus for the 1st edition of our Lore Librarium. So let’s look into how the Necrons became the cold, relentless force of enslavement that we all know and love … errr … I mean fear. The story of the Necron race begins countless ages ago, before even the birth of the Eldar race. This humanoid species lived harsh lives, full of death. As their race grew they spread out among the stars. Sometime during these travels the Necrotyr, as they were known as then, came across an even more ancient advanced race referred to as the Old Ones. These beings had the one thing that had eluded the Necrotyr, near immortality. The Old Ones were unwilling to share their secrets and over time the Necrotyr grew jealous. During this time the once united race began to fragment, with individuals pursuing their own goals, which lead to internal conflict. These two facts lead the ruling council of the Necrotyr to declare war against the Old Ones, as a way to reunite and focus the fracturing race. They succeeded at that goal, but the war was unwinnable and over time the entire race was nothing but a minor irritant to the Old Ones and in-fighting broke out once again.

It was around this point that the C’Tan appear to the Necrotyr and, unlike the Old Ones, the C’Tan shared their advanced knowledge and were worshipped as gods by the younger race. Among these secrets was the ultimate gift; every Necrotyr would be granted immortality.  This gift of metal bodies was a curse. The Necrotyr would live forever, not as individual bodies of flesh, but as mechanical creatures devoid of a soul, the majority of the race were stripped of their individuality and will. All except for Szarekh and a few leaders, who now controlled the entire race. With their new gods by their sides and their hardened bodies the new Necrons attacked the Old Ones once again. To fight back the Old Ones created new races like the Eldar and Humans. However, in the end, even as these new races grew, the Old Ones were defeated. Szarekh, however, had come to realize that their “saviors” the C’Tan had fed off the souls of his entire race.  Even though the Necrons had won, they had been used. When the C’Tan were weak after defeating the Old Ones, Szarekh turned on them, imprisoning them and returning the destiny of the Necron race back into their own hands. But while the Necrons had taken heavy losses in the war, the other newer races had flourished.

Szarekh knew his race couldn’t control the galaxy right now, but his race had all the time in the universe, a luxury the newer races did not enjoy.  So, practicing patience, he ordered the Necron race into a deep slumber, shutting down entire planets and systems to be woken up at a later date. For 60 million years the Necrons slept while the rest of the universe grew in strength and spread over vast areas.  But there was a problem when the Necrons were called to awake from their long dormancy. Many of the Necron tomb worlds have been destroyed over the eons.  Some worlds awoke early.  Some not at all. The long slumber has also negatively affected those few who were allowed to keep their individuality. Once ambitious and proud leaders, the passing of time have driven many of them to madness or obsession. Instead of a vast army awakening all at once as a unified force, the Necrons have awoken piece meal and splintered with different leaders vying for power. However, as more and more tomb worlds break their slumber, the newer races have come to realize that what they once thought were random occurrences represented a far greater threat. To the proper eyes, the pattern is visible. The Necron invasion is just starting. Right now they are fractured and can be kept at bay, however, its only a matter of time before they start to unify and than the rest of universe might just be crushed under the weight of countless metal feet.

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I hope you have enjoyed this brief history of the Necron race. There is certainly more to be told about the Necrons.  If all the above is new to you, I hope I have peaked your interest enough to find out more about them.  If you are already a fan of Necron lore, please share your favourite aspects of their history in the comments section. Also please let us know what you thought of the article and whether you would like see more visits to the Lore Librarium. Til’ next time, this is Jon Yeo closing the book and signing off.

In this episode Alex, Jon and Travis talk about their experience at Toronto Regionals, Alex drops a question in the Reaction Phase and the Squad warps right into a review of The Final Gambit warpack. Jon’s Ragnar Deck At Regionals - Jon’s Ragnar Deck At Regionals

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Legions of Death is expected to be at your gaming store by the end of May. As the community eagerly wait for the soulless Necrons the Tactical Squad is happy to share two Necron cards from the latest upcoming deluxe expansion. The first spoiler is a four cost army unit.

Immortal Legion

This card has similarities to the Lone Wolf with slightly better stats at an increased cost and a slightly less limiting ability. These boosts do come with a negative though, as the action is limited by the enslavement dial. Due to that I think this unit works better in a deck that is all Necron units or has very few enslaved units as you will want to keep your enslavement dial on your opponent’s faction. However, if you are able to keep your enslavement dial matching your opponent’s faction you will be able to threaten their warlord no matter where they go. The fact that Space Marines are able to negate a lot of damage makes the Lone Wolf a dangerous unit for any opposing warlord to go against even if it won’t get a swing in during the first battle round. Similarly, he Immortal Legion with its 1 extra health and attack along with the Necron ability to heal damage makes this unit a dangerous risk for any warlord that thinks they can win a battle on their own.   The second spoiled card is a 2 cost support that definitely is a nice fit with Immortal Legion.  

Master Program

This support has a pretty decent cost but it does require another Drone card to be sacrificed. Presently, we have seen a few cards with the Drone trait and the number and play-ability of these cards will influence how often this card gets played. However, if you are able to get this out and a Drone card out without too much of a resource hit, the ability of this support cannot be understated. The ability means that an attack against a Necron unit that doesn’t kill that unit is pretty much negated. This can make Necrons units with higher health that much harder to destroy, let alone readying that unit. Triggering this after all enemy units have attacked can change the tide of a battle. Even, just having this out with a Drone card on the table should make an opponent think twice about sending their warlord to a battle on its own. Both of these cards seem like they will be able to fit nicely into decks commanded by any of the 3 Necrons warlords we have seen although with The Immortal Legion the deck might want to keep to mostly Necrons units. I can’t wait to see how the rest of the cards in the expansion will work with these and the other cards that have been spoiled. The battlefields of Warhammer 40,000: Conquest are going to be a wash of grey and green in the weeks to come and expect things to be very different once these soulless entities hit the table.  Again The Tactical Squad would like to thank Fantasy Flight Games for allowing us to share these cards with you the community. Let us know your opinion on these cards or the Necron faction in general, we always love to hear your comments and feedback. From the rest of The Tactical Squad I want to thank you for listening and supporting us. Until next time. Jon Yeo

In this episode of The Tactical Squad Travis, Liz and Jon go through an always quick reaction phase, go into the latest news, drop some cold soulless Necron spoilers and have a strategy talk about cards that have an ability based on a specfic planet icon. Necrons: Wake the Sleepers, Searching for Truth, Legions of Death Spoilers Organized Play: Store Championships, What is a Tournament?, The Championship Series, Intentional Draws

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In this bonus episode of the podcast, Travis sits down with 3 of the winners of 2016 Store Championship in the Greater Toronto Area to discuss their thoughts on the meta at the time of their victories and how things look heading into Regionals season.  We’d like to thank Face to Face Games for hosting us for this chat.  If you are in the Toronto area, they regularly host Warhammer 40,000: Conquest tournaments - including the Regional event on May 13th at 1pm - and feature a regular LCG night on Monday evenings. We’ll be back next week with a regular episode of The Tactical Squad.

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In this episode of The Tactical Squad Alex, Liz and Jon talk about the latest Conquest news, The Reaction Phase gets a mixup with Jon throwing out the question and the squad reviews the Wrath of the Crusaders warpack. *Clarification on the ruling with Sacaellum’s Finest and Summary Execution is that “End of battle” happens before determining who won a battle, therefore by the time it comes to trigger Sacaellum’s Finest the planet has already lost the Green icon and thus the requirements for Sacaellum’s Finest have not been met.

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In this episode of The Tactical Squad Alex, Liz and Travis talk about the latest Conquest related news, do some quick thinking in the Reaction Phase, provide a second opinion on the Eldar spoilers from Wrath Of The Crusaders and take an updated look at the role of neutral cards in the game. *Lore Correction: The two companies of the Dark Angels chapter are the Deathwing (bone coloured armour) and Ravenwing (black coloured armour)

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