Warhammer 40,000: 10th Edition Xenos Battle Preview
As the rules for various factions and units start to seep out from the Warhammer Community site, we couldn’t resist the urge to kick off a game with two of our favourite Xenos factions.
In the green corner, we have the rowdy and rambanctious rabble that everyone loves to fight, almost as much as they love fighting themselves - the lads themselves - Orks!
In the glowing, ominous, slightly more eery green corner we have race of ancient, cranky robots who are just shaking off the dust from their record-setting nap. Waking them up is hard, but putting them down is harder - the Necrons.
Now, a few caveats. At the point this game was run, the points costs weren’t available yet, so we simply used the 9th edition points costs to determine army sizes. In addition, with these rules being hot-off-the-digital-press, there’s every chance that some of these rules may be slightly bungled or worded in a way that leads to confusion or shenanigans. Give us your patience as we go over our game and discuss the key takeaways from how both factions played in this new ruleset.
It was a 1,500 point game using one of the Crusade missions from the Leviathan book. This was an opportunity to try something that wasn’t “Only War” with armies of considerable size. The noteworthy inclusions of both forces included the Orks being led by an Ork Megaboss with a 4++ Feel No Pain enhancement, with the Neron Overlord doing the same. We took advantage of 3 enhancements each but we’ll go over those in time. The rest of the armies included 3 Deff Dreads, 3 Deff Koptas, 40 Boyz alongside a Wierdnob up against two blobs of 20 Necron Warriors, a Canoptek Reanimator, a couple of Doomstalkers, the Convergance of Dominion terrain and other units to boot.
In terms of how each army played, their play styles felt more distinct and were far more discernable early on. The Necrons formed a hardy and terrifying gunline across the far edge of the board whilst the Orks had a frantic sprint to get stuck-in as quickly as possible before being shot to pieces.
The Necrons naturally made this as difficult as possible for the Orks. The Canoptek Doomstalkers firing D6+1 [Blast, Heavy] landed fairly reliable numbers of hits against big blobs of Ork Boyz, but naturally felt very swingy against the Deff Dreads. Still, they were able to take out 2 of the Dreads and the Dakka Jet fairly safely in the early game. The Technomancer still gives nearby Canoptek constructs +1 to hit with the Canoptek Control Node, so he got very cosy next to the towering terrors.
That was, until the Weirdnob got close enough to use his psychic ‘eadbutt against him, offing the Technomancer in one go! As it turns out, this psychic attack gets more powerful (an hazardous!) depending on the number of Orks accompanying the Weirdnob. Fortunately, using the Protocol of Eternal Guardian stratagem for 1CP, the Technomancer was ressurected with half of his wounds back, leaving the Ork player infuriated after what was a truly cinematic moment.
Amongst the other side of the battlefield, 10 Necron Immortals unleashed their Tesla Carbines into a squad of 10 Ork Boyz, doing small amounts of damage but not enough to write home about. The [Sustained Hits 2] is nice but the lack of AP leaves plenty to be desired and made Gauss Blasters all the more alluring.
Elsewhere, Skorpekh Destroyers led by a Skorpeh Lord charged into some Deff Koptas, taking out two of the three in one fell swoop, only to get charged by a nearby Deff Dread. It was here that an important lesson was learned - vehicles now have serious staying power in Warhammer 40,000 10th edition. Whilst the Skorpekhs could all dish out a number of fairly lethal attacks, the 2+ save from the Dread (alongside the 5+ Invulnerable from the recently declared Waaagh!) meant that very little damage could be inflicted to make a difference. Within a turn or two, the Skorpekhs were scattered to the four winds amidst a whir, grind and crunch of buzz saws and power claws.
Whilst that side of the fight was consigned to failure for the Necrons, a great illumination proceeded to take place over their held objectives in their backline - the immense durability of Necron Warriors. Due to Reanimation Protocols, the number of Necrons that can return is capable of reaching fairly startling heights. The enabled setup was to have a squad of 20 Necron Warriors sat on an objective. This means their ability to return D3 dead models to the squad at the end of the Command Phase then became D3+3. Having them stood close by to the Convergance of Dominion foritification bolstered this further by making the D3 re-rollable. On top of this, a Canoptek Reanimator at arms-length meant that an additional D3 could also be returned to the squad. With this, 7 to 9 Necron Warriors were returning quite reliably each turn. Couple this with a Resurrection Orb held by a Necron Overlord leading the squad and you can then activate Reanimation Protocols during your enemies Command Phase as well as your own! Thus, having huge hordes of Necron Warriors clustered together near these units makes for an exceptionally tough nut to crack.
Additional auras can be taken advantage of here, too. For instance The Sovereign Coronal enhancement has any Necron unit within 6” of the bearer be treated as if they contain a leader. This means that your phalanxes of never-ending Necron Warriors now have access to buffed-up stratagems thanks to them being treated as having a leader whilst also getting +1 when rolling to hit. If things line up, you can absolutely dominate a portion of the board and fortify it quite comfortably whilst using other units such as Doomstalkers or Doomsday Arks to obliterate things from afar.
Alas, holding your ground may be advantageous in some regards, but it doesn’t guarantee victory - as was learned. The defensive playstyle didn’t work well for this mission as the Orks were able to scatter over the board and claim objectives (which ultimately accrued VP at the end of each battle round) whilst hard-hitting melee monsters kept the Necrons from creeping up the board to contest.
One such bout featured the warlords going toe-to-toe, with the Ork Megaboss clashing with the Necron Overlord. Both were leading units and so the Epic Challenge stratagem was crucial in order to take out eachother’s warlord (netting 15VP if successful). Where the Ork Megaboss spent 1CP on Epic Challenge each time in order to try and focus down the Necron Overlord, the Overlord’s “My Will Be Done” ability meant this stratagem could be used on him for 0CP, allowing the spend of precious CP on crucial Command Re-Rolls. With that, the Necron Overlord laid low the Ork Megaboss by Turn 4! That was, until the Meganobz accompanying the Ork leader eventually were able to whittle down the last of the Necron Warriors accompanying the Overlord and then bring him down under a sheer weight of very powerful strikes. The sensational fight between the two leaders wouldn’t have lasted half as long, had we not both given each an enhancement granting them a 4++ Feel No Pain.
Despite best efforts from the ancient Necron forces, the tide swung in the favour of the rowdy green menace. The Necron gunline couldn’t keep them back and eventually most were cut down in the foray and torrent of melee. By the end of turn five, the Necrons were scattered over a single objective with the Orks claiming numerous across the board thanks to an elusive Deff Kopta and a Deff Dread that survived each turn until being blown up by a Doomstalker in the final round of Necron shooting.
With this, the game was 85 to the Orks and 35 to the Necrons.
The important points of note became as follows:
Vehicles are tough. Really tough. As soon as something strays into Toughness 9 or above, the need for 5’s to wound becomes a hard pill to swallow. Weight of dice can still be effective, but the weight needed now feels much higher.
Feel No Pain provides real staying power. Having an answer to Mortal Wounds is a big help, especially when it can be as achievable as 4++.
Play into your army strengths and synergies is more important than ever. The game would have been over a lot faster if the Necron Warriors weren’t leaning into Reanimation bonuses.
However, if the Orks had declared their Waaagh! one turn earlier then it would have been over even faster in their favour.
Objectives are more essential than ever. Not just for grasping VP but also to provide buffs for your units where relevant. However, unless you have rules that state otherwise then you need to stay sat on the objective to control them. Consider that and the OC of your units at all times!
Consolidating and Battle-shock tests can genuinely win or lose games.
Have you had much of a chance to play any of the rules? Have you had many memorable moments? How has your faction performed in light of the updates? Be sure to let us know.
#New40K #Leviathan #AdWIP #WarhammerCommunity
