Tombspyder (Minivan) Tactica

[Alzer]

Alright, Pariahs may be the most "hated" of the Necron models. But the tombspyder seems to be the most ignored. As 5th ED is rearing it's mug around in a couple days. I think everyone should take a look at what this loveable floating minivan has to offer.

Issue 1: cost
The tombspyder is the cheapest MC in all of 40k that I know of. Ringing in at the cost of 3 warriors plus change. The cheapest carnifex variant would let you field two of them. And two spyders vs. a min points 'fex would win more often than not. They have an ability that actually assists WBB, and therefore protects against phase out to a degree. And for so cheap, you never REALLY have to feel bad if they die. Tombspyders are really comparable to scarabs as far as cheap wounds that won't phase you out go.

Issue 2: Shooting
Nothing short of a plasmagun is going to reliably put wounds on these guys. And if they die, so what? That's that many shots not going against your PO and for just a tick more than a destroyer. Beyond this if they're up front the Spyders will block LOS to your soft metallic Warriors. Yes, they're "slow," but the noble and all powerful space marine only has a 6" move.

One way to shield from shooting damage is to go for a couple scarab bases, 3 T3 wounds at no extra charge so the spyder doesn't have to take them is rather nice.

I'm not gonna condone the pitiful attempt to shoot with a particle projector and agree these should never be fielded. ESPECIALLY at the loss of an attack. One day I'll get around to modding my pair of them to have just claws.

Issue 3 Assault:
Against most opponents Spyders will go last. This is true of just about everything else in our list. So really what's the difference. Spiders hit hard, harder then wraiths even, as they get the wonderful "monstrous" armor ignorance.

Vs. infantry
On average, a TS should drop 1-2 infantry/assault phase (2-3 charge). Not so amazing until you realize that most infantry will NOT be getting out of that assault. With T6 and a solid save infantry will be lucky to get a wound in. Even standard power weapons have a rough time getting through a spyder. Spyders are of course fearless, so if they do lose combat, there's a chance they might be finished off by massed numbers.. If they win they DO count as 10 models, and will more than likely cause extra casualties against other fearless models. Again the low init hurts them as they aren't likely to sweep anything.

Vs. Heavy Assult Infantry (edit)
I decided to make this a seperate category. As such units as wraithguard, mega nobz, repentia and terminators will have differing effects. In these cases the footing is a little balanced out of the spyder's favor. They may go first against such opponents, however the return hits will be devastating and most likely wipe the spider out. Their hits will be just as hard but high toughness and invulnerable saves will keep the other side coming. Making it best to keep them 6" away from your units to not have any potential massacres leave a squad of chaos terminators in your warriors.

Vs. MC/ Walkers
Alright as stated before tombspyders are CHEAP, the fun thing is they're immune to instantdeath. Against other "dreadnought" class units, they may or may not do so well. Their initiative puts them after dreadnoughts and wraithlords, but before most carnifex and deff dreads. The fact that the TS might just stall them for a round if not take a bite out is worth it. As a rule, MCs tend to not get invi saves so will just sit and smash wound into one another until something gives. Against enemy walkers the spyder has a definite advantage of being able to take more than one hit without serious consequences. Also, though not as impressive as the S of other MCs or walkers, the spyder still has enough oomph behind it's hits to get through a reasonable amount of the time, and the wounds that do make it won't be bothered by a 2+/3+

Vs. Vehicles
With the onset of 5th Ed necron players seem to be having fits about getting through enemy armor. Most of the time I see the TS ignored. I don't see why. TS will average a 12-13 for armor pen. Anything short of a landraider will likely fall to that kind of attention. One may argue that a TS won't be able to get close enough. However necrons have FAR more threatening models they'll be worrying about. Also one should never rely on a single anti-tank option anyway.

Vs. Characters.
Characters are extremely differing in abilities, as a general rule though sacrificing your sentient minivan to keep a chaplain out of your warriors is a GOOD IDEA. If there's one thing that eats through warriors squads it's a character, TS have a much better chance against most with higher toughness and strength.


Tactics

Shield:
Alright, basics down, Tombspyders are ultimately a support unit. The most effective way to use them is to put them just ahead of the phalanx to act as a barrier between your enemy and your PO. Size forces warriors out of Line of sight, forces the enemy to make Ld checks to shoot the rest of your army. And also gives something reasonably tough to counter assault. Also that scarab "cover save" fence everyone's been talking about can now be fielded with the addition of some fence posts.

Harrasment/Distraction:
Slow movement aside, Tombspyders do pose a significant threat to the enemy for not a lot of points. This one unit can effectively flank the enemy by itself with split deployment. It's an "ignore it and you'll be sorry" sort of unit, much higher priority targets early on, like monoliths and destroyers, but most opponents really would not enjoy a tombspyder running rampant through their lines. They're slow, and not very intimidating by appearance. In the end even if they decide to throw some firepower at the spyder(s) there's really no big loss.

Football practice:**

Alright this tactic is a tad far out, however it is feasible, and has been used. Not even nids can boast 9 MCs in one army. For less than 500 points you can get your opponent's eyes to bug out of their head. 9 Tombspyders, each counts as a separate unit. So each is an individual threat. Beyond this one can than field piles of scarabs for "free." I'd say this would average around 23 scarabs before CC really started going down.
One problem with this tactic is low mobility, however it's very survivable as there are 18 T6 wounds running around that can't be bunched together for easy disposal. So sooner or later, some of them will get into assault and start causing a major headache for your opponent.

Abilities

"Unnamed TS repair ability":
This is only useful for allowing flexibility of units. Throwing a pair of TS down will let your destroyers play on opposite flanks of the board, giving them more flexibility to pump fire at enemies. REMEMBER, you still need a twin unit on the board for this to work. (which I think is dumb but it's the rules)

Artificer:
Alright I'm mildly biased against this ability because EVERY time I use it I roll a 1. All in all though it's not a bad capability. In 4th it was rough, as it made a TS T6 be T3, because just floating next to something else means your armor degrades to it's level I guess. Supposedly they're taking this goofy ruling out for 5th ed though. So scarab are back on the field. Really one can't argue with the ability to add 3 free wounds to your side of the table. Also for going into CC this adds 3 more, albeit much weaker, attacks. (edit) After playing a couple games I've reconsidered artificer to be an astoundingly powerful ability, protecting the spyders from anti-tank class fire by throwing the wound on a scarab base, as well as splitting the number of saves made by wound allocation. (Please note this tactica was originally written PRE 5th ed)

Monstrous Creature:
Alright, one thing to remember about TS is they ARE size category 3 models. And can be targeted even if you try to hide them behind a warrior squad, so don't even try. (it defeats the purpose of a shield anyway) It also means that a tombspyder hits harder in melee than anything short of Pariahs.

**Alright this is an odd name, however I find TS to be roughly the size of, and about as scary looking, as a minivan. Minivans are used to take kids to football practice. Also as spyders spawn scarabs, which are roughly the size and temperment of a 5 year old child. One can imagine the little wretches pouring out of the vehicle to go give some poor ref a migrane. (Take football either way it's true of both sports)

Thanks to Phoenix and Skarsgard for helping with numbers and rule clarification.

[avatar of khaine]

a great tactica here, i find tomb spyders to be awesome units all round. In one match against tau mine took out around 250 points.

They do have to be very wary of power weapons though, cos with only two wounds they won't last to strike back

[Phoenix]

Nice work.

A note on the Power Weapons, they are still T6. If a S4 PW comes your way, itll be shrugged off more often than not, And if your opponant is assaulting a Spyder with something S6+ and a PW, then so what, its one less nasty thats killing Necrons. And when done, he will be free for shooting.

[Dark Trainer]

I know 5th edition hasn't come out yet, but our gaming store has an early edition we've been reading through. Is this true that using artificer WON'T make the spyder count as T3 or just a rumor!? Oh, time to field my 3 spyders again (only been using one).

[moob]

Majority toughness will use the higher of the two values if tied, instead of lower as now. So if you create one scarab base with the spyder, you'll still be getting wounded on the spyder's toughness and not the scarab's. When you create your second scarab base, though, you'll be reduced (at least until one dies).

Also of note, they'll be able to run in 5th, too.

[gauss_storm]

Really good one Alzer.

I see tomb spyders now as being a even better choice for 5th edition. In 4th they were actually a pretty good unit but with they're added mobility and like moob said the majority toughness, they might become just a bit more common.

[avatar of khaine]

Originally Posted by Dark Trainer

I know 5th edition hasn't come out yet, but our gaming store has an early edition we've been reading through. Is this true that using artificer WON'T make the spyder count as T3 or just a rumor!? Oh, time to field my 3 spyders again (only been using one).

dark trainer, are you two different people or something? You sound like a veteran player most of the time, but recently posted a thread about your first battle. What's going on?

[Dark Trainer]

Originally Posted by avatar of khaine

dark trainer, are you two different people or something? You sound like a veteran player most of the time, but recently posted a thread about your first battle. What's going on?

Let's just say, plenty of hanging out with my buddies and playing with theirs...but finally bought my 'own' army instead of borrowing and learning. I've actually had my army for over two years, just been far too lazy to rebuild it (person I got it from, his GF destroyed it...you know, those monsterous creatures) Oh and yes, they have WBB'd and are rebuilt...just need to finish the painting.

[Dark Trainer]

Originally Posted by moob

Majority toughness will use the higher of the two values if tied, instead of lower as now. So if you create one scarab base with the spyder, you'll still be getting wounded on the spyder's toughness and not the scarab's. When you create your second scarab base, though, you'll be reduced (at least until one dies).

Also of note, they'll be able to run in 5th, too.

Uhm, you're saying that spawning ONE scarab swarm now gives me 5 wounds at T6!? Not that I wouldn't love more cheese, but doesn't that seem a bit powerful for a 55pt monsterous creature? I guess nothing's official yet, but wow...

[Skarsgard]

Originally Posted by Alzer

Vs. infantry. S3 can't even hurt them (banshees anyone?), so tying them up in light infantry will be a riot.

I think you'll find that S3 needs 6's to wound T6. Strength 3 can't wound T7.