Welcome to the next installment of Units 101 Spot!
Why Pariahs...
Ok, firstly we will look at the unit itself - Pariahs have the same stats as a Necron Lord, but at Initiative 3 with 1 Wound. Remember that they are both Strength and Toughness 5, it is important, especially in combat. Pariahs get no upgrades, but then again, they don't really need it. The unit is 0-1 only, which means that you can't go around with 30 of these guys outside of Apocalypse. Nothing too fantastic so far, I know. Oh, and they cost 36 points each, twice that of your vanilla Necron Warrior (is there any other kind?), don't have We'll Be Back, and don't count as 'Necrons' for the purposes of Phase Out or teleportation. So why are we even bothering? Well, the models look awesome, but for those of you who need more reason than that...
We wonder why, and then we get to... the special rules. Firstly, their weaponry. They have Warscythes. Awesome right? Warscythes with Gauss Blasters, however, are even more awesome. Not only do they have 24" Assault 2 S5 AP4 Gauss weapons, the Warscythes are themselves fantastic. This weapon allows no saves against it in close combat, regular or invulnerable, and also causes the unit to do 2D6 x 5 damage against vehicles, enabling it to be one of the very few Necron units effective against vehicles and walkers in close combat.
Secondly, they are Fearless. Not always important, but useful against a variety of units and armies, as well as against tank shocks - Death or Glory is a viable option with a small unit of Pariahs, and could make opponents think twice about tank shocking through a Necron formation.
Thirdly Pariahs have the Soulless special rule. This causes them to project a 12" aura around the unit which reduces the leadership of all enemy units to Ld7. Very useful, especially in combinations, as we will see later.
So now that we understand the various abilities of Pariahs, we can look at the various tactics on how to use them. Now to save time, I am going to combine various tactics into one section, to save on time and brain cells for both myself and for you, the reader. Appreciate it. That wasn't a suggestion...
Tactics 1,2 and 3 - The Horror, The Horror
These sets of tactics can basically be used against any player who is assaulting you with non-Fearless troops. Take a small unit of Pariahs - the minimum cost is only 144 points for four models, and spread them out behind your front lines. Since the unit isn't worth much, and any models killed won't add any benefit for Phase Out purposes, the unit is usually left alone for at least a couple of turns of shooting.
Now if you have Flayed Ones, try and get them to hold the opponent, then move the Pariah's up to within 12" of the combat. A combination of the Pariahs Soulless special rule and the Terrifying Visage of the Flayed ones means that for half of the rounds of combat, enemies will be hitting your models only on a 6+. This is a fantastic way to block units with high initiative, high impact weaponry and high Weapon Skill - Incubi, Genestealers, Scorpions, Chosen, Nobs and other specialist combat infantry and so forth will all find their effectiveness in close combat severely weakened.
Pariahs also work well with abilities of the Necron Lord. Two pieces of wargear work especially well - Gaze of Flame and Nightmare Shroud. Pariahs' inherent Soulless ability combines perfectly with the leadership modifications of Gaze of Flame - it leaves units in combat with the Lord or any unit he has joined at Ld6 as long as the Pariahs are within 12". This is especially useful if you have surrounded the combat, blocking off fall back routes - Scarabs are one of the best units for blocking duties.
The Nightmare Shroud is another great piece of wargear to use - it causes all units with a model within 12" to take a 
Morale check. Again, combined with the Pariahs Soulless rule, this can create a chain effect of units running away, completely breaking the enemies plans. Best used sometimes on a Lord with a Veil of Darkness enabling him to teleport even further into enemy lines to get even units outside the Soulless range of the Pariahs.
Of course, the combination of the Deceiver and Pariahs can be extraordinarily potent. The Deceiver's Dread special rule is like a directional Terrifying Visage - if the unit fails a leadership test, it only hits on 6+ in that combat. The other of the Deceiver's power that is useful in combat is the appropriately but unoriginally named Deceive - this acts as a long ranged Gaze of Flame in causing a unit within 24" to take a Morale or Pinning check.
Of course, you can combine any of these units to create something truly dangerous - imagine Pariahs working with a Necron Lord with a Gaze of Flame or Nightmare Shroud that is attached to a unit of Flayed Ones, with the Deceiver hanging around for good luck. With some support elements in Scarabs, Wraiths, more Flayed Ones, etc, a truly potent hand to hand force could be forged from what most people see as a mid range shooting army. A bit of imagination and deviousness is required, and you truly have to think about where you are maneuvering your army to use it effectively, but it can be very competitive and dangerous. And the first time you do this to an opponent, they are going to get hammered - the Lord of all Dice permitting of course.
Tactic 4 - The Bigger They Are...
Necrons have fantastic firepower against vehicles and high toughness models. However, in close combat most standard models are unable to hurt vehicles at all - Wraiths and Necron Lords being the major exceptions.
However, since most sides don't take Wraiths because Fast Attack slots are so competitive and Necron Lords are often too valuable to throw into combat, a large hole is left against sides with large numbers of high toughness/AV combat troops such as Space Marine Dreadnoughts and their Chaos and Grey Knight brothers, Defilers, Wraithlords, Ork Dreadnoughts and Killa Kans, etc.
This is where a Pariah unit comes in handy - a unit of 4 will be most likely to kill a Killa Kan or Dreadnought, and have a decent go against a Wraithlord. A unit of 8-10 will chew straight through the first walker that comes its way without a sweat with 2D6 +5 for Armor Penetration and ask for seconds and thirds.
Also, the Pariahs are almost the only decent unit in the entire Necron army to take on Terminators and Nobs and other similar hard hitting power fist equivalent units. At S5 I3 with no saves, they should carve through any I1 troops. A small unit can often cause the enemy to hesitate as to committing their very expensive units, especially if they have support in form of a Lord, Flayed Ones, a C'Tan, and so on.
However, the complete opposite applies to Pariahs vs higher initiative assault troops with large numbers of power weapons such as Assault Terminators, Howling Banshees, Incubi, Veterans/Chosen, and so on. Why? Because your Pariahs won't get saves, and they don't have the durability to be combat effective. Normal troops backed up by a Res Orb Lord or a C'Tan are perfect substitutes in this instance.
Tactic 5 - Apocalypto time!!!
For Apocalypse, these guys get a new lease of life. Why? Well firstly, there are lots more units about to hassle, and even more chances to get close quickly when you can possibly start only 12.001 inches away from the enemy. Also, there is more chance the expensive hard hitting units such as Nobs and Terminators will be hanging about, as well as Seer Councils and the like - against whom even 3 or 4 surviving Pariahs will still have a field day. Plus, why not take a variety of different stuff, have fun, and still crush the enemy mercilessly? A perfect gameplan!
Also, Pariahs are great super heavy hunters! Sick of that Baneblade or Hellblade that keeps on obliterating your phalanx? Tired of Type D death from your rich friend and his massive Forgeworld collection? Get some Pariahs, and use either Sewers, Flank March or some other combination to get it up there as fast as you can. A single squad of Pariahs will rip straight through most super heavies with ease. And for once they will be cost effective even if they die the turn after! Also, they will be great if they group charge either large groups of firebase infantry or groups of tanks - you hate that Emperors First Tank Company? Three squads of Pariahs and a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth later, there won't be one.
How do I counter Pariahs?
Pariahs are undeniably nasty, especially when combined with other Necron units and their special rules. I suggest that the best option is to either shoot them to death early on if you are afraid of your assault troops running away, or assault them with high initiative MEQ killers. And whatever you do, don't let your walkers, Terminators and equivalents or vehicles hang around for too long, or you will lose them. Most importantly - be decisive about the action you are going to take. If you are going to shoot them, put enough shooting down to kill the squad, as the unit still effective at 1 model, and casualties don't even count for phase out purposes. And in combat, if you don't kill them up front, they will kill some of your models. That may be an expensive thing to happen. So make sure if you want them dead, you commit yourself to the task suffecient force to do it, or you may as well not bother.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed todays Units 101 Spot! Any suggestions for future articles, don't hesitiate to either leave a comment, or e-mail me at lords2001-AT-gmail-DOT-com. Enjoy, wargamers, and I hope to kill you soon!
6 comments:
The simple fact is anyone who is serous about playing competative Necrons doesn't bring Pariahs to the table.
They are a junk unit for many reasons - no WBB, not Necrons therefore increase the chances of phase out, 1 attack, low initiative, their astronomical points cost - and every point spent on them is a point not spent on the vastly superior Immortals, which most players bring anywhere from 10-30 of in every game, usually more than they bring warriors.
The good sides of Pariahs is far outweighed by their useless aspects.
Pariahs can be used successfully in tandem with Flayed Ones (Pariahs get everyone to Ld7, then the Flayed One terrifying visage rules kick in). But as both units are Elites, and therefore are going to be taken up by Immortals, you don't see this very often.
Leave the Pariahs on the shelf people - they're junk - and no amount of 'Oh, but they have uses!' wishful thinking is ever going to change that.
That's true - if you are taking a mid range shooting side, then Pariah's are over rated. However, if you want a slightly different Necron side - one more capable in H2H combat - and so instead of bringing 30 immortals and 15 destroyers, etc, you bring some Flayed Ones, Deceiver, Pariahs, a Necron Lord, etc, then they become far more useful. And in Apocalypse they become even more useful due to deployment etc.
Pariahs are bullet catchers, nothing more. 36 points a model with no WBB? Hell yes! EASY points for any opponent.
Put simply, any small unit will be shot to death the turn before it will matter. Any large unit is useless. Both are free points. They just aren't tough enough in 40k. They can't even win CC vs. most good melee troops, except when charging terminators.
In Apoc, they may be good titan killers. I don't know.
"That's true - if you are taking a mid range shooting side, then Pariah's are over rated. However, if you want a slightly different Necron side - one more capable in H2H combat"
What sort of Necron army is that?
There's a concept called 'Playing to One's Strengths'. It's a concept I use when berating Guard players who insist that 'Hardened Fighters' and 'Carapace Armour' are good Doctrines.
The concept basically states that you should always attempt to increase your army's natural strengths before you throw points at a weakness to plug up a gap. You play to your army's strengths, not its weaknesses. It's your opponent's job to play to your weaknesses.
So how does that apply to Necrons?
Necrons shoot. It's what they do. Units that don't shoot (Flayed Ones, Pariahs, Wraiths, Tomb Spyders) don't get taken, except for Scarabs because they're awesome.
The units that do get taken get taken because they:
A). Lessen the chance of a Phase Out.
B). They're good at shooting.
Immortals do both of these things, meaning that you're better off taking squads of Immortals than you are anything else.
The only real choices in a Necron army are:
Deciever - Useful abilities and good counter-charge.
Lord - Res Orb. Veil of Darkness. 'Nuff said.
Immortals - Huge amounts of firepower, very hard to kill.
Necron Warriors - Decent firepower, exceptional against vehicles up close, hard to kill.
Scarabs - Very fast tie up unit. 40 attacks on the charge. 30 wounds for the enemy to churn through.
Destroyers - Fast, very shooty.
Heavy Destroyers - Fast, very very shooty. Need to come in large numbers so they can WBB.
Monoliths - Increase WBB chance from 50% to 75%. Enemies who think 'Ignore the Monolith' soon learn how idiotic that is.
The rest of the units don't get taken. Flayed Ones are poor man's Assault Marines, but they're slower. Pariahs are free VP's for your enemy. Wraiths are /exactly/ like Lictors - they can't kill enough to justify their existance and they will die to a Las/Plas squad in HTH. Tomb Spyders are too slow and don't shoot well at all (though 9 of them pumping out Scaracs for 2 turns straight is quite a dangerous combo, especially when they 'screen' a Necron Phalanx attack), and the Nightbringer is good on paper and has the 'Oh shit it's the Nightbringer' effect, but he's no where near as strategically and tactically useful as the Deceiver.
I have 12 Pariahs. I think they're a great concept, but like with so many of GW's rules, they're a great concept but have terrible execution.
Now come on Stu. Let's see you do one of your happy-go-lucky 101 Spots on Dev Squads. I want to see if you can put a positive spin on mixed heavy weapon units...
Hmm, Spyders have their place. They are really good at actually killing MEQs with Warrior support, making them very effective counterassault. The problem is keeping them alive to do so. Another downside is the relative ease of moving Necron units out of CC. So it is in many ways simpler to just teleport out of melee than win it.
Wraiths ... do nothing that Scarabs can't do. Maybe if they were cheaper, came in squads of more than 3, had rending, had Divine Guidance, had something. Anything.
None of these units, nor Pariahs or Flayed Ones unless you happen to be using both in the same combat, can really beat most other armies' melee specialists. And that is probably the biggest strike against them, so far as I am concerned.
Wraiths r awesome i dont get why everyone hates them! 3+ invuln. sv!
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