Necron review fast, Tomb Blades

The first fast attack unit I’ll cover is the rookie. The other units are old standouts that have been tweaked a bit. We all know them, so why not start fresh.

The Tomb Blades were originally used for combat in outer space. They were released in droves to take out capital ships with gauss and tesla fire. Then the Necron higher-ups thought they would make great planetside combatants as well. Now these are super agile pre-programmed jetbike robots. They follow a set of combat programs until they need to adapt. Then they just cycle through the list of kill-bot protocols to find the next best option and continue the fight. This is done so super fast that it doesn’t affect their battlefield performance.

The Tomb Blade is a Necron jetbike unit, and follows all those rules for both Necrons and jetbikes. Duh! They come with a WS 4 BS 4, strength 4, toughness 5 (4), 1 attack and wound, initiative 2, leadership 10 and a 4+ save. They come armed with a twin-linked tesla carbine.They start as a unit of one and they cost as much as one of if not the best NFL, running backs jersey number…..Mr. Barry Sanders. They can add up to four more members of the squad for the same amount of points.

Now these guys can get some upgrades. The first is a free weapon swap from a tesla carbine to a twin-linked gauss blaster for free or they can swap out to get particle beamers for +10 points each. The squad can also grab one of three upgrades: Shadowloom +10, Nebuloscope +5, or Shiedvanes +10.

Shadowloom- gives the unit stealth

Nebuloscope- give a BS of 5 to the squad

Shieldvanes- upgrade the armor to 3+

The web seems to like these guys. They seem to be replacing the Destroyers that everyone loved last edition, present company excluded. They look to form a great harassment unit. That is the first thing that jumps out at me.

A fast strength 5 gun that is twin-linked is not bad. The downside is the low rate of fire. Being able to move quickly and threaten is not really a Necron thing. The Tomb Blades provide this ability.Yes it is only strength 5 stuff, but that can still irritate a Rhino and for me that is great. If those things aren't moving toward my Necrons, then I'm happy.

The upgrades are sort of a push for me. I’m not a fan of BS 5 on a twin-linked gun. If I can’t get a 3+ to hit with twin-linkage, then I was destined to miss. Stealth can be fun, but I want these guys moving and shooting, not sitting in cover. They don’t really have the gun range for a sit a sit and shoot unit. Sure it gives a +1 cover save for the turbo boost rule, but is that worth the extra points for the upgrade? I think not. The Shieldvanes seem almost worth the price. This turns this into a flying Immortal and what is not to like about that? Well the fact that a full squad with Shieldvanes costs almost as much as two squads of bare Tomb Blades. I guess it is a boyz vs. toyz argument for the upgrades, or a push for me.

I do like the particle beamer option, but it falls into the same category as the other upgrades. A strength 6 template or five of them would just be too fun not to use. However, two squads of Tomb Blades seems a better choice than one upgraded squad. It then comes down to the tesla carbine or the gauss blaster? I’d go with the carbine, just for the 24” range on a fast chassis. Plus with a re-roll to hit, it gives a small boost to getting a tesla 6 on any missed shots. I guess that is another reason not to get the BS 5 upgrade, the small chance to miss re-roll and maybe get those extra two tesla auto hits on a unit.

The reason I dislike these guys is the lack of a model. If the model is similar to the drawing, then I still might not be that impressed. I will have to wait and see, since this is another non-model from a new codex. A model that people seem to want to use, if the interweb is correct. I do like this version of the non-Necron Tomb Blade by Puppets War.

I would have to say this is unit I don't dislike and would try and use. Hell I might even like them. I know the web seems to like them instead of the previous edition Destroyers. I'll get to them next and we'll see why that is. However, the movement, twin-linked gun and relatively low cost are all benefits for me. The standard maximum 5 per squad ( popular with most 40K bikes) is the only real negative for me. A squad size of up to ten would be great, not overly expensive for what they are, a bit unwieldy, and with a great damage potential.