1500 pt. Zahndrekh+ Obyron Tag Team

[Inquiring M1nd]

So, from the moment I saw these two in the Codex, I knew I wanted to fin a way to make them work. The relationship between is compelling, and their rules are a fine balance between powerful and quirky-cool.

Without further ado:

HQ (550)
1 Nemesor Zahndrekh,

1 Vargard Obyron,

: Royal Court (205 pts)
1 Harbinger of Despair+veil
1 Cryptek
1 Crypteks
1 Cryptek
1 Cryptek
1 Lord + res orb,

Troops (620)
Troops: Warriors (310 pts)
15 Warriors,
1 Ghost Ark

Troops: Warriors (310 pts)
15 Warriors,
1 Ghost Ark

Fast Attack (240)
Fast Attack: 2 Heavy Destroyers,

Fast Attack: 2 Heavy Destroyers,

Heavy Support: Annihilation Barge

The general idea is that the two warrior squads are flanked by the ghost arks, and they work their way into firing range, destroyers finding tanks to wreck, with the royal court starting in reserve and being called in to bounce around and hose down heavily armored units with AP3 and AP1 short-ranged fire.

Obyron, the Res Lord, and a squad of warriors are arrayed in front of Zandrekh's squad, and they are to act as a speed bump for the second unit of warriors. When they are charged, they survive the first round of combat and Obyron teleports them out to be replenished by the ghost arks, leaving the belligerent secessionists at the mercy of Zahndrek's warriors and the two Ghost Arks, not to mention Obyron's own. The list relies on buckets 'o' die and the sheer resilience of armor 13 and big blocks of warriors. The Obyron-Zahndrek combo serves to mitigate the warrior's weak CC proficiency by letting a unit deep-strike out of CC in the movement phase with accuracy that allows one to stay safely in rapid-fire range to keep the pressure up while you recover your 2d3 warriors.

This leave me with 100 points to spare. What you see above is the Annhiliation option, which comes with a nightmare shroud for the cryptek squad. This increases the Harbinger's threat range by giving the squad an extra chance to force their target to fall back or at least do something if they get a poor scatter. The task of the Annihilation Barge is to make itself a more interesting target than the ghost arks by blowing chunks out of light vehicles and close enemy formations (this has the added benefit of encouraging wider spacing between units, giving the crypteks a better shot at hitting a squad with less support ready to avenge).

Option B is a Canoptek Spyder and minimal scarabs with 5 points to toss into either a harbinger specialization for wound allocation games, or a gauntlet of flame on the res lord, to further punish enemies that get close. The Scarabs are held in the back of the formation to bulk up in numbers and be ready to lash out at vehicles or whatever else needs to hit a speed bump.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts. For you mathhammer enthusiasts, the core of the list can pump out 50 flayer shots at 18-24 inches from the front of the phalanx (average 6 glancing hits to vehicles), inside rapid fire range that becomes 100 (average 12) and the crypteks can unload 12 AP3 shots into a target before whatever contribution the Harbinger can provide.

[Chumbalaya]

Obyron and Zahndrekh is too pricey for 1500. As is you only have 2 real AT units that are exceedingly fragile and bunch of glancing shots. It's like oldcrons.

Warriors without relentless are meh, and the usually aren't winning combats even with Obyron.

Court makes no sense, lances would help you way more than a few AP3 shots.

Teslamortals would be better here thanks to their assault weapons. Upgrade the court to lances and grab more Anni Barges to shore up your AT. Don't rely on non-Fearless Necrons surviving combat unless you load up on warscythe lords to join them.

[Inquiring M1nd]

I admit, I am not satisfied with the anti-tank in the list. I'd consider switching one or two to voltaic staffs, as that gives them the flexibility to strike vehicles as well as heavy weapon/elite teams lurking about that could cause trouble for the destroyers.another option would be going with a Triarch Stalker or two. I would keep the threat range of the barge, have better armor-punching ability, and be able to twin-link for the benefit of the rest of my army.

I see the advantage of Telsa Immortals, but they lose the synergy with the ghost arks. If the range becomes an issue I would have to swap out the whole troop section, as the survivability comes from how the warriors, transport, and HQ can interact.

Speaking of, the plan is not to win combat so much as not get run-down in one round. If I get charged, it would be by a unit that weathered at least one round of rapid-fire from the phalanx, and then it would charge obyron, who should be able to prevent a route and do a short teleport behind Zahndrek's squad so the ghost arks can do their job to refresh the ranks. I can repeat the teleport stranding with Zahndrek's squad as Obyron with hop over to them for free, contribute to the defense, and let me escape once again, though with less accuracy, and expose the unite to fire from the rest of my army.

Exposing my opponent's infantry is crucial, I'll come back with a reformulated list shortly, but I can easily fit in one stalker after removing the crypteks, two if I pull the barge and one of the ghost arks, allowing me to further beef the warrior blobs.

[Xenith]

I think you may want to re read the range on the voltaic staff again if you think it will help with anti tank or weapons teams.

550pts is waay to much to be spending on HQ at this level. What does zandrekh actually bring to the army? You seem to only have thought of uses for Obyron. Drop drekh.

[Kaika87]

I think you may want to re read the range on the voltaic staff again if you think it will help with anti tank or weapons teams.

550pts is waay to much to be spending on HQ at this level. What does zandrekh actually bring to the army? You seem to only have thought of uses for Obyron. Drop drekh.

I'm sorry, I don't normally say this, but that's a terrible idea. Obyron cannot bring a Royal Court, and just because he hasn't named any uses for Zahndrekh doesn't mean there aren't uses. Tank Hunters for the Destroyers/Annihilation Barges, Stealth for the Warriors in cover, not to mention removing the rules from opponents.

As to the original list idea, dropping Obyron into combat with a mob of warriors, the giant flaw in your plan is that you're not accounting for the (very real) probability of getting swept in combat. What if you get rushed by a bunch of Purifiers? Even if they fail Hammerhand, they have 30+ power weapon attacks on the charge, and were I playing those GKs, I'd focus everything I could on the warriors to cause you to lose combat and get swept.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

I personally don't understand the 15 Warriors to a Ghost Ark thing here?? I thought it was capacity 10?
I'd drop Obyron, he looks awesome but at these points it is a no-go.
Keep Zahndrekh, drop a couple of Crypteks (because they can't really join any units)
Take 5 Warriors off each squad and make it another 10 man unit or include Immortals

Or if you want to keep the HUGE blocks of Warriors drop all of the Ghost Arks, buy a cheap Overlord, take another Veiltek, and go old skool 'crons.
I would however recommend some Immortals, they're mean.

[planet psyrum]

Couple problems.

First, you can only have 5 members in the royal court.

Second, only 10 models can go in the ghost arks

Some strategy problems.

First, you only have two troop choices. I assume you would take out the extra warriors to make another unit, but still three is not enough at 1500.

Second, hvy destroyers are nice, but until preferred enemies rule gets redine, leave them at home. The eldritch lance is str 8 AP 2 , and much cheaper than hvy destroyers. Plus if they killed both of those destroyers in one phase, they do not get reanimation rolls.

Things i like.

I like your royal court. If you protect them early in a game the veil to contest late. That 5 man royal court could last 2 - 3 turns of heavy fire and cc. I got hot rolls one time and had a lord with res die in the shooting and assault phase during turns 4, 5, 6, then get back up and contest an objective. He was scoring due to being attached to a large squad of warriors. I almost by a milimeter pulled the contesting unit off the objective to score it out right. I could just imagine your royal court lasting forever.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

First, you can only have 5 members in the royal court.

I thought it was 0-5 Crypteks and 0-5 Lords?

[Kaika87]

I thought it was 0-5 Crypteks and 0-5 Lords?

You are correct, psyrum is wrong.