Fighting the Necrons

[kais]

Hello My fellow Space Kor'O
My friends and I started a campaign this weekend and my first game was a narrow loss against the Eldar.
I'm now gearing up my fleet to take on the Necrons in the "Bait" scenario with a 1500 point limit set by the Necron player who challenged me.

Fleet List
1 Custodian "Blade of Fire" flag ship
2 Protectors "Counter Punch" & "Galaxy" as a Squadron
1 Merchant "Enterprise"
5 Catellan Escorts "Dark Fire" Squadron
4 Defender Class "Wild Flower" Squadron
Total cost 1380 points

My idea of tactics is to "stand off" and flood the sky with Guided Torpedoes -36 of them and hope for the best.

I'd really appreciate any other input as I've never faced the Necrons with a Tau fleet.

"For the Greater Good"

[Ravager Zero]

If you're facing 'crons, massed ordnance is not the way to go.
They have several area effect weapons that remove ordnance from the surrounding area.
Lances work wonders, but Tau have an abject shortage of those, so either Bombers or heavy weapons battery fire will help you more than massed Tau-pedoes (which may do some damage, but his ships move faster than those torps)

If you have VASSAL, and some time, I could give you a game or two to play-test your list.

[Yurrath (aka Rezzy)]

ravager said:

...either Bombers or heavy weapons battery fire will help you more than massed Tau-pedoes (which may do some damage, but ...

Just...no.

I'd be interested to see how that goes, I've never seen Necrons played in BFG before.

[kais]

Sorry Ravager I don't have Vassal on my computer

I hear what your saying about the area effect weapons, but as you pointed out I don't have enough Ion Cannons (lances) to make the required impact.
With Custodian and the two Protectors I can put twelve Manta squadrons in the air.I can only hope my opponent has a bad day with the dice so the ordnance can soften them up before he gets to close.

Thanks for your input guys, I'll let you know how it turns out

[Ravager Zero]

kais said:

Sorry Ravager I don't have Vassal on my computer

I sent a PM so you could rectify the situation.

I hear what your saying about the area effect weapons, but as you pointed out I don't have enough Ion Cannons (lances) to make the required impact.
With Custodian and the two Protectors I can put twelve Manta squadrons in the air.I can only hope my opponent has a bad day with the dice so the ordnance can soften them up before he gets to close.

If you have the models, you might try and use some Messenger class escorts. The boon they provide to your long range shooting could be a factor that could tip the scales in this upcoming battle.

Also, as Necrons have no ordnance, and, iirc, no turrets, you should launch all your mantas as individual squadrons rather than waves. This also has the added benefit of allowing you to distribute your firepower where it is most needed and forces him to split fire (or non AoE fire) if he wants to destroy those squadrons.