Hello.

As my Immortal Tactica was approved, i thought i would assist again and type up a Scarab Swarm tactica in the same manor. All constructive advice is welcome, also tell me if you think it's worthy or not.

Thanks.

[size=15pt] Tactica Scarab Swarms, brought to you by Anton.[/size]

The #1 Commissar around!

First off, what are Scarab Swarms?

“Silver, beetle-like constructs, Scarabs move ahead of the main army, flying in swarms so thick that they blot out the sun. Scarabs appear without warning, silent but for the rustle of carapace on carapace, a moving carpet of death more deadly than the sum of its parts.”
Page 19. Codex Necrons.

I will now explain to you the battlefield advantages and disadvantages of Scarab Swarms.

Advantages.

1.) High amount of wounds
2.) Count as jet-bikes for movement!
3.) Good amount of attacks
4.) Deep-Strike
5.) Fearless
6.) Small target +1 to cover saves
7.) Relatively cheap in points

Disadvantages.

1.) Low weapon skill
2.) Low initiative
3.) Vulnerable to blasts
4.) Can’t capture table quarters or objectives, don’t count as surviving troops
5.) Average strength and toughness
6.) Bad armour save
7.) Can’t self-repair
8.) Don’t count as Necron units for phase-out purposes

I shall now explain the battlefield roles and potentials of Scarab Swarms, from what I myself have learnt and seen.

Movement Phase.

Now the great thing with Scarabs is that they count as jet-bikes! Even though you do not receive the +1 toughness, you don’t have to roll difficult terrain tests. Now depending on what board size you play on, on a standard 4 x 4 board with 12” inch deployment zone, you are guaranteed assault at turn 1 at least, plus with not having to roll difficult terrain tests you can zip around very quickly with little hindrance. Scarabs really have no down sides moving, they’re fast and nimble, what more could you ask for?

Shooting Phase.

Scarabs to speak have no ranged weaponry at all, so yes they will only work in assault, but Scarabs suffer quite heavily by being shot at, part and parcel of a 5+ armour save and a toughness of 3. But you need not worry, this can easily be avoided.

Cover:

Cover is invaluable to Scarabs! What makes it better is that Scarabs do not have to take difficult terrain tests and with them being so small receive a +1 to their cover saves! So you have to make use of any terrain, otherwise your mechanical bugs will be swatted. So basically, use cover to the best of your advantage and your mechanic pests will make it unscathed.

Small Targets:

This is one disadvantage that your opponents will make full use of if they're determined to get rid of Scarabs. Unfortunately all units have downsides and this is one of them for Scarabs. How to best avoid it? As said before use cover too your best advantage, and try and keep them in a low profile. Use their fantastic speed to zip around quickly out of harms way.

Assault Phase.

Where Scarabs excel, the assault phase. Now with their terrific movement and the ability to just glide through cover that would usually tie anything else down is also a great leg-up to assaulting. Now every individual Scarab Base receives 3 attacks normally, +1 for charging. Now if you have say 6 scarab bases that’s 24 attacks! Not to be laughed at. Now most opponents will ignore Scarabs (fools!) making you and your Scarabs lives that little bit easier. There are a few ways too use Scarabs but they are more complicated and should only be used once you have got the hang of these metallic critters, here are some examples:

Tie units down:

Those Assault Terminators getting too close? Khorne Berzerkers threatening your lines? This is where Scarabs shine. Scarabs have the potential to pin expensive, nasty C.C or shooty units that find it difficult to remove Scarabs from assault, with so many wounds your opponent won’t be laughing when his 200+pts Terminators are pinned down by 100+pts worth of Scarabs. Scarabs used this way buy you invaluable time to re-position, wait until the Scarabs are destroyed then flay them to death! Simple really, tie up units that you think will be a real pain in the neck, or will shoot you too pieces and pin them with Scarabs, wait, re-position and flay at will!

Tank Hunting:

Tank Hunting! Scarabs!?! Yup that’s right, at a reasonable points cost you can give Scarabs disruption fields essentially giving them rending claws! That Basilisk getting upside your head? That whirlwind asking for a blastin’? Rending Scarabs are your best friends. Think about it, you move as a jetbike, you don’t have to take difficult terrain tests, that annoying Basilisk will be gone at turn 1 if not 2 at the least.

Their Stats:

Unfortunately they have the equivalent strength and toughness of an Imperial Guardsmen, which is not all that good. And they also have the equivalent armour save of an Imperial Guardsmen, which is pretty bad also. Their weapon skill and initiative are below that of an Imperial Guardsman. How do I best avoid this unit’s weakness? Easy use the speed and mobility they possess, and hide in cover wherever it is available.

Conclusion:

The basic tactical principle of Scarabs is that, you should make great use of their mobility. And also to save your Scarabs being blasted too smaller pieces is to make use of cover wherever you may find it. Scarabs are a great addition too an army, they have a great ability to pin much more expensive units, and also be able to destroy or stun annoying tanks such as Basilisks and whirlwinds.

[Lord Of War]

You have went over the basics of them pretty well, but also include an explanation disadvantages in there

I've changed it, added a few notable unit disadvantages.

Thanks.

[bebe]

Some added comments and tactics to the above, which for the most part I agree with,
I have these observations and suggestions.

Overview
Always try to take one squad of Scarabs.
Usually 7 or 8 or even ten if you can. They are extremely cheap and flexible.
Commanders that bunch up models, are perfect for a Scarab attack. This is
extremely nice when a squad of Terminators get into this situation. You can
get a squad of ten Scarabs, in base contact with all the terminators. This should
give you over 20 attacks at strength three hits. You usually get a 4 to 1
return. So they would get using seven swarms ...
3 Attacks, charging = 4 *7 = 28
1+ @ 54.6% of the time
2+ @ 18.2 %
Of course termies have a 2+ save.
they hit back at
3 termies with powerfists would insta-kill 4+ 45.3 % of the time
so one termie dead 50% of the time on the charge.

with ten swarms ...
2+ dead at 30%
*IF* all of them could be in combat! Swarm bases are a bit big which could prevent some from being in CC.

Now attach that lord as described below and you hae a very strong unit. They
will win combats.

Kill ratios are a little better with other Meqs. Target terminators and nasty HQs
over others because of the value. I let the Warriors and Immortals shoot up
lighter troops. Below I will expand on character hunting.

Scarabs can hold their own other against light troops like regular IG squads
and Eldar Guardian squads in regular hand-to-hand without being destroyed, provided there aren’t too many power weapons. If there are power weapons, try to avoid base contact with models that have them when possible. If not, I try to put one or two scarabs on those models with power weapons and saqcrifce them first, while all the other Scarabs fight normally or just avoid them.

This is the opposite for armored vehicles. Scarabs have a better chance of
penetrating a lightly armored vehicles than heavily armored ones. So if lacking
terminators as a target select light vehicles and headquarter units.
IG blast happy template weapons are your bane. I suggest you get really familiar
with each of those weapons and know those distances and strengths better than
the guys playing them. If they get too far away, you may lose models without getting a chance to "get back up".

Units of Scarabs and HQs teleporting around, wear a lot on your opponent’s nerves. Do remeber though to take as many units of troops as all my other types combined.
One last thing, try to remember ratios and averages. When rolling dice, and
Necrons can roll a lot, killing 3 to 5 terminators is just rolling average.



Escalation
They are Infantry. In an Escalation their speed can be useful.
With turboboost special and the ability to ignore terrain, Scarabs
can get into a tactical position on the first turn. They cannot stop
in cover but they can be placed behind it and still gain the +1
to the cover save.This placesd them in goodf position to countercharge,
tank hunt, screen or go after characters.

Countercharge
Follow units of Warriors or Immortals. You need a good sized unit of
scarabs for countercharging and you do not want the upgrade ( disruption
field ). Unlike a screen you hold them behind your forces and charge a unit
about to get into range to charge your forces. This keeps your troops shooting.

Screen
This is a great tactic, similar to the above tactic. Against low Ld armies it is
quite devastating. Using squads of 6 -8 Scarabs march them in front of your
advancing Warriors and Immortals. This forces your opponent to make Ld checks
to fire at anything but the Scarabs. Against meqs and other high Ld armies this
does not wpork as well, hence the countercharging alternative.

Deep Strike
Okay, they can deep strike. The temptation is to arm them with disruption
fields and gpo tank hunting, right? Wrong. They vcan be used in units of five
without any upgrades and provide a major distraction for your opponent. If he
ignores them they will tie up important units in cc. If he chooses to fire upon
them, he is allowing your warriors to get into range. Many opponents choose
to rid themselves of the scarabs even though they have no disruption fields.


Tank Hunting
Probably their most common use. It is simple and effective tactic.
Their number of attacks is usually enough to bring down even tough tanks.
10 bases with D Fields will be 40 hits on a stationary target and 20 hits
on one that moved. They make their points back and destroy problems. The question
is whether to turbo boost them into position or deep strike them.

Character Hunting
Of course a Destroyer Lord with the Warscythe, attached to a unit of
Wraiths can do this job. But that is an expensive squad. 10 Scarabs attached to a
the same Lord gives you 33 wounds for outnumbering and damage. Equip the
Scarabs with D Fields and the Lord can help take down tanks and characters
with his WS.


BTW, I'm just starting to play Necs again - haven't since 3rd edition. I posted a Tomb Spyder list on this forum that creates at least 3 scarab swarms a turn backed up by a squad of scarabs in the fast slot. Its nine tomb spyders and forty-five warriors and a lord w/ res orb.
It can be expanded or modified by adding a few more warriors,an extra squad of scarabs and a Destroyer Lord by just going with three sqiads of two spyders instead of three squads of three!

[Synergy]

wait a tick, so scarabs can BLOW up?! What?:

give you at least 20 automatic strength three hits, AP2

[Bash]

I thought that rule's been gone for a long time :-\

[bebe]

Originally Posted by Bash

I thought that rule's been gone for a long time :-\

I still use the terminology, doh. Lets say sacrificied instead, lol. Or destroyed. I've been playing too long. I did say I just picked them up again after quite a few years! I* think the info though is still pretty valid overall, no? I'll edit out a bit. Pleas commenton the monolith too ad spot my other 3rd ed. mistake, lol

Glory Hounds! :P

[Shadowsword]

Nice tactic well rounded and covered the points 8)

(i still perfer mine lol)