# The Ability of Tomb Spiders



## Sieg (Dec 3, 2007)

As many of you know, tomp spiders have been very under par in previous editions. After looking over the 5th rules i discovered many interesting facts that may have now made a tomb spider an extremely powerful model. 

Please tell me if i am off about any of the following:

- Tomb spiders can make a scarab each turn
- As of 5th edition the units toughness is based on models and not wounds
- This would in theory make a tomb spider effectively have 5 wounds at T6
- You always use the best save if there are only 2 saves to choose from
- Scarabs get +1 to their cover save
- The above would lead to the squad of the spider to have a 3+ cover save in most board positions

So if i am correct about the above then this would make the spider a 5 wound model with a 3+ cover save and T6 as long as you only have 1 swarm being pooped out at a time. Then when that one dies you make another one and effectively gain back 3 of you wounds.


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## muffinman82 (Oct 29, 2008)

sounds logical to me


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## Sieg (Dec 3, 2007)

so does this make a tomb spider a viable choice for a necron army now?


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## Daneel2.0 (Jul 24, 2008)

Unfortunately no. The Majority Toughness problem still exists, there isn't a Majority Save rule due to how wounds are distributed through a squad, and because the Tomb Spyder is a monstrous creature in a squad on non-monstrous creatures, it can still always be picked out.

I don't really like Tomb Spyders in anything but Apocalypse games (where I run about 100 warriors and actually need them). Their scarab creation isn't as useful as you would think, since at most you get 6 bases of scarabs per each, and then you have nothing to do with them. You can't make more in CC, and if you're not in CC then you are wasting the Monstrous Creature's ignore Armor Save ability - especially if you don't have the particle projector.

Their weapon and balistic skills are both crap, it's strength is the lowest for any MC I know of, and the T is pretty low too. Add to that their low number of attacks and it's a pretty useless unit, unless you are making use of the WBB range increase and then its barely a passable one.

Basically, it's still as sucky as it was before.


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## Sieg (Dec 3, 2007)

At Daneel:
You actually have a few things incorrect about what you said. First of all, S6 is pretty average for a MC as is T6. Deamon Prince, the avatar, broodlord, and hive tyrant all fall under these categories. 

Second of all, you may NEVER target something in shooting as long as it is part of a squad which is what i was referring to when i was saying that it had W5. Yes they can be picked out when in combat but there are always those important turns that it takes for the spider to reach combat.


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## snuggles (Apr 29, 2008)

If they shoot at it with 1 shot you get to use youe t6 3+save.

however if there are at least two then you have to alocate them all and then individual saves come into play.
and secondly with a poor ws and bs my tomb spiders are left on the shelf that really could use some dusting.


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## Daneel2.0 (Jul 24, 2008)

After a quick re-read, I believe you are right. I made a mistake in carrying that over from 4th edition :ireful2:

So you can't pick them out in shooting, but that still leaves them with a Majority Toughness problem (I understand you don't get that if you only make 1). Still, that doesn't translate into more wounds, but more shots that need to hit in order to get to the Spyder.

For example, if you have 1 scarab base and the Spyder, then opponent rolls to hit as normal. Rolls to wound (against T6 for both the Spyder *and* the scarab) and then they need 2 wounds before 1 has to be given to the Spyder. Spyder gets its 3+ save, scarab gets its 5+. The spyder still only has 3 wounds though, and due to the way that wounds are distributed, that means that you can't hide it in larger squads.

But the not being able to be picked out *does* change a lot. With low ballistic and weapon skill, low initiative and low attacks, just not enough IMO to change anything.


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## MaidenManiac (Oct 2, 2008)

I do believe that Sieg has a reasonable plan here. S and T 6 are good monster stats. DPs dont have that unless nurglesque ones, so those stats are good indeed!
Their WS aint that important, they hit most things on 4+ meaning that they can hunt any troops in the game(more or less) fairly safe. T6 is a bitch in CC as SM. As long as you dont have more then one base of scarabs at a time(to keep the high T) it seems good.
I think that the reason that folks overlook them are the 2 other HS choices that Necrons have which both, granted, are very good 

I assume that you cant take more then one slot of spiders as HS? Or can you make Spiderzilla?


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## Daneel2.0 (Jul 24, 2008)

No, you could play with 9 Spyders if you really wanted to. They aren't a limited choice. I've actually done it against Tau in 4th Edition. Worked pretty well, but had nothing to do with the spyders, but the large number of scarabs.

I played 30 scarabs (all with D-fields) and then the 9 spyders put more bases out each turn. Allowed me to slaughter a large number of Tau in CC.


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## MaidenManiac (Oct 2, 2008)

Hahaha Spiderzilla ftw!

So 9 spiders, 1 lord teleporting those claw-necron dudes and one destroyerlord and lots of scarabs. Maybe not very good, but most likely a very suprized opponent :laugh:


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## Daneel2.0 (Jul 24, 2008)

It "can" work against the right opponent, but generally not. The number of necrons is generally too low, and they PO. 

BTW, Flayed Ones are the necron units with the claws.


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