Anyone who has seen Necron on the table in 4th edition will be familiar with the evil
power of the Phalanx army. Slow moving and tightly packed, a Necron phalanx can put out
a crap-ton of gauss fire while keeping to the 'safety-in-numbers' theory. What people have
also figured out, however, is that the phalanx is just not as effective for the Necron in
5th edition because of their close combat vulnerabilities. Now the enemy wants
a Necron army to bunch up so that multiple assaults can be easily launched and, because of
their low initiative value, the majority of the army can be wiped out after a single
assault phase.
But while the phalanx can be an ineffective tactic for Necron armies in 5th edition, it is
actually a very viable tactic for small elite armies (reads: pre-5th edition armies)
such as Grey Hunters and Dark Angels. Most new codecii since the release of the latest 'nid
codex have two things in common: cheap troops and transports (or just fast cheap troops).
When you're running a slow expensive army, it is easy to become overwhelmed, so you need to
try and counter that as best you can. For codecii that were created when the firing line
was king, that can be difficult, but the phalanx can be a good equalizer.
The Right Pieces
To make the phalanx work, you need certain pieces in place. First, you need
a strong center to hold the line. Ideally you can do this with dakka transports, armor, and
units that can move and fire their weapons to good effect. Transports that can hold your
troops and still be able to kick out some firepower are best since they will allow you to not
only provide cover fire, but will also allow you to make some quick last minute moves out of the
phalanx in order to make last minute objective grabs. In Grey
Knights armies, that would be storm trooper squads in chimeras -- the troops take pot shots
from inside the transports while the turrets and hull weapons light up the units around them.
By forming a nice center position as they move forward, this creates a dangerous firing lane
that your enemy will avoid. Likewise, you can do the same thing with Razorback transports in
a Dark Angels army - the guns on the razorbacks keep the enemy at bay and allow your small
assault weapon tactical squads to jump out in the later turns to start taking objectives.
You can also walk up the board behind standard terminator squads, which are slow but relentless.
The point is to create a solid wall of bodies and/or armor/transports to keep your troops safe
as you slowly advance on objectives at the center of the board -- just like the Necron phalanx.
Your next component, an equally critical part of this army that should not be
neglected, are your tough interdiction units. In order to pull off a phalanx successfully, you
have to keep the enemy from overwhelming your moving castle. If your enemy throws enough foot
sloggers in the way, they will bog down the phalanx and you'll be prevented from parking on the
objective. Thus, you need tough small units to engage and tie up the enemy while you march the
phalanx forward. Deep striking terminator units, jump pack units, and small bike units are excellent
examples of units that can do this for you. All of these units can get between your
phalanx and attacking enemy squads quickly and generally have enough survivability to allow your
phalanx to move into place before the enemy squads are able to move freely again.
Why it Works
The point of the phalanx is to keep massed weapons fire in a single area so that you can
overwhelm attacking units when they come at you piecemeal. You move the "castle" forward, sit in an
area in between the objectives on the board (or on top of them if you have a large enough phalanx and
the objectives are close enough together), and then blast the enemy as he tries to run up and take
the same objectives. Just like a castle in your deployment zone is created in order to keep the enemy
at bay and off your back, the phalanx takes your castle to the important real estate on the board (objectives)
and plants that same firepower where it will win you the game.
In order for this to work, you have to keep fast enemy assualting units
off of your back long enough to get your phalanx in place. Small units of bikes and assault squads are
ideal for rushing out ahead of the phalanx and engaging units that will stop the forward progression of
your phalanx. The tougher the engaging units the more likely that they will last long enough for you to get
your firebase into the proper position to hose down the bad guy once your interdiction units have been
destroyed or have been forced to withdrawal. An effective interdiction unit must be able to survive
multiple rounds of combat. These can't be mere speed-bumps, they must be able to hold your enemy in
the fight for your turn, and ideally, through your oponent's next assault phase as well so that you
have at least one additional turn of marching before the enemy is turned loose. If you can tie him
up for three or four combats, even better. In fact, the longer this unit holds out, the better, even
if they are ultimately wiped out. The longer these units are held up, the more time you have to move the
phalanx in place, and the more turns your phalanx has to wipe out larger more dangerous threats to your
phalanx before mopping up the fast assault units.
When it Works
This tactic works best under the following conditions:
(1) Objective battles. This is NOT a kill points tactic. The phalanx will take lots of casualties because your interdiction units are going to die. You need multiple cheap (sometimes cheap) interdiction squads. This isn't ideal where every kill point is going to count heavily against you.
(2) One Objective, or Lots of Closely Positioned Objectives. Basically, you are trying to concentrate your forces in one area. If the objectives are positioned all over the board, that is going to set you up for failure pretty quickly. You can't be in multiple places at once because those units that aren't contributing to your center's firepower will be engaging (and dying to) the enemy's assault units. In a multiple objective battle, do your best to keep objectives bunched together so that the tendrils of your phalanx can reach multiple objectives at once, or else you can run several squads out in the last couple of turns if they are within walking distance. If there is only one objective, even better, since you're more able to focus your center's power. But that also means your enemy will be doing the same thing... which will make this tactic more difficult.
(1) Objective battles. This is NOT a kill points tactic. The phalanx will take lots of casualties because your interdiction units are going to die. You need multiple cheap (sometimes cheap) interdiction squads. This isn't ideal where every kill point is going to count heavily against you.
(2) One Objective, or Lots of Closely Positioned Objectives. Basically, you are trying to concentrate your forces in one area. If the objectives are positioned all over the board, that is going to set you up for failure pretty quickly. You can't be in multiple places at once because those units that aren't contributing to your center's firepower will be engaging (and dying to) the enemy's assault units. In a multiple objective battle, do your best to keep objectives bunched together so that the tendrils of your phalanx can reach multiple objectives at once, or else you can run several squads out in the last couple of turns if they are within walking distance. If there is only one objective, even better, since you're more able to focus your center's power. But that also means your enemy will be doing the same thing... which will make this tactic more difficult.
