For example, why do formations rallying offboard lose all BMs automatically? How about they get half as normal? With the caveat of not bringing models back when offboard remaining of course...

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author of Syncing Forward and other stories...

It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.

Unfortunately it doesn't make them weaker, because instead of marshalling onto the board to regain men, it just encourages infantry to engage immediately, since they get the combat bonus for having no blast markers.

You could possibly argue that is about even (though I wouldn't), but when you take the formations without the "necron" rule into account it's a huge bonus!

E&C seemed surprised that the obelisks were able to rally offboard without BMs.

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http://www.troublemakergames.co.uk/
Epic: Hive Development Thread

E&C seemed surprised that the obelisks were able to rally offboard without BMs.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

This has been very interesting.

From the Initial Guard deployment, I wouldn't have expected them to do as well as they did.

Having the Obelisks as a core unit was part of an experiment to allow for the creation of a C'tan the Dragon list (Which is pretty much exactly what you built there).

I was trying to do what the marines do:  Be able to make any of the various armies without requiring an entirely new list.  However the concept was really in it's early stages.  As Moscovian correctly pointed out in another thread:

A questionable idea to move them to the core if for no other reason than it was never playtested.

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Necron Army Champion
"Do not come whining to me because you are weaker than your enemy." - Alexander Corvinus

Hena,

I'm not sure if I follow...  How do formations with the Necron rule fair worse in rallying?

Formations with or without the Necron rule both rally the same way.  The lack of BMs though just means the formations with the special Necron rule are limited.  That doesn't make them worse.  It's like comparing apples to oranges.  Or am I missing something?

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author of Syncing Forward and other stories...

It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.

I think I'm missing something too...

Using "Marshal" to move out of a Portal, even with no Blast markers, still lets a formation with units with the Necron special rule return units to play.  It's only when Rallying in the End Phase that a formation without Blast markers can't return units.

Since a formation without the Necron special rule can *never* return units, I fail to see how having the special rule is in any way a disadvantage!

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

Uh... a formation with the Necron ability *CAN* return units when marshaling out of a portal.

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

Then that's a significant, and unpublished, rules change.  From "Raiders":

Necron

[Third paragraph]

Units may only be returned to the formations from which they were
originally a part and formations may not add units beyond their original
strength. Thus if you had six stands of Warriors and three Immortals at
the start of the game, that formation could never contain more than six
stands of Warriors and three Immortals. Formations that are not on the
board cannot return stands to play, but may take a Marshal action to
enter the board and restore units when they regroup (this includes
formations with no blast markers). Formations with no blast markers
may not use the Necron special rule to restore units to the formation
when rallying at the end of the turn.

_________________
"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

ok...

This shows what happens when you try putting up posts on short sleep.

I messed up on this, so let me clarify.


The Necrons lose all Blast Markers when they phase out to prevent them from restoring units by any means OTHER than Marshal actions.  

This was to force people to use Marshal in order to make use of Necron ability after they've been broken.  It creates a limitation in the use of the Necron ability for broken units.

A formation that is broken has no other choice, besides Marshal to restore destroyed units.

My bad.  Sorry for the confusion.

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Necron Army Champion
"Do not come whining to me because you are weaker than your enemy." - Alexander Corvinus

Problem is, losing all blast markers encourages them to Engage out of a Portal, not Marshall.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

The thing is, it'd be just as easy to say they get BMs as normal when rallying offboard, but may not use the necron rule to bring models back to life when offboard. This would REALLY encourage marshalling, as well as somewhat offsetting the huge benefit of the phase-out rules.

So given that, why do they need to lose all BMs when rallying offboard? Just say the necron ability can't be used offboard.

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http://www.troublemakergames.co.uk/
Epic: Hive Development Thread