Necrons: My Current 1850

It feels like it was only days ago and not almost a year ago that Necrons were the kings of short ranged fire power. Tau have usurped our prestigious role with their amazing ability to put out just an absurd amount of shots at medium range. This forces us Necron players to become a tad more creative than we used to have to be, its no longer move-shoot-move-shoot...

Here's the list I've been taking as of late that is what I would call a bit more on the creative side of things. Basic idea is simple, my silver skeletons are going no where any time soon.

Necrons:
HQs
Nemesor Zahndrehk
Destroyer Lord w/ weave, res orb, warscythe and mindshackle scarabs
Royal Court consisting of a Harbringer of Despair w/ Veil of Darkness

Troops
20x Necron Warriors
19x Necron Warriors
10x Necron Immortals w/ Tesla Carbines in a Night Scythe

Elites
10x Deathmarks in a Night Scythe

Heavy Support
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge

Fortification
Aegis Defense Line w/ Comms Relay
+++++++++++++++++

The overall strategy of the list is to place the Aegis Line up about at the half way point so that when my Warriors advance they still have some very reliable and powerful cover. While on the move to my trusty comms relay I like to use adaptive tactics to give the entire twenty man blob stealth to help mitigate even more damage. Doing this makes most anti infantry weaponry do very little and forces my opponent to pour what ever they have into my barges. Being an AV 13 skimmer, they tend to survive a few volleys. If I'm able to use terrain to deny my opponent the ability to shoot all but one of my barges I will toss Stealth on the lone barge to help tank the anti tank shots I'm going to have to weather.

I do my best to have the Zahndrehk blob draw the majority of the fire while going for the comms relay. While Z's squad is slowly, and I mean slowly, getting whittled down, I have the Destroyer Lord and his good friends from my other Warrior blob advance as far up as possible. Perhaps the biggest reason I want the Destroyer Lord so far up is because he is not only a good force multiplier for the unit he occupies, but he is one hell of a beatstick. Destroyer Lords excel at popping vehicles open and engaging Monstrous Creatures because of the Warscythe and Mindshackle Scarabs. Almost consistently I will advance this unit while pouring tons of Gauss shots into anything I can with my added Preferred Enemy thanks to the Destroyer Lord. In reality, all I'm doing is waiting to launch my Destroyer Lord out of the unit and have him beat up a high point, high priority target.

Annihilation Barges unfortunately suffer from a pretty short range that plagues the Necron army as a whole. This crippling flaw can be mitigated by either turbo boosting turn one or moving 12 inches to help close the gap a bit quicker. Reducing the distance between you and the opponent is extremely important for the simple fact that nimble armies such as Eldar and Tau can have a pretty easy time dancing around you if you are not careful. Luckily, we have Night Scythes to even further close this gap. Obviously, I take a comms relay to help make sure my Scythes show up as soon as possible.

When the Scythes arrive I do it in one of two ways. I either bring in both the Deathmarks and Immortals or I start the Deathmarks on the table to really take full advantage of the Veil of Darkness. Deathmarks really excel at being able to remove other pesky scoring units that are going to be tough to dislodge. When deep striking I always go for the high risk high reward route. I never scatter so it's pretty easy for me. (I'm not joking. I've been playing this game for about nine years and JUST found out that scatter dies have only two direct hit sides. Blew my mind). Using Deathmarks this way really allows me to throw a wrench in my opponents plans. This also gives my opponent something new to focus on as the rest of my army advances. Unfortunately, unless your target is extremely isolated, the Deathmarks are not long for this world after they let loose on their marks.

Scythe number two has a simple job. Drop off the Immortals on or near an objective. Immortals need to either claim an objective or shoot someone off of one. That's really all that they do in the army and I am more than fine with it.

Zahndrehk spends most of the game at the front of his blob tanking wounds like some sort of unkillable monster and while he does he picks on a unit in the enemy army that he can take their rules away. This is extremely helpful in making your opponent feel likes they wasted a bit of points on something that Zahndrehk just decided they don't have anymore. Rolling on the Personal Table for his warlord trait can be even more entertaining. Seriously, making him either scoring or having him and his entire blob have FNP while claiming an objective is amazing.

So far the list has lead to some super close games and been a ton of fun to play. I'm starting to theorycraft some changes to it, but I'm not quite sure where I want to take it without just spamming Scythes. Perhaps dropping the comms relay and picking up another cryptek of some variety. Let me know what you guys think down in the comment section.

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Flying Predator Battle Report 1850 Necrons vs. Dark Eldar.

Hey Guys! We were finally able to bring you guys another exciting battle report! This time we've got jwhite's Dark Eldar against Xinz's Necrons. The lists are both very strong, and it was a well fought match on both sides (despite some rather unfortunate dice rolls). For more information on my Dark Eldar list, you can read an in depth analysis here. Enjoy! And as always, remember to rate, subscribe, comment, and all that good stuff to keep us motivated!

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Necron 6th Edition Tactica Part 3: Troops and Transports

Boy has it been awhile. Working on actually playing the game for once instead of just talking about it makes my blogging go down.

Anywho, now its time for the third installment in my less than comprehensive Necron tactica! Enjoy Troops and Transports!

Warriors
Whats better than a horde of shambling skeletons? Silver skeletons with gauss flayers of course! These guys do a wonderful job of forming a horde army, or at least as close as Necrons can come to it.There are three ways that I've found these guys to be effective. The first being blob squads. Blobs can put out a disgusting amount of firepower and no vehicle is safe from their gauss weaponry. Load the warriors around a Ghost Ark with a Lord with a res orb and they're going no where.

The second way I run the warriors is by loading them into a Night Scythe either as a suicide squad with a stormtek or in a small squad to grab late game objectives. Running warriors this way is one of the most cost effective ways, yet the easiest way to lose your friends. Lots of Scythes creates no fun for anyone.

Ghost Arks are the key to the final way I run my mighty warriors which leads us to ...

Ghost Ark

One of the few vehicles in standard 40k to reach the amazing level of four hull points! Ghost Arks are one hell of a tank. (Even though they may not actually be a tank...) Like most all Necron vehicles you're getting AV 13 on both the front and side armor that is also a skimmer. This means more resilience to those pesky autocannon equivalents that seem to be flooding the game now a days! Back that up with an almost constant jink save and you become a tough nut to crack.

Now we come to the third way I like to run warriors, in the stalwart Ghost Ark. Obviously this gives them a way to safely make it from point A to point B, but less obviously is the synergy with other units. Triarch Stalkers combo very well with the Ghost Ark filled up with warriors because twin-linking nine warriors, at least five more gauss flayers on the same target and a destructek as they unload on anything is just plain fun. Ghost Arks are great because not only do you get a resilient transport, but you also get a beacon for restoring your fallen necron warriors around the field. Expensive, but worth it.

Immortals
Immortals are the stronger, tougher older brothers of Warriors. The only difference for them is a bigger gun and a stronger armor save. (four points per model as well) They do not have many different options, but because of that it's pretty hard to make them ineffective. What you need to decide is as simple if you want to take a Night Scythe, how many cold soulless bodies you want in the squad and what gun you want to be mowing down infantry with. I typically run them in max sized squads of ten footslogging equipped with Guass Blasters, but as of late I've been rolling them with the Tesla Carbines more often.  I find that I often prefer to use smaller units of warriors in my Scythes and have my Immortals on the table launching their volleys at the enemy as soon as possible.

The biggest debate with Immortals comes from what weapon they should have. The Gauss Blaster is probably the more reliable of the two options for the fact it brings more guaranteed fire power at half range. Gauss Blasters also give you a bit of anti-armor capabilities when it comes to both infatry and vehicles for the simple fact you can always strip hull points on the roll of a 6 while still having that AP 4.  However, the Tesla Carbine is by far the more fun option. You do not get as many guranteeed shots at close range with the carbine, but when something charges the Immortals, you get to see the power of tesla. Every snap shot that hits generates a total of three shots. Think about that for a moment. Fun and effective. 

Night Scythe
The bread and butter of most Necron lists. Odds are if you've played against Necrons in 6th edition, you've had to deal with one (or five) of these monsters.  It's a cheap flyer that can transport nearly anything in the army in large numbers. It does this while be backed up by one my favorite guns in the army. The fearsome Twin-linked Tesla Destructor. Four shots with a potential for twelve hits? Yes please. Scythes don't take much skill to use at all. Just load up some small units of warriors in these to get as many as possible and watch as people refuse to play against you. One or two is the max amount I ever run. One for my Deathmarks and one for a squad of warriors that I either equip with a stormtek or to grab objectives.

That about wraps up my Troops and Transports. In most of my armies that I run at around 1500-1850 points totals I tend to run a full squad of Immortals with Tesla, five warriors in a scythe and the variable of nine warriors in a Ghost Ark or a blob squad of warriors on foot. Let me know what tends to work for you guys in the comments sections.  I'm always looking for more ideas that my stubborn brain has not been able to come up with quite yet. 

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Necron 6th Edition Tactica Part 2: HQs (Named Characters)

The tomb has been awakened. I've only just begun to tell you about how I like to utilize my Necron army in an effort to broaden your tactics, as well as mine. Hope you all enjoy!

Imotekh the Stormlord 
The Stormlord has more than enough potential to really ruin your opponents day. He's extremely resilient, has amazing abilities to cripple the enemy army, but he is just not very good in combat of any kind. From turn one he can strike any unit on the battlefield with his lightning that can instant kill most all units and he forces night fighting for a minimum of at least one turn. Couple him with a couple of crypteks with a chronometron and solar pulse and you can have night fighting in effect all game long. He even takes your chance of seizing up to a 50%. You're going to have a tough time killing him, but odds are he won't be killing you. In melee he's just a fairly high strength character that gets some re rolls. At range he only has a basic flamer and fairly random one shot weapon that can do some good damage. Not exactly a powerhouse, but has some amazing abilities that come close to warranting his price, but it's still a lot to swallow. Imotekh is a great choice, just don't expect him to get into combat and do some damage. He's a buffer.

Nemesor Zahndrekh
Another character of pure defense backed up by utility. Armed only with a Staff of Light, you won't be dealing much serious damage with Zahndrekh. Luckily he does have some extremely nice utility powers that can bolster your army in a multitude of ways, all while crippling your foes. You get a nifty list of universal special rules that you can add to one of your units per turn and take away from the enemy. This provides you a monkey wrench to toss in your opponent's spoke at just the worst times. The other major utility that Zahndrekh gets to bring to the battlefield is that on any turn your opponent brings in any unit(s) from reserve you can immediately bring in any number of your deep striking units on the opponent's turn without having to roll for reserves. A great force multiplier that can really do an excellent job of controlling the game.

Vargard Obyron
The Nemesor's sworn protector, Varagard Obyron is the reason that Zahndrekh doesn't have to lift a finger in combat, he does all the work necessary. Few targets can stand up to the fury that is Obyron's Warscythe. As long as they don't have an extremely high AP weapon that strikes at initiative 3 or higher, you will cleave through the unit like tissue paper. The best part? The more times they miss him before he gets to strike the more attacks he gets! He has a possibility of 10 attacks on the charge and at his massive strength, you can cut through just about anything. If the going gets tough, just Veil your way out of that combat. The double edged sword of Obyron comes from his duty to protect Zahndrekh. If at any time Zahndrekh is engaged in combat Obyron is forced to use his modified Veil of Darkness to pile in to that combat immediately. Using Zahndrekh as a beacon to pin point Obyron and his squad is more than a valid tactic, but has to be used carefully due to the fact you can not assault til the following turn after deep striking. He's a nice beat stick to have around.

Illuminor Szeras
With such a fantastic model, it's hard not to want to use Illuminor Szeras. Although once you look at his stats you may just want to field him as Harbinger of Destruction instead. He's basically just a Harbinger of Despair with an extra wound, 3+ save and for some reason 4 attacks! He brings an interesting buff to a squad of Warriors or Immortals that is random and can't be relied on because of that. (On a 5 or 6 you get to give them +1 to their strength! Wow!) You can probably find more use in any of the other choices, but the price is fairly nice.

Orikan the Diviner
Probably the most interesting character in the book. He controls your opponent's first movement phase, has an extremely powerful gun, can help your reserve rolls and when the stars line up just right, he "Hulks out". The Diviner is okay in combat until he decides to rampage and becomes an unstoppable beast. However, all good things must come to an end and as quickly as his new found power comes, it can fade. Pairing him with a Chronometron will drastically increase your ability to keep this amazing power going. Orikan is best paired with another Overlord of some variety to give him a royal court. Best used in higher points games, but still an excellent battlefield controller.

Anrakyr the Traveller 
One of my personal favorites, Anrakyr does a great job of chopping up high wound toughness 4 units because on the charge he strikes at strength 8! Mounting him on a Command Barge for extra mobility is an excellent way to get into range to control your opponent's vehicles. He's another one of those characters that is pure fun and poses a massive threat at all times. Attach him to a resilient squad of Lychguard or Wraiths and he won't go anywhere fast while absorbing a massive amount of fire. What do you do when you can't force your enemy to have his own vehicles shooting him? Well, Tacyon Arrows make short work of just about anything. If you decide to go with the Traveller, you should take at least a single squad of Immortals for the free upgrade to Pyrrhian Eternals. Giving them some added CC benefits isn't the best, but always nice to have.

Trazyn the Infinite
Following the theme of most of the characters, Trazyn is hard to remove from the board. This resiliency doesn't come from exceptional wargear like the others, but his ability that whenever he "dies" roll a die and on a 2+, he can possess another Lord, Cyptek, or Lychguard and continue to fight on. Trazyn brings his full might down on horde armies. All it takes is one kill to make approximately half of the remaining enemy squad with the same name be forced to take an armor save. On top of that he comes with Mindshackle Scarabs to make that same enemy that is dropping like flies attack themselves! Trazyn is an extremely fun character that isn't always the most effective, but does a great job of upseting your opponent at every turn. Also, he's scoring! Can't complain about that.

What characters do you guys like to include on a regular basis? My favorite is by far the Traveller, but I love hearing what kind of nasty strategies you have concocted. Let us know in the comments and be on the look out for part 3 of my Necron Tactica: Troops.

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Necron 6th Edition Tactica Part 1: HQ's (Non Characters)

Something about evil robots that spent sixty million years in a tomb just biding their time really strikes my fancy. That's why I place this wonderful army we call Necrons. I'm sure you all have similar reason for loving them and you can't wait to hear how I like to field these lovely silver killing machines. 

Necron Overlords

As far as non character HQs go in the Necron book you have two options, smash things in CC or be a jack of all trades. Overlords are your jack of all trades. You can kit these monsters out to do anything. They can soar across the battlefield on a Catacomb Command Barge popping vehicles and dealing some serious damage to heavy infantry or even MCs. You can have them do anything you want, but not everything at once.

The Overlord really needs to be broken up into a few different categories. The first of which is going to be your defensive capability. Deciding early on what kind of targets you want to engage with your Overlord really decides what kind of armor upgrade you want to take. Take the Sempiternal Weave when you want to slice through infantry, Phase Shifters for terminators and other heavy infantry that will make a mockery of a 2+ save and Command Barges for when you want to run this guy by himself. (Phase shifters with Command Barges are also worthwhile). Phylactery just ins't a great use of points. A lot will swear by this extremely situational piece of wargear but too often do you find yourself not standing back up after being killed or standing up with only one wound due to the only  66.6% chance this will be any use. (If you pass your reanimation protocols). 

Offensive capability is next up and you'll find the Necron lord is not lacking at all when it comes to this category. Being that Necrons are a very short ranged army and are by the majority terrible in CC most players will love to charge you. Fear not! That's where our Overlords shine. The Overlords love to get into combat with basic troops because we can either overwatch with a Gauntlet of Fire or let our Warscythe taste their sweet, sweet blood. Also, there is nothing more frustrating than getting into a challenge with an Overlord with Mindshackle scarabs. If you intend on seeing CC Mindshackle scarabs are mandatory, an average roll will make your opponent fail their leadership test and be forced to attack themselves while your Overlord prepares to thrust his Warscythe in them for the killing blow. Tesseract Labyrinths are pretty pricey, but can easily remove a pesky Swarmlord or similar threats. Tachyon Arrows are useful, but only if you have really  built a slow low ranged Necron army, even then, I wouldn't rely on this fluffy point sink. The only option for weapons that I find  really doesn't have a place with the Overlord is the Void Blade. The Warscythe can perform any job that the Void Blade does, only better and for the same price!

Necron Overlords don't bring as many utility powers as HQs from other books can, but they can still be extremely useful. Unfortunately we only have two, and they range from one of the more frustrating pieces of wargear in the game to useless. Resurrection Orbs are an extremely common thing to find on Lord and Overlords alike. They make your evil robots stand back up on a 4+ instead of a 5+. This makes your Overlord and his squad, much harder to move and gives you a sick sense of satisfaction when your opponent pours in as many shots as he can muster to finally end their miserable existence  The other option is Phaeron. 100% useless. 

Royal Courts

Royal courts can only be taken for every Overlord or Overlord character you have in your army. You can run them as an immovable deathstar or by attaching each member to different squads.

Necron Lord

A scaled down Overlord, but they still pack quite the punch. Give them a Warscythe for chopping and a Resurrection Orb for annoying. 

Vanilla Cryptek

Comes stock with a staff of light that can be a decent upgrade to a squad's shooting capabilities, but you should really look into a harbinger to bring a lot more utility to your squad.

Harbinger of Despair

Ever wish your Necron units could easily become the most mobile unit in the game? Well, that's what Veil of Darkness is for. Veil of Darkness gives you the ability to make your Deathmarks appear exactly where you need them once they've destroyed their marked target or even make it so your Lychguard can assault as soon as possible. Despairteks provide an excellent utility to your army and allow you to take control of the battlefield.

Harbinger of Destruction

One of the more common Crypteks people like to field for their "long" range Eldritch Lances. They really shine to give Warriors and Immortals a bit more of a punch against enemy armor. The major ability these guys can take is Solar Pulse, this allows you to control when night fighting rules are in effect. With our extremely short range, we often find that a bit of cover goes a long way in closing that gap. In the instance of fighting lots of units with night vision(I'm looking at you Tau and Dark Eldar), we can take away their advantage and allow for our long range guns to begin hammering them.

Harbinger of Eternity

Pure nastiness. Not because of a major damage output, not because of a massive amount of defense (although, the Timesplinter Cloak does make them a great deal survivable) it's the Chronometron. You need to know how to use this insane piece of wargear. It can be extended to any member of his unit once per phase, plan out your most important roll. Maybe you want to save it for that Overlord that you took a gamble on with Phylactery, maybe its saved for Imotekh's Lightning, or even Orikan's ability to Hulk out. Save it for when it's needed most and you will always be laughing manically at your poor opponents expense.   If you have a Royal Court, you need to have a Chronometron. 

Harbinger of the Storm

The Voltaic Staff provides more anti-tank weaponry to our army that is already filled to the brim with it, to top it off it even comes with an even shorter ranger than we're used to. The Ether Crystals are situational at best and the only time I really see them coming up is a really terrible scatter or a mishap that lets you place the enemy unit within 6" just to hit them with your wargear. Lightning Fields are nice as a shield to stop an enemy from wanting to assault you, but even then, it won't always stop them. Maybe I was a tad hash when it came to the ol' Stormtek. They take a gentle touch to use. The best way to have one of these guys destroying enemy armor is isolation. If you have them in a transport and can move them to a lone enemy vehicle, they are worth their weight in gold. Be wary of making those fast suicide runs. 

Harbinger of Transmogrification

There seems to be a theme with Crpteks that they either bring extremely short ranged firepower, or longer than average range for the Necrons. The Tremorstave is one of those longer range weapons. It also comes with a pretty interesting ability. Any unit(s) hit by the small blast are counted as being inside of difficult terrain the following turn. This gives you a great way to help slow down those assault units and even force some dangerous terrain tests on units like bikes and jump infantry. One of the most fun ways to use these is with a C'Tan Shard that has Writhing Worldscape. The Harp brings an even larger range (infinite) and  is a nice upgrade, but you'll find it doesn't always make it's points up. However, it is really nice to knock a point of armor off something before you rip it apart with your bigger guns. The Seismic Crucible is nothing more than a great idea, but a waste of points. 

Catacomb Command Barge

While not technically an HQ, it does belong in this section. For all intents and purposes this is an upgrade to your Overlords and Overlord characters. This allows them to move extremely fast and attack units they pass over while they do it. I really recommend using a Warscythe while you do this to just annihilate vehicles when you pass over them. This also gives you a fun ability that few units in the game can do. Blow up a transport and then attack the occupants. The other major merit this barge gives you is it makes you not have to take Sempiternal Weave because it improves your save to a 2+. Making this an excellent unit to charge even heavy infantry with and do some serious damage. Don't forget you hammer of wrath!

Destroyer Lords

Robots that have gone completely mad and are obsessed with slaughtering any and all life in the galaxy. What could be better? Well, he imparts his madness on his squad with Preferred Enemy (Everything!) so that's a start. Best way to run one of these maniacs is with a Warscythe, Sempiternal Weave, Mindshackle scarabs and big bodyguard of wraiths. Getting to re roll your ones when you already wound on 2+ pretty often is a lot of fun. The only weakness to a destroyer lord is also it's greatest strength, it doesn't do much of anything other than smash. (That and it can't have an invulnerable save)

Let us in our what has worked for you guys in the comments below. This is only round one of my Necron Tactica, next up we have named characters. Be on the look out for it real soon!

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