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Author Topic: The Tomb of Undying Knowledge - Collected Necron Articles (pre-2011 codex)  (Read 6616 times)

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Offline Gutstikk

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Welcome to the new location for Necron articles. I will be indexing this thread in the space below, using links to the first post of each new article that gets added. Hopefully, in this way, those contributions of Necron community members that are really above and beyond can be readily accessed.

Don't post in this thread. If you have an article you wish to write for inclusion, you may do so on the main Necron forum as you'd make any post. Then, simply send me a PM once it's finished, and I'll move it in here for safekeeping. This way, we keep superfluos posting from congesting what's essentially a vault for finished articles.

Article Index:
Necron Battle Reports

Calculating your Phase Out point, by Killersquid
Pariahs and Necron Assault Lists vs Fear Lists, by Gutstikk
5th ed Necron firepower tactica, by Nerzuhl

Moc's article on CC armies
« Last Edit: February 26, 2012, 09:43:26 AM by Gutstikk »

Offline Gutstikk

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Pariahs and Necron Assault Lists vs Fear Lists
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2009, 07:59:05 PM »
The following is some work I did a while back, dealing with the Necron Close Combat Army. Much of this work was originally done in 4th edition, and has just been updated to 5th edition. With the massive shift in metagame that came about in 5th edition, due largely to the loss of the -1ld modifier for massive shooting casualties, the prevalence of cover, the change in combat modifiers from outnumbering to excessive wounds, and the increased durability of tanks vs glancing hits, the whole concept of a necron close-combat army is much more viable than previously.

Article Index:
Introduction; Part 1 - Necron Fear Lists
Part 2 - Necron Close-Combat Lists
Part 3 - Pariahs in a non-fear list
Part 4 - Assault Phalanx; Part 5 - Wraithwing
Part 6 - Why Pariahs?; Conclusion and a link to CC army tourney batreps
« Last Edit: August 12, 2009, 08:13:07 PM by Gutstikk »

Offline Gutstikk

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Re: The Tomb of Undying Knowledge - Collected Necron Articles
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2009, 07:59:56 PM »
Introduction:

This is a project that I'm going to devote to tackling two Necron themes, starting with why they shouldn't necessarily be mixed. It largely comes from my desire to address the false notion that including Pariahs in an army list necessitates the inclusion of items like the Gaze of Flame, the Nightmare Shroud, the Deceiver, and Flayed Ones. Actually, including Pariahs can make some of those other selections worthwhile, but it can also make some of them quite dangerous. It depends on the focus of your army, and crossing the streams without careful consideration can make your army very hard to use.

Pariahs are one of my favorite Necron units, even though they have a hefty price tag and their resilience is not incredible. To make matters worse, because they use up so many points, it lowers your phase-out - basically making your opponent more likely to gain a massacre, because he'll have far less Necrons to kill. So using Pariahs is likely to make your games more difficult, and as a result, you want other selections to be made as rationally as possible.

Pariahs are kind of a crossover unit between these two themes. On the one hand you have their leadership reducing qualities, which are very useful in a force themed around breaking enemy units via leadership tests. On the other hand you have their warscythes, one of the coolest weapons available, which can make close combat so much fun. It is because the Pariahs have potential in both lists that I begin this article discussing Pariahs. It is also this duality that causes players to assume that because they can be used for both themes, that both themes must always appear at the same time. I'm hoping to break that tendency, and illustrate how the themes work independently, and then move on to describe how they might work together.

Part One - The Necron Fear List

This is a pretty commonly known variation of the Necron army, and it is known to suffer from ineffectiveness. It takes a very competent general to use a fear list well. This is because so many things in the 40k gaming system are virtually immune to leadership effects. Unfortunately, any time Pariahs, and to a certain extent Flayed Ones, are included in an army list, it inevitably leads people to suggest that the person should field a fear list. A fear list is to the Necron Army as an effective Double Front Kick is to a martial artist. Even the people who can do it succesfully would be hesitant to use it. To make matters worse, lots of people have a vague idea about what a fear list is and how it works, but most have not actually tried to field one across a decent spread of games and a variety of opponents. This means that the player who has received the recommendation to use a fear list often gets poor advice, and ends up with a recipe for failure.

What is a Fear List?

A Necron Fear list is, as described above, an army that attempts to benefit from the failed leadership tests of its opponent. A lot of work must go into setting up scenarios where the leadership tests will be failed, by a large enough margin that breaking the enemy is a pretty certain outcome. Enemies that are immune to morale need to be handled in close combat, and in such a manner that they suffer additional damage for not fleeing. But because so many things are protected from morale effects, if not outright immune to them, implementing this sort of army is quite difficult.

There are several things that are likely to be featured in a fear list, although including all of them is not necessary nor is it always wise to do so. The following are features you might see in a fear list, accompanied by some explanation:

Deceiver:
These are the archetypal leaders of the Fear list, where points permit, because they generally cause your opponent himself to start sweating. The deceiver is the common choice due to the abilities he has that require enemy units to take leadership tests, and either cause them to be pinned or flee, or hit less in combat. Also, a monstrous creature in a combat helps break the enemy by adding extra wounds to your own resolution while avoiding taking extra wounds in return. In 5th this can be a two-edged sword if striking into combat alongside an ally that can be wounded, because you risk your monster taking wounds from no retreat. On the other hand, it will pin the enemy into combat so that they can't sweep your warriors, making it possible to risk using warriors in close combat at all.

Lords with:
Gaze of Flame - This item reduces enemy leadership while they are in combat with the Lord, as well as limiting their attacks while charging. It is primarily the LD modification that sees its inclusion, though it has obvious defensive applications.
Nightmare Shroud - This item forces leadership tests across an area, potentially forcing many enemy to flee. It should be noted that on its own this item is not reliable; it works better when coupled with the LD modifaction of Pariahs, but this largely depends on how the Pariahs will be used.
Veil of Darkness - This lets the Lord get a unit such as Immortals or Warriors very close to its target, so it can unleash a devastating volley of Gauss fire and hopefully cause the unit to fall back. Not a huge contender in this kind of army, but included because many people ignore the kind of impact heavy gauss fire has on an opponent. Gauss weapons are really not that powerful vs generic infantry but many people quail before them anyways, so you might as well intimidate them! As moc065 once suggested, it can be combined with a nightmare shroud for a suicide solo run where the lord teleports in on his own and tries to break several IG units all at once.

Pariahs:
Because of their LD reducing effect and their effect on enemy psykers, Pariahs are often included in a fear army. That being said, you must consider their usage carefully. In a fear list it is not important that they reach combat, but simply that the fear bubble they generate can work in tandem with other fear effects. So you will want a unit to advance behind your lines. Extend them in a long line, at just about 2" apart, so that their Ld effect covers the broadest range of area possible.

Flayed Ones [8-10]:
These are featured in fear lists because the enemy must pass a leadership test or become sorely unlikely to hit the flayed ones in combat. The problem is that most enemy units will generally pass that test. As a result they are often teamed up with Pariahs and a Lord with Gaze of Flame is joined to the unit. The Pariah effect lowers the enemy leadership, while the Gaze of Flame reduces it a bit further. With the enemy testing at LD 6 they are likely to fail, miss the Flayed Ones altogether, and then break and run [and possibly get cut down by that wraith!].

Flayed Ones [4-6]:
A unit of Flayed Ones at this size serves a different purpose. It either infiltrates or deepstrikes to a safe location, then goes to ground. An enemy may divide his force to hunt them down, which will be good for the rest of your army. But they present no real threat and are likely to be dealt with easily, so your opponent may ignore them. If they are ignored, let them remain in hiding at their location until the enemy breaks further up the field. Then, the flayed ones set up to get in the fleeing unit's path, and escort the fleeing unit off the table [or cut them down by blocking their escape route]. While waiting they can attempt to glance enemy tanks by attacking them from behind, though this only has real merit against tanks with a rear armor of 10 and no transport capacity.

Large Scarab swarms [8-10 bases]:
In 5th edition there is no real reason I can think of to field large units of scarabs, except possibly to make it easier to cut down fleeing enemy units. This is especially in the CC army where they are a massive combat liability or in the fear list where you have no superfluous points to spend on units that aren't contributing. In previous editions you could reduce an enemy's leadership by outnumbering them, but now by adding easily wounded models to a combat you merely grant massive combat resolution bonus to your opponent, who becomes more likely to cut down nearby warrior teams. Avoid the impulse to include large units of scarabs! The only thing they might enable you to do is cut down fleeing enemy, but often the risk of combined assaults makes this not worth the points.

Scarab Teams [4-6]
In a fear list these can be quite helpful for escorting the enemy off the table, and are easy enough to keep away from allies so that they don't hamper your ability to fight by providing the enemy with favorable multiple charges.

Wraiths:
In a fear list, these are used to either run enemy squads off the table once they have been broken or to sweep enemy units at the end of combat. 1-2 smaller squads will work fine [1-2 models in each]. They will not typically be involved in fighting and when they are, you do not want them getting lots of hits and killing enemy models in base contact - other things do the killing, and the wraiths simply cut them down as they flee. Do not do this to fearless units; you will be wasting your time. In 5th these are generally a better choice than scarab units.

Tomb Spyders:
These are included in a fear list because they help to boost combat resolution by being hard to kill and inflicting a respectable amount of unsavable wounds. This makes the enemy more likely to break and flee from combat. With the loss of leadership modifiers in the shooting phase for casualties inflicted, having some combat ability is almost a requirement if you want to get enemies running. In 5th they are a better choice for fear lists than they were previously, but you'll need quite a few for it to make a difference - at least 3 per 1000pts or part thereof.

So now that we have the components of a basic fear list down, let's take a look at a sample army list and how it might be fielded to make the best use of its features:

A Sample Fear List:

1500pts, 14 KP, 2 Scoring units, phase at 9
[you could buy disruption fields for one of the Lords, but it doesn't contribute to my purpose here, so I left them off].

160: Destroyer Lord, Nightmare Shroud
155: Lord, Gaze of Flame, Res Orb
180: 5 Pariahs
144: 9 Flayed Ones
180: 10 Warriors
180: 10 Warriors
  41: 1 Wraith
  41: 1 Wraith
  41: 1 Wraith
165: 3 Tomb Spyders
  65: 1 Heavy Destroyer
130: 2 Heavy Destroyers

Using the Fear List:

The general idea is to keep a pretty tight phalanx with your core units. The Lord with the Gaze of Flame is placed between the Pariahs and Flayed Ones, and joined to the Flayed Ones. The Flayed Ones are deployed at the front, with a unit of Warriors on either flank with a model in range of the Res Orb. The Pariahs are deployed at the back, as they will be able to begin firing on turn 1 with very little movement. The Spyders are placed in front of the Flayed Ones, with the goal of ensuring the Flayed Ones get to charge.

The Wraiths [out of LOS], and the Nightmare Lord [out of LOS] will assist in combats where it makes sense; otherwise they will aim to operate behind enemy lines once the phalanx has approached the enemy and force things to run off the board. The Heavy Destroyers are also deployed out of LOS and at the back of the lines; they'll be working together, firing at the same target to destroy it. They have to concentrate on enemy transport vehicles first, then on fearless units or big things that'll smash your Crons in combat. Leave most other vehicles with rear armor of 10 to be glanced by gauss rifles or the Pariahs, or to be handled in CC by wraiths.

Once you get going, the Heavy Destroyers will do their damage to appropriate targets. The Nightmare Lord waits for the Pariahs to advance a little, then joins the front lines on turn 2 and starts letting fly with the Shroud. The scarabs advance only enough to counter charge where needed, as do the Wraiths. The Warriors should only advance far enough to fire upon the enemy, then hold their ground while the Spyder, Pariahs and Flayed Ones continue to advance. The Lord has to join the Flayed Ones by the end of turn 2, to ensure he is with them should they get charged. Do not throw the wraiths into a combat unless you are sure you will win and the Wraiths can sweep the enemy. If the enemy is fearless the Wraiths must not assault, and can try to take objectives instead. The Pariahs can swing assaults if need be but should generally avoid combat until it is necessary.

You will need to tailor this strategy according to the situation, but this is a good shot at a fear list; the Destroyer Lord can flush enemy units quickly if positioned well and can tie up small shooting units if need be, like a Devastator Squad, though you must avoid powerfists! The Gaze Lord will help the Flayed Ones out in combat, as will the Pariah Fear Field and the outnumbering bonus of the Spyder. The wraiths simply sweep enemy or usher them off the board, or hunt tanks/contest objectives as needed.

Offline Gutstikk

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Re: The Tomb of Undying Knowledge - Collected Necron Articles
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2009, 08:00:46 PM »
Part 2 - The Necron Close-Combat List

This is a much less known variation of the Necron army, that features quite a few unit selections which also appear in the Necron Fear List. For some reason, a good number of the Necron units that are half-decent in combat also have potential in the fear list if used properly. However, the two lists play quite differently. With the CC list, you are actually trying to kill things rather than manipulate them via their leadership rolls. This means there will be much more of an emphasis on being able to control the board via movement, and being able to inflict a good amount of damage on enemy squads.

As stated in the previous segment, while there is some overlap between the two forces, this does not necessarily mean you should mix them. The
Necron army is very expensive and not a single point should be wasted on something that's not integral to your plans. For instance, if you are planning on getting Pariahs, which are a rather slow unit, into combat, it makes no sense to use a Nightmare Shroud. If you use it succesfully, you drive the enemy further away from your Pariahs and therefore make the enemy harder to assault [they will run much faster than you walk!]. If you don't use it, then why would you want to pay for it?

What is a Combat List?
Quite simply, it is a Necron army designed to beat its opponents in close combat rather than the shooting phase. It is a bit more tactically challenging to employ than a shooting Necron force, but it has the benefit of being an unexpected strategy that can catch many opponents unawares. After all, they expect Necrons to want to shoot - something that combat tends to restrict, and so assaulting Necrons tends to be a good idea. But an enemy assaulting this type of army may soon wish they hadn't!

Just as a Fear List features several units, so to will a Close Combat List feature several units and configurations. However, unlike the fear list, there is a bit more flexibility in how such a force is designed. I typically use a hybrid list, but it is possible to specialize in either a fast or slow army, with or without monolith support. Some of the units and options common to a Close Combat Necron army are as follows:

C'tan:
These are some of the most combat-capable units available to the Necron army. In a combat list, either C'tan works quite nicely. The Nightbringer tends to be more destructive, but the Deceiver brings some nice supporting abilities to the army. I think the Nightbringer probably makes more sense in most scenarios, especially if you plan to field quite a few of the faster moving Necron units or a Monolith [as these allow you to redeploy quicker, making the Deceiver's redeployment capability less needed].

Lords:
with Destroyer Body:
This upgrade lets the Lord get where he needs to go to do his damage, and pairs quite nicely with a Scarab Swarm or a Wraith Wing escort. On top of that it boosts his toughness, which is extremely useful in any combat not involving a powerfist, and makes him immune to Instant Death, which makes combat with walkers a possibility.
with Warscythe - This confers upon the Lord the ability to cleave through enemy invul saves and gain bonus dice when attacking tanks. On the other hand, you lose some shooting power. Basically it comes down to whether or not you will be turbo-boosting a lot; if so you will have far less chances to shoot and you will not need the Staff of Light so much.
with Lightning Field - This pairs quite nicely with a smaller Scarab Swarm, allowing you to maneuver quickly into enemy lines and allowing their combat successes to do their own unit in. It is extremely useful when facing Harlequins, Dark Eldar wyches, and Tyrranid gaunt broods [sometimes it's even useful against warriors!].
Chronometron - This is mostly useful for a Lord working with Flayed Ones, or a Lord acting in a defensive role. It has been updated in the GW FAQ to permit a reroll of the initiative during sweeping advances, either with the Lord's unit or against the Lord's unit. So, in an offensive capacity, Flayed Ones and Wraiths are the only thing that strikes at his initiative or better, making these the best offensive pairings. On the other hand, in a defensive capacity it is always good, especially for slower squads that will need to roll high to escape a sweep.
Solar Pulse - This last one is good for getting a unit a free turn of advancing towards the enemy. However, it is really only excellent on the first turn, and since the enemy that comes under its effects can elect to shoot a different squad if they can't see the Lord, it is only so-so. Still, it helps Pariahs advance under a bit less fire, so in the case of Pariahs it might make sense. The ignore nightfighting clause is of less use to a CC army, since you are unlikely to be pairing Destroyers with the Lord [he is desperately needed elsewhere].
Res Orb - I mention this because in a combat army you will be in constant peril; as you advance you'll have to weather enemy fire and once in combat you will have to deal with power weapons and such. This is not a necessary upgrade but it is an incredibly helpful one, so always worth considering. Still, you can perform quite effectively even in its absence. It is especially useful to adjust to playing without one, because most of the models lost in cc will be through sweeping advance, where the res orb is of no value whatsoever.

Pariahs [6-10]
You want a larger unit of Pariahs in a combat army mostly because you can only field one unit. You need more models to do more damage in combat and to ensure some stick around long enough to make contact. In the combat army, they can lead from the front. It is better to charge than be charged, but if you have to get charged, these guys won't be breaking, and will enable you to counter-charge with your other squads.

Flayed Ones [multiple units of 6-8]
The smaller squad size is to allow for at least a second squad, and more positioning options, as well as the possibility to counter charge with the second squad should the first one receive a charge. It also forces the enemy to split attacks, and allows for multiple infiltration options. They still need support, so be sure one of your faster units or monoliths can reach them. If you are planning on including Flayed Ones you'll almost always want at least one Monolith. It improves every single facet of the flayed ones.

Wraiths [full squads]:
Here you want larger units, though you should still fill up your force org slots before adding more wraiths to an existing unit. A Wraithwing army will feature 2-3 units at full strength accompanied by Lords to do a lot of damage very quickly. In this application the Wraiths are looking to attack units they are likely to kill [or at least tear big holes in], and the Lord helps by adding some much needed power weapon attacks.

Wraiths [single models]:
These are used to initiate sweeping advances, and are particularly useful if you have more expensive units, or units that offer piles of attacks [especially flayed ones] but might not get the sweep on an enemy unit. In this case, don't worry about assuring WBB rolls; they are more useful to try and catch a sweep than to objective catch, as you will want to destroy enemies quickly. Even a single squad of 1 model can be very helpful in this regard, making up for the miserable initiative of other units in your army.

Scarabs [4-6 with Disruption Fields]:
In this type of Necron army the disruption fields can be very important. A unit of scarabs that harrasses enemy ordnance keeps it from firing accurately, and helps keep your Necrons alive as a result. Also, you will have little firepower, so these guys will help your Warriors take on enemy armor. Smaller squads are more cost effective with the D-fields, and easier to sneak onto their targets. Plus, they are not as valuable points-wise, and incredibly hard to kill while turbo-boosting, so may be able to operate without much enemy attention. Keep them far away from your combat units though!

Tomb Spyders [3+]:
Spyders are an important part of this type of army, because they give you a chance to handle harder enemy infantry. Be very careful about generating scarabs - it is generally good if there are high-powered, low-volume shots coming in, and generally bad otherwise. Scarabs can also help you reach combat a bit early; create one at the start of your assault phase and put it in base contact between the Spyder and its target. You've now got your squad 1.4" closer to its target, and since they are a single unit, the Spyder may attack so long as the Scarab gets into base contact. Generally you will not want to make more than one scarab since beyond this the majority toughness rule weakens the durability of the team dramatically. Keep in mind that the scarab will often have a cover save since it is so easy to hide, while the spyder will not since it requires 50% of its body to be hidden in order to gain cover. Apply all wounds to the scarab wherever possible.

Monoliths:
An assault army made up of many Necrons can benefit from the Monolith by allowing units to close with the enemy much more quickly, so the Monolith is included here. Obviously, the Monolith itself does not fight in combat. The particle whip can also pin the enemy, making it easier to catch them with a charge. They are almost an auto-include if you want to use many flayed ones, though they can permit a unit of wraiths to cross something like 36" of board to end the move in close combat in a single turn.

A Sample Necron CC Army

With the above units in mind, let's take a look at a sample Necron Combat list:
170: Destroyer Lord with Res Orb
165: Destroyer Lord with Lightning Field, Warscythe
108: 6 Flayed Ones
108: 6 Flayed Ones
108: 6 Flayed Ones
180: 10 Warriors
180: 10 Warriors
  80: 5 Scarabs with D-fields
123: 3 Wraiths
123: 3 Wraiths
165: 3 Tomb Spyders
235: 1 Monolith
1750pts, Phase Out at 12 models

Using the Close Combat List:

This list is designed to function in its basic format in 3 groups. The Lord with Lightning Field and the Scarabs work together, the Lord with Res Orb and Wraiths work with the monolith, and the Warriors, Flayed Ones and Spyders work together. The Spyders add the CC punch to their own group while the Lords add some CC punch to their groups. You can either keep the flayed ones altogether, or you can mix it up and have them infiltrate ahead to a point where the Wraiths or Scarabs will meet up with them. The Monolith allows an exit plan for assaults that start to go downhill, as well as a slingshot for the orb lord and whichever squad of wraiths he's with.

If needed, the Lightning Lord and his Scarabs can shut down enemy tanks fairly effectively, and the monolith can assist if there are many enemy vehicles by firing the Gauss Flux Arc at everything nearby. The Monolith's bulk can also be used to control or limit assault lanes, as well as enable you to walk out of one combat and into another.

Remember that the spyders must counter charge, rather than receive charges, and if you can avoid making more than one scarab do so [unless enemies with power-fists are present; then the scarabs actually keep you alive longer!]. These spyders should not have a staff of light - the 2 claw config is much more suited to their purposes. Notice also that the Flayed Ones really need to stay near each other, and be assisted by the Lords or the Spyders. You are not counting on their fear factor, but rather the piles of attacks they'll be throwing about.

Offline Gutstikk

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Re: The Tomb of Undying Knowledge - Collected Necron Articles
« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2009, 08:01:37 PM »
Part 3 - Pariahs in a non-fear list

For this segment, I'm going to begin by illustrating the difference between taking a Pariah unit to make for a Necron CC army as opposed to using it in conjunction with the Fear units and explaining why it differs. Then, I'll showcase 2 close-combat lists that feature Pariahs, and explain briefly how they are intended to work.

Considerations in the Pariah CC army:

While Pariahs themselves tend to be a necessary addition to a fear army, they can also be added to a CC Necron Army without needing to take full advantage of their leadership effect. This is because Pariahs are one of the best combat units available in the Necron army, second only to C'tan. With high strength and complete save denial, the Pariahs allow you to ensure that what you wound will take that wound no matter what, and you'll be wounding pretty often. The hard part is actually getting them to hit.

Pariahs have lackluster initiative and a single attack unless charging. This is umtimately the key to determining where you will want to engage the enemy with your Pariahs. While they remain outside of combat, they can keep pumping out Gauss salvos. This means that defensively, they can be used to match the initiative of faster enemies by standing in cover. While they will have less attacks, they will strike simultaneously, meaning less of them are likely to go down before they strike.

Used offensivley, you will likely need to counter-charge. This is because Pariahs are not particularly fast movers; many enemy units can ensure a charge on the Pariahs if they are left unsupported. So in this case, you will want a unit to screen them, such as a squad of scarabs, wraiths, or anything else you choose. The best screening units are those that are unlikely to die quickly and that you can be sure to charge around if needed. Scarabs are nice because they fit both bills. Enemies who charge the scarabs will generally require at least a turn to chew through them, and if they fail to charge the scarabs, you can fly over the enemy and attack with the Pariahs. This will help you get the charge, and leave the scarabs between your enemy's units and your Pariahs once again. Wraiths can pull this maneuver but don't last as long in combat. Spyders can hold enemy up for a while but don't move as fast; however, Spyders are much easier to step around than a big squad of warriors or flayed ones can be. Immortals can be teleported out of the way if need be and still make use of their guns but you really don't want things running into them if you can help it, and you are probably not going to rush them into assault alongside your Pariahs.

You will notice that Pariahs tend to need support in combat. While Pariahs will generate quite a few kills, you want to break the enemy quickly, and will need to inflict as many wounds as possible to do so. This is mostly because Pariahs are quite expensive and so you don't want to fight an attrition battle with the enemy; the Pariahs will generally take a while to kill but each kill your enemy makes is worth many times more than each kill your Pariahs will make. So concentrate on winning the first round of combat, with high enough numbers to break the enemy.

Using the Pariahs, if possible you will want to fight the enemy units that are closest to your board edge first, and then resolve combats progressively closer to the enemy's board edge. This is because even when you win, your initiative in the Necron army is generally quite poor and will permit the enemy to avoid sweeping advances. However, when you do win combats in this order, it will permit you to find where broken enemy squads are fleeing to, and if necessary you can consolidate or advance into them or block their path, so that they will be destroyed or continue falling back on the opponent's turn. You are more likely to win these combats due to the combination of numbers vs the enemy unit and the Pariah's LD effect, first reducing their base LD and then modifying it by the number of wounds they lost by. If you spread out, then the enemy can hit your units in isolation, which makes it very hard for you to power through the combats as quickly as possible and this detracts from the resistance to short-term damage which the Necron army excels at.

The key when fielding the Pariahs is that they help you to kill units by cutting them down, a situation where you don't have to fear return blows. This means you can afford a lower phase-out point if you are careful, because you generally will not need to worry about getting thrashed too many times in combat over several rounds. You'd rather combats end early, and shrug off enemy gunfire, than have combats end after several turns of being hacked up. So Scarabs, Spyders, Lords and C'Tan must be carefully placed to be used to maximum effect, as it is difficult to outfight enemy units relying on the point-heavy Necron models.

This also means that the closer together you can keep your force, the more synergy it will have, so you will want to try to take the center, even though this may put you at the mercy of the whole enemy force. If possible deploy terrain in such a manner that at least one flank is partially blocked from LOS, and some cover at midfield to allow you to control which flank you want to bear towards as you close. A CC army does not generally have the time to cross the board more than once.

The sample lists:

Small Version:

130: Destroyer Lord
180: 5 Pariahs
180: 10 Warriors
180: 10 Warriors
  80: 5 Scarabs, D-Fields
  41: 1 Wraith
  41: 1 Wraith
165: 3 Tomb Spyders

997pts, Phase Out at 6 Models

---

Large Version:

195: Destroyer Lord with Lightning Field, Orb
165: Lord with Orb, Gaze of Flame, Warscythe
288: 8 Pariahs
180: 10 Warriors
180: 10 Warriors
180: 10 Warriors
123: 3 Wraiths
123: 3 Wraiths
  80: 5 Scarabs, D-Fields
110: 2 Tomb Spyders
110: 2 Tomb Spyders
110: 2 Tomb Spyders

1844; Phase Out at 10 models

Both of these lists play in basically the same manner, but you will have more options to exercise in the larger version mostly due to higher model count and more units. The idea is to advance your warriors and use them as your primary AT units, so if you can fire on enemy vehicles by turn 2 it would be worth holding your position to do so. The Spyders congregate near the center, protecting one warrior unit while the other remains in reserves. This enables the spyders to work together at table center, or to allow each one to bail out a Necron unit if something silly tries to tie it up. The Scarabs will act primarily as a skirmish screen and cover generator for the Pariahs; once you get things going though, the remainder of the unit can fly off to harass hidden vehicles [though by all means, if there are vehicles that will make your life miserable, hunt them early with the scarabs and shield the Pariahs with the Spyders instead]. The Lord and Wraiths will pick off vulnerable targets first, then move on to assist the middle as your horde arrives.

In the larger list, the Destroyer Lord and the Scarabs will make a battle group along with the Wraith-wing, while the Res Orb Lord joins the Pariahs and keeps in range of the Warrior squads. The Warrior squads and Pariahs should each enjoy the cover of 2 Spyders each, so that the enemy must deal with Spyders before dealing with the Warriors or Pariahs. You will still want this main battle group fairly compact; it is death to your units to wander too far from their support. Also, you will want to hold two units of warriors in reserve, so that you can avoid the risk of phase out for as long as possible and still have a good chance of grabbing objectives.

Offline Gutstikk

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Re: The Tomb of Undying Knowledge - Collected Necron Articles
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2009, 08:02:41 PM »
Part 4 - The Close-Combat Phalanx

Here I will simply illustrate how to adapt  the phalanx approach of the Necrons to a CC-oriented list. It bears some similarity to the previous force, but adds a few interesting twists and features more of the Necron shooting units.

A sample CC phalanx

200: Lord, Orb, Veil
252: 7 Pariahs
168: 6 Immortals
168: 6 Immortals
180: 10 Warriors
180: 10 Warriors
180: 10 Warriors
  64: 4 Scarabs, D-Fields
110: 2 Spyders
110: 2 Spyders
235: 1 Monolith

1847pts, Phase at 10.

The strategy for this army is to have the Pariahs centrally located with the Lord, and the Immorts to the flanks and capable of being teleported by the Veil if need be. Two warrior groups follows at the rear with one held in reserve for safety. The Immortals, Pariahs and Warriors should be in linear files, keeping everyone within Orb range. The Spyders head the formation and have the Staff of Light. So the formation looks as follows:

-----------facing enemy------------------
Spyd     Spyd     Monolith     Spyd     Spyd
        Immorts                    Immorts   
Warriors       Pariahs and Lord       Warriors
Warriors [cont'd]             Warriors [cont'd]

The scarabs actually operate independently, but work as a team providing cover, blocking enemy charges, or hunt vehicles as you punish the enemy with Gauss fire. The spyders are quite nice in a forward position; if you have to you can refresh a unit with a second WBB and have the monolith facing backwards, so that they walk out into a zone protected from enemy combatants. The Lord will not use the VOD unless necessary to clear a path for assaulting through or to escape from enemy combats. Either squad of immortals serves this purpose. He begins joined to the Pariahs to benefit from fearlessness and the ability to pass wounds along to the squad [identical save and toughness], and because he can phase out of them with the Orb and leave them in combat, while moving a completely different unit to safety.

Part 5 - The Wraithwing CC army

This army has a number of variants that mostly revolve around 6 Wraiths and at least 1 destroyer lord. The idea is that it piles on a lot of high strength attacks at speed, forces some tactical decision making from the opponent as to what models get axed, and then finishes the job with some high strength power weapon or warscythe hits. It plays fast and it's lethal, but it's more of a surgical strike than a total brawl. This means that it is unforgiving if it fails. A player using the Wraithwing will generally need cunning and patience, as well as the ability to commit to the attack fully at the proper time.

A sample wraithwing army

180: Destroyer Lord, Warscythe, Res Orb
180: Destroyer Lord, Chronometron, Lightning Field, Gaze of Flame
180: 10 Warriors
180: 10 Warriors
123: 3 Wraiths
123: 3 Wraiths
  60: 5 Scarab bases
235: 1 Monolith
235: 1 Monolith

1500pts, phase at 7 models

One of the strange strongpoints of this army is its really low phase point. Normally this is considered a bad thing, but you want your Lords and Wraiths doing all of the work up front. This means the Warriors can hide until late in the game, where their weight of fire will be much more powerful against already weakened units. You have almost 3 times your phase point tied up in models that will simply stay out of fire, making phase out very hard to effect. dawn of war is not a huge deal either, as the models that are effected are tremendously fast, and the monoliths can deepstrike in, enabling your units to quickly get wherever they happen to be needed.

Generally your Lords will each join one squad of wraiths and launch assaults at enemy units, preferrably working together as they do this. The combination of 24 high strength attacks at blinding speed with an additional 8 high strength attacks should work to blitz through combats, especially if you ensure that only 1 wraith from each unit and the Lord itself are in base contact. This means that the enemy must choose to pull models from base contact, refusing further attacks to avoid sweeping advances, or leave them in base hoping to hit but suffer more damage and the potential for a sweep. Then the unit is testing at modified leadership to break, and you can reroll your initiative test to catch them in a sweeping advance [as it has been reduced to the leaderships I value instead of the wraiths]. If you are stuck in combat, by the start of your next turn the enemy will be dead or you can teleport out via the monolith and assault new targets. Once you've done enough damage to enemy units you can pull the Warriors through to clean them up.

The scarabs and lightning field really come into play when you are facing high-speed high-lethality enemy assault squads. Some good examples are harlies, Yriel, the callidus assassin, Dark Eldar wyches, Slaaneshi characters, or hordes. The scarabs will allow for a high number of attacks and a one-time clearing of the enemy force, as the enemy takes loads of return attacks just by killing them. They can also hold enemy firing teams later in the game as your Warriors clean up squads you've left damaged.

Offline Gutstikk

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Re: The Tomb of Undying Knowledge - Collected Necron Articles
« Reply #6 on: August 12, 2009, 08:03:47 PM »
Part 6: An aside - Why Pariahs? Aren't immortals better?
This I had to add because it never occurred to me before today, and in reflection I found it highly entertaining. It's not directly related, but explains the improved number of maverick units I typically field over a standard style Necron army.

Point blank, on their own, Immortals are indeed less expensive, and justifiably so. They do exactly two things and two things only that Pariahs don't do; they raise your phase out number [which I've already explained can be a bad thing sometimes; higher phase numbers means your opponent doesn't have to deal with all of your Necron units to force you to phase] and Immortals can get back up, usually. On their own though, Pariahs bring many more things to an army than Immortals, so merit the increased cost.

However, if you want to add a number of advantages to the Immortals [which tend to actually be necessities if you expect them to have much in-game effect], you need to add units that will work with them. The most inexpensive of these is a Lord with a Veil of Darkness, to form the teleporting "Veil of Death." This makes the immortals able to redeploy about the table, with all the usual risks of deepstrike, and also enables them to leave combat as part of the deal. However, the minimum cost for this pairing is 300pts.

Sure, you could veil other units as well, but then your Immortals will be much less effective in relation to Pariahs again. And since Immortals are a bigger threat than warriors [especially in 5th edition where warrior fire is mostly good at keeping a tank from shooting for a turn], and count towards phase out, your opponent will always try to kill the Immortals - meaning you will always have to use the veil on the Immortals to avoid assaults - meaning that Veil of Darkness Lord is not using the veil on other units, and renders such a rebuttal moot.

For 288 points I can field a large unit of Pariahs with more models, a larger area of effect, the ability to reduce the leadership of multiple enemy units, with more long-ranged firepower [more models] and capability in combat [even accounting for the Lord], that will also never flee, get cut-down by an enemy unit, or risk getting nailed by blast weapons which deny the whole unit a WBB roll anyways. You can assault into cover indiscriminately, as you were probably not attacking MEQs first anyways, and if you are in cover, you are likely to be striking first [and since you were gonna strike last anyways, no big deal if you don't get to]. On the charge such a unit will make mockery of most any foe, with monstrous creatures of toughness 6 or better the main exception.

When you look at things like that, the Pariahs start to seem like a bargain.

Next, consider the monolith [really the better option if using Immortals]. The most inexpensive version of a monolith plus immortals is 375pts. Well, for 360pts, I get the same number of Pariahs plus my HQ choice, meaning that in smaller games, even if I wanted a monolith, this setup is probably still more points efficient. This is even more true in 5th ed where combats need to be decisive and most Necron units won't inflict enough casualties on their own to force the enemy to run - the LD modification makes all the difference here. Besides, you will often need to teleport warriors more than Immortals, as their weapons are of shorter range, and they go down to incoming fire more easily. If I field a monolith alongside Pariahs I know I'll be teleporting units of warriors or firing the ordnance blast [since I can't teleport the Pariahs], adn I know you'll be shooting the Warriors [since you'll be trying to phase me out]. If I was to include Immortals, the opponent could force my hand by nailing the Immortals [who need LOS to have a game effect], meaning my Warriors stay out of the fight or I run the risk of losing the more effective Immortals [since warriors really need the monolith before they come into their own].

Pariahs, on the other hand, unless completely destroyed in combat, prevent the enemy from sweeping any of your units involved in that assault, which means instead of worrying about extraction you can spend your points on actually killing stuff. It also means charging those warriors in to swing the tide in your favor is a much better idea; the Pariahs are more resilient and not Necrons, so will tend to be attacked less frequently. The warriors are still resilient but every Pariah that lives means more success in subsequent rounds, and the extra wounds caused by charging warriors may help to break the enemy, who will already be reduced to LD7 and therefore more likely to flee.

At the end of the day you have to be the judge, but it's been 2 years since I started using Pariahs over Immortals, and I wouldn't switch back except for occasional kicks. I consider Pariahs to be a far more capable option, even with their oft-bemoaned drawbacks, and this holds true even in competitive environments.

Part 7 - Conclusion

This about wraps up what I have to say about the Necron Close-Comat armies and their usage. There are other formats, themes and variations, but I hope this helps shed some light on the potential of our codex amidst the common misperceptions of its "boring" nature. I find the book to be quite dynamic and full of versatility to a player who is willing to expand his horizons, and the intricacies of a Necron army designed to excel in phases other than the shooting phase is a challenge I can't resist.

Addendum: As you may be aware, I'll be using a Necron army in an upcoming Cities of Death campaign across 6 weeks. I'll provide a link to the battle reports forum where the battle reports will be posted at that time. The list starts off with this as its base:

"Spyders in the Walls" Necron CC army:
Deceiver
Destroyer Lord, Scythe, Phase Shifter
6 Pariahs
10 Warriors
10 Warriors
1 Wraith
1 Wraith
1 Wraith
2 Spyders
2 Spyders
2 Spyders
1500pts, phase at 6

The main thrust of the list is to engage in close-combat with the enemy, where my plethora of monstrous creatures leads to gross outnumbering [8:1 in some cases!] coupled with the Pariah ability to break enemy units and force them to flee, then cut them down or usher them off the table. I think I've finally got the kinks worked out, and it only gets better as the points limit increases.

battle reports using this army can be found here:
http://www.40konline.com/index.php?topic=161493.0

Well, I hope this has opened up some room for debate, and provided people with some new ideas and options they may not have previously considered. Take care till next time!
« Last Edit: August 12, 2009, 08:11:17 PM by Gutstikk »

Offline Ner'Zhul

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5th ed Necron firepower tactica
« Reply #7 on: August 25, 2009, 09:32:16 AM »
This is a Work in progress

Necron 5th Edition Shooting Tactica
[note - discussion thread can be found here.]

5th Edition has dealt a serous blow to Necron shooting.  Not only did our anti-tank take a sever hit, but the meta game has become tank oriented.  So we must adjust our 4th edition shooting ways into this new and dangerous rule set for us.

Units
First I will work my way through the units in our codex and explain how I believe they fit into a shooting based army.

Necron Lord
As he is our mainstay HQ choice, he is mandatory.  In a shooting army he takes up a heavy support role.  Since we are wanting to focus on shooting we shouldn't need more than one lord ever.  Lords are huge point sinks, and don't really add to our overall fire power.  Paying 140pts more to increase your resurrection orb range isn't worth it.  Leave double lords to other types of armies.  I will review his wargear and how it fits into a shooting army.

Staff of Light: (Bad)  12" range is terrible.  If the enemy is this close, that means you are going to get charged.  This is the worse thing that can happen to a shooting army.  It doesn't add enough fire power to really amount to much.

Warscythe: (Good) Yes, it doesn't add any more guns to your army.  What it does is add an assault deterrent to a unit of your choice.  And brings with it some decent anti-tank abilities. 

Chronometron: (Trash)  This doesn't belong in a shooting army.  If you are in a situation where you are using it, you are not using a shooting tactic or are afraid of getting run down.

Disruption Field: (Trash) Never should be on a lord unless you have 5pts to throw away

Destroyer Body: (Medium) Increases your lords toughness, which is always a good thing.  But the added speed of this body won't really be used to much effect.  Unless you want you lord to be baby sitting your Destroyers/Heavy Destroyers, I wouldn't use this.  It is expensive and best used for assaulting (which is not the aim of this tactica)

Gaze of Flame: (Medium)  Basically gives you defensive grenades and some leadership manipulation.  This can be useful, as reducing the number of assault oriented attacks is a plus.  And can further add to a Lord who is equipped to discourage assaults.

Lightning Field: (Medium) Falls into the same category as Gaze of Flame.  It is another Assault discouraging item.

Nightmare Shroud: (Bad)  This is bad because if you are focusing on shooting your opponent to death, you can't really afford to do all the fear based tactics.  Leave this to fear armies

Phase Shifter: (Medium)  Increases your lords survivability.  Again always a good thing for a lord.  But it is very expensive, and will only come into use during an assault. Your better off avoiding assaulting all together in a shooting army.

Phylactery: (Bad) This is a gimmick item really.  Only include it if you have 15pts floating.  Gaze of flame is far better.  But if you have nother else to buy, take it.

Resurrection Orb: (Excellent)  No reason not to take this item for a shooting army or any Necron army for that matter.  They should just build it into the lord and increase his point cost for how necessary this item is.

Solar Pulse: (Good)  Before you walk away for me saying this is a good item hear me out.  Your army is based around shooting.  Dawn of war can seriously make your shooting bad for the first turn.  Why not negate it completely.  Or if there isn't DoW then you get to conceal one unit from the opponent for a turn.  So 1/3 of missions really benefit from it.  The other 2/3 are only moderately useful.

Viel of Darkness: (Medium-bad)  This is another gimmick item in my opinion.  Deepstriking is dangerous.  The cost of our units makes this an even riskier tactic, and it further puts us into risk of losing through phase out.  But it can pull a surprise on an opponent if you are feeling lucky.  But the cost alone makes it impractical.

Pariahs
These poor miss understood souless robots.  Even though I am quite fond of these myself, they are difficult to use in a shooting based army.  They do bring a guass blaster with them though, so they are not a complete waste.  They make for good fire magnets, and assault discouraging unit (until they are dead).  But overall they are just too expensive a unit.  Only use them if you like the models and the fluff.  A shooting based army won't really take advantage of much of their abilities.  The leadership penalty bubble can be useful for trying to route a unit that is too close.  But most of the time the units that are that close are fearless and assault based.

Immortals
One of our bread and butter units for a shooting army.  Solid toughness, decent range, decent fire power, and relatively point efficient.  Remember two small units are better than 1 large one.  You should usually run 2 units of these in an army.  3 units can be a bit of over kill, but won't really degrade the army as a whole.

Flayed Ones
Yeah, they shouldn't be fielded in a shooting army.  They have no purpose.  More warriors would be better in every way

Warriors
Sigh......Once magnificent troop choice is now our ball and chain.  These guys are more of a burden than a resource.  They are to capture objectives, bait opponents, and keep your army from phasing out.  Rarely ever will warriors win you a game by killing something.  Just cause you get 40 shots from a warrior unit doesn't mean your gonna stop anything that is 12 inches away.  They should be used to finish off units and sit back.  Basing an entire army around warriors is asking for an up hill battle.  Think of them as support troops for the real shooting units

Wraiths
Same as flayed ones

Destroyers
Now here is our main unit for dealing death at range.  Solid range, Excellent maneuverability, great gun, and solid survivability.  The only draw back is their cost.  But can't have it all.  If you are focusing on shooting, large units of these are best.  5 man units are even better, that way leadership isn't a concern at first.  However, expect all the big guns they have to aim for these guys.  And you need to support them.  Also, unless the opponent has STR 10 guns, you don't need a res orb near them.  A shooting based army must have destroyers.

Scarabs
Even though they don't do any shooting they do have a place in a shooting army.  They are good tar pits and harassment units.  And with D-fields can stall some vehicles.  This is another support unit for a shooting army

Tomb Spyders
Don't ever give them the gun upgrade.  They are not here to shoot, they are here to support your destroyers and entire army.  I believe these guys are very iimportant.  Otherwise you are forced to keep all your destroyers near each other, which limits your firing solutions.  They can also go for some armor targets, but honestly that is just a bonus.  You should take at least 2 of these guys in an army.  they are a solid support unit.

Heavy Destroyers
They used to be useless, now they are a necessity.  Face it, mechanized is the most competitive way to play in 5th edition now.  Everyone is bringing tanks.  And glancing just doesn't cut it anymore.  These guys bring a lascannon on a jetbike platform.  They are expensive, but you have to have them.  2 units of 2 is a bare minimum these days.  Otherwise landraiders and guard are gonna stomp you into the ground.

Monolith
The most indestructible vehicle in the game.  And yet it has almost no teeth.  The particle whip is too short a range on a slow vehicle to provide any sort of reliable anti-tank.  The teleportation is simply a gimmick that gives you more stamina but at the cost of lowering your phase out.  Lets be honest, veteran players are not going to shoot their anti-tank at it.  They are gonna shot their big guns at your Destroyers, then spyders, then what ever is left.  They will just ignore it, because it isn't a big enough threat.  I don't believe these belong in a pure shooting based army.  In a mixed list, they can do just fine.  But otherwise I say leave them at home.

C'tan
Too expensive. Don't really bring much to shooting based armies.  Monolith does a better job.
« Last Edit: March 18, 2010, 10:50:47 PM by Gutstikk »

Offline Ner'Zhul

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5th ed Necron firepower and
« Reply #8 on: August 25, 2009, 09:32:33 AM »
Tactics

Target Priority
This is the most important tactic for any shooting focused army.  Knowing where the threats are in the opponents army is vital to winning.  We don't have enough guns to shoot everything.  What we lack in quantity we sort of make up in quality.  Don't be afraid to burn an entire turn shooting to just stop one threat.  Every time a threat disappears the road to victory will become more clear.  The following are some examples of high threat targets (situations may cause priority to change)

Fast moving Assault based units:  Examples are Nob bikers, guants, ect

Armored assault units in transports:  Khorne beserkers in rhinos, Land raiders w/terminators ect

Fire power units that can catch your destroyers: Lascannon teams, Predators ect

Also, there are three kinds of threats.  Immediate which are threats that you can't delay or hold out against.  Primary which are threats that undermine the army as a whole.  And Secondary threats which are dangerous but can be delayed.

Focus Fire
Focus all your shooting onto units.  Don't spread your shots out across multiple units.  You can't attrition armies down like this.  We are not the guard.  Choose which threat you want dead, and gun it down.  If there are 2 High threat units, it is better to kill one of them and leave the other un-touched than to wound them both equally.

Kill what you can
Don't go for long shot targets.  Warriors trying to gun down a Carnifex instead of just killing the guants in front of it is a prime example.  You want results from your shooting.  Don't play the odds unless you have to.  The Carnifex might be a higher threat, but eliminating the guants will do you more good than putting 1 wound on the Carnifex.

Running
this tactic is mainly reserved for Warriors.  First turn there is rarely a reason not to run if you are gonna move.  Also, don't be afraid to run away instead of rapid firing.

Knowing when to hold, and knowing when to fold
This ties in with running to a degree. Warriors are not a strong unit.  They are sturdy versus enemy range fire power, but are like tissue to assaults.  Unless you know for a fact that rapid firing will destroy that assault threat, run away.  This can buy you vital time to use other shooting elements to save you.  If it is an immediate threat, then you might as well fire into them, since escape is not feasible. But any other threat, you should run from.

Baiting
People know we have to worry about phasing out.  And they usually aim for this goal above all others, because it is the easiest.  Use this to your advantage.  In the beginning of the game have your warriors stand in front of everything else and provide cover.  It is fine if they are exposed completely.  Warriors are their strongest when weathering enemy fire.  Let them do this.  When the opponent moves in hoping to go for a quick phase out, use a run and get behind some immortals or scarabs.  This will put the enemy out of position and allow you to pour a tremendous amount of fire power into what ever fell into your trap

Use the orb wisely
Don't let an enemy bait your center units like warriors or immortals out of position for a kill.  This can spell doom for you.  Think like a cold machine.  If he is so desperate to offer you an easy kill, you are in good position.  You choose when and what to kill.

Kill what you can
Unless it takes you out of position kill what you can, rather than hoping to kill something bigger.  One less enemy is still one less enemy.  Again, priority should sway your opinion on what is worth it or not.

Glancing doesn't win games
Don't be under the impression that you can rely on glancing to stop transports.  It just isn't going to happen, and you should think this way.  It will lead to more caution but also better target control.  Glancing is a last resort always.  Don't think you can glance that rhino enough to get that tactical squad out.  Instead use your heavy destroyer to pop it, and then use all those shots on the squad that just came out.

Don't rely on breaking a unit
If you are hoping to do enough kills to cause a moral situation and win the day this way, you are mistaken.  With shooting as your focus you can't afford all the snazy leadership modifications.  And leadership 10 is a solid number.  Routing a squad should be considered a lucky break, not a winning solution.

Hamstring your opponent
We are not the most mobile army in the game, since we lack transports.  Our destroyers though are fantastic at flanking and getting the jump on people.  So try and cut the opponents mobility early on.  This way, you can choose how to engage them.  It will also let your warriors do their dirt work as needed

Point Levels and you
Necrons are an elite army.  Your rarely if every going to out number the opponent.  Also, our basic troop is mediocre at best.  This means at certain point levels we are weak.  From 500-1000pts we just can't bring many of the toys we need to win.  We have to rely on our troop to do the work, which they are poor at.  Be prepared to be behind the 8-ball right off the bat.  1500 is a better point level for us.  Can't bring any big point costing units, but we can deploy a solid army.  2000pts allows us to bring everything we need to win a fight.  2500pts is where it starts to get too much.  By 2k we have used up our elites, fast attacks, and heavy supports usually.  Leaving us one place to pour points into....warriors.  Which means our army isn't getting any deadlier, just sturdier.  Which is not the most ideal.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2009, 01:14:55 PM by nerzuhl »

Offline Ner'Zhul

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5th ed Necron firepower and
« Reply #9 on: August 25, 2009, 09:32:50 AM »
Example Armies
These are only examples, and are not meant to be the pivotal army builds for shooting armies.  These are here to get you started.

500pts

Necron Lord 140pts
Resurrection orb

2x Necron Warriors x10 360pts

Yeah, it isn't much.  But we have very very very little options at this point level.  And our odds of winning are just as low.  We won't have any reliable anti-tank.  We won't have any counter assault.  All we can do is hope that gauss will prevail.  If you are facing an assault army play keep away.  If you are facing another shooting army, charge head long into them.  We can live in that 12 inch zone as long as nothing charges us, so don't fear it.

750pts

Necron Lord 140pts
Resurrection orb

2x Necron Warriors x10 360pts

Scarab Swarms x4 48pts

Destroyerx4 200pts

The legality of my previous version of this army was questionable lol.  So I fixed it up.  The scarabs stall units that coming for your warriors or destroyers.

1000pts

Necron Lord 165ts
Resurrection orb/Warscythe/Gaze of Flame

2x Immortals x5 280pts

2x Necron Warriors x10 360pts

3x Heavy Destroyers 195pts

The total amount of shooting has gone down, but the quality has risen.  Now you can handle 14 armor vehicles, which at 1000pts is likely with Guard now a days.  Also, transports will go down much quicker now, and you should be able to strand them easier.  Lord joins a warrior unit, and plays assault buffer if possible for the immortals.  Destroyers again move together as if they are in a single unit, but are not.  Yes, again high on kill points, but building for kill points greatly reduces your over all fire power.  Use destroyers to pop a transport, then immortals to gun the contents into the ground.

1250pts

Necron Lord 150ts
Resurrection orb/Warscythe

Immortals x6 168pts

Immortals x5 140pts

2x Necron Warriors x10 360pts

2x Destroyers x3 300pts

2x Heavy Destroyers 130pts

Now we are starting to shape up in regards to gunning the opponent down.  We are still short support units at this junction, so destroyers must move together.  Immortals + Warriors target soft units that in range.  The destroyer mob takes out a transport and what is inside, eliminating a target completely.  If possible second heavy destroyer can pop another transport as well.

1500pts

Necron Lord 150ts
Resurrection orb/Warscythe

2x Immortals x5 280pts

2x Necron Warriors x11 396pts

2x Destroyers x3 300pts

2x Heavy Destroyers x2 260pts

Tomb Spyders x2 110pts

And here is a solid sample shooting necron force.  The core of the army is comprised of warriors + Immortals + Lord and on either flank are Heavy Destroyers + Destroyers + Tomb Spyder.  Now you have wings for the your army.  Use the warrior bait trick to draw the opponent toward your core.  Then swing out with the wings and put him into a kill zone.  This works excently against nob bikers, who charge blazingly fast toward your first warrior rank.  Once they are near, run your warriors behind a unit of immortals (make sure he can only charge a single unit).  The Immortals can soak the charge in an emergency.  Then have all the remaining fire power you have pour into them.  And you will see a nob biker squad disappear.  The tomb spyders add the support needed to maximize your Destroyer movement.

1750pts

Necron Lord 150ts
Resurrection orb/Warscythe

2x Immortals x5 280pts

2x Necron Warriors x10 360pts

Scarab Swarms x7 84pts

2x Destroyers x5 500pts

2x Heavy Destroyers x2 260pts

Tomb Spyders x2 110pts

This is just expanding upon the 1500pt army.  Swarms add more support to your shooting over all by meat shielding for you.  And increasing the total number of destroyers means more fire power.

2000pts

Necron Lord 170ts
Resurrection orb/Warscythe/Solar Pulse

3x Immortals x5 420pts

2x Necron Warriors x10 360pts

Scarab Swarms x4 48pts

2x Destroyers x5 500pts

2x Heavy Destroyers x3x 390pts

Tomb Spyders x2 110pts

Now the shooting is complete.  You have support for your destroyers.  You have a decent amount of anti-tank (not fantastic, but still decent), a couple of assault speed bumps.  And a ton of shooting.  At point levels beyond this, simply add more support to the core units you have.  More scarabs, more warriors, ect ect.

Thanks for the Info and Help
The following are locations where I have learned much over the years and were used in this article

40kOnline
Bell of Lost Souls
YTTH
Kaiju Senso
Gutstikk
« Last Edit: August 28, 2009, 01:02:43 PM by nerzuhl »

Offline Gutstikk

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To members of the 40KO necron community: Battle Reports COllection
« Reply #10 on: November 7, 2009, 06:35:43 AM »
3k necrons vs wolves and chaos, by killersquid
Tourney summary featuring necrons, by Cadians:)
1000pts ROVOD lord + destroyer wing, by Ragnar Runeblade
Kaijo Senso illustrates how shooty lists can be paired with Pariahs to terrifying effect
Moc065 shows how Necrons can demolish a Nob Biker Team led by a Warboss

If you post a battle report on this site featuring Necrons, and don't mind going to a little extra trouble, please shoot me a PM with a link to the relevant thread as well as a VERY short description of the army used - playstyle and point levels. I'll be aiming to include links to these battle reports on this board in the sticky, so they are easier to find.

I'll probably only be posting links if the battle reports are pretty detailed, explaining exactly how the units were used - even better if they stick to a plan and the plan happens to work out!

This is primarily for the purpose of having an illustration of necrons in action available for ease of reference when members want to try something new, or to showcase certain tactics/strategies to newer members when needed.

This is a small enough portion of the community that this sort of thing makes sense, and hopefully offers some incentive to write up good battle reports.

For the most part I'm only considering battle reports submitted to the battle report forum from today onwards, but if you have something exceptional you'd like me to include, which is both an entertaining read and a good description of strategy>tactics>outcomes with a particular playstyle that can be summed up in a few words, I'll make an exception.

Thanks for your participation!
« Last Edit: October 17, 2010, 09:56:26 AM by Gutstikk »

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phase point chart
« Reply #11 on: December 4, 2009, 03:46:37 PM »
Generally, every four necrons= one more phase number. Good principle to go by, is look for the nearest multiple of four. Then round down to that number/four. For example. 32 would give you a phase out of 8, as well as 33-35, as you round down to find the correct number. Then 36 would give you the phase out of 9. Easy to figure out on the fly that way.



0=0
1=1
2=1
3=1
4=1
5=1
6=1
7=1
8=2
9=2
10=2
11=2
12=3
13=3
14=3
15=3
16=4
17=4
18=4
19=4
20=5
21=5
22=5
23=5
24=6
25=6
26=6
27=6
28=7
29=7
30=7
31=7
32=8
33=8
34=8
35=8
36=9
37=9
38=9
39=9
40=10
41=10
42=10
43=10
44=11
45=11
46=11
47=11
48=12
49=12
50=12

« Last Edit: December 5, 2009, 08:31:02 PM by Killersquid »
Harlequin Army Blog

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