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Tactica Elites [Broken HTML]

Submitted By: Date: May 31, 2006, 07:17:32 PM Views: 2944
Summary: <p class="body">Greetings reader, this article will instruct you how to control the powerful necron elite. The following tactics and advice are based on my experience as a necron player for several years and may not work perfectly for everyone. However, these methods have served me well and should help you, especially if you are not familiar with necrons. I wont be giving the definition of any rules in this article so as to not violate copyright laws so my writing assumes that you know the necron rules as they are stated in the rulebook. Let’s get started.</p>

<p class="heading">The Immortals:</p>
<p class="subheader">The Basics:</p> <p class="body">These medium ranged heavy hitters are tough, reliable and pack a serious punch with their firepower.  I consider immortals to be better versions of the basic necron warrior.  Immortals are pretty much the exact same except they have better toughness and have a better weapon (and of course they cost more).  Their weapons, the gauss blaster, have better strength and AP than the gauss flayer (the basic warrior’s weapon) but most importantly it is an assault weapon which means immortals can be just as effective at shooting regardless of whether they are standing still, advancing or retreating.  Immortals are an excellent choice for extra firepower as they are tough, can be bought in decent numbers and are not too expensive (in necron terms).</p>
<p class="subheader">Tactics: </p><p class="body">There are several ways to use immortals.  One way is to simply keep them near your warriors so that you can add firepower with firepower.  When doing this try and keep some warriors closer to the enemy than your immortals so as to make it a little harder for the enemy to shoot your immortals (forcing the enemy to take leadership tests to shoot the immortals).  If your army is advancing your immortals can continue to lay down fire at 24 inches on the move while your warriors double tap at 12 inches while on the move.  This makes it very dangerous for any enemy units in close or medium range.  It is generally not very important to keep a resurrection orb near your immortals unless it seems that opponents with power weapons (or something similar) are getting near them.  A weapon needs to be strength 10 to negate their We’ll Be Back rolls and only tyranids and tau have ranged weapons with that strength.  A second way to use your immortals is as a “teleportation strike force” (that’s just a name I made up.)  Get a necron lord with veil of darkness and attach him to an immortal squad.  Then have him teleport them around the board, blasting any weak spots the enemy may have.  Since immortals have 24-inch assault weapons they don’t need to get very close to the enemy so you should be able to avoid having your squad fall off board edges or die in impassible terrain.  I recommend squads of immortals to be anywhere from 5-8 models strong.  Getting more models in a single immortal squad is generally overkill.  5-8 models can usually pour out enough fire to get most jobs done.  Like warriors, immortals are wasted in close combat.  Only assault the enemy if you have no choice.  Fortunately you can shoot and assault and get the +1 attack for charging (assault weapons rock) so if you are going to get stuck in close combat anyway then feel free to shoot and then charge and hope you have a monolith handy to teleport your squad out.  Remember your immortals can even fire their weapons with full efficiency if they should ever have to fall back.</p>

<p class="heading">Flayed ones:</p>
<p class="subheader">The Basics:</p> <p class="body">While immortals are the heavy infantry fire support, flayed ones are the close combat power of the necron army.  Wraiths may be faster, tomb spyders may be stronger and pariahs may be weirder but flayed ones are the most reliable close combat troops in the necron army.  In the first place they cost as much as a basic warrior which makes them one of the most inexpensive units in the necron army so you can afford a large squad of them.  I basically look at flayed ones this way.  They are a space marine with two close combat weapons and a whole ton of extra abilities (better leadership, infiltrate, deepstrike, move through cover, we’ll be back rolls, terrifying visage) and they actually only cost 3 more points than a basic marine.  I think they are an excellent buy for their points and I also love the models (seriously, who could not love killer robots who have huge claws and wear ripped off human skin to terrify their enemies).</p>
   <p class="subheader">Tactics: </p><p class="body">Flayed ones can be used in many, many ways.  If you are fighting an army that is assaulting you flayed ones are an excellent counter attack force.  Have a squad of warriors in front of them for the enemy to hit.  Team the flayed ones up with a necron lord who has resurrection orb and gaze of flame (you may want to give him other upgrades to keep him safe such as the phase shifter but resurrection orb and gaze of flame are a must with flayed ones).  When the enemy hits the warriors charge them with your flayed ones and lord.  Since flayed ones have 2 attacks base they get 3 attacks on the charge so a squad of 10 with a necron lord are devastating on the charge.  Flayed ones also have some of the highest initiative in the necron army (it is actually only 4 but compared to normal necrons it rocks) so they will generally go first or at the same time as the enemy unless fighting eldar or dark eldar.  The “Terrifying visage” ability of the flayed ones is awesome, especially when helped by something that reduces the enemy’s leadership such as the gaze of flame I suggested that the necron lord take.

   Flayed ones are also excellent for hitting the enemy’s flanks and rear.  They have both infiltrate and deepstrike so they have several options of deploying.  They also have a special rule which allows them to move through difficult terrain more easily which can come in handy on many maps.  Generally I don’t suggest deep striking flayed ones unless you are playing on very large boards.  Flayed ones can’t shoot and since a unit can’t assault once they deepstrike they are vulnerable at that time (there is also the fact that the earliest they can do anything is on turn 3 and that is only if they managed to deepstrike on turn 2).  Infiltrating on the other hand is very handy.  At the very least it scares many opponents into messing up their tactics.  Also, if you can get a monolith near or even in an enemy army (by deep striking) you can teleport flayed ones through the portal on that turn so they can start assaulting the enemy without being worried about being shot at.  Flayed ones are good at taking hits and they also have We’ll Be Back rolls which makes them even harder to kill.  All in all they are excellent close combat troops, the best in the necron army.</p>




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<p class="heading">Pariahs:</p>

<p class="subheader">The Basics:</p> <p class="body">These are definitely the hardest of the elites to use effectively, as they are much riskier.  Immortals are all about shooting.  Flayed ones are all about close combat.  Pariahs are a bit of both along with some extra abilities.  One thing that makes me very hesitant about taking pariahs is the fact that they are not necrons.  Therefore they do not count towards your phase out total and they do not get We’ll Be Back rolls (the part about the WWB rolls is the worst part, it makes them very vulnerable.)  Pariahs are pretty expensive so if you are unlucky your opponent will know about pariahs and blast them away quickly as they are easier to kill than other models in your army.  I generally don’t take pariahs except in larger games (games of over 1500 points) and only if I feel that they will actually help in some way.</p>
<p class="subheader">Tactics: </p><p class="body">Pariahs are tricky to use.  As I mentioned before I only take them in larger games because in smaller ones I can’t afford to risk losing an expensive squad to a few heavy weapons of the enemy in the first turn.  I take pariahs for generally one reason, their ability to lower the enemy’s leadership to 7.  Many people may think this a strange reason to bring pariahs as they have lots of other abilities and items as well.  They have the same weapon of the immortals (the gauss blaster) so they are pretty good at shooting, but if all I want is good firepower I would get immortals who are less expensive and have We’ll Be Back rolls.  Pariahs also have warsythes which ignore ALL saves including invulnerable saves.  This obviously makes them seem awesome in close combat but sadly it only looks good on paper.  Pariahs only have 1 attack each and a pretty low initiative.  They are expensive so their squad size is usually pretty small.  So while their attacks are powerful they just don’t get many attacks and since they are slow a good enemy squad may be able to kill most of them before they even get to attack.  The squads they are good at killing in close combat are terminators and wraithguard so if your opponent has these then try and engage them with your pariahs.  If your opponent is smart he will throw an expendable squad at them (guants, an orc mob, a guardian squad etc) and the sad thing is that a large squad of cheep models could actually overwhelm a pariah squad because there are so few of them.  Basically if I want a close combat troop I get flayed ones, as they are far more reliable.  Now, the reduction in enemy leadership is something I often make use of.  I combine it with the necron lord’s gaze of flame (which reduces leadership) and the flayed ones’ terrifying visage ability (which requires the enemy to take leadership tests).  Combine all these factors together and the enemy’s leadership is 6 which means he is not going to make tests very well.  I usually have pariahs shoot the enemy as they get near and then assault the enemy with flayed ones and a lord once they get close enough.  All the special abilities of each unit kick in and the enemy usually takes a lot of hurt and tries to flee (in which case the flayed ones have a good chance of wiping out the enemy in a sweeping advance).  If possible you could also try combining the nightmare shroud of the necron lord with the pariah’s ability but that is much harder to pull off and I would not really recommend it in a serious game.</p>
<p class="subheader">Who to Fight:</p><p class="body"> I really only take pariahs against armies that are not strong in firepower so the pariahs won’t get all shot to pieces before they get to do anything.  Black templar, space wolves, chaos (sometimes), orcs (sometimes) and maybe a few other armies.  Pariahs seem custom made to kill eldar as they ignore invulnerable saves (which every eldar warlock and farseer has) and they reduce leadership and force psykers to take leadership tests or face some penalties.  Unfortunately eldar have some nasty firepower such as the starcannon which can rip pariahs apart before they even get in range to fire their weapons.  That is why I don’t take pariahs against eldar much, eldar just have too many things which can kill them easily.  BUT, Pariahs can actually a pretty good choice to take against the Iyanden eldar army as it usually is made up of wraithguard and wraithlord and pariahs are decent against wriathguard in close combat.  Also, wraithguard squads have a psyker in them called the spirit seer (pariahs hurt psykers bad).  Without him the wraithguard have to take a leadership test each turn in order to be able to do anything and with pariahs nearby their leadership is reduced to 7.  Just hope the eldar player doesn’t bring along too many heavy ranged weapons.  It can seem rather limiting and I admit I don’t field pariahs too much but if used in combinations such as the one with flayed ones and the necron lord they can be quite effective.</p>

<p class="heading">Conclusion: </p><p class="body">This concludes my article on the necron elite.  They are really diverse, each having a different specialization.  Immortals are steadfast fire support, flayed ones are devious but reliable close combat specialists and pariahs are a complicated but interesting blend of both.  There are many ways to use each of these troops; I have only given some of my favorite tactics.  If you are not familiar with necrons then use these as guidelines to help you get started but once you gain enough experience then develop your own methods and always remember that the point of this game is to have fun.  Good luck gamers!</p>

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