News: No news is good news...

Login  |  Register

Author Topic: Thoughts on my first game with Necrons  (Read 3028 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline volatilegaz

  • Aspect Warrior
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 545
  • Country: gb
  • I'm dead inside.
  • Armies: Eldar, Just starting Necrons
Thoughts on my first game with Necrons
« on: October 5, 2017, 07:02:03 AM »
So I finally had my first game playing Necrons and 8th Ed the other day. I played Maelstrom against Dark Angels. No battle report I’m afraid as I always get too caught up & forget to take notes or pictures. But here’s my initial thoughts on them:

My list:
Destroyer Lord -Staff (Warlord)
Cryptek -Staff
10 x Warriors in Ghost Ark
10 x Warriors
10 x Warriors
Doom Scythe
4 x Wraiths
3 x Destroyers + 1 x Heavy
3 x Heavy Destroyers

1,637 pts


Crazy good stuff:
30 Warriors + Cryptek + Ghost Ark = Amazingly solid army core.
They were able to dominate the centre of the board all game. After 7 turns of absorbing pretty much all my opponent’s anti-infantry fire and getting involved in assaults with a captain and tac marines, I still had over half of the Warriors left. I lost the Ghost Ark to an Auto/Las Predator, but not until after it didn’t matter anymore. Their damage output wasn’t brilliant, but that’s because they were mainly firing out of rapid range at marines in cover. But the threat of getting into that rapid range forced my opponent to stay in cover and plink away. Considering we were playing maelstrom, that was huge. Not too shabby in assault either, so long as you’re the one charging.

Destroyer Lord + 3 Destroyers + 4 Heavy Destroyers = Fantastic mobile multi-wound killing wing. 
Between them, they managed to take out a Razorback, a Predator, a Rhino, the remains of a Nephilim, a Typhoon Landspeeder and a squad of Black Knights. Brutal.

Good Stuff:
4 x Wraiths: With the Destroyers destroying big threats and the Warriors dominating the centre, the Wraiths were free to use their speed & survivability to zip around the board claiming maelstrom objectives for me. The one time they got into assault they took out the DA Warlord (chaplain) in two rounds with just 1 casualty. Good utility unit. Though I’m wondering if 12 scarabs could do a similar job better for similar points.

Not Sure about:
Doom Scythe: Crippled a Nephilim 1st turn, whiffed vs Predator 2nd turn, then died. Need to see it in action a bit longer before making any solid judgements.


Next game will be another maelstrom vs the same opponent. The campaign rules meant we have 3,500pts to use in total across both lists, and I’d like to try out some different units to help me get a better feel for playing Necrons. Provisional list for the next one:

Destroyer Lord -Staff (Warlord) (Warlord has to stay in as per campaign rules)
Command Barge -Warscythe, Gauss (don’t think it’s worth the points, but I wanted to try a different HQ, and I like the speed for staying within buff range of destroyers / tomb blades / whatevs)
10 x Warriors (interested to see how these guys do without Cryptek & Ghost Ark support)
10 x Warriors
5 x Immortals -Gauss (is 5 enough? Too easy to focus out and loose benefits of reanimation protocols?)
5 x Deathmarks (could field these as a single squad of 10, but I like having 2 deepstrike units for maelstrom)
5 x Deathmarks
3 x Wraiths
4 x Scarabs (road bump / sneaky objective grabber)
4 x Tomb Blades -Gauss (again for the speed & damage output seems pretty good)
3 x Destroyers + 1 x Heavy (Since I have to keep the Destroyer Lord, makes sense to give him something to buff)
3 x Heavy Destroyers
Doomsday Ark (alternative option vs the Doom Scythe. Not sold on it, but worth a go)
1,856pts
The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit.

Offline Lord of Winter and War

  • The Cause of Diabetes -Captain- Necrontyr Immortal - KoN Veteran - Master of All Diplomacy | Wi-Fi Nomad |
  • Ancient
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8901
  • Country: ca
  • Armies: Harlequins, Spiderfang, Bonereapers, Space Wolves
Re: Thoughts on my first game with Necrons
« Reply #1 on: October 5, 2017, 09:01:06 AM »
From my experience playing against Necron's, you're really encouraged to take larger squads, to taker advantage of Reanimation Protocols.

Here are some of my thoughts from playing a few games against Necrons (maybe that'll help give you some ideas).

Wraiths are a very solid unit, but they are just not good at killing things. However, they are really, really, hard to kill and are fantastic at tying units up. They are a really good unit for clogging up your opponents battle line, as they often take a huge amount of resources to eliminate, and are too annoying and fast to let live.

Scarabs, while also fast, will die so much quicker.

I've played agasint a guy two takes two doom scythes, and they tend to work better in pairs. That cannon they have is fantastic, but really short ranged. I do feel the Doomsday Arc is a better unit, as it has the range to sit back and fire from safety.

Tomb Blades I've found are really annoying too. My buddy takes a unit of 6, which is really hard to kill, so they are always getting reanimation protocols. Also, as they Fly, they can leave combat and shoot, which is really beslubbering annoying lol.

I see you don't have any overlords, but one trick you can think about for the future is combining the 'My Will Be Done' rule with a unit with Tesla, as then with the +1 modifier to hit, they activate the tesla ability on 5's and 6's.

I think the second list looks like fun, always good to experiment and try out what everything does.

Let us know how it goes!
Harlequin Army Blog

That's not blatant, this is blatant: I'm super happy that I'm playing Austria, the greatest nation in all of Diplomacy!

Azore of Austria

Offline volatilegaz

  • Aspect Warrior
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 545
  • Country: gb
  • I'm dead inside.
  • Armies: Eldar, Just starting Necrons
Re: Thoughts on my first game with Necrons
« Reply #2 on: October 5, 2017, 10:48:31 AM »
From my experience playing against Necron's, you're really encouraged to take larger squads, to taker advantage of Reanimation Protocols.
Yeah I think you're right, and this is one of the things I'm going to have to get used to in the new world. Previously MSUs were generally the way to go for survivability and flexibility, but now with split fire and reanimation protocols bigger squads are where it's at. I'll see what I can tweak to increase the number of Immortals. (I still want to keep 3 troops though to qualify for Battalion.

Wraiths are a very solid unit, but they are just not good at killing things. However, they are really, really, hard to kill and are fantastic at tying units up. They are a really good unit for clogging up your opponents battle line, as they often take a huge amount of resources to eliminate, and are too annoying and fast to let live.
Campaign rules means I'll almost certainly be going second next time around, so I'm thinking of really testing their survivability by using them to screen the rest of my army from the Alpha Strike. we'll see how that goes.

Scarabs, while also fast, will die so much quicker.
I think I've just found where to trim points to increase my Immortals squad size...

I've played agasint a guy two takes two doom scythes, and they tend to work better in pairs. That cannon they have is fantastic, but really short ranged. I do feel the Doomsday Arc is a better unit, as it has the range to sit back and fire from safety.
I didn't find the range of the Doom Scythe gun to be much of an issue, TBH. -They have the speed to get in range, and the kind of heavy weapons you want to be firing at them would probably still be in range even if it was another 12" further away. My gut feel is the Doom Scythe's hard to hit rule should be roughly equivalent to the extra safety the long range on the Doomsday Ark's gun gives it, but we'll see. I'm a bit concerned the Ark's lack of mobility is going to restrict it's target options -will require careful placement during deployment.

Tomb Blades I've found are really annoying too. My buddy takes a unit of 6, which is really hard to kill, so they are always getting reanimation protocols. Also, as they Fly, they can leave combat and shoot, which is really beslubbering annoying lol.
...as do the Destroyers... -for a traditionally slow army, the Necrons do seem to zip about pretty well.

I see you don't have any overlords, but one trick you can think about for the future is combining the 'My Will Be Done' rule with a unit with Tesla, as then with the +1 modifier to hit, they activate the tesla ability on 5's and 6's.
Good tip. The Command Barge actually has a similar (longer range) buff to MWBD, but I'm going to stick with Gauss weapons for my next battle as I think the AP is more important than extra shots vs SMurfs. Later campaign rounds will be vs Orks and IM though, so I might well use this ploy then. -Thanks!

Let us know how it goes!
Shall do!
The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit.

Offline magenb

  • Aspect Warrior
  • Senior Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 2162
  • Country: au
  • I *LOVE* 40k Online!
Re: Thoughts on my first game with Necrons
« Reply #3 on: October 5, 2017, 06:20:49 PM »
Too many Deathmarks. Their rules are good but they have not killed that much for me. When I go up against them, I tend to be able to force them into so-so deep strike areas. A single unit is enough for mind games and should the option come up, take out a low level character.

Immortal are just crazy with their GB's, they melt infantry units in rapid fire range. Teaming them up with a CC unit even wraiths works well and usually finishes the unit off, especially if they are not immune to moral.


Offline Partninja

  • Warlock
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2731
Re: Thoughts on my first game with Necrons
« Reply #4 on: October 5, 2017, 10:13:54 PM »
I'm struggling with my Necrons right now. Mostly with anti-tank. Im not fond of heavy destroyers and they're quite pricey for enough of them to kill vehicles efficiently. At least for me at 1500 points.

However I really do like:

Flayed ones - even min squads put out so many attacks its crazy. Really useful for getting your warriors or immortals out of prolonged combats.

Nightbringer - is a beast. Puts out quite a few wounds between ranged and melee.

Anrakyr the Traveler + 20 warriors + Cryptek has been in every list I've run recently. The increased BS, increased number of attacks, and boosted reanimation protocols makes them hardy and scary. They're the core of my phalanx with two units of immortals.

Offline volatilegaz

  • Aspect Warrior
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 545
  • Country: gb
  • I'm dead inside.
  • Armies: Eldar, Just starting Necrons
Re: Thoughts on my first game with Necrons
« Reply #5 on: October 6, 2017, 02:07:58 PM »
Thanks for the comments, guys. Updated list below.
I can't try out Shards or Named characters as the campaign bans any 0-1 units unfortunately.

HQ
Destroyer Lord -Staff (Warlord)
Overlord -Staff

Troops
10 x Warriors
11 x Warriors
10 x Immortals

Elites
5 x Deathmarks
5 x Flayed Ones

Fast Attack
3 x Wraiths
4 x Tomb Blades -Gauss
3 x Destroyers + 1 X Heavy Destroyer

Heavy
3 x Heavy Destroyers
Doomsday Ark

1,863 pts


Partninja: ref Heavy Destroyers, I think they are fantastic value anti Tank. They cost the same as 2 Dark Reapers give or take which seem to be considered a pretty strong option. They outperform them vs T8 3+ by about 36% (1.8 wounds ave for the HD vs 1.3 for 2 DRs). Add to that they have more wounds, more mobility, reanimation protocols, FLY & a higher toughness and I really can't see the downside.
The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit.

Offline Partninja

  • Warlock
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2731
Re: Thoughts on my first game with Necrons
« Reply #6 on: October 6, 2017, 07:07:30 PM »
It's simply cost compared to number of shots. At 1500 include 3-4 of them (the minimum number to effectively put down armor) is a lot of points. I'm not saying they're bad, just a lot of points for me to have enough of them.

 


Powered by EzPortal