Well, I went in to test some of the Necron "tricks" using the models that I had on hand. I need to work on my skillz with Necrons and coordinating some of their goodies to work better together, but after a 2k game vs Blood Angels and a 5550ish (3x players: Blood Angels, Eldar, Necron vs. 2x 'Nid players) and both of them wins, I'm wondering about my "stupid-good" simple list. Most of the "good" comes from people not being used to a seventy-six model shooty army that can walk up into your face and blast you at short ranges.
I had two lists, 1850 & 2000. The first because we have the "big" annual local tournament coming up that runs at 1850. The core for both was:
Imotekh [225]
Overlord w/ Warscythe mounted in Cmd Barge w/ Tesla Cannon [180]
20x Necron Warriors + Necron Lord (Staff of Light, Rez Orb) [325]
10x Necron Warriors mounted in Ghost Ark [245]
10x Necron Immortals (Gauss) w/ Cryptek (Lance, Solar Pulse] [225]
10x Necron Immortals (Tesla) w/ Cryptek (Lance, Solar Pulse] [225]
10x Scarabs [150]
2x Spyders [100]
Total: [1675]
For 1850 list add: Royal Court (3x Necron Lord w/ Staff of Light + 2x Cryptek with Lance) [175]
For 2000 list add: 20x Necron Warriors + Necron Lord (Staff of Light, Rez Orb) [325]
Deployment plans were the basic "phalanx". Big squads up front in double lines to act as shock absorbers while the other squads continued to do the shooting thing from the back. The CB Overlord & Scarabs were to work the flanks and have fun.
The first game was the 2k list vs Blood Angels list with:
3x Baal Predators
1x Techmarine
10x Assault Marines
5x Death Company Marines
1x Death Company Dreadnought w;/ dual Blood Claws
1x Stormraven
5x TH/SS Terminators
1x Mephiston(sp?)
Biggest problem the Blood Angels have is short ranged shooting + lack of bodies. Three tanks, one flyer and seventeen infantry compared to the 70+ Necron infantry. The first turn Imotekh's lighting only made one hit, but it penetrated and wrecked the Stormraven then Night Fighting failed on turn two. Generally, if the first three turns, despite lots of cover vs my fire and concentrating against stuff without cover on his, I ended up shooting up the assault squad, munching on Death company and entropic striking one Baal down. The others spent some time suppressed and I got one TL Assault Cannon shot off another on a glance. Trying to be silly and go for the Dreadnought with my Scarabs was a big mistake when Mephiston can get S10 melee attacks along with the Dread. They wiped out the Scarabs (the Spyders had given them four more bases in the first two turns, then been left behind). Bad rolls on WBB for one twenty man squad (3 of 9, then 4 of 11) hurt and the squad ended up dying to Mephiston and the last three Death Company. The Lord popped back (Ever-Living) and shot up two of the Death Company before dying & not rising in CC vs the last Death Company Marine. The Assault Marines finally got into CC, but six Marines vs 20 Warriors + a Lord (after the bad WBB rolls on the first squad, this one got everyone back after shooting) didn't turn out so well with me losing two for his four and the last two fell back. Turn three his Terminators teleported in.
We called the game on turn four, with the final body count of one Baal dead, one immobilized & missing its TL Ass Cannon, the Assault squad dead, Death Company dead, Mephiston about half dead and the Dreadnaught was immobilized. I had lost the Scarabs and one 20 Warrior squad + Lord.
The mass game was three 1850 lists vs two 2775 lists. Played on a 4'x7' table, the three of us set up in a 1'x4' box to keep away from the massed Genestealer plus other stuff outflankers. The Eldar & Blood Angel players mixed up together to provide a mechanized firebase pushing into the center and I simply held the right wing. It was a massive bunch of brutality, with infiltrating Eldar Ranger squads getting some shots in while playing shock absorber for fast 'Nid flanking assaults. Again, we had to call it at turn four, but in this case Imotekh's Storm stayed for the entire game and killed far more than he cost plus adding some free wounds to big bugs. My single 20 squad ended up tied up in CC with some squad of three bigger bugs after a bit of shooting. They managed to stand hard with average WBB rolls and the Ghost Ark (buffered by the two squads of Immortals and the Royal Court) staying close enough to drip in some replacements. My play Overlord on his barge, Scarabs and Spyders provided rear area security from falling spores and combined with some Eldar CC squad and my firepower to wipe them out plus their cargo. The biggest challenge was some big bugs (Trygon/Trygon Prime?) That kept popping up directly in my rear area, but the Royal Court's nine S5 AP3 and two S8 AP2 shots cut them down some and allowed for gauss & tesla fire to finish them off. In the end, we counted up Kill Points and won by about five or six. Amusingly enough, I provided zero Kill Points to the total. It might have been different if the game had gone on for another turn, because I had three squads of Genestealers screaming down on me, but I still had my Ghost Ark (weaponless & immobilized by then) blocking most of their path, the large Warrior Squad (who had ended the CC fight with only three "permanently" dead, but had consolidated back enough to get a new D3 from the Ark), the Tesla Immortals (-1) and the squad in the Ark were all ready to unload on the charging Stealers. The Command Barge Overlord was close enough to get to shoot and Imotekh was in line to blast his Staff of the Destroyer attack down a line of bugs, including one large squad of little ones.
The purpose of this was a learning exercise and I learned quite a bit.
Imotekh [225]
Overlord w/ Warscythe mounted in Cmd Barge w/ Tesla Cannon [180]
20x Necron Warriors + Necron Lord (Staff of Light, Rez Orb) [325]
10x Necron Warriors mounted in Ghost Ark [245]
10x Necron Immortals (Gauss) w/ Cryptek (Lance, Solar Pulse] [225]
10x Necron Immortals (Tesla) w/ Cryptek (Lance, Solar Pulse] [225]
10x Scarabs [150]
2x Spyders [100]
Total: [1675]
For 1850 list add: Royal Court (3x Necron Lord w/ Staff of Light + 2x Cryptek with Lance) [175]
For 2000 list add: 20x Necron Warriors + Necron Lord (Staff of Light, Rez Orb) [325]
Deployment plans were the basic "phalanx". Big squads up front in double lines to act as shock absorbers while the other squads continued to do the shooting thing from the back. The CB Overlord & Scarabs were to work the flanks and have fun.
The first game was the 2k list vs Blood Angels list with:
3x Baal Predators
1x Techmarine
10x Assault Marines
5x Death Company Marines
1x Death Company Dreadnought w;/ dual Blood Claws
1x Stormraven
5x TH/SS Terminators
1x Mephiston(sp?)
Biggest problem the Blood Angels have is short ranged shooting + lack of bodies. Three tanks, one flyer and seventeen infantry compared to the 70+ Necron infantry. The first turn Imotekh's lighting only made one hit, but it penetrated and wrecked the Stormraven then Night Fighting failed on turn two. Generally, if the first three turns, despite lots of cover vs my fire and concentrating against stuff without cover on his, I ended up shooting up the assault squad, munching on Death company and entropic striking one Baal down. The others spent some time suppressed and I got one TL Assault Cannon shot off another on a glance. Trying to be silly and go for the Dreadnought with my Scarabs was a big mistake when Mephiston can get S10 melee attacks along with the Dread. They wiped out the Scarabs (the Spyders had given them four more bases in the first two turns, then been left behind). Bad rolls on WBB for one twenty man squad (3 of 9, then 4 of 11) hurt and the squad ended up dying to Mephiston and the last three Death Company. The Lord popped back (Ever-Living) and shot up two of the Death Company before dying & not rising in CC vs the last Death Company Marine. The Assault Marines finally got into CC, but six Marines vs 20 Warriors + a Lord (after the bad WBB rolls on the first squad, this one got everyone back after shooting) didn't turn out so well with me losing two for his four and the last two fell back. Turn three his Terminators teleported in.
We called the game on turn four, with the final body count of one Baal dead, one immobilized & missing its TL Ass Cannon, the Assault squad dead, Death Company dead, Mephiston about half dead and the Dreadnaught was immobilized. I had lost the Scarabs and one 20 Warrior squad + Lord.
The mass game was three 1850 lists vs two 2775 lists. Played on a 4'x7' table, the three of us set up in a 1'x4' box to keep away from the massed Genestealer plus other stuff outflankers. The Eldar & Blood Angel players mixed up together to provide a mechanized firebase pushing into the center and I simply held the right wing. It was a massive bunch of brutality, with infiltrating Eldar Ranger squads getting some shots in while playing shock absorber for fast 'Nid flanking assaults. Again, we had to call it at turn four, but in this case Imotekh's Storm stayed for the entire game and killed far more than he cost plus adding some free wounds to big bugs. My single 20 squad ended up tied up in CC with some squad of three bigger bugs after a bit of shooting. They managed to stand hard with average WBB rolls and the Ghost Ark (buffered by the two squads of Immortals and the Royal Court) staying close enough to drip in some replacements. My play Overlord on his barge, Scarabs and Spyders provided rear area security from falling spores and combined with some Eldar CC squad and my firepower to wipe them out plus their cargo. The biggest challenge was some big bugs (Trygon/Trygon Prime?) That kept popping up directly in my rear area, but the Royal Court's nine S5 AP3 and two S8 AP2 shots cut them down some and allowed for gauss & tesla fire to finish them off. In the end, we counted up Kill Points and won by about five or six. Amusingly enough, I provided zero Kill Points to the total. It might have been different if the game had gone on for another turn, because I had three squads of Genestealers screaming down on me, but I still had my Ghost Ark (weaponless & immobilized by then) blocking most of their path, the large Warrior Squad (who had ended the CC fight with only three "permanently" dead, but had consolidated back enough to get a new D3 from the Ark), the Tesla Immortals (-1) and the squad in the Ark were all ready to unload on the charging Stealers. The Command Barge Overlord was close enough to get to shoot and Imotekh was in line to blast his Staff of the Destroyer attack down a line of bugs, including one large squad of little ones.
The purpose of this was a learning exercise and I learned quite a bit.
- The big squad with a Rez Orb Lord looks like it is still real viable for a screening/shock/prep fire unit. I may want to give him a Warscythe or PW, but it is a tossup since I give up those three 12" S5 AP3 shots. I really, really like this squad for 325 points. At least one.
- Need to work on handling the Ghost Ark and keeping it tight. I was planning on two of them, but with my current builds running with four troops (20xNW, 10xNW, 10xNI(G), 10xNI(T)), the small squad can be inside the Ark while the big one benefits as needed from the replacements.
- The mini Royal Court does make it look like they might be a viable, if pricy, unit. 5xLords, 5x Cryptek with Eldritch Lance = 350 points base. A Solar Pulse should be added and probably an Orb since it looks like the Orb still works the phase its holder goes down. OTOH, it is a unit I hate because it is one that always "needs just a bit more gear" to make it nastier.
- The Scarabs can work the flanks real well, and using the one squad instead of playing max Scarabs lets them get around fairly safely since the immediate threat to the enemy are the various Gauss squads suppressing their vehicles for when the Scarabs burst out on them. OTOH, with 40mm bases, the Scarabs can be real hard to maneuver easily in tight terrain among units, but delays in their maneuvers gives the Spyders more time to feed them extra bases.
- I need to get used to the Command Barge Overlord, I was too "careful" with him and didn't get one Sweep attack off the first game and only two the second, mainly because I was working the Spores. I'm not convinced that the Tesla cannon is a good choice for it, but it looks fairly even with the Gauss cannon.
- CRITICAL: Everyone is default thinking of Solar Pulses to blind the enemy, but in an Imotekh list, against stuff that wants to close the range, remember that Pulses also clear Night Fighting for you. That would have helped immensely in the second game, but nobody thought about until it was really too late to matter.
- Imotekh on foot is a "problem" so far, but one I'm willing to live with for now. I never did get his special attack lined up in either game, but I think that is more a matter of me working the army a bit more.
It looks like the idea that Necrons suppress vehicles & kill infantry then move up to CC to finish off the vehicles works well. True, they are prone to tarpitting attacks, but then those infantry got out o
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