40K 1212: June 2013

Saturday, 15 June 2013

Tactica necrons: sample army lists

So a few posts ago I done a run down on some of the army lists that are competitive for the necrons. I'm now going to do a sample army list for each type, and a quick review.

1) Wraithwing

HQ:

D. Lord Mindshackle scarabs and Sempiternal Weave 160pts

Troops:

5 warriors night scythe 165pts

Fast Attack:

5 canoptek wraiths whip coil 185pts

6 canoptek wraiths 2 whip coils 230pts

Heavy Support:

Annihilation barge 90pts

Total: 1500pts

So 3 flyers, 3 AV13 vehicles and 2 strong assault units led by very tough HQs. Obviously at higher points you can include more wraiths and troops. The list above is a good alrounder; strong assault, enough troops, anti vehicle + flyer, anti infantry and plenty of firepower. The only real weakness I can see is AV14 and weapons that can ID the wraiths. The list will struggle to deal with AV14, unless you get a D. Lord into combat with its warscythe. Wraiths are strong with 2 wounds, but if they can be ID they won't last half as long, because they will draw so much firepower.

2) Flyer Spam

HQ:

Overlord Mindshackle scarabs, Sempiternal weave, resurrection orb and Warscythe 160pts

Cryptek harbringer of the storm 25pts

Cryptek harbringer of despair 30pts

Elites:

5 deathmarks night scythe 195pts

Troops:

5 immortals night scythe 185pts

Heavy Support:

Annihilation barge 90pts

Total: 1495pts

With 5 flyers in total and 3 AV13 vehicles on the board to start with, to stop you getting tabled, this list packs quite a punch. With 4 very mobile troops choices, each led by a harbringer of the storm. The deathmarks are led by the harbringer of despair, for an AP1 flamer that wounds on a 2+. The immortals can be armed with either gauss blasters, or tesla carbines, I personally prefer gauss blasters on immortals in night scythes. But watch out, since all flyers have to start in reserve and you have to have something placed on the board, watch out for alpha strikes, these lists hit hard turn one, and if you've not got anything left on the board, you've lost, hence the 3 annihilation barges.

3) AV13 Spam

HQ:

Overlord with Mindshackle scarabs, and Warscythe in Catacomb command barge 215pts

Cryptek harbringer of destruction with solar pulse 60pts

Cryptek harbringer of destruction 35pts

Elites:

Triarch stalker with heat ray 150pts

Troops:

5 warriors in a ghost ark 180pts

Heavy Support:

Annihilation barge 90pts

Total: 1500pts

So this is list has no less than 9 AV13 vehicles in it. I didn't put any flyers in on purpose, but you can if you want. You can quite easily create an AV13 wall with the ghost arks, and use the rest to protect your flanks and harass your enemies. Obvious weakness being vulnerable to high strength attacks, and just general anti vehicle fire.

4) Scarab farm

HQ:

Overlord with Mindshackle scarabs, Sempiternal weave, Resurrection orb and warscythe 160pts

Cryptek harbringer of the storm 25pts

Troops:

5 warriors night scythe 165pts

10 immortals 170pts

Fast Attack:

10 canoptek scarab swarms 150pts

Heavy Support:

3 canoptek spyders with gloom prism 165pts

Total: 1500pts

So a very simple build, 3 units of 3 canoptek spyders and a full unit of 10 canoptek scarab swarms, for new models to be spawned onto. I decided to back it up with a small fire base, consisting of 2 units of 10 immortals on foot, so I'd personally arm them with tesla carbines. And also 2 units of 5 warriors on night scythes for more troops, which are highly mobile. Just be careful not to lose all of your scarab bases, then you won't have anywhere to place your newly spawned ones.

5) Resurrecting Deathstar

HQ:

Nemesor Zandrekh 185pts

Varguard Obryon 160pts

Cryptek harbringer of destruction 35pts

Cryptek harbringer of destruction and solar pulse 60pts

Troops:

5 warriors in a ghost ark 180pts

20 warriors 260pts

10 immortals with tesla carbines 170pts

Heavy Support:

Annihilation barge with tesla cannon 90pts

Total: 1500pts

I chose to put Nemesor Zandrekh in this list to buff the warriors up even more. Remember to keep the ghost arks within 6" of the large warrior unit, so you can use the ghost ark's rule to resurrect D3 models, this may include Nemesor Zandrekh, if he ever fails his reanimation protocols save and dies. I also put in Varguard Obryon with 10 immortals for some mobile teleporting troops, as well if the large unit of warriors gets charged, then his "the Varguards duty" special rule will kick in and he will automatically leave his unit and teleport to join that respective close combat.

All of the lists above have been made with my preferences. Obviously you can make a list that fits your playing style and that keeps to one of the themes listed above.

Tactica necrons: competitive list builds

In this post I'm going to talk about competitive necron army lists, the most common used ones and some uncommon ones.

1) wraithwing
These armies are fast and are brutal in combat, they can also withstand a lot of punishment as they move up the board as well. The army is based around wraith squads, usually one squad is led by a D.lord with MSS and sempiternal weave. As the wraiths can move like jump infantry and ignore terrain expect to assault on turn 2, if not definitely turn 3. They also have a 3++ so can ignore most firepower targeted at them, and those ID weapons as well. These squads are usually backed up with annihilation barges and warrior/immortal squads in night scythes. Obviously adding flyers into the force, brings even more speed and mobility to your army.

2) Flyer spam

As the title of this tactic says, stick as many flyers as you can in your army. Necron's still have some of the best flyers in the game, especially the night scythe, as no other transport flyers have quite the same rules as it does. Models inside don't take hits if it gets blown out the sky and simply get placed into reserve. Also models inside of the night scythe can disembark even if the flyer is zooming, so other flyers become vulnerable as they have to go into hover mode, while your's does not. This army is fast, very fast, you can pretty much place your units down on the board where you want them, meaning you can really make some last minute moves that my might win you the game at the end of the day. But using this sort of list will mean that you dont deploy much on the board at the start of the game and if your opponent gets first turn then he has a good chance of tabling you. Get around this by putting annihilation barges in as your heavy support choices and you'll start off with some AV13 vehicles on the table.

3) AV13 spam

Basic idea in these sorts of lists is to put as many vehicles in your list as possible. Due to quantum shielding on all of our vehicles, front and side armour values count as 13, until the first penetrating hit has been rolled. With the new rules it's a lot harder now to penetrate higher armour value vehicles, which makes necron vehicles one of the toughest in the game. You can effectively create a AV13 wall and slowly move up the battlefield, while your opponent tries to down them as quickly as possible. But just a word of warning as soon as one of your vehicles takes a penetrating hit, it will more than like go bye bye, due to it being open-topped.

4) Scarab farm

The basis of this list is 3 units of 3 canoptek spyders, you can give them upgrades as well if you want, I would maybe give each unit 1 gloom prism for anti-Psyker, if I have the points. You will also need at least one unit of scarabs of minimum size, this is because the canoptek spyders have to place their newly formed scarb bases onto an existing unit. To play safe I either start with a unit of 10 scarab bases, or 3 smaller units and each gets paired up with a unit of canoptek spyders. I do this because if your opponent is smart then they will target your scarab units first, to negate the canoptek spyders' ability to form new bases to the unit. So either place them in cover in turn 1 if your opponent is going first, or straight away create new bases if your going first. Eventually your opponent will keep shooting at your scarab unit(s) and you'll keep forming new bases to replace the list ones.

5) Resurrecting deathstar

This tactic is very very rarely used. The idea uses the ghost arks ability to bring warriors back to life after reanimation protocols. But the wording on the special rule is unclear and it's been confirmed that ghost arks can also bring independent characters back to life that were attached to the target unit and any other royal court characters that were also attached. So simply get 2 units of 5 warriors in ghost arks, and at least a 15 strong unit of warriors (preferably 20). Put an overlord in that unit with a resurrection orb and a member from his royal court. And simply watch your opponent shoot at the unit, kill as many they can, resurrect some with the resurrection orb and some more with the ghost arks. You can go one step further if you want, another overlord for a second royal court, or a destroyer lord to give the unit preferred enemy (everything!).

So there are 5 ideas for a competitive necron army list. There are obviously different tactics out there, and tactics that work for each individual's playing style. I currently run lists which are a mix between AV13 spam and flyer spam, so usually troops in ghost arks and night scythes, backed up with annihilation barges. So I have lots of firepower, mobility, resilience and troops to hold objectives.

I'm probably going to do a post on sample army lists for each of the ideas above. Feel free to comment below about your opinion(s) on these tactics, and which tactics you like to use, or use against necrons for that matter.

40K 1212

Monday, 10 June 2013

Competition preperations

A quick post explaining a theme for future posts, of a competition run up.....

So I'm going to another invasion on July 7th. I'm probably going to be taking my necrons again, except this time it's 1250pts. Due to exams which I've just finished, I only have just under 4 weeks to complete my army.

So the list I'm hoping to take is as follows:

Overlord with Mindshackle scarabs, Sempiternal weave, Resurrection orb and Warscythe 160pts

Royal court;

Cryptek harbinger of the storm 25pts

Cryptek harbinger of destruction 35pts

5 warriors in a ghost ark 180pts

5 warriors in a night scythe 165pts

5 immortals with gauss blasters in a night scythe 185pts

Annihilation barge with tesla cannon 90pts

It's not as bad as it seems, because all I have to do is the following:

- build 2 annihilation barges

- build all 5 immortals

- finish 2nd worm hole portal for flyer

- finish 2 half built crypteks (conversions)

- paint 2 crypteks from bare plastic

- paint 2 annihilation barges from bare plastic

- paint worm hole portal from bare plastic

- paint all 5 immortals from bare plastic

So I'm basically going to post up at the end of every week, sometimes mid-week as well to show how much I've done. Also at the end I put pictures up of the whole army set out, on my painting desk and at warhammer world. And as you can guess, there will be battle reports to follow as well.

So until next time, happy wargaming.