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Even though my necrons are far from done, I just had a craving to test out my new competitive necron build. The last time I played necrons, I brought a less competitive army against a very aggressive Ork battlewagon army led by Ghazghkull (battle report here) and they did fine. This time, I'm going all out with what I feel to be a very competitive and intimidating necron army - a Wraithwing-Scarab-Farm build.

But my opponent is no slouch either. He's a long-time, experienced Chaos player who's bringing some of the most competitive units in the Chaos Space Marine codex. If there is any CSM army that could potentially table me, this would be one of them. Also, not only is my opponent a CSM player, but he also plays necrons as well so he knows the tricks of the new army. He's told me that so far, he hasn't lost a game to the new necrons yet with his CSM. Then again, I don't think anyone's played the likes of my army in my area.

My army is coming along slowly, as I've been slow to "acquire" the pieces online. My spyders are coming along - no more carnifex proxies - but I will still be using proxies for my wraiths and crypteks. I am in the process of converting my wraiths using the Tomb King Necropolis Knights and crypteks using a combination of lychguards and deathmarks, but that will take time. It is my goal to present proxy-free necron battle reports in a few weeks, though I may wait a little while for the new models to come out supposedly in January. But until then, you'll just have to bear with me.


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2000 Wraithwing Necrons vs Abaddon's Chaos Marines


2K Necrons (My list)

Necron Overlord - Mindshackle Scarabs, Warscythe, Weave
Catacomb Command Barge
5x Crypteks - 5x Harbingers of Destruction, 1x Solar Pulse

Destroyer Lord - Mindshackle Scarabs, Warscythe, Weave

5x Warriors
5x Warriors
5x Warriors
5x Warriors
5x Warriors

10x Canoptek Scarabs
6x Canoptek Wraiths -3x Whip Coils, 1x Particle Blaster
6x Canoptek Wraiths -3x Whip Coils, 1x Particle Blaster

2x Canoptek Spyders - Claw Array
3x Canoptek Spyders - Claw Array, Gloom Prism
3x Canoptek Spyders - Claw Array, Gloom Prism



2K Chaos Marines

This is an approximation of his list. James, feel free to correct the list.


Abaddon
Daemon Prince - Mark of Slaanesh, Lash of Submission, Wings

3x Terminators - 1x Heavy Flamer, 1x Combi-melta, not sure what else
Chaos Land Raider - Combi-melta, Dirge Caster

6x Noise Marines - Sonic Blasters, 1x Doom Siren, Icon, Blastmaster
Rhino - Havoc Launcher
6x Noise Marines - Sonic Blasters, Icon, Blastmaster
Rhino - Havoc Launcher

3x Obliterators
3x Obliterators
3x Obliterators


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Mission: Capture and Control

Deployment: Spearhead

Initiative: Necrons





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I will be working on this report tomorrow. As usual, always interested in your thoughts on this matchup. Thanks. Can necrons dominate the older codex or does CSM still has what it takes to kick a$$ and take names.

I tested a list similar to this but I ran 2 barges and 2 pulses. I think you have this in the bag.

Subed this could be interesting.

Althogh I think he could use other things apart from noise marines but thats just me.

looking forward to veiwing the bat rep.

PRE-GAME ANALYSIS:

Necrons:
I've brought a very odd Necron army. It is odd in that it is a very un-necron-like army. Necrons are supposed to be a very good mid-range shooting army. My army is anything but good in shooting. As a matter of fact, my necron army exploits what is possibly necron's biggest weakness - assault. I2 and lack of power weapons...why is my list able to engage the enemy in close combat and still survive? One word....fearlessness. That's right. My army, or most of it at least, can't be swept.

Now why is this army so dangerous, this army with hardly any shooting? Because of what I like to coin as:

Maximum Threat Overload

It's one thing when you have to deal with 1 or 2 main threats at a time. It's something else when you have to deal with 4 - 2 wraith units, scarabs and command barge. My final competitive list will actually have 5 main threats as I will eventually swap out my destroyer lord for another overlord on command barge. But the main thing is that all these threats are really, really fast. I'm talking about guaranteed in-your-face assault on turn 2 and maybe even on turn 1 with the scarabs. The name of the game is to apply a lot of pressure on the opponent and force him to play defensively, which is what I am banking on. If he does so, I have a huge advantage in objectives-based games as I will gain the positional advantage (another phrase I like to coin as Positional Dominance). If not, then it will be an interesting battle.

Now let's hope my scarabs don't get lashed and pie-plated to death before they can do anything.


Chaos Space Marines:
This chaos army is especially dangerous to my army because of 3 things - Abaddon, lash and 9 obliterators. If my opponent can get a good lash on my scarabs, he can potentially wipe them all out in 1 turn with plasma cannon shots. If not, then he's still got Abaddon as backup against my scarabs. Abaddon is just a beast in combat. He may be the single most dangerous HQ in all of 40K right now. Last time my opponent faced necrons, he wiped out a whole 10-scarab unit in 1 combat phase. And before that, Abaddon and his 3 terminator cronies took on 20 grey knight terminators....and won! Abaddon himself wiped out almost those terminators. I'm not sure I can kill Abaddon, but my plan is to tarpit him with my wraiths. Then I can focus on the rest of his army.

Oblits will be a problem as well. I don't have anything that can take on 2W 2+ models reliably. My best chance to kill them would be my lords and spyders, but spyders are slow and if my mindshackle scarabs should fail, my necron lords may be toast.

The only weakness of James' army is that he only has 2 small troop choices. But he is lucky that I don't have much shooting. In order for me to get to them, I probably have to get through Abaddon and his oblits first and believe me, that will be no small feat.


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Deployment:

Map of the terrain.


I place my objective right in the corner.


My opponent places his objective at the edge of his deployment zone.


Necron deployment. I'm still using some proxies. Tyranid raveners are wraiths. Zoanthropes (older models) are crypteks.


I leave my troops in the rear. 1 unit of warriors stay in reserves.


CSM deployment. Abaddon starts off with obliterators. Chaos terminators will deepstrike.

My opponent tries to seize but fails.


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Necrons 1

Spyders spawn 8 scarab bases. I don't believe I take a single wound. Necrons then advance....


....and run.


Shooting puts 1W on Abaddon from cryptek lances. I couldn't see the other obliterator squads.

No assault....yet.


Chaos 1
I use my Solar Pulse.


Land raider moves to block off my guys. Ignore the model of Abaddon on top of the LR. He isn't actually in the LR.


Lash Prince moves forwards. Oblits shuffle around to get LOS to my guys and cover from them. Rhinos move 6".


Prince lashes my wraiths forwards 7" and I fail to stop him with my gloom prism spyder. Rhino then manages to searchlight them.


His whole army then focus-fire on my wraiths - oblits fire twin-linked multi-meltas - and reduce the unit down to 1 wraith left with just 1 wound (from bolter fire).


Lash Prince then assaults my last wraith. For his trouble, my wraith puts 3W on him, including 1W from No Retreat.


Necrons 2

Spyders create 8 more bases. One of them takes a wound.


I surround his land raider.


Command barge moves flat-out.


My scarabs run.


Scarabs multi-charge his rhino and land raider. Wraiths multi-assault the Lash Prince and raider as well.


Mindscarabs causes his Lash Prince to commit harikari before my guys can even strike.


Let's do some mathhammering here. 85 attacks by the scarabs hitting on 6's = 14 hits = 7 armor points reduced. I end up reducing it's armor by 6, destroying both lascannons and stunning it twice.


I do wreck the rhino though.


Wraiths consolidate and spread out.


Chaos 2

Overview of the bottom of Turn 2.


Chaos terminators take a risk and deepstrike near my objective. They land directly. They shoot down 1 warrior, who promptly gets back up thanks to Reanimation Protocols.


Chaos gets ready for the counter-assault. This may hurt.


Sonic marines disembark from their rhino.


My opponent then focuses almost all of his shooting into my wraiths, using twin-linked multi-meltas from his oblits. He drops 3.


He decides to forgo shooting at my scarabs with his doom siren and twin-linked heavy flamers from his oblits. Instead, he just assaults Abaddon's unit and the oblits into them, preferring to try to wipe them out with massed S8 weaponry instead.


Only 1 squad of oblits make it into combat against my wraiths. The other unit rolls for its assault move and fails to charge.


I fail to minshackle his oblits so have to kill 1 the old-fashion way. In return, he directs all his attacks on my lord and causes 2W for a tied combat.


My scarabs kill off all but 1 noise marine. In addition, I wreck his land raider as I was still in base with it.


He, in turn, kills a whole lot of bases (this photo is after No Retreat saves). Abaddon alone wipes out 7-8 bases and that is before the No Retreat saves!


Necrons 3

My lone reserves, a unit of warriors, come in. Warriors then converge onto his terminators.


I spawn 8 more scarab bases and take a lot of wounds in the process.


Overlord disembarks. Both he and the lone wraith go after the other Chaos troop choice. My goal is to wipe out his troops to prevent him from scoring.


Warriors focus-fire and gun down his terminators. My objective is now secured.


Charge!


Mindshackle fails. He kills the wraith and I only manage to kill 2 noise marines. He makes his No Retreat save.


I finish off the oblits.


Chaos 3

Oblits surround my HQ.


Rhino immobilizes itself on terrain. Don't you just hate it when that happens?


My opponent makes a mistake here. Instead of showering me with double-tapped, twin-linked plasma, he uses his twin-linked multi-melta instead. He kills 1 wraith.


And then he charges in.


This time, mindshackle causes 1 oblit to punch the other in the face, knocking him out. I then proceed to kill off another obliterator. In turn, he wipes out my lord and kills another wraith.


Oblits pile into my last surviving wraith.

In the other combat, my overlord whiffs against his troops and they remain locked in combat.


Necrons 4

Overview of the top of Turn 4. See how large my scarab unit is getting again?


I go after his last troop with Abaddon. I move very slowly through the terrain, even with Move Through Cover.


I then run slowly as well.


And only assault 4"! (I rolled all 1's and 2's for my scarabs movement, run and assault!)


Oblits finish off the last wraith.


I fail to kill his last troop or hurt Abaddon!


In return, Abaddon goes bonkers with 10 attacks, killing 8 bases!!! I then roll poorly for my No Retreat saves and lose a lot more.

Finally, in the other combat, my overlord whiffs yet again, hitting once but failing to wound.


Chaos 4

Oblits go to help out Abaddon, not that he really needs any help as he's doing quite well just by himself.


The other oblit gets up on top of the wrecked land raider to try to shoot down my command barge. He fails to penetrate its shielding.


Onto assault. Finally, my overlord manages to kill something - 2 noise marines.


Oblits join in the battle. Abaddon whiffs most of his attacks and only kills 2 bases this time.


Despite that, I fail to kill his lone troop and his oblits kill a lot of scarabs in return.


After all is said and done, I only have 2 scarab bases left....I'll take it!


Necrons 5

I am only able to spawn 4 more scarabs, but I put them in base with his troop. Command barge moves flat-out to add to the number of units contesting his objective. Spyders go to join in the assault.


Silly obliterator. Finally gave my crypteks a target to shoot at.


I multi-charge 2 units of spyders into the fray. I catch a little bit of a break as this turn, Abaddon has to fend off attacks from his own daemon weapon (he doesn't get to attack this turn due to rolling a 1 for his daemon weapon).


Overlord finally wipes out his noise marines. Now all I have to do is wipe out his last remaining troop and it's game over.


I did it! I finally kill his very last troop...and 2 obliterators along the way. His last oblit kills 1 scarab base in return.


--------------------------------------------------------------



I've got his objective contested by a number of units, though it doesn't really matter as he has no troops to claim it with anyways.


And I've got my objective.

He cannot win so we call it here.



Victory to the Metallic Dead - Necrons!!!


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Just to see what a brute Abaddon is, we continue to play on to see just how much damage he could do.


I would go on to kill his last obliterator and put another 1W on Abaddon. Abaddon would then go on to wipe out 1 unit of spyders and all the remaining scarabs and the game would have officially ended on Turn 6 with just Abaddon as the sole Chaos survivor.

The thing I'd feel most concerned about Jy2, is the easy kill points the 5 man Necron warrior squads can give out.

Very interested to see how this turns out.

I wouldn't say that Abaddon is the most dangerous with the daemon weapon risk, but he'll certainly smash some robots in CC.

I think the odds might be in your favour, but you'll take some damage.

I'm banking on lash getting blocked by clever gloom prism positioning. Necrons will take it. 10 scarab bases a turn = 30 wounds to wack through each time, would be hard to get through that many guys

sudojoe wrote:I'm banking on lash getting blocked by clever gloom prism positioning. Necrons will take it. 10 scarab bases a turn = 30 wounds to wack through each time, would be hard to get through that many guys

The Plasma Cannons will double out the Scarabs, a good volley and Lash can totally obliterate them.

Sasori wrote:The thing I'd feel most concerned about Jy2, is the easy kill points the 5 man Necron warrior squads can give out.

Very interested to see how this turns out.

So you may think, but when you have 2 units of wraiths, the scarabs and a command barge getting ready to assault you, backed by 8 spyders producing more scarabs, you tend to "forget" about those warriors a little. Besides, who wants to fire at warriors in cover and with Reanimation Protocols way in the back with Night-fight going on. Moreover, in annihilation, I'd most likely be bringing the warriors in from reserves.

Honestly, in the future, I'm thinking about dropping 1 troop choice. I actually think I have too many troops here.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

Clay Williams wrote:I tested a list similar to this but I ran 2 barges and 2 pulses. I think you have this in the bag.

That is actually my ultimate goal as well - 2 barges and 2 pulses. I have the 2nd barge already. I just didn't get to building it yet so for now, I'm testing out the destroyer lord.

I vote Draw on the Draw mission. The Oblits will keep you from getting his objective and with only 2 scorers he won't be taking yours either. Should be fun though, go go report!

I voted for CSM; that many plasma cannons should make short work of the Scarabs, but the Wraiths will be the deciding factor.

i think this game will be decieded on the first gloom prism rolls vs. that initial lash.

if lash/plasma cannon goes off, i think at worst the CSM will get a draw.

i'm not big on giving the edge to an army that is using their most dangerous units just to tarpit.

mindshackle scarabs on Abby would be a nice midround equalizer though...

As a CSM player, I vote necrons. A single lash may not be enough to fully hamper the cron list, and the solar pulse will cost the Oblits at leat one turn of firepower.

Abaddon may be a beast, but just stopping his ride can earn 2-3 turns of him lost on the board. Add the odds of him smacking himself in the face or mindshackle scarabs messing him up and he won't turn the tables.

Necrons have this one. Scarabs can de-mech him, spyders can counter assault in the home objective and provide psychic defense, and mindshackle Scarabs with assault wraiths can handle his death star, I think.

I'm going for the Necrons on this one, the Destroyer Lord and Wraiths appear very capable of taking on Abaddon. 3++ saves and Rending/S7 PWs could stand up to him. He doesn't really seem to have enough troops at that level, granted they're Plague Marines, but he can only hold 2 Objectives maximum, if you can pop their Rhinos quickly, it'll be even harder, as am I correct in thinking Plague Marines are Slow and Purposeful? If you can avoid the Obliterators, I'm sure the Scarabs will have a great time nom-noming the Land Raider.

Edit: Now I've noticed that they're actually Noise Marines, I think it may be easier to eliminate his scoring units.

As much as I like voting against Jy2 I feel that he just has a better list this time around. The oblits insta die to the HoD lance, and I feel the necrons with be able to out assault the CSM with just number of attacks, All and all I just feel that Jy2 has a top end competitive list and I dont think that James army will be able to keep up.

BigGreen wrote:As much as I like voting against Jy2 I feel that he just has a better list this time around. The oblits insta die to the HoD lance, and I feel the necrons with be able to out assault the CSM with just number of attacks, All and all I just feel that Jy2 has a top end competitive list and I dont think that James army will be able to keep up.

I don't think he has a top end competitive list because his units are too delicate and against fast moving mech he needs 6's to hit in combat with most of his threats. DE venom spam can eliminate his troops in half a turns shooting, and with small squads he won't even get a RP roll. I think that's the biggest weakness in his list, one heavy bolter to his troops can force a moral check and kill the unit.

In this game I think he is in good shape because his opponent only has 2 troops for a 2000 pt list, which is just ridiculous to claim his list as competitive when he can't even claim a wining majority of objectives with all his troops. He should have dual lash also IMHO, i played Abby in 'Ard Boyz and two rounds in a row he rolled ones and smacked himself and lost. Too unreliable to be called competitive.

Objectives aside though this should be an entertaining match, I really do think it could come down to just a few rolls. First turn, night fight distance, psychic test, and gloom prism. For me there are too many factors there that have to happen for chaos to win.

Oh man, I really can't freaking wait to see this rep.

My .02, I think that JY2 has a tough match up ahead of him, but should come out on top, just due to the fact that CSM seems to be playing an elite list, which is a favorable match up for wraiths.

Jy2 - I've been dissecting the wraith wing for while now, and I think you're missing out on some synergy by fielding all those spyders over at least some annihilation barges. Also, your troops might be better employed than as just minimum sized scoring units. I could be wrong, but my reasoning is, at least 1 squad of tesla immortals can go a long way to supporting your wraiths by laying down 24" fire to soften squads for the wraiths - the mismatch in mobility between your troops and the rest of your army means that some opponents, perhaps not this CSM list, can safely focus fire on a threat by threat basis.

I feel like Tesla Destructor fire is the best complement for a wraith wing, as it is both handles transports and softens infantry squads.

Obviously, the target priority for the CSM is going to decide this one. if the obliterators wipe out the scarabs before they can weaken the land raider, it's a much harder fight for necron; then again that impressive HQ block might just solve that problem immediately.

Regardless, just my opinion, I'm really excited to see how this turns out.

Painnen wrote:
i'm not big on giving the edge to an army that is using their most dangerous units just to tarpit.

One good thing about the wraiths is their flexibility. They are a good assault unit, but as we all know, there are better. They will kill most units (and transports) but when going up against a superior combat-unit, the wraiths can tie them up to prevent them from rampaging through the necron army.

Thus, my tactics for them are two-fold. One is the kill his units. Second is to hold up Abaddon with 1 squad so my other squad can kill his units.

Valkyrie wrote:I'm going for the Necrons on this one, the Destroyer Lord and Wraiths appear very capable of taking on Abaddon. 3++ saves and Rending/S7 PWs could stand up to him. He doesn't really seem to have enough troops at that level, granted they're Plague Marines, but he can only hold 2 Objectives maximum, if you can pop their Rhinos quickly, it'll be even harder, as am I correct in thinking Plague Marines are Slow and Purposeful? If you can avoid the Obliterators, I'm sure the Scarabs will have a great time nom-noming the Land Raider.

Edit: Now I've noticed that they're actually Noise Marines, I think it may be easier to eliminate his scoring units.

I agree. He needs more troops. His only saving grace is that he just needs to claim 1 objective and contest the other. The challenge will be trying to reach my objective.

BigGreen wrote:As much as I like voting against Jy2 I feel that he just has a better list this time around. The oblits insta die to the HoD lance, and I feel the necrons with be able to out assault the CSM with just number of attacks, All and all I just feel that Jy2 has a top end competitive list and I dont think that James army will be able to keep up.

Sounds like you've faced a similar necron army before.

Red Corsair wrote:
I don't think he has a top end competitive list because his units are too delicate and against fast moving mech he needs 6's to hit in combat with most of his threats. DE venom spam can eliminate his troops in half a turns shooting, and with small squads he won't even get a RP roll. I think that's the biggest weakness in his list, one heavy bolter to his troops can force a moral check and kill the unit.

In this game I think he is in good shape because his opponent only has 2 troops for a 2000 pt list, which is just ridiculous to claim his list as competitive when he can't even claim a wining majority of objectives with all his troops. He should have dual lash also IMHO, i played Abby in 'Ard Boyz and two rounds in a row he rolled ones and smacked himself and lost. Too unreliable to be called competitive.

Objectives aside though this should be an entertaining match, I really do think it could come down to just a few rolls. First turn, night fight distance, psychic test, and gloom prism. For me there are too many factors there that have to happen for chaos to win.

While I can't make the claim that it is "top end competitive" yet, I can say that it is a very strong list that can handle most builds out there right now (I didn't say all builds). You really have to play against such a list to understand how much pressure it can put on your army. With the volume-of-attacks wraiths and scarabs put out, they can easily kill vehicles even if they are moving at cruising speed. And on paper, it may look like DE venom-spam has the advantage against this army, but in reality it will probably even give venom-spam problems. That is because Night-fight and reserves will protect the more fragile troops and the huge threat range of the scarabs and wraiths will force DE to have to deal with those assault units. These necrons are not like tyranids and venom-spam is not their kryptonite.

The chaos list is strong, but it is also unbalanced. It relies on the old formula of 2 min-sized scoring units and just a whole lot of killiness in the non-Troop FOC's to try to decimate the opponent. Against a lot of builds, it will excel but against good, balanced lists is where it may start to falter. Luckily for my opponent, my list isn't really all that balanced as well as I am weak in the Shooting department.

junk wrote:Oh man, I really can't freaking wait to see this rep.

My .02, I think that JY2 has a tough match up ahead of him, but should come out on top, just due to the fact that CSM seems to be playing an elite list, which is a favorable match up for wraiths.

Jy2 - I've been dissecting the wraith wing for while now, and I think you're missing out on some synergy by fielding all those spyders over at least some annihilation barges. Also, your troops might be better employed than as just minimum sized scoring units. I could be wrong, but my reasoning is, at least 1 squad of tesla immortals can go a long way to supporting your wraiths by laying down 24" fire to soften squads for the wraiths - the mismatch in mobility between your troops and the rest of your army means that some opponents, perhaps not this CSM list, can safely focus fire on a threat by threat basis.

I feel like Tesla Destructor fire is the best complement for a wraith wing, as it is both handles transports and softens infantry squads.

Obviously, the target priority for the CSM is going to decide this one. if the obliterators wipe out the scarabs before they can weaken the land raider, it's a much harder fight for necron; then again that impressive HQ block might just solve that problem immediately.

Regardless, just my opinion, I'm really excited to see how this turns out.

The good thing about wraithwing is that it is versatile enough to work with almost any necron build, whether it be Scarab-farm, tesla-destructor-spam, close-combat-crons or whatever. The necron codex is still new enough that I don't think an optimal build has really been discovered yet, but only time and enough play-testing will tell. But one thing I'm pretty sure is that Scarab-farm is a competitive necron build. And IMO, wraiths complement them well by protecting them against units that will kill them.

I'm thinking about swapping out the warrior units for tesla immortals instead. Those warriors really don't seem to contribute much except to take objectives and fire their cryptek lances.

You should post some results of your wraithwing/annihiliation barge data when you get the chance. I'm sure a lot of people will be interested.

jy2 wrote:The good thing about wraithwing is that it is versatile enough to work with almost any necron build, whether it be Scarab-farm, tesla-destructor-spam, close-combat-crons or whatever. The necron codex is still new enough that I don't think an optimal build has really been discovered yet, but only time and enough play-testing will tell. But one thing I'm pretty sure is that Scarab-farm is a competitive necron build. And IMO, wraiths complement them well by protecting them against units that will kill them.

I'm thinking about swapping out the warrior units for tesla immortals instead. Those warriors really don't seem to contribute much except to take objectives and fire their cryptek lances.

You should post some results of your wraithwing/annihiliation barge data when you get the chance. I'm sure a lot of people will be interested.

Absolutely agree with you, the scarab farm is really impressive, and I think your addition of wraiths is a sound decision that will perform well for you. I'm consistently impressed by your play in the batreps I've seen.

I absolutely plan on posting results soon, I've got a few matches lined up that I'm really excited about over the next few weeks, nothing at your competitive level, but still I hope to be able to contribute something useful. Tesla-destructors seem really effective in theory, but I don't have the field experience on the issue to stand firmly on it yet. Your input will be greatly appreciated.

The tesla/gauss decision is a tough one, 65 point scoring units as good as they are is pretty appealing, but the 24" tesla and improved durability also seems promising.

Again, I'm really looking forward to seeing how this battle turns out. I keep forgetting that you post them in stages, so I feel like a bit of an addict waiting for a fix.

jy2 wrote:
While I can't make the claim that it is "top end competitive" yet, I can say that it is a very strong list that can handle most builds out there right now (I didn't say all builds). You really have to play against such a list to understand how much pressure it can put on your army. With the volume-of-attacks wraiths and scarabs put out, they can easily kill vehicles even if they are moving at cruising speed. And on paper, it may look like DE venom-spam has the advantage against this army, but in reality it will probably even give venom-spam problems. That is because Night-fight and reserves will protect the more fragile troops and the huge threat range of the scarabs and wraiths will force DE to have to deal with those assault units. These necrons are not like tyranids and venom-spam is not their kryptonite.

The chaos list is strong, but it is also unbalanced. It relies on the old formula of 2 min-sized scoring units and just a whole lot of killiness in the non-Troop FOC's to try to decimate the opponent. Against a lot of builds, it will excel but against good, balanced lists is where it may start to falter. Luckily for my opponent, my list isn't really all that balanced as well as I am weak in the Shooting department.

The same argument can be made in regards to the gimmicky farm build, it requires all three slots from heavy support and a fast attack slot. Thats a lot of focus just for one alpha strike unit that once dealt with negates the effectiveness of those spyders. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a neat trick, but I also think spyders are the necrons poor mans version of a tervigon.

I think Junk has it right with the Annihilation barges, they are way too good for their cost not to include and the samew can be said for those wraiths, which don't require spyders to be effective.

I also think those five man squads are weak, I understand you want to maximize lance load out but if you are going to use reserves to protect them then your never going to be able to fire them unless you keep them in a court and then you can't split their fire. The biggest problem n the Necron codex is it's 24" range cap, I think it is one of the few armies where you can assume they are going to be taking damage if they seek involvement in the fray.



Theory and building aside, the start of this game looks like it will be my style of match.... Violent!

Battle report completed.

Great Job Jy2! a well deserved win.

Looking forward to your after game thoughts.

Yay necrons! excellent match, I however, have a question, I thought that you don't roll to see how far you assualt, so the scarabs should have been able to assualt 12" or am I wrong?

They still need to roll.

I can't help but wonder how that Cron list would do vs DE or Mechdar though. Those 5 man warrior squads are just Scannon/Scatterlaser bait. Especially vs a War Walker list the scarabs would also fold up pretty quick. Great rep though.

junk wrote:
Absolutely agree with you, the scarab farm is really impressive, and I think your addition of wraiths is a sound decision that will perform well for you. I'm consistently impressed by your play in the batreps I've seen.

I absolutely plan on posting results soon, I've got a few matches lined up that I'm really excited about over the next few weeks, nothing at your competitive level, but still I hope to be able to contribute something useful. Tesla-destructors seem really effective in theory, but I don't have the field experience on the issue to stand firmly on it yet. Your input will be greatly appreciated.

The tesla/gauss decision is a tough one, 65 point scoring units as good as they are is pretty appealing, but the 24" tesla and improved durability also seems promising.

Again, I'm really looking forward to seeing how this battle turns out. I keep forgetting that you post them in stages, so I feel like a bit of an addict waiting for a fix.

The one time I did play against tesla-destructors was with my Ravenguards against a necron army with a pair of doom scythes. He did manage to kill off my terminators (TH/SS) but then again, I was failing my 2+ saves like a boss (though I was making my 3++ againt his death rays).

I believe tesla-weaponry will do well against infantry builds, but they need to be coupled with units that can more reliably take down transports. That's where wraiths fit in with such a list. Alas, I've already invested the time and money into building my Scarab-farm build. If I run annihilation barges, it will probably have to be more proxying as I don't have the resources to build another 3 barges.

I will probably mix up my list with 3 squads of tesla immortals and 1 5-man warrior "grot" squad. You just have to have one of those.

Red Corsair wrote:
The same argument can be made in regards to the gimmicky farm build, it requires all three slots from heavy support and a fast attack slot. Thats a lot of focus just for one alpha strike unit that once dealt with negates the effectiveness of those spyders. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a neat trick, but I also think spyders are the necrons poor mans version of a tervigon.

I think Junk has it right with the Annihilation barges, they are way too good for their cost not to include and the samew can be said for those wraiths, which don't require spyders to be effective.

I also think those five man squads are weak, I understand you want to maximize lance load out but if you are going to use reserves to protect them then your never going to be able to fire them unless you keep them in a court and then you can't split their fire. The biggest problem n the Necron codex is it's 24" range cap, I think it is one of the few armies where you can assume they are going to be taking damage if they seek involvement in the fray.

Theory and building aside, the start of this game looks like it will be my style of match.... Violent!

Scarab-farm may be a gimmick, but it is a gimmick that works, just as lash is another gimmick that works. It may not work against all builds, but what's important is that it works against a majority of the builds out there, even many of the non-mech ones. This build actually reminds me of a Draigowing build. When the GK codex first came out, many competitive gamers (including me) were saying that paladins were not a competitive GK build....that they were a gimmicky build instead. They're much too vulnerable to massed S8/AP2 shooting and couldn't handle MSU. Guess what? Many of the successful tournament GK armies are the ones using paladins in one way or another.

And the reason why scarab-farm works is because it applies so much pressure that your opponent just cannot ignore it. Only a very, very few builds won't be bothered by that pressure or that can kill enough scarabs to not care. The rest of armies will just have to react to it, and therein lies the success of the Scarab-farm. Basically, you (the necron player) can almost always dictate where the action happens and in an objectives-based game, that is a huge boon. I'm finding more and more how important Positional Dominance is in objectives-based games, and this is where the scarab-farm excels at.

Spyders are another unit to put pressure on the enemy as well as to provide a counter-assault presence. Unless your opponent has a more assaulty army, imagine trying to get to an objective defended by 9 monstrous creatures. All the while, they are advancing with the rest of the army to help out the scarabs if necessary. Yes, they are a poor-man's tervigon, but for less than the cost of 1 tervigon, you get a 9W T6 monstrous creature with 6 attacks who can spawn out 9W worth of units each turn, every turn (as long as they are in range and not killed). That makes them quite good as a support unit IMO.

Annihilation barges could be good, but they are a completely different play-style from the scarab-farm. I haven't really considered them before but I may play-test them in the future.

The 24" range cap is the reason why I don't play shooty-crons. No, just kidding. There are just so many different necron builds and I am just starting out. I'm experimenting with what I feel to be one of their stronger builds and may eventually branch out to test other necron builds as well, but that will have to be in due time.

Sasori wrote:Great Job Jy2! a well deserved win.

Looking forward to your after game thoughts.

Will do, but it'll probably be tomorrow. Today, I need to get ready for a game against a very tough FNP Blood Angels army tomorrow run by SabrX.

Exalted Pariah wrote:Yay necrons! excellent match, I however, have a question, I thought that you don't roll to see how far you assualt, so the scarabs should have been able to assualt 12" or am I wrong?

They were in difficult terrain. I rolled a 1,2,2 for my difficult terrain move and then doubled that to get my assault move.

Ah, gotcha.

Congrats winning jy2!

Necrons has proved to be a formidable army.

I look forward to tomorrow's game.

Great report as always Jy2!