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Hi DakkaDakka!

I'm entering an escalation league at my flgs fielding Necrons and was wondering if anyone has tried spamming Night Scythes? I know they are far more expensive than rhinos/razors/venoms but they are fast, well armed and no one dies when it explodes, right? Just curios if anyone has thought to field 165pt/night scythe troop spam army. And Lychguard could take one as well for a total of 300pts. With the troops alone you could field 6@990pts.

In my initial list at 500pts I have two Night Scythes, Illuminor and a couple of scarabs.

Night Scythes are great and I plan on trying a spam list with tesla destructors when the model is released.


And therein lies the problem, especially for a escalation league at an FLGS. There currently exists no model for a night scythe, or doom scythe, so proxying will be a pain for your opponent (since nobody knows how big it's supposed to be, or how tall it should sit on a base, etc).

If your opponents allow whatever proxy you've come up with to represent the Scythe, go for it. I think you'll have no trouble laying down wounds or popping transport with 4 s7 tesla shots that are twin-linked and can arc. Best transport gun for the points in the game, i think.

Yeah that's what I was kinda thinking at first blush. Not a Land Raider killer but I'd be ok up through AV11 - maybe 12. I actually took a shot at making my own scythes for the league. It's a tad bigger wing than the command barge. It could fit a lone warrior as a pilot and hold an under slung tesla destructor. I plan on mounting everything on a standard flying base.

Here's a picture of where I am with the scythe:

Go for it.

Also when you see a land raider at 500 points that's HALF of someone's army. Deploy your warriors on foot, hold still, and gauss it from 24" away. Tesla the occupants once they disembark from their immobilized/stunned land raider.

tetrisphreak wrote:Night Scythes are great and I plan on trying a spam list with tesla destructors when the model is released.


And therein lies the problem, especially for a escalation league at an FLGS. There currently exists no model for a night scythe, or doom scythe, so proxying will be a pain for your opponent (since nobody knows how big it's supposed to be, or how tall it should sit on a base, etc).

If your opponents allow whatever proxy you've come up with to represent the Scythe, go for it. I think you'll have no trouble laying down wounds or popping transport with 4 s7 tesla shots that are twin-linked and can arc. Best transport gun for the points in the game, i think.

Yeah, I thought about the base a lot. Based on other models that move way fast I could see it being on the same base as a storm raven but the death ray only has a 12" range. Going from the gun to the ground is like 7" on a storm raven base. As to the size I noticed they made mention of the fact that the troops being carried around are actually in some sort of black hole dimension - i.e. They take up less space therefore the vehicle can be smaller than the storm raven.

necron99 wrote:

tetrisphreak wrote:Night Scythes are great and I plan on trying a spam list with tesla destructors when the model is released.


And therein lies the problem, especially for a escalation league at an FLGS. There currently exists no model for a night scythe, or doom scythe, so proxying will be a pain for your opponent (since nobody knows how big it's supposed to be, or how tall it should sit on a base, etc).

If your opponents allow whatever proxy you've come up with to represent the Scythe, go for it. I think you'll have no trouble laying down wounds or popping transport with 4 s7 tesla shots that are twin-linked and can arc. Best transport gun for the points in the game, i think.

Yeah, I thought about the base a lot. Based on other models that move way fast I could see it being on the same base as a storm raven but the death ray only has a 12" range. Going from the gun to the ground is like 7" on a storm raven base. As to the size I noticed they made mention of the fact that the troops being carried around are actually in some sort of black hole dimension - i.e. They take up less space therefore the vehicle can be smaller than the storm raven.

Death ray has to *start* within 12". The beam goes 3d6. So being high off the ground won't hinder the lazerbeam so bad.

I anticipate the model to be about the same area as a devilfish, but in a crescent shape, and on the tall flyer stand. We will have to wait and see however...I don't want to spend any time making a model when i fully expect GW to release something amazing.

I'd say for a good conversion, use an Eldar falcon/waveserpent, cut off the foreward 'wings' and have them be at the sides instead-it'll look similar to the codex, then just "necron" it up. I like the scythes myself, from the few times I've looked through the book.

Im using flying saucer models.

Night Scythe spam is one of the first armies I playtested when the Necron Codex came out. I don't think it's a very good army, thanks largely to the Seize Ground mission-- the Night Scythe's completely terrible special rules make it extremely difficult to actually take and hold non-home objectives, and you don't have enough hulls for your points if you take larger units and run them on foot to mitigate this weakness. That being said, it's a cool list for sure, and I bet that when the models come out it will look great on the tabletop!

Neat discussion!

One thing to note, if I'm allowed to get a little off topic, is that they will be getting a lot better in the rumored sixth edition. Evasion scores on fast vehicles sound lovely, and I understand deepstrike is getting a lot safer. Actually really safe, given that one of the chief downsides to hitting an obstacle is being shaken or stunned, and living metal helps a lot with that.
Sixth edition also seems to be a lot friendlier when it comes to reserves too.

Anyway, more about the here and now:
You can help mitigate the fragility/reserved payload problems with reserve manipulation, like phased reinforcements or monolith portals (monoliths also get a lot better in sixth I hear). Consider them like Scythe insurance, but also a pretty neat supplement to the force. The monolith will soak a lot of shots that are good at killing scythes, while it gives your slow, inflexible troop units a little reliable mobility.
Still these are expensive pieces of insurance for a unit that already seems a little inefficiently costed.

For low point games, I'm not sure if nightscythes are the best idea. An early dropped scythe means a good percentage of missed shooting/movement. They will also cost an awful lot of your points to mech up your 2 troop units. Lastly, I always get the feeling, in low point levels, necron points are better spent making sure your weirdo HQ selections are working hard for you before making any big purchases, and 2 scythes rule out most HQ centered play (phaeron stuff/cryptek spam/flying armchairs).

Oh another weird thing about the scythe: taking scythes and warriors seems like a really cheap way to spam, but it makes you pretty vulnerable to spam cheap anti light armor.
Immortals seem like a good bet for scythespam lists.

I hope some of this was helpful! I'm trying to work my head around them myself. So far they seem kinda clunky though, but I'm by no means a master.

Lucre wrote:One thing to note, if I'm allowed to get a little off topic, is that they will be getting a lot better in the rumored sixth edition. Evasion scores on fast vehicles sound lovely, and I understand deepstrike is getting a lot safer. Actually really safe, given that one of the chief downsides to hitting an obstacle is being shaken or stunned, and living metal helps a lot with that.
Sixth edition also seems to be a lot friendlier when it comes to reserves too.

That's certainly the case. Necrons in general are extremely, extremely strong under the rumored "pancake edition" rules.

Lucre wrote:You can help mitigate the fragility/reserved payload problems with reserve manipulation, like phased reinforcements or monolith portals (monoliths also get a lot better in sixth I hear). Consider them like Scythe insurance, but also a pretty neat supplement to the force. The monolith will soak a lot of shots that are good at killing scythes, while it gives your slow, inflexible troop units a little reliable mobility.
Still these are expensive pieces of insurance for a unit that already seems a little inefficiently costed.

The problem with this tactic is that monoliths won't actually soak any shots that are good against scythes. A smart opponent will bring meltas, lascannons, etc. to bear on the Monolith or Monoliths while their autocannons and missile launchers engage Night Scythes. As you point out, though, the Monolith is vastly, outrageously better in 6th edition. Once that edition comes out, a list with 2 Monoliths and many Night Scythes will probably be one to look out for.

I don't see the scythe as strong enough to build a list around like how melta vets used to work in chimeras. Their own strength is they are fast as far as I can tell.

My own vision may be skewed since I have played primarily vs DE (and we all know how easily they die to Tesla Destructors), but I have been exclusively playtesting Scythe spam for the last few weeks. It looks like a very strong contender in my opinion. On another anecdotal note I pit my wits against one of the strongest lists out there...SW Long Fang and razorspam at 2k. My list was dominating.

The list in question was 5 Night Scythes, 2 CC Barge Overlords and 3 Doom Scythes. Doom Scythes and CC Barges tend to take the brunt of Turn 1 shooting (and most of the time Turn 2 thanks to night fight). So far I have found that most lists lack the punch to deal with these 5 threats before they do critical damage. Once the important Transports are dealt with by these your Tesla Destructors should have no problems dealing with the contents.

I think a large factor is how well Scythes work together when you consider their armament and speed. You can hit a flank hard since you can effectively move 12 and fire with everything. Your opponent is most likely spreading out to avoid arcs and the Death Ray. When you do hit a flank chances are there will be a lot less counter attack, for the first 2 turns at least, due to night fight and the fact that they spread themselves out. After that the mopping up begins.

Fetterkey wrote:Night Scythe spam is one of the first armies I playtested when the Necron Codex came out. I don't think it's a very good army, thanks largely to the Seize Ground mission-- the Night Scythe's completely terrible special rules make it extremely difficult to actually take and hold non-home objectives

Um, you don't have to stay IN the transports, in fact the Night Scythes are best used like Razorbacks+Grey Hunters/Grey Knights - Dismounted Infantry threat+ Armoured Vehicle threat. Larger squads *can* help this, but really no need most of the time if you play well, IMO.

+1 to Smurfy's post. You really want your Troops on the ground firing attached Cryptek lances for fire support. You don't have to but I have found the extra guns makes a difference.