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Well I was thinking about starting a Necrons army....annnnnnddd well I don't know anything about them. I read a bit about their fluff and such so I'm asking for...well basically anything about them game-wise; list ideas, experience playing with them..ect

Sooo any help?

You need to know two things:

1) They blow.
1a) Bad

2) They're supposed to get a new Codex before too long.
2a) Then they will be the best list in the game for approximately 3 months.

Don't do it unless you really, really love the models and/or fluff and you're willing to lose a lot.

Since you're asking about tactics and such I'm assuming you want your army to be somewhat competitive. In that case, I would do what Phryxis said and hold up til the next codex. They'll probably get a boost, some new stuff, and you can see if you still like them.

DoW

There are two ways to play Crons as far as I know

1. Big guns. Take monoliths and a C'Tan, because these units can fill gaps in your army (they do things necrons can't do), so take them wherever you can, people hate them, will spend their shoots shooting at them and not your necrons (which is awesome, they need all the help they can get) You'll phase out faster, but your army will be more annoying to kill, this tactic works better in huge games like 'ard boyz.

2. Warrior Spam. Take as many 'necrons' as you can, maybe squeezing in a few scarabs for 2+ or 3+ cover save shennanigans on a destroyer lord. Use Destroyers or Heavy Destroyers to break enemy transports, and remember that the warrior's gun will always glance. And never forget the veil, lack of transports means that a jump across the table is worth the risk of a deepstrike mishap. (this is probably in more need of an update than anything) This tactic makes you harder to phaseout, and works better at smaller levels where a Monolith or a C'Tan would cost half your army.

Other than that, just, hunker down and await a better codex

starbomber109 wrote:There are two ways to play Crons as far as I know

1. Big guns. Take monoliths and a C'Tan, because these units can fill gaps in your army (they do things necrons can't do), so take them wherever you can, people hate them, will spend their shoots shooting at them and not your necrons (which is awesome, they need all the help they can get) You'll phase out faster, but your army will be more annoying to kill, this tactic works better in huge games like 'ard boyz.

2. Warrior Spam. Take as many 'necrons' as you can, maybe squeezing in a few scarabs for 2+ or 3+ cover save shennanigans on a destroyer lord. Use Destroyers or Heavy Destroyers to break enemy transports, and remember that the warrior's gun will always glance. And never forget the veil, lack of transports means that a jump across the table is worth the risk of a deepstrike mishap. (this is probably in more need of an update than anything) This tactic makes you harder to phaseout, and works better at smaller levels where a Monolith or a C'Tan would cost half your army.

Other than that, just, hunker down and await a better codex

The first option mentioned will work well in most games, the second option will never work in any game at any point level (aside from the mandatory 500 pts, but yea...), the two stand out units in the Necron codex are Immortals and Destroyers, I prefer destroyers personally but an army built around these two units will always do OK, as a rough guideline:

-1 Lord
-2* 10 Warriors (reserve them and only use them for objectives, its the ONLY way for them to not fail suck)
-A mix of Immortals or Destroyers will form the bulk of your army
-Heavy destroyers or Monoliths will be required for anti tank, 5th ed killed the ability for glances to destroy tanks so you will NEED to bring dedicated anti tank.

A note on C'tan, if you do take one take the Deceiver as he is 100 times more flexible then the Night Bringer. Also with Pariahs don't use them until you understand the army much better as they can be awesome when played well or the ultimate suck otherwise.

As an aspiring Necron player I simply have to direct you to this post; http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/247250.page#822762 it is the definitive guide for new Necron players (and old ).

With each new codex, the counter tactics to necron builds are increasing. I have found that you can make a good list that is capable of doing one thing really well, but thats it. Try to make an all comers list and you will have a really hard time. Its not impossible, and there are builds that are really good. However, there are some army lists that you simply will lose to no matter what. Unless the guy you are playing is a total fool, or his dice EPICALLY fail him.

that being said, I still think they are a fun army, and sometimes it is alot of fun to walk into a store with Necrons, and then when people start laughing at how bad the army you win anyway.

I would get a plan, and an army list before you buy anything. There are only certain units in the Codex which work well in 5th edition.

Lol yeah I sorta guessed that people are gonna think this is a bad idea. Anyways, what I heard on the new Necron's Codex is that it's gonna be updated at 2010 and some rumors say that they're gonna take away the "We'll be back!" rule and the C'tans so I thought about playing them when they are actually good.

But... we'll see

Dont let all the Necron bashing on the web get you down. I dont think there is an especially bad unit in the codex. It mainly depends on how you want to build the army. I dont think the res. orb is mandatory. I didnt have one at arc boyz semi finals, but I only won one game. I was not phased any of my games nor did I take worse than a minor loss. That being said ard boyz is better for crons because the higher points leave phase out further and further in the rearview mirror. I would say that if the game is 1500 or less, dont use the crons if you expect to be competetive. The warriors are just too much of the force and the are an extreme liability. I am going to try running a force at a tourney in Chicago next weekend that uses every unit in the codex except scarabs, h. destroyers, immortals, and flayed. Its only 1850 and I am curious how it will do in a competetive tourny. I say stick with the crons and dont let people say "Ohh the new codex will be here soon so thy will be fixed" I have heard this rumor for two years now and last I checked Tyranids are next to be released followed by a couple months before another codex release. This means at BEST if indeed crons were next the earliest we would see them would be March or April. This is of course if the D. eldar, Blood Angels are skipped and I heard these are the two up before crons. I dont have reliable inside source so take it with a grain of salt.

What? I've never failed to phase Necrons.
It's just too easy to do in 5th.

I (speeking for myself and no one else) am always very skeptical of the phrases on a lot of these threads when it is an absolute like "I have never lost with this," or "I always win with that," Perhaps you have "always" phased every necron you have faced in 5th edition, but my guess is you have not played against a competetive Necron build, or a competetive Necron player. I am only able to speculate this as I have never met you, but around where I play there are forty or so regular 40k players and many of them are extremely competetive. In my last 10 games including ard boyz I was only phased once and it was to my brother who I am eternally cursed to have bad dice against. I didnt win all of those games but a good Necron player can minimize chances of being phased. Phase out sucks dont get me wrong, but playing against a player who thinks fighting against crons is like hitting the "easy" button for the win gives the Necron player a huge advantage. Perhaps you are going to Adepticon in 2010. If you are maybe we can play a friendly pick up game. I dont want this to be a call out or anything, I love getting to use the Necrons against people who think they are horrid. I will be entering both the gladiator and open 1850 tourney with the Crons so maybe we could meet there. Give me a chance to play someone from another part of the country.

Heh, well I'm not exactly looking for an army that's supposed to win every tournament or something. I just want one that wont lose every game it plays.

If you've got the cash and like the fluff, now's probably a good time to invest in Necrons. Should be pretty cheap on places like Ebay, so stock up while you can and just buy the few new units when the next codex comes out.

Zason wrote:Heh, well I'm not exactly looking for an army that's supposed to win every tournament or something. I just want one that wont lose every game it plays.

Good luck with that. And the release is likely to be 2011, Spring '10 is tyranids and Fall is almost surely a marine codex of some kind. Once people catch on how horribly vulnerable you are to melee combat and how hard it is for you to kill transports, well ...

DESTROYER SPAMMAGE!

Get twenty warrirors, Lord with Orb, 12 Destroyers and as many heavy destroyers as you can fit in.



Lord: [140]: R.Orb

4x Destroyers: [200]
4x Destroyers: [200]
4x Destroyers: [200]

10x Warriors: [180]
10x Warriors: [180]

2x Heavy Destroyers: [150]
2x Heavy Destroyers: [150]
1x Heavy Destroyers: [75]

Thats like 1475pts.

- Lord (Mandatory)
- Warriors (Mandatory)
- Destroyers
- Heavy Destroyers
- Inmortals
- Scarabs
- Tomb Spiders
- Monoliths (but only if you are focusing on them)
- Ctan: Deciever

This are the only choices you should consider.

That said, Necrons suck. Really. I would wait for the next codex...

Not a Necron 'spert at all, but I have allways liked the idea of robots with guns. I think I would go with a trilith list. Use the liths to jump your wariors around + they are hard to kill.

GG

generalgrog wrote:Not a Necron 'spert at all, but I have allways liked the idea of robots with guns. I think I would go with a trilith list. Use the liths to jump your wariors around + they are hard to kill.

GG

Kill the warriors. GG.

The problem with Liths is that they are slow, expensive, and I would just ram a freaking waveserpent into it and kaboom! (Star Engines = 36" Movement for a tank shock = ST15 hit (+2 for AV12, +1 for being a Tank))

Don't start Crons. It's just like Orks, people still think they are good but really they fail in 5E, which eccentuates being -

1. Meched up
2. Meltad up
3. Multi-Purposeful
4. Having power house units like Seer Council / Nob Bikers / Lash Princes

Crons literally have none of this. C'Tan aren't a "power house unit" because they are actually pretty damn easy to kill and even easier to just ignore. Power House units can't be ignored or do somthing that can't be ignored.

Crons can't mech (portaling through the Monolith doesn't count kiddies sorry!)

They have no melta weapons

And nothing in the army barring maybe Destroyers can do multiple things effeciently (destroyers can take out light armora and infantry). Sure Gauss can glance vehicles but not reliably. I'm talking about MM/HF Landspeeders units or Sternguard with Combi-Meltas.

Norbu the Destroyer wrote:I (speeking for myself and no one else) am always very skeptical of the phrases on a lot of these threads when it is an absolute like "I have never lost with this," or "I always win with that," Perhaps you have "always" phased every necron you have faced in 5th edition, but my guess is you have not played against a competetive Necron build, or a competetive Necron player. I am only able to speculate this as I have never met you, but around where I play there are forty or so regular 40k players and many of them are extremely competetive. In my last 10 games including ard boyz I was only phased once and it was to my brother who I am eternally cursed to have bad dice against. I didnt win all of those games but a good Necron player can minimize chances of being phased. Phase out sucks dont get me wrong, but playing against a player who thinks fighting against crons is like hitting the "easy" button for the win gives the Necron player a huge advantage. Perhaps you are going to Adepticon in 2010. If you are maybe we can play a friendly pick up game. I dont want this to be a call out or anything, I love getting to use the Necrons against people who think they are horrid. I will be entering both the gladiator and open 1850 tourney with the Crons so maybe we could meet there. Give me a chance to play someone from another part of the country.

I just moved to Chicago for college.
And there is no "easy button" in 40K (all the 1's and 2's)

Alright so there has been a considerable amount of negativeness towards the crons, but they are more competitive than previously stated. I guy at the baltimore 'ard boys made it to the finals with crons, so that says something.

Basically, until the new dex comes out, and unless you are going for a fluff and fun, non competitive list, stay away from these units:
Pariahs
Flayed ones
wraiths(though "ok" as destroyer lord escort)

With objectives being the name of the game, take 2-3 10 man warrior squads and protect them well. C'tan wise, the deciever is a freakin monster so be sure to grab him. Monoliths are very hard to destroy and extremely powerful so they are something else to consider. destroyers and immortals would basically be your specialist troops. As well, scarabs are excellent tarpit units and actually quite effective at taking vehicles apart.

Then again, you could choose to go the CC route, get a destroyer lord and the deciever, the minimum warriors required and just go scarabs and tomb spiders, though thats a very unforgiving setup.

Above all, have fun and make your own decision for what you wish to have!

Oh and with regards to the overabundance of melta love, its simply a fad so its you dont have to follow exactly what everyone else is doing.

An entire thread and no mention of Drop Crons???

Well playing Drop Crons is like hitting the "easy" button. Opponent has no chance and they usually quit playing 40k altogether after the trashing drop crons dish out.

EzeKK wrote:The problem with Liths is that they are slow, expensive, and I would just ram a freaking waveserpent into it and kaboom! (Star Engines = 36" Movement for a tank shock = ST15 hit (+2 for AV12, +1 for being a Tank))

I agrre with Lits being expensive and sloooooooooowwww. But ypu cannot use serpents that way. That's not how the rules work:
- You cannot have more than S10. Never! (BRB p6)
- The Star engines movement is done in the assault phase, so no 36 ram =D

generalgrog wrote:Not a Necron 'spert at all, but I have allways liked the idea of robots with guns. I think I would go with a trilith list. Use the liths to jump your wariors around + they are hard to kill.

No, they are not hard to kill at all. Just beat them in assault, and then they all are dead (low initiative sucks). No WBB or no monolith can save you then.

Timmah wrote:An entire thread and no mention of Drop Crons???

I (speeking for myself and no one else) am always very skeptical of the phrases on a lot of these threads when it is an absolute like "I have never lost with this," or "I always win with that,"

FWIW, my first army was Necrons, back in 3e. I literally never lost with them, not once. I then got bored of them, and haven't played them since. You could just castle them up, screen Destroyers with Warriors, bang away, win.

However, I do think they're the weakest list in the game at this point. Gives you an idea of the rate of Codex creep.

Drop crons?

I am also curious as to what "drop crons" means and refers to. Is it perhaps keeping everything in reserve and having them walk out of deep-striking monoliths?

Necrons aren't terrible if you play them well. Yeah, they have some gimp things (like the fact all your stuffs rapid fire, or that you only have 2 anti-vehicle units). However, Crons have the BEST vehicle in the game. The Monolith is a beast! Unable to be stopped from shooting unless destroyed, able to warp units outta CC, drop Str 9 AP 3 templates or shoot everything around it with D6 heavy bolters, and unable to be melta'd down (unless your foe rolls a lot of 6's) its incredible. However, due to phase out and (as many others said) the fact you HAVE to take tons of warriors to be viable is kinda weaksauce.

Some simple rules for crons I follow;
- for every 25-30 warriors take 1 lith if you can
- Destroyers are amazing, but you need to put em in cover
- NEVER take flayed ones, only take wraiths if your not running a ton of scarabs
- Scarabs rock. They can keep things like Land Raiders from doing anything for a few turns, or even detstroy things like Rhinos with good rolls.
- Only the Deciever is any good for C'tans
- Never take Veil

Zid wrote:- Never take Veil

Can you explain why?

I dont personally play necrons, but I do play against them quite often.

Veil seems to be the only proper way for immortals/warriors to travel around?
At least the player I play against seem to do really well by veiling around killing stuff and avoiding CC.

SuperioR wrote:

Zid wrote:- Never take Veil

Can you explain why?

I dont personally play necrons, but I do play against them quite often.

Veil seems to be the only proper way for immortals/warriors to travel around?
At least the player I play against seem to do really well by veiling around killing stuff and avoiding CC.

Cuz if you mishap even once and lose a 10 man immortal or 20 man warrior squad... yeah. Its bad stuff. The gains aren't as great as the losses you can incur. Also, a bad scatter could put you near things you don't wanna be near (like a rhino full of khorne zerkers for example)

I playtested my 2000 points necron army, i loved the gameplay style of my friend watching in horror as the warriors that died got right back up and wrecked his LRBT. If you are playing for fun and dont care if you lose or win Necrons are a wesome choice. If you wana do competitive wargaming not exactly the best dud to lack of uber powerful lists these days becuase almost every codex has a powerlist.

get the nightbringer he kicks ass