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Hi All,
First time poster, but been lurking for a while, and into the Hobby on and off since Rogue Trader. Anyway, have decided to put together a small Necron force for Patrol Games, and perhaps expand it to a full scale army if it is successful. However, the Necrons seem to be getting quite a bit of bad press in posts on Dakka. So my real question is thus: Are the Necrons still a viable army in 5th? Are they really broke? Or is it lack of tactics causing people to get thrashed?
Do any seasoned Necron players have a way round the MEQ Pod/Deathwing armies or CC hordes? Can the Necrons still win at competative level?

1. Masses of infantry is very important. The more you have, the slower you Phase Out.
2. A seasoned opponent will ignore your Monoliths and try to make you Phase Out. Be wary of this!
3. Heavy Destroyers are very useful anti-tank. Have a fair few zipping around picking off what tanks you can reach.
4. C'tan suck. Yes, they have very high toughness, but they only get a 4+ save and will die very fast to sniper weapons and multi-shot, long-ranged weapons like autocannons.

Agreed lots of troops is 'best', shame cuz alot of the other units are characterful
monoliths when used aggressively can be very scary
i prefer lots of normal destroyers with destroyer lord
and the deceiver for his abilities

Necrons can do well until you fight someone who is mechanized. Only a handful of lists have any real potential of playing competitivly, and even still, there are some builds that it is almost impossible to beat.

Mech IG is what really made me abandon all hopes of Necrons being really competitive in 5th.

The smaller the game, the worse Necrons do, so I would not reccomend using them Combat patrol.

If I were you, I would hold off on a Necron force until the new codex comes out sometime next year.

Thanks for the advice.
I would have thought that disruption fields on Scarabs or similar fast units with high attacks, in conjuction with heavy destoyers would cause problems for Mech IG. I realise hellhounds and the like could cause problems for swarms though.

Is it likely Necrons will get a second codex next year?

I wont go as far as to say its likely, but it would be about time
Personally I'd be surprised if they wouldn't get updated, but who knows.

Disruption fields on scarabs work as well on 'raiders as it does on light armored transports. Yeah you might get some glances, but thats not a big thing for most vehicles.
6 to hit (if its moved 6+", 6 to glance, 6 to immob. ain't that good statistically.

Same goes for all the gauss weapons.

Normal destroyers can take out light armored transports but suffer like all others against tougher targets.
Heavy destroyers could work, but they are pretty expensive and will die fast as everything focuses on them.

Basically you have the Immortals which are decent, the Destroyers which are actually alright. The deceiver is pretty good but cost a lot, and depending on the enemy he might die fast. (However against others he might cause serious havoc)

But in all seriousness, you might be able to win games if you have 1500+ points, but if you play small games <1000p you have the odds against you. Don't think my friend who plays necrons have won even one 1on1 at < 1000p.

God willing necrons are next on the list, Tyranids are confirmed for January, maybe December on how GW plays it. And anytime someone says they are due, remember that Dark Eldar are sitting in the corner and have been for years with no relief in sight.

Sir Harry Flashman, VC wrote:Thanks for the advice.
I would have thought that disruption fields on Scarabs or similar fast units with high attacks, in conjuction with heavy destoyers would cause problems for Mech IG. I realise hellhounds and the like could cause problems for swarms though.

Is it likely Necrons will get a second codex next year?

I played mech IG for a long time. My friends Necrons always jacked up my tanks due to gauss weapons. For the ones that they did not kill, the lord with his warsyth on a jet bike platform made quick work of them. If I see scarabs I am going to try to template them as soon as possible. For tanks that fire a big weapon (Leman Russ) nothing worse than a little scarab getting a glace and wasting my tank for a turn. (And they always get their glance.......... grr)

IMO, Necrons are tough to beat (Mech guard pov). The monolith is almost indestructable so against drop pod armys, just hold your monoliths in reserves let your opponet drop then use your biggest advantage deep strike the 'lith and deploy via Necron reserve and gun them down while they foot slog across the board.

Nothing worse then a 'lith deedstriking on your base... or worse both bases...

Thanks again for all the advice and experience.

Looking forward to using them in combat now, they have been a simple pleasure to paint, hopefully they will send the Astartes finest packing....

And if your really lucky, youll get some opponents that agree to "forget" about the phase out rule like we do at my table. That rule is just dumb IMO.
"Oh cool I WIN!
but uh, I still have like 4 units left!?
Yea well I killed your "Necron" units, so you loose to phase out YEA ME!"


Also, my nephew has been taking a Lord with destroyer body and attach it to s scarab swarm as big as he can take. They are haul ass around the table and your Lord has a BUNCH of wounds to just soak up attacks. Its a pretty serious combo

I seriously didn't think i was even remotely TFG, but I wouldn't let you play without phase out.

Its there to balance it out ? The "FNP"esque rule that more or less all your units have, without paying anything extra for it really? The ability to Reroll it by sucking them in with a monolith?

Sidequestion, why are you wanting GW to make a ruling on the deffrolla question when you don't appear to be following their rules anyways? Easier just to make your own minds up, or roll a d6 if you can't agree.

hyperviper6 wrote:

Sir Harry Flashman, VC wrote:Thanks for the advice.
I would have thought that disruption fields on Scarabs or similar fast units with high attacks, in conjuction with heavy destoyers would cause problems for Mech IG. I realise hellhounds and the like could cause problems for swarms though.

Is it likely Necrons will get a second codex next year?

I played mech IG for a long time. My friends Necrons always jacked up my tanks due to gauss weapons. For the ones that they did not kill, the lord with his warsyth on a jet bike platform made quick work of them. If I see scarabs I am going to try to template them as soon as possible. For tanks that fire a big weapon (Leman Russ) nothing worse than a little scarab getting a glace and wasting my tank for a turn. (And they always get their glance.......... grr)

IMO, Necrons are tough to beat (Mech guard pov). The monolith is almost indestructable so against drop pod armys, just hold your monoliths in reserves let your opponet drop then use your biggest advantage deep strike the 'lith and deploy via Necron reserve and gun them down while they foot slog across the board.

Nothing worse then a 'lith deedstriking on your base... or worse both bases...

I will clarify. MECH IG with Psycker Battle Squads and Manticores made me give up on a Necron Army being really competitive in 5th edition.

extrenm(54) wrote:
I will clarify. MECH IG with Psycker Battle Squads and Manticores made me give up on a Necron Army being really competitive in 5th edition.

Yea, that was my end game before I moved on from my IG. After failing to stop a monilith with 3 vendettas, I moved up to the manticore. The psyker battle squad was a nice touch.

SuperioR wrote:
Its there to balance it out ? The "FNP"esque rule that more or less all your units have, without paying anything extra for it really? The ability to Reroll it by sucking them in with a monolith?

Um... warriors are 18 points minimum of 10 squad size, 180 points, no options other than disruption fields for 2pts/model, advantages ld 10, wbb

Marines get krak, frag, ATSKNF, higher I, and a bolt pistol (can charge and shoot) for 16, for 175 points they get a veteran Sargent who can take a power weapon, a free MM/Missile Launcher/Heavy Bolter, and a flamer. What would you rather take?

Btw i completely agree and disagree with phase out. I know wierd, let me explain. The reason it needs to be removed is because necrons can have a bad game at a tourney, loose by phase out and its an automatic massacre, even if they could have drawn/minor loss. The reason it needs to be in there is to compensate, not for the necrons imho, but for the Monolith and Ctan, especially back when the book was first created (very little s10 back then and no way to kill in CC). If you decided to take 3 monoliths and a ctan the only way to win was to phase out, now its just a lot easier to do.

Necron troops are not "alright" we have some of the worst troops in the game. Not because they have horrible rules, but because they fail to do anything. They can hold objectives against anything that does not want to assault you, but other than that they are not that great. The problem with warriors is not that the model has bad stats or anything like that, (although it might need a boost) but instead it is that as a unit it is not able to accomplish much. It lacks the sheer firepower to kill much of anything. I like to think about it this way, 10 marines with a sargent is not that useful of a unit. It can rapid fire and kill some cheap units, but is relatively unable to project power. Give it a MM and a melta gun (perhaps a combi-melta as well) and all of sudden tanks fear the unit. Similarly give it say a plasma cannon and it is the bane of heavy infantry, a sargent a PF to have a chance to kill an MC in combat etc. Necrons are unable to upgrade (which is right with the fluff) and so are unable to project power. That is why i think necrons, especially those without "heavy weapons (weapons that are able to project power such as guass cannon) will have to be underpriced on a per model basis to make up for the limit of no upgrades to the unit.

/end rant

sorry for a)ranting b)going way OT

Np @ ranting, its totally understandable.

I never meant that they are great or even good. They are subpar, but honestly I dont see just house ruling against phase out being the answer.

My Necron friend stopped bringing the deceiver after everyone adapted. Its just too easy to kill him with a round of sternguard shooting or some such.

Even if I dont play Necrons I do want them to get a new codex asap, as my current Necron friend jumped the space puppies bandwagon as he just couldn't get ANY 1on1 wins anymore.
Reason I say 1on1 is that he actually does pretty well in 2on2, when he can skip the warriors and just bring Immortals/Destroyers. Oh and theres another codex backing him up ^^