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Hi guys, I could use a bit of help with my Necron forces tactics as I seem to be getting annihilated in very short order at the moment. As I've mentioned in a few other posts I've only recently come back to the hobby after a good few years away and my main experience was with 2nd edition (although I played a bit of 1st edition, which mostly seemed to be about beardy rules interpretations for the win...) and I'm yet to really grasp any of the nuances of the new rules.

My current army is as follows:
Necron Lord w/ Warscythe
10 Flayed ones (usually deployed as 2 sets of 5)
20 Necron Warriors (usually deployed as 2 sets of 10)
3 Scarab bases (never actually got these near enough to the enemy to do ANYTHING)
2 Heavy Destroyers (got these as anti tank troops but I can bearly make a scratch on most things)

I also have a Necron Monolith to add to the mix once it's built.

I've been deliberatly trying to get units with the Necron ability to count towards my phase out threshold but it's not helping much. As my Heavy Destroyers have been really dissappointing so far, I've bearly been able to make a dent against any of the tanks I've met. I've also been trying to bring my Flayed ones in as deep strike troops to surround enemy units and tear them to shreds but it's not helping much either.

I generally like to try and play in the character of the army I'm using (like marching the endless waves of the IG into cannon fire and hoping they run out of ammo before the last unit gets there), but the point cost of the units really doesn't seem to match the fluff for them... hordes of undead technologically advanced troops that attack in an unending torrent of destruction really shouldn't cost so much

Any suggestions as to how I can get my ass kicked just a little less?

wait for the new dex and do the paintjob over to pass time

If I'd play necrons in the current edition i'd get a monolith to hide my warriors and beam harassed units to safety and try to kill what comes up with Destroyers/heavy Destroyers. A lord with destroyer body and that morale check equipment should fit in quite well to get weakened units off the board.
imo no other style of playing necrons would be competitive atm but I've hardly ever met other builds at all...

1: Buy Fast Attack Destroyers
2: Buy Immortals
3: Group Immortals with a VOD Lord
4: ???
5: PROFIT!!!

Whether you'll be able to put these tactics to good use i don't know.

Monolith ... helps recycle Necrons and blocks LOS so you can screen your army.

Scarabs thanks to the FAQ now are swarms so have stealth (so the unit gets +1 to its cover save) Means a tomb spider that makes a base of scarabs gains +1 to its cover save (it also gets round the MC cover rules). Also a necron lord on a destroyer body that joins a unit of scarabs can use turbo booster and get a +2 cover save.

C'tan bring you much need close combat. They cost so much but they are dam hard to kill.

In the world of 5th edition mechanized units are king. Since we necron players are short stacked in that departement we need to be able to take out the opponents.
Unfortunately we don't have a lot of options here either but my suggestion would be Heavy Destroyers and normal destroyers.
The lord with VoD was a 4th ed tactic that worked great in combination with immortals. Since we don't have the same punch in the armour penetration rules anymore it's not that good now.
Options that can be succesfull depending on your opponent:
Full squads of scarabs with disruption fields.
3 squads of wraiths accompanied by a destroyer lord.

Flayed ones are cool models but often not worth their points IMO.
Good luck with you 'crons

Ok there's some good suggestions there. I'll give 'em a try tonight and hopefully survive a few more turns this time around.

I can't help noticing that a lot of the tactics seem to be around covering our shiny metal hides and hoping no one gets too close. It does seem a little like the 'Crons are bit broken in 5th... oh well here's hoping for a new Codex soon.

Necrons take it harder in the rear then any army out there thanks to 5th. So firstly, I applaud you for wanting to play them

Onto some help, my nephew plays necrons (hes 10 and talks smack with the best of them) So I try to help him out as much as I can to at least kill things. Lords are pretty much useless on foot. So get him a destroyer body. You can convert the one you have with a flyer body, Or Ive seen some AWESOME tutorials online on how to make a wraith body that counts as the destroyer body.
Anywho, Yes, put the Lord in a scarab swarm. The more the merrier simply because they basically act as extra wounds for your lord. And scarabs can REALLY slow down squads (specially SM) Im not understanding how you cant get them up to the enemy tho. They can move 24 inches a turn. You can easily get them behind terrain to give them cover saves. So those with a Lord with warsythe will be a serious ass kicker. Infact save that unit for terminators and HQ. The scarabs will take all the hits, and the Lord will literally just kill everything.

The monolith is a great tool as well. Heres a tip, run that sucker BACKWARDS. Thats right, backwards. Theres no rules saying you cant move a vehicle backwards, and with the portal BEHIND the monolith, you can teleport units that are/could be, in trouble to the safety of the rear of your monolith. But thats neither here nor there, read the codex on how to teleport your units better and learn to use the cover the best you can.
And if you have friends your playing with, see if theyll "ignore" the phase out rule. We do that in my group simply because its strait BS (not ballistic skill either) to tell a 10 y/o "hey I konw youve got like 4 units and a monolith left but uh.... you LOSE! HAHAHAHAHAAAA"

Good luck man

Only problem with running the lord with the scarabs that way is once you enter CC the enemy will just target the Lord by himself, and ignore the swarm, as he is an IC.

spycer: Only problem with running the lord with the scarabs that way is once you enter CC the enemy will just target the Lord by himself, and ignore the swarm, as he is an IC.

Actually the issue is your opponent ignoring the lord and causing him to suffer fearless wounds via dead scarabs.

Depending on the squad attacked, that could really be a mess, you're right.

Either way, not the best option.

Normally you would detach the lord and charge him in solo but its true there are times when you can't do that.

Hey there, I'm a newcomer here, but I'll put in a couple comments:

I've found that being aggressive, and I mean extremely aggressive, with Necrons often pays off. Whether they end up with FNP in the revision or not, they'll remain tough and potent across the board. Necrons are meant to blast things and stay alive forever.

My typical mix involves the mandatory core of Warriors, a squad of immortals, destroyers (a couple heavies if tanks or big ICs or MCs are around), Destroyer Lord and Wraith combo, and Scarab swarms. I'm certainly not afraid to use the Nightbringer or Monolith, and find that the investment typically plays dividends if you're appropriately aggressive with the rest of your units. (btw, anyone know what modifications to those units I can expect if the Necrons are ever revised?). I have yet to do any major tournament play, but here are a few general observations that are well-supported from my own experience, and I am of course eager to hear others' thoughts.

-Avoid Pariahs as though they were pariahs. In principle they sound absolutely bad-ass, but low attack counts and lack of WBB limits these guys severely. They're also often a favorite target of opponent fire. I think there are certain gaming situations in which they'd be worthy, but they're almost as costly as terminators without the survival or close combat value (typically).
-Invest in Ctan and Monoliths when it makes sense, but don't but all your marbles in one basket. I'm not gonna lie, I have a C'Tan fetish. The fluff and satisfaction of fielding a living god as a legit part of my army and seeing how appropriately terrified opponents are of it is immensely gratifying. The danger is of course the age old "but they can bring like 10 lascannons and kill you!!", which is where you need to supplement with your fast units such as wraiths and scarab swarms in order to tie things up. The 360 pt price tag is actually a positive and negative: the negative is that its 360 pts. The positive is that the thing can pay itself off if used correctly and keep the opponent distracted long enough to let the rest of your nasties do their business. I actually feel guilty about bringing a C'Tan in any list under 1500pts because a well arranged small army with a C'Tan is terrifying, as opponents often have to exhaust their resources on the C'Tan only to be consumed by rank and file and big guns.
-USE YOUR GUNS. even with some 5th ed. tweaks, necrons are a fierce shooty army and VOD and destroyer units afford you alot of opportunities.
-Be a strategic wimp with one of your Warrior squads. I find that Necron players worry too much about Phase Out and opponents obsess about it (which is why C'Tan are ironically even more effective since they have nothing to do with Phase Out). all you typically need to do is ensure safety of one healthy squad of warriors to survive, so use their guns when necessary and appropriate, and get their butts out of trouble and into cover or behind a Monolith when the situation calls for it. Even if they're hiding out in the back of the battlefield, you have some nasty tools to be doing your dirty work.

There is some good advice here. I might as well give my 2 cents. I dont actually play necrons but I do play against them so I do know which units scare me and which ones are a joke.

First off. Scarabs Scarabs and more Scarabs. I would actually rather see someone running 15 destroyers than 3 Full squads of scarabs. These things can tar pit the HELL out of your best units for atleast 2 turns. Honostly, for one game, drop your 3 destroyer units and run max squads of Scarabs with disruption fields...you will see what I mean.

Secondly. Immortals are AMAZING at mowing down infantry units. Their range and ammount of shots is pretty sick. I would advise taking full squads of these beasts.

Next. For your heavy choice, I would max out Heavy Destroyers. You KNOW your opponent is going to bring some Mech in his list. If he doesnt bring tanks, hes going to bring Walkers. Lets face it, Necrons are really the ONLY army that doesnt have much armor to choose from. Aside from the Mono, necrons are SoL...so unless your playing against them, take heavy destroyers. I recommend 9.

Warriors, oh warriors. Take 2 or 3 squads of 10. Do your best at keeping one squad alive. They can put out some fire but with the rapid fire thing, they have to be way to close for comfert and next turn their getting assaulting and probably whiped off the board.

Thats really the only units that im too afraid of. Scarabs act as a shield for your "gun line", making it really hard to assault anything important. Or they fly up the table and glance armor to death. Keep your heavies at the table edge blasting the hell out of stuff. Your immortals right infront of the heavies laying down some crazy anti infantry pwnage. Then your poor warriors can do what they do best...hide. Its a sweet build.

Hope this Helped.

Bad-Sheep has some good pointers here. Of course, a tried and true principle in WH is tweak your army to the situation. A thick heavy destroyer spread is nice against heavy mech armies, but also remember that pretty much everything in the army can damage tanks, even though 5th ed made it slightly harder to kill vehicles on glances. Often times, you can keep a tank staggering around or immobilized and work on getting kill points through infantry units. So, my best advice here for starters is potentially try out extreme configurations (e.g., tons of heavy destroyers), and whittle and customize your army configuration. I'm not a big tournament guy at the moment, but I believe it's quite possible to settle on a versatile Necron army capable of handling a variety of opponents, and within 1500pts or so you can get "a little summin" for any situation.

Here's a list that I got 2nd place in at Origin's RT several years ago. No GT, but competition wasn't bad:

Lord 200
-VoD, Res Orb
8 Immortals 224
10 Warriors x4 720
Wraith 41
3 Destroyers x2 300
2 Heavy Destroyers 130
Monolith 235

I got utterly wasted by this one SMurf player that had tons of plasma, but other than that, I did pretty well.

I wouldn't say this is an awesome list. But it's a good reference point.