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Hi Folks,

I just started playing this summer and on my very first game had my but handed to me by an Ork player. After a post mortem of the match I came to the conclusion that Necrons suck at close combat. Even their cc units are only so-so when they actually get in to close-combat (I think anyway - but that's all based on my reading of the forums and what I saw the Orks do to me). So my new strategy lead me to the list below. I plan on taking a page out of Nathaneal Greene's book and try and force my Ork buddy to split his army (there are a couple of Ork players where I play 40k so I need to get used to them). so here's my new 1850 list:

HQ: Destroyer lord with warscythe, Nightmare shroud, Lightening field and gaze of flame

Troops: 2 x 11 Warriors

Fast Attack: 2 x 4 Destroyers, 1 x 11 Scarabs with Disruption field

Heavy Support: 1 x 3 Heavy Destroyers, 2 x 1 Monoliths

Initial setup:

S S S S S S S S S S S
M HQ M
D T HD T D

When I played the Orks their idea was to rush me with two trukks and one battlewagon with a roller on it unload his cargo of green skins and engage in cc. Duh. That's pretty much what he did, too. My new strategy is to form a wall of scarabs with the HQ attached and hope that will slow down his race across the board enough for my Heavy Destroyers and Destroyers to disable his vehicles. The monoliths primary purpose in life is going to be to transport the troops away from danger whenever possible - primarily in two different directions. The Orks did have three bikers trying to outflank me and three killa kans protecting a unit of Zapp guns in one of his corners. My primary focus was going to be to stop the vehicles first.

I know I have very few warriors and phase out will be a bit more of an issue. It just seemed as soon as his Orks came in contact with my Necrons I died. WBB did help but the Res Orb never really seemed useful since only one unit could make use of it (due to distance) and he only had one power weapon. Not to mention he had a million attacks every turn.

So this new setup is currently untested. I hope to be playing it on 8/22 at my local club. I'll probably still get smacked around for no other reason than I'm a newbie.

If anyone else has an idea on how to deal with close-combatting Orks I'm all ears.

My advice here, drop those HD and fill up the squad of regular Destroyers. The amount of dakka is worth those extra shots. It makes the destroyers more useful against the troops as well as the vehicles. I have never tried the LF/DL/Scarabs combo against orks. In theory it works well, but if he bases his power klaw against the scarabs he will be instant killing a base for every wound he does. This will make you take 3 more saves during combat resolution for the fearless. The warscythe may not be the best choice here because you wont be going against crazy invuln saves. The staff of light may save you ten points and give you a shooting attack. Nightmare shroud will also not be effective as orks in a squad are fearless over 11. If you get into combat you will generally always lose with your warriors. 1 attack at I2 is easy to beat unfortunately. The particle whip is your best friend for popping tanks. 2d6 take the highest and ap1 under the hole. You have the right idea with moving your warriors away from combat with your liths, but if he s turbo boosting those bikes up, hope to dakka them down before they get there. They will walk easily through a squad of warriors in a single turn on normal rolls. The res orb is awesome if you are facing a lot that negates WBB, especially templates. If I was facing this group of orks, I would use destroyers and particle whips to slow the fast attackers, trucks battlewagon, use long range shots from warriors to weaken anything that gets close. Warriors will be able to drop a lot within twelve inches. If you can slow him down to get to you, your destroyers become even more effective, just keep them out of LOS from the zap guns. I think the Gaze of flame only works against the models in base with the Lord as well. So against a horde of orks it may not be as useful. But anything you can do to lower his number of attacks can prove useful, so play test it and let me know how it goes! The trucks are already open topped so dont forget a glance is only a -1, and if you pen with a direct hit from a particle whip, its a plus 2 under the hole, goes boom on a 4+ Good luck

I hear ya on the HD. In fact I was about to switch my heavy's over to standard destroyers when I came across something in the Ork codex called a grott rigger. They only cost 5pts if you want to add them to your trukk. On a 4+ roll they can repair the trukk. For 5pts I'd put them on everything I could so I'm assuming a good Ork player would. Which means glancing isn't a good option and I want to be able to reach out and hit these things long before they get to me so the 'lith won't really cut it - especially if they're baby sitting the warriors. Plus the whip uses the scatter dice, right? I have a 'lith but haven't used the whip yet - just the flux arc. I haven't had a lot of luck with the scatter dice.

The res orb probably wouldn't do a lot for me in my configuration as the scarabs don't benefit from the special Necron rule. That's one reason why I didn't pick it up. I'm going to use the 'liths as a poor man res orb for those that do have the special Necron rule. The warriors will always be within teleporter range (18"). Mostly to keep them out of trouble and if I mess up and let something get too close.

The trukks are pretty fast - they can reach me in two turns where as the battlewagon I think only moves 6" a turn. So the two trukks are a serious issue followed by the battlewagon. My thought was as soon as they were within one turn of distance away I would DS to the otherside of the board - staying within 18" of the warriors and take them with me. With three moving vehicles of death chasing me around the quicker I permamently immobilize them the better.

I just looked at the Gaze of Flame option and I think it will work with the unit the Lord is attached to. I know what you mean about morale checks not being very effective. I'm taking a gamble that the unit I bump into first only has three or four Orks. In my friends army they were his HQ and his two Nob body guards. The battle wagon was loaded with Orks and would have been cononsidered fearless. I fully expect the Orks to obliterate my scarabs and the the Destroyer Lord. Just hoping they take the truck and a few Orks with them.

Good to know about the open top rule for glances. I'll have to look that one up for clarity. So double 6's (one to guarantee a glance and the other get reduced to a 5 instead of a 4) could wreck a truck not just immobilize it? If that's the case then Whoohooo!

Fortunately, I don't think the Orks have a lot of weaponry that can damage a monolith. My friend only had zapp guns, the roller on the warwagon and a power klaw on one of his units. If it wasn't for that darn phase out rule...

An open topped vehicle takes +1 on the damage chart IIRCC. The particle whip does scatter, but you get to reduce the distance by the monoliths BS of 4. It becomes a large vehicle killer when you need it to. 1/3 hits direct and an average of 3" when it does scatter (7'' on 2d6 minus 4 BS). Most large vehicles it could still be hole over giving you that delicious 2d6 take the highest ap1 (+1 on the dmg table). Ork trukks have their own table so you would have to look, ramshackle or something. But yes you can concievable blow it up IIRC. The power klaw is S9 on the charge only S8 off the charge, so make sure you are moving your lith so he doesn't auto hit. And they only deep strike as a means to get onto the table, not during game. Don't forget that wonderful 2+ cover save your scarabs get when turbo boosting. The regular destroyers are also much more effective at nailing down troops when they shoot (heavy 3 S6) as opposed to singel shot HD. Ork trukks are FA11? or 10? so the regular destroyers can still pen as well. If you would like heavier shots, squeeze in a squad of immortals or Pariahs shoots 24" S5 assualt 2. helps to gun down T4 opponents. Oh, and don't forget the living metal of the Monolith. No weapon gets anything but unaugmented strength of the weapon and a single d6 to penetrate! hope I help.

The Nightbringer laughs at Orks!

Re-read the Etheric Tempest ability and take a gander at an Ork Boyz' statline.

Also, keep the Monoliths between your warriors and his main attack force. You might have to back into a corner, but they'll have a hell of a time getting through those things. All the while you can light them up with the Particle Whips.

The Veil of Darkness is a godsend against Orks as well. Lure them into that corner and then Jump away, leaving them standing there looking at two Monoliths ready to punch their card.

Oh, and with a Particle Whip hit a Glance is as good as a Penetrating hit. A glance is -2 on the table, but the Whip is AP1 and the Battlewagon is Open Topped so that adds 2 right back to your die roll!

When you can get the pen and wreck the thing on a 3+ though is so buttah.

Ok, I'm starting to like that particle whip a whole lot more. Can someone direct me to the page in the codex where they give the juicy details on how it functions? All I could find was the stat line in the weapons section and the single sentence in the monolith beastery. This doesn't sound like standard w40k stuff to me so I'm thinking it's hiding in the codex somewhere.


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Yeah, I definitely like the destroyers over the HD's soley for the reason of the amount of gauss they can put out. Obviously a full unit of 5 destroyers putting out a potential 15 shots is statistically better than the 3 power shots of a HD unit.

It s on the monolith page, but check the faq on the GW site. Its awesome.

Ok, I found the Necron FAQ. The reference it makes to the whip AP1 hit and how it is assigned is:

Any model directly under the centre of the large blast template of the particle whip takes an AP1 hit. The rules for blast weapons state that the defending player may remove casualties from the unit as a whole, not necessarily those under the template, and this rule still applies here, so the player can assign the AP1 hit to any model in the unit.

Sounds confusing. First they say the model under the center takes the AP1 hit and then it sounds like they're saying the defender can apply the hit to any model in the unit. Still no luck on finding where it says I can subtract the BS from the scatter roll. I have't read the blast rules very thoroughly yet. Is that standard that you can subtract your BS or is that a Necron thing?

The subtraction of the BS from the scatter is in the BRB. Its standard template rule. The faq just states that so there s no argument on placing it over a nob in a squad of boys to prevent specific sniping. It's all because of the wound allocation stuff. Just think of it as 1 of those is ap1 so roll to wound seperate.

Just imagine that you hit the squad with a melta gun and a bunch of plasma guns ... you get one AP1 hit, but if you succeed in wounding with it your opponent gets to allocate it where he wants before he makes his saves.