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Looking through the new Codex, it seems GW did its standard job of ensuring I have to drop another $200-300 if I want to be competitive.

Here is what I own:

Necron Lord
Destroyer Lord
30 Necron Warriors
15 Destroyers
9 Heavy Destroyers
2 Monoliths

I want to use this army, but I don't want to spend any money right now. Keeping costs as low as possible is vital.

I don't really want another skimmer-based army, as I already have a Dark Eldar army consisting of a Raider, 8 Venoms, and 3 Ravagers.

What are your thoughts and suggestions?

If i were you i would just proxy and wait to see how things work with the new codex. We also have to keep in mind that 6th edition is coming out this summer and the units that are worthwhile could change.

Wolf 11x wrote:Looking through the new Codex, it seems GW did its standard job of ensuring I have to drop another $200-300 if I want to be competitive.

Here is what I own:

Necron Lord
Destroyer Lord
30 Necron Warriors
15 Destroyers
9 Heavy Destroyers
2 Monoliths

I want to use this army, but I don't want to spend any money right now. Keeping costs as low as possible is vital.

I don't really want another skimmer-based army, as I already have a Dark Eldar army consisting of a Raider, 8 Venoms, and 3 Ravagers.

What are your thoughts and suggestions?

That's a lot of GW crap to own if you're worried about spending money. Maybe find a cheaper hobby?

Your force is several times better than it was with 3E rules. It's not like you were anything close to competitive before.

Looks fine to me. I see a lot of AP3 and AP2 shots.

The Necron lord could either be proxied as an Overlord or just a member of a court.

The Destroyer Lord would have to be an HQ choice. I would give him a 2+ save, mindshackle scarabs (to get rid of those pesky PF), a warscythe and an orb. Stick him in a Destroyer squad for good measure.

Edit: Disregard that. D.Lords can't indeed take courts.

CthuluIsSpy wrote:Looks fine to me. I see a lot of AP3 and AP2 shots.

The Necron lord could either be proxied as an Overlord or just a member of a court.

The Destroyer Lord would have to be an HQ choice. I would give him a 2+ save, mindshackle scarabs (to get rid of those pesky PF), a warscythe and an orb. Stick him in a Destroyer squad for good measure.

Cant have a court though, only overlords can get courts

I dont think the list you could make isnt bad, 3 groups of warriors, mixed groups of destroyers and two monoliths can still pump out quite a lot of firepower.

Also dont warrior boxes come with scarabs? What happened to your scarabs?

That would depend on what you mean as 'viable'

Monoliths have taken a beating with their vulnerability to melta, but perhaps they were a bit too good anyway? I'd say they're still viable and are still better than Land Raiders for their flexibility, with their Heavy rule meaning they can fire on the turn they Deep Strike (I think).

I think most of the old units are still good, but not as god as they were, although their points have dropped to help reflect this. I'm sorry to say that I think the Barges are awesome. If you want to add a unit you could try the Lychguard or Deathmarks. I'd say give the army a few games with the new rules/list to and see how it is, then proxy a barge or an ark or two and see what difference it makes. Either way you have a solid base to build around with lots of anti-tank and AP3 firepower at your disposal.

With all those destroyers and liths, you already have essentially a Necron skimmer army ...

Destroyer lord, 3 troops, 2 destroyer squads and 1 heavy sestroyer squad, 2 monolithes. You are not far from a workable list.

Maybe a foot HQ and transport for the warriors.

Covert your Destroyers into Spyders (you'll want 9) -----> Profit.

Necron Lord ----> Imotek.

They're the 2 best units in the Codex.

I'd have to agree with what a lot of people are saying here. I see a very usable list there personally.

HQ - 400 ish
Overlord (With various goodies) cost him at around 200 points
Destroyer Lord (With goodies) cost him around 200 points.

Troops - 390
10x warriors - 130 points

10x warriors - 130 points

10x warriors - 130 points

Fast Attack - 780
5x Destroyers - 260 points
- 3x Heavy Destroyers

5x Destroyers - 260 points
- 3x Heavy Destroyers

5x Destroyers - 260 points
- 3x Heavy Destroyers

Heavy Support - 400
Monolith - 200

Monolith - 200

Estimated total = 1970. Obviously this will vary based off of the goodies you give your lords, but it looks decent to me. Probably not top tier for the new codex, but certainly not rubbish.

Not seen the actual codex, but rumour was that destroyer squads were limited to 1-3 models. Also, why woud you mix weapons in a destroyer unit? Totally different trarget priorties unless you're up against an all termie list.

ruminator wrote:Not seen the actual codex, but rumour was that destroyer squads were limited to 1-3 models. Also, why woud you mix weapons in a destroyer unit? Totally different trarget priorties unless you're up against an all termie list.

It is 1-5

Also, don't mix it if you don't feel like it.

But either ablative non-heavy destroyers to take the first wound or two, or a single heavy among regular destroyers for early long range utility before you're in range and before most Marines left their boxes doesn't sound like bad ideas.

ruminator wrote:Not seen the actual codex, but rumour was that destroyer squads were limited to 1-3 models. Also, why woud you mix weapons in a destroyer unit? Totally different trarget priorties unless you're up against an all termie list.

You can take up to 5 destroyers, only 3 destroyers can take the heavy upgrade. That is the reason they are mixed, i feel we will see a lot of mixed squads now because of it.

EDIT: You have 30 warriors? How do you not have any scarabs? Scarabs are a must take now, imho they have become one of the best anti tank units in the game!

I have plenty of unassembled Scarabs.

When I was purchasing this army, I was buying it about a year and a half ago at ~40-60% off. I'm finishing my undergrad in December and in a very different place financially.

Regarding this seeming like a skimmer-based army, I wanted Necrons originally because I loathe anything with an armor value. AV has always and will continue to betray me.

Thanks for the thoughts so far. It's not that I'm opposed to putting money into it entirely, I just want to spend as little as possible.

If you want to get rolling out with the army ASAP, three ghost arcs and three Cryptek's with Lances would be an easy way to get you into the fight. An Overlord on a Command Barge wouldn't hurt either if you can afford one.

Your current makeup looks a lot like mine does actually . . .

EDIT: Missed the "don't want another skimmer army". Unfortunately with what you already have you're kind of over halfway there. A box of Warriors, assembling your scarabs so you have a squad of 10, 3-4 Crypteks (depending on how small you want your squads) and a box of Lychguard could help round out things. I was thinking maybe something like the following:

HQ
Overlord
- Warscythe
- Resurrection Orb
- Mindshackle Scarabs
150 points

Destroyer Lord
- Resurrection Orb
155 points

TROOPS
Warriors x 10
- Cryptek w/Lance
165 points

Warriors x 10
- Cryptek w/Lance
165 points

Warriors x 10
- Cryptek w/Lance
165 points

Warriors x 10
- Cryptek w/Lance
165 points

ElLITES
Lychguard x 5
- Hyperphase Swords & Shields
225 points

FAST ATTACK
Scarabs x 10
150 points

Destroyers x 4
160 points

1500 points total

I figure with this list you'd have your Destroyer Lord zipping around chopping up tanks. Your Overlord and the Lychguard would be for counter charging if anyone decides to get too close to your Warriors. Scarabs to bring down AV on tanks, Crypteks with Lances to pop said tanks not getting eaten by Scarabs and Destroyers to finish off the tanks that the Scarabs are munching on. If you'd rather not pick up another box of warriors it'd be pretty easy to trade out one squad and add in another group of 4 Destroyers. With this kind of list you're looking at buying two boxes max of stuff (I think?).

Anyway, like others have said it's not like what you have now either isn't competitive, but I think the above gives you a little bit of the "skimmer-less" list you were looking for while remaining less expensive to put together. Or at least I hope so, I'm kind of a noob when it comes to list building!

Looks like you've got a decent force, prime issues I'm seeing are lack of CC and lack of body count. Another Warriors box and a unit of Lychguard or Praetorians is probably the most cost-effective way to rectify the problem.

The issue with the Scarabs is they'd take up Fast Attack, where you're already overflowing with Destroyers, but if you take a few more Troops units you can run two detachments.

I just realized I forgot to list my Deceiver.

Your existing list looks very, very similar to what I own. (I've got a few more Warriors and lots of Immortals, but otherwise we invested the same way) And I too, am a cheap that really doesn't want to spend a lot more money.

My solution: Pariahs.

Pariahs make excellent stand-ins for Crypteks, that I have been finding to be the real prizes of the Necrons. And Pariahs have been selling pretty cheap, what with their not being in the new codex at all. Just make sure to always take 2 HQs, and you can work with what I've found to be a reasonably competitive army. Here's what I've found to be the magic Warrior squad:

1x Cryptek
-Eldritch Lance
1x Cryptek
-Eldritch Lance
8x Warriors

Clocking in at 174 points, it's cheaper than a 10-man Warrior squad was under the old codex, and it reliably makes it a threat to mechs, thanks to the two Eldritch Lances. I like to take 2 or 3 of these squads. They're great for hitting transports with the Eldritch Lances, getting a full round of shooting off, and then I use a Monolith to pull the squad away if they're going to be in enemy assault range the next turn. (I like to keep my 2 Monoliths at opposite ends of my army, just to cycle squads around the board.)

As to the Destroyer wings, I've found the hardest-hitting mix to be:

2x Destroyers
3x Heavy Destroyers

Costing you 260 points, it's 30 points cheaper than the equivalent used to cost. Now, with all those Eldritch Lances in the army, it might seem like overkill to use the much more expensive Heavy Destroyers, but the meta I play in is all mech spam. It's not uncommon for me to go up against a BA army with 10 mechs in it, so fielding the extra Heavy Destroyers is a much safer bet. And, if you do the mathhammer, Heavy Destroyers have a better kill rate than regular destroyers against Marines, just because the Str 9 shots negate FNP.

I know, Scarabs appear to be the superstars of the new codex, but in the few games I've used them in, they've failed to impress me. Granted, they somehow managed to roll almost exclusively 2s and 3s at everything, and so I have not yet seen their true power. However, my first impression is that the Emperor truly protects against Scarabs. (also, my Destroyer wings cost so much money, I'm gonna play them, dammit!)

As to the Monoliths: I haven't had any trouble with Melta against them. The Monoliths themselves seem to do just fine at keeping most Melta out of range, and the Destroyer Wings do quite well at thinning the herds before Melta really becomes a problem for the Monoliths. However, watch out for Lazorbacks. I repeatedly forget that they are rending, and rending is the only thing that has given my Monoliths problems so far. As to their utility, I am now afraid to Deep Strike them into play because they are no longer protected from mishaps. However, I have found success in rolling 1 Monolith forward with the army, and keeping 1 Monolith at the back, and then using the Monoliths mostly for teleporting shenanigans. The forward Monolith is great to teleport a footslogging scoring unit late in the game onto an objective, and the rear Monolith is great for pulling footsloggers away from the fray, before they can get assaulted. I'm waiting for 6th Ed., where hopefully the Monoliths will gain some mishap protection again, because as it stands, I don't wanna risk a Deep Strike with a unit that has a 6" x 6" base.

The more I keep sifting through the codex, the less excited I am to try and field what models I own.

You can probably proxy Destroyers as Tomb Blades as well. They seem to be one of the better costed choices in the Codex.