Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello everybody,

I'am starting a new Necron army. I normally play my 4000 points Chaos space marines army. When it comes to Necron rules i'am a total noob i know a few basics but don't really know the general tactics.

I would like some help with a good starter army list.
So far i have:

HQ:
Trazyn the infinite
Imotekh the stormlord

Troops:
5x Immortals or Deathmarks (still haven't decided what to make them, leanign towards Deathmarks)

Elite:
5x Lychguard or Triarch Praetorians (also haven't decided what to make them, leaning towards Lychguard i like the inv. save and shield)


I'am thinking of taking some warriors maybe some immortals destroyers/heavy destroyers and some scarabs
Also want a royal court with 4-5 crypteks and or necron lords. (for mindshackle carabs, sonar pulse etc

Please help me any tips and comments are welcome

Unless you're overly attached to the concept of playing Lychguard or Praetorians the kit can also be used to make up some handy Crypteks and Lesser Lords to lead some of your units. It saves a tonne and gives you alot of freedom.

Immortals make a solid troops choice, tesla without a Phaeron Overlord or gauss with.

Destroyers can give you some good anti-tank and anti-armour power but you might want to consider Annilation Barge for anti-swarm.

A phaeron with a block of 20 warriors flanked by two or three ghost arks will be nigh unkillable and with the relentless rule have the ability to move and fire out to 24".

Look at that for a core or tesla armed immortals.

So Deathmarks or Lychguard is not the way to go?

I thought rapid fire sniper rifles, 2+ to wound and nice deployment rules makes them a usefull unit?

And Lychguard looks like a tough unit to break.

Lychguard with sword and shield run you 225. That is going to yield 15 S4 attacks on a T5 creature with a 50/50 save. Compare it to 5 Necron lords with scarabs and warscythes... The scarabs are going to better protect them and the warscythes are going to make them nastier in HTH. Compare it to 6 wraiths with whips. It is not that the lych guard sucks as much as there appear to be better options for what you are trying to do.

The problem with deathmarks and lychguard for that matter are they are non-troops and cannot hold objectives. Their weapons have the same range as standard weapons so again I would take a unit of 10 immortals with tesla or even gauss weapons before I would touch a deathmark. They might be fun but they "smell" like a very situational usefulness compared to an immortal troop choice or perhaps a unit of warriors.

Necrons suffer from the fact that they can produce quality in heavy, troop and even fast attack choices as well as HQ and HQ-qualified units. So if you fill all your FOC slots and just happen to have 700 points lying around, then go ahead and field them.

thanks for the comment

I see what you mean and will go with immortals, like you said they are more all round units.

What are your thoughts on Triarch Praetorians?

Demic25 wrote:What are your thoughts on Triarch Praetorians?

Terrible. Lychguard beat these guys out in all ways. Not that Lychguard are a super good assault unit, though. They're more a hammer unit that should probably be used in conjunction with an anvil unit to make the best use of them.

Though the box does make an great conversion kit. You can make 5 Crypteks for very cheap. Use the deathmark heads with the Praetorian bodies (minus the halo thing) and mod up the warscythes as staves as you see fit.

It'll essentially get you 5 Crypteks for $33 (since you're already using immortals and have the deathmark heads).

If you got 5 Cryptek models separately it'd run you $76.25.

Nungunz wrote:

Terrible. Lychguard beat these guys out in all ways. Not that Lychguard are a super good assault unit, though. They're more a hammer unit that should probably be used in conjunction with an anvil unit to make the best use of them.

Though the box does make an great conversion kit. You can make 5 Crypteks for very cheap. Use the deathmark heads with the Praetorian bodies (minus the halo thing) and mod up the warscythes as staves as you see fit.

It'll essentially get you 5 Crypteks for $33 (since you're already using immortals and have the deathmark heads).

If you got 5 Cryptek models separately it'd run you $76.25.

Ah thats a great idea thanks

Nungunz wrote:

Demic25 wrote:What are your thoughts on Triarch Praetorians?

Terrible. Lychguard beat these guys out in all ways.

Except for mobility, and by extension threat range? If you want a counter assault unit to protect a couple warrior bricks Praetorians tend work better because of their mobility to cover huge swathes of real estate.

ShadarLogoth wrote:
Except for mobility, and by extension threat range? If you want a counter assault unit to protect a couple warrior bricks Praetorians tend work better because of their mobility to cover huge swathes of real estate.

Lack of an invulnerable save and low number of attacks, crap initiative, and coupled with a STEEP point cost. If you want counter assault wraiths are your friend. Sure you don't get RP, but the damage output is much better and with whip coils you can actually hit first.

Low initiative assault marines with low number of attacks at the point cost of a terminator (with no invuln save) don't make a great counter-assault unit even with the toughness boost.

Nungunz wrote:

ShadarLogoth wrote:
Except for mobility, and by extension threat range? If you want a counter assault unit to protect a couple warrior bricks Praetorians tend work better because of their mobility to cover huge swathes of real estate.

Lack of an invulnerable save and low number of attacks, crap initiative, and coupled with a STEEP point cost. If you want counter assault wraiths are your friend. Sure you don't get RP, but the damage output is much better and with whip coils you can actually hit first.

Low initiative assault marines with low number of attacks at the point cost of a terminator (with no invuln save) don't make a great counter-assault unit even with the toughness boost.

Yes they are the cost of Terminator, with jetpacks, and more toughness, and an AP 3 weapon, and RP. I really don't want to rehash this debate, but they cost exactly what they should for what they can do. People who don't understand that either don't understand the math that goes into pricing out a units capabilities or are short changing the units functionality in one way or another.

ShadarLogoth wrote:

Nungunz wrote:

ShadarLogoth wrote:
Except for mobility, and by extension threat range? If you want a counter assault unit to protect a couple warrior bricks Praetorians tend work better because of their mobility to cover huge swathes of real estate.

Lack of an invulnerable save and low number of attacks, crap initiative, and coupled with a STEEP point cost. If you want counter assault wraiths are your friend. Sure you don't get RP, but the damage output is much better and with whip coils you can actually hit first.

Low initiative assault marines with low number of attacks at the point cost of a terminator (with no invuln save) don't make a great counter-assault unit even with the toughness boost.

Yes they are the cost of Terminator, with jetpacks, and more toughness, and an AP 3 weapon, and RP. I really don't want to rehash this debate, but they cost exactly what they should for what they can do. People who don't understand that either don't understand the math that goes into pricing out a units capabilities or are short changing the units functionality in one way or another.

The problem with fine tuning on a codex. Praetorians may work fine. Lychguard may work fine. Wraiths may work fine. A royal court may work fine. The issue is which will meet your needs most efficiently. For the $$ I would go Praetorians or royal court. For speed reaction praetorians or wraiths. For points, I would go wraiths. So it depends where you feel the crunch in points limit or billfold limit.

DAaddict wrote:A phaeron with a block of 20 warriors flanked by two or three ghost arks will be nigh unkillable and with the relentless rule have the ability to move and fire out to 24".

Look at that for a core or tesla armed immortals.

I totally disagree... A block of 20 warriors no matter how ghost arks it has to support it still easily loses combat to a dedicated assault unit and runs getting caught in a sweeping advance.

That's 260 points in warriors, plus any HQ and crypteks attached all instantly dying with no RP roll...

It's definitely not "nigh unkillable", especially since that warrior block has to be within 24" to do their own damage and 24" is within assault range for many assault units. ( factoring in things like assault/open topped transports/beasts and cavalry etc.)

DAaddict wrote:

ShadarLogoth wrote:

Nungunz wrote:

ShadarLogoth wrote:
Except for mobility, and by extension threat range? If you want a counter assault unit to protect a couple warrior bricks Praetorians tend work better because of their mobility to cover huge swathes of real estate.

Lack of an invulnerable save and low number of attacks, crap initiative, and coupled with a STEEP point cost. If you want counter assault wraiths are your friend. Sure you don't get RP, but the damage output is much better and with whip coils you can actually hit first.

Low initiative assault marines with low number of attacks at the point cost of a terminator (with no invuln save) don't make a great counter-assault unit even with the toughness boost.

Yes they are the cost of Terminator, with jetpacks, and more toughness, and an AP 3 weapon, and RP. I really don't want to rehash this debate, but they cost exactly what they should for what they can do. People who don't understand that either don't understand the math that goes into pricing out a units capabilities or are short changing the units functionality in one way or another.

The problem with fine tuning on a codex. Praetorians may work fine. Lychguard may work fine. Wraiths may work fine. A royal court may work fine. The issue is which will meet your needs most efficiently. For the $$ I would go Praetorians or royal court. For speed reaction praetorians or wraiths. For points, I would go wraiths. So it depends where you feel the crunch in points limit or billfold limit.

Good post.