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Hey all. I'm just coming back to the hobby, and I've always been partial to smaller point games, thankfully there has never been a shortage of similarly inclined folks at hand.

I've also always been a necron person. It always felt like GW was peering into my soul when they released that race. Robot skeletons, finicky eilite horde. Right up my alley.

Sad thing is, the two loves of my life don't get along very well.
I've always felt like low point games (1k or under) really show an army's strengths and weaknesses, and force you to be really smart with your points and what you let your monsters get up to on the table. Oddly, necron's problem seems to be how often it's units are pidgeon hole'd or how expensive it is to give them a little utility, or shore up their weaknesses.

There will probably be some solid detractors from this statement, and I welcome them. I'd love to hear your ideas for strong necron lists at the 500 point level.

To kick off the discussion, one the bigger areas of concern for me is the HQ slot. It's mandatory. It's usually expensive, and close combat oriented. None of our troops feel like they are earning their points if they get into assault. They are also essential for unlocking troop upgrades. They can act like a heavy support or fast attack choice with the expensive barge upgrade, but are most often relegated to the role of expensive powerfist nanny for a brick of troops.
How do you handle this points sink? A barge lord and two crypteks is close to a land raider in price. A Destroyer lord feels like weird demon prince, but necron troops are not chaos space marines so that monster is going to have to run an awful lot of interference without crypteks and lords.


Some Ideas!

HQ
Destroyer Lord
-mindshakle scarabs

Troops
Immortal Squad
5x Necron Immortals w/Tesla

Immortal Squad
5x Necron Immortals w/Tesla

Immortal Squad
5x Necron Immortals w/Tesla

Fast Attack
Canoptic Wraiths
2x Wraiths
- Whips

------
490

HQ
Overlord
-Warscythe
-Company Command Barge w/ Gauss Cannon Refit

Royal Court
2x Harbinger of Transmogrification
(Trannies hang out with the immortals.)

Troops
Immortal Squad
5x Necron Immortals w/Tesla

Immortal Squad
5x Necron Immortals w/Tesla

Heavy Support
Annihilation Barge w/ Gauss Cannon Refit

------
500

HQ
Illumator Szeras
(I'm assuming he counts as a cryptek for the purpose of riding an ark.)

Troops
Warrior Squad
5x Necron Warriors
-Ghost Ark

Warrior Squad
10x Necron Warriors

Heavy support
Annihilation Barge w/ Gauss Cannon Refit
-------
500
I guess I don't like Necron warriors too much at low levels... I wonder how I can keep them safe from assault and still make use of the rapid fire. Maybe they are best just camping with a cryptek on cover.

Anyways! Any ideas or lists are welcome!

I like your second listing, its completely mobile (everything shoots and moves in a turn). The immortal squads are sturdy enough though the small numbers might be an issue, at this points level there isn't much else to do.

Tank busting -might- be an issue, I'd suggest switching one cryptek to destruction just for the high strength shot.

Yes, the issue with most of these lists is the lack of AT. I really think your best HQ choice would be an Overlord with the Phaeron upgrade, placed with either an Immortals squad with Gauss, or a Warrior squad. The relentless + Gauss will allow you a lot of room to manuever, and the Gauss can stop Tanks. Harbingers of Destruction get the Eldritch Lance, which can be a nice Strength 8 AT weapon.

All your lists seem to make heavy use of Tesla, which isn't a bad thing but it is only suited as anti-infantry. You also don't have to be afraid to only use troops.

Take this list for example, not the most exciting, but you are fielding 23 models and are able to face threats of enemy infantry thanks to the Tesla and Relentless Warriors, and vehicles from the Crypteks and Warriors too. The Solar Pulse can bungle enemy fire for a turn, but that can be swapped out for something else depending on the type of army you are playing.

HQ (200pts)

Necron Overlord
Phaeron, Staff of Light

Cryptec
Harbinger of Destruction
Eldritch Lance

Cryptec
Harbinger of Destruction
Eldritch Lance, Solar Pulse

Troops (300pts)

5x Immortal
Tesla Carbines

5x Immortal
Tesla Carbines

10x Necron Warriors
Gauss Flayers

At 500pts? Easy:

500 Pts - Necrons Roster

HQ: Destroyer Lord (1#, 125 pts)
1 Destroyer Lord @ 125 pts ((C:NE, pg. 31); Unit Type: Jump Infantry; Warscythe; Ever-Living; Independent Character; Preferred Enemy; Reanimation Protocols)

Elite: C'Tan Shard (1#, 225 pts)
1 C'Tan Shard @ 225 pts ((C:NE, pg. 40); Unit Type: Monstrous Creature; Eternal Warrior; Fearless; Immune to Natural Law; Pyreshards; Moulder of Worlds)

Troops: Warriors (5#, 65 pts)
5 Warriors @ 65 pts ((C:NE, pg. 33); Unit Type: Infantry; Gauss Flayer; Reanimation Protocols)

: Immortals (5#, 85 pts)
1 Immortals @ 85 pts (Immortals)
5 Immortals ((C:NE, pg. 34); Unit Type: Infantry; Gauss Blaster; Reanimation Protocols)

Validation Report:
c-1. File Version: 1.36 For Bug Reports/www.ab40k.org; b-1. Roster Options: Imperial Armour, Special Characters; a-1. Scenario: Normal Mission
Roster satisfies all enforced validation rules

Total Roster Cost: 500

Overlord

5x Immortals w/ Tesla

5x Immortals w/ Tesla

3x Destroyers
2x Heavy Destroyers

Melcavuk wrote:I like your second listing, its completely mobile (everything shoots and moves in a turn). The immortal squads are sturdy enough though the small numbers might be an issue, at this points level there isn't much else to do.

Tank busting -might- be an issue, I'd suggest switching one cryptek to destruction just for the high strength shot.

I was originally trying to design the list around that premise actually. You'll notice how minimized things are. I just had 80 points left over after the command barge and the two cryptek immortal squads and I wondered what to take other than a barge. They are just so much shooting for their points! Maybe it means subbing in warriors, or finding a new finishing touch for the list to make those trannies grab their lances. I really like tesla immortals and assault long ranged weapons though...

NecronLord3 wrote: Elite: C'Tan Shard (1#, 225 pts)
1 C'Tan Shard @ 225 pts ((C:NE, pg. 40); Unit Type: Monstrous Creature; Eternal Warrior; Fearless; Immune to Natural Law; Pyreshards; Moulder of Worlds)

I like the scary targets in your list, but I don't understand how this shard is going to make it's points up. He sure looks like he draws a lot of fire, but he seems like he can be kind of kite'd and I don't understand why he has mutiple ranged weapons at str 4. And if all you wanted was durable str 7 attacks moving six inches a turn, don't necrons have a lot of cheaper, shorter options? I don't mean to be rude, I just feel like I must be missing something. I know those guys are scary.

azazel the cat:
I really love this list, I just feel awful every time I buy a Overlord for 90 points and hope to never have to use him.

Thanks a lot guys! I'm glad to hear the warriors and gauss troops are doing well for you guys. They always seem kinda underperforming to me. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
Keep em coming! I might actually be learning something!

Most 500 point armies will not think they are going to fight a C'tan. Even if they do most 500 point armies cannot take enough to really guarantee they are able to put one down before it kills most of their force. Also, Pyreshards and Moulder of worlds are two shooting attacks. The thing can fire 8 shots plus a large blast at 18". Very killy.

It's allowed to fire more than one gun?

Monstrous Creatures page 51

I've always felt like low point games (1k or under) really show an army's strengths and weaknesses, and force you to be really smart with your points and what you let your monsters get up to on the table. Oddly, necron's problem seems to be how often it's units are pidgeon hole'd or how expensive it is to give them a little utility, or shore up their weaknesses.

I think 500-1000 point games can be fun, but I don't think they are necessarily balanced or competitive. Below 1K favors certain armies very heavily. Not only that, but more extreme builds are hard to stop with TAC lists. When your opponent plops down 120 Boys at 1000, there aren't very many builds that can stop that. Same with 6 Razors with 3 Acolytes, Coteaz, and 3 Psyfleman, or 3 Landraiders with min troops. At higher points levels, competent generals are able to counter both hoard and tank heavy builds. At <1000, that's a tough thing to do. I don't think it's a competitive point level. It is fun though!

As for a 500 point Cron build:

Overlord w/ Scythe, CCB-180
1 HoD with Pulse-55
5 Immortals-85
5 Immortals-85
Annihilation Barge-90

Total:495

Not amazing but 2 AV 13 Vehicles can be tough to deal with at this level.

I don't think Crons are particularly adapted to 500 as there are no bargain HQ's. The Overlord doesn't really add much unit you give him some wargear.

JGrand wrote:

I've always felt like low point games (1k or under) really show an army's strengths and weaknesses, and force you to be really smart with your points and what you let your monsters get up to on the table. Oddly, necron's problem seems to be how often it's units are pidgeon hole'd or how expensive it is to give them a little utility, or shore up their weaknesses.

I think 500-1000 point games can be fun, but I don't think they are necessarily balanced or competitive. Below 1K favors certain armies very heavily. Not only that, but more extreme builds are hard to stop with TAC lists. When your opponent plops down 120 Boys at 1000, there aren't very many builds that can stop that. Same with 6 Razors with 3 Acolytes, Coteaz, and 3 Psyfleman, or 3 Landraiders with min troops. At higher points levels, competent generals are able to counter both hoard and tank heavy builds. At <1000, that's a tough thing to do. I don't think it's a competitive point level. It is fun though!

As for a 500 point Cron build:

Overlord w/ Scythe, CCB-180
1 HoD with Pulse-55
5 Immortals-85
5 Immortals-85
Annihilation Barge-90

Total:495

Not amazing but 2 AV 13 Vehicles can be tough to deal with at this level.

I don't think Crons are particularly adapted to 500 as there are no bargain HQ's. The Overlord doesn't really add much unit you give him some wargear.

Szeras is pretty cheap, and a force multiplier. I would do something like:

Szeras - 100
10 Tesla Immortals - 170
5 Warriors - 65
5 Scarabs - 75
Annihilation Barge - 90