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I think that necrons are quite capable of one of the nastiest death stars in cc imho.
And it starts with zandy and oby.

Zandrek can give a unit furious charge as well as a debuff to an enemy unit.
Now if we throw him in a 400 pt unit of 10 lychguard with warscythes, Vargard Obyron and a necron lord with warscythe, phase shifter, and mindshakle scarabs you are looking at a hard hitting, tough as nails unit of cc destruction. On the charge it will put out 37 strength 8 power weapon attacks at init 2. Which doesnt sound like much when you consider init 3. But when you notice that they are all strength 8 from toughness 5 platforms you can see its quite dangerous.

Now consider a charge on a squad of one of the scariest units in the current meta. 10 paladins (ignoring psychobroke grenades which few people take anyways) who will out init you and swing with average str6 attacks. well your mindshakle scarabs have a good chance of causing atleast one death before blows are struck but lets say it fails to. You have 22 str 6 init 10 attacks (libby in there) half are going to hit so thats 11 hits. Now since they are str 6 you can say about 2/3rd of those will wound. so we are looking at approx 8 wounds thats a wound on your lord which he saves ona 3+ but lets say he fails. you lost a total of 25 attacks. 12 swings equals 6 hits approximately. you then wound on a two plus so statistically you will wound 5 times. Now your opponent will most likely allocate one wound to a staff (2+ invul save in cc) and the rest to swords (4+ invul in cc) so he has a 5/6th chance of saving one and a 1/2 chance of saving the other. so statistically you are looking at 2-3 dead paladins minimum. Now after your lead test on an 8 (statistically easy to pass on 2d6) you have half of your guys stand back up (on average) which is going to bring you back up to a lovely 6 lychguard 1 necron lord, obyron, and zhandrek.

While it doesnt look to impressive, consider the cost of a paldin unit. They average over 650 points if they want to even begin to touch wound allocation effectiveness. When you consider the librarian, that is over 900 points, and as previously stated, one of the scariest units in the game. This necron death star has a decent chance of grinding down the paladins or if the dice favor you straight out slapping them down. Especially if we throw in another necron overlord and necron lord to even the points out . Now if the paladins get the charge your death star is not going to fair as well. But considering the necron codex, forming an assault cushion is quite easy.

SO what do you guys think? Is this a viable unit? Or would you prefer to stick with the "scarab spam, min warriors, max wraiths and spiders" same old same old?

That's 885... you have no Ress Orb, no Inv Save (making you vulnerable to shooting) and so forth.

A squad of 10 paladin which charge this with Hammerhand will score 18 hits and 9wounds... meaning you'll have all of 1 lychguard left. I've accounted for the MSS'd paladin not attacking, but a MSS'd pld will not kill anything, merely put some wound on the models.

So not a good move at all,


On the other hand... for 805 points, you get:

Necron Overlord with Warscythe, Ress Orb, Sempiral Weave, Phase Shifter and Mind Shackle Scarab.

Royal Court - 5 Lord, ALL with Warscythe, Weave, Shifter and MSS.

Entire squad is 2+ and 3++ with 4+ Reanimation protocol. Entire squad is power weapon and S7.

And more importantly, weither they assault or get assaulted, you have to deal with 6 MSS scarab - the same squad of paladin that charge them would on average only score 6 wound and only kill 2 Lords (and 1 of them will come back anyway) and they would lose combat resolution (in fact, they lose resolution to the MSS shackle result before the necron even strike!)!

And that's 80 point less while also being vastly more resistant to shooting (3++ save), Horde attack (2+ sv) and making any non-pld elite unit kill itself before it does any real damage.

Overlord:
Sempiternal Weave
Phase Shifter
Warscythe
Mindshackle scarabs
ResOrb

Royal Court:

(x) Lords:
Sempiternal Weave
Phase Shifter
Warscythe
Mindshackle scarabs
ResOrb

(x) Crypteks:
Harbringers of Destruction

This way you also have some heavy shots. I gave res orb throughout the lords just in case of facing someone who can single out units can't shut down the 4+++ RP

Actually, I'd be tempted to take a Cryptek of Eternity with a Chronometron to re-roll some of those saves.

Maybe a Cryptek of Transmog to reduce charge distance, so it's more likely the group can do the charging.

Or the Lightning Field Guy. mmm

The kicker, you can hop these guys into a Ghost Ark as soon as you kick out the warriors! Huzzah!

I actually use the necrons deathstar against my friend who spams th/ss and its very effective at killing everything. unfortunately the fact they foot slaug across the field makes it difficult also 115 points to throw them in a ghost ark is a little to much. Also if you wanna see tyranids run in fear from an assault try it out. But costing half your army does make it hurt when one dies

Dumah12 wrote:I actually use the necrons deathstar against my friend who spams th/ss and its very effective at killing everything. unfortunately the fact they foot slaug across the field makes it difficult also 115 points to throw them in a ghost ark is a little to much. Also if you wanna see tyranids run in fear from an assault try it out. But costing half your army does make it hurt when one dies

I agree that it's a tremendous risk as a significant portion of your points are going to be dedicated to this unit which makes me believe that it's perhaps best used in Apoc

King Pariah wrote:

Dumah12 wrote:I actually use the necrons deathstar against my friend who spams th/ss and its very effective at killing everything. unfortunately the fact they foot slaug across the field makes it difficult also 115 points to throw them in a ghost ark is a little to much. Also if you wanna see tyranids run in fear from an assault try it out. But costing half your army does make it hurt when one dies

I agree that it's a tremendous risk as a significant portion of your points are going to be dedicated to this unit which makes me believe that it's perhaps best used in Apoc

And the main complaint is that its something that costs alot of points. Just so you realize the kind of goof you guys are saying that to, I run an eldar deathstar of 8 locks and 1 farseer in a wave serpent (shockingly effective when your opponent expects dire avengers XD ) A tau Farsight deathstar, and a 10 man Paladin/ Grandmaster/ Librarian death star. SO points values dont scare me. As long as I have my 2 troop choices and some AT, I am a happy boy

And tbh, this Necron Death Star is not something I would take in less than 2000 points either considering the mechanics of the Necron codex. But this unit certainly will hit hard and be able to take a beating aswell.

Wait... furious charge grants +1 to S and I? I thought it was to WS and I. Have I misread?

Tarkand wrote:That's 885... you have no Ress Orb, no Inv Save (making you vulnerable to shooting) and so forth.

A squad of 10 paladin which charge this with Hammerhand will score 18 hits and 9wounds... meaning you'll have all of 1 lychguard left. I've accounted for the MSS'd paladin not attacking, but a MSS'd pld will not kill anything, merely put some wound on the models.

So not a good move at all,

Im confused how 30 attacks with statistical hits of 1/2 equals 18 let alone the 28 attacks that the squad will get if not less due to two necron models having mss's. But either way, the only way the necron deathstar can legitimately hope to grind down the paladins is with that initial charge at str 8 to instagib some of them. So either way, in this match up who ever gets the charge wins.

On the other hand... for 805 points, you get:

Necron Overlord with Warscythe, Ress Orb, Sempiral Weave, Phase Shifter and Mind Shackle Scarab.

Royal Court - 5 Lord, ALL with Warscythe, Weave, Shifter and MSS.

Entire squad is 2+ and 3++ with 4+ Reanimation protocol. Entire squad is power weapon and S7.

And more importantly, weither they assault or get assaulted, you have to deal with 6 MSS scarab - the same squad of paladin that charge them would on average only score 6 wound and only kill 2 Lords (and 1 of them will come back anyway) and they would lose combat resolution (in fact, they lose resolution to the MSS shackle result before the necron even strike!)!

And that's 80 point less while also being vastly more resistant to shooting (3++ save), Horde attack (2+ sv) and making any non-pld elite unit kill itself before it does any real damage.

That squad is 80 points less than mine and doesnt even have obyron and most importantly zandrehk in it?! I think there in lies the problem for your idea (mind you a very good and intriguing one). I have the ability to actually kill the paladins with my deathstar You have almost as many points tied up in your HQs alone as I do in 3 hq's and a small court aswell as a maxed out elites slot. This means I have the ability to split my stuff off and deal with opponents as they come and am not forced into running over 1/3rd of my army together like you are.

Tell you what, how about we all give our death stars a try against MEQ and see how things go then come back and say how they performed?

Sounds interesting and expensive!

I read this elsewhere and it seemed good to me as a Deathstar unit:

10 Lychguard with Sword’n’Board

1 Overlord with Mindshackle Scarabs and Resurrection Orb

1 Veiltek

Nonetheless, the original idea does sound excellent, what with Obyron having the superior Veil in the form of Ghostwalk Mantle AND you don’t scatter if Deep Striking within 6” of Zahndrekh.

I really like that setup, but find it difficult to justify the points sink. Then again, I’ve only just started out with Necrons, so haven’t even collected 1000 points’ worth of them.

I do think sword nd board lycheguard are awesome, with vanguard. And if you have vanguards buddy counter attack is also a good choice. Shackle;rabs are also a must.

Pardon my asking, but when you say vanguard do you refer to Vargard Obyron?

I find that the survivability and damage output are inversely corrilated in the case of sword and shield LGs vs Scyth LG. The damage output of scythe guard is much higher than the other option while the survivability is only marginally better imho. With only str 5 you wound on 3+ on most meq and cant even ID eldar. Where as with the Str 7 (8 if furious charging bc of zandrek) you have the same number of attacks, but on the charge you are even iding meq. And either way with a res lord you still can stand back up on a 4

thakabalpuphorsefishguy wrote:I find that the survivability and damage output are inversely corrilated in the case of sword and shield LGs vs Scyth LG. The damage output of scythe guard is much higher than the other option while the survivability is only marginally better imho. With only str 5 you wound on 3+ on most meq and cant even ID eldar. Where as with the Str 7 (8 if furious charging bc of zandrek) you have the same number of attacks, but on the charge you are even iding meq. And either way with a res lord you still can stand back up on a 4

Fight grey knights and tell me how well the warscythes and armor only save work out for you

And yeah, getting reanimation protocols on a 4+ is nice, but you have to keep in mind, for all those guys that fell down, those are less attacks you are making, meaning you can play the "up and down" game all day and only get to swing with a few models vs most most.

thakabalpuphorsefishguy wrote:

Tarkand wrote:That's 885... you have no Ress Orb, no Inv Save (making you vulnerable to shooting) and so forth.

A squad of 10 paladin which charge this with Hammerhand will score 18 hits and 9wounds... meaning you'll have all of 1 lychguard left. I've accounted for the MSS'd paladin not attacking, but a MSS'd pld will not kill anything, merely put some wound on the models.

So not a good move at all,

Im confused how 30 attacks with statistical hits of 1/2 equals 18 let alone the 28 attacks that the squad will get if not less due to two necron models having mss's. But either way, the only way the necron deathstar can legitimately hope to grind down the paladins is with that initial charge at str 8 to instagib some of them. So either way, in this match up who ever gets the charge wins.

Paladins are WS 5, so your math is way off. They hit 2/3 the time not half. And Draigo is more essential then the Libby and he will wreck house as well, BUT if you can MSS him he strikes at st 10 against his battle brothers do to his Titan sword special rules. So he ID's his buds

Yes vanguard obyron. Him and Nemesor are a great way to beef the army as a whole.

Crons do not do deathstars, at all.

The closest you'll get to a workable 'deathstar' is a squad of 6 Wraiths (with wound allocation from coils/casters) and a destroyer lord with M. scarabs.

Archibald_ Buggerfingers wrote:Crons do not do deathstars, at all.

The closest you'll get to a workable 'deathstar' is a squad of 6 Wraiths (with wound allocation from coils/casters) and a destroyer lord with M. scarabs.

I don't know, considering they can build a unit equivalent pretty much to an SS terminator unit with S7 power weapons, MSS, 4+++ on top of a 2+ and 3++, and even a couple Tesseract Labyrinthes which are pretty nice as well. And them hide amongst them a couple crypteks for other unit enhancers/decent shots.

5x Lords w/ Warscythe, MSS, Sempiternal Weave, Phase Shifter & Rez Orb

750 points, and you get a unit with 2+/3++/4+++, ten Warscythe attacks and five Mindshackle Scarabs every combat.


EDIT: Math!

azazel the cat wrote:2x Lord w/ Warscythe, Sempiternal Weave, Rez Ob, MSS & Phase Shifter
2x Harbinger of Eternity w/ Chronometron
5x Lychguard w/ Hyperphase Swords & Dispersion Shields

I believe this unit is only 575 points... very reasonable for a Death Star unit. The unit gets a 3+/4++/4+ RP, two Mindshackle Scarabs and 7 of the 9 have power weapons, and very phase you get two re-rolls. They can even take a Night Scythe if you want.


EDIT: Math!

How are you sticking 4 court members with the Lychguard?

Yep, I agree--I mused about this before and thought this was the deadliest CC Deathstar. On top of all that, you can throw it in a Ghost Ark for an open top assault...

Not point efficient and would shudder against some armies--but when it worked, ho ho ho--good times.

Tarkand wrote:That's 885... you have no Ress Orb, no Inv Save (making you vulnerable to shooting) and so forth.

A squad of 10 paladin which charge this with Hammerhand will score 18 hits and 9wounds... meaning you'll have all of 1 lychguard left. I've accounted for the MSS'd paladin not attacking, but a MSS'd pld will not kill anything, merely put some wound on the models.

So not a good move at all,


On the other hand... for 805 points, you get:

Necron Overlord with Warscythe, Ress Orb, Sempiral Weave, Phase Shifter and Mind Shackle Scarab.

Royal Court - 5 Lord, ALL with Warscythe, Weave, Shifter and MSS.

Entire squad is 2+ and 3++ with 4+ Reanimation protocol. Entire squad is power weapon and S7.

And more importantly, weither they assault or get assaulted, you have to deal with 6 MSS scarab - the same squad of paladin that charge them would on average only score 6 wound and only kill 2 Lords (and 1 of them will come back anyway) and they would lose combat resolution (in fact, they lose resolution to the MSS shackle result before the necron even strike!)!

And that's 80 point less while also being vastly more resistant to shooting (3++ save), Horde attack (2+ sv) and making any non-pld elite unit kill itself before it does any real damage.

Sasori wrote:

azazel the cat wrote:2x Lord w/ Warscythe, Sempiternal Weave, Rez Ob, MSS & Phase Shifter
2x Harbinger of Eternity w/ Chronometron
5x Lychguard w/ Hyperphase Swords & Dispersion Shields

I believe this unit is only 575 points... very reasonable for a Death Star unit. The unit gets a 3+/4++/4+ RP, two Mindshackle Scarabs and 7 of the 9 have power weapons, and very phase you get two re-rolls. They can even take a Night Scythe if you want.


EDIT: Math!

How are you sticking 4 court members with the Lychguard?

Brain stopped working. Fixed now. Better anyways.

The shame about this death star is it still gets raped by weaken resolve or jaws or the doom of ma'lantai or............ putting so many delicious eggs in one basket is so risky..... but those eggs are wonderful delicious Faberge' eggs lol.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
It must be tested!!!!

Red Corsair wrote:The shame about this death star is it still gets raped by weaken resolve or jaws or the doom of ma'lantai or............ putting so many delicious eggs in one basket is so risky..... but those eggs are wonderful delicious Faberge' eggs lol.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
It must be tested!!!!

Will do in my next battle which I think will be Vanilla Marines

Adding a Nightsythe does provide some protection to all of those - JAWS, Weaken Resolve and Doom.

Adding a Nightsythe does provide some protection to all of those - JAWS, Weaken Resolve and Doom.

Thing is, that's yet more points gone into the unit. Also if it dies, and they have to come from reserves they won't be doing much that game.

Here's my Necron Deathstar that works alright.

HQ: Zhandrek, Obyran

HQ: Overlord with Warscythe, Phylactery, Res. Orb, Tachyon Arrow (sometimes), Phase Shifter, Semperiternal Weave, Tesseract Labyrinth

HQ Royal Court:
5x Necron Lords with Warscythe, Phase Shifter, Semperiternal Weave, Mindshackle Scarabs.

1x Cryptek who is a Harbinger of Eternity with Chronometron, Timesplinter Cloak.


The best part is they they can take a warrior's Ghost Ark and assault out of it.

Too bad my paladins are going to kite and spray them with 16 Psycannons and how ever many storm bolter shots.

Thats if I was ever insane enough to take a 10 man Paladin Deathstar.

Jaon wrote:Too bad my paladins are going to kite and spray them with 16 Psycannons and how ever many storm bolter shots.

Thats if I was ever insane enough to take a 10 man Paladin Deathstar.

16 Pyscannon shots will kill 0.74 2+/4+++ a turn. Good luck with that.