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Hey all, I collect Tyranids. My son loves Blood Ravens from the DoW games. He wants me to buy him Necrons. He doesn't know that Necrons got a new release, he just knows they look like Terminators and wants to start collecting them. So before I slowly start collecting them for him, I would like to know if this is a fun army to play with. Remember he is only 10 years old, would like to win once in a while but mainly have fun and kill things. He knows he will not win ever time, but if he keeps loosing, being 10 years old with ADHD, I am afraid he will loose intrest in it really fast.

We don't play competitively, so will not be getting things to Win, but mostly to have fun. I would like to hear what you guys have to say.

They have resurrection protocols which might be a bit much for a kid his age to keep in mind, but if he really likes Blood Ravens then Space Marines might be a better choice for him. Necrons have some other slightly more complex rules too, with the shielding on their vehicles and some of their lord/cryptek abilities.

If you want to keep him interested, just tailor his army to be effective against your Tyranids, and let him know what works against what.

The problem with Necrons is their Init 2 and the fact that they are really tooled (or have more options) for CC than anything else. I really like the fluff for them, and the models are pretty sweet.

As Brother SRM said, some of their rules can be a bit hard to follow (and some could be written more clearly) but if he is able to understand what everything does, then I'd say that yes, Necrons would be good for a ten year old.

Whichever army makes him happy is the correct army to choose.

With Necrons, nothing can ever be simple, and any given army build can have a really bad matchup against some lists. However, if he's primarily playing against Tyranids, then the Necrons do have the ability to wreck the bugs. Monoliths drop Str 8 AP 3 large plates and are very difficult for Tyranids to take down. Likewise, Tesla weaponry is able to dish out a lot of wounds very quickly against hordes.

If your son is going to be able to keep the Tyranids away from his troops, then he'll do just fine. Just go easy on him until he gets a feel for his army, because the Necrons are not forgiving to a player that doesn't field them well. (BA or SW are better choices in that regard)

Though this may sound like a costlier option, why not try and buy a box of necron warriors, and a box of space marines, assemble and paint both, and show them to your son. When younger kids are actually able to hold something, "seeing with their hands," they get a better idea of exactly what they are dealing with.

Than at that time, I would ask your son which one he truly likes better. Just an idea!

Good luck!

IMO every 40k player should start with MEQ in some way (playing against them or as them) because they are seen the most often, with a whopping 6-7 (i think) codexes now. they also seem like the easiest to play of them all, (other than orks, charge, smash, win!) as a MEQ army you sit back with tanks and stuff and shoot to win.

I think they require more finesse and tricks than a young player is going to be comfortable with.

I think that 10 is probably a tad young to start playing. I know that I first started playing fantasy at 13 and loved it. However, my fantasy army was relatively simple. I was playing as the Brits and my army basically focused on charging with knights and making it rain with my archers.

Thinking 40K (which in my mind has a much easier rule system than fantasy) I would say go marines or go orks. I currently play orks (first 40K army). I picked it because it is my first introduction to the game, the models are readily available from a variety of places at a good rate, and the tactics are relatively basic. These basic tactics were and are very important as I continue to learn all the finer ins and outs of the rules. In addition, they will make a great army for a friend or family member that wants to take the game for a test drive sometime and see what it is like.

I can only repeat what others have said really... At the age of 10, it really is a case of whatever "floats his boat"

I think, as said, that the Necron's universal initiative 2 may become a major setback - after all, when I first started I wanted my models to rip the heads of the enemy just as much as I wanted them to blast 'em to bits
Perhaps if you want him to win often while having fun you could try Grey Knights? Although they aren't as easy to paint, they are probably the next closest thing to a terminator.

But, as also said, your son needs to like his army. And if he ends up going off 40k as a result of lack of interest, is that truly a bad thing?

We haven't played much lately, but want to restart again.

He basically started at 3 years of age, while Daddy was sleeping he somehow got my Battle for Macragge minis and started painting. Too bad I lost those minis I loved them. I think he could have been the youngest GW painter.

I haven't bought the codex yet. What I will do is buy a box of Necrons and try it slowly. Even if we don't use the Necron codex rules, we can get back into it slowly and use the DA codex for Count's as.

So far he has beaten me 6 times and I only once. He doesn't really know the rules, he loves rolling the dice, and I try and tell him what he should do but in the end he gets better dice rolls than me.

I just hate how the codex is almost $50. That is almost the price of a box of warriors or something. I rather buy the Necron Vehicles than the codex since he doesn't really read the fluff or what not. We just love playing with the minis.

So since it's him agaisnt me, I can just stick with the DA codex or Ork codex. Don't have the SM codex so will use those agaisnt Tyranids for now.

So the quesiton is, besides a box of warrios to put together, do we get the codex or the vehicles? I think we will get better use out of the minis instead of the codex for now, since we both love to model and paint. He base coats them, I put the details on. Seems to work great and we both have fun.

So my question is, what vehicle do I get or make? Do necron warrior minis come with the Ark?

Against necrons, I don't often see the vehicles being used a ton but the monolith is the coolest looking

I'd get a vehicle, if you're both fine with DA rules than carry on with that for now. A quick analysis of the Necron vehicles (from experience as I have/did have all 3 kits):

Annihilation Barge/Catacomb Command Barge
A nice kit, albeit a little small. You don't have to glue the gun and balcony-rail-thing so it can be used as either variant. I found it fun to build, shouldn't be too tricky. However I'd recommend the Ark or Monolith instead if you can afford it.

Ghost Ark/Doomsday Ark
There are a fair few small parts, and as each segment of the actual transport/gun section (if that makes sense) is the same, it can get a little tedious to build. The finished result is something to marvel over, I love mine The warriors aren't intended to be used as troops (particularly as they have no guns), but you could use them as a little conversion project with your son to make dead counters (like DE pain tokens, signifying that several Necrons have died in the unit) if you choose the Doomsday Ark.

Monolith
A big kit (kinda obvious). It may be a little hard for your son to build, although if he's making it with you then no problems there. I remember feeling pretty epic when I first used one of these

My personal choice would be a Doomsday Ark. That means you get a cool tank, essentially one huge gun, plus spare infantry to do with what you wish.
Good luck!

Thanks Commander Jimbob, I was thinking of getting the Ghost Ark/Doomsday Ark. Since it had what 10 infantry minis with it, I thought that would be great.

My son doesn't really care yet about the extra sprue stuff, doesn't mean naything to him, he just wants the bodies, I think this kit will be perfect then.