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SHOWCASING

Theme:
Harbingers of Despair are my main focus here building a list around maximizing their usefulness. So I'm mostly focused on milking veil of darkness.

List Performance:
1 Wins, 0 Draws, 1 Losses

Overall Theme Performance:
3 Wins, 1 Draws, 3 Losses


2000 Pts - Necrons Roster - Harbingers of Despair

HQ:
. . 1 Overlord, 200 pts (Warscythe; Mindshackle Scarabs; Sempiternal Weave; Tesseract Labyrinth; Resurrection Orb; Upgrade to Phaeron)

. . 1 Overlord, 200 pts (Warscythe; Mindshackle Scarabs; Sempiternal Weave; Tesseract Labyrinth; Resurrection Orb; Upgrade to Phaeron)

. . 1 Royal Court, 120 pts
. . . . 1 Harbinger of Despair (Veil of Darkness)
. . . . 1 Harbinger of Despair
. . . . 1 Harbinger of Despair

. . 1 Royal Court, 120 pts
. . . . 1 Harbinger of Despair (Veil of Darkness)
. . . . 1 Harbinger of Despair
. . . . 1 Harbinger of Despair

Elite:
. . 5 Deathmarks, 95 pts

Troops:
. . 20 Warriors, 375 pts
. . . . 1 Ghost Ark

. . 20 Warriors, 260 pts

Fast Attack:
. . 3 Destroyers, 180 pts (Heavy Gauss Cannon x3)
. . 3 Destroyers, 180 pts (Heavy Gauss Cannon x3)

Heavy Support:
. . 1 Annihilation Barge, 90 pts
. . 1 Annihilation Barge, 90 pts
. . 1 Annihilation Barge, 90 pts

Total Roster Cost: 2000


Will post up batlte results with pictures when possible as I take this theme out to play.

The Despairteks are best with Deathmarks thanks to the wound on a 2+ and their template attack is nasty. You've only got a single unit of Deathmarks, you would be better with three I think.

What other unit is going to veil around? 20 Warriors? I would beware of those Warriors as you've only got two troop choices, batter them in combat and destroyed them via sweeping advance and your chances of winning objective games fall dramtically.

Not a fan of Heavy Destroyers, too expensive for a lascannon.

I only own 5 deathmarks otherwise as you say i would add more for the purposes of this theme.

20 teleporting warriors are not easy to remove or get in combat.

Heavy Destroyers are good for being T5 jump infantry. It's a lascannon that can easily get side shots and withstand small arms fire. Plus they do well against GK paladins.

I agree, 20 Warriors are pretty tough, especially with a res orb. I would add a sesimic crucible seems you intend to get close, this would slow down potential would be assualting enemy units. The problem I see is such a large foot print that you could lose the unit to deep strike mishap :( .

While what you say about H-D's is true, it still doesn't take away the fact that they are 65 points for a lascannon. They also shouldn't be shot at by small arms, but instead by ap3 or below to stop getting a armour save and then wipe out the unit so no R.P.

Mishapping how? impassible terrain? there's not very much of that

And i have a phaeron for a reason, it's so i dont ever 'need' to get in close. So i can port around and shoot at full 24" range thus why i said earlier that it would be very difficult to get them in assault

Yeah 65 pts is steed i wont lie but then again we pay like 35 pts for a S8 AP2 shot from a harbinger of storm and everyone thinks those are a great deal. So 30 more pts for jump infantry, fast attack (dont need to sacrifice royal court or heavy support and T5 Sv3+) is in my opinion a very good deal.

Though being able to hide those crypteks in large units is definetly a major plus I do think that the heavy destroyers are a good buy. I can agree it's not an 'bargain' but it's still solid the extra strength helps a lot vs AV13 vehicles where S8 struggles a lot. And there's plenty AV13 vehicles around

Mishap by terrain as you said, scattering off the board or onto other models or even impassable terrain. With a bigger unit the bigger the risk.

Yes, I know you have a Phaeron, though there's no point in using the veil as 24" range is pretty decent. What's the point in using the veil then when you can do the same on foot?

Crypteks aren't a good deal, they are just a cheaper option of some form of serious anti tank .

AV13 vehicles aren't that common. They are mostly on Hammerheads, Vindicators, Predators and Baal Predators and then it's only front armour.

Anyway, have fun with your list

What the... SIX Despair-teks?!
(you do realize that, without Deathmarks, they're not so great against anything with high leadership, right?)

Yea, it really needs 3 squads of 5 deathmarks to throw those 6 despair teks into. Once they can double tap with 2 flamers that wound on a 2+ it gets ugly fast.

The despair teks also need to get close to their targets, which means viels, scythe transports, monolith, &/or Big O's ghostwalk mantle.

The 3 annhilation barges when combined with small squads of scarabs should be enough to open transports. 360 points in heavy destroyers is a huge chunk of points.

mercer wrote:Mishap by terrain as you said, scattering off the board or onto other models or even impassable terrain. With a bigger unit the bigger the risk.

Yes, I know you have a Phaeron, though there's no point in using the veil as 24" range is pretty decent. What's the point in using the veil then when you can do the same on foot?

Crypteks aren't a good deal, they are just a cheaper option of some form of serious anti tank .

AV13 vehicles aren't that common. They are mostly on Hammerheads, Vindicators, Predators and Baal Predators and then it's only front armour.

Anyway, have fun with your list

You only mishap on terrain if it's impassible. Normal terrain does not cause a mishap. And again I stress the fact that i can shoot at my full distance no matter where I teleport letting me very selective about where i choose to teleport to since i dont 'need' to teleport close to board edges nor close to enemy units.

The point in veiling around rather than shooting at 24" on foot is the mobility factor. I can reach anywhere on the board, any objective during any given turn. I'm a threat to the whole map not just 24" around from where im standing.

AV13 vehicles arent that common? You don't buy that urself, name any serious vehicle using army that does not have AV13 vehicles. Predators of all flavors are in marine armies, Tau are chokefull of AV13, Guard are chokefull of AV13 aswell (side armor), In fact there's MORE AV13 in the game than AV14, a lascannon makes more sense than a melta gun. Even some of the most popular walkers are AV13.

Players don't ALWAYS play with transports only.

skoffs wrote:What the... SIX Despair-teks?!
(you do realize that, without Deathmarks, they're not so great against anything with high leadership, right?)

S8...how many models do you guys think are leadership 10??? That's the only time it really wont be so useful. Against the VERY common Ld 9 and Ld 8 you should be able to do good damage.

Units use the sargent's leadership for morale and leadership checks and psychic tests. It doesn't say they substitute their individual leadership for the leader's ld. So when you flame a unit with a abyssal staff you would the attack vs majority. Since you are substituting Toughness with Leadership.

Unless i missed something.

schadenfreude wrote:Yea, it really needs 3 squads of 5 deathmarks to throw those 6 despair teks into. Once they can double tap with 2 flamers that wound on a 2+ it gets ugly fast.

The despair teks also need to get close to their targets, which means viels, scythe transports, monolith, &/or Big O's ghostwalk mantle.

The 3 annhilation barges when combined with small squads of scarabs should be enough to open transports. 360 points in heavy destroyers is a huge chunk of points.

I'm not using the teks offensively im using them defensively in most cases since i dont really want to get close to my targets and allow for assaults vs stuff that can lock me in.

Akaiyou wrote:

mercer wrote:Mishap by terrain as you said, scattering off the board or onto other models or even impassable terrain. With a bigger unit the bigger the risk.

Yes, I know you have a Phaeron, though there's no point in using the veil as 24" range is pretty decent. What's the point in using the veil then when you can do the same on foot?

Crypteks aren't a good deal, they are just a cheaper option of some form of serious anti tank .

AV13 vehicles aren't that common. They are mostly on Hammerheads, Vindicators, Predators and Baal Predators and then it's only front armour.

Anyway, have fun with your list

You only mishap on terrain if it's impassible. Normal terrain does not cause a mishap. And again I stress the fact that i can shoot at my full distance no matter where I teleport letting me very selective about where i choose to teleport to since i dont 'need' to teleport close to board edges nor close to enemy units.

The point in veiling around rather than shooting at 24" on foot is the mobility factor. I can reach anywhere on the board, any objective during any given turn. I'm a threat to the whole map not just 24" around from where im standing.

AV13 vehicles arent that common? You don't buy that urself, name any serious vehicle using army that does not have AV13 vehicles. Predators of all flavors are in marine armies, Tau are chokefull of AV13, Guard are chokefull of AV13 aswell (side armor), In fact there's MORE AV13 in the game than AV14, a lascannon makes more sense than a melta gun. Even some of the most popular walkers are AV13.

Players don't ALWAYS play with transports only.

Like I said, you do not need the veil then.

I don't buy what myself? Why would I say something and not believe myself? You need to talk sense . I also said about Predators, Baal Predators, Tau and not 'full with av13' they have Hammerheads only. Guard are not full of av13 either, only Leman Russes.

Yes, I know people don't just play with transports. Thanks for pointing out that obvious point .

Anyway, good luck with your list, hope it plays well for you

And funnily enough players use AV13 vehicles or you never encounter marines that use predators? that use dreadnoughts with AV13, baal predators, hammerheads, or leman russes?

Cuz i tend to see a lot of them haha so saying that AV13 isn't that common when several armies use them quite often is silly.

Thanks and i do hope my list is fun to play i like the theme.

P.S. the veil is needed im not running a static gunline

Vs Grey Knights

Enemy List Summary
HQ: Grand Master Mordrek + 4 Ghost Knights
Elites: 10 Paladins
Troops: 2 Full Size Strike Squads + 1 Rhino
Heavy Support: Psyrifleman

Mission: Capture & Control
Deployment: Spearhead
1st Turn: Necrons




He let me go first in order to use Mordrek's 1st turn deep strike and surprise me. So I turned the tables by reserving my entire army. He used his deep strike to land near home objective.




Turn 2 most of my army arrived from reserve on a very good reserve roll. Letting me pit 3 ABs, a full size squad of warriors with 2 abyssal staff flamers, and the deathmark squad with another 2 abyssal staff flamers against Mordrek and his squad. And killed him off. On his turn 2 his paladins and 1 full strike squad arrived from reserve near his servo skulls and began shooting at me.





For the next couple turns we began shooting at each other and I used my veil of darkness several times to reposition my army disabling the psyrifleman and claiming his home objective with ease thanks to my high mobility and high volume of gauss fire.






After taking control of his objective I teleported one of my units back to my own objective in order to hold both or if worst came to worst I could contest one and capture the other. We kept shooting at each other I took out most of the strike squads killed the psyrifleman and defended my objective.

Game ended turn 7 with his paladins just making it through to my home objective but as I had units there already they contested it and I won the game as I was controlling his.


He praised my ability to teleport all over the table and shoot at his weak points as one of the key factors in the Necron win.

However I found it quite annoying to fight the paladins which i ignored through out most of the game and aimed for the weaker strike squads and stuff i could actually kill so after much consideration I reworked my 2,000 pts list as follows:

2000 Pts - Necrons Roster - Harbingers of Despair

HQ:
. . 1 Overlord, 150 pts (Warscythe; Resurrection Orb; Upgrade to Phaeron)

. . 1 Overlord, 150 pts (Warscythe; Resurrection Orb; Upgrade to Phaeron)

. . 1 Royal Court, 90 pts
. . . . 1 Harbinger of Despair (Veil of Darkness)
. . . . 1 Harbinger of Despair

. . 1 Royal Court, 90 pts
. . . . 1 Harbinger of Despair (Veil of Darkness)
. . . . 1 Harbinger of Despair

Elite:
. . 5 Deathmarks, 95 pts

Troops:
. . 20 Warriors, 375 pts
. . . . 1 Ghost Ark

. . 20 Warriors, 260 pts

Fast Attack:
. . 5 Destroyers, 260 pts (Gauss Cannon x2; Heavy Gauss Cannon x3)
. . 5 Destroyers, 260 pts (Gauss Cannon x2; Heavy Gauss Cannon x3)

Heavy Support:
. . 1 Annihilation Barge, 90 pts
. . 1 Annihilation Barge, 90 pts
. . 1 Annihilation Barge, 90 pts

Total Roster Cost: 2000

I needed better fire power vs marines more destroyers will do just that while allowing the heavy destroyers a better chance to stay ingame to deal with terminators/paladins in the future

I think the non-Veil harbingers aren't doing much for you. How often are you getting within 8" to fire it? Your list relies heavily on evasion, which I assume you're good at.

Also, the Ghost Ark seems like it will get left behind and not help at all. 115 points for a non-transporting vehicle even with repair protocols isn't a good deal.

I'd fill my third FA slot with basically anything. Wraiths or Scarabs are good tempo-setting units. They are aggressive, but also tough enough to need a lot of resources to stop. That gives your other mobile units some free turns of shooting. More Destroyers or even Tomb Blades would be more JI shooting that can only be a good thing. Without a Veil, I don't think Deathmarks are worth it. They are expensive and slow for a one-time suicide unit.

Also consider Zandrekh and Obryon instead of one of the generic Overlords. Tank Hunters and Stealth are pretty phenomenal abilities to grant guys at-will, as is Phased Reinforcements, and Obryon has a third Veil and some CC punch. You'd lose Phaeron on one of your units, but you'd gain a lot elsewhere.

I agree with you analysis, but don't have those units mentioned to add in, i don't like proxying muchi play what i have. The ark is a decent distraction and came in handy during 1 of my games but yeah it def doesnt really help enough to warrant 115 pts