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.

DOH! Just had a friend of mine pull a nids army out of nowhere (he has been playing marines for the last 3 or 4 years) for our game next week.

How the frak does a necron shooty army counter nids?!

Quite easy, I would have thought.

What have you got in your army?

It's for a tourney where I will also be playing against BA and IG.


the list i was going to take:

Zahndrakh
Anrakyr (CCB)

DestrucTek - Lance, Pulse
DestrucTek - Lance, Pulse

5 Warriors (Ghost Ark)
5 Warriors
8 Warriors
10 tesla Immortals

6 Scarabs
3 H. Destroyers

2 Anni Barges




not sure what i can change to counter Nids and not leave me vulnerable to the other armies. (Note i dont have any more vehicles, wraiths or Elites of any variety).

No iders what he has apart from a newly painted Tervigon.

It depends, does he go hordes or monsters?

Monsters can be countered with MSS and deathmarks, and the Doomsday Ark is practically designed to be used against hordes.
Tesla weapons are also your best friends, as they can unleash absurd amounts of fire, and lychguard can grind their way their way though light infantry fairly easily.

I'd hate to say this, but dude, you look like you are screwed against Nids.

It's the complete antithesis of what a Necron Player would take against Nids.

How many points is this?

What nids lack for firepower, they much up for melee power.

They've got Hive Guards, firing two Str 8 AP 4 shots on BS4 that ignore flat out cover saves, line of sight, and basically any cover that isn't area terrain or completely between you and it.

Tervigon will spawn endless amounts of guardsmen with bolt pistols and no CCW (basically). However, while that sounds like nothing, they will have special abilities like furious charge and counter-attack to get S4, Ini 5. Oh, and the entire army is fearless unless inside of Synapse. Tervigons give FNP to anything every turn btw.

Genestealers will rip you a new one. Expect outflanks and entire squads wiped due to their insane initiative, fleet, Infiltrate, and move through cover. Broodlord was nerfed, but is still nasty as hell.

If you see warriors, shoot it with S8+ shots. Otherwise, spend the entire game taking out 3 wounds from each. If they're shooty, they're likely packing a venom cannon, which is S6 AP4.

Everything has a higher initiative than you. Hive Tyrant's Lash whip makes sure of it by reducing your Ini to 1.

Zoanthropes shoot S8 AP3 small blasts, BS4, each. They can also lance you with an S10 AP 1, Lance attack (18" range).

If he fields Trygons, avoid like crazy. The thing is a veritable Marine killer with All stats 6+ (except BS3; note, it can shoot S4 AP5 shots at you for giggles, either 6 or 12 shots).

People note how Carnifexes are overpriced. Its true, but they will rip a monolith in half.

Watch for Scarabs hitting the wrong thing; no vehicles, so ES is only reducing their AS to nil; while great, its the Toughness of these guys that make them king (bar gaunts, warriors, and zoanthropes, everything is T6). If your Scarabs hit Guants, they're screwed.

Wraith's Whip Coils make a Hive Tyrant Laugh; avoid. Also, Hive Tyrant can reduce the WS and BS of a target to 1 for a turn; not fun.

If he's fielding Tyrannofex, kill it first or last depending on your vehicles; it fires two S10 AP4 shots at 48" range. Only saving grace? BS3.

Gargoyles may make you made. Jump Guants basically, they auto-wound on a HIT of 6.

The old adage of killing Synapses? Not exactly the best one anymore, since almost everything is a Synapse Creature.

Thats what i thought. :(

1500 points.

Got enough vehicles for AV13 Spam?

'Nids are still pretty good at shooting, reguardless of how much people say that they are made for CC only, the Hive Guard and Zoanthrope entries prove this, as well as Tyranid Warriors being capable of dishing out firepower themselves.

Tf i drop 1 heavy D i can afford a Lightngin field Tek for the Immortals and bring the other warror squad up to 10 bodies. That plus a Ghost Ark will make them pretty durable.

The other 5 man squad was to gaurd the home objective but they are pretty disposable as anythgin takign them out shoudl then be too far away to kill anything worth while.

@Puscifer - nope, no more vehicles to be had.

hpefully my pulses will dull down any shootign he has and let me blast some units as the close. I could always try and use my CCB to surgically kill off Synapse kritters...does that still work?

TBH, considering two out of three armies are CC in your tournament, I'd try to make Tremorcrons.

Orikan, Ctan with Worldscape and some Crypteks with staves.

Add other stuff to taste.

Could you by any chance find out what the nid player is running? A Tervigon doesn't give much away. Shooty, monstrous horde, small bug horde and genestealer horde all make use of the FnP he dishes out.

Even if you don't find out the actual units a theme will help immensely since Nids run on synergy. We can then take educated guesses at certain units and help with strategizing.

How is it that you know there are IG and BA? Friends? Are these match-ups for certain or is this just a case of planning for the worst since these 2 are local tourney champs? Any more information will help us to help you.

It is just a friendly tourney with me and 4 friends.

no idea what he even had, didn't even know he had a Nid army anymore! apparently he has asked another guy if he can borrow a Hive Tyrant. I've also been todl he is bringign Monstrous Creatures (plural) so i'm guessing Carifexs and maybe a Trygon.

I know the list in full of the IG player (and he knows the list i have been workign on)

All i knwo about the BA player is that he said he is bringing "hardly any armour".

EDIT:

Looking at my list i dont think i will get that much use out of Anrakrys Mind in the machine power (apart from maybe in my game against IG), so i have swapped him out for a normal Lord with Phase Shifter, MSS and Warcythe. hopefully this will stand him in better stead if he has to face down a MC. He is also still effective at tank killing from his CCB.

In that case I wouldn't worry too much. If it's friendly then I would just take the list you have experience with and learn from each game.

Vs nids in general remember to keep a keen sense of target priority. What threatens you the most in the list? If you knock out synapse will it make a difference? What synergies are they reliant upon and can you do anything to disrupt them?

Good luck.

Updated List:





Had a quick look at a 'Nid codex yesterday and it has actually made me feel a little better. I was expecting everything to have Fleet and rending and all sorts of nastiness. I was also expectign gaunts to have a beter save than a 6+.

With the list i stated above i have a fair amount of high strength guns (S7 and up). if i concentate fire i should be able to take out a batch of gaunts and maybe a MC per turn (Prioroity will be the Hive Tyrant and the Tervigon). Most fo the MC i know he has (a Tervigon and at least one carnifex) all seem to be S6 so even my Anni Barges will wound on a 3+. The lances and Heavy gauss will deny them armour saves as well (both 3+) and the Anni Barges should put out enough fire that I can force them to fail a couple of rolls.

I can use Zandy to rob a gaunts unit of FC and give the unit they are attacking counter attack which might mitigate CC somewhat.

Not sure if nightfight from my pulses will mean anything, but you never know, some of the 'Nids do have some nasty shooting attacks which i would want to avoid.

I think the "old trick" of killing Synapse might actually work. Like i said i know he is taking a Hive Tyrant and a Tervigon (both Synaspse), I think i remember him having a squad of warrirors too. But all in all i dont think he actually has that many (4 or 5 models maybe).

Question: If they are in Synape range (12" i think?), does that mean they just ignore their Instinctive Behaviour? Or do they also use another models Ld as well? I am just wondering how effective MSS is actually going to be if i manage to get the charge on his Hive Tyrant with my MSS/CCB Lord.

Praxiss wrote:had a quick look at the 'Nid codex yesterday and it has actualyl made me feel a little better. I was expecting everythgin to have Fleet and rending and all sorts of nastiness

with the list i stated above i have a fair amounf of high strength guns (S7 and up). if i concentate fire i shoudl be able to take out a batch of gaunts and maybe a MC per turn. Most fot he MC i knwo he has (a Tervigon and at least one carnifex) all seem to be S6 so even my Anni Barges will wound on a 3+. the lances and Heavy gauss will deny them armour saves as well (both 3+) and the Anni Barges shoudl put out enough fire that i can force them to fail a couple of rolls.

I can use Zandy to rob a gaunts unit of FC and give the unit they are attackign counter attack which might mitigate CC somewhat.

Not sure if nightfight from my pulses will mean anything, but you never know, some of the 'Nids do have some nasty shooting attacks which i would want to avoid.

i think the "old trick" of killing Synapse might actually work. Liek i said i knwo he is taking a Hive tyrant and a Tervigon (both Synaspse), i think i remember him having a squad of warrirors too. But all in all i dont think he actuayl has that many.

Question: If they are in Synape range (12" i think?), does that mean they just ignore their Instinctive behaviour? or do they also use another models Ld as well? I am just wondering how effective MSS is actually going to be if i manage to get the charge on his Hive Tyrant with my MSS/CCB Lord.

If they're in synapse range they just ignore instinctive behavior, only old one eye makes tyranid units use a different LD within their radius and Old One Eye is quite frankly one of the most garbage units in the history of the game.

Could be helpful as the gaunts and 'fex (i think) have Lurk. So if i could get them to run into the nearest terrain i can just let them sit there and gun them down at range (good for necrons).

The ones with Feed might be a bit more of an issue but if i can single them out i could just try and kite them with a low value unit off into the middle of nowhere.

if they all keep their Ld then MSS shoudl be pretty useful as not many of them have more than Ld6 or 7 (apart from the Hive Tyrant). So a test on 3D6 should go my way.

What about this:

1 Anrakyr the Traveler
2 Necron Lord w/ Warscythe, Mindshackle Scarabs
4 Harbringer of Destruction w/ Solar Pulse

1 Nemesor Zhandrekh
4 Harbringer of Destruction w/ Solar Pulse
1 Varguard Obyron

5 Necron Warriors w/ Ghost Ark
5 Necron Warriors

10 Canoptek Scarabs

1 Annihilation Barge
1 Annihilation Barge

This would be a all nice all around army that would stand up to Nids, its got very decent firepowar and some nice hth tricks.

and it would utterly kick tanks in the groin eitherway

Except that Anrakyr vs nids is pointless as Nids dont have any tanks so his Mind in the machien power is wasted (plus he can't use it from a barge anyway anymore).

Plus havign only 2 tiny troops choices scares me.

Make sure your friend doesn't keep switching armies unknowingly. I'm pretty sure you're supposed to know what you're fielding when you make your armies.

I mean facing...

yeah, this is why he told us all a week in advance. If he had done it last minute i woul have been upset

Praxiss wrote:Except that Anrakyr vs nids is pointless as Nids dont have any tanks so his Mind in the machien power is wasted (plus he can't use it from a barge anyway anymore).

Plus havign only 2 tiny troops choices scares me.

Trazyn is trolltastic against Nid Hordes. Kill one gaunt and watch the rest of the brood follow. Then laugh heartily.

mechanically, but heartily

Kain wrote:
Trazyn is trolltastic against Nid Hordes. Kill one gaunt and watch the rest of the brood follow. Then cackle maniacally.

Fixed that for you.

mechanically, but maniacally

This is what I brought vs. nids yesterday, wiped the floor with em

At 1500 pts
1 OL Scythe, MSS, Weave Shifter
x7 Lychguard
x6 Wraiths w/ 3 whips, 1 pistol
x3 Destructeks
x8 warriors
x8 warriors
x8 warriors
1 Triarch Stalker w/ particle whip
1 Monolith
1 A-barge

Pie plates are fun

I play both and Annhilation barges are just ace against nids. Lychguard deathstars also come into their own against any nid CC unit including tyrant blobs and genestealers in particular since they are most likley equipped with toxin sacs and consequently will not got their re-roll against the T5 of the unit they they expect against normal MEQs.

Storm Crypteks with lighning fields on key units are also just hell for nids since they will get into CC and their low saves across the board just gets hammered more by the automatic STR8 hits.

MSS is horrific against most nids since you test off their base leadership.

Nightfighting can be advantageous if your opponent uses alot of hive guard.

One problem I learned playing crons against nids was that phalanx tactics, which normally work great against MEQ armies, are just piss poor versus all the CC units nids can bring. So make sure your troops are mobile and/or survivable by adding ghost arks, night scythes, veil of darkness, or even just using the monolith's portal.

Good luck.

I play nids and a necron player really messed me up. he put some unit leader thing, maybe a cryptek or something like that. and it had this item that when i charged them it did d6 S8 shots. that is awesome VS nids cause we have low saves and anyone running any kind of mid sized creatures lists will be in for some pain. Getting doubled out by on charge effects is lame.


Other than that tesla is really nice. we do not have high armour so the ap- is not at all a drawback.

That would've indeed been a Cryptek; one of the Storm with an ability called Lightning Field.

Avatar 720 wrote:That would've indeed been a Cryptek; one of the Storm with an ability called Lightning Field.

thanks, i felt like a stumbling idiot typing that.

Lightning field is great!

I forgot to mention it wounds even the biggest of big bugs on a 2!