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Thought I'd start a thread about playing Necrons. Not really any specific kind of units, just any kind of tactics.

Couple of questions to get this thread started:
Where to put warrior blobs?
How to use ghost arks?
Which HQ to choose (and why)?
And anything else you can think of!

Warrior blobs: I usually keep it to around 10 - 12 and stick a lord/overlord with an orb in there. The lord/overlord is always decked out as WS/MSS/SW/orb. it's a little pricey but well worth it.

Deathmarks: I like to run the death & despair unit in a scythe. 5 deathmarks + 1 harbinger of despair + 1 night scythe = one dead unit of your choice. And once they've killed said unit hop back into a scythe and fly off into ongoing reserve. When you come out of reserve (deploys) you can pick another unit for death!

HQs: Can't beat an Overlord with a warscythe, Mindshackle scarabs, res orb, weave. Stick him in a 10+ squad of warriors and prepare for AWESOME sauce. The named HQ's are 'cute' and I roll them out once in a while for a change of pace but if we're talking tournament these guys are hard to beat. literally.

Wraiths: If you can keep them alive long enough to get into contact these guys can put the hurt on anything except maybe termies w/SS&TH. Now if you want these dudes to really kick but add a destroyer lord (warscythe by default) with MSS and weave and watch units die even faster. The DL confers preferred enemy everyone - rerolling ones!

Night scythes: I use them when I need to transport a unit anywhere on the board but I don't think I would rely on them to win the game for me. It's tough to keep them on the board and even tougher when your opponent has a ton of strength 5+ shooting. I'll take one for a single unit of warriors to grab an objective. I'll definitely take one for the deathmarks.

Doomsday Arks: Can be nice if you're a good shot when it comes to scatter.

Doom scythe: I'll take this over a doomsday ark. Great for taking out termies of any kind anywhere on the board. Cover will save them but termies in cover aren't really termies

Immortals: I always take one full unit of 10. Tesla is amazing and they have a decent save.

necron99 wrote:
Warrior blobs: I usually keep it to around 10 - 12 and stick a lord/overlord with an orb in there. The lord/overlord is always decked out as WS/MSS/SW/orb. it's a little pricey but well worth it.

Deathmarks: I like to run the death & despair unit in a scythe. 5 deathmarks + 1 harbinger of despair + 1 night scythe = one dead unit of your choice. And once they've killed said unit hop back into a scythe and fly off into ongoing reserve. When you come out of reserve (deploys) you can pick another unit for death!

HQs: Can't beat an Overlord with a warscythe, Mindshackle scarabs, res orb, weave. Stick him in a 10+ squad of warriors and prepare for AWESOME sauce. The named HQ's are 'cute' and I roll them out once in a while for a change of pace but if we're talking tournament these guys are hard to beat. literally.

Wraiths: If you can keep them alive long enough to get into contact these guys can put the hurt on anything except maybe termies w/SS&TH. Now if you want these dudes to really kick but add a destroyer lord (warscythe by default) with MSS and weave and watch units die even faster. The DL confers preferred enemy everyone - rerolling ones!

Night scythes: I use them when I need to transport a unit anywhere on the board but I don't think I would rely on them to win the game for me. It's tough to keep them on the board and even tougher when your opponent has a ton of strength 5+ shooting. I'll take one for a single unit of warriors to grab an objective. I'll definitely take one for the deathmarks.

Doomsday Arks: Can be nice if you're a good shot when it comes to scatter.

Doom scythe: I'll take this over a doomsday ark. Great for taking out termies of any kind anywhere on the board. Cover will save them but termies in cover aren't really termies

Immortals: I always take one full unit of 10. Tesla is amazing and they have a decent save.

All really good advice one thing I would add is I've had luck using just a 5 man deathmark squad bare bones. It keeps them cheap and I use them as a distraction unit that for 95pts has a decent chance to pick up a kill on the enemy warlord depending on where he is hiding.

Warriors I usually run in three squads of 8, with 5 in a night scythe for late game mobility for objectives.

6 Wraiths w/ 3 whip coils and a Destroyer Lord w/ MSS and SW, is the absolute best deathstar I can think of.

Earlier today, I had great luck running x6 Lychguard w/ shields and swords with Obyron, zapped them into my opponent's backfield, and took out 2 squads of Long Fangs, a terminator wolf guard with cyclone missile launcher and power axe, and a squad of grey hunters. They make excellent marine hunters, since they can shrug off heavy weapons, and tank light ones.

Triarch Stalkers are excellent force multipliers.

I have a question that this seems like a good place to ask!

One thing I've been wondering is how people take on heavy terminator lists like deathwing?

I haven't used necrons against one yet, but when I think of how much ap2 weaponry my guard can take to handle such a threat.. I wonder how people manage with necrons.

Is it a case of loads of shots ie tesla destructors? The doomsday ark could take a lot out but is unreliable for various reasons, the death ray can only hit single models so maybe get 2-3 under the line which would be good. Wraiths or lychguard or praetorians can stand up to most in combat...

So I know there are ways to take on termies with necrons but what about a list with say 6 units of them in with the lack of ap2 weaponry or am I just under estimating them?

adam304 wrote:
I have a question that this seems like a good place to ask!

One thing I've been wondering is how people take on heavy terminator lists like deathwing?

I haven't used necrons against one yet, but when I think of how much ap2 weaponry my guard can take to handle such a threat.. I wonder how people manage with necrons.

Is it a case of loads of shots ie tesla destructors? The doomsday ark could take a lot out but is unreliable for various reasons, the death ray can only hit single models so maybe get 2-3 under the line which would be good. Wraiths or lychguard or praetorians can stand up to most in combat...

So I know there are ways to take on termies with necrons but what about a list with say 6 units of them in with the lack of ap2 weaponry or am I just under estimating them?

This is what i would do with my list. I would use stalkers and gauss guns to blow up a landraider a turn, and the deathray to pop another (potentially). Your best bet is to make them march at you and pile the dice onto them. Making a termie unit take 25 saves a turn is a good way to get rid of it, unless your opponent has godly dice.

To handle those pesky 2+ armour saves, a squad of heavy Destroyers can be good. they are expensive but they are one of the few ways you can get AP2 shooting into your army (DestrucTeks being another).

Wraiths are supposed to be able to hold their own as well. i have only used them once so far 9and then only a squad of 3 with a D-lord) but they just about defeated a 5 man assault termie squad and attached BA Libby. if i'd had the full squad of 6 it woudl have been game over a lot sooner.

the downside of both these options is that they get expensive, fast. 3 heavy Destroyers will set you back 180 points for 3 single woudn models.

6 Wraiths, 3 Whip Coils and a D-lord with MSS and Weave will set you back a tidy 400 points.

Where to put warrior blobs?
I only used them once or twice I like the smaller 8 man units like the previous poster. Any bigger and you lose too many warriors the sweep if you get a bad combat resolution. Play them as central as possible with another squad (the more the better) to support it. If one folds you can rapid fire from multipul squads. Play them midfield to control the board and reach most things and treaten mech, Mech will think twice about getting to close.

How to use ghost arks?
I don't rate them. I like the trick to hop a royal court of 3 or 4 dispairteks and drop multipul templates on foot troops. If the ghost arc is assaulted you get to flamer too.

Which HQ to choose (and why)?
Basic overlord pimped with gear is what I almost always include. Lots of different kit dependant on his job. At low points the D Lord is the bomb upgraded 2+ and shackles. No court though.

And anything else you can think of!
Command barge is not worth it so much now.

The Annihilation barge is still amazingly good value though (in both points and real money)

Best way I found to deal with termy heavy lists, at least a method that has worked really well for me, is expensive but somewhat versatile as an all-comers unit. Full squad of lychguard (sword and board), Destroyer lord with MSS and Semp Weave, Nemesor Zahndrekh. You don't NEED him in the unit, but his res orb helps. You can put an orb on the d lord if you want nemesor somewhere else. The other reason for him, is for counter attack or furious charge. And to take away some of those pesky USR's from the enemy. But he's great for your other units, like giving a blob of 20 warriors Tank Hunter. Nothing like getting to re-roll every single roll that wasn't a 6 against any vehicle. And when you get 15-35 hits, that's a LOT of glances that will pretty much wreck any vehicle.

But yes, I know the lychguard won't break the 2+ armor but they force a lot of saves on your enemy with the d.lord in there. Last game I was averaging 3 failed hits and 2 failed wounds for an average of about 11-15 wounds per round (including nemesor's attacks), d.lord was in challenge for the first round. Second assault round, they routed the termies. I think I lost 2 lychguard all together from that.

 Kevin949 wrote:
Best way I found to deal with termy heavy lists, at least a method that has worked really well for me, is expensive but somewhat versatile as an all-comers unit. Full squad of lychguard (sword and board), Destroyer lord with MSS and Semp Weave, Nemesor Zahndrekh. You don't NEED him in the unit, but his res orb helps. You can put an orb on the d lord if you want nemesor somewhere else. The other reason for him, is for counter attack or furious charge. And to take away some of those pesky USR's from the enemy. But he's great for your other units, like giving a blob of 20 warriors Tank Hunter. Nothing like getting to re-roll every single roll that wasn't a 6 against any vehicle. And when you get 15-35 hits, that's a LOT of glances that will pretty much wreck any vehicle.

But yes, I know the lychguard won't break the 2+ armor but they force a lot of saves on your enemy with the d.lord in there. Last game I was averaging 3 failed hits and 2 failed wounds for an average of about 11-15 wounds per round (including nemesor's attacks), d.lord was in challenge for the first round. Second assault round, they routed the termies. I think I lost 2 lychguard all together from that.

Wouldn't a squad of Wraiths be more effective given their better save (3++ instead of 4++), the higher amount of attacks (5 attacks per model vs. 1-2 attacks per model: Wraiths are likely to get the charge due to being Jump Infantry) and Rending? Especially with lower total cost. I don't want to get ye old debate going again, just interested

 Sigvatr wrote:

 Kevin949 wrote:
Best way I found to deal with termy heavy lists, at least a method that has worked really well for me, is expensive but somewhat versatile as an all-comers unit. Full squad of lychguard (sword and board), Destroyer lord with MSS and Semp Weave, Nemesor Zahndrekh. You don't NEED him in the unit, but his res orb helps. You can put an orb on the d lord if you want nemesor somewhere else. The other reason for him, is for counter attack or furious charge. And to take away some of those pesky USR's from the enemy. But he's great for your other units, like giving a blob of 20 warriors Tank Hunter. Nothing like getting to re-roll every single roll that wasn't a 6 against any vehicle. And when you get 15-35 hits, that's a LOT of glances that will pretty much wreck any vehicle.

But yes, I know the lychguard won't break the 2+ armor but they force a lot of saves on your enemy with the d.lord in there. Last game I was averaging 3 failed hits and 2 failed wounds for an average of about 11-15 wounds per round (including nemesor's attacks), d.lord was in challenge for the first round. Second assault round, they routed the termies. I think I lost 2 lychguard all together from that.

Wouldn't a squad of Wraiths be more effective given their better save (3++ instead of 4++), the higher amount of attacks (5 attacks per model vs. 1-2 attacks per model: Wraiths are likely to get the charge due to being Jump Infantry) and Rending? Especially with lower total cost. I don't want to get ye old debate going again, just interested

Better invul, but no RP and ID to str8+, no bueno against termies. Wraiths only have 1 extra attack over lychguard, barring HoW (which isn't that great, IMHO), but overall lychguard have more attacks. 20 attacks (lych) vs. 18 from wraiths factoring full squads. Sure on the charge wraiths will have 34 vs. the lychguard 30, but that's IF every wraith gets in contact and IF you use the jump packs instead of normal assaulting. But, the lychguard have AP3 weapons "all the time", the wraiths only have AP 2 when they roll a 6 to wound (which means lychguard are technically a better all comers unit for assaults). Good, yes, better at vehicle hunting for the higher strength and rending, but not great at hunting termies as 1 failed save is 1 dead wraith, and they don't get back up. That's the whole point of the res orb, so your losses are (statistically) halved.

The only real drawback lychguard have is they're not as mobile as wraiths. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying wraiths aren't good, but they have an easily exploitable weakness against termies that isn't as detrimental to lychguard.

Again though, I'm just speaking of personal experience. I've simply had much MUCH better luck hunting termies with lychguard and appropriate IC's compared to Wraiths and appropriate IC's.

LG also have that T5, which won't help against PF/TH terms, but is a nice damage mitigator against LC/PW terms.

And, I know I'm probably going to get PETA called on me for my treatment of deceased equine here, but Flayed Ones are a very respectable counter to PF and TH Terms. 15 to 20 can easily take out their points worth in Terms, and add in a DLord w/SW/MSS/RO and you can take even larger (10 man+IC) Term squads to town.

Yeah, Wraith losing RP was a bit of a blow.

but as far as i can see that is pretty much their only down point.

ShadarLogoth wrote:LG also have that T5, which won't help against PF/TH terms, but is a nice damage mitigator against LC/PW terms.

And, I know I'm probably going to get PETA called on me for my treatment of deceased equine here, but Flayed Ones are a very respectable counter to PF and TH Terms. 15 to 20 can easily take out their points worth in Terms, and add in a DLord w/SW/MSS/RO and you can take even larger (10 man+IC) Term squads to town.

Their T5 is what keeps them alive from all the small arms fire as well. I won't start on the flayed ones discussion, that's a YMMV unit and I'll personally never buy the finecast models for multiple reasons.

Praxiss wrote:Yeah, Wraith losing RP was a bit of a blow.

but as far as i can see that is pretty much their only down point.

Honestly, I'm not so bummed about losing RP since they got an extra wound and rending. What I DO hate the most is their movement type changed and they lost their fantastic initiative.

How to handle Termies:

A) 6 Wraiths (3 Whip Coils) and a D-Lord (MSS and Weave) = 400 points
PROS- Higher Inv save. So many other things I'm not even going to bother listing them all.
CONS- Instant death-able. Can't get back up.

B) 10 Lychguard (Sword & Shield) and a D-Lord (MSS, Weave, and ResOrb) = 640 points
PROS- CAN get back up. A bit more instant death-proof.
CONS- Lower Inv save. Walk very slowly. VERY expensive.

C) 5 Deathmarks, a Despair-tek, and a D-Lord (MSS and Weave) = 285 points
PROS- Auto-hit, practically auto-wound AP1 flame template weapon (HfH allows wounding on a 2+, PE allows rerolling of 1's... you're gonna be wounding anything this touches). 6's from Deathmarks can snipe Libby, etc.
CONS- will get murdered when assaulted.

The major downside for both B and C is they'll need some way to get into the fray... most likely a Nightscythe. That'll tack on an extra 100 points.
For the D3 squad (Death, Despair, Destroy), that'll still be the cheapest option.
For the Lychguard... :/

 skoffs wrote:
How to handle Termies:

A) 6 Wraiths (3 Whip Coils) and a D-Lord (MSS and Weave) = 400 points
PROS- Higher Inv save. So many other things I'm not even going to bother listing them all.
CONS- Instant death-able. Can't get back up.

B) 10 Lychguard (Sword & Shield) and a D-Lord (MSS, Weave, and ResOrb) = 640 points
PROS- CAN get back up. A bit more instant death-proof.
CONS- Lower Inv save. Walk very slowly. VERY expensive.

C) 5 Deathmarks, a Despair-tek, and a D-Lord (MSS and Weave) = 285 points
PROS- Auto-hit, practically auto-wound AP1 flame template weapon (HfH allows wounding on a 2+, PE allows rerolling of 1's... you're gonna be wounding anything this touches). 6's from Deathmarks can snipe Libby, etc.
CONS- will get murdered when assaulted.

The major downside for both B and C is they'll need some way to get into the fray... most likely a Nightscythe. That'll tack on an extra 100 points.
For the D3 squad (Death, Despair, Destroy), that'll still be the cheapest option.
For the Lychguard... :/

I'd argue that a DLord with MSS and Weave is actually all you'll need. Against all but LC or Power Sword/Power Maul Termies you'll be hitting before them, and even the aforementioned lot will have a hard time breaking through T6 and a 2+. MSS gets you at least one termie out of the fight, PE gets you re-rolled 1s, Warscythe cuts down near enough whatever it touches, and return attacks need to get through a 2+ armour save and can't ID due to double toughness (not that any terminators outside GKTs with Hammers could do that to a regular lord either). His transport isn't an issue because he's JI, he's small enough to hide behind terrain, and people are less likely to feel threatened by a single model.

Even if you don't kill all the Termies in a single round, unless you're very unlucky you won't die in it either. Short of Force weapons, not a whole lot scares you. At all. Since you also cost a decent amount less than any Terminator squad going (outside of Chaos Termicide), you can afford to sit in that combat and kill a model per turn. He needs to get out of it as quickly as possible if he even wants to get close to an enemy unit.

That's a great point by Avatar, and has dictated much of my decisions when I run my DLord with my VB/PC Triarch Praetorians. If I'm fighting Maul or TH/PF Terms, I'll keep them together, as the higher Initiative or keeping their armor saves keeps the TP's strong in both situations. Against LC or (the rather rare) Power Sword Terms, I'll send the DLord by himself, and let the TP's go tank or troop hunting. A DLord, even if assaulted by LC Terms, is damn near an auto-win. He pretty much owns AP 3+ Power Weapon units.

Destroyer lords can't take phase shifters.

Yeah I think he meant the semp weave. As any power weapon that strikes before the 2+ bounces off of it, and any that pens it strikes after it. At least, that's what the context seems to imply.

ShadarLogoth wrote:
Yeah I think he meant the semp weave. As any power weapon that strikes before the 2+ bounces off of it, and any that pens it strikes after it. At least, that's what the context seems to imply.

Oh, I figured as much, just wanted to state that d.lords don't get the invul. Otherwise, man, there'd be almost no reason to field an overlord at that point.

To be honest, based on how good ther D-Lor and Wraiths are, im startign to move away from fielding an overlord in smaller games.

With the lower points costs (up to 1500 for example) you dont tend to see as much return on your Crypteks IMO. YMMV of course.

 Praxiss wrote:
To be honest, based on how good ther D-Lor and Wraiths are, im startign to move away from fielding an overlord in smaller games.

With the lower points costs (up to 1500 for example) you dont tend to see as much return on your Crypteks IMO. YMMV of course.

I haven't taken a court in about 5 games or so and my outcome has been the same. Victory.

I play against the imperium a lot...

Space Wolves
Space marines
Grey Knights
Blood Angels

Against the above i like to use tesla a lot. Since they can save almost everything,... why not dish out more shots? Volume of fire breaks marines... I take some punch weapons but not a lot... Mosty 2 stalkers max and a heavy destroyer. Gauss glances everything so that helps...

Against Imperial guard im going gauss all the way,.. stupid russ spams will have trouble with possible glances everywhere. Take some punch weapons to finish them off,... and Anrakyr can be real awesome here.

I tend to take at least 3 10 man warrior squads in every game. This gives me enough Gauss that i can always put Tesla on my Immortas without really losing anything.

Saying that i woudl take Gauss against IG as the Gauss Blaster will deny armour saves to most IG infantry.