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Hey Dakka,

Never faced Necrons before but I have an upcoming game with an experienced player this weekend. I know he will be bringing a few flyers and has access to most of the units in the codex. I play Eldar and was thinking of bringing the following list:

@HQ [ 2 ]

Farseer (175pt.) Ghosthelm; Rune armour; Singing spear; Shuriken pistol; Runes of witnessing; Eldar jetbike; Mantle of the Laughing God;

Asurmen (220pt.) Phoenix armour; Twin-linked avenger shuriken catapult; The Sword of Asur;

@Troops [ 3 ]

10x - Dire Avengers (305pt.)
> 1x - Dire Avenger Exarch; Power weapon and shimmershield;
> 9x - Dire Avenger ; Aspect armour; Avenger shuriken catapult; Plasma grenades;
> 1x - Wave Serpent (145pt.); Serpent shield; Twin-linked scatter lasers; Shuriken cannon; Holo-fields;

5x - Rangers (60pt.)
> 5x - Ranger (12pt.); Mesh armour; Ranger long rifle; Shuriken pistol;

5x - Rangers (60pt.)
> 5x - Ranger (12pt.); Mesh armour; Ranger long rifle; Shuriken pistol;

@Fast attack [ 2 ]

5x - Warp Spiders (95pt.)
> 5x - Warp Spider (19pt.); Death spinner; Heavy Aspect armour; Warp jump generator;

5x - Warp Spiders (95pt.)
> 5x - Warp Spider (19pt.); Death spinner; Heavy Aspect armour; Warp jump generator;

@Heavy support [ 3 ]

Fire Prism (140pt.) Prism cannon; Twin-linked shuriken catapults; Holo-fields;

Fire Prism (140pt.) Prism cannon; Twin-linked shuriken catapults; Holo-fields;

3x - War Walker Squadron (210pt.) Scatter laser (x2);


Tactics:
-Asurmen and my DA will put pressure on forward objectives, one squad of rangers will camp back objective, the other playing a flexible role depending on mission.
-Walkers and spider squads will be used for anti-air guided by the mantleseer.
-Fire Prisms will hopefully whittle down his forces as he advances or create a hole for my troop transport.

Overall I like the flexibility of this list and it has done me well as a TAC force. I really have no idea what to expect from Necrons so any comments and criticisms are welcome.

Your list is solid, but it depends on what your opponent will be taking. Most necron shooting/assault lacks AP, so the shimmershield exarch is not really needed unless your expecting wraiths.

I would drop the shimmer exarch for a diresword. Necron characters can have 2+ saves, and are Ld10 but it is still a chance...or go cheap and take extra warp spiders.

thanks Dr.

helpful as always.

Honestly, I would drop avengers down to half and spend the points on another range unit, the phoenix lord plus the exarch should be enough to murder most necron units.

I disagree. Snipers are most useful against high T and 2+ armor.
High toughness isn't common in Necron army and most of Eldar can deal with good armor.

So I would drop a single Ranger squad.

After that you'll of course need more scoring so I would choose a Guardian squad with Bright Lance for AT.
You need to lose points after that so I would leave the runes of witnessing, they're hardly handy enough for their points.

Really? The extra ranger squad is a scoring body as well as trying to force some Ld checks on the necrons Ld8..... And then you say after dropping rangers that you need another scoring body, which you just dropped, and to take a unit which you cannot afford... Terrible advice.

 Arbiter wrote:
Really? The extra ranger squad is a scoring body as well as trying to force some Ld checks on the necrons Ld8..... And then you say after dropping rangers that you need another scoring body, which you just dropped, and to take a unit which you cannot afford... Terrible advice.

Okay, where to begin from?
Oh, I know. By telling you that pretty much all Necron infantry is Ld10

Terrible advice? Because all scoring units are equal? Guardians are cheaper, better against basic infantry and can have heavy weapon.
Now do tell me, how do Rangers handle this better? And with their snipers they are less mobile and thusly worse in scoring. One keeps home objective, no more is needed.

5 rangers =60pts and 10 guardians =90 (not including HWP)
As for the Ld MB was looking at different unit profile.

Still I say swap 5 avengers for rangers all around better.

Nothing bad with Dire Avengers, but I would still get Guardians.
Total cost is higher, but they get twice the bodies -> cheaper ppm.

They fit better in the list IMO.

Where would you grab the extra 30-50 points from without taking out balance?

Don't kill me if I suggest taking off the Mantle and Jetbike from the Seer.
It's expensive and doesn't add much IMO. I just don't like the idea of Farseer running around alone. So much Ignores Cover stuff out there.

And he could go with the Guardians and have a nice blobbish mid/backfield unit that casts power around the field with 24" range.

If you think that's a bad idea, that's okay. If the OP insists on fielding his new awesome Jetseer model, that's okay.
I admit that it's just my personal preferences and dislike for Jetbikes, but that's just how I would play it.

You are correct on the mantle piece, sitting back with guardians casting guide/prescience on the prisms would be worth it, only thing he looses is the combat abilities such as psychic shriek and puppet master ect.

Okay good point.
I usually only use Runes of Fate (to get Fortune/Guide/Doom) do I didn't consider the more aggressive powers.

Many people under estimate the power of the mantleseer having an enemy's WK killing his own wave serpents or prisms, or a riptide killing a battle suit unit, or even hallucinate on a mob of boyz making them useless for a turn.

all comments appreciated. I think I know where to do the minor tweaks on that list now.

I may end up using the following list however:

@HQ [ 2 ]

Farseer (175pt.) Ghosthelm; Rune armour; Singing spear; Shuriken pistol; Runes of witnessing; Eldar jetbike; Mantle of the Laughing God;

Spiritseer (95pt.) Rune armour; Witch staff; Shuriken pistol; The Phoenix Gem;

@Troops [ 3 ]

5x - Wraithguards (315pt.)
> 5x - Wraithguard ; Wraithcannon;
> 1x - Wave Serpent (155pt.); Serpent shield; Twin-linked scatter lasers; Shuriken cannon; Spirit Stones; Holo-fields;

5x - Wraithguards (315pt.)
> 5x - Wraithguard ; Wraithcannon;
> 1x - Wave Serpent (155pt.); Serpent shield; Twin-linked scatter lasers; Shuriken cannon; Spirit Stones; Holo-fields;

5x - Rangers (60pt.)
> 5x - Ranger (12pt.); Mesh armour; Ranger long rifle; Shuriken pistol;

@Fast attack [ 2 ]

5x - Warp Spiders (95pt.)
> 5x - Warp Spider (19pt.); Death spinner; Heavy Aspect armour; Warp jump generator;

5x - Warp Spiders (95pt.)
> 5x - Warp Spider (19pt.); Death spinner; Heavy Aspect armour; Warp jump generator;

@Heavy support [ 2 ]

3x - War Walker Squadron (210pt.)
> 3x - War Walker (70pt.); Scatter laser (x2);

Fire Prism (140pt.) Prism cannon; Twin-linked shuriken catapults; Holo-fields;


This way I get more durable troops (high T, 3+ save) and some more anti-air (+1 Wave Serpent) for any number of Necron fliers. The downside is I lose Asurman and end up making the mantleseer my warlord. I played something like this today at 1850pt level vs a FMC heavy list and it dominated.

Looks great, most important thing to remember is the Id of anything T5< and anything T5> on a "6" with the WG (I had to show my Local CD player this rule).