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I was talking to a friend who wanted to play with a C'tan shard the other day and it made me consider the unit again. Out of boredom, I started to wonder how ridiculous of a list I could make with the MC's we have in the book and I ended up with the list below. It's a bit fluffy and would be completely unexpected - however, I'm curious to know what people think.

HQ:
Orikan

Troops:
5 Warriors - Night Scythe
5 Warriors - Night Scythe
5 Warriors - Night Scythe

Elites:
C'tan Shard (Writhing Worldscape, Swarm of Spirit Dust)
C'tan Shard (Pyreshards, Lord of Fire)

Fast Attack:
6 Canoptek Scarabs
5 Canoptek Wraiths (2 Whip Coils)

Heavy Support:
3 Canoptek Spyders
3 Canoptek Spyders
3 Canoptek Spyders

(Total: 1845)

That is a total of 11 MCs in an army that is almost completely Fearless (Warriors and Orikan are the only non-Fearless models). Orikan would be in a unit of spyders for protection and would provide buffs as necessary. First turn, I'd add 9 scarab bases and perhaps another 9 2nd turn depending on how the game demands. With that in mind, splitting the scarabs up into 2 units of 3 may also work better to spread out the destruction.

C'tan powers - Writhing Worldscape is annoying with the number of bikes, jump infantry, and vehicles I have in my area. Forcing Dangerous Terrain tests isn't an effective strategy but can help from time to time. Paired with Orikan it'll just provide some amusement. Since such is an environmental effect though, I figured give that particular c'tan stealth and grenades would be useful (stealth to give me a 3+ cover save in ruins). As for the other, I decided to run a fire-themed one with pyreshards to assist with any FMCs that may arrive as well as to address overwatch. Lord of Flame isn't all that useful in this list and may shift points around for a better option later. Lord of Flame is my go to if I"m using the monolith teleport tactic.

Again - this isn't necessarily meant to be a truly powerful tournament list but just one made out of boredom that seems to be interesting. I know it'd probably be the last thing my opponent would expect to see from a Necron player.

I've had some pretty good results with Monstrous Creature spam.

However , I do utilize Forge World's Dark Harvest list , is that an option for you? Because seriously you can have up to 18 MCs with that list that are super effective.

Would you have a problem with playing allying in Chaos Space Marines? There's some more viable options with them. Being able to take flying Daemon Prince as a HQ is pretty great. Just off the top of my head though NEMESOR IS BOSS. Like seriously that guy is crazy good for MC spam considering he can buff those 3 man Spyder Squads.

I would try and get that 10 man Scarab unit in there somehow because it's way to powerful to not to, on the second turn you can possibly have a 28 model unit that has a total of 84 wounds, is ridiculous. Especially since you can give them stealth with Nemesor so they'll have some protection.


What I'd change

HQ:
Orikan
Destroyer Lord w/ Warscythe , MSS

Troops:
5 Warriors - Night Scythe
5 Warriors - Night Scythe
5 Warriors - Night Scythe

Elites:
C'tan Shard (Writhing Worldscape, Swarm of Spirit Dust)

Fast Attack:
10 Canoptek Scarabs
5 Canoptek Wraiths (2 Whip Coils)

Heavy Support:
3 Canoptek Spyders
3 Canoptek Spyders
3 Canoptek Spyders

Hollismason wrote:
I've had some pretty good results with Monstrous Creature spam.

However , I do utilize Forge World's Dark Harvest list , is that an option for you?

Would you have a problem with playing allying in Chaos Space Marines? There's some more viable options with them.


Just off the top of my head though NEMESOR IS BOSS. Like seriously that guy is crazy good for MC spam considering he can buff those 3 man Spyder Squads.

I tend not to play ForgeWorld units as our local group had a few WAAC IG and Eldar players that pretty much left a really bad taste in everyone's mouth concerning FW.

Why CSM?


The original version of this list had Zahndrekh instead of Orikan (and the whip coils) in order to give Furious Charge to the scarabs as well as hit and run to the C'tans. My current tournament list is spyder-star; however, the only truly useful abilities I've found for buffing the Spyder/IC unit has been Counter-attack. Stealth is easily negated, Tank Hunter isn't necessary unless there's a truly pinnacle need to remove a vehicle, and Furious Charge also tends to be unnecessary most of the time. What has been your experiences with Zahndrekh and what situations do you find that you get the most out of him with MCs?

The two big things, Hit and Run, and Furious Charge for the Scarabs . The hit and run is hit and miss though it's not great because of the initiative but if you absolutely need a last ditch effort to get the Scarabs out of there you can just give them that and try to get them out of there. Fleet is great for keeping up with the Scarabs.

The other one that I like is that he makes the Scarabs a ultimate tar pit as you can strip units of hit and run which is really great against any kind of gakky "impossible" to deal with Death Star.

Strangely enough it is actually difficult to kill a unit in combat that just regenerate up to 27 wounds a turn.

The tactic I've been using is giving the Scarabs Stealth, make it Nightfighting and trying to charge as many units as I can to tie up in combat. Then just sit there and pump more scarabs into the unit while the wraiths run around owning units. Then through attrition I eventually charge all 9 Spyders into the Melee with a unit of them having furious charge or I'll wait and charge everything into one big massive melee and win because you just got charged by 9 MCs and a Squad of Wraiths. It's surprisingly effective against certain armies.


The thing with Allying with Chaos is that you can get a Daemon Prince with wings, along with one of the best flyers in the game , and have a nice cheap unit to sit in the backfield (cultist).

You can also get that for cheaper than the price of TWO C'Tans and have points left over. Now you have 1 additional Flying Monstrous Creature, 1 more troop, and a Heldrake.

Again though I just super recommend the Dark Harvest list because it's sooooo much fun to play a assault, death to everything Necron Army. You don't even lose anything really.

I dont' know about the winged prince idea. Yes he's good but I wouldn't necessarily say he's cheaper as it's 215-220 before any rewards or psychic levels. That already the price of the shard you removed from your list. Throw in the tax for the cultists as well due to allies and it is expensive. Heldrake is great but I've never seen any Necron list "need" it to win.

Back to the rest of the list comments though - I agree the Scarabs are an ultimate tarpit unit for any model without hit and run (which Zahndrekh can remove nicely anyways). That said though they outrun the spyders at some point. No idea where you're getting fleet from since Spyders don't have it and Zahndrekh can't give it.

Also - if you are keeping all 9 spyders by the scarab swarm, that removes the killing power of the list substantially since spyders can't spawn scarabs if they (the spyders) are in close combat. And keeping them constantly close has you generating and growing a single tarpit unit and not actually killing anything with that many points. I'm not certain how sound your strategy really is to be honest.

I generally send the Spyders on their way during my second turn after I've added two turns of Scarabs. I always move my Spyders first then my Scarabs. It's more of a old "tryanid" tactic of Hormagaunts with several monstrous creatures in the back. I've never had any problem with them. I always move straight up and try and get as center to the board as I can to have a wider threat range.

A Daemon Prince w/ wings and goods can run pricey but is going to be a bigger threat than a C'Tan because of his ability to keep up with the rest of the army, specifically the wraiths and the scarabs. I've played it once or twice and it really is a " Oh crap shoot everything I possibly can at him , Oh God"

As for fleet I was half a sleep .

I usually play pretty pricey Prince, but also I don't always take all nightscythes, because I have fliers already and mostly do it because I think three max is enough. The army is though a Dark Harvest list and a Khorne themed Chaos Space Marines list. It's a silly fluffy army I've played via proxy and on Vassal but it's always been super fun I would probably tell my opponent though as it's kind of weird and sometimes cannot be fun to play against. Points are usually 1850 to 2000.

I run a pricey Daemon Prince

Daemon Prince
Wings
Mark of Khorne
Power Armour
Axe of Blind Fury
Total : 255

Heldrake : 175

Chaos cultist : 50

Total : 480

Your load out with C'Tan comes to 450?

Also the previous is not "fun" to do but if you just want a "one off" game to run it, cool. The list I run with that though has literally no shooting except for the Cultist, the Heldrake, 1 Night Scythe, 1 Ghost Ark, and some warriors. So its really light on the shooting but it does have 10 Monstrous Creatures.