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Okay, so obviously Necron troops + transport are still really strong (Nightscythes might not be able to score, but the can drop Warriors/Immortals anywhere you need them, and Ghost Arks are perfect for holding objectives closer to home).

But if you need to grab an unclaimed objective later in the game, or contest one that an enemy non-objective secured unit is on, would it be worth considering adding something cheap to hour army?
I'm thinking something closer to 50 points here (the cheaper the better), so another Nightscythe/Ghost Ark isn't going to cut it.
Also, you'll either want something fast or able to deep strike to get to where it needs to be in time.

So I'm thinking-
+++ Tomb Blades: only 20 points each, so a unit of 3 stock standard jet bikes might work out nicely for 60 points.
++ Scarabs: 4 of them for 60 points ain't bad, considering you should be able to hide them pretty easily. Not as fast, though.
+ Flayed Ones: actually slightly useful this edition, in that they can deep strike or outflank. 65 points is... okay.

Wraiths are out because, if you're including them in your army, there's no way they're just going to be there for objective sitting.
Destroyers are out because they're too expensive and too vulnerable to risk taking only one or two.
Deathmarks might be really good because of Ethereal Interception, but too expensive if all you're taking them for is objective sitting.

Is anything else worth considering? (eg. Veil-tek)

Not a Necron player, but my first thought on seeing the thread title was Tomb Blades, they've got the speed, an element of durability, and don't they have an upgrade that gives them stealth or shrouded? As most objectives are normally in terrain, that could be handy.

I find tomb blades to just be too costly. Deathmarks are cheaper than tomb blades, and IMO more useful and better at objective sitting. The +3 save goes a long way, and the guns are nothing to scoff at. Deep strike them so you can mark something late game, then shoot it when you arrive.

Sentry Pylons for home objective.

GA for mid-field.

Veil for enemy backfield.

Veil tech in your units is the best bet IMO.

I think veiltek is the best bet because it can move an objective secured unit on to those objectives

Personally, I am more a fan of units that can contribute to holding an objective than quickly grabbing or denying them at the end of the game. Mainly because there is always the opportunity that you'll play kill points and then what you have is a substandard unit that isn't contributing a huge amount to your army offering a victory point and possibly first blood to your opponent.

If I was really pushed for a quick denial unit; it'd have to be scarabs. They're cheap enough that your army shouldn't suffer too much from them and can be used to delay a unit or quickly kill an enemy vehicle that has strayed too close to them. They're also small enough that you can easily hide them behind terrain.

I might try some tomb blades as objective grabbers.

With the stealth upgrade and jink you get a 3+ cover with RP and TL tesla can actually get some hits when snapshooting.

 BarBoBot wrote:
I might try some tomb blades as objective grabbers.

With the stealth upgrade and jink you get a 3+ cover with RP and TL tesla can actually get some hits when snapshooting.

Don't have my codex on me at the moment, how much does the Shadowloom cost?
Normally I would probably only run them standard, but if a +1 to coversaves is cheap enough I might consider it (because Tesla doesn't care about being snap shot if it's twinlinked).
The only issue then would be how many Tomb Blades to take.

10 points for shadowlooms.

They were a costly upgrade in 6th, but now that going flat-out doesn't add to jink anymore, and jink is already a 4+ that's free, it's really hard to justify that extra cost.

Yeah, 30 points each is a bit much (especially when you can give your entire army stealth for one turn for 20 points with a Solar Pulse. twice, if you're using two Overlords).
Where as 20 points for T5 4+ armor/4+ jink jetbike with a S5 twin linked Tesla weapon that doesn't mind snapshots does not sound bad at all.
3 should suffice for the objective grab, but obviously 5 would be better if I actually want to use them for harassment.

Skoffs,

I'm on the same wavelength as you. Unit of 3 tomb blades stock (so 60 pts) seems to be the way go. I can't see the point of adding anything to them. The Gauss cannons are poor because they don't like snapshotting. Particle beamers are expensive, but then you almost have to take shield vanes (because you definitely don't want to Jink) and the nebuloscope to reduce the scatter is handy. For three in that configuration, I'd rather spend the points on another squad of deathmarks.

However, given that I normally have a pair of HQ and enough troops, I'm seriously considering taking just single tomb blades. My logic is that you only need 1 model to secure an objective, I can send 2 after an objective and to kill both the enemy has to shoot with two different units.

Last weekend I tried a couple of deathmark units without the despairtek (it was only 1500pts and I needed the veil for tesla immortals). DS onto out of the way objective with some oblits on it. That worked reasonably well (sniper rifles are really handy btw, particularly if you can roll the 6). I used Ethereal interception for this one, it worked perfectly and was hilarious - course, was really lucky with the scatter.

Then tried another unit more towards the centre of the board - they were largely useless because there were too many superscoring units around and 5 deathmarks didn't put out enough shots to clear a 3" gap around the objective.

Ethereal interception is a great tool for forcing the opponent to devote scoring troops to out of the way objectives.

I'm also running 2x3 scarabs with a pair of spyders as well. a Unit of 3 scarabs with cover are handy objective sitters and comparatively cheap. Building them up to 5 or 7 bases will, with Z giving them furious charge, fairly reliably clear enough space around an objective for them to score it.

However, units of three scarabs are excellent speed humps for bogging down opposing troop units. Problem is they also deal with transports really well. I'm trying to work out whether more of these min units of scarabs is worth it.




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Btw, tesla immortals with a veiltek (I used a unit of 10) were awesome. I used them as mobile superscoring fire support - dropped Dmarks, then veiled the immortals in to provide fire support. cleared a unit away so the DMarks could score, then veiled the immortals away again.


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You know, thinking about it some more, single tomb blades with particle beamers would be very handy. With relentless you could still move and shoot, and dropping a small blast over an objective would be helpful to support say scarabs or DM. In single units, you could find pretty good cover all the time.

Only drawback is that if the oppoenent gets the assassinate card, it would be REALLY easy to shoot down single tomb blades.

I'd say at minimum two, then, just to be safe.
But you'll want to be extremely careful with these minimum number scoring squads. Don't want to give your opponent free First Blood, now do we?
Best to keep them in reserve for as long as possible. (the exception being Scarabs with Spyders, as you want to be building those numbers up as much as you can)

2 x stock, then 2x particle beamer is 100pts I think. Problem is they only come in boxes of 3.

So, 2xstock, 1xparticle beamer, nebuloscope, shield vanes is 85, 95 to add the shadowloom as well.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Re the comment on First Blood, I was thinking more of having them in a Maelstrom Mission list. First blood is much less important there.

Not sure I'd have them in an Eternal War mission list at all - unless you get scouring or big guns there aren't enough objectives to make it worthwhile.

Tomb blades are probably best at 5 stock. Loiter at the edge of 24" taking max range pop shots with tl tesla then swoop in to grab an objective on turn 5. It's=dakka to 6.33 immortals at full bs, and if they jink for a 4+ they have the dakka of 4.45 immortals.

Tomb blades are a low priority target that's about 24" away. They are highly likely to be ignored or underestimated.