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So like many people here I'm head over heels about the new Necrons and my 5,000+ army is ready for action.

The one thing I'm having a hard time to decide is how I should equip my LychGuards. Should I just leave them with their Warsythes or should I go for the hyperphase swords and dispersion shields?

Like most people I plan to just play the Decurion Detachment so they will be getting Ever-Living and with that in mind I can't seem to decide, should I go for better survival with a 3++ on top of their improved Reanimation Protocol or should I just go with their regular 3+ and go all out with their offensive power?

I will let you all decide their fate, Hail To The Silent King!!

The sword/board loadout is usually the best way to go because of the 3++

If you want a melee unit that has Ap2, get some praetorians as they are much faster and only slightly more expensive.

 Truth118 wrote:
The sword/board loadout is usually the best way to go because of the 3++

If you want a melee unit that has Ap2, get some praetorians as they are much faster and only slightly more expensive.

Seconded.
My Lynchguard has already this kind of load out.

I think wraiths do a better job of sucking up punishment than sword and board lychguard. Seriously, why run sword and board over a unit of wraiths? Fearless and beast is the bees knees for tarpits.

Lychguard with scythes can dish out punishment for cheap. Add a cryptek with a chronomotetron and you have a cheap resilient and killy unit. Lychguard fill a niche in the cheap killy role.

Sword and board lychguard are much cheaper than wraiths, have higher damage output, and give your HQ nigh-invulnerable Look Out Sir rolls in the Decurion when they serve as, well, guards.

Since you are playing decurion, I would advise against warscythe lychguard as you need a cryptek with chronometron to make that unit work.


For decurion Lychguard (who already come with the improved WBB) I'd say do one of the two:

- Either stick Orikan the Diviner with a 10 man sword and board unit and have them ferry a dude who becomes a monstrous creature by the time he reaches the opponent's DZ, all the while re-rolling saving throws of 1.

or

- make them into two squads of 5 triarch praetorians and take a triarch stalker (judicator battalion) to make them re-roll hits and wounds in shooting

It's the slow movement that you've gotta take into account that should dictate your decision.
• Are they going to be walking? They're going to take forever to get there, so they'll probably need as much protection as possible in the mean time until they do: Shield.
• Are they going to be deep striking with a Veil/Obyron? They're gonna want to hang back a bit to avoid scatter problems, but then it might take longer to get to their target, plus they're be sitting there for a turn doing nothing and probably shot to hell, gonna need protection: Shield.
• Are they dropping in via Night Scythe? They'll be very VERY close to their target, almost certainly getting the charge off the next turn, but would still weather a turn of shooting. If you bring a Solar Staff/Chronometron, less worries: Warscythes.

For a large squad that can kill nearly anything (The only exceptions being things that kill them first because I2), Warscythes. Plan your HQ support carefully and strike them across the board. Veil or Obyron is substantially more reliable, as you can do it on turn one. With Night Scythes you could end up with a turn 5 charge with poor rolling, and that's just absurd. If they aren't in combat on turn three, something has gone horribly wrong given that with good deployment you coulda managed that on foot.

For bodyguards, five on your warlord. They'll still quickly kill any non vehicle without terminator armour or extreme toughness, so that's nice.

Really though, the four main close combat units have different roles.

Lychguard: Can be kitted out for either maximum offence or maximum durability, lowest mobility.

Wraiths: The priciest, but so mobile and durable with pretty good offence that it's still a bargain.

Praetorians: Midground. Still fast and fearless like a Wraith, most but not all of a Scytheguard's offence, but no real way to boost durability above base. Even Scytheguard are more durable in practice as they can take a Cryptek to boost their survivability.

Flayed Ones: Cheap, large unit sizes, can infiltrate and have solid stopping power for their price. The horde route.

A full Necron assault list should make good use of at least three of these options to maximise tactical flexibility. Otherwise, just pick the one that strikes the right balance of you finding it cool to fitting well with the rest of your list.

Im liking the sword and board in a NSs. 10 with a solartek.

 Byte wrote:
Im liking the sword and board in a NSs. 10 with a solartek.

That... Really seems like the worst of both worlds. You won't ever be tabled with that setup I guess, if nothing else.

If you're gonna take a full 10 with both shields and a buffing cryptek, you should really try to attract as much firepower towards the unit as possible, as they'll definately shrug most of it off. As such, the ideal setup there is to drop the solar pulse (Just makes you less likely to get shot once you explain what it is) and run them directly forwards front and center as a shield wall.

changemod wrote:

 Byte wrote:
Im liking the sword and board in a NSs. 10 with a solartek.

That... Really seems like the worst of both worlds. You won't ever be tabled with that setup I guess, if nothing else.

If you're gonna take a full 10 with both shields and a buffing cryptek, you should really try to attract as much firepower towards the unit as possible, as they'll definately shrug most of it off. As such, the ideal setup there is to drop the solar pulse (Just makes you less likely to get shot once you explain what it is) and run them directly forwards front and center as a shield wall.

How well do Lychguard compare to Royal Courts of 3X Necron Lords with 2W, WS, and GoF and SolarPulse/Chronometron Cryptek?

changemod wrote:

 Byte wrote:
Im liking the sword and board in a NSs. 10 with a solartek.

That... Really seems like the worst of both worlds. You won't ever be tabled with that setup I guess, if nothing else.

If you're gonna take a full 10 with both shields and a buffing cryptek, you should really try to attract as much firepower towards the unit as possible, as they'll definately shrug most of it off. As such, the ideal setup there is to drop the solar pulse (Just makes you less likely to get shot once you explain what it is) and run them directly forwards front and center as a shield wall.

Don't really understand your point, last I checked not getting shot at is good.

Deliver them up to 42", pulse, survive, feed.

Lychguard in a decurion are quite good but need a plan. I can see two units of scythe equipped if you are running a foot phalanx as they are perfect protectors and beatsticks. For more competitive options I'm like 5 sword and board with the Olord with the veil. It can start on the board (as opposed to putting them in a nightscythe) depending on your need then teleport where fighting is needed.

It's a stormshield and a powersword. It suckkkkkkkksssssssssssssss.

Warscythes for life.

 Byte wrote:

changemod wrote:

 Byte wrote:
Im liking the sword and board in a NSs. 10 with a solartek.

That... Really seems like the worst of both worlds. You won't ever be tabled with that setup I guess, if nothing else.

If you're gonna take a full 10 with both shields and a buffing cryptek, you should really try to attract as much firepower towards the unit as possible, as they'll definately shrug most of it off. As such, the ideal setup there is to drop the solar pulse (Just makes you less likely to get shot once you explain what it is) and run them directly forwards front and center as a shield wall.

Don't really understand your point, last I checked not getting shot at is good.

Deliver them up to 42", pulse, survive, feed.

If you're incredibly hard to dislodge in the shooting phase, and with T5 3++ 4+++ ten wounds, you are... And your unit still performs it's function equally well after losing a decent chunk of it's models, which it does... Then you want people to not shoot your squishy units that aren't absurdly hard to put down.

Add in the average turn four charge on a unit with a complete lack of shooting, and I'm not even sure what you're thinking.

Hollismason wrote:
It's a stormshield and a powersword. It suckkkkkkkksssssssssssssss.

Warscythes for life.

Stormshields and powerswords suck? Cmon man... AP3 and 3++ is pretty darn good.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

changemod wrote:

 Byte wrote:

changemod wrote:

 Byte wrote:
Im liking the sword and board in a NSs. 10 with a solartek.

That... Really seems like the worst of both worlds. You won't ever be tabled with that setup I guess, if nothing else.

If you're gonna take a full 10 with both shields and a buffing cryptek, you should really try to attract as much firepower towards the unit as possible, as they'll definately shrug most of it off. As such, the ideal setup there is to drop the solar pulse (Just makes you less likely to get shot once you explain what it is) and run them directly forwards front and center as a shield wall.

Don't really understand your point, last I checked not getting shot at is good.

Deliver them up to 42", pulse, survive, feed.

If you're incredibly hard to dislodge in the shooting phase, and with T5 3++ 4+++ ten wounds, you are... And your unit still performs it's function equally well after losing a decent chunk of it's models, which it does... Then you want people to not shoot your squishy units that aren't absurdly hard to put down.

Add in the average turn four charge on a unit with a complete lack of shooting, and I'm not even sure what you're thinking.

Obviously not the same as you. Thank you for your input.

It's just a powersword and you're paying 30 ppm to get that 3++, sorry just not a fan. I think it's a terrrrrrible load out.

Hollismason wrote:
It's just a powersword and you're paying 30 ppm to get that 3++, sorry just not a fan. I think it's a terrrrrrible load out.

Guess it depends on how much str7/ap2 melee your looking for. I tend to face tons of ap2/ap1 so that may be why it works for me. Meta differences I presume.

If your intention with them is to turn one Veil into your opponent's backfield to go on a murder spree, you might be better served to try Flayed Ones instead.

 Byte wrote:

changemod wrote:

 Byte wrote:
Im liking the sword and board in a NSs. 10 with a solartek.

That... Really seems like the worst of both worlds. You won't ever be tabled with that setup I guess, if nothing else.

If you're gonna take a full 10 with both shields and a buffing cryptek, you should really try to attract as much firepower towards the unit as possible, as they'll definately shrug most of it off. As such, the ideal setup there is to drop the solar pulse (Just makes you less likely to get shot once you explain what it is) and run them directly forwards front and center as a shield wall.

Don't really understand your point, last I checked not getting shot at is good.

Deliver them up to 42", pulse, survive, feed.

His point is that it's pretty much overkill. You can take just normal scythe dudes if you have the cryptek with the pulse and chronometron. Take a 5++ and then a 4++ after your opponent needed 6's to hit you? Just ask my flying hive tyrant when it has its FNP on. You're not going anywhere without a metric ton of firepower headed your way.

I would agree with Changemod and take the warscythes if you're going to pulse them out of a Scythe. You will be in assault on the next turn, and you might have lost 1 or two guys. Much more versatile and better offensive output in exchange for a durability tradeoff is a great when the "worse" durability is getting snapshot at with a 3+/5++ followed by a 4+ RP

The advantage of sword and board Lychguard is they can:

1) operate independently without any support

2) operate in MSUs simply for the sake of drawing firepower / being a general nuisance

And 5 of them cost a lot less than a 10 man tactical squad without heavy weapons, so I wouldnt say they would be a waste of points.

Plus its not powerswords, it's S5 powerswords

col_impact wrote:
I think wraiths do a better job of sucking up punishment than sword and board lychguard. Seriously, why run sword and board over a unit of wraiths? Fearless and beast is the bees knees for tarpits.

Lychguard with scythes can dish out punishment for cheap. Add a cryptek with a chronomotetron and you have a cheap resilient and killy unit. Lychguard fill a niche in the cheap killy role.

I like this. Make the unit big and a threat to everything. Wraiths can sponge and pit.

Well War Scythe or Sword and Board? What's the word now? In a Decurion.

I've had very positive results with the reroll 1s and such. I may throw in a Dlord for PE and just park them in the deployment zone as a linebacker unit.

Sword and Board as your DLord's Warscythe and overall squad toughness is usually enough to tarpit and decimate any 2+ save unit.

 Sir Arun wrote:


Plus its not powerswords, it's S5 powerswords

This exactly - power swords suck because they don't boost your natural strength, and most things that use them are either S3 or S4. S5 power swords are the shiznit.

I need an answer to this, so I figured I'd post it here rather than making a new thread:
Is there anything Lychguard can do that another (preferably faster) unit can not do better?

 skoffs wrote:
I need an answer to this, so I figured I'd post it here rather than making a new thread:
Is there anything Lychguard can do that another (preferably faster) unit can not do better?

Absolutely.

Scythe Lychguard are the biggest source of raw kill anything damage in the codex if you can get them into base contact with the thing you want dead.

Shield Lychguard are still fairly solid there except for losing out on Terminators and vehicles, but more importantly are the most durable unit in the codex by a long way if you stick Orikan in there. Especially if you also have them near a Decurion's Overlord for the save Rerolls.

Both function better with proper Cryptek support. Personally I'd strongly advocate turn one teleporting them where they need to go over trying to make a Night Scythe work.

Orikan plus a 2+ save character - ideally with a chronometron character as well then just run scythes... This unit is almost impossible to put down by conventional means

I'm not sold on the death star especially sword and board. It's too slow and lacks hit and run.

A small 5 man group could be a real pain in LVO or BAO setting. There is a ton of Los blocking terrain And it would be easy for foot assault units to threaten mid field objective early in the game.

changemod wrote:
Scythe Lychguard are the biggest source of raw kill anything damage in the codex if you can get them into base contact with the thing you want dead..

It's all well and good to say they kill everything, but what do they do SPECIFICALLY that other units don't do better/for cheaper?

Like, if you consider all the basic things you will encounter:
MEQ
TEQ
Horde
MCs
AV 10-14
Flyers
(did I miss any?)

Is there anything that Lychguard specifically excel against when considering cost and speed?