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The Black Legion Speartip allows for Turn 1 Deep Strikes, and it allows your Warlord to arrive automatically.

Necrons are Allies of Convenience with Black Legion. They also have a funky Elite in the form of Deathmarks.

Deathmarks can be used as protection against Skyhammer or to tap a Wraithknight, but RAW also allows them to automatically arrive from DS Reserves each time a CSM unit arrives from DS reserves.

Would it be possible to build a "min tax" Necron CAD to support a Speartip at 1850 points? Or is this too harebrained to go beyond mere theorycrafting?

starting again.

Are you saying you want to count your allies as an enemy to get a T1 deathmark deployment?

Yup! Allies of Convenience count as enemies for all intents and purposes. This means no buffing Necrons with Black Crusader, CSM with Stalker Targeting Matrices, etc.

Deathmarks have a special rule called Ethereal Interception. When an enemy unit arrives from DS reserve, you can choose to have a Deathmark unit also arrive from DS reserve too, and the Deathmark unit may choose to shoot at an enemy unit that arrived from DS reserve at the end of that movement phase. This means that if your opponent brings Skyhammer, you get the first shot. It also means that you can automatically have your Warlord arrive on turn 1 (due to the Speartip Strike) and have a Deathmark unit automatically arrive as well.

The issue is one of army taxes. Both Necron Troops are infantry, and both Black Legion cores require 2 CSM units. You could opt to take min Immortals and give them Nightscythes perhaps?

This is actually not a bad idea. You'd need, though:
1. Two minimum units of Immortals
2. Destroyer Lord or Overlord
3. Wraiths!!!
4. Then the Deathmarks

So the question is how much do you want to spend on your allied detachment?

An early early draft is something like this. Point costs may be off a bit as I don't have the Necron 'dex on-hand.

++Speartip++
+Hounds of Abaddon+
Juggerlord w/ Sigil and Axe of Blind Fury - 160
5 CSM - 75
5 Berzerkers - 105
5 Raptors w/ 2 Meltaguns - 115
+Terminator Annihilation Force+
Terminator Lord w/ Brand - 95
3 Combiplasma Terminators - 112
3 Combiplasma Terminators - 112
3 Combiplasma Terminators - 112

++Necron CAD++
Basic Lord - 50
Immortals - 85
Immortals - 85
Deathmarks - 85
Deathmarks - 85
Deathmarks - 85

If my calculations are right, that's about 1201 points, leaving 649 points to round it off into something more meaningful. Thoughts include:
-Replacing the vanilla Lord with something more meaningful. Be it a Destroyer Lord, Bargelord, or even Szeras.
-Alternately, add Nightscythes for the Immortals, or a Veil of Darkness.
-Switch the Hounds for a Warband, and using the Perdus Rift Anomaly as a Legacy to get re-rollable Seize the Initiative. I kind of like this idea the best overall, as Thirst for Glory is rather useful for shooting stuff. Shame the Plasma Obliterator is so pricey as adding one in the CAD for hijacking could be funny. (Realistically though, you can get 4 Heavy Ds for the cost of 1 Plasma Obliterator).
-Swap out one Deathmark unit for a Stalker, and add a Judicator Battalion as Detachment #3. I actually kind of like this idea, as it adds a pair of mobile bully units, and adds more Multimelta support.
-Add a Cabal for extra fun; don't forget Last Memory. If using a Warband instead of the Hounds, optionally make one of the Sorcerers Slaaneshi to outflank a Marine unit as part of wave 2. I'm not as much of a fan of this however, due to it costing a good 300+ points for the extra Warp Charge/Familiars/etc, as well as the fact you're not taking secondary battery casters (as Necrons/Daemons are CtA).

The challenge is keeping a solid ratio between the Chaos and Necron components, and ensuring there's a solid backbone once the Alphastrike plays its part.

Has anyone tried this yet? I'm thinking of investing in some necrons and this sounds like a fun way to have them roll with my chaos

 MagicJuggler wrote:
The Black Legion Speartip allows for Turn 1 Deep Strikes, and it allows your Warlord to arrive automatically.

Necrons are Allies of Convenience with Black Legion. They also have a funky Elite in the form of Deathmarks.

Deathmarks can be used as protection against Skyhammer or to tap a Wraithknight, but RAW also allows them to automatically arrive from DS Reserves each time a CSM unit arrives from DS reserves.

Would it be possible to build a "min tax" Necron CAD to support a Speartip at 1850 points? Or is this too harebrained to go beyond mere theorycrafting?

Its a bit of a stretch and I am not sure if I would be ok with this. But then again I need to re-read the rules in this regard so. But I dont think you could count an allied force as an enemy. Alot of murk here. But I would be interest to get an offical answer on it. Perhaps lets take this to the you make the call forum and see if your premise is plausable.


But if you could that would be bad ass. I already have a necron force on the shelf so I could get some use from it.

Is there any formation with deathmarks?
Also, do they get the 2+ to-wounds only vs the unit that has arrived or any unit?

 koooaei wrote:
Is there any formation with deathmarks?
Also, do they get the 2+ to-wounds only vs the unit that has arrived or any unit?

Theres no formation including deathmarks, they´re just an AUX choice in the decurion. Hunters from Hyperspace works against any unit, even against Gargantuans (see FAQ).

that could be a very neat combo actually. Still won't help vs invis but will threaten wraithknights.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
But is it really worth the tax investment?

That's the ultimate question. Alas there is no Deathmark Assassination Force formation or so.

Nightscythe Immortals are not the worst tax in the world though. Shame they come in on turn 2 though. Tesla Immortals can at least support from turn 1 otherwise.

I love this concept! I've been contemplating picking up CSM as a new army since, like you said, they are AOC. Back in the day I used to run three units of DMs with an attached cryptek shooting an abysil staff (ap2 flamer) in night scythes. Fly on, mark a unit, hop out, flame on, hop back in next turn and fly on to another target. Those were the days

I like the idea of the Judicator Battalion. I ran one at Nova last year and they wrecked face.

Being able to seriously incorporate CSM into my crons would be awesome!

I'm not sure you can combo like that. I've tried to use the Black Legion Cabal to target my own allied riptide wings, and some TOs said I could not target my own units.

That itself isn't legal since you can't target units in your own army even if they're enemies. Allies of Convenience are treated as enemies for all other intents and purposes including not benefitting from Warlord Traits, being hit by Novas, Shadow in the Warp, preventing Genestealer Cults from using Return to the Shadows, etc.

Normally, when arriving via Ethereal Interception, they fire at the unit that arrived from reserves that turn... which in this case would be your warlord's unit... which would be pretty counter productive.

But then I checked,
Nope, looks like you're good!
(If firing in the MOVEMENT PHASE they would have to fire at the unit that arrived from reserves, but they can opt not to shoot at that point and just fire in the shooting phase, like normal. And because they arrived via deep strike that turn they can wound anything on a 2+, thanks to Hunters From Hyperspace).

Jesus, throw in Obyron and an additional Necron HQ with the Veil (each attached to something decently shooty) and you would have one HELL of a first turn alpha strike surprise party.

That rule does quite clearly state that it expects the enemy unit to arrive in the enemy movement phase.

This one is a bit too heavily lawyered to be a real tactic.

Captyn_Bob wrote:
That rule does quite clearly state that it expects the enemy unit to arrive in the enemy movement phase.

While it does mention "the enemy movement phase", it does so in regards to firing in the movement phase (which you would not be doing in this combo).
But yeah, we could really do with a TO weighing in on this