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I would kindly ask for some feedback on the legitimacy and strategy of the following, but before I dive into the juicy details, I would first like to state a few words on the game that is to be played.
It’s a 500 point game versus a good friend. He’s somewhat a powergamer and I expect no quarters will be given. What’s worse is that he’s playing Iron Hands. With the state of the Necron codex as it is now, I know I will struggle no matter what I put together. So I’ve decided to attempt to powergame him as well (if that’s even possible with Necrons).
I expect my opponent to bring a mass of MEQs with Grandfather Feiros for the 3+/5++/6+++ combo (isn’t it funny how Necrons were too powerful in 7th because of their reanimation protocols and GW changed the RP rule and gave something better to Iron Hands?).
I know 9th has changed the game to be more or less completely objective-focused (this is my first 9th ed. game), and that often the advice for Necron players versus Iron Hands is to skirt around them and play the objective game. However, I don’t see that as a feasible tactic on a small 500-point board – I simply won’t be able to compete with SM firepower, stratagems, and doctrines combined with the durability of Iron Hands.
My conclusion is therefore that I need to table my opponent. Here is the list (the game plan follows after).
Created with BattleScribe (can't url on first post)
To get this out of the way immediately; I don’t understand how I can take particle casters on the Wraiths for free? Normally, I rely on Battlescribe to assign the correct points values and I haven’t been disappointed before, but what’s going on here? Anyway, it isn’t essential for the list to work, but it’s a nice addition.
I don’t know what mission we’re playing yet, but I do know that we are going to take turns placing terrain until we have ~18 pieces on the table – a good mixture of LoS-breaking, dense cover etc. As GW recommends in 9th. We might decide to take less depending on the board size.
I will make sure to deploy some LoS-breaking terrain in front of my deployment zone so I can hide my units and hopefully avoid turn 1 incoming fire, should I lose the roll-off. Regardless of whether or not I get turn 1, the game plan is the same. Spending 1CP on the Phaeron’s Will, the Indomitus overlord will use My Will Be Done on both the Wraits and the Warriors for that nice +1 to hit (it’s pretty awesome that the Indomitus OL can give this to any <dynasty> unit now).
Here comes the first (cheesy) question. The Indomitus Overlord’s aura states that “When a <dynasty> unit within 6” of this model is selected to make a Normal Move or an Advance, add 1” to the distance it can move”. So the Wraiths, of course having been deployed within 6” of the overlord, now have a 12” + 1d6 + 1 advance. The Nephrek dynastic code states that “If a unit with this code Advances, add 6” to its move characteristic for that Movement phase instead of rolling a dice (if the unit is being affected by the My Will be Done or Wave of Command ability, add 7” to is Move characteristic instead). In addition, if a unit with this code advances, its models can move across models and terrain as if they were not there”. So, does that mean 12” + 1” (from aura) + 7” (from Nephrek Dynastic code) for a total of 20”? As I read it, it is indeed 20” since the Indomitus Overlords’ aura and My Will Be Done are now separate, but I also recognize that it’s a rather cheesy reading of the rules. In either case, I’ll of course be spending 1 CP on Adaptive Subroutines to allow the Wraiths to advance and charge in the same turn.
At the end of the movement phase, the Overlord will then Veil in at a distance that is within 6” of the Wraith unit so they will benefit from the Implacable Conqueror warlord trait (allowing them to re-roll failed charge rolls), but also hopefully within rapid fire range of a unit that the Wraiths are not charging.
Regardless of the consensus of the advance distance discussed above, the idea is to “Wraith Form” as close as possible to my opponents’ units. Preferably placing them within equal charge distance of two MEQ units for a double-charge (equal distance of two units because if you fail 1 in 9th, you fail both). Depending on the charge distance, charging 1 unit might have to suffice. In a niche scenario, charging Feiros through his MEQ screen (while also charging the MEQ screen itself) with Wraith Form would be pretty epic… I know Wraiths are not particularly efficient against MEQs with their few attacks and their 2 damage, but I think they’ll do just fine in CC versus what he’s bringing.
The second question; Gauss Flayers or Gauss Reapers? In this particular rendition of the list, I have taken a mix. The conundrum is that those Gauss Reapers won’t be within rapid fire range when they land with the Veil, but that sweet S5 AP-2 is particularly nice against MEQs. On the other hand, the Gauss flayers will be within rapid fire range and will have 24” to deal with whatever comes after the “grand Wraith-Warrior-Veil Assault”.
Depending on what is within charge range of the Overlord, he can be charged in as well (also re-rolling failed charges). Tachyon arrow can also be fired at full BS, but I’d prefer to reserve this to Granny Feiros (and he probably won’t be an eligible target unless my opponent has made a serious mistake).
Anyway, that’s what I’ve got so far. What do you think?
Haven't played in a while with Necrons, but if you really want to cheese it, abuse how the RP scales really well in low point games. The enemy is going to struggle killing max units, so something like this:
Patrol detachment, 3cp
1. Cryptek with canoptek cloak 95pts
2. 5x Immortals with Gauss or Tesla (doesn't really matter) 90pts
3. 5x Destroyer + 1x Heavy Destroyer 315pts
Unless he sees this coming, I don't really see him killing the full unit of Destroyers in a turn. On the other hand, using Extermination Protocols on the destroyers will ensure that they will kill pretty much any unit they bring to the game. I would prefer running the full unit of 6 destroyers and not take the heavy destroyer, but then you go over 500pts.
I don't think the dynasty, warlord trait or artifact matter much with this list. You could take Nephrek to get the auto 6-advance for example and the Veil of Darkness relic to maximize movement.
Alternative list could be just to go with a outrider and only use the 1cp you get every round to play Extermination Protocols. Then swap the immortals with two 3-man units of scarabs (if you want to play objectives)
At 500 pts. you need to make use of any free rules you get, like your dynasty trait, and RP. Ghost arks are very point efficient units, way better than 10 warriors, helps them with RP, and have the same firepower. Tomb blades are pretty hard to remove at 500 pts., they are -1 to hit, and have RP.
p5freak wrote: At 500 pts. you need to make use of any free rules you get, like your dynasty trait, and RP. Ghost arks are very point efficient units, way better than 10 warriors, helps them with RP, and have the same firepower. Tomb blades are pretty hard to remove at 500 pts., they are -1 to hit, and have RP.
Tomb Blades would probably be great at 500p. Would you still run them as Tesla at 500? Or would Gauss make sense? Also good point on Ghost Ark, you could also block nice chunks of the board with them due to size.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2020/08/30 10:27:00
Right now i would always run TBs with tesla. MWBD them, and tesla explodes on 5+. Which will probably change to unmodified 6s in the codex. Problem with gauss is that you want to be in RF range, which is pretty close to your opponent. You will get charged, and then you cant shoot next turn, when you fall back.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/08/30 19:22:49
I am not entirely sold on the Tesla. Yes it is nice most of the time, but in this case his opponent is going to be playing Iron Hands. That means 3+ armor save minimum, most likely 2+ if he plays with cover etc. You will be skating uphill if you try to use Tesla to handle such units. That is why I would prefer to either go with Destroyers or Wraiths as OP has done.
Use solar pulse to ignore cover. If your opponent has 3+ throw lots of dice on him. You also need units to hold markers. The destroyer list mentioned before only has three units, which isnt enough to hold six markers. A cryptek cant help reanimate destroyers when each unit is holding different markers.
Do correct me, but do the Combat Patrol scenarios have that many objectives? And as I mentioned, the core is destroyers. The rest can be filled with anything that is available that you can fit into the army. One alternative would be to run two units of scarabs as I mentioned. All the units would be very mobile, reasonably tough and destroyers are the work horse.
Throwing dice at 3+ works to extent if you are really able to support that and actually have the number of dice to push through. But you need to have quite a lot of models to get to that point. With 10 man Tesla Immortals with MWD, you are looking at 18,66 hits + 13,33 tesla hits. Against primaris marines that the opponent is going to be running, you are doing 20 wounds. Of those 20 wounds, 6,66 will cause unsaved wounds, and only 5,55 will actually go through the Flesh is Weak fnp. Running two full units of Tesla Immortals will therefore cause 11 wounds on the primaris marines and cost you 360 points. And you need to spend 1cp on Phaerons will and cp on the Solar Pulse which will tie you to a dynasty.
1 unit of 5x Destroyers and 1x Heavy destroyer with Extermination protocol means 13,33 Gauss cannon hits (counting rerolls) which will average 11,83 wounds (counting rerolls), which will average 7,89 unsaved wounds which deal D3 damage. It gets a bit more complicated when doing multi-damage wounds, fnp and multi-wound targets, but if we go the easy (wrong) calculation, you are actually doing on average 2 damage per unsaved wound which means 15,78 damage which is reduced to 13,15 due to Flesh is Weak fnp. And this is not counting the Heavy Destroyer which will be very swingy due to the 1 shot per turn even with rerolls. And in total that costs 315 points and 1cp per turn. You are free to choose the dynasty you want to work with and does not require Overlord whose only gimmick is the MWD compared to +1 RP roll with Cryptek.
I might be off with the math due to writing this late in the evening, so please correct me if I am wrong here.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/09/01 21:03:56
Combat patrol missions have 4 objectives. The cryptek needs to hold one marker, when he tries he dies fast. When he supports the destroyers only the immortals hold one objective. A total of 3 units isnt enough. Two units hold two markers, the rest attacks.
pesusieni999 wrote: I am not entirely sold on the Tesla. Yes it is nice most of the time, but in this case his opponent is going to be playing Iron Hands. That means 3+ armor save minimum, most likely 2+ if he plays with cover etc. You will be skating uphill if you try to use Tesla to handle such units. That is why I would prefer to either go with Destroyers or Wraiths as OP has done.
Of course if you go with destroyers/wraiths it's another thing. But if it's tesla vs gauss like with immortals or TB's it's tesla. Period. End of story. With tomb blades it's getting even more of tesla tesla tesla as you can now give MWBD to them as well. Tesla is simply better unless codex changes things. And of course since we know stats only real change possible is unmodified 6...which doesn't really help gauss. It just makes tesla poorer aka while internal balance might become better external balance wise immortal/tomb blade firepower gets nerfed.
