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Playing Necrons in 2500pt game next weekend. Will be first time playing against them so I don't know what to expect. To throw my opponent for a loop I've decided to also try Farsight Enclave for the first time. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated .

HQ:
Commander Farsight

Troops:
T1: 3x Crisis with Burst Cannon, Burst Cannon, (1 with VRT)

T2: 3x Crisis with Burst Cannon, Burst cannon, (1 with VRT)

T3: 3x Crisis with Plasma Rifle, Plasma Rifle (1 with VRT)

T4: 3x Crisis with Fusion Blaster, Fusion Blaster, (2 with Target lock, 1 with VRT)

T5: 3x Crisis with Missile Pod, Missile Pod, (1 with VRT)

T6: 20x Kroot with Sniper Rounds +1 hound

Elites:
XV-104 Riptide with HBC, TW missile pod, ECPA, VT, and stims

XV-104 Riptide with IA, TW Fusion Blasters, stims

Fast Attack:
8x Pathfinders with MLs
Devilfish with Disruption Pods

8x Pathfinders with MLs
Devilfish with Disruption Pods

Heavy Support:
Hammerhead (Longstrike) with railgun and submunitions, Distruption Pods

Skyray with Disruption pod

2x Broadsides with HYMP, TL Missile pod, VT
2x Missile Drones each

should work out to 2500 points even if battlescribe is to be believed. Thus will be my first time using crisis suits, farsight, and Broadsides.

Any advice or tips are greatly appreciated

thanks in advance

One of the first thing that come to my eyes is that no one in your list have EWO. Especially the IA Riptide and the Broadside.

It isn't crazy thinking that a 2500 pts Necron list will field 4+ flyers and so my concerning.

Otherwise I will be worried having all these models wildly in the open without an ADL or more than one units of Kroots for a little of bubble-wrapping..

You'll surely be able to nuke things down with all this firepower but if ever one enemy unit will touch your lines he would be almost immediately able to hit your important units and not same sacrificial wall instead.

What do you recommend in the way of changes? From talking to him I'm expecting more of a ground force. It sounds like he's only got a night scythe for flyers but again I know very little about Necrons. I only have 20 kroot to work with at the moment. You think I should drop a crisis team to make room for a few EWOs and an ADL? I didn't put much stock into it to begin with because most of the army is supposed to be mobile

Swap VTs for EWOs on your Broadsides, you don't really need VTs on Broadsides. They already hit 31% of the time chances to being Twinlinked and you have access to Skyfire Markerlights. Make sure to pick up EWO on your IA Riptide.

It saddens me not seeing any Gun Drones on your Suit squads. Ablative wounds and Twinlinked S5 guns go along way, I would consider some even if you have to drop a couple of suits.

I don't see much purpose in the Devilfish Transports, as Markerlight being Heavy will make them rather useless if you take advantage of their mobility.

Otherwise its a decent TMC list.

Devilfish are to body block my pathfinders to try and keep them alive for longer as they will block los during the enemy shooting phase. Basically I'd move them out of the way in the movement phase, shoot my markerlights and then turbo boost them back in front.

I thought about putting drones in the squads but don't want my suits running away if they lose a drone or 2 so opted to go without... if I drop the fish I can add a few I think


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ok I've dropped the VTs and added EWOs; also dropped the devilfish to add 5 marker drones to the MP team and 6 gun drones to each of the Burst cannon teams as well as given each team with drones a drone controller. What else can I do to streamline the list?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Whats TMC stand for?

Brutal Viking wrote:
Devilfish are to body block my pathfinders to try and keep them alive for longer as they will block los during the enemy shooting phase. Basically I'd move them out of the way in the movement phase, shoot my markerlights and then turbo boost them back in front.

I thought about putting drones in the squads but don't want my suits running away if they lose a drone or 2 so opted to go without... if I drop the fish I can add a few I think


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ok I've dropped the VTs and added EWOs; also dropped the devilfish to add 5 marker drones to the MP team and 6 gun drones to each of the Burst cannon teams as well as given each team with drones a drone controller. What else can I do to streamline the list?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Whats TMC stand for?

Those changes should work well. TMC, Take Most Commers. Many people say TAC, Take All Comers, but that isn't feasible. A good list is TMC, it can handle most threats well. No list is good against all others.

Now what should be my target priorities for Necrons? And any tips for the game itself?

Brutal Viking wrote:
Now what should be my target priorities for Necrons? And any tips for the game itself?

That really depends on what kind of build the Crons are running and what they have taken. The one that screams target priority are Destroyer Lord led Wraiths. They must die, or they will destroy your lines. They are one of the better fast assault elements in the game. Otherwise, it will really depend on what he is running. Also, any Nightscythes should be brought down. They are one of the best late game objective grabbers in the game with good firepower to boot. Watch out for Tesla weapons, they deal incredible amounts of damage.

Mainly kill any fast assault element, ie Wraiths, the outrange and trade your mid to long range firepower with him.

Thank you for all the advice it's greatly appreciated

One little thing I would change personally is take out one team of double burst cannon suits and make them PR or MP. Never had luck with BC myself unless I deep strike them and give them flamers and BC.

I was thinking about that as well...

Ok, couple tweaks:

Pathfinders die when a stiff breeze is sent in their direction. Instead of investing 190 points on transports for them, why not just add more markerlights in the form of marker drones or more pathfinders if you've got em? Sure, the fish can protect them from assault, but Necrons are a pretty shooty army themselves. One annihilation barge can wipe a squad of Pathfinders no problem.

I second the swapping of Burst Cannons for Missile Pods. Burst Cannons are sexy, but their short range usually makes them die a swift death. Missile Pod range will keep you alive and scoring something.

Speaking of Missile Pods, I'm sure you meant SMS on the Riptides...

Speaking of Riptides, you do not need Stims on the ECPA one, and Stims on the other is a pure luxury purchase if you happen to have 35 points left over...you shouldn't. I would also put SMS on the IA Riptide over fusion. I've tried both and SMS simply outperforms fusion because of range and also a devastating ripple fire. To sum up, one should have HBC+SMS+ECPA+EWO+VT, the other should have IA+SMS+EWO+Stims* (If you have the points).

Lastly, at 2500 points you can have dual FOC; I'm going to assume you and your buddy have agreed on single FOC since you only have 1 right now. That being said, nothing is stopping you from taking allies. It'd be so easy too. Ally in Tau, add a buff commander so that your Riptides can be tearing stuff up with TL, Ignore Cover, Tan Hunter etc. Then just move the Kroot to Tau side of allies so you're legal.

That's what I've got for now, let me know if you have any questions.

Omfgorzzz wrote:
One little thing I would change personally is take out one team of double burst cannon suits and make them PR or MP. Never had luck with BC myself unless I deep strike them and give them flamers and BC.

I strongly disagree with this sentiment in a TAC/TMC sense. The Dual Burst Cannon suits are capable of dishing out considerable damage against a variety of opponents and synergize extremely well with Gun drones at a lower cost.

Average Wounds Dealt
Dual Plasma Suit(52pts) at 12/24" vs Dual Burst Cannon(42pts) 18"/Cost Adjusted Value vs Dual Missile Pods(52pts) at 36"

Vs Wraithknight .33/.16 vs .22/.28 vs .22
Vs Riptide(5++) .66/.33 vs .22/.28 vs .22
Vs Riptide(3++) .33/.16 vs .22/.28 vs .22
Vs Lord of Change .45/.22 vs .59/.73 vs .59
Vs Armored Daemon Prince .88/.44 vs .666/.81 vs .55
Vs Wraiths .55/.28 vs .88/1.1 vs .55
Vs MEQ(No Cover) 1.66/.83 vs .88/1.1 vs .55
Vs MEQ(Cover) 1.1/.55 vs .88/1.1 vs .55
VS Necron Warrior 1.1/.55 vs 1.33/1.65 vs 1.66
Vs TEQ(5++) 1.1/.55 vs .44/.55 vs .28
Vs TEQ(3++) .55/.28 vs .44/.55 vs .28
Vs GEQ 1.66/.83 vs 3.33/4.13 vs 1.66
VS AV10 1.0/.5 vs 1.33/1.65 vs 1.33
VS AV11 1.33/.66 vs .66/.83 vs 1.0
VS AV12 .33/.16 vs 0/0 vs .66

This started out as a simple little breakdown, but has gotten a bit more involved. Obviously the range of the Missile Pods is extremely desirable, but does also represent a relatively low damage output vs many targets. When comparing the Dual Plasma Rifle and Dual Burst Cannon Suits the Plasma has good damage within 12" and sub par damage outside of that range while the Burst Cannon deals considerable damage out to 18". With a straight up comparison the are fairly evenly matched against all targets but when cost adjusted the Burst Cannon Pulls ahead. The Dual Plasma suit requires being within 12" of its targets to match the firepower of the Burst Cannons.

So are you thinking marker drones on the crisis suits or dedicated marker drone teams?

We did agree on 1 FoC and neither of us are big fans of allies so that option never came up

this is what I've changed it to so far. The piranhas I can give fusion blasters to if I drop 1. Or I have a sun shark at my disposal as well




+ HQ + (165pts)

* Commander Farsight (165pts)
Crisis battlesuit, Plasma rifle, Shield generator, The Dawn Blade


+ Elites + (425pts)

* XV104 Riptide (235pts)
Early warning override
Earth Caste Pilot Array
Heavy burst cannon, Riptide battlesuit, Riptide Shield Generator, Twin-linked smart missile system, Velocity tracker


* XV104 Riptide (190pts)
Early warning override
Ion accelerator, Riptide battlesuit, Riptide Shield Generator, Twin-linked smart missile system


+ Troops + (1179pts)

* Kroot Carnivore Squad (145pts)
Kroot Hound (5pts), Sniper rounds (20pts)
* 20x Kroot (120pts)
20x Kroot rifle


* XV8 Crisis Team (232pts)
Bonding Knife Ritual (3pts)
* Crisis Shas'ui (57pts)
Crisis battlesuit, 2x Missile pod (30pts), Vectored retro-thrusters (5pts)
* Crisis Shas'ui (60pts)
Crisis battlesuit, Drone controller (8pts), 2x Missile pod (30pts)
* Crisis Shas'ui (52pts)
Crisis battlesuit, 2x Missile pod (30pts)
* 5x Marker Drone (60pts)
5x Markerlight


* XV8 Crisis Team (232pts)
Bonding Knife Ritual (3pts)
* Crisis Shas'ui (57pts)
Crisis battlesuit, 2x Missile pod (30pts), Vectored retro-thrusters (5pts)
* Crisis Shas'ui (60pts)
Crisis battlesuit, Drone controller (8pts), 2x Missile pod (30pts)
* Crisis Shas'ui (52pts)
Crisis battlesuit, 2x Missile pod (30pts)
* 5x Marker Drone (60pts)
5x Markerlight


* XV8 Crisis Team (174pts)
Bonding Knife Ritual (3pts)
* Crisis Shas'ui (57pts)
Crisis battlesuit, 2x Fusion blaster (30pts), Vectored retro-thrusters (5pts)
* Crisis Shas'ui (57pts)
Crisis battlesuit, 2x Fusion blaster (30pts), Target lock (5pts)
* Crisis Shas'ui (57pts)
Crisis battlesuit, 2x Fusion blaster (30pts), Target lock (5pts)


* XV8 Crisis Team (232pts)
Bonding Knife Ritual (3pts)
* Crisis Shas'ui (57pts)
Crisis battlesuit, 2x Missile pod (30pts), Vectored retro-thrusters (5pts)
* Crisis Shas'ui (60pts)
Crisis battlesuit, Drone controller (8pts), 2x Missile pod (30pts)
* Crisis Shas'ui (52pts)
Crisis battlesuit, 2x Missile pod (30pts)
* 5x Marker Drone (60pts)
5x Markerlight


* XV8 Crisis Team (164pts)
Bonding Knife Ritual (3pts)
* Crisis Shas'ui (57pts)
Crisis battlesuit, 2x Plasma rifle (30pts), Vectored retro-thrusters (5pts)
* Crisis Shas'ui (52pts)
Crisis battlesuit, 2x Plasma rifle (30pts)
* Crisis Shas'ui (52pts)
Crisis battlesuit, 2x Plasma rifle (30pts)


+ Fast Attack + (220pts)

* Piranhas (220pts)
* Piranha (55pts)
Burst cannon, Disruption pod (15pts), Two Gun Drones
* Piranha (55pts)
Burst cannon, Disruption pod (15pts), Two Gun Drones
* Piranha (55pts)
Burst cannon, Disruption pod (15pts), Two Gun Drones
* Piranha (55pts)
Burst cannon, Disruption pod (15pts), Two Gun Drones


+ Heavy Support + (510pts)

* Hammerhead Gunship (190pts)
Disruption pod (15pts), Railgun with submunitions (5pts), Twin-linked smart missile system
* Longstrike (45pts)


* Sky Ray Missile Defense Gunship (130pts)
Disruption pod (15pts), 2x Networked markerlight, 6x Seeker missile, Twin-linked smart missile system, Velocity tracker


* XV88 Broadside Team (190pts)
Bonding Knife Ritual (2pts)
* Broadside Shas'ui (70pts)
Broadside battlesuit, Early warning override (5pts), Twin-linked high-yield missile pod, Twin-linked smart missile system
* Broadside Shas'ui (70pts)
Broadside battlesuit, Early warning override (5pts), Twin-linked high-yield missile pod, Twin-linked smart missile system
* 4x Missile Drone (48pts)
4x Missile pod




Automatically Appended Next Post:
You beat me to the post zagman . See I like the burst cannon idea with a full alotment of gun drones 30 shots (6 with TW and pinning) sounds like a better deal than the other options. Granted crons won't be pinned easily but if he switches to chaos last minute it might be more useful... and if the numbers work out like that it does seem like a better choice. To date I haven't used either so I have no experience to compare with but shrike also makes a good point on the range advantage.

Brutal Viking wrote:

You beat me to the post zagman . See I like the burst cannon idea with a full alotment of gun drones 30 shots (6 with TW and pinning) sounds like a better deal than the other options. Granted crons won't be pinned easily but if he switches to chaos last minute it might be more useful... and if the numbers work out like that it does seem like a better choice. To date I haven't used either so I have no experience to compare with but shrike also makes a good point on the range advantage.

Actually its 36 Shots with Gun Drones, twelve of which are Twinlinked. The Gun Drones bring almost an equivelant amount of firepower as the Burst Suits, both are incredibly effecient.

The Range of the Missile Pods is great and synergizes well with Marker Drones, but the damage potential of the Burst Cannon Suits is hard to ignore. I usually run Twinlinked Missile Pods in in a solo squad with two markerdrones and a drone controller. MSU Scoring and averages 1 Markerlight hit per turn.

I agree with Zagman on using the burst cannon suits. They're 10 points a suit cheaper than a dual MP suit, and dishes out 4 extra shots a round. Of course, if you run a squad of three you definitely need to pack the gun drones on to complement the firepower.

Still, you can get a Drone Controller and two gun drones for about the same points as you save on dropping to all burst cannons. That gives you 12 extra main weapon shots, plus 4 more twin linked pulse carbine shots, for a total of 16 extra shots a turn. That's a lot of dakka.

Or look at it a different way.

3 XV8 with dual MPs, 1 DC, and two marker drones = 188 points
3 XV8 with dual BCs, 1 DC, and four gun drones = 182 points

20 extra shots per turn, plus 2 extra wounds/bodies for the squad.

I'm not saying not to take the dual MP/MD squad, just that the dual BC squad is definitely a unit to take in a Farsight list. That's a lot of damage output from a highly mobile firebase. Suit heavy farsight lists are going to struggle with pumping shots out at a significant enough volume to cripple infantry without a dual BC unit.

I'm a fan of drone controller, but only in full units. Make the points invested worth it by making 6 drones BS3 and not 2.

I'm not hating on burst cannons, they can be devastating with marker light support, I just think with their range, it's better not to spam them. One unit, with full drones, with drone controller. Then make sure they get at least 1 markerlight to support them each shooting phase.

Also, I'm a fan of these two units to accompany Farsight in friendly games where the O'vesastar/buff commander is not involved:

3 Crisis: x2 Flamers, x2 Flamers (VRT), x2 Fusion (Target Lock)

OR

3 Crisis: x2 Plasma, x2 Plasma (VRT), x2 Fusion (Target Lock)

When not scattering, both units are devastating. Farsight is tough in combat and with fleet and and hit and run, should get there and get away when necessary. Both units are fun to use in friendly games and still effective.

It gets even better then for the bc squad:

BC squad: 206 vs MP squad: 236

The BC squad pumps out a staggering 36 shots a turn, 12 of which are twin linked and can cause pinning.

To be fair, I would also add in VRT on the BC squad, so they can cut and run if they should happen to get based, meaning they'd be 211 points, but still.

Either way, they do different jobs. A ML/MP squad should also come with target locks (personally I think a standard commander in a Farsight Enclaves list is good then, as he can sport the DC and a target lock, that then hands down bs 5 marker light support from the squad) and hangs back ripping open transports and MCs while providing ML support. The BC squad is a pretty resilient smash face squad that can tear up everything up to light tanks without a lot of problems.

While we're on the topic of Burst Cannons; I know most people run a farsight bomb with Plasma Rifles but how do you think a Farsight bomb with Burst Cannons would work?

56 shots from BCs 1 from Plasma Rifle @18"
14 shots from drones @ 18" twin linked
total of 71(72 if you get within 12") shots from a unit with
JSJ
Ld10
perfect deepstrike
prefered enemy (orks)
fleet
hit &run

if you ran it in a normal Tau list you could give a body guard the buffmander loadout at the cost of 8 shots but then all 64 would be twinlinked, ignore cover, and monster/tank hunter, and if you're going to be within the 12" mark anyway you can give a unit gets hot to alleviate some return fire if you roll poorly for your JSJ. I realize you lose some punch but the wall of devastation should be enough to force enough failed saves that it shouldn't be an issue. If you wanted you could also add a commander to the team and get those 8 shots back and boost all the drones to BS5

if you give all the BGs CDS your total is 936pts which is hella steep but it could be fun to see your opponents face when you roll 74 dice (2 more from commanders drones) and reroll any misses you might have... thoughts?

you could drop target locks on half (or all) and decimate 2 squads at once at your leisure and jump away. I just used the CDS system because I would put them deep in enemy territory so with a volume of shots like that if something did assault you would put enough hurt on it that any follow up assaults would be thinking twice