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Hi all,

I have some experience with the CSM book but none with Necrons. I have written an initial draft for a 1650pt tournament based on research, and would appreciate some input. The list is intended to be used in a competitive format and as such, I'm hoping for it to break some faces while avoiding the usual netlist mentality.

Chaos Lord- Mark of Khorne, Juggernaut, Axe of Blind Fury, Sigil of Corruption
Overlord- Warscythe
Catacomb Command Barge
Necron Royal Court- 2 Harbingers of the Storm

Cultists- 10, Shotgun
Cultists- 10
Necron Warriors- 5
Night Scythe
Necron Warriors- 5
Night Scythe

Chaos Spawn- 5
Chaos Spawn- 5, Mark of Nurgle
Chaos Spawn- 5, Mark of Nurgle
Scarab Swarm- 5

Obliterator- Mark of Nurgle
Obliterator- Mark of Nurgle
Obliterator- Mark of Nurgle

1650/1650pts

The Chaos Lord rolls with the Spawn, Scarabs and Catacomb-Overlord to try for an initial rush. Obliterators deploy and contribute firepower, Cultists hide in reserve, and the Scythes come in as needed.
As mentioned this has no practical experience and so I'd really appreciate some input, particularly regarding the Necron half. As for some specific points I'd like to address:
- I know the Overlord has no Mindshackles. This can be fixed if I can find the points.
- I could cut the Catacomb in favour of an Annihilation Barge. First cut would probably be a Harbinger.
- Alternatively I could get a pair of Tomb Spyders instead of the Catacomb.

Any comments are greatly appreciated!

My 5-man warrior squads in scythes rarely see the table. Drop the court. Ust the points elsewhere.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
My 5-man warrior squads in scythes rarely see the table. Drop the court. Ust the points elsewhere.

You must roll very, very poorly for reserves.

I agree partially with the suggestion to drop the court. If you're going to use Crypteks, keep in mind what they do is very, very situational. Harbingers of the Storm are great against vehicles with their Haywire shooting attacks, but only if you can get them in that 12-inch range.

If you want to keep Crypteks, in my opinion Harbingers of Destruction are your best option for versatility. A 36" range, Str. 8 AP 2 shooting attack is pretty nice to have.

Well, no... posted from my phone so I didn't make myself very clear.

What I meant to say was that my warriors rarely hit the table until the last turn or so (say, T5), because they're much too vunlerable and their job isn't to fight the main battle. Their main job of course, is to provide access to the night scythe. Beyond that, their job is to grab or contest objectives, go after small squads or put the last hull point on a vehicle. All late-game things because they're too fragile for main-line actions.

So spending extra points on a cryptek that probably won't have much if any influence on the performance of the squad doesn't make any sense. I guess it would depend if you had another role in mind for those warriors.

Ah, I understand now! Yes that makes perfect sense and leaves me with a nice pool of points to redistribute.

So if I were to cut them, I now have 60pts to play with. The most immediate options to me seem:
- Replace the Catacomb with an Annihilation Barge, and then use the points to upgrade the Overlord to a Destroyer Lord.
- As above except purchase an Aegis line instead of the upgrade. Overlord hides in a Scythe somewhere.
- Cut the Barge and Court altogether, take a Destroyer Lord, and replace the Scarabs with Wraiths for a 4th melee threat.

I'm unsure of how to take this. I'm not sold on the Overlord being worthlessly hid inside a Scythe and so I'd like to use either a Catacomb or a Destroyer Lord. I think 4 melee threats is probably too much, and I'm not sure whether I want the Catacomb, Annihilation, or both.

I really appreciate the help so far though!

Well, I can make some suggestions... but I wouldn't consider myself an Necron expert. I have been playing a 1k necron army a lot though over the last 6 months in the run-up to Adepticon & have been allying with orcs in bigger point-value tournaments.

One of my team-mates had a CCB in his list for several months. While it can be good... getting it into position to be effective can be rather tricky, and taking everything into account can be a bit expensive. Usually when I run Cron allies for my orks, I opt for a simple OL with MSS & war scythe. That's just enough war gear to make someone think twice about charging your poor little 5-man infantry unit at the end of the game, but not so much that it's a huge point sink.

My Adepticon list had a full-strength wraith wing with D-Lord. It's a very effective unit, though it's not the end-all, be-all of death stars. A D-lord with weave, MSS, WS is a must, then add 4 wraiths with 2 whip coils as escort. That gives you about as cheap a build as you can while still retaining the effectiveness of the unit (wraiths aren't that hard to kill so you want 4 of them to begin with). Now... it's not cheap... but it's mobile, can take out 2 vehicles a turn (either by dual charging or separating the Lord from the unit) and the MSS just gives monstrous creatures fits. The combined 2+/3+ also makes them pretty durable.

So a lot depends on how you want your Necron allies to function. So far, I've just used mine as a flyer/scoring unit delivery device so I don't really put any extra points into it in order to get more orky things. However.... I have been toying with the idea of a 3-star army (m-nobz in B-wagon, nob bikes & wraith wing). Not sure how viable it is though... have to play with the list a bit.

As mentioned above I would try to replace the Scarabs and Catcomb Barge with Wraiths and a D-Lord. Also I'd consider swapping out the Juggerlord for a Nurgle Biker Lord. He's not as killy but still tough as nails and he'll be able to bounce between body guard units.

Hi all,

So following on from much soul-searching I have decided upon 3 possible avenues of expansion. I'm finding it very difficult to choose between them and so I'd appreciate your thoughts.

The army will have a 'core' that is the same between all versions which comes out to 1200pts.
Overlord- Warscythe, Catacomb Command Barge
Cultists- 10, Shotgun
Cultists- 10
Warriors- 5, Night Scythe
Warriors- 5, Night Scythe
2x5 Spawn- Mark of Nurgle
3x1 Obliterators- Mark of Nurgle

On top of this, I would then have a further 450pts to polish it off. I have narrowed it down to 3 choices:

1)
Chaos Lord- Mark of Khorne, Juggernaut, Axe of Blind Fury, Aura of Dark Glory
Chaos Spawn- 5, Unmarked
Scarabs- 3 Bases
Aegis Defense Line- Quad Gun

2)
Chaos Lord- Mark of Khorne, Juggernaut, Axe of Blind Fury, Aura of Dark Glory
Chaos Spawn- 5, Unmarked
Annihilation Barge
One unit of Warriors upgraded to Immortals
Overlord gains Mindshackles

3)
Chaos Lord- Mark of Nurgle, Bike, Power Fist, Lightning Claw, Daemonheart, Aura of Dark Glory, Meltabombs
Bikes- 5, Mark of Nurgle, 2 Meltaguns
Annihilation Barge
Overlord gains Mindshackles
Use the Crimson Slaughter book so everyone gets Fear

At the moment, I am leaning towards options 1 and 2, basically because I don't like the look of Nurgle Bikers as much as I like Spawn and Juggernauts. The decision between 1 and 2 is likely going to be dependant on how they rule the Entropic Strike-Quadgun business.
Alternatively, I am open to the idea of the Destroyer Lord & chums, although it wouldn't leave much room to play with. If I were to drop the Overlord and Barge, I could trade in a Destroyer Lord, 4 Wraiths with 2 Coils, and then either the Khorne + Spawn or the Nurgle + Bikes. Although at this point I'm concerned that I've invested too heavily into 4 melee deathstars and I might lack the ranged support that the Barge(s) provide.

As always, many thanks for the great advice.