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I have 2 boxes ready for assembly. Played one game so far again blood angels. Proxied 2 5 man squads of lychguard. 1 with WS, other with sword and shield. Both got pretty shot up and didn't do much for me. The sword and shield are cool looking and survivable but I think necrons need more offense at this point. The WS group can provide the punch if they get in combat.

Haven't tried paretorians yet and thinking of running judicator. Just wondering what other think since these squads are built from the same box.

I'm sure they each serve a purpose in the right army, but in general which do you prefer?

I like the lychguard with overlord, usually in a night scythe. A unit of 10 with the overlord will slaughter just about anything in cc. Probably the best thing around for killing TEQs.

Praetorians fill a needed roll in our army that is the ap2 shooting. 12' range on a model that moves 12" is pretty good(s6). The biggest thing I dont like about the praetorians (might be the only person) is that you have to take the judicator formation to field them in a decurion. The judicator IS awesome but sometimes you dont want/need the stalker. Or would rather have 1 squad of 10 instead of 2 squads of 5.

Lychguard fit perfectly into the Decurion as part of the reclemation legion. So if your overlord is in the unit you reroll 1's on saves. Freaking awesome. I really like the warscythes because you still have a 3+5++ (3+4++ rr 1'sin decurion) plus rez orb still is a super resilient unit. They will survive and then kill you.

Its kind of hard to get a charecter to run with the praetorians. Its possible with the destroyer lord but you have to play the leapfrog game and he is probably just tanking.

Both good units, different tactical roles. It would be a lot of fun to have a Judicator with two big units of praetorians in tandem with a destroyer cult.

Cauthon wrote:
I like the lychguard with overlord, usually in a night scythe. A unit of 10 with the overlord will slaughter just about anything in cc. Probably the best thing around for killing TEQs.

Praetorians fill a needed roll in our army that is the ap2 shooting. 12' range on a model that moves 12" is pretty good(s6). The biggest thing I dont like about the praetorians (might be the only person) is that you have to take the judicator formation to field them in a decurion. The judicator IS awesome but sometimes you dont want/need the stalker. Or would rather have 1 squad of 10 instead of 2 squads of 5.

Lychguard fit perfectly into the Decurion as part of the reclemation legion. So if your overlord is in the unit you reroll 1's on saves. Freaking awesome. I really like the warscythes because you still have a 3+5++ (3+4++ rr 1'sin decurion) plus rez orb still is a super resilient unit. They will survive and then kill you.

Its kind of hard to get a charecter to run with the praetorians. Its possible with the destroyer lord but you have to play the leapfrog game and he is probably just tanking.

Both good units, different tactical roles. It would be a lot of fun to have a Judicator with two big units of praetorians in tandem with a destroyer cult.

Orikan is good to throw in with a nightmare shroud Overlord, so you reroll the LG 3+ and the Overlord's 2+.

Ideally you'd want the Solar Staff in the unit if taking Lychguard, so they've got invisibility for the turn the step out of the Night Scythe.

Personally, it's a no contest for me: Praets all the way.
The mobility coupled with their extreme damage output fills the niche that Wraiths left empty. If going the Judicator route, one unit with Rods and one unit with V.Blades will pretty much cover your bases.

Instead of Lychguard, I'd consider a unit of Flayed Ones if you want something that can put out massive amounts of CC wounds, especially if a Destroyer Lord is attached.

How do you get the flayed to the enemy? destroyer lords no longer can deep strike...nor infiltrate :/

 iGuy91 wrote:
How do you get the flayed to the enemy? destroyer lords no longer can deep strike...nor infiltrate :/

Jet Packs can Deep Strike.

I just bought the box too and went with praets with rods. AP2 is just too rare to pass up,plus the mobility is always a good thing. when fielding the decurion I think the stalker synergies well with the reclamation legion so there's another reason to go praetorians .

I have always stood by Lychguard, and now they have gotten too good to not bring.

150 Points for Power Swords & Storm Shields, on 5 S/T5 dudes.

without any characters, they throw 15 S5AP3 attacks at S5, WS4
more than adequate to chop up virtually anything shy of T7+ and 2+ saves

I I would suggest using the paretorians for both boxes. The lychguard are useful but the paretorians are better in terms of flexibility. Warning, don't go half and half the paretorians are no good in five man squads.

 IHateNids wrote:
I have always stood by Lychguard, and now they have gotten too good to not bring.

150 Points for Power Swords & Storm Shields, on 5 S/T5 dudes.

without any characters, they throw 15 S5AP3 attacks at S5, WS4
more than adequate to chop up virtually anything shy of T7+ and 2+ saves

Completely agree.

Combo them with Orikan and that unit is beast.. the only problem they have is movement. I am going to try run this unit with the Destroyer Lord from the Destroyer formation carrying a VoD and start them in reserves to DS.

Praets. The mobility and ap2 is too hard to ignore. The decurion also makes them have a 4+++ which makes up for their otherwise squishy nature turning them into a pretty potent assault unit that gets to combat quickly. ap2 means they threaten everything and shred elite troops.

Run these guys with a destroyer lord. Deepstrike them near something unload your ap2 weapons with PE and then have the D.Lord tank the retaliation and then assault. The synergy in the Decurion with the destroyer cult is very strong. Since you can deepstrike the D.Lord with them taking the "tax" away from the destroyer cult and the stalker helps immensely with the destroyers giving you insane accuracy.

Lytchguard are just too slow, with a night scythe your looking at best a turn 3 assault. Its the problem that has existed for a while that the footslogging elite infantry just aren't very good. You can mitigate it by taking a veil but still I think the praets are better because ap2 is just better. We don't struggle against vehicles, so while the armourbane warscythes are nice we just don't need them for vehicles, and the rods have a shooting attack making them generally better weapons. If you upgrade the lytchguard you lose the ap2 but become a different and in my opinion better unit than warscythes because praets just do warscythes job better.

TLDR; Praets do the ap2 job better, if your intent on running lytchguard run them with shields otherwise just get praets.

mike208 wrote:
1 with WS, other with sword and shield. Both got pretty shot up and didn't do much for me. The sword and shield are cool looking and survivable but I think necrons need more offense at this point. The WS group can provide the punch if they get in combat.

Ho! Hold the thread.
Your Sword and Shield-Lychguard got shot up? How in the hell did he manage to do that?

As to the question: I would go for Triarch Praetorians.
They are much more mobile and so they would perform better as a CC-unit, the Lychguard - though good - is quite slow.

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:

 iGuy91 wrote:
How do you get the flayed to the enemy? destroyer lords no longer can deep strike...nor infiltrate :/

Jet Packs can Deep Strike.

He's a jump pack unit i think


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Kangodo wrote:

mike208 wrote:
1 with WS, other with sword and shield. Both got pretty shot up and didn't do much for me. The sword and shield are cool looking and survivable but I think necrons need more offense at this point. The WS group can provide the punch if they get in combat.

Ho! Hold the thread.
Your Sword and Shield-Lychguard got shot up? How in the hell did he manage to do that?

As to the question: I would go for Triarch Praetorians.
They are much more mobile and so they would perform better as a CC-unit, the Lychguard - though good - is quite slow.

Not with a night scythe, and if you don't want to spend points on flyers, they're a good counter assault unit.

^This...i'm going try basic 5 Warscythe Lychguard in a Nightscythe, as part of the Rec Legion.
By turn 2 it should be clear where the big fight will be, and you can place the Lychguard down EXACTLY where they are required. Also means you can get max use out of the Nightscythe movement because worrying about snapshots isnt a thing. While good; the overlord in a Lychguard unit always wants to pull that unit away from the troop blob he needs to be primarily protecting.
Furthermore they can threaten that pesky tank sat at the back beyond 24" away the whole game. For 125 points I think its their best use.

Lychguard being slow doesnt make sense to me. No they will not get a turn 2 charge off but In a game of objectives in which both players are moving their units toward objectives the lychguard will be a threat as early as turn 2.

If you place your objectives within 12 inches of each other and close to your deployment zone the lychguard are a threat any time they try to claim those objectives. A unit of 10 lychguard armed with warscythes is 250, if your using the formation you have a toughness 5 3+ followed by a 4+ save unit that will demolish just about anything it gets its hands on. Use the lychguard to shield your walking warriors and immortals and your opponent will either try to kill you at range (good luck with that 4+ reanimation saves) or try to get in range to charge you they will be under fire as they get closer to you and than they will have to charge the lychguard unit if you have positioned them properly.

I think lychguard are better but the other guys are not bad I just rather have the wraiths in that role as a fast moving cc unit. The lychguard is the perfect counter punch unit in my opinion not made to hurry up and get into cc but more of a unit that will respond to a immortal or warrior squad being wiped out in cc, good job your reward is this lychguard unit.

One last thing the warscythe lychguard units love the drop pod match up, they literally eat the marines and drop pods.

Lychguard are clearly designed to be... guards. They hang around with your Overlord, providing him with incredibly good LoS rolls, or acting as a guardian for your Doomsday Arc or whatever.

They don't have a transport because, again, they're guards. If they were given some kind of assault roll with the same stats and wargear they would be much more expensive..

Is it hard to buy two boxes of 5 and then use magnets to make them any of the 3 units? That way you always have the choice between taking a 10 man Lychguard or 2x 5 Praetorian for the decurion or 1x 5 Lychguard and 1x 5 Praetorians for a take all comers army.

Most of the advice that you've been given here OP is for the decurion. Let me give you my thought about the same question in a CAD. I'd say take in a Nightscythe either 10 Warscythe Lychguard led by a Chronometron Cryptek, or 10 Shieldguard led by Orikan the Diviner.


1st option: the chronometron Cryptek greatly helps iron out one of the Warscythe Lychguard's main weaknesses, which is their lack of invul. saves. Furthermore, he gives them 4+ WBB so I just do not see an Overlord as a good option to lead a unit rather than him. The unit is the cheapest of the lot (25 ppm instead of 28 or 30) and is also the most brutal of the lot in close combat due to S7 and armorbane, so you're wounding most infantry on a 2+ instead of a 3+ like the praetorians who also struggle to put wounds on any MCs. No need for fancy schmancy characters to do all the killing. The Cryptek can simply deny challenges and thats it.

2nd option: Orikan is a C'tan in disguise. The more turns you're in, the better his chances of becoming a fearsome AP2 MC. Use his squad as bubble wrap to get him into the enemy DZ. 10 Shieldguard that get to re-roll saving throws (i.e. both armor or inv.) of 1 means this unit is ridiculously hard to take down. Just like the Cryptek he also provides the unit with a +1 WBB, so the only thing you do not get is the 5++ chronometron option, but your squad anyway has 3++ so why bother. Now in cc, most of the guys only have AP3 and only S5 that is correct, but for that they're ferrying that potential MC with them who can take care of any and all AP2 and LoS! any wounds he gets. Pretty sweet.

 Sir Arun wrote:
Is it hard to buy two boxes of 5 and then use magnets to make them any of the 3 units? That way you always have the choice between taking a 10 man Lychguard or 2x 5 Praetorian for the decurion or 1x 5 Lychguard and 1x 5 Praetorians for a take all comers army.

That would be very hard, yes. Different backs, heads, leg accessories (Lychguard have a loincloth, praetorians have a tail), plus that the scythes are very hard to pose well because they're attached to two wrists that need aligned seperately...

You could pretty easily make scythe and shield Lychguard and declare their kit before the match starts though. I made three Scythe and Shield out of my 15 Lychguard to act as cosmetically distinct unit sergeants.

Back when the kit first came out people were kit-bashing lots of stuff. I bought 2 boxes, made some sword and board lychguard and used the bits left over to bash with some warriors and created a whole 10 man unit of praetorians as well. So, it is possible to stretch a lot of the Necron models.

Kangodo wrote:

mike208 wrote:
1 with WS, other with sword and shield. Both got pretty shot up and didn't do much for me. The sword and shield are cool looking and survivable but I think necrons need more offense at this point. The WS group can provide the punch if they get in combat.

Ho! Hold the thread.
Your Sword and Shield-Lychguard got shot up? How in the hell did he manage to do that?

As to the question: I would go for Triarch Praetorians.
They are much more mobile and so they would perform better as a CC-unit, the Lychguard - though good - is quite slow.

I don't remember at this point. I know I messed up and got that oddly stuck between an immobilized ghost Ark, his drop pod and some terrain(of which I forgot I had move through cover, so that slowed me down more than it needed to). It was only a 5 man squad with an IC(a Lord I think, maybe an overlord). I know I killed the drop pod 5 man tactical squad(I think) in close combat. I feel like he had another 5 man tag squad up in a building with range on my guys and he also used whatever the blood angels flyer transport is to drop a 15 man death company squad and death company dread. Between the 15 man, 5 man, dread and the guns on the flyer, I don't think he needed all of that to take them out, but again I slowly trudged them through cover for a turn or 2. So they tool several rounds of shooting.

I feel like I like the speed and ap2 shooting of the praets, but I love the look of the sword and shield guard units and they should be pretty tough as you indicate. But then again the necrons especially in decurion are already tough. I think they need more punch so paretorians seems like the better option. May just have to buy a couple more boxes so I can still make a sword and shield lychguard unit and either a 10 man unit of praets for CAD games or 2 5 man squads for the judicator

 Gangrel767 wrote:
Back when the kit first came out people were kit-bashing lots of stuff. I bought 2 boxes, made some sword and board lychguard and used the bits left over to bash with some warriors and created a whole 10 man unit of praetorians as well. So, it is possible to stretch a lot of the Necron models.

I have a couple of boxes on their way, and I'm planning on doing just this. I have a warrior box just sitting around, so will use their legs and chests to bash together 10 preats and 10 lych. May not look perfect, but beats leaving more than half the box sitting unused!

You can also pick up warrior legs and torsos for like $12 for a dozen on ebay instead of buying a full squad for bashing.

It depends what your going for, Lychguard are basically a "anchor" unit , take Orikan Lychguard w/ Dispersion Shields and you've got a unit that's probably not going anywhere any time soon.

Praetorians seem to be the "master of all trades" unit though, able to be taken as AP2 , or ST5 Rending ( which can actually glance AV14).

My preference is Praetorians with Particle Casters, 280 points for a 3+, 5+ , ST5 T5 4 attacks on the charge unit with Rending, then you got the 10 ST6 shots, hard to go wrong. Plus their fearless.

Fearless is a big deal.

Hollismason wrote:
It depends what your going for, Lychguard are basically a "anchor" unit , take Orikan Lychguard w/ Dispersion Shields and you've got a unit that's probably not going anywhere any time soon.

Praetorians seem to be the "master of all trades" unit though, able to be taken as AP2 , or ST5 Rending ( which can actually glance AV14).

My preference is Praetorians with Particle Casters, 280 points for a 3+, 5+ , ST5 T5 4 attacks on the charge unit with Rending, then you got the 10 ST6 shots, hard to go wrong. Plus their fearless.

Fearless is a big deal.

I agree. Fearless and Jump movement are big deals. It means they are doing things for your army until the opponent spends resources to get rid of them.

Lychguard are more of a trap that will snare bad opponents. Wiley opponents will just have their targets run away from them and bide time.

It annoys me that Necrons still can't mix different weapon types in most of their units.
So, what, Destroyers can take Gauss Canons and Heavy Gauss Canons in the same unit but Lychguard, Praetorians, Tomb Blades and Immortals haven't figured it out yet? (or is that one of those signs of madness that leads a Necron down the path of Destroyer-ism? "Did you see Rah? He was carrying a Warscythe while everyone else was using Swords." "Uh-oh. My cousin did that once. A month later he had removed his arm and replaced it with a giant gun. So sad...")

Regardless, when choosing between Praets and L.Guard, consider what it is you want them to be doing, then decide whether there's anything else in the army that could do that job better.
• Want them with Swords to slaughter MEQ? Destroyers would probably do that better.
• What them with Scythes to take on TEQ? Praetorians with Rods and Flayed Ones would probably do that better.
• Want them with Scythes to open vehicles? Heavy Destroyers and Void Praetorians would probably do that better.
• Want them with Shields so they can hold heavy elites in tarpit? Wraiths, duh.
• Want them with Shields so they can act as bodyguard to an important HQ? ... nope, there's nobody that does that job better.

They're also fairly decent at killing Knights. A unit of ten Scytheguard can take a charge from a Knight, lose a couple of models and proceed to slice it apart. The trick is minimizing the effects of the battlecannon though. Sit them on an objective in a ruin, with the Reclamation Overlord nearby?

 skoffs wrote:
It annoys me that Necrons still can't mix different weapon types in most of their units.
So, what, Destroyers can take Gauss Canons and Heavy Gauss Canons in the same unit but Lychguard, Praetorians, Tomb Blades and Immortals haven't figured it out yet?

I think Tomb Blades can now have mixed equipment... it says any model, not all models

Yeah, with the removal of Storm-teks, we're kinda lacking reliable anti-superheavy options... guess Lychguard somewhat fill that roll?

 skoffs wrote:
Yeah, with the removal of Storm-teks, we're kinda lacking reliable anti-superheavy options... guess Lychguard somewhat fill that roll?

Not really. Super Heavies can move 12"

Necrons have never struggled vs anything armoured haha

Even without Stormteks

Every 6 causes a glance. Why are you even bothered to pen super heavies given that they anyway ignore the damange chart except if you roll another 7 in which case its only a further d3 HPs?