librarius conclave + Skyhammer Annihilation

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Jaceevoke**

So I have been started playing 40k again recently, and have been having some difficulties playing against a Space Marine list that contain the two formation in the title. In general he plays a null deployment list having two of the Liberians from the conclave wearing jetpacks so they can come with the assault squad, having two more in drop pods with the devastators; while he does bring other stuff ranging from tac squads in drop pods to deredo and sicarain battle tanks I am mostly concerned with the two formations. Having played against his army many times with both of the armies I have, pure tank IG and 5th ed blob necrons, I can't seem to find a good way of dealing with them. I have tried holding the majority of my units in reserve, only to be tabled turn 1, tried deploying to negate the effectiveness of his drop pods only to have the same basic outcome as when I deployed normally. Tried going with a mobility based on army only to have the second wave of drop pods clean-up what escaped from the first wave. Any advice as to what I can do to, besides the old don't play against that formation/player. Thanks for reading and for any potential advice

**Red__Thirst**

First off, if he attached librarians to the skyhammer force elements I do believe they lose their special rules if I'm not mistaken. I very well might be so let someone more knowledgeable chime in here if need-be.

A formation and it's rules only extend to the units *in that formation* alone. So if he's charging in with the Librarians attached to the assault squads in the Skyhammer the same turn they land, he's (inadvertently) cheating. The Assault Marines get to charge the turn they land with the Skyhammer's rules. The Librarian, however, cannot. The Skyhammer's rules do not extend to him, and if the Librarian is still attached then that means the entire squad cannot charge. There's no way for a jump pack deep striking Librarian to detach from the Skyhammer's assault marines squads either, as they land and stand there, and they can't run in the shooting phase or they then cannot charge (that rule is still in effect, they can charge the same turn they deep strike with Skyhammer, but not if they run). So call him on this next time you play him and see how many circuit breakers flip in his brain.

Now I do believe he can attach a character to the Devastator Squads in the drop pod, but again the character cannot benefit from the first turn Relentless that the squads in the drop pods get.

Lastly, do what I do in this situation. Does he have a physical hard copy of the rules he's using (Skyhammer annihilation force in this instance, along with the Librarius Conclave) that he can show you and let you read and verify that the rules he's using are correct? If the answer if no, then tell him you'll happily play him once he has physical copies of the rules. Not photocopies, not printed off crap, actual honest-to-goodness rules from a rulebook or formation datasheet. My gaming group *requires* you have up to date rules with you for your army (unless we're doing a throwback game using previous edition rules and codex, which can be fun some days) to include formations.

I know I'm going to catch some flak for saying this but if I ever have someone come to me asking to play the Skyhammer I just ask them if they have the data sheet/formation page that came from Game's Workshop when they bought the bundle. If the answer is no, then I politely refuse to play that specific list, but offer to play another list if they have one with them. In this day and age, it's too easy to make a small edit or change to a document on a computer, print it off and use it as gospel. If it isn't the laminated Skyhammer page from the formation bundle, I don't play it. Any tournament I run also has this rule in effect.

I will note in closing that if my opponent *DOES* have the current official rules for their army and/or formation I will HAPPILY play against it, to include Skyhammer.

Just my opinion. Take it easy for now and I hope that helps you out Jaceevoke.

-Red__Thirst-

Automatically Appended Next Post:

rowboatjellyfanxiii wrote:
Buy a new army.

Really? ... Really dude?

Please, for all of us, stop posting.

**GrafWattenburg**

What weapon layout does his Devastators typically run? IG Tanks can be really hurt by Melta/grav, but if he goes all-out Grav you can just get a Void Shield Generator and laugh as his shots fail to have any effect.

IG is in a pretty bad spot right now so I think you'll struggle with tank-IG no matter what you do. Blobs with Coteaz and a VGS is what I'd run if I knew I were gonna face the SKyhammer.

What does our Necron list typically look like? I can't imagine a Decurion Necron silver tide being too hurt by an alpha strike list tbh.

**Desubot**

Ig will be tough. but inquisitors would help out a lot.

so would various psykers to get forewarning. i dont remember if they can get telepathy or not

assassins can also help against at least the psykers.

as for crons you are playing the 5th ed book or just the style?

**Jaceevoke**

Red__Thirst wrote:
First off, if he attached librarians to the skyhammer force elements I do believe they lose their special rules if I'm not mistaken. I very well might be so let someone more knowledgeable chime in here if need-be.

A formation and it's rules only extend to the units *in that formation* alone. So if he's charging in with the Librarians attached to the assault squads in the Skyhammer the same turn they land, he's (inadvertently) cheating. The Assault Marines get to charge the turn they land with the Skyhammer's rules. The Librarian, however, cannot. The Skyhammer's rules do not extend to him, and if the Librarian is still attached then that means the entire squad cannot charge. There's no way for a jump pack deep striking Librarian to detach from the Skyhammer's assault marines squads either, as they land and stand there, and they can't run in the shooting phase or they then cannot charge (that rule is still in effect, they can charge the same turn they deep strike with Skyhammer, but not if they run). So call him on this next time you play him and see how many circuit breakers flip in his brain.

Now I do believe he can attach a character to the Devastator Squads in the drop pod, but again the character cannot benefit from the first turn Relentless that the squads in the drop pods get.

Lastly, do what I do in this situation. Does he have a physical hard copy of the rules he's using (Skyhammer annihilation force in this instance, along with the Librarius Conclave) that he can show you and let you read and verify that the rules he's using are correct? If the answer if no, then tell him you'll happily play him once he has physical copies of the rules. Not photocopies, not printed off crap, actual honest-to-goodness rules from a rulebook or formation datasheet. My gaming group *requires* you have up to date rules with you for your army (unless we're doing a throwback game using previous edition rules and codex, which can be fun some days) to include formations.

I know I'm going to catch some flak for saying this but if I ever have someone come to me asking to play the Skyhammer I just ask them if they have the data sheet/formation page that came from Game's Workshop when they bought the bundle. If the answer is no, then I politely refuse to play that specific list, but offer to play another list if they have one with them. In this day and age, it's too easy to make a small edit or change to a document on a computer, print it off and use it as gospel. If it isn't the laminated Skyhammer page from the formation bundle, I don't play it. Any tournament I run also has this rule in effect.

I will note in closing that if my opponent *DOES* have the current official rules for their army and/or formation I will HAPPILY play against it, to include Skyhammer.

Just my opinion. Take it easy for now and I hope that helps you out Jaceevoke.

-Red__Thirst-

Automatically Appended Next Post:

rowboatjellyfanxiii wrote:
Buy a new army.

Really? ... Really dude?

Please, for all of us, stop posting.

Thank you very much for your quick reply and solution to the problem, you do bring up a good point about the formation rules only applying to the models in the formation. Unfortunately your other suggestion actually goes against me since I don't own the Astra Militarum codex and he does have the Skyhammer Annihilation rules. I have no problem with playing against any army , just am trying to figure out a solution so that the games don't become an exercise in deploying and then putting away my models. Once again thank you

Edit: As I was typing out my reply to others replied, not great at quoting sorry.

@GrafWattenburg He switches it some but mostly he runs one as Gravcannons, and the others as Multi-meltas, as for my IG When I say pure tank I mean I don't run any infantry at all (probably not the best but I just love the feel of running all those tanks). As for my Necrons I run fifth ed since I consider the seventh ed to over[powered and far less cinematic in play style (e.g. the unique crypteks and rising up at the end of the phase) I typically bring 3 20 man squads two overlord, a lord, and the crypteks that let me deepstrike giving me mobility. Otherwise I run 3-5 20 man squads with Annihilation barges and ghost arks supporting them along with an overlord and some lords with res orbs.

@Desubot Indeed perhaps I will have to ally if I want to win, but I have never been a fan of mixing and matching armies. But I might have to try it out if nothing else works.

Once again thank you all for your suggestions

**Red__Thirst**

I will say this: If he's playing Skyhammer, you really owe it to yourself to play Necrons with their most current codex. It's not overpowered compared to armies such as Space Marines, or Eldar, or the upcoming Tau codex.

I can understand wanting to not be seen as a power gamer, but what you're doing is trying to fight Mike Tyson with both arms tied behind your back. Trust me, upgrade to the new Necron Codex, build a list out, and then tackle him again and I think you'll see a difference. I can also say I empathize with where you're coming from with your guard, as my two armies are Imperial Guard and Blood Angels.

In all seriousness, get the 7th Edition Necron Codex. You'll do better, have better chances of winning, and enjoy your games more as a result.

Hope that helps. Take it easy for now.

-Red__Thirst-

**ELD3RGoD**

Red__Thirst wrote:
I will say this: If he's playing Skyhammer, you really owe it to yourself to play Necrons with their most current codex. It's not overpowered compared to armies such as Space Marines, or Eldar, or the upcoming Tau codex.

Necrons are on the same level. Be serious please.

**asorel**

Red__Thirst wrote:
First off, if he attached librarians to the skyhammer force elements I do believe they lose their special rules if I'm not mistaken. I very well might be so let someone more knowledgeable chime in here if need-be.

A formation and it's rules only extend to the units *in that formation* alone. So if he's charging in with the Librarians attached to the assault squads in the Skyhammer the same turn they land, he's (inadvertently) cheating. The Assault Marines get to charge the turn they land with the Skyhammer's rules. The Librarian, however, cannot. The Skyhammer's rules do not extend to him, and if the Librarian is still attached then that means the entire squad cannot charge. There's no way for a jump pack deep striking Librarian to detach from the Skyhammer's assault marines squads either, as they land and stand there, and they can't run in the shooting phase or they then cannot charge (that rule is still in effect, they can charge the same turn they deep strike with Skyhammer, but not if they run). So call him on this next time you play him and see how many circuit breakers flip in his brain.

I actually took a look at the rules for this, and I don't think it's the case from a RAW standpoint. The rules for ICs state:

While an Independent Character is part of a unit, he counts as part of the unit for all rules purposes...
...Unless otherwise specified in the rule itself, the unit's special rules are not conferred upon the Independent Character...

A "unit's special rules" are defined as what special rules are listed under the Special Rules section of its datasheet.

The Skyhammer Annihilation Force special rule First the Fire, then the Blade says

On the turn they arrive from Deep Strike Reserve, the Devastator Squads...have the Relentless special rule

Not the beginning of the game, but the turn they descend (usually turn 1)
This is important because it means that Relentless isn't a unit special rule of the Dev squads. It's effectively a boon placed upon the Dev squads as they arrive onto the field. The Libby is part of the Dev squad for all game purposes, so they get the boon as well. Not only that, but the rules specify that he doesn't gain the unit's special rules when joining the unit. The libby is already a part of the unit, so he isn't gaining the special rule by joining the unit.

The same thing applies for the Assault Squads charging immediately. Only this time, it's even more concrete, because there are no special rules being given to the Assault Squads. The text simply reads:

...the Assault Sqauds can charge even though they arrived from Reserves

The libby is part of the assault squad for all game purposes, so he can charge with them.

**Red__Thirst**

ELD3RGoD wrote:
Red__Thirst wrote:
I will say this: If he's playing Skyhammer, you really owe it to yourself to play Necrons with their most current codex. It's not overpowered compared to armies such as Space Marines, or Eldar, or the upcoming Tau codex.

Necrons are on the same level. Be serious please.

Apparently reading is hard... Let's try this again boys and girls.

I said: The most current Necron Codex is NOT overpowered COMPARED to other armies that have come after it with Decurion style formations and free bonuses. These include: Eldar, Space Marines, Dark Angels, and I'm sure the UPCOMING Tau codex, assuming it adheres to the same power level of the Necron Codex and the few we've received after it.

Reading comprehension kids. Don't leave home without it.

Take it easy.

-Red__Thirst-

**Yoyoyo**

Deredero, Sicarans, Conclave, Skyhammer, Null Deployment? Crikey!

Aside from the regular advice you're not looking for, two things.

Anything you can do to disrupt his reserves is important. If his units come in piecemeal, you can fight at an advantage

If he has units incoming on T1, Deathmarks will let you null deploy and shoot first. So maybe that's worth your while.

**TheCustomLime**

If he's running that kind of cheese I think you are justified in taking the kiddy gloves off. Buy the 7th ed Codex for your Necrons. For your IG... yeah, allies. Skitarii, IK and Inquisition are going to be your new buddies.

**oldzoggy**

The skyhammer does look impressive on paper but it really isn't that at all. I run that formation from time to time and against necrons it really isn't that great. Play witth the current codex, take decurion and just refuse to die while you shoot him to bits. Really its that simple.

- Devestators-> really you should be able to out shoot those with the new codex. The pinned part hurts, but that is only the first turn.

-Assault marines WITHOUT any IC (there is some discussion about it in the you make the call section of this site but they should not be in there and be able to assault ) So you are just being assaulted by assault marines with a few power fists max. That is scary but not that scary. Some screener / tarpit units should be able to mitigate them. Also note they don't have drop pods but just deep strike. So you could also try to make it really hard for him to deepstrike near important sites

In the end both units are just as durable as normal marines and much more expensive. Things that kill a squad of marines should be able to kill those.

The conclave..
This one is powerfull but also a lot of points to the point that it is hard for it to get its points back. simple solution shoot it until it is dead.
Second solution ally in a Culexus assasin if you really want to shut that nonsense down. You could even use an old pariah model without deviating that much from the fluff.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
IG tank -> Barrage snipe his librarians with all kinds of nasty stuff or just with massed wyverens. They only have 2 wounds each and the formation will get weaker if you kill some of them.
And always shield your tanks with units don't leave them in the open, where assault marines or melta devs can cut them open.

**Makumba**

And always shield your tanks with units don't leave them in the open, where assault marines or melta devs can cut them open.

How do you do that. They drop without scater kill some of the screening troops and even with cover centurions and two units of grav devs always blow up my vehicle section.

**madtankbloke**

Red__Thirst wrote:

I know I'm going to catch some flak for saying this but if I ever have someone come to me asking to play the Skyhammer I just ask them if they have the data sheet/formation page that came from Game's Workshop when they bought the bundle. If the answer is no, then I politely refuse to play that specific list, but offer to play another list if they have one with them. In this day and age, it's too easy to make a small edit or change to a document on a computer, print it off and use it as gospel. If it isn't the laminated Skyhammer page from the formation bundle, I don't play it. Any tournament I run also has this rule in effect.

how exactly does one procure an 'official' copy of the rules now the bundle is no longer available? how many 'official' laminated rules are there in circulation?
Do you realise that skyhammer isn't honestly all that great unless you are crimson fists? its still just assault marines and devastators, 2 units not exactly noted for being awesome

**asorel**

madtankbloke wrote:
Red__Thirst wrote:

I know I'm going to catch some flak for saying this but if I ever have someone come to me asking to play the Skyhammer I just ask them if they have the data sheet/formation page that came from Game's Workshop when they bought the bundle. If the answer is no, then I politely refuse to play that specific list, but offer to play another list if they have one with them. In this day and age, it's too easy to make a small edit or change to a document on a computer, print it off and use it as gospel. If it isn't the laminated Skyhammer page from the formation bundle, I don't play it. Any tournament I run also has this rule in effect.

how exactly does one procure an 'official' copy of the rules now the bundle is no longer available? how many 'official' laminated rules are there in circulation?
Do you realise that skyhammer isn't honestly all that great unless you are crimson fists? its still just assault marines and devastators, 2 units not exactly noted for being awesome

Three hundred "official" copies were released. And that super-special piece of laminated paper cost you a hundred dollars compared to just buying two dev squads, two assault squads, and two drop pods.

To me, it just seems like an unnecessarily dickish move. Would you refuse to play with someone if he left his copy of the BRB at home?

**Martel732**

Just look it up on blood of kittens. Done.

**SharkoutofWata**

Martel732 wrote:
Just look it up on blood of kittens. Done.

No. Get an actual image of the sheet. Blood of Kittens is NOT rules and they are only human. They can make mistakes. I wouldn't trust someone whose source is a written of piece of napkin, I don't trust a blog either.

**Martel732**

Meh. It's GW rules. I'm inclined to go with the napkin myself over what GW has written.

**ansacs**

I will skip the advise to take x unit or use the current codex. I would recommend the current codex however as it actually makes warrior blobbs a pretty effective army with some good durability which would help a lot against your opponent.

The biggest thing that lets you win games against armies like skyhammer (ie drop pod alpha strike armies is two different strategies.
1) Deploy out of position. What I mean about this is make the opponent decide between dropping their army in the middle of nowhere so they can hurt you or dropping on/near objectives so they can score but being out of range to hurt you. This is extremely effective against skyhammer+libby con as your opponent has spent 900+ pts on those formations meaning they are the majority of their army. They are also relatively low durability per point and not ObjSec so if they don't hurt you they tend to die.

2) Sacrifice what you don't need. If you have an executioner leman russ and a conqueror then put the conqueror in ~5" in front of the executioner and put the executioner in serious cover. If you do this right the opponent will drop down and not be able to efficiently damage your important units. Why this works is that while all the units in your army may be taken for a purpose unless you list tailor no more that 30-50% of your army is actually important to you winning the game. The rest may contribute and even claim an objective but they will be significantly less effective. When playing against a drop pod alpha strike army you need to figure out what is important and use the units not as important to control the board and protect the important stuff. I have sacrificed 1200 pts of foot seer council before to keep the opponent in their deployment zone and kept a min ranger unit alive to score objectives, in that game my opponent had 1700 out of 1850 pts left while I had ~200 out of 1850 pts left yet I won because of knowing what to sacrifice and what to preserve.

Skyhammer is really one of those things that tests a players mentality. You usually have to loose an arm and leg to save the head and heart.

**Martel732**

Or lose a Rhino wall

**Jaceevoke**

Once again thank you all for your comments and suggestions.

For my necrons honestly I am just not willing to use that overpowered codex that GW saw fit for some reason, I personally hate the way the game is headed in the moment. And while I don't have a problem playing against the overpowered codex if it means my opponent is having fun, playing one of those codexes is just the antithesis of fun for me.

As for my IG I'm not really in the position to buy one of those incredibly expensive kits like the IK or a small supporting army. With placing my tanks in cover and using the less useful ones to defend the useful one he always has one or two divination (not sure if that is the right discipline) psykers so he is always able to give his devastators ignore cover.

@Ansacs Thank you very much for your strategies I will try to use to the best of my ability but unfortunately I don't know if they will be able to help much. One of the main reasons I made this thread that I alluded to in my initial post is that he is routinely tabling me, often turn two or three with the IG and four or five with the Necrons. And often in the few games where I don't get tabled he is ahead of me in victory points by 5-10 due to him setting his pods on objectives forcing me to decide between killing the the pods to stop him from scoring or trying to kill the units the can just delete a unit of mine a turn.

**ansacs**

Martel732 wrote:
Or lose a Rhino wall

Exactly

Funny thing is that Rhino wall is triply effective against skyhammer. The rhino's are immune to the morale/pinning abilities, block LoS to the important stuff, and usually have cover from the firepower + are inefficient to kill for the grav.

**pretre**

ansacs wrote:
Martel732 wrote:
Or lose a Rhino wall

Exactly

Funny thing is that Rhino wall is triply effective against skyhammer. The rhino's are immune to the morale/pinning abilities, block LoS to the important stuff, and usually have cover from the firepower + are inefficient to kill for the grav.

Have the assault squads assault the rhino wall and have the Devs shoot anything behind it. Rhinos don't block complete LOS to the units.

**Desubot**

pretre wrote:
ansacs wrote:
Martel732 wrote:
Or lose a Rhino wall

Exactly

Funny thing is that Rhino wall is triply effective against skyhammer. The rhino's are immune to the morale/pinning abilities, block LoS to the important stuff, and usually have cover from the firepower + are inefficient to kill for the grav.

Have the assault squads assault the rhino wall and have the Devs shoot anything behind it. Rhinos don't block complete LOS to the units.

It should block line of sight unless everyone is on 1inch scenic bases or if the enemy manages to land on a hill. then the unit behind the rhinos will at the least get a cover save down to a 4+ for GTG and intervening (rhino) (though i dont think you want to GTG since the assault marines will more than likely kill the rhinos (though there carcases will create LOS blocking terrain at that point because i assume they wont get a 7

**ansacs**

Jaceevoke wrote:
@Ansacs Thank you very much for your strategies I will try to use to the best of my ability but unfortunately I don't know if they will be able to help much. One of the main reasons I made this thread that I alluded to in my initial post is that he is routinely tabling me, often turn two or three with the IG and four or five with the Necrons. And often in the few games where I don't get tabled he is ahead of me in victory points by 5-10 due to him setting his pods on objectives forcing me to decide between killing the the pods to stop him from scoring or trying to kill the units the can just delete a unit of mine a turn.

One of the things you should try is to break your army up into smaller units. ie instead of taking 1 unit of 2-3 leman russ' take 2-3 units of 1 and just take more FOC. This will help to limit the DS damage and give you a chance to open up on the devs which are high damage but low durability. Also things like ADL and ruins will help a lot to limit the damage.

On a side note you may want to reevaluate your stance on switching to the new codexes. All of the new codexes are significantly more powerful overall than their 5ed and 6ed counterparts. However they have actually become somewhat more uniform in power level than 6ed (definitely) and could be argued that they are more balanced than the 5ed codexes due to the addition of score as you go mission mechanics which helps to reduce the emphasis on pure damage potential and put more emphasis on mobility and deployment tricks. While there is nothing "inherently wrong" with using an old codex you are in fact using what was a weak army in that codex and edition in an edition where all the armies are competing at the same power level that the top tier list from the 5ed necron codex played at. Ironically necron warrior blobs is actually entirely valid and can be played with a significant expectation to win with the new codex against even top tier army lists. Make no mistake either that your opponent is playing what can be considered near the top tier of army lists.

I am not sure what is going on with your IG though. I have played IG against similar stuff and had little to no problems. What does a typical army list look like for you and your opponent and what sort of board do you usually play on (ie about how much ruins, any LoS blockers, etc.) Also what type of mission do you play.

**pretre**

Desubot wrote:
pretre wrote:
ansacs wrote:
Martel732 wrote:
Or lose a Rhino wall

Exactly

Funny thing is that Rhino wall is triply effective against skyhammer. The rhino's are immune to the morale/pinning abilities, block LoS to the important stuff, and usually have cover from the firepower + are inefficient to kill for the grav.

Have the assault squads assault the rhino wall and have the Devs shoot anything behind it. Rhinos don't block complete LOS to the units.

It should block line of sight unless everyone is on 1inch scenic bases or if the enemy manages to land on a hill. then the unit behind the rhinos will at the least get a cover save down to a 4+ for GTG and intervening (rhino) (though i dont think you want to GTG since the assault marines will more than likely kill the rhinos (though there carcases will create LOS blocking terrain at that point because i assume they wont get a 7

That's not blocking LOS; that is providing cover. And you'll probably be forced to GTG when the Devs shoot at you.

**Desubot**

pretre wrote:
Desubot wrote:
pretre wrote:
ansacs wrote:
Martel732 wrote:
Or lose a Rhino wall

Exactly

Funny thing is that Rhino wall is triply effective against skyhammer. The rhino's are immune to the morale/pinning abilities, block LoS to the important stuff, and usually have cover from the firepower + are inefficient to kill for the grav.

Have the assault squads assault the rhino wall and have the Devs shoot anything behind it. Rhinos don't block complete LOS to the units.

It should block line of sight unless everyone is on 1inch scenic bases or if the enemy manages to land on a hill. then the unit behind the rhinos will at the least get a cover save down to a 4+ for GTG and intervening (rhino) (though i dont think you want to GTG since the assault marines will more than likely kill the rhinos (though there carcases will create LOS blocking terrain at that point because i assume they wont get a 7

That's not blocking LOS; that is providing cover. And you'll probably be forced to GTG when the Devs shoot at you.

How is it not Blocking line of sight if you cant physically see a model behind a rhino.

**pretre**

Desubot wrote:
How is it not Blocking line of sight if you cant physically see a model behind a rhino.

Okay, let's put it this way: I doubt you will be able to block LOS to your units using rhinos. Chances are, your opponent will see some models.

**Desubot**

pretre wrote:
Desubot wrote:
How is it not Blocking line of sight if you cant physically see a model behind a rhino.

Okay, let's put it this way: I doubt you will be able to block LOS to your units using rhinos. Chances are, your opponent will see some models.

Thats fair enough.

**Jaceevoke**

ansacs wrote:
Jaceevoke wrote:
@Ansacs Thank you very much for your strategies I will try to use to the best of my ability but unfortunately I don't know if they will be able to help much. One of the main reasons I made this thread that I alluded to in my initial post is that he is routinely tabling me, often turn two or three with the IG and four or five with the Necrons. And often in the few games where I don't get tabled he is ahead of me in victory points by 5-10 due to him setting his pods on objectives forcing me to decide between killing the the pods to stop him from scoring or trying to kill the units the can just delete a unit of mine a turn.

One of the things you should try is to break your army up into smaller units. ie instead of taking 1 unit of 2-3 leman russ' take 2-3 units of 1 and just take more FOC. This will help to limit the DS damage and give you a chance to open up on the devs which are high damage but low durability. Also things like ADL and ruins will help a lot to limit the damage.

On a side note you may want to reevaluate your stance on switching to the new codexes. All of the new codexes are significantly more powerful overall than their 5ed and 6ed counterparts. However they have actually become somewhat more uniform in power level than 6ed (definitely) and could be argued that they are more balanced than the 5ed codexes due to the addition of score as you go mission mechanics which helps to reduce the emphasis on pure damage potential and put more emphasis on mobility and deployment tricks. While there is nothing "inherently wrong" with using an old codex you are in fact using what was a weak army in that codex and edition in an edition where all the armies are competing at the same power level that the top tier list from the 5ed necron codex played at. Ironically necron warrior blobs is actually entirely valid and can be played with a significant expectation to win with the new codex against even top tier army lists. Make no mistake either that your opponent is playing what can be considered near the top tier of army lists.

I am not sure what is going on with your IG though. I have played IG against similar stuff and had little to no problems. What does a typical army list look like for you and your opponent and what sort of board do you usually play on (ie about how much ruins, any LoS blockers, etc.) Also what type of mission do you play.

Again thank you for your suggestion, honestly I do just run single models rather than units since I have no possibilty of being battle forged since I run a pure tank army. The board we play on is a urban city map, I have one of those fat mats from frontline, we use a fair bit of terrain on there with plenty of building to disrupt line of sight without reaching the point where the board feels crowded. In general we play maelstrom missions, through we do occasionally do a custom scenario e.g. hold a certain area, last X amount of turns etc.

As for my typical army list I don't really have one, since he is the only person I play, since the game store I used to manage shutdown, and none of my list have at all been effective so I keep trying to change the list to do better. That being said I can only bring my Ig in smaller point games since I only have 8 tanks available to me, although he does occasionally let me borrow a couple of his tanks so I can run 10-11 of them, we are very relaxed in terms of proxing for my IG tanks since they are all basically the same general shape. I typically try bringing a wyvern or two, a couple Leman Russ's (either bare bones, the triple plasma cannon, or the demolisher cannon) , and occasionally a hell hound variant. I used to bring some earthshakers and other powerful artillery but with their minimum range I found them all but useless due to how close he is by turn 1.