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I'm working on a Necron army right now, and I'm trying to figure out what direction I'd like to go. Currently, the plan is the (standard) Decurion Detachment with a Reclamation Legion and a Canoptek Harvest. I do like the offensive capabilities of the Wraiths, and the harvest definitely increases their survivability by a HUGE margin, but I seem to see them in every Necron list. I keep looking through the codex, though, and finding my attention drawn to the Annihilation Nexus. The idea of having those gigantic guns supporting my warriors just seems so unbelievably badass. I'm just wondering how they actually play. Any of you Necron players out there have experience with the Nexus? Any non-Necron players have experience fighting against them?

Looking at it from the outside, it doesn't seem too great. Annibarges and Doomarks just don't match very well due to the big discrepancies in their mutual ranges. That and Annibarges are just not that good anymore, tbh.

Annihilation Barges are...okay. The formation's rules suck though, as the two vehicles have entirely different ranges of effectiveness.

It is mostly just a way to get either vehicle in a Decurion or to save your Heavy Support slots for Heavy Destroyers.

Doomsday Ark
Str10 ap1 large blast seems amazing till you consider that it doesn't ignore cover, and the opponent WILL shoot dedicated anti tank at it until either you jink, or it explodes. Either way you aren't shooting next turn. Occasionally it can make its points back if you go first and get very lucky, but those instances aren't common enough to make up for its pts cost IMO.

A-Barge.
The twin linked tesla destructor seems amazing, but the platform is pretty slow. Compare it to a night scythe
1. Similar points
2. Scythe is far quicker and doesn't take up a force org slot
3. Scythe is harder to hit and will at least get a turn of shooting (barring interceptor)
4. Scythe can drop a blob of infantry where they need to be,and at ridiculously low risk to the squad.

And on to the formation
The special rule seems nice, till you consider that the ark probably won't survive a round of shooting if it's armour has been breached. And even if by some miracle it does survive, you will spend two turns speeding your barges back to it to repair it.
For those reasons. This formation is a bit lacklustre

I was afraid of that. The Doomsday Cannon looks amazing, but that high-power/low-power mechanic feels like I'd end up using low-power 99% of the time due to circumstance. I still like the model. I'll probably end up getting one somewhere down to road just for fun. Painting a Ghost Ark right now, and I currently have NO desire to look at this many individual parts again any time soon.

The Ark is probably more useful in CAD than here. Park it in one of your backfield corners with good vis and blast away. Not amazing, but better.

Considering how amazingly durable the rest of the army is, taking an annihilation nexus is not a serious handicap. The Ark is valuable, if simply because it attracts so much attention. The opponent has to destroy it or allow that nasty major gun to land at will, which is always valuable.

The Annihilation Nexus works great if your going heavy armor. CCB, couple of ghost arks, immortals in a night scythe and an Annihilation Nexus. If in decurion maybe a minimum Judicator Battalion.

Or in a CAD/ mephrit for another ccb or wraiths or w/a..

In a regular decurion the Annihilation Nexus will get put down pretty quick but if you add in a bunch of other AV13 you get a bit of a longer life expectancy. Doomsday is still first target but you could always use the Anni barges as shields. Or a ghost ark.

Not saying it's competitive or anything but if your looking for a reason / way to play with the big guns that's how I'd do it. Also it's a lot easier to flesh out a Necron army by adding transports instead of having to buy whole formations at a time.

There was a tactic where people would put a Doomsday Ark or two on a SkyShield Landing Pad and use its superior hight advantage and the invulnerable save it provided to semi decent ends... but that's a hell of a lot of points to invest that could probably go into something more effective.

As far as the Annihilation Nexus goes, it's the most disappointing formation in the codex. Even Living Tomb is better than it.

Whatever happened to the Baleful Necropolis formation (1 Tesseract Vault, 2-8 Monoliths iirc)? I saw it in a codex I found online, but haven't been able to find it in a hard copy book?

 EnTyme wrote:
Whatever happened to the Baleful Necropolis formation (1 Tesseract Vault, 2-8 Monoliths iirc)? I saw it in a codex I found online, but haven't been able to find it in a hard copy book?

Thats an Apocalypse Formation