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All very sound advice! The guys at the Art of War 40k often play with a novokh warrior/silent king list on youtube. Definitely worth checking them out if you want to get an idea of how that certain build/play style works

I have but not always run Orikan the Diviner, overlord, lord, cryptic, forty warriors, twenty gauss immortals, ten tesla carbine immortals, ten deathmarks, scarabs, six wraiths, five destoyers, three heavy destroyers, and a monolith. People at the local gaming store are happy I put up a fight and take out three of the biggest models on the field with mass ap-1 gauss. Any tips to make my army stronger? Thank you.

Took Nihilakh Necrons to a local six-round, 2000 point tourney with 20 players. I only started Necrons with Indomitus and I have a fairly limited collection. I took Necrons to the tourney as a break from Dark Angels as their Codex was not released when we had to submit our lists. We used GT20 missions.

I took: Overlord, Warden, Chronomancer, Reaper Warriors x 15, Reaper Warriors x 15, Flayer Warriors x 10, Immortals x 5, Nightbringer, Skorpekh Destroyers x 6, Scarabs x 6, Scarabs x 6, Triarch Stalker, Canoptek Doomstalker.

Game 1 vs Grey Knights. He had a big Paladin Bomb, the Dread Character and supporting squads. He had first turn and his Paladins gunned down the Triarch Stalker. My Warden and a Reaper squad used Veil to get into his backfield and gun down a Grey Knight squad. The Nightbringer and Skorpekhs chewed through his Dreadnought character and another squad. My Scarabs did a good job of eating Smites and in Turn 2 the Nightbringer took down the Paladins after they had been softened up by his Ctan powers and Reaper fire. Necron victory.

Game 2 vs Alpha Legion. This was wild, swirling game. He had a Lord on a Bike that could target characters that took down my Warden on Turn 1, throwing my plan into disarray. The Skorpechs took two squads of CSM down before dying. Reaper Warriors pulped a 30 strong Cultist squad down to 8 models who were then satisfying eaten by Scarabs! The Nightbringer killed two vehicles, a squad of CSM, a Chaos lord and Obliterators, but he couldn't be everywhere at once. The Doomstalker died to deep striking Terminators but somehow the Triarch Stalker lived long enough to kill the Termies with Heat Ray and Claws. Who knew? The remnants of two battered armies glowered at each other after five turns with the Alpha Legion winning 52 to 51. One of the most fun tourney games I can recall!

Game 3 vs Orks. He had a variety of Truks and Speeders plus some infiltrators. I pushed hard with Scarabs and Destroyers but I lacked enough mid-strength AT. A hard-fought loss to the Orks - I had enough board control through the middle turns to have an OK score. The Nightbringer died to Smite, shooting and melee without really doing enough damage in return.

Game 4 vs Grey Knights. No Paladin bomb but plenty of small squads and Dreadnoughts. He came at me with Interceptors, a Land Raider Redeemer and two Dreads. Turn 1 was rough, with my Doomstalker falling along with a number of warriors. I took a chance with a Veil deep strike into his DZ that hurt him but cost me those Warriors and the Warden. Turn 2 things turned around as the Nightbringer and Destroyers went to work. A Necron victory, but at a cost!

Game 5 vs Ultramarines. This looked to be a chance to showcase the Nightbringer against a big Bladeguard Squad...Well, the Nightbringer whiffed on most of his C'Tan powers and was dead by the end of turn 2 (he had Tigurius) after only killing three Bladeguard over those two turns (two of whom were brought back). He killed precisely one in melee..I took down several Intercessor squads, but otherwise this was a one-sided loss. My tactics were sub-par, and my Skorpechs were not well coordinated with my Nightbringer.

Game 6 vs Tau. He had two Riptides and plenty of Drones but only three squads of Firewarriors. I threw a Veil-bomb in his face to kill his Firewarriors while the Destroyers, Nightbringer and Chronomancer rolled up one flank. This cost me the Warriors and Warden, but he was boxed into a corner (as Tau often is these days) and essentially surrendered the board to me. The Nightbringer was primarily a psychological weapon in this game. A one-sided victory for the Necrons.

Summary. A fun time with many lessons learned (3:3 still learning the army). The Scarabs were the stars of the list, grabbing objectives and establishing board control. I need some Lokhust Destroyers for mid-strength/longer-range shooting to deal with vehicles etc. The Nightbringer was a monster but also somewhat one-dimensional. The Skorpech Destroyers can hit hard, but they have huge bases and are awkward to manouevre. Might trade them for some shooty ones or perhaps Wraiths. From a tourney matched-play perspective the new FAQ from a little while back did shake things up with the Secondaries. Bring it Down is now quite hard to achieve, and the changes to Abhor the Witch also meant that there were more Pskers out there and while the two Grey Knight lists did give up VPs, it was much more of a grind.

I'll stick with Dark Angels as my main list, but I'll flesh out the Necrons.

Thanks for the insights.
Playing Necrons with only the new and shiny Indomitus contents is a bit tough.
But as said, Wraiths might do a better job and in the future a SK could help a lot.

TangoTwoBravo wrote:

Game 5 vs Ultramarines. This looked to be a chance to showcase the Nightbringer against a big Bladeguard Squad...Well, the Nightbringer whiffed on most of his C'Tan powers and was dead by the end of turn 2 (he had Tigurius) after only killing three Bladeguard over those two turns (two of whom were brought back). He killed precisely one in melee..I took down several Intercessor squads, but otherwise this was a one-sided loss. My tactics were sub-par, and my Skorpechs were not well coordinated with my Nightbringer.

Yeah that matchup takes some getting used to. You'd think the nightbringer would be great vs bladeguard but he's actually pretty terrible against them. They can transhuman forcing you to wound on 4s and then d6 damage isn't great against 3 wound models as you will frequently fail to kill in 1 wound and marines don't have a problem killing C'tan as they do good damage in all phases. You'd be better off throwing the destroyers at them and have the C'tan hunt the characters.

I've spent the better part of a week including Skorpek Destroyers and Lord in lists, trying to get them to deliver, but am really struggling.

Any suggestions to up their competitive potential? So far, just replacing their points with more Immortals, has done drastically more for me, especially as buffs and strats make said Immortals surprisingly punchy, while also obviously being a major shooting threat.

Quick question, are wraiths slowed by difficult ground? I know they can move through terrain and models similar to units with the fly keyword but how does wraithform work when you move through area terrain with the difficult ground keyword?

Historically wraiths would ignore it but I'm uncertain now in 9th looking at the wording.

I really love that the old Necron Ophydian Destroyer is very similar looking to the old necron wraights. (Before they become constructs.)

Are the Ophydians playable?

 Niiai wrote:
I really love that the old Necron Ophydian Destroyer is very similar looking to the old necron wraights. (Before they become constructs.)

Are the Ophydians playable?

They occupy this weird space in the codex, they cost the same as wraiths and Skorphtek destroyers. We don't have any reliable methods to make the charge out of deepstrike reliable so if that 9" fails you have to spend a cp and if it fails again the unit is just dead cause it has paper armour, the odds of rolling a 9 with 2 dice even with a re-roll is ~47%.

Their damage output is very high probably the highest non-ctan in the codex. However they are also the easiest model in the codex to kill lacking any defense whatsoever.

For the same price you'd get the same number of destroyers who deal only slightly less damage in CC but have a better save, toughness and an amazing strat to keep them alive.

Similarly for the same price you could have wraiths which are faster and more durable(3+/4++,T5).

If your army wants a 105pt, suicidal, have to make my charge unit, then they aren't bad and if your opponent doesn't screen right they could assault and quickly kill back field fire support. But they will die immediately after.

With how lethal 9th edition is and how important it is to be able to hold a point(and not just kill a unit) I feel they are in a bad place currently. They could use a point drop so they look better to their counterparts in the same codex or they could use someway of making the deepstrike charge more reliable(Tyranid adrenal glands style)

They do look really cool though.

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
I've spent the better part of a week including Skorpek Destroyers and Lord in lists, trying to get them to deliver, but am really struggling.

Any suggestions to up their competitive potential? So far, just replacing their points with more Immortals, has done drastically more for me, especially as buffs and strats make said Immortals surprisingly punchy, while also obviously being a major shooting threat.

Skorpekh are a little deceptive in how they play. I think my preference is to treat them as a counterclaims unit that then sucks around after that with their durability. Mostly, they don't want to post up as a front line because the plasmacyte is so much more effective on a 5-6 model unit. That makes it so you want to keep them out of harm until you can get the plasmacyte charge off. The speed 8 makes it easier to place them in a counter charge position without existing them. Once you get your charge off, they are good at staying out in the open and running down smaller enemy units.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Niiai wrote:
I really love that the old Necron Ophydian Destroyer is very similar looking to the old necron wraights. (Before they become constructs.)

Are the Ophydians playable?

They work in Novokh decently well. I like a squad of 3 that just makes the enemy play more bricked up by their existence. If the opponent places a unit out of mutual support range, just 3 Ophydians do a good job of chopping up a small unit if you don't flub the 8+ charge roll with a reroll.

Thanks LiMunPai, that's a great suggestion. I think I misplayed them, wanting them to either be Terminator like for their cost (which they just aren't), or have them be Marine-killers which they're profiled for, but leaves them in the weeds to be shot-down before they do so.

LiMunPai wrote:

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
I've spent the better part of a week including Skorpek Destroyers and Lord in lists, trying to get them to deliver, but am really struggling.

Any suggestions to up their competitive potential? So far, just replacing their points with more Immortals, has done drastically more for me, especially as buffs and strats make said Immortals surprisingly punchy, while also obviously being a major shooting threat.

Skorpekh are a little deceptive in how they play. I think my preference is to treat them as a counterclaims unit that then sucks around after that with their durability. Mostly, they don't want to post up as a front line because the plasmacyte is so much more effective on a 5-6 model unit. That makes it so you want to keep them out of harm until you can get the plasmacyte charge off. The speed 8 makes it easier to place them in a counter charge position without existing them. Once you get your charge off, they are good at staying out in the open and running down smaller enemy units.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Niiai wrote:
I really love that the old Necron Ophydian Destroyer is very similar looking to the old necron wraights. (Before they become constructs.)

Are the Ophydians playable?

They work in Novokh decently well. I like a squad of 3 that just makes the enemy play more bricked up by their existence. If the opponent places a unit out of mutual support range, just 3 Ophydians do a good job of chopping up a small unit if you don't flub the 8+ charge roll with a reroll.

Yeah ophydians are interesting. I think in novokh especially their place and role is also contested by flayed ones. Ophydians are debatably more punchy, but flayed ones are 40pts cheaper, so swings and roundabouts I guess. I have just noticed that ophydians get the infantry keyword so you can use them for scramblers...

I agree with Limun too in that a solo squad of 6 skorpekhs are best as a counter Punch unit. Obviously they're a great choice for a 5++ /re-roll charges from the chrono if you want that increased durability and charge reliability, but I think the chronos 5++ is great particularly everywhere in the codex; you can often find yourself hard pressed to put the buff on the skorpekhs unless you've specifically built for it. People often take sword and shield lychguard over them as they perform a similar role while having a native 4++. Thanks to the core keyword lychguard generally synergies with the rest of the codex better too imo

That said, I've seen a couple of succesful lists that go wide on skorpekhs, while I haven't seen that from the lychguard yet. Take what you will from that, but I am by no means saying that lychguard couldn't pull off the same thing!

I found it odd that Ophydians do not have flying or some other way to transport. They seem very floatable. The old wraights could phase out, at least in the Soulstorm game (DOW.)

Hello all!

You may know me from such Faction threads as Dark Angels and Tyranids, but last thursday I discovered that Element Games still has a load of Indomitus boxes, so I went ahead and bought one. I also have the necron half of a box from a friend coming soon (the marines will be seconded to my Dark Angels, at least everything except the assault intercessors whom I am Swapping with a friend}.

Now, I may mostly play narrative/crusade games but i do have a few questions...

!1: Should I run the skorpech destroyers as 1 unit of 6 or 2 of 3? Im not sure if i really like them all that much,

2: Warriors... I'm thinking of 1 unit of 20 with reapers coming out of a night scythe and 1 unit of 20 with gauss rifles to slowly advance up the board. Does this sound ok? or am i better off mixing 10/10 in units (much like how i run 15/15 fleshborer/devourer gaunts?}

3: is there a good part of this forum to post ongoing stories of my crusade (which would be heavily fictionilzed without derailing threads designed for more competitive players? Or should I ask mods to possibly set up a specific narrative games segment?

4. COMPLETELY lost with the options for crypteks (as a nid player i am very used to not having options at all) any advice on Plasmancers, or how to convert the second one into another type?

Sorry if this is not exactly "tactics" focussed, but i figured it would be the best place to ask.

princeyg wrote:

!1: Should I run the skorpech destroyers as 1 unit of 6 or 2 of 3? Im not sure if i really like them all that much,

This depends on your meta, so the best thing about skorpehk destroyers is they have a 1 cp strat to make them -1 to wound which makes them super durable vs anything not kitted out to fight t5. So you want to have a larger squad to make the most out of that strat, however depending on how prevalent inceptors are in your meta you may want to stick to only 5 so they don't give max shots.

2: Warriors... I'm thinking of 1 unit of 20 with reapers coming out of a night scythe and 1 unit of 20 with gauss rifles to slowly advance up the board. Does this sound ok? or am i better off mixing 10/10 in units (much like how i run 15/15 fleshborer/devourer gaunts?}

Your going to want all reapers if possible, reapers are always the better option. Reaper warriors can threaten any target, the flayers are just mediocre(you generally want to be in rapid fire range for them anyways and that's the reapers range). If your looking for a unit to hold a back field objective and have some range, just run a min squad of Immortals with gauss.

4. COMPLETELY lost with the options for crypteks (as a nid player i am very used to not having options at all) any advice on Plasmancers, or how to convert the second one into another type?

Most of the options on crypteks aren't needed and you'll know you need an option based on the list you play(for instance a canoptek focused list or one with doomstalkers will want the control node on the technomancer and maybe the failsafe overcharger)
Generally the arkana on the Crypteks are just niche bonuses, none of them are required and the most interesting ones require you do build your list with them in mind. I'd suggest just skipping the arkana until you're more familiar with the rest of the army. I would suggest converting the Plasmancer into a Chronomancer, the plasmancer is just a walking smite(which is alright but..) while the chronomancer provides much need invulns to units such are Skorpekhs, scarabs and warriors. Plus the re-roll able charge is nice on skorpekhs.

Thanks. Lot of useful info here.

Unless I'm mistaken, doesnt the chronomancer only effect CORE units?

Dont have my dex to hand to check

Nope its probably the ONLY effect that is just dynasty locked

 Niiai wrote:
I found it odd that Ophydians do not have flying or some other way to transport. They seem very floatable. The old wraights could phase out, at least in the Soulstorm game (DOW.)

No its not odd.
They can ''deep strike'' in the Necron sense which makes them quite reliable to reach the enemy quickly.

 Vineheart01 wrote:
Nope its probably the ONLY effect that is just dynasty locked

Yeah it's part of the reason you see one in so many lists tbh. You cant put the buff on units from a different dynasty or dynastic agents (so if you wanted a 5++ on praetorians you'd have to take orikan) but otherwise the chronos buff is unrestricted

Well, in that case they just got better in my estimations....

Time to try write up a tide of skorpekhs list

i want to like Orikan but he feels overpriced.
+30pts to a regular Chrono w/o the Lance shot (or any shooting for that matter) and decent but not great melee, chrono buff that can work on agents, and...nothing else really.
He really feels like he needs another chrono-type ability slapped on to me.

Gonna use this list for a batrep this weekend vs Admech.

Any merit to it?

Please do post a report on how the Seraptek plays in this edition, I'd really love to dust mine off.

I have only managed to use it in like 3 games before it lost a fight with gravity and I havent had the time to rebuild it yet....

 IHateNids wrote:
Please do post a report on how the Seraptek plays in this edition, I'd really love to dust mine off.

I have only managed to use it in like 3 games before it lost a fight with gravity and I havent had the time to rebuild it yet....

Yep, we're filming Saturday, so, i'll post it up on the batrep page in a week or two after its been processed etc.
Haven't actually used it since the nerf from the forgeworld books, so we'll see how it goes.

 iGuy91 wrote:
Gonna use this list for a batrep this weekend vs Admech.

Any merit to it?

Spoiler:

++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Necrons) [67 PL, 11CP, 1,350pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Battle Size [12CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)

Detachment Command Cost

Dynasty Choice: Dynasty: Mephrit

+ No Force Org Slot +

Bound Creation [2 PL, 40pts]
. Cryptothralls
. . 2x Cryptothrall: 2x Scouring Eye, 2x Scythed Limbs

+ HQ +

Chronomancer [4 PL, 80pts]: Entropic Lance, Relic: Veil of Darkness

Overlord [6 PL, -1CP, 100pts]: Dynastic Heirlooms, Relic: The Arrow of Infinity, Warlord, Warlord Trait (Codex 1): Enduring Will
. Tachyon Arrow and Hyperphase Glaive: Tachyon Arrow

Technomancer [4 PL, 80pts]: Canoptek Cloak

+ Troops +

Immortals [8 PL, 170pts]: Gauss Blaster, 10x Immortal

Immortals [8 PL, 170pts]: Gauss Blaster, 10x Immortal

Necron Warriors [12 PL, 260pts]
. 20x Necron Warrior (Gauss Flayer): 20x Gauss Flayer

+ Elites +

Triarch Stalker [7 PL, 150pts]: Twin Heavy Gauss Cannon

+ Fast Attack +

Canoptek Scarab Swarms [2 PL, 45pts]
. 3x Canoptek Scarab Swarm: 3x Feeder Mandibles

Canoptek Scarab Swarms [2 PL, 45pts]
. 3x Canoptek Scarab Swarm: 3x Feeder Mandibles

+ Heavy Support +

Lokhust Heavy Destroyers [12 PL, 210pts]
. 3x Lokhust Heavy Destroyer (Gauss Destructor): 3x Gauss Destructor

++ Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment -3CP (Necrons) [33 PL, -3CP, 650pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Detachment Command Cost [-3CP]

Dynasty Choice: Dynasty: Mephrit

+ Lord of War +

Seraptek Heavy Construct [33 PL, 650pts]
. Two Singularity Generators

++ Total: [100 PL, 8CP, 2,000pts] ++

Gauss Reapers go on the warriors over flayers every time. The extra strength, range on the AP in Mephrit, and assault are worth it.

The Heavy Destroyers seem pretty bad here unless you know the enemy list is filled with heavy armor because the 650 point Seraptek is covering the heavy damage role pretty thoroughly.

The Technomancer wants the Voltaic Staff for some solid shooting.

The Overlord should almost certainly be the Mephrit warlord trait CCB with void reaper, which is a melee killing machine.

I'm a big fan of the Mephrit royal Warden with the Conduit of Stars in your last HQ slot if you use the Cryptek rule to double up on Crypteks in one slot.

How many relics do you take? How many CP are they each worth? If you know you’re taking the Veil first, is 1 CP worth it for the Voltaic Staff? 2 more CP for a third?

In my 2k list I think I want the Solar Staff for Overwatch denial to protect the charging Lychguard. Don’t know that I want to spend on that at 1k with no dedicated melee units. Still don’t think the Orb of Eternity feels worth it.

 Vineheart01 wrote:
Nope its probably the ONLY effect that is just dynasty locked

The nanoscarab reanimator beam is another that is dynasty locked, but not just to core.

 AduroT wrote:
How many relics do you take? How many CP are they each worth? If you know you’re taking the Veil first, is 1 CP worth it for the Voltaic Staff? 2 more CP for a third?

In my 2k list I think I want the Solar Staff for Overwatch denial to protect the charging Lychguard. Don’t know that I want to spend on that at 1k with no dedicated melee units. Still don’t think the Orb of Eternity feels worth it.

A second relic is ok for 1CP, but i wouldnt invest 2 more CP for a third one. Necrons dont have a lot of good relics. Veil of darkness and voltaic staff are probably the best.

 p5freak wrote:

 AduroT wrote:
How many relics do you take? How many CP are they each worth? If you know you’re taking the Veil first, is 1 CP worth it for the Voltaic Staff? 2 more CP for a third?

In my 2k list I think I want the Solar Staff for Overwatch denial to protect the charging Lychguard. Don’t know that I want to spend on that at 1k with no dedicated melee units. Still don’t think the Orb of Eternity feels worth it.

A second relic is ok for 1CP, but i wouldnt invest 2 more CP for a third one. Necrons dont have a lot of good relics. Veil of darkness and voltaic staff are probably the best.

Completely agree. I think veil is the only auto include though tbh. Proper movement wins you so many games, and I think as far as movement shenanigans goes then the veil is up there with the best of the best. Being able to pull a unit out of CC and teleport them to the opposite side of the board to deploy scramblers for example can really ruin your opponents day.

The voltaic staff is often worth the extra CP if you've got a bare bones lord or technomancer as it's a pretty substantial damage boost for them, or even a CCB if you're not looking to use it as a melee character. Otherwise the CP is best saved for the in game strats. You'll get far more mileage out of 1CP if it gives your skorpekhs -1 to wound over a 3rd mediocre relic.