Monday 25 June 2018

Quick Hits - June 2018 Necrons

Our next quick hit is the Necrons.


Special Rules

Reanimation Protocols
Models with this rule that are slain can potentially rejoin their unit in future turns. This can make large units of Necrons nightmare-ish to shift. Especially once you start looking at the buffs this roll can get from other things in the Codex. Remember that Necron Warriors can come in units of 20 and are good at holding objectives.

Living Metal
This allows a lot of the characters and vehicles to regain a wound a turn. Again pushes up the survivability of your units.

HQ

Imotekh the Stormlord
Can My Will Be Done two units a turn, and has an improved Living Metal. Decent weapons and stats and makes a really great Warlord. Lord of the Storm is fantastic too.

Nemesor Zahndrekh
He is expensive, but the ability to turn off character aura buffs is...interesting.

Vargard Obyron
An expensive bodyguard for Nemesor Zahndrekh with a super conditional re-deploy ability? Pass.

Illuminor Szeras
Adds 1 to Reanimation Protocol rolls and gives permanent, yet random, buffs to units. A pretty good named Cryptek.

Orikan the Diviner
Gives nearby infantry an invulnerable save, and can potentially change into a much stronger profile. Also no too expensive.

Anrakyr the Traveller
Gives an attack buff and has an ability that just got better; shooting with the weapons of opposing vehicles. That seems really good with some of the new Knight weapons, you've just got to get him close enough.

Trazyn the Infinite
Surrogate Hosts can make him hard to kill, but I'm not sure he is worth the effort over a regular Lord.

Catacomb Command Barge
Increased stats over a regular Overlord, and increased range on My Will Be Done. Quantum Shielding also makes this unit very resilient against normal anti-vehicles weapons and makes Living Metal more valueable. May take a Resurection Orb for extra Reanimation Protocol rolls.

Overlord
If you don't fancy paying extra for the named characters, this is your go to source of My Will Be Done, after taking a Catacomb Command Barge. May take a Resurection Orb.

Lord
An aura of re-roll 1s to wound and access to a Resurection Orb.

Cryptek
Adds 1 to Reanimation Protocol rolls, and can either give a small aura of invulnerable save or a cloak for Fly and enhancing units with Living Metal.

Destroyer Lord
I would leave the Staff of Light on this guy and hang around Destroyers to give the re-roll 1s to wound in shooting. Can also take a Resurrection Orb.

Troops

Necron Warriors
Your standard troops with no options. Decent enough stats and Reanimation make them great for sitting on and holding objectives. Movement might be a little slow though.

Immortals
For a few more points you get a better save and a choice of better weapons, but a smaller unit size. I'm a fan of the Tesla, as the more shots you get the more likely you are to roll 6s to generate extra hits. I can see an arguement for Gauss Blasters though.

Elites

Lychguard
A pure melee unit, I'd keep the Warscythes and go hunting enemy vehicles via one of the deep strike options in the Codex.

Deathmarks
I like this unit a lot, but it's hurt by the newer FAQ. They won't be able to follow enemy units in the first turn if they deploy in their own deployment zone but not within 12" of your deployment zone. If your opponent is waiting with their reserves though, these guys are still golden.

Flayed Ones
Good for slaying chaff units, as they increase the difficulty of their Morale test and re-roll wounds. They are melee only though and I think this limits their utility, as they struggle against non-chaff.

Triarch Praetorians
Assault troops with a decent move. I'd keep the Rods of Covenant as they have the better ranged profile.

Triarch Stalker
Quantum Shielding and Living Metal, plus it buffs the shooting of any units shooting it's target that phase. I'd keep the Heat Ray for the melta-esque profile and the really good Overwatch.

C'tan Shard of the Deceiver
Grand Illusion allows you to re-deploy and infiltrate the C'tan plus d3 other units. This alone is really powerful. It also has access to 2 powers of the C'tan and is a monster in melee.

C'tan Shard of the Nightbringer
Not as good as the Deceiver and not much cheaper. Means he's gonna get crowded out a lot.

Fast Attack

Canoptek Wraiths
Fast, tough and witha 3+ invulnerable save, these guys are good. Ignore the shooting options and get them in melee asap.

Canoptek Scarabs
Not as easy to shift as the look due to having 3 wounds each and easily finding terrain to hide behind. They never need worse than 5s to wound in melee and have 4 attacks each making them a threat to high toughness units too.

Tomb Blades
I'd upgrade to the two Tesla Carbines and the Shadowloom for a fast moving, hard to kill threat to infantry. Maybe adding Shieldvanes if I have points spare.

Destroyers
I'd stick with the Gauss Cannon and hunt down heavy infantry and light vehicles.

Heavy Support

Heavy Destroyers
Here are where you keep the Heavy Gauss Cannons for mobile, accurate anti vehicle fire.

Canoptek Spyders
A support model hiding amongst the Heavy Support, so it lacks the Character keyword. It can return dead Canoptek Scarabs to play and heal vehicles. I would always upgrade to the Gloom Prism to give some much needed defense against Psychic Powers.

Monolith
In most Codexes, this would be a Lord of War. It can deep strike, to protect it in your first turn, and also put some units in reserve with it. It has a lot of firepower and the Portal of Exile makes assaulting it very dangerous. It's expensive, but I really like it.

Annihilation Barge
A light tank, it can score a lot of hits when equipped with Tesla weapons, but Toughness 6 means that it can easily die to weapons that sneak under the Quantum Shielding.

Doomsday Ark
A light tank like the Barge, but with nearly double the wounds. The Doomsday Cannon is a powerful weapon, but Toughness 6 still feels like a liability. It's range does allow you to keep it away from the guns that ignore Quantum Shielding though.

Transcendant C'tan
Similar to the named C'tan but with a Fractured Personality. You can either choose 1 trait, or roll for 2. I'd choose Cosmic Tyrant, everytime.

Dedicated Transports

Ghost Ark
Quantum Shielding and a transport capacity, what makes it truly unique is allowing embarked models to continue to roll for Reanimation Protocols and allowing nearby Necron Warriors to roll again at the end of the movement phase.

Flyers

Doom Scythe
Nothing really makes this a stand out flier, the Death Ray is nice but gets -1 to hit because the Doom Scythe always has to move.

Night Scythe
This, in combination with your Monolith, allows you to deep strike in units really close to the enemy. It gets around the overall slow Move value of units like Lychguard.

Lord of War

Obelisk
Having 20 Tesla shots is really good, but this is a much worse Monolith for more points. Pass.

Tesseract Vault
For more points that the Obelisk, you get access to 4 Powers of the C'tan and the ability to use 3 a turn. It almost feels worth it. Almost.

Dynastic Codes

These are all interesting, but none of them really stand out. That allows you to pick the one that suits your playstyle.

Stratagems

Stand-out Stratagems
  • Enhanced Reanimation Protocols
  • Emergency Invasion Beam
  • Enhanced Invasion Beam
  • Damage Control Override
  • Repair Subroutines
  • Quantum Deflection
  • Extermination Protocols
  • Adaptive Subroutines
  • Translocation Crypt
  • Talent for Annihilation
Warlord Traits

A couple of stand out ones, but some real duds too.

Artefacts of the Aeons

Stand-out Relics
  •  The Orb of Eternity
  • Lightning Field
  • The Veil of Darkness
  • The Nanoscarab Casket
Powers of the C'tan

These can't be Denied, unlike Psychic Powers, but they all do Mortal Wounds. That's still really powerful, but not flexible.

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