Tips for beating other armies: Digesting the Necron codex!

01/14/2012

As the title suggests, its time to put in my suggestions for beating Necrons into the BT 101 guide. However, because this is a community, I'd like to hear your comments as well before I put something solid down. With that being said, I do have some thoughts on the the Necrons and therefore, how to beat them.

First of all, their sweet spot is definitely 24" or closer. That is when most of their weaponry is most effective, so staying out of range of that is important.
While their Reanimation Protocols are improved, they cannot stand up to focused firepower. Many of the Necron's armor saves were nerfed, so "killing" them is easier to do. Shoot them and shoot them some more. :)
To help ease that problem, Necrons feature several units with the ability to grant Nightfighting to the battle. Solar Pulse wargear and Imotekh the Stormlord are main methods. So if you're able to get a couple of Searchlights off, then this advantage will cease to exist. However, its important to weigh the pros/cons of using a Searchlight to the situation at hand. Sometimes using Nightfighting to your own advantage is beneficial.
They still suffer from initiative 2 on the majority of their units. If you can manage to get into assault with them, even with a 5-man squad, you'll likely take them down in a Sweeping Advance. However, the downfall with that is you're likely going take heavy incoming fire the next turn. To couple with this, very few of their units are worth their salt in close combat, so you'll have little difficulty winning combats.
All of the Necron's vehicles are relatively fragile. Sure they have Quantum Shielding, but if you can simply put a single Penetrating Hit on them, the shielding goes down permanently. Then AV11 (usually open-topped) is what you're working against. Taking high strength weaponry like Lascannons and Tank-hunter CMLs will work wonders here.
The Necron's are also extremely slow. They have some transport capability, but taking significant numbers aren't really cost effective. So they will likely be footslogging around the board, making them vulnerable against highly mechanized forces who can redeploy rapidly. Which leads me into my next point...
Necrons seem to have a slight problem busting open armor. At least in the shooting phase. The only unit that really has that ability is either Crypteks with the Eldritch Lance (36" Str 8 AP2) or the Triarch Stalker. Necrons can open armor in the close combat phase, however, with Canoptek Scarabs and with Warscythes (especially Command Barge sweeping attacks). Beyond that, there isn't much that can hurt you there. So if you're able to neutralize those units, your mechanized forces will be able to influence the battle dramatically.

The Necrons do have a few nasty vehicles to watch out for. Namely the Doom Scythe and its uber-dangerous Death Ray weapon. Fortunately, it has an extremely limited range (12") and is mounted on a fragile vehicle without Quantum Shielding. If you can take it down early on, that removes a whopping 175 points from your opponent. Watch out for Scarabs and if you're able to, shoot them down by the dozen. Torrent of fire is your friend here. If they get to your lines, you're going to be pulled down quickly. The same with your vehicles.

Stay mobile to stay out of range and focus your fire on the most dangerous pieces of your opponent's list. Usually this will be Command Barges, any Heavy Support vehicles, and small sized CC units. Just keep firing and jump into close combat when the time is right to bust some robots up. Use bubblewrap if you have to, but make sure to stall the giant line of Scarabs for as long as possible.

Anything else I should add to that? Something I'm missing? Disagree with what I said? Let's hear it. :D

Comments

Trignama

01/15/2012 1:35am

Annihilation Barges and Immortals are a nightmare for your troop choices. Str 5 and 7 Tesla is no joke especially on the Barges since its twin linked and has even more oppurtunity to "proc" extra hits.

Be aware of their ability to play a "MSU" style list, Necron troop choices are cheap and effective and can play the bubble wrap role just as well as any power armored codex out there.

DooMarn

01/15/2012 6:41am

my suggestion is that if you do manage to get into CC,, then use the AAC vow to reroll your hits not misses, trying to NOT break or kill those necrons in your turn. instead wipe them out in theirs and move on to the next one.

DooMarn

01/15/2012 6:47am

I would also like to mention that the BT drop pod list is a very good choice against necrons. Yeah we cant charge and will take some fire in his turn. But its a great way to get around stormlord or solarpulses, we get in melta range of their puny transports or even the Monolith who is not melta safe anymore. the dreadnoughts will wreck havoc on units outside transports with its assault C and heavy flamer.

Marshal Laeroth (Admin) link

01/15/2012 11:11pm

That is a good idea; one not often used by Black Templar players. Depending on the situation, Preferred Enemy can work beneficially to make you do LESS damage to save your bacon from being shot to hell. :D

As for Drop Pods, yes...they would be quite effective against the Necrons. Especially the MSU variety. However, they aren't very cost effective for the new player ($$) and I wouldn't suggest building a force of them now with a codex so close. But if you already have the resources, like a few of the readers here, they're in a good position to win these games.

Alexander Millar

02/08/2012 10:49am

Agreed. I've been running my full DP list against them and its been quite effective. Getting combinations of 2 meltgun command squads and dreadnoughts to first open up the transports, then flame the insides is extremely effective.

Also on a side note. Pending new codex changes I may have some drop pods that I'd be willing to part with for those out there who would like to have a couple to roll into their lists.

@Marshal Laeroth I'll ping you in the event that I'm going to part with some of them. I'd rather get them to faithful BT readers here than randoms on eBay.

Algesan link

01/18/2012 9:29pm

Well, as the runner of a Necron phalanx-style foot list that is currently undefeated in head to head play, although it has been close several times..

Combining a couple of your points, staying out of range is hard to do when you cannot see to shoot. Of course, once they surge into the middle of the board, Necrons are usually an easy walk towards wherever you try to hide.

"Focused fire" works with the multitude of Imperial-style wannabe Necron MSU lists. Killing 20 Warriors + Lord/Cryptek requires an average of 126 bolter rounds. Which will require 63 Marines in RF range. Shall I start laughing now? Oh, if you fail, usually half of them will stand back up, no matter what you killed them with.

Similarly, CC can do the trick, but it depends on what you run into, but a MSU Marine squad is likely to *lose* against a large Warrior squad, especially if you charge a complacent player. Well, with AAC and some BP/CCW Initiates, Black Templars actually have a chance of winning, but only if they charge. Watch out for Lightning Fields and Mindshackle Scarabs.

Speed is based on model lack and/or expense, the Necron "MSU" builds I've seen that look interesting are based on lots of $50 Ghost Arks (the AV13 spam) or the two unreleased Scythe flyers.

You are thinking "Imperial" here. I cannot build any Necron list that meets the standards of Nike's metrics system for armor busting, but I do it. Part of it is the multiple threats of a good Necron list. Do you go after the Scarabs? Or the Command Barge? Or the main body? In each case you lose options that allow the decisive part of the list to advance unhindered while you are swatting swarms or trying to punch through AV13 on the barge with a 4+ cover save (flat out movement).

To beat the Necrons? Shoot them down, close into melee and finish them. It still works. It just isn't a cakewalk.

rock stars link

01/23/2012 6:33pm

necrons are a f...ing joke, totally under priced. im not the greatest at maths and probability but id hate to calculate how many dice you need to role to kill necrons, armour saves and get back up rule. take destroyers for example. pretty expensive at 60 points each, but with assualt weapons that fire 32 inches and be able to move 12 inches too with them is totally wrong. flying lascannons!!! oh and if the squad has a destroyer lord with the orb his troops will get back up on a 4+. monolith transporting troops anywhere from danger and they can disembark the same turn and shoot someone else!!!!!!! that barge thing which has a range of 72 inches, large blast and strength 9 ap 2!!!! unreal, very dishearten as i dont come close to beating him. oh, and a squad of 20 recron warriors can easily beat a landraider with extra amrour. 20 shots, hit on a 3+ and causes glancing blows on a 6! so you might get so glances on a landraider, probably crew shaken or stunned, or even weapon off. the new rules are just terrible. the list goes on and on.

rock stars link

01/23/2012 6:38pm

oh, and that scarab making thing too, cost 50points has, strenght 6 toughness 6 and 3 wounds!!! 50 points, creates new scarabs every turn as long as you dont role a 1. to an unlimited number!!! i had 23 coming towards my dreadnought and got its armour down to 1 in first round of combat! 50 points!!!

rock stars

01/23/2012 6:40pm

rank over til next week

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