Necron List Deux...

I don't think Necron Troops are ANY good.  At all.  They Just Plain Suck.

Literally, the only way to make them good is to use your catch-all answer to everything Superman tries to do - Kryptonite.  Er...I mean, Crypteks.


So, let's think about this logically.  If the Troops suck, and the Transports suck (they do) then the Troops suck.  Which means we can't spam, because shit by any other name still sticks to the wall too rarely for rational beings to throw it.

I think my writing becomes more an more erratic the more I read this book...I think some form of Scarab is devouring my neural pathways...

Anyway - we can't spam, so we won't try.  Instead, we'll take a couple things the foe wants to/must deal with.

Firstly -

6 Warriors:
Ghost Ark - 193

Now, I know what you're thinking.  Shit.  Yes, it is.  Bear with me.

We add to the unit:

Cryptek - Eldritch Lance. - 35

Good enough? No, still not yet.  It's like a (much) better missile bunker, but it costs waaay more.  So, we need more.  But let's just take 2 of these for now.

Moving on, we need two more 'Bunker' type units, on foot, to hold home Objectives.  These need to be small, by necessity, because they don't want to attract enemy fire.  Sadly, the nature of the unit forces me to choose Immortals.  This makes me sad, but unavoidable.

5 Immortals:
Tesla Carbines - 85

So far then, we've spent 556 on 4 Troops.  Not awful, really.  Not great, but not woeful.  For comparison, Marines get 30 Tacs with 3 Multi-Meltas and Rhinos for 615, which is less mobile, less survivable, and has a lot less anti-infantry.  But some anti-tank, which we need a Lord to provide.

Let's have said shitty Lord.  For now, I'll ignore the Resi Orb, for two reasons:
1) By RaW, it has no effect
2) Small units don't benefit

Overlord:
Warscythe - 100

The other stuff is kinda pointless, he's only here to unlock shit.  Let's have two, and take two Courts as a result - this is where the fun begins.  By taking another pair of Crypteks for those units above, we can turn them into actually decent UberBacks - super-dy duper Razorback wannabees that almost never get Shaken/Stunned, and spit out 2 S8 AP2 shots a turn, while being pretty much immune to Riflemen, and laughing at Chimeras.

So, so far:

Overlord:
Warscythe - 100
Court:
2 Crypteks:
Eldritch Lances - 70

Overlord:
Warscythe - 100
Court:
2 Crypteks:
Eldritch Lances - 70

6 Warriors:
Ghost Ark - 193
6 Warriors:
Ghost Ark - 193

5 Immortals:
Tesla Carbines - 85
5 Immortals:
Tesla Carbines - 85

SUBTOTAL: 896

So, we have a bit of ranged power, ish.  Let's have two final Troops though, much as they suck, as a bulwark to protect the guns...think Kroot, only armed a minuscule amount better, and much more expensive.

12 Warriors:
Gauss Flayer. - 156

12 Warriors:
Gauss Flayer. - 156

Now, these look like a good place for our Overlords, no?

But, with so much infantry, we have the serious issue of being swept away too early by enemy fire, most specifically Psybacks.  :(

To countermand this, let's grab a Solar Pulse, or two - for symmetry.

We could grab another Cryptek to port it, but for now let's just wrap it in to the existing ones, for 40 points, taking us to a spent of 1248.

Those Warrior squads that advance don't truly add that much though, do they? Surely we could boost them somewhat?  Well, moar Kryptonite.  Like I said, answer to everything.

If we simply put one Cryptek in each, for now (Eldritch Lance, of course) then that should suffice.

That takes us to 1318 spent, which is pretty okay for 2 HQ and 6 Troops, if not great.  Our main problem at this stage is this:

Fast Attack is good, but not really cheap as we should be happy to invest points here.  Elites is expensive, Heavy Support is expansive too.  This is bad. :(

10 Scarab Bases: - 150

2 Spyders - 100
2 Spyders - 100
2 Spyders - 100

Ok, that's our close-range anti-tank, and a decent bulwark that the opponent simply MUST deal with, or watch my units start to carve through his armour if given the chance to beat on stuff. Those 450 points leave us with a mere 232 to spend, which rules out what I'd most like, taking two Triarch Stalkers.  I COULD do something I find slightly distasteful, and have a C'Tan instead?

Why not?  I can take it with Writhing Worldscape and Lord of Fire, and leave myself with 2 points I cannot spend.  Or...I can go for more units, and what's more ones that wouldn't have to hide from the enemy.

Let's go back to Fast Attack, since my alternative is to trim the Warrior units down and squeeze in Stalkers (which may in fact be better, list requires testing to find out.)  We shall go for another 10 Scarabs, I think, and a trio of Wraiths.  A TRIO?!?!  But, TKE, you only had 232 points!  That costs 150+105! That's clearly 255, which is 23 more than you have!  Well, there's a way to overcome that.  Simply dropping two of the previous Warriors, in the 12-strong units, generates us 26 points, and nets us the tasty tasty Wraiths...maybe I'd be better off taking a different tack, and having 2 units of 3 of those, and no more Scarabs?  I really dunno...let's look at the finalised 4e-style list, and see what we think?


Overlord:
Warscythe - 100
Court:
3 Crypteks:
Eldritch Lances, 1 Solar Pulse - 125

Overlord:
Warscythe - 100
Court:
3 Crypteks:
Eldritch Lances, 1 Solar Pulse - 125

6 Warriors:
Ghost Ark - 193
6 Warriors:
Ghost Ark - 193

5 Immortals:
Tesla Carbines - 85
5 Immortals:
Tesla Carbines - 85

11 Warriors:
Gauss Flayer. - 143
11 Warriors:
Gauss Flayer. - 143

10 Scarab Bases: - 150
10 Scarab Bases: - 150
3 Wraiths: - 105

2 Spyders - 100
2 Spyders - 100
2 Spyders - 100

TOTAL: 1997

Thoughts?