Necron Pre-Game thoughts

Well, here's a wall of text of random thoughts before my first Necron game.

I presently have no games hard-scheduled, but I told Pascal V. that I'd play on Sunday at ?-o-Clock. I'm free Wednesday 7:15PM and Thursday PM as there's no curling this week (and we're not doing City Men's this year). PM me to get in a game!

Also, I reserve the right to spell new stuff wrong. And this is free form sorta not really formatted.

Reanimation Protocols (RP):
*On Paper* Huge Huge Huge Huge buff. Amazing Buff. Don't ya wish FNP was better? Well, for Necrons it is. And they get Wargear and abilities to make it better than ever (re-roll 1's, +1, re-roll fails if you fail (orb). You always get it. -1 against ID wounds. Why is it waaaaay better? You get to take it against every wound. You can get it on multi-wound models... and Necrons didn't have FnP anyway. Also, no worrying about breaking, you just never die in the first place. No movement shenanigans, but that was a rare event anyway.

The Decurian detachement:
1) It looks as though you take the detachment, the core gets it's special rule, while the remainder formations get their special rules. I'm pretty sure I read that right. Anyway, I painted a Tomb Spider as a result. He looks great. Now, why is that scary you might ask? Because they get a choice between Fleet, Reanimation Protocols, and Shred. Oh ya, One Spyder, a unit of wraiths, and a unit of scarabs get this. Oh ya, and for about the same points as before, Wraiths got a boost to T5. Whip coils make them I5.... so... T5 W2 A3 rending. so.... ya.... they eat things. They're beasts now, I think that's probably better. I always wished they had fleet.

2) Points Heavy. I'm pretty sure everything I want to do is expensive.

3) Battle-Forged! w00t! Downside, no objective Secured.

4) oh hai re-roll failed 1's for RP

5) Looks like (and I could be wrong) that you can take as many of the extra dudes as you want once you have a core unit. So core, then stalkers and praetorians (more on Praetorians.... lets jump to that now actually. hahaha... jump, 'cause they like Jump and stuff)

Praetorians

kk, so the old Praetorians, which I liked, but were very middling, were 40 points each. At 40 points, I got a T5 model with 1 attack, two close combat weapons, and rending. Pretty okay, they were jump, they were fun, I liked them. Not in a tournement army often.... now they will be... I'm tempted to go buy 2-3 more boxes of them.

So, at 40 points, I found them fun and playable. Now, they're 28 points. 12 points cheaper. Okay, I'm listening. My curiosity is piqued. PIQUED mmmm new delicious reanimation protocols make these dudes T5 plague marines... tasty. Oh, what's that you say? They get an extra attack? A2 on their profile, so now three attacks each on the charge, at S5 rending. Entropic Strike got nerfed a bit. so the to-wound of 6 auto-wounds and 6 auto-glances. Oh hay, AP4, that's new. So pretty decent.

However, that's not all. They bumped up the range on their other weapon, that thing no one took before.... S5 AP2 shooting? Yes Please. S5 AP2 in close combat at I2 with A2? Delicious. I'll take 10 for 280 points of T5 FNP 3+/5+++ deliciousness.

As a side benefit, you can now give them a night scythe as dedicated transport. Deep striking is for n00bs.

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Stalkers, all 'crons within 6" add one to their BS. I likey. You can take them in units of 3 and they're 25 points less. Nice.

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Ghost Arks are 105 points now (10 points less), functionally the same, but you can take them by themselves as a Fast Attack choice. Sure... I'll happily through a royal court in there.

The flayer arrays are 24" Salvo 5/10, so a weee buff there. 10 shots at 24" will be nice to strip HP's off of things. (avg of 1, if you're wondering. If I'm rolling, count on 2-3 :-) )

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Monoliths are mostly the same, with some small differences. Living Metal straight up ignores Shaken. The Flux Arks are now S5 AP4 Heavy 3 12" range, instead of ye 'ol S4 AP5. I *might* take it more, especially with the Decurion

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C'Tan are goofy, not sure how to use them yet. I think the Deceiver is the clear winner. Powers of the C'Tan are odd, pick target, random power, (4 are anti-infantry, 2 are anti-vehicle). The one power, the C'Tan whips out the "D".

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Lychguard got buffed almost as good as Praetorians, 25 pts, 3+/3++/5+++ or Warscythes. They were two attacks before, so nothing changed there. I might take these more, as they fit nice with the Decurian

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Now for some downsides.

If you want a decurian detachment and objective secured, you're fielding a minimum of 40 warriors, 5 immortals, and 2 overlords, and a unit of Tomb Blades.

The Decurian detachment *requires* a unit of Tomb Blades. They're still avereage (the same as before).

Tesla no worky on snapshots. Booooo

You need to take a Doomsday Ark to take 2 annihilation barges. The Doomsday ark still sux. (a bit less, but still bad)

Deathray is a blast now. eh.... it can like, miss and stuff. You mean, I need skill and ability? What gives!?

Night Scythes are 20pts more now.

6/6 of the warlord traits are bad. I guess one's not horrible... probably roll out of the base book most of the time.

Crypteks are way different....

Anyway.... I'm off to paint tomb blades, because GW made them required to play Necrons.

Oh ya, Tranny-C'Tan is no longer a Gargantuan critter, and he has the same powers as the other C'Tan, and takes a heavy slot. So.... different. He's got an extra S and an extra W over the other dudes. He may now be un-useable. How the mighty have fallen. It's okay though, they were dumb before. I know Jeremy liked his 6D6 Krak missiles, but that needed to go.

Scythes are 120? I had read 130.

Does the +1 BS replace the stalkers old grant twinlinked or is it an additional buff?

For my list... (1750 CAD) (I was at 1744 b4)

Stalkers x2 (50 pts saved)

Warriors (9) in a ghost ark x2 (6 pts more expensive)
Have to add a warrior to each to make em legal

5x immortals in a croissant (x2)
40 pts more expensive. Have to decide on guass blasters or tesla

2x anni barges
60 pts more

6x wraiths, 3 with whip coils
9 pts more as is

My old hq was going to be a dlord tooled up (190)
In order to make things fit he has to drop to 125.
If I keep him he's just taking a war scythe and a phase shifter. The 2+ save is too expensive.
I'd have to drop some wraiths to keep him I think.

Looking at either a Lord or cryptek. He'd ride with immortals in a scythe.

Crypteks are 65pts now, two wounds, get a bunch of swanky wargear, and add +1 to RP.

I'm figuring I could throw a deathmark head on one of the lords from the barge, and tool up the Shit out of him.

I'd still have prices for the d Lord and I could pick up 3 more destroyers so he'd have an entourage if I wanted to go that way.

I have the new book, but I'm about to smash some things in a raid, so I might be a bit scattered with my post.

Nightscythes are indeed 130, page 86.

It is worth noting that the modules for the Decurion can be fielded as individual formations as well. Mercenary Deathmarks, anyone?

D Lords can now get a 4++.

Deathmarks finally do the whole Deathmark thing of jacking the enemy's deep strike and shooting them that instant. Depending on how you read the wording, they could be Coteaz level of enemy-turn shooting, so that could do interesting things vs Drop Pod Assault/Wing armies.

Look what I did, forgot to heap massive praise on Destroyers.

Beau, if you want to win games, feel free,to go buy 9-15 Destroyers.

For the same point cost as before (when they were sub-par) they gained a wound, have the swanky new RP, and changed to Jet Infantry. They're comparable to crisis suits. Heavy destroyers are 50 points now, they can be taken buy themselves, but you can only upgrade one out of a unit of regular destroyers. For the cult formation, you need a minimum of 9.

Tom, I'm not sure the C'Tan, Flayed Ones, or Deathmarks work that way. They don't have a formation in the book.

Jank-Alert

You can put a dude with a one-use only S7 AP 2 flamer in a nightscythe.

Mark/Tom-
By my maths I get 360 for some combo of HQ/Entourage. Before it was D-bag/Wraiths.

I'm thinking making it plug n play. One build with a dlord and destroyers zooming up like they are Farsight and friends, and another with a cryptek/lord and wraiths.

Also looking at the Mephrit Dynasty or whatever it is. I fit the FOC so I'd get the goodies, just not sure I'm giving up to much on the prime Codex relics.

How much is a Dlord with Warscythe and Phase Shifter? No way to get him a 2+ save other than the Relic right?

You can run the Destroyer Cult with a minimum of four bodies, Mark.  Oddly enough, I just corrected someone about this on /tg/ too.

Edit: Never mind, why wasn't that line of text there before...

Upon closer look on the Flayed Ones/Death Marks/C'Tan bit, I see now they don't have an actual formation of their own and are simply listed as modules for the Ur-Formation.  Oh well, still plenty easy to run them in regular Necron lists still.

155 pts for a D-Lord with Warscythe and Shifter.  Also, the Mephrit Dynasty doesn't lock you out of the base relics, the only pre-requisite for their relics is using their FOC.

So a dlord, +5 destroyers. If I can squeeze 5 pts from somewhere I can have one a heavy.

Edit: listy list
+++ New Necrons (1750pts) +++

Relics and Warlord Traits [Exterminatus: Mephrit Dynasty]

+ HQ (190pts) +

Destroyer Lord (190pts) [Phase Shifter (25pts), The Nightmare Shroud (35pts), Warscythe (20pts)]

+ Elites (250pts) +

Triarch Stalkers (125pts)
····Triarch Stalker (125pts) [Heat Ray, Quantum Shielding]

Triarch Stalkers (125pts)
····Triarch Stalker (125pts) [Heat Ray, Quantum Shielding]

+ Troops (900pts) +

Immortals (215pts)
····5x Immortal (85pts) [5x Tesla Carbine]
····Night Scythe (130pts) [Twin-Linked Tesla Destructor]

Immortals (215pts)
····5x Immortal (85pts) [5x Tesla Carbine]
····Night Scythe (130pts) [Twin-Linked Tesla Destructor]

Warriors (235pts)
····Ghost Ark (105pts) [2x Gauss Flayer Array]
····10x Necron Warrior (130pts) [10x Gauss Flayer]

Warriors (235pts)
····Ghost Ark (105pts) [2x Gauss Flayer Array]
····10x Necron Warrior (130pts) [10x Gauss Flayer]

+ Fast Attack (170pts) +

Destroyers (170pts)
····3x Destroyer (120pts) [3x Gauss Cannon]
····Heavy Destroyer (50pts) [Heavy Gauss Cannon]

+ Heavy Support (240pts) +

Annihilation Barge (120pts) [Tesla Cannon, Twin-Linked Tesla Destructor]

Annihilation Barge (120pts) [Tesla Cannon, Twin-Linked Tesla Destructor]

Lore Weaver wrote:
I presently have no games hard-scheduled, but I told Pascal V. that I'd play on Sunday at ?-o-Clock.  I'm free Wednesday 7:15PM and Thursday PM as there's no curling this week (and we're not doing City Men's this year).  PM me to get in a game!

Who is this doppelganger!??!!!

There can only be one pascal in this city...

It's you, in your fifth form (like the Doctor....)

New, overall thought about the book in general.

Everything is very easy to understand in the book. The rules are super clear. The last book had a lot of finicky things, like Mindshackle Scarabs and Everliving. This is a *tight* rule book. I'm also warming up to the tactical objective cards too...

Paz wrote:

Lore Weaver wrote:
I presently have no games hard-scheduled, but I told Pascal V. that I'd play on Sunday at ?-o-Clock.  I'm free Wednesday 7:15PM and Thursday PM as there's no curling this week (and we're not doing City Men's this year).  PM me to get in a game!

Who is this doppelganger!??!!!

There can only be one pascal in this city...

He's "Gothmog" on here, he doesn't paint like you, but he rolls worse than Beau. If you could imagine. Like... shockingly worse than Beau.

How the hell does he roll 0's?!?!

Actually you've hit upon what I LIKE about 7th.

Tactical obj are very fun for casual games would need to be refined (2d6?) For tournament.
7th codexes are very balanced against each other, tightly written.

Look at crons. I'm not saying there are no bad choices, but for the most part, the broken stuff got nerfed, and the bad stuff got better. The Tran Ctan got fixed.

I cannot wait for for Dark Angels/CSM/Eldar to get newer codexes.

If you're smart about discarding objectives, I think a person could really balance those out too. You just have to remember to discard. The race specific decks are all very interesting too.

Lore Weaver wrote:If you're smart about discarding objectives, I think a person could really balance those out too.  You just have to remember to discard.  The race specific decks are all very interesting too.

Jesse and I played a game last night using the tactical objectives. Sure added a lot of extra thought to the game - and if you weren't paying attention could easily slip past you. But, I actually really like the format of them. Don't get one you like? Discard it at end of your turn. Objective change from turn to turn always keeps you guessing and reacting on the wire to what you actually need to score those much needed points.

After 5 turns, our game ended in a draw (New BA vs Chaos).

Lore Weaver wrote:Ghost Arks are 105 points now (10 points less), functionally the same, but you can take them by themselves as a Fast Attack choice.  Sure... I'll happily through a royal court in there.

The flayer arrays are 24" Salvo 5/10, so a weee buff there.  10 shots at 24" will be nice to strip HP's off of things.  (avg of 1, if you're wondering.  If I'm rolling, count on 2-3 :-) )

did you catch that now when they make more necrons, they can no longer risk wounding themselves and lose a HP? there's no longer a risk to building your squads back up again each turn.

Hey guys.....

Triarch stalker

On his left, within 6" is a unit of 6 destroyers. 12 bs5 str5 ap3 shots, with a reroll

On his right is Marks 20man blob, with a ghost ark for added resilience and a d Lord. That's how man shots at BS5 with a reroll? That autoglance on a 6?

I'm re-thinking my blob squad as a unit of 20 Flayed Ones.... even if they don't infiltrate or deepstrike, with a Cryptek in the unit, they'll be exceedingly resilient. Much like the 20-CSM unit walks across the board, except better at close combat.