Necrons/ flayed ones/ pariahs/ wraiths.

[Mister Space Marine]

I crushed a necron army with Shrike, and PW Vanguard Veterans infiltrating. It was great. But the next game they were... Mc-massacred by pariahs and flayed ones. The pariahs and their war-scythes... and the flayed ones leadership test? :D So, i figured out that i can't take them in CC, even with cappy and veterans. However, the deep striking flayed ones are.. tough to deal with because they chew through my CC units, and i can't manage to kill them fast enough with ranged weapons. ( CC terminators possibly?) and after my Veterans or assault marines have been turned into nice skin jackets they tend to get my heavy weapon squads. What can i use to kill these things? Also, wraith initiative 6? The only thing i can think of is Librarian + Quickening.

[Xeonic]

Flayed ones are an annoyance at best. Pour fire into them the turn they deep strike and they'll poof(no squad survivors=no being back). They count towards phaseout so it's not wasted time firing on them. Plasma cannon and guns are great for this especially if they fall short of being able to run into cover for their save.

 

Pariah's are a joke in combat, with 1 attack each. Yes, they ignore armor -AND- invulnerable saves, but they're also super expensive. Charge them before they charge you(deny them double attacks) since they'll most likely hide in cover waiting for the few targets they can handle, undersized units or terminators, though they're actually pretty good counter assaulters along with some flayed ones. Never ever lose combat with Pariah's or you take the LD test at 7. Pariah's are actually pretty good at range though and the -LD modifier is bad. They mesh well with the LD tests that flayed ones force. They're fearless so just make sure you win the combat and watch them take no retreat wounds and die in vain. Pariah's do not count towards phaseout.

 

Wraiths are a little scary, they're S6 and have 3A each, as well as a 3+ invuln, BUT they're only T4 and one wound, as well as being squad size 1-3, so the max you can ever see is 9. They don't have power weapon attacks so enjoy your 3+ saves. They're best brought down by mass of attacks in CC because they will always get the charge on you, so countercharge them if possible and if not well if it's just 3 wraiths you'll probably kill them before you lose the special and heavy weapons in teh squad. A powerfist goes a long ways towards eradicating them, as it wounds them on a 2+. They are necrons and enjoy WBB, and are a pretty good retinue for a destroyer lord w/warscythe.

 

Sounds like he used a semi fear list on you(the missing component being a lord forcing LD tests in a radius every turn), but there are a few things to remember: Flayed ones that deep strike cannot hurt you for a turn, and are easily outran(they're on foot, and not fleet, and with shrike you are). They also have no grenades so just sitting in cover also helps a lot. If you can wipe the flayed ones out with all the firepower available in your shooting phase, do so. In CC they've got no power weapon equivalents and so won't be a major bother(without support), but having to take a LD test or only be able to hit them on a 6 is really bad for you. The pariah's won't charge you alone, they have too few attacks and cost too much to pull that off. The only units they realistically threaten alone are those that strike purely at I1(so pure TH/SS and tac termies). Remember that one pariah costs almost as much as two vanguard veterans! Yes, they're S5 and they ignore all saves, but they're still one attack each, and they're extremely expensive points wise. Shooting them works well, but your marines will still go first in CC and cause some carnage with those power weapons. You're in for a world of hurt if you lose combat though, so I suggest shooting them to soften them up before you assault, unless you need the firepower to kill more flayed ones(as they contribute to phaseout). Wraiths... well they're S6 so that hurts, but they've only got 1 wound. If you countercharge with another squad you'll see they aren't so hard to kill even with tactical marines. I've actually had an under strength(6 man) tac squad kill an entire squad of wraiths with their bolters in one round of shooting.

Flayed ones? Shoot them. Pariah's? Shoot them. Wraiths? Outlast and countercharge them.

 

Make sure your necron friend is abiding by the rules, take a peek at his codex if he'll let you. Flayed ones cause LD tests only in CC(they can be outrun by a fleet army), pariahs only reduce LD to 7 in a 12" range, these are very easy penalties to work around. Just remember that infiltrating against this type of force can be bad because it puts one part of your army(vanguard vets in this case) against the bulk of his(at least 500 pts or so worth as it sounds). Deep striking flayed ones won't even be an issue until a turn or two in either, and they're sub par assault troops and have zero ranged capability(neat CC special rules though). Roll the rhinos up and shoot them until they're dead on the turn they arrive and it will make your life a lot easier. Avoiding the pariahs, shooting them to keep them in cover whilst your vets chew up warriors is also a good thing.

[Mister Space Marine]

Ah. Thanks. I've checked the codex. It was legal. I'll try these and see how they work. So, take plasma cannons over las cannnons?

[Xeonic]

Well, there's one entry in the necron codex with an armor value, and a tactical squad lascannon isn't going to do much against it. A lascannon will instant death T4 necron models, denying them WBB, but the plasma cannon can potentially do a lot more for you, it's a blast weapon and a personal favorite to drop on deep strikers. It will ignore their armor but it won't deny them wbb, so it's a tradeoff- more kills vs denying We'll Be Back. I would take a complimentory missile launcher before I took a lascannon vs necrons, as it will ID and ignore their armor just the same.

 

What isn't factored is that a lot of the time there will be a spyder or resorb lord within range so they get their WBB anyways, instant death or not.

Necrons can be tricky, but it always boils down to systematically wiping out whole squads to deny them the ability to come back, and your opponent using deep strikers actually makes that easier.

 

On the plasma cannon note, it's fantastic espescially when your opponent opts to use veil of darkness(or whatever the teleporter is) to deep strike around the board. I recall one game where my two measely tac squad plasma cannon wiped an entire squad of 10x immortals and a lord off the board that way once.

[Jackelope King]

The best thing you can do when your Necron opponent starts loading up on expensive models like Pariahs is to kick his feet out from under him. Pariahs are decent at best stat-wise, and the fact that they're not necrons means that they reduce your opponent's army size when it comes to figuring Phase Out. So if you see a bunch of Pariahs, thank your lucky stars, nuke his Warriors into the ground, and table him with a nice Phase Out.