Tips against Necrons

[Jagermonster]

gonna be fighting in a 1500pts battle agaisnt necrons soon. Just wondering what sort of things i should be looking out for and what tricks the necrons could use (Gauss weapon rules, resurrections orbs...etc?)

Any help on what works well agaisnt necrons and ideas of what to use much appreciated.

im gussin combat is a gd place to be becasue they're low initiative?

[CainTheHunter]

Ignore Monolith, or focus Lascannons on it - either/or. Paying partial attention is a waste - also it ignores melta and is 14 AV all around, so missiles only glance it on 6. If he's got lots of destroyers, bring RP with MH with You, or two RP. Go for the warriors - he will probably pack them somewhere safe, so consider DP or scouts - once You take them out, it's will be easier to Phase him out. Lord with Scythe will make short work of dreadnought, but probably will die alongside it.

[Brother Nathan]

if the lord has warscyth dont get into cc with him as he ignores inv and armour. simplist bet is to go for the troops and aim for phase out. oh and all of his guns can hurt veichles sort of like rending but not quite...

[hendrik]

lol, i'm actually playing a necron player this evening who challenged me to take his tooled up lord on in CC. this is why instead of my usually balanced out list i now took the biggest point sink unit i've ever fielden (1100pts unit in a 2000pts list), i just want to beat his pimped out lord!;p

also; most necron models(besides the CC variants) are only I2, JOTWW will hurt them if you manege to get enough of them under it as will a devestating charge(unless there's a ressurecting orb nearby

[DV8]

What kind of play-style would you prefer? Also, what do you have available so we can help make an "ideal" list?

 

Necrons aren't exactly a top-tier army. Their codex is two editions old and with a lack of variety in available units, you'll more or less know what to expect coming up against them.

 

There are a couple things to understand about Necrons:

 

• Stats of a Space Marine. With stats virtually identically to Space Marines (albiet Initiative 2 and Leadership 10), Necrons are remarkably resilient. Combined with their We'll Be Back roll (henceforth known as WBB), Necrons are incredibly difficult to take out with firepower. Weapons that inflict Instant Death, and weapons that ignore saves in combat help, but with Resurrection Orbs (allows WBB regardless of Instant Death/Power Weapons/etc.) and Monoliths allowing a re-roll (with the Power Matrix), close combat is the most effective way to deal with Necrons
  
• Necron Gauss weapons (pretty much all their ranged firepower) automatically glance on a 6 with armor penetration, unless they would score better (i.e. Strength 9 from a Heavy Destroyer glances a Rhino on a 1 or 2, and penetrates on a 3+). This means that even the Land Raider can be glanced to death by a squad of rapid-firing Necrons. Expect your vehicles to, at the very least, be shaken and stunned quite often.
  
• Phase out. A large number of the units in a Necron army have the "Necron" special rule. If the army hits 25% or less of the total Necrons it started with, the ENTIRE army (Necron rules or not) will disappear and you automatically win the game regardless of scenario.
  
• When Necrons WBB, there MUST be a Necron of similar type within 6" (so for Necron Warriors, another Warrior has to be within 6", if it's a Destroyer, there has to be a Destroyer within 6", etc.) This is mitigated by Tomb Spyders, so long as there is another Necron of the same type on the battlefield (IIRC within 12" of the Tomb Spider). This means that if you can wipe out all of a Necron "type" within a certain area (and no Tomb Spyders around), those "dead" models are denied WBB rolls. This works to your advantage because very few lists include Tomb Spiders, so knocking out Destroyers/Heavy Destroyers early on denies them both WBB rolls as well as their mobile firepower.
  
• Necrons wiped out in combat from a Sweeping Advance are removed from play and denied a WBB roll. This is the fastest way to kill Necrons (and also not too difficult, since Necrons have limited access to Power Weapons, so simply inflict heavy casualties to modify their Leadership to the point where they are guaranteed to fail).
  
• Monoliths are notoriously difficult to take down. AV 14 all around, virtually ignoring half of the vehicle damage charts (you can't stun, shake, or destroy the Power Matrix, and weapon destroyed results only put negatives on the Gauss Flux Arc, which also cannot be "destroyed"). Melta weapons also don't roll double-penetration within half range, and weapons such as Chainfists are denied the extra dice for penetration. This means that on a penetrating hit, you have to roll a 5 or 6 to kill it. On a glancing hit, the best you can hope for is to immobilize it (unless you have a Melta, in which case a 6 still kills it). What this means is that, lacking a better target (re: everything else), you're better off not wasting your firepower trying to take it out. Likewise in combat.
  
• Necron Lords almost always have Resurrection Orbs, which eat up 40% of their item allotment automatically. Necron Warriors are also the only Troops choices available, and at a minimum unit size of 10 (and 18 points apiece), the first 500 points of a Necron army are automatically Lord with Res Orb, and 2 units of 10 Warriors. Necron Lords are also typically equipped with a Warscythe (which doesn't eat up their wargear allotment...I know, what is this archaic term you refer to? :P), which is a Power Weapon that ignores Invulnerable Saves. With S5 T5, Necron Lords are decent fighters in combat that are geared to taking out "elite" infantry and lesser characters (I would hesitate pitting anything less than a Thunderlord against the Necron Lord...better to use mass infantry)
  

 

There are two real "effective" ways to play Necrons: Warrior/Monolith spam, or Destroyer spam.

 

Warrior/Monolith spam drowns you in bodies (so to speak), relying on the natural resilience of Warriors (and the ability of Monoliths to allow a second WBB roll via the Power Matrix) to keep the army alive as it advances forward. Necron Lords will typically be equipped with Res Orbs, Warscythes, and the Veil of Darkness (which allows him to take any unit he is with and re-deploy them anywhere on the table via Deep Strike...even so far as to pull them out of combat). This isn't a one-time ability so it gives some amazing mobility/alpha strike to the Necrons. The downside is they risk isolating the Lord + unit, so try and put yourself in a position to present no ideal "loner" targets for the Lord to veil against.

 

Destroyer spam simply fields tons of Heavy Destroyers and Destroyers, which mount a TON of highly mobile and pretty deadly firepower. The upside is that these units eat up a lot of points, but don't put a lot of bodies on the field. Their Phase Out number is far lower, and if you can isolate his units to keep them out of ideal WBB range, you can pick apart this army fairly quickly. Lords will typically have Destroyer bodies (makes them base T6), Warscythes and Res Orbs, and tournament lists used to field a Deceiver (for redeployment shenanigans, amongst other things). You'll have a harder time against this list.

 

In both instances weigh the options, either focusing on objectives or going for Phase Out. Don't be too dis-heartened when, after inflicting heavy casualties in a shooting phase, to see more than half of them get back up in their turn. That's really about all the Necron army has going for it at present.

 

EDIT: Jaws of the World Wolf against Necrons is deadly, but it's also a grey area, because it inflicts no wounds. It simply removes models from play. WBB was never written to accomodate for models that were removed from play, simply wounded and killed. By RAW I would argue that Necrons hit by Jaws of the World Wolf are removed from play and denied a WBB roll (however, in practice I always give the Necron player the ability to roll for WBB even after being hit by Jaws, because they really need every advantage they can get ;) )

 

 

DV8

[Decoy]

Jaws. Jaws, jaws, jaws. And powerweapons/fists.

 

Also, I think Jaws ignores We'll Be Back. I think.

[Jagermonster]

my play style usually has few vehicles. i like to put bodies on the ground as 1 shot that destroys a land raider still only kills one blood claw. im guessin thats gonna help because of the gauss weapon rules.

i like to advance on one flank of their army and totally destroy it before i roll up the rest of the enemy battle line

its usually rhinos with GH anc BC for this and maybe a razorback with wolf guard.

any point using long ranged fire such as long fangs or whirlwinds?

[CainTheHunter]

any point using long ranged fire such as long fangs or whirlwinds?

 

 

Absolutely. You want to take down his destroyers, since they are very annoying. With range of 36" they will stay out of bolter range and throw tons of dice on You. Whirlwinds are good since You can put them out of LOS and pepper his troops.

[Jagermonster]

So long range fire on the troops to try to create a situation where he phases out, overwhelm them in combat with power weapons, concentrate on wiping out entire enemy troop types at once to avoid WBB, ignore monolith's (mainly). sounds good guys thnx :-)

as for what i have available, i have most units with rhinos, razorbacks, whirlwinds, vindicators, a dreadnaught and a redeemer for available vehicles.

enough troops to make 3-4 full strength troop units of various types, and lots of terminators. all HQ options are open to me.

im thinking blood claws would be useful as basic line troops as they get extra initial attacks in close combat and put a wolf guard with an extra power weapon with them?

Is it worth taking arjac to have a go at dealing with his Lord or will Arjac get totally beat down?

any tried and tested ideas are more than welcome :-)

[DV8]

Unless you have fluff reasons, there's almost no reason to take Blood Claws over Grey Hunters. Grey Hunters have higher WS (so Necrons will only hit them on a 4+, as opposed to 3+ against Blood Claws), and the tactical flexibility/versatility of Bolters and the improved BS (along with access to special weapons and the Wolf Totem) make Grey Hunters better in almost every situation.

 

Typhoons to hunt his Destroyers, Wolf Scouts with Power-Fist Pack Leaders are a great way to pick off Destroyers hugging the flanks/table edges. A Drop Pod Grey Hunter squad with double Meltagun is also an amazing alpha-strike unit against units of Destroyers/Heavy Destroyers hugging in the back, as with good rolling they can take out a unit in a single turn.

 

 

DV8