First Game vs New Necrons

[Master Of Malfeasance X]

1500 points is pretty frustrating for a marine player. While I am just breaking into my powerful units, my filthy xenos opponents can start spamming whatever the hell they want.

 

Doubly so for Necrons.

 

My list:

Librarian + TDA/SS; Sanguine sword/unleash rage

 

a fairly tooled up VV squad (no jumps)

 

Corbulo

 

A storm raven to haul the above around

 

2x double melta/fist assault squads in rhinos

 

1x 5 man assault with melta in TLLC razorback

 

1x Vindicator

 

Him:

 

Immotekh in a command barge

 

1 unit of immortals

 

10 scarab bases

 

2 tomb spyders (or whatever they're called now)

 

1 transport barge

1 transport flyer

1 Doom Scythe (the bane of my existence; read on)

 

1 unit of warriors

 

4 tomb blades

 

The report:

 

I'm really tired, so I will spare you the blow-by-blow, but here are the highlights:

 

By the wording, the Doom Scythe can fire its death ray through a close combat, surgically removing your units while avoiding necron units. Until it gets FAQed (if ever), this thing is public enemy no. 1. Here's how it works:

 

range 12", mark a point anywhere within the model's range then roll 3d6 and choose a direction and place a marker on that point. Any unit (friend or foe) with even a single model on the line takes a number of S10, AP1 hits equal to the number of models in that unit. t0 man assault squad in combat with scarabs: 10 S10, AP1 hits on the assault squad. Cover? You wish. By the wording, you can't even hide in combat.

 

Really, that was my only quibble with this new codex. Here are the major abilities of what I fought:

 

Immotekh: can make the whole game night fighting if he keeps rolling high. Creates a thunderstorm that randomly blasts (only your) units with S8, AP5 lightning. Has a staff that can completely devastate a squad before he assaults with a line attack similar to that used in the video game Dawn of War.

 

Immortals: Never got to see what they did, I murdered their little robot guts out before they even fired a shot.

 

Tomb spyders: now much cheaper and come in units! Not very hard to kill, but man do they efficiently crap out scarab swarms. I'm not very impressed with them.

 

Scarabs: The boogeyman of this codex. Yes, they eat your vehicles, it is also, if you keep moving, very, VERY hard for them to destroy your vehicles. By the time they got around to chewing up my rhinos, they had already done their job.

 

The transport flyer: wants to be a venom SOO badly.

 

the transport barge: surprisingly resilient, especially with rear armor 11, even after I had penetrated it. also makes for really good fluff, the idea of a bunch of night lords (blood angels) jumping on and putting chainsword to face on the pilot.

 

tomb blades: kinda like bikers, kinda like hellions. Kinda have absolutely no defense in close combat. I wouldn't hesitate to put a lone spare marine against a squad of 5. Also, their shooting is lackluster compared to the rest of the army.

 

Gear notes:

Phase shifter is brutal now, it's basically a storm shield. You will never see a standard necron overlord without one.

 

No eternal warrior in the HQ section. I used a force weapon to claim Immotekh's metal skull.

[Morollan]

By the wording, the Doom Scythe can fire its death ray through a close combat, surgically removing your units while avoiding necron units. Until it gets FAQed (if ever), this thing is public enemy no. 1. Here's how it works:

 

range 12", mark a point anywhere within the model's range then roll 3d6 and choose a direction and place a marker on that point. Any unit (friend or foe) with even a single model on the line takes a number of S10, AP1 hits equal to the number of models in that unit. t0 man assault squad in combat with scarabs: 10 S10, AP1 hits on the assault squad. Cover? You wish. By the wording, you can't even hide in combat.

 

Really, that was my only quibble with this new codex. Here are the major abilities of what I fought:

 

There's a debate going on over in the Official Rules forum about this. Consensus seems to be 1) it's poorly written (shock horror!) and 2) it means number of hits equal to number of models touched by the line (not number in squad).

[A17roolz]

Although I love my Smurfs, I do also collect Necrons (I had a 1,700 point army which has drastically reduced in cost now O.O) and I do agree that the Doom Scythe is way, way, WAY broken. Even I sat there and thought that's ridiculous.

 

Also, Lords having Tysseract Labrynths. It doesn't take an genius to work out that's broken. Overlords, yes. Lords, no.

 

I will also point out that, although there are no Eternal Warriors (except C'Tan Shards if memory serves... I don't have my codex to hand), all Necrons who have either Ever Living and/or Reanimation Protocols can still come back after an Instant Kill. Doesn't say otherwise in the rules.

 

Overall, although I haven't had the chance to test them out yet (Trazyn's rules made me laugh so hard... he's not hard, but man can he annoy the enemy), aside from the Doom Scythe and Lords having Tesseract Labrynths, they seem fairly balanced. They've nerfed alot of the existing units, Flayed Ones are only I2 now and Immortals are now T4, not to mention Wraiths are no longer Necrons and aren't affected by the Reanimation Protocols. They're an amazing shooty army, but even their CC units will lose numbers in melee before they get to clump the enemy with their nasty weapons.

[Gaz1858]

I have to agree with Morollan about the rules issue. it does say number of models under the line.

 

As for the codex itself i think it is alright, nothing that a marine army really needs to worry about. A tactical squad should be able to handle most of their infantry units

[Ming]

Am judging a comp this coming weekend and I'm ruling that the wording is models under the line (friend or foe). Someone has to put their foot down and just say no to guys who are excited about their new codex and want to play it using their own favored interpetation.

 

On the other hand, like Jaws, just don't line your guys up unless forced to - and make sure it is a high priority target regardless.

[Ming]

Apparently FAQs are coming out to confirm the grammar - the death ray ONLY causes wounds on the number of models under the line.

 

Would be interesting to see what the impact would be to 3 or so vehicles lined up side-by-each eh?

[ShinyRhino]

Am judging a comp this coming weekend and I'm ruling that the wording is models under the line (friend or foe). Someone has to put their foot down and just say no to guys who are excited about their new codex and want to play it using their own favored interpetation.

 

On the other hand, like Jaws, just don't line your guys up unless forced to - and make sure it is a high priority target regardless.

 

it'll be irrelevant, as we already stated a month ago that Mecron players are still using the 3rd Ed book for the event. Not enough time for us judges/TOs to learn and rule on the 5th Edition book. The playerbase was informed plenty early. :)