2000 pts vs necron reclaimation legion

[steellegionnaire85]

I need advise on the best way to deal with a necron reclamation legion at the 2K point level. There isn't much I don't have but what kills necrons best. I don't normally play them. But a friend just acquired an army. Thanks

[Lukash_]

Hmmm, let's see.

 

S8+ with AP3/AP4 will reduce their save stacks by going through their armor (Immortals have a 3+, Warriors a 4+.) Manticores can be put out of LOS (to avoid Gauss autoglances.)

 

Tomb Blades are a pain due to their speed, durability, and ability to take Ignores Cover Blast weapons. I can't think of much AP3 Ignores Cover weapons in our army, so try for weight of fire. Or take that new artillery Mont'ka formation that allows for Ignores Cover Basilisks.

 

Necrons have zero psychic potential and few psychic defenses, so your cheap Astropaths/Inquisitors/Primaris Psykers might come in handy.

 

Cover saves for your tanks are key due to the fact that Gauss weapons autoglance/autowound on 6's.

[duz_]

I had pretty good sucess with pask in punisher w/ plasmacutioner buddy, wyvrens and knights

 

Just need lots of fire power to drown them in cover saves

 

Get some conscripts to tie up their lynch guard (? The ones with +2 strength and armourbane)

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Vanquishers will kill vehicles from beyond gauss range, and eradicators can take out tomb blades, or you can mass fire with ignores cover hotshots, using orders. Use lots of high strength weapons to reduce the reanimation protocols, or throw instant death at them.

[HenricusTyranicus]

Give the Emperor's Wrath Artillery Battery a try. Two Bassies, Two Wyverns, and a Manticore.

 

Then loads of conscripts with priests, maybe a hellhound, with a Leman Russ Eradicator. Should do the trick nicely.  

[steellegionnaire85]

In a preliminary game in two rounds of shooting I only took out 3 destroyers one barge three immortal and ten warriors that was 100 guardsmen 6 lascannons 6 autocannons and three wyverns. He only killed three autocannons ten guardsmen and one wyvern

[Myrkul]

I think necrons are really the only army I've struggled with. Wyverns, as much as i love them, and theyre the backbone of my army; just dont perform very well.

[Akrim]

Crons are always a tough time for the Guard since they are very resilient to shooting. As mentioned an Emperors Wrath artillery company might be the way to go if he uses Arcs or other vehicles with Quantum Shielding, esp being able to order ignore cover vs jink saves. Manticores tend to do quite well in these games.

 

Other than that the idea isn't that much different than vs MEQ, shoot them to pieces. Neutralizing their mobility is quite important.

 

It's kind of a broad question you're asking, it would be nice to know more info on what you're facing.

[WarriorFish]

Indeed, the toasters aren't the best of opponents for Guard so the more information you can give the better the help will be. Is there anything in particular you're wary of, or units you'd like to take? When in doubt; Guard it up and get as many models and guns on the table as you can :P

[gomericus]

Try taking 9 artillery batteries,backed up with 12 lascannon batteries via hwts and about 200 troops and rough riders,

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

He said he was facing a reclamation legion, which generally means warriors and lots of them. Battle cannons will do well to thin their ranks especially by reducing their reanimation by 1, because the strength of the weapon is double their toughness. Reanimating on 6+ makes it much easier for them to die and stay dead.

[steellegionnaire85]

I thought about using the the cadian battle company tanks detachment but two point heavy. In 2K games I have to min and Max.

 

He had like 50 warriors 9 destroyers doomsday ark 30 immortal two spyders scarabs and the empowered crytek and 20 of the lych guard and 3 wraiths.

 

If I remember correctly.

[Akrim]

I thought about using the the cadian battle company tanks detachment but two point heavy. In 2K games I have to min and Max.

He had like 50 warriors 9 destroyers doomsday ark 30 immortal two spyders scarabs and the empowered crytek and 20 of the lych guard and 3 wraiths.

If I remember correctly.

Hmm, curious did he show you an army list at all? That sounds like more than 2k, I just did a quick number crunch. Looks tough though.

 

Facing that much Cron infantry the Artillery Co would certainly be a good option. I'm going to assume that he's probably rUnning a Canoptek Harvest auxiliary. The key with that I find is the Spyders hit them with AP3+ stuff; lascannons, plasmas. It's almost pointless shooting the buffed up Wraiths. They are the biggest threat I find.

 

A good defence is to have a couple nice big units (30+) of troops like Conscripts with a Priest to tarpit the Wraiths. Assassins also work well here, Eversor or Callidus as a counter attack measure.

 

As mentioned psychic powers are definitely a good way to do some damage. Primaris, Wyrdvanes or Inquisitors are a good idea.

 

Over and above that if you're playing Maelstrom, deploy your objectives in your zone as best you can. Unfortunately our main weakness is getting scoring units downfield. A Valkyrie/Vendetta borne squad or two is a good idea.

 

The Cadian Battle Group as a detachment isn't great as you only get access to Commissars and don't get ObSec outside of Emperors Blade. Tank-wise the shorter ranged Leman Russ formations will really struggle vs Crons gauss weaponry.

[steellegionnaire85]

He also had a deceiver on the table. Yes he ran the canoptek harvest. I did not see a list this is a guy I play usually with his templars. I trusted his list to be legal and correct values. I am going to ask for a list next time. I think he is trying to list tailor because I beat his templars on a regular basis. He saw trying to learn the necron rules but I think he screwed them up.

[Akrim]

Yeah if youre counting his troops correctly it sounds more like he was playing 2500pts. Mistakes happen but I prefer my opponent to at least have his list down on something other than memory. Battlescribe is completely free so theres really no reason not to.

 

Theres not really a ton of list tailoring you can do with Crons esp when theyre inside Decurion. But it is a very tough match up for Guard. Killing the Overlord can be quite good as it takes away the reroll ones on Reanimation Protocols.

[steellegionnaire85]

Yea I guess your right. As I remember it there was a stalker and two barges and a doomsday ark as well if I did not mention it earlier I may have been hosed but he is also a cowardess general he is so worried about my firepower he hides. Even with his marines he did the same thing. My guardsmen always take the initiative and attack. All and all I faired well. So I just need to improve my strategy and list.

[Bonzi]

I play both Guard and Necrons.

 

If you're remembering his troop totals correctly he's heavy for 2K.  The warriors and immortals come out to just about 1.1K, the destroyer formation is another 360ish, a C'tan rings in around 250, the anni-barge formation should clock in at roughly 400ish, plus a canoptek harvest formation which isn't cheap AND Orikan.  BTW, don't let him claim decurion or reclamation legion bonuses if your list is accurate as he would need an Overlord in the army and Orikan doesn't count.  He would also need Tomb Blades AND his Canoptek Harvest formation can only include one spider...it is the weakness of that formation.

 

All in all if he is playing it cautiously you're going to carry the day.  Why?  20 Lychguard is a lot of dead weight vs guard as you don't need a CC elite unit to merc a guardsman.  Massed warriors and immortals are only really dangerous if you ram them down your opponents throat, outside of 12" range they just don't destroy armor fast enough.  The destroyer cult is a fantastic anti-tank unit with PE and what amounts to tank hunter from their formation but the ap3 is a waste vs guardsmen.  I don't see much in his list outside of his infantry that would be effective for dealing with horde guard or massed vehicles...especially if he plays cautious.  Necrons biggest weakness is their lack of range and that is Guards biggest strength.  If he isn't using his resiliency and speed (yes, Necrons are fast where they want to be) to march towards you and overwhelm you the ball is in your court.

[steellegionnaire85]

He had the blades and no overlord so I guess he messed up cheated a bit

[Akrim]

There it is. He might be playing a CAD and using formation detachments but his army list points sounds fraudulent.

 

The Arks are pretty powerful with Quantum Shields and jink and can get downfield pretty fast. Take away that jink or cover and our ordnance does a real number on them. But that said if you supplement all that walking metal with fast stuff, it's probably not a bad combo. Just speculating.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

I agree. Using the Decurion, those lychguard would have needed to be Triarch Praetorians (they come out of the same box) to go with the Triarch Stalker (unless he brought a tomb stalker, which can't be played in the decurion because it's forge world). Sounds like there was a bit of cheating going on here.

 

I didn't tally up the points, but it sounds like you were facing off at a 500 point deficit, if the others here are right. I agree about battlescribe, it's free and easy so there's no reason to not have a list. 

 

I'm curious to know if you won, as I didn't see that stated anywhere.

[steellegionnaire85]

We called the game at end of turn three. I won by kill points, even though he said it was a tie. I had first blood and I would of had line breaker next turn, my sentinels would have come on the table with outflank from my warlord trait.

[WarriorFish]

Sounds like you need to give him the rulebook and codex and some quiet time to read! Mistakes are fine but they should only happen once.

[steellegionnaire85]

That's what I told him. He didn't want to play objectives, and I just about lost it over a game. Because of rule issues. 40K is supposed to be fun. I have never lost my temper but I almost did.

[Bonzi]

By kill points or objectives Necrons are a tough nut to crack and with a 500pt advantage he should have thrashed you pretty hard.  Necrons are misleading in their true strengths.  The first two turns of play for Necrons are average rather than explosive, it is in turns three, four, and five that their resilience begins to show its benefit because the Necrons are still strong as every turn sees the opponent further weakened.  It sounds like your opponent is pretty green to the game and very green to Necrons (decurion is confusing until you write a lot of lists).

 

I will admit that while the Guard hold a place in my heart, I dearly love the synergy and playstyle of Necrons and it hurts to read about someone playing them badly.  Necrons and Space Marines are probably the most forgiving and resilient of all the armies for a new player to play so your friend may be slow to learn some of the lessons that a guard army teaches because of its brutal learning curve.  I recommend you guys play some malestrom missions as the randomness of objectives is a good teacher of tactics and strategy.  Also give him some serious time with the rule book, make him write out a list AND make him explain the composition and bonuses each formation brings to you.  When I first started playing the new 'crons I did this with all my opponents so they would be familiar with the rules and I would remember them better.

[steellegionnaire85]

Dare I tell you all that this individual has never fully grasped the rules. He is ten years my senior and we have both played since second edition. My play style uses guards strengths. I play bulk guard as an aggressive force. He plays all armies: templars csm and neurons cautiously. I risk all for victory and will sacrifice everything to win. He plays as though everything is priceless. He has never fully understood the rules. I've always had to explain to him how to do things. He lost to me with the sky hammer formation when in came out. He misused the formation for its advantages.

 

He cries every game about the wyverns being overpowering. That's when I snapped and told him his list was bull. I said necrons are overpowering. He didn't understand.