Dreadmad's Necron Plog, from beginner to Pokemon Master.

[dreadmad]

Ok, 2 battle reports today! Both were Maelstrom of War, 1750pts and were against Dark Angels and a 'Monster Mash' Iron Warriors list.

 

I'm going to do shorter write ups as my brain is fried, and I'm not sure I'll have any spare time until next weekend to post these if I don't do it tonight and then I have some summery thoughts on the list & Necrons in Maelstrom generally.

 

My list;

 

92% Doomstroyer - 6cp

 

Mephrit Air Wing

 

Doom Scythe

Doom Scythe

Doom Scythe

 

Nihilakh Outrider

 

Destroyer Lord (Resurrection Orb, WL)

 

4 Scarabs

6 Destroyers

5 Destroyers

 

Nihilakh Spearhead

 

Cryptek (Chronomotron, Veil of Darkness)

 

Doomsday Ark

Doomsday Ark

Doomsday Ark

 

When list building I often take things to extremes, and sometimes it takes playing games to work out why a list simply isn't great. You can probably see the issues here already, but I'll go into that later on.

 

Game 1 was Vs Rob's Dark Angels. I was excited to play them as I wanted to play a non-RG Marine list, but Rob had also thrown various ideas and combos at me that I wanted to see play out on the tabletop.

 

Rob's List

 

Fluffy Old Marines & the Gunbeast - 13cp

 

Battalion

 

Azreal (WL)

Primaris Chaplain (+1 to wound Litany)

 

2*5 man Tac Squad with a Missile Launcher

1*5 man scout squad (single sniper, he had spare points)

 

Ravenwing Apothecary

5 Deathwing Knights

Leviathan Dreadnought

 

2*5 man Devastator Squads (4 plasma, Cherub)

 

Battalion

 

Jump Pack Chaplain (+1 to wound Litany, Reroll charges WL trait(?))

Lieutenant (Stormbolter, Chainsword)

 

1*8 man Intercessor Squad

2* 5 man Tac Squad (Heavy Bolter)

 

It's fair to say, not the most disgusting list in the world. Definitely not a patch on the Iron Hands Juggernaut steamrolling LVO and something I felt reasonably confident going into!

 

Terrain & Deployment

 

The terrain is sparse, this is deliberate as the Tables at Warhammer World - although visually pleasing - offer very little in the way of LoS blocking, and I wanted to practice for the tournament conditions. Deployment was Pointy Dawn of War (I believe it's called Spearhead Assault)

 

I lost the roll off to go first. This made the 4th game in a row (all against Marines) that I had gone second. It also came after I had spent the last 5 mins or so during deployment arguing my dislike for Seizing the Initiative - and having pointed out that I'd ended up going second in every Marine game so far. Obviously the universe was listening and I should learn when to keep quiet!

 

Rob's Turn 1 had him pushing out of his deployment using the snazzy new Litany DA get that allows them to count as stationary even if they moved - definitely a strong one, coupled with the DA Chapter Tactic you get an Iron Hands Lite^TM. In his shooting phase he killed 9 of the 11 Destroyers, even sat in cover & half near the Cryptek. Oof.

 

Fortunately, the terrain had some LoS blocking and I got away with leaving 1 from both squads alive - which was incredibly fortune for me, and the only thing that kept me in the game. He also managed to kill a Doomsday Ark - killing a total of 710pts & scoring 5VP by the end of T1.

 

My T1 had me rolling hot, getting 3 back into the 5 man squad and 4 back into the 6 man squad after burning my Resurrection Orb. Definitely a bit of a gimmicky pick, but it was useful in both games.

 

I moved my Doom Scythes forward to move block him.from taking any more footing on the board and dropped the Mortal Wound strat on Azreals moving Castle. After using a CP on the Company Ancient I managed to kill him and a single 5 man Tac Squad. Not the greatest ROI, but the banner had to die before too got to shoot me back. At the same time the Destroyers Veiled over to the far right, away from the Leviathan and the other squad moved up to join them with the Destroyer Lord.

 

Gotta hide

 

Shooting was overall successful, I ignored the Leviathan knowing how much firepower it can soak and removed both Dev Squads & some other bits and pieces. In retrospect I think the DA +6" range means that the Leviathan can't be ignored at all, and I should have focus fired it down T1 as a 38" threat range is truely terrifying.

 

The Mortal Wounds in... Inaction?

 

 

After this he slowly chipped away at my tanks, and I chipped away at his midfield until neither of us had all that much left to speak of. He moved his Apothecary forward, then burnt a strat to move it again (for something like 36" total movement) and then burnt MORE CP to bring some Deathwing Knights in for a short range charge on one of my Doomsday Arks. This is a fantastic combo, and definitely one to look out for when playing DA - it can get the Knights pretty much anywhere they need to go with a much closer Deepstrike than usual.

 

Other highlights include;

• His Chaplain taking near lethal damage on the charge against one of my Doom Scythes, and then getting punched in the face on a 6 and failing his armour sace (he did CP it and survive on a single wound - but it was a very satisfying moment).
  
• My Mephrit Doom Scythe doing 5 unsaved wounds to the Deathwing Knights, killing 3! I was less impressed when I realised he can also do a resurrection with his Apothecary, bringing a Knight back after I nearly cleared them off - spelling the end for a wounded Doomsday Ark.
• 14" Flamers on the Leviathan. Turns out, that's a pretty big swathe of the board!

The game ended in T5 after I lost my last squad if Destroyers. It wasn't overly close, although going second does seem to be a major issue against Marines when you can't hide.

 

It's reaching midnight here so the second game will have to wait. As for the list, the major issue is it just has very little board control. I think I could get away with it in some formats, but definitely not in Maelstrom - especially when the Necron specific Maelstrom cards are so woefully bad. This is especially painful when you end up having to keep every take/hold card - not ideal when you cede board control immediately! It also just doesn't have the damage that you'd think it should if you come from playing another gunline army.

 

Realistically I think my best chance for success in Maelstrom is going to be with a core of 25 Immortals with the Standard Sautekh Battalion. I don't have time to get cute with finding an off meta combination that eschews troops before the end of the month, and even though they will melt to Marines at least I'll have a better shot at playing the mission. I think I'm best off dropping the planes, since they won't help me get that much needed objective control (well, not directly) and I'm liable to make a major positioning error 3 games deep and fly a plane off the board.

 

Current list thoughts are something along the lines of 25 Immortals, Imotekh, 3 DDA's, Destroyers, Scarabs & Wraiths if I can fit them in. I'm interested to hear what works for you guys in the Marine match up though, being 0-4 against marines and 2-0 against non-Marines does not boost my confidence that I have that game plan cracked.

 

Edit: Thanks for cleaning up the double post!

Edited February 8, 2020 by dreadmad

[Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch]

Any use of a Rez orb that resuslts in one or more models from our VAU (very annoying unit) list reanimating is a rez orb well spent. If you got even one destroyer back from it, I’d say you came out ahead.

Very good battle report, and perhaps you will find luck in future with your opponents going second instead of you. You have twelve ‘drops’ in this list, so that might not happen too often, but perhaps it will when it counts. Certain marine lists can have that many units, so maybe you’ll get lucky.

 

I look forward to the next one!

 

(Edit: ask and you shall receive, brother.)

[dreadmad]

Any use of a Rez orb that resuslts in one or more models from our VAU (very annoying unit) list reanimating is a rez orb well spent. If you got even one destroyer back from it, I’d say you came out ahead.

Very good battle report, and perhaps you will find luck in future with your opponents going second instead of you. You have twelve ‘drops’ in this list, so that might not happen too often, but perhaps it will when it counts. Certain marine lists can have that many units, so maybe you’ll get lucky.

 

I look forward to the next one!

 

(Edit: ask and you shall receive, brother.)

Agreed r.e. the Rez Orb! I'm pretty torn on the Phylactery Vs Orb as my local meta has a lot of Snipers - but it's definitely not a choice I was unhappy with.

 

As for drops I'm currently practicing Maelstrom Missions from CA19, so I don't have to worry about number of units too much fortunately!

[Kaldoth]

Not a bad showing all things considered. I'd have killed to see your opponent's face when you brought back all those destroyers!

 

I definitely think for Marines you're going to need more target saturation. Really that's against any army, but against things like Aggressors and Centurions you have to saturate the board, else they'll just focus fire down the few units you have. I've played the following list a few times and had good success with it. Might give you some ideas:

 

 

Battalion Detachment - Mephrit

 

HQ:

 

Cryptek -95

Chronometron

Staff of Light

 

Catacomb Command Barge - 146

Staff of Light

Resurrection Orb

Tesla Cannon

Lightning Field

 

Troops:

 

10 Immortals - 150

Tesla Carbines

 

10 Immortals - 150

Tesla Carbines

 

10 Immortals - 150

Tesla Carbines

 

Elites:

 

1 Triarch Stalker - 115

Heat Ray

 

1 Triarch Stalker - 115

Heat Ray

 

Fast Attack:

 

7 Tomb Blades - 231

Gauss Blasters

Shieldvanes

Nebuloscopes

 

7 Tomb Blades - 231

Gauss Blasters

Shieldvanes

Nebuloscopes

 

 

Outrider Detachment - Sautekh

 

Destroyer Lord - 115 (Warlord- Hyperlogical Strategist)

Staff of Light

Phylactery

 

Fast Attack:

 

1 Canoptek Tomb Sentinel - 130

 

1 Canoptek Tomb Sentinel - 130

 

1 Canoptek Tomb Sentinel - 130

 

Heavy Support:

 

3 Heavy Destroyers - 111

Heavy Gauss Cannons

 

 

If I dont get first turn I pretty much auto use Prepared Positions. The biggest performers in this list are the Tomb Sentinels. I shoot something with one of the Triarch Stalkers, then peel a wound off with the Heavy Destroyers. That lets me use Methodical Destruction on the Sentinels. 3D6 S10 AP4 D3 shots hitting on a 2+ and rerolling 1s... It's nasty. Sometimes I flip the Tomb Blades out for Wraiths depending on what army I'm facing. They both perform about the same against 3+ armies. Wraiths tend to die faster but do more damage, the Tomb Blades the opposite. Tesla Immortals are great in both Mephrit and Sautekh detachments. I'd run them as Mephrit if you're expecting a lot of power armor saves for the AP, but if you've got a healthy mix of opponents I would go Sautekh. MWBD + Methodological Destruction means those Tesla shots are exploding on a 4+. Absolutely crazy against any army that has 4+ saves or worse.

Edited February 9, 2020 by Kaldoth

[dreadmad]

Not a bad showing all things considered. I'd have killed to see your opponent's face when you brought back all those destroyers!

 

I definitely think for Marines you're going to need more target saturation. Really that's against any army, but against things like Aggressors and Centurions you have to saturate the board, else they'll just focus fire down the few units you have. I've played the following list a few times and had good success with it. Might give you some ideas:

 

 

Battalion Detachment - Mephrit

 

HQ:

 

Cryptek -95

Chronometron

Staff of Light

 

Catacomb Command Barge - 146

Staff of Light

Resurrection Orb

Tesla Cannon

Lightning Field

 

Troops:

 

10 Immortals - 150

Tesla Carbines

 

10 Immortals - 150

Tesla Carbines

 

10 Immortals - 150

Tesla Carbines

 

Elites:

 

1 Triarch Stalker - 115

Heat Ray

 

1 Triarch Stalker - 115

Heat Ray

 

Fast Attack:

 

7 Tomb Blades - 231

Gauss Blasters

Shieldvanes

Nebuloscopes

 

7 Tomb Blades - 231

Gauss Blasters

Shieldvanes

Nebuloscopes

 

 

Outrider Detachment - Sautekh

 

Destroyer Lord - 115 (Warlord- Hyperlogical Strategist)

Staff of Light

Phylactery

 

Fast Attack:

 

1 Canoptek Tomb Sentinel - 130

 

1 Canoptek Tomb Sentinel - 130

 

1 Canoptek Tomb Sentinel - 130

 

Heavy Support:

 

3 Heavy Destroyers - 111

Heavy Gauss Cannons

 

 

Thanks for the comment and list! That looks like a very mobile list, the hitting on 2's, RR 1's is marine levels of reliable and definitely worth the cp! 

 

I'm in 2 minds about the direction I want to go in, for both lists I'm pretty happy with running 3 Nihilakh DDA's - the RR1's has helped smooth the swingy nature of the D6 shots a little.

 

I think I want to either go with a Sautekh Battalion with that (Imotekh, (over?)lord, 25 Immortals, Wraiths, Destroyers & a few Scarabs) to round it out - potentially moving the Fast Attack to another detatchment. The other option is Mephrit (CCB, 2nd HQ, 25 Immortals, Destroyers, Wraiths & Deathmarks.)

 

I'm leaning towards Sautekh, and potentially dropping the Wraiths for Tomb Blades? The thing that leaps out at me most is that you don't have any Destroyers - do you feel you suffer the loss of them or do the Tomb Blades do enough damage you don't miss them?

 

I definitely need to pull my finger out with only 2 and a half weeks to go, so I'm making a start on my Immortals as soon as I get the chance since they're likely going to be in every variation of list I might run.

[Kaldoth]

It depends on who I'm fighting and what they have really. Destroyers are an awesome unit no doubt, but overall I do fine without them. A max sized destroyer unit is only 18 shots. I feel like my list has way more anti tank and elite killing potential than most other lists you see at the 2k point bracket running destroyers, and it does it more reliably with the two Stalkers. Plus the mobility I get from two squads of Tomb Blades has come in handy more times than I can count.

 

If you go Sautekh I would roll a Cryptek over a Lord personally. Only because if you don't get first turn that 5++ from a chronometron can be super handy. An Overlord is kind of pointless as Imotekh can MWBD twice. If you've got the points to spare a Lord is always handy, but I prefer prioritizing keeping my units alive over them dealing damage.

[dreadmad]

I tried a version of your List today Kaldoth, and while I wasn't 100% sold on all of the finer details I'm running low on time to change my list up much more with the Tournament now only 13 days away - and I have nothing fully painted.

 

The list I ran was probably my favourite in terms of how smooth it felt - although it definitely lacked some punch & would benefit from a strong midfield unit.

 

The List

 

1750pts - 11cp

 

Sautekh Battalion

 

Imotekh (WL, Hyperlogical Strategist)

Lord (Voidblade, Veil of Darkness)

 

10 Immortals (Tesla)

10 Immortals (Tesla)

5 Immortals (Tesla)

 

Mephrit Outrider

 

Cryptek (Cloak)

 

8 Tomb Blades (Tesla - 5*Shieldvanes & Nebuloscopes, 1* Nebuloscope, 2* Shadowloom)

8 Tomb Blades (Gauss - 6*Shieldvanes, 2* Shadowlooms)

3* Scarab Swarms

 

Nihilakh Spearhead

 

Lord (Voidblade)

 

Doomsday Ark

Doomsday Ark

Doomsday Ark

 

The formatting may be a tad confusing on the Tomb Blades, but I have 1 unit of Tesla (2 with the 5++, 6 ignoring cover [of which 5 have a 3+ save]) & 1 unit of Gauss (2 with a 5++ & 6 with a 3+ save.). No Nebuloscopes on the Gauss, as at 12" you ignore the "Stealthy" trait style cover anyway - and if your opponent is in cover you can always pop the 1CP strat.

 

I'll write up a bat rep if I get chance, but my main takeaway is that having a Lord in the Nihilakh detachment feels like an unreasonable tax - so instead of having 160pt DDA's it feels like I'm paying 180pts each just for the benefit of having reroll 1's.

 

I'm considering either subbing the Lord out for one of the named non-dynasty characters (at the expense of 2 Tomb Blades) OR I could completely reshuffle - drop the Nihilakh detachment (The Lord & 2 Tomb Blades as well - putting the DDA's in the Sautekh Battalion) and add in a Triarch Stalker. I'd appreciate any insight, I think the Stalker is the better choice but I'm concerned I'll struggle to get everything sorted for the weekend after next.

[Kaldoth]

Glad to hear the tomb blades did decently!

 

I'm admittedly super prejudiced against doomsday arks. I absolutely despise them. Paying 160 points for what could be one single damage shot per turn out of a unit isnt worth it in my eyes. This is just an unfortunate burden necron players have to live with. Hopefully they'll get an update like the SoB exorcists got in the future.

 

Til then, you're definitely going to suffer for subbing in the Tomb Blades over Destroyers in the mid-range threat department. Comparing my list between yours when it comes to S6+ weaponry, I've got 3 S6 shots and 4 S8 shots at 24", 3 S9 shots at 36", and 3-18 S 10 shots at 12". All of those platforms are moving at least 10" or deep striking as well. Your list has got 3-18 s10 shots that can reach a long way, but that's about it. Mind I play at 2k points and you are at 1750, so there is definitely a disparity in the amount of power we can bring to the table.

 

If it were me, I would drop the Tomb Blades down to 7. That's still a comfortable number for a squad to have and might help you get a cover save here and there. You might also consider taking squads of 3 heavy destroyers. For 111 points you're getting 3 guaranteed shots that don't need reroll support on hits of 1 because they have it built in. They're mobile and don't suffer the penalty for moving and shooting, and you can reroll wounds of 1 with a destroyer lord.

 

3 DDAs w/ barebones Lord = 539 pts for a useless HQ and 3-18 shots

 

3 squads of 3 heavy destroyers w/ destroyer Lord w/ staff of light= 438 pts for an HQ that buffs your squads and 9 guaranteed shots a turn with 101 points left over. Drop two Tomb Blades and you've got a Triarch Stalker for some extra shooting and enough for a cheeky res orb somewhere.

 

Just food for thought :tu: I get being on a time crunch so if that isn't possible, have you considered maybe keeping the destroyers, dropping one DDA and the Lord, and running a single squad of Tomb Blades? The reroll 1s on the DDAs are nice, but I think you just need more firepower on the board.

Edited February 16, 2020 by Kaldoth

[dreadmad]

Thanks for another in depth reply!

 

I think you're right though, as nice as it is to be able to float 2 big unit around the board I think it's going to hurt me in the long run - especially against Marines.

 

I don't have time to get any Heavy Destroyers together unfortunately (I dislike the stock Finecast option, so I'll have to convert something and wait for bits to arrive) but I can squeeze a unit of Destroyers in there. Dropping 1 unit of Tomb Blades (currently half built) does give me enough time to build a Stalker though, which also would give me slightly more midfield presence and maintain the rerolls on my DDA's.

 

What I'm thinking;

 

1750 - 10cp

 

Sautekh Battalion

 

Imotekh (WL, Hyperlogical Strategist )

Lord (Veil of Darkness , Staff of Light)

 

9 Immortals (Tesla)

9 Immortals (Tesla)

5 Immortals (Tesla)

 

Triarch Stalker (Twin Heavy Gauss)

 

Doomsday Ark

Doomsday Ark

Doomsday Ark

 

Mephrit Outrider

 

Cryptek (Cloak)

 

3 Scarab Swarms

5 Destroyers

7 Tomb Blades (5* Shieldvanes & Nebuloscopes, 2* Shadowloom)

 

I decided on Tesla > Gauss for the Tomb Blades as even though they're not as good at killing Marines up close - they're a lot more versatile (10 Less effective at 12" or less - but 50% More effective over 12"). The ability to advance and still have some shooting output is nice as well, and honestly? I just really enjoy rolling Tesla

[Kaldoth]

Looks much better to me :tu: The only suggestion I would make would be dropping a single DDA for another Stalker. They're pretty big units and tend to attract a lot of fire because of the buff they give, so I prefer to run them in pairs if possible. Plus that would give you two more Heavy Gauss shots. That's 4 guaranteed shots a turn split over two units with QS as opposed to D6 shots a turn on one unit. You could take your remaining points and plus your immortals back up to ten, or make that Scarab Swarm bigger. If you can find 5 points somewhere in your list it could also be a 6th destroyer.

[dreadmad]

Looks much better to me :tu: The only suggestion I would make would be dropping a single DDA for another Stalker. They're pretty big units and tend to attract a lot of fire because of the buff they give, so I prefer to run them in pairs if possible. Plus that would give you two more Heavy Gauss shots. That's 4 guaranteed shots a turn split over two units with QS as opposed to D6 shots a turn on one unit. You could take your remaining points and plus your immortals back up to ten, or make that Scarab Swarm bigger. If you can find 5 points somewhere in your list it could also be a 6th destroyer.

Unfortunately I don't think I have the time to build and paint a second one! I'll consider it for my next even in April, or even the escalation league I'm running

[dreadmad]

Update time!

 

Unfortunately it's super crunch time, as I've left getting my list ready to a pretty last minute state. Partially due to procrastinating, but also partially due to not having my list settled.

 

The current progress is here;

 

 

I have played 3 proper games since my last actual batrep, and I won all 3. I definitely don't have time to write up full reports, so a summery below.

 

2 were against my friend Jack's Daemon Engine list (2 Lord Discordants, a Lord of Skulls, Bloodslaughters of Khorne who auto advance 6" & various sundries to make the whole thing work, such as a +2" to move WL trait & Warptime. Yes, that means a 38-48" threat range on the T1 charge). Both consisted of backline deployment, screening for the near inevitable T1 charge and then simply making the correct decisions about which fish I wanted to shoot in the barrel. Although on paper the Destroyers should be the consistent players, I'm finding myself thoroughly whelmed by them. On the other hand, playing cagey is letting me get 2-3 shooting phases with the DDA's before they're getting truely pressured - which is definitely helping their reliability! I'm also getting away with playing cagey die to the format, with it being Maelstrom I don't have to push out of my castle for the first few rounds.

 

The third was against my friend Rob's Drukari (Venom Spam, 3 Talos, 2 Raiders, 2 planes, some blaster kabalites & some wytches). All my games Vs Rob tend to be very close, and this was no exception.

 

Knowing I was going second I deployed all my vehicles 35+" away from the Talos, between Quantum Shielding and Concealed Positions I was pretty certain I could weather the Disintegrator spam, but the Haywire worried me so I wanted to lower it's effectiveness as much as possible.

 

 

 

I failed the seize, and was very pleased to see that Rob played the Talos conservatively behind some LoS blocking Terrain - giving me more time to deal with them. Everything else moved forward to grab board control and screen out my Veil of Darkness. Pretty much his entire firepower went into the Tomb Blades killing all but 1. This became the theme for the game.

 

I stayed tucked tight, ressed a couple of Tomb Blades and opened fire on one of his planes with a DDA. He used Lightning Fast Reactions, but I still dropped him to 5 wounds and then finished him off with a high roll on Imotekh's Call the Storms.

 

 

Other than that he kept pressing forward, I kept nailing vehicles, the Tomb Blades survived (including 2 rounds of Combat with a Talos). I veiled an Immortal squad onto a back quarter objective to score 2 Maelstrom cards, which went well, causing Rob to dedicate a large chunk of his force to clearing them instead of dealing with my castle. Ended with a single point victory, but it was definitely good to get some experience with the Triarch Stalker!

 

Should be some more model updates in the next week.

[dreadmad]

Light at the end of the tunnel! It's about 1:15 in the morning here, but I've finally finished all the base paints.

 

 

It's definitely a simpler scheme, but I'm pleased with the overall aesthetic & how the weathering has turned out.

 

When I get up tomorrow I should have ~8 hours to learn how to use an airbrush and do the OSL for the weapons and Dynasty Code colouring. What could possibly go wrong?

Edited February 26, 2020 by dreadmad

[dreadmad]

Progress!

 

 

So my full Wednesday of prep was cut as I had to go into work. That said, progress is being made! I'm getting to grip with the airbrush, and while it's not as smooth as I'd like I'm reasonably pleased for a first attempt. I'll likely go back and retouch it all when I get the time thought.

 

Edited February 27, 2020 by dreadmad

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The weathering on the Necrons is well done.

[dreadmad]

Quick summary of day 1 before I head into day 2 at ToS.

 

 

I'll take more pictures today when I get chance.

 

So I'm currently 1-2 Vs Dark Angels, UM Successors (Stealthy/Master Artisans) and Drukari. The Marine FAQ is not in effect for this event, as it was released too close to the date to be fair to Marine players. While I'd love to not have to play against Marines in their current state, I definitely agree this is the right way to go about things.

 

Game 1 was Vs Dark Angels. I rolled to be the Attacker, he selected Long Edge deployment and I just sat back and melted him from afar. Nice guy, but not much of a close game. By the end he had 2 Aggressors sat in his back field, 1 Hellblaster and a Lieutenant left. Tesla TB's did some serious work here, and kept my Destroyers safe from an Azreal & Co. charge. Result: Win

 

Game 2 Ultramarines successor. He won to be attacker, I deployed conservatively & then managed to seize! Honestly this should have been the game in the bag, however my DDA's did a grand total of 1 damage to his Predator and my other shooting killed 1 unit of Suppressors. In return he popped 2 DDA's like it was nothing. If I had been able to deal with his Anti-Tank T1 the game would have been a walk, but instead it was a super close game that I lost by 2 points. Lovely guy though, definitely getting a favourite game vote! Result: Loss

 

Game 3: This was against my regular practice partner Rob, who we'd practiced lists against (including the batrep above). Games Vs Rob are always close, but he got 1st turn and fixed the mistakes of last game (mainly advancing the Talos into me T1 this game to put pressure on) and that was enough to swing it at the end. Result: Loss

Edited March 1, 2020 by dreadmad

[dreadmad]

The Necrontyr rise!

 

Results first, despite playing against 4 Marine lists I went 3-2 all told, and came 9th out of 82 when all the secondaries and soft scores were accounted for. I was also the top Necron player at the event, which sounds more impressive before I tell you there was only 1 other Necron Player and he brought a (beautifully painted mind) Gauss Pylon.

 

Game 4: Imperial fists here, although this wasn't a meta list. It wasn't the most challenging game, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. My opponent was running Terminators and Land Raiders, and I have to admit there's something truly terrifying about Tartaros Terminators disembarking and ending up ~11" from their transport before they even get to the charge phase. It wasn't a close game, but it was a nice start to the day to put me back onto an even footing. Hilariously his Doctrine hurt him more than it helped, with the extra damage on my vehicles meaning I Quantum Shielded more than my fair share of damage. Result: Win

 

Game 5: White Scars! Pretty disappointed that I faced 4 Marine lists instead of some variety, but that's probably to be expected as things are currently. Really great game here, however my opponent couldn't make a charge roll to save his life. It's ok though, my DDA's massively under performed in sympathy. It was interesting to see where my list was lacking, in that I didn't have much to threaten his 50+ 2W bodies (without putting myself in range of pain) - but thanks to his poor charge rolls and my conservative deployment I was able to squeeze out enough turns of firepower to whittle him down. Ended with a pretty decent 16-9 lead. Result: Win

 

MVP's: Veil of Darkness Lord (And by extension the Immortals that went with him). Twice I was able to position to snipe my opponent's Warlord with him (although in 1 game he did survive on a single wound through some heroic rolling, to be finished off later). He also allowed me to grab a couple of objectives I sorely needed.

 

LVP: The DDA's. Before this tournament I'd had rounds where the DDA's underperformed, but here I had 3 whole games where they didn't carry their weight at all. In the 2nd game vs UM I seized, and had I managed to make a dent in his anti-tank firepower I'd have had a much better chance at the game (as evidenced by my 3rd DDA surviving until T4 as he had no real anti-tank other than the short ranged Leviathan to shoot by his second turn). I'm hoping when PA arrives there's some way to buff their reliability (e.g. shoot twice/always fire max shots/some other strat or general way of buffing them).

 

Pictures! Here's my list as it stood this weekend. Since I only got to airbrushing on Thursday a lot of this is still a tad WiP, and I'll be working out how to finish it all off to my liking at some point in the future.

Edited March 1, 2020 by dreadmad

[Bjorn Firewalker]

They look as if they rose from an Egyptian desert minutes ago.

[dreadmad]

Given that I was scarambling to finish up some minor details in Bugman's Bar at 9am "Minutes ago" is a pretty apt description! Edited March 2, 2020 by dreadmad

[Kaldoth]

Glad to hear you had such a good showing! Congrats! Sounds like you had some pretty interesting matches. Well, you've only solidified my hatred for DDAs :lol: Any thoughts on changes to your list now that the tourney is over and marines will be playing differently in the future? Personally, I'm thinking Wraiths and Scarabs are going to have a lot more use with Marines going into that assault doctrine on turn 4. Screening might become a bit more important.

[dreadmad]

Glad to hear you had such a good showing! Congrats! Sounds like you had some pretty interesting matches. Well, you've only solidified my hatred for DDAs :lol: Any thoughts on changes to your list now that the tourney is over and marines will be playing differently in the future? Personally, I'm thinking Wraiths and Scarabs are going to have a lot more use with Marines going into that assault doctrine on turn 4. Screening might become a bit more important.

Thanks! Having some variety in my games over 4 marine players and a regular practice partner would have been better, but they were ok.

 

As for the list, I'm really not sure. From the 14 games I've played of Necrons now, my impression is that they are over-costed, too fragile and lack reliability in their damage against the things that matter (e.g. Destroyers are not great for killing 2W models, and everything else is only single damage). This means (in my opinion) they have to play a very cagey/denial based game early on to avoid losing your army by T2. Unfortunately that means the DDA's have to stay, they're the only thing Necrons have that can power up from range and really take the edge over many current meta lists.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying playing the army and will be sticking with them (although I may dabble with Marines now they're cut down to size) - almost entirely on the back of Tesla. There's something about killing half a squad on the charge that I think just won't ever get old...

 

I have a team tournament in April, and then one in May too - so I'll likely lean into the Tesla side of things and take the role of "Anti-Horde". I'm thinking 3 Doomscythes, 3 units of Tesla Tomb Blades and a Sautekh Immortal Battalion. Early days on that one though!