2 or 3 indomitus necrons sets

[BolterZorro]

I have 3 sets of indomitus necrons. Starting necron from scratch. 

 

At the moment, I assembled:

- full necron set 1

- most necron set 2 (not the plasmancer, nor the overlord)

- Zero of necron set 3. I'm waiting the codex to decide. I planed to have 60 warriors and 9 destroyers (and 3 reanimators (one for conversion doomstalker) and 3 skorpek lord, just because I love it) , that is why I have 3 sets. But I'm really doubtful now for this 3rd set.

 

So, I'm asking now the "pro" necron players. (knowing that we don't have yet the full scope of codex & updated datasheets)

- Do you think 60 warriors can be interesting in some kind of horde of necrons (3*20) with buffs and protocols (royal wardens, reanimators etc...)

- can the new CC destroyers be playable in units more than 3? 9 of them interesting (even in msu)?

- 3 set = 3 of each HQ, which ones are interesting in more than 1 or even up to 3? Royal warden?

 

[Marshal Loss]

I'm far from a pro-Necron player, but the answer to all 3 questions is exactly the same: wait for the codex. We don't know how RP is going to work or what other incentives the book may have for footsloggers and we also don't know if Skorpekh Destroyers are going to be playable in units of more than 3 (although the answer is: probably). Even the HQ question is a hard one because we may be impacted like SM (e.g. in the 9th book SM can only take one Captain and 1-2 Lieutenants per detachment, and there may be similar restrictions on Overlords/Wardens/Crypteks).

 

Traditionally "silver tide" armies have not been great, especially in 8th, because deleting them from the board is shockingly easy. Smaller games are an exception but with 3 Indomitus boxes you're not looking to play small games. I am also extremely skeptical that MSU Skorpekh units would be useful just because, again, they get deleted really easily (although they do hit like trucks).

 

Not a particularly helpful answer, but at least we don't have too long to wait!

[01RTB01]

October will have the answers, meanwhile crack on painting :)

 

What are you doing with your second and third sets of characters?

[BolterZorro]

For the 2nd set of characters, I've assembled the skorpek lord (luv'it!) and the royal warden. The others are still on sprue. I'll sell the overlord for sure because I like the othe plastic one ( with orb). Same for plasmancer to get the cryptek (on the little spyder). 

The third set is mostly for troops (warriors, scarabs and I think the skorpek destroyers (depending on the codex in october) ) . All the rest will be either on sale or in army (depend on codex).

[Ahzek451]

Echoing others, we will just have to wait. But......

I built 60 warriors. Planning on painting at least 40 to have ready. Not always the case, but usually newer models are treated halfway decent with rules. I am geussing warriors might be as good as immortals as far is overall worth goes. Either way, I'm preparing with 40 and having 20 on standby.

The only hq's im doubling up on is the plasmancer. I have no real justification, just a feeling. I don't think its necessary to have another lord yet. I'll be doing 1-2 wardens. 1 skorpekh lord. 2-3 re animators just because. While the rules are not amazing now, We still don't know what the book will book will offer. Maybe re animators won't be great by themselves, but they could be crucial in a future combo. I built all my scarabs because I like huge swarms and possibly needed for MSU. 


I have x3 of the indomitus necron sprues and thats just my 2 cents and plans for now. I like options, and there is no point in getting more than this because of rule of 3. If I ever want more, I can change my plans and put toghether another lord or whatnot. 

Just my 2 cents. 

[Debauchery101]

I have played with 30 to 40 warriors. They basically suck and the least amount of points i need to spend on them the better.

 

Plasmancer rules currently seem out of place or at least not in line with his cost

 

The big winners and best bets are going to be you Skorpekh destroyers and Senor Skorpekh. I habent used 3 of the lord but 2 aint a bad choice. The fact that he doesn't buff anything but Skorpekh destroyers kinda makes him overpriced but he's basically the best beatstick we have.

 

I would definitely build all 3 wardens you have. Hes got decent firepower, toughness and his buff is unique and very valuable. Especially since all fly units lost the fallback and shoot/charge.

 

You'll only want 1 Overlord

 

I'd build 15 scarabs. Only take them in 5s so they stay under the horde threshold. Theyre also not bad at 3 or 4 in a squad against non marine lists

 

The cryptothralls as body guards for a cryptek are a decent choice. T5 w2 3+ save

 

Edit:id convert your reanimators into doom stalkers. The reanimators suck so bad.

Edited August 11, 2020 by Debauchery101

[Bonzi]

I've built double plasmancers because I'm playing with the idea of a mortal wounds list of two plasmancers and two or three Ctans kicking out mortal wounds that need no strats or psychic tests to activate. Shield them behind triarch stalkers. I'm curious to see how it plays out.

[Debauchery101]

I've built double plasmancers because I'm playing with the idea of a mortal wounds list of two plasmancers and two or three Ctans kicking out mortal wounds that need no strats or psychic tests to activate. Shield them behind triarch stalkers. I'm curious to see how it plays out.

crypto thralls would be better because theyre cheaper and they have a unique skill that won't let you target the plasmancers with ranged weapons that has nothing to do with look out sir or normal targeting rules

[01RTB01]

They may be cheap but they'll be easily shot I'd have thought? Not too hard to kill

[Debauchery101]

They may be cheap but they'll be easily shot I'd have thought? Not too hard to kill

the cryptothralls ability is an aura that has a radius. If you can hide them or take cover they can be tricky to take out. Also youre either going to kite the Backfield with a long ranged Stalker or youre pushing up to use your heat ray. It doesn't play well as a body guard for 5 inch troops

 

Now one thing to keep in mind is that you can put characters in a ghost ark. An outflank disembark could be a nifty trick with decent rolling.

 

One thing I'm realizing is that there seems to be some game changers in rules like movement and transporting we haven't seen. Because right now necrons really dont work. Basically every army can run circles around them and have many options for forward deployment, deep strike and outflank that costs 0 cp

Edited August 13, 2020 by Debauchery101

[BolterZorro]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but cryptothralls  can :

- be with a cryptek, whatever he is i.e. Szeras, plasmancer, cryptek etc...

- be in unit of 2 at no slot cost  in your list

- be in several units of 2 for the same cryptek : maybe with this one, 3*2+cryptek (szeras?) will allow a (nice) trick in an agressive manœuvre?

Edited August 13, 2020 by BolterZorro

[Spinsanity]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but cryptothralls can :

- be with a cryptek, whatever he is i.e. Szeras, plasmancer, cryptek etc...

- be in unit of 2 at no slot cost in your list

- be in several units of 2 for the same cryptek : maybe with this one, 3*2+cryptek (szeras?) will allow a (nice) trick in an agressive manœuvre?

You are right on the first two bullet points, but not the third. Or rather, you can have multiple units following a single Cryptek, but you can only buy one unit per Cryptek in your army. So if you have Szeras and a Plasmancer in your force you could have two units and have both protecting Szeras, but no more than two total units...

[NTaW]

You could just take Cryptothralls as Elites choices if you wanted more units of them, no restriction there. Their bodyguard ability will still function the same you'll just use some slots in your FoC.

 

As for the OP I've played Warriors as my core since 5th edition and it's always been decent. In 8th I typically played 3x 10 Warrior squads but would occasionally beef it up to 20 (I have 80 total, jeeze 100 with the Indomitus models :sweat:) but you really need to boost your Reanimation Protocol rolls and protect against Leadership tests. Previously I accomplished this with chronometron equipped Crypteks and a warlord with the ignore Ld trait (Immortal Pride) but would have loved to add some Ghost Arks to the party. Moving forward I'll still be using Warriors as my core but I'm unsure about how I will buff them. Having a Lord and Triarch Stalker around to help with their shooting effectiveness is also handy if you have the models, points, and interest.

 

Skorpekh I'd absolutely play two units of, or a larger size unit if that becomes possible with the Codex.

 

Three of the same HQ is a hard sell for me. At most I'd take two of the one whose abilities you find most applicable and a one-off third of another choice. I guess given the situation the Royal Warden would probably be your best bet though.

 

I should add that I'm no pro, just an enthusiastic Necron player with a bit of experience outside of tournaments.

Edited August 13, 2020 by NTaW

[Bonzi]

 

I've built double plasmancers because I'm playing with the idea of a mortal wounds list of two plasmancers and two or three Ctans kicking out mortal wounds that need no strats or psychic tests to activate. Shield them behind triarch stalkers. I'm curious to see how it plays out.

crypto thralls would be better because theyre cheaper and they have a unique skill that won't let you target the plasmancers with ranged weapons that has nothing to do with look out sir or normal targeting rules

Cryptothralls are good but they will drop fast to even moderate shooting. I don't think they can be your primary line of character defense.

 

Stalkers, Ghost Arks, Anni Barges and Doomsday Cannons have worked out fantastically as body guard units so far. They are durable vs normal anti tank and if you are forced to use 1 and 2 damage guns to kill them, those guns are not then being fired at my weaker infantry and characters so it's a win win. The plasmancers abilities and gun work at 18" and a lot of the Ctan powers work at 24", the heat ray works at 24". It's a good pair up.

[Spinsanity]

You could just take Cryptothralls as Elites choices if you wanted more units of them, no restriction there. Their bodyguard ability will still function the same you'll just use some slots in your FoC.

The wording on Bound Creation seems to imply otherwise, unless maybe your army isn’t Battle-forged?

 

“In a Battle-forged army, you can include one Cryptothralls init in a Detachment for each Cryptek unit in that Detachment” is pretty clear cut to me...

Edited August 13, 2020 by Spinsanity

[NTaW]

Wouldn't "You can" mean it's an option? You can choose to have them as a non-FoC slot in those circumstances otherwise they count as an Elites choice.

 

Edit: Rephrased as a question.

Edited August 13, 2020 by NTaW

[Spinsanity]

Wouldn't "You can" mean it's an option? You can choose to have them as a non-FoC slot in those circumstances otherwise they count as an Elites choice.

 

Edit: Rephrased as a question.

The wording doesn’t seem to be conditional; it’s not written as “you can include one per cryptek that doesn’t use a force org slot”, but rather “you can include one per cryptek (oh and btw, cryptothrall units don’t use a slot)”

[Debauchery101]

 

 

I've built double plasmancers because I'm playing with the idea of a mortal wounds list of two plasmancers and two or three Ctans kicking out mortal wounds that need no strats or psychic tests to activate. Shield them behind triarch stalkers. I'm curious to see how it plays out.

crypto thralls would be better because theyre cheaper and they have a unique skill that won't let you target the plasmancers with ranged weapons that has nothing to do with look out sir or normal targeting rules

Cryptothralls are good but they will drop fast to even moderate shooting. I don't think they can be your primary line of character defense.

 

Stalkers, Ghost Arks, Anni Barges and Doomsday Cannons have worked out fantastically as body guard units so far. They are durable vs normal anti tank and if you are forced to use 1 and 2 damage guns to kill them, those guns are not then being fired at my weaker infantry and characters so it's a win win. The plasmancers abilities and gun work at 18" and a lot of the Ctan powers work at 24", the heat ray works at 24". It's a good pair up.

well from a marine players pov..if i wanted it dead I most likely have eliminators and a phobos Cpt to bypass them. But honestly plasmancers are really low priority unless you get really close. Most likely they're dead before getting their points worth of damage. Of all the other 80 point stuff out there...more wardens I think are better Edited August 14, 2020 by Debauchery101

[Bonzi]

 

 

 

I've built double plasmancers because I'm playing with the idea of a mortal wounds list of two plasmancers and two or three Ctans kicking out mortal wounds that need no strats or psychic tests to activate. Shield them behind triarch stalkers. I'm curious to see how it plays out.

crypto thralls would be better because theyre cheaper and they have a unique skill that won't let you target the plasmancers with ranged weapons that has nothing to do with look out sir or normal targeting rules

Cryptothralls are good but they will drop fast to even moderate shooting. I don't think they can be your primary line of character defense.

 

Stalkers, Ghost Arks, Anni Barges and Doomsday Cannons have worked out fantastically as body guard units so far. They are durable vs normal anti tank and if you are forced to use 1 and 2 damage guns to kill them, those guns are not then being fired at my weaker infantry and characters so it's a win win. The plasmancers abilities and gun work at 18" and a lot of the Ctan powers work at 24", the heat ray works at 24". It's a good pair up.

well from a marine players pov..if i wanted it dead I most likely have eliminators and a phobos Cpt to bypass them. But honestly plasmancers are really low priority unless you get really close. Most likely they're dead before getting their points worth of damage. Of all the other 80 point stuff out there...more wardens I think are better

Well, I play Marines, Guard, and Necrons and I have a philosophy on this. If you don't take units because your opponent might be able to kill them, you're going down a rabbit hole that has no end. I do agree that Plasmancers are very frail and their threat level is medium low, but if my goal is to try a mortal wounds style list built around Ctan a). they are the only HQ we have that produces mortal wounds and b). Royal Wardens don't add much to that equation. List context matters in determining which units are the better 'take'.

 

Don't get me wrong, Wardens are one of the best new things Necrons got. Their utility is seriously underappreciated right now given their fallback, shoot, and charge ability applies to Dynasty keyword which means you can use them on things like Doomsday Arks tagged in combat. They also are not much more durable than a Cryptek so they are gonna get removed quickly if your opponent has the means.

 

The best thing I've noted about the new 9th edition scoring rules and secondaries is the increased focus it puts on objectives and scoring points. Unless your opponent selects character killing as a secondary my opponents have put far less emphasis in eliminating buff characters than they would have in 8th. With mobility and board control being key, buff characters are less the lynchpin units that they once were and seem to get a greater lease on life as armies pursue capturing points. I've also seen a lot less extreme eliminator spam than I saw in 8th which is a good thing and a byproduct of castles and castle characters being far less prominent.