So, with the lore over and done with we are onto the tabletop gaming segment again. This first half will delve into the essential skeleton of the army, while the next will cover the likes of strategems and secondary elements. If you're wondering why this took so long, keep in mind that this is a major rules change for an army to a new system, and the Necrons have an obscene number of characters. Really, some of the Space Marines armies can be just as bad, but these ones take multiple games each to fully get to grips with their quirks.
To give you a short analysis from the start - It's evident that the Necrons have been made with more of a defensive angle in mind. It's not some titanic transformation or even an outright alteration over their past selves, but a multitude of ideas, designs and stats seem to back their capacity to take damage over dishing in back en mass. They can certainly hurt an enemy, and hit them hard, but even in comparison to previous editions they seem to lack the speed of certain units and their capacity for firepower is focused on a handful of high damage units. The sort which are closer somewhat to those of the Craftworld Eldar in nature, thanks to how they fulfill one single job and do it exceptionally well, but are something of a one-trick pony.
The nature of their strengths marks the Necrons as a stark contrast to most other forces in the game. Most tactics will rely on an army's capacity to withstand substantial damage and keep going over wiping out whole units, while their strongest elements only have limited avenues of attack. That's the TL:DR version of this review at any rate, but you're probably here for more than just this. So, let's get on with the show.
Special Rules
Many of the old favourites show up yet again here, and if you know them from previous editions you will almost certainly recognise them here. You can imagine just what they are, but there have been a few minor alterations
Reanimation Protocols: Personally, I think it's still a damn shame they changed "We'll be back!" to this name, but there we go. In this version of the rule you have a 5+ to roll for each downed model, to bring them back and send them into battle again. If the model had more than one, then it returns with its full complement. This means the likes of the Lychguard aren't going to go down without having a chance of getting their points back. These units can only emerge 1" away from enemy combatants while remaining within squad coherency of the unit they killed.
Failing a roll to bring a unit back doesn't mean that you can't stop and try again later on, so only the outright destruction of a squad will take them down. You're rarely going to have a unit recover from a single model within a game, especially as LD10 only remains immune to morale tests until you're down to a fraction of the unit's strength. However, this does mean that you can bring one back to fighting status with an especially lucky roll.
Overall, it's a decent take on the rule. Simple, direct and with a few obvious flaws but some immense benefits which sticks to the thing the Necron Dyansties are most infamous for: The fact they simply won't stay down.
Living Metal: This is the second half of their bionic state, and another point which emphasises their capacity to withstand immense damage. In effect, any unit with this rule attached recovers one wound per turn as standard. This can be enhanced and extended through a number of other means, but it means that your more expensive options will not die to a few unlucky rolls at the start. Plus it helps that most of their vehicles come with this.
My Will Be Done: A special rule which is widespread throughout the army's HQ options, this permits any infantry unit within 6" to gain +1 on Advances and Charges. Furthermore, there is a +1 to hit in shooting and melee. It's your common or garden inspiring presence sort of buff, and you'd have an easier time counting which armies lack this over those that retain it. At 6" its effects are limited, so you will usually only be able to transfer this effect onto two squads at the most in the vast majority of situations. Unless you want to blob up to make your Necrons a prime target for artillery, anyway.
Quantum Shielding: This is another special rule widespread across a general category, this time their vehicles. This counts for everything save their flyers, and gives these units an incredible level of toughness. In effect, if you can roll under the damage of a successful wound on a D6 then you can ignore it. Combined with Living Metal this means that the vehicles can usually tank most Strength 10 AP 1 attacks, or even the likes of the venerable lascannon. However, they are still vulnerable to attack spams. More than a few Space Marines players have already taken to having Sternguard drop in outfitted with Plasma guns to spam shots into these things. It tends to quickly bring them down unless you have an effective counter at the ready.
Their Number is Legion, Their Name is Death: This is Objective Secured under a new name. This seems to be a running trend throughout this Edition as, despite its strengths, books have this habit of taking the same basic ideas and rebranding them for other armies. This has been about since Second Edition in some form or another, but it has been becoming much more widespread of late.
Units
This is going to be a bit shorter than our last look at a few armies. The Custodes and Khanite remnants of Age of Sigmar were both minor armies which had been newly established. By comparison, the Necrons are a vast force which retains a multitude of verying unit designations and types. We will be going into each of them in turn, but some might simply say "Remember last codex? It's the same thing again, just with some of the powergaming removed."
HQ
You can tell this was an army heavily reworked in the Fifth Edition, can't you. Really, the sheer volume of special characters alone singles this out as that.
Overlord: Your generic big boss character, by which I mean the powerful head of an army who isn't among the vast multitude of named choices present here. This said, he has undergone something of a downgrade from his past self, as you have fewer weapons options to pick out and work with and only one non-damaged related upgrade. Outfitted with the Staff of Light as standard, he can now pick up the Voidblade, Voidscythe, Warscythe or a Hyperphase Sword in their place and a Resurrection Orb if you
Honestly, the Overlord is just slightly too expensive to justify fielding. As you can take Anrakyr for just a few more points, and it has limited benefits over the much cheaper Lord, the Overlord ends up being an odd third wheel.
Lord: This will be your go-to option for most smaller scale armies for one big reason: He's cheap and yet effective. For 119 points you can fully kit him out with a Resurrection Orb and Warscythe, making him an effective means of bolstering troops while lopping off heads. You're mostly going to want him for the Resurrection Orb more than anything else, but he can hold his own in most fights. It's just a shame he wasn't granted a more diverse number of items and wargear as standard options.
Cryptek: The Cryptek is an odd one to be sure, as he fits into a bizzare role of a Farseer but with even more defensive options than normal. That and none of the psychic defenses. In effect, you keep him close to any unit which serves as your anvil and hold him there. He can grant a 5+ Invulnerable save to nearby forces while also adding an additional point to Resurrection Protocal rolls. This means that you can have a mob of Warriors standing and withstanding continual fire without going down, but he's not the sort of person you will want to get into a close-range fight. That said, 3" is a bit too short of a distance to extend these abilities to other forces.
Admittedly, the Canoptek Cloak rule does mean that he can sacrifice his standard Invulnerable buff to keep up with faster moving units. As such, he can be used to make your standard APCs and Destroyer squadrons that much more durable when racing toward an enemy target. It also means he switches gears from mechanical Farseer to Techmarinetron, as he can buff Living Metal rolls. A good choice for most armies if you're not after a hard-hitting combat monster of a character. For that, you need to just look at the next guy.
Destroyer Lord: The Destroyer Lords are usually the best option for most people in past games. You lost little in the way of firepower, gained a great deal of speed and for just a few more points you could cause all sorts of hell with flanking attacks. The Destroyer Lord of this Edition is not quite the same, as his benefits now only buff other Destroyer variants, but his usual additional power and durability remains present with +1 wounds and attacks. The massive downside to him now is that his Resurrection Orb is a one use item, meaning that you will typically want to go with a Lord for such options. Overall, he's a good offensive option, but you are limiting your army's greatest strength to offer them a bit more in the way of offensive capabilities.
Catacomb Command Barge: Yep, we have vehicles in here. If you're expecting me to rail against this, then you're going to be sorely disappointed as this is quite a nicely well-rounded unit. The vehicle is definitely a bizarre one, as it can charge flyers and engage them in close-combat via Warscythe, and there's the 12" version of My Will Be Done which makes it incredibly useful due to its overall speed. The main obvious issue is the fact that it's an obvious bullet magnet and can be more easily picked out by enemy guns. This isn't going to change in most lists, even those which relies on distraction tactics to enhance its chances of survival. With that being said, it has a Quantum Shielding and a Gauss or Tesla cannon as standard, but these do not degrade with continual damace. So, it can afford to withstand a fair amount of firepower despite this flaw.
Imotekh the Stormlord: Here we are onto the characters. The Necrons have a lot of them, which can can put in part down to their re-write during the Fifth Edition AKA character central. Despite the major gameplay shift of this edition, most have retained their same general role and strengths. In the case of the Stormlord here, he gives +1 re-rolls to nearby units of Flayed Ones now and comes with both a buffed Staff of Light and Phylactery.
His special rule, the Lord of the Storm, now has a 48" range and can pick out any non-character target from within that range. This is going to be his main benefit, as you are inflicting D6 Mortal Wounds onto that target with a slim chance to bounce it into other enemy forces within 6" (if you are lucky enough to roll a 6). He's effectively one gigantic cannon, but he's useful in ripping tanks to bits and whittling down elite brick-shit-house units. In effect, he's basically a hammer in this regard. He's mostly good at one job, but when he's used he does it exceptionally well.
Nemesor Zahndrekh: Zahndrekh is one half of the two-man act with Vargard Obyron, and is halfway between Grand Admiral Thrawn and Old Man Henderson. He's completely cracked in the mind, but can pull off some incredibly effective tactics even while trapped in hallucinations of the past. His rules reflect this well, as he comes with multiple buffs for his units, along with one of the single best debuffs a Games Workshop license has seen since Malekith was trolling fools with his sword.
Counter Tactics means that you can switch off all "aura" abilities on a character if they are within 12", allowing you to rob them of a major benefit. Equally, Transient Madness allows him to hand out a buff of +1 attack, +1 BS, or the ability to reroll charges at random while using My Will Be Done as well. He's certainly a bit unwieldy as with the previous example, but you can work him into a surprising number of lists.
Vargard Obyron: This is Zahndrekh's much more sane counterpart and the combat-focused man among them. With a +2 save he can do his job as a bodyguard, taking blows from Zahndrekh and using his power of Cleaving Counterblow to launch all of his melee attacks even when he is killed at close range. Ghostwalk Mantle also means that he can jump across the board with a full unit of infantry if they are within "6 to where Zahndrekh is standing. This is easily his best use, as it means you can suddenly reinforce a position with extra troops.
Orikan the Diviner: The Diviner here is what you would expect as a buffed Cryptek, and he can use the same abilities to the same basic effect. More or less all of his abilities are at a longer range, with his rule of The Stars Are Right allowing him to add extra stats bonuses for himself among other things. Of all the characters, he's the main one worth considering due to his relatively low cost in comparison to the standard Cryptek.
Anrakyr the Traveller: As the Traveller is best known for ripping people to bits, you can expect him to be doing much of the same again here. For starters, while he has lost his Furious Charge ability he is now Strength 6 with a Strength 8 Warscythe as well. He can also buff all nearby Necrons units with an extra attack, so long as they are general infantry options.As his My Will Be Done ability is not limited to a single Dynasty, this makes him an excellent choice when teaming up with other players or combining together various factions. Oh, and best yet Mind in the Machine is shot from his position due to the wording. Rather than the other armies, he still uses the wielders down BS, but it means you can pick up a Meltagun from a unit and then fire it from his base.
Illuminor Szeras: The Illuminator is easily one of the best army support options in this army now, thanks to how his special rule has been buffed. For one thing, now he can buff one Warriors or Immortals unit per turn, albeit with the issue of a 1" limited range. So, you're going to want to keep him very close to certain mobs whenever possible. While he lacks the 5+ Invulnerable save, he has more methods of buffing allied stats lines and pushing squads into inflicting more damage. He's good, but definitely more than a little fragile as a result.
Trazyn the Infinite: The famed skull-faced troll of a collector is back once again. Trazyn retains his ability to utilise Surrogate Hosts to take control of other bodies upon his death on the roll of a 2+, with an additional D3 roll to see how many wounds he emerges with. He can also inflict D3 Mortal Wounds on a target thanks to his Empathic Obliterator, and can perform his usual thieving acts. He's not the most beneficial character on here, but his cheap cost and ability to quickly ruin an enemy army's big gun is a welcome benefit.
Troops
Necron Warriors: So, sadly the Necrons are still largely limited to a standard Troops choice and a slightly more buffed Troops choice. The Warriors here can show up in 20 man mobs, and can be outfitted with Gauss weapons which will do significant damage to more heavily armoured opponents. While costly, the larger numbers are recommended as usual, thanks to the fact that they are both the best unit to draw fire from enemy squads and will stand their ground while under constant assault. These are the backbone of your army, but the problem is that they're something of a one-use creation. You can easily find yourself outmaneuvered and in close combat they serve as more of a speed bump than anything else. A little more variety on the Troops front would have been nice, but it seems that the Warriors are there to die while the Elites do their job.
Immortals: These guys are the somewhat more glamorous version of Warriors and have a little more variety to them. Unlike their counterparts, they can be outfitted with Tesla or Gauss weaponry, but both focus on using the unit in a ranged capacity over melee. They definitely benefit best while being buffed from an HQ choice, but they are more than durable enough to withstand most immediate attacks. This Edition does offer benefits and detriments to both options as Teslas are better with more lightly armoured units of limited numbers, while Gauss are your standard vaporize everything option.
Ghost Ark: The Necron alternative to the Rhino serves as more of a support unit in this Edition, as they can offer a surprising amount of basic fire to supplement squads. Each can offer the same level of firepower as a 10 man squad of Warriors and can also offer repair benefits to nearby squads. Warriors within 3" of the transport or while embarked can make a second Reanimation Protocals roll to bring your units back up to full strength. This makes them a vital asset if you want to withdraw quickly and re-deploy elsewhere. Keep in mind that, with all their benefits, they are still fragile however. The Quantum Shielding helps against singular attacks, but spamming will quickly overwhelm it, while against melee attacks your best option really is to run.
Elites
Lychguard: So, the Lychguard are a bit of an odd one, as they have undergone a few notable changes but still fulfill the same role. For one thing, they're your easiest option to get cheap Warscythes to hack enemies to bits with and they can also serve as true bodyguards now. When they are within 2" of a character, they can take a Mortal Wound in the place of a character on the roll of a 2+. This might make them sounds like more expensive alternatives to Gun Drones, but the fact they can keep getting back up is a major bonus. As is the fact that they can do more than stall the opposition in close combat.
Their main problem is that, while they have a good stats line with 2 Wounds and 2 Attacks, they are limited by a 5" move distance. As such, you're going to want to eject them out of a Monolith and engage in melee at the earliest opportunity.
Deathmarks: So, we jump from the melee masters to the snipers now. Besides the fact that they can pick out and murder characters, their shots turn into a Mortal Wound on the roll of a 6+. Their added benefit of being able to Deep Strike means that they can inflict some serious damage early on and arrive as a very nasty surprise to an enemy player. Top this off with their capacity to Rapid Fire and, while they lack durability and melee prowess, most armies should consider taking one squad of these.
Flayed Ones: The flesh garbed maniacs have taken one step back and two steps forward. While they suffer from lacking one attack from the last Edition, they are much cheaper, and their +1 to nearby enemy Morale tests means that they are a more viable option with most assault tactics. They have not quite escaped their glass cannon status, but their ability to Deep Strike and re-roll failed wounds means that they will deal an immense amount of damage. The fact they still have 3 attacks per model means that they can still afford to take a fair few losses as well.
Triarch Praetorians: The jump pack brigade returns, turning in their scythes for Rods of Covenant or a Voidblades and a Particle Casters. They retain most of the strengths of the Lychguard but have the benefit of flight and a broader variety of weapons. The major downside is the fact they cannot access Dynasty related abilities without the benefit of a Special Character.
Triarch Stalker: The big walker is surprisingly beneficial as a substitute markerlight, as they add +1 to every shot made by a unit they fired on. This only counts for that turn, and it's their main benefit as their Heat Ray is a waste of points while Particle Shredder is a good counter to hordes but you have most units which can already offer that benefit. Furthermore, the Twin Heavy Gauss Cannon limits its maneuverability, which can be a problem as it's still surprisingly fragile. The Stalker is useful and will usually make its points back if played properly, but it can fall to bits with a few too many concentrated strikes.
Nightbringer Shard: Yep, here we are onto the C'Tan. These guys lack the strength of their older lore versions, but on the tabletop they are... Still pretty bad for their cost actually. They have a 4+ Invulnerable save, which doesn't offer them much in the way of durability for their costs and it still suffers from a surprisingly weak Strength and Toughness. The main benefits from this edition stem from the fact they have the Character designation now, meaning it's harder for enemy squads to blow them apart at range. Most people will use these as suicide bombers, as they can D3 mortal wounds on a 4+ to everything within 3" when they die thanks to the rule Reality Unravels.
Oh, he does count as Strength 7 when attacking vehicles now, which is and isn't helpful. On the one hand, yes this causes serious damage. On the other, this is a Necrons army. Most units can hurt vehicles by sheer volume of fire with decent anti-armour guns.
Deceiver Shard: So this one is mostly the same as the Nightbringer but it swaps out its melee advantages for something called Grand Illusion. It allows the player to re-deploy the Shard and up to D3 units anywhere on the board so long as they're outside of 12" from enemy forces, right before the first turn begins. The downside is that they cannot charge, but the upside is that this can cause all sorts of problems for your enemy. out of the two, the Deciever is by far the more useful shard.
Fast Attack
Canoptek Wraiths: The Wraiths here are fast and extremely tough, but you can't simply throw them away as disposable fodder anymore. This is largely due to a substantial price hike in terms of points, and while they have a 3+ Invulnerable save and multiple wounds, you can expect them to die when outnumbered. Admittedly, their major draw is the fact that they can retreat and attack without the usual disadvantages, such as the ability to phase through units and walls. Just don't expect them to do much against horde forces. Their weapons are useful for shredding the likes of Terminators or Mega Nobs, but they are singularly useful against those targets.
Canoptek Scarabs: These are the opposite counterpart to the Wraiths, as they can rip hordes to bits but suffer against more expensive foes. Well, most of the time. Their nature means that they have some benefit in slowing down Terminators and sometimes overwhelming them thanks to a sheer volume of attacks. Their ability to fly combined with a 10" movement means that they are surprisingly speedy and serve as a good counter to bog down certain opposing squads. They are relatively fragile, however, and they will die quickly in the face of constant attacks. Often they are best deployed in combination with stronger forces as a meat shield when not thinning out mobs.
Tomb Blades: These guys are double Immortals in almost every sense, with twice the wounds, guns and a +1 Toughness stat even if they don't hit quite so often at range. While they only have a 4+ save, their 14" movement means that they are useful in performing flanking attacks and spamming massed shots against massed targets. More often than not you can use these in combination with another Fast Attack option to thin enemy numbers and then finish them off. The addition of Nebuloscopes means you can ignore enemy cover, which is a definite plus if you're looking to dislodge an especially persistent foe.
Destroyers: Here we are with the classics then, as the Destroyers were typically a favourite choice for past armies in throwing them against opposing forces. It's not hard to see why, as they are excellent butchers of anything with a decent Toughness and armour value. Even with their extra firepower, they're not quite powerful enough to serve as vehicle killers or even transport poppers, but they make up for this with decent speed and durability. The issue is how many you take, as they are expensive per model and can be rapidly brought down with a few too many strikes. They can be used well, but you need to seriously consider how best to utilise them and where to deploy them. There are better options though.
Heavy Support
Heavy Destroyers: The Heavy Destroyers here are the opposite of the Destroyers, as they can blow open most medium range vehicles without too much difficulty. A 3+ hit with the ability to re-roll ones makes them invaluable against more transport heavy armies as well, and their maneuverability means that they can counter most inbound targets. This is further assisted by their capacity to move and shoot, and a 36" range is nothing to sneeze at either. Just keep in mind that they can die very easily, so you will want to take them in trios and hide them behind cover whenever possible.
Canoptek Spyders: So, we covered the small bugs, now it's time for the guardians. They are mostly used as Scarab factories, pumping out more and more small mobs to deal with larger numbers of enemy units while drawing fire away from them. They can take a fair number of attacks, but their own firepower leaves something to be desired. If you need to take them in an army, make sure you have plenty of vehicles for them to use their construction claws on, to fix up D3 wounds per turn on.
Monolith: For a long time these things were utter nightmares which overshadowed even the Land Raiders. Sadly it seems that golden age has passed, as they are vastly overpriced for their capabilities these days. At 380 points you have far, far better option to take for those points and their Deep Strike capacity usually only serves as a minor distraction. There are some strategems which can work well in combination with this lot, but on their own you should skip this nine times out of ten. Well, unless you want to have them quickly throw out a melee focused band of Necrons.
Annihilation Barge: This one is most definitely a glass cannon by any standard, as its eight wounds can be quickly shredded with the right kind of gun line. Its Strength 7 main gun is a good way of quickly cutting through most infantry choices which could threaten your mob units. It can serve as a severe irritation to most armies, and its capacity to quickly re-deploy and withdraw means that it can serve as a somewhat mobile artillery piece to cause the enemy problems. It's good, but like so many things it has been built primarily with one type of enemy in mind.
Doomsday Ark: The Doomsday Ark is the best of the bunch here, but it's yet again an irritatingly fragile vehicle in many regards. The main Doomsday Cannon is best used while the vehicle remains static, which boosts its overall capabilities and stats. This is definitely beneficial to the vehicle thanks to its extreme range, and the fact it can easily be reduced to a burning wreck if you fail to pass a few saves. In effect, keep this one well hidden at the back of your army, possibly with a Spyder close by.
Transcendent C'Tan: With the smaller shards done, now we have the big one. The Transcendent C'Tan has undergone a few major rules changes since last time. While it still benefits from the basic stats line of a Shard, it now has a multitude of new powers, abilities and special rules to alter how you use them. Also D6 damage on their melee attacks, which is a step forward and a step back in terms of its capabilities. However, you can now have Fractured Personality as a rule to work with. This one means that they have two powers to choose (or roll, anyway) from and can use one at a time from the following list:
Cosmic Tyrant: The C'tan can cast two Powers of the C'tan at once.
Immune to Natural Law: Gain +1 to saving throws, giving it a 4+ invulnerable save.
Sentient Necrodermis: Heal D3 wounds at the start of each turn.
Transdimensional Displacement: Add 12" to this model's movement when advancing rather than rolling.
Entropic Touch: Re-roll all failed wounds in the Fight phase.
Writhing Worldscape: Enemy units within 12" do not gain save bonuses from cover.
Overall, I can certainly appreciate the fact that the designers tried to make this model more distinct. That said, it is still an awkward one to use, and all too often tactics or uses of this model rely on you getting exactly the right ability with each roll. It's the same sin too many older Warlord lists committed. It's not bad, but not great either overall.
Aircraft
Night Scythe: The first of the airborne death croissants is largely what you would expect from last time. It offers the same portal as the Monolith and is much cheaper by far, and has more maneuverability thanks to flight. However, it does lack the benefit of Quantum Shielding, and it's as fragile as you would expect from any small flyer. Its weapons have been reduced to Strength 7, however so you will be limited in just what you can blow up and where. It's good, but it requires a steady hand and careful thought on how to use it.
Doom Scythe: This one is effectively a lower grade Doomsday Ark, with the same weapons but a much more limited capacity to hit its targets. It can survive a bit more thanks to its airborne nature, assuming it dodges it, but it ultimately falls into an odd area where it doesn't quite accomplish anything. Anything it tries its hand at, something else does it much better. It's not exactly useless, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a reason to take it outside of Strategems.
Lords of War
Tesseract Vault: Yeah, believe it or not, but the C'tan prison counts as more of a threat than the actual C'tan themselves these days. Admittedly, it's not hard to see why. With a Transcendent C'Tan locked up inside it, the Vault constantly spews out Mortal Wounds with its barrages, and it can use the first three rules of the Transcendent C'tan's buffs. It can also use four per turn as well, just to make things truly nasty. The main downside is that, while it has 28 wounds, it cannot hide behind units as the C'tan can now and it lacks melee capabilities. Also, the second it shows up, you just know every gun on your enemy's side will turn its way. This makes it something of a pricy distraction, but a surprisingly effective one in a few ways. It takes a fair bit to kill, it will deal damage back, and when it does finally fall, it ejects a C'Tan in the enemy's face. There are better Lords of War, but it's hardly the worst vehicle to ever cost so many points.
Obelisk: This is an alternative to the Vault, as it shares a number of characteristics but with a few tweaks here and there. For one thing it has a higher Toughness of 8 and is capable of flying, along with the sheer volume of firepower it can pump out. So, anything looking its way will end up facing a full twenty hits (yes, hits, not shots) at Strength 7, and it can Deep Strike in. The downside is that it is Titanic, so macro weapons will have a field day with this thing.
The Verdict:
It's alright. There are some obvious flaws here and there, and once again it's a codex which is playing it safe with the new rules changes. With that said, there's really no major sin committed by the book, and there is still a push to experiment with a few previous ideas. When things work they work well, when they don't it's more a case of them being a third wheel. Even then, there are a few bonus qualities which do help them in a few ways, such as the strategems. Necron players will definitely need to spend much more time relying on more carefully constructed armies over sheer firepower in this Edition, but the core rules are okay.
So, that's this bit done. Next time we will be finally finishing off this damn thing with everything else in the book.
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