2000pts experimental list vs Necrons

I threw down against Necrons, and as only my third game of eighth (and second with Drukhari) I took the chance to experiment with new units and see what works. So I took a fairly silly list.

My main bulk was 2x 6 Reavers, two of whom had Grav Talons, and 3x 3 Reavers, one Blaster in each.
This was joined by 2x 10 Warriors with a Cannon, on a Raider, a Ravager, 5 Incubi in a Venom and an empty Venom (Transports being one per other unit, so I took one for the Reavers.....).
All this, led by both an Avatar of Khaine AND the Yncarne.

My opponent played a bit of filth that is Necrons, and a foot-slogging army too. Three large units of Warriors, all with Crypteks nearby, and two Overlords. Also two Destroyer units, each with heavy Destroyers within them.
And one unit of rubbish little Scarabs.

My main take away is how filthy Necrons are now, and its mostly down to Reanimation Protocols. As the rules are written and it seems people are playing, Reanimation Protocols is a 5+ to bring a model back, regardless of when it died (Cryteks making it 4+). So a Necron who died in turn one can still return in turn 5 if you make the roll.
One of the Destroyer units was eight strong, reasonably tough, and sitting in cover, with an Overlord and a Crytek. I reduced them to two models TWICE with a lot of fire and combat, but BOTH times the ENTIRE unit returned and was at full strength at the end of the game. This was not pleasing.
I was able to take down all of the Warriors, and several characters, but that didn't help there still being two Destroyer unit running around and refusing to die.

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I also encountered an annoyance in rules regarding terrain.
The first was the Avatar's inability to charge Destroyers in raised terrain because its a "Monster". Despite it being quite tall, it couldn't charge a unit which was literally at chest height for it. Because non-Infantry have to stay on the bottom floor.
Second was the interesting idea that if the Destroyers are deployed on the terrain at the very edge, NOTHING can actually charge them, because in ordewr to get into combat, you have to be within 1". If not model can physically FIT within 1", you can't charge them.
Tough unit, very good save, constantly coming back with characters buffing, which can not be physically charged by ANYTHING.
Ugh.

So the game started out interesdting enough with not ,much being within Necron range, so I had at least a chance to move in close.
A Venom died fairly quickly, but it'd already had a move, so all that did was give me a chance to get the Yncarne on the table, and what I learned from this game is that I really like the Yncarne. Granted its usefulness was limited because I was NOT running this as an Ynnari list - I prefer Power From Pain - but what it could do was bounce around and annoy the hell out of an opponent with its constant "Oh, something died? I'll Soulburst a Psychic Power which does 1/d3/d6 Mortal Wounds then....." That was quite nice. Being able to not fight with it, kill something else nearby, and use that as a way to Charge again into nearby lurking characters works very nicely too.
The Avatar as well did nicely for himself, slicing through several Necron Warriors (who kept coming back) before FINALLY getting stuck into a Destroyer squad and cutting them in half by himself.
But that left the rest of the squad no longer engaged in combat.
And then the entire unit came back.
And shot him.
A lot.

The Reavers actually did reasonably for themselves, however I think I tooled them ready for something other than large units of Warriors, which is what they end up taking on. They are more survivable than before, and can still get a decent amount of shooting in (especially considering they also have Pistols now).
Their speed is quite nice and effective, securing me a turn one charge in this game. And axctually having more than one attack or wound makes them a tad more viable in combat as well.

Everything else played pretty much as expected.
The Ravager didn't have any vehicles to turn itself on, so just settled with constantly trying to shift Destroyers (but not doing great at it considering their position).
Venoms weren't great for shooting, but did manage to get the Incubi up into combat, who themselves helped in a massive way. They did suffer when they come under massed attacks in return, but when charging or supporting something big like an Avatar (maybe a Talos?) they work wonders. I would call them Infantry killers though. Not for taking on bigger units.


I would say Reanimation is the MAJOR strength of Necrons, more so than it ever was before.
Their firepower was.....underwhelming, if I'm honest, but the fact thats its so hard to keep them down is a massive annoyance.
I'd say, wherever possible, take down the characters. Cryteks should be a priority target wherever possible, just to reduce the ability to Reanimate a little. Getting rid of Lords/Overlords is a good idea, because Resurrection Orbs are ANNOYING.
Otherwise, I think the mistake I made was trying to put effort into those damn Destroyers in their damn building. I definitely think I did better once I got stuck into the Warriors, and if I had done that from the start I'd be in a better position. You HAVE to focus fire to remove entire units where possible, and if I could have removed the Warriors much faster I'd then be able to turn my attention to Destroyers with more units OR focus on getting my faster units to Objective Markers.


As a final note, I did win the game. Just.
Cheeky shenanigans to overload Objective Markers, but I did win.

Squidmaster wrote:

My main take away is how filthy Necrons are now, and its mostly down to Reanimation Protocols. As the rules are written and it seems people are playing, Reanimation Protocols is a 5+ to bring a model back, regardless of when it died (Cryteks making it 4+). So a Necron who died in turn one can still return in turn 5 if you make the roll.

Yep, that's correct. You keep rolling for lost models each turn until the end of the game or until the entire unit is destroyed. It's pretty nasty! You basically have to focus down one unit at a time and also snipe out any nearby Characters. I think a unit or two of Rangers and Illic Nightspear (especially as he gets bonuses against Necrons) would be very useful for you.

But could you not say that you have to pay for those warriors when they come back again?
Same for tyranids when a termamother revives part of a unit of termagaunts who died?

No, you only pay reinforcement points when adding a new unit to your army, not replenishing an existing unit.

The COunt speaks true. Most irritating.

Why do we even bother with the clankers. they make very poor slaves, and other mon'kiegh are easier to capture.