Yes, just had a look and they are. A couple of differences I found (presentation, not rules) is that the NetEA list does not specify that Pylons counts towards the war engine allowance and that the Warrior Phalanx has "Six Necron Warrior units with one Necron Lord" (emphasis mine, Raiders is "and one Necron Lord"), implying that the Lord has to go in the Warrior units.


Aaaanyway, tactics. I've never played the list, but Tomb Spyders are worth taking? To me they looked so lonely as the only AV in an inf unit, and 3 looks very expensive. Pariahs look like a big boost to Warrior Phalanxes, are they worth taking in every Warrior Phalanx?

Tomb spyders are worth taking if you're intending to play your army with a lot of marshalling to bring back dead guys, else they're a bit of a waste. They do allow some mobile cover for the lord and pariahs though. And yes, pariahs are awesome and worth taking in every phalanx unless you want it to be a cheap throwaway squad.

How many portals does the army need, 1 per non-flayed infantry formation, or is more needed for redundancy? Are monoliths best taken in Phalanxes or Maniples, and do they need Obelisk escorts or are they viable without?

Thanks a lot

I have found that there are some general rules to keep in mind when playing Crons:

Firstly don't forget that a phalanx coming out of a monolith has an effective assault range of 60cm as the monolith can double before spewing them out and if you don't teleport your flayed ones in then they can assault out of a monolith at a whopping 60cm for cc! Put some Wraiths and a lord in there and you have a reall nasty fast unit ready to pounce on important targets. Leave the wraiths out and you have something that can easily take out your opponent's artillery past their screen (infiltrate) at a very reasonable points cost. Example: IG artilliary company = 650pts / Flayed ones 200pts + monolith 200pts + lord 25pts. That's 425 pts taking 650 pts out of the game and making your opponent spend activations dealing with the flayed ones throughout the turn. If you survive the assault as well as that you can use their consolidation move to lay down zones of control on other formations as well but don't expect this to happen as you will probably lose the assault and be wiped out. This doesn't matter though as your objective here is simply to break or destroy the effectiveness of whatever you are hitting. This is effective against castling opponents.

Don't forget to take 2 pylons at 3000pts. It has been said before but I'm going to say it again as it bears repeating: they scare the living bejesus out of people. Keep them on your baseline with corridors of fire and as far appart as you can make them. Remember they do not phase out so wherever they are, that's them for the game. They can outrange mostly anything at 120cm and on a sustained fire action they hit TK3 (D3) so hit non shielded war engines with them. they LOVE superheavy tanks and eat them for breakfast. With 2 of them most times you can set up firing solutions which cover most of the table so always take 2 (also this means you can risk an early shot and still restrict where your opponent can move to by saving the other one for a later activation)

On the subject of activations, you are going to be out activated every turn. Get used to this. A lot of your army is going to be off the table for a lot of the game. Knowing when and where to hit is an absolute nescessity. Don't commit your entire army first turn and hope that it will be able to grow back to strength by using the necron rule as this is a huge gamble and can often leave you with no effective activations later in the game. Work out where and when you need to strike and use your force as a scalpel rather than as a bludgeon.

Clipping is your friend. As I have already stated, you can assault at great range with the Crons and this is their true strength. Having next to no range in shooting you will find that you will be initiating many more assaults than with other armies. Work out where you can take the least amount of return fire and exploit that in every action. Remember your units will be sitting ducks once they are deployed so have reserve portals ready to arrive next to them the next turn if they survive so that they can be redeployed again and again. Do not try to hold ground unless you are willing to spend a huge amount of points bulking a phalanx to maximum (which can be a hairy prospect for your opponent but again remember their range disadvantage, you will take A LOT of fire which out ranges you, still it makes an effective buffer on an objective as your unit can regenerate every turn).

It goes without saying but placing your objectives as far apart will make your opponent split their forces so do it.

In larger games, warbarques are extremely effective not only because they have decent ranged weapons on them but also because they have a portal and with the extra 5cm move this increases your effective assault range and can throw down blast markers before the assault starts. Also they have more sticking power than most superheavies due to living metal.

Also in larger games take the abattoir and ignore the orb. The abattoir has a portal and also infiltrates making its assault 40cm. It is slow as hell but once it reaches the centre of the table it has options. Keep it under cover on the way in and get it into cc with your opponent's lynchpin as fast as you can (11x2+ 2 of which are TK D3 will rip anything in the game to shreds. I have seen it hold off 1500 or so points of orks including a great gargant singlehandedly before). Also when it is in cc hope that your opponant surrounds it as if they do get a critical hit on it then this works extremely well in your favour as you will still get a 4+ save because of living metal (if you are hit) but any infantry around it will be fried from the capacitor explosion on a 4+. Use infiltrate to get right in amongst them for this purpose. Also if the unit you are assaulting somehow survives you can simply assault them again out of the abbatoire's portal whether they are on the run or following you at a vastly reduced capacity (sure you will have a BM for assaulting out of a broken portal but they will have many more).

Always take a tomb complex. It can let you contest your BK if your opponent gets to it and allows you a fallback position to marshal from if you need to.

I find the deceiver as a better choice than the nightbringer as it gives you some much needed range and comes under attack far less often as it can pop up from cover to deliver its disrupt attacks.

On the subject of how to build a phalanx, think about what they will be doing. Always take a pariah for inspiring and at least one tomb spyder for the extra leader (removing BMs and ressurecting necrons). I find that adding in the immortals x 3 is always worth it as they boost the number of kills they can take (hopefully allowing the unit to survive to the point where it can phase out and begin to regenerate next turn if they rally).
Your phalanx will be mostly either assaulting or consolidating through a portal so build them for this. Generally I find that a phallanx has an average 2 assaults in it through a game (considering that it will most likely need a turn to regenerate or not rally etc.) so make sure that you bulk them but don't go overboard (think about the effective points return on your investment).

Regarding monoliths I find that taking at least 2 monolith maniples is a good idea to keep in reserve till later in the game. Your initial attack should be carried out through monolith phalanxs as they will draw lots of firepower and stand a better chance of surviving till the endgame. Remember that you can use broken portals to redeploy troops (taking a BM) and use this when making your broken move. You will lose most of your monoliths throughout the game as your opponent will want to cripple your manouverability so remember to think about where they end their move. Always teleport them into or behind cover (remember they can spew out phalanxs and flayed ones after doubling and your opponent will most likely get first turn). Remember your strength lies in your portals.

I think that's all for now (hmm that was longer than I thought it would be, ah well)

Happy hunting

Edit: Also Overlord, Necrons do not phase out immediately, they wait till the end phase. This gives your opponent a shot at wiping them out entirely which is another reason to take tomb spyders as they are fearless.

Destroyers are, arguably, one of the best, most underrated formations. In an army that moves atypically, the Destroyers can herd opponents and dish out major fire power. Their Infantry status means that they will be not subject to AT fire but good at attacking mixed formations. Never played an all Heavy Destroyer formation but I suppose it might be fun to try as an Armored Vehicle hunter. They can easily start on the board if you want to throw off your opponent - this also adds to your turn 1 activation count.

_________________
author of Syncing Forward and other stories...

It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.

Was all that copy from the pamphlet you handed out to MNB?

_________________
Dave

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I think you may have me confused with someone else. I'm fairly new to these boards and I don't know what MNB is?
I just was bored this afternoon and decided to write up my experiences with the 'crons and what I've learned while playing them.

don't forget the 'cron opponents favourite 'cron trick: assault out of one portal but keep everything within 5cm of a second, unactivated portal. Win assault (likely, if you have 3 monoliths for support and you're clipping a prepped fm), consolidate off board using the second portal. Rinse, repeat, try not to act too smug to your opponent.

have you been hitting your parents liquor cabinet again Dave? Didn't Bill talk to you about that at NEAT?

MNB is a buddy of mine. I had suggested, much to his resistance, that he bring Destroyers with his Necron army for the last tournament. As I recall he did quite poorly and blamed me for his ineptitude.

Ya know, mattthemuppet, I have never tried that trick. Not once. I'm not saying it isn't a good one, but I find it interesting that I've never incorporated it into my games. Of course one time I actually fielded almost my entire Necron army on the back line once and completely screwed with my opponent's head. Goes to show you there is more to the Necrons that just the same ol' hum drum game.

_________________
author of Syncing Forward and other stories...

It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.

quite rightly so, as Destroyers suck grannies.



that's odd, I thought that it was the big Necron thing. Goes to show how much I know