Necron Defensive Gun Line 2000pt

[mallet_man]

HQ 425
Necron Overlord (200)
Resurrection Orb
Phylactery
Gauntlet of fire
Phase shifter
Tesseract Labyrinth

Royal Court 225
Necron Lord, Resurrection Orb (65)
Necron Lord, Resurrection Orb (65)
Harbinger of the Storm, Voltaic Staff, Lightning Field, Ether Crystal (50)
Harbinger of Destruction, Gaze of Flame, Eldritch Lance (45)

Elites 225

5 Lychguard 200, Hyperphase Swords and Dispersions shields (225)

Troops 950

20 Necron Warriors (260)

20 Necron Warriors (260)

20 Necron Warriors (260)

10 Necron Immortals (170)

Heavy Support 400

Necron Monolith 200

Necron Monolith 200

The idea for this list is to be a strong defensive unit, high numbers of warriors with res orbs for 4+ reanimation protocols and 2 monoliths for tough to crack armour with the option to deep strike.

[Nungunz]

Honestly mech lists will kinda laugh at this and sit back and shoot you to death as you don't have the range to really hurt them turn 1 and have no protection from night-fight without a solar pulse.

And CC lists well chew through those warriors and most likely sweeping advance so the res orbs won't matter.

Needs some speed-bumps (scarabs or something). Lychguard can only weather so much fire before they're brought down and honestly they fail pretty miserably in CC. Also needs the ability to hurt vehicles more reliably.

[Tynskel]

I would ditch 1 warrior squad and 2 immortals from a second squad. Get a Ghost Ark-- slap the Overlord + Character + immortals in there. Also, upgrade the Overlord to Pheron-- relentless shooting out of a vehicle = good.

Then use the rest of the points to get anti-tank options (should be ~150 points).

[The Twilight Fade]

Immortals sadly can't take a ghost ark its only warriors and an accompanying character/royal court member :(

Agreed on a speed bump though. 10 Scarabs for 150 points with stealth can endure shooting quite well so may be worth considering and stops your weaker units getting charged. Also helps that they are fearless so even if you get multi-charged the other unit can disengage safely as they will be stuck in with the scarabs.

Other that that I would recommend possibly dropping some warriors, Immortals imo just seem better value (for only 4 points extra you get a 3+ save and higher strength gun) fair enough you can have less in a squad but just take more squads and spread them out across the table more and possibly mix it up with some tesla for some fire support on the move

Agreed on the Phaeron for your overlord aswell. If he's joining warriors or blaster immortals it's a mandatory upgrade

[Tynskel]

I meant warriors. whoops

[Denied]

If you are going to do a gun line I suggest having something to tie up the CC units that are coming to eat your face.

[Brymm]

Where does this "Lychguard fail in CC" stuff keep coming from? They have worked amazing for me and some guys at the local shop.
Additionally they mathhammer really well against about anything. So in practice AND in theory, they are great. I don't see "failure" anywhere.

[The Twilight Fade]

I don't think lychguard fail in cc myself but I find that to make them worth the expenditure is the max out the squad give them dispersion shields and attach a lord with the res orb/scythe to them.

Now this comes out at 525 points but will reliably shrug off heavy fire power and the lord helps them recover from what does get through. I've only had a couple of games with them so far but the 3+/4++/4+++ (with a lord) and being toughness 5 helps them stick around.

Saying they fail in cc is a little short sighted I think but there are assault units that will tear a squad of them to pieces and I2 is always a big downer

[blackarmchair]

Sad as it is, I think that even as a 5.5/6th Ed codex the crons already have some auto-takes.

1) you will need 20-30 scarabs. Plain and simple. Unless you want to suicide hq's with warscythes for a 50/50 chance at land raiders entropic touch is really your best at heavy armour.

2) you'll need either Imotekh or at least 1 solar pulse cryptek. Given that there's so much foot in the army you need it to survive long enough to get within 24" and do anything.

I'd add both.

As per lychguard. They are expensive but pure win when properly upgraded. True, compared to a thundershield terminator they seem underpowered but consider context; not only do lychguard have T5 but they stand back up again. Plus, their very few attacks are somewhat mitigated by the fact that a good necron army should never be assaulted by a full strength unit. Lychguard should always counter-assault a unit that just got the **** shot out of it.

I've seen them in several games so far (5-8 with a res orb) and they've always been pure win.

[Nungunz]

Where does this "Lychguard fail in CC" stuff keep coming from? They have worked amazing for me and some guys at the local shop.
Additionally they mathhammer really well against about anything. So in practice AND in theory, they are great. I don't see "failure" anywhere.

Similar to what Twilight Fade said.

Look at straight-up mathhammer and nothing else:

Warscythes: Hit like a brick, though the WS4 makes them a little bit subpar as CC units go. I2 also means the enemy usually hits you first and even with T5 and 3+ you have a good chance of loosing one or two models. Compared to a similar unit...say TH/SS termies they loose out....even on the charge (kills 2 termies on average rolls) and then the remaining three termies hit back and kill 2-3 (on average rolls) now without the charge bonus and the lack of an invuln save they are pretty far behind in terms of CC punch. Granted you don't want to be going after things like termies with these guys, but even a 20-man guardsmen blob with a commissar will whittle them down.

Sword/Shield: Okay, now is where they start getting pretty damn good and are on-par with TH/SS termies (only if they get the charge off), but I2 will still be unpleasant against high initiative (or even average initiative CC units).

Still if on foot they are very vulnerable to shooting (night-fight will keep them somewhat safe), but once they get close they WILL be shot at.....a lot....so dispersion shields are a must to get the invuln save. Even still you will take casualties so the minimum 5-man really isn't an options.

What about transports? Well the only option Lychguard have are Monolith (which is expensive and doesn't really help them get into CC faster and if the lychguard arrive from reserves before they can be pulled from the monolith.....whoops) and the Night Scythe (fragile as hell) which has to chance of getting them the turn 2 charge (zoom 36" then disembark, move, and assault turn 2), but AV11 (even with the 4+ cover save) is easy to damage and an immobilized will wreck and leave the lychguard stuck in reserves.

So probably best ways to run them are Lychguard w/ sword/board + Lord w/ scythe and res orb which comes to 300 just for a minimum unit. You'll want more than 5 lychguard if on foot so that brings the price closer to 400+ and you are still vulnerable to being shot-up.

Can take a Night Scythe (Warscythe or sword/board will work here) but still want the res orb lord and maybe some extra lychguard and now you still hit the 400+ price.

If you throw in an overlord it becomes even pricier.

That's a big chunk of your army that's either walking across the board at the risk of being shot....or in a slow transport where they can't assault after 'disembarking' plus the risk of coming in too early and being stuck walking anyway (monolith).......or a speedy, but fragile transport that leaves them stuck in reserves if it dies.

That's a very high-risk, expensive units that honestly isn't uber in CC. If I take a death-star I want one more reliable and survivable than that.

[blackarmchair]

The unit isn't meant to be a deathstar unit...Why is it when a new codex comes out everyone tries to play it like space marines?

Look at it in context of the codex. The Necrons are a close-combat shooting army with nothing really to speak of in close-combat, they do almost all of their killing with Gauss and Tesla weapons the Lychguard aren't there to run into the enemy lines and beat face they're a defensive counter assault unit (they carry giant shields for the Emperor's sake).

A unit of about 7 with shields and a res/scythe lord will certainly keep a scary unit off of your Necrons (and likely even kill it). So while it may be true that the mathhammer on Lychguard is sub-par when you really think about the utility you get from them in the Necron codex versus the utility a hammer unit would lend in other (space marine) books the Lychguard are FAR more valuable.

Keeping your necrons out of close-combat for a few turns so they can keep shooting is well worth the marginal decrease in assault performance on the Lychguard.

[Brymm]

I agree completely. I don't think you should be running 10 guys across the board or even veiling them right infront of the enemy (or maybe against some armies, this would be amazing), but I think 7 man is perfect, keeping your other units free of scary close combat messes.
I love the idea of using them in a night scythe. Utilizing night fighting whereever possible, you have a pretty brutal unit. The amazing distance you can cover very quickly while the opponent is constantly having to reposition to get in range due to darkness is worth the 100pts alone. Add on transporting 15 units and a twin linked destructor, we have our selves a winner. Now add in the ability to drop off seven S5 T5 3+/4++ dudes with a Warscythe Lord on that weak flank (because they've had to reposition the last turn due to night fighting and your genius feint deployment...or because you've seized on a 4+...) you've got yourself a serious headstart to a wonderful victory!

[blackarmchair]

I like Night Scythes too, 100pts is a bit much for what it is but anytime you can get a Tesla Destructor I'm on board (pun intended).

[Tynskel]

Even if the Lychguard arrive from reserve before you pull them through the monolith, you can still pull them through the monolith. There is no minimum range issue--- a unit can be on the board or in reserve. The only thing you cannot do is yank them from a transport. (well, that might be debatable)


The really cool think about the monolith---- any friendly non-vehicle necron unit can be pulled through. You could pop a C'Tan through, if you wanted. (well, I guess there could be debate about that. They are a friendly Necron unit, but some might argue the 'Necron' to mean anything that has 'necron' in the title. But this would mean units, like triarch pretorians, cannot go through the portal, even though they have 'necron' rules.) Give that C'Tan 2 shooty powers, and 'bam' you are putting a monsterous creature in quite a shooty position. Or, instant cover, if you have the gate facing away from your opponents, ect.