Wraiths or / and Acanthrites

[Deadlift]

So I am still building and painting my Necron force and I am now looking to add something to what I feel is the best part of the codex, the fast attack section.

Now I am thinking of either 18 wraiths or maybe a mix of wraiths and FW acanthrites. Maybe 12 wraiths and 9 acanthrites.

I love things all Canoptek and I already have 16 bases of scarabs and 3 tomb spiders. However my army is at the moment mostly my Overlord, warriors, deathmarks, 2 doomsday arks and 1 nightscythe. I am playing against chaos marines mostly at the moment and Daemon princes usually appear in most lists as do terminators, lots of terminators.
My list isn't WAAC, but comprised of units I enjoy painting and playing and what came in my 2 necron battalion sets.
So if you were me what would you add, I will be adding a Destroyer lord to one unit of something as well.

[Maelstorm]

A Destroyer Lord adds Preferred Enemy: Everything! to either Canoptek unit he is attached to. Rerolling 1's on To-Hit and To-Wound means whatever they crash into is in for a world of hurt. Plus the Destroyer Lord can take Mind Shackle Scarabs and comes standard with a Warscythe, his option of taking an orb is wasted on Wraiths and Acenthrites.

Against Terminators, either unit will do. I'd lean towards the Acanthrites for their AP2, Assault guns plus they are much easier to build/put together. :)

Against basic Marines I'm going to redirect you to something the interwebs have completely ignored since 6th edition dropped:

For the same or less points, with Preferred Enemy: Everything! I'd use standard Destroyers instead of Wraiths or Acanthrites every time. A unit of 5 Destroyers will take down 6-8 Space Marines (Strength 5, AP 3, Assault 2) every turn at 24-36" away (12" jump, 24" shooting) and Destroyers get Reanimation Protocols, Wraiths and Acanthrites do not. Denying 3+ armor saves is a huge bonus against most armies. Against Toughness 4 models Destroyers only miss on a 2 (rerolling 1's) and wound on a 3+ (rerolling 1's). The key to using them is to keep them 24" away from massed return fire. I use 2 units of 5 and effectively neuter 2 Space Marine scoring units every turn. Why allow the enemy to bog you down in CC and hit you back twice per game turn when you can eliminate 60-80% of a scoring unit from range and significantly reduce return attacks from range. I never count on Wraiths Rending to put down models.

The new Ravenwing got you down? Destoyers don't care if bikes are Toughness 5 (Strength 5, AP 3, Assault 2), A unit of Destroyers will eliminate 5 bikes every turn by denying the 3+ armor save. Tau Jump-shoot-Jump annoying you? Jump your Destoyers 12" to get LOS to them and eliminate the whole unit in 1 round. The Destroyers Mobility and AP3 weapon opens up options that Wraiths cannot match.

If You're feeling brave - shoot a unit of 10 Marines with 5 Destroyers, eliminating 6-8 models then Assault the remaining 2-4 models with the same 5 Destroyers (Strength 5, AP 3, Assault 2) getting Hammer of Wrath and Preferred Enemy: Everything! Should put the remaining models down (not automatic, as the Marines will get their 3+ saves in CC).

Necron Tactical note:
If you are setting up a multi-objective game, place board central objectives in the open - denying cover saves to the enemy. Prime targets for your Destroyers to wipe out entire units. The 5+ RP on your Necron scoring troops gives you the equivelent of FNP and/or Cover on the same "out in the open" objectives. Add a bog-standard Lord with an Orb (4+ RP) and Immortals become the equivelent of Terminators to remove from an exposed objective.

Hope this helps!

[skoffs]

Yes to using Destroyers as premiere anti-MEQ.
I'vw run a unit of Wraiths and Destroyers working in tandem (Wraiths mopping up whatever survived the initial barrage from the Destroyers).

I've been tempted to run Tomb Blades as well, as an alternative to Destroyers to see what they'd be like.

For the Immortals,

Add a bog-standard Lord with an Orb (4+ RP) and Immortals become the equivelent of Terminators to remove from an exposed objective., they still run the risk of being wiped out in a charge (or maybe in the resulting sweeping advance).
One way to help avoid that be to include a Harbinger of Destruction with Gaze of Flame to give the whole unit defensive grenades. Even better, if Zahndrekh is in the army, giving them Counter-attack at that moment would give you one hell of a good objective holder.

[spaceman91]

Tomb blades for the win. Enough said.

[Maelstorm]

For the Immortals,
they still run the risk of being wiped out in a charge (or maybe in the resulting sweeping advance).
One way to help avoid that be to include a Harbinger of Destruction with Gaze of Flame to give the whole unit defensive grenades. Even better, if Zahndrekh is in the army, giving them Counter-attack at that moment would give you one hell of a good objective holder.

I add MSS and a Warscythe to the Basic Lord/Orb for anit-assault duty. The threat of MSS and a Warscythe keeps most opponents at bay and has worked extremely well against units of 5 Terminators in CC.

[Maelstorm]

Tomb blades for the win. Enough said.

Ah, but with which weapons/options? :)

[Deadlift]

I suppose I could buy a unit of each

6 wraiths
9 acanthrites
5 destroyers

And a couple of destroyer lords.

What you think ? The synergy is there.

[Maelstorm]

I suppose I could buy a unit of each

6 wraiths
9 acanthrites
5 destroyers

And a couple of destroyer lords.

What you think ? The synergy is there.

Yes and no...

1x Destroyer Lord, Yes.
2x Destroyer Lords, No.

You'll need at least 1 Necron Overlord to unlock a Royal Court. You are going to need at least 1 Solar Pulse to get your Wraiths and Acanthrites into CC unmolested!

I'd lean towards:

Destroyer Lord, Mindshackle Scarabs, S-Weave
Overlord, Warscythe, Mindshackle Scarabs, S-Weave, Orb (Warlord)
Royal Court
. Harbinger of Destruction Cryptek + Solar Pulse
. Lord, Warscythe, MSS, Orb
. Lord, Warscythe, MSS, Orb

3x Troops choices

5x Destroyers
6x Wraiths or Acanthrites
7-10x Scarabs (Fire magnets/Speed Bumps/Vehicle herding/Tarpits).
Note: Less than 7 scarabs are easily rendered ineffective

3x Annihilation Barges

Always add an Overlord or Lord with Resurrection Orb for each troop choice - They significantly increase survivability and blunt incoming assaults with Mindshackle Scarabs and Warscythes in each group.

If you have extra points add a min Warrior squad in a Scythe for Linebreaker and objective grabbing.

Parking a single Ghost Ark behind 2 units of Warriors allows you quickly replenish losses in either squad and having it behind the troops makes it a low priority target.

[Deadlift]

Cheers, thanks for the help, I'm trying to build a competative list without being too cheesy and loading up on scythes.
I will workout a list from yours and see how I get on. One thing I can't seem to get my head around is why barges are so popular in heavy support over the longer range and higher hitting power of the doomsday ark ?

[Maelstorm]

One thing I can't seem to get my head around is why barges are so popular in heavy support over the longer range and higher hitting power of the doomsday ark ?

Perfect example:
Last week I took 2 Doomsday Arks (360 points) instead of the usual 3 A Barges (270 points). The Doomsday Arks had just 2 hits in 6 turns (2 of 12 shots fired), the rest scattered! At 360 points for the pair, 1/4 of my 1500 point army had little to no impact on the game.

Large Blast:
33.3% chance of a direct hit
66.6% chance of scatter. BS4 = 3" average scatter.

With an A Barge you can get up to 18 hits per turn (I average 7-8 hits per Barge), plus the possibility of arcing to any unit within 6". Multiply that times 3 units = up to 54 hits per turn (averaging 21-24 hits) plus arcs...

Unless you pair Doomsday Arks with a Triarch Stalker for twin-linked shots, it's not worth it.

[Deadlift]

Thanks, I do have one doomsday ark built and another still boxed, now I'm thinking that it would be better built as a ghost ark for later on.
I do appreciate your advice very much and will be using it. I plan on buying the destroyers, wraiths and now 3 barges in one hit. I already have the scarabs and 40 warriors.
I will pm you with pics once its all up and painted to prove your time wasn't wasted ;).

[Maelstorm]

No worries - happy to help.

I built-up 3 Doomsday Arks with dreams of squashing Terminators like bugs. Too bad they cost so many points and can't hit the broad side of a barn reliably. The points would be better spent on 3 Doom Scythes... :)

[Deadlift]

Obviously with the next IA book from FW having Necrons in it we can expect some new toys, going back to your list, Barges over Doom scythes in heavy support when playing mostly against MEQ armies with a hint of TEQ ?

[Maelstorm]

A Barges pop Rhinos reliably in 1 round of shooting. If you're after something heavier than a Rhino then your Scarabs + Wraiths/D-Lord come into play.

Pop a Rhino with an A Barge and then let the Destroyers clean-up whatever falls out...

[Deadlift]

Great thats finalised it then, thanks ;)

[Maelstorm]

If you set up first in a scenario, it hilarious to see how much the placement of 7 scarabs pushes around your opponents vehicle deployment. You can effectively force a corner deployment of a Land Raider to avoid the scarab rush, especially under Solar-Pulse night-fight conditions. Even if they steal initiative, they are likely to drive their vehicles away from the Scarabs rather than closer to their destruction. :D It only takes 3-4 Scarab bases to destroy a Land Raider...

[spaceman91]

Ah, but with which weapons/options? :)

keep them cheap. The dirty gun and +1 to BS os all they need. But thas just me.

[skoffs]

keep them cheap. The dirty gun and +1 to BS os all they need. But thas just me.
By "dirty gun", I hope you meant the Particle-blast one.
(the other guns are better without the +1 to BS, as every miss in another opportunity to roll a 6, what with them being twin linked and all).

[mstersmith]

I ran 12 wraiths with two D-Lords this weekend to devestating effect at 1850. I plan to run 18 for now on.

[Maelstorm]

I ran 12 wraiths with two D-Lords this weekend to devestating effect at 1850. I plan to run 18 for now on.

3 full units of Wraiths and 2 Destroyer Lords are over 900 points before adding whips to the Wraiths or toys for the 2x Destroyer Lords. It will be easy to crank that up to over 1,000 points for 3 small units that can't touch flyers and won't deny 3+ saves - which means that unless they roll a 6 (Rending), every Marine gets a 66% chance to ignore every Wound inflicted by the Wraiths.

If you must - set a single unit of Wraiths and a Destroyer Lord on the table and step away - resist the call of the dark side that is SPAM.