What's the deal with the new necrons?

[NateT]

Going through my old blisters and "backlog" of stuff... I found a necron overlord, and 2 tomb spiders.  Looking at the awesome-ness that is the current line, and the new and actually intriguing and entertaining new fluff... I am very tempted to pick up some 'Crons.  What do they play like now?  They were previously very "foot-sloggy," but there seems to be a number of new transports, some CC units, and lots more fun stuff. 

Do they play with a good balance?  What is uber-powerful and what is lame?  What's the working metagame for them?  the important question of Gauss or Tesla?

Basically, what should I know before getting into the new army... and I have plenty of time to consider, because I think I will be waiting for 6th to drop prior to actually buying models.

[Chase]

I can't really answer your questions, Nate, but I can supply you with some Necron lists from our previous events...


Alex Fennell's 1750pt Necrons - Alex recently finished 3rd or 4th at Adepticon playing Necrons.  I am not sure if this is similar to his 1850 point list or not.

Looks like I have Alex's 1850pt list too...


And here is one of Ben Mohlie's Necron lists.  I hear he's pretty good too.

Overlord: warscythe, mindshackle scarabs, sempiturnal weave, phase shifter  175
Command Barge: 80
Overlord: warscythe, mindshackle scarabs, sempiturnal weave, phase shifter  175
Command Barge: 80

Cryptek: shroud of darkness, nightmare shroud 70
Cryptek: shroud of darkness, nightmare shroud 70
Cryptek: eldritch lance, solar pulse 55
Cryptek: eldritch lance, solar pulse 55

Triarch Stalker: heat ray 150

9 Immortals: tesla 153
9 Immortals: tesla 153
5 Immortals: tesla 85
5 Immortals: tesla 85

3 Scarabs: 45
3 Scarabs: 45
3 Scarabs: 45

3 Tomb Spyders  1 gloom prism 165
3 Tomb Spyders  1 repair arm 160

Total: 1846

[Benjamin]

I think a fair number of people were waiting on this new line of models to come out to judge the codex, since there are some rather important models in this set.

From what I understand...

Tesla rules your mom.
Quantum Shielding may not be broken, but it is a tremendous pain in the ass.
Solar pulses are your friend.

Necrons from what I've seen still have a slow, plodding feel to them, Scarabs aside. But now they are not only points-affordable, they actually have tools to deal with the present game.

[the_trooper]

All I know is that I want to run up and punch Necrons in the face.  Not literally but on the table.

Two possible nightfighting instances (past the possible mission one) makes you want to have assault troops.  Gunlines are neutered in the worst way because of it.

[andalucien]

So, Necrons were my first army and I've been playing them exclusively at tournaments since the new codex came out.

I'm convinced that Necrons are the 2nd strongest codex in 40k today (behind Grey Knights).  Furthermore, there's a lot of variety and fun to be had in this codex.  People have placed highly at large tournaments with many different builds using many different themes...

Some thoughts:

Wraiths are in the discussion for the best unit in 40k.
Scarabs are amazing and it's almost impossible for something like Guard to counter them.
Solar Pulses negate entire turns of shooting.   There are only 5-7 turns IN the game.
Tomb Spyders are ridiculously efficient and hard to kill.
I don't understand how anyone wins with Monoliths and C'Tans, but they do.
Tesla immortals are resilient troops that put out good firepower, one of the few troops that will win in a midrange firefights with equal points worth of Grey Knights.
Most of the special characters are well costed, providing fun and effective benefits without necessarily being auto-includes.

It's a great codex.

[Benjamin]

Scarabs are amazing and it's almost impossible for something like Guard to counter them.
...
I don't understand how anyone wins with Monoliths and C'Tans, but they do.

I'm assuming the first statement about Scarabs is made in conjunction with something like Night Fighting rules in effect. Because Guard bring plenty of dakka that should instantly kill Scarabs. And I suppose it matter what type of Guard army... I don't see Scarabs taking on blob-guards too well.

Second statement, that has to be because Necron players winning with Monoliths and C'tan shards are frankly playing against bad players. Both of those units are quite inefficient. At least the Monolith is a portable LOS-blocker...

[andalucien]

Scarabs are amazing and it's almost impossible for something like Guard to counter them.
...
I don't understand how anyone wins with Monoliths and C'Tans, but they do.

I'm assuming the first statement about Scarabs is made in conjunction with something like Night Fighting rules in effect. Because Guard bring plenty of dakka that should instantly kill Scarabs. And I suppose it matter what type of Guard army... I don't see Scarabs taking on blob-guards too well.

Second statement, that has to be because Necron players winning with Monoliths and C'tan shards are frankly playing against bad players. Both of those units are quite inefficient. At least the Monolith is a portable LOS-blocker...

About guard dakka:  yes, I'm assuming that night fight will be in effect at least for 1 turn.  And remember, the scarabs should be getting a 3+ cover save (they have stealth) at all times, even when night fight goes away.   Even in the case of indirect fire blasts, it's very easy to keep half of a scarab swarm touching area terrain and then streeeetch out towards the vehicles.   And once you get there (with up to a 27" charge range including the initial farming if you have Spyders), TWO count 'em TWO scarabs will basically always destroy a stationary chimera on the charge.  Meaning that a large swarm of scarabs can destroy an entire army of chimeras in 1 turn, if it gets there.

You're right, I'm talking about mech guard.  But it seems like scarabs would be pretty great against foot guard too...  being able to go from "out of range due to night fight" to "multicharging 4 units with 75 attacks and 45 wounds" in the space of a turn seems handy.

As for monoliths and C'Tans, I agree with you, they both seem horribly overpriced in my experience.  Which sucks because I own 2 C'Tans and 2 monoliths (they were among the best things Crons had going for them in the previous codex).  However, Alex Fennel always runs a monolith, and I've seen people post other tourney winning lists that used C'Tans (mainly for the Writhing Worldscape). 

[jhobin]

They also have some stuff that breaks the normal turn sequence as well as a lot of disruptive wargear.

[NateT]

Thank you for the lists Chase and thank you all for the great replies!  Especially the Seinfeld! 

Yeah, they seem to have the upside of fun versatility, good balance, and potential to actually win.  I am loving the models too!  It is a shame about the Monolith being less effective though.  It's very cool looking and has that great "alien" feel... in other words, I'll be throwing one in my army, if only for group photos!

I think I'll paint up my Overload, see how I like him.  Regarding the Tomb Spyders, is there a large size difference between the old metal guys and the new plastic?  If there is, perhaps I'll just get rid of these two and go all plastic.