The Enemy Awakens: Fighting The Necron

Art by majestic Chicken

The ancient enemy has awoken. We have been lax in our sacred duty. The Necrotyr must be stopped before they overrun the galaxy. Who would have thought that Matt Ward was secretly a Xenos lover. The Necron army has gone from a second rate old codex to a powerhouse that is winning GT's and getting savvy Lords best General awards at said GT's.

One of the biggest obstacles I have been facing with the development of my Footdar army has been the new Necron army. OST and CVinton both are whipping their robots back and fourth. The Style of army they are running I have dubbed the “Tesla Orgy”. If there is anything that really shows the age of your codex its facing up against a brand spanking new one. The Necrons got the “Ward Treatment”in their latest iteration. The amount of firepower they can lay down would make even a Imperial Guard commander blush.

This proves to be a problem. Granted its the same issue you face when marching towards any gun line, but you have some new and unique problems when facing the Necrons. At least once you extract Imperial Guard from their transports or reach their line the guardsman, although numerous, are easy to dispatch. The Necron army is different. Its like facing down an Imperial guard gun line with the Guardsman all being Space Marines. The Tesla weapons add another element. The hits really stack up once the 6's start getting rolled. High Strength combined with the ability to arc to other targets further complicates a foot list. The arcing does not happen that often, but it does add a bit of a wild card. Units sitting at 50% can find themselves under rather quickly from an arc coming from a neighboring unit. This can really through a monkey wrench in your plans at some inopportune moments.

The Necron Lord also now has a transport. Affectionately called “The Douche Canoe” The command barge gives the Necron player a mobile oppression palace that can wreck havoc in the back field of your army. The fly by attack ability combined with a war scythe put your vehicles in jeopardy as the lord gets to hit rear armor. The lord can also absorb damage done to the barge by taking a wound.

Scarabs are another annoyance that gets out of hand quickly. The entropic strike ability really puts your vehicles in danger. Given the size of the swarms people are running it is also hard to take them out quickly before they reach your lines.

The real issue is that even if you have very regimented fire discipline the amount of targets presented that are a threat is high. Be it Immortals, lords, scarabs, annihilation barges or whatever. You cant ignore targets. The real trick is prioritization of targets by proximity. This is where consistently playing Eldar for years comes in handy. You know your army and you have to think a turn or two ahead while still adjusting to battlefield conditions and changes. You may be saying “SeerK I have not been playing forever what do you mean?” I will elaborate.

Depending on the type of list you are running, Ie Mech or Foot or a mix of the two, you have to look at the set up and position of the opposing force. In this case you have to look at the ranges of the enemy weapons. Tesla weapons all have a range of 24 inches. This is a severe limitation when a Necron army is facing a mobile force like the Eldar or the Dark Eldar. The annihilation barges can get into range quickly but at the same time this leaves them exposed to your big guns, which is most certainly have a much longer range. I am finding that the ubiquitous Scatter Laser is your best friend when facing the Necron menace.

With a range of 36 inches and a strength of 6, you out range Tesla based armies, and have enough punch to wound Immortals and warriors consistently. You also kill one whole base of Scarabs with a successful wound. This is all well and good unless your opponent is being “Eldar Cheaty”, as Samsquatch Monster puts it, by using Crypteks and all of their unique abilities to hamper the enemy.

I speak first and foremost about the Solar Pulse ability. This drowns your opponent in night fight for their turn. This has been the major problem for my Footdar. Bringing fire to bear on the Necron force as it advances is much much harder when you are limited by spotting distance. This allows the Necron force to advance mostly unmolested as you cannot bring your full weight of fire. Night Spinners can overcome this as you can fire indirectly. The weight of fire is not heavy though with pair or loan night spinner though.

SO as it stands I am trying to formulate a coherent plan of attack against the ancient enemy. Strength 6 weapons with long range and highly mobile units that can make hit and run attacks on foot units while pursuing the faster units is what I have so far. I am also toying with different deployment options. Mainly infiltrating units and deep strikers to hit targets holding objectives and camping out in the back field. Old fashioned simple solutions.

Well I hope to have a battle report for this weekend after I get a game in with the newly reworked Footdar list.

Until next time.....

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!