So now I’ve talked about all the rumors that are out there, kind of (but not very well) establishing what are real rumors and what are just flagrant wish-listing repeated ad-naseum until the internet believes it like Fox News repeating liberal propaganda (they do that over here too right?) until the echo effect takes hold. With that out of the way it’s time to chat about Necrons moving forward. I was going to do a piece on the death ray, it’s various uses (hello anti-horde!). I then thought about talking about the four main type of Necron weapons, Ray, Gauss, Tesla and Particle… but that doesn’t really help unless you know what is carrying it.
Instead I’m going to review a random unit from the codex for the next few articles. One from each slot. Luckily I have a D9 right here to roll to pick one of the entries. I know what you’re thinking… how do you have a D9. Look, it’s complicated, I shunted backwards through time from another dimension… trust me that the die is fair. So lets drop this bad boy.
Oh… before I go on. Caveats apply, your world might end up slightly different that mine… nobody can predict the future perfectly. A butterfly flaps its wings in New Dallas and all the way around the world the Yu-Gi-Oh Zombies all go south instead of north. I don’t know if St. Ward is the same guy here.
Dammit, 7. That’s the Big Lord, the head cheese. The Generic General if you wish. So no special character for you guys this time. He’s a good place to start, however, as he will give a good idea of what strategies you might want to use.
At just under a hundo of points, this HQ is your go-to commander. You’re going to want to take him in most lists, as he unlocks a unit Crypteks and such to split up into your squads. Many of the specials also do this, but he’s nice and cheap for what he does.
The tricky part is deciding whether to use him joined to a squad as an IC, or to give him the personal 1 man transport. At 3 wounds, he can fuel repairs to the vessel out of himself for quite a while, and with it’s sheer speed he can make drive by melee attacks all day. Watch out, though. Sure it’s got shielding, but by the time you start spending wounds to repair, you’ve lost it and are back down to Rhino armor instead of Predator love. It nearly doubles his cost as well, and makes him a big target.
When it comes to his gear, however, you have quite a few options. He comes standard with a Staff of Light, but can swap that out (just like everyone else with a staff of light) for a Warscythe for free. That Warscythe is very tempting, especially if you are going with the drive by attack route. Strength 7 power weapon hits, this is really nice on a vehicles rear armor. It’s equally useful if you tool the Big Cheese Overlord out for melee punches. I don’t see many people choose the gauntlet option, a flamer is nice but it just isn’t as good as the Staff of Light. The two sword options also suffer, as a warscythe is cheaper and better, but they have their uses. I have a taste for running units lean and mean and so I don’t care for those two.
As for the other options, you have your standard Phylactery, Orb and Phase Shifter. I always go with the Shifter, as having a hands free Storm Shield is extremely useful. The Orb and Phylactery aren’t much use to my style. I’d rather put the orb on a cheaper options, as making an IC a force multiplier makes him a big target. The Phylactery is nice and all, but it relies to heavily on him standing back up, so it doesn’t really help most games.
Upgrading his armour to a 2+ isn’t bad, and it’s a pretty cheap option. But with a shifter there really isn’t much point. Small arms fire has a tough enough time getting past his Toughness 5 and 3++ shifter save. The brainshackles are a neat assault trick, but it’s just not a reliable enough way to make a model attack his own unit. Lastly, there one shot “Necron Hunter Killer Missile” is a lot of fun, but costs to much. I love one shot weapons (missiles, orbitals and deathstrikes) for the Apoc entertainment, but this is really an Apoc item, as it just costs to many points to be useful… even if it is the king of the one shots.
This unit, in the end, really showcases the Science Monster feel of the Necrons. It’s going to be a very popular kit, especially if it comes out in Plastic or Resin here like it did for us. The most typical load out comes in fairly cheaply with a Warscythe and Phase Shifter… so be ready to see that as the building block HQ of every Necron Army.