# Space Wolves vs Necrons



## scscofield (May 23, 2011)

The Necrons, last codex released under 5th ed rules, seems to have been written with 6th ed in mind I believe. The units and abilities did not lose much and in the case of things like the flyers got even better.

What experiences do you guys have against this army? I have only played them once and that was just yesterday.

The game ended with very little on the table for either side because we were playing Relic and it turned into a giant mosh pit of death in the center of the board.

One key thing that caused me to lose though was the loss of my Wolf Lord early on. The Mindshackle Scarabs caused him to eat his Thunder Hammer. Is there any good way of countering this piece of wargear?

What other things do we need to watch out for when playing against Necrons and what can we do to counter them?


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## The Sturk (Feb 3, 2012)

From what I know of, there is no way to stop Mindshackle Scarabs from going off, beyond the Overlord/Lord not being in base contact.

However, there is a minor counter to it that only works on the first assault phase. If you (the Space Wolves player) charge the Necron unit, you get to determine the order of events in the case of simultaneous events. Mindshackle Scarabs and Challenges occur at the same time in the combat phase. You can have Mindshackle scarabs go off before a challenge is declared, that way, your character won't be the target (unless in base contact still). After this, then you can challenge. This will only work in the turn that you charge however, as the challenge will have been already declared, leaving the MSS to go off on your character.

Almost every Necron Overlord/Lord you see will have one of these, so be wary. Do keep in mind, with Ld 10, it is roughly a 50/50 chance of passing the test. It may be best to try to pick it off with shooting.

As for the rest of the army, watch out for Deathmarks, which are Deep Striking snipers that wound their marked target on a 2+. More often than not, they take a character with them that carries an AP1 flamer, causing that to wound on a 2+ as well. The flamer does not work on vehicles however, as it normally wounds by Leadership instead of toughness.

Try to pick of any Necron Lords with Res-Orbs. It will make reconstruction harder for Necron Warriors and Immortals. This goes for Ghost Arks as well, as they can revive killed Necron Warriors as long as the unit is still alive.

Destroyer Lords + Wraiths can be pretty deadly. Destroyers have Prefered Enemy (Everything!) which carries over to the Wraiths as long as the D. Lord is with them.

Of course you have heard of their potential flier spam. Deal with them as best you can. Because they can disembark units while zooming, they can nab a late game objective.

Annihilation Barges are powerful anti-infantry/light tank killers. Take them out if possible.


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## Kowski (Nov 1, 2008)

scscofield said:


> The Necrons, last codex released under 5th ed rules, seems to have been written with 6th ed in mind I believe. The units and abilities did not lose much and in the case of things like the flyers got even better.
> 
> What experiences do you guys have against this army? I have only played them once and that was just yesterday.
> 
> ...


 As a long-term Necron player, I don't want my Tomb World brethren to lose, but if it helps a fellow Heresy user, I'm all game for some tips. 

Necrons have largely shaken off their previous handicaps, such as speed, close combat and limited options. Now we've got hugely fast units, not to mention all of them pretty much ignore terrain by either being flyers, skimmers or having the 'move through terrain/cover' special rules. Scarabs simply swarm over it, Wraiths move through it and Destroyers/Tomb Blades just hover over it. Ghost Arks, Annihilation/CC Barges are skimmers and move quickly, we've got walkers that are better suited and our Flyers are as apt as any other races'. 
We've also got some close combat behemoths, Wraiths especially with whip-coils makes them nasty and almost all of our HQ choices will go toe-to-toe with heavy CC leaders (such as your Wolf Lords et al) and certainly give them a run if not kill them. Scarabs tear vehicles to shreds and Pariahs still do the deal if you can get them in the right place (a pretty big IF but still). 
The negative of this is obviously the I2, which really, really hurts. 

Where else do we suffer? Well you can still whittle the squad away and ensure none are left to reanimate, that's a big issue for us. Our vehicles aren't weak (as all of them have Quantum Shielding and therefore they're AV:13) but once you penetrate them they drop to AV:11 and then heavy bolters glance them to death. These are trifles, though, really. 

We've got some really, really fantastic rules, too. Our HQ especially rock and I'd argue they're the best HQ category in 40K, purely because of the rules we can use. That being said, Overlords with their array of upgrades makes them expensive but probably the most capable HQ choice that is around. Especially when you stick 'em on a Catacomb Command Barge. 
Lots of expensive units, but they more then make up for it in what they achieve. Lots of highly efficient ranged shooting and a Necron gun-line is a fearsome thing. 

I would say our top three failings are practically no psychic defense (the Canoptek Spyder's 3" bubble is hardly a work of art), our relatively fragile (once penetrated) vehicles which are exclusively open-topped too (for the most part) and to boot they're no longer immune to melta weaponry and MCs still beat us over the head and finally, Initiative 2 means in Close Combat, whilst we hit like a sledgehammer, you can get early kills in and limit our return effectiveness. 
What Anti-Tank we do have is great, but its expensive and there isn't much of it, though the dual-shot meltas on the Triarch Stalker are awesome. Our most basic rifle can wreck your most advanced vehicle but we need those D6s. Whilst we've strong ranged firepower, 70% is limited 24" bubble and again, we've some expensive units. 

Hopefully this helps you in a general field of view, let me know if there's any specific units you want to know my personal weaknesses of.


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## Kowski (Nov 1, 2008)

scscofield said:


> X


 Completely missed your question on Mindshackle Scarabs, apologies. 

Honestly, I feel the best approach to this is to drown the model with this wargear in bodies. Sure we get D3 hits, but its only a maximum of 3. A Tyranid Warrior and his two cronies will attack and we've a good chance of having one die, but the other two will panel it afterwards. 
A swarm is your best choice here, I believe. My friend's Necron Lords/HQ are exposed to this every time and whilst he can still take on my Necron Lords/HQ as well as my other races' HQ choices quite efficiently with him, charging him with, for example, a squad of Terminators means one is likely to die but the others will get a hit in. 
That's why you restrict your Lord's movements to trying to initiate challenges. Its hard to beat a unit with MSSs, especially when he's got a huge Warscythe to back him up. 

Remember though, the mindshackle scarabs force the 'infected' to attack at the 'infected's' initiative, so you can work around that too. Or you can just shoot the hell out'a the Lord.


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