# Spam Necron Army?



## Big Mek LugNutz (Jul 10, 2011)

Hi Everybody,

Over the last week I've developed a real interest in tournaments, about attending one, and learning some of the tactics used to put together a successful army. I was wondering how successful anyone would find a spam Necron Warriors list? If this is already a 'thing' let me know, because, like I said I'm really new to competitive lists.

From where I stand I think a Warrior list could be successful, because they are very resilient, have good anti infantry weapons and can glance vehicles on the roll of a 6. I understand there will obviously be holes and issues in the list, only having 1 unit (+HQ) will definitely contain a few problems, but it anyone would point out a few glaring ones I would really appreciate it.

thanks,

-Big Mek LugNutz


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## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

Best bet is to experiment with friendly games with your own lists before a tourney rather than find a list on the interwebz and hope it works well. 

Big problem with such a spam list is that you are weak on range and can get rolled in close combat by having big vulnerable squads, additionally mobility will be a problem since the majority of games are now about scoring.


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## Iron Angel (Aug 2, 2009)

If you favor the Warrior horde,36-38 is about the right size for any reasonable game. A single 20 man unit supported by two, maybe three, arks, two of which have 8 or 9 warriors and 1-2 destructeks inside (Depending on how many Overlords you brought to the table). The 20 man has an orb in it and maybe another RC member if you have 2 OLs. Stormtek with LF is advised in this case. Wyches and other assaulty things die horribly to the LF and it gives your Warriors a fighting chance to get out of combat so they can shoot as soon as possible. That gives you two units to score late game as you can take your Arks and drop their contents onto an objective.

If you want to do that you need one of two things, and that is long range firepower, something Necrons do not get in quantity or for cheap, or something that can fight in CC, something that Necrons once again do not get in quantity or for cheap. Necron strength lies in close range firepower; Everything else is a specialist role. Our only gun that shoots over 36" is the Doomsday Cannon which costs 275 points. Our best melee fighters are around 45 points each plus whatever HQ you put with them to buff them or keep them alive. This includes Wraiths, Praetorians, and Lychguard, the first two likely having a Destroyer Lord with them and the last having an Overlord and likely a Veiltek.

Introducing melee units forces you to shape that HQ to the melee unit as it basically has to go with them to cover their weaknesses or give them the buffs that really make them worth it (Preferred Enemy on wraiths with anti-armor punching power, mobility and a 2+ save to tank the AP3 shots in Lychguard, etc).

The third and most reliable option is to have mobile fire platforms that can chase down kiters and kite assaulters. This is why barges are so good for their points, they fill a critical role in the army that nothing else can quite do. Being skimmers makes them able to force the enemy to deal with terrain that they are able to ignore, and also be unimpeded by terrain when giving chase. Being AV13 F/S helps too.

A pure warrior blob is, surprisingly, terminally overspecialized. Melee armies will eventually make it to CC where it will either be a stalemate or a tragic loss, and longer range firepower will just kite you to death. Mind you, theres only so much board for them to kite on, so after a couple turns, you'll have backed the into a board edge, but thats still a couple turns of shooting they get on you. Thats why you need the Ark support for any warrior blob army- You can make it work, as long as you do it right, but it will not be as effective as a truly synergistic force.


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## falcoso (Apr 7, 2012)

Basically what Iron Angel said, have arks and if you have a destroyer lord then stick it with a 20 man warrior squad or awesome accuracy, but you certainly want some form of CC because against most armies they will tske out huge chunks in Sweeping advance, it may be and idea to take Immortals instead so then you have that added resilience.


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## MidnightSun (Feb 10, 2009)

In Tournaments, I think you need more mobility. Hordes tend to get demolished quite quickly, and especially as it only takes a failed Morale test to get a large section of your line fleeing.

I'd think about the Tournament meta and then rethink Warrior Horde for a competitive army. How would you handle 6+ Scythes? How would you handle 6+ TMC armies? Can you fight Deathwing as confidently as Green Tide? I don't think that a Warrior-pure army can do all of these, or even some of them (pretty much anything with an airforce).

Large units are inflexible. To kill a Solodin, or a 5-man squad of Henchmen, you need to rapid-fire at them with 20 Warriors and whatever characters they have attached. Overkill is a problem, as firepower that provides overkill is firepower wasted. I'm not saying that you should take units of 5 Warriors in Scythes - although that is a fairly popular build, I believe - but six units of 10 Warriors will generally be more successfuly than 3 units of 20. Necrons gain no benefit from large unit sizes, unlike Space Marines, but can be flexible in their size, unlike Imperial Guard. As such, going with twice as many 10-man squads backed up by a few 5-man squads will be more appropriate than half as many 20-man squads backed up by 10-mans.

Midnight


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## tricktroller (Jan 27, 2012)

I personally run a balanced list between air and gorund, large groups and small. I do something that probably isn't very good in tournaments but works fine for the group I host at my house. I take 3 night scythes 3 annihilation barges a ghost ark with 10 warriors in it a squad of 5 tomb blades with particle beamers and 2 squads with 4 crypteks of destruction and a reroll cryptek with a lord in them. This gives me plenty of fast moving things as well as a whole mess load of firepower. I also run my annihilation barges a bit differently than most people. This is the way I run my barges.


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## falcoso (Apr 7, 2012)

MidnightSun said:


> Necrons gain no benefit from large unit sizes, unlike Space Marines, but can be flexible in their size, unlike Imperial Guard. As such, going with twice as many 10-man squads backed up by a few 5-man squads will be more appropriate than half as many 20-man squads backed up by 10-mans.
> 
> Midnight


I would have to disaggree about the squad size benefits, I personally think that it is better for necrons because it is a lot harder to deny the Reanimation by killing all of them than it is a 5 man squad, especially if there is a res orb in the squad, but that certainly shouldn't mean you go about taking 20 man squads, I find 10 man is the best, it is large enough not toget killed in the first turn but isn't going to waste shots, but yes a warrior horde isn't versatile at all against most lists.


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## darklove (May 7, 2008)

Iron Angel said:


> If you want to do that you need one of two things, and that is long range firepower, something Necrons do not get in quantity or for cheap, or something that can fight in CC, something that Necrons once again do not get in quantity or for cheap. Necron strength lies in close range firepower; Everything else is a specialist role. Our only gun that shoots over 36" is the Doomsday Cannon which costs 275 points. Our best melee fighters are around 45 points each plus whatever HQ you put with them to buff them or keep them alive. This includes Wraiths, Praetorians, and Lychguard, the first two likely having a Destroyer Lord with them and the last having an Overlord and likely a Veiltek.
> 
> Introducing melee units forces you to shape that HQ to the melee unit as it basically has to go with them to cover their weaknesses or give them the buffs that really make them worth it (Preferred Enemy on wraiths with anti-armor punching power, mobility and a 2+ save to tank the AP3 shots in Lychguard, etc).


Just to clarify a few points, the Doomsday Ark is better than you remember. It is cheaper by 100pts and has double the range. AP1 is such a rarity in the Necron army, so use it if you have it.

Melee is not such a big problem for Necrons, unless they are pitted against enemy CC specialists. But as you should never let enemy CC specialists get close to you, this should never be a problem.

I am contemplating a CSM detachment to provide a solid place holder force while the Necrons take advantage of their high mobility flyers and DS units. I think this is the most effective strategy. DS a unit of 20 Warriors with a VoD tech, or bring them through the portal of a DSing Monolith.

Nightscythes are so versatile, so use lots of them. I sometimes take them for units that will not actually use them, just so I have the extra Twin-Linked Tesla Destructors!


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