Are Necrons a Tier one sleeper codex?

As I have said before, my first few games with Necrons have been fairly interesting.  They are an army that doesn't look so good on paper, but in game play they actually work pretty well.

"March of Wolves:" SW vs Necrons

After diving into the codex the last few weekends and writing a few articles on Necrons this last week I decided to play a game with them last night.  Because it is "March of Wolves (month)," I played against my good friend Mark and his new Thundercav list. Here is a rough idea of the lists we played.

Necron codex frustration

As I was building lists over the weekend I came to have an interesting appreciation for the Necrons codex. The whole weekend I felt that I was about an inch from glory, but every time I thought I had "that unit," I found out some other horrible downside... I don't know if GW did this on purpose with good game balance or if it is an interesting accident, but lets get into what I saw.

List of the Week: A Necrons @ 2000 pts

This weekend my wife was out of town on a "girls weekend," as such I decided to pour over the Necron codex until I found a list that I was comfortable in playing.

Necron "Rapid Deployment" List of the Week.

We all know Necrons can be super speedy in the standard movement phases. But one thing I never see people talk about is the speed necrons can move on to the table.

Necron "Quicksand",List of the week.

Hello all, Swags here with the next list of the week.


This time I'm dreaming of Necrons and how their little tricks might add to big tricks on the table. So lets get to it, I give you Necron list "Quicksand!".





First things first we need to know that the Necrons are not as "point and click" as other forces so I will explain how it comes together after the list. Also I want to point out this is a bit of a theme list as I picked units and wargear that push the idea of slowing down the enemy, hence the name.

Necron Quicksand 2000 Points.

HQ1 -Orikan the Diviner
HQ2-Overlord/Warscyth/Tachyon Arrow (joins HQ1)

Court

Cryptek/Eldritch Lance/Solar Pulse (joins HQ1)

Cryptek/Tremorstave/Seismic Crucible (joins HQ1)

Cryptek/Tremorstave (joins Troop1)

Cryptek/Tremorstave (joins Troop2)

Cryptek/Tremorstave (joins Troop3)

E1-C'Tan/Writhing Worldscape/Grand Illusion

E2-Triarch Stalker/T-link Gauss Cannon

E3-Triarch Stalker/T-link Gause Cannon

T1-Warriors x 10

T2-Warriors x 10

T3-Warriors x 10

F1-Heavy Destroyers x 3

F2-Heavy Destroyers x 3

F3-Heavy Destroyers x 3

And no heavy support so don't even bring up Scarabs and Spyders and farming.

How it works.
This list is meant to keep the enemy at bay using wargear to slow them and long range high power shooting to put the hurt on. Also using the grand illusion to increase distance from my opponent and line up early shooting.

HQ-This unit is the two HQs and two Crypteks in a 4 man unit that will move behind cover of other units and terrain to line up critical lance and tremor shooting as well as being able to split the HQs off to counter charge in a last ditch effort. I can also step away with the lord and bust a Tach Arrow to split fire if he has a chance of being save for the following round. Such as the night cover provided by the Pulse.

Troops- Each one gets a Cryptek, they form the body of the force with the stave's pushed forward to get maximum range if needed. On the move they can drop the Tremor blast with a 40" range while wrapping behind the walkers for cover.

Elites-The C'Tan and his ability are key to working this list. He will remain in the back acting as a counter unit and using his powers making it extremely hard for skimmers, jump infantry and bikes. In addition to the devastating Dawn of War problem vehicles have when he is on the table combined with the Temporal Snares.

Fast-Basic spam of T5 jump infantry carrying assault lascanons is all! (possibly twin-linked)

That's about it. I like the range in this list,36" or more in each unit, and the chance for twin-linking priority targets is a good boost to the limited number of shots. Manipulating things like movement, terrain checks, assaults(don't forget one of the Crypteks has Seismic Crucible) and night fighting can be overwhelming for some lists or even players not ready for such a game.

Was the lack of News From GW getting you down?

Was the lack of news and rumors about the Necron codex getting you down on the whole release?  Or are you intrigued by the silence?

Here is my $.02... And GW business discussion!