Enemies of the Imperium Tactica: Necrons

When fighting necrons there are several things to keep in mind. the most important is to understand their rules. They have quite a few that can be troubling,

Weapons systems - Necrons have two types of weapons for their infantry. Gauss and Tesla. Gauss is a strength 5 24" rapid fire weapon, but when shooting at vehicles on the roll of a six, the vehicle takes a glancing hit. This means that at short range vehicles can get really beat up.
Tesla is strength 6 and on a roll to hit of six, the weapon gets an extra chance to hit. Making it extremely powerful versus infantry, but it too has very short range of 24".

Necrons are undead space skeletons so naturally when you shoot them they can get back up. Enter the We'll be back rule. On a 5+ any model killed with this rule can be returned to the unit it was taken from. However often an overlord (an indepent Ch. for necrons) will be equipped with a "Resurrection orb", changing this to a 4+ and increasing the durability of the squad. Remember that this roll is made for every phase of the game, but cant be made if the unit is wiped out or fails morale. Countering Tactic: Try to wipe out the entire unit either with concentrated fire or assault.

Understand the everliving rule - necron players love the everliving rule which allows them to stand back up on a 4+ after dieing, even if the whole unit is wiped out. they must place a counter on the table where the model was removed and must come back within 3" of said counter, but cant come back within 1" of other models. Countering Tactic: spread out (especially if defeated in CC) to be within at least 2" from the counter in all directions, and the guy is auto eliminated.

Mindshackle scarabs - this is the rule that tries to deter you from being in CC. Any model in Base 2 base contact with the model holding this wargear at the start of the fight subphase can be elected to be subject to a mindshackling. This means that model must take a Ld check on 3d6 (of which the average roll is 10). if failed (a 50% chance with Ld 10) the necron player can have the model direct its attacks against any other model in base to base with the Mindshackled or it may be forced to attack itself. Countering Tactics: Consider the vector of your assault so that no one starts in base to base with the overlord holding the MSS this can be achieved by Ravenwing or Jump pack squads. Challenge your opponent with a sacrificial character and make sure that he has an armor save vs. his own weapon in case of failure. this has the added benefit of removing the threat of attacking your own unit since characters in combat are considered to be in base to base only with each other hence failure may only hurt yourself. Or shoot them and don't assault.

The net list du jour has wraiths, troops in nightscythes, annihilation barges, with destroyer lords to lead them. this type of list is very difficult to counter and you will need to have a good way to bring down flyers to combat it and expose those troops, while simultaneously needing to have the ability to either slow or put wounds on the wraiths. this type of build is usually heavy on telsa and light on guass (which wrecks vehicles.)

Wraiths - no way around it, this unit is a nightmare. rending 2w jump troops that ignore difficult terrain and can bring you to initiave 1, and a 3++. Often These guys will be paired with a destroyer lord which also gives them preferred enemy, allowing rerolls to hit and wound. Countering tactics: best solution is massed boltgun fire or rad grenades with black knights. Missle launchers may also work here to cause instant death.


Catacomb command barge - tough to deal with this unit. as hull points can be absorbed by its overlord rider to have wounds placed on him, and it counts as a chariot with quantum shielding (av [13,13, 11] 'til penned') Countering tactics: melta in the butt is your best bet. you'll still have to deal with the lord after but the guy wont get auto attacks just for moving over you (see rules for chariots).

The ghost arc is another popular unit with quantum shielding but is open topped. These vehicles can add models to squads who have lost some of their number, not unlike tervigons birth guants. Be wary of this if squads have been wittled down but are not all the way dead. Countering tactics: again consider the multimelta or melta gun.

Tomb spyders and scarabs are also dangerous vs vehicles and as tarpits since they are multi wound models. scarabs - they are beasts and swarms so they ignore terrain. however they take double wounds from blasts and templates due to their swarm rule so be sure to direct those weapon types at this squad type. tomb spyders are monstrous creatures so black knights can help against them.

there is a slew of wargear that necrons can take that will befuddle you but the units above are the ones that will cause you the most problems just remember to consider the list and the mission. kill the troops.

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