So with some people having their hands on the codex...we have official rules! Let's look at them quickly without actually going into super duper details...
HQs -
There are so many options here...it's insane. Orb only affects unit now. The court - one allowed per Overlord (most SCs are overlords) is the Necron answer to the Wolf Guard with Necron Lords being 'Sarges' and Crypteks being...well they bring a lot of neat stuff along. These guys can add a lot of little buffs to your army. There's one thing the internet seems to be going gaga over - a S10 AP1 infinite range single shot weapon...for 30 points. Poor use of points IMO but it could help with some anti-tank issues... nah still pass. Mindswarm Scarab thingies are great for stopping hammers swinging - especially at 15 points though combat isn't really where the Necron army wants to be. Generic Overlord doesn't bring too much to the table though the Destroyer Lord is pretty nice and cheap (why no TROOPS *angry face*) and the Special Characters have a butt load of options.
Some fun shenanigans with night fight being turned on and off but it's expensive to do so. Necrons being an army which is largely best at shooting at mid-range...well this can be just as annoying for your army as it is your opponents (though with the Special Character you do get extra damage during Night). Maybe viable for a combat oriented Necron army? but not a fan as Necrons still don't have a great combat presence. One guy can hand out USRs and take them away from the opponent. Stealth, Acute Senses and Tank Hunters are included which are all nice options with the usual assortment of Hit and Run, Counter-attack, Furious Charge. This is a nice de-buff and buffing system done each turn which doesn't carry over. There's a crappy combat guy and super Cryptek (makes one unit of Immortals or Warriors get a bonus to their statline) as well as a guy who drastically helps your reserves - though only on one turn. This can really help when reserving to get a counter alpha-strike in or hiding key models (*cough Doom Scythes cough*). He also annoys opponent's first turn movement with terrain shenanigans (there's a lot of that in this book) who can also be pretty scary in combat.
Another guy can fiddle with enemy tanks and make them shoot for him and buffs an Immortal unit. Yay? though shooting a Land Raider MM at something would be pretty fun. Limited to tanks within 18" of him though so all those backfield tanks are a bit harder to access. Then we have the guy who broke the Internet -when he kills something in combat, everything with the same name takes a wound with saves allowed on a 4+. So cleansing flame but no psychic test, not before combat and only if the guy kills something and against like named models. Man I thought people complained bout W2/2+/2++ paladins! He's also scoring and makes his unit relentless (are there heavy weapons on infantry models?) - the scoring is nice since he can jump from squad to squad as they die.
Elites -
If it's not a Stalker well bugger off! Most of the units here have cutesy little rules we attribute to non-Ward armies so that's unusual. The Elite infantry are generally decent enough if they can get to assault (i.e. mass S7 + 2D6 armor pen power weapons...okay!) but in general, Necrons aren't going to be wanting to do that so these are most likely going to see use as counter-assault units for the most part. C'Tan's can bring some nice abilities to the table (most notably - all terrain is dangerous for opponent) but are expensive and not that hard to kill. Ask Tyranids how easy one MC is to drop. Whilst always having a 4++ is nice and T7...ya there's a lot of firepower out there today. Stalkers though...well they bring a double shooting MM (second firing mode of S5 AP4 template) to the table on a walker platform with AV11/open-topped and the usual assortment of Necron vehicle goodies. Anything it shoots at and doesn't die is 'marked' and the rest of Necrons shooting at it are twin-linked. I'll take three please and a model before six other books come out okay Games Workshop?
Troops -
no FoC swaps. This sucks. Destroyers could have really used a FoC swap here (though Heavy D's would need to be a separate unit at this point) but Destroyers are pretty meh now anyway. Both Warriors and Immortals are good for two things - scoring and killing infantry. They rely on Guass to do anything else which is pretty eh in 5th edition. Both are quite durable with reanimation protocols, particularly with Res Orbs and Arks around but small squads can be quite easily shot off the table. The issue here is...the transports are expensive so the MSU route can be risky but larger squads will see you not maxing out the FoC.
Transports -
Both seem pretty good when coupled with some Warriors/Immortals. Night Scythes can be suppression/anti-infantry/scoring vehicles from the backfield whilst Ghost Arks can improve durability of units with extra models coming back to life and brings a bunch more Guass to the table. The issue is pricing as there is no cheap option.
Fast Attack -
Ya Scarabs drain armor. They are beasts and 15 points a pop. These guys are going to be annoying, particularly with some Spyder support, but dropping a lot of points on them isn't going to be great. Make your opponent sweat a big unit coming at them and focus on killing them or getting their tanks' AV drained. A full squad will on average drop 3AV points from a fast moving vehicle. Wraiths are the combat unit you should be looking at if you want a unit to get up in your opponent's face and annoying them. W2/3++ is very nice and they come with a decent enough strength, number of attacks and rending to scare tanks as well. Destroyers got a kick in the butt with S5 guns but Heavy D's are still okay mobile lascannons but expensive at 60 points a pop (three per unit). The Necron Jetbikes are okay as well but nothing great - another anti-infantry based unit.
Heavy Support -
Ye old Monolith is back with a nice points reduction and some improved abilities with its door. It is a pretty bad anti-tank option though and still munches some infantry away. See a theme going here? Tomb Spyders are squads of T6 MCs which can take different wargear (Carnifexes are weeping) and can really help improve Scarab swarms by adding more models (does not make a new unit). Has a bunch of other buffing abilities as well. Annihilator Barge is basically a non-transport option of the Night Scythe so good for suppression and popping infantry. Doomsday Ark is blargh at 175 points and once again - kills infantry dead but eh at anti-tank. The S9 AP1 large blast if you don't move is cute but not reliable. Doom Scythes...well they're Blood Lances on crack. They are expensive and don't come with quantum shielding so they are very much a "go first or reserve option." They will screw up parking lots very badly and otherwise provide Necrons with some reliable anti-tank (can you get more reliable than a S10 AP1 attack which doesn't roll to hit?) whilst still having some anti-infantry potential. Everything else in the Heavy Support section gets the label "not a Doom Scythe" but do have some good options. I imagine two Scythes + something else will be a common setup.
Overall -
I still hold my reservations about anti-tank. There are some really good anti-tank options like the Doomscythe and Stalker...and that's about it. Everything else is about suppression or setting up the kill later in game. If 6th edition moves to a more 6-10 vehicle game rather than 10+, this will be fine. As it stands currently, well growing pains will ensue I think. Necrons otherwise kick arse at making your infantry disappear at range (is this sounding familiar) and will very likely run lists similar in make-up to what we see with Dark Eldar - fair amount of infantry and a middling amount of tanks. Whilst pretty fragile with AV11/open-topped on most things, living metal and quantum shielding helps keep that durability going for as long as possible.
Their combat isn't great but they have some units fully capable of punching holes in units though they are mostly I2 - don't lose combat. Getting Warsycthes into parking lots will be very fun indeed though. Excellent durability for the most part on their infantry with T4/4+ up to T5/3+ along with reanimation rolls and potential AV13 walls. The army feels very much like a Xenos Grey Knights in terms of shooting layout - though obviously more boots on the table, less durable tanks, etc.
The codex looks fun and I'm sure we'll see moaning galore about things like the Doom Scythe, night fight, AV13 walls, etc. but I don't think it has the guts to drop 10+ tank armies consistently and reliably. But then again, people believe Grey Knights without meltaguns do as well... Necrons at least have the Guass advantage and Entropic strike but like Tyranids, most of their true anti-tank is tied up outside of Troops. Will this be their downfall? *shrug* though GW better get it's game on and produce Doom Scythes and Stalkers or they are going to lose bucket loads of money.
Anyway, what are your thoughts? Mutter and mumble away as you please. And thank you to Avatar for running through most of the rules on the chatbawks for us.
