One of my favorite concepts in the new Necron codex is bouncing Tesla and none is more potent than the Tesla Destructor. The thought of a bunch of lightning shots bouncing around armies is just visually appealing *whips out Heroes 3 and casts chain lightning.* Anyway, with four S7 AP- shots plus Tesla plus Arc, the Tesla destructor is a pretty potent suppression weapon and can put the wounds on infantry pretty well - particularly when twin-linked (higher chances of 6's to hit). Clump your guys up and watch extra hits get handed out. Anyway, the concept just tickles me pink.
So with that in mind I wanted to run a list with lots of Tesla destructors - this means Night Scythes and Annihilation Barges. Barges are quite cheap at 90 points as they provide excellent suppression and come with the usual AV13 until penned and Living Metal bonuses (but are open-topped). The only issue with the Barge is their speed. They're not fast so can't move quickly and fire their weapons and Tesla only has a range of 24"... Night Scythes on the other hand are fast and can fire whilst on the move. This means getting good side shots for that S7 to poke through and avoiding return fire as much as possible. However, they don't have quantum shielding (but are not open-topped) so are expensive, fast, flying Razorbacks. Again though, the issue is 24".
This is where the Necron codex comes in and we wave to some night fighting shenanigans. This will be discussed in more detail in later posts as we look at Night Fighting and Imotekh but for now let's keep the premise simple. Night Fighting during the Necron turn hurts their shooting as much as it can hurt the opponent's - particularly when you are 24" range for the most part (i.e. you're nearly in average spotting range of your opponent) so in this list no Imotekh. Night Fighting during the opponent's turn can really up the durability of your units and whilst there is plenty of abilities which improve their ability in Night Fight, it is going to affect your opponent's target choice and order of shooting. Ergo - some Solar Pulses are needed for this army as well.
And this is where I hit a wall. We've got Scythes and Barges and Solar Pulses...but what else? We have a serious issue against AV13 crons since we cannot penetrate them and AV13/14 is going to be a pain (there's enough S7 coming out that AV12 isn't the issue it normally is). Night Scythes have the mobility to often negate high front AV values but are limited by their 24" range. Scarabs can be an obvious help but do we really want 30 of them? It's plausible but any enemy is going to be forced to deal with them (and they aren't that durable).
Well step in Archnomad (completely separately) with a list I think takes the mass Tesla destructor concept and makes it into a nice army list. Here is his solution...
Anrakyr + Command Barge
Necron Overlord w/Warscythe + Command Barge
Cryptek w/Solar Pulse, Lance
6x5 Immortals w/Tesla + Night Scythe
3x3 Scarabs
3 Annihilation Barges
Totals: 1995 points
11 vehicles, 42 infantry (9 beasts)
We're still based around the Tesla destructors but now have small Scarab squads, Anrakyr and two Command Barges to help us deal with tougher targets. The Scarabs are small enough to hide behind any piece of terrain which could conceivably block LoS and once vehicles aren't moving quickly, they can jump forward and put a bunch of Entropic strikes on anything which is too tough for the Tesla to punch through. Anrakyr brings the vehicle hijack into play as well as an arrow for kicks. Taking him and a Warscythe Overlord in Command Barges gives you more anti-infantry firepower but importantly S7+2D6 pen hits on vehicles as well as the ability to snipe models from units (bye bye Sanguinary Priests). The Solar Pulse stops most shooting in the first shooting phase against the Necron army and allows the Necrons to get the first big heavy punch in.
Both the Scarabs and Command Barges wait until the enemy is well suppressed by massive amounts of Tesla then move in and start whacking non-moving units. It is important to note here that Command Barges don't care how fast the opponent moves in terms of dealing damage to them but it's a matter of over-extension or not. Hitting your opponent with the Barges + Anrakyr + the Scarabs + Immortals + Scythes all at the same time on T2 after two rounds of Tesla Destructor shooting...well that's damn powerful. At the same time, if you do need to overextended to try and stop that Land Raider for example, the Barges are the best option here as they don't care about cover nor how fast said target moved. 6x S7+2D6 swings on a 3+/4+ without cover is generally not what people want hitting their big tanks Turn 1/2.
All in all...well fun-times. You still have 30 MEQs in terms of scoring and a bunch of anti-infantry in the massive amounts of Tesla you've got rolling around. Scaling down is also possible to about 1750 (lose a Immortal + Scythe combo to 1810 and Annihilation Barge to 1720) but anything lower is going to be a little less feasible as you become HQ heavy in order to deal with the higher AV values which do crop up.
Anyway, have at thee.
