Email in: Mix'n'Match my new Necrons!

"I've been reading your blog for almost one and a half year and greatly appreciate your articles on tactics and codex reviews, which really helped me analyzing my own play over here in Germany. I've got almost all the toys I'd want for Blood Angels. I can play them as full mech or DoA only, but the painting is... well... mostly lacking. I bought too much too fast and for now they are resting, but I will get back to this army. Now I'm going for something new, I'm building a Necron army, for I like the new rules and fluff (!) and painting a basic Necron model is easy. This army will be fully painted before it hit's the battlefield and I'd be thankful if you helped me deciding on what to take.

I don't play in competitive events and prefer games with friends. I've found optimised (optimised as in having the best chances to win games - with the current meta and a range of enemy forces that I am likely to engage on the battlefield as constraints and assuming equal player skill) to be lacking, as they force my opponents (a.k.a. friends) to field similarly strong lists to not be clubbed to death, meaning the builds converge towards an optimum and become boring. This is a simplified view, but it yields at least some truth. My way to stop the arms race is to write a list that would be competitive at some lower point level - 80 to 90 Percent of the target points level - and fill the rest with "cool stuff I'd like to see on the battlefield".

So, this is what i got for my Necrons by now:

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HQ

Overlord

- Warscythe

- Mindshackle Scarabs

- Command Barge

(195 points)

Council

- Harbinger of Destruction with Solar Pulse

- Harbinger of Destruction

- Harbinger of Destruction

- harbinger of Despair with Veil of Darkness

(185 points)

##########

Elite

Triach Stalker

(150 points)

Triarch Stalker

(150 points)

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Troops

Necron Warriors (9)

- Ghost Ark

(232 points)

Necron Warriors (9)

- Ghost Ark

(232 points)

Necron Warriors (12)

(156 points)

Immortals (5)

(85 points)

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Heavy Support

Annihilation Barge

(90 points)

Annihilation Barge

(90 points)

Annihilation Barge

(90 points)

##########

1655 points!

##########

This I would call a solid core, as it gives some armour saturation with 8 vehicles, enough durabe troops and okayish firepower. But I want to take this to 1850 points for my regular games but don't want to play the same list over and over. I'd like your ideas for my "core" and for the following parts, that seem fun to play and isn't utter cr*p.

Six examples of what to add:

## Simple ##

Add three Tomb Blades with synchronized Gauss-Blasters (60 points) and nine Canoptek Scarabs (135 points). I already have the models and they should play nice.

##########

## Walkers! ##

One additional Triarch Stalker with Heavy Gauss Cannon (165 points) and somerwhere I'll find the bits for Heavy Gauss Cannons for the other Stalkers (30 points).

##########

## Double Council ##

Lose five Necron Warriors (-65 points) and the Command Barge (-80 points). Add another Overlord with Scythe and MSS (115 points) and a council of three Harbingers of Destruction with Solar Pulse and one Flaming Gaze and a Harbinger of the Storm with his Anti-charge-field (170). Spend the 55 points left on wargear you'd want to try, perhaps even upgrade an Overlord to a Phaeron.

##########

## Flyers ##

Get two flyers when they become available. Lose one Annihilation Barge (-90 points), get one Doom Scythe instead (175 points) and get a Night Scythe for the Immortals (100 points). Leaves 10 points for... Flaming Gaze or something.

##########

## Doom ##

Lose two Annihilation Barges (-180 points) and get two Doomsday Arks (350). 25 points left for gimmicks.

##########

## Monolith ##

Lose one Annihilation Barge (-90 points) and get a Monolith (200) and a small unit of Tomb Blades or Scarabs.

##########

These are a couple of ways to take my force to full 1850 points and there sure are some good ones more. All need at least some adjustment to tactics but I'm sure I can handle this. Some need fewer models than others, which is good as I can add diversity with bigger or smaller amounts of cash. Care to share a few words on what you think about my core and some of the Addons? Have a few ideas on your own? What would you think are the best (and most diverse) variations? What do you think of this type/style of "recipe"?

Yours, Max

P.S.: Please excuse probable issues with grammar and spelling as english is not my native language. Because of this I didn't go into too much detail, as my english becomes ... cumbersome when I try to explain more complex topics like tactics."

I like Simple and Double council ideas but Double Council is very likely going to turn your list into what you would consider close to optimal - which if that's not what you're going for, should be avoided. The idea of taking a solid core and adding fun stuff around it is a good idea - you have a good army on which you can learn/practice tactics, etc. and you've got something which makes your army a little softer against equally pointed lists but you've still got the good core to expand upon if you want to take it to a tournament.

I'd add another option here to expand the army - something to do with Lychguard. They are a so-so unit but excellent models and can provide something to the army without screaming "I'm crap and trying to make a soft list" sort of thing. Chucking in some Necron Lords or an Overlord can enhance this 'fun' unit though if you need to drop points anywhere I'd look to an Annihilation Barge (which again, softens the list a bit). This could also be used when expanding upon your Simple idea to grab some more Tomb Blades, etc.

Otherwise another idea would be to use all the extra points on Destroyers, Tomb Blades or Wraiths. All so-so to decent units which can add some spice to the army and conversion opportunities if you want.