Countdown to Counter Offensive 2: Necrons (1997 points) by Rob Van Pelt-Cathcart
I had a previous Necron army that I sold off a couple years ago. I always liked Necrons and have played them since they first appeared at the end of 2nd Edition. The capability of the army has gotten better and better with each incarnation of the army list from the initial appearance in White Dwarf to the revision in Chapter Approved to the Codex. They are a strong, solid army. They have little close combat ability to speak of and are pretty slow, but these can be overcome with good tactics and unit selection.

So for this summer, I am starting up a new Necron army, as I have missed them. My old army was mostly the old models, but the new one will be all-new models with more neat conversions, hopefully.

• The Deceiver
• Necron Lord w/ warscythe, Resurrection Orb, Destroyer Body 
• 10 Immortals 
• 15 Warriors 
• 15 Warriors 
• 15 Warriors 
• Four Destroyers 
• Three Heavy Destroyers

The only real drawback with taking a C’tan is the loss of an HQ slot where I would rather have a second Lord. The points aren’t really an issue as long as you stick with plenty of Necrons in the rest of your army. I previously fielded 2 Monoliths, which is 470 points, and I won a lot, so what is 300 points spent on the Deceiver? 

The rest of the army is pretty generic, nothing fancy. I have a squad of Immortals and a squad of Destroyers to provide some massed fire support with range. I have three Heavy Destroyers to snipe at enemy vehicles. Sure, I could take out vehicles with the Immortals or Destroyers, but it is so much easier to just frag a vehicle with a Strength 9 shot than to whittle it apart with a couple dozen Strength 5 or 6 shots. 

I fielded the Heavy Destroyers into squads of one each to make them more resilient to the enemy. This way, in order for them to be all shot down by the enemy and to be prevented their “We’ll Be Back!” rolls, the enemy will need to dedicate three separate units to doing so. Also, there is less chance of all three getting tied up in melee. They will also never need to make break tests, for a while anyway, or All-On-Your-Own tests. The idea is to always keep each one within 6" of the other two. As they fall down and get back up, they will consolidate into a single squad based on the WBB rules, but for the first two or three turns, they will be independent and a little safer. The last plus to three squads of one is that I can shoot three enemy targets a turn.

Lastly, the army is filled out with 45 Warriors in three squads to give it the numbers needed to survive Phase Out. So even with a C’tan, I still have 60 “Necron” models, which is very respectable, and there is enough variety that I should be able to threaten any target.

(How did this army do at Counter Offensive 2? Find out here)

Related Pages 
Counter Offensive
Counter Offensive 2
 

© Copyright Rob Van Pelt-Cathcart, August 2005. Used with permission.
 

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