Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Necrons

This is the latest Edition's tactics. 5th Edition Tactics are here. The Old Codex is here also.

Building Your Army

Painting

• Dry Brushing - The only technique you will need to use to paint any sized Necron force.
• Dip - An alternative to Dry Brushing. Spray everything chrome or a shiny metallic color. Then dip all the models in a brown wash. Blam, done. After assembling, you have any sized Necron force done in 30 minutes. Put some green as an added bonus.

No, seriously.

Buying & Collecting

Just start like with any other army; an HQ, 2 Troops choices, 1 vehicle, and a Fast Attack / Elite choice (easily done by buying Battleforce and a Command Barge).

HQ Choices: Your best bet will be a generic Overlord. One of these guys decked out in the right wargear, riding a Command Barge, is probably the most popular HQ selection. Anrakyr, Trazyn, and Nemesor Zahndrekh are all somewhat decent HQ choices, given the right circumstances. Vargard Obyron, Szeras, Orikan, and the Destroyer Lord, not so much (they're more along the lines of support HQ choices).

Keep in mind that Necron HQ and the Royal Courts they can unlock are incredibly good at buffing your army. Whether it be Anrakyr's Pyrrhian Eternals, Szeras' upgrades, or the Overlord's Phaeron ability, each HQ is tailored for both specific tactics or general enhancement. (Don't start out with Imotekh though. Sure deep striking Flayed Ones may seem nice, but the Stormlord's abilities are grossly overrated (more coming on that later.) He's more useful in larger points games where there's more immediate targets for the enemy to deal with.)

Troop Choices: Warriors are dependable and you can have many of them. Problem is, your opponent will most likely charge them as she/he will know Warriors die when assaulted. Many will argue that Warriors is the way to go, while others praise the Immortals more. Truth of the matter is, you need both. Your Warriors should be your objective holders or mid line support, while your Immortals should be at the forefront capturing contested objectives or taking the fight to the enemy (better done with Anrakyr's upgrades.) Use both Troops choices.

Elite choices: Are okay, but should be considered for bigger point games. If you're starting out use Lychguard with swords and shields, because they gain an invul save (and that's something they'll need, epecially with all the armor ignoring weapons out there lol not even worth it with a proper royal court deathstar to do everything better (buy them for use as lords). Triarch Praetorians are average, and are best when armed with the particle caster and voidblade (you get more bang for your buck out of that) Once again, worthless use bits to make cryptekhs and save money. Flayed Ones=no. Deathmarks are definetly worth considering. Precision shots combined with rending,pinning, rapid fire and hunters from hyperspace makes taking at least one unit of these worth it (add harbringers of despair for taste and your opponents tears are done); only worthwhile unit in the whole slot. Triarch Stalkers are mostly good, but you need to take 2 of them so they can be effective. Redundancy is key with them, especially since they are so multipurpose. C'tan Shards should be avoided unless you've got a specific plan in mind for them.

Heavy Support choices: Monolith. Tough, but not recommended for low point games. They cost a lot but can do a lot, too. If you absolutely need it, take only 1 (for now). Spyders are decent in close combat, but they're best served in a support capacity. Good for both repairing your vehicles and spawning more Scarabs. Doomsday Arks are powerful, but fickle. Doom Scythes have the strongest weapon the Necrons have at their disposal... mounted on the weakest vehicle (lol no, its a flyer and this is 6th edition). If you absolutely have to take it, take two. The Annihilation Barge is one of the best units in the codex. Spam them, if you can.

Fast attack choices: Arguably the best section in the codex. Scarabs are excellent at destroying vehicles, and they will come for free basically with your Warriors (if you have Spyders in your army, go crazy with Scarabs). Wraiths are arguably the best combat unit Necrons have ( or any army has if you take a destroyer lord with them). Take them if you can. Tomb Blades and Destroyers are great, too. It's hard to know what to take and what to leave from this section.

Transports: Catacomb Command Barge is considered one of the greatest vehicles in the game. No exaggeration. If you've got an HQ how has a Warscythe, get him on one of these. You will not be sorry. Ghost Arks are great, but are for Warriors and Characters only. Keep in mind they can only fit 10 models inside, too. They're nice support if you're fielding lots of Warriors. The Night Scythe is for everything else. Move them flat out 3 feet into the enemy and unleash 10 Immortals with a barrage of fire.

• UPDATE: The new Necron Battleforce is now available. It brings 5 Immortals, 20 Warriors, 5 Canoptek Scarab bases, and a Ghost Ark. This is a great way to start. Don't buy it from Games Workshop, though. That'll cost you 105 dollars. Find it online for 25% off and you'll have yourself an easy effective start to your army. The Ghost Ark can only carry 10 Warriors which is half of what the battleforce brings, so either have them all on foot with the Ghost Ark floating along side to replenish fallen Warriors, split them up 10 by 10 (half in, half walking), or perhaps the best combo, 5 in and the rest walking. 5 Immortals isn't bad, but is your only source of mobile heavy firepower. Sure the Ark can be made into a Doomsday Ark, but don't. You'll lose your transport (unless you go through the pain and wonders of magnetizing... but even then, don't brink a Doomsday Ark to a low point game). 5 Scarab bases is nice, since the only way you can normally get them is through Warrior set boxes.

• • Grade: B+ (pro-tip: buy a Command Barge with this and you'll have a playable army that will actually be able to perform decently).

• UPDATE 2: Second wave is now out, some of the models are very nice indeed. Night/Doom Scythe are now out as well.

• UPDATE 3: Necron Megaforce is now available. This beast of a pack includes : 1 Necron Catacomb Command Barge, 24 Necron Warriors, 5 Necron Immortals, 1 Necron Doomsday Ark, 1 Necron Triarch Stalker, 6 Necron Tomb Blades, 1 Necron Canoptek Spyder and 6 Necron Scarab Swarms. Try putting all that together in a weekend.

Extra Elite Units

Want to get some extra units from the bitz of your battleforce? Build the immortals and then take the pieces of the deathmarks, get some greenstuff, thin wire, and 5 lollipops, eat your candy and keep the sticks, use one as a backbone to paste the deathmark back and head, then with some green stuff sculpt the chest of the deathmark (tray to use a card for the rib marks), since this is going to get covered by the deathmark's rifle it doesnt have to look perfect, just enough to look decent (alternatively you can use plasticine and then cover it with a bit of varnish for extra hardness), paste the arms and rifle, then use 2 wires to add some detail in the back of the deathmark and the lower backbone, finally with some additional green stuff make a simple whirldwind and put the deathmark over it, now you got a deathmark phasing out of hyperspace! Add bright white-blueish/greenish colours to the whirldwind for extra effect. If you did well this means from now on you will always get 10 elite units from your battleforce or immortal set box!

Building On Points

Start out anywhere between 750 pts to 1000pts. As you get used to the army, add in a Barge or two, some Wraiths/Destroyers/Tomb Blades and so forth. The choices above are just to get you used to the shooting and assaulting potential of the army. Obviously at 750 pts you won't be able to fit 1 HQ, 2 Troops, 1 Elite, and a Heavy Support choice. So take the HQ and Troops first. Also, if you're going to take a Royal Court, make sure you know what role would best suit your units. The Court is going to support whatever strategy you form as you learn the army. Take a Necron Lord with a Warscythe, Mindshackle Scarabs and a Res Orb for your Warriors, a Harbinger of Destruction with a Solar Pulse and Gaze of Flame for your Immortals, and you should be fine for now, if possible tray the tip explained at the 'Extra Elite Units' section.

Apocalypse Tactics

• Monolith Phalanx - one of the most HATED tactics in apocalypse, simply plonk 2-5 monoliths on the field and watch as all of your troops gain 5+ invulnerable saves which usually isn't much but consider that every, single freaking Necron will have it and gain bonuses to their RP rolls (revs on a 2+ lol) and you'll have an army that will simply refuse to fucking die no matter what's thrown at it. Since Monoliths are absurdly durable and a large number of them is bound to fuck up even a Titan's shit (especially if one or more of them is a doomsday monolith), you will win almost all the fucking time even with 5th edition gauss weapon nerfs. If you convince your opponent to play with 3rd or 4th edition vehicle damage rules then you will be pretty much invincible. Keep a troll face on at all times while using this tactic and watch your opponents rage impotently. Monoliths are no longer as impervious as they once were, but have dropped in price significantly (35 points is significant?), so now you can compensate for your less durable Monoliths by fielding even MORE shit. Combine this with the Pylon's bullshit formation to make your enemies cry.
• Pylon spam: Pylons are probably the single most rapetastic unit to ever grace apocalypse. They're nearly indestructible, they can teleport at will, they can reach across the board with a ridiculously rapid fire D strength main gun that does not give a fuck about armour saves, aircraft are no safer against it than anything else, and if anything gets even moderately close to it, it can unleash an unholy amount of flux arc shots at absolutely every enemy near it. Additionally, they have special formations that greatly improve the strength of your army, you'd have to be stupid to not take multiple of them in apocalypse. A trio of pylons is capable of obliterating entire armies.