Editing Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Kill Team(8E) Xenos (section)

===NEC Strategies===
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'''NEC Strategies:'''
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<strike>[[Metal Gear|Why won't you die!??]]</strike>
<strike>[[Meme|REANIMATION PROTOCOLS, SON!!]]</strike>

Ehem. The necrons are one of the most infuriating teams to fight against in Kill Team. They don't have the sheer firepower and long range of the Tau, the flexibility of the SM, AM and DE, the melee prowess of the Harlequin and the Orks. What they have, though, is resilience. They are pretty much the best defensive team in the game, in my opinion beating handily Death Guard in that regard. Why? 

Because they just won't die.

Ever.

Their Reanimation Protocols means that if they roll a flesh wound dice of 6+, they get restored to full power. This means that, if the unit has been soaking damage and has 3 flesh wounds already, one lucky roll of 6+ will restore it to full efficiency. Even better if your unit is in cover, giving the enemy only 1/6 chance to kill the unit, the same exact chance of restoring it to full health. Those turns and attacks you used to try and kill it? Completely wasted. That mortal wound you managed to inflict? Sucks to be you. Your psyker got an 11+ on their smite roll with 3 wounds? Yawn, better luck next time. This means a necron could suddenly be at full strength at the end of the match, when the enemy's remaining units are wounded or out of commission, giving you a massive advantage. Unlike the Disgustingly resilient rule, it's only 6+ in comparison to the nurglelite's 5+, but restoring a unit from the brink of death is a dick move that will stress the fuck out of your opponents. Also the necron's general leadership is 10, so forget about demoralizing them, they just won't back down unless they are really fucked up or most of your team is dead.

In this analysis I'll talk about the necrons in vanilla Kill Team. If someone wants to update this with the commanders/elites stuff later, please do so. 

Offensively, the necrons have a lot of drawbacks. They have a lot of units to choose from, but their gear is extremely limited (no gunners here), and every model is expensive. It's possible to have a necron team of 5-7 units in a regular 100p match, and have your enemy outnumber you by a lot. This means you will need to know your units very well, and also try to analyze the enemy's list to make every unit of yours count.

First, a bit more on the reanimation protocols. Your units don't have an invulnerable save, so with general 4+ save, they are slightly weaker than marines. Try to avoid plasma and anything with AP-3 or more, because that will send you immediately to the reanimation phase. Also, use and abuse covers as much as possible, that will double your chances of surviving. There's also the Prime Reanimation Protocols stratagem, which allows you to throw an additional dice roll for your injuries, applying the lowest result. While this can save you from a dreaded 5 or 4, this could mean that it will fuck up a perfectly valid 6, with the potential of killing you if both of your rolls are too high (can someone confirm this?) (if you roll a 4 and a 5 then yes, you're going to die. It's not the stratagem's fault, per se, but it didn't help you).

Also, the Mindshackle Scarabs stratagem. It's really good. USE IT. Picking an enemy unit and making it shoot against their own team if fantastic. Pick the melta guy and evaporate their commander, or overcharge their plasma and have the chance of killing two units in one swipe. Though you won't be able to use it reliably against high leadership units.

And now, let's analyze the units. First, there's the Necron Warrior. The basic grunt, the Necron Warrior is a rather decent unit, albeit somewhat overcosted in my opinion. Its Rapid Fire 1 gun is 24" S4 AP-1, better than a lasgun by a decent margin, and even better with BS3+, but it's otherwise overshadowed by the rest of the units. Only pick it up if you want a shooty team and you have leftover points, otherwise you'll choose the flayed one.

The Immortal is your better infantry goon. The only one with actual gear choices, they are stat-wise identical to the Necron Warriors (they also have a 3+ armour save rather than 4+, bear that in mind). You are paying for the gun, keep in mind that. The Gauss Blaster is 24" Rapid Fire 1 S5 AP-2, which is good, but nothing spectacular. Tesla Carbines are 24" Assault 2 S5 AP0 with each hit roll of 6+ counting as 3 attacks. In my opinion, the Tesla are the better choice, but the Gauss Blaster should be considered against heavy armored units. The Overcharged Disintegration adds an extra AP to both of them, making them quite decent, but the stratagem is quite expensive. Considering the general lack of shooting power of the necrons, you are going to need them for regular engagements.

The flayed one is your melee specialist, and your cheapest unit at 10p. A team of 10 flayed ones is a scary thought considering how tough they are. Though they are slow, so always run and charge whenever possible. The claws are a decent weapon, with A3 WS3+ S4 (or more if boosted) with the chance of re-rolling the failed hit rolls. The lack of AP hurts them quite a lot, and the strength boost of the Flensing Fury and Disruption Fields stratagems is something, but not too much (it's already S4 and it will pretty much always boosted with the Zealot specialism, so why bother another extra strength). I like to compare them to genestealers, because their function is basically the same: charge the enemy, throw as many attacks as possible at it, kill it, move on. The genestealer is better in this regard by being much faster and having access to multiple melee options, a 5++ save and the scout specialism. The flayed one has over it more reliable attacks thanks to the re-rolls and the chance of tanking pretty much everything through reanimation protocols, plus they can be zealots while the genestealers can't. Genestealers are MUCH better against MEQs considering their AP-3 option the Flayed One desperately wants. Also, keep in mind the Flayed One will be the most fragile unit in your team, on the basis that it always goes into melee, so no chance of avoiding its death on a 4 flesh wound roll. The point of this unit is to scare other units. Two flayed ones will annoy the enemy enough to focus fire upon them, leaving your other slow units to move closer to the objectives and blast them without danger. Alternatively, you could do it the other way around, using your shooting units to bait the enemy and attack them from behind with the Flayed Ones, but beware of flamers and units that can take a flesh wound and hit back, like marines. They are also great to blocking units that you don't want to perform at 100% performance: it won't shoot due to being in melee and will get a wound if you're lucky, so its performance will be compromised. Something that can be very annoying if you are lucky with the flesh rolls.

Finally, the Deathmark, the sniper of the lot. And it's pretty much the worst sniper unit in the game that fits that role. A maximum of 24" for a sniper is ridiculously short, considering there are guns that outclass it for quite a lot of difference. The SM and AM's Sniper Rifle, the AdMech's Arquebus... Hell, you'll have the same range of many plasma users, and the sniper stratagem is considerably more useful on them than on you. With BS3+, you'll probably be shooting at units beyond half of your range, plus cover, so expect many BS5+ rolls. Rapid Fire is nice, especially with the chance of a mortal wound on 6+, but it's just not that good. Add to that it has S4 AP0 and you are struggling to hurt most things that are not guardsmen and orks. Skitarii have 4+ save, Marines have 3+, anti-sniper nids like genestealers have 5+(4+ with extended carapace)/5++, harlequins have 4++... So most of the time you're going to rely on that mortal wound more than you should. 

Overall, the toughness of the necrons are balanced by a severe lack of firepower, both in strength and in number of attacks. The enemy will probably outnumber you, so your best strategy is to get close to cover, slowly advance to the objectives, and focus your fire on one at a time. Slowly but surely you'll be able to wither them down, while your units suddenly get back up again. Don't get cocky, though, as accumulating wounds will weaken your units as well. 
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'''Counterplay:'''
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Necrons are slow as molasses and don't pack as quite a punch as it seems, so don't be afraid of them. You'll probably be faster than them, use that speed to outmaneuver them. Units with decent saves or invulnerables will have a decent chance of surviving their attacks considering the general lack of AP in their weaponry. Marines, Skitarii, Harlequines, SotA... Pick weapons of 1-2 attacks with high AP to reduce the chance of extra flesh rolls that could give you a 6. Also, about that pesky 6+. Use your superior mobility to attack them from the rear. Eliminate their cover advantage. Use the weapons that ignore obscuring. ATTACK THEM IN MELEE. Whatever in takes, that basically doubles the risk of death by 2. Also, while their general strength is 4, they can only hope to kill something in melee with the flayed one. Take advantage of that. A charge with something heavy will hurt them, having to either back off or counter with their basic attack. Weapons like power sword, power fists, harlequin melee stuff... If it is 3+ or more the better. Against the Flayed One, keep them running and shoot them, and they will fall eventually. 

A couple of specific suggestions:
*Space Marines and Co. will use plasma and regular bolters. Bolters are cheap and shoot twice, while the plasma goes through their saves like butter. And in melee, pick your choice, really. Reivers are a good choice for melee due to their mobility and melee focus, plus the W2, something that could be nice in case of an emergency.
*Imperial Guard will use the Plasma Spam, no doubt. They will have to be careful, though, as their low toughness and bad saves means they can't really take that much damage. And keep an eye on the Flayed One, you have nothing outside of Elites that can take a decent attack from one, even without AP attacks. You could also pick long range attacks, especially Reim. You just have to protect him from the flayed one.
*Admech can choose the rangers for the Galvanic Rifle, though they should really go for plasma spam here. Plus, a Galvanic Rifle against particularly annoying units might be useful, considering it outranges the necroms by a lot. They are 4+/6++ so they could take quite a lot of damage and survive. Also, the Sicarians are great to deal with the Flayed ones, especially the Infiltrator power sword variety. Be wary of the counteratack, though, as T3 is not much, and even W2 are not enough against the flurry of attacks one Flayed One can throw at you. My suggestion? Get a Vanguard Alpha, charge with it first, and once they are locked, send the Infiltrator, the -1 penalty to toughness will be appreciated.
*Custodes can take the punishment, really. Necrons may take longer than most to fall, but they will fall, especially in melee. Their lack of AP is their doom here.
*Orks have to move fast and hide behind their cover or their gretchins. Reach melee, use high AP attacks, and watch as the most advanced species in the galaxy gets stomped by dumb mushrooms. But until then, hide and be fast, your toughness is laughable. Burnas may be a decent as well, considering they have less attacks than other flamers.
*Harlequins are in their element here. Their clear CQC superiority and 4++ means they will have no problem getting into melee. Though the reanimation protocols can be annoying, considering how many attacks they can do.
*Tau will just stay in their base and sit there shooting the metallic undead until they're down, necrons can't simply get to them. Maybe combine the list with something that could survive CQC for a while to try and stop the Flayed Ones. Also, don't be lazy, you'll have to move to get to the objectives as well, so something will have to come close to the necrons. Maybe combining their list with the Krootox, to stop the necrons in melee right on their tracks.
*SotA will be able to just walk on a straight line and throw themselves in melee. The problem will be the negavolt's multiple attacks. Their lack of AP will stop most of them, though, so you won't have to worry much against having to throw many flesh wound dice. Plus, the mortal wound they have on the charge is nice.
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