Initial Thoughts on the New Necrons

I got together today with a buddy of mine that I have a commission job for and he brought along his long dormant Necron army in hopes of trying out the new codex.  Due to time, we only got to play a 1,500pt game, but I noticed a few things about the new 'Crons.

1) Reanimation Protocols is no fun!  Being able to bring back dead models regardless of the type of wound dealt is a real boon for Necron players while quite nasty for their opponents.  Of course, this is well balanced by the fact that many Necron units can be broken in combat and swept.  I was impressed by how strong this rule was while not being overpowered. 

2) Wraiths are quite beastly.  Having rending and 4 attacks on the assault make wraiths a force to be reckoned with.  Couple that with 2 wounds, a 3++ save, and whip coils to make opponents I1 and you have a nasty combat unit.  I like the idea of taking a destroyer lord with resurrection orb to bring them back.

3) Destroyers aren't half bad, though not great.  Having S5 AP3 shots is great and heavy destroyers get an even harder hitting gun.  Unfortunately, they aren't flash in any other way and can easily be dropped by high strength, low AP weapons. 

4) Royal courts are a must.  They will seriously beef up units and spread the res orb wealth.  They also will bring some oomph back to a few of our units which really need it to stand a chance in any form of combat.

5) Necron players will really have to get creative to take out mech.  Relying on gauss weapons to glance stuff just won't be fun for anyone.  I think we will see lots of scarabs and triarch stalkers (if we ever get a good idea of what they look like) for anti-mech purposes.  Also, any way to spread out entropic strike will certainly be a good way to apply continued pressure across the board.  When your opponents see a 150pt, 10 base scarab unit waste a land raider, they will quickly begin to target those models that have ES first, so having lots of units with ES will certainly apply pressure.

Overall, I think Necrons have definitely gained from their previous codex, but then again, I don't know how they couldn't.  They have gotten significantly stronger, but not overpowered.  I really feel like this codex has a decent amount of balance to it and will be fun to see what types of lists come out of it.

P.S. I was able to pull out a last turn win by pushing a unit of warriors with overlord off of my buddy's home objective in capture and control while simultaneously holding up his advance in the middle making it a win 1 objective to 0 in capture and control. Go Blood Angel jumpers!

Other Battle Reports:
Space Wolf Razorspam vs. Horde Orks- a Vassal Report
Sanguinary v. Grey Knights
Vulkan Ain't No Joke
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