Necron Heavy Destroyer

Necron Tactica : Nemessor Zahndrekh

Nemessor Zahndrekh

Zahndrekh is a good HQ choice in terms of pointcost and abilities. He has 3 special rules that are seriously good and comes with necessary wargear that compliment any unit he joins. I have used him in several early playtest and 2 friendly games. I must say, he is my favourite Necron HQ at the moment and this is how I used him in my game.

Using The Nemessor

Taking Nemessor is easy, but deciding what unit to accompany this guy will require some thinking. He is not a Phaeron, meaning that we should never attach him to a Warriors or any unit with Rapid Fire weapons. It is either assault weapon or simply forget about shooting. At the same time he wields a Staff of Light and carry one very important item that is the Resurrection Orb (RO). So what unit should we attach him to? For me, there's only 2 unit where we can maximize his potential without becoming a hindrance to the unit --> Immortals with Tesla Carbine and Lychguards. 

Zahndrekh and The Immortals

Tesla Carbines works great since it is Assault Weapon and the fact that Immortals are Scoring. Having RO in there makes it several times better at holding an objective. Give them Tank Hunters and they can help you stop Rhinoes or any light vehicles coming at them. Of course, AP- hurts but it worked in several playtests I did. Not good enough? Drop in a Harbinger of Destruction and you now have a mobile Lasscannon (with Tank Hunters) to add to the punch (Solar Pulse is a great help too). But my personal favourite is of course, The old school Immortal and Veil of Darkness (VoD) where the whole table is yours to play with (It was so much better when Gauss Blaster was Assault 2 though).

Zahndrekh and Lychguards

As for Lychguards, they make very good bodyguards for Zahndrekh. I usually take 7-8 Lychguards with Warscythe so they can take out anything from infantries to tanks. But it is difficult to get their points back since they don't have any shooting capabilities. Even worst, they aren't Scoring. Lychguard do seems useless, but it was with their help that I managed two massacre wins against GK and BT. 

Lychguards' place are within the enemy line. In order to do that, they always need a mean of which to transport them. Monolith and Night Scythe are a good and safe method, but I prefer Deep Striking (DS) them using the VoD. Cheap and has so far been nothing but effective. Since they don't have any shooting capabilities, you have no worry about them scattering out of range and can simply make them 'Run' during the Shooting Phase to spread out against enemy template. Give them "Counter Assault" if you have to for precaution.

But to what end? We all know DS them on enemy line will only make them die faster. That is partly true but here is the thing. DS-ing Zahndrekh and Lychguard is just part of a bigger plan :-) 

Vargard Obyron

Obyron's Ghostwalk Mantle allows him to DS anywhere within 6 inches from Zahndrekh without scatter. This is very good when used in combination with DS-ing Zahndrekh. When I use this ability, it is always to DS 20 Necron Warriors with attached Necron Lord (with RO). 40 S4 + 3 S5 AP3 = FUN!! If you are lucky like I was in the 2 games, Zahndrekh and HoD (AP1 Template) might also be in range to join the fun.

The 2nd Wave

In order to make the plan successfull, it is also very important to take the 2nd wave element into account. The 2nd wave must be something that fast and strong. In my case, I always take a Necron Destroyer Lord accompanied by 6 Wraith (with Whip Coils) for the 2nd wave. Scary stuffs there. Wherever you DS, make sure it is within reach of the 2nd Wave. The opponent will clearly see through it, and that will psychologically effect whatever decision he has to make later on.

What Comes After..

Comes the opponent's turn, they now have to deal with 2 fresh target + the 2nd Wave. Most opponent will concentrate on the much easier and more juicy target --> Necron Warriors. But trust me, unless you are playing against IG, there's nothing much that can take out 20 warriors in a single shooting phase. I have tried several times during playtests but never succeeded. Both my opponents did the same but the results are the same. The best course of action is to beat them in close combat and kill them by Sweeping Advance. But if they choose to go for close combat, there's Obyron in there that might be too strong to handle with his Cleaving Counterblow. Not to mention, they also have to risk being counter charged by the Lychguards and the 2nd Wave. So what is the best course of action? Let them decide.

If the Warriors survived, there's nothing to stop them jumping around into rapid fire range each and every turn, wherever the Nemessor points them to.

Will It Really Work?

You'll never know until you've tried it. I've so far nothing but success. Nothing was more funny than Necrons beating BT and GK in combat. Maybe it is due to luck that I manage to win. But then again, luck is just another weapon to be used by a general.

Well.. that's all for the day. Never wrote something this long before . Dont know if it is gonna be of any use to you all. Just sharing my experience that is something different compared to how other people have been using him out there. 

Till next time.

13th Co : Thunderwolf Cavalry

'One-eyed' Jandhuin (left) and Alaric 'Dragontamer' are two of the most trusted companions of Wolf Lord Ammar Bloodhowl. They are the Wolf Lord's shadow, always there at his side whenever he marches to battle.

13th Co. Rhino

I went through some of my pic and realize I haven't post this rhino yet. It was done about half a year back. I had just received the FW weathering powder set that time and thought that it might be a good test model to try weathering techniques.

I considered it at 95% done. What needed is to paint the Storm Bolter and weather the tracks before it is done.

Hope you guys like it :)

Random Stuff : 13th Co. Meltagunner

Painting several mummies in a row tends to get boring.. so I pick up one random model just for a change. A 13th Co. Meltagunner. Took me one and a half hour to finish and I think I like him enough. Enjoy.

The Mummy Returns!!

Damn the new Necrons is so much fun to play with. And two recent wins boost my morale to take out paintset and continue what I have left several years back.

First up is the Necron Lord. It was one of the earliest model painted by me when I entered this hobby. Since the new codex release, he has won me two massacre victories. So I think he deserves some love from me. I spent some 2 hours to facelift this guy and I must say, he now looks several times better than previously. Too bad I forgot to take pic of him before the facelift for comparison.

Next up is the Immortals.. just before I sent them sleeping years back, I have painted seven Immortals in mummy theme. I have now finished painting two more of them. Now there's only one left to paint for a complete squad of ten or 2x5 that I usually play.

And finally, the Destroyer. I never had more than two Destroyers back then. So when a buddy of mine offered 3 Destroyers + 1 Heavy Destroyers at RM185, I was quick to seal the deal. But we all know the current Destroyers sucks bad compares to their previous incarnation. So why bother?

Well.. The destroyers do be sucks, but not them Heavy Destroyers. S9 AP2 on Jump Infantry is not something to ignore, especially when you can give them "Tank Hunter" skills (Zahndrekh). So spent some time and did some conversion using the spare Gauss Cannons I have to make two more Heavy Destroyers with better looking (IMHO :)) Heavy Gauss Cannons. Now I have a fully kitted 5 man Destroyer Squad to accompany my Destroyer Lord in fun games.

I will begin painting them after the last Immortal was done.

I plan to bring my Necrons for the coming MaGaCon (I've not yet submitted any list!!!). But I can never complete my list in time because Hobby Forge ran out of stocks for Necron stuffs the last time I visit there. So I'll bring my World Eaters instead just for fun. There's no way they can easily compete against any recent codex out there.. but that will of course makes winning all the more sweeter isn't it :)

Have fun guys

Batrep : Necron vs GK 1750 pts

Finally, The Undying Legion is back in action. They woke up a couple weeks back to find a Black Templar army occupying their tombworld. The Black Templar had no chance at all and were completely annihilated.

The sudden lost of a Templar post by a mysterious force brings about questions and queries amongs the Inquisition. Since the GK stock is now in abundance, it didn't take long for them to agree to send some Paladins to investigate and annihilate the menace once and for all.

THE LIST

NECRON:

Nemessor Zahndrekh

- Harbinger of Despair with VoD

- 8 Lychguard

Vargard Obyron

- Lord with Orb, Scythe

- 20 Warriors

Destroyer Lord

- 6 Wraiths

2x5 Immortals - Tesla

2 Heavy Destroyers

GK:

Grandmaster

Librarian

6 Paladins - Scoring

5 Paladins - Scoring

2x5 GKSS - Psycannon

10 man Purgation(?) Squad - Scoring

THE GAME

Seize Ground (3), Dawn of War, GK goes first.

Deployment :

GK - 5 GKSS occupied the landing platform, securing one objective early on. Both Paladins and a GKSS will deepstrike.

Necron - 2 Immortal units deploy together just 18 inches away from the GKSS on the platform. Destroyer Lord hide behind the watchtower.

1st turn : At Dawn

GM leads the Purgation Squad into battle at the centre of table. But it was the Immortals who drew the 1st blood, killing 3 GKs with their Tesla Carbine.

2nd turn : Veil of Darkness

Using psychic communion, the GK forces held their reserves for another turn. The Necrons took the chance and deepstrike some 20 Warriors and 8 Lychguard near the Purgation Squad. The whole army concentrated their firepower at the Purgation Squad, killing all but a TH guy and the GM while the Destroyer Lord finished the GK on the platform.

3rd Turn (GK) : "Let The Cleansing Begin"

All the reserves drops in and let loose their firepower, killing 1 Lychguard, 1 Immortal and cause 2 wounds to Zahndrekh. The GM + TH Guy assaulted the Warriors + Obyron. Psychostroke Grenades failes but his attacks killed 3 Warriors. In retaliation, the Necrons slew the TH Guy.

3rd Turn (Necron) : Necron Assault !?!

Obyron use Ghostwalk Mantle to pull the Warriors from combat and with the support of the Immortals, they concentrated on the 5 man Paladins, killing 1 model and wounded 3 more. Zahndrekh and the Destroyer Lord leads the Lychguards (Furious Charge) and Wraiths to assault the big Paladin unit, but the Lychguards failed to reach due to Sanctuary. This allows the GK able to win combat easily. They even managed to kill the Destroyer Lord (He came back though), but the Wraiths stay to fight for another round.

4th Turn (GK) : Psychostroke Madness

The GM assaulted the Warriors from behind and rolled 6 for the Psychostroke grenades. At the same time, the 4 man Paladins simultaneous charged the Warriors and Lychguards, and this allows Obyron the escape the effect of the Psychostroke grenades. GM killed 4 Warriors, Paladin killed Zahndrekh while the Warriors butchered each other down to 5 models. The Lychguards managed to kill 2 Paladins but their lost is too great this time. Obyron and Lychguard flee from combat, but the Warriors held their ground with a magnificent "Insane Courage" (Must be the after effect of the Psuchostroke grenades :lol:)

On the other side, the Destroyer Lord took over the mind of a TH wielding Paladin with the Mindshackle Scarabs, and together they killed the Librarian and 2 Paladins. In return, the Paladins killed 2 Wraiths.

4th Turn (Necron) : Necron Warriors Can Fight !?!

The Lychguard rallied and secure the middle objective. Meanwhile one Immortal squad captured the objective on the platform. Somehow the Warriors managed to kill one Paladin and win combat but the GM and lone Paladin held their ground. Meanwhile, the other fight continued with the Paladins being reduced to 2 models.

5th Turn : Total Annihilation

The last strike squad charged the Destroyer Lord in a desperate attempt to save the Paladins but to no avail. The Destroyer Lord killed 3 GKSS, while the Wraiths massacred the Paladins and sent the GKSS running away from battle. Meanwhile, the warriors keeps the GM and lone Paladin (the only GK models left on table) busy for another turn. Came Necron turn, the GK conceded.

THE RESULT

Necron win by annihilation and controls 2 objective. It was a great and fun game where all my gamble paid of. I truly enjoyed this one.

Thanks Edward, it's a great game :)