Codex Review: Heavy Support

Here is the next stop on the Necron review train. The heavy support section is much different from the Fast Attack in that it’s not so full of awesome. I find most of the choices in this section a little lackluster but I’ll try present some uses for all the choices even if I don’t see a use for them in my forces. So onto the review.

Doom Scythe

This is the polarizing unit in the heavy support section. People love or hate them.  This is a supersonic flyer that is pretty heavily armed. It starts out with the Tesla Destructor which is probably my favorite gun in the book. This is a heavy doody anti-infantry gun that doubles as a suppression weapon on vehicles. But this is only the secondary armament for this choice. The weapon that has people all excited is the Death Ray. This weapon is pretty unique in that it’s a St10 weapon that can hit multiple units at once.

For me this unit is a no go. I’m not a fan of a unit that’s likely to get a single shot off before getting burned down. It’s also something that can be easily managed by opponents using intelligent movement. The only list I see this being effective in is a Imotehk list as the night fight might allow you to isolate the flanks of the enemy and get more than a single round of shooting in before you go boom. Either way this is the only possible dud I see in this section.

Monolith

This is a unit I haven’t used and preferred not to under the old dex. It did lose its immunity to melta but it got a significant price reduction. Overall I think it’s a nasty unit. The mobile cover, pie plate launcher, transport ability, and extra firepower this vehicle provide makes it a solid choice.  With its new changes you will need to focus on the ability to drop transports a little farther out to make sure you can pie plate those melta squads before they close the range. So what I’m saying is it’s a useful unit if you build your army around it (which means it doesn’t work for me J). Overall not the worst choice in this FOC but not my favorite.

Doomsday Barge (or Ark)

Forgive me for not having my codex at hand. Here we have the magnificent cannon of doom! I'm being only slightly sarcastic. The weapon on this bad boy is indeed nasty but the issue you run into is it's immobile and 175pts. To be fair positioning two of these bad boys in corners and using the solar pulses to prevent them getting smashed means they have a purpose. It just feels to much like IG for me to be happy with it. Like the Monolith it's a fine choice but it's one you have to kinda build your army around if you are taking more than one and this lowers it's usefulness. Overall I can't imagine a situation where you wouldn't pay 25 more points for the monolith if you're going to go with an expensive vehicle in your heavy support.

Canoptek Spyder

This is one of the allstars of the heavy support section. Cheap and resilient MC wounds that produce more models? yes please. This is a unit that if you take a single squad of scarabs will pay for itself over 3 turns. It's important to remember that after only 2 turns this model costs you 20pts. This is why you have to look at some of the upgrade and realize how useful they could be. If you're not taking a ton of shooting look to the TL-Particle Beamer which is a solid choice on an MC like this. A gloomy-thingy is mandatory if you're taking spyders if only as support for different parts of your army in allowing them to possibly stop lash or JotWW. If you are providing a decent amount of fire support elsewhere then naked with a gloom prism or two is a perfect unit. Carnifex's cry when they look at the cost of these models and their abilities.

For me the best use will be in conjuction with Tomb Blades. Since they would be replacing Wraiths you need to replace your CC blunting units and spyders fit the bill. Be careful of overcommiting to these units. I wouldn't recommend more than 2 squads of 3 at most myself as I feel at least one slot should be for the best fire support you can get in the heavy slot right now from.....

Annihilation Barge

That's right. This guy right here is my favorite unit out of the heavy slot. It's not just the fact that it's cheap in an expensive codex. It's the fact that it provides rocking firepower in an army that's a little harder to get it in. It's also pretty resilient in conjuction with Solar Pulses and works well for blocking enemy troops from being able to assault your troops. It's 24" range is a bummer but you honestly don't need much more in 5th edition. They are an excellent support unit and the Tesla arc is fun and sometimes surprising (one of mine did 2 wounds to a Tyranofex, killing it) but it isn't something to be relied on. For 90pts there really isn't anything beating this in the heavy support section. I'd expect most armies to consist of 2-3 of these until the Night Scythe become available and frees up the heavy support slots by offering Tesla Destructors on another, faster, platform.

Conclusion

That's it for Heavy Support. As you can tell I'm less impressed with this than with the Fast Attack and even the Troop section. I feel like Heavy Support was the most lackluster slot on our chart but time will tell. What do you guys think?