Necron - Codex Review

Well, right now the internet is abuzz with Necron articles. Sadly I’m going to be no exception as I’m super excited by this release. I’m going to be breaking down my review between a general overview, each FOC slot, and final thoughts. This is naturally the overall review.

My magnets also finally arrived so I’ve been finishing building my army for a tournament this Saturday assuming I’m allowed to use the new book that’s only been out for about a week. On to my overall review.

Fluff:

While I’m sure my fellow author will disagree I’m in love with the new fluff. The addition of another true empire, one that rivals the Imperium, into the 40k universe is awesome. For once we’ve got an opponent in the universe that exists that could stand up to the full might of the Imperium instead of existing only because the Imperium can’t focus on any single threat.

I’m also a huge fan of the individuality of the lords and the differing motives of all the special characters. The ability to customize my forces now based on fluff for my lord is so much better than being mindless machines in thrall to a star god who for some reason likes to take mortal form to mess with people…. Basically much improved in how it’s going to resonate with more people and how much less ridiculousness that a lot of people overlooked in the old fluff regarding the star god led Necrons.

Army List:

Overall it’s solid. There are options in every slot though for the first time in a long time the elite slot isn’t the most crowded. I don’t care for the inability to alter the force org chart but based on the options we have I can’t see a lot of units outside of flayed ones being reasonable to make into troops so I’m not complaining too loudly J

My favorite slot is probably everyone’s….Fast Attack! It’s got 2 units that I love with 2 units that are pretty neat and might see some use. Scarabs and Wraiths are the bees knees for me for what they provide but I find I like the idea of the tomb blades and the destroyers as well. Of all the choices it’s actually the destroyers that come up last for me as I don’t feel they really add anything I can’t find elsewhere.

I think the army list will allow people to make tons of different armies tuned to their playstyle. There are no auto-includes in this codex and I expect it to play out much like Dark Eldar; deadly in the hands of a good player but hard to make work right for beginners.

Competitiveness:

Let’s be honest, if you read this blog you’re probably into playing at least a little competitively which is awesome. This naturally means that it’s something I have to cover when a new book comes out. Personally I think the book is going to translate to highly competitive. I’ll throw out the disclaimer that this is based solely off reading the book since I won’t get my first practice game in until tomorrow. However I feel like the book has the potential to be downright disgusting. It actually has everything I look for in a competitive all comers force available. Allow me to explain J

A lot of people on the internet are already bemoaning the lack of anti-tank in the Necron army. Oddly I see it in every slot except troops. The units I’ll be focusing on to start for anti-tank include Eldritch Lance Crypteks, Wraiths, Annihilation Barges, and Lords toting warscythes in command barges. A few of my lists will also include in Scarabs and Spyders which add even more anti-tank. Combine the above with the ability to nullify some of your opponents shooting with night fight shenanigans and your pretty solid on anti-tank.

What about being assaulted off the table you ask? Probably not as likely nor as easy as quite a few people out there are ready to believe. First off you’ve any force you put on the table should have Wraiths or Spyders (or in some cases both). These are your front line of defense against CC overrunning you. Wraiths can hang with almost any deathstar thanks to their saves and they dish it out hard. Spyders are solid support against anything not all equipped with St6 power weapons or higher. These two units should be more than sufficient against a CC oriented army to hang tough especially since they are fearless and hence can’t be swept.

The real trick to the army is going to be to destroy your opponents mobility in your opening turns when you have the night fight advantages. After that your plethora of anti-infantry shooting will come into it’s own. Overall I’d give extremely high marks for this codexes competitive ability but we’ll have to see how it shakes out. I’ve already got a few tweaks I’m considering but want to run my initial list that I came up with first this weekend.

Oh, and on a side note I do appreciate the small table that tells you in alphabetical order the name and page number of items not found in the wargear or weapons section. This is much better than listing it in the section with a see page # under it.

Hope you guys enjoyed. I’ll have the first force org slot up soon. And after playing a bit I’ll probably do in depth reviews of units I feel are getting overlooked much like I’ve done for Ogryns.