Some thoughts on Necron Comp for S3

Great news! I finally got around to play the new Necrons a bit, and what can I say - I'm very satisfied! It's great to have my hands on an army that can shoot pretty decently, have a nice durability and really appeals to me.

In my local club, we use a comp system for pretty much any 40K battle, especially any that is played in our in-house league. This system is called S3, you can read more about it here: http://www.powerfist.dk/forum/index.php?topic=52006.0

What's worth noticing is that Necrons hasn't been included yet, so the old restrictions still apply (which is no codex-based restrictions).

Since I know we'll see some kind of comp for them at some point, I have been pondering this quite a bit - I wouldn't want to start working on an army that will become illegal in the current comp system we use.

So, I have put my head to it, and this is basically what I've come up with, based on a few games and a lot of meta-thinking:

Ghost Ark, Nightscythe (first one free): 2 sp
Writhing Worldscape: 1 sp
Annihilation Barge: 1 sp
Harbinger of Destruction upgrade (first two free): 1 sp
Solar pulse: 2 sp
Imotekh the Stormlord: 3 sp
Nemesor Zandrekh: 2 sp
Scarabs (first 6 free): 1 sp each
Doomscythe: 1 sp
Command Barge upgrade: 1 sp

As you can see, I have mostly just rated the different things that I find particularly powerful. Now, there's a couple of assumptions here, that should be taken into account.

First off, I don't think the C'Tan Writhing Worldscape ability stacks with neither the Transmogrification Harbinger staff nor Orikan's ability. This means that I haven't added a cost to Orikan, and I have only awarded the WW ability a single point, due to the overall cost of the model and impact on the game. Remember that S3 is built around the 15-1600 point segment, fitting a single, albeit decent, Monstrous Creature at 230ish points is not that good.

Also, I don't think Imotekh is really that awesome, as you can see - he has some potential with good dice rolls, but if these fail, or the missions doens't allow seizing the initiative (which some missions related to the comp system doesn't).

The lightning strikes he gives is quite powerful at larger point values and can have a devastating impact on Apocalypse-sized games, but other than that I'm not that fond of him.

Ghost Ark spam is a serious thing in S3, since people are limited in their access to anti-tank weaponry across the board - further making your army invulnerable to STR7 attacks is a bit issue here. The Night Scythe is not released yet, and may change based on the actual form of the model. However, it's easy access to one of the better weapons in the Necron arsenal, the Tesla Destructor.

Annihilation Barge speaks for itself, I think a single point here is fitting. You will see lists with two Annihilation Barges rather frequently I reckon, so paying 4 SP points for these is quite fair (1 for each and 2 for the duplicate entry). Triple Barges would run you 9 SP (1 + 4 for the triple), and thereby limit your army quite a bit in other sections.

I have pondered how to hit the Royal Court to avoid the worst things in that, but as far as I can tell it's really not an issue to allow people to put in neither Resurrection Orbs (they're quite expensive) nor Warscythes in their basic squads - Necrons are not Orks, you know.

Crypteks is another issue though. Most of them are quite mediocre, and there's some obvious combos - some of them I probably haven't thought of yet, and some I don't really think are feasible enough to warrant a cost in S3. Chronometron and Tachyon Arrow being one of them, I really don't think a single reroll on a one-shot weapon that costs 30 points only being available to one or two models in your list is worth it. Tachyon Arrow itself is decent enough, though.

However, the obvious Cryptek to use is the Destruction Harbinger. And make no mistake, he's quite good. Therefore I added some anti-spam cost to avoid seeing upwards of 10 Destruction Harbingers in the lists.

Same goes for the Solar Pulse. The fact that they placed this almost meta-changing item on the single most useful Harbinger is beyond my comprehension, this only further makes the Destruction Harbinger the one to go with. Anyway, I have set the Solar Pulse accordingly, since you literally force some armies to adapt to it, and you can shut down some elements in the late game if you save it for a scenario win.

Now, Nemesor Zahndrekh is a different story. I think that once the smoke surrounding Imotekh has settled, people realize that 4+ seize is still only 4+ meaning that you still only go first in 60% of your games, and that hitting stuff on a '6' with lightning bolts isn't really that awesome, people will turn to Nemesor. He's a bit overequipped, but none the less the wargear is useful enough - and if you calculate the base cost for an Overlord with similar gear and compare it's just 5 points for the special abilities he brings.

Removing especially furious charge from Orks is game-changing, and should not be neglected at all. Blood Angels is still blood angels and would still best Necrons in close combat, but you balance it out better. Removing Tank Hunter from e.g. Fire Dragons is great, and so on - the list is extensive enough. Having the ability to further enhance your own units with USR's is awesome, though. Furious Charge on Scarabs further boosts their anti-armor abilities, gives models with Warscythes STR8 and thereby lets them do instant kills (also applies to the C'Tan if you ever get it in melee), provides Stealth, and Tank Hunter for e.g. Annihilation Barges to bring them up to almost Psyfledread sillyness.

The 'arrive from reserve' rule is a bit lackluster, though. I placed him at 2 points, mostly due to not being overcosted but due to him having a set of items that is not totally unusable but at least kinda expensive.

Scarabs is scarabs, there's apparently a lot of mumbling about the wording about their rules but I have interpreted them as pretty clear - you hit, you do entropic, you roll AP and so on. Yes, they're awesome. The Tomb Spyders are the real issue here, they should not be able to place the Scarabs as worded (conga lining is bad), but instead place them like models returning from Reanimation Protocols, ie. in coherency with the original unit. Now, this should be worded carefully to not open the exploit again from having 3 units of Spyders, but still. I think 6 bases of Scarabs is pretty acceptable within the limits of S3, you only need a couple of plasma shots to vaporize most of the unit then.

The Doomscythe can be combined with the Stormlord in the missions where he gives you a 60 % chance of starting the game for a nice fat chance of really messing up the opponents army, hitting multiple vehicles and models. However, it's still a glass cannon, and quite expensive - and the range of it is debateable. I set it at 1 point to acknowledge the fact that it has some potential to cripple the opposing army - spamming them can severely improve this in S3 context.

Finally, the Command Barge. It's a pretty cheap upgrade for the Overlord, and you only need a Warscythe for it to really excel at what it does. He can't survive going up midfield, but he can really rule the flanks, especially catching fast-flying skimmers easily. I think it should be priced accordingly, you can get two of these for 4 S3 points, which is fair.

So, what did I leave out? Here's some honorable mentions:

Deathmarks: You need to realize that they have a serious problem against armor, and most Monstrous Creatures is at least a 4+ or better save. Spamming them already costs S3 points for duplicates, so even though they combo well with eachother they still aren't great. Their deployment trick is not really applicable. And no, you can't put the template-wielding Cryptek in the unit and have him always wound on 2+.

Lychguard: While having a bunch of guys with almost-powerfists is decent enough, they have next to zero survivability if the opponent puts his mind to it - and they're costed like Terminators. Giving them shields at least protects them from AP3 or better, as well as power weapons, but now they're even more expensive than before. You're nowhere near the power of TH/SS termies.

Triarch Stalker: While the Stalker is nice, and definitely the best choice in the Elites slot, I really don't see it as that useful. It is of course a two-shot multimelta, it gives some nice synergies with the targetting array, and it's still armor 13. However, it really is quite expensive for something that's just totally negated by five marines in CC.

Warriors and Immortals: While decent troops, especially Immortals with Tesla Carbines, the real power is hidden in the transports and the Crypteks - and of course the Phaeron upgrade from an Overlord.

Destroyers: Marine-killers, but marines can just stick to cover to negate most of it. And expensive as hell! Heavy Destroyers are really useful, but also costed thereafter.

Wraiths are the only really good CC unit, but again, also costed thereafter, easily hitting Terminator-levels in price. And, they benefit a lot from having a Destroyer Lord with them, creating your everyday Deathstar unit - but at a very steep cost. And the Destroyer Lord is nowhere nearly as protected as them.

Doomsday Ark: A stationary single-shot STR9 ap1 template is not worth punishing through a comp system. Especially not at a pricetag of 175 points. I am slowly regretting assembling one myself.

Tomb Spyders: When GW fixes these to control the Scarab placement, they're not that great any more. Much better to spend your slots on Annihilation Barges.

Monolith: Yes, it's a cheap AV14 in an army of AV13 vehicles. Yes, it's impossible to ever grant cover. It can never be 6+ to hit in melee. It adds some utility, which is quite nice, but the most fearsome weapon it has needs it to be within d6 range - and that's typically where you also find a lot of melta weapons, that totally toast this expensive machine. There's also a lot of issues with the portal itself. Taking two of these at 1500-1600 points is just plain silly.