Necrons in 9th - Build Theme Brainstorming and The New Book - Part 1 - Core, Cults, Canopteks, and Those Other Guys

 

I've seen a little bit of Necrons in 8th and pre-codex in 9th.  I think the biggest challenge is zen, here - you should empty your cup, so to speak.  This is a new book, an army re-work, and a fine time to start 'crons.

I'm going to start with the keywords.

Army Keywords to Organize Around

You've got a couple questions to ask yourself in the new book -

1) What keyword(s) to build around? Core, Destroyer Cult, Canoptek, or a mix?  And don't forget Dynastic Agents, which don't really benefit from any of the previous keywords.

2) What dynasty?

3) Big centerpiece unit (C'tan Shard, Silent King, Lord(s) of war), yes or no?

I think the biggest adjustment is going to be getting used to buffs and how they revolve around the Canoptek, Core, and Destroyer Cult stuff.

Core Units - The Buff Bots

This is probably what a lot of folks have laying around.  You're either CORE, or you buff it.  There are a LOT of Cryptek arcana, so I'm limiting this to core-specific powers.  

As a rule, most of the stuff here tends to be 1-2 wound infantry that relies on volume of fire to do work.  Also, all your Troops choices live here.  The bulk of your characters live here as well.

Overlord, Catacomb Command Barge - Relentless March is good for +1 movement as an aura, and My Will Be Done is your targeted +1 to hit buff.

Lord - You get the overlord's Relentless March aura, and you get The Lord's Will, which is good for re-rolling 1s to hit.

Royal Warden - it's Relentless March yet again, but more importantly this HQ will let one unit fall back and shoot or charge.  This is obviously more situational, but still useful.

Technomancer - It brings back a Core infantry unit a turn, or 1d3 warriors.

I. Core Units

A lot of this shouldn't be a surprise.

Warriors - shouldn't be a surprise, it's a troops unit.  You do all your work via volume of gunfire, and you're either 15-20 man blobs, or 10 guys in a Ghost Ark.

Immortals - Like Warriors, it shouldn't be a surprise.  You get more durability (T5, 3+ vs. T4/4+) but you're 5-10 man squads vs. 10-20.  As with warriors, your work is done via volume of gunfire.

Lychguard - Now we're cooking with gas.  One way or the other you're looking at getting into a fight.  Either you went for durability with sword and shield, or you just want to hurt things with scythes.  Mobility and accuracy are great here.

Deathmarks - I guess core fits.  These guys exist to tag characters with sniper rifles.  You CAN buff these, but they don't have as many shots as other core stuff, and you want unmodified 6s for mortal wounds.

Tomb Blades - it's another volume-of-fire unit, with some decent durability baked in - they have an innate -1 to hit vs. shooting, and can get a 5++.  Your issue might be positioning, but each model is kicking 4-6 shots.

Core unit helpers

Some gear/units/stragems interact with CORE units explicitly without being a CORE unit in and of themselves.

Ghost Ark - it heals warriors.  It takes up space.  It has 10 flayers.  

Night Scythe - it carries 20 CORE models.

Veil of Darkness - it moves a character (that doesn't have to be CORE) and a unit of CORE infantry via deep strike.

Monolith - it can deploy CORE infantry from reserves.

Dimensional Corridor - a CORE INFANTRY unit pops into reserves and out of a Monolith for 1CP.

The Deathless Arise - for 1CP, your technomancer uses Rites of Reanimation again.

Hand of the Phaeron - listed here because an Overlord gets to use My Will Be Done twice.  Gotta pay 2CP prior to the battle, though.

Primsatic Dimensional Breach - pop out of a Night Scythe or Monolith, but you do it without as many restrictions for placement.

Relentless Onslaught - rapid fire guns auto-wound on unmodified 6's to hit.

Disruption Fields - +1S for a fight phase.

Reconstitution Protocols - that Ghost Ark brings 1d6 warriors back instead of 1d3.

II. The Destroyer Cult

The Destroyer Cult units tend to be beefy multi-wound fellows that prefer quality of attacks over massed small arms fire.  Also, they're apparently psychotic and live for murder.  You can definitely build around the Cult for some nasty murder bots, but any Troops are still core.

As a rule, the Destroyer Cult units generally re-roll 1s to hit, and the Destroyer HQs grant them re-roll 1s to wound.  Almost everything here's got an 8" move, so this is your more elite/speedy wing rather than your silver tide of bodies.

Destroyer Cult-specific Supporting HQs

Skorpekh Lord - you get United in Destruction, which is a re-roll aura for wound rolls of 1.  This is basically your one buff for HQs.  Otherwise this thing's 'buff' is its ability to thrash things in melee.

Lokhust Lord - You get the same United in Destruction aura, but but can also bring a resurrection orb.

Technomancer w/ Phylacterine Hive, Canoptek Cloak - you get to bring back a Cult unit once per battle with this Arkana.  It's a 20pt piece of wargear that'll bring back a 35-70pt model.  Worth thinking about, especially as the cloak lets you pace destroyer units and repair 1d3 lost wounds.

Destroyer Cult Units

Hexmark Destroyer - who likes a half-dozen BS2+ pistols that re-roll 1s to hit?  Re-rolling wounds on an S6 attack isn't bad, but this guy likes to fall out of reserves and shoot stuff.  With 18" on the pistol, you can probably benefit from the aura.

Skorpekh Destroyers - choppy tripods.  All they really want outside of an HQ friend is a defensive buff, which they have via a -1 to wound stratagem.

Ophydian Destroyers - take the Skorpekh destroyers - drop a point off the armor save and toughness in exchange for deep strike, and here you go.  

Lokhust Destroyers - we're back to guns here.  Each one packs a three-shot S6 gun with AP-3 and 1d3 damage.  Everyone knows how sick these things are, so consider cover and a Chronomancer or other defensive buffs.

Lokhust Heavy Destroyer - It's the bigger, heftier, meaner cousin of the Lokhust Destroyer.  You get to choose between 3d3 shots at S7, or one S10 shot at 3d3 damage.  

Destroyer-Specific Gear/Stratagems

The Destroyers carry a lot of their buffs with them, as they're a beefy, mobile force.

Extermination Protocols - you only get to re-roll wounds in shooting, but you already have a re-roll of 1s to hit.

Burrowing Nightmares - Ophidian-specific, but it lets them dip off the board and pop up the next turn.  Either you're repositioning for a charge, or grabbing an objective.  Or pulling shenanigans.

Whirling Onslaught - Skorpekh destroyers (or the lord) pay 1CP to make anyone trying to hurt them take a -1 to wound.  Since you're already T5 (or T6 for the lord), this is pretty significant - small arms go to a 6+ to wound, and heavier weaponry goes down to a 4+ to wound.

III. Canopteks

This is your third big chunk of keywords - like Destroyer Cults, you don't have troops.  Most Canoptek stuff has multiple wounds per model.  They tend to be beefy but not super accurate (WS/BS4+ for the most part), but you can work around that.  You also have an army-specific objective that Canoptek units can help with in Ancient Machines.  You also generally have assault weapons when you do have guns.

The Technomancer - Technically all the Crypteks have the Canoptek word, but this choice can bring a Canoptek Control Node, which is good for +1 to hit rolls.  Hitting on 3's is a lot more useful for your guys, trust me.  The Phylacterine Hive gets a nod here, as again it'll bring a 35-70pt unit back if given the opportunity.

Canoptek Units

Canoptek Reanimator - you're bringing this to try to keep stuff alive, and hoping that it draws fire.  I guess it technically has weapons, but they're token at best.

Cryptothralls - They're in this bin because of the keyword.  They get their biggest buffs from being near a Cryptek, and exist to make snipers work for their shots.  They also can do more damage and take a few more hits than most folks think, for a 2-model unit.

Canoptek Spyders - Now we're talking.  If you want to have some fun, you can absolutely bring a 3-Spyder squad with guns and put them near a Technomancer w/ control node.  At that point, they're ~70 points a model, but crank out five S8, AP-3, 2 damage attacks in melee and each have a dozen S5 shots.  If you don't drop one, it can get repaired.  If you drop one, the Hive can bring back a T6, 6W model.  I personally want to take a 3-man squad with a Technomancer and a Chronomancer for the laughs.

Canoptek Scarab Swarms - they're cheap.  They're fast.  They're 4 wounds a stand.  You can take 3-9 in a unit.  They auto-wound on 6s to hit.  If you bring a couple large units, this could get funny - I wouldn't expect them to kill a hall of a lot of stuff unless a full squad hits it - but that's a LOT of wounds to get through.  You can also Self Destruct for mortal wounds at the cost of CP.

Wraiths - This is your speedy tie-up unit that may stick around, and even hurt something.  T5, 3W, 3+/4++ on a 12" move that doesn't care about terrain?  They're throwing out either four S6, AP-2, 2 damage attacks or 8 S5, AP-1 one damage swings.

Canoptek Doomstalkers - Hey, someone else found the Doomsday cannon!  You've got a dozen T6 wounds on a 3+/4++.  You've got reasonable mobility, but moving means firing at a weaker profile.  You can also lend a hand in Overwatch for stuff within 6" - which is to say, your screens.  You're basically committing to a control node for these, since d6 shots at BS4+ is kinda sad.

Canoptek Gear/Stratagems

Enslaved Protectors - One Canoptek unit gets to heroically intervene.  Everyone but the reanimators and Doomstalker care about this, since they're all reasonably choppy.

Fail-Safe Overcharger - +1 attack for Canoptek units nearby.  Or, +1d3 if it's a Monster (IE - the Spyders).  You get to use this more than once.

Phylacterine Hive - as mentioned above, this is just great fun with Spyders, but the Wraiths won't mind either, assuming they're in range.  Really though, I think you bring this with the Spyders.

IV. The Other Guys - Dynastic Agents, Triarchs, Vehicles, etc.

There are some other units out there that don't fit into the three previous ones, because they just don't have the keywords.  Other than your various special characters, this includes the following -

Flayed Ones - these guys have no extra keywords.  They do have a fight-twice stratagem, though.  They are kind of self-contained, when it comes to stratagems.

Triarch Stalker - Here's our first triarch entry.  These are actually army support - as long as it shoots at something, you get to re-roll ones.

C'tan Shards - they have a handful of stratagems out there that buff them.  They...don't really need it.

Triarch Praetorians - They're beefy jump-infantry that like to stab things.  They are neither Core nor Dynasty, so that does lock them out of some buffs.  However, the Silent King has a special spot for them and is more than happy to let them re-roll hits and wounds.

All Vehicles Other Than The Ghost Ark (Annihilation Barge / Doomsday Ark / Doom Scythe / Obelisk / Tesseract Vault)  - These tend not to have any interaction with CORE units.  There are other stratagems that interact with them, and other gear - but that's not in the scope of this particular post.

Conclusion of Part 1 

This post is already a bit beefy.  I think step one of getting to used to the codex is sorting stuff into bins.  Outside of a crazy theme list, odds are you're going to include some core choices, and buffs for those.  The Destroyer cult units are reasonably self-contained and don't need a lot of buffs.  The Canopteks either take up space really well, or you bring a Control Node Technomancer and wreck stuff.

There's a lot in this new book to unpack.