Codex: Necrons Re-Review Part II

And we're back with Part 2 on the Necron codex re-review. From this point we'll cover the vehicles, and characters, following up with wargear and special rules in a future post. I thought this was going to be a two-parter, but I severely underestimated my ability to ramble. Remember that I'll be breezing through and only going through things that I feel are worth noting on changes from the 6th Edition release. As always, if you do feel that I've missed something or have something way off-base feel free to let me know via the comments box below. Anyway, enough chit-chat. Let's get to it!

Unit: Monoliths

With increases in safely Deep Striking, blast weaponry hitting vehicles at full strength and 4 Hull Points, the Monolith did see improvements and higher quality results on paper than most vehicles in 40k, but not enough that you'll see them en mass anytime soon. So sad such an iconic model goes unused... The real issue is it will suffer from the exact same issues that prevented its use in 5th Edition; it's too big, too slow, too expensive and there are easier ways to teleport around the board.

Unit: Doomsday Arks

While this is another vehicle that suffers almost the exact same problems as the Monolith; color me optimistic, but I think this puppy will see some use. The main reason I believe this is that, combined with a solar pulse or two, this thing has the staying power and the flexibility to take out any target. Now that blast markers are full strength against vehicles, this S9 AP1 parking lot-wrecker has more use than before. You'll have to build a list around it rather than the other way around, but there's something far more menacing about S9 AP1 Large Blast, now.

Unit: Annihilation Barges

Popular choice is popular. You know why this unit was good before, but here's what got better. Now it can move 12 inches and snap-fire four shots that are twin-linked. The twin-linked is key as you'll be firing at BS1 when snapfiring. In addition, AP- weaponry no longer has a negative to vehicle damage results. What was once great became greater.

Unit: Doom Scythes

Ah the age of the flyers... Until anti-aircraft weaponry starts pouring out of the woodwork, expect to see these things en mass until balance is put in-place. The two flyers of the Necron codex are so powerful it's tempting me to grab one of each, but I'm counting on them being practically useless once AA guns are in overabundance. The most powerful concept about this flyer is that it can move as far as it needs to (which is really far) and still shoot at things with the Death Ray like it has no penalty. No roll to hit means there's no downside other than the Twin-Linked Tesla Destructor which is... ya know, twin-linked. Enjoy your short domination while it lasts, Scythes... Enjoy it...

Unit: Night Scythes

Next is the other powerful flyer this book has to offer which in my opinion is quite overpowered and I'll explain why. No vehicle in the current game can disembark anything if it's moved more than 6" (page 79 in the BRB). Now, look at the new FAQ for Necrons: This thing can move up to 24" and still safely disembark troops with no negatives or go up to 36" and the disembarking troops' only negative is they can only snapfire. That. Is. Ridiculous. No other army got this kind of special treatment and considering that vehicles can no longer capture/contest objectives and the troops need to get out of their metal box, this gives the Necrons a huge edge.

Unit: Catacomb Command Barges

Possibly the most hard to understand rules in 6th Edition, aside from the wound allocation setup, is the CCB's new unit type; Chariot. While I feel like this unit will be even better than it was before, I can't pass judgement until at least a few of the 18,749 questions we all have on how Chariots work are answered. I will note that Sweep Attack got a lot less threatening since this thing can only move 12" in the movement phase as opposed to 24" from 5th Edition.

Unit: Ghost Arks

Not much more to say on the front of vehicles. Ghost Arks are good, and with the increased strength of Warriors and the addition that everyone in the Ghost Ark can snapfire at enemies assaulting their transport means this unit will continue to be good.

Character: Imotekh

With changes to Night Fighting you could argue Necrons got less and more powerful. The randomness of it was taken out of that whole ordeal, but the benefits are weakened for mid-ranged armies in some ways. Either way, with the changes in place and every mission possible having Night Fighting for the last three turns of a game you may see games with every turn having Night Fighting if Imotekh around. Aside from that if you liked him before, you'll like him now; not much has changed, though his Staff of the Destroyer can be fired as a snapshot without any negatives.

Character: Szeras, Orikan, Trazyn, Zahndrekh and Obyron

Some minor things have changed, but for the most part whatever reason you used these guys before will be the same reasons you use them now.

EDIT: Things that didn't have an invuln save previously did get significantly better provided they're a character which includes several of the players above.

Character: Anrakyr

No, they didn't answer the question about him firing his power out of an open-topped vehicle... Very unfortunate as that will make or break this guy.

And that's it for part 2. I'll finish this up in part 3 with wargear and more special rules!