Awesome day of Gaming

I had a really awesome day of gaming yesterday, I used a 1000 point army list that I don't think any veteran player would have expected to win 3 games in a row, even with two of the players being fairly new. Here is the list:

1. Necron Lord (Warscythe, Veil of Darkness, Res Orb) - 210pts
2. 2 Squads of 10 Necron Warriors - 360pts
3. 5 Immortals - 140pts
4. 2 Wraiths - 82pts
5. 7 Scarab Swarms - 84 pts
6. 1 Heavy Destroyer - 65 pts
7. 1 Tomb Spider (Particle Projector) - 55 pts

Grand Total: 996 pts

There is a specialized strategy I use for this army, with everything having a specialized role. This is a Control Army meaning I aim to tie up units and deal with only what I want to deal with at any given time.

The first important thing is setting the army up. I don't use a normal slow march approach with this army, everything needs to be across the table by turn two or stay behind and either keep my necron count above the phase out magic number of seven or fire from long distance. When I deploy, one squad of warriors go where my enemy can't get to them. Failing that, I put them in a highly defensible position or a position in which I hope they forget about them altogether. This keeps my phase out number safe. I hide my other squad of Warriors behind terrain with my Lord nearby. My scarabs I either leave right out in the open where only long range weaponry can get to them, or prefferably just behind a piece of terrain to take advantage of their +1 cover save. My wraiths I hide behind a piece of terrain, and strategically so that they can charge through a lot of terrain later. The Tomb Spider I leave near the squad of warriors I am hiding, taking advantage of it's special and often overlooked rule that allows full squads of warriors to come back withough being 6" around another squad of warriors. The heavy destroyer I leave behind cover, but close enough to an edge so that I can zoom up to 12" out and fire on turn 1.

All three of my games yesterday my opponnent went first, this was a huge advantage to me as I need to see where they are deployed before I deploy and what their general strategy is, however I highly suspect that this army will work if carefull planning is used when deploying your troops if you are going first and deploying first. The armies I fought yesterday were Ultramarines, Imperial Guard, and Chaos.

On turn one it's important to Turbo-Boost those Scarabs all the way across the board, directly where your enemy can see and fire at them, and aim for any close combat monsters or, failing that, long range weaponry that you just don't want to deal with on turn 2. Great choices would be: Terminators, Khorn Berzerkers, Snipers, Close Combat Characters, long-range heavy weapons units, units with AP3 or better weapons, or failing that whichever squad is the most threat to your warriors when you deep strike them later. Make sure not to get them too close to any squad that you don't want them being in close combat with.

Move the wraiths through cover, thier goal is going to be wiping out squads which they can either wipe out easily, which would be squads that have only a few guys left because they were shot up, or squads that are terrible in close combat and with a low leadership value. If you cannot get them into assualt on turn one, turbo boost them but make sure they stay unseen behind cover (Thier wraithflight rule assures a lot of abuse of cover). Also note it is best to keep the wraiths in two squads of one, that way each squad of your enemy unit is forced to fire on one at a time.

Teleport the lord with a squad of warriors, picking a spot where they hopefully won't deal with too much firepower but can still get the drop on a single squad. Sometimes people like to deploy their army in a cluster, so you might have to risk getting them into the line of fire of your entire opponents army. It's risky business, but your tomb spider coupled with the res orb assures they will get their WBB saves even if the whole squad gets shot down.

Move the Immortals Into position to fire at any unit which thier AP4 weapons can cut through, or failing that they can fire at either a heavy weapons team which the scarabs can't handle or a squad of close combat specialists that the scarabs can't handle.

The heavy destroyer should move into position to fire at vehicles, with priority going to the dangerous ones first. Leman Russ, Demolishers, Land Raiders are good targets, but if the opponnent didn't bring them, shoot that strength 9 AP2 shot at the HQ unit on turn 1. It should kill instantly or, failing that, cause a wound.

Fire the warriors at any squad in range, with CC specialists taking priority. The lord cannot fire, but he will get his turn to decimate things in turn 2.

After all firing is resolved, move the scarabs to the squad you don't want to deal with next turn, move the wraiths to any squad they can decimate, or failing that hold them back. You don't want to waste the wraiths on a full squad of CC specialists as they only have one wound and toughness 4. They are good at killing but not good at taking the hits.

After your enemy makes his turn, do all WBB rolls, luagh at his attempt to shoot through the 2+ cover save of the scarabs, and move your units into position. Try to keep those immortals out of CC range of anything and keep repeating the above tactic. Your Lord should be in position to take on CC monsters and vehicles by turn 2.