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Necron Decurion Battle Reports and Initial Thoughts

Prelude To A Robotic Dream. As always, check out the Tactics Corner for more great articles!

Necrons were my first competitive army and also my first introduction to Frontline Gaming. Three years ago I was in a slump with 40k. My Daemon army was getting shellacked by Dark Eldar and Grey Knights and I needed something beefier. I credit Frontline with giving me a ton of help with my Necrons in the form of their tactics articles and videos back then and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Flash forward to today and we have the new Necron Codex. I, for one, am very excited to get back into my Crons and see what I can do to come up with a strong list that will take me into the next tournament season.

Battle Reports

With Frontline on battle report hiatus, take a look at these two new Necron battle reports to slate your thirst a bit, then check out the tactics thoughts after the videos.

Necrons VS SOB/Knights

Necrons VS Space Marines

In both instances here I don’t think my opponents had the hardest lists, but there were certainly threats in there. The Necrons did well against the Knight and should have took it in one turn, but that’s dice for you. Once the knight fell I was able to focus on the high priority threats and finish off the rest of his army.

Against the Space Marines, some of that was bad choices as I felt my opponent should have hung back a bit and used his Devastators to try to take out the Spyders, but he came too far forward and enabled me to charge him full force. Turn three I had everything in his deployment zone and controlled the table having only lost a few scarabs.

Decurion Demystified

I’m personally really wanting the Decurion Detachment to work. The benefits that the Detachment gives to the army are pretty big in my opinion. Let’s take a look at what this detachment of formations gives you.

Pros

+1 to Reanimation Protocols army wide.

Living Metal ignores shaken and stunned and gets It Will Not Die.

Cons

Cost – Almost 500 pts without upgrades for the required Reclamation Legion

Forces Certain Units – You are required to take certain units in the detachment and therefore locks you in to certain kinds of builds.

My Decurion List

For 1850 I’m looking at the following:

Reclemation Legion

Nemesor Zahndrekh

6 Immortals – Night Scythe

20 Warriors

10 Warriors – Night Scythe

3 Tomb Blades – Nebuloscope, Shield Vanes

Captoptek Harvest

6 Scarabs

Spyder – Gloom Prism

6 Wraiths – Whip Coils

Canoptek Harvest

6 Scarabs

Spyder – Gloom Prism

6 Wraiths – Whip Coils

The Reclamation Legion group gets a 4+ Reanimation Protocol Roll, Move Through Cover, and Relentless. Zahndrekh goes with the 20 warriors and buffs them as needed, switching between warlord traits to give them the best benefit each turn.

The Canoptek Harvest group has Move through Cover, Relentless, and at the start of my movement phase can choose shred, fleet, or reanimation protocols. I’m pretty sure I’m going to go RP every single time. Wraiths with a 3++/4+RP is really stupid. Many people state just to shoot the Spyder, but I think that the formation keeps the rule from the start of my movement phase until the start of my next movement phase, not just when the Spyder dies. You are also looking at a toughness six, three wound Monstrous Creature to take down that will have 3+ armor save, hopefully a good cover save and a 4+ Reanimation Protocols as well. If you are really hell bent on taking down the Spyder, go first as the unit won’t have Reanimation Protocols at that time. It only kicks in at the start of the Necron’s movement phase.

I’m interested in taking this list against some harder lists over time to see if it has the chops to make it in the tournament scene.

Decurion Thoughts

I feel the thing the puts the Decurion detachment up there in my mind is the overarching bonus to Reanimation Protocols. Everything in the army having a 50/50 chance to shrug off any failed save is gold in my opinion. (Yes I know Instant Death reduces this by one, but it is still very powerful). The list has some AA with the Night Scythes, all the Gauss should have a good chance against tanks, and the Wraiths are now one of the best assault units in the game and even more durable with Reanimation Protocols.

It has been an army that impacts in the middle of the game so far as most of my damage has happened on turn 2 or later. I think it could easily be a list that gives up First Blood with savvy generals and the lone Spyders but should be able to weather fire better and last longer into the later stages of the game. Whether it can stand up to AdLance, Pentyrants, Centurionstars, and Eldar Fromage remains to be seen, but I am interested in taking it as far as it can go.

What are your thoughts on the Decurion Detachment? Is it a must have or a just for fun list?

 

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