Necron Review: Lord of War: Imotekh, the Stormlord

Name: Imotekh… Occupation: Stormlord… Hobby/Interests: Long walks on the Tombworld, Conquering the Cosmos, Listening (to the screams of my enemies)… What I’m looking for: A serious relationship with someone’s (anyone’s) army list.

Ladies and gentlemen… today, Scuba Steve is on a mission, a mission of love… Above, is the grim dark dating profile of a Warlord in need and today we are going to find him a match. Imotekh, the Stormlord, is widely feared and yet seldom used, so let’s find a way to fix that! As always, for more great 40k articles, be sure to check out Tactics Corner!

The Universe’s Most Eligible Bachelor

Love is never easy, we can all sympathize with that, maybe it’s because he just isn’t presenting himself in the right way? He’s always sitting in the back of the book, trying to compete with an Obelisk for a battlefield role, he still thinks capes are in style… there are so many reasons things aren’t going his way. So, let’s help the man out, after all… everybody needs somebody sometimes. Let’s take a quick look everything Imotekh really brings to the table in a Necrons army list, because his rules really are fantastic and with some practice, you could get him doing some serious damage on the table top.

Wargear:

• Gauntlet of Fire (Essentially, a flamer, which is still good, it just depends on who/what you’re targeting with it)
• Phase Shifter (Grant’s the wearer a 4+ invulnerable save… which is really good)
• Staff of the Destroyer (Imotekh’s pimp cane of Grey Knight killing)

Special Rules:

• Independent Character
• It Will Not Die (It seems strange, but this is major, especially if Imotekh is your Warlord)
• Reanimation Protocols (This is nuts, but you knew that already)
• Lord of the Storm (The largest middle finger you can ever give to an MSU army)
• Bloodswarm Nanoscarabs (This isn’t that great, but every so often you will be thanking your lucky stars that Imotekh has this super random ability)

Warlord Trait:

• Hyperlogical Strategist (If you need to Deep Strike anything, this guy is your best friend)

Alright, let’s go through each of these and break down what is “good” and what is “just okay”. If we gain a better understanding of everything Imotekh can do and how to use it, perhaps we can open up options for everyone and get him on the table more often!

Gauntlet of Fire (Just Okay): Okay, even though flamer weapons are usually really good, on a character of his prestige (he is a Lord of War, after all), I would have imagined his weapons to be a little more impressive. With that being said, there are plenty of uses for a basic flamer that can be really devastating. The great thing is that the Flamer templates can catch a lot of models, if your opponent has grouped them together (forgetting that Imotekh has the ability to use a weapon like this) they can get caught with their pants down really easily. Additionally, the template weapons work hilariously well against swarms, so always use it if the target presents itself. Finally, if someone gets the nerve to assault Imotekh, he has the lovely option to Overwatch with his flamer.

Phase Shifter (Good): Imotekh already has a 2+ armor save and when you combine that with his Reanimation Protocols, he is a seriously tough nut to crack, the trouble will come when someone has an AP 2 weapon (Grav-cannons come to mind), but don’t worry, Imotekh never leaves home without his Phase Shifter. He now has gets to save all of those pesky AP 2 wounds with his 4+ invul. save and still have reanimation protocols kick in. This is so good because it means you can play Imotekh relatively aggressively, getting him in range to catch most of the table with his Lord of Storm ability and have viable targets for his Staff of the Destroyer shooting attack.

Staff of the Destroyer (Good): Imotekh’s staff can be fired as a shooting attack with an 18″ range, strength of 6 and an AP of 2… whoa… that is so gnarly. Essentially, terminators of any kind cry… like… embarrassingly hard. Due to higher strength of the staff, is will likely wound most infantry on the result of a 2 or 3 and takes away all armor saves. The strength of this weapon isn’t suited for shooting at vehicles, so your primary targets are going to be highly armored infantry (Mega Nobz, Terminators, Broadsides, etc…) while your infantry can use their Gauss weapons to shred up vehicles. The nice thing about his is it gives your army some high strength, reliable AP 2 shooting, where you Necron Warriors would normally struggle against those high armor targets.

It Will Not Die (Good): This is fantastic, especially if you make Imotekh your Warlord, because it gives a character that is already incredibly durable a way to stay alive even longer. It’s ludicrous how long Imotekh can realistically live for. At the end of each turn, if Imotekh lost a wound, you have a one in three chance of him regaining a wound. If the mission you are playing has Slay the Warlord as a bonus objective, your opponent is forced to think long and hard about exactly how they intend to kill one of the sturdiest models in the game.

Lord of the Storm (Good): As stated above, this is one of the biggest middle fingers that you can ever give to a MSU army. At the beginning of any one shooting phase, you roll a D6 for each enemy unit with 48″ of Imotekh, and on the result of a 5+ , they take D6, strength 6 hits! This is absolutely crazy! It has so many applications! If you’re playing against a Battlecompany, with a bit of luck, you can rip apart combat squads of marines and lightly armored transports! Versus Eldar and their extra annoying three man bike squads! All of those pesky scout/outflanking armies! All of these tournament winning lists fear the Lord of Storm ability. Sure, it’s a once per game ability, but you can cause some serious damage to a lot of different units all across the battlefield. Additionally, Night Fighting is always in affect during the first turn of the game. This is fantastic, especially if you’re running a lot of skimmers, the +1 to their jink save is a major benefit as you blitz them up the table and towards your enemies.

Bloodswarm Nanoscarabs (Just Okay): This is a really strange ability. It let’s Deep Striking Flayed Ones re-roll the scatter dice when arriving from Deep Strike reserves. The nice think about this ability is you can reliably put a unit of Flayed Ones on an objective that you need that turn (If you’re playing progressive objectives). The upsetting thing about this is that Flayed Ones can’t assault out of Deep Strike, so ultimately they are just an annoyance the turn they enter the battlefield. I wouldn’t count on this ability to win you games, but it does help get these assault units to the places you need them to be. A good point to remember is that Flayed Ones can be taken MSU in a Decurion Detachment and are quite effective. This could be a great combo if you choose to go that route.

Hyperlogical Strategist (Good): Whilst your Warlord is alive, you may add or subtract 1 from any of your reserve rolls and your seize the initiative rolls. I can’t praise this enough. Having this kind of control over your reserves makes your army tactically superior in most games. When the time comes you need to rely on your reserves to come in, this is a pretty big helping hand. Especially, if you are relying on a Monolith to Deep Strike on a crucial turn (combining Imotekh with the Living Tomb formation is a great way to almost guarantee that your Monoliths come in turn 2 and then drag in the rest of your reserved Infantry units) or have a Night Scythe full or something scary that wants to get onto the table ASAP.

A Man on a Mission

Alright, there are a few different ways to use Imotekh, but the most effective way (in my opinion) is to use him with the Royal Court formation inside a Decurion Detachment. The Decurion Detachment provides him with a serious backbone (4+ Reanimation Protocols), so much so that the chances of him dying are somewhere between “Never” and “Not happening”. Additionally, the Royal Court formation gives you access to a powerhouse of HQ units that will compliment him incredibly.

Now that we’ve agreed that he belongs in a Decurion Detachment, there are a few different ways you could play him. Primarily, you could place him in a unit of Necron Immortals and hold Objectives all day (I’ve seen this happen). Him and the Immortals don’t pose enough of a threat over the other Necron units, this means that they can be reasonably ignored by your opponent, which keeps him safe to respond to Deep Striking units and hold your back board objectives. Additionally, you could place him in a larger blob of Necron Warriors with the other Lords and march them up the table. Once a unit like that is in the middle of the table, there is almost no way of removing it (this is a good tactic in games like The Relic).

Downfalls

There are a few reasons that players swerve away from using Imotekh in place of an Overlord. First, cost… it’s always cost. He is 190pts, which can be way too rich for some people and I get that. You can get two Overlords for the price of Imotekh. Secondly, he comes without a close combat weapon… If, hypothetically, the Staff of Destruction was also a Warscythe, I think you would see him a whole lot more. Though, the fact of the matter remains, he doesn’t have a close combat weapon that does any real work. When you begin to analyze that with the fact his ranged weapon has an 18″ range, you may have to get uncomfortably close to your desired target, which isn’t always ideal.

Final Thoughts

Okay, everyone… you want a stable man, look no further. Even though there are a few downfalls with Imotekh, there is one fact that is irrefutable… he is so sturdy that he will put any other Necron Lord to shame. If you want to make your opponent fight extra hard to score that Slay the Warlord victory point, choose Imotekh! If you want to be annoyingly resilient to even the most fierce of enemy fire, choose Imotekh! If you want to make MSU armies everywhere shake in their boots for one (very hilarious) turn of the game, choose Imotekh! As I do with all of my articles, Necron players, I challenge you… choose Imotekh. As always, share your thoughts in the comments section! And remember, Frontline Gaming sells Games Workshop product at up to 25% off, every day.

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