When I found out I was going to write an article covering the new Necron’s Annihilation Legion Army of Renown I had a choice. I could begin by telling the readers how interesting the new army rules looked, how this Army of Renown breathes new life into some of the less used datasheets within the Necron’s Codex, or I could decided to take the low road and point out the scandal this Army of Renown creates for Games Workshop. Recently, during their 35th Anniversary Day reveals Games Workshop announced that there would be no more army specific rules within the new campaign supplement books, no more juggling rules found in multiple books they said; they heard us. I am unsure if this Army of Renown comes from a new campaign book, or is just found within a White Dwarf, but I do find it amusing these rules were leaked days after GW put in writing that “we hear you” and “you don’t want to jungle army rules spread over multiple books”. Thanks for listening GW.
All kidding aside, I do not mind these Armies of Renown. They have been a good way to introduce new rules into some factions that have been having a rough time. Obviously Armies of Renown like the AdMech Veteran Cohort, at the time it was released, just made a strong Codex stronger, but mostly the Armies of Renown have helped give a different army build option for some that may have been lacking options. The Terminus Est Assault Force and the Order of The Bloody Rose Armies of Renown both were successful in giving their respective armies a boost. The Annihilation Legion rules look to give Necron players a completely new way to build their armies, and while it does not look like this army build will be as strong as their current all ObSec lists, it will be nice for Necron players to have another option at the army building level.
The Necron’s new Annihilation Legion limits army building to include only Destroyer Cult, Flayed Ones, and Canoptek Plasmacyte models in the entire army. Normally this restriction would be too limiting as there are no ObSec models listed in the allowable units, but all Flayed Ones units that start with 10 or more models gain ObSec. The Annihilation Legion also allows you to build your army around a Vanguard Detachment that costs 0 CP which is extremely helpful since all of the units that can go into this Army of Renown are HQ, Elites, or Heavy Support.
The Cult of Annihilation rule makes it so your army no longer benefits from Dynastic Codes, but it gains an ability that is extremely strong in the place of losing a Code. When shooting or fighting an enemy unit at below half strength your units get +1 to Hit and +1 to Wound. This won’t come up all the time, but it will make finishing off those already wounded enemy units extremely easy for this Army of Renown
Warlord Traits: The only Warlord Trait that gets added from this Army of Renown is Furious Destructor. This gives your Warlord exploding 6s to hit in close combat, and those 6s explode into 2 additional hits. This can make a Skorpekh Lord throw out a ton of attacks, and a lot of the Necron Warlord Traits aren’t amazing. This is a welcome additional option.
Relics: The Nightcull Scythe combined with the new Furious Destructor Warlord Trait makes a Skorpekh Lord one of the most killy things in the game when in melee. Flat damage 3 attacks that explode into 2 extra hits where the damage spills over?! You are taking this combo every single time you run this Army of Renown. The Mask of Obliteration could be very interesting on a Hexmark Destroyer teleporting on the battlefield to put the 12in range of this gun over multiple high toughness, high wound count, models. There will be games the Mask of Obliteration is useless, but there will be one game where the Knights player lines up their Knights like bowling balls to get D3+3 damage blasted onto all of them.
Annihilation Protocols: There are some great options in here that replace the normal Protocols found in the Necrons Codex, but note that currently these operate how old Protocols worked for Necrons. The Necron player must have a Skorpekh Lord or Lokhust Lord on the table, and only units within 6 inches of these characters gain the benefit of these Protocols. Here are some of the stand outs:
Protocol of the Dread Strike: 6s to hit in melee auto wounding and 6s to hit in shooting add 1 to the wound roll are both amazing. Unfortunately, there is no way to get this Protocol to happen twice in a game, but when you need that extra damage turn Protocol of the Dread Strike is there for you.
Protocol of the Immortal Warrior: +1 Save or +1 Toughness?! Yes please. Just make sure you are picking the correct round for this Protocol to become active. On a turn where your opponent thinks they are going to go all in on the offensive, it is going to put a real damper on their plans when you announce all of your units (who are within 6 inches of those characters!) get +1 Save or +1 Toughness.
Those are just a couple stand outs from the new Protocols, but there are also ways toe Fallback and charge, add 2 inches to units move characteristic, or add 1 to the charge rolls for units.
Stratagems:
Swift Dismemberment: Advance and charge for a Destroyer Cult unit. Now your Skorpekh Destroyers can move 10 inches while in a specific Protocol AND advance and charge.
Hyperphase Impalment: Giving a unit that has a boatload of attacks, like the Ophydian Destroyers, a stratagem that lets them ignore rules that ignore wounds is amazing.
Efficient Disintegration: 2CP for +1 Damage in shooting for Lokhust Destroyers or Heavy Destroyers. Notably this only works on Gauss Cannons and Destructors. If it worked on the Heavy Destroyers 3d3 shot gun I would be even more excited about this Stratagem, but I suppose I can’t complain about D3+1 damage for the Destroyers Gauss Cannons.
Lurking Murderers: Re-rolling wound rolls on the amount of attacks a unit of Flayed Ones can put out is a bargain at even 2CP for units over 10 models. Just make sure those Flayed ones are fighting in Area Terrain I guess.
A Moment of Clarity: Those Skorpekh Desotryers that just moved 10 inches and advanced and charged onto your opponents Objective to murder everything now can get ObSec. 5 stars.
This Army of Renown seems like an extremely fun way to put a Necron army on the table. With all of its buffs to the damage potential of the Destroyer Cult units in the Codex, and its patching up of any weaknesses that only taking these models may present, this army could be extremely competitive. Unfortunately, I do not think this Army of Renown has enough going for it that Necron players are going to throw off their all ObSec Dynasty builds. The hard truth is that building a 2000pts army with just Destroyer Cult models is something a lot of Necrons just do not have access to, and the time it may take to build this army could see 10th Edition released upon the world leaving the Destroyer Cult army in a place where it may not even exist. I do think GW knocked it out of the park with the thematic rules writing and viability on the tabletop that this Army of Renown brings, so if you have a whole army of Destroyer Cult models at home get to list building!
If you are looking for more Necron models to get this Army of Renown on the table FLG has a ton of discounted GW product over on their webstore.