40K Tactics: Better Know a Necron Part 2 – The Pariah
Welcome to part 2 of my series: Better Know a Necron. In this episode we will go over the Necron Pariahs (The Fightin’ Warscythes).
With the 3rd edition Necron codex came this monster of a unit, capable of rending any advisory into ribbons before they can say “What do you mean I don’t get an invulnerable save!” Now many of you out there have never seen any Necron player’s use a unit of Pariahs and there are many reasons for that, but here we will discuss why one might want to take them, or give those of you with the models some inspiration.
For starters, Necron Pariahs have a solid stat line for infantry, boasting Strength and Toughness 5 with a Space Marine armor save. But in terms of the Pariah’s combat effectiveness nothing says “Prime Target” like a Warscythe with built-in Gauss Blaster. For those not in the know yet, a Necron Warscythe is a weapon made from the very Nercodermis of the C’tan, or, in layman’s terms, there are no saving throws of any sort allowed and they get 2d6 + Strength to penetrate vehicles. If that wasn’t bad enough the built-in Gauss Blaster lets them fire two Tau killing shots at 24” when they don’t feel like running.
Now one would think this wargear selection would be enough for a single unit, but it’s not. Pariahs are also the destroyers of men’s souls and morale, with the Soulless special rule that reduces every unit within a foot of them to Ld 7 or less. Along destroying your hopes of passing any leadership test Pariahs also make a mockery of every Psyker in walking distance, requiring them to pass leadership tests or run like babies (or hit on 6’s in close combat). And, by the way, they’re Fearless as well.
However, the Pariah’s ability to move rapidly across the board is hampered by the lack of being actual Necrons, so until further notice they are running down the field to get into range for some killin’. However, not counting towards Phase Out and being very deadly in close combat, they do make great distractions for your opponent to shoot at. Even if you lose the entire unit that’s another, possibly more important, unit not getting shot up for a turn or two. And if your opponent doesn’t shoot at your Pariahs and takes a more direct approach towards Necron Warriors you can make him regret that decision by killing his elite Power Fist wielding death star unit with little effort.
Now as a unit that costs 144 to 360 points, you might say that it is too much of a waste of points to use a unit just to sacrifice it. Well to that I say sorry, it’s called Grim Dark for a reason. As an elite choice with no options other than being able to take 4-10 of them, the Pariahs are fairly straight forward unit (Maim Kill Burn). The real use of the Pariahs, as with almost every Necron unit in the codex, comes from the synergy that they have with other units in the army.
Besides taking fire for the rest of the army they also make a powerful tool for the Necron Lord and his Nightmare Shroud (See B.K.a.N. Part 1). They also play a mean game when other point heavy units are on the table. With 5rd edition rules allowing you to reserve your whole army, you can leave all your Warriors off the board and just have other units in the army play for the first few turns. A cruel player can field a unit of Pariahs, three Monoliths, and the Nightbringer in a 2000 point game (hope you brought a lot of dakka) and only have the Necron Warriors come on the board later with less stress of getting phased out. If this doesn’t work for your tastes they can also be used to provide cover for Warriors to keep your chances of Phase Out down, or use your Warriors with a res orb to shield for the Pariahs. This can also be done with Immortals to create a 24” circle of blaster death.
And that’s my spiel on Pariahs. Tune in next time for Better Know a Necron Part 3: Immortals, when I will go over the sportsmanship of feeding your opponent cookie dough in hopes of him forfeiting the game.
~The Pariah is an aptly named unit in 40k right now. What as players do you think is a balanced way to change them so they are worth there points? A new Necron codex is said to be in the works (for later).
