40K: The Necron Misdirect Tactic

A while back when the new Necron codex was just released I wrote an article about fielding an army with three teleporting units. I have since refined my list and now use two teleporting unit. Lets talk about some of my common tactics for this army.

Fritz recently posted an interesting tactical article (Hit & Fade) and it got me to thinking about some tactics I’ve been using for my Take All Comers (TAC) Necron army. My tactics are a bit different than his though. I’m not saying one is better than another and actually they can sometimes even compliment each other.

Double Veil
I have two VeilTeks in my TAC army so that’s two scoring units I can teleport around the table which can be more than just an annoyance for my opponents. Fritz’s article is all about coming in strong during the beginning of the game then pulling back after scoring some early critical damage, forcing the opponent then to come to you in order to retaliate. My tactics are the opposite and I often like to play the game in the manner I’ll describe. Night Fight for one half the game really blunts shooty armies and gives you time to move into key positions. My TAC list has four heavy hitting melee units:

• C’Tan
• The Traveller in a Catacomb Command Barge (CCB)
• Canoptek Wraiths
• Brood of 10 Scarabs

Often the role of the C’Tan is to act as a shield for my scoring units. Sometime the C’Tan can also act as a fire magnet moving straight towards the enemy since it is all but impervious to small arms firepower. The Scarabs can either tank hunt, tarpit or block enemy units. The Wraiths are the hammer. The Traveller can play many roles typically either tank hunting or moving into the enemy backfield to harass their scoring units. The combination of the four is more than some armies can handle and follows some of the principles from jy2’s MTO Necrons. I can force the opponent to first deal with my melee units – this also provides time for the rest of my army to reach key positions and support the melee units if necessary.

Forcing the Opponent into Bad Positions
Using my tactics I’ve found that often the opponent will play right into my hands moving their units forward into bad positions. My two scoring units with VeilTeks act as bait to draw in enemy units and it can take up to three turns to reach them. I then teleport away to safety leaving the opponent completely out of position and vulnerable to a series of quick counter punches. This is why I refer to my tactics as a misdirect but often it is also a redirect. I can’t think of any army that can run down two teleporting units unless they spread out most of their units which in turn leaves them vulnerable… Especially Dark Eldar.

Necrons have many abilities to manipulate the enemy, more so currently than any other army in my opinion. These abilities are very powerful and also very frustrating for the opponent. Night Fight is one of the main abilities because many people believe that shooting is far superior to melee and build their armies accordingly. If you can constantly hinder your opponent’s army directly this in turn can lead them to make mistakes and that is a big part of the game. Of course you must put yourself in a good position to capitalize upon their mistakes.

Conclusion
I remember how much of an annoyance one squad of Immortals teleporting with a Lord could be and now you can teleport two to three units. I think two is enough though as you don’t want to build a lopsided army. My primary teleporting unit is a large squad of Warriors with Immotekh, a ChronoTek and a VeilTek. My secondary teleporting unit is a squad of Immortals (Tesla carbines) and another VeilTek. These units are obviously intended to hold objectives but they are also very good at lending fire support. The big unit of Warriors is also okay in melee versus many non dedicated melee enemy units if push comes to shove – I remember one game charging them into two Death Company Marines and a Chaplain to support the C’Tan… It was a bit risky but paid off in the end.

So by using teleporting units as bait you can draw enemy units into bad forward positions and then leave them stranded. That is why I call this tactic the misdirect.

Author: Steve Turner

Steve turner is a competitive Warhammer 40k player and avid hobbyist. He has been actively playing for over 20 years. He began writing for BoLS in 2013.