Necron Codex Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Part 1
Hey everyone, Reecius here from Frontline Gaming with a first reading and review of the new Necron Codex! This is the 1st and 2nd parts of the review, the rest will be coming shortly.
This article will be in ye old trusty Good, Bad and Ugly format. Good is Good, Bad is Bad and Ugly is for those units/rules/wargear that fall somewhere in-between. As always, feel free to disagree! This is a first reading of the book and I may get a few things wrong, I may have an opinion you disagree with and I may change my opinions on things after playing them. In fact, I almost always do! Enjoy the review and feel free to share your opinions in the comments section.
Overview
I love the book! It’s awesome. Now, let me say for those of you out there that are upset about some of the nerfs: I feel you. It sucks to have something taken away that you’ve gotten used to using. And while there have been some nerfs (some that I really don’t see the point of), on the whole the crazier rules in the book got toned down or streamlined and the overall power level of units was brought into line with the various other units in the book. This is, IMO, a great complete package. You get (mostly) all useful units, variety in Formations and Detachments, cool fluff, great art, Lords of War that are relatively reasonable, and a lot of variety in play style. This is a book that can go raw power, or can go with layered combos for a more complex play style. I think that is awesome! Nicely done, GW! This is a lot better for me, than a book+supplement.
The trick, as always, is to try and look at this as something new and not compare it to what was as that is gone. Taken as a whole, this is a great codex.
HQ
The Good
Cryptek
The Cryptek is a solid HQ choice and one you will see frequently. For a very reasonable 65pts, you get a model that boosts his unit’s durability significantly, adding +1 to the Reanimation Protocol role! Solid. He also can get a Chronometron which grants a 5++ to he and his unit vs. shooting attacks, which is also, a really solid boost and something cool to give you a reason to use him over one of the named Crypteks. He can also carry any of the Relics or special issue wargear. lastly, he comes with a decent shooting weapon, which will be a nice little boost when it comes into play. I see this gent with a Chronometron in larger units of Warriors, Immortals, Lychguard, etc. He makes them more durable and can fill your HQ slot if you are looking for an efficient unit to go there.
Destroyer Lord
The trick here, is to see him for what he does now, not compared to what he did, before. Now that he is Jet Pack Infantry, he isn’t really suited for running around with Wraiths or any of the fast assault units, really. He’s a bit slow. But, he is still cheap, T6, can take all the cool kit and grants Preferred Enemy to his unit. That is very useful. You stick him in a unit with a lot of shooting and he significantly boosts them. You can give him a Warscythe or a Voidreaper and Phase Shifter and he is fairly solid in combat, too, giving them some defense. For the points, he fills the HQ slot and provides a lot of utility and is a good choice for Warlord due to his pseudo EW with T6.
Nemesor Zandrehk
Zandrehk is solid. He’s a thinking man’s HQ and doesn’t contribute much offensively, but provides great utility. He has Overlord stats, a 2+/4++ and a Staff of Light. Like Steven Segal, he’s hard to kill, but doesn’t pack much of a punch. What he does bring to the table is pretty incredible: his Warlord Trait is awesome for Necrons (Zealot) which helps with their weakness to morale, but more than that he can swap his trait out every turn for any trait in the Cron book or BRB. That is really cool as it allows you to adapt to changing conditions on the battlefield on the fly. He also allows you to steal USRs from units within 24″ which is cool when it comes into play. In all, Zandrehk isn’t the best HQ, but he is a really solid choice. Stick him with a unit of 10 Lychguard, or 10 Immortals, or 20 Warriors and be confident they aren’t going anywhere due to broken morale while he can also tank wounds for them.
Illuminor Szeras
What an improvement over what we had! He’s really solid for the bargain basement price of 110pts. He has middling stats, but that is fine. He provides a +1 to RP rolls to his unit and all other units within 6″, which is awesome, but he also boosts a unit of Immortals or Warriors with either +1 T/BS/S determined randomly. He causes Fear, has an Eldritch Lance (Str8, 36″, AP2, Lance) and comes with a great Warlord Trait: 12″ reroll morale bubble. He is pretty incredible for that low price point. Stick him in a big unit of Warriors or Immortals to increase their abilities and RP, plus he boosts nearby units, too. You want to keep him away from combat if possible.
Orkian the Diviner
Orikan, like Szeras, is the hotness for his low price point and I think we’ll be seeing him quite a bit. He’s a character Cryptek, as with Szeras, and so buffs his unit’s RP rolls up to a 4+ but also allows them to reroll any failed saves of 1’s which allows for some amazing tanking shenanigans when combo’d with other models with good saves, which is awesome. His Warlord Trait is EW, he comes with a 4++, and a solid melee weapon which is S as user, AP2, reroll misses in melee. His special shtick though, is when he goes Super Saiyan! Every turn, you roll a D6, if the number is lower than the turn number, Orikan level’s up! He takes on the stat line of a C’Tan, but retains IC Infantry status. That means he can stay in a unit, but packs a nasty punch and becomes very difficult to kill. It’s a bit of a risk, but, he is a good choice for Warlord and to buff a unit like Lychguard as when/if he powers up, he makes the unit pretty brutal and is tough to kill, himself. In the meantime he really increases the unit’s defense and provides decent offense, himself. Alternatively, you could play a bit more defensively with him and stick him in a shooting unit that has Relentless (Decurion Detachment) or Assault weapons (Tesla Immortals) and keep them well defended until he powers up in the late game and use them to aggressively go take an objective. In all, Orikan’s a solid, cheap HQ choice.
Catacomb Command Barge
Again, he’s not what he was, but hey, let’s be real: it was stupid as it was. The barge had a bunch of hangover rules written for 5th ed that did wonky stuff in 7th they were never meant to do. Now, the CCB has been toned down to a more realistic level and is quite good for the points. A fast offensive threat at a reasonable price point coming in at 135pts base. Give him a Warscythe and Phase Shifter, possible Voidreaper or a Phylactery, and you’re good to go. If you wanted to run him cheap, you could even consider just a Warscythe, although this could be a risky gambit. I see the CCB as a great unit to use in a MTO (Maximum Threat Overload) list, where you present too many threats to your opponent, ensuring you get some through. He’s fast, fairly durable, hits pretty dang hard and come sin at a reasonable cost.
The Bad
Trazyn the Infinite
I think Trazyn’s dataslate has a typo as he doesn’t have any Wargear listed, but perhaps I am wrong. Seems odd that he only has his staff, but hey. As is, he is cheap and hard to wipe out, which means he is good for Warlord denial…but that is about all he’s good for. With EW as his WL trait and the ability to take over another Necron Character’s body on a 2+ if he is killed, he can prove a tough nut to crack. Offensively though, wow, he’s a wet noodle. No shooting and a melee weapon that is +2 S, AP4, concussive and if it kills a model in a challenge (not likely, lol), everyone within 6″ that is the same faction as the model killed, takes a S4 hit. Yawn. Trayzn is pretty awful.
The Ugly
Overlord
Yeah, he’s not what he was, but he’s still a solid HQ choice. For a very reasonable 80pts, you get a 3 wound, base T5 model with solid stats and access to cheap, effective kit. A Warscythe Voidreaper, Phase Shifter to get a 4++, and solid relics. The only downsides to this model are his slow speed and the fact that many of the other HQ choices are more efficient. However, if you take a Warlord, you will not be disappointed.
Lord
Same as above, but cheaper and with lower stats. Also as with above, not an outstanding unit unto itself, but you can stick him in a unit that may not have a ton (or any) melee ability and bolster it. Not amazing, but not bad, either and the cheapest HQ option which is useful in a list that wants all the points poured into other units.
Vargard Obyron
Obyron is OK. He’s cheapish for a 2 wound model, and hits pretty hard, but he lacks an invul save, having only his RP roll to protect him from AP2 weapons (he does have a 2+). His Ghostwalk Mantle is a once per game ability now, which is a bit of a bummer, but it does provide a way to move an assault unit up the field on turn 1 which is actually not easy for Necrons to do. He does get a bonus attack for misses against him…in a challenge. Eh, he’s not awful but certainly not an all-star. He is cheap and seems to have no set Warlord Trait, so he he has a little flexibility in that regard. His one trick that pops out at me is to Deep Strike him within 12″ of Zandrehk, in which case he doesn’t scatter. But then, you can accomplish the same thing with a Night Scythe, for example, which will most likely provide you with more utility than Obyron. For me, he is more of a pseudo transport vehicle for something like a unit of Lychguard that also happens to fight fairly well, too.
Anrakyr the Traveller
Anrakyr is another middling character. He’s slow, has no invul, but is fairly cheap, and provides a few little buffs like giving a unit of Immortals Furious Charge and Counter-Attack whcih is cool. He has a Tachyon Arrow which occasionally does work. He comes with a sweet Warlord Trait though, which gives all Cron units within 12″ Relentless and Crusader, allowing them to double tap and then charge. Lastly, he has a toned down version of his Mind in the machine rule, which allows him to fire a random weapon on an enemy vehicle within 12″ on a 4+. With the short range, it won’t come into play too often unless you stick him in a Night Scythe with some Immortals and drop him near the enemy, danger close. His Counter Attack will come into play more often in that case and when he pulls it off on a LoW, it will be pretty spectacular! Pretty clearly IMO, he is meant to run with a phalanx style list, giving them Relentless and moving up the field on foot. You can stick him in a Ghost Ark to help accomplish this, or with a unit of Immortals as the fluff indicates he typically does. He’s not bad if you play him in a certain type of list, but a lot of what he does you can do with a cheaper Overlord in the Decurion Detachment so for my money, he goes in the Ugly category.
Pt.2 coming soon! Who do you think the biggest winners and losers are?
