The number of vehicles available to the Necrons has greatly increased this time round, from the lone monolith to 7 additional vehicles of different kinds. First of all though a general overview of the available mech, apart from the monolith everything is armour value 11 on all sides, and apart from the two scythe vehicles everything is open topped. So from this it might sound like the Necrons are only slightly better off than the Dark Eldar paper skimmers, however it’s the rules for the vehicles that make them something special.
Since I will be covering only 4 of the vehicles in this section, in subsequent parts of the review I will only go lightly over their placements in fast attack and heavy support etc. Again as there are so many I have highlighted the ones I think will prove most useful or interesting at first glance.
First up the one probably most people have been anticipating how it would be changed if at all...
The monolith
The monolith has changed in 5th edition, it costs less (235 down to 200), the living metal rule has changed and the portal is now called the eternity gate for which the rules have changed. So the living metal used to mean you were not affected by melta, lance and monstrous creatures or anything else that rolled 2D6 for armour penetration. Now we find that you do get affected by these things however stunned results are ignored on D6 roll of 2+ and shaken on 4+. The eternity gate still has the dimensional corridor moving units from around the battlefield or bringing in units from reserve. The new rule though is called portal of exile, basically counts as firing a weapon with the following rules D6 range all units in range are hit automatically and must pass a strength test or be removed as a casualty with not saves of any kind allowed, roll separately for each model. This will doubtless be useful against certain foes and of course will work against walkers. For the other weapons they remain the same with the particle whip and 4 gauss flux arcs. So overall although the monolith still seems more vulnerable than it was in the last book AV14 on all sides is still as tough as a land raider and str8 v armour 12 from a lance still isn’t the deadliest weapon. The monolith is still a solid choice for the Necron codex and I can’t see a reason so far not to take one.
Triarch Stalkers
Triarch stalkers are the first walker the Necrons have ever had, like everything else armour 11 all round with quantum shielding and living metal, open topped plus it has move through cover! Which is very useful considering its only weapon is medium range 24 inches and can be fired as a multimelta with 2 shots or as a heavy flamer. So a bit of an stronger version of the imperial guard sentinel? Not quite, with its special rule targeting relay! If the stalker hits an enemy unit in the shooting phase place a counter next to it, all other friendly units shooting at that unit in the same shooting phase count their weapons as twin linked. So if you have something you need to concentrate on this stalker would definitely be useful to include. However it does take up an elite slot, unit size is 1, however cost is not too high at 150 points and it does have 2 other weapon options the particle shredder st7 ap4 large blast useful against troops or twin linked heavy gauss cannon st 9 ap 2 range 36. So a solid new option for the Necrons that will prove to add some synergy to the army and also a bit off close combat punch with strength 7 and 3 attacks base.
Ghost Ark
This is a dedicated transport for Necron warriors and can carry 10 of them; it has the same rules as the other vehicles and is classed as a standard skimmer. It comes with 2 gauss flayer arrays that can fire at separate targets with 5 gauss flayers each, combine this with 10 warriors shooting and you have quite a little gunship! What its good about the ghost ark not only the fact that now you have a faster transport for your warriors but that it can repair and replenish your warrior squads. Each Necron movement phase on the roll of a 2+ the barge can repair D3 warriors from one squad either on the barge or within 6 inches up to their starting strength. However if you roll a 1 then the ark takes a glancing hit with no saves allowed. This is useful for keeping more of your warriors alive especially if you are failing some of your reanimation protocols. At 115 points a reasonably priced transport for your warriors and quantum shielding will always prove useful I’m sure.
Annihilation Barge
After the monolith this is the heavy support choice I think I would always try to take in my Necron army. The annihilation barge is an anti-infantry / anti-light vehicle skimmer, with the standard Necron rules and wargear. The weapons it comes with are a twin linked tesla destructor and a tesla cannon, as we went over the tesla rule in the troops part of this review I won’t go over it again. The tesla destructor is strength 7, assault 4, tesla, arc, this means once you have resolved the shot roll a D6 for every unit within 6 inches of the target unit. On the roll of a 6 that unit suffers D6 strength 5 hits AP-. Potentially then this can cause mass damage to ranks of massed infantry and light vehicles. For 90 points this is an outstanding new addition for the Necrons and I can’t wait to see it in action.
Overall I am very impressed with the new vehicles the Necrons have, diversity is always a good thing and I don’t think at all that they will be too tough or too easy to bring down. They seem to be well balanced between their rules and point costs and the models out so far do look very nice indeed!
Next time I will be looking at the fast attack choices in the book and what I feel might be the best unit in the entire codex! Stay tuned!
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