Instruments of Destruction, Tools of Foul Play | Necron VDR profiles and Tesla weapons

[Jonathan E]

Why U Do Dis Thing?

The short version is "because I own a more modern Necron army, and I'd like to walk my full collection back into the third and fourth edition rules." The slightly longer version is "because Necron armies in third and fourth edition 40K often became quite... dull to play with and against."

These vehicles are retro-engineered from later versions of the Necron range, and I’ve tried to capture what they did in the fifth edition Codex as best I can without making up whole new weapon types (I felt that was going a bit too far). They are expensive, and they come with an additional opportunity cost around the Phase Out rule: this is intentional, as they’re also highly specialised and I don’t see a Necron army fielding more than a couple of vehicles in any case.

I have tried to keep these models “legal” within the VDR as written, although I did get a bit creative with the flyers as their upgrades simply can’t be represented with Gauss weapon profiles. (The Night Scythe was easy enough as Transport and Orbital Lander already cost points and I felt the portal rule could simply replace Transport; for the Doom Scythe I just kept the cost exactly the same but added the particle whip instead.)

Ghost Ark

Type: Tank
Size: Normal
Armour: 13/13/11
Open-Topped?: Yes
Speed: Normal
Weapons: Gauss flux arc projector
Characteristics: BS4
Special: Skimmer, Transport (10)
Points Value: 190

A Ghost Ark may be taken as a transport for a unit of Necron Warriors.

Catacomb Command Barge

Type: Tank
Size: Normal
Armour: 13/13/11
Open-Topped?: Yes
Speed: Normal
Weapons: Particle projector (turret)
Characteristics: BS4
Special: Skimmer, Transport (1)
Points Value: 150

Canoptek Control Node: Measure the effect of all Necron Lord equipment from the hull of the Barge while the Lord is embarked.

A Catacomb Command Barge may be taken as a transport for a Necron Lord.

Doomsday Ark

Type: Tank
Size: Normal
Armour: 13/13/11
Open-Topped?: Yes
Speed: Normal
Weapons: Gauss flux arc projector, 1 long-barrelled Blast heavy gauss cannon (fixed)
Characteristics: BS4
Special: Skimmer
Points Value: 235

Unlimited Power: If the Doomsday Ark does not move, its cannon gains the Titan Killer rule in the next shooting phase.

A Doomsday Ark is a Heavy Support choice.

Annihilation Barge

Type: Tank
Size: Normal
Armour: 13/13/11
Open-Topped?: Yes
Speed: Normal
Weapons: Gauss cannon (turret), anti-aircraft twin-linked heavy gauss cannon (fixed)
Characteristics: BS4
Special: Skimmer
Points Value: 210

An Annihilation Barge is a Heavy Support choice.

Pariah Monitor

Type: Walker
Size: Normal
Armour: 13/11/11
Open-Topped?: Yes
Speed: Normal
Weapons: twin-linked gatling gauss cannon, disruption field (see Codex: Necrons)
Characteristics: WS4, BS4, S5, I2, A2
Special: Soulless, Psychic Abomination (see Codex: Necrons)
Points Value: 210

A Pariah Monitor is a Heavy Support choice.

Night Scythe

Type: Flyer
Size: Normal
Armour: 11/11/11
Open-Topped?: N/A
Speed: Flyer
Weapons: twin-linked heavy gauss cannon
Characteristics: BS4
Special: Orbital Lander, Power Matrix
Points Value: 200

A Night Scythe can only use its Power Matrix if it also uses the Orbital Lander rule to land (or rather, to hover ominously about twenty feet above ground level). A Night Scythe can only use its Power Matrix as a portal to deploy or redeploy Necron units.

A Night Scythe is a Heavy Support choice.

Doom Scythe

Type: Flyer
Size: Normal
Armour: 11/11/11
Open-Topped?: N/A
Speed: Flyer
Weapons: twin-linked heavy gauss cannon
Characteristics: BS4
Special: Orbital Lander, Power Matrix
Points Value: 200

A Doom Scythe can only use its Power Matrix if it also uses the Orbital Lander rule to land (or rather, to hover ominously about twenty feet above ground level). A Doom Scythe can only use its Power Matrix as a particle whip.

A Doom Scythe is a Heavy Support choice.

Obelisk

Type: War Machine
Size: Normal
Armour: 14/14/14
Open-Topped?: No
Speed: Ponderous
Weapons: Star Pulse Generator
Characteristics: BS4
Special: Skimmer, Living Metal, Sepulchre
Points Value: 390

Designer's Notes

Catacomb Command Barge — I’ve never liked the silly “let’s pretend we’re a WFB chariot” rules for using this thing in combat (just have your Lord jump off if they want to smack something with their warscythe), so I’ve made it a conventional transport. The appeal of this is supposed to be zipping your Necron Lord around at 12” per turn and dramatically extending the range of all those juicy wargear effects. Incidentally, yes you can teleport this thing with the Veil of Darkness. It’s an AV10 open-topped vehicle that could give up around 300 points when it dies: give it a break.

Doomsday Ark — this one’s uncosted extra rule is intended to give a bit of extra oomph to that enormous gun without making it into a super-heavy, which it clearly isn’t. The VDR don’t allow you to take Titan-Killer on a normal vehicle the normal way, so I made it an “opportunity cost” rule rather than something you pay points for. Don’t like it? Pretend it’s not there.

Annihilation Barge — this thing did my head in until I hit on the idea of making it a fast anti-air/anti-tank platform. Its role is to scoot around taking potshots with its gauss cannon until it finds a target of opportunity, at which point: dead stop, heavy cannon lock on, start blasting. Very fragile and very expensive, but might be exactly what you need.

The Pariah Monitor is my replacement for the Triarch Stalker. I didn’t want to drag any of that Triarch nonsense into a pristine and unsullied 2002-era Necron army, so it became a Pariah, the infinitely cooler and better unit the Triarch nonsense replaced. Its optional rules are another “opportunity cost” choice: the Stalker does gain two quite powerful “aura” type abilities, but it also has to deal with being Open-Topped, and it has to get into charge range for Soulless and Psychic Abomination to do anything. As you’ve seen from its profile, “charge range” isn’t really somewhere it wants to be; those legs are for scuttlin’, not for slaughterin’.

The Obelisk is a bit of a mad experiment: what do you do with something the size of a Monolith that has no visible weaponry? The Monolith hull alone comes out at 265 points (assuming Living Metal is equivalent to the most expensive shield available, which it isn’t - it’s a lot better!) but the Monolith in the Codex is obviously discounted heavily (to account for the opportunity cost in terms of Phase Out and having fewer Necrons on the board). In the end I left its cost at what those calculations suggested and made it a giant flying resurrection engine, accessible only in large games thanks to its War Machine status. The idea is that it’s reserved for enormous incursions, or the defence of the tomb worlds themselves, and pays for itself by keeping the lesser Necrons fighting. It also frees up the Necron Lords to take some other equipment for a change, instead of shuffling around the Resurrection Orb that invariably comes first on their wargear budget.

[Jonathan E]

CHAPTER DISAPPROVED | DIRTY HOMEBREW RULES | PURISTS ADVANCE WITH CAUTION

The later Necron Codex would also introduce us to a new category of weapon, sitting alongside the Gauss guns we know and love (or tolerate). Tesla weapons, for those who were out of the loop, don't deal the concentrated extra-penetrative armour-eating damage: they deal splash damage, zapping nearby models with additional damage at decent Strength but with decidedly unsatisfactory AP. Since these are all over the later range of figures, I thought it fitting to provide some experimental rules for using them...

Some Necrons have been observed to wield a very different type of weapon from the gauss-classification micro-teleportation firearms observed thus far. Classified “Tesla”, these alternative armaments seem to have a shorter effective range, projecting a high intensity electrical field which, in the vernacular, generates ball lightning at the point of impact.

These new weapons all share a new special rule: Tesla. On a roll of 6 to hit, the shot becomes a Blast weapon. Place the small Blast marker on the target model and roll to wound/penetrate armour against every model it touches.

Tesla carbine: Range 24” S5 AP- Assault 1
Tesla cannon: Range 24” S6 AP- Heavy 3
Tesla destructor: Range 36” S7 AP- Heavy 2

Immortals may swap their gauss blasters for tesla carbines.
Destroyers may swap their gauss cannons for twin-linked tesla carbines or particle projectors (use Tomb Blade models to represent these).
The Catacomb Command Barge may swap its particle projector for a tesla cannon.
The Annihilation Barge must be equipped with a tesla cannon and twin-linked tesla destructor instead of the gauss weaponry already present. The twin linked tesla destructor retains the Anti-Aircraft rule.
The Pariah Monitor may swap its twin-linked gatling gauss cannon for a twin-linked tesla cannon or a Blast particle projector.
The Night Scythe and Doom Scythe must be equipped with twin-linked tesla destructors instead of the heavy gauss cannons already present.

[Kakapo42]

As you’ve seen from its profile, “charge range” isn’t really somewhere it wants to be; those legs are for scuttlin’, not for slaughterin’.

Not something good with being charged? With Crisis Suit strength and attacks? On a Walker with an actual WS stat? Luxury!

A lot of what I had to say about these I already said on the old thread, but for those who weren't around for the old site the quick recap of that is "Remember to balance the Command Barge with the Destroyer Body, Necron VDR is a thing (so you can use stuff like Gauss Flux Arcs and Solar Pulses), More Pariah Good, Annihalation Barge as Necron SPAAG Good."

I did spot one silly absent-minded error where the Obelisk seems to be missing a Structure Point stat, which in turn will also probably affect its points since Structure Points have a cost attached (which I missed for quite some time myself because it's buried in a tiny little footnote nestled in amongst the VDR tables).

I am curious about what makes Living Metal so much better than the other VDR shields - yes no special weapon rules is nice, but I'm not entirely sure it's nicer than an ablative hit or a 4+ invlunerable save, both of which will help with a direct railgun or demolisher cannon hit in ways that Living Metal will not, but then maybe I'm getting caught on comparing it with multiple Eldar and Imperial fields. I can certainly see the argument for a constant omni-directional defensive boost being better than one that's only good for one facing or shot mostly.

Regardless it is worth noting that all Codex-standard vehicles get discounts to various degrees, and Jervis is on record saying as much in the VDR introduction. My own recent experiments resulted in the discovery that the Hammerhead and Devilfish hulls are both discounted by exactly 10 points each in the Codex before weapons, and after getting curious and running the numbers just now it seems the Manta in Imperial Armour gets a roughly 359 point subsidy (assuming that its illegal armour facing and illegal transport capacity are covered by the opportunity cost of reduced ballistic skill on most of its guns and not benefiting from the normal flyer defence rules). The Monolith seems to get around a 145 point discount including weapons, so it seems to fall within that bracket.

But I digress. The real question now is when are we going to see some battle reports of these new vehicles in action?

[Jonathan E]

I did spot one silly absent-minded error where the Obelisk seems to be missing a Structure Point stat, which in turn will also probably affect its points since Structure Points have a cost attached (which I missed for quite some time myself because it's buried in a tiny little footnote nestled in amongst the VDR tables).

Bugger. I'll have to revisit that one. Nice catch, thank you!

I rate Living Metal highly because it negates the "bell curve" advantage of Monstrous Creatures and Melta weapons. It's certainly going to be concerned about a railgun shot to the chops, but only so concerned; like the Monolith, it can laugh off at least some of the outcomes on the hit chart. Testing may indicate the need for some sort of additional defences... but it'll have to wait until the if-and-when I can be bothered with the kit.

I have been bothered to assemble and paint a Stalker and Night Scythe lately, however, so... we live in hope of some more fourthery in the next few months.