So… fellow Guardsmen… I'm in trouble and desperately need some help!

Today, we had the "adventure briefing" for our newest Squad and after cleaning up some basic stuff, our GM suddenly got out an all-new Tome of Fate book from his bag. We were like "Wow! We will fight Tzeentch stuff!"… He just smiled… And opened up the book at the Necron section D: !

As it turned out, we will fight against the friggin' Necrons, and our GM is going to use the Reanimation Protocol rule, because he thinks that it is pretty cool. Problem is, that we - the players - only fought Necrons, like, twice, and they were short engagements where we had combat-focused Astartes characters to bear the brunt of the fight. And we only fought against a few Warriros and Scarabs, so our experience about how to deal with the Necrons is rather… lackluster (so to say).

Sooooo… Do any of you have some good advice/experience about fighting Necrons as an average human? What weapons should we use? Does stuff like armour (both worn and vehicle) make any difference against Gauss/Tesla/Particle weapons? Should we rely on ranged combat or melee?

Currently, we have the following:

- Everyone has 5000 starting XP. Starting characteristics are decent (mostly around 32-33).

- The Squad has three Storm Troopers, a Medic and a Psyker. No Comrades for anyone.

- The Psyker can use his powers safely because of special equipment. So what discipline(s) should he use? Pyromancy? Telekinesis?

- We have a huge access to various high-tech equipment like Lance Blasters, Holographic Disruptors (essentially the invisibility devices from Ghost Recon: Future Soldier) and Plasma Grenades.

- Every character has 0 (zero, nill) Fate Points. Talents that work via Fate Points can be used freely (some are limited to once per session), any time.

- Our main task will be supporting other IG formations with our shiny toys. So we will mostly fight in crucial engagements of a larger battle.

- The Necrons will muster everything they've got. Our main opponents are going to be Warriors and Immortals with some Destroyer and Wraith support.

I guess that's all. Any help is deeply appreciated!

Well if you HAVE to fight them I would advice melee combat. The Necrons have mastered ranged combat even more so than melee combat. Their ranged weaponry can tear through the toughest armour, depending on the mechanical representation that includes tank for even their most basic weapon.

So if you want to fight them try not to get shot. Since they are machines flames won't do a lot to them but meltas might. I'd recommend power weapons and maybe inferno pistols. Try to have something that stops them from shooting you such as Smoke Grenades, Chameleoline Cloaks or other Soldiers.

That isn't to say that every necron is best approached in melee combat but Warriors and Immortals will just out-shoot you so don't even try to win on that front.

Easy dont fight

Take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Failing that, I'm sure you could scale things down a bit and use your high-tech toys to coordinate with artillery batteries. You'll want to kill them fast so they can't regenerate, and you want to kill them thoroughly so they don't get back up. A few Earthshaker shells to the face ought to do the trick, preferably followed by melta-ing the remains. Stealth should also be a priority. If they can't see you, they can't strip you apart atom by atom.

For your Psyker I would say Telekinesis mainly for Objuration Mechanicum to generate the Haywire field, Telekine Dome to help you survive at range and Gate of Infinity for a very quick get away. For your hellguns I would say add the Chain attachment from HotE so you can rush the Warriors if you need to. Melta and plasma guns would nifty too if you can get them, Stormtrooper with Bulging Biceps wielding a multi-melta or plasma cannon would be hilarious and useful. Tube charges would also be handy, as grenades or traps. Magus Black also has a good point with focusing your firepower to, 3 hot-shot firing 2 round bursts should down things quickly (most of the time). Oh and blind grenades should help a lot, they can help block sensors and so on (I think)

Do these characters actually have the knowledge of Necrons to make these metagaming decisions in the first place?

bogi_khaosa said:

Yes. They are supposed to be "veteran" Necron hunters, that's why they are in the warzone in the first place.

Also, as a note I should add that any of us can take special weapons (like palsma guns and such). So, should we use melta weapons or plasma weapons? Or something else?

And we have access to haywire grenades too. Should we use them (we are a little bit afraid of using haywire stuff, because it can backfire way too easily)?

AtoMaki said:

I would say take Melta. Shorter range but damage output that can with good roll drop warrior on single shot. Immortal would take two good shots. High TB is nasty, nasty thing.

Only good rule for using Haywire grenades: "Don't fumble and blow it in your hand." As long as you stay out of the 3m field you should have nothing to worry about. Also like Sunhawk88 said: take also Blind Grenades as they work agains IR and other EM spectrum sights.

The choice of melta vs. plasma is going to depend a great deal on the battlefield. In an open terrain engagement, the Necrons will flay you well before you get into melta range. The plasma gun on maximal has five times the range and hits with comparable damage. You'll only fire every other turn, but you may not last long enough to get second shots off anyways…

And what about Lance weapons? They have good damage, decent range, and awesome penetration (if you roll good). Or do you think that they are reanimation Protocol friendly (so they couldn't do such damage that prevents RAP)?

Are you playing that the Your team is under Ordo Xenos Inquisitor or working with vile Xenos. Because I don't know how you could get your hands on Lance weapons. But either way Lance quality weapons are truly one shot one kill weapons.

Just out of curiosity. Is your GM playing the Necrons as Hordes (like in DW/BC) or groups of (insert number).

AtoMaki said:

Remind me, what weapons used by the Imperial Guard have the Lance quality?

Routa-maa said:

The Squad is from a high-tech planet where stuff like Lance/Plasma/Fusion weapons are (relatively) commonplace. So Lance weapons are the way to go? They are roughly equal to the Dark Eldar Lance weapons (the Blaster and the Dark Lance) with an availability of Unique (we can replace them only by contacting another unit from the planet), but they use the same ammo as the average Imperial laser weapons.

The Necrons will come in groups of X and not as Hordes. A Horde of Necrons would be way too brutal even for our GM .

Assuming we are excluding Vehicular Weapons, I would also advise a look at the humble MP Lascannon.

While it is single shot only, heavy metallic targets are their primary assignment (usually treaded cans, instead of walking ones).

The proper way to use these weapons is to take Aim actions and single shots, each round.

I would also want 1 person to be carrying a Multi-Melta, for closer range work, but the dearth of Imperial lance weapons presents a real problem. The MP Lascannon will completely ignore the armor of all but the heaviest Necrons. Use BS / hit-rate boosting augmentations, to make the single shot each round count.

It all sounds a bit gamey to me. Imperial Guardsmen with superweapons from some superworld? A psyker who can use his powers safely?

It seems like you'd rather play space marines IMO.

I would really advice clipping the psyker because weird things are part & parcel of using warp powers. As to fighting necrons, their actual combat performance is usually tailored to the setting, thus necrons in Deathwatch are not necessarily similar to necrons in Only War.

As to the weapons load, the squad is apparently a dedicated anti necron team. So how are they deployed ? By vehicle or by air?

If by vehicle, mount your super weapons on a suitable chassis (maybe even an ork buggy type of vehicle/OTL technical) so everyone is mounted on the same vehicle. Or you could go with a mecha style setup with each player in his own sentinel.

If by air, you have two choices; either man-portable for a paratrooperesque feel or light buggies (deployed slung under Sky Talons). Obviously, the latter gives the most variety for missions.

Well if you destroy them too much they can't regenerate. I remember in Dead men Walking the death korps were fighting the flayed ones by having one walk into the blades to get their claws stuck long enough for another guardsman to shoot them both with a meltagun. so.....there's an idea.

Well if you HAVE to fight them I would advice melee combat. The Necrons have mastered ranged combat even more so than melee combat. Their ranged weaponry can tear through the toughest armour, depending on the mechanical representation that includes tank for even their most basic weapon.

So if you want to fight them try not to get shot. Since they are machines flames won't do a lot to them but meltas might. I'd recommend power weapons and maybe inferno pistols. Try to have something that stops them from shooting you such as Smoke Grenades, Chameleoline Cloaks or other Soldiers.

That isn't to say that every necron is best approached in melee combat but Warriors and Immortals will just out-shoot you so don't even try to win on that front.

Well if you destroy them too much they can't regenerate. I remember in Dead men Walking the death korps were fighting the flayed ones by having one walk into the blades to get their claws stuck long enough for another guardsman to shoot them both with a meltagun. so.....there's an idea.

MWAR-HAR-HAR-HAR-HA-HAAAAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D

granted this was in a rogue trader game, but servoskulls wit target beacons worked well. drop off a dozen, have'em fly in all directions. watch the vidfeed from orbit. Lance/macrocannon/torp the site when a necron pops up on the feed. worked till the tomb ship showed up.

another option is mortars. get behind a hill and indirect fire. mines were a good option. booby traps. ambush and strike and fade strikes. artillery/air strikes.

without a tech priest don't know if you could pull it off but a tech virus might work. large electro magnets might work too.

Haywire technology does not work on Necrons, they are not made from ordinary metalic parts, more like organic-metal. I don't know if it's in the rpg rulebook, but in Necron Codex for tabletop wargame it is. How your GM will rule this is up to him, I am just warning you.

From what I remember, basic Necron troops (Warriors and Immortals) have really bad dodge and parry, not trained in these skills, so hitting them should not be hard. You must equip everyone with high penetrating waepons, bypassing Unnatural Toughness traint will help to, as all Necrons have it. If you can hail them with bullets before regeneration kicks in, you should be able to take one or two "basic" Necrons per turn.

The more parts you will make out of your enemies, the harder it will be to regenerate for them, maybe even impossible, so some kind of explosives are advisable.

Remember that every Necron destroyed to the point of no field-repair is teleported back to his tomb, where he will get repaired and will be sent back to the front lines. If repair is impossible, he will desintegrate on spot, leaving no body nor weapon.

It is possible to battle endless wave of Necrons, if repair point is close to the warzone.

Necrons can teleport onto the battlefield, even in the middle of another troop, so expect few Flayed Ones appearig out of thin air. I don't remember how this technology work, but am sure Monoliths can do that.

As for other enemies you mentioned, Destroyers are like harder Immortals with fully automatic, powered gauss rifle or anti-armor gauss cannon. Expect higher mobility and that they can shred you to pieces with auto fire.

Wraiths are problematic, because they are built for melee combat, while being even more protected than standard Necron. They have Force Field with 45 protection that never overloads and can bypass solid obstacles, so there is no place you will be safe from them.

As HappyDave mentioned, some Necron weapons are overpowered, these rules were made to battle Chaos Space Marines, not Imperial Guard. Lychguard hit for somethig like 2d10 +25 with 6-9 penetration in melee, not mentioning other qualities his weapon have, that mean instant-death if you hapen to be sliced.

Pretty much everything as said. Plasma weaponry and heavier is a very good idea - dependent on your having the weapon training talents for it, of course.

Carapace armour helps...a bit. Not very much, but it's better than being in your pants. Cover is your friend .

If there are other formations in the area, stick close to them. You have an edge in perception and agility; you need to be continuously getting the drop on the necrons, then concentrating fire until they go down. The longer you leave one damaged but functional, the more Regeneration will undo your good work.

You can't really plan for the necron specialists; lychguard to wraiths to destroyers are so varied a threat there's no one answer.

Make sure there is some heavy armour in the vicinity, though, because if he pulls out any necron 'tanks' then precious little in a guard arsenal will even slow them down.

At the risk of being a party-pooper, assuming there is a lack of heavy weaponry, Necrons (note this word is in the plural!), like CSMs, will slaughter Guardsmen. One Necron warrior is a challenge for a squad of Guardsmen -- who will run away if they are smart .

The game, and the universe around which it is based, does not envision a squad of unsupported Guardsmen taking down a bunch of ageless indestructable undead horrors.

I know some of the novels do, but they're silly .

I got three weapons of choice when fighting necrons: autocannon, autocannon and autocannon.

I got three weapons of choice when fighting necrons: autocannon, autocannon and autocannon.

I'd agree with this wholeheartedly, but I loathe the idea of autocannons being hauled by infantry - these things are enormous! Unless they're used on that cart thingy from Hammer, then I'm down

Generally, I'm in favor of using plasma as main armaments, and since rarity doesn't seem to be of much concern here, would suggest melta pistols as sidearms - the beautiful thing about melta, the performance drop between pistols and basic weapons is pretty negligible, and Necrons suck at dodging.

Forget about grenades, they won't do you much good. Instead, carry a few meltabombs and set up ambushes whenever possible.