Andy on Necrons

by Andy Chambers

Hi fellas, the eponymous Big Pete (long term opponent of mine and a great big, brain when it comes to gaming) sent me some stats for some Necron ships recently which I rather liked. Any comments welcome, + is there a general desire for some limited (I mean one or two ships worth) stats for Necrons in White Dwarf? More so than, for instance, Tyranids/other Imperial fleets/ new ship configurationsetc? Please post responses direct to the BFG list rather than straight to me so that everyone can be in on the discussion.

Hi Andy

While I was at the October club last night getting my British soundly assegai'd to death I rashly proposed that we conduct a BF Gothic campaign at the club, as I will be administering it I wanted to have a minor fleet with which to entertain myself. I have recently painted up some Cylon ships (spray boltgun metal & wash - it was so tricky!) so I figured I could use those as Necron Raiders. I came up with the following stats - they are a bit over-complex for an Escort but its not like I will be using lots of different types - would you mind casting an expert eye over them and giving me a view on a reasonable points cost (unofficially of course !).

NECRON VIRUS CLASS RAIDER 55/60 POINTS

Type/Hits	Speed	Turns	Shields	Armour	Turrets
Escort/1	25cm	90 degrees	0 (note 1)	5+	1

Armament	Range/Speed	Firepower/Str	Fire Arc
Dorsal Gauss Torpedo Launcher (note 2)	30cm	2	Front
Wing Linear Accelerators (note 3)	15cm	2	Front

Notes

(1) Necron ships have excellent navigational shields that protect them against Solar Flares, Radiation Bursts, Blast Markers and Dust Clouds (when your intelligence is artificial you would be a bit sensitive about these things !). Combat damage is addressed by auto-repair features. Also their ships do not need to maintain an atmosphere and are therefore immune to the effects of sudden decompression / exposure to vacuum. As a side effect this prevents them being troubled by fires.

Game effects - Necron ships suffer no ill effect from solar flares, radiation bursts or passing through dust clouds or blast markers. They are assumed to always be on Brace for Impact special order irrespective of their current status. They are still automatically destroyed by criticals but it should be assumed that the ship disengages rather than exploding so long as they have their damage point left. Thus a boarding attack which does no damage other than the critical effect simply forces the Necrons to phase out. If a Necron ship wishes to disengage at the end of its movement phase it may do so automatically by phasing out.

(2) Treat these in all respects like Eldar torpedoes, they have no propulsion source of their own and are therefore much harder to detect.

(3) Treat these in all respects like Space Marine orbital bombardment cannon. They fire a super-heated plasma mass which although short ranged is capable of inflicting considerable damage.

Leadership

Necron ships use automated systems which are far less prone to failure than people, they are also far less imaginative. The crew may over-ride these systems but this is unpredictable. A Necron ship may therefore either follow programming, this involves taking the first order that applies from the following list :-

1. Torpedo tubes empty - reload ordnance
2. Possible target in forward arc within 40cm - lock on
3. Possible target in forward arc within 60cm - all ahead full
4. No target in forward arc - come to new heading
5. Otherwise - no special order

Or it may attempt an over-ride, this is done as normal but with a leadership of 6. Note there is no modifier for blast markers.

The Pv I suggested was 55-60, Pete's gone for 60pts each.

Back to the Ship Yard