Starting Necrons and Want Some Advice

[Chapter Master Jake]

So as far as I can see thus far, I'm looking at a mix of troop blocks and Canopteks.

Compulsory: 1 Overlord, 2x Necron Warrior squads with Ghost Arks
Fast Attack: 1 Canoptek Wraith squad (3 or 6 strong), 2 full Canoptek Scarab squads
Heavy Support: 3 Canoptek Spyders, 2 Doomsday Arks
Elites: 1 Triarch Stalker, 2 Deathmark squads (5 strong)

How does that sound for a balanced, "Do all" army? Maybe a Cryptek and a Lord? Perhaps a couple Immortal squads for scoring firepower?

[Tyrendian]

A few more troops certainly wont hurt, and (depending on how common Land Raiders are in your neck of the woods) maybe swap out the DArks for ABarges? The Arks are just too easy to hide from I find, what with zero mobility if you want your one shot to actually be good... the Barges will also provide decent Anti-Air, which you currently are decidedly lacking, and you can include a squad of five Immortals for each Ark you swap out - funny that I only now noticed how the points match up exactly for that...

[Chapter Master Jake]

So, I assume now Doomsday Arks are made more for bigger games with bigger enemy tanks/walkers? It just seems to me with a gun so powerful and things like Baneblades, Land Raiders, Trygons, Stompas, and Wraithknights, that it's seemingly necessary to have such a high strength, low AP beast at your back.

I'll certainly take that advice though with the Annihilation Barges, certainly are cheaper, allowing for MORE UNITS!

Also, I'll even take a look-see again at the difference in use between Destroyers and Tomb Blades. At a cursory look at the weapon options and points costs it seems that the Tomb Blades are infantry hunters and the Destroyers are tank hunters, for the fast attack section.

So what should my first opponent be I wonder... Orks, Eldar, Marines, or Army.

[Tyrendian]

So, I assume now Doomsday Arks are made more for bigger games with bigger enemy tanks/walkers? It just seems to me with a gun so powerful and things like Baneblades, Land Raiders, Trygons, Stompas, and Wraithknights, that it's seemingly necessary to have such a high strength, low AP beast at your back.

It can certainly prove useful, if only to deny a part of the table to your opponent because they don't dare to move into its firing arc - but said art is sadly limited by the fact it can't really move and shoot like a Vindicator or even the infamous Riptide can, meaning it's easy to hide from its scary gun (if you play with any kind of decent terrain that is). For that killer gun you might alternatively think about Death Croissants (sorry Doom Scythes) - even better stats on the Death Ray, better at hitting multiple vehicles albeit maybe a little less scary against heavy troops, very nice secondary gun with credible anti-air should you need it, and being a flyer it's mobile as heck and can be hard to deal with. Plus the kit is more or less automatically modular to be used as a Night Scythe whenever you want, which is next to impossible with the Ghost/Doomsday Ark

[Maelstorm]

* Annihilation Barges are the best return on points invested in the codex, and can double as anti-air support.
* 2x Despair-teks attached to 5 Deathmarks in a Night Scythe = Delete key for almost any unit in the game.
* 2x Storm-teks attached to 13 Warriors in a Night Scythe = Delete key for any vehicle in the game
* AV13 wall (Annihilation Barges, Command Barges, Ghost Arks) will make your HQ's and Warriors immune to Strength 4/5/6 weapons (80% of the weapons in the game)
* Destroyer Lord (Toughness 6) attached to Wraiths (Toughness 4) for tanking Strength 8/9/10 hits while Mindshackle scarabs will cause Riptides and Wraithknights to wet themselves
* Overlord on a Command Barge (Fast skimmer) wielding a Warscythe can flip vehicles like pancakes - Add Mindshackle Scarabs to make Riptides and WraithKnights wet themselves.
* Min units of Warriors in a Ghost Ark make great floating bunkers
* Tomb Blades (Jet Bikes) can be fun but suffer with Scout Armor
* A Deep striking Monolith is the only effective way to get a C'tan into close combat.
* The Doom Scythe - Any vehicle that wields a Death Ray has to be fun!
* Destroyers can reliably kill 7 models with a 3+ save every turn - but suffer from being in a unit of 5 models.
* Scarabs - even a unit of 6 will cause your opponent to rearrange their deployment plan to kill them - a great distraction unit
* Doomsday Ark - I've tried 3 in a 1850 list - together they killed a combined 7 troops (scatter). Not worth the points at all.
* Canoptek Spyders - 50 points for a Monsterous Creature that makes free 15 point Scarab bases? Why not!
* Resurrection Orbs - Best saved for Warrior mobs larger than 10.
* Triarch Stalker - An expensive way to get the expensive Doomsday Ark to hit anything reliably.
* Wraiths - Always add a Destroyer lord for Preferred Enemy "Everything"
* Flayed Ones - alas, I want them to work and the new models are hideous compared to the metal sculpts - The only way I've made them effective is attaching a Destroyer Lord with an Orb to a unit of 20. They can all Deep strike together with the D-lord out front to tank heavy shots and Look out Sir the rest. The Orb allows 50% of your casualties to get back up!

Hope that helps!

[Chapter Master Jake]

I've never been partial to Destroyer Lords myself just by the oddness of the unit. It's basically a lord with a jump pack, but for an army that's main purpose is foot slogging and flank raiding, it's a bit of an expensive scooty unit. I'd rather just pay the extra points for a Catacomb Command Barge and ripping holes in the enemy with my Overlord's (or Phaeron's) Warscythe or Staff of Light.

On a side note, I do feel like I'm part of a minority who enjoys the idea of Tomb Kings in Space rather than an army of T600's. I do wish at some point that I can find a tactically beneficial way to run a "monsters and chariots" type of Necron army with a mostly mounted force, using Scythes, Arks, Barges, and Tomb Blades on the side, like an ancient egyptian army. The whole visual theme of the Necrons is a mixture of Crop Circle designs, skeleton robots, and ancient egyptian royalty.

So far, I have amended my original goal-list to this. Points value not calculated as of yet.

HQ: Overlord with Hyperphase Sword, Semipiternal Weave (here's to wishing we could give our Overlords Dispersion Shields)

Elites: Lychguard Squad, 10-strong with Hyperphase Swords, Dispersion Shields and Night Scythe (Pricey HQ guard)

Troops: 4 Necron Warrior Squads at 10 strong with 4 Ghost Arks, 2 Immortal Squads at 10-strong and 2 Crypteks with Harbinger of the Storm, Ether Crystals, and Lightning Fields

Fast Attack: Canoptek Wraith Squad at 6-strong with Whip Coils, 2 Canoptek Scarab Squad at 10-strong

Heavy Support: Canoptek Spyder Squad at 3-strong, 2 Annihilation Barges

[Tyrendian]

I've never been partial to Destroyer Lords myself just by the oddness of the unit. It's basically a lord with a jump pack, but for an army that's main purpose is foot slogging and flank raiding, it's a bit of an expensive scooty unit. I'd rather just pay the extra points for a Catacomb Command Barge and ripping holes in the enemy with my Overlord's (or Phaeron's) Warscythe or Staff of Light.

On a side note, I do feel like I'm part of a minority who enjoys the idea of Tomb Kings in Space rather than an army of T600's. I do wish at some point that I can find a tactically beneficial way to run a "monsters and chariots" type of Necron army with a mostly mounted force, using Scythes, Arks, Barges, and Tomb Blades on the side, like an ancient egyptian army. The whole visual theme of the Necrons is a mixture of Crop Circle designs, skeleton robots, and ancient egyptian royalty.

So far, I have amended my original goal-list to this. Points value not calculated as of yet.

HQ: Overlord with Hyperphase Sword, Semipiternal Weave (here's to wishing we could give our Overlords Dispersion Shields)

Elites: Lychguard Squad, 10-strong with Hyperphase Swords, Dispersion Shields and Night Scythe (Pricey HQ guard)

Troops: 4 Necron Warrior Squads at 10 strong with 4 Ghost Arks, 2 Immortal Squads at 10-strong and 2 Crypteks with Harbinger of the Storm, Ether Crystals, and Lightning Fields

Fast Attack: Canoptek Wraith Squad at 6-strong with Whip Coils, 2 Canoptek Scarab Squad at 10-strong

Heavy Support: Canoptek Spyder Squad at 3-strong, 2 Annihilation Barges

mostly solid list, just a few pointers:
the Hyperphase Sword is absolute garbage on an Overlord - there is literally no reason why you'd ever want it instead of a Warscythe
Mindshackle Scarabs are way too good not to take
Lychguard are beyond expensive... that unit there is 550pts without the Lord, which is ridiculous considering its no-more-than-decent offense and no-more-than-good defense
only one of the same Harbinger artifact per Royal Court, which you can only have on of because of only one Overlord
All in all, that list as you've got it there is around 3000pts - way too much for a normal sized game...

[Maelstorm]

mostly solid list, just a few pointers:
the Hyperphase Sword is absolute garbage on an Overlord - there is literally no reason why you'd ever want it instead of a Warscythe
Mindshackle Scarabs are way too good not to take
Lychguard are beyond expensive... that unit there is 550pts without the Lord, which is ridiculous considering its no-more-than-decent offense and no-more-than-good defense
only one of the same Harbinger artifact per Royal Court, which you can only have on of because of only one Overlord
All in all, that list as you've got it there is around 3000pts - way too much for a normal sized game...

I agree with @Tyrendian - Mindshackle Scarabs are way too good not to take, and can prevent your opponent getting Slay the Warlord in CC.

Regarding Lychguard: I've delivered a full unit with a Destroyer Lord (Preferred Enemy "Everything!") via Night Scythe into the enemy lines. They came in Turn 2 and were whittled down to 4 models (including the Destroyer Lord) before they were able to get into CC just 2 inches away. At the end of the first round of CC there were just 2 Lychguard and the Destroyer Lord remaining. For 690 points out of an 1850 list delivered spot-on ready for CC, I would have expected... something, anything!

2 Basic Overlords (toss one with MSS and WS into a Command Barge to eat Riptides/WraithKnights) unlock 2 sets of Crypteks. The multiplying factor of Cypteks cannot be overstated.

Example:
5x Deathmarks and 2x Despair-teks in a Night Scythe are as close to a broken unit as Necrons are going to get (2x AP1 Templates, wounding anything on 2+) . If you're bored and want a short game - take 2 or 3 of this unit (510 or 765 points) and gut the heart out of your opponents forces the turn they come in.

[Tyrendian]

2 Basic Overlords (toss one with MSS and WS into a Command Barge to eat Riptides/WraithKnights) unlock 2 sets of Crypteks. The multiplying factor of Cypteks cannot be overstated.

A basic Overlord doesn't scare a Wraithknight that much tbh, as it's more or less guaranteed to kill you once it passes its MSS test, which it stands a bit less than a 50% chance of doing, and the Lord will struggle to do anything meaningful himself, with even his Warscythe wounding on 5s against 6 wounds. Having a DP with black mace instagib himself is priceless though!

[Maelstorm]

You are correct, the Wraithknight will fail a Mindshackle scarabs test more than 50% of the time.

At Initiative 5 Mindshackle Scarabs cause a Wraithknight will auto-hit itself d3 times and wound on a 2+
At Initiative 2 An Overlord with a Warscythe (4 Attacks on the charge) will hit on a 4+ and wound on a 5+ and has Armourbane, ignoring the Wriathknights 3+ save.

= 2-4 wounds per round on the Wraithknight. It's fun to watch a Wraithknight slap itself around.

A Necron Overlord on a Catacomb Command Barge (AV13 Fast Skimmer) with Mindshackle Scarabs racing 30" on Turn 1 will panic your opponent.