Into 9th Edition: Nephrekh Dynasty

With the new edition of Warhammer 40000 coming later this month, I decided to take a look at the current state of each of my armies at the end of 8th edition and what I’m looking forward to for them in 9th edition.

I bought the Forgebane box primarily to get the Armiger Warglaives, but I also used the necrons in it as a starting point for a new army. They are one of my smaller forces at only about 1000 points, but I expect that they’ll see some expansion with all of the new necron models being previewed for the new edition.

Army Overview

When I bought Codex: Necrons, I wasn’t initially sure which dynasty I would use. I was tempted to go with the classic Sautekh look, but then I decided that I really like the translocation ability of the Nephrekh dynasty. It seemed like it would really make the army play in a unique way and offer a lot more mobility than necrons normally have. I also like all of the Nephrekh-specific options. The Translocation Crypt stratagem allows a unit to deep strike which helps the army’s mobility even more. The Solar Staff is a nice upgrade to a character with a staff of light that has double the rate of fire plus can help weaken target units before a charge. The Skin of Living Gold warlord trait gives a penalty when shooting at the character.

For HQ options, my Nephrekh army has two units to allow for a battalion. I started with the Cryptek with a canoptek cloak from Forgebane. Then I added an Overlord with a warscythe. I like to split up upgrades with the Overlord taking the Immortal Pride warlord trait and the Cryptek getting the Solar Staff that really upgrades its shooting attacks.

I also have the army at just enough Troops units to make a battalion detachment work. I have a ten model unit of Necron Warriors, a five model unit of Immortals with gauss blasters, and a five model unit of Immortals with tesla carbines. I like the use the Nephrekh-specific stratagem to let the gauss Immortals teleport onto the battlefield mid-game since they can unleash a lot of firepower from their initial 9″ range.

For Elites, the army has a unit of Lychguard and a C’tan Shard. I equipped my Lychguard with dispersion shields and hyperphase swords to maximize their durability. I like the concept of the unit, but I feel like I haven’t really gotten the hang of using them in a game and too often it feels like they don’t manage to make it into combat in a useful way. The C’tan Shard of the Nightbringer is a big scary monster. I like its powers, but also often find myself wishing that it could deal with heavy vehicles. Maybe I just need to find a monster-heavy opponent to play against.

The army has a full set of three Fast Attack units for its battalion. The first unit is a group of Canoptek Wraiths that are a fast and durable combat unit. I gave mine transdimensional beamers to give them a little shooting and have been happy to have them. The second unit is the small unit of Canoptek Scarabs that came with my Necron Warriors. The best use I’ve found for them is charging enemy units that would like to shoot and bogging them down. My third Fast Attack option is a unit of Destroyers to offer the army some heavier firepower. With the support of stratagems to re-roll hits and wounds, they can threaten just about any unit in the game.

Into the New Edition

The thing I’m most excited for in the next edition for this army is the new models. For core rules changes, I don’t think anything is going to have that large of an impact on the army. It fits nicely into a single battalion detachment right now and doesn’t really have anything in the way of vehicles or blast weapons. I also expect that a new version of Codex: Necrons will be released soon which could bring a lot of changes to the army through a new set of stratagems, reworked datasheets, and changes to the dynastic traits.

Expansion Possibilities

Before the new necron models were previewed, my planned next step for this army was going to be the Start Collecting: Necrons box. That would have added units of Necron Warriors, Scarabs, Deathmarks, a Catacomb Command Barge, and another Overlord. With the new models, I think that box will go away and I’ll fill out the army with new models instead.

I now have an Indomitus box pre-ordered, so I’ll be taking a look at which of those units I want to add to this army. Some of those units might end up going towards a new necron army instead depending on what will fit in my Nephrekh battalion.