Grimdark Future: 'Fluffy' Robot Legions Lists, Part 2

Death has come. We continue our look at thematic army lists for the Necrons Robot Legions for Grimdark Future. Where they were once one of the most boring and limited armies, they now possess enough unit variety to be interesting and varied.

Novohk: Murder Up Close

MAIM!KILL!BU- oh sorry, wrong faction.

Generally speaking, the Necrons are very much a 'shooty' army. They have extremely powerful guns and slow infantry after all. That said, the mechanical skeletons should never be underestimated in melee range. For one thing, they are made of regenerating living metal and secondly they do not feel pain or fear. Finally, there is the fact the more advanced Necron types retain part of their memory and knowledge, including that of dueling. The Novohk Dynasty may as well be the 'token melee sub-faction', much like the World Eaters or Blood Angels are to Chaos and Imperium respectively. Hell they are even red in color! These Necrons have an heritage of warfare and bloodshed and being robot skeletons hasn't dulled this one bit.

Tri-Scorpion Overseer [1] (230pts)

Overseer [1] (200pts)

Wrist-Mounted Laser Cannon

War Scythe

Warden [1] x2 (210pts)

Guardians [10] (330pts)

10x War Scythes

Warriors [10] x2 (570pts)

8x Gauss Rifle
1x Flame Caster

1x Fusion Caster

Flesh-Eaters [10] x2 (660pts)

8x Metal Claws

2x Electric Claws

Tri-Scorpions [3] x2 (680pts)

2x Twin Armblades

1x Heavy Armblade

Tactics: Expanding upon the units introduced in the Szarekhan list, this is a melee army to the core. Assign the Tri-Scorpion Overseer to a squad ot fellow Scorpion-bots and the regular Overseer to his Guardians. These are your elite melee units, while the Flayed Ones Flesh Eaters are your melee grunts but keep in mind these have not been upgraded with Ambush. The warriors, the standard unit of any list, exist to primarily provide cover fire. To further bolster the melee prowess of Warriors, a new hero unit (the 'Warden') is assigned to each squad. Alternatively each could be assigned to a Flesh Eater squad if that is more useful.

Nihilak: The Eternal Denial

"Its mine mine mine mine."

The Nihilak dynasty are a bunch of jealous bastards who guard their plundered wealth to the bitter end. They are as salty as any Necron can be salty and dislike giving any inch to their enemy. Initially I was unsure how to represent this in Grimdark Future but after some consideration I decided to build a disgustingly defensive list, which excel at basically not staying down. Offensively it sucks, but that doesn't matter because Nihilak are a bunch of jerks who will bitterly defend themselves. Their main mechanic is centered on using the Overwatch action but, in Grimdark Future, this is an optional and advanced rule.

Technomancer [1] x3 (480pts)

Gloom-Protocol

Regen-Protocol

2x Technoslave

Warriors [10] x3 (855pts)

8x Gauss Rifle
1x Flame Caster

1x Fusion Caster

Snipers [5] x4 (905pts)
Hunter

Tripod Robot [1] x2 (630pts)

Repair Bots (Regeneration)

Reanimator

Tactics: Assign a Technomancer to each Warrior squad, enhancing their regeneration and giving them the Fear mechanic. Your Tripod robots help enhance regeneration as well, allowing the army to keep on ticking no matter what. A set of Deathmarks Snipers wait in ambush until the time is right, at which point they can pop on the battlefield with their extremely dangerous 'Hunter' ability to vaporize priority targets. Use them to deny the enemy any location you see fit. Do keep in mind their squad size is smaller but, if need be, they can be combined to form two squads of ten instead.

Nephrek: Wings of the Deceiver

Shinycrons.

The Nephrek Dynasty is particularly gifted and well-versed in some strange metaphysical knowledge and science, as they possess some particularly impressive abilities when it come to what can be best described as teleportation. The Nephrek seek to become beings of pure light rather than return to flesh and their golden forms, especially those of their Lords, are able to teleport and flicker. Considering the Thousand Sons seek to acquire from them the secret to binding and controlling C'Tan shards and the golden hued finish of these Necrons perhaps they have acquired and jealously guard some power they have extracted from the C'Tan known as the Deceiver.

Nanobot Wraith-Shard C'Tan Shard [1] (490pts)

Psychic (3)

Technomancer [1] x3 (420pts)

Flame-Protocol

Jetpack Teleportation

Bot Master (Psychic (1))

Guardians [5] x3 (720pts)

Jetpacks Teleportation

Hover Bikes [6] x3 (765pts)

5x Twin Gauss Rifles

1x Antimatter Rifle

Doom Tank [1] x2 (550pts)

Tactics: This is another Psychic list, similar to the Szarekhan Dynasty list. The key difference is how it plays. The Szarekhan Dynasty list was akin to a brutal sledgehammer backed by powerful anti-Psychic defenses. The Nephrek list, meanwhile, is highly mobile. Assign a Technomancer to each Guardians squad as both are equipped with Jetpacks and are flying units, ignoring terrain through their bizarre golden, light-infused shapes. Meanwhile, formations of Tomb Blades Hoverbikes move around the battlefield at high speed, ignoring terrain with their Strider ability, backed by a pair of Doom Tanks.

Maynarkh Dynasty: Two-Pronged Warfare

From the Imperial Armor book
series by Forge World.

The nihilistic and destructive (even by Necron standards) Maynarkh Dynasty has grappled with the curse of the Flayer, which transform Necrons into delusional madmen. Well, more delusional than usual, anyway: Necron Flayed Ones believe themselves to be flesh and blood and long for it, which is apparently why they garb themselves in the stolen flesh of living beings. What was once believed to be some sort of grotesque shock unit of the Necrons is in fact a sickness affecting the metal race. This curse has nearly undone Maynarkh but now they are back from the brink and dedicated to the eradication of the Imperium of Man. This will not be a honorable war, no, for the lesser race does not deserve such a fate. And so yet another take on the good old murder-bots emerge from the lore.

Technomancer [1] x2 (250pts)

Flame-Protocol

Bot Master (Psychic (1))

Annihilators [3] x2 (870pts)

2x Gauss Cannon

1x Heavy Gauss Cannon

Flesh-Eaters [10] x3 (1230pts)

8x Metal Claws

2x Electric Claws

Ambush

Warriors [10] x2 (570pts)

8x Gauss Rifle
1x Flame Caster

1x Fusion Caster

Tactics: Maynarkh is a 'combined arms' type of force, combining two distinct halves of a Necron army. It make use of both extremely 'shooty' units with large, heavy weapons while its base troops are the demented Flayed Ones. This army is especially focused around using Ambush to deploy the troops where they are needed. Assign each Technomancer to a Warrior squad: these two squads are the only ones which aren't in Ambush at the start of the game.

Bone Kingdom of Drazak: Flayed Ones Harvest

Snick, snick...snick....snick...

Where Maynarkh was able to fight off the effects of the Flayer Curse, the Bone Kingdom of Drazak succumbed nearly entirely to it. Not much is known about it: not its color scheme, if the Dynasty name is Drazak or if the world is a specific one within a larger Dynasty. What is known is that the planet of Drazak is a tomb world populated by hordes of demented Flayed Ones, safe for their leader who is immune but powerless to stop the curse. When the Flayed Ones gets too hungry, they emerge from their shrouded world located in the Ghoul Stars to harvest the living.

Originally I wasn't sure how to execute a Flayed Ones-heavy army due to the unit limitations but, thanks to some refluffing and some new ideas I was able to create a list composed nearly entirely of some variation of the Flayed Ones. One idea being to model their Wraiths not as the Canoptek type but, rather, the original type of Necron Wraiths which were said to be of a similar nature to the Flayed Ones. Meanwhile, the mutated Immortals (and similar higher ranked Necrons) use the statline of the Skorphek Destroyers but re imagined as multi-jointed giants with large blades of meat cleavers for arms and feets. The Cryptek are the only guys with ranged weapons but they too are a form of Flayed One now, representing some form of mutated and devolved Necron nobility that stand above their Flayed One minions but are themselves afflicted.

Technomancer Flayed Lords [1] x3 (630pts)

Darkness-Protocol

Regen-Protocol

Flesh-Eaters [10] x3 (1230pts)

8x Metal Claws

2x Electric Claws

Robot Snakes Classic Wraiths [3] x2 (740pts)

3x Whip Coil Bladed Implements

Tri-Scorpions Greater Flayed Ones [3] (330pts)

Plasmabot (Rending)

Tactics: The goal of this army is blunt and simple.. These hordes of demented Necrons want to charge the enemy and tear off their sweet, sweet skin. Doesn't matter if its the pink or brown skin of human, the purple hue of Genestealer cultists, the green of Orks or the blue of Tau. Just head into melee and don't look back. Assign a Technomancer to each Flayed Ones Flesh Eater squad to give them Ambush (cost the same as upgrading the regular squad anyway, more or less). These Technomancers also grant enhanced Regeneration, which is good for an all-melee unit that is likely to take a lot of fire.