Lovell dug up a... I'll call it a "speculative codex" from the wilds of the Internet. I wasn't so sure about it, but I don't blame him. It's old enough that I was using it before I sold my Necrons, quit, took a few years off, came back, and spent a few years collecting space marines. According to some people, it's old and busted, so it makes sense that Lovell would want to get away from that image.
Initially, I was pretty shocked by the fake Necron book. Most of his units had 3+ Feel No Pain rolls that could be taken regardless of the strength or AP of the weapon firing on the unit. Some of this was due to the proximity of the monoliths, but the rules also gave the monoliths a 3+ cover save against all attacks, which essentially made them invincible considering their universal Armor 14. The Necron lord with his 3+ invulnerable save (in all fairness, a storm shield) and his attacks that ignored all saves also threw me for a loop, and the Monolith's ordnance blast being upgraded to AP 2 seemed almost nonsensical. But if I was able to beat the army 3-0, can it really be as bad as it looks on paper? I also have to admit it gave me one of the most hard-won, enjoyable games I've played recently. So although it certainly needs some amendments, I'd face it again.
All of this rumination on the strengths and weaknesses of the Necron codex has me thinking about the Dark Angels codex, as well. Over the last year or so I've been operating under the assumption that it's a fundamentally flawed book. I think that's probably true, but it also has a lot going for it. Consider:
- Belial is pretty cheap compared to a similarly-equipped space marine captain, even accounting for his lower stats
- Terminators become a bit more survivable if you use their flexible weapon options to play some wound allocation tricks
- If you can pull off a Deathwing Assault, you're probably in good shape
- You can pull off a Deathwing Assault if you bring some bikers, because they all come with teleport homers
Still, it's a drag not being able to put a bunch of tactical marines on the table. I've yet to determine whether plunking down 25 terminators makes up for that.