Going second

[Miek]

Hi, someone suggested elsewhere choosing to play second with necrons and it really makes a lot of sense in my opinion. I'd like to know what you think.

 

Firstly, if you want to play first there's likely a 50% chance you'll be able to. If you want to play second, you have at least 50% chance of going second, and potentially much more (it comes down to: does your opponent wants to go first even if you obviously want to go second). To increase your chances of going second you'd probably have to bait the opponent one way or another, but your chances of going in the order you expected are still greater than for going first, and you have some control.

 

To mitigate the negative impact of going first when you wanted to go second, the deceiver comes to mind but I haven't really thought too much about that yet. The healthy paranoia circumstance of awakening (+3" fire range) might also be useful.

 

When going second, the protocol of the eternal guardian is guaranteed to be useful. Nice.

 

When going second, your units will always "have not moved this battle round" during the opponent's turn. The immovable phalanx dynastic trait would thus always be active. Seems useful for an army susceptible to 1-dam saturation. This trait also works with reinforcements (ex.: Hexmark/deathmarks) and the veil; it specifically mentions normal move, advance and fall back (not just the "moved" status).

 

P.s.: Not entirely sure if this works with enduring will; the latter "subtract 1 from the damage characteristic of that attack", so it really looks like they can be combined. That means 2+ save for most of our HQ with this trait against 1&2-dam attacks, both in melee and range, all the time if you play second. Really not bad.

 

Unfortunate the expansionist dynastic trait (free 6" move) happens at the start of the battle round, so it would invalidate both bonuses for this round.

 

Honestly I have yet to play a single 9th game and I don't play competitively, but playing second looks really strong to me with this setup. I think the deceiver would be really important to avoid being disadvantaged by the opponent choosing to go second.

 

Thoughts?

[01RTB01]

I played two crusade games last Friday, went second in the first game, didn't realise how quick Inceptors were and they nuked a ten man reaper squad immediately. Never again! Lol

[Tyriks]

I usually choose to go second with my Necrons. In 8th I started doing it, and I don't think it's ever been awful for me

[Mr4Minutes]

I think if you build towards it and the table gives you enough cover, going second can be good for Necrons. But, there are some lists that hit so hard the buffs may not be good enough.

 

I think wraiths are a good unit for going second. 2+ save with the buffs. With the fast move they make a strong counter charge unit up the middle.

[Lord Raven 19]

I like it for the protocol that gives cover if you don't move

[Nusquam]

If you aren't using the EE trait then you'll want fast units that can reach out and flip an objective midfield immediately and be tough on their own. Wraith come to mind with their T5, 4++, 12", and wraith form to move through terrain and screens. A Canoptek Cloak Technomancer with the Override comes to mind too. Lay down the defensive rules and sprint to an objective.

 

Edit: Speaking of the Deceiver, big buff to him today from the FAQ; He now puts things into strategic for free. That's potentially huge.

Edited November 9, 2020 by Nusquam

[Miek]

This is now partly obsolete: the player who wins the roll off has to play first.

 

Source: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/01/07/the-warhammer-40000-update-new-points-scoring-and-faqs/

[Mr4Minutes]

Yup. It’s an interesting change. I kind of wish they’d lump that with the initial roll off so you know who’s got first turn before you deploy.

[Tyriks]

I kind of like not knowing when you deploy.  Yes it makes deploying risky, but if you know then it usually makes first turn really dull, just moving forward so next turn you can take some shots