Unit Review: Necron Immortal

This is the first in a series of reviews I plan to do on the whole Necron army.  There's no rhyme or reason on the order in which I examine each model - it's just a matter of what strikes me at the time.  At the moment, I'm at work late and I need to clear my head, so I'm starting with the first installment a little sooner than I'd planned.

NECRON IMMORTAL

The Necron Immortal.  Man, I used to love the Necron Immortal in Third Edition, even though it was crazy expensive.

The price!  Good god, the price.  An immortal used to cost 28 points per model. Considering they had, essentially, a Space Marine statline with a slightly higher toughness and We'll Be Back!, they were entirely too expensive.  When coupled with a low initiative, you were just begging for your 10-model, 280 point squad to get sweeping advanced by a much less expensive (read: any) comparable unit. 

However, it really used to shine when it came to firepower.  Assault 2, St. 5, Ap 4 Gauss?  Yessir.  Pair them with a Third Edition Necron Lord, and you had a deep striking, Hellraising, tough as nails unit that might - MIGHT - have approached its point value.  I used to run said unit every time I played, and they usually did fairly well, so long as I stayed out of reach of any assault unit.  Orks were always problematic - funny how they have a way of sneaking up on you in assault.

With Fifth Edition came changes.  Now, the 28 point unit has its cost almost halved.  It retains its 3+ armor save, and the new We'll Be Back!, Reanimation Protocols, is much improved.  Why, then, do I almost never field a unit of Immortals?

Three reasons, in order of importance:  Weapon changes, unit size, and transports.

1. Let's begin with my biggest beef with the new immortals:  Changes to weaponry.  Gone are the days of Assault 2 Gauss, and now we have rapid fire.  Here's the thing:  I never want to put my Immortals in assault range.  They're always much better shooters, and if they're in assault, they're very prone to get sweeping advanced.  However, now, if you want to shoot, they have to stay still unless you stick an overlord with Phaeron on the squad, and I think that's a horrible waste of an Overlord.    If you put them within 12", yeah, they'll get a lot of shots, but they're going to get charged the next turn.  "But Adam," you say, "what about Tesla?  It's assault, and very effective!"  I agree.  I think Tesla's a great option for the Immortals as they can move and still shoot 24".  However, while it's, in my opinion, the best option for the unit, it's still doesn't make me want to field immortals.  Here are the other two reasons:
2. They're still capped at a unit size of ten, while Warriors, the only other Necron troop choice, can be taken in a squad of 20.  If you're going to be marching a unit of troops across the board, you're probably going to want those 20, unless you're just using them for objective-holding purposes.  Immortals aren't that much better than Warriors.  Slightly better weaponry and slightly better armor saves still aren't enough to justify a more expensive, half-sized unit.  The only option besides marching them across the field are...
3. Transports.  Good god, transports. The only transport option (unless you want to do something goofy like using a dimensional corridor) is the Night Scythe, which is a fine unit.  However, at 100 points, it's somewhat costly, especially for a transport that's a lot more vulnerable than the Ghost Ark.   In the event that it's destroyed, the units inside also go back into reserve, which is... awkward, at best.  I'll do a separate review of the Night Scythe at a later date, but, for now, I'll just say I think the Ghost Ark is much better at doing what a transport does:  Transporting, and shielding the units therein so they can blast things.

I like Immortals, I really do.  I wish that I could find a reason to field a squad of them over a squad of nine Warriors and a Cryptek in a Ghost Ark, but I... just can't.  Maybe once the fliers come out this fall and I start messing around with the Night Scythe, I'll figure out more uses for them.  Until then, I'll happily choose Warriors every time.