STARTING A NECRON ARMY IN 11TH EDITION: FROM FIRST BOX TO CENTREPIECE
The Necrons are a legion of skeletal machines whose silver armour, dark wash and green accents produce a tabletop-ready army faster than any other faction. This page covers the Warriors box, Immortals and Skorpekhs, and the Monolith or Silent King.
Warriors and Scarabs
Start with the current Necron Combat Patrol. These starters are built around Necron Warriors, the skeletal rank and file that define the faction's look, with a character and some Canoptek Scarab swarms in support. Warriors in numbers are the image of the army, and Scarabs are the cheapest, quickest painting win in the entire game. If you have ever worried your painting is not good enough to field an army you are proud of, this scheme is the answer, and the models still look superb.
Immortals and Skorpekhs
Immortals are the upgrade pick: sturdier, better-armed phalanxes that give the force a spine. After them, a unit of Skorpekh Destroyers brings the murderous close-combat edge and some of the most dynamic sculpts in the range. Those two boxes on top of the starter already read as a proper dynasty. On the battlefield they match the painting's forgiveness: an unhurried, implacable force that shrugs off damage and reassembles, marching forward while other armies fall apart.
Recommended: Skorpekh Destroyers
Monolith or Silent King
Necrons are spoilt here. The Monolith is the classic, a floating tomb-fortress that has terrified opponents for decades, while the Silent King's court diorama is the prestige painting project. Take the one that excites you and save the other for the army's first anniversary. Either anchors every photograph you take of the collection.
Crypteks one at a time
- More Warriors beyond the starter before anything is painted. Grey legions awaken no dread.
- Niche Cryptek variants. Collect one leader, learn the army, then specialise.
- Any vehicle bought because it looked clever in someone else's list.
Sixty million years of records
The dynasties slept for sixty million years because somebody kept meticulous records. Enter each kit on arrival as boxed, built or finished; the finished column growing is what turns buyers into painters. Every unit the dynasties can wake, with its history, is on the Necrons faction page under Data.