NOVA Bound: List Building Again

As is my norm at this point, I'm still debating what list I'm going to take to NOVA this year. That said, I'm coming closer I think to settling on something, which is good seeing as we're just a little over a month out. 

My original inclination was to build a new army from scratch, leaning toward the Ravenguard lists I built a couple months ago. However, my time and money budget have both made me reconsider this as I really am not sure I'd be able to get it done.

As a result, and needing to knock commissions out instead of my own stuff to help fund the trip, I'm looking at stuff I already have or mostly already have done. While buying five boxes of Eldar Jetbikes is tempting, I'm more likely going to go with a Necron variant.

My Arachnophobia list from last year is, honestly, I think still pretty solid, but one consideration is that it doesn't always play that fast, and something I would like to do is get some of my games done early this year. As such, I'm looking at some variations that would reduce the unit/model count and hit a bit harder.

The core of the list is a Decurion with a pair of Canoptek Harvests:

• Reclamation Legion
• Overlord
• 3 Tomb Blades; Shield Vanes, Nebuloscopes, Gauss Blasters
• 3 Tomb Blades; Shield Vanes, Nebuloscopes, Particle Beamers
• 2x10 Warriors
• 5 Immortals
• Canoptek Harvest:
• 4 Wraiths: Whip Coils
• 3 Scarabs
• Spyder
• Canoptek Harvest: 
• 3 Wraiths: 1 Whip Coil
• 3 Scarabs
• Spyder

One variant is swapping the Spiders and 2 Harvests for a pair of Renegade Knights. The downside to this is that they open up some secondaries that aren't terribly difficult to achieve against me, and also increase some lists' chances to seize against me.

Another variant I'm strongly considering is taking 2-3 Flyrants in the list instead of the Knights. These add firepower and some durability while also opening up my options for Warlord Traits. That is, I can make a flyrant a Warlord, and they can benefit a lot more from a good trait than the Necron portion of the list can. Additionally, not taking Knights also gives me a bonus to seize if my opponent has a Super Heavy/Gargantuan Creature.

The debate between two and three partly comes from 1.) Running a CAD to get a reroll on said Warlord Trait and 2.) freeing up points to run an Air Superiority Detachment of two Night Scythes to add in some really obnoxious Reserve Manipulation.

The Air Superiority will allow me to keep important enemy elements out, while also guaranteeing my flyrants arrive turn 2 if kept in reserve. On the other hand, I'm losing out on 2 more psychic powers and dice by not having a third Flyrant. 

I tried out the Night Scythes in a pair of games this week and am still on the fence about them. They help the mobility of the troops (I forgot to use them as transports in the first game), but their speed and firing arcs make them difficult to bring to bear as an offensive threat, and even so, seem less impactful than a third flyrant would be. A middle ground would be to drop some upgrades and extra bodies to slide a single Night Scythe in while taking a third flyrant. 

All that said, any variant of the list will have an extremely short painting list:

• Must Paint:
• 2-3 Mucolids
• 3 Tomb Blades
• Optional Paint: 
• Paint updates on 1 Flyrant and a Night Scythe to be the Wing Leader.
• 10 32mm bases for a unit of Warriors

Any thoughts on my list combinations? Other than they're continuing to blow up the fluff?