Necron Rumors?

So BOLS has some more Necron rumors that they pulled from somewhere. Awesome that the rumors are trickling down, which means ‘crons might actually be the next ‘dex to drop, but I also have to get my Grey Knight stuff finished first! Here are my first thoughts on the rumors…

13) Necron Warriors have the same basic statline they had before except they now have a 4+ save. Now before you go crazy, also note that their points cost is 12 points, which is a 1/3 price drop (down from 18 points). That means you get 1/3 more Warrior models in the army for the same amount of points...it also makes losing an entire unit due to sweeping advance, not nearly as painful.

4+ save? Really. This sucks, ask any Tyranid player. Paying points for a 4+ stinks b/c you can get them for “free” via terrain or cover saves from other models. 3+ is a big deal. Ok, they cost less in points, which does reek of a GW money grab, but what about C’Tan technology and living metal? Oh right, only Space Marines can have a 3+ save.

14) Immortals have lost their T5 (down to T4), but keep their 3+ save. However, their points cost has dropped to 17 pts a model, which is an 11 point drop (more than 1/3 a drop from the previous cost of 28 pts)!

Ok so if this is true why do I want to take immortals? 17 points for a “Space Marine” that knows fear, can be cut down, no special upgrades, and can’t assault for anything? Assuming they still keep the two S5 shot blaster I’m still not fully convinced here either. Compare that to a Grey Hunter and everything they get as both a single model AND a unit.

15) All units in the army benefit from the new WBB rule, not just the units that were formerly classified as 'Necrons' in the current codex (even Scarabs!). So although you're only getting a 5+ save in many cases, you're still getting it on some of the more expensive stuff in the army as well (and there are some pricey new units to counterbalance the relatively cheap Warriors and Immortals). Also the vehicle that can add models back into the unit is also able to use this ability on any unit.

WBB on a 5+ WTF? Again, not as good as it sounds with SO many things that deny WBB- not just AP 1/2 weapons which every marine and guard army packs like candy, but also sweeping advances will destroy the army. Me thinks the original commenter doesn’t play Necrons...

15) Rez Orb is still in the game and boosts the new WBB rule to a 4+ instead of a 5+, but only affects the unit it is in. I have a strong suspicion that this is an upgrade that Crypteks can take (I'll confirm if I find out), so I'd imagine you can get quite a few units in the game getting the 4+ bonus save if you want to pay the points to take them for your Crypteks and then split those Crypteks off to lead units.

Is paying for a 4+ going to be worth it? Is it entire army wide or just X range? Either way it will cut into other wargear options.

16) Veil of Darkness is now definitely something Crypteks can take (so you can have a bunch of 'em in the army), but it no longer allows a unit to be pulled out of combat (and neither does the Monolith), except in the case of the Veil carried by one of the named Lords.

Not that bad anyway since with the changes from 4th to 5th most Necrons don’t hold in combat anymore to pull out of anyway. Here is keeping my fingers crossed that you can still veil out and then veil back in on the same turn, and that it doesn’t work like Deathleaper.


17) In the new fluff it sounds like the C'Tan were mainly killed off by the Necrons (or something like that), so the C'Tan that you field in the game are just remaining shards of their power. They're naturally still a really mean Monstrous Creature who rocks in combat, but you can also purchase a bunch of different abilities. These abilities are in line with a lot of the things we've seen in the last few codexes, things like: messing around with Deep Striking enemy units, making enemies moving through terrain differently, and allowing the Necron player to change some of his deployment, etc. So it sounds like you have a lot of different options with the C'Tan that really mess with the enemy army and/or supplement your own. And they are not one per army (so you can have 3 if you want to use up all your Elites on them, although it sounds like the other Elites choices are pretty awesome as well).

Star Gods are gone, they are back in, then gone, will just have to see on this one…


19) Besides a few units that are Fearless (Wraiths, Tomb Spyders and Scarabs), the army doesn't have any sort of blanket immunity to morale. They are still Ld10, but obviously we know that still leaves them very vulnerable to being run down in combat, and it looks like that will remain a big Achilles heel.

Really GW? How are immortal undead space robots NOT fearless? With 80% of the codex sucking ballz in the assault, they will still get cut down like grass. More and more from what I hear it is looking like I’m going to be right that there are only going to be two “killer” Necron builds- fast destroyer spam so at least they can’t catch you, and MC spam so at least you are big, bad, and fearless. So far warriors, immortals, and the like are just ho hum fodder.


20) Scarabs sound great. They are cheap, have the new WBB rule, move like beasts and have an ability that erodes enemy armor when they get into combat with it. Any non-vehicle model they wound, but don't kill, has its armor save turned to a dash (i.e. nothing) for the rest of the game. If they hit a vehicle, on a 4+ the vehicle loses a point of armor value on ALL facings, and if any facing is reduced to zero, then the vehicle is destroyed (I'm not sure if this ability kicks in for each hit they get on the vehicle, or just once no matter how many hits they cause). There are some items in the army that also have a similar ability to erode armor, including one of the C'Tan powers. So it sounds like Scarabs may play a major role in most Necron armies!

Good thing I have like 60 bases! Suicide units to blow stuff up before the destroyers and MC;s move in?


21) Overall, CC is definitely still the weak point of the army, but it looks like they've got a lot of different places they can take special rules to slow down or screw with approaching enemy, including some of the C'Tan powers, but also some of the different gear they can take. But they also have some different potential counter-assault units, which mainly come out of the Elites section (besides the new Walker, the C'Tan and the flayed ones in Elites there are 3 OTHER brand new units in there as well, for a grand total of 6 Elites choices). The Flayed ones are, being consistent, cheaper than they were and now have 3 Attacks base (but their save is now 4+ as with standard Warriors). One of the other new Elite units is also CC oriented, but is very pricey points wise (but is S5/T5/3+save). This unit can wield a Warscythe, but they are not called Pariahs (no idea if that's what Pariahs have 'turned into' or not).

Me thinks this is going to be the Tyranid problem all over again… COOL & EFFECTIVE elites, but you can only take three = FAIL. Unless, GW writes it so your lords and HQ’s can open up other slots which seems to be a possibility.


22) Fast Attack has 4 choices...Wraiths, Tomb Blades (jetbikes), Scarabs & Destroyers.

Wraithwing? Time to start stocking up on wraiths?

That said, now is a great time to be buying up stock Necron units like wraiths for next to nothing since nobody wants them.

Other things that I want to know as I prototype out my new army...

Monolith living metal? In/Out? Take that away and they are junk in the melta/las meta of today.

Heavy Destroyer stats? Can I take 5 in a unit?

Destroyer Lord? In or out?

Can Tomb Spyders still poop out Scarabs, maybe they will work like undead tervigons?

Developing....