So the number of troop choices available in the new Necron codex has doubled! To 2, now immortals have been moved into the troops section! But before I get onto that, let’s first discuss the basic Necron warrior.
The Necron warrior
First off cost, this has been reduced by 5 points down to 13 so quite a significant reduction. Especially when you consider only one other thing has been reduced, the armour save to 4+, so all in all looking quite good for value. The rest of the stats are the same 4s across the board with initiative 2 and leadership 10. So they will be fairly resilient, hard to hit in combat and not easy to wound against other basic troops. The weapons remain the same as before the basic gauss flayer, however we will be looking at weapons in more detail in a later section. Really not much to say for the troops here, a reduction in cost and armour save so overall much better value than the previous edition. And of course they have reanimation protocols special rule, and options for dedicated transport.
The Necron Immortal
4 points more expensive than the warrior but can pack a much greater punch. With the same stats as the warrior but with an armour save of 3+ they are a stronger defensive unit, however it’s the weapons they can carry that will make the difference in game. The basic weapon of the immortal is the gauss blaster strength 5 armour penetration 4 rapid fire 24 inches, so already quite lethal to most infantry. But for a small cost of 0 points you may choose to upgrade the gauss blasters to tesla carbines, strength 5, armour penetration -, assault 1, tesla, 24 inches. So you do lose 1 shot and the AP4, however the important part to note is the tesla rule
‘’Tesla shots have a chance to strike several times with a single shot. For every to hit roll of a 6, the target suffers 2 additional automatic hits’’ Games Workshop LTD 2011.
So potentially 3 hits per weapon at strength 5, with a potential range of 30 inches. I do concede that the roll of a 6 is needed however in units of 10 immortals this should be effective. Plus as with all books games workshop is producing these days little changes and new rules here and there are making the game more diverse an interesting without going overboard on complexity.
Overall?
Overall for the troops in the Necrons codex, although the choices are limited to 2 they are both different enough from one another to use different army builds. One designed to be resilient an win a war of attrition units of 20 Necron warriors, and one designed to shred infantry and light vehicles units of 10 immortals with tesla carbines. That’s not to say the gauss blaster should be overlooked, with its AP of 4 it will have more success against light and medium infantry granted it can make it through all the cover out there.
Necron HQ choices
Where to begin??? Maybe with the basics first off the nightbringer and deceiver are gone from this part of the book so to speak. The total number of HQ choices for Necrons is now 9, plus the option of being able to take a royal court for certain characters and the Necron overlord. So first off who appear to be the big hitters in HQ? Well first of in terms of points we have Imotekh the Stormlord at 225 he isn’t the most expensive character to appear in the 40k universe but does have some interesting rules to boot. The rest of the characters range from 185 to 100, with your basic Necron overlord coming in at 90 points. As there are 9 choices to pick from I will not go over all of them in great detail but just highlight the ones that on first glance seem to be the most interesting of effective. The 3 I will look at the most are Anrakyr the Traveller, Nemesor Zahndrekh (with Vargard Obyron) and Orikan the Diviner.
Anrakyr the Traveller
The special rules of this character are what makes him stand out from the rest; however most of the HQ choices in this book will be made to stand out via their special rules or war gear, as most share a very similar stat line. So the rules for Anrakyr, first and foremost he has an ability to take over an enemy vehicle within 18 inches at the start of your shooting phase on the roll of a 3+. You may then shoot with the vehicle as if it had not moved and ignoring any crew stunned or crew shaken results, destroyed weapons cannot be fired and the vehicle cannot be moved in any way. Once the vehicles shots have been resolved it returns to the control of the enemy and you may shoot at it. So this is quite decent new ability and again does something a bit different for the game.
Secondly Anrakyr can buff a unit of immortals to have the furious charge and counter attack special rules at no extra cost. This is a great little plus for a unit making them slightly better in close combat!
The wargear of Anrakyr is limited but useful; he has a warscythe, power weapon with +2 strength and 2D6 armour penetration. Then he has the Tachyon Arrow, this is a one use only shooting weapon with the following profile strength 10, AP 1, Range infinite, assault 1. So it is just a single shot but could prove to be a crucial one against a certain vehicle or character. Overall for the points (165) Anrakyr seems to be a very good deal, although he does not have a huge amount of wargear he does do some things differently for the game.
Orikan the Diviner
Orikan is the next of the HQ choices that caught my eye, at 165 he costs the same as Anrakyr but can potentially pack more of a punch with his 2nd profile. First off wargear, Orikan has the phase shifter (3+ Inv.), transdimensional beamer 12 inch range, if you hit a unit one randomly selected model must pass a strength test or be removed from play with no saves of any kind allowed. So again here we have the potential for targeting monstrous creatures, walkers, lone characters etc! Next Orikan has the staff of tomorrow, a power weapon that lets him reroll failed to hit rolls in close combat. Special rules are where it gets interesting for Orikan. Starting at the top Lord of Time, once per game you must reroll failed reserve rolls for a single turn, basic but a nice touch. The stars are right, this is the interesting one that can provide Orikan with more of a punch in close combat. Basically every turn of the game you roll a D6 and if it is equal to or lower than the current turn Orikan goes from
BS 4 WS 4 S 4 T 4 W 2 I 2 A 2 LD 10 SV 4 +
To
BS 5 WS 5 S 7 T 7 W 4 I 4 A 4 LD 10 SV 4+
So quite an increase in his stat line, however once he has powered up you must continue to roll and the same rule applies as above except he will turn back to his former self. Also wounds taken are transferred between transformations so there is the possibility for him to die when he changes back. His final special rule is temporal snares, this can prove to be quite useful for 2 reasons that I will cover in a moment but for now the rule itself.
In the first turn of the game all enemy units that move count as moving through difficult terrain, if they are already in difficult terrain then they pick the lowest of the dice they roll not the highest. So for tyranids they will be slowed down, fast moving mech assault armies could get a few immobilisations as difficult becomes dangerous for vehicles. Another interesting rule that will force your opponent to make some decisions when it comes to deployment and the first movement phase! So again I think Orikan is very reasonable for the points cost and will prove to be useful in the game and as always adds more variety to the Necron race!
Nemesor Zahndrekh & Vargard Obyron
When taken together Vargard Obyron is a separate HQ choice from Zahndrekh but does not take up a slot of the force organistation chart. Obyron is essentially Zahndrekh’s personal bodyguard, however the two do not have to be deployed together. Instead Obyron is an independent character that has a piece of wargear called the ghostwalk mantle, this works like the veil of darkness allowing him and his unit to teleport to anywhere on the battlefield during the movement phase. Furthermore if Obyron chooses to deep strike within 6 inches of Zahndrekh he will not scatter, also if Zahndrekh is assaulted by an enemy unit Obyron will move from anywhere he is on the board and pile in to that combat. This will prove to be very flexible in the game and again creates more variety in the new book. Obyron comes with a warscythe and WS6 making him very useful in close combat, and Zahndrekh has an ability to buff a friendly unit every turn and weaken an enemy unit every turn by taking special rules away from them, counter attack, furious charge, acute senses, hit and run, stealth and tank hunters. So although it is early days I would have to say at first glance these two are the most interesting HQ choices especially when combined, but at 345 points it does make a pricey HQ choice when there are many less expensive options available.
Overall
The HQ choices in this book are very diverse, so many more options than the previous book and with named characters with unique rules and wargear makes army building very interesting now. I think players will have the chance to be much more creative and expressive with the new Necron codex and surely this is only a good thing! Next time I will be taking a look at the vehicles.
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