Necron

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5th Edition wrecked their shit. It also made their fluff halfway tolerable. It still doesn't excuse the original shit.

Necrons, also known by some as Noobcrons, are the Tomb King expys of the 40,000 universe. Which rounds off the rest of the 40K universe being Fantasy races.... IIIIIN SPAAAAAAACE. They also worship (theoretical) vampires who like sucking the (tasty, gooey) living shit out of a star. Which is bizarre, but Games Workshop frequently does shit like that.

Some have considered the Noobcrons to have been unduly OP during their introduction. A respectable amount of evidence can be gathered to grant credence to either points of view. All agree however that the old fluff they had was absolute shit worthy of Matt Ward and the this new update has at least fixed that. As of now, only the pictures are definitive, but most people seem to like the new models. (Though probably only by comparison)

Anybody who thought Necrons were an overpowered race probably failed probability in high school. HURR DURR, BITTER NECRON FANBOY. And thus, the cycle of Neckbeard rage begins anew.

They'll probably be hideously overpowered again after their Codex comes out in 2011... they'll probably be able to autokill on a six and do their old auto-wound/glancing hit on 3s or more or some broken shit like that. They are still totally fucking overpowered in battlefleet gothic though, their cruisers can crush many other race's battleships without much trouble. But no one plays Battlefleet Gothic, so who gives a shit?

The Necrons are on the cusp of their next update, but fans cannot tell whether to rejoice or tremble as they live under the constant shadow of Matt Ward. After making the Necrons and Blood Angels secret lovers that the universe was not yet ready to understand, it is an understandable fear that the Great Taint may spread to the robots, who have already suffered from GW's neglect.

Updates EVERYWHERE!....unfortunately for the Space Zombies, Matt Ward is gunning for them.

Birth of the Angry Goth Terminators

Nothing is sacred

A long-ass time ago (even before the Spess Elves) the Necrontyr lived on a planet blasted by radiation from their sun. Their short lives were punctuated from beginning to end with cancers, AIDS, and pain.

At the same time, a race of psychically-attuned forefathers called the Old Ones had built a vast civilization throughout the galaxy. They seeded many races (leaving humanity alone) and generally showed off. Oh yeah, and they are speculated to be immortal lizards.

The Necrontyr met the Old Ones and quickly grew to resent their neighbors, loathing how long their lifespan was by comparison. Resentment grew into bitter jealousy and finally all-consuming hatred. The Old Ones were indeed much stronger though, and repelled Necrontyr assault after assault until the angsty race was clinging to the edge of the galaxy.

The Necrontyr finally located and loosed a force known as the C'tan, beings with immense power over the corporeal world. The realm of the Warp, which the Old Ones used extensively, was anathema to them, and they sought nothing less than the total separation of the real world from the Maelstrom.

The Necrontyr bargained with the Deceiver - yes, suspend your disbelief for a moment that anyone would trust a guy named the Deceiver - for eternal life. The Deceiver promised the living Necron race immortality and fun times if they'd sacrifice their bodies to the gods to be replaced with metallic-y goodness The Deceiver agreed and then ripped their souls out of their collective urethrae, replacing the Necrontyr with the skeletal metal bodies of the Necrons.

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War breaks out between the Necron and the Old Ones. The Old Ones get their asses soundly beat over and over again, creating new races (lol, Krork) to defend themselves with. Oh, and by using the Warp as a weapon, they turned it into the fun place we all know and love.

After the Old Ones strategy of cranking out race after race to be used backfired when the Enslaver Plague rolled around, the C'Tan go on a feast of galactic proportions. It isn't until they realize that the food (see: EVERYTHING!) is drying out that they decide to go to sleep for 60 million years, 'till the scrumptious morsels known as EVERYTHING regrew.

In present time, the Necron spend most of their time killing anything with a pulse and generally hating anything living, including bacteria. The rest of their time is spent on sleeping and being Super Secret Pony Princess Unicorn Best Friends Forever with Blood Angels. Because that makes sense. (We don't like it any more than you do - 'Crons) They're the goth craze if you dipped them in liquid hate and injected them with 400% of your daily allotment of cheese.

Moral of the story: Finish the damn war and wipe the bastards out or they WILL beat you over the head with a Deus Ex Machina.

Gameplay

A mountain of rape

Pre-5th edition, the Necrons were virtually, an unstoppable Shooty army. Their simple tactic of move-shoot-move-shoot in-tandem with their gauss weaponry capable of vaporizing anything (including heavy tanks) infront of them with impunity, and their Marine-like stats spawned the all famous "March of Doom", which was basically a non-stop forward march of Necron Warriors, Immortals, and Destroyers to flatten the table. And the innate WBB rolls ensured that the march was fuckhard to stop, especially in tandem with resurrection orbs, pylons, monoliths, and some of the cheesier necron formations; since the guys your had a very good chance of getting back into the game after getting killed. But that was then

Oh oh, you have been confronted by a 9ft homicidal robot, I know, let's just stand there like a dumbass because surely his vision must be based on movement!

The Necron have been severely nerfed in 5th Edition, due to vehicles being a bit more sturdy. In the previous edition, they could potentially destroy any enemy (including heavy vehicles) with just their default troops choice - Gauss weaponry caused (and still does) automatic wounds/glancing hits on a roll of 6. Necron Warriors dispatching Land Raiders or Leman Russ Tanks with these glancing hits was not unheard of, causing many veterans of 40K tabletop to rightly declare the Necrons to be Cheese.

Post-edition update, due to the new Armor Penetration rules, Necron Warriors can still harass, stun-lock, and annoy vehicles - even heavy ones - but are much less able to gun down a heavy like a Predator Tank or Vindicator with simple massed Warrior fire, to the delight of non-Necron players everywhere. Massed fire from Necron Warriors can still kill a heavy vehicle, but it will take a veritable barrage of shots to do now, making it a bit less likely that players can spam the shit out of warrior squads and come away triumphant, making this an improvement. A smart Necron player learns to not over-rely on Warriors now, using backup from Tomb Spyders, the Necron Lord, Pariahs, and Destroyers in order to pack quality antivehicle options.

In spite of the nerf, Necrons remain a competent and extremely dangerous force to an infantry-based army (especially the Tyranids who are easily fucked over by auto-wounds). A competently-run Necron army will be able to threaten heavy vehicles as well; one that continues to over-rely on Necron Warriors will find itself getting raped if a Leman Russ, Manticore Rocket Launcher, Deathstrike Missile Launcher, or Vindicator hits the table. Stat-wise, Necrons are rather similar to Space and Chaos Marines, though they essentially have a 4+ Invulnerable Save in their We'll Be Back! rule. They have only one troop type, one vehicle, and are heavily-focused on shooting (though they have some tough melee options like Flayed Ones and infuriatingly tough-to-kill Wraiths). They also have a useful Monstrous Creature of sorts in the Tomb Spyder.

The infamous Monolith is easily the most recognizable unit that the Necrons possess, being their only actual vehicle. It has 14 armor on each side (and thus no vulnerable spots), a main weapon that cannot be disabled with a "weapon destroyed" result, the ability to teleport your troops out of harm's way, and, in the previous edition, the only skimmer that would not crash when immobilized. In the current edition, skimmers only crash if they moved flat-out the previous turn - and the Monolith can't actually move fast enough to crash when it gets immobilized. However, the same update to glancing hits made it even harder to destroy.

Necron infantry are generally slow moving, hard hitting, much like the space marines, if the space marines were able to never die. They back this with annoying deep-strikers and fast-moving infantry that are designed to support the Necron player's advance. There is nothing - I repeat - NOTHING, scarier than a Necron player with almost-cheating luck.

Ex. Player one has just destroyed player two's Necron warrior squad.

Player two, A.K.A. Kenny, rolls the die.

Player one, A.K.A. Commander Numb-Nutz, is making odd sounds with his mouth, in mockery of Kenny.

Kenny, A.K.A. Rob, rolls a one. Commander Numb-Nutz promptly stops making noises with his mouth.

Kenny A.K.A. Rob puts his Necron MF back on the board, and promptly smokes Commander Numb-Nutz's ass from here to the golden Shithouse.

Victories n' Whatnot

Necrons, though vicious in combat, aren't really great at winning. If their army is reduced to 25% they disappear. This forces players to steer away from using otherwise handy units such as Pariahs and Scarabs, lest they risk getting phased out within one or two turns. The Necrons are thus a hit-or-miss force, either outright flattening the opponent or getting steamrolled themselves.

If you want to win with Necrons, be prepared to use Warriors by the dozens, and be prepared to back them up with support like Destroyers and Spyders.

Alternately, one can play Apocalypse and use the Monolith Phalanx, which is one of - if not THE - cheesiest bullshit since 2nd edition Tyranid strategy dice rolls and the Tyranid attack mission card, it's on par with the equally bullshit Tyranid Apocalypse formation "out of ammo sarge!" which prevents any squad from attacking (even if it's melee or the ranged weapon doesn't even fucking use ammo) if they rolled more than six 6's but as that formation has been errata'd the Cronz now hold the uncontested title of cheesiest formation ever.

This article or section involves Matthew Ward, Spiritual Liege, who is universally-reviled on /tg/. Because this article or section covers Ward's copious amounts of derp and rage, fans of the 40K series are advised that if they proceed onward, they will see fluff and crunch violation of a level rarely seen.

Fuck you GW, fuck you with a Gauss blaster

BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

A Disturbing Implication

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TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO TOMB KING HAS EVER GONE BEFORE

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The New Fluff

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HQ

• Imotekh the Stormlord (Lord of the Sau): The most powerful Necron Overlord currently. A master strategist whose nemesis is the Orks (since their random nature is the only thing that can accidentally disrupt his flawless plans).

• Nemesor Zahndrekh: Overlord damaged in the great sleep who still thinks he is flesh and blood fighting the war of secession against his brother Necrontyr. Therefore, he is one of the few Necron Lords who still fights with honor and valor towards his enemies. Has a bodyguard named Vargard Obryron.

• Illuminor Szeras: The Necrontyr who took the C'Tan's knowledge to do bio-transfer and actually made it a reality...so he's the chief architect within the Necrons for actually making the bio-transference happen. He is a master of technology and can augment D3 units in the army with an augmentation.

• Orikan the Diviner: A master astromancer (a Cryptek specializing in tech that can predict the future), he is renown for knowing what will happen and when. During the game he is able to achieve a 'powered up' state that gives him a greatly increases statline, but this boost can randomly end on any turn dropping him back down to his regular stats.

• Anrakyr the Traveller: A Necron Lord whose goal is to unite the Necron Empires again. He travels to Tomb Worlds still sleeping and kills the 'lesser' inhabitants that may live there unaware they are on a Tomb World, the 'price' for this service is to claim a tithe from the newly awakened legions. Some Necrons see him as a golden crusader others don't want reunification and would rather see him dead.

• Trazyn the Infinite: He is a Necron who woke very early and is fascinated with studying and collecting history. His tomb world is filled with secret trinkets including (I quote) 'a giant of a man clad in baroque power armor' (start your wild theories here!). He even will attack other Necron tomb worlds to capture artifacts from them that he doesn't think they deserve. He is the character that has the CC ability to pick one type of model he killed that round and inflict wounds on all models of that type in the combat.

• Necron Overlord: Generic DIY Necron Overlord (guy who rules a Tomb World) with plenty of options. Can ride on a Catacomb Command Barge (which is a one man transport) as can all the named 'Lords' above, but not those that are Crypteks in their fluff (Illuminor Szeras & Orikan the Diviner). Also can be a Destroyer Lord instead.

• Royal Court: 0-5 regular Necron Lords (lieutenants to the Overlords) as well as 0-5 Crypteks. Crypteks are masters of Necron technology, whose abilities sometimes appear like sorcery to other races, but they do not have any psychic powers...all their abilities do not require a psychic test or anything like that (nor are they ever referred to as psychic powers in any way). Any member of the Court (Lord or Cryptek) can be split off at the start of the game to lead a unit of Warriors, Immortals, Lychguard or Deathmarks (but only one per unit). Neither Lords nor Crypteks are ICs.

ELITES

• Deathmarks: 24" range rapid-fire AP 5 sniper unit that can choose to Deep Strike in immediately after any enemy unit arrives from Reserves (which just allows the enemy to fire at them first?)...teleporting in from a pocket dimension to target their prey. They can also mark a single unit as their 'target' which allows them to roll to wound on a 2+. Beautiful models from the pics leaked, but at the point cost listed I can't see them ever being used except to see those great models on the table. Can be transported on a Night Scythe.

• Lychguard: Traditionally these have been the bodyguards for the Overlords. Come standard with Warscythes (+2 Strength Power weapon) and can replace them with Hyperphase swords (power weapon) and Dispersion Shields (the thing that gives them a 4+ invuln and reflects enemy shooting). I made a mistake before. The Shields don't only reflect enemy shooting within 6", they reflect all enemy shooting, but only against enemy units who are within 6" of them (they reflect saved wounds, they don't affect blast/templates, for example). Can be transported on a Night Scythe.

• Triarch Ptaetorians: These used to be effectively the 'police' (my term) of the main Necron ruler (the last of which was the Silent King) to help enforce his will onto the Lords of the Empire. They are known to respect great warriors and honor valor and have sometimes ordered Necron Overlords to stop attacking a foe they deemed worthy of respect (much to the Lord's chagrin). They are Jump Infantry with a 6" AP2 S5 weapon. They can swap that out for Void Blades (a weapon with Rending and the same Entriopic ability that Scarabs have) and Particle Casters (a pistol weapon). No transport option.

• C'Tan Shard: Must take 2 of the 11 listed ability choices that basically shape what kind of C'Tan shard you're fielding. No ability can be taken more than once in the army (even if you take 3 C'Tan shards in the army). The statline is slightly less impressive than previous incarnations of the C'Tan, but still pretty decent. Also has Eternal Warrior and ignores all terrain penalties. Still explodes D6" when they die. Fluff-wise, these are shards effectively controlled by the Necron (even though they have most shards locked away in pocket dimensions). Each shard represents only a portion of the power and consciousness of the C'Tan and therefore in battle the C'Tan may not even think to utilize some of its power because the portion of it that knows it has 'X' power simply isn't there. This is essentially what explains why they only have access to 2 special abilities in battle.

• Flayed Ones: 3 Attacks base (and no additional CC weapons). Can infiltrate or Deep Strike. No transport options.

• Triarch Stalker: Concept Sketch shows a Triarch Praetorian sitting in an open-topped cockpit that is riding on a Necron-style giant almost scorpion walker set of legs. Very cool looking IMHO. Has a variable heat ray (which can be upgraded to a couple of other weapons) that can either be fired as a template or as an Assault 2 S8 24" Heavy2 Melta weapon. Has a Targeting relay which means that any enemy unit hit by the Stalker gets a counter placed by it that allows all other Necron units shooting at the same unit that phase to count as being twin-linked. AV11 & open-topped, but does have Quantum shielding & Living Metal.

TROOPS

• Warriors: You know them, you love them. Described as being basically automatons, with very little (if any) sentience. These were the non-warrior Necontyr before the bio-conversion. See my previous rumors (in the OP) for details on their points cost, etc. Can be transported on a Ghost Ark or Night Scythe.

• Immortals: Immortals are said to have the ability to at least speak, but still aren't too much brighter than Warriors. These were Elite warriors of the Necrontyr before the conversion (not sure who the rank and file troops were if the Warriors were the non-combatants and the Immortals were the Elite soldiers?). Can exchange their Gauss Blasters for Tesla Carbines (24" S5 Assault1, extra hit inflicted on a 'to hit' roll of '6') Can be transported on a Night Scythe.

FAST ATTACK

• Canoptek Wraiths: Protectors of the Tombs while the hosts slumber. Jump Infantry who ignore terrain. 3A base with Rending. All models can take one of a few different upgrades including a Whip Coil (nearly identical to a Tyranid Lash Whip), particle caster (pistol) or a Exile Beamer (12" range that kills a random model in the target unit unless it passes a Strength test).

• Canoptek Scarabs: See the rumors copied in the OP for more details on what Scarbs do now.

• Tomb Blades: Jet Bikes. From the artwork, these look like Necron warriors fused into a flying crescent throne carrying a weapon harness in their arms that is base twin-linked Tesla Carbines. The fluff says that they are pre-programmed with a bunch of different flight patterns and vectors that the onboard Warrior chooses from on the fly. this mitigates the fact that a Warrior has poor coordination, but since the programs are so advanced, in reality they act basically like any other similar unit in an enemy army despite the fact that their 'pilots' are much slower to react. They can upgrade their weapons to a couple different choices (twin-linked Gauss Blaster or Particle Beamer). The entire unit can take any of the 3 options: Nebuloscope (increases BS to 5), Shield Vanes (increased armor save to 3+) & Shadowloom (Stealth).

• Destroyers: New fluff that says Destroyers are infected with some kind of degenerative virus that causes their sole purpose in life to be to kill their enemies. As such they hate everyone and have the Preferred Enemy special rule against everyone (as do Destroyer Lords). They are Jump Infantry now. Any model in the unit can upgrade to a Heavy Destroyer.

HEAVY SUPPORT

• Doomsday Ark: Variant of the Ghost Ark transport: Open-topped, AV11, Quantum Shielding, Living Metal. Something I forogot to say about the Ghost Ark...each Guass Flayer array (5 Flayers) on each side is allowed to fire at a different enemy target (and different from the Doomsday Cannon). Not entirely clear whether a weapon destroyed takes out a whole array or not, but I'm leaning towards yes. The Doomsday cannon has two profiles, one for if the vehicle did or didn't move that turn (with the non-moving one being 72" range S9 AP1 Large Blast). The moving profile only has a 24" range and a S7 blast. Basically described as gunboat whose strategy is to hit first and destroy the enemy before they can fire back.

• Annihilation Barge: Described as anti-infantry support platforms. Variant of the Catacomb Command Barge: Open-topped, AV11, Quantum Shielding, Living Metal. Has a twin-linked Tesla Destructor & a Tesla Cannon, but can upgrade the cannon to a Gauss Cannon. Not exactly sure why you'd want to do that except for the extra range (36" for the Gauss Cannon as opposed to all Tesla weapons which are 24" range).

• Monolith: 35 Point reduction along with corresponding nerf in invulnerability (were you not expecting that?). Still AV 14 and still has Living Metal (although again that only helps remove Crew Stunned/Shaken now). Can still Deep Strike but no longer has invulnerability from Mishaps. Has 4 Gauss Flux Arcs (which are now just Heavy 3 instead of randomly rolled). Particle whip is now just a straight up S8 AP3 24" large blast. The portal can be used to either transport any non-vehicle friendly Necron unit through it or to suck enemy models within 6" to instant death who fail a Strength Test. No bonus to reanimation protocols (the replacement for WBB) is present. Although, at the end of the day, this is still an AV14 vehicle all around, which is pretty imposing in the current game. Unfortunately all of its weapons are really close range, which means it will also now tend to be in Melta range...

• Doom Scythe: Pure fighter variant of the Night Scythe. AV11 with Living Metal (but no Quantum Shielding or open-topped). Is supersonic (36" flat-out) and can fire all its weapons when moving at cruising speed. Has a twin-linked tesla Destructor & a Death Ray, which allows a 3D6" line to be drawn (with one end of the line being within 12" of the vehicle) and causes a number of hits on every unit crossed by the line equal to the number of MODELS in the unit hit. Oh and did I mention that these hits are S10 AP1? Nasty indeed! But at nearly 200 pts for an AV11 vehicle, to get within 12" to unleash this beast will probably be a bit rough.

• Tomb Spyders: The artwork makes them look much more flying and nimble, like giant Scarabs. Can now repair vehicles like a Techmarine, Big Mek, etc. Can take an anti-psychic defense against any power targeting a friendly unit within 3" (nullified on a 4+). Can still create Scarab Swarms, but only into existing swarms on the table (they no longer form a unit with the Spyder) and it can still take damage if it rolls a '1' while doing so. Can take Whip Coils (by giving up a close combat weapon and a +1 to repair vehicles) which is like a Tyranid Lash Whip. Can take 1 or 2 Particle Beamers (by removing its CC/fixer arms) to do so. 1-3 in a unit.

See Also

• lolcron
• Lolicron
• Lovecron
• Heavy-chan
• Papalith
• False Immortality
• Shanako
• Tactics/Necrons
• Story of Necron Pariah Kyl Sonder

Gallery

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  Suddenly, Monoliths just got even more awesome.

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  Angry Marines can really fuck your shit up.

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  Necron players are well-known for their carefully planned tactics of "move-shoot-move-shoot".

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  Now that's what I call a Skeleton Crew! Waka-waka...please don't hurt me.

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  IN THE GRIM DARKNESS OF THE 41ST MILLENNIUM, THE ARGUMENT STILL RAGES

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  Here we see the humble Lolcron, irritably drawing away.

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• Lolcron and lolicron - know the difference!

  Lolcron and lolicron - know the difference!

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  The funk of 40,000 years.

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  Lolcron is a lazy bum these days.

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  Necron update 2011 in a nutshell.

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  The Necron's ace in the hole.

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  Damn space commies.

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  Goddamnit.

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  This is what we call a xeno double-down.

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  Monoliths are known to inspire great songs.

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  Flayed Ones are adept at finding ways to maintain a nice figure.