Following in the theme of Necron units being led by characters and how that affects their output, we get to the Stratagems. The protocols that we were used to from the previous book, have all been turned into stratagems that do different interesting things that match their name – and pretty much all of them are good. They also all get better if a unit is lead by a Character (except for the Eternal Guardian), further reinforcing the detachment theme. When you deploy these three models, they all have to be within 12″ of each other. After that, they’re all treated as a separate unit. Last out of the character toys, the four fancy flavours of Cryptek now have a list of 12 special wargear options that you can buy them with poi Each one of these is also coming with a pretty nasty short-range gun that is oddly…only S4 but doing -3AP 3 Damage. On top of getting three models for one drop, they give your Necrons some bonus Leadership which has been the Achilles heel to fat Warrior blobs.

Obyron can tag-team with Zandrekh, and provides Fight First for the attached unit. Fight First is super good in 10th, but my vibe is that it isn’t quite needed on any of the units you can join, and you’d rather have a durability buff. Finally, Ghost Arks. Great ability, unclear if what it carries is worth it, and as a Dedicated Transport you have to bring someone to ride. The ability is that once per turn you can trigger the same effect as the Protocols of the Undying Legions stratagem on a nearby Necron Warriors unit, which is very good. However, 10 Necron Warriors with one Character (which is what it carries) might be a challenging sell (no room for Cryptothralls, boo), so we’ll have to see what the cost looks like. Big Vehicles At the start of each battle round, if any NECRONS CHARACTER units from your army are on the battlefield, the command protocol that you assigned to that battle round becomes active for your army until the end of that battle round. Each command protocol is made up of two directives. When a command protocol becomes active for your army, reveal it to your opponent and select one of its directives. Until the assigned command protocol stops being active, while a unit that is eligible to benefit from this ability is on the battlefield, that unit benefits from the selected directive. Phaeron ( Szarekh • Imotekh the Stormlord) • Overlord ( Anrakyr the Traveler • Trazyn the Infinite • Nemesor Zahndrekh) • Lord ( Vargard Obyron • Lokhust Lord • Flayer King • Skorpekh Lord) • Royal Warden Adaptive Subroutines –This is the big one that hurts, as there isn’t really a replacement for this capability and it would be real good in this book. No more advance/charge Wraiths.Regular Lokhust Destroyers with a Lord. Lethal Hits on these means they can chip most things (especially as you can add re-roll Wounds as well), and are good into some rising metagame tools, but suffer from being an unwieldy unit to move and low AP, so can have issues into 2+ saves. After both sides have deployed, but before you have determined who will have the first turn, you must assign a different one of the command protocols below to each of the first five battle rounds, and note this down secretly on your army roster. This is a very basic intro modelling set, but offers a bundle of some test models and a good spread of paints for the “standard” Necron color scheme. With 6 paint colors, 3 models, and a brush, this set works out to about the same amount as if you bought them on their own, although the Agrax Earthshade and Tesseract Glow containers are smaller than the retail versions which are more expensive so separately you’d get slightly more paint for slightly more money. The Skorpekh Lord is slightly nastier in terms of personal killing power, but a bit less mandatory to make their unit excel. They do add Lethal Hits, which is a strong effect, plus Mortals on the charge, but our strong vibe is that Necrons are very much a synergy army, so the Skorpekh might fall behind. Nearly there – three large boxes of various stripes, and the Silent King himself overseeing it all.

Necrons feel like they’re going to reward players who really get to know their army. There’s enough raw power and toughness here to be forgiving in early games, but a deep understanding of how best to use your forces is going to be needed to get the most out of them. The faction also has a lot of support for themed armies – powerful options are available that will reward going deep on either Canoptek constructs or Destroyer Cult units. This is also great news for existing Necron players – pretty much whatever set of tools you have access to, there will be a way to put them together that leverages the new book. The update is especially exciting if you favoured Warrior or Canoptek-based lists, both of which look vastly more interesting compared to 8th, where Immortals, Destroyers and vehicles were the main game in town – and on that note, let’s look at what the book covers. What’s in the Book? In addition, most advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of targeted advertising. If you would like to find out more information, please visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/or http://www.youronlinechoices.com. The Awakened Dynasty detachment rewards you for having Leaders, but what about units that can’t have one? Bring the Sovereign Coronal, providing a 6” aura of “I’m being lead, honest”, and enjoy access to +1 to hit and easy full Wound Rerolls from Conquering Tyrant on your Doomsdays (or even a Monolith). Army Lists Purge Corps Deltic-9 is led by a Tech-Priest Manipulus by the name of Skand, who goes to war protected from enemy fire by a squad of 10 Skitarii Vanguard . Manipulus Skand can choose to deploy with the Aspergilla of Tarentum Enhancement to mist his allies with an energy-diffusing oil that improves survivability, or he can boost his bodyguards’ weapons with extra range and cover-penetrating capabilities using Overcharged Electropositors . I’ve definitely already noticed this impacting my list-building choices, and it’ll also have a big impact on positioning during games, as there’s going to be a real trade-off in some turns between staying in range for protocols or going out hunting.

First, we’ve got the Canoptek Doomstalker which looks like a big brother version of the Canoptek Reanimator. If you look at the first big points to make about the datasheet, the model is a heavy support and GW redesigned the way degrading works, now giving an entire new statline to follow as it gets injured. Win An Indomitus Box: Enter Now

I'm 3D printing a Necron army for 40k. I have scoured the internet for good STLs and I am still looking. Does anyone have any good STLs they could reply with? On the flip side, he’ll also have 16 wounds which means that players can start shooting away at him as soon as the game starts. The Void Dragon

How Does This Faction Handle Enemy Tanks and Monsters?

Five Pteraxii Sterylizors provide a potent deep strike threat with their phosphor torches, and three Serberyrs Sulphurhounds are fast, flame-spewing cavalry who can trade up into tougher foes. Inside the Codex is a guide on how to get your Purge Corps Deltic-9 painted in the livery of Mars, and some tips for tipping engagements in your favour. If you meet that, you reveal the protocol chosen for that round and choose one of the two effects. Any unit with the Command Protocols ability then benefis from that effect while it is within 6″ of a Necron CHARACTER. The Protocols I do think we’ll see less Sautekh than we used to simply (ironically) because of how much better this book is now. Previously, the Sautekh warlord trait and some of the characters were duct tape desperately trying to hold together a terrible faction – now it might turn out you simply have better options. There is still stuff to like here though, so expect to see them tried. Custom Dynasties

A bunch of rules in the Necron Codex work based on a set of common keywords that turn up across multiple units. The most important ones are: Overall, I am pleased about this change. While it hurts some units, most notably the large Destroyer squads that were staples of older builds, I’m reasonably convinced that the payoff in making the core 1W infantry much, much better is worth it, and it being rolled out for free to a bunch of Canoptek stuff is just gravy. Command Protocols Bear in mind that the above ideas are just two of a multitude of choices you can make and if you have settled you want to use X unit because you think they’re awesome then by all means go your own way. Competitively at the moment you’ll often see Sautekh and Novokh on top, though just about every dynasty (and custom dynasty) has neat options that you can play to and give your opponent a tough challenge. This list uses pretty much exclusively what comes in the Starter sets, with the exception of the Skorpekh Destroyer Lord, Chronomancer, and Cryptothralls. The Lord and the thralls come in the Indomitus set and arguably so does the Chronomancer if you proxy the Plasmancer–the Chronomancer model has not been released as of this article. This list hosts some very nasty melee threats, some good midrange shooting, troops to sit on objectives, and the option to jump your Reaper Warriors into position to give someone a really bad day. Coming in with a full CP count, you can even spare one to put some infantry in reserve for nefarious secondary schemes. So I Started Blasting… Melee is good now! Being able to compete in the fight phase is proving essential in 9th, and this book gives Necrons the tools to deal with their opponents up close.This Necron character is another walking fear-monger-er. Although this time instead of just looking the part, it also was some fear-related abilities as well. Repair Subroutines – Not needed now that all Canoptek have RP by default. The best kind of missing stratagem!