Release thread - Horus Heresy & 7TV

[Raganui Minamoto]

Hate to be late to the party... but could someone fill me in on the Necron fluff? I was told that they aren't going to be the quiet, trodding, death machines anymore and that even warriors will have a, hnng, personality.  

[Vikki Stardust]

It's posted two or so pages back.

Lady Blodwynn

Some Necron background info:

Quote:

There is a dramatic change in the fluff in this codex from the previous incarnation of the Necrons. The Necrontyr's empire was massive at one point, but the different Lords in the empire started to turn against each other in civil war. To prevent this from happening the overall ruler of the Necrons (the Silent King) started the war against the Old Ones specifically to give them a common enemy to fight against to prevent his empire from destroying itself. Of course, the Old Ones ended up kicking their butts and in desperation, the Silent King found the C'Tan and agreed to the Deceiver's pact without realizing what he was doing. However, after the Necrons helped the C'Tan to kill off the last Old Ones, the Silent King then ordered the Necrons to turn on the C'Tan in vengeance and utterly destroyed the C'Tan into tiny shards. This war agains the C'Tan weakened the Necrons overall so much they decided to go into stasis to avoid the vengeance of the Eldar (the C'Tan had killed the Old Ones, but not all their children).

Now that the Necrons have reawakened in the 41st millennium, their goal is no longer to 'harvest' souls for the C'Tan (the C'Tan shards are now their slaves) as it was in the old book, but rather to reestablish the great Necron empire that spanned the galaxy before the war with the Old Ones began. However, the overall hierarchy of the Necron people is gone for the most part, leaving each individual Empire to once again rule for itself. This means each Tomb World (or cluster of Necron worlds) is essentially a separate little empire to itself, with a full backstory and idiosyncrasies. While Necron warriors are pretty much just automatons and Immortals not too much better, every other higher Necron being is now much more like an actual person, as their essence is simply trapped inside a metal body.

So there is lots of crazy nuance to Necron culture that was never present before. The codex now has plenty of 'quote' boxes featuring memorable quotes from Necron Lords like other races have in their books. There are some Necron Lords who honor valor in battle, there are a few Necron Lords who trade with other races, and although an uneasy alliance apparently, yes Necrons and Blood Angels did end up fighting against a Tyranid Hive Fleet together. Oh, and there is definitely plenty of reason to have Necron vs. Necron action now (as the old feuds between competing Necron Lords flare back up again).

All in all, it is a major tonal shift. While part of me recoils from it, the other part of me thinks that Necrons as they were had no distinct 'character' that each player could choose to get behind. Yes, the race as a whole had 'character' in how it was organized and functioned, but there was never any really good reason that a player should have his Necron force painted and modeled 'X' way as opposed to another player with his Necron army looking 'Y' way. People certainly painted their Necrons in different (neat) ways, but there was never really any good fluff giving players inspiration to do so.

The only real 'personality' in the old book was the Deceiver, and that frankly wasn't the Necrons, it was their god. The mindless mission that all Necrons were on was basically really similar to Tyranids...the Necrons were coming to harvest every living thing in the galaxy (yawn).

This new incarnation, love it or hate it, gives the Necrons a whole wide array of personality and every single empire has different goals and motives (not to mention paint schemes, markings, etc). Some Necron Lords are obsessed with finding the perfect flesh bodies to transfer their sentience back into. One Necron Tomb World was damaged during the great sleep and erased all the Necron sentience and has started basically commanding its Necrons like true robots (and is actively attacking other Necron worlds to take them over and keep growing), and there are of course dozens more little stories. The Silent King, who put himself into exile (for his unforgivable crime against his people) by leaving the galaxy after defeating the C'Tan encountered the Tyranids in the void between galaxies and has returned to spur the Necrons into action against the Tyranids (realizing that if the Tyranids wipe the galaxy clean of biological matter, then the Necrons will never find a form to transfer their minds back into).

Oh, and the biggest rival of the Necrons is now actually the Altaoic (sp?) Craftworld. Apparently they are the only Eldar who stayed true on the original path to seek out and destroy Necron Tomb Worlds while the rest of the Eldar got all caught up and destroyed in their decadence and then the Fall. Altaoic rangers have traveled the galaxy far and wide over the millennia (ever since the Necrons went to sleep) to track down and destroy or hamper Tomb Worlds from reawakening.

So with this new direction there is now tons of different possibilities for players to make Necrons forces different from each other and there are neat new takes on 'nemesis' races like Eldar & Tyranids to drive gaming plots as well as good reason for Necron on Necron battles.

And as for totally destroying the background of the C'Tan, the codex does allude to the fact that there are lots of unaccounted for C'Tan shards still allegedly cast around the galaxy. The Necron are always trying to hunt them down and imprison them (in pocket dimension prisons), but this does still leave the door totally wide open for a shard of 'The Dragon' to be on Mars and for shards of 'The Deceiver' to have done all the crazy things that's been written about him in novels. Essentially, the full power C'Tan were massively, massively powerful, and the 'shard' versions of them are closer to the idea of what we had in the last codex anyway (something that can be killed/banished on a battlefield).

So while it is a little shocking to have such a massive fluff change hit, I do think it is probably the right way forward to create a more fully realized faction. But I do think it is probably going to be a massive turn-off to those players who absolutely adored the old fluff for the army.

 

[Raganui Minamoto]

Thank you naked lady.

Is it okay if I just sit, facepalming, and wishing someone would shoot Matt Ward?  

[Vikki Stardust]

Dunno, this does look like a better excuse for people to create their own armies, something the old fluff didn't really allow for. Plus the whole "find a way to make new bodies" sounds way better than "we eat you rawr"  

[Hoxtalicious]

I don't recall Mat Ward having a hand in this.  

[Orkronos]

Wait, does this mean the night bringer and the deceiver are "dead"?  

[Lady Blodwynn]

More likely physically broken into smaller parts, much like the Eldar god Khaine whose "parts" reform into Avatars, only the Necrons really hate the C'tan and instead imprison them in pocket dimensions. It would explain what the Emperor imprisoned beneath the surface of Mars. Not the Void Dragon as a whole, but a large shard of it. It also rather neatly explains the unknown anomaly that the Tyranids avoid on the Eastern Fringes.

Personally, I find the new background refreshing. Of course, it is a complete reboot of what we had, but this allows for more diversity in armies, more character shown by the army over fiends and set them apart from other armies who want to destroy and devour just for the sake of destroying and devouring.

As mentioned before, this is one codex I will be getting. wink  

[Hoxtalicious]

Same here, I'm not a big fan of aliens but this might be the exception. Alongside Orks. Well, I'll be getting the codex and one of those Ghost Ark things for its passengers. Just a quick repose of the legs and presto, instant eerie "statues" to inhabit something ancient and eerie.  

[Orkronos]

Lady Blodwynn

More likely physically broken into smaller parts, much like the Eldar god Khaine whose "parts" reform into Avatars, only the Necrons really hate the C'tan and instead imprison them in pocket dimensions. It would explain what the Emperor imprisoned beneath the surface of Mars. Not the Void Dragon as a whole, but a large shard of it. It also rather neatly explains the unknown anomaly that the Tyranids avoid on the Eastern Fringes.

Personally, I find the new background refreshing. Of course, it is a complete reboot of what we had, but this allows for more diversity in armies, more character shown by the army over fiends and set them apart from other armies who want to destroy and devour just for the sake of destroying and devouring.

As mentioned before, this is one codex I will be getting. wink

But but! I wanted to do some C-tan minis! emotion_8c  

[Hoxtalicious]

Orkronos

Lady Blodwynn

More likely physically broken into smaller parts, much like the Eldar god Khaine whose "parts" reform into Avatars, only the Necrons really hate the C'tan and instead imprison them in pocket dimensions. It would explain what the Emperor imprisoned beneath the surface of Mars. Not the Void Dragon as a whole, but a large shard of it. It also rather neatly explains the unknown anomaly that the Tyranids avoid on the Eastern Fringes.

Personally, I find the new background refreshing. Of course, it is a complete reboot of what we had, but this allows for more diversity in armies, more character shown by the army over fiends and set them apart from other armies who want to destroy and devour just for the sake of destroying and devouring.

As mentioned before, this is one codex I will be getting. wink

But but! I wanted to do some C-tan minis! emotion_8c

Chances are, the C'Tan minis are real space representations of those shards and no longer the actual full blown gods they represented. Along those lines, it perfectly retcons the end of the novel Nightbringer, where Uriel Ventris finds said C'tan. Only instead of it being the actual deity, it is instead a part of it, which would go a long way towards explaining how Uriel and company managed to make it run away.  

[Orkronos]

Lt. Brookman

Orkronos

Lady Blodwynn

More likely physically broken into smaller parts, much like the Eldar god Khaine whose "parts" reform into Avatars, only the Necrons really hate the C'tan and instead imprison them in pocket dimensions. It would explain what the Emperor imprisoned beneath the surface of Mars. Not the Void Dragon as a whole, but a large shard of it. It also rather neatly explains the unknown anomaly that the Tyranids avoid on the Eastern Fringes.

Personally, I find the new background refreshing. Of course, it is a complete reboot of what we had, but this allows for more diversity in armies, more character shown by the army over fiends and set them apart from other armies who want to destroy and devour just for the sake of destroying and devouring.

As mentioned before, this is one codex I will be getting. wink

But but! I wanted to do some C-tan minis! emotion_8c

Chances are, the C'Tan minis are real space representations of those shards and no longer the actual full blown gods they represented. Along those lines, it perfectly retcons the end of the novel Nightbringer, where Uriel Ventris finds said C'tan. Only instead of it being the actual deity, it is instead a part of it, which would go a long way towards explaining how Uriel and company managed to make it run away.

Ok,also that would enplane how it can be killed in a game sense.  

[Hoxtalicious]

Orkronos

Lt. Brookman

Orkronos

Lady Blodwynn

More likely physically broken into smaller parts, much like the Eldar god Khaine whose "parts" reform into Avatars, only the Necrons really hate the C'tan and instead imprison them in pocket dimensions. It would explain what the Emperor imprisoned beneath the surface of Mars. Not the Void Dragon as a whole, but a large shard of it. It also rather neatly explains the unknown anomaly that the Tyranids avoid on the Eastern Fringes.

Personally, I find the new background refreshing. Of course, it is a complete reboot of what we had, but this allows for more diversity in armies, more character shown by the army over fiends and set them apart from other armies who want to destroy and devour just for the sake of destroying and devouring.

As mentioned before, this is one codex I will be getting. wink

But but! I wanted to do some C-tan minis! emotion_8c

Chances are, the C'Tan minis are real space representations of those shards and no longer the actual full blown gods they represented. Along those lines, it perfectly retcons the end of the novel Nightbringer, where Uriel Ventris finds said C'tan. Only instead of it being the actual deity, it is instead a part of it, which would go a long way towards explaining how Uriel and company managed to make it run away.

Ok,also that would enplane how it can be killed in a game sense.

"Enplane"?  

[Orkronos]

Lt. Brookman

Orkronos

Lt. Brookman

Orkronos

Lady Blodwynn

More likely physically broken into smaller parts, much like the Eldar god Khaine whose "parts" reform into Avatars, only the Necrons really hate the C'tan and instead imprison them in pocket dimensions. It would explain what the Emperor imprisoned beneath the surface of Mars. Not the Void Dragon as a whole, but a large shard of it. It also rather neatly explains the unknown anomaly that the Tyranids avoid on the Eastern Fringes.

Personally, I find the new background refreshing. Of course, it is a complete reboot of what we had, but this allows for more diversity in armies, more character shown by the army over fiends and set them apart from other armies who want to destroy and devour just for the sake of destroying and devouring.

As mentioned before, this is one codex I will be getting. wink

But but! I wanted to do some C-tan minis! emotion_8c

Chances are, the C'Tan minis are real space representations of those shards and no longer the actual full blown gods they represented. Along those lines, it perfectly retcons the end of the novel Nightbringer, where Uriel Ventris finds said C'tan. Only instead of it being the actual deity, it is instead a part of it, which would go a long way towards explaining how Uriel and company managed to make it run away.

Ok,also that would enplane how it can be killed in a game sense.

"Enplane"?

dyslexia is a b***h.  

[Asmusei -Faceless Hunter-]

Lady Blodwynn

More likely physically broken into smaller parts, much like the Eldar god Khaine whose "parts" reform into Avatars, only the Necrons really hate the C'tan and instead imprison them in pocket dimensions. It would explain what the Emperor imprisoned beneath the surface of Mars. Not the Void Dragon as a whole, but a large shard of it. It also rather neatly explains the unknown anomaly that the Tyranids avoid on the Eastern Fringes.

Personally, I find the new background refreshing. Of course, it is a complete reboot of what we had, but this allows for more diversity in armies, more character shown by the army over fiends and set them apart from other armies who want to destroy and devour just for the sake of destroying and devouring.

As mentioned before, this is one codex I will be getting. wink

Hmm, I'm thinking that this might be a good second army for me to go with, even using the video you posted of making sprues into giant crystals, maybe going as far as making on of the Shards! But, then again, I really don't know what they are...
If I do start one, I'm going to greenstuff armor plating on their left arms, like the round piece that the squad leader from Halo: Reach had. I could paint them a flat paint and paint the Japanese characters for numbers on them. It should be fun!  

[Hoxtalicious]

Upcoming Necron releases, all going up for sale on the 5th of November:

Codex Necrons: €26,00 / £20,00

Plastic boxed sets, each boxed set contains enough parts and models for both types listed:
Ghost Ark / Doomsday Ark boxed set: €39,00 / £31,00
Catacomb Command Barge / Annihilation Barge: €26,00 / £20,50
Immortals / Deathmarks: €26,00 / £20,50
Lychguard / Triarch Praetorians: €26,00 / £20,50

Finecast blisters:
Imotekh the Stormlord: €15,00 / £10,50
Trazyn the Infinite: €15,00 / £10,50
Necron Overlord: €15,00 / £10,50
Necron Cryptek: €12,50 / £9,50

Finecast boxed sets:
Flayed One pack: €35,00 / £25,50

Prices taken from the UK version of WD issue 383, hence no USD's, AUSD's etc.

Misc. releases:

Skullvane Manse, Lair of the Astromancer: €58,50 / £46,00

Citadel Mega paint set: €195,00 / £155,00

Citadel Paint Station + (paint station, cutting mat, two water pots, two mixing palettes): €40,00 / £32,00

'Eavy Metal masterclass book: €23,50 / £18,00

'Eavy Metal brush set (Large brush, standard brush, brush tin, two pots of thinner, instruction booklet): €39,00 / £31,00

Custom army cases (either desert brown for 40k or pastel green for fantasy): €95,00 / £61,50

Special edition dice cubes: €6,25 / £4,10

Grass tufts: €10,50 / £8,00