Rumors: Necron Warrior and Immortal Stats?

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Found on BoLS, the newest rumor for our favorite zombie-bots are the supposed stats for Warriors and Immortals. While at first glance this looks completely legit, let's be honest; anyone could duplicate GW's format for unit info. Hell, I've been doing it for over a year! But, as usual, let's make the assumption that these rumors are 100% legit and assess the situation:

Necron Warriors

Stats: WS4  BS4  S4  T4  W1  I2  A1  Ld10  Sv4+

Same as before, except a reduced armour save. We've all been bracing ourselves for this.

Unit Composition: 5 Warriors

It's about damned time. Forcing 10 Warriors has been the bane of all 'cron players (along with numerous other flaws with a 3rd Edition codex in a 5th Edition ruleset) in smaller-point games.

Wargear: Gauss Flayer, Reinforced Necroshell

Gauss Flayer, we all saw that coming. The Reinforced Necroshell, following GW's typical format, just means a 4+ armour save.

Special Rules: Necron, Reconstruction

Reconstruction = We'll Be Back, as previously rumored. What's interesting is the previous rumors indicated that Phase Out is now gone and that everything in the dex should have the self-repair rule. So what does the Necron Special Rule do now?

Dedicated Transport: War Barque

Supposedly one of the 3 unnamed, overpriced new transports.

Options

• Up to 15 more Warriors for 12pts each.
• Particle Beam Rifles for free.
• Tesla Lashers for 1pt per model.
• Gamma-Ray Projectors for 3pts per model.
• Euclidean Disruptions Shroud for 5pts.
• Warp Degenerators for 10pts.
• Reactive Lightning Fields for 20pts.

12pts per Warrior is awesome. Currently to push out a cheap Troop choice it's 180pts. With the new dex, 60pts. Now, that is half the model count with a lowered armour save. But compared to a Space Marine the cost is just about right assuming a 5+ Reconstruction (FNP).

As far as the weapon choices go, if you remember back in April we had a plethora of rumors spill. Some seemed crude and unorganized, but one thing I remembered was the Tesla weapon: rolls to hit on a 6 cause 2 more hits. Sexy.

On another note, a buddy sent me a link to this business a while back which mentions the Tesla and a "ray" weapon that either goes melta or flamer depending on what tickles your fancy each phase. If this is the case you essentially have an Eldar unit, but instead of having a single job, you can fluctuate to two roles if need-be.

As for the read of the options, I can only guess:

• Particle Beam Rifles = sniper or shotgun-like weapons?
• Disruption Shrouds = GK shrouding-esque ability?
• Warp Degenerators = GK-like DeepStrike-refusal?
• Lightning Fields = Unchanged from last edition?

Necron Immortals

Stats: WS4  BS4  S4  T4  W1  I2  A1  Ld10  Sv3+

Same as before, except a reduced Toughness. Disappointing.

Unit Composition: 5 Immortals

Same as before.

Wargear: Gauss Blaster, Fortified Necroshell

Gauss Blaster, probably the same as before. The Fortified Necroshell, following GW's typical format again, just means a 3+ armour save.

Special Rules: Necron, Firstborn, Reconstruction

See notes above on Warriors. The only difference is "Firstborn". This sounds like a fluffy rule to me, and anything my brain comes up with is outlandish to say the least. I guess we'll see.

Dedicated Transport: War Barque

See notes above on Warriors.

Options

• Up to 10 more Immortals for 17pts each.
• Annihilator Particle Rifles for 3pts per model
• Tesla Stormers for 3pts per model
• Heat-Ray Cannons for 5pts per model
• Energy-Matrix Links for 5pts
• Euclidean Disruptions Shroud for 5pts.
• Warp Degenerators for 10pts.
• Chronometrons for 15pts.
• Reactive Lightning Fields for 20pts.

17pts for each Immortal isn't bad, I suppose. It's an 11pt drop almost cutting their cost in half from a previous edition. However it lowers their toughness and supposedly makes their WBB worse. Is it worth it? The proof is in the pudding. And in the pudding are weapons.

If I thought I was confused before, the weapons throw everything out the window. The way I see it, each of the 3 weapon options for the Immortals are just beefed up versions of the Warrior's weapons. At least that's what the names suggest to me.

As far as wargear goes we have a few new additions. Energy-Matrix Links is new. The Monolith's Power Matrix gave a second chance at WBB and could pull units out of close combat; I'm wondering if there's any similarities here. The other difference from Warrior options is the Chronometrons. My only hope is that this thing has changed from its 3rd Edition stance; this upgrade is awful in the current dex.

Conclusion

I think if these rumors flesh out one thing holds true; Necron Lords won't be the unit an army rides on anymore. If the Troops section has this many options, I can't imagine what Elites or Heavies will be seeing. Either way, relying solely on a Lord to keep your army's head above water doesn't look to be the direction this 5th Edition codex is headed.

Stay tuned for more.