September 28, 2011

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
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.

3 comments:

  1. I'm not so concerned about the specific stats as I am about the meta. Will this dispel the notion that GW is SM-centric? I'm not against demos being highly quirky or extreme armies, but if this is another Tyranid-type dex, well, it'll be a shame.

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  2. If you mean that it'll be a complete let-down, yeah...that would be awful.. Here's hoping!

    Playstyle wise, what I estimate from all of the rumors is the Necrons will be similar to DEldar in a lot of ways, but the main difference will be Necrons will focus far more on shooting rather than melee.

    They'll both have forms of FNP. They'll both of multiple MCs. They'll both have skimmers out the wazoo. That's a lot of similarities to me. I'm not against this idea, I just don't want the 11-year-wait for a new codex to be something lackluster or underpowered.

    Whether I played Necrons or not; they deserve to be overpowered for a little bit.

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