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Hello,

So at my last tournament outing I didn't do too well, but I did win a gift card to my LGS. I of course used it to do something I wanted to do for a long time and impulse purchased a box of Immortals/Deathmarks. My 5 new Deathmarks are currently waiting for primer (I love the models and fluff on those things so much that I just wanted to own some), but before I go any further and develop this into a full fledged allied detachment for my Tau I was curious about a couple things in the Necron backstory. I don't actually own the codex yet so I don't know all that much about them.

1. Various Necron Lords have some kinds of personalities now right? Is it possible to have a lord who is reasonably friendly with other species, in as much as it is willing to cooperate with them for personal gain rather than just exterminating everything on sight? I would presume that if overlords were ruling members of society back before the Necrons went all robotic then they would have at least some grasp of political maneuvering and alliance brokering.

2. Would a "grand hunt" motivation make sense for a Necron Overlord? Someone who is going out and attacking things all over the place just out of a motivation of sport. I really like the idea of Deathmarks being skilled hunters, maybe whatever the Necron equivalent of Safari guides were, and would like to make a whole detachment based around a similar theme. Of course now they're hunting "the most dangerous game."

That's pretty much the two big things I'm curious about. I'm pretty sure the Necron backstory got changed quite a bit between codexes and I've heard different information from different sources, some of which seems to not fit together at all.

 dementedwombat wrote:
1. Various Necron Lords have some kinds of personalities now right? Is it possible to have a lord who is reasonably friendly with other species, in as much as it is willing to cooperate with them for personal gain rather than just exterminating everything on sight? I would presume that if overlords were ruling members of society back before the Necrons went all robotic then they would have at least some grasp of political maneuvering and alliance brokering.

Yes, Necrons have more robust personalities now and have the sense to be able to play with others. Imotekh has 400 alien worlds paying tribute to him, the Silent King allies with Dante to halt the Tyranids at Devil's Crag, and Necrons give some Orks Doomsday Cannons to get them to go away. In the Crusade of Fire, they even ally with the Dark Eldar.

 dementedwombat wrote:
2. Would a "grand hunt" motivation make sense for a Necron Overlord? Someone who is going out and attacking things all over the place just out of a motivation of sport. I really like the idea of Deathmarks being skilled hunters, maybe whatever the Necron equivalent of Safari guides were, and would like to make a whole detachment based around a similar theme. Of course now they're hunting "the most dangerous game."

Yes, Overlords have all sorts of motivations, from building museums to wanting to become pirate king. There's even a story in the Codex where Necrons lock a bunch of Space Marines in their own fortress monastery and hunt them for sport with waves of warriors. Your idea is pretty fiting.

1) Yes. It is well documented that some Necrons have a strong sense of honor. Your Necron was impressed with said race for its defense and now is an ally.

2.) Yes. Some Necrons hunt, some collect Primarchs.

Thank you both for providing answers. I was visualizing a scenario like this:

Tau exploration force finds tomb world. Tomb World power generators are damaged preventing awakening of any non-critical Necrons. Necron Overlord offers military alliance in exchange for the 40k equivalent of a jump start. Tau being the lovable wet behind the ears fish people they are happily accept (and tick "convert an alien planet to the Greater Good" off their things to do list). Reactors online, Tomb World begins powering up, grand hunt begins. With the Overlord and a special bodyguard accompanying the Tau exploration cadre to fulfill their contract obligation. After all "join the Greater Good or else my shiny metal friend will hunt you down and kill you in your bed" makes a great negotiation opener (and if the people in question actually submit to such a demand then they obviously weren't worth hunting in the first place).

Thanks for assuring me that such a scenario doesn't completely tie the fluff in knots.

 Macharius. wrote:


2.) Yes. Some Necrons hunt, some collect Primarchs.

Well 1 collects them. And by collect, he has a collection of 1.

Really hard to get those things, they were so limited edition and so many of them are not in mint condition anymore. Once one of them loses a hand or something, it's value goes way down. Without the head, might as well just forget it.

It is not even confirmed that he has a Primarch, simply a huge guy in baroque power armor. That could be just about any Space Marine from the Heresy era, or one in a particularly venerated suit of power armor.