Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Having seen the new silent king model i'm pretty sure i won't be getting it for reasons, but that doesn't mean i'm not interested in it in some ways.

First off i hope it can go toe to toe with reroll guilleman. Honestly you'd think the most powerful member of a race that could destroy stars and shatter gods should be at least equal to a primarch.

Secondly, i think the designer read "Word of the silent king" as the model at least looks like someone did, give it was the only description of Szarekk we've had.

From Word of the silent king:

He was taller than the rest, yet not as tall as I had imagined he might be. His mechanical body was a work of unspeakable Xenos artifice, more finely wrought than any I had ever seen upon the field of battle. Where they might be skeletal, he was lithe. Where they were animated with grim, unyielding purpose, his every movement possessed an undeniable vitality. His form spoke of musculature and clean-limbed strength, perhaps touched by the divine, and his finery was simple and yet impossibly elegant.


He doesn't have the mask of sanguinius, maybe he wouldn't wear that when leading a necron army.

At first I thought he should be more glowy, with lots more of the usual necron energy glow, but then i notices he seems to be linked to a c'tan and the c'tan did all the glowy stuff for him.

He has 2 huge shield like structures that seem to be made of that thing Szaras has on his back, so maybe he will finally be the necrons major FU to psykers and chaos.


All in all I'm not unhappy with the model, asides from what it'll no doubt cost.

It's another in GW's increasingly long line of big centrepiece models that are nearly impossible to transport and needlessly fragile-looking. I vastly preferred when models like the Silent King would have just been an impressive-looking Overlord rather than a mini-diorama. I'm also not a fan of the way GW increasingly uses things like lightning or swirly soul energy to support flying models. I'd much rather just see a flying stand.

Having said all that, given what the designers have clearly been told to produce, I think this is actually not a bad effort. I like the imprisoned C'Tan and the fact you've got the Triarch in there. Less a fan of the stupidly long cloak (clearly Mephiston took some inspiration from the Silent King for his) but I think the look of the Silent King himself is pretty well done.

I really like it.

For the monarch of an ancient race numbering into untold billions, if not trillions? I expect a little pomp and shiny.

Really like the model, and looking forward to seeing his rules.

It’s a good model, but I don’t particularly like it. It’s kinda too much for me.
Particularly for necrons I like a more toned down and alien look than all that.

He's in charge, therefore he's physically huge. *sigh*


Big skeletal Necron standing with staff, accompanied by slightly less big skeletal standing Necrons with staffs is boring in the extreme for effectively the Xenos equivalent of the Emperor.

 Lord Damocles wrote:
He's in charge, therefore he's physically huge. *sigh*


Big skeletal Necron standing with staff, accompanied by slightly less big skeletal standing Necrons with staffs is boring in the extreme for effectively the Xenos equivalent of the Emperor.

Well, the smaller Overlords had to get inspiration from somewhere.

The model itself is nice but it doesn't really scream special to me beyond any other Necron Lord.

I think it would have been more interesting for the Silent King's frame to be shaped to resemble the ancient organic Necrontyr more, and maybe with deathmask if one is going for the whole Egyptian angle. Alternatively have the skeletal head on top of a metallic T1000 like body, that superficially looks organic. The Silent King is supposed to be about regretting the choice of bio-transferrence and wanting to undo that so it would make sense if he tried to recapture what he lost through his own appearance.

Not a fan of it. It combines too many elements of nu-GW mins I dislike such as unnecessary embiggening, swirly gak, and aspects of Necron vehicles that I hate (namely robot pilots).

The king himself is like - is that it? You've bigged this guy up for ages and without his floaty throne thing he's just another Necron Overlord. Why can he not have a slightly different body akin to the old Pariah minis? Why does he have the same production line body as every other Necron out there? This guy is the top dog yet he looks super generic without all the peripheral bits.

 Matt Swain wrote:
Having seen the new silent king model i'm pretty sure i won't be getting it for reasons, but that doesn't mean i'm not interested in it in some ways.

First off i hope it can go toe to toe with reroll guilleman. Honestly you'd think the most powerful member of a race that could destroy stars and shatter gods should be at least equal to a primarch.

Secondly, i think the designer read "Word of the silent king" as the model at least looks like someone did, give it was the only description of Szarekk we've had.

From Word of the silent king:

He was taller than the rest, yet not as tall as I had imagined he might be. His mechanical body was a work of unspeakable Xenos artifice, more finely wrought than any I had ever seen upon the field of battle. Where they might be skeletal, he was lithe. Where they were animated with grim, unyielding purpose, his every movement possessed an undeniable vitality. His form spoke of musculature and clean-limbed strength, perhaps touched by the divine, and his finery was simple and yet impossibly elegant.


He doesn't have the mask of sanguinius, maybe he wouldn't wear that when leading a necron army.

At first I thought he should be more glowy, with lots more of the usual necron energy glow, but then i notices he seems to be linked to a c'tan and the c'tan did all the glowy stuff for him.

He has 2 huge shield like structures that seem to be made of that thing Szaras has on his back, so maybe he will finally be the necrons major FU to psykers and chaos.


All in all I'm not unhappy with the model, asides from what it'll no doubt cost.

The void dragon model would have made a better silent king model.

Not a fan of dioramas on the tabletop. Triumph of ste catherine is already problematic in that regard.

Worse - the SK model is actually 3 different bases... one model = 1 base would be better.

If that thing ever falls down or gets toppled of a table, the owner is going to have to rebuild an interesting puzzle.

Not a huge fan. I don't like the frilly necron bonnet they keep putting on the elite models for a start. Secondly he's not nearly imposing enough. He just looks like a normal necron lord with bigger bits than usual. Bigger cape, bigger weapon, bigger bonnet.

Its just so uninspired.

There's way too much going on. I don't know where I'm meant to be looking so I miss details like the smaller Necrons and the electric body thing above him.
It's more of a diorama than a model and it seems very impractical.

Its a cool model but it doesn't really do anything for me.

Its just "Gotta have a bigger Tomb King in Spaaace" and thats probably the least interesting feature of the Necrons.

Nice display piece, certainly wouldn't transport it anywhere much like his brother from another mother Nagash.

Looks great to me, I'm quite envious.

And I'm not having anybody who doesn't play Drukhari whine about how difficult it is to transport your toys

"Too big"?

Have any of you stored a monolith? (I haven't, never had one.)

"Too fragile?"

Uh, own any arks? (I have two). Those gauss flayers break off in someone in the room sneezes.

 Lord Damocles wrote:
He's in charge, therefore he's physically huge. *sigh*


Big skeletal Necron standing with staff, accompanied by slightly less big skeletal standing Necrons with staffs is boring in the extreme for effectively the Xenos equivalent of the Emperor.

100% agree.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Matt Swain wrote:
"Too big"?

Have any of you stored a monolith? (I haven't, never had one.)

"Too fragile?"

Uh, own any arks? (I have two). Those gauss flayers break off in someone in the room sneezes.

Monolith at least aint fragile.

He would have been better if his body was an idealised depiction of the Necrontyr form, but mixed with Necron design cues - sculpted and muscular, but with extended shoulders and an elongated spine.
Have him seated upon a floating throne - he's the legitimate once and future ruler of the galaxy; he's not going to demean himself by having the stand or walk, or hitting the swarming cattle-races with his staff, or waving at his lesser vassals.
Have him wearing the regalia, and bearing the symbolic relics of Necrontyr royalty - who knows what they'd look like; it's an opportunity to do something interesting - perhaps a series of floating orbs, each containg the captive core of a star, illustrating his stellar mastery; rods of office bearing the symbols of the Triarch; depictions of the dynastic glyphs of those phaerons who have sworn fealty to him; what else did pharaos have? that little whip thing? an ornate headress? the collar? the little beard thing? As it is, even the Royal Warden almost has more bling than the model. Perhaps because he's the Silent King, and so only communicated through the other members of the Triarch, he doesn't have a mouth on his deathmask.

The cryptek (chronomancer?) and vargard(?) shouldn't be riding along with him. Szarekh shouldn't be sharing a platform with such lesser dynasts. Plus, he should probably be attended by a high judicator if anybody...
How about the members of his royal court are purchased separately, but don't take up slots if the King is present. Szarekh doesn't actually attack directly, but buffs other units. His various hangers-on provide him benefits and protect him in battle.

Same. There's too much 'muchness,' no real depth or thoughfulness involved

And purely as a model, its ridiculously impractical. GW does a lot of this type of thing for centerpieces, and my response is the same every time: pass.

Also the new putty lightning webs look awful as well as fragile. The practical constraints of casting AND being support foundations for giant models make all these variations on swirly gak Just. Not. Work.

Oddly enough I think there are similarities between Szarekh and the emperor.

Both were sincerely devoted to their people's well being, both faced serious threats to their race's survival, both did what seemed best and both made terrible mistakes that caused their race harm and suffering.

Both have dedicated themselves to trying to serve and aid their races.

The emperor has sat on the golden throne for 10,000 years to save his people.

Szarekh has searched the universe for 60 million years for a cure to save his people.

Both are lords of decaying empires and peoples.

So I can see similarities.

 Lord Damocles wrote:
He would have been better if his body was an idealised depiction of the Necrontyr form, but mixed with Necron design cues - sculpted and muscular, but with extended shoulders and an elongated spine.
Have him seated upon a floating throne - he's the legitimate once and future ruler of the galaxy; he's not going to demean himself by having the stand or walk, or hitting the swarming cattle-races with his staff, or waving at his lesser vassals.
Have him wearing the regalia, and bearing the symbolic relics of Necrontyr royalty - who knows what they'd look like; it's an opportunity to do something interesting - perhaps a series of floating orbs, each containg the captive core of a star, illustrating his stellar mastery; rods of office bearing the symbols of the Triarch; depictions of the dynastic glyphs of those phaerons who have sworn fealty to him; what else did pharaos have? that little whip thing? an ornate headress? the collar? the little beard thing? As it is, even the Royal Warden almost has more bling than the model. Perhaps because he's the Silent King, and so only communicated through the other members of the Triarch, he doesn't have a mouth on his deathmask.

The cryptek (chronomancer?) and vargard(?) shouldn't be riding along with him. Szarekh shouldn't be sharing a platform with such lesser dynasts. Plus, he should probably be attended by a high judicator if anybody...
How about the members of his royal court are purchased separately, but don't take up slots if the King is present. Szarekh doesn't actually attack directly, but buffs other units. His various hangers-on provide him benefits and protect him in battle.

If GW had wanted to go full Pharaoh, then https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crook_and_flail for regalia.
Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uraeus
Could have had the C'tan function like the uraeus, and spit fire or other stuff at enemies.

Him carting a C'tan around with him is dumb to begin with.
It's such a monstrous liability.
Almost every time a C'tan shows up, it ends up breaking free and reaking havok (Hi, Pariah! Your story sucks), so having one a foot behind your head is just asking for trouble.

 Lord Damocles wrote:
Him carting a C'tan around with him is dumb to begin with.
It's such a monstrous liability.
Almost every time a C'tan shows up, it ends up breaking free and reaking havok (Hi, Pariah! Your story sucks), so having one a foot behind your head is just asking for trouble.

It looks pretty insubstantial so either it is a weak shard or the containment is strong, though yes, I agree that its appearance is like Chekhov's gun.

Well, let's see.
- I hate GW's obsession with endless size-creep.
- I hate GW's obsession with stupid, diorama models that belong in a collection-case, not on a table.
- I hate GW's obsession with 'a model can't possible convey power or authority without also being the size of a small moon'.
- I hate the stupid, Egyptian theme Necrons have been lumbered with. The one that lumbers them with stupid headgear, bead-curtain capes, and all-round dreadful aesthetics.

Not exactly off to a flying start.

As for this specific model, there's a strane irony in that for all the massive throne, the pillars, the trapped Dr. Manhattan etc., the Silent King himself is incredibly boring and unremarkable. I mean, when you strip away the throne and the other nonsense, what is the Silent King, really? He's a slightly bigger Necron Overlord with a ridiculous hat (one built into his head, no less), an excessive cape, and a staff so stupidly oversized that it resembles a lollipop. That's it.

Terrible, like all the other huge and diorama-based recent GW models.

Why not having just the single infantry model with his feet on the ground instead of that thing?

Similar issue I have with Triumph of St. K. model: why not having 6 separate SoB infantry models that can only work as a single unit instead of that thing?

 Blackie wrote:
Terrible, like all the other huge and diorama-based recent GW models.

Why not having just the single infantry model with his feet on the ground instead of that thing?

Similar issue I have with Triumph of St. K. model: why not having 6 separate SoB infantry models that can only work as a single unit instead of that thing?

You must be fun at parties.

 vipoid wrote:

and a staff so stupidly oversized that it resembles a lollipop. That's it.

I knew I'd seen him somewhere before!

I think it's a beautiful model

I'm actually really glad they added in the rest of the Triarch instead of just the silent king. This dude is the biggest bad of an entire race, he should look to fit the part, and I certainly think he does.

I will admit the green lightning is rather... putty like, but I'll just paint it red/orange.

I got into this hobby initially for the painting collecting aspect, and I think this model will be exceedingly fun to paint.

I'll also admit I'm not the biggest fan of the C'tan powering the model but I digress

Maybe Szarekh is a man (Yes I'm using that term even if he isn't human) who knows he made a terrible mistake and has been to an extent humbled by it. Maybe he shuns elaborate displays of wealth and ego.

Quoted from "the word of the silent king"

and his finery was simple and yet impossibly elegant.

His depiction fits with this description and maybe reflects he has long abandoned pomp and pageantry.

Also, i can't help thinking of the silent king were human he'd probably look a lot like Christopher lee in his prime. Lee that had the aura of dignity and strength around him. And he was a tall boy.

Its a display piece to showcase him. All those models are hit or miss for everyone.