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Hey All,

Got done reading through the IA12 Fluff, and The way they fleshed out The Necrons, is quite awesome. There are going to be spoilers from IA12, so, keep that in mind.


I think the most important aspect of the fluff, was the fact that Inertia-less drives, were present in the Necron fleet. A lot of people were concerned that they were retconned out in the new codex, but they are featured in IA12.

The superiority of the Necron Naval, is also featured. A Necron fleet 1/3rd the size of an enormous Imperial Fleet, absolutely stomps them. Even Asterion Moloc mentions that engaging the Necron fleet is suicidal due to their superior maneuverability, Firepower and Range.

EDIT: The Fleet was actually less than 1/4th the size of the Imperial fleet, so that makes the Necron fleet even stronger.

The book also showcases new spacial abilities, that were pretty cool. They were able to cause a veil of darkness to descend on part of the sector, and the ability to manipulate stars to flare up and other nifty tricks.

Necrons also, have evolving technology. They are not mired in the same construct's, and Crypteks are continually generating new tech. In addition, they were able to induce some kind of virus, that infected all the communications and vox networks.

Necron invasion forces are also just brutal. They were able to conquer over 60 worlds in less than 100 days, and this included the fortress world of a full Space Marine Chapter, and an Ordo Xenos stronghold planet. No communications were able to get out during this time, because of a "Black Veil" that covered a massive area of space.

The Entire sector, just gets trounced by Necrons, quite handily, and really shows how serious a threat they are, once they wake up.

Welp. Sounds like GG WP for the universe. Necrons are unstoppable. Shame, considering they're one of the least interesting factions.

 gpfunk wrote:
Welp. Sounds like GG WP for the universe. Necrons are unstoppable. Shame, considering they're one of the least interesting factions.

In your opinion, perhaps.

This book adds a lot of facet to the Necrons, and makes them quite dynamic. I personally find the Necrons to be a very interesting faction.

Personally I found the necrons to be much more interesting in their previous codex. They just seemed so much more mysterious and threatening, with no intelligence of their own but a great intellect controlling them. That is, before Matt Ward wrote up his codex on them which in my eyes turned them into little more than mechanical tomb kings in space (with guns).

They just had such an eerie and unknowable feel to them when they were the souless remnants of an aeons bygone race, utterly enslaved to the will of incomprehensible star Gods.

 Sasori wrote:
Hey All,

Got done reading through the IA12 Fluff, and The way they fleshed out The Necrons, is quite awesome. There are going to be spoilers from IA12, so, keep that in mind.


I think the most important aspect of the fluff, was the fact that Inertia-less drives, were present in the Necron fleet. A lot of people were concerned that they were retconned out in the new codex, but they are featured in IA12.

The superiority of the Necron Naval, is also featured. A Necron fleet 1/3rd the size of an enormous Imperial Fleet, absolutely stomps them. Even Asterion Moloc mentions that engaging the Necron fleet is suicidal due to their superior maneuverability, Firepower and Range.

The book also showcases new spacial abilities, that were pretty cool. They were able to cause a veil of darkness to descend on part of the sector, and the ability to manipulate stars to flare up and other nifty tricks.

Necrons also, have evolving technology. They are not mired in the same construct's, and Crypteks are continually generating new tech. In addition, they were able to induce some kind of virus, that infected all the communications and vox networks.

Necron invasion forces are also just brutal. They were able to conquer over 60 worlds in less than 100 days, and this included the fortress world of a full Space Marine Chapter, and an Ordo Xenos stronghold planet. No communications were able to get out during this time, because of a "Black Veil" that covered a massive area of space.

The Entire sector, just gets trounced by Necrons, quite handily, and really shows how serious a threat they are, once they wake up.

Damn, that all sounds absolutely epic. Necrons are not only the masters of current tech, but like you said, they constantly bring new horrors to the tech table. This was also illustrated in their Codex, where the Sautekh dynasty Crypteks create a mechanophage that completely shuts down a forge world's defenses, then promptly annihiliate its iron hands + flesh tearers defenders. Similar non-conventional tactics are employed by infecting high ranked officials with mind shackle scarabs, which reproduce and eventually control an entire world's ruling class.

 TheRobotLol wrote:
Personally I found the necrons to be much more interesting in their previous codex. They just seemed so much more mysterious and threatening, with no intelligence of their own but a great intellect controlling them. That is, before Matt Ward wrote up his codex on them which in my eyes turned them into little more than mechanical tomb kings in space (with guns).

They just had such an eerie and unknowable feel to them when they were the souless remnants of an aeons bygone race, utterly enslaved to the will of incomprehensible star Gods.

Old fluff was great, but it was way too similar to the Tyranids in practice. On the one hand, you have mindless drones, powered by ancient technology, carrying out the will of unknowable intellects and extinguishing all life that they encounter. On the other hand, you have mindless drones, created through advanced biological mechanisms, carrying out the will of an unknowable intellect and eating everything that they encounter. I personally think that the Lovecraftian overtones and Sufficiently Advanced Technology made the Oldcrons far more interesting than the Tyranids, but lots of people really like space bugs. The Tyranid fluff didn't really have the wiggle room to be retconned as their depredations have been the focus of lots of major events, while Necron attacks were always minor incursions that were never really pieced together and recognized as a comprehensive threat by the Imperium.

The new stuff is OK in its own right, and I think it's kind of a good idea to have a xenos race that a) operates rationally and b) can go toe to toe with the Imperium (theoretically). Prior to this point, the only rational races were the Eldar and Tau, neither of whom could be a truly galactic power, and the only galactic threats to the Imperium - Chaos, Ork, Tyranid, Oldcron - were completely beyond reasoning with.

 Sasori wrote:
Hey All,

Got done reading through the IA12 Fluff, and The way they fleshed out The Necrons, is quite awesome. There are going to be spoilers from IA12, so, keep that in mind.


I think the most important aspect of the fluff, was the fact that Inertia-less drives, were present in the Necron fleet. A lot of people were concerned that they were retconned out in the new codex, but they are featured in IA12.

The superiority of the Necron Naval, is also featured. A Necron fleet 1/3rd the size of an enormous Imperial Fleet, absolutely stomps them. Even Asterion Moloc mentions that engaging the Necron fleet is suicidal due to their superior maneuverability, Firepower and Range.

The book also showcases new spacial abilities, that were pretty cool. They were able to cause a veil of darkness to descend on part of the sector, and the ability to manipulate stars to flare up and other nifty tricks.

Necrons also, have evolving technology. They are not mired in the same construct's, and Crypteks are continually generating new tech. In addition, they were able to induce some kind of virus, that infected all the communications and vox networks.

Necron invasion forces are also just brutal. They were able to conquer over 60 worlds in less than 100 days, and this included the fortress world of a full Space Marine Chapter, and an Ordo Xenos stronghold planet. No communications were able to get out during this time, because of a "Black Veil" that covered a massive area of space.

The Entire sector, just gets trounced by Necrons, quite handily, and really shows how serious a threat they are, once they wake up.

Yes, yes, but where's my Titan and Baneblade equivalent?

Personally I found the necrons to be much more interesting in their previous codex. They just seemed so much more mysterious and threatening, with no intelligence of their own but a great intellect controlling them. That is, before Matt Ward wrote up his codex on them which in my eyes turned them into little more than mechanical tomb kings in space (with guns).

They just had such an eerie and unknowable feel to them when they were the souless remnants of an aeons bygone race, utterly enslaved to the will of incomprehensible star Gods.

The problem was, the Old Necrons really didn't much personality to them. The only things that had any personality were the C'tan. In a sense, they were just robotic Tyranids. In a sense they were always Tomb Kings in space, with Mindless Legions and Sentient lords. The Tomb King fluff is also pretty great. The revamp really gave a lot of personality that was missing from before.

You should also give IA12 a read. The Maynarch Dynasty has a lot of character to it.

Damn, that all sounds absolutely epic. Necrons are not only the masters of current tech, but like you said, they constantly bring new horrors to the tech table. This was also illustrated in their Codex, where the Sautekh dynasty Crypteks create a mechanophage that completely shuts down a forge world's defenses, then promptly annihiliate its iron hands + flesh tearers defenders. Similar non-conventional tactics are employed by infecting high ranked officials with mind shackle scarabs, which reproduce and eventually control an entire world's ruling class.

It really goes to show that each Necron Dynasty has their own ways about doing things. The Maynarkhs favor brutal and overwhelming force. They also have a modicum of Fear and respect for the Flayed ones, since they heavily infect the dynasty.

Yes, yes, but where's my Titan and Baneblade equivalent?

They just have the Pylon. However, current rumors are that a new Apocalypse book is coming out in summer, so we may get some more stuff there.

Evolving technology sounds like the Borg to me!

Sounds like a lot of this is damage control and cleaning up Ward's fluff mess with the Newcrons. FW has always been more competent then GW when it comes to everything, fluff is no exception.

 Harriticus wrote:
Sounds like a lot of this is damage control and cleaning up Ward's fluff mess with the Newcrons. FW has always been more competent then GW when it comes to everything, fluff is no exception.

Or just continuing to expand on Wards fluff.

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:

 Harriticus wrote:
Sounds like a lot of this is damage control and cleaning up Ward's fluff mess with the Newcrons. FW has always been more competent then GW when it comes to everything, fluff is no exception.

Or just continuing to expand on Wards fluff.

It really looks like they are expading Ward's fluff. At leas the short resume Sasori posted looks like it.

AND thanks for that resume Sasori. You were the final nail in the coffin for buying my first FW product. I want to read more of that epicness GO SPACE TERMINATOR UNDEAD EGYPTIANS IN SPAAAAAAAAAACE!

the fortress world of a full Space Marine Chapter

Which chapter was that?

Also: what was the motivation behind Necron assault?

 Sasori wrote:
The problem was, the Old Necrons really didn't much personality to them. The only things that had any personality were the C'tan. In a sense, they were just robotic Tyranids. In a sense they were always Tomb Kings in space, with Mindless Legions and Sentient lords. The Tomb King fluff is also pretty great. The revamp really gave a lot of personality that was missing from before.

Erasing the themes, feel, and former mystique of the Necrons was not required to give the upper echelons personalities.

Giving them personalities alone would have differentiated them from Tyranids. The Lovecraftian feel and subtle persona on the battlefield (In that, unlike every other faction, they fought with the silence of the grave, rather than BOOMING THEIR ORDERS ATOP MIGHTY FLYING THRONES) did not have to be retconned to achieve that.

They didn't have a subtle persona though. They were just quiet, robotic Tyranids.

That's unfortunate, because Tyranids are ass.

text removed.

Reds8n

The Lovecraftian feel and subtle persona on the battlefield

What do you even mean by that?
In the works of Lovecraft all subtlety goes flying out to the void-between-angles once the next carnival of cultists-and-their-nonhuman-brethren gets its show on the road. It is all pipes and screams and obscene dances after that.

 Void__Dragon wrote:

 Sasori wrote:
The problem was, the Old Necrons really didn't much personality to them. The only things that had any personality were the C'tan. In a sense, they were just robotic Tyranids. In a sense they were always Tomb Kings in space, with Mindless Legions and Sentient lords. The Tomb King fluff is also pretty great. The revamp really gave a lot of personality that was missing from before.

Erasing the themes, feel, and former mystique of the Necrons was not required to give the upper echelons personalities.

Giving them personalities alone would have differentiated them from Tyranids. The Lovecraftian feel and subtle persona on the battlefield (In that, unlike every other faction, they fought with the silence of the grave, rather than BOOMING THEIR ORDERS ATOP MIGHTY FLYING THRONES) did not have to be retconned to achieve that.

Not sure what you mean VD. In the new fluff, only the upper echelons have personalities. It's even mentioned that lower ranked necron are essentially just mindless robots. They actually kept that.

Survivor19 wrote:
What do you even mean by that?
In the works of Lovecraft all subtlety goes flying out to the void-between-angles once the next carnival of cultists-and-their-nonhuman-brethren gets its show on the road. It is all pipes and screams and obscene dances after that.

The use of subtle was specific to their mannerisms on the battlefield (Cold, ruthless efficiency, not a battlecry in site, unlike damn near every other faction).


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Mavlun wrote:
Not sure what you mean VD. In the new fluff, only the upper echelons have personalities. It's even mentioned that lower ranked necron are essentially just mindless robots. They actually kept that.

Yeah, sort of like that thing I implied.

Nowhere did I insinuate the newcron fluff gave your basic Warrior its own distinct character.

Ok, I probably misread your post. You're saying they -did- give the upper echelons personalities which is good, but didn't have to erase the feel of the necrons as some completely alien, silent force of doom that can't be reasoned with.

Eh...I kind of agree. I'm not big on the whole "rituals of warfare" thing and how they're supposedly "noble in battle". I think in an effort to humanize the upper echelon they went way too OTT with character flaws or "uniqueness" and took away a lot of the scary effect of an implacable foe that cannot be denied, or negotiated with. But per whole, I don't hate the new codex, and I think it did a lot of things right as well.

 Sasori wrote:

They were able to conquer over 60 worlds in less than 100 days

I like all the fluff except for this part. In the 40K universe, where things are often measured in decades, one faction devouring this many planets in 3 months really sticks out. I don't know, it just feels like the writers got way too over-excited at that part and put it in as a transparent attempt to make them the #1 current threat.

I don't mind the rest of the fluff though.

 Fezman wrote:

 Sasori wrote:

They were able to conquer over 60 worlds in less than 100 days

I like all the fluff except for this part. In the 40K universe, where things are often measured in decades, one faction devouring this many planets in 3 months really sticks out. I don't know, it just feels like the writers got way too over-excited at that part and put it in as a transparent attempt to make them the #1 current threat.

The rest of the fluff is OK.

You could think of them as primitive worlds instead if that makes you feel better. They conquered 60 planets full of knights, stick wielders, and people who only recently discovered FIRE HOT!

OK, to be fair, I probably could do with reading the actual book. I still tend to think of Necrons as a very slowly growing threat that most people know nothing about, so having them take a full sector feels like a major step for them. Now if they're meant to have launched their attacks on every world in the region simultaneously...that would make more sense.

 Fezman wrote:

 Sasori wrote:

They were able to conquer over 60 worlds in less than 100 days

I like all the fluff except for this part. In the 40K universe, where things are often measured in decades, one faction devouring this many planets in 3 months really sticks out. I don't know, it just feels like the writers got way too over-excited at that part and put it in as a transparent attempt to make them the #1 current threat.

I don't mind the rest of the fluff though.

Given that inertialess drives were ridiculously fast (outstripping even the webway by a huge margin) and along with robotization marked the two gifts from the C'tan that reversed the tide of a war that was shaping up to be a curb stomp for the Old ones overnight (the C'tan themselves helping out probably didn't hurt either) I'd say that it's return makes such a speedy conquest very plausible.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
With the possible exception of the Tyranids, none of the "youg" factions as they are now would be able to last in the war in heaven, and the Necrons are largely undiminished in potential from that conflict. It's often said that united orks could conquer the milky way, well back then the Orks were not only united, but had a crap ton of help, and they still failed to defeat the Necrons and protect the Old Ones. The level of power being thrown around was just utterly beyond the scope of modern 40k, the Necrons stomping on the upstarts makes total sense.

After all, they fought a much more powerful galaxy before hand and won.

 Kain wrote:

 Fezman wrote:

 Sasori wrote:

They were able to conquer over 60 worlds in less than 100 days

I like all the fluff except for this part. In the 40K universe, where things are often measured in decades, one faction devouring this many planets in 3 months really sticks out. I don't know, it just feels like the writers got way too over-excited at that part and put it in as a transparent attempt to make them the #1 current threat.

I don't mind the rest of the fluff though.

Given that inertialess drives were ridiculously fast (outstripping even the webway by a huge margin) and along with robotization marked the two gifts from the C'tan that reversed the tide of a war that was shaping up to be a curb stomp for the Old ones overnight (the C'tan themselves helping out probably didn't hurt either) I'd say that it's return makes such a speedy conquest very plausible.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
With the possible exception of the Tyranids, none of the "youg" factions as they are now would be able to last in the war in heaven, and the Necrons are largely undiminished in potential from that conflict. It's often said that united orks could conquer the milky way, well back then the Orks were not only united, but had a crap ton of help, and they still failed to defeat the Necrons and protect the Old Ones. The level of power being thrown around was just utterly beyond the scope of modern 40k, the Necrons stomping on the upstarts makes total sense.

After all, they fought a much more powerful galaxy before hand and won.

To be fair, they weren't the Orks as we know them now, they were as far as I know the recently created Krork, without the sheer numbers that they enjoy now. Also, the necrons were heavily reduced in strength by the attack on the C'Tan, going so far as to take the nap knowing that a war with the Eldar would be lost. They were then further reduced in power by the 60 million year sleep during which untold numbers of tomb worlds were destroyed, so you know...not exactly the same thing at all as the Necrons that took the fight to the Old Ones.

 Mavlun wrote:

 Kain wrote:

 Fezman wrote:

 Sasori wrote:

They were able to conquer over 60 worlds in less than 100 days

I like all the fluff except for this part. In the 40K universe, where things are often measured in decades, one faction devouring this many planets in 3 months really sticks out. I don't know, it just feels like the writers got way too over-excited at that part and put it in as a transparent attempt to make them the #1 current threat.

I don't mind the rest of the fluff though.

Given that inertialess drives were ridiculously fast (outstripping even the webway by a huge margin) and along with robotization marked the two gifts from the C'tan that reversed the tide of a war that was shaping up to be a curb stomp for the Old ones overnight (the C'tan themselves helping out probably didn't hurt either) I'd say that it's return makes such a speedy conquest very plausible.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
With the possible exception of the Tyranids, none of the "youg" factions as they are now would be able to last in the war in heaven, and the Necrons are largely undiminished in potential from that conflict. It's often said that united orks could conquer the milky way, well back then the Orks were not only united, but had a crap ton of help, and they still failed to defeat the Necrons and protect the Old Ones. The level of power being thrown around was just utterly beyond the scope of modern 40k, the Necrons stomping on the upstarts makes total sense.

After all, they fought a much more powerful galaxy before hand and won.

To be fair, they weren't the Orks as we know them now, they were as far as I know the recently created Krork, without the sheer numbers that they enjoy now. Also, the necrons were heavily reduced in strength by the attack on the C'Tan, going so far as to take the nap knowing that a war with the Eldar would be lost. They were then further reduced in power by the 60 million year sleep during which untold numbers of tomb worlds were destroyed, so you know...not exactly the same thing at all as the Necrons that took the fight to the Old Ones.

There are still millions of tomb worlds, technology beyond anyone else's that is still advancing, reliable and easy time travel, and the celestial orrery.

For those that enjoy the Mysterious feel of the Oldcrons, you may like the way this book is written.

The buildup to the Necrons attack, is very mysterious, and no one attributes it to them. Things like one planets population suddenly missing, or fleets and expeditions lost. This all builds up until the Necrons finally attack in full scale.

 Sasori wrote:
For those that enjoy the Mysterious feel of the Oldcrons, you may like the way this book is written.

The buildup to the Necrons attack, is very mysterious, and no one attributes it to them. Things like one planets population suddenly missing, or fleets and expeditions lost. This all builds up until the Necrons finally attack in full scale.

Something tells me this is a nice middle ground between the Oldcrons and the better parts of the Newcrons, as well as filling in the holes in Ward's writing.

RivenSkull wrote:

 Sasori wrote:
For those that enjoy the Mysterious feel of the Oldcrons, you may like the way this book is written.

The buildup to the Necrons attack, is very mysterious, and no one attributes it to them. Things like one planets population suddenly missing, or fleets and expeditions lost. This all builds up until the Necrons finally attack in full scale.

Something tells me this is a nice middle ground between the Oldcrons and the better parts of the Newcrons, as well as filling in the holes in Ward's writing.

That's how I felt. It captured the Horror feeling of the Oldcrons, and emphasized all the good parts of the Newcron fluff. The Flayed one Aspect of the Maynarkh dynasty adds a really cool horror feeling as well.

Not surprised. It's Forgeworld after all. In my experience FW has always been pretty decent at writing these sorts of things. I loved the Taros Campaign.