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Jack Flask wrote:

 kveldulf wrote:
I say go back to simple/classic creepy for a new xenos. HP Lovecraft said: “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”.

With that in mind, I'd like to see xenos that are terrifying yet simple. The lore would be fuzzy and left intentionally mysterious. Aesthetically, I think something like this would work:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XbNI63RDLDA/hqdefault.jpg

That army existed once, they were called the Necrons.

GW rewrote their lore because certain segments of players whined that they couldn't name their ICs, paint their troops silly colors (even though the 4E necron codex even showed ~20 different color schemes), or relate to their motivations.

I sense lament and cynicism - which I share.

I think Necrons were better when barely elaborated upon. Heck, I think xenos races in general would be more evocative if lore was better restrained... it would have made them more alien.

Jack Flask wrote:

 kveldulf wrote:
I say go back to simple/classic creepy for a new xenos. HP Lovecraft said: “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”.

With that in mind, I'd like to see xenos that are terrifying yet simple. The lore would be fuzzy and left intentionally mysterious. Aesthetically, I think something like this would work:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XbNI63RDLDA/hqdefault.jpg

That army existed once, they were called the Necrons.

GW rewrote their lore because certain segments of players whined that they couldn't name their ICs, paint their troops silly colors (even though the 4E necron codex even showed ~20 different color schemes), or relate to their motivations.

That army exists now. It's a Tau without his fishbowl.

 Dakka Wolf wrote:

Jack Flask wrote:

 kveldulf wrote:
I say go back to simple/classic creepy for a new xenos. HP Lovecraft said: “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”.

With that in mind, I'd like to see xenos that are terrifying yet simple. The lore would be fuzzy and left intentionally mysterious. Aesthetically, I think something like this would work:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XbNI63RDLDA/hqdefault.jpg

That army existed once, they were called the Necrons.

GW rewrote their lore because certain segments of players whined that they couldn't name their ICs, paint their troops silly colors (even though the 4E necron codex even showed ~20 different color schemes), or relate to their motivations.

That army exists now. It's a Tau without his fishbowl.

Heheh yea. What about a mutated offshoot of tau (as the imperium is to chaos?)? Or perhaps some new origin story of the Tau - and how they once looked like our classic modern aliens (and these older versions are now back from an intergalactic voyage)

Or... we could just do space lizards with crazy looking Cthulhu overlords? I think there's even a cult like following of people that actually believe in the existence of reptilian aliens (no kidding). So there's fluff to bastardize with.

 kveldulf wrote:

 Dakka Wolf wrote:

Jack Flask wrote:

 kveldulf wrote:
I say go back to simple/classic creepy for a new xenos. HP Lovecraft said: “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”.

With that in mind, I'd like to see xenos that are terrifying yet simple. The lore would be fuzzy and left intentionally mysterious. Aesthetically, I think something like this would work:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XbNI63RDLDA/hqdefault.jpg

That army existed once, they were called the Necrons.

GW rewrote their lore because certain segments of players whined that they couldn't name their ICs, paint their troops silly colors (even though the 4E necron codex even showed ~20 different color schemes), or relate to their motivations.

That army exists now. It's a Tau without his fishbowl.

Heheh yea. What about a mutated offshoot of tau (as the imperium is to chaos?)? Or perhaps some new origin story of the Tau - and how they once looked like our classic modern aliens (and these older versions are now back from an intergalactic voyage)

Or... we could just do space lizards with crazy looking Cthulhu overlords? I think there's even a cult like following of people that actually believe in the existence of reptilian aliens (no kidding). So there's fluff to bastardize with.

Lizards and squids...sounds tasty actually.

so going back to the "spider combat engineers" idea here's my idea...

I've not thought up a name, but apparently the Tau and farsight codxes mentions a race named the Archen's that seems to fit somewhat, could be intreasting to tie them in.

Basic racial premise: Shorter ranged, with powerful melee elites, and combat engineer functions.

HQ: I'm thinking it'd be a fairly basic HQ but also have some real super engineer powers, maybe it and any units in a group with it get a bonus to their cover save.

Troops: Drones: these are basic cheap troopers, I'm thinking IG level BS and WS, if not even lower, they'll be cheap and have a special "deploy cover" special rule that eaither improves their cover save or gives em a pretty solid one. by itself. give em a heavy 2 or 3 weapon, to enchourage a "dig in" mentality.

Fast Attack: 1st: Swarmers: these guys I'm thinking would be small and light and be a swarm like rippers, they'd be jump troops (fluffed as spitting parachutes to glide over the battle field) maybe give em a option to upgrade their weapons to rending.
2:
Elites: A few options, this is where the Codex should really come alive.
1st: your melee elite, 3+ armor, 2 wounds, multiple attacks, AP3 melee weapons, and a flamer style weapon for ranged work.
2: Dis-assemblers: a cheap unit that's little more then drone optimized for melee work and the special ability to reduce cover saves provided by a peice of terrain they're in contact with. use these guys as a disposable assault unit. rush em in as a first wave, and start making those aegis lines less effective.
3: your ranged specialists with some nice powerful ranged poison weapons.

Heavy Support: A Monsterous creature. I'm thinking more like a tailless scorpion then a spider. with the big pincers clearly designed for smash aside structures, tanks etc. give it a bonus on attacking buildings.


anyway thats just some random ideas

well I think we all now know the new xeno codex is genestealer cults now...