Howdy, spooky bois, girls, and all metallic constructs in between! As we enter October proper, the new Necrons Codex release draws nigh amid a flurry of leaks, and those gorgeous new Flayed One models claw at the frayed edges of our minds, I'd like to begin to talk about my October project, which aims to deliver something that I and many of my fellow Necrons fans have wished for ever since the 5th Ed reboot gave us the Bone Kingdoms Drazak and a Flayed Lord in The Fall of Damnos: a Codex Supplement for entire armies of Flayed Ones.
I give you Codex Supplment: Flensed.
Flensed (not Flayed, because then I'd have to refer to FLAYED FLAYED ONES in the rules and that sounds really weird) is in the earliest stages of design - merely a collection of text with some formatting and propositional, intentionally-unbalanced design - but by October 31st, I hope to have at least something resembling a functional PDF with alpha-stage content. At this point, all planned material should be accounted for and semi-functional ("feature-complete" in game
dev parlance) with some completed art assets alongside it. The next step to bring it into beta would to be to further refine the gameplay mechanics with an eye for balance and function, and we'll see if I can aim for that once I've recovered from my solo drinking in one-man COVID-compliant Hallowe'en party.
God, this pandemic sucks.
Anyway, here's where I want to reach out to the larger
40K community, and get your thoughts and feedback. I want to hear from other Necrons players what you'd imagine a Flayed-One army to look like, the things you want it to be able to do on the tabletop, and how you might implement those things. I'd love to get feedback on the material I've written, and provide clarification on areas of confusion, whether that's design intent or function on the tabletop.
With all that said, here's a tentative schedule for this project:
- Oct. 9 to Oct. 15: Refine and expand on core Warhammer 40,000 mechanics design to meet community feedback.
- Oct. 16 to Oct. 22: Create 2 to 4 illustrations to decorate the interior of Flensed, and finalise graphic design elements.
- Oct 23 to Oct 30: Further refine the core design to meet alpha stage, complete any late art and graphics design, and create preliminary mechanics for the Grey Children Kill-Team.
- Oct 31: ALPHA RELEASE.
Let's get our SPOOKY SKINS on.
Codex Supplement: Flensed
This supplement is designed for use alongside Codex: Necrons in the 9th Edition of the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game, as well as the 2018 Edition of Kill-Team. It provides material to create armies of Necrons who have been gripped by the horrific Flayer curse.
DN: Designer’s notes are indicated by this formatting and a DN designation. They provide insight into the intended effects and feel of the mechanics in gameplay, to help playtesters provide informed feedback.
Victims of the Flayer Curse
These Necrons are consumed by an all-encompassing obsession with regaining their mortal forms, and all the joys therein. This manifests in various forms of madnesses - some Flensed strip the skin from living creatures and wear it over their android forms like ghoulish robes, while others are compelled to feed upon wet meat, smearing charnel over their ornamental death masks and stuffing their rib-like carapaces with bone and offal.
Rules for the Flensed
This section details the various rules for bringing your Necron models to the tabletop as a Flensed force. Stratagems as a topic are a work-in-progress, and will be touched on in the near future.
DN: These rules are highly experimental, and intended as an explorational first step in the iterative process of nailing down mechanical direction and gameplay themes for the Flensed. Many rules are overpowered - this is intentional, to better communicate potential themes and gameplay direction to prospective playtesters. Critique on power and balance are welcome, but should be made within this context, i.e., “this style of mechanic could cause these certain problems in the future if you continue with it,” or even "Right now, this mechanic is overpowered in this way; when you tone back the power of the mechanic, make sure you address this particular thing," would be useful feedback, while “this material is entirely overpowered and unusable, quit while you’re ahead,” is not.
New Keyword: Flensed
If your army consists entirely of NECRON models, you may give the following models the FLENSED keyword:
- Overlord
- Lord
- Skorpekh Lord
- Lychguard
- Flayed Ones
- Skorpekh Destroyers
- Ophydian Destroyers
- Immortals
- Warriors
- Ghost Arks
DN: Using a FLENSED keyword as the basis for the supplement allows for more specific, playstyle-defining mechanics to exist in Dynastic Codes, providing a wider range of armies and play experiences.
(Also, the reason it’s “FLENSED” and not “FLAYED” is because referring to FLAYED FLAYED ONES is just asking for problems.)
The Howling Pack: If your army consists entirely of models with the FLENSED keyword, FLENSED Flayed Ones gain the CORE keyword.
Additionally, FLENSED models can never benefit from or interact with Command Protocols in any way.
DN: FLAYED ONES are not Troops by default to allow for more design space with the three dynasties. The Drazak Dynasty (see below) takes on the role of the theoretical “full Flayed Ones” army.
FLENSED Necrons have lost their grip on reality, and do not (or cannot) follow the traditional Necron methods of war. Thus, Command Protocols have no effect on them.
Psychorust: The Flayed are too consumed by madness to care for their technological heritage. Reduce the Ballistic Skill of all FLENSED models by 1. FLENSED vehicles reduce their Movement by 2.
DN: An army under the Flayer Virus should not hang back and shoot! Increasing the Attacks characteristic of FLENSED NECRON WARRIORS by 1 to compensate is on the table, though the FLENSED dynasty that needs WARRIORS the most does have its own rules to compensate (see the Skhabrous Dynasty below).
Rage and Despair: Due to the contradictory natures of the Flayed and Destroyer madnesses, Necrons that suffer from both the Flayer and Destroyer curses are exceedingly rare, and even in large gatherings of Flayed Ones, their numbers are limited. For every two FLENSED non-DESTROYER CULT units in your army, you may have one FLENSED DESTROYER CULT unit.
DN: Narratively, Flayed Ones and Destroyers are two very different types of insane. However, Warhammer’s narrative serves the need of models and the game more than the other way around, and passing up an opportunity to support Flensed conversions of those new Skorpekh and Ophydian models would be a crime of game design.
Army Rule: Charnel Hunger
When your army consists entirely of FLENSED models, each non-VEHICLE model gains the Charnel Hunger special rule.
All FLENSED models begin the game filled with a horrific hunger, making them Ravenous. At the start of each battle round, Ravenous models gain a special benefit, which is cumulative with the benefits for being Ravenous gained in previous rounds.
Each time a unit composed entirely of FLENSED models destroys an enemy unit, roll 1d6 and add the current battle round to the total. If the result is 6 or higher, models in that FLENSED unit have had their fill of gore and are no longer Ravenous, and become Sated instead. Those models cannot gain any benefits of being Ravenous until the end of the game, and their Leadership is reduced by 1 - they have eaten their fill, and have little more to gain by remaining on the field of battle.
Battle Round____Ravenous Benefit
1............................Add 1 to the unit’s Charge rolls
2............................Add 1 to the unit’s Strength
3............................Add 1 to the unit’s Charge rolls
4............................Add 1 to the unit’s Attacks
5............................You may reroll To Wound rolls for the unit
DN: FLENSED armies have a far smaller selection of models to choose from, so they gain a powerful special rule to compensate. To ensure that this rule doesn’t become a steamrolling snowball of bs on the tabletop, getting more buffs and getting more use out of those buffs is more likely to trigger the Sated condition, losing your units those buffs. Basically, the more bs each of your units manages to shove down your opponent’s throat, the more likely that unit is to lose access to that bs.
Having multiple stacking bonuses to Charge rolls by Turn 3 is intentional - it encourages you to hold your deep-striking Flayed Ones off the table for longer, representing them being drawn to the battle by the carnage and bloodshed.
Warlord Traits
If a FLENSED CHARACTER model is your Warlord and your entire army is composed of FLENSED models, you can use the Flensed Warlord Traits table below to determine what Warlord Trait they have. You can roll a
D6 to determine the Trait randomly, or you may choose one.
Flensed Warlord Traits
1. The Hand That Feeds - At the end of your Fight Phase, if this WARLORD slew any non-VEHICLE enemy models, 1 model in a <Dynasty> FLENSED CORE unit within 3” is Reanimated, or 1d3 models if the selected unit is a <Dynasty> FLENSED FLAYED ONES or <Dynasty> FLENSED NECRON WARRIORS unit.
2. Butcher’s Madness - You may reroll all Wound rolls for this WARLORD.
3. Tin Opener - When this WARLORD targets an enemy VEHICLE with an attack with a melee weapon, add 1 to Wound rolls for the attack and subtract 1 from the target’s Save characteristic against the attack.
4. Paralysing Visage - This model cannot be targeted by Overwatch, and models that make a Fall Back move from it reduce the distance they move by 1d3”.
5. Leader of the Pack - While a friendly <Dynasty> FLENSED CORE unit is within 6” of this WARLORD, you may reroll charge rolls for that unit.
6. Loping Horror - This WARLORD may make a Heroic Intervention up to 6” away, and can consolidate up to 6”.
Flensed Dynasties
When you choose a dynasty for a detachment consisting entirely of FLENSED models, you choose one of the following dynasties, instead of the options presented in Codex: Necrons. As normal, all models in the detachment must have the same Dynasty Keyword in order to gain the benefits of that dynasty’s Dynastic Code.
Drazak
Hidden deep within the Ghoul Stars, the Bone Kingdom of Drazak is a charnel planet populated entirely by flayed ones and watched over by Valgul the Fallen. Every few standard months, Valgul calls for a great harvest of nearby planets to feed the insatiable psycho-hunger of his wards.
DN: The Drazak dynasty represents the archetypal “all-Flayed” army, leaning into the imagery of zombie films and splatterhouse horror. It encourages the use of “packs” led in savagery by lesser Flayed Lords, in a twisted mockery of how standard NECRON armies often have large numbers of Crypteks spread out across the table.
Valgul the Fallen Lord is currently in design, and will be added soon.
The Charnel World
If your army is Battle-Forged, DRAZAK FLENSED Flayed Ones are Troops in a detachment consisting entirely of DRAZAK FLENSED models, instead of Elites, and gain the Objective Secured ability.
If your army is Battle-Forged, then for each DRAZAK FLENSED LORD included in a detachment consisting entirely of DRAZAK FLENSED models, you may include one DRAZAK FLENSED LORD without taking up an additional Battlefield Role slot.
Before the battle, when you are mustering your army, choose one DRAZAK LORD, DRAZAK OVERLORD, or DRAZAK SKORPEKH LORD model that is not your WARLORD and does not have a Warlord Trait. This model gains a Warlord Trait of your choice, and is treated as your WARLORD for the purposes of that trait only. This Trait must be unique (if randomly generated, re-roll duplicate results).
Skhabrous
The ghoulish pirates of the Black Ships of Skhabrous drive themselves to ever greater acts of hedonism and debauchery in a vain attempt to feel even a flicker of the pleasures of mortality. Their vessels float eerily over the field of battle, draped in shredded hides and rotting offal that twist in the wind like grisly sails.
DN: The Skhabrous Dynasty offers a new take on the Flayer Virus, and leans into stories of ghost ships and undead pirates. Skahbrous Ghost Arks are encouraged to “broadside” other enemy vehicles by firing their Gauss Arrays at them in combat, while Skhabrous infantry that have recently disembarked will have an easier time bringing down larger, more-powerful targets. Avast, ye rusty rapscallions!
Ghostly Raiders
In the Shooting Phase, SKHABROUS FLENSED models armed with any of the following weapons may treat the weapon as a Pistol 1 weapon instead of the weapon’s normal type: gauss flayers, gauss blasters, and gauss reapers.
Units of SKHABROUS FLENSED INFANTRY increase the
AP of their melee attacks by 1 while within 3” of a friendly SKHABROUS FLENSED VEHICLE.
When a SKHABROUS FLENSED VEHICLE targets an enemy VEHICLE within Engagement Range with a ranged weapon, increase the
AP of that ranged weapon by 1 for the attack.
Grey Children
In a backwater semi-feral world, ancient flayed ones arise from the fields once a year to be worshipped with fear and reverence by the local population. These humans ensure via ritual that the victims of the Grey Children are chosen fairly and with purpose, their sacrifice sparing many more lives and ensuring a bounteous harvest in the process.
DN: It’s Flayed Ones, in the corn fields, secretly worshipped by local farmers. You’re welcome.
Inspired by classic New England and wider American rural folklore. Read The Lottery by Shirely Jackson for some of that good gak.
Overall, this is perhaps the FLENSED dynasty most suited for narrative games, especially at Combat Patrol sizes. FLENSED material for Kill-Team will likely focus heavily on this dynasty.
Harvest Gods
Your army may include units of Grey Cultists. These are Troops that use the Chaos Cultist datasheet, but replace each instance of the term “Chaos Cultist” with “Grey Cultist”. Instead of the Keywords and Faction Keywords on the Chaos Cultist datasheet, Grey Cultists have the following Faction Keywords and Keywords:
Faction Keywords: GREY CHILDREN
Keywords: INFANTRY, GREY CULTISTS
GREY CULTISTS can be included in a FLENSED ARMY without preventing FLENSED models from losing any benefits of the FLENSED keyword, as long as the entire army has the GREY CHILDREN Dynastic Code.
When a friendly GREY CULTIST is within 6” of a friendly GREY CHILDREN FLENSED model, it ignores Combat Attrition modifiers.
A GREY CHILDREN FLENSED unit that Fell Back in the Movement Phase can still charge in the Charge Phase, as long as it ended its Fall Back move entirely within a single piece of Area Terrain.
NECRON WARRIOR, IMMORTAL, and GHOST ARK models can never gain the GREY CHILDREN Faction Keyword.
