The Return of Lord Axalon and his Necron Phalanx

It's funny that 2 years ago I made a post on this blog about my Necron forces and here we are 2 years later almost to that date, and guess what we have! WOO HOO! The Toasters are BACK!!!

I have to say that this has been an expensive weekend for me, with this new codex coming out. The new book looks like a lot of fun to play. I plan on eating up all the information in the book this week and thinking about where I want to take this army. There are just so many new ideas, along with some awesome looking new models, and still more to come in the future. I am really excited about this turn of events.

Here is my original article back in 2009....

Necrons rising out of their tombs

Here are my intial thoughts on this new book......

Background: I don't see why people seem to be up in arms over this. There isn't much groundbreaking in the background that should shake the metal hearts of old players. The necrons now have a bit more personality which I think is a good thing. For once in a codex the past, for the most part stays the past, and we concentrate on the here and now(40K that is). Most of the background dealt with the current 40K world, which was a good thing to see.

Special Rules: I have to say that Entropic Strike is the biggest new toy we get to play with. As others perhaps have pointed out the ability to take away a Save and Armor Value is apt. Necrons are suppose to have superior tech, why not. Also this ability is not a codex breaking as say Jaws in Space Wolves that wipes out whole units. Yes I think the ability to eat armor is funny and scarabs will see a lot of table time, but they are still swarms and they will die fast with an experienced player. Entropic can be annoying but it can be controlled too.

Army List: I have to say I was impressed by the lay out, as of right now I have yet to find any unit that is broke like a Nob Biker or GK Paladin wound allocation nightmare unit. The Necron book seems fairly balanced, and there does seem to be a lot of awesome in the elite choices, but then again that is why they are called ELITE. Still unlike the Nid codex where all the hotness is in the elite choices the Fast Attack has it's share of fun, in addition to Scarab Swarms, the wraiths and destroyers look useful as always as does the new Tomb Blade unit. In my past experience with necrons the Fast Attack has always been my #2 place for boosting my necron armies behind #1 Troops. It still seems to hold that spot for me. The heavy choices look good and with the Heavy and Regular Destroyers now listed as one FA choice it opens up for more heavy support. I am looking forward to the new Cylon Fighter(Yes it does look like a Cylon Raider from BSG) which I'm sure will come out in the next model wave or 2. The HQ choices are huge, and one thing I do like a lot is that this time they avoided the silliness of "Take this leader and use X non-Troop unit AS troops" stupidity. The only character that seems to do this is one lord with a the ability to make an already immortal troop choice into raving maniacs. I have yet to read up on all the characters but the new Destroyer Lord will be fun, with higher T he is worthy still to lead my Phalanx to war. The new use for Lords is similar to a mix of Count of Archon(DE)+Wolf Guards, with the ability to spread the wealth so to say into every unit in your army. From my first few looks this army list seems to have a similar style to the DE balanced army list, where you can have fun playing it in different ways.

Models: I picked up my models and I even got the additional Cryptek guy to join the court of the overlord. I have to say these are some of the best looking models they have had in this range in a long time. I really like the new Immortal models and the new command barge thing looks cool. For those of you with Pariah ownership problems, they are now Lynchguards, as the basic Lych comes armed similar to a Pariah. All of the currently existing necron models can be used in this book. From the looks of it, this is only the tip of the iceberg, there are a number of units that still need to come out and from the drawings they look awesome and I can't wait to get them.

Overall: I have to say for a Ward book this new Toaster codex is not too shabby. He hasn't gone overboard with his usual stupidity as he has done in the past with marine books, and the army list actually looks like it can support multiple builds fairly well. So I don't expect to see a canned necron list that is a clone list at every tourney I play. Yes there are some typical "Easy Button" things in the codex, but that happens no matter who writes these things. Overall I have to give this book a thumbs up so far....I still have a bit more to read up on it before I can say yay or nay for sure but so far I am smiling at the prospect of wasting some Salamander Marines.....

Still with this late 2011 release I am still pushing to get my existing projects, mainly my Tyranid Hive Fleet finished by the end of the year. Once this is done I will be looking forward to getting stuck in some necron new shiny syndrome for a while. I guess my Dark Eldar side project will be slowed for a little while longer. I can't wait to get back to building this toaster army full speed once again, both 40K and BFG.

Enjoy!