Hey all, I'm thinking of writing a campaign (or at least the first couple of adventures) dealing with the necrons. Has anyone converted them yet? I do realize they're too powerful vs. PCs, but getting the players involved in a necron attack/emergence on one of the borderworlds of the calixis sector is something I'd like to try. I'm pretty sure tho that i can't just take the minis game stats and multiply by 10. So if anyone has any insight I'd love to hear your ideas.

J24

Just a rough estimation:

Necron Warrior
Statline: WS45 BS45 S50 T50(10) Ag25 Int - Per30 WP45 Fel - Wounds:~30
Move: 3/6/9/18
Talents/Traits: Auto-stabilised, Fear 2-4 (depending on your views), From Beyond, Machine (14), Regeneration (automatic pass each round), Size (Hulking), Unnatural Toughness x2 (x3?), maybe Unnatural Strengthx2,
Weapons: Gauss Flayer (range 90m, if hit expect to die)
Armour: Machine 14 all locations)
Threat rating: Obscurus Whatthehellisthis

Seriously, I'm not joking about your party dying like ******* to these things.

The Hobo Hunter said:

Are you kidding me? These stats are absurd!

Drop toughness to 48, and reduce the Machine trait to 7 rather then 14.

Switch Per and WP and they look good to me.

After all they are basically slow moving marines. EDIT: maybe take away from beyond as well.

For a gun I like Range: 95m Damage:2D10 Pen: 4 Special: hits reduce armor (or cover) to the impacted location by 4, take a toughness test at -5 per point of damage suffered, if failed lose 1 point of Toughness per degree of failure plus 1D5 point of lost toughness. If damage equals wounds death occurs. If hit subsequently by the Gauss flayer then increase damage by 1D10. RLD: N/A

Kills acolytes stone dead. Necrons don't really work that well in DH, it's an unholy sloughter of PCs.

We run troupe style, and an inexperienced GM dropped some reasonably appropriately statted Necrons on us. They were barely a threat and died in two rounds.

(Priest ("Sigmar Heldenhammer") + eviscerator + righteous, righteous, righteous fury = 50+ damage per blow...)

V.

The only things I would possibly amend from my original list would be maybe the Ws and BS, depending on your views of how 'well trained' a Necron Warrior is. Remember, these guys used to be the footsoldiers of the only army that could take on the Old Ones. I'm sure they're up to Space Marine standard.

Their Strength, Toughness, and Wounds seem justified to me. They're at least as survivable as space marines in my eyes, and from the background it would appear so too. Likewise, the Machine (14) I don't see as unreasonable. Space Marine Power Armour is something like (10 head 11 limbs 12 body), 14 isn't too much of a stretch for something that laughs off marine-calibre weaponry. Likewise, they're hulking, because those things are HUGE if you ever take a necron warrior model and readjust its spine to stand up properly.

From Beyond to me covers all the 'soulless machines' angle really well with all the immunities to mundane things like Fear, as does Autostabilised for the 'unstoppable wave of slow robots' thing. The Fear 2-4 is variable, as I like to play my Necrons up to Cosmic Horrors from Beyond the Grave, but YMMV. If anything, I'd probably throw in The Stuff of Nightmares too to cover immunities to other mundane things like breathing or vacuums without needing to resort to GM Fiat.

Gauss Flayers strip the flesh from your bones with Voodoo Science . If I had to be realistic, I'd actually give them stats, but they'd be at least on par with marine bolt weaponry. You would not survive more than two blasts from those things unless you were a horribly optimised Arbitrator or Techpriest.

Obscuro Whatthehellisthis is simply because Necrons are, chronologically, a relatively recent threat. They're not as well known as Tyranids, or Orks, for example.

Actually, for the gause Flayer, we already kind of have one. Look to the Sloutgh weapons and you will see the flayers ;-)

Likewise, I have an oldish pdf on my hard drive where someone hammered out some stats for most troop necrons. It was pre-DotDG and, unfortunately, I can't remember where I had downloaded it from. It might have been one of the pdfs that Darkreign took down. Anyway, if it is of any help, I'll toss it up HERE for you.

As for the stats in it, they could use some tweaking, some removing of redundancy (is fearless needed is they already have the machine trait?) and I would recommend removing the stats listed for the gause weapons in it for the stats for tings like the Necrotic Scepter with it's disintegration trait which pretty much describes a gaus flayer to me.

@Hobohunter. It's my understanding that the models aren't necessarily to scale with one anouther. Have you compared a Terminator to a guardsmen? Keeping in mind that Space Marines are 7 ft giants before they put on massive bulky ancient power armour suits ;-)

The Hobo Hunter said:

Minor point - AV 14 is the same as is provided by Ork Mega Armour... so it equates to a 2+ save in tabletop 40k terms. The Astartes Power Armour in Purge the Unclean has been noted by the guy who wrote those scenarios as actually being more equivalent to Artificier Armour.

Also note that the Machine trait only goes up to 5 in terms of AP provided - if you want any more, you have to define it as having some other form of armour, or give it the Armour Plated trait (+2 AP). Given a TB of 10, 30 wounds and Regeneration, AP7 seems quite sufficient, particularly as Necron Warriors are seldom encountered alone...

The Hobo Hunter said:

Actually, those sorts of life support immunities are covered by the Machine trait.

I would maybe remove the WP value altogether. Necrons don't seem to have any psychology.

I would their wounds to ~20 but give them a better regeneration. They aren't that substantial but they repair quickly.

As for Gauss, well I'm tempted for it to do Toughness damage as it strips actual chunks from you. It should probably ignore TB and have a random Pen value (1D10) that permanently removes pts of armour from the location struck. But it shouldn't do massive amounts of damage in one hit. Say 1D10. Thus it needs a sustained beam to cut you down. And 0 wounds equals disintegration.

Hellebore

Cool, thanks for the help and guidelines, maybe I'll hold off for a little bit, I can alter the current adventure to something a little more suitable atm. perhaps Ill hold off on the necrons idea I have for the Ascension book instead.

I still think you guys are way overboard on the stats for Necron warriors.

Of more directly constructive note: Why regeneration, let alone AUTOMATIC regen? Yes, they get back up constantly on the battlefield... But this is not intrinsic to the Warriors. The "get back up" thing is due to the cheesy "Rez Orbs" held by the leaders. No Rez Orb, no regeneration. They fall down, they stay down.

If you really plan on inflicting this on an acolyte team have you considered the possibility of them frantically comandeering a Leman Russ or perhaps a few Sentinel walkers? Nothing like a few heavy weapons to help even the odds on the cheesiest thing in the 40K universe. Even with the Rez Orb, Necrons hit by a battlecannon or krak missile STAY dead! This also rewards those players that trained those often neglected Drive skills.

ZillaPrime said:

Erm, no? They have a chance of standing up anyway, with the "We'll Be Back!" rules. The Rez Orb just makes that better.

Some old Necron stats that I really should get around to updating

http://rapidshare.com/files/142288754/The_Necron_Threat.pdf

If you're looking for a balls-to-the-wall firefight against Necrons, I would agree that a handful of them would be quite challenging for the typical acolyte. However, this can make a very exciting game if the scenario is played out right. Instead of the Acolytes charging headlong into a squad of warriors, have them strive to acieve a certain advantage. If they can manipulate the environment somehow to "even the odds" then a few Necrons may prove to be an exciting and well-balanced encounter.

How does one do this?

1.) Perhaps their is a warp storm or some other atmospheric distrubance occuring that conflicts with the Necron's systems (makes them slower, less accurate, more seceptable to damage, etc.) Of course this should be something the players help influence. It is something they should discover and work towards in order to kill the Necrons. Perhaps they can reroute the energy from some flux-capacitor thing or establish a link to an uber weather sattelite. My point is, they can face a single Necron and realize they need to kill more. Only, they have to find an easier way to do it because that first one was tough as nails. Also, this "advantage" has to be temporary, rare, and a once in a lifetime circumstance - otherwise, the Imperium would utilize it throughout the galaxy and the Necrons wouldn't be very scary now would they?

2.) Maybe the Necrons are "awakening" due to the PCs medelling and they are not at full strength just yet. The PCs need to fight off quasi-Necrons while attempting to thwart the Necron's ressurection sequence.

3.) What if the players discover a one-time-use assortment of weapons that can turn the Necrons to mush? These will have to be either a.) short on ammo, b.) on the brink of failure, or c.) dependant on the environment they are used in. Again - you don't want to establish some kind of super-advantage the Empire can have over the Necrons or the adventure will scream cheese!

As far as stats go...I am too noob with both the game mechanics (balances?) of DH and the Necron table top stats to help - I am just trying to help with the story aspect.

Goodluck!

MILLANDSON said:

The way I've always seen it is that a Necron will, 90% of the time, regenerate from any damage inflicted. However, the difference in practical terms (whether or not it'll still try and kill you) is how severe that damage is. Debilitating damage forces the Necron to leave the battlefield (teleporting away) to repair in the comfort of its own crypt-alcove, while lesser damage can be repaired in the field in moments and allows the Necron to continue fighting.

The other 10% of the time, the Necron's body teleports out to repair, but is too damaged to fix and instead results in a consciousness transferral to a new body, with all that entails.

ZillaPrime said:

Well yeah.

I'd be disappointed in my acolytes if they found something this exceptionally tough and didn't try and requisition something big to take it out. That's kinda how I envisaged Necrons - requiring heavy weapons and the like to kill, and the sheer horror of staring down some 8ft-tall cthulu-robots who slice and dice and teleport away when you finally think you've got them.

Necrons are on par with space marines; they shouldn't be an 'equal' fight for average acolytes.

flightmek25 said:

This is something I was contemplating, and the possibility that they may be weakened from other things (IE the environment/ type of planet prevents them from "healing" to a degree, or at least has resulted in a weaker form of the metal they're made from. I may still run with this.

flightmek25 said:

something like this could actually work in a survival horror style of campaign, maybe the planetary governer, or his chief of security/general has a few bolters, but only a few and limited ammo... hrmmmmm......... I may do something with this as well

Someone has already written a necron supplement for DH which I will quote here:

Necron Warrior

Necrons are the unholy relic of some past conflict ages past. Living Metal given a human shape and weapons capable of shredding a man to the bone and beyond. Due to their mechanical nature Ne-crons are slow and clumsy in close combat and we would advise Acolytes to target them this way but for one thing, these unholy creatures are extremely sturdy and reliable, they do not know fear or pain, there bodies repair themselves rapidly and the technology of their weapons gives them lethal firepower and hand to hand capabilities. It is advised that Acolytes requisition any other Imperial Forces using the Exterminatus Protocol and engage these foes with overwhelming num-bers and firepower.

WS35, BS40, S30, T30, Ag20, Int32, Per25, WP45, Fel05

AP - 7 (all locations), Wounds - 12, Size - Humanoid

Trappings - Gauss Flayer

Traits - Armour Plated, Auto-Stabilised, Fear 2, Dark Sight, From Beyond, Mysterious and Unknowable, Machine (5), Unnatural (strength, toughness), Unnatural Senses, Sturdy, Regeneration

Scarabs

Before the incursion of Necrons it is said that these small insect like creatures appear, paving the way for the assault. Not terribly deadly in single numbers, these creatures rely on sheer numbers to overwhelm infantry but can be deadly against ar-moured vehicles or anything reliant on technol-ogy, they use some unknown device to penetrate deep into the workings and cause them to overload or just fail. They take the form of small shells of silver with many legs, easy to mistake for a field of Debris until they activate and jump upon their target. Acolytes who sight these creatures are advised to send a distress signal to their commander instantly and be alert for any reports of power fluctuations in nearby settlements or outposts. Extreme caution is advised.

WS25, BS15, S40, T40, Ag15, Int10, Per30, WP45, Fel05

AP - 5, Wounds- 6, Size - Miniscule/Tiny

Trappings - Natural Weapons - Insectoid Legs and Mandibles, Inbuilt disruption field

Traits - Strength in Numbers, Mysterious and Unknowable, Machine (5), Fear 1, From Be-yond, Regeneration, Sonar Sense, Strange Physi-ology, Unnatural Agility (x2), Natural Weapons

Gauss Flayer: Basic 120m S/-/- 1d10+6R 4

Disruption Fields: Pistol 5m S/-/- 2D10E 6

((Unfortunately the copy of the .pdf I have does not include writers information so I cannot give the credit where it is due))

As you all can probably guess, I think the Warrior is a little too weak. AP 7 is the lightest 'civilian issue' power armour available in DH. I see Necrons as a lot tougher than that. Likewise, I know they have Unnatural Strength and Toughness, but that's still only 6 TB. Especially with only 12 wounds.

I've built a cleric who could take on multiples of these single handedly, never mind what something like a Moritat could do. I'm not trying to tout my own horn here but I think those things would die far too easily to accurately represent the threat Necrons pose. I'm not sure a single human is meant to take these things on one-on-one and easily overpower them.

Except of course that Necron warriors don't die. They should regenerate wounds even when "dead" and if more than 75% of the whole warrior squad is hurt too bad they just all phase out and vanish. Also do notice that the Unnatural Strenght and Toughness have undefined values... if you want to make toughner warriors you can give them x3 instead of regular x2.

The problem is that if you start to give Necrons huge amounst of AP and TB you easily run into a situation where a normally armed acolyte party cannot damage them at all. AP7 + TB6 is already enough to make them almost impervious to normal autoguns, lasguns and such. Even at the risk of making a singular necron warrior a bit "weak" I would still tilt towards the proper look & feel of having dozen or so necron warriors marching towards acolytes, being shot down and coming back... gamewise it makes for a more epic scene than making a single warrior so tough that a dozen of them will complitely obliterate the acolytes by the start of round 3.

Polaria said:

That would be me as seen on page 1

Artaxerxes said:

Ah, great. Thanks for that pdf and yes, you should get around to updating them... and adding a few more unit types (at least Flayed Ones) to the listing

John24 said:

Except that the Necrons purposefully chose dead-worlds, ones with no/little life on them, to build their tombs on. Why would they build a tomb on a world where the atmosphere/environment would prevent their greatest strength? They aren't stupid, after all.

MILLANDSON said:

A lot can happen in millions of years.

When they turned up in my campaign, brefily, they were released from an ancient damaged part of an imperial space station and had been crushed for millenia. In hindsight they still had low stats and what I shoudl have done was recover their stat's every turn to represent their systems being repaired.

Polaria said:

Check the link, you should find everything bar Lords and Vehicles in that PDF, including Flayers

I'm happy with the base level of these guys, firing several Lasgun shots from long range really doesnt do anything to them unless a very lucky RF is rolled, yes more agile characters can hurt them but your basic Acolyte should be in serious trouble. As the numbers increase I'm sure even the more beardy characters would find themselves in trouble as they dispatch one Necron only to have it rear its head again later on.

Something I've been pondering is the wargear, allowing different levels of Lord with items to boost the basic Necrons, as well as giving them some cool toys to mess with mechanical apparatus and teleport in

hmm... need to make some time for this soon