I'm suspicious we will see rules for the Necrons in Black Crusade. Go to the BC main page and scroll down; you will see a Necron Lord.

However that Necron Lord is fighting a Chaos Space Marine. The Necrons are, after all, as much an enemy of Chaos (if not more) as they are of anyone else.

That said, I would love to see some more coverage of the Necrons.

Also, the Dark Mechanicus techpriest is inspecting a Scarab.

It could just be art from the book guys.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Zamnil Blackaxe said:

But why? Given that Necrons have not really been mentioned - apart from that one Deathwatch adventure - including them just for design purposes seems awfully odd.

Did anyone notice the Dark Mechanicus guy on the description page analyse this little cute Scarab?

Maybe it´s just artwork for the book, maybe the Necrons will play a major role in the new Setting. Who knows.

That's the nice thing about the Necrons. They don't care what Gods you serve. You are alive and you must be deleted. That's all.

I must say that Chaos forces fighting against Necros appeals more to me then big bad deamon blessed servant killing helpless humans.

Sister Callidia said:

Given that Necrons, or specifically the C'Tan, are opposed to the Immaterium, it makes sense that they will be opponents of Chaos followers in the game.

This would be quite a nice way of providing good antagonists for another WK40k RPG line without repeating too much from the other lines (which is good news for folks that have quite a lot of the books from other lines).

Given the mutable timeline of Chaos. I see no issue with Necrons.

Plus while they were never official to the Imperium before the one incident, it doesn't mean they didn't do things occassionally. Only means they finally got codified then. Who's to say the Ordo Xenos didn't truly know and keep it top secret (Or at least a few isolated ones who weren't believed about it being a threat - the Cain novels hint this was the case)

Wilfred Owen said:

Because the new Tabletop Codex: Necrons is very likely coming out on October/November slot this year?

I hope space dedicated to necrons is minimised, they make a rather poor RPG antagonist, no knowable motivation (on the PCs level at least, unless you're nasty enough to sic a C'Tan on them), deception, scheming or chance of betraying their own side, just pure, relentless combat monsters with no RPing angle, like the Tyranids they're a cool tabletop army, but they're a very limited RPG villain that could only sustain a few adventures IMHO...

@CaptainSabutai

There's an important facet of Necron "society" you're missing: Necron Lords have a consciousness - and they're not limited to their metal bodies. In fact, as you may recall from Xenology, some are infiltrating imperial society.

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The Necrons were created by the C'tan. They obeyed. They evolved. They look and feel human. Some are programmed to think they are human. There are many copies. And they have a plan.

Cifer said:

Hah, yeah BSG would make a good source! I do not have Xenology, nor have I seen references to said Necron infiltrators before, and agree such concepts would make them a far more interesting antagonist, though they'd still be far behind the entire Imperium in the list of antagonists I'd want in my game...

Hah, yeah BSG would make a good source! I do not have Xenology, nor have I seen references to said Necron infiltrators before, and agree such concepts would make them a far more interesting antagonist, though they'd still be far behind the entire Imperium in the list of antagonists I'd want in my game...

Noone says you can't combine the two. Imagine a campaign in which you're trying to prepare a planet for invasion/conversion. You're working your way towards key figures to subvert... only to find they've already been manipulated by someone else. Someone definitely not chaotic, someone not leaving the slightest psy-trace for your sorceror. Someone who's obviously also planning an attack. Better revise your time-table or there might not be a planetary population left to corrupt...

Cifer said:

You still couldn't bribe them, or blackmail them or corrupt them to worship the Ruinous Powers like you could a servant of the Imperium, what you described above is a more interesting concept then mindless-zombie-necrons, but still more restrictive then a human opponent...

Making the Necrons a major antagonist for the BC makes sense in a lot of ways.

Firstly each game after DH has introduced enemies in more detail (Orks and Kroot as playable PCs in RT; Tau, Tyranids and Chaos in DW) so with players clamoring for more what better place for them to appear.

Secondly considering the Necrons natural resistance to Warp energy they will make very effective foes to PCs that depend on Chaos powers.

And, as others have mentioned, with a new Necron codex and figures rumoured to be on the horizon (maybe even around this summer) what better time to add them to the games table.

DW

CaptainSabutai said:

I think that's rather the point. Chaos is anathema to the C'tan and Necons. I don't really see "you can't corrupt them" as restrictive either, you can't corrupt Orks either, but that doesn't make them less fun.

Necrons are a great choice.

One, they're downloaded intelligences in superscience robot bodies. According to 5th edition 40K, some of them are totally around the bend insane and that's by the standards of a bunch of guys who regularly engage in genocidal activities. They are powerful enough to threaten players of Chaos Marine level power and are villainous enough to be clear bad guys even by Chaos standards. They also have hyper tech loot which puts them in the holy trinity of enemies: powerful, clearly evil, and possessing loot worth grabbing.

Polaria said:

Not sure if you are disagreeing with me or not.

Wilfred Owen said:

Neither really. You asked why Necrons? I suggested it might be because FFG and GW are cooperating and aiming to release Black Crusade and Codex Necrons near to each other and include common elements in both.

The Cadian Gate- the "still" area in the Eye Of Terror- is (unknown to the Imperium at large) caused by ancient Necron ruins on the planet Cadia. I wonder if there will be a similar Necron-generated "still" area inside The Screaming Vortex, unmapped by the Imperium, that figures into the setting...

Wilfred Owen said:

Because it's a cool picture? feels like a good enough reason for me. Most likely we'll see Necron rules from the beastiary for deathwatch.

Polaria said:

Thanks for clearing it up. I was not sure, that's all.

Sister Callidia said:

Me too!

I would hope that it's more than an artwork selection and an actual part of the game. Having some stats for Necrons would be a big plus for buying this book alone, let alone giving the setting a viable enemy to work with than PDF Guardsmen.

On that thought Genestealer cult's fighting against Chaos cults and subversives could be fun as well.