So, I now have my Outer Reach book, and I am overall pleased. However, I do have a couple little questions, regarding it:

1. I can sort of see why, but I really miss the Pariahs that became a casualty in newest Necrons. Could they still fit? Would they get Untouchable? The Ordo Xenos has a presence in the Reach, and that could mean their Assassins, in this case the Culexus Assassins statted in The Navis Primer, could have been victims of mysterious accidents, the end result being fabricated Pariahs ready to fight Ork Waaghs, remaining Eldar, and whatever else stands against the Dynasty.
2. I was rather pleased to see some mention of the Harlequins, and also that they went with the Seer. If one wanted to go with some of the other cool ones, what are the best ideas? I like Death Jesters, and assume that, overall, the stats for a Dark Reaper, from Koronus Bestiary, should suffice, with a change or two to reflect the DJ's flair, but the Solitaire, that Harlequin that fell off two editions ago, and one of my favorites, eludes me. I have their weapon in RT, and I think they'd also have Untouchable, but I don't know. I would appreciate some ideas if anyone is willing.
3. Last one. As I look at the C'Tan Shards, I see that they might be able to absorb 25 points of damage per attack, AFTER a failed Field check. While this seems impressive, a single Crisis Suit can approach this, and with a possibly better Field save. The Dagon Overlord can absorb more per hit, as can the Carnifex, T Guards, and the Bloodthirster. I know that, in TT, C'Tans were fabricated to be easily killable, with their comparably crappy Armor save (worse than the Necron soldiers made of the same stuff), but I thought that they might be a bit tougher here. Their NDerm is inferior to Power Armor, AGAIN. I grant that some of the finer rules of DW can elude me, so I ask, am I missing something? Are they supposed to be inferior to G. Daemons and Monstrous Nids, AGAIN, or are they a lot better than I am giving them credit, in regards to taking a pounding?

Thanks much for any comments.

venkelos said:

Yes, sucks don't it. Its even worse still how the whole background is total sewage now. The whole "War in Heaven" is a joke. If the C'tan's own slaves, who were bound and slaved to their wills were strong enough to fight back and beat the C'tan then the Old Ones, Eldar, and Krorks shouldn't have had any problem themselves.

Oh and the warp wouldn't have gotten all jumbled from the War in Heaven so the Chaos Gods wouldn't have been born, and the Enslaver plague wouldn't have occured, which means the necrons wouldn't have slumbered, though they'd probly be dead anyways since the old ones would have killed the C'tan really early and destroyed all the necrons. So many fewer dead worlds in the galaxy. The Old Ones would have stayed around a bit longer. Between the Old Ones and the absence of the Chaos God-heads in the warp Slaanesh wouldn't have been born, thus the Long Night wouldn't have stopped the Dark Age of Technology, which would probably be considered the Golden Age as humans would have easily conquored the galaxy with their supierior tech.

Then theres the fact the Emperor might not exist, since the chaos powers wouldn't be sucking up early human shaman (psyker) souls to convince them to simultaneous suicide to create him. This would result in more human psykers, as the shaman would remain in the gene pool, resulting in more understanding and ability for human psykers. It would also mean, no primarchs or space marines, since the Emperor wouldn't be there to make them, but the level of tech humans would have would probably make up for it so its a wash.

Amazing how one tiny "ret-con" could have such a major effect on established background, isn't it… Good job Matt Ward.

venkelos said:

Although Pariahs are no longer part of the official Necron army list, I don't see any reason why you couldn't 'house-rule' them in Deathwatch as the creation of a specific Necron dynasty. In which case, they should absolutely be Untouchable.

herichimo said:

I don't see this effect on the established back-ground.

Still, the current Necron codex sucks a big, fat donkey rooster.

Matt Ward: Stop writing, you're just no good at it.

-K

kjakan said:

Mainly its because the current writers can't see past their noses and what consequenses their hap-hazard writing can have on the universe. Obviously they aren't going to really alter the background to represent the new "week" C'tan as it changes the whole history. We are just going to have to continue with a plot inconsistancy the size of Texas forever now (or at least until they get smart and ret-con this ret-con back to what it was, maybe next crondex…). Disaapointing considering the amount of thought and care the original writers must have gone through to have things make sense and not contradict each other in a historical point of view.

kjakan said:

Mat, not Matt.

Tbh the easiest fix for this is to apply Ward's changes after the Necron reawakening. War in heaven happens as previously established, Necrons over throw the C'tan after their reawakening, try to re-establish themselves in an unfamiliar universe. Problem solved