After discussing what to write next with my friend whose a huge Necron fan, she made some excellent points about what she thought you all needed to know this far out. I was going to write a full transcription of the codex from memory but she pointed out that I’d get more joy by frustrating and teasing as many people as possible. So today I’m going to write a review of the current rumors about our third favorite metal skeletons (#1 and #2 are of course the Busey Bot 9000 and Mary-Kate).
Now, imagine my confusion when a bunch of rumors for the Necrons pop’d up last week here on this side of the pan-dimensional temporal slant shunt. It’s pretty clear from a cursory reading that there are a lot of attention seekers out there. They just make a wish list with about 50% “no brainer” guesses. This way their list looks like they have some inside information, and everyone talks about what they are saying. It’s pretty apparent when you know what is actually happening with the books. If you go back and look at the actual track record of these so called “sources” you’ll see that only the vaguest guesses usually come true. Many times they will even be so wrong that they must pull a “printing error made them change it”. This is my favorite, usually when it comes down to what army is next. Oh, the Tau rumors are the MOST glaringly hilarious of the “printer error” rumors. Mark my words, within 6 months it will be reported that there was a “Printing Error” that forced the Tau back.
So let’s examine some of those rumors! I’ll be using a post made on Bell of Lost souls, this is in no way an admonishment of them, and they do a service attempting to collect all the rumors from various locations. You can read their whole article HERE. I’m just going to use this list because it is a convenient place to grab a broad “collection” of the chatter.
Let’s start with the block attributed to Kroothawk. While his release date is close, it shows that his source (if he has one) isn’t close to GW corporate. It might be a tester or just a guess. Much of what he claims (necrons cheaper, wbb tweaks, new plastic kits) are just no brainer guesses. The bits about Necron Maladies and the list of new lords is just fabrication.
There are a couple nuggets of truth in here, maybe on accident! Immortals do get a new kit and do have some new options. Pariahs are not “overhauled” but instead “removed”, although they do make decent models for a retinue. As for the colored rods… well they got sold in a blister (40 to a pack) on my side of the P.D.T.S.S. but that was a second wave thing, so maybe they go in the boxes over here. I can’t rule it out.
MadCowCrazy weighs in with another mix that needs distilling a bit. He makes a lot of blanket “duh” statements, like tech-upgrades instead of psychic powers which follows the current theme of gadgets. The C’Tan aren’t out of the codex and Immortals aren’t troops because of a Lord… they just are. He dials it in too much, however, with “Phase Out” being reworked (its removed), hinting that some of what he is claiming is just good guesses.
These good guesses might be backed up by an actual source somewhere, however. Matt Ward is indeed working on the codex. For all the hate he receives, it should be noted that he doesn’t make his decisions in a void. It’s easy to blame him for things, but that just shows a significant ignorance on complainer’s part. The colored rods rumor pops back up here, giving it more weight. The new fast attack unit isn’t what he claims it to be. He is describing a new Elite choice… but he is still off by a wide margin. The “lawn mower” he describes is also not a simple “lots of shots” weapon. It’s much cooler than that.
Finally we come to Tabitha, who I will assume is a lady. She sums up a good number of other rumors in a vague way. Anything she repeats is just as wrong/write as the other guys.
Her release date is a bit closer, however, and her overall details are just a little closer. Either she is a much better guesser or she is a tester. The one thing she is way off on is the “no transports”.
All in all, these rumors miss out on a few of the big “OMG” moments in the codex. They don’t make a big enough deal about Dedicated Transport options or the Rays, Gauss, Tesla themes that run throughout the codex. The over-all “50’s sci-fi robot monster” feeling is grim-darked up nicely and the codex has some awesome toys in it to make you want to make “VRRRBBRRAAAAMMMM” noises as you carve a line through enemy units.
Hmm, maybe I should write up a tactica for one of the weapon types.
P.S. We have these new rumors. They came out while I was writing this article! They are accurate to what happened over on the REAL Earth. It has a few minor errors. Mostly stuff that can easily be attributed to word of mouth explanations and repetition from memory. So all in all, there is your jackpot Necron fans.