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ghostinthegallery · 9 months

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So a thing I’ve noticed about necron books…

I do not think it is controversial to say that Robert Rath and Nate Crowley really defined how a lot of us (especially me) view necrons in modern 40k lore. They did so much heavy lifting to take the faction that was literally just Terminator ripoff (aka Tyranids but worse) and make them into characters.

But they did it in such different and almost contradictory ways. And I think it boils down to this:

Rath's necrons are gods who were once mortal. Crowley's necrons are mortals forced to become gods.

(disclaimer: I don't think one author is "more correct" or whatever. Different characters experience the universe in different ways, embrace a little subjectivity does objective truth even exist?)

Let's start with Crowley. In both Severed and Twice Dead King, memories and bodies are defining features of their narratives. Oltyx can and does revisit his memories at will (not without consequence get your pins out and put em in). He is haunted by disphorakh, this feeling that he should have an organic body but does not and that this disconnect is actually killing him. The flayed ones' whole existence is steeped (literally) in flesh and blood and disphoria.

On the slightly less extreme end, in Severed Obyron remembers the flesh times vividly: the battles, the people, who and what he's lost. They are fighting the manifestation of what Obyron fears becoming: a mindless machine, “severed” from his past experiences. And the ultimate stakes in a Crowley book? Loss of memory. Loss of self. Obyron and Oltyx pay this price throughout their stories, and it eats away at them. Necrodermis makes their physical selves immortal, but their minds? Just as mortal as ever. If not even more so. The people they are were formed in flesh times, and all immortality does is wear away at them as they desperately try to cope.

Robert Rath's necrons? Not so much. Sure, Trazyn and Orikan angst about their loss of memory, but the memories of flesh for them are so distant and unreliable that they could not build their personalities around them even if they wanted to. Trazyn's link to the past is external: objects he has collected. Orikan... what memories he has of his past are fuzzy and in some cases straight up manipulated. That's distressing, but not enough to totally rock his sense of self. That’s a stark contrast to how Crowley’s necrons operate.

We all know the iconic Old Man Fight from Infinite and the Divine. Where Rath describes Trazyn and Orikan fighting and points out how stupid it would be back in the flesh times? Just two nerds hitting each other with canes. Well the flip side of that is that what is actually happening is NOT two nerds slapping each other but two immortals with incomprehensible power battling on a scale mortals cannot process.

Rath’s necrons operate on scales mortals barely understand. Oh, the Greek gods destroyed one city? Troy took em ten years? Trazyn and Orikan wiped out a planet's population by accident. And they are both so divorced from mortality that they don't care. Sheesh, Trazyn is so alienated from the idea of a body that in War in the Museum he informs a woman that he’s filled her up with her own dead sisters organs and I legit believe he thought this would make her feel better.

I adore both approaches! The differences in character and perspective, how they relate to the world and themselves. Yes, it creates contradictions in the lore (like why doesn’t Trazyn lose his shit knowing people like Zahndrekh or Oltyx just…remember necrontyr society perfectly clearly) but I aggressively do not care. I love the varying explorations or power, the nature of the self, the truth that none of these people have survived immortality “in tact.” Those are exactly the things that make necrons my favorite 40k faction. Hell, one of my favorite sci if aliens ever. Because both approaches are haunting and hilarious and poignant and so damn cool.

So…uh…thanks guys. Yeah.

#necrons #warhammer 40k #the infinite and the divine #the twice dead king #severed #i just think they're neat #contemplations on the self without a soul #Immortality sucks but HOW it sucks is the more interesting question #All of it is very gay

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magistralucis · 9 months

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happy el muchacho monday folks im spinning my Wheels and Going Insane over this part in The Infinite and the Divine. Sure, they're talking about humans, but according to necron hierarchy Orikan? is also a 'lesser being'??? 😭 Especially since the necron he's talking to also outranks him and was happy to gloat about it five chapters ago??? If anything, he's quite fortunate that Trazyn's the way he is - who else could Orikan talk to like this?

I find this line fascinating. Not only is it proof of Orikan's moral hypocrisy, it's also proof that he sees Trazyn in a light he sees no one else in. There's no way Orikan could say this to any other Overlord. Consider how he leveraged himself against the authorities in the trial scene: think about who has my back, think about the debts you owe me, think about the services I could provide. His words cut deep, but these are bargains and threats and reminders, not personal judgements on someone's rank and character. Orikan is proudly anti-authoritarian and unafraid to show it, but there is a tangible limit to how far he can question his superiors before he'd be put in his place. It's what happens when he tries to give Trazyn's ship a command, and it's why we only see detailed justifications of his anti-authoritarianism in his POV, because as far as the higher-ups are concerned it's not open for discussion.

Keep it in your head. Or talk to Trazyn, since he's as weird as you are.

And that's a significant outlet, I think. Trazyn is about the only one whom Orikan feels comfortable commenting directly on his character: you care too much for the lowly, and that's not right, and you make me uncomfortable. I doubt he could say the same thing to Imotekh if the latter suddenly began displaying sympathy for human beings, nor to most other necrons of high rank. Clearly he said this because he did not feel Trazyn, as an individual, would retaliate against his judgement. And he was right - Trazyn just shrugs it off, without withdrawing his moment of compassion. Orikan pursues it no further and there is no punishment. It's bitter, it's dismissive - but it was a conversation.

He can actually have those with Trazyn. Something about beings approaching his own level, and it being nice to talk to them, yada yada.

But that's not to say Orikan doesn't suffer for his judgement. That's where the moral hypocrisy comes in. He's not doing himself any favours saying it like that, not just because his xenophobia is bullshit from our reader's perspective, but because he is willfully inauthentic to the space he occupies in the world. Necron culture is rankist. Elitist, classist, chauvinistic. The only necrons who aren't are either clinging to a sense of honour (not guaranteed to be returned, nor perceived by honour by non-necrons), insane, or so fallen down like the Flayed Ones as to be not considered necron at all. Necrons may or may not practice polite conduct with those higher up, but they do tend to know who's beneath them, and are happy to punch down as they see fit; for Orikan to speak of 'lesser beings' is normal, for him to talk about artisans that way is not, or shouldn't be.

The only artisans left in necron culture are the crypteks. They create things, they maintain things - it's the crypteks who wrote the play, War in Heaven, the theatrical piece our protagonists rely on so much. When Trazyn speaks of the human artisans' suffering on Serenade, he's really making a statement about the value of art - what kind of person does it take to create such a thing, what does it mean to consume them? - and for Orikan to dismiss it as a lesser act for lesser beings is to dismiss his own profession.

It's exactly what the nobility he hates likes to do.

Which: fair enough. There is not much love between crypteks. But I don't think Orikan's judgement is the kind of thing that stops at interpersonal rivalries, nor is it just a humanities vs. STEM argument. You could read his line at face value (humans are just insects to necrons, newsflash of the year), but you could also attribute any level of hypocrisy, denial, and/or self-deprecation to it, and it would be consistent with his character. None of it stops him from growing, or making him worse, depending on what mood seizes him. Gotta love me some bad faith necrons, they are such intriguing food for thought

#warhammer 40k #trazyn the infinite #orikan the diviner #the infinite and the divine #necrons #necron #trazyn #orikan #essay #mr rath the ten-year full script of war in heaven when???

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macgyvertape · 3 months

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my attempt at "Wow Cool Robot" meme as an attempt to get people to read Kasrkin Minor Spoilers below:

I really enjoyed the book, I think the Imperial Guard and Kroot parts are interesting even if you aren't super interested in their faction. It has good plotline of pulp action where enemies team up against a common foe, which in this case are the Flayed Ones necrons. What surprised me is one of the characters' speech about how the Imperium runs on fear, since so few characters express sentiments like this in universe, and though he has ulterior motives for saying this the text doesn't imply he's wrong:

‘You do not need me to tell you that the Imperium is brutal, unjust, frequently corrupt and that it gives no more thought to expending the lives of its people than a tyranid swarm seeks to preserve its warriors. But all of that is accepted because the alternative is worse. Fear is what binds the Imperium together. Without fear, everything – everything – would fall apart. The worlds that pay, in men and money and material, to keep the Imperium functioning, would decide to keep their children and their goods for themselves. The blood of empire is money and trade – Holy Terra is one vast city that depends on how many thousands of ships arriving each day from all over the Imperium to keep its people fed. The same is true of all the key worlds in every sector – they suck other worlds dry to feed themselves. ‘All of this is made possible by fear. Even now, with the galaxy split, most worlds do not even know it has happened. It will be thousands of years before the light of the Rift reaches them. But the High Lords of Terra will use this, as they use everything else, to feed the fear and cement their control.’ This time the general’s laugh was bitter. ‘And you know what is worse? It is men like you and I, honest men trying to do our duty, who are the best tools in their hands. For we do see the real terrors that exist, and we justify their rule wherever we go, and ensure that the fear spreads ever wider and their control becomes ever deeper. ‘We live in a galaxy where all we hear our leaders speak of is war and yet where most people live in peace. We live in a galaxy where fear is the only reality that confronts us, and yet most people will live their days and never see one of the Adeptus Astartes."

My favorite parts and the reason I read the book were for the necron characters; Nebusemekh and the World Mind who are literary foils to Zahndrekh and Obyron.

Nebusemekh suffers from what can easily be read as dementia; not remembering conversations, living in a past happy memory, not able to accurately perceive the world around him. As author Nate Crowley described Zhandrekh "Zahndrekh comes and goes, too. Yes, there is the moment at the end where he reveals that his condition may not be entirely what it seems - but I think that for long stretches of time, it truly is what it appears to be". What Nebusemekh does is similar complete with a few moments of lucidity where he misses his past self, but unlike Zahndrekh he is not able to focus on military tactics. I think there's a lot to unpack about how much he uses his sand castle in the sky project as a way to avoid facing reality but that is for a different post.

Where the World Mind contrasts Obyron is that Obyron obeys orders, while the World Mind sees itself as something akin to a medical conservatorship. It grieves for Nebusemekh's current state but will make decisions that go against Nebusemekh's wishes out of a desire to both protect Nebusemekh from his own memories and to carry out his past military plans to from when he was in sound mind. It's some of the boldest defiance I've seen from a Necron to their lord, he will mislead and unsubtlelly redirect the conversation to progress his goals of awakening the tomb but when pressed he brazenly admits to disabling Nebusemekh's personal weapons.

#warhammer 40k #necrons #Nebusemekh #I think the tumblr necron fans would really enjoy this book #Kasrkin

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cursed-40k-thoughts · 1 year

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A) what is the meat knight

B) what's this about a cool body not being canon?

C) soldier necrons aren't mindless anymore?

A) A chaos knight called Death's Sabre who liked to drape itself in the flesh of enemies as a way to display kills/trophies. A meat-covered knight. Meat Knight.

B) Szarekh was originally described in the Baal novellas and stories as having a very unique, elegant, clean-limbed body made of living metal. He was noted as being an impressive work of artifice by the blood angel looking at him. His model and 9E designs just have him looking like a large Overlord with a larger hat.

C) Necron Warriors are. Immortals and up have increasing levels of awareness. The higher your rank, the more preserved and expensive your engrams (robot brain). For this reason, Flayed Ones can vary quite heavily in behaviour, though they all have a decidedly tenuous grasp on reality.

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agbpaints · 1 year

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2022, A year in minis

Well we're almost at the new year so I decided to drag everything I've painted out of its many boxes and lay it out to see what I've done. Overall I think this is the most productive year of painting I've had yet, with 123 figures finished in total. I crossed some big milestones with my admech, surpassing 1,000 and 1,500 pts of total painted models. I also started collecting necrons, started collecting battletech, and finished the last few stragglers from my cursed city box. My speed at painting increased this year considerably and I've definitely improved my confidence in my own skills- I've started using basic freehand and weathering techniques on my models and my airbrush is becoming a significantly more used tool even if my motor coordination isn't good enough for it to be a tool for anything more than monocolor base coats.

My favorite 2022 projects

Scrap-mech. Equal parts infuriating and awesome. Cawdor bodies have some of the jankiest connection points I've ever seen but their aesthetic is top notch and slots right into admech. This was the first project I did using citadel contrast paints, and while I don't think they're the one stop replacement for normal techniques they were billed as they work fantastically as like an 'extra thicc' wash.

Battletech. I really did not expect to have as much fun as I did with these big stompy murder bots. The models are appropriately chunky and gave me a lot of practice with panel lining. I also discovered how much fun flocking is!

Vargskyr: One of my favorite monsters that I've painted and my absolute most favorite piece from cursed city. I had a lot of fun getting the hair to blend in with the skin on this big chunky boy.

Tech-wraith Kitbash. This was an idea that came like a bolt from the blue while I was buying discount models that went from notion to build to done in less than 3 days. It's mostly bits and pieces from a kataphron kit welded into a cairn wraith but I'm super proud of it.

Flayed One Kitbashes. Flayed Ones are one of my favorite necron things period and after my initial spooktober idea hit a roadblock I fell into my backup plan, a flayer killteam. The lord is probably my favorite model I built out of the mix- he's mostly a primaris intercessor mashed together with an old warrior sprue.

Goals for 2023

Pile of shame busting: holy shit do I still have a lot of bare plastic to get rid of. My biggest goals for next year are going to be finishing my warcry and infinity starters that I've left to molder in their boxes and building/painting the rest of my admech backlog. In total I believe this is about 60 models

Spooktober project: last year I recieved a Seraptek heavy construct second hand that's been hiding in a box in my attic ever since. After reading twice dead king I've decided to make it the Seraptek from That Scene (you know the one) but life and the overwhelming size of the project meant I wussed out for spooktober this year. With another year of experience and time to plan ahead, it's gonna happen this time.

Advanced techniques: I've been experimenting recently with non-metalic metal and its absolutely nerd sniped me. I suck at it, but I see a glimmer of something I could get better at that I'm gonna try to claw towards. I'd also like yo try messing around more with various blending techniques in general.

Model photography: so far all of my models have had their photos taken using a desk lamp, a piece of calligraphy paper, and the phone camera on my Samsung. They're OK but I want to devote some time and resources into upgrading my kit and skills here.

#hobby #mini painting #miniatures #warhammer #wh40k #warhammer 40k #admech #necrontyr #adeptus mechanicus #battletech #year in review #2022 #goals for 2023

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banshee-king · 1 year

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Thoughts about new Tyranids as a whole:

My other post was getting long so these are my overall thoughts. I’m a little mixed. I would say I’m feeling more positive than negative, but it’s hard to tell what I’ll warm up to and what I’m indifferent to. The new Tyranid designs are a little different to the old ones, which isn’t bad and it’s to be expected with updated details, but I guess I don’t love change.

Units like the Toxicrene, Maleceptor, Exocrine, and Haruspex aren’t that old all things considered, and they feel consistent with the army design as a whole. But I’m not sure if the new models are even that consistent with those four. I don’t want to be that person who hates everything new though, and insists that everything old is better. It could also just be the new colour scheme for Leviathan is what’s throwing me off. Like maybe once I see all the old bone-white models painted in the new pink skin will I feel better about the army aesthetic matching.

With us getting Neurogaunts instead of Hormagaunts, Leapers instead of Lictors, and Barbgaunts and the Psychophage instead of Pyrovores and Biovores, there is a worryingly increasing list of units that might not be touched. To be fair though, Necrons didn’t have every one of their units in the 9th Ed box set; the Silent King, Void Dragon, Monolith, Flayed Ones, Hexmark, Ophydian and Heavy Destroyers all weren’t included, so it’s very likely there’s more to see for Tyranids. The Necrons even only had updated Warriors in the box set, which matches Tyranids only having updated Termagants in theirs. So I still have hope for things like Shrikes.

As for what types of units Tyranids got, well I have to say I don’t think anything was really crucially needed. Given that Tyranids already had more units than Death Guard or Necrons, I suppose that’s somewhat unavoidable. Don’t get me wrong I’m not actually complaining too much, but I guess updating the resin units and adding some new wargear options to existing units was more important to me than brand new stuff. Like the Creamer Killer is an already existing unit. The Neurotyrant is looking worryingly close to a Neurothrope (even in name). The Neurogaunts could have been an alternate build for Hormagaunts, or just give the Nodebeast to them as an upgrade. The Leapers and Barbgaunts might struggle to find a role between the swarm and monstrous infantry units that already exist. The Psychophage is… specialised?

On one hand I really like that we’re getting more gaunt types. But aside from like the Barbgaunts, are we getting any new weapons? In terms of defensive profiles, I’m not really seeing anything new. It’s not like any of them are titans. I guess what I’m trying to say is that the new stuff doesn’t really feel… new. At least to me. I think it’ll really come down to the rules whether they have their own place in the army or whether they are truly redundant.

#warhammer #warhammer 40000 #warhammer 40k #wh40k #tyranids

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theironwarsmith · 2 years

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I have a 1000 point 3rd edition game on Sunday

I built two armies for it (one of which uses the slaughter lord). I know I am up against Necrons but that is about it. My main goal is to use the Necrons Phase Out rule, wherein I wipe out 75% of the models in their army, causing the remaining ones to leave the battlefield.

The Khorne Force uses two squads berserkers mounted in Rhinos to move towards the enemy quickly. The Lord has terminator armour, the berserker glaive, Mark of Khorne, daemonic strength, resilience, essence and mutation to give him 9 attacks, 10 on the charge. The squads will get around 30 attacks on the charge too. The predator is there mainly to be a little distraction carnifex, it has parasitic possession so weapons lost and immobilised results can be repaired on a 4+. The Rhinos are there just to get the berserkers moving quickly across the battlefield, once they are out, the Rhinos will tank shock or ram anything they can. Oh yeah, one of the squads has chainaxes, so the armour save can only ever be as good as 4+ against them.

The Iron Warriors force is a little different, there are two large squads of 15, all with just bolters. This should have sufficient firepower to drop a load of necrons, or finish off anything that the basilisk fires at. The Lord has terminator armour, combi-bolter, a chain fist, daemonic strength, resilience, essence, mutation and rune (this final one stops him from being instant deathed), so he could in theory take out a monolith, but he is there to punch up anything that assaults the gun line.

My assumptions on what the enemy force will be is: a bare bones Lord, flayed ones, scarabs and a monolith. There will be Warriors but I think there will be minimal squads.

#warhammer 40k #warhammer #warhammer 40000 #w40k #40k #chaos space marines #iron warriors #khorne #basilisk #predator #khorne berzerkers #berzerkers

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thevindicativevordan · 1 year

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Comics this week?

Action Comics #1053 - Finally found a Metallo design that I like! Way Sandoval has the remnants of his skin clinging to his metal frame makes him look like one of the Flayed Necrons from Warhammer 40k, and I love it! With Lex shifting towards trying to "help" Clark, it's good to have another villain who does terrible acts and holds Superman responsible for them. Metallo turns a bunch of Blue Earthers into cyborg zombies? It's all Superman's fault! And I am a fan of Corben's path to villainy starting when he first encounters a gun, and now he's become a gun himself. But the real intriguing point for me this issue was Kon, Kenan, and Otho. Kon and Kenan express reservations about saving one of Metallo's minions. Clark advocates compassion for all, but those two clearly have doubts. Then at the end we have Otho seemingly attacking the Blue Earthers. Three members of the Superfamily are already chafing under Clark's authority. I'm excited to see how Clark handles members of his Family not being totally aligned with his approach and outlook. If PKJ is building up to a revolt within the Family, I can't wait to see the fallout of that!

Stargirl #5 - Weakest issue of the run, too much exposition for me. It's a mini Johns, you don't need to treat every issue like it's someone's first and do a big info dump. Sue me though, I like Boom and I am interested in how she is going to fit into the JSA. Anyone want to place bets that Hourman is recruiting sidekicks for a crisis in the future that will also tie into the War of the Four Legions I expect Johns to announce on Friday at Megacon?

Unstoppable Doom Patrol #5 - Good start! Has enough of the DP patented weirdness to *feel* like the DP, while also being recognizable as something set in the mainline DCU. Never could buy the Way/Derington run as set on the same Earth as the mainline capes, but this I can. Beast Girl is cute and Degenerate might prove entertaining if Cliff is around to keep him in check. Degenerate's attempt to act tough bouncing right off of Cliff's blasé attitude was funny. And really even if the writing had been bad, the Burnham art alone is worth the price. Seems like we're finally going to see Malluh move on from Brain and do his own thing with Immortus.

Detective Comics #1070 - One of Ram's weaker issues. Enjoyed the analysis of the nature of Gotham and the Vigil poking their heads in, but at this point "what if YOU'RE the real villain Batman?" is not a hard hitting or particularly gripping question.

Gotham City: Year One #6 - Best "Batman without Batman comic" since Gotham Central ended. All the same I would prefer this stay out of continuity, not really a fan of how King all but says Slam is the true father of Thomas Wayne. I don't like when they try to make Bruce into someone with oppressed minority heritage. I like that it's the story of a WASP billionaire who beats the shit out of criminals. Trying to smooth out his edges so he can be Twitter and Tumblr's "unproblematic fave"? Nah fuck that, Batman's at his best when he's a character that makes you uncomfortable and unsure if he can overcome the unsettling parts of who he is.

Waller vs. Wildstorm #1 - Not a Wildstorm guy so I have no clue who Battalion is or what's his deal beyond what the issue shares, but I love Lois here. We get to see rookie Lois who has doubts and fears, it's a different take on her from the norm which I enjoy. Also dig the Cold War setting, that period between the JSA going away and the new age of superheroes that Superman kicks off is prime setting for stories about civilians and non-cape metas.

Blue Beetle: Graduation Day #5 - Not really sure what the conflict with Horizon would even be at this point. They sent Beetles because they feared the Reach taking over Earth, Jaime has shown the other Beetles he's not a threat, unless the Horizon are bad guys after all, what's left to do?

Invincible Iron Man #4 - Good issue but... I don't buy this "rivalry" between Fei Long and Tony at all. Long comes across as a total poser and try hard that Tony takes apart with ease. The Mandarin or Justin Hammer this guy is not, even gets called out on how he's just rehashing old clichés. Doesn't come across as arch nemesis material, nor does he even really have a compelling reason to be feuding with Tony.

Sabretooth & The Exiles #5 - Didn't end anywhere near as strongly as it began, but I respect how it made no compromises about what a piece of shit Sabretooth is.

Planet Hulk: Worldbreaker #5 - Had high hopes for this mini but it sadly ended up being yet another example of why creators who have done seminal work before on a character shouldn't return.

#weekly reviews

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that-random-chaos-entity · 3 years

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Nehetari stood opposite this... ..."wolfish" human, regarding him and his extended hand. Then she grasped it firmly. In an old life, the grip in that hand could have crushed her arm like the thresher beetles used to crush the reeds along the Great Oasis. But so could Perturabo's, so she did not feel uneasy. If she even WOULD have felt uneasy.

But when she looked up to meet his gaze, his expression could not have been more different from the Iron titan that she had grown so close to. This "Leman Russ's" face was alight with the fire of excitement. Excitement, and they joy of one who feels they have found a true kindred spirit in the most unlikely of places.

"My history has earned respect from you." Nehetari stated. An observation, quivering on the edge of a question.

"'Tis only a REAL king who will down a keg and throw hands with their people, then be willin teh lead 'em inta battle from the front next day."

"One would think that a necessity for leading any group of individuals effectively."

"Ye'd be surprised. It's not a real common thing in the galaxy nowadays," the wolf-human mused. Then his expression turned serious, and the Mehlrose felt the twinge of psychic scrutiny brush along her psyche. Light as a feather, or more like the long hairs on the hide of some animal.

"If yer willin teh dance on a table drunk with every man, woman, and child, whether it be in a banquet or a roadside tavern, walk through teh maw of Morkai himself, an ice storm or one of yer rough lookin' deserts, to save an old, hobbled raisin of yer people, just because he's yer people... ...If these tales be true, if yer people's planet was as ye say, if ye have truly suffered as much as ye say, yet yeh can still feel such joy; such FIRE as I see in your eyes... ...well, I must admit, I respect teh cut of yer claws, xenos."

The cut of her... ...Nehetari removed her hand from the clasped-arm-goodwill-gesture and examined her claws carefully for a moment; an action that caused the large, furry beast of a human to let out a deep belly laugh, and turned Perturabo's obviously jealous glare into a eye-roll so intense it looked as if his eyes might abandon his skull entirely.

An outpouring of noise drew all eyes back to the black crystal's display. Two Necrontyr now stood atop the sandstone-like platform; their identical forms and features making it seem as if one was dancing with a full-body mirror. They swirled and stamped and belted out songs in Necrontyr, punctuated every once in a while by a swig from one of the great brown gourd-like containers at their sides. Rhythmic cheers enhanced their steps and arm movements, and Nehetari herself could be seen, looking about the same in the vid as she looked now, clapping in rhythm. She daintily kept time with her hands and was SMILING. Laughing even, when one of the two twin warriors accidentally planted his foot into her plate of food and slipped, narrowly missing landing on her as he tumbled. There was a DEAFENING silence, before the thin bell of her laughter caused a ripple of mirth to hesitantly start, then sweep the hall like a gale. The dancing continued, and more feet began to strike the ground as the drink took hold, and others joined in.

However, before too long, a series of other sounds could be heard; rhythmic metal taps exactly in time to the music, but they did not seem to be coming from the display. They turned to see two of her guard doing the same dance. Metal though they were, corrupted by the flayer virus though they were, their build and features were unmistakable. They were a perfect copy of eachother, and both Leman and Perturabo knew at once that, at one time, these were the same two displayed from the crystal.

"So then those are Kefi and Sefi?" Perturabo said, gesturing to the two fools in the vid, apologizing profusely and near falling over, so hard were trying to get some sort of mashed root vegetable off the one's bare feet. "THAT'S what they used to look like?"

"Kefi and Sefi, is it?" Leman moved from Nehetari's right flank to approach the still-dancing necrons. They detected his advent and stopped, giving a hiss of alarm and diving, but too late as the massive human swept them up into a headlock, laughing. "Aw, C'MON ye boney lot! I like yer style! I'd almost say I'd like to share a drink with ye, if yeh could still drink. It's good to see at least some xenos know how teh have some REAL fun!"

Perturabo was too beside himself to feel irritated at his brother's antics, or relieved that he was no longer holding onto Nehetari's shoulder. Leman. His brother LEMAN, was playing around with two NECRONS. FLAYED ONES no less. Was he that lonely without his sons? Desperate enough to pal around with xenos, just because they reminded him of his space wolves? With some amusement he watched as the two necrons squealed and scrabbled to get away, then seemingly became bemused and looked to Nehetari for approval; like baby animals to their mother.

Nehetari's face was neutral, but her eyes sparkled. She inclined her head in a silent, "Well go on then."

Two metallic heads turned to look at their assailant. And as one, they both spoke. It was in the most GRAVELLY of Necrontyr and thick with the flayer curse, but their translator scarabs intoned:

"Do you enjoy pharos scorpion honey mead?"

The Wolf King laughed so loud it rattled their carapaces.

"Well I don't know what 'pharos scorpion honey,' is, but I know mead and I LOVE IT!" He boomed, and just like that the tension was broken. They began to jabber at eachother about various drinks, about festivals and adventures of grandeur, and foods of exotic and mouth-watering nature.

Nehetari took the opportunity to slink over to where Perturabo stood. She did not speak; she knew he was upset with her, so she stood close and waited for him to give her a piece of his mind.

She did not wait long.

"I thought I told you to stay away from Russ.," he snarled.

Nehetari did not miss a beat. "You did. And I ignored you."

Perturabo whirled on her. "WHY!?"

"Because I must make my own conclusions."

"Tch! Of course, that's right. What I think be damned, you just can't stop yourself from making friends with everyone you can, can't you? Even when they've tormented me for most of my life."

"What better way to stop them tormenting you than to earn their respect, then use that respect to stop their abuse?"

Perturabo snorted. "Oh, is that your plan is it? What, do you think you're going to suddenly solve all my family issues by making friends with everyone?"

For a moment Perturabo thought he'd said the wrong thing, as Nehetari's neutral expression crumpled and she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"No, your family is irreparable," she stated bluntly. "Also, your father disgusts me, your brother Mortarion disgusts me, your brother Alpharius confuses me, and your brother Rogal Dorn is boring. I have no desire to 'make friends' with them."

The Lord of Iron's next counter-argument died on his lips, and he couldn't help barking out a laugh.

"Fair enough I suppose. Wait, when did you meet Alpharius?"

"In the hallway. He bowed, said 'I am Alpharius,' shushed me, then vanished behind a painting."

"That's... ...concerning..." Perturabo muttered. "In any case, I don't want you getting chummy with my other brother's either. Nothing good can come of it."

Jealousy was all but dripping off that statement, but Nehetari did not comment on it. "Do not worry," she rubbed her head affectionately against his shoulder in a very cat-like manner, "I will not trade you for any of them."

"Quit it," The primarch growled, covering his face, but he did not move away. "...even Sanguinius?"

"Of course not. He smells like wet poultry. Also, despite what my father says, I'm certain he fancies him. He's certainly his 'type,' at least when it comes to-"

Perturabo's eyes flashed wide and he clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Do you want to fucking die!? You don't just say shit about Sanguinius!" But he couldn't help the faintest smile. At least he didn't have to feel jealous about ONE of his brothers.

...but still, the mental image of the Lanky Llama and Leman clasping arms made his gorge rise.

"Come, we are going back to the promethium forge," he growled with a finality that left no room for argument.

Nehetari nodded once. "As you wish." Then she followed him out of the hall.

The crystal, having been left behind in the rush, clattered to the floor, just before it was picked up by the Lord of Wolves.

#leman russ #perturabo #nehetari #space wolves #iron warriors #necrons #necrontyr princess #necrontyr #warhammer 40k #wh40k #flayed ones #oc shenanigans

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fullymechanized-consoomer · 5 years

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40K factions and you

Space Marines:

Your favorite flavor of ice cream is vanilla, but occasionally you might try some Neapolitan, if you’re feeling dangerous. You’re faction’s lore is designed from the ground up to accept your self-inserts, and the models are some of the easiest to paint in the entire range. None of this matters because no matter how unique you think your super-cool “realistic marines who use real tactics maaaaan” are they’ll always come out looking like a slight variation of the ones below

8th edition has finally allowed you to feel a tiny sliver of the unbalanced and over-costed hell other factions have been stuck in for years, but unlike them, daddy GW is more than willing to spend a little extra on his bulky good bois so they still get all the coolest gear and lore. Like vanilla, small children love them, but they grow out of both eventually.

edit: it was only a matter of time before GW stamped its foot down and made the inevitable decision that its favorite kid needs to be busted again. Then again in all fairness they toned down their overpoweredness from “godlike” to merely “demi-godlike”

Imperial Guard:

You’re a big “history fan”. You’ve seen Enemy at the Gates, watched some history channel shows about Nazi wonder weapons, and make 54 karma post on r/history_memes recycling debunked Eastern Front jokes. Only your intelligent eye is able to conflate this factions obvious Metal Slug levels of cartoonish design and tactics with realism, and you make sure to remind everyone else of said realism by comparing your tabletop exploits to your military experience in the reserves. Everyone used to like you back when the faction was actually made up of underdogs and under appreciated, but the Guant’s Ghosts references have gotten kinda stale, and no one appreciates the brass balls of these Starship Trooper knockoffs now that 8th edition supports and rewards the very same mindless horde tactics the Guard used to be mocked for in Lore. Despite having some of the most tried and true designs in the game, as well as an incredible amount of options, you will quickly find how limiting the only “realistic” army is in terms of customization and paint schemes, as anything but camo, grey, or tan looks goofy and reveals how silly this faction actually is.

edit: If your army consists of wrapping 30 guardsmen around basilisks I recommend you take a short fall down a long flight of stairs. Fuck you, Evan.

Eldar:

You’re a real shooter. You know what you like and you stick with it, cause lets face it, it takes a lot of loyalty to stick with these arrogant pricks. Their designs are unique but dated, their lore is a uneven mishmash of 40k grimdark schmultz Tolkien telephone, and Oliver Twist-esque whipping bois for whenever GW writers need to remind us how cool Space Marines are. But none of that matters because you know the truth: Eldar can kick tons of ass on the board, and look good doing it, as their unique designs lends them to all sorts of brilliant color combinations

And unlike other armies their rare design updates improve on their aesthetic while keeping their 40k-ness, something that is becoming increasingly rare in this era of Tacticool marines and Fantasy-creep. Just don’t expect to be taken seriously by anyone but the old-heads.

Edit: Leave it to the whipping bois to be outshined in their own event and get a single model update. Thanks GW, very cool.

Dark Eldar

You are one of two people: a meta hopping smooth brain who only jumped ship once these guys got one of the best updates in 40k history, or a true intellectual who understood their hidden merit all along. Other faction players like to make fun of you for being edgy, when in reality you know that the Dark Eldar are just a bunch of sociopathic theater kids. They, like you, know how fucked from top to bottom this universe is, and instead of getting depressed they exclaimed “how can we be the best cartoon villains we can be?”. Despite having a relatively bare army list, the fact that these d-bags come in 3 flavors of crazy in a single army offers a ton of variety: the mustache twirling villainy of the Kabals, the crazy bloodstained snuff-stars of the Wych cults, and the BDSM horror show of the Covens. All three offer substantial benefits and drawbacks and must be played carefully in order t-

Who am I kidding? You’re just gonna stuff a bunch of Kabal warriors into Venoms and zoom around the map, aren’t you? Enjoy that speed, because your abysmal save stats wont protect you anything more than a furiously thrown walnut. At least your corpses will look rad clad in some of the grimest armor and gear in the game.

edit: no longer anywhere near as dominent as they were in the earlier years of 8th, but they still look slick as hell and play great.

Orks

Your IQ randomly jumps from 20 to 200 throughout the day. There is no predicting this, no planning around this, no stopping this. You’re best bet is just to go along with it, and that’s why you play Orks. Orks are roudy good-time buddies who love slapstick slaughter, not having thoughts, and occasionally pulling of cunning plans that human savants would struggle to comprehend. Orks seem to be the only faction that know what joy is, which is why you as a player spread it to everyone else. Yes, the memes and screaming can be a bit much to others sometimes, but like with any other mentally handicapped child everyone around just grits their teeth through your bad episodes if it means not upsetting your unique sensibilities. And considering that this army’s aesthetic revolves around cobbled together nonsense, you have a lot of uniqueness to give. Orks are easily the most creative faction in the game when it comes to conversions. Nothing is too goofy, too dumb, or too silly to scrap together. As for performance on the tabletop? Go ham. This is an army that rewards merry bullshit and randomness. Remember, you didn’t pick Orks to win, you picked them to have fun.

edit: So are Orks actually getting anything or what? GW’s plans for this faction is as chaotic as the minds of the ADHD scrambled minds who play them

Necrons

You have a very specific taste in... funky weird-science space Egyptians. Seriously, these guys are practically a completely different army to what they were a decade ago. Gone are the terminator references and eldritch lore nonsense, and here to stay is senility and glyphs. You lie to yourself, saying that you’re not really sure why you chose Necrons, but I know the truth: you chose them because they used to be busted. They used to be unfair. They used to be able to take out top-tier tanks with their version of pea shooters and come back after every turn. So overwhelmed were you by their dazzeling stats and bullshit cheese your brain’s wiring fried and the erratic firing of billions of flayed neurons made you think Necrons had cool lore and interesting models. But now they’ve been nerfed to hell, and you’re no longer stuck in that lasting state of sensory overload. Like a drunk snapping awake with a hangover you come to the painful reality: Necrons are kind of dull. So like me, you put them away in a shoebox forever, leaving their fragile sculpts to slowly fall apart.

Edit: FUCK WHERE IS THE SHOEBOX WHERE DID I LEAVE IT OH GOD OH OH NO OH FUCK THEY’RE ALL BROKEN MAYBE I CAN PUT THEM BACK TOGETHER BEFORE 9th EDITION LAUNCHES I’M SO SORRY FOR WHAT I DID TO YOU NOW MORE THAN EVER I NEED YOU, I NEED MY BOOOOOOOOYS!!!

Tau

You will forever be hated by the community unfairly. You are accuse being anime - and this is true - yet the Eldar get away with being copied wholesale from 80′s space anime and no one seems to notice. You are made fun of for your bad melee, despite having one of the most comprehensively designed niches in an otherwise sloppy game and dominating with nearly every edition. You are made fun of for your lore, despite being largely separate from the cliches and story traps that everyone else has fallen into. You are hated because you are different; hated because you are Asian.

Tau are an anomaly in 40k: a completely new faction that wasn’t directly ripped off of some other franchise and with an aesthetic that is wholly their own. I won’t be making fun of them because they get enough of that, and you don’t deserve it. Just know this dirty secret: Tau outsell almost every other xenos faction, and despite the supposedly unanimous hate are probably one of the strongest factions in terms of play-style and modelling in the franchise.

Edit: The tau are grittier than ever, happy now? They still do the same thing they have always done anyways.

Chaos

Unlike the DE you actually are edgy. You worship satan, you throw rocks at homeless people, you start fires because your dad doesn’t spank you enough. Chaos are the closest things that this cluster fuck of a universe can get to being the main villains. Their lore is at once intricate and stupid, both childish and metal as hell. You play chaos because getting your fingers pricked by the models’ spikes is the closest you can come to feeling anything anymore. Just like the chaos lore you love to hype yourself up, to puff your chest and revel in the darkness inside, but when confronted you tend to fold like wet tissue paper. You’ve stopped playing public games with these guys, because the other players don’t understand you and abuse the meta and make fun of your painting skills and everything is so unfair and don’t you think that chaos marines should get buffs for their points cost, fuck?

Edit: The new models are slick and more power-metal minivan than ever, though the rules are still abysmal despite GW desperately wanting everyone to takes these guys seriously for once.

Sisters of Battle

GW writers and designers hates Catholics and they hate women, so naturally they hate Sister of Battl. They also hate you for playing them. Because of this SoB are a monument to neglected potential. They have one of the best female armor designs in fiction, great lore, and an interesting playstyle that relies on faith/determination based feats of strength and valor... but GW hate Catholics and women, so SoB get shafted everywhere all the time. More often than not you will be disappointed reading about their exploits as they continually get unfairly slaughtered, corrupted into the horny service of the pervert god, or used as receptacles for blood-based paint when the writer’s favorite faction needs to fight demons. With no plastic models in sight for over a decade everyone began to come to the slow and dreadful realization that GW was looking to Squat our favorite estrogen warriors, until a new revamp was announced. Unfortunately the beta rules look as lackluster as ever, but that’s fine, because as a SoB fan you have learned to expect that GW hates you, Catholics, and women.

Edit: GW found God and got woke because now they love women and Jesus’ one true Church, but let it be known that reformation doesn’t occur overnight, as the SOB’s faces still betray GW’s lingering discomfort in the female form:

Their rules are fun, and if every codex was designed like it 40k might actually be a fun game

Tyranids

nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom no- and that’s it that’s the Tyranids. I don’t know anything about them besides that, and neither do you, cause that’s their lore. Yes they have cool models, but next to no reliable updates. I’ll pray for you.

Edit: it really looks like GW has just completely forgotten about you poor souls huh? The Night King, a character who is closely associated with the totally-not-reconned-Tyranid-invasion, comes back and not one word about you guys. They don’t even actively hate you like, say, they hate the Eldar. It’s just... apathy.

Grey Knights

HAHA AHAHAHAHA HA HA UHAHAHA HAHAAHAHAAHAH HAHA ha ha Ah......... he. hehahaaaAHAHAHAHA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

edit: I hope you all realize that Grey Knights are far too specialized in fighting the permanently under performing forces of chaos to be 40ks “elite among elite.” You and your entire faction has been made completely obsolescent by the Custodes. The rough times will continue, say hi to the Squats in heaven will you?

Custodes

You are either insufferably full of yourself or a fine practitioner of the model making craft. Most likely though you are neither, and you picked them because you only need gold and red paint to make them look good. Custodes are the space marine’s space marines, and they’re better than you and everyone else. period. At least in lore. On the table their incredible individual stats and elite status are reflected in points cost, so for most large games you will be fielding what amounts to any other faction’s skirmishing army. Unfortunately, since 40k is a stat-sheet battler that favors raw bulk of rolls and stats over the quality of them, you’d be hard-pressed to do well in any serious game. However, for the luminous of mind, the small size is a blessing in disguise since you don’t need to buy and paint as many units as the other armies, and no matter how hard the guard player trashes you his 50 unpainted manlets will never look as good as your 15 gloriously crafted golden Chads. Stick to smaller games, and the individual strength of each model will make up for the glaring absence caused by their loss.

Ironically enough despite being an elite faction from a relatively obscure part of 40k lore, these attributes make Custodes the perfect casual player’s faction. It is my personal theory that if GW didn’t grossly inflate their prices to such a high degree everyone would have a Custodes army.

Oh yeah, Henry Cavil plays these guys, because of course he does.

#40k #warhammer 40k #table top

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sgt-nerd-plays · 4 years

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Week 5: Battalion of Brothers

Another weekend, another thrilling battle report from Herosand V!

Game Setup:

We've reached 600 points! Normal detachment rules now apply, so I've expanded to create a battalion:

Our Heroes

We have Captain Incusator in Grav Armor. I've increased our intercessor count up to 15 for three squads. You are all of course familiar with Reginald, our Dreadnought. Finally, we've added Lieutenant Marculus, wielding a master-crafted stalker bolt rifle. Since I now have eight CP to play with, I've spent two to make Incusator a Chapter Master.

The mission type was Secure and Control.

Match 1:

Imperial Guard

Their Forces:

Company Commander, Tank Commander, 3x Infantry Squads, Astropath, Bulgryns, and Heavy Weapons Squad with Mortars

My Narrative:

After word reached back to Medusa of the difficulties the Iron Hands had faced, they were bolstered with reinforcements, with the third and sixth squad filling in. Captain Incusator was given an updated list of the latest in tactics and strategy and promoted to Chapter Master. Now suitably fortified, it was time to march across Herosand V and take back the planet from the vile forces of... Well, pretty much everyone else. There had been a lot of confusion and fog of war, and now even Imperium forces were fighting each other.

Soon, their mettle and metal would both be tested.

quote:

"It's good to have you aboard, Lieutenant," Chapter Master Incusator said, patting the young man on the shoulder. Marculus stumbled forward, nearly losing his footing. "Erm, yes sir," he said. Then he flinched and nearly fell again as an explosion shook the earth beneath his feet. "What in Terra's name was that?" he said, his voice cracking. "Oh, it seems the Astra Militarum are getting ideas again. No worries. The Medusan Academy might have taught you a lot, but one thing they didn't teach you: The flesh is weak!" "But... but they did teach me. That was in Tactics 101, Iron Hands Doctrine, and Advanced Ways in Which the Flesh is Weak. It was on every test!" But the chapter master was already walking away, ready to give those pesky guardsmen a pop quiz!

Tanks for the Memories

I got to pick the deployment, and I picked spearhead. My idea was that I didn't have much anti-armor and I'd need to get the dreadnought and chapter master up where they could open the tank like a can opener. Armor is honestly my biggest weakness right now, and I'll probably struggle with it until I get to 800 points at the earliest. We each had an objective in our backline. Mine I had in some nice convenient ruins that partly blocked line of sight. I parked a group of intercessors on it (just out of sight to the right) and deployed the rest of my forces with an eye to moving them up the board. He parked his mortars behind a magic box and set of the rest of his gunline.

Ignore the strip of tape. Previous rounds were 2'x4'. We're now playing on 3'x4' sections of table to accommodate our larger armies.

I seem to remember there being guardsmen here.

Two rounds of shooting saw all of his troops gone. By this point, though, my dread was down to about half health and I was starting to realize that getting all the way down to the other end of the field was easier said than done. However, I also realized that I had first blood. So long as I could keep control of my objective, and not let him kill my warlord, I'd win on points at the end of the game. If the tournament was tracking how many points people got, I might have considered keeping up the fight, but as it was, only victory mattered. I had a near-guaranteed shot, so long as I could get my army into cover and out of range of most of his guns.

"Why is the dreadnought ticking?"

The bullgryns held me in combat just long enough to help him get another round of shooting. My dreadnought died finally went down to the tank commander's weapons. I probably should have used Vengeance of the Machine Spirit to give him one more round of damage on the enemy. I didn't get my stratagem cards out, and I ended up with four CP left at the end of the game unspent because I kept forgetting what I could do, aside from Duty Eternal to buff my dread for a phase.

However, by this point, I had gotten the Tank Commander down to just a few wounds left, so its movement wasn't up to chasing me all the way down the board. It was now time to make the march back to my objective. You can see where I have my intercessors parked in a cozy little hut with the objective.

Snug as a Bug in a Rug

I was down to four intercessors in three squads, my lieutenant, and my captain left. I was about to have my army either in cover or behind boxes. So long as he didn't take out my captain by the end of the game, I was going to be a point ahead. We were starting up round six. I would have at most two more rounds to survive his mortar fire.

Then one of my intercessors managed an extremely lucky shot and took out his tank commander. He rolled a six on the explosion, and it also took out his astropath and hurt his company commander. At that point, he conceded the game and we shook hands.

I'm starting to learn to think a bit more tactically. At the start, I felt my best route to victory lay in getting into melee with the tank commander. But once I realized I had the advantage on points, I went for the surer path.

I will say that the Chapter Master was pretty clutch. Being able to reroll all hits was a lifesaver at points. The rerolling of 1s on wound rolls was helpful too, though not quite as clutch.

I also need to remember to use the auxiliary grenade launchers. Frak grenades are better against armor than stalker bolt rifles. When I can, I need to remember that I have them.

Match 2:

Necrons

Their Forces:

Overlord, Necron Warriors, Flayed Ones, Lychguard

quote:

"What did I tell you, Lieutenant?" the Chapter Master said. "Hardly broke a sweat." The lieutenant looked at the repairs on Reginald, who was booping and beeping in a rather sad way, and then insisting that he was not actually sad, as robots do not have emotions. "Er. Yes sir. Though, the tank seemed a bit of a problem." "Bah. Easily dispatched with a little stalker bolt fire. After all, Marculus, flesh inside of a tin can is still nothing more than flesh! Right, Sergeant?" "Yes sir. Very good, sir. Almost self aware," said Caminus. "Yes, rather, I--Wait." The Chapter Master started to turn to the sergeant when a green flash flew past his head. Necrons surged over the hill in closed silent ranks, completely refusing to provide witty banter for the battle report. The fiends!

Iron and Steel

My opponent chose the deployment zone. He put his flayed ones into deep strike, hid his warriors behind some LOS-blocking terrain, and kept his overlord with his lychguard. He went first, and he started moving his lychguard and overlord on the far side of the field. He moved his warriors forward, putting as many as possible on top of the building in front of them. They managed to take out an intercessor, but with most of them still behind cover, he wasn't able to do much.

My dread went and took out eleven of his 12-necron squad. I was also able to take out all but one of his lychguard with stalker bolt fire. The remaining warrior in the squad skedaddled in the morale round. The other warrior squad would stay in cover for the rest of the game, around his objective.

Warriors from the Dark

On his next turn, he brought his flayed ones out of deep strike. And here I made a mistake that screwed over my opponent. I used Auspex Scan and played it on my dreadnought, who promptly took out the entire unit. I missed that Auspex Scan can only affect infantry. It likely didn't change much, but it would have at least kept the gaming going another turn or so, depending on what he ended up charging. I brought it up to him after the game, and he was fairly cool about it. We're both learning the rules of the game. I'll remember next time.

His lychguard regenerated two models, and he used a special ability to move his warlord and the lychguard into my backline, charging me. The lychguard made it into combat and took out all but one of the intercessors in that squad. I removed all of the models near his lychguard to get out of melee range. We both forgot about the consolidate part of the fight phase, so the lychguard ended up getting shot up when my turn came.

Hmm...

And now he only had his remaining warriors behind cover, and his warlord.

Hmm!

With his warlord dispatched, he conceded and we called it.

I feel pretty bad about the rules I forgot here. I need to read my stratagems more clearly so that I don't make errors, especially not ones that give me such an advantage as forgetting the Auspex Scan limitation. I also keep forgetting the pile in/fight/consolidate order. In this case, we both forgot, but if he'd remembered, removing the models as I did would have given me no benefit (especially since I took out my sergeant to try and build space).

Still, I'm looking up less than I was last week, and far less than the week before. I'm starting to get better at grasping the fundamentals. I just need to get the details of my army down.

quote:

"Ha!" said the chapter master. "Xenos steel can't stand up to good Imperial Iron!" "Our armor is actually made of plasteel and ceramite," said Marculus helpfully. "I was being poetic!" Incusator snapped. "Can't a man have a moment of quiet glory?" "Ah, um, sorry, sir," the lieutenant said. "Oh, go drill the men." Incusator turned and brooded as he looked to the horizon. Soon, he thought, they would be marching across it, bringing the glory of Medusa to all before them. He was, in fact, turned around and facing the way they'd come. But in a more poetic sense, his point still stood. What adventures await them?

We're now halfway through the League. I'm 6 for 8 fights and standing at #11 in the league. I'm currently at halfway through painting my 800 point increase, and then just three units to get me to 1000. It's very exciting, and I can't wait to play some of these units!

#warhammer 40k #WH40K #40k #space marines #iron hands #adeptes astartes #Battle Report #batrep #imperial guard #astra militarum #necron #necrons #miniatures #minipainting

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linuxgamenews · 6 years

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Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus Threat Identified

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus releases new enemies coming to Linux, Mac and Windows via Steam. So in the latest news, the Adeptus Mechanicus are expanding their hunt for blackstone. While stretching across the galaxy and unearthing far more than they bargained for. Kasedo Games are getting into the spirit by revealing the enemy. While player will have be fighting in the forthcoming Adeptus Mechanicus game.

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus | The Revealing (Linux, Mac, Windows)

youtube

As more information is revealed and first gameplay is shown from the Games Developers Conference. So we know that the secret’s out about who the Adeptus Mechanicus will come up against. All in the new turn-based tactical game, Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus. And yet the mechanics look rather familiar.

A month ago, today we shared with the world that we were crafting a new title set inside the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The feedback has been truly unimaginabley positive, and we're flattered you're all very excited, even if you're not sure what we're making exactly. Well today I’m happy to say there's a lot we're sharing with you all and we're very excited to see what you all think.

So as the battle for supremacy erupts on Silva Tenebris. The mechanically undead Necrons go head-to-head with your Omnissiah troops in devastating tomb warfare. Confirmed so far are Necrons units. Such as Necron Warriors, Immortals, Flayed Ones and Canoptek Scarabs. Also with many more to coming in the lead up to release. And apparently there some significant surprises in store. Along with this news, Kadedo are treating you to a Warhammer Community-exclusive animation. So you can’t miss the new art in the video. Since this showes off not only these newly announced enemies. But also giving you a glimpse into the devastating weapons that you will have in your arsenal. Servitors, Skitarii and Servo-skulls make up the rest of the new information. Showing just some of the wide range of controllable units in the game. Kasedo will be bringing you more information in due course. In the meantime, why not head over to Steam and wishlist Mechanicus. to be first in the know on any new developments.

#warhammer 40000 #mechanicus #adeptus mechanicus #linux #gaming news #bulwark studios #kasedo games #ubuntu #steam

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magistralucis · 6 months

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Actually I'm not done thinking about this post, thank you @ghostinthegallery for the inspiration. 👀 Motives-wise, Lysikor is the most obscure character in TDK; it's not clear what he wants, other than to steal things and watch Rome burn, and something about him makes the people around him act in unusual ways. It shows most obviously in Oltyx, but also with Unnas and Mentep and all the canopteks he keeps on stealing. I mean, there is no way he ought to have gotten away with the disrespect he showed his world, you know?

Oltyx claims Unnas only spared Lysikor because Unnas was more reasonable at the time (Ruin, Chapter 4). But necron lives are expendable, and many have been killed for doing much less than Lysikor. This dude is ridiculously good at surviving. He repeatedly taps into Oltyx's mind without consent, and those intrusions hardly ever have consequences; he almost fucks up the beginnings of Oltyx's kingship entirely by mentioning The Regicide; of course, he also gets off scot-free at the very end, heavily armed and unafflicted. Why?

My theory is that it has to do with reality. Ithakas is cursed because they tore a hole in reality. In the 9th Edition Codex (pg 11), it's stated that 'the C'tan were bound to reality itself, and so could never be destroyed, only splintered into stunted echoes of their former might' - but they did destroy Llandu'gor, and the Flayer-urge spread from the aftermath, and the Twice-Dead King is about Oltyx's journey to heal what was broken. He has to deny, repair, or move past at least three realities to achieve this ending, and each one is represented by a different character:

Djoseras, for the past reality of Ithakas, when the glory of the dynasty belonged to the stones and not its people. This reality is no longer tenable by the end of Ruin, and Djoseras is killed defending it to the last man.

Mentep, for the present reality of Oltyx, in that he helped cause Ithakas's affliction millions of years ago. Throughout TDK he's trying to atone for what he's done, but the problem with what he's done is that he's made Oltyx paranoid and tyrannical, and his good intentions cannot outmatch the other's violence.

Yenekh (and Zultanekh), for the future reality of the Flayed Ones, the transformative one eventually claimed and shaped by Valgûl's heka. Yenekh gives Oltyx the hope to regrow from the ashes, and Zultanekh validates their new world-order by bearing witness to it. Only after this point are they all somebody, instead of vermin, nobodies, or Nobody (Οὖτις).

Where Lysikor comes in, I think, is the fourth reality: metafiction, the realm outside Oltyx, the Bone Kingdom, or necrons as a concept. Literally the fourth wall. Lysikor knows that he's in a book! His idiosyncrasies make so much more sense if you interpret it as his playing around with tropes. The way he signposts Oltyx's actions with literary devices (e.g. 'the bait's been taken' re: the warboss, describing Oltyx's explanation for Yenekh's exile as a 'story', etc.). How he always manages to steal the exact McGuffin they need. The plan he had to kill Oltyx at the figurative eleventh hour. Of course nothing ever touches him! He literally exists above the narrative!

That too is why he can make nonsense of the order of the world. Lysikor already has his own sense of order, if anything he makes everybody else answer to it. His complete dismissal of heka, Oltyx's and others. The insistence that he be called Duke, which is not an Ithakan title, which he somehow gets people to respect. His cavalier attitude towards stealing as well as giving back. My favourite fourth-wall moment has to be when he answers a question literally nobody asked, the one about the Ithakan serapteks: the last we saw of them was Oltyx witnessing their slow deaths in Chapter 19 of Ruin. So what became of them? Yoinked by Lysikor, of course. 👍

But that's the genius of it. Ithakas has only seven serapteks to spare, and they are the most powerful canopteks there are: 'symbols of dynastic might, reserved for only the most apocalyptic conflicts', as Chapter 11 of Ruin puts it. In a significant sense they are the dynasty. When they pass into Lysikor's possession, it means that he becomes a world unto himself! I think that's why he's as secure with Oltyx as he is: they are supreme leaders, capable of world-shaping heka, just that Lysikor is the only one who knows it for most of TDK. He's forbidden from commanding people, he lives with the figurative animals, as canopteks are ranked slightly above C'tan shards and below all necrons. But what fantastic canopteks! What an army!

Canopteks are often simulacra of beasts pre-biotransference. Lysikor is a simulacrum too, not of beasts but a Synaptic Disintegrator, pointed not at people but into the firmament. He's the perfect deathmark, textually and metatextually, sneakiness and treachery and hyperspace nowhere played dastardly straight. I bet he wasn't even that disappointed Oltyx got away. He analysed Oltyx's character arc carefully and liked what he saw, and it wasn't until Oltyx started bending reality himself that Lysikor was bested. Even that won't be for long. The Twice-Dead King better watch out, eat your heart out, Oltyx, here comes the Twice-Troped Duke 🔫🤪

#warhammer 40k #wh40k #the twice dead king #necrons #oltyx #lysikor #essay #this is way too many words about lysikor lmao i did not intend it to get this long #he's a difficult character to make sense of but that's part of what makes it so entertaining

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magistralucis · 6 months

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Hi! I saw you post about the meta funny deathmark and wanted to ask; do you think Ithakas and the one dynasty with the 'Mother Of Oblivion' for a Pharakh who killed that C'tan can ever be cured of the Flayer virus? I know Oltyx and co accepted who and what they are and found some type of twisted sort of piece but...they are still cursed 😅 do you think flayer virus can ever be cured?

And what do you think the Destroyer curse is? I have always interprited as 'envy turned hatred towards life'.

This is a good question, albeit a tricky one. I have a lot of thoughts about this, but to keep it brief: I think it depends on what you define 'cured' to be. If one's definition of 'cured' is 'physically freed from disease', as in 'the flayers stop craving flesh and revert back into their unmutated necron forms' - then no, I don't think the Flayer Virus is curable. Yenekh will never look like he did when he was uncursed again, nor will he gain his pre-biotransference body back. The Flayed Ones will always want to feed. By the end of The Twice-Dead King, their condition is written into the laws of reality, and I think it's neither possible nor in the Bone Kingdom's interests to reverse that. You'd have to kill another C'tan to do that, probably, and that's more trouble than it's worth.

But 'cured', as in just... 'healing'? 'Relief from torment'? Were the necrons all that healthy before, don't they usually despise their metal prisons? ... IDK, I feel like in some ways it's necronhood that's the disease, and the Flayer Virus is the cure. I interpret the Flayer Virus as less of a godly curse, and more a psychosomatic manifestation of a mindset. Returning to what Yenekh says:

'[...] It is hunger, Oltyx. Nothing more. Hunger for what is lost. For what could yet be. Hunger that knows no reason. Hunger for the bodies… we threw away… in Szarekh’s war.’ ‘That is the dysphorakh, then, which Mentep told me of?’ ‘Yes. In the end, only… flesh will feed it. But we all find other… substitutes… to stave it off. We find obsessions… to keep it at bay. Compulsions. Discipline, tradition, power. Violence. Recklessness.’ (Reign, Chapter 21)

Fundamentally, the Flayer Virus is want. Multi-directional, irrational want, unbound by time. Yenekh is quite clear that it's not purely a desire to return to their past (they want 'what could yet be') - what he means by 'what is lost', I think, is potential, from when their kind were not bound to metal and undeath and the slow winding decay that awaits them now. The Flayers are like that because they want to live.

The vast majority of necrons are not free. They weren't free back when they were necrontyr, but they were capable of having their own thoughts, being loved, having families and friendships and close relationships that helped them through their short painful lives. Now they don't die so quickly, but they are more slavish than ever, literally incapable of having a personality or an individual thought; almost everything that defined the necrontyr as necrontyr are gone. This is made worse by the fact that most necrons have an inbuilt disgust of organic life, which draws them further away from the lives they used to have.

I believe the Flayers are the ones who have overcome this disgust. As gory and horrific their outer appearances are, they are the ones who are capable of breaking their bodies' limits, of seizing even the faintest shadow of what the C'tan stole from them. Most necron characters who try to change their fate are exactly that, characters, individuals who work largely for their own purpose - Orikan, who wishes to be a god, Szarekh, who claims to want atonement and maybe reverse biotransference somehow - but the Flayed Ones are an entire community of interdynastic and inter-hierarchical individuals who're capable of doing this. In a very real way they represent the necron future, providing no great cosmic relevations about biotransference occur, and whatever future they bring will not cling to outdated traditions. So no, they will probably not be cured, and I doubt they want or need that. They're exactly where they need to be.

As for the Destroyers' curse, I think that is on the opposite side of the same coin. If the Flayer Virus is the psychosomatic manifestation of the urge to live and be free, the Destroyer curse is the manifestation of the death-drive. (I don't like Freud's work or Freudian analysis at all, but the concepts of libido and destrudo may serve as a good analogue.) The fundamental difference between them is that living is close to impossible for necrons, but they are extremely good at killing, and killing has a well-defined place in their hierarchy; between the Flayers and the Destroyers, the latter is given more recognition, and I think that must be the reason why.

As for why necrons become Destroyers, that seems to be a variety of reasons, too. Envy and hatred would be the strongest contenders - these are Zozar's reasons for becoming a Destroyer, and since he's the most compelling part of Indomitus, we can understand why a man who lost everything would want to descend to anti-life nihilism. But I don't know if that's the only reason, because I'm not sure if Borakka has ever meaningfully felt anything.* Before biotransference they were a cruel and violent executioner, but the text is clear that they did not do it for glory; it may be that Borakka was just a psychopath who enjoyed killing things, but I don't read glee in what they did/it does, only indifference. For whatever reason Borakka is a huge gaping void of entropy, and will always trend towards nil, until its self is destroyed.

(* Edited. Thank you @courgowr for the correction re: Borakka's pronouns.)

#warhammer 40k #the twice dead king #oltyx #yenekh #beril66 #essay #this turned out so long and yet contains almost nothing from my first attempt at answering this question. god i hope any of this made sense

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magistralucis · 4 months

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Hello @magistralucis !! First how are you, I hope life is treating you well! (Hope better than me I am freezing in my dorm these days 😅🥹)

I was watching Madoka Magica and the new Frieren End of a Journey today and though;

Orikan and Trazyn really would vibe with these animes (hell even maybe necrons with Madoka especially)

Madoka magika is about collection of naive young girls had to take a faustian bargain (they didn't know about) and got turned into basically flesh automatons with their souls put in magic rocks that can be used to manipulate , hurt and control them through fear. And the whole turning into an eldrich abomination if you won't kill these witches (who are also magical girls who have given into despair) or fall to much into nihilism and despair turn into these montrocities have some uncomfortable resemblance to their situation. Not to mention Kyuubey...

Anf the Main Characters...I have a feeling Orikan simultaneously really wibe and really despise Homura for obvious reasons 😅🥹

Trazyn would absolutely go feral for something as old as 21th century product already. I think he would LOVE Sayaka's fight with the witch girl done in silluates. Also the music. Non religious music.

I think they'd enjoy the mellow and nice athmosphere of Frieren. And emphatize with her being an immortal among very mortal people. Also I think they'd love her ruthlessness and drive for knowledge. I think Imotekh also can really wibe with Frieren as a character.

What do you think? If you even watch these shows , if not than I am sorry for this long ass ask 🙇‍♀️😅

I've never actually watched Frieren but boy oh boy do I have words to say about Madoka. I watched it back when it was first airing, over a decade ago, and am eagerly waiting for the last movie to come out 💖

The magical girls of Madoka vs. necrons dynamics are not lost on me either. Deceived, then turned into liches by cosmic malice, forever in danger of becoming an even more twisted version of themselves on top of what they've gone through. Always at the risk of falling to the Destroyer cults, becoming Severed, or becoming Flayed Ones, or falling out of favour in some other way.. In both cases they turn to the divine to solve their problems - or more specifically, seek to turn themselves into the divine, like with Ultimate Madoka and Orikan's goals - but whether any of that is a satisfying solution remains to be seen.

I guess the girls of Madoka have it somewhat better, by virtue of not being in the world of 40K (🤣) and still having their souls, even though they're no longer in their bodies. Necrons don't have any souls, at least not the ones they were born with so many millions of years ago - but at least some of them can love, which may be as good as having souls in a universe as dark as this.

(Speaking of Homura, have you seen Rebellion yet? There's an aspect of her psyche in that film that I think is a key parallel to the Trazyn-Orikan relation, but I don't want to spoil if you haven't seen it)

#beril66

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