The robots go to war in this week’s Sunday Preview, as two distinctly steely-eyed factions whirr into the new edition of Warhammer 40,000.
Codex: Necrons
The first of our two mighty metal militants this week are the Necrons, an ancient race of cantankerous robots who long-ago traded the weakness of the flesh for mechanical immortality. What could possibly go wrong with such a bargain?
Budding Necron Phaerons (that’s you guys) can take your revenge with a Codex that’ll let you dispatch endless legions of pitiless automata, on a mission to destroy the fledgling empires stinking the galaxy up with all their flesh.
Inside the book you’ll find 47 Necron datasheets, five individual Detachments, Crusade rules to awaken your tomb world, and Combat Patrol rules for Amonhotekh’s Guard – which you can find out more about below. On top of that, there are sections on Necron history, society, and the main dynasties, as well as a painting guide.
Codex: Necrons comes in two flavours – the regular tome and a strictly limited Collectors’ Edition with a special soft-touch cover, unique cover art, a ribbon bookmark, and lavish green foil blocking.
Imotekh the Stormlord
Imotekh is perhaps the mightiest Necron Overlord in the galaxy after the Silent King – and he’s catching up with worrying speed. The Stormlord is now returning to the galaxy in a mighty panoply of plastic, standing tall and flexing his clawed gauntlet of fire. Imotekh is a mighty Phaeron indeed – in battle, his hyperlogical strategic skills confer an extra Command Point every turn, while unnatural lightning strikes any foolish enough to approach.
Orikan the Diviner
One of the most curmudgeonly Necrons in the galaxy, Orikan is a master astromancer with many millennia of experience who turns peevishness into art. Crucially, he’s also perfectly capable of reducing his enemies to smoking craters of disassembled matter. As a Master Chronomancer, he affords his bodyguards a 4+ invulnerable save, and once per game he can channel cosmic alignments to triple his Strength and Attacks in combat.
Overlord with Translocation Shroud
All the most on-trend Overlords are travelling via extra-dimensional nether-realms this aeon, and a Translocation Shroud is the coming thing at all the best royal courts. This clever little trinket allows your Overlord and a squad of his best buddies mindless thralls to Advance 6” every time, phasing through terrain, buildings, and enemy units as they move.
Overlord with Tachyon Arrow
Just because you can grab a transdimensional tchotchke from your ancestral treasure rooms, doesn’t mean you have to. Plenty of other equally refined Necron Overlords prefer not to sully themselves by phasing their way through the gaucheness of enemy flesh. This particular Overlord – originally available only in certain boxed sets from the previous edition of Warhammer 40,000 – prefers the elegance of a tachyon arrow, which launches a hyperaccelerated thunderbolt out to a range of 72" for a Strength 16 shot that causes D6+2 damage. Yes, you can only fire it once, but your puny foe won’t need to be told a second time.
Royal Warden
This glittery fellow is a henchman par excellence, the right hand of any Overlord with big dreams and an undying legion or two just waiting to be roused. And rouse them the Royal Warden will, geeing up any unit he’s attached to to Charge or Shoot even after they’ve Fallen Back. Originally available only in boxed sets for the previous edition, this is his first solo release.
Combat Patrol: Necrons
Amonhotekh’s Guard is the new Necron Combat Patrol, arriving with 19 miniatures for use both in full games of Warhammer 40,000 and fast and furious bouts of Combat Patrol. It contains an Overlord with Tachyon Arrow, a Canoptek Doomstalker, three Skorpekh Destroyers with a Plasmacyte, three Scarab Swarms, and 10 Necron Warriors. Grab the Combat Patrol rules from our downloads page, and check back next week for a video on how to paint your undying legion.
Necron Datasheet Cards and Dice
The Necrons get the essential accessories treatment, with a comprehensive set of Datasheet Cards and a packet of 16 six-sided dice with the faction icon on each 6 face. The cards include 47 individual datasheets for quick reference on the fly, five more for Combat Patrol, and one card to remind you of your army rule.
Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus
The devotees of the Machine God may have a mite more flesh than the Necrons, but these stubborn cyborgs are no less truculent. They too are receiving two Codexes – a standard edition and a Collectors’ Edition with a fancy cover, a ribbon bookmark, and red foil blocking.
Both editions offer the same contents within – you’ll get 30 datasheets covering every cyber-soldier at your disposal, as well as five diverse Detachments to help spread the good word of the Omnissiah. On top of that are some excellent painting guides, artwork, and sections on lore, plus rules for Crusade and the new Combat Patrol.
Sydonian Skratos
The Sydonian Skratos is the supreme sniper sentinel sporting the longest legs in the grim darkness of the far future. They delight in taking out enemy troops or tanks with a choice of a radium jezzail or a transuranic arquebus, and while they loom large over the battlefield, they’re hard to put down – you can’t even target them from more than 12" away.
Combat Patrol: Adeptus Mechanicus
Purge Corps Deltic-9 are the new Adeptus Mechanicus Combat Patrol, comprising 19 miniatures led by the portly Tech-Priest Manipulus Skand. He heads up a rapid response unit of three Serberys Sulphurhounds (which can also be made into Serberys Raiders), five Pteraxii Sterylizors (which may also be built as Pteraxii Skystalkers), and 10 Skitarii Vanguard (who may also be built as Skitarii Rangers). They come with a full set of rules for games of Combat Patrol, and make a fast-moving contingent for a Warhammer 40,000 army.
Adeptus Mechanicus Datasheet Cards and Dice
This set of 35 Datasheet Cards comes with red foil edging, comprising all 30 Adeptus Mechanicus datasheets, four Combat Patrol datasheets, and one army rule Card. Complement your tabletop organisation with 16 six-sided dice in classic Martian red, sporting the classic cog symbol on each 6 face.*
Kill Team: Approved Ops - Tac Ops & Mission Card Pack
This set of 57 cards provides the quickest and most convenient way to set up matched play games of Kill Team, whether they’re competitive or casual. It’s an official update to the previous Critical Ops card pack that includes the 2022 Close Quarters update, including Map Cards and Tac Ops specific to Close Quarters games.
Ironhead Squat Prospectors Skalvian Explorator
Go wild in the wastes with the Skalvian Explorator, a vehicular beast that veers off the trade routes girdling Necromunda’s deadly surface. Exclusively available to gangs of Ironhead Squat Prospectors, this beefy all-terrain fortress-on-tracks can more than hold its own in even the most protracted battles out there in the ash wastes – and once you’re done, you’ll earn credits from hauling precious cargo. This is an expert kit made of Forge World resin.
Asun'ghar, the Lady of Ash
Of course, those meddling Squats can’t have it all their own way out in the deep wastes. The Lady of Ash is out there right now, leading the fightback for the Ash Wastes Nomads. Accompanied by her loyal macro-grapplehawk Terror’s Shadow, Asun’ghar is a house agent whom Nomads gangs may petition for aid in their struggle against anyone making a stink outside the confines of the underhive. She’s made of Forge World resin.
Ash Wastes Outpost
Give the Lady of Ash something to reclaim with this massive bundle of ash wastes terrain. It collects all of the Thatos-pattern terrain kits for Necromunda – which are also well-suited to games of Warhammer 40,000, Kill Team, and Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – including one Hab Module, one Extended Hab Module, a Large Platform, a Tall Platform, a Small Platform, and four Walkways – enough to build a substantial ash wastes settlement.
Warboss (paperback)
With only one bastion still standing on the once unconquerable fortress world of Aranua, Warboss Gazrot Goresnappa should be basking in the light of impending victory. Instead, he lies dead beneath a decapitated Gargant’s head.
The biggest and baddest bosses from each of the six (no-longer-united) clans step forward to duke it out and become the next warboss - but the ork gods have other plans. A prophecy foretells of a mysterious gate that lies beneath the human city. The one true warboss will be the first to find it, and will use it to turn the galaxy green. Who will the green gods deem worthy? Find out in this orky novel by Mike Brooks, available in paperback for the first time.
God-Machines: A Titan Omnibus (paperback)
The Titans of the Adeptus Titanicus and the Knights of the Questor Houses are towering war engines, each an effigy of the Omnissiah bristling with weapons enough to lay armies to waste. For 10,000 years these behemoths have stood and fought in service of the Emperor. This Titan-sized omnibus features 10 short stories from Black Library luminaries, curated into one paperback edition for the first time.
Black Library German Releases
Two titles come to German language in paperback format next week: Assassinorum: Kingmaker by Robert Rath, and Ahriman: The Omnibus by John French. In the former, a Vindicare and a Callidus Assassin are tasked with eliminating a seditious leader and safely steering a pro-Imperial candidate to the throne – if only their target wasn’t the pilot of a massive Imperial Knight... The latter collects three novels and numerous short stories all concerning Ahriman, the greatest and most hubristic sorcerer of the Thousand Sons.
Space Marine: The Board Game (Japan/China)
This week’s final product brings the legendary Ultramarines Lieutenant Titus to Japan and China, alongside an endless horde of Tyranids in Space Marine: The Board Game. This quick-playing board game for two people contains Captain Titus himself, ready to hold off a tide of 20 Termagants and two Ripper Swarms. This product is available from selected retail partners.
Knitted Chaos Hat and Scarf
Even acolytes of the Dark Gods can feel the winter chill, and there’s no better way to show your devotion and stay warm than with this knitted hat and scarf set emblazoned with the eight-pointed star of Chaos Undivided, the Eye of Horus, and a bunch of skulls for good measure. These will be sold the Warhammer webstore and from selected Warhammer stores.
Christmas Pin Set
If the Ruinous Powers are a little on the villainous side for your tastes, why not show your devotion to da Red Gobbo with this set of three festive pin badges? It contains one pin of da Revolushunary himself, one of his untrustworthy Squig Bounca, and a Gingerbread Gobbo. These will be sold the Warhammer webstore and from selected Warhammer stores.
Da Red Gobbo and Squig Slipper Socks
You can also keep your feet warm with two sets of Christmas Warhammer socks – one green and featuring the gruesome gretchin visage of Da Red Gobbo, the other red and featuring the if-anything-even-more-gruesome face of a Squig. These will be sold the Warhammer webstore and from selected Warhammer stores (except in China and Japan).
Please note that these Christmas products will go on sale on Saturday the 25th of November – not, as previously stated, last Sunday.
There are two new episodes hitting Warhammer+ this week. Loremasters manufactures a thorough examination of forge worlds, the industrial home worlds of the Adeptus Mechanicus, while Citadel Colour Masterclass takes it natural with an episode on wood textures for the Sylvaneth.
And on Warhammer Community we’ll be taking closer looks at the Necrons and Adeptus Mechanicus, investigating the Combat Phase in Warhammer: The Old World, and continuing the Christmas competition.
* The Adeptus Mechanicus Datasheet Cards have been slightly delayed in the UK, Europe, and South East Asia.