Crusade is the best way to play cool narrative games with your Warhammer 40,000 armies. Flexible and thematic rules provide a narrative that stretches from game to game, as your troops earn special wargear, hone their battlefield prowess, and pick up reinforcements after each battle.
The new Codex: Necrons provides a set of Crusade rules that will get your robotic brain whizzing with fresh engrams as you awaken your tomb world. Countless millennia of degradation have been rough, but with a bit of spring cleaning – that is to say, slaughtering the fleshy pests now infesting your domain – you can reap the rewards of its revitalised ancillary systems.
Rousing a planet-spanning sepulchre after long aeons of dreamless rest isn’t easy. It’s a steady, multi-stage process where the rites of awakening overseen by Crypteks must be closely observed. Lest something go awry, power must be carefully allocated as required between the three primary Systems of your tomb world – Command, Reanimation, and Translocation.
Your Crusade force has 3 Awakening points to distribute, which you can assign to a System each time you complete that System’s Awakening Agenda. For the Reanimation System, that's Immortal Servitude, which confers XP on your WARLORD and the opportunity to assign an Awakening point when your army repairs itself through Reanimation Protocols.
Each Awakening point you allocate to a System activates one of its System bonuses, which provide buffs for your battles. You might choose to awaken Resurrection Flux, which improves your Resurrection Protocols for units that are Below Half-strength.
Necron tomb worlds awaken in fits and bursts, expending power to fuel the ambitions of their impatient masters. Once you’ve allocated all of your Awakening points, you can trigger powerful, flexible Master System abilities. The Contra-Mortis Protocol is your Master System for Reanimation, and allows you either to double up on Reanimation Protocols for one unit in your army, or add 1 to the result of each Reanimation Protocols roll across your whole army for a single Command phase.
Using a Master System ability reboots your Systems, removing D3 Awakening points and deactivating the System bonuses they were powering. You’ll need to complete more Awakening Agendas before you can reinstall those points, which leaves your tomb world potentially vulnerable to opportunistic scavengers.
Plus, you can only access Master Abilities from Systems with at least one Awakening point, meaning you’ll need to decide between going all-in on specific Systems, or spreading out your resources for flexibility.
As your tomb world reawakens, you’ll recall the forgotten access codes for previously inaccessible dynastic vaults, revealing powerful Crusade Relics an Overlord can add to their personal collection. The Orb of Eternity sends Necron self-repair into overdrive, guaranteeing that the bearer’s unit will animate a full 3 wounds each time its Reanimation Protocols activate. It’s a perfect fit for our newly-Awakened Reanimation Systems.
You’ll also find other unique Agendas on top of your Awakening Agendas, plus Requisitions that let you meddle with your tomb world’s Systems or drive damaged troops into mechanical madness. There are plenty of Battle Traits and Battle Scars to dole out to veteran units, and three Crusade Badges to strive for as you spread your dynasty across the stars. There’s even a name-and-title generator, to give your Phaeron the epithets they deserve…
Pre-order the new Codex: Necrons this weekend, and prepare to bring your tomb world to life.