40K Conquest: Necron Legion of Death Preview
The Necrons are here to Enslave the Galaxy in the next Warhammer 40,000: Conquest Expansion: Legions of Death!
Just like the Tyranids don’t play by the same rules as everyone else, neither do the Necrons in Warhammer 40,000: Conquest…Okay, they do technically play by the same rules, but what I mean is they have enough special rules to warrant their own expansion! Fantasy Flight Games has a new preview to showcase the new faction coming to Conquest – and just how they will change the game:
via Fantasy Flight Games
Legions of Death
From the ancient depths of time before the galaxy was consumed by war, a new threat now emerges from its aeon-long slumber: the Necrons have begun to awaken once more. No loyal servant of the Imperium could fathom how many Tomb Worlds still lie dormant, only awaiting some mysterious signal to rise and spread doom across the civilised worlds. Now, as the Necrons ascend and swell their armies with slaves, all the Traxis sector will learn to fear these mechanical terrors.
The Necrons have awoken in their Tomb Worlds with Legions of Death, the second deluxe expansion for Warhammer 40,000: Conquest! Like The Great Devourer before it, Legions of Death introduces an entirely new faction to the game, allowing you to harness the mechanical cunning and hyper-advanced technology of the Necrons. Playing as the Necrons offers an experience that’s wholly different from any other faction, and today, we’ll explore some of those differences as we look at one of the Necron warlords from Legions of Death.
A Vision of Unending War
The first Necron you’ll encounter in Legions of Death is Nahumekh (Legions of Death, 1), a warlord driven by a single goal: the sight of every lifeform in the galaxy locked in a single gory battle. Only the extermination of biological life will satisfy Nahumekh, and to that end, he enslaves any lifeforms he can, forcing them into battle—whether they live and kill or die in agony, Nahumekh is well pleased.
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As we mentioned in the Legions of Death announcement, the Necrons have the ability to enslave common units from other factions. Throughout the game, you’ll use your enslavement dial, which shows the symbols of the seven factions on the alignment wheel, to choose a faction at the beginning of each round. Then, during that round, you can play units from your chosen faction, as well as Necron and neutral cards. Of course, you can choose the number of other factions you’ll include in your deck, but Nahumekh is sure to reward you for approaching his vision of all lifeforms in subjugation to him.
As you might expect, Nahumekh’s signature squad supports his vision of pitting the lesser races against each other. You’ll find four copies of Destroyer Cultist (Legions of Death, 2), an extraordinarily resistant army unit that gains an additional point of ATK for each non-Necron faction among your units. As the game goes on and more armies from other factions are brought under Nahumekh’s control, your Destroyer Cultists only become more lethal.
Bringing new factions into play enhances the abilities of Nahumekh and his Destroyer Cultists, but the number of new factions you can introduce is limited to one per round, since you only set your enslavement dial to a new faction at the beginning of a round. Fortunately, you’ll find a way to get around this limiting factor with The Staff of Command (Legions of Death, 5). This attachment can be wielded by Nahumekh, and as an Action, you can exhaust it to set your enslavement dial to any other faction, essentially allowing you to play units from two factions in a single deployment phase.
The final card in Nahumekh’s signature squad gives your enslaved armies an unparalleled level of mobility.Obedience (Legions of Death, 3) is a support card, and after any phase begins, you can exhaust Obedience to move one of your non-Necron units to any target planet. Ultimately, Obedience gives you unparalleled versatility to counter your opponent’s schemes, whether you use it in the command phase to tip the balance at a crucial planet or before combat to prepare for a deadly attack.
Bring Destruction to the Traxis Sector
Nahumekh’s defining themes aren’t limited to his signature squad alone—you’ll find a wealth of other cards inLegions of Death that play to these themes. Plenty of cards grow more powerful as you enslave more factions, but some also enhance the abilities of your enslaved units. The Immortal Vanguard (Legions of Death, 14), for example, is a relatively inexpensive unit that enhances the ATK and HP of every non-Necron Warrior unit at the same planet—potentially turning your slaves into a formidable fighting force.
Alternatively, you may deploy a massive Doomsday Ark (Legions of Death, 27) against your foes. This Elite unit can deal plenty of damage in a single blow, but it can also bears the Area Effect (X) keyword, where X is the number of non-Necron factions among your units! Even Area Effect (2) can be lethal to many units, and as this value climbs throughout the game, your opponent will be hard pressed to have his armies survive a single blow from the Doomsday Ark.
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You can even meld both mechanics with an army unit like the Tomb Blade Squadron (Legions of Death, 19). This unit isn’t designed to participate in combat, but it’s excellent for sniping command struggles—after you deploy a non-Necron Scout unit, you can move the Tomb Blade Squadron to any planet. Then, a non-warlord unit at that planet suffers from a reduced HP until the end of the phase, allowing you to easily kill units like the Rogue Trader (Core Set, 171).
Dusty tombs are no longer the domain of the Necron race—the entire Traxis sector will kneel before you. Enslave the other factions as Nahumekh, and join us soon for another preview of Legions of Death and the second Necron warlord!
Check out Fantasy Flight Games for the FULL write up. They have a lot more info on the Necrons. I’m pretty excited about this expansion and am looking forward to getting my hands on this one. Their ability to enslave other factions will make for some every interesting combos and armies.
The Tin-men are BACK from their slumber. Are you ready or will your resistance be…futile?
