40K Op-ed: Necrons Are A Great Non-Psychic Army, Tau Are Not
Though most armies in Warhammer 40,000 have accesses to psychic power, some do not. GW has used different approaches to represent these armies weakness on the table… with varying results.
It’s always a bit of a problem when an army can’t participate in a part of the game. While armies are given flavor by their unique strengths and weaknesses it can still feel unfair to be cut out of an entire phase. While phases can be participated in by any army, the psychic phase is a little more select. Only armies that can field psykers, or have some similar special ability, can partake of that phase. Not all armies in 40K can take psykers. Some armies either eschew psychic powers or are made up of races incapable of using them. GW has used various ways to represent this on the table. Most recently they’ve had Nercons, done right, and T’au, done poorly. Lets look at these two examples and see what we can learn.
A Good Comparison
Necrons and T’au make for an excellent way to compare non-psychic armies. They are both races that don’t use psykers. The books came out back to back so they are from the same “era” of rules writing. Moreover, somewhat unique among non-psychic armies, they cannot take “allies” from other books to make up for the lack of Psykers like Dark Eldar and Ad Mech can. Yet despite these similarities, GW went with very different approaches to the two armies, with good results from Necrons, but rather poor ones form T’au.
T’au: You Get Nothing
GW’s approach to the T’au was to give them nothing. The T’au have absolutely no way to participate in the psychic phase. They cannot use powers, or anything similar. Likewise they cannot counter powers at all. Not only does this make them very vulnerable to psykers, a powerful part of the game, but it also means that in an entire phase of the game the T’au can do nothing. Not only is this is a weakness but it is also simply boring.
Necrons: Non-Psychic Psychic Defense
Necrons, a race of beings placed into robot bodies with no psychic ability, have two ways of gaining psychic defenses. Firstly they can take Canoptek Spyders equipped with Gloom Prisms. These allow the Spyders to Deny the Witch once per phase. Fluffwise Gloom Prisms are a piece of arcane tech that creates an anti-warp field. Secondly they can take the Immortal Pride Warlord trait. This trait, among other things, allows your Warlord to Deny the Witch once per phase, she does this through pure force of will.
Like this…but different
Both of these abilities combine to allow a so inclined Necron player to build a force that can handle psychic armies without infringing on the anti-psyhic fluff of the army. Necrons don’t have or need pyskers, yet they still have ways of fighting them and most importantly they can participate in the phase. It’s still going to remain a weakness for them, but its not a void where they simply have to sit and watch the other player do stuff to their forces.
Necrons: Alternative Psychic Powers
In addition to psychic defense the Necrons also get an alternative to psychic powers, the Powers of the C’tan. The C’tan powers are in effect the Necron version of Psychic powers. They take place at a similar time, the end of the movement phase, rather than the phase right after, a small difference. They work slightly differently but their effects are fairly similar to those of many psychic powers, though they are all focused around dealing damage. The C’tan powers are a uniquely Necron mirror to psychics.
And this is just simply a great way to do things. When you take away something big, like psychics, from an army, you should also give them a replacement. Rather then feeling this void, this huge part of the game you can’t participate in, Necrons players get to have their own special thing. It’s not psychics but fulfills some of the same rolls. Rather than feeling less, Necrons simply feel different. And that’s good, that’s the goal with different armies.
T’au: What Could Have Been
Looking at the T’au there is no reason they’ve couldn’t have gotten similar things to the Necrons. Necrons built an anti-psyker field using technology. The T’au are a very technologically advanced race, and one of the few still rapidly advancing. There is no fluff reason why they could not have built some kind of suit system, or drone, or special suit, that can mess with psychics. Even worse however is the Necron warlord trait. It denies psychics through pure willpower. That’s it. Again there is absolutely no reason T’au could not have a similar ability, after all there are plenty of strong willed T’au. This would have been a limited option with high opportunity cost but would have at least allowed to T’au to partake in the phase.
But lets say GW still just wanted to keep the T’au 100% out of the Psychic Phase. Fine, OK. If that is, and it clearly is, the case, then at least give them a replacement. Necrons get one in C’tan powers, and it works great. T’au… don’t; they get nothing. Maybe they could have had some cool markerlight mini game- using them to call in off board artillery strikes. Something, anything to replace Psykers. Because they don’t get anything they don’t feel different, they just feel less. Diminished.
Final Thoughts: Good And Bad
Having a non-psychic army, is fine, and it is ultimately a good way to distinguish armies. There are as noted several ways to approach building this fundamental difference into an army. With the Necrons GW was able to respect their background yet still allow them to partake in the phase with some defensive mechanisms. Moreover the inclusion of C’tan powers give Necrons a rewarding alternative to Psychics making them feel fleshed out and unique. This was an tactic that worked well. Conversely in the case of the T’au, GW simply gave them no way to interact with the Physic Phase at all and no alternative to physic powers. This void leaves the T’au feeling less than other armies and incomplete, as well as a little boring. Hopefully GW can learn from its success and missteps and do better next time a non-psychic army comes around.
Let us know what you think the best way to handle non-psychic armies is, down in the comments!
