So the latest round of previews have been completed and if I am honest I was extremely disappointed. More focus on the Imperium and whilst the Stern sculpt is impressive it is simply another hero (jumping from a rock but that is another issue) for GW to drive the Imperium narrative forward. Psychic awakening has been full of it and one army remains unloved and neglected. The necrons. Since receiving one of the early eighth edition codexes they have been largely ignored. Miniature wise they have likewise had nothing for a long time; hell, their characters are all still in finecast and the warriors have not had any changes since I first started collecting them in 2004! Likewise their rules are a horrible mismash of close combat rules and abilities which do not match the stat lines, high points costs and a resurrection capability which does not quite cut the proverbial mustard. To me it has long seemed that GW has never been sure what to do with them. Strong gun line? Strong close combat? At the moment they are neither and in competetive play they struggle unless you field one or two very specific lists. The introduction of the primaris marines has also made matters worse when basic troop choices for the imperium can have two wounds to warriors one.
I will be honest though and say that I never expected much from psychic awakening. The hints and rumors of the Silent King being introduced as a playable character were interesting but as PA rolled on it seemed unlikely. Lots of old characters have returned/been upgraded but no completely new character has come (new Primaris captains do not count as new in my view. Sorry) out of the series. Personally I held out hope for a mechanicum v necron narrative as that would have at least allowed a new C’tan to be introduced but it seems that Knights v Knights is the way GW is going there. So Pariah is essentially the last hope for the Necrons in PA and it seems likely that it will be against Sisters given the preview. A lot immediately assumed that Pariah would refer to the old unit but I never saw that happening. GW is happy to do a retcon but seldom retcons a model back into production for 40k (though it may make an appearance elsewhere) and bringing the scrubbed pariah back would be a big admission of oops. GW does not like admitting oops. That’s a real shame as the unit had a great back story with the assassin element and there was something very apt about them using one of the younger races as little more than cattle for a troop choice.
Still, I do think there is scope for a new pariah type unit or upgrade based on the reveals. The below is my opinion and is based on my own love of deus ex machina, the dramatic and also an admittedly dark imagination. My story would go:
- Stern is on the run at the outset. The Inquisition is after her due to her past and also Chaos because of the threat she poses. The Harlequin troupes likewise are hunting her down because of her association with Kyganil. The Sisters of Battle though are staying away because she was one of their own and they are leaving the Inquisition to clean this one up.
- The necrons however come to notice her. Tarzyn desires to add her to his collection but also notes that she is a capable weapon against the warp. At the same time illuminor szeras starts to take an interest and sees her as a potential asset.
- Tarzyn manages to capture her but due to his own pariah status in necron circles is forced to hand her over to illuminor who begins to experiment on her on solemnace to see what makes her tick.
- The Sisters decide that this is really not on and decide to get her back and take on the necrons in force.
- The harlequins actually manage to infiltrate Solemnace and escape with Stern (With the aid of Kygnil).
- The inquisition think they have dealt with the necron threat but an astropathic waystation is destroyed by a new necron force which is able to completely destroy psychic ability and there is a realisation that Illuminor managed to learn enough and take enough tissue samples to create a new canoptek construct.
The reasons I would go this way are that there is a history in the fluff of necrons and sisters in battle (this was the early fluff when the necrons first appeared) but it also makes the most of the following:
- Stern is a pariah and Tarzyn is undoubtedly one in necron circles;
- A new construct would mean a new model and mean GW can avoid having to admit to an oops moment
- It lets Stern continue to run around the Imperium (GW will not introduce a model to kill the character off).
- It fits the necron approach to using humans as a resource
- Provides a nice excuse to update the Illuminor and the Tarzyn models from finecast to plastic. They also need much better rules as at present oTarzyn is pretty much useless on the board.
- GW can let the Sister’s claim a battlefield victory (We know the Imperium doesn’t like loosing).
No doubt GW will do something different and the necrons will end up with a unit they don’t need or some more pointless relics but who knows. MAybe, just maybe they will get something useful.
The Silent King? For me this is a new codex character driving forward a new narrative and as much as an aura character is needed I don’t see it coming in just yet.
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