Alongside Saturday's announcement of a new Codex for the Necrons in Warhammer 40,000, a host of new models were also showcased by Games Workshop. As the Codex expands the lore and the rules for the Necrons a host of kits are now on the horizon to aid the Silent King in his return and so he is a fitting place to begin.

The Silent King // Games Workshop

Szarekh the Silent King himself is coming in the form of an imperious ruler on a floating dais and flanked by a pair of Triarchal Menhir he's already a striking look on the battlefield, although we'd expect no less from the leader of the whole Necron race. He backs up this regal look with a statline to match however as Szarekh is no puppet-like figurehead. Beginning with a bound C'tan to draw power from he begins with 16 wounds and a toughness of 7 and 6 attacks hitting on 2s. If you manage to reduce his wounds you can slow him down but don't expect to finish him off easily. What’s more, it’s backed up with a whole swathe of special rules, including aura abilities to buff your troops and hamper the opponent’s units. They can also help you destroy your enemies in a variety of ways, improve the Silent King’s durability.

Chronomancer // Games Workshop

A pair of new character models have also been resurrected. Starting with the cephalopodic Chronomancer. Chronomancers are masters of time and temporal manipulation. One of their favoured party tricks is to utilise the chronometron they each bear to slow the incoming fire of their enemies, allowing their warriors to effortlessly avoid harm. In game terms one unit within 9" of this delightful death squid can re-roll their charge rolls that turn and also gain invulnerable 5+ saves. He sounds like someone who needs to be at the receiving end of a Vindicare's bullet.

Psychomancer // Game Workshop

The Cryptek's also gain a new form with the Psychomancer. They channel the same power as the Nightbringer to force their foes to flee before them. A dread aura that lowers opponents leadership within 6". An aura that will be sure to crack many units on the table and force them to break like a damn before the tide. It'd an interesting model overall but I'm not sure I like the digital skull projection they've gone with. It may just be the angle of the photo but I missed that it was a skull when I first looked at it and all I could see was a bunch of Tetris blocks. The rest of the model is striking in it's simplicity, the stark functional mechanical design do it for me more than the digital skull.

Oyhydian Destroyers // Games Workshop

The Oyhydian Destroyers are a horrifying breed of burrowing Destroyers comes complete with a multipart Plasmacyte in the kit. Well, they say ‘burrowing’, but rather than tunnelling underground in the traditional sense, these murderous machines tear their way through the veil of reality from their own pocket dimension to slice and dice their prey! To put that in some context they can deploy in the reinforcements step 9" away from an enemy model and with a movement value of 10" that will worry the most stalwart of opponents. Combine that with three attacks per figure and the ability for those armed with Reap-Blades to cause additional hits on rolls of 6 they can easily carve their way through the toughest of opponents.

Flayed Ones // Games Workshop

It's not all new creations for the Necrons though, the Flayed Ones are getting the plastic treatment and I'm pleased to see they haven't strayed from the original design of these Edward Scissorhands wannabes! Flayed Ones’ long flayer claws can shred armour with even greater ease, as they now strike with an AP of -1. And as one would expect for a unit whose rather gruesome modus operandi sees them cover their metallic bodies in a macabre second skin made from the flensed flesh of their victims, they’re at their best when killing squishy stuff as all of the units attacks gain an additional hit on a 6 against non-vehicle targets. I also love the skin stretched over their metallic bodies as it always struck me like a Necron infiltration unit that can't quite work out why humans keep running from them even when they're disguised!

An interesting mix of old-style and new when it comes to the Necrons aesthetic and yet it still gives a cohesive look on the tabletop, I have no doubt that there will be far more the restless race in the future.