The C'tan shards are among the most powerful individual entities in the Warhammer 40k universe, the splintered remnants of Star Gods that turned the Necrontyr into the Necrons and brought the empire of the Old Ones to ruin. Of course in tabletop 40k if something has stats then it can be killed, and the tabletop versions of the C'tan shards haven't quite lived up to their canonical power level. But with a new model of the Shard of the Nightbringer on its way, Games Workshop is also updating the stats for these ageless evils to make them that bit more apocalyptic.
According to a Warhammer Community article posted on Monday, all four C'tan shards - the Nightbringer, Deceiver, Void Dragon, and Transcendent C'tan - will be getting stat updates in the Necrons' upcoming Warhammer 40k faction pack update. A new model for the Shard of the Nightbringer goes up for pre-order on Saturday, so we expect the faction pack update to drop around January 24.
The upgrades for the Nightbringer are all to its mobility and defensive capabilities. The shard's armor save improves from 4+ to 3+; it gains four additional wounds for a new total of 16; its movement goes from a foot-slogging six inches to a far more respectable 10 inches; and it gains the ability to Deep Strike.
While the extra defensive stats are real - the Nightbringer now has 33% more wounds than before - that maneuverability is the real clincher. As monsters, C'tan can't Cool Aid Man through the walls of ruins like infantry can, meaning any obstruction they use for protection can limit their mobility. Their ability to fly could mitigate this in theory, but with a move of just six inches made this more or less meaningless.
Four inches of extra movement will make moving around and over ruins that much more feasible. And deep striking a C'tan behind an obstruction at the end of the enemy turn using the Rapid Ingress stratagem will feel positively rude.
What do you think - will these specific buffs get your C'tan to the table more? Or is there a Necron player terrorising your local meta who doesn't need the help? Let us know what you think in the Wargamer Discord community! For a weekly roundup of the best stories on Wargamer, make sure you sign up to our regular newsletter.