Warhammer 40k 6th edition rulebook leak and the possible impacts to Necrons

The net is abuzz with rumors of a W40k 6e rulebook leak.  Take with a heaping spoonful of salt.

Download the purported 6th edition Warhammer 40k rulebook and codex updates.

So what does this mean for Necrons?  I have only scanned the document as I don't even know if it is real and I certainly don't want to spend much time on it.  Below I explore the good, bad, and mixed impacts to Necrons.

Shooting after Assault

0b010 Scarabs (Mixed)

The biggest change to shooting is that it now happens after assault.  This is H-U-G-E because units that want to pepper their target prior to assaulting will not be able to do so.  For Necrons, I don't see this as a disadvantage.  This also goes hand-in-hand with an Overwatch ability.  Unlike the version in Space Hulk it allows a shot at the enemy during their phase.


Evade

0b011 Scarabs (Not Bad)

There is a new attribute called Evade that essentially bases shooting difficulty on size and movement (among other factors).  This essentially makes it fairly easy to shoot at large vehicles and potentially harder to hit smaller, more agile targets.  From a Necron point of view, this could be a good thing.  Why?  Because Necrons are generally better than middle of the road shooters and have several units that can may be able to advantage of the Jink rule.

Cover Saves

0b100 Scarabs (Very Good)

Cover saves seem a little bit less friendly in these rules.  This is good news for any shooty army.  Rules also seem to imply that cover is calculated on a model-by-model basis.  This would make it impossible for units to get a unit-wide cover save by getting >50% of its models in cover.


Preferred Enemy

0b101 Scarabs (Great!)

Preferred Enemy now affects shooting!  Welcome back, Destroyers!  2+ on shooting..  Ohhh yeah!

Swarms and Templates

0b001 Scarab (Not Good)

Templates now cause Instant Death against Swarms.  This is slightly different in that Scarabs would receive an additional wound only if they failed the save on the first.  Generally, I think this is a bad thing but Scarabs were already weak against templates.

Close Combat Tables

0b010 Scarabs (Mixed)

Close combat to hit rolls are certainly more cut throat; penalizing the unskilled a bit more.  From a Necron "middle of the road" point of view this doesn't have much impact.

Sweeping Advances

0b010 Scarabs (Could Be Better)

I was hoping to see Sweeping Advance removed from the 6e rules but that does not appear to be the case.  Instead, Necrons have a better chance of fighting off a sweeping advance since it is a straight up 5+ if you lose a Morale check in combat and have a lower Initiative score.  This is a 1/3 chance of survival.  I see this as good an bad.  Consider a I3 unit that is rolling to sweep an I2 unit.  In the 5e rules the I2 unit would have a 10/36 chance of survival.  It only gets worse for the I2 unit as the opponents Initiative goes up.  Given this, it's a slight advantage for Necrons, but its unlikely to change a Necron player's strategy.

Surrounded

0b001 Scarabs (Not Good)

Another change that could impact Necrons in a negative way is another kind of sweep.  It is called Surrounded and causes destruction of the unit when Broken (falling back) units are within 12" of a enemy models.  Ouch.


"Heavy"

0b101 Scarabs (Fingers Crossed)

There is a comment on page 117 that the term "Heavy" refers to a Super-heavy with only one structure point.  Could this imply that the Monolith gets a -3 on the vehicle damage table in 6th edition?  This could make up for the Living Metal travesty...  It also gives a multi-targeting (6) which could really make its weapons much more fierce!  (Crosses fingers)  Seriously, if GW does this for Necrons I will might consider toning down my hatred of the new Necron codex.


Tank

0b001 Scarab (Not Good)

While we're on the subject, the vehicle damage table no longer gives an advantage for AP1 except for nullifying the Tank bonus.  I'd say this hurts other races more than it does Necrons but it isn't a huge advantage.  With nearly all of IG vehicles with the Tank advantage, they are going to be a problem for nearly everyone without a lot of AP1 weapons.

Damage upgrades

0b011 Scarabs (Good)

Another interesting change is that multiple damaged rolls of the same type can get upgraded to the next level.  For example, if a vehicle that is already Immobilized gets Immobilized again, then it is bumped to the next level becoming Wrecked.  This also works with Weapon Destroyed, but takes a bit longer (i.e. no more weapons to destroy).  This makes Living Metal a [wee] bit more valuable and enemy vehicles more fragile.

Blasts

0b010 Scarabs (Mixed)

Blasts now do full damage to vehicles regardless of where the center is, but they are severely penalized on the damage table (-3).  This is really not a huge impact to Necrons given their lack of high ST templates.  Wash..

Flyers

0b101 Scarabs (Great!)

Flyers are always EV6 which could be a real boon for Necrons.  This means that BS4 would need a 6 to hit them!  AV11 Scythes are looking better and better.

Critical Hits

0b011 Scarabs (Good)

Critical hits represent a massive blow to a unit such as the explosion of a vehicle.  Wounds from these hits are automatic and only allow invulnerable saves and our favorite save... Reanimation Protocols.  This rule seems to show up everywhere.  For example, it could make transports a bit more risky since an explosion causes a critical hit to embarked models on a roll of 1.  Since Necrons seem to have a better resistance to this than everyone else and it has the possibility of impacting transports, I gave it three Scarabs.

Deep Strike

0b101 Scarabs (Great!)

Deep Strike is really improved in this version.  Units ignore scatter if they teleport 18" or more away from an enemy unit.  That's a VERY nice reprieve for the 36" square Monolith and pretty awesome for all other Necron Deep Strike units.  Think of DS'ing a Doom Scythe.

Ramming

0b001 Scarab (Could Be Bad)

Ramming seems a LOT more deadly in this version (causing Critical Hits) and I see nothing that gives Skimmers the advantage that they had before...  Great news for Orks, but a bit scary for Necrons.

Flat Out

0b001 Scarab (Scary)

Now this is really scary.. From the rules it sounds like a unit of say... Genestealers can move up to three times their move during the Move/Assault phase even if not assaulting?  Hmm..  This could be a bit of a misunderstanding.

Multi-Targeting & Stationary Units

0b100 Scarabs (Hmmmm)

This is a really amazing change but also very confusing.  It deserves more than the cursory check that I gave it.  It allows units to take more than one shooting actions.  One of them is divide fire.  They can also shoot multiple times.  Stationary units gain the advantage of doubling their fire..  Wow!  Can anyone say, "Tesla"?  I'm wanting to give this five Scarabs but I'm just not sure.

In general, there are several things that I really like about these rules.

1. Consolidation of vehicle damage (and rules in general) across the board (i.e. for regular and Apocalypse games)
2. Units can now be immobilized and stunned.  I'm not sure how this will play out but it is interesting to say the least.
3. Tactical retreats; Robbing opponents of victory points offers a new tactical options.
4. Though it could be unbalancing, I generally like Evade; larger and stationary objects should be easier to hit.
5. Bidding process to starting the game adds a lot of flavor.

So, do I think these rules are legit?  Probably not.  I think these are either the result of a fan with far too much time on his hands or a very early draft from GW.  I don't know why GW would be doing page layouts (picture blocks) so early.  That said, it is interesting that the document appears to have been produced prior to the Necron release and seems to jive so well with it.  We'll see...

Real or not real, here's a shout out to its author: "Nice work!!!"

Obviously there are things I missed so your responses are welcome.