hey guys jay here welcome Eons Of Battle 40k codexes love them or hate them games
workshop has been publishing them for close to 30 years i own every single necron codex
ever made and i'm gonna read them and see if each one was a worthwhile investment
and stay tuned till the end to see what the eob complete community has been up to this week
so what are codexes well they're books published by games workshop one for each playable race
in 40k in addition to being chock full of lore they contain all the rules you need to play that
faction in a game of warhammer 40 000. my first experience with 40k codexes was probably the best
case scenario in the middle of high school i got my first book codex necrons i poured over this
book and even though my army was small i could recite every special rule and piece of war gear
from memory i carry this book everywhere and my copy is dog-eared and yellow from use this book
was an invaluable gateway into the world of 40k and has made me a lifelong necron fan but that
was a long time ago and since then there have been a lot of codexes and each one feels more and more
like a tax to play the game and it's making less and less sense to keep buying these things when
i'm playing less 40k and more other games i would love to look at every codex ever made so that i
could give a full report but there have been well over a hundred and i don't have the time but i do
own every single necron codex ever made so i will be rereading these to give myself a glimpse at
how things have evolved over time and for your viewing pleasure i have shot the most dramatic
and engaging piece of time-lapse footage ever captured please enjoy me reading all five necron
codexes
i will be going over each one one by one and looking to see if they are good looking books
how cool the lore is and does it make me fall in love with the necrons and are the rules laid
out clearly and efficiently and some painting and modeling tips would be icing on the cake
codex necrons 2002 it's a bit before my 40k career began but it is a fun retro book with some vintage
cover art it's short at only 64 pages and in the early 2000s somebody paid 20 for it but it's a
really fun addition to my collection so let's take a look inside they made use of every page they had
with barely any margins and no wasted space it's a bit half hazard in layout constantly switching up
font type and font size to fill every single inch of usable space with lore another thing is that
most of the book is lore but not first person from the perspective of the necrons but is told through
short stories of other races running into the necrons there is a tale of a tex-priest engineer
avoiding crashing his ship on a necron tomb world he is unknowingly excavating the story of an
eldar farseer misidentifying a necron planet as a potential home of the caluxus assassins mankind's
most potent anti-psycho weapon and the story of not that inquisitor gregor exploring a seemingly
abandoned halls of a necron tomb until the halls come to life and turn him to dust the rules just
pop up wherever in the book when a necron is mentioned that can be taken in the game the stats
are posted underneath it's a little awkward and would probably lead to a lot of bookmarking key
units like the necron warriors and overlords the book concludes with the now famous pretty picture
section of the codex but here it's not just photos it has a point it shows you examples of what to
collect a nice full color photo of each unit available to the necrons step by step building
and painting instructions which are phenomenal suggestions on what to purchase next and what
battlefield role each specific unit brings to the table with a laughable tactic section that is just
march everything forward a page on painting finer details like glowing eyes or white armor sections
a page on adding decal transfers and a full page spread on why the monolith is the best thing ever
these pages are worth their weight in gold and almost definitely make the idea of starting a
necron army less daunting by explaining neatly exactly what to do there is even a section on
making necron themed terrain this book may be a little haphazard with rules just thrown in
everywhere but it's got it where it counts and the sections on painting and modeling are completely
invaluable they really make the book it's only 60 pages so just read it twice if you missed the
rules for will be back the first time around with all that said i give this a score of an a minus
codex necrons 2011 is an amazing book and it's my baby this book is far more polished
than the 2002 version of the codex and the cover art is outstanding giving you a good
look at everything the necrons have to offer it is 96 pages so it's still a pretty quick read and
smells good let's take a look inside this book starts how i like it with the bad ass beginning
a full page of exactly why the necrons are the baddest boys in town it then goes on to prove
just how ancient the necrons are with the title of their origin story in the beginning in fact the
first third of this book is completely devoted to lore going into great detail about the history of
the necrons their tomb worlds and their dynasties and the ancient wars where they fought the gods
and won this book then smoothly transitions to the rules of each unit and this is perfect as
each unit gets a beautiful artistic illustration and a full page spread of lore which is awesome
each unit in this book has a good chance of being someone's favorite and it's good that each one
is done justice in terms of stories there's far fewer than the 2002 codex there's a couple but
they're very sparse what is cool is the inclusion of necron quotes here and there that really puts
you in the mindset of an immortal metal being surveying his troops instead of a nerd reading
a source book if this book has a flaw it's the lack of useful pretty picture section
the photos sure are pretty but they did away with any of the collecting or building
and you can forget about a terrain building guide these eight pages just show off the models and
they're painted at a level that looks amazing but is so good that it might be off-putting to
a beginner and even a veteran would struggle to pull off some of these edge highlights
and in terms of this being a rule book all the rules are reprinted in the last eight pages
so there's no rooting around for warriors on page 12 and spiders on page 40. everything you need to
know is printed neatly here in the last few pages this book is clean it's a great read cover to
cover and the consistent organization never leaves you confused it was a great in 2011 and it's great
today this book will make you an expert on all things necron and if it has any flaws it's the
absence of the really nice painting and modeling section that was in 2002 with all that said i have
to give my baby a b-plus codex macron's 2015 is where things started to go off the rails
it is hardcover which is nice although i think you could pick these up in softcover but they weren't
as easy to find it is 110 pages which means that page count is steadily rising and even though it
is full color inside which is nice it has a weird patchwork layout that actually makes it a pretty
confusing book to flip through so let's crack it open and take a look the problems arise on
the very first page with the entire origin story of the necrons which the last book spent two full
pages on is condensed into four paragraphs and the confusion is not helped by a blurb about immotek
the stormlord thrown onto the next page way before we know anything about him or the whole dynasty
situation one thing i can say is all the new art is glorious and full color really makes it shine
i'm gonna talk about it here there is a map and it is dumb all these books have maps and
they're all terrible but this book says millions of dormant tomb worlds this map says there's two
this is fiction make a thousand little dots call them possible tomb worlds if you don't want to
worry about possibly damaging the precious lore there's some more things in this book that feel a
bit lazy like this chart looks like powerpoints and that's nothing compared to the new artwork
in the section of the book where it talks about some of the units you can take in a necron army
they have high school quality necrons this book is really expensive and has tons of good art and
on every page that features these coloring book page necrons they're sitting right next to amazing
art that makes them look even worse also there are actual flubs all over these drawings this overlord
staff they forgot to send one copy pasted blade back behind the staff so it looks awkward and flat
they did it right on the bottom just not on the top the necron warrior's left hand is not on the
gauss rifle the monolith's guns have been object select copy paste and then rotated 180 when they
should have been reflected 180. they forgot to draw a pilot in the doom scythe they remembered
to draw a left hand on the death mark rifle but because of the angle they drew it at the left hand
is twice as long as his right hand and necron warriors legs are twice as long as their torsos
i don't want to be too salty but this is just really really bad and games workshop
seems to agree because this art has never been featured in any 40k publication ever again so
and the problems don't stop there unfortunately the rules that were so succinctly stuffed into
the last eight pages of the previous codex have been expanded to 25 pages with each unit getting
its own page and photo which is nice but it's the same photo available on the web store so
i remember playing this book back in 7th edition and constantly having to flip through to find
spiders to remind myself how the scarab high worked and then having to flip to the appendix
to see how the fabricator claws worked the polish is gone this book sucks the layout is
all over the place the rules are spread out way too thin to the point where it is obnoxious to
find them and the handful of cool new paintings is not enough to save it i give this book a d
codex necrons 2018 the cover looks pretty nice but you might recognize it they reused the cover
from the seventh ocean book that is pretty garbage but actually the book inside is nuts
it's basically a reprinting of the fifth edition book it comes in at 120 pages so
she thick and although it may be a little bit bloated it's still a solid book
let's take a look inside this book does away with the collage style layout of the
7th edition book that was so hard to read and instead prints everything in consistent white
text on black background which looks slick the clip art necrons have been replaced with proper
artwork and the classic illustrations have been brought back and colorized to make them shine
there is not that much to talk about here because basically word for word the 5th edition book but
it looks sweet and the art is outstanding even some 2002 art has snuck its way back into the book
the pretty pictures section is mostly devoid of useful information long gone are the days of
showing you how to build models or paint but there is a helpful section showing two beginner-friendly
armies in suggesting what models to start with although the rules are still a bit bloated they
cover only the last 10 pages instead of the last 25 like codex 2015 although it does feel
a bit weird to have bought the same book twice at least it's not the 7th edition book this codex is
basically a collection of all of the best bits of art and lore from all the previous books
so i call it a win although there is still no painting or modeling section so i have to give
this book a b plus do you know the only thing better than a codex our patreon if you enjoy our
videos the best way to support us is becoming a member of our patreon over there you'll gain
access to some behind the scenes voting on what models i paint live here on youtube
extra live streams every week and more with out of the way let's look at codex necrons 2020
codex necrons 2020. the ninth edition book comes hot on the heels of the 8th edition book and it
was pretty surprising it's an interesting one it redoes basically everything it has some new stuff
in it but it's mostly just a restate of the lore that came before so let's crack it open and take
a look the introduction is a bit fourth wall breaky talking about the necrons is an army in
a war game but it is nice to hear a description of what you should expect necrons to play like
and once you flip that page we're off to the grim dark territory with the real beginning with a good
old-fashioned badass blurb everything is a bit different but it's actually a pretty good read
this book hits harder than the others about the necrons loss of humanity and the damage that 60
million years of sleep has done to their minds this book drives home the fact that necrons are
metal zombies that worship death and this book is chock full of fresh art that is a little darker
and scarier some of the art feels straight up horror and it's actually more new art than old art
the pretty picture section has been cut in half and just shows off a handful of color schemes and
has some nice spreads on the newer necron models the art in this book is some of the best we've
seen yet look at these dynasty pieces compared to the different color glyphs that we got in the past
i don't know if 9th edition is just more verbose with rules in previous editions
or maybe it's the 15 new units added to the ranks of the necrons but pages 49 through 120
are all rules 71 pages of rules it looks like 9th edition is giving us more to work with than ever
before with detachment abilities dynastic codes stratagems and 5 pages devoted to crusade rules
this book is more than half rules which at least makes it feel like a higher value
at least it's not just a copy paste of books from earlier editions codex necrons 2020 is actually
pretty fresh i was pleasantly surprised the new artwork is very nice they didn't just reuse the
one they've been using and it comes in 120 pages the same as the last book but it uses them very
differently still no painting and modeling section but the fact there's so many more rules in this
book leads me to give it a b so that was every necron codex five books published over the course
of almost 20 years so what's the final verdict it doesn't really matter they're all the same thing
20 years goes by and the lore didn't budge an inch it's not like you need to keep buying these things
to get the full story of the neck runs the lore never changes it's basically five books with the
same information just moved around a bit back in the days when forticate's popularity was a
shadow of what it is now it might have made sense to have codexes it gave an air of exclusivity
this fine soft color book is a tome of forbidden knowledge and while your friends are too busy
playing sports and having lives you holding your hands the dark secrets of the deep lore of 40k
but now the lore is out there if you want to read it you can get the cheeky neckbeard take on
1d4chan or if you want something a bit more bland you could go with warhammer wiki or lexicanum
and if you want something a bit more theatrical you can have the lore told to you in vivid detail
by one of the many excellent 4k lore tubers like luton 09 or baltimore's guide to 40k
the lauren codex is important to me but i'm a lore junkie i reached out to the other half of eob
nick who is a fellow 40k fan to see if he had a different take on the codexes
what codexes i don't know they're dumb go make an app well you heard the man codexes are collections
of lore and rules but it doesn't add all that much to make the games of 40k more enjoyable
it's a fun read once but it's not cool models or paints and brushes it's just a bit of expensive
paper so if you're not buying codexes for the lore anymore what's left well the current rules
i think i could probably handle codexes if it turns out 9th edition really is the last
edition of 40k at least the last edition for a long time i was surprised by how good the 9th
edition codex was and i'm excited to play it in the game but games workshop let an edition breathe
for a minute 5 years minimum and 2020 was a wash the clock starts now does it make sense to hide
the rules behind a 50 pay wall i play four armies necrons space marines jean steeler cults and orcs
that's 200 of codexes and i would spend that in a second on models but for codex's that sucks and
i don't know if i can bring myself to do it maybe instead of codexes acting like a single expensive
subscription to the rules games workshop can make a legitimate subscription service and no not their
current app which is 2.99 a month and you still have to buy a paper codex and then punch in a
code to unlock the digital codecs on the app which basically means you didn't need the app i'm seeing
a hilarious trend where people on facebook are just posting the proof of purchase code online
so that the first person to register it gets a free codex 9th edition codexes are basically
webkinz i could totally get behind a practical subscription service that held digital copies of
all the core rules and army specific rules i think five dollars a month would be fair and probably
net games workshop more money in the long run than the codexes no printing of physical books required
maybe even subscription tiers where you get the core book and one or two codexes for five dollars
but there's an elite package that gives you the core book and all codexes for a few dollars more
tournament players would eat that up then they could double their money by selling additional
books of art and lore for weirdos like me maybe a beautiful hardcover book that holds all the lore
ever written and every painting done for each faction maybe even some pertinent excerpts from
some of the novels codexes are a weird holdover from the glory days of pen and paper wargaming
although not dead yet they do feel dated and the days of physical paper codexes are probably just
about through so what do y'all guys think does games workshop need to ask the codexes soon or do
they just need to restructure let me know in the comments below and now it's time for eob complete
we put out a challenge to our community to send us before and after photos of their recently
finished models to be immortalized in our videos if you want to join in the fun you can submit a
before and after photo of your painted mini to our discord server which you can find in the
description below or you can post it to instagram with the hashtag eobcomplete without further ado
let's look at and get inspired by what the folks have finished this week ein and ed from cowboy
bebop by scotch and hobbies a shore trooper by the happy heretic a redemptor dreadnought by clondra
a primary storm speeder by yagpaws a robot by gorefield a pair of castellan robots by boba
fett ig88 a black coach by a lube a primarist tech marine by the withered moth a venari a roll and
warden and some xangores by diminitrix a necron warrior by jesus a woods kids wyvern by orange
a plague marine by prussian blue some guardsmen by just make stuff some cerberus raiders by
magus a plague terminator by notorious champ 30 some wookie warriors from legion by endjord42 a
primaris and cursor by mike hunt a tau ethereal by its tabby time a custom weird boy by powerlottie
rubute gilliman by guyman hype and the primaris apothecary by huntron congratulations to everyone
for a job well done it's no small feat to get paint on minis and you all should feel really
proud nothing gets the hobby juices flowing like finishing a project and we all thank you
for sharing your work motivating us and the hobby community to paint our plastic thanks for sharing