The new FW Necron Canoptek Acanthrites


Forge World's most recent email newsletter shows off the new Necron Canoptek Acanthrites. Not too shabby from a design standpoint I guess. I like that they fit in with the rest of the "feel" of the army, but they miss the mark for me. They're good, but fall short.

Forge World has the experimental rules up on their site now, but I'm not so much concerned with the playability. I'm more into the looks. This thing strikes me as a giant mosquito at best.


Here's a scale pic for size comparison. Pretty good size, just wrong shape.

When I read the super cool description
The Forge World email says: Resembling monstrous, artificial insects enfolded in shadowed wings of tenebrous force that propel them through the skies, Canoptek Acanthrites are murderous Necron constructs created for a single purpose: the destruction of those who have dared to claim the worlds of the ancient Necron empire as their own. Hmmmm... I just don't get that when I look at the model. What I read and what I see in front of me just don't match up. At all.

The Tomb Stalker is a great model on the other hand
The size of a Canoptek Acanthrite is good, but the models just don't strike fear in me like I want them to. A good example of striking fear is the Necron Tomb Stalker. This is perfect. It's based off a creature lots of folks are scared of and the super size makes it all the worse. The most important thing is that you can recognize the creature it should be.


This thing is spot on. We bring all of our associated emotional baggage concerning insects along with us when see this monster on the table. Make it larger than life and the fears are compounded. I don't know how the rules work for this thing either, but between the two models, I would fear the Tomb Stalker much more on looks alone.

Here's my take on the new model
See what happens when you flip the tail upside down and put this thing on the ground? It instantly becomes recognizable as an extremely dangerous creature. Again, we bring all of our emotional baggage along with us and all of a sudden we don't want these things anywhere near our troops.


Pack of steroid pumped metallic mosquitoes... no big deal.
Pack of steroid pumped metallic scorpions... HUGE problem.

If you really want the thing to fly and not walk on the ground, make it look like a stingray or something like that. Lose the legs and replace them with the sides of a destroyer body or a similar bit. Give it a stingray type shape and all of a sudden you have a flying metallic sea creature with a poisonous barbed tail.

So what's a Necron player to do?
I don't know if these things are worth anything in an army in terms of stats and playability, but as far as looks go, you're better off ditching the giant mosquito look and going for something that strikes fear in your opponent.


This is what I'm talking about. Nobody wants this thing close to their game table much less in their lines. Any creature that you can root in reality, even if it's only part of the model will have an advantage (in terms of emotional impact). This goes for daemons, Chaos, Necrons or whoever it may be.

Do you have to? No. It's like my discussion about Deathwing a while ago. Paint them any other color and use Dark Angel Deathwing rules and it just doesn't have the same impact.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
Did I build and paint my HQ wrong? (3 part series)
A painting quiz you need to take


Ron, From the WarpIf you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!