During their epochs-long dormancy, the Necrons left their sepulchres guarded by silent, tireless machines patterned in the shape of ancient and alien beasts of prey. Of these great engines, the most fearsome is known to the unfortunate masses of mankind as the Tomb Stalker. A Tomb Stalker is an enormous mass of living-metal carapace teeming with flashing legs and possessed of a murderous will. Easily the size of a dozen men, this centipede-like construct makes use of arcane phase-generators, allowing it to stalk the Tomb Worlds of its slumbering lords; burrowing through solid ground. They are swift and relentless engines of murder that know neither pity nor remorse. Differing somewhat in scale and form, Tomb Stalkers and other similar constructs primarily serve in guarding their Necron masters’ during their sleep; eternally vigilant in their search for intruders that might disturb the dread tombs in which they slumber.

Tomb Stalkers can detect the pulse of life and sense the frenzied rhythm of a panicked heartbeat through hundreds of metres of solid rock, and they use this ability to home in unerringly on their victims. This is due to the powerful sensors built into their primary sensor cluster which can work in all conditions; such as in complete darkness. The Stalker’s immense size combines with its natural capacity for regeneration to create a nearly indestructible war construct. Even beyond the more common warriors of the Necron legions, these insectoid creatures continue to thrash and fight with deadly ferocity despite damage or dismemberment. The individual segments of the killing-machine seem drawn to one another and will reconstitute themselves to reform the whole should they come back into contact. Indeed, only the massive use of force is capable of wounding a Tomb Stalker in the first place. Tomb Stalkers are devastating ‘living’ weapons; masses of shifting pseudo-metal, bladed limbs and razor-sharp armour plates.

Tomb Stalkers are extraordinarily fast and employ a form of in-built phase field generator to pass through inert matter as if it were water, bore their way through rock and stone, and effortlessly move through the debris and rough terrain that often litters a battlefield. Because of their agile and speedy nature, and their ability to move swiftly underground, Tomb Stalkers are capable of appearing directly underneath an enemy. Erupting from the earth itself, a Tomb Stalker can attack without warning; barrelling into its prey and bringing its mass and multitude of limbs to bear. After having ravaged the enemy enough with their brutal claws, a Tomb Stalker will then disengage from combat and burrow underground again to strike elsewhere; leaving nothing but blood and dust in their wake. Their phasing capability pairs with their unerring sensor-array and advanced multi-targeting protocols to make them fearsome hunters of important personnel. Given its massive size, a Tomb Stalker is capable of rending tanks to little more than shrapnel, and overwhelming all but the most immense Xenos creature or daemonic entity. Should its targets escape its terrifying grasp, the Tomb Stalker possesses two Gauss Flayers weapons mounted on its forearms which it can use to flay enemies alive; making a Tomb Stalker a fearsome combatant at range as well as in close quarters.

SourcesEdit

• Black Crusade Core Rulebook (RPG), pp. 370-371
• Imperial Armour Apocalypse (2nd Edition), pg. 90