Tomb Blade

A Tomb Blade are a form of Necron Jetbike unit which operates using dimensional repulsors units to corkscrew through the air as unleash powerful firepower upon the enemy. Often deployed as part of a vanguard force, their deadly speed and unpredictable nature make them a dangerous foe.

Tactical Role
The Tomb Blade was originally designed as a space-fighter during the final days of the War in Heaven. As Necron’s robotic bodies are immune to the hazards of interplanetary space, traditional pressure-sealed and canopied craft were unnecessary from the very outset. Acting in swarms that were dozens or even hundreds strong, Tomb Blades would warm over enemy capital ships, overwhelming armour and weapon systems with pinpoint waves of gauss and tesla fire. So successfully did the craft perform in its primary environment that modified versions soon appeared in planet side battles – one of the few occasions in which the hidebound traditions of the Necron military were adapted to better exploit emergent opportunity.

The Tomb Blade has a curious motion for a craft of its design, eschewing the arrow-straight attack vectors of other Jetbikes and fighter craft. The Tomb Blade’s dimensional repulsors engines ensure that gravity, momentum and other physical forces have little purchase upon its frame. As a result, the craft often corkscrews across the battlefield rather than taking a more direct approach, and constantly changes vector and altitude in a manner fit to boggle the enemy’s aim. No flesh and blood pilot could ever hope to contend such an anarchic approach without succumbing to blackouts and nausea, but such hazards have no hold over machines.

Despite appearances to the contrary, the attack patterns performed by Tomb Blades are strictly controlled by a series of hyper-fractal equations. Indeed, they have to be for the hard-wired Necron Warrior alone would make for a truly dreadful pilot. To compensate of this, attack patterns are entirely pre-programmed and the pilot cannot alter them once in flight, though it can switch between different tactical packages in order to adapt to fresh objectives. The pre-programmed nature of a Tomb Blade’s flight means that it is therefore theoretically possible to predict the flight-path it will take, but only a genius-level intellect could divine that there was a pattern at all. Even if said genius could isolate and identify the particular set of equations in use, no conventional targeting computer could ever hope to process the data fast enough to be of any use. Thus, a Tomb Blade is just as difficult a quarry as the most accomplished of all mortals, even though it pilot’s actual skill is immensely inferior.

Tomb Blades often operate far ahead of the main army, striking at lightly defended positions, supply convoys and other targets of opportunity. Though the planet side craft do no mount the starship-busting weaponry of the space fighter variants, the twin-linked Tesla Carbines and Gauss Blasters can prove just as devastating when employed against advancing infantry. Such is the Tomb Blade’s unpredictable advance that the piercing whine of its dimensional repulsors is often the only clue to its approach. At that point, astute enemies dive for any cover they find. The others disintegrate as the air around them explodes in a blaze of unstable energy.

Armament
A Tomb Blade can be armed with any one of following as their primary weapon: A Tomb Blade may be also be equipped with any of the following: All Necron Tomb Blades are also programmed with Reanimation Protocols, which allow them to repair themselves even when critically damaged. Necrodermis, the material that Tomb Blades and all other Necron units and vehicles are made of, enables this due to its remarkable regenerative properties.
 * Twin-linked Tesla Carbines – Tesla Carbines unleash bolts of living lightning that crackles from foe to foe after hitting its target, charring flesh and melting armour. Tesla bolts feed off the energy released by the destruction they cause, thus making their lightning become more furious with every fresh arc.
 * Twin-linked Gauss Blasters – The same weapon as that wielded by most commonly by Necron Immortals, Gauss Blasters make for a reliable weapon that is easily capable of laying waste to enemy infantry through the molecular disassembling beams they deliver; reducing flesh, armour and bone to their constituent atoms.
 * Particle Beamers – Particle Beamers emit streams of miniscule anti-matter particles that detonate on contact with matter. They are incredibly reliable, needing only enough energy to maintain the containment field that prevents their anti-matter from detonating within the weapon’s mechanisms. Particle Beamers are capable of causing small high-strength blasts amongst their target that are capable of wounding all but the hardiest of infantry.
 * Shadowloom – A Shadowloom is a scarab-sized generator which can project an aura of darkness around the Tomb Blade, providing mobile cover within which the craft can disguise its approach and throw off the aim of enemies.
 * Nebuloscope – Nebuloscopes are arcane devices which allow a Tomb Blade pilot to track his prey through seven different dimensions, allowing for far more accurate shots.
 * Shield Vanes – Many Tomb Blades are equipped with additional armour panels called Shield Vanes, which increase their craft’s durability by a small amount.