The guys over at Genius Factory Games sent me some of their newest products so we could all have a look at them - Necron counters. Two things - this was very nice of them to send me some free samples and...they are pretty awesome.
Before we get to see the sets, let's look at what is being offered.
Currently GFG have two colors - neon green and blue. I personally prefer the blue and all the sets they have available come in both colors. I hope the color range will be expanded to ensure you'll be able to get a counter which goes with your army scheme but the colors themselves are nice enough currently.
The plastic they've used (no idea what type of plastic it is) is without flaw. The edges are all perfect without any blemishes and there aren't any discrepencies or air bubbles in the psaltic that I can see. The only thing on the plastic is the images they've cut/imbedded into them and those show up very cleanly.
They are all light-weight yet large enough to easily recognise from a distance. If you want to set these on top of a model such as a tank they aren't going to damage the model whilst still being easily identifable. So let's look at what I've been sent then!
They sent me three sets as follows:
Numbered Counters - This set contains thirteen numbered counters and can be used to represent both fallen models waiting to return to the field and points of armor drained from the enemy by your forces.
Basically there are 13 counters going from the numbers one through to 13 which you can use on top of tanks or next to units to represent the amount of AV lost or units waiting to be reanimated (much better than psuhing models onto their side where they could be damaged). A couple sets of these for any Necron player would go a long way and I'm sure many of you can think of ways to use these for other armies...
Specialist Counters - This set contains eleven counters with images that are designed to represent the effects of specialist units and characters.
This reminds me a lot of Warmachine counter sets where there are specific counters for specific actions, spells and upkeeps, etc. I personally have always used dice for other armies in terms of what's happening (i.e. smoke launchers, Catalyst for FNP, Paroxysm, fleeing unit, etc.) which can be troublesome sometimes as dice accidently get picked up. Having counters like this is a great idea and most of the symbols are pretty easy to figure out.
Character Counters - This set contains eight counters, including both wound markers for characters and counters to represent fallen characters of different types waiting to return to the battlefield.
These are basically wound counters and reanimation (ever-living) counters for characters so you can keep track of them alongside the general number of reanimation protocols you need to make. Quite handy and not having to use dice as wound markers (how often do they disappear) is also a nice option to have.
Conclusion
All in all, they look good, are relatively cheap and of a high quality and can take away from the note-keeping in a game - something Necrons seem to have increased with their recent release. Whilst there are only limited sets and colors currently, I've been told they are looking to expand both of these and I for one think that's a great thing. Even generic counters to represent smoke, gone to ground, run, shot, fleeing, etc. would be great additions to any game and there are a lot of armies which have some level of note-taking where counters such as these would be useful. I look forward to seeing what they produce next and would recommend people give them a try, especially if they have a Necron army ^^.
