Meet the Dynasty #6: Lord Nihkyanh

Many millennia of sleep have had little effect on Second Sub-Regent Nihkyanh's mind and skills.  One only need look to his success in his very first battle for that.  Nihkyanh ranks just below Lord Nahz, he is a "steward's steward", so to speak.  He has had relatively little combat experience so far; he will go along with the other overlords like Kobeh or Rynkelyh and watch and learn from them.

I got Nihkyanh in the middle of 2015, if I remember correctly, and fixed and painted him up like the Lakers home uniform.  (By sheer coincidence I'd painted Nahz in colors similar to the Lakers' away uniform, it was the obvious choice to continue the theme.)

Nihkyanh's first game, where he was fielded with Lord Byrahn-Zoht.

Nihkyanh trying to fight his way out from under a pile of Egyptian Wraiths.

Meet the Dynasty #5: Lahker Warriors

A warrior's place is beside his lord, ready to follow his every whim and command to the bitter end.

The many, the economized, the humble, the meat-shields, the unsung heroes, the lowly yet necessary troops that carry the Lahkers to victory.  These are the Necron warriors of the Lahker Dynasty.  Daubed with the Dynasty's livery on their shoulders and torso, the rest of their body painted with whatever color was lying around at the moment, the warriors march forth from their deployment points to do battle, provide emergency anti-tank support, and if necessary sacrifice themselves for almost any other unit.

An early battle in the Lahkers' history, where the majority of the warriors learned the ways of war.

Lahker tactical doctrine usually puts a warrior line spread evenly across the battlefield, in front of anything valuable.  In earlier days, a five-man squad would be used to hold backfield objectives; now in 7E, objective-holding is fairly evenly balanced between half-size Immortal squads and basic warrior squads.

Like any front-line troops, the warriors take the most punishment, and get the least glory.  This is not to say acts of valor are not recognized; it is not unknown for warriors to receive commendations or markings for heroic efforts.  It is very probable that the markings are another way for the overlords to further stroke their own pride at their tactical acumen, but an award is an award, even if the recipient doesn't quite have the self-awareness to appreciate the fact.

Kobeh's first command: "Charge that Chaos Lord squad!" Yeah, that ended well...

Lahker warriors are often used as warrior escorts (at least until the Lychguard were reanimated), with varying results.  They can at least keep an overlord safe through number of bodies, and on occasion have even won an assault, but a melee offense cannot be reliably mounted by warriors.

The somewhat-flawed warrior escort.

Warriors as meat shields to keep Nahz alive and swinging that scythe. Note the leftmost warrior with the Glyph of Heroic Duty on his forehead.

Early "mass-infantry" tactics met with spectacularly disastrous traffic jams and subsequent massacres.  The Lahkers have since reduced squad sizes in general, and, when warriors must operate without a cohesive battle line, squads will fight near each other for supporting fire purposes.  If one squad is assaulted, the other can join the assault in a desperate attempt to win the combat through sheer numbers.  (Not the most intelligent tactic, but has this archiver-cryptek ever claimed the Lahkers were tactical geniuses?)

The fate for many a Lahker warrior squad.

Face-tanking fire form several Leman Russes.

Though they often go unacknowledged by their betters, the warriors are the rock the Dynasty rests on.  Woe betide the Lahkers should that ever change.

60 million years and counting, and the gauss gunline ain't outdated yet.

Meet the Dynasty #4: Ref-tek Jahksehn

"Ref-tek" Jahksehn has worn many hats during his career.  In 5E he enjoyed wielding the many cool gubbins Crypteks had access to, he is still a little mopey about the 7E changes to his wargear.  On the other hand, he can now get a phase shifter and squad-wide 5++, and he has two wounds!  So it's not all bad, not at all.
Ref-tek was and still is the somewhat under-appreciated support for the Lahkers royal court.  In 5E, he and his proxy-Crypteks would tote the eldritch lances, teleport Kobeh around with the Veil of Darkness, blind the enemy with the Solar Pulse, re-roll dice with the old-style Chronometron, and occasionally pull a Look Out Sir for an overlord.  Currently, Ref-tek takes the new Chronometron and hangs out with whoever needs an invulnerable save, usually a warrior blob.

In the dynasty, Ref-tek's job is to be the judge and/or impartial adjudicator when the Triarchs aren't around.  The Lahker lords rely on him for a balanced point of view when solving their disputes, if by "balanced" you mean "whoever funds my mad science projects the most gets my tiebreaker vote".

Ref-tek is being repainted at the moment.  I first painted him almost two years ago, and my painting skills have improved a lot (I hope...) since then.  Plus I was never truly satisfied with how I painted him in the first place.  There will be an update once he is finished.

Moments of Glory: Surviving the CSM deathball that laid Kobeh and a whole warrior blob flat, wielding basically all of the 5E Cryptek wargear at one point or another (not all at the same time, sadly).

Ref-tek has seen this view far too many times.

Near the glory, but not quite in the spotlight. So goes a Cryptek's job.

Ref-tek helps an irate Kobeh direct traffic on an especially congested battlefield.

Meet the Dynasty #3: Overlord Rynkelyh

Rynkelyh at the Battle of the Lumpy Chaos Shrine.

Overlord Rynkelyh (or Mardi Gra Lord, if you're feeling cheeky) started his career in the last games of 5E before the 7E codex rolled out.  His first battles were marked by a distinctly "Leeroy Jenkins" feel: he'd charge in, deal a few blows to the enemy, and then die.  Later, he improved his score, surviving for multiple turns in his first league game ever, and getting two kills in challenges.  (Next game, however, he slipped up and died to a warp lance from a Zoanthrope.  Oh well, can't win them all...)

Rynkelyh, as a recently-awakened Necron, doesn't have the seniority or experience Kobeh and Nahz have.  At the moment, one of the others will lead the army, while Rynkelyh tags along in the Royal Court and learns through (sometimes painful) experience.  He is quite optimistic for a Necron, something appreciated by Nahz, and derided by Kobeh.  For an Overlord, he is unusually forgiving with captured heroes, if only because healthy captives make more challenging opponents on the Royal Basketball Court.

Moments of Glory: Made his very first Reanimation roll successfully (before the Decurion detachment was a thing).

Every other Necron royal Rynkelyh meets is forced to see the Overlord's "reanimation holopicts". Kind of like having a relative who never shows up without a new photo album or slide show.

The Leeroy Jenkins strategy in practice, the results of which were less than desirable.

Rynkelyh goes Centurion-tipping.

"The one time, the one time I leave the 'nid spray at the tombworld..."

Meet the Dynasty #2: Overlord Kobeh

Kobeh daringly (and illegally) deep-strikes with his Deathmarks in a late 5E game.

Overlord Kobeh awoke from hibernation on the wrong side of the stasis chamber, took one look at the spread of the inferior races on the star charts, and grabbed his warscythe and headed out to teach those suckers respect for the true rulers of the galaxy.

Or so the story goes.  What is for certain is he is the opposite number of Lord Nahz; where Nahz is willing to let bygones be bygones, Kobeh will never forget a grudge.  Where Nahz is less than competitive, Kobeh is constantly testing and improving his tactics.  Where Nahz is ultimately pretty chill, Kobeh will never settle for anything less than perfection.  Considering the rather lackluster win-loss record of the Lahker legions, and Kobeh's short temper, he has earned his nickname of "Krazy" many times over.

Kobeh's career got off to an ignominious start when, subbing in for Kutlakh the World-Killer, he fought a Chaos Marine army.  He specifically fought the Chaos Lord, who was armed with the Murder Sword, which of course had Kutlakh's name on it.  Kobeh/Kutlakh failed to kill the Chaos Lord, failed two of his three invuln saves, and went on to fail his Ever-Living roll.  (His Cryptek, funnily enough, stood back up.)

Since then, Kobeh has kept a slightly cooler head, and gone on to lead the dynasty in many battles.  He is responsible for developing the majority of tactics used by the dynasty, for several epic challenges, and for leading the Kung Fu Kourt on its single successful deployment.  He is determined to maintain his monopoly of control over the dynasty's armed forces, and especially determined that the gaudily-outfitted Rynkelyh will not show him up.

Moments of Glory: Slew Jain Zhar in one-on-one combat, led the now-lost Kung Fu Kourt (one victory, one defeat)

Kobeh about to ruin Jain Zhar's day.

Kobeh's favorite place is in single combat, proving his mettle over inferior champions.

An epic but ill-fated expedition against the encroaching Hive Fleet.

Kobeh, moments before slaying this Eldar hero in single combat.

The Kung Fu Kourt taking out a Riptide. Kobeh is still displeased that he is out of focus here.

The pilot episode for "Kobeh's Krazies" TV series received middling reviews, the future of the show is in doubt, much to Kobeh's ire.

Meet the Dynasty #1: Lord Nahz

Lord Nahz in his first battle against a Tau Riptide.

Lord Nahz, my very first Necron HQ, led the army through its bumbling early days.  He pioneered the now-almost-lost "tactic" of deep-striking via the Veil of Darkness into enemy lines.  His deep-strike rolls have consistently been good, or at least good enough.  His moments of glory have been few and far between, but he has been an invaluable leader for the Lahker legions.

Nahz is a pretty chill Necron, he got used to being a soulless robot long ago, and likes being immortal.  It leaves much more time for jamming.  He is without a doubt the most relaxed ruler of the Dynasty, and very much an opportunist.  For example, he's all for honorable war...except when he isn't.  If Deathmarks and Mindshackle Scarabs will serve a purpose, bring 'em on, and if they won't, leave 'em at the Tomb World.  Occasionally, he takes things a little too casually, and spends time he could've used to resurrect Warriors admiring his own reflection in his Resurrection Basketball.

Moments of Glory: During one memorable 5E game, Nahz, a Despairtek, and a 20-warrior blob deep-struck into enemy lines Turn 1, rolled a mishap, the opponent placed them on the other end of the board, and they still eked out the victory point that won the game.

Nahz in a royal court in the last days of 5E, fighting the Red Marauders Marine Chapter.

Nahz dukes it out at close quarters with a Space Marine Captain.