Necron Special Characters, part Two ~ Overview

Apologies for the delay but here we are again, hopefully getting through the final batch of Necron special characters.


We've a few interesting ones today with some rather interesting rules and abilities (as well as some nasty tricks), although of course there are flaws.


I'm not too sure where I'll go now, I've finished overviewing all the codex contents but might take a look at some list ideas and final thoughts before I finish, we'll see!


Illuminor Sveras
The cheapest and weakest Necron character and as you'll see from the picture above, almost certainly the most visible noticeable!
Fluffwise he was the genius who took the secrets of biotransferance the C'tan gave the Necrontyr and made it reality, in short he physically created the Necrons as they are today. Unlike others he doesn't see the change as bad, instead he sees it as an evolutionary step up towards godhood.
Sveras is not a Necron lord but in fact a Cryptek, however he still takes a HQ slot rather than being a unit upgrade. This difference means many things, firstly he doesn't allow a Royal Court or Command Barge to be taken and secondly he lacks the Str/Tgh 5 of actual Lords, having to make do with a decent 4. He also only has two wounds, but interestingly a surprising four attacks (that many legs must be good for something I guess).
His Cryptek discipline is destruction meaning his weapons/wargear are taken from that discipline list, although he lacks a Solar Pulse he has an Eldritch Lance (36" Str8 Ap2 Assalt1) and Gaze of Flame (defensive grenades for his unit).
His only special ability (other than being an Cryptek character) is Mechanical Augmentation, which allows him to nominate a single unit of Warriors or Immortals and give them either Tgh5, Bs5 or Str5 dependant on the results of a D6 roll.
Considering that apart from the Eldritch Lance he himself seems fit towards light combat (defensive grenades and four attacks), yet lacks the Str/Tgh of a lord I don't feel Sveras will be favoured in many lists since you can't really sort a role for him. His augmentation ability doesn't even make him worthwhile in my opinion, Tgh5 troops are great and Bs5 will make a large unit worrisome but if you roll strength you've pretty much wasted your points.

Orikan the Diviner
Another Cryptek, with an even weaker profile than Sveras (most of the time, see below). With Str/Tgh4, 2 wounds, 2 attacks and only a 4+ save Orikan is certainly not the hardest character (again most of the time).
Orikan's discipline is Cronomancer (Harbringers of Eternity) and he calls himself an astromancer since he calculates future events (through science rather than psychic means). He was the one who predicted the Eldar race will fall, leading to the Necrons sealing themselves away on tomb ships to wait. More interesting, he also predicted the rise of mankind, the Horus Heresy and even the coming of the Tyranids thousands of years before they happened. Its mentioned that his predictions aren't 100% and that he has resorted to travelling backwards through his own timeline to change events so they are correct... I can't help but wonder if he did that to help humanity arise or perhaps get the heresy started.
Fluff aside he doesn't have any Cryptek weapons/wargear but does have a combat staff in the traditions of his order, Orikans however allows him to re-roll to hit and ignore armour saves. He also has a Phase Shifter (3+ Invulnerable save) and Transdimensional Beamer (12" heavy weapon which removes random model in target unit from play on a failed strength test).
What makes him special (and so costly in points) are his abilities, firstly he has Temporal snares which cause all enemy units to count as in difficult terrain on their first turn (or roll one less dice if already in difficult terrain) and secondly he may declare his Lords of Time ability at the start of a turn allowing him to re-roll all failed reserve rolls that turn.
What was all that about his stats being weak 'most of the time' I mentioned earlier you say? Well Orikan's last ability, The Stars Are Right, means that if he rolls equal or less than the current turn on a D6 at the start of his turn he stats change from 4/4/4/42/2/2/10/4+ to 5/5/7/7/4/4/4/10/4+ (interestingly the C'tan profile) until he rolls equal to or less than the turn number at the start of a later turn, possibly causing him to die when his wounds stat drops!
I like Orikan and his Temporal Snares ability is horrifying (it'll be FAQ'd I'm sure but at current it affects units moving onto the board during the Dawn of War mission, meaning if the Temporal Snares immobilise a vehicle it seems it'll count as destroyed (also destroying the unit inside), since the rulebook FAQ states that is what happens when a unit fails to get entirely on the board)! However I'll never use him as the unpredictability of The Stars Are Right (unless is occurs in combat its wasted and if it ends once in combat, he's in trouble) along with his high cost of 165pts for a model with 2 wounds, just aren't good.
If he was cheaper and lacked The Stars Are Right I'd snatch him up in moments, as it is I'll leave it to you.

Anrakyr the Traveller
One of the few Overlords to awake without confusion from the long sleep, Anrakyr has a purpose and it filled his mind clearly from the moment he awoke. He will reunite the dynasties. As such he travels, seeking out Necrons dynasties in danger and tomb worlds that have yet to awaken, helping them survive whatever dangers they face or awaken.
Anrakyr has standard Overlord stats and abilities (including Royal Court & Command Barge options) and is armed with a Warscythe and a Tachyon Arrow.
The abilities that make him impressive (and 35pts more than an identically armed Overlord), starting with the most basic, is that he has Counter-attack and Furious Charge and his army can upgrade a unit of Immortals to be his elite Pyrrhian Eternals who has the same USRs. His more impressive ability is the fact his great strength of will which lets him easily command his forces extends to even allow him to command other technological devices. In the shooting phase can select a vehicle he can see within 18" and on a roll of 3+, he overrides it and can immediately shoot with it as if it were stationary (he can't pivot it however, so weapon arcs are important) and disregards any Crew Shaken/Crew Stunned effects on it. This even extends to Super-Heavy vehicles and in the fluff he also took control of a Space Marine Battle Barge!
A powerful and good character, with some interesting abilities. One of my favourites (especially since he has a warscythe) and not bad for 165pts.

Trazyn the Infinite
Historian and lore keeper, Trazyn has an interesting background in which he 'obtains' artefacts from all over which he feels cannot he trusted with others (even other Necrons) and while he apparently has such items as Sebastian Thor's preserved head, the husk of an Enslaver (nice to see them popping up in fluff again) and also a giant man clad in baroque power armour... Curse GW for such intriguing fluff!
He also has a habit of transmuting living beings into hard-light holograms and using them recreating historical scenes (although he cares more for the spectacle than historical detail).
Rulewise he has standard Overlord statistics and unit/transport options, as well as being a Pharon. He is armed with Mindshackle Scarabs and his Empathic Obliterator, a standard combat weapon with a special rule if he kills someone with it. All models in the combat who share the same name in their profiles as as those slain suffer a wound on a 4+ (armour saves apply as they do for the weapons hits normally).
In addition to this Trazyn counts as a scoring model (he is that interested in the objectives for his collection) and if slain can swap with a random Lychguard, Cryptek, Lord or Overlord on a 2+, allowing them to die and him to be at a number of wounds which they had.
Thazyn is a little expensive at 175pts, but has a weapon which will be devastating against some armies (Orks, Dark Eldar, Guard etc) and is highly difficult to kill, which is always nice for a character and especially nice for a scoring unit (not to mention the number of tricks an independent scoring character can do).
One word of warning tho, the rules for his weapon mean he can hurt his own side if facing another Necron player with similar units!