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The Overlord + Lord tax seems pretty painful, frankly... But access to extra characters could be very handy.

So: In the case of a Decurion, you must have two Overlords/Options from the alternates to Overlord list, plus a Lord before you can buy Crypteks/Cryptek special characters.

Not quite as tricky when taking the formation in conjunction with a Combined Arms or Mephrit detachment: Not only do you have access to any two characters to begin with, but if you need more one Overlord is much easier to not view as a tax and you can take a Cryptek as the mandatory HQ... But even then you're still saddled with the baggage of a Lord.

My question is, what are good ways to kit these characters out and/or use them to see them less like expensive dead weight?

One option I considered is this:

Zahndrek and a generic Cryptek with a Veil of Darkness in five Shield Lychguard, turn one Deep Strike across the table then allow precision placement of Obyron and Orikan in ten Scythe Lychguard.

Bit deathstarry for my general tastes, but at least every member of the court is doing something... Best I can come up with off the top of my head. It's pretty hard to make this many characters good when you aren't fully able to pick who they are.

You really love that trebuchet-tactic, don't you?
But you are right, the requirement for two Overlords is really making it hard for me to justify the Royal Court with a Decurion, it's a 80-point tax that I don't want.
And that is basically how I deal with it: Just pay that 80 points and deal with it. Perhaps that might be more because I generally play at 1500 points.

Kangodo wrote:
You really love that trebuchet-tactic, don't you?

Looks kinda overpricey actually... But yes, I believe this is the third time I've mentioned it.

It's pretty much a desperate attempt to make use of a court as, quite frankly, the HQ section is where all the personality in the army comes from with no sergeants or specialists elsewhere. Just because some people are stuck back in 3rd edition where Necrons were a faceless horde doesn't mean I'm interested in doing so.

But you are right, the requirement for two Overlords is really making it hard for me to justify the Royal Court with a Decurion, it's a 80-point tax that I don't want.
And that is basically how I deal with it: Just pay that 80 points and deal with it. Perhaps that might be more because I generally play at 1500 points.

I'm more annoyed by the Lord. They were only really any good as orb holders or shackle-and-scythe before, and not only are both of those niches now completely removed but the base price has gone up.

I mean, there are uses for the Royal Court, but yes you'll be paying a "tax" for a Lord (and Cryptek or Overlord, depending on what you want the formation for). Bringing one with a CAD allows you to grab extra HQ slots, and lets your bring Imotekh alongside another LoW in the CAD.

I personally am going to be using one in a Decurion to make my Orikan deathstar.

Orikan + Overlord (Warscythe) + Lord (Warscythe) + Shield Lychguard in a Night Scythe. When it comes in, fly up, unload 1" away from the target, Lychguards never die (3++ rerolling 1s, 4+++ rerolling 1s), then charge in. 2 Warscythes, Orikan has an AP2 weapon (and might be Empowered), Lychguard tank hits and have AP3 and 3++.

If you can get the Night Scythe in turn 2 (thinking Zahndrekh or Imotekh for the Reserve Manipulation), that's a scary deathball. And the Lord won't be wasted, more Warscythes = more killing.

Requizen wrote:
And the Lord won't be wasted, more Warscythes = more killing.

True, but a solid 40 or so points of his cost will be wasted, given he's literally nothing more than a Scytheguard with two wounds.

At least the old Lord was only 5 points more than an old Scytheguard for the privilege of only having Ever Living as a distinction, and had some handy tools to bring.

changemod wrote:

Requizen wrote:
And the Lord won't be wasted, more Warscythes = more killing.

True, but a solid 40 or so points of his cost will be wasted, given he's literally nothing more than a Scytheguard with two wounds.

At least the old Lord was only 5 points more than an old Scytheguard for the privilege of only having Ever Living as a distinction, and had some handy tools to bring.

I mean, it's not optimal, but he does have 2 wounds and it's a way to mix Scythes into a squad of Shield Lychguard.

I do really wish we could mix and match weapons naturally though

changemod wrote:
Looks kinda overpricey actually... But yes, I believe this is the third time I've mentioned it.

I thought the fourth time, but I cannot blame you as I would love to do this too!

It's pretty much a desperate attempt to make use of a court as, quite frankly, the HQ section is where all the personality in the army comes from with no sergeants or specialists elsewhere. Just because some people are stuck back in 3rd edition where Necrons were a faceless horde doesn't mean I'm interested in doing so.

Agree, the HQ-personality is what drew me into Necrons in the first place.
I'm trying to collect all Lord/Overlord models and there are quite a few made since Necrons were released.
All painted in purple to show off the Dynasty.

I'm more annoyed by the Lord. They were only really any good as orb holders or shackle-and-scythe before, and not only are both of those niches now completely removed but the base price has gone up.

Really? Perhaps it is different when you take a CAD:
CAD-HQ: Obyron
RC-OL: Zhandrekh
RC-Cr: Orikan
That would leave you with a mandatory Lord.

I am trying a Decurion and Royal Court:
Reclamation-OL: Zhandrekh
RC-Cr: Orikan
RC-Lord: Obyron
That leaves me with a mandatory Overlord, something I cannot spend points on because my troops are already expensive.

I still don't get the Royal Court, a court shouldn't have to include it's own boss.
In my opinion they should have given it a 0-1 Overlord if you took it in a Decurion.
Perhaps I will just try to look more at stuff like the CAD or Mephrit Cohort instead of the Decurion.

Id've figured it would be more flavoury if they moved both the Overlord and the Lychguard to the Royal Court formation, gave them a small formation benefit and made a Command Formation mandatory to the Decurion. After all, being the royal guard is pretty much a Lychguard's entire job description.

1 Overlord, Named Overlord or barge, 0-3 Lords, 0-3 Crypteks, 1-3 Lychguard maybe? Would make a Decurion even more inflexible of course, but seems a good flavour perspective approach.

While we are on the subject, is the Royal Court a unit? Or can you split the characters up and place them throughout your Decurion?

MonumentOfRibs wrote:
While we are on the subject, is the Royal Court a unit? Or can you split the characters up and place them throughout your Decurion?

Not a unit, just a formation of a bunch of Independent Characters.

Requizen wrote:
Orikan + Overlord (Warscythe) + Lord (Warscythe) + Shield Lychguard in a Night Scythe. When it comes in, fly up, unload 1" away from the target, Lychguards never die (3++ rerolling 1s, 4+++ rerolling 1s)

I get that Orikan is granting them the ability to reroll the 1 from their inv save... but how are they rerolling the 1 from RP?
(is RP considered a "save", as far as rule terminologies go?)

[edit]
Ah, wait, I thought you were still taking about the CAD idea. Just noticed now that you were intending this deathstar to be Decurion based, so they'd get the RP reroll from having the RL's Overlord in their unit.
My mistake, carry on.
(though, with that kind of investment, yeah, a ResOrb might come in handy in case you need to reroll a lot of failed RP in some round)

One of the hidden gems of the royal court is that the Lords and the Overlords can take warscythes AND gauntlets of fire for a potent mix of troop killing and AV,MC killing power