Necron Overlord
The Necrons have a very rigid feudal hierarchy dating back to the time when they were still Necrontyr, and it was made part of their most basic programming when they were upgraded into Necrons. Whereas Necron Lords only rule over a single Tomb World, a Necron Overlord may hold anywhere from 3 to a dozen Tomb Worlds in his sway. And as the Lords bow in service to their overlords, the Overlords of a Necron Dynasty kneel to the Phaeron, the SPACE EGYPTIAN ROBOT ZOMBIE KING OF KINGS for his word is law, more so now since there is no Triarch council to keep the different dynasties all on the same page.
Necron Overlords have a closely kept circle of advisors and viziers, consisting of high-ranking Crypteks and lesser Necron Lords. This 'Royal Court' of knowledge and influence not only help the overlord fight on the field of honour, but also serve as his eyes and ears among the dissenting nobility beneath him, assuming there is any, or assuming that his courtiers aren't in on the coup. This is now the only way to use regular Lords, functionally downgrading them to sergeants for your Immortals and Warriors, but for 75 points you get a model with WS/BS4, S/T5, only 1 wound, a Resurrection Orb (read: improved chance of your soldiers coming back), and two Warscythe attacks at S7. That being said, the 90 points base the Overlord isn't that impressive.
Phaerons
For 20 points you can call your Overlord the king of kings of his Dynasty, and give him and whatever unit he joins Relentless. Yay.
Toys and Tricks
You don't get much out of your Overlord on the tabletop without any upgrades. WS/BS4 and S/T5 just like the Regular Lord, but has an extra attack and 3 wounds. Slap on 60 more points and he trades in that 3+ save for the Brother Captain 2+/3++. 10 more swaps the Staff of Light for a Warscythe. 30 points each on top of that gives him a Res Orb of his very own, and a Tachyon Arrow, which is a one-use infinite range Hammerhead shot. For 15 more points he can have a cluster of Mindshackle Scarabs, which can make an enemy model go all Horus Heresy on his buddies in the assault, and you can buy a Phylactery for just as many points so when your Overlord gets up the first time from Reanimation Protocols he regains a D3 wounds instead of just one. And if you believe Lady Luck owes you a favor, you can pay 20 points for a Tesseract Labyrinth, which is any empty Pokeball of the sort you keep C'tan shards in. Activating it makes the target model make a wounds test, and if they fail CARNIFEX was caught! Give a nickname to the caught CARNIFEX? Do a little math and that makes that 90 point piece a 270 point ruiner-of-days. Pick and choose the toys you need from mission to mission, you will rarely ever need all of them in the same match.
The Royal Court
It comes highly recommended that you load up your Overlord with a Royal Court. Up to 5 each of Necron Lords however you like them, and any combination of Crypteks or Harbingers of various flavors. You can have as many Harbingers of any type as you like, but you can only assign their unique wargear options once per Royal Court. Of course you can take a second Overlord with a second Royal Court, at at 2000+ points you can have four. All of the Harbinger variants have their uses, and they all can confer useful effects or rules to whatever squad you stick them in. Or you can leave them all in the Royal Court and have a fire magnet more tantalizing than a brood of Distraction Carnifexes sitting on an objective. Be warned, Royal Courts can get expensive fast, so be sure you will actually use all the tricks you pay for.
Catacomb Command Barge
For 80 points there is no reason not to use this magnificent bastard boat. Its a chariot that comes with an underslung Tesla Cannon and has the Quantum shielding special rule, so it's mediocre AV 11 gets buffed to 13 on the front and sides until you penetrate it once. And it lets the Overlord in it make a Sweep Attack (read: Vector Strike) whenever it moves over an enemy unit. Unless you really want to give him a Res Orb and have him slog it with some Troops, the bastard boat is the way to go. Besides, it gives him a +1 to his armor save, so you don't need to spend the 15 points on the Overlord for that. And if you're feeling particularly froggy, you can put a wound on the Overlord to repair a hull point off the pimp boat.
Notable Overlords
- Imotekh the Stormlord - Particularly ego-maniacal. He woke up during the infighting that had ensued between the other Overlords after the old king had kicked the bucket. He decided that he had been Nemesor for too long and needed to change up, kicked the other Overlords asses and crowned himself Phaeron.
- Nemesor Zandrekh - A crazy old man who think he and his Court are still flesh and blood. He also sees everyone as Necrontyr, even his enemies. Noted for having dinner served every night, even though no one, not even he, eats anything.
- Trazyn the Infinite - A HI-larious combination of greedy bastard and historical preservationist. Among his collection are:
- Sebastian Thor's head
- An ossified Enslaver
- A frozen man in baroque power armor (who is totally not a lost Primarch).
- And a nice life-size diorama of five full regiments of Catachan Jungle Fighters.
- Anrakyr the Traveller - Instead of letting himself become embroiled in politics, he forsook his rule of the Tomb World Pyrrhia to roam the stars helping other Tombs awaken safely, and all he "asks" in return is a tithe of soldiers and supplies that he may continue his work. He upgrades 1 unit of Immortals in your army to Pyrrhian Eternals, giving them Furious Charge and Counter-Attack. He can also possess enemy vehicles and have them shoot at their own allies.