40k Birthday Bash 2.0 Update: Faction Decision! (...Possibly...) Part 4 - The Finale

Hello Again Ladies and Gents!

Today we see the home stretch for me looking at the Maynarkh Dynasty and trying to see if anything needs amending for using the Force in 7th Ed,  and the current codex.  And to finish out this little exercise for now we will look at the MacDaddy of the Maynarkh Dynasty, Kutlakh the World Killer!

But before we get into the meat of Kutlakh's rules I think it would be good to have a wee look at this mechanical bad-ass.

Kutlakh to start is, not the leader of his Dynasty,  he is the highest ranking general of their armies,  and in his own right,  as powerful as some phaeron's of lesser dynasties. The leader of the Maynarkh Dynasty has only ever been referred to as the Mother of Oblivion,  and has been hinted to have been either romantically or physically connected with the Silent King.

Kutlakh has never been focused on the political trappings of the Dynasty structure,  preferring to put his efforts into his martial might. At the close of the war in heaven,  the Silent King ordered the most powerful of weapons to be turned on the C'tan after he realised their insipid betrayal. The Maynarkh Dynasty was at the front of unleashing these cosmically destructive weapons on the Star Vampires,  with many being shattered into the shards they are in the 41st Millennium. Of all the C'tan attacked and defeated by the Necrons,  none was so utterly obliterated as Llandu'gor the flayer,  personally falling to Kutlakhs hand. With this act all of the Necron race was doomed to the possibility of the flayer curse. None more so than the Maynarkh themselves. But of Kutlakh, devolution to a flayer has yet to happen, he still maintains the majority of his sanity... For now...

Ooooooohhh Drama!!! 😝
I hope that all got you tingling,  as now we move on to look at this bad-ass on the tabletop!

Statline wise the S, T, and WS all rock in at a Melta bomb with,  W3 standard Necron initiative,  and A of a melta bomb -1. He comes equipped with a staff of light and the Obsidax.  Special rules include, Independent Character,  Adamantium Will, Re-An,  Splinter of Madness, Phaeron,  and Ever-living; these last two in the vien of the articles so far will just be straight dropped. Kutlakh comes with the Death Incarnate Warlord trait as standard,  so refer to my thoughts on this from the first article in the series.  He also is rocking a 2+sv.

The staff of light does not have the specialist weapon rule,  which conflicts with the obsidax,  which does. I can't remember if the previous iteration of the staff had this rule, but currently it doesn't,  so we'll stick to the current profile.

The Obsidax is a beefed up Hyperphase blade. It's S user,  Ap2,  Melee,  Instant Death,  and as previously shown a specialist weapon.  Pretty tasty.

Coming back to the Splinter of Madness Rule,  this confers,  Fear and Fearless to Kutlakh and any unit he is attached to.

It also gives a little interesting aside as well...

First off Kutlakh must always fight in a challenge if possible both declaring and accepting.  Next at the start of the sub fight stage both Kutlakh and his opponent roll a d6 and add it to their ld value. If Kutlakhs total is greater,  the opponent has their WS reduced by the difference for that assault phase 😱! Such it Imhotekh and your hand removal fetish! 😝

Kutlakh is nothing short of a beast in combat. He wants to chase your chapter masters,  your chaos Lords,  your big hitters and mess up their day. I think he is a good character,  and is reasonably priced at 44 melta bombs. High shooting and blob squads may cause him lots of issues though.  Protecting him with the Charnal Lychguard is key.

What do you all think? Is Kutlakh worth it? Is he too OP? Would you change anything about him,  let me know in the comments!

Hopefully I will hear soon on whether I can run this list,  and I will follow up soon,  if not I'll be feverishly looking at something else soon...

Until next time
Jonathan

40k Birthday Bash 2.0 Update: Faction Decision! (...Possibly...) Part 3

Good Morning Ladies and Gents!
I hope you all got an excellent night sleep as we return to the horror of the Maynarkh Dynasty,  and the dread legions at they're disposal!

First things first,  Fast Attack and Heavy Support Choices. If you have read the previous posts we are looking at the choices as per my list for the Birthday Bash 2.0 Tournament, so once I've finished this set of rereviews I'll come back and visit the other units in these respective slots.

So I having selected to use X2 Heavy Necron Destroyers,  a Doom Scythe and a Doomsday Ark,  with the Imperial Armour book you are instructed to use the entry from Codex: Necrons,  so these will be the same as you all know and love.  Which leads us to...

The Elites
This is a fun section and presents units that may seem new to some:

Charnal Lychguard
Just like with the current codex,  Overlords can have their fluffy body guard unit.  A Maynarkh Overlord can take a single unit of these deadly close combat bots.  Rocking the same stat line as their codex counterparts,  Charnal Lychguard,  gain the rage and fear special rules.  Now I hear you cry out how can these be reasonable versus their counterparts? I'll tell you.  They cost an extra 22 melta bombs on top for basically rage and fear... In any other life I'd say drop that points value down to maybe another 5 melta bombs on top of the unit and you'd be grand,  but for now,  I think superceding the re-an special rule and leaving them as is,  is an excellent compromise for the tourney without being OP.

Canoptek Tomb Stalker
OMG A GIANT MECHA CENTIPEDE OF DOOM!!! 😝 The first ever Forgeworld model produced for the cash strapped customer (kudos if you have a Necron Pylon,  I secretly hate you lol) this is the beefed up cousin of the Canoptek Tomb Spider.  Rocking the Deep Strike,  Outflank,  Hit and Run,  Night Vision,  Rampage, Fearless,  Fleet,  Acute Senses, and War Construct special rules,  this beastie stat line comparable to a Carnifex,  hits just as hard,  but from many different directions. You can also purchase Sepulchral Scarabs for 4 melta bombs that give it IWND and it's a monstrous creature with X2 glass flayers.

So what is the War Construct Rule I hear you ask,  well it basically means any weapon that wounds on a flat value will only ever wound on a 6. This is a unit that can't be guaranteed to be poisoned to death. Now a lot of these rules really make it seem scary,  but like nid players know deep striking big gribblies into a tabletop can be very hazardous,  and as it draws a lot of fire,  getting isolated is a death sentence for the model with only the wounds of +1 over a base of Necron Scarabs. It's big it's scary,  but it can die very quickly and at the cost of 45 melta bombs.

I feel the unit is fine as it is.  Just like all Canoptek constructs this beastie does not have the re-an rule either so no need to worry about that here.

As I feel the unit is actually well balanced for its points,  and is more of a psychological terror unit for your opponent I don't think this needs amending and worst well within the bounds of the current codex,  but please,  please let me know if you think this unit is overpowered,  and if so what would you change? It's an amazingly sexy model and I think would be a great addition to the upcoming event.

Next time we will be looking at the final entry,  on Kutlakh the World Killer!

Until next time...  Game with the lights on...
Jonathan

40k Birthday Bash 2.0 Update: Faction Decision! (...Possibly...) Part 1

Hello People's of the interwebz!!!

Today I come to you with some thoughts on what I may be taking to Dave Westons 40k Birthday Bash 2.0 Tournament! After much thought I have come to the conclusion that I would like to deviate a little from the standard armies that we are all familiar with to have a look at the Necrons of the Maynarkh Dynasty,  as presented in Imperial Armour 12.

The first thing to acknowledge is that using this list has not yet been checked or approved by Dave,  so I'll let him know then go from there (fingers crossed I'll hopefully be able to bring it for something a bit different). Secondly the army is, to say the least,  "bit " out of date. To this end I propose the following amendments and non-amendments (might not be correct grammar but let's roll with it) to the rules for the Maynarkh Dynasty, as found in Imperial Amour 12:

Warlord Traits:
1. Predictive Strategist
Reserve Manipulation +/-1 whilst Warlord is on the table. Many armies can use similar warlord traits,  so I don't think this needs amending for use at the event.

2. Dust and Ashes
Denying Slay the Warlord to your opponent nets you a victory point. Not too power inherently but can be a game changer.  I still think this is OK as is.

3. Blood of Ancients
Just like good old Chaos champion rule for challenges,  with the exception ICs killed in combat award victory points.  Really need Dave W to make a call on this one. Any suggestions for the communities opinion on whether this is too OP is also welcome (and if so suggestions to update).

4. Unbending Will
Reroll re-an's within 3in of an objective. . Not too shabby, I think this is grand as is.

5. Fire of the Heavens
During the shooting phase (every one!)  a unit which is a vehicle or artillery can resolve a single ranged attack at +1S! Doesn't exceed max S,  but is still a bit OP for a friendly tournament...  Maybe reduce this to one use a game.

6. Death Incarnate
Warlord and unit gain Crusader. Not too shabby,  so fine as is.

Army Special Rules

Reanimation Protocols
So IA:12 was originally written with the 5th edition codex (some call it the first 6th edition codex,  but that is neither here nor there) in mind.  To this end,  I would say all units with this rule,  must follow the rule as presented in the current codex: Necrons.

Flensing Scarabs 
Unit equipped with Flensing Scarabs has the shred rule for the first turn of assault in the game.  Doesn't seem to bad,  keep it as is.

Entropic Strike
Harks back to the previous codex where you could remove a models armour save or reduce the armour value for vehicles.  I suggest replacing this to the entry in the current codex,  as this rule specifically applies to scarabs (I haven't seen any other units that can make use of this rule in IA:12).

Living Metal
Wording same as in current codex. No need to dwell here.

Ever-living
The rule no longer exists in the current codex,  so for all intents and purposes this rule should be ignored for all units that have it in IA:12.

Mark of the Flayer
Roll a d6 if a Maynard overlord/or unit they have joined fails a moral check or wipes a unit in close combat. Immediately apply result from MoTF table:

Berserk
Basically what kharn does when he misses in close combat (at d3 auto hits). Hits himself if on his own for a wound.  Fluffy and not to powerful,  definitely a hazard to use Maynarkh HQs,  love it.

Remains in Control
No effect.

Transfiguration
Overlord gains fearless and rage. At end of the battle,  overlord counts as destroyed for the purposes of victory points and StW.
More of the same,  a hazard to take but love the fluffiness,  can stay as is currently.

Next time I'll post about the units I may take in the book ((depending on whether I can take this army) some units are massively over costed these days hahaha) and what it may look like for my list.

Please let me know what you think in the comments,  are the amendments reasonable? Have the things that stayed the same reasonable? Shout out and let me know!

Until next time
Jonathan