Primarch Mortarion!

Alrighty... after a far too long wait... The Grim Reaper of the Great Crusade, The Pale King, The Primarch of the Death Guard, Mortarion the Reaper has arrived

-EDIT: MINOR SPACING FIXES AND WEEKENDER OFFICIALISING (is that a word? Close enough, you know what I mean)

Mortarion is one of the more pricy Primarchs, but boy does he come with a lot of tricks. First of Mortarion has 7 wounds and a toughness of 7, a step up from the normal primarch statline of T6,W6. Not only is he tougher, Mortarion Re-rolls any failed IWND rolls, making him even tougher! Not a problem you say, I'll just shoot at him with my Sniper Veteran Squad or my Poisoned Dark Eldar fleet... Not so fast! Mortarion is only wounded by weapons that wound on a fixed roll on a 6, meaning Sniper, Poison and Fleshbane weapons are nearly useless against him. This guy is nails.

To add to Mortarion's resilience, he is equipped with The Barbaran Plate, conferring Cataphractii level saves (its not actually Cataphractii TDA but the saves are the same)

 Continuing on Mortarion's wargear, old Morty is equipped with a massive Death Guard Power Scythe that works exactly the same but with the added rules; Sunder and Instant Death. When combined with Mortarion's 6(7, see below) attacks on the charge this will pretty much ruin any character's day, unless they have Eternal Warrior, in which case they may just cling to life.

 If you've kept up to date with the newest legion astartes book there have been some changes to Power Scythes: no more unwieldy and Sweeping attack, instead they have -1 initiative and if they're in base contact with more than 1 enemy model they gain +1 attack (yes this does make Mortarion strike at normal marine Initiative, but you were going at I1 before anyway) (this is all Death Guard Power Scythes, making Deathshroud even better, coming to 4 attacks on the charge)

For all your shooting needs Mortarion has an UNLIMITED supply of Phosphex Bombs (12", str5, ap2, blast with some other little rules, read your book if you want to know (just little nuances)) which is AWESOME. 

Mortarion also has a personal side arm in the form of a 18" str8 ap2 energy blaster, which is also AWESOME (also has sunder so feel free to take a pop at vehicles before charging them).

For his special rules Mortarion has the Primarch rule which, you guessed it, all Primarchs have. He also has a fancy little rule called Shadow of the Reaper. This rule reduces enemy LD by -1 for fear checks (eh) and ALLOWS MORTARION TO REDEPLOY WITHIN 10" in the shooting phase if he doesnt run or fire. To do this you have to pass a leadership test, (he's a LD10 PRIMARCH so thats almost a given to pass). If passed Mortarion can be redeployed within 10" of his starting position as long as theres space for him (and no he cant magically bring his unit with him, thats specified as part of the rule, i see you 10 man Deathshroud squad). Just to make this that extra bit more awesome Mortarion can still charge after doing this, but counts as disordered (who cares, with the new rules on Scythes its like he charged anyway (+1 attack if in base contact with 2+ enemy models))

This ironically makes Mortarion the fastest of the walking Primarchs (so excluding Corax, Levitating Lorgar and Sanguinius when he's released #timestamp).

As if he wasnt tough enough Mortarion passes any Deny the Witch roll on a 4(3)+, against Maeldictions. (It's a 3+ cause he also has Adamatium will) Against witchfires it's still a 5+

To finish off Mortarion buffs friendly Death Guard with Stubborn and makes any Frag Grenades, Frag missiles and Havoc launchers poisoned 4+ so yay? Its free so no drawbacks (as these keep their original strength as well you're still wounding punny normal humans (Auxila and Militia/Cults) on a 3+)

Thats it for the data on Mortarion, as for what I'd do with him in games, I'd probably just run him solo and abuse his "teleport" and go hunt Vehicles. While he could go and take on infantry, I'd leave that to your elite units (Deathshrouds come to mind). Mortarion is more likely to make up his points if you go in on the flank (explained below) and ice some vehicles and heavy support squads with his sunder power scythe and then move in to sandwich the enemy with the rest of your army.

Watch as your opponent either swerves off to the side to counter Mortarion (especially after he moves 16" in one turn not counting assault distance) leaving their other flank and now side-on front units open to the rest of your army or they split their army and fire power; reducing the damage your main army takes.

 Moving on the flank also serves to reduce the amount of fire coming at Mortarion (going down the left edge for example means that units on the right side will have a much harder time getting in range and hitting through terrain in the other 2 strips (left, middle & right))

This tactic can be amplified further by sending in a Xiphon Interceptor before Morty hits the enemy vehicles to reduce their Hull points, meaning you're much more likely to destroy your target vehicle

(Mortarion is vulnerable to mass Las-cannon fire, deepstriking sucide melta/plasma squads so keep that in mind when playing him.)

Thats it for Mortarion, now onto his Loyalist brother; Vulkan and his Pyromanic legion the Salamaders!

Just as an FYI, I'll be doing some overhauls on previous posts that are affected by the Weekender, namely Emperor's Children and Death Guard. After that I'll be doing a post on the new Legion Rites, the new Generic Rites and their Synergies with Legions I have reviewed (and I'll cover any rites I didn't cover for legions before) so my apologies if you're waiting for Salamaders and bear with me while I make these adjustments. EDIT: Resolved

Thanks for reading!

-Argel Tal

Primarchs: Ferrus Manus, Fulgrim and Lorgar

-minor updates across this post-

Now that Iron Hands are finished, I will be moving onto Emperor's Children, the great exemplars of war and perfection. And how better to transition than by comparing their Primarchs.

As Lords Of War, in the Age Of Darkness Force Org they may only make up less than 25% of your army cost. This with their high point cost they can only be used in larger games. (Generally 2000+ point games) Even as they are very powerful they are best used to enhance something your army already does well (hopefully reflected in your choice of legion and army lists). 

Kicking off with Lorgar as a missed out on him before: With 4 base attacks +1 for a pistol and +1 for charging, and Str 6+2(mace) and Ap he is a considerable force CQC (not as powerful as the other primarchs but he will stomp almost any other HQ). But what he does best is enhance your legionaries. Lorgar confers +1 combat resolution and +1 charge distance and ignores fear to all legion astartes Word Bearers who can draw line of sight to him. Also all Word Bearers may use his leadership if he isn't embarked in a transport, all of which is awesome

Stock Lorgar is a ML2 psyker who harnesses on a 5+, drawing from telekinesis and divination. If you purchase the 75 point upgrade (boarder line mandatory) he becomes ML3, harnesses on a 3+ which is totally AWESOMESAUCE, and he can CHOOSE HIS POWERS. Combined with adamantium will he has a 3+ deny to all ML2 and below psykers and 4+ against any ML3. His armour is 2+,4++ and it goes to a 3++ against force weapons and psychic powers (meaning he will never die to psychic anything) (also he is currently the only psychic Primarch). 

With precognition he just will not die, and there are some other nice powers IE Psychic Shriek which is amazing at erasing terminators and marines due to it ignoring armour saves! The Haywire telekinesis power is very nice as it hits the whole squadron and as a maldiction it automatically hits flyers, making Lorgar able to dish out the pain to armoured columns.

Also as he can pick his psychic powers every game you're free to pick and choose based on what you're up against.




Ferrus Manus: the most bad a** mechanic in 30k-40k. He has a 3+ battlesmith which is actually 2+ because of his servo arm. Vehicles near him will never die. (Do this when needed, but do other things as he is far to expensive to be just a super mechanic). Vehicles with atleast one facing with Av13+ in the same army as Ferrus gain IWND, which stacks with Blessed Autosimulcra, making you're armoured columns insanely tough, Spartan tank anyone? 

Any friendly Iron Hands astartes in an army with Ferrus gain a 6+FnP, which all together with Involite armour means that an army with this guy will be extremely hard to shift, infantry of mechanised.

Ferrus makes high armour lists extremely strong. A powerful tactic would be to run him as part of an Armoured Breakthrough Rite of War for plenty of fast Predator tank squadrons all with IWND and Blessed Autosimulcra.

With his higher toughness (7 instead of the normal primarch 6), 2+ save IWND, many wounds and -1 Str for shooting against him almost nothing will damage Ferrus outside of combat. Like his army this guy will not budge. Taking him will make your space marines tougher than Necrons. Terminators with -1str from shooting, 2+, 4++ and a 6+ FnP anyone? Breachers with 3+, 5/6++ 6+FnP and -1 Str and defensive grenades?! Armoured columns with IWND, Blessed Autosimulcra for a potential regen of 2 hull points per turn!

With Toughness 7 and -1srt for all incoming shooting Ferrus cannot physically be damaged by strenght 4 weapons, al la the BOLT GUN. FERRUS MANUS IS IMMUNE TO BOLT GUNS, this is awesome! Enjoy your practically immortal Primarch *coughcoughFulgrimcough*

Just don't lose your head over his abilities. *que comedic drum/symbol noise*

Next everyone's favourite perfectionist: Fulgrim! The most noticeable thing about this guy is his insanely high Intitive and Weaon Skill, both 8! As if Fulgrim's 6 attacks on the charge wasn't high enoughm he gains an extra attack for each point that his Initiative is higher than his opponent's in a challenge. Meaning he has 10 attacks versus generic characters and 8 versus praetors.

Fulgrim comes with a rule similar to Emperor's Children characters, it forces him to accept and issue challenges, provided there is a challenger with weapon skill 5 or higher. But really there's no reason not to as Fulgrim only gets better in a challenge. 

To add to Fulgrim's combat prowess he has Crusader, meaning he sweeps at I8+D6+D3!

His stock weapon is surprisingly lacklustre for a Primarch weapon with only Str user (has rending +Ap2 so yay?). But that doesn't matter cause you're taking Fireblade, you are taking this right? its a 0 point upgrade and like 10 times better. +2 Str, Ap2 specialist weapon and instant death on roll of 5/6 to wound. (He becomes str8 anyway but helps versus bikers and Magos'es)

Not only is Fulgrim an amazing CQC Primarch, he also confers +2* wound score for any Emperor's Children astartes in combat and himself, which is AWESOME. Which when combined with a special Emperor's childern Dreadnought is a 24 inch bubble of +1, gives your army +3 for wound score. Awesome. Add this to crusader and Fulgrim will curb stomp all the things

Also he can chose his warlord trait from crusade or strategic. (you can give units within 6" +1 to wound score, seeing a trend? +4 WOUND SCORE!). With Fulgrim you can lose comabt and still win it. (Extra points if you take Pheonix Termiantors so draws count as victories) 

Most of the warlord traits are a bit mediocre, but there are some really awesome ones; Rerolling ones to wound with Pheonix Terminators, Outflanking d3 units +3 more for Maru Skara on turn 2 (Maru Skara you can pick turn of arrival and normal reserves can be rerolled with Fulgrim) is awesome for a combat army, as is +1 to seize, shred on D3 template/blast (both small and large variety, medusa tanks, plasma cannon support?). Pick as necessary.

Fulgrim's armour is so fabulous that any time he makes a save of a 6, the unit that targeted him must pass a blind test, making them WS1 (all the better to CQC them with). 10 points if you get this on overwatch and blind the unit you're charging. 

His invulnerable save is a terrible 5++, but it increases to a 3++ in CQC. Because of his low stock invol Fulgrim NEEDS A TRANSPORT, if he's footslogging Fulgrim will eat far too many rending or low Ap shots, reducing him to a kill-able number of wounds. BUY THIS MAN/DEMIGOD/THING A TRANSPORT!

Overall, not only is Fulgrim an amazing CQC model capable of wiping out entire squads by himself with sweeping advances, he also hands out all kinds of candy to your army. This makes him one of the most versatile Primarchs.

That concludes this super Primarch post.

Thanks for reading.

Argel Tal out

Quad Rapier Emergency! New rules, Phosphex shells!

Though I don't normally review non Legion specific units (as of writing), this has to be shown. Look at the new rules for the Quad Mortar Rapier Batteries.

Those Phosphex shells!! Add world burner = 3+ re-rollable ap3. And each of those templates can be moved 2" as per crawling fire! And the templates stay in play as difficult and dangerous terrain! Holy cow. Only 20 points, they could be 40 and I'd buy that.

Emperors children updates incoming

Hi everyone, you might have noticed some of the Emperors children posts were updated recently, this was because of the changes to Terminator armour, in particular being able to sweeping advance. 

However it looks like my job is not yet done, word from the Weekender is that Emperors Children have some major rules changes as of the upcoming books, namely a legion wide rule where assaulting units gain +1 initiative, Sonic Shriekers now reducing enemy weapon skill and new profiles for Kakophoni weapons (The Cacophany) hearing that it may become Heavy 2 and/or may lose Gets Hot/rite removes Gets Hot. Which in conjunction with relentless and being Troops in the new rite means they will need a total overhaul, especially if the weapon Ap changes.

Also the new rites will an effect how EC builds are made (jump infantry themed one could be used with Eidolon, Palentines and Assault marines (who might get a points reduction, here's hoping)), but I'll probably do a post on each legion I've done already or as a group on how to use and benifits/drawbacks of the new rites of war.

Because of this some more EC material will be rewritten or edited, until then just hold tight while I finish the updates and figure out Salamanders.

Cheers, -Argel Tal