Codex: Lords of Oblivion Redux

[Allerka]

As I approach the seventh anniversary of my entrance into the 40K hobby, and the birth of my Lords of Oblivion, I find myself looking back on their colorful history. Going from purely vanilla Marines without even a Chapter symbol, to a fully fleshed out Chapter with pages upon pages of fluff, two massive armies I own (One being a full Battle Company plus support elements, the other being a large all-biker army of the 8th Company), I find myself proud of what I've accomplished with the help of others. Starting in late 2007, and continuing on almost to today, I began development of a homegrown codex for the army, initially based on a combination of the 4th edition C:SM and C:DA, before refining it heavily to base it off of the current C:SM book. Now, with C:SW available, I find myself desiring to re-write the homegrown codex for several reasons.

 

First, many of the special traits I had developed for the original homegrown codex, while certainly good for trying to represent the unique nature of the Lords of Oblivion, found themselves to be of little use on the table-top. The Veteran Powers developed for ICs and Veteran Sergeants to take were largely useless in most games I played, the extra CC ability of all units made little impact, and some of the other special rules were frequently forgotten to be employed. Pretty much only the special characters that were developed, and the use of Stubborn by all ICs, made any noticeable change from a stock vanilla force built the same.

 

Second, upon reviewing the new Codex: Space Wolves, I find the core concept and theme of this codex is FAR closer to how I've envisioned the Lords of Oblivion. The extra emphasis on close-combat, the protection against psychic attacks, the contempt for the Codex Astartes, and so forth. While there are some elements of C:SW which do not entirely match with the Lords of Oblivion (for example the "Headstrong" rule of Blood Claws, which runs counter to the stoic nature of the Lords of Oblivion).

 

As such, I wanted to try again at writing a new homegrown codex for my Chapter, this time basing it off of Codex: Space Wolves. Plus I had such a fun time last time, I wouldn't mind going through it again. :D

 

As with my original project, there are several key items that I feel should be properly represented to make it feel like the Lords of Oblivion:

 

• Focus on Close Combat: In the original version, most units were equipped "Ultra-Grit" style, giving them extra attacks in close-combat. While this did improve the ability of Tactical Squads in assault, it was only a marginal improvement at best, and rarely made a difference. The presence of Counter-Attack and the overall army being geared more towards assault makes the Space Wolves a much better fit than C:SM. Plus C:SW would bring the army much closer to how I played it in 4th edition, when I used the traits for True-Grit/Counter-Attack and two special weapons.
  
• Proliferation of Psykers: The Lords of Oblivion has an above average number of Librarians, and many senior officers have latent psychic powers of their own, stemming from the Chapter undergoing extensive mental training and a possible quirk in their gene-seed. This was represented in LoO Librarians being slightly better than their vanilla counterparts, and all ICs and Vet. SGTs having access to "Veteran Powers" which made them function much like Eldar Warlocks. While I would like to continue to represent this feature, I am not yet entirely certain on how to go about doing so.
  
• Mental Fortitude: Whereas the Iron Hands, from whom the Lords of Oblivion draw their gene-seed, value strength of the body above all else, the Lords of Oblivion focus on strength of the mind above all else. In addition to their high level of psykers, this also gives them a much higher level of mental fortitude and stubbornness. This was represented with all ICs (Except Chaplains) having the Stubborn rule, and worked pretty well for this. Additionally, to represent their protection against psychic attacks, I was thinking of making the Wolf-Tail Talisman a built-in part of all units, or perhaps all units which have Veterans of some sort (i.e. ICs and Wolf Guard, thus they can spread their protection to other units they join).
  
• Unique Special Characters: The previous codex had four special characters developed specifically for it - Captain Tiburin (Captain with powerful lightning claws and Rites of Battle), Master Chaplain Walker (Chaplain with improved stats, a bike, and Hit and Run), Chief Librarian Filinus (similar to Tigurius, but with different special rules), and High Paladin Allerka (Chapter Master, on par with Abaddon or Marneus Calgar). I would like to retain these special characters, as I see no need to replace them, and I would also like to add 2-3 more, perhaps adding some "unit upgrade" types, like SGT Telion or Lukas the Trickster.
  

 

Now, with that established, here's my initial thoughts on possible changes from Codex: Space Wolves.

 

 

Special Rules

The special rules for the Space Wolves seem perfectly satisfactory to me, Counter-Attack fits with the close-combat profile. Acute Senses could perhaps be written as not so much, well, acute senses of the Marines, but more a psychic sensitivity to their surroundings. ATSKNF of course still works fine. Sagas I'll still have, though I think I shall rename them, perhaps to Legends, or something else, maybe even making them the new equivalent of Veteran Powers.

 

 

Now for the army list itself.

 

Troops

 

Blood Claws: While I've always had Scouts be the new guys in the Chapter, making them into an equivalent of Blood Claws is fine with me. However, their special rules don't fit very well with the theme of the Lords of Oblivion. They are known for calm under fire, and thus the Headstrong and Beserk Charge rules don't fit very well. Plus, my homegrown codex had Scouts at WS 4, to represent the highly martial culture of Firien, their homeworld. I realize the WS 3 of BCs is to balance the special rules they have, but I think the removal of both those rules would justify an increase to WS 4, as well as considering, while the tribesmen of Fenris typically just fight for survival, the citizens of Firien not only do the same, but relentlessly train themselves and actually strive to hone their skills, rather than simply fight for the sake of fighting. Otherwise, this entry is good to go, I think.

 

Grey Hunters (Tactical Squad): This unit is pretty much perfect, I just lament the lack of a true Veteran Sergeant option (one has to either drop to nine and add a Wolf Guard to still ride in a Rhino, or add a Wolf Guard for eleven models, and use a Land Raider to ride around). I think the Mark of the Wulfen option can be re-written as a Battle-Brother which has developed psychic powers which they can unleash in a fury of attacks. Additionally, I think the Wolf Standard, being changed to a Company Standard, should be one per army, and/or make it an option for the Wolf Guard instead.

 

 

HQ

 

Wolf Lord (Company Commander): Pretty much nothing needs changing here, other than adding Stubborn, and obviously renaming the Space Wolf-specific wargear to more suitable names for the Lords of Oblivion (such as changing the Belt of Russ back into an Iron Halo).

 

Rune Priest (Librarian): Like Wolf Lords, the addition of Stubborn would go here. Also, the previous codex had a required Epistolary upgrade, which I see no reason not to continue here.

 

Wolf Priest (Chaplain): These guys are fine as-is, I think.

 

Battle Leader (Command Sergeant): Technically there's no vanilla equivalent of these guys, but I think the Command Sergeant from the Command Squad could fulfill the role, as he is technically the second-in-command of a Company. Options-wise, everything is fine.

 

 

Elites

 

Wolf Guard (Veteran Squad): Now here's where it gets interesting. This is basically a catch-all entry for Vanguard and Sternguard Veterans, plus Command Squads and Terminator Squads. Obviously not all of the vanilla options are present. I would like to add "One Veteran per army may be upgraded to an Apothecary" and "One Veteran per army may be upgraded to a Company Champion, armed with a Frost Blade and Storm Shield (or their equivalents)" as well as perhaps move the Wolf Standard option to this choice, thus still allowing for something resembling a Command Squad. As mentioned above as well, the senior members of the Chapter have developed at least some latent psychic powers, and thus making the Wolf-Tail Talisman a built-in feature of Veterans seems like a logical choice. If they get detached to lead other squads, they can then in turn protect the more junior members of the Chapter.

 

(Venerable) Dreadnought: The previous codex replaced the Venerable rule of Venerable Dreadnoughts with the Psyker rule, and they were allowed to take Veteran Powers. With the removal of Veteran Powers, I'm thinking allow the regular Dreadnought to be a psyker still, and take one Librarian power, and replace the Venerable Dreadnought with the Ironclad (as the Lords of Oblivion isn't quite as old as, say, the Space Wolves, and I see no reason why they wouldn't have access to Ironclads).

 

Iron Priest (Techmarine): The only thing I'd want to change here is to add the servo-harness back in.

 

Wolf Scouts (Scout Squad): If the initiates of the Chapter are donning PA instead, leaving some Veterans to do the infiltrating work, these guys can work. I don't really see any need for changing options.

 

Lone Wolf: Honestly, I'm inclined to just remove this entry altogether. It just doesn't really fit with the theme of the army.

 

 

Fast Attack

 

Thunderwolf Cavalry (Dragon Riders): The idea of something off-the-wall like these guys appeals to me greatly. This gives me a chance to better represent the Dremori within my army, and I've already got a nice dragon model from Reaper picked out that can work for the mounts (I'll just need to green stuff in some saddles). No need for options changes here.

 

Swiftclaw/Skyclaw Packs (Biker and Assault Squads): I don't see why these guys can't be full-fledged Battle-Brothers, like they have been for my Chapter thus far. Therefore, change WS/BS to 4 and remove the BC rules again, and there we go.

 

Fenrisian Wolves: Like the Dragon Riders, this lets me show off some non-standard stuff. I haven't decided on what to use to represent them yet, though.

 

 

Heavy Support

 

Long Fangs (Devastator Squad): An interesting change from regular Devastator Squads, I'm not sure if I'd want to allow for the standard 10-man squads or not, perhaps raise their cost slightly to trade-off for the ablative wounds. As it is, Long Fangs are going to be pretty hard-hitting, not to mention incredibly cheap (a squad with five lascannons costs lest than a vanilla squad with four heavy bolters)

 

 

Vehicles

 

No need to make any changes here, other than to retain the "Seals of Oblivion" system I used in the previous codex. They were a +10 point upgrade, and you could choose one of four elements to put on the vehicle, and they had a minor effect on nearby units. It helped to thematically link the vehicles with the army, and worked pretty well, I think.

 

 

And there we go. Here's my initial thoughts, now I ask for yours. B)

[Allerka]

Well, unfortunately I've been caught up with real life issues, and thus haven't been able to do much with this, but, having actually gotten in some games with the Space Wolves now, I have a better understanding of the codex, and some more ideas on how to proceed.

 

I've decided to switch to dark elf cold ones for the Thunderwolf equivalents, as well as lizardmen salamanders for the Fenrisian Wolves. These work better for their entries, I think, as exotic creatures, as well as helping me to avoid having the army come across as "dragon Marines", which isn't something I wanted (Captain Tiburin already wields a pair of giant dragon claws as his weapons, I think that's enough for that ;) ).

 

Anyway, I've been thinking about my special characters as well. The previous version of Codex: Lords of Oblivion had four special characters: High Paladin Allerka (Chapter Master), Captain Tiburin (A Captain entry), Master Chaplain Walker (Chaplain entry), and Chief Librarian Filinus (Librarian entry), plus an entry for the Chosen of Allerka (retinue option replacing Honor Guard). They were roughly based around the Ultramarine equivalents, essentially matching those characters in ability and cost. However, the Space Wolves have characters that are far more expensive, and much more powerful. As such, I would like to try and re-write my special characters and base them off of the Space Wolf equivalents instead, with Allerka = Grimnar, Tiburin = Ragnar, Filinus = Njal, and Walker = Ulrik.

 

Here's each of the special characters, with their previous entries and my thoughts on their new changes:

 

 

Captain Tiburin

Old profile: As SM Captain, but with 4 attacks and 2+ armor save.

 

Special Rules: Stubborn and Rites of Battle

 

Special Gear: Claws of Nef'arian - count as master-crafted lightning claws which give +1 strength.

 

Cost: 175 points

 

 

New profile: Same as above.

 

Special Rules: Stubborn, Rites of Battle, and Tactical Genius(?) (perhaps +1 to reserve rolls for the whole army, units automatically pass their checks for Counter-Attack, or any unit he's attached to gains Furious Charge).

 

Special Gear: Claws of Nef'arien - count as wolf claws which both confer +1 strength and allow both to-hit and to-wound rolls to be re-rolled.

 

New cost: 225 points

(Basically I'm trying to make him come across as both a rock-solid fighter and a masterful leader. The Third Company under Captain Tiburin was the only Company in the Chapter to survive the Salvation of Firien campaign with most of its fighting strength intact, an ode to Captain Tiburin's mastery of strategy.)

 

 

Master Chaplain Walker

Old profile: SM Chaplain with +1 attack and +1 wound.

 

Special Rules: Rider of the Storm (has Hit and Run, and confers it to any unit he joins).

 

Special Gear: SM Bike.

 

Cost: 140 points

 

 

New profile: Same as Ulrik the Slayer

 

Special Rules: Rider of the Storm (Same as above, and also may be attached to a unit on bikes to allow them to outflank at the start of the game). Oath of Oblivion - confers Preferred Enemy against all types of enemy units.

 

Special Gear: SM Bike.

 

New cost: 200 points

(Walker probably gets the biggest buff of the characters, and pretty much turns into a beast capable of leading a death squad of bikers in from the flank. Could make for some interesting games).

 

 

Chief Librarian Filinus

Old profile: Same as SM Librarian with +1 attack and +1 wound.

 

Special Rules: Essence of Oblivion (knows all Librarian powers and may use up to three per turn) and Steeled Resolve (all units within 12" of Filinus gain Stubborn).

 

Special gear: Artificer armor.

 

Cost: 235 points

 

 

New profile: Same as above.

 

Special rules: Same as above. Also familiar "Relnor", all enemy models which can draw line of sight to it are at -1 LD.

 

Special gear: Runic armor, plus runic weapon with 3+ negation of enemy psychic powers.

 

New cost: 250 points

(Pretty much the same as before, I didn't really see much need to change him)

 

 

High Paladin Allerka

Old profile: Same as SM Chapter Master with +1 WS, +1 wound, and +1 attack.

 

Special Rules: Stubborn, Eternal Warrior, Chapter Tactics of "Veteran Powers taken in an army including Allerka cost 5 points less than normal".

 

Special gear: Incipio Ferrum (Terminator armor with a 3+ invulnerable save), Might of Manus (storm bolter with AP 4 and no invulnerable saves allowed), Dremori (relic blade with any unsaved wound allowing a psychic test by Allerka, passed tests would inflict a second wound automatically with no saves allowed).

 

Cost: 270 points

 

 

New profile: Same as above but with +1 attack (for a total base of 5).

 

Special rules: Same as above minus Chapter Tactics, addition of "Godslayer" rule, may re-roll all failed to-hit rolls against Independent Characters and Monstrous/Gargantuan Creatures.

 

Special gear: Same as above, except for Dremori, changed to "counts as a frost blade which gives +2 strength, and invulnerable saves may not be taken against it". (So essentially no saves can be taken against it, the lack of invulnerable saves matches it with the Might of Manus (which has its anti-invulnerable power because it's channeling psychic energy from Allerka)).

 

Cost: 280 points

(Relatively the same, but with some close-combat buffs after I noticed the prior incarnation was consistently unable to use the special rule for Dremori to any effect. Though I wonder if I should replace Godslayer with something more defensive/buffing to the army instead).

 

 

Chosen of Allerka

Old profile: Same as SM Terminators with +1 WS.

 

Special Rules: Stubborn, Feel No Pain

 

Special Gear: None (have standard Terminator Squad options of either Tactical or Assault loadouts with standard options).

 

Cost: 235 points

 

 

New profile: Same as above

 

Special rules: Same as above

 

Special gear: Standard armament of wolf claws, may replace either claw with a thunder hammer or storm shield for +10 points each.

 

New cost: 250 points base.

(Basically the personal retinue for Allerka, I still want to see them more or less in this incarnation, I think they work great as such, both functionally and thematically.)

 

 

New Characters

The Space Wolves have a grand total of eight special characters, including the two unit upgrade options. I'd like to further increase the number of special characters available to the Lords of Oblivion. I'm pretty flexible here, as I don't have any specific ideas yet that I'd like to put into print. So, here's some ideas:

 

 

Veteran Sergeant Lucius

(Upgrade for Grey Hunters/Tactical Squad)

 

Profile: Same as Wolf Guard/Veterans

 

Special Rules: Force Barriers - Lucius' psychic powers allow him to project barriers of energy to deflect incoming projectiles and blows, as well as to launch these barriers as small bolts which can harass, stun, or disable foes. Lucius, and any unit he is attached to, receives a 5+ invulnerable save. Additionally, any enemy models engaged in combat with Lucius are at -1 WS.

 

Wargear: Power fist, combi-melta.

 

Cost: +80 points

 

 

Veteran Sergeant Brehmin

(Upgrade for Skyclaw/Assault Squad)

Profile: Same as Wolf Guard/Veterans, plus +1 attack

 

Special Rules: Feel no Pain (applies only to him), Tank Hunters (applies to squad), Furious Charge (applies to squad).

 

Wargear: Storm shield, power fist.

 

Cost: +70 points

 

Techmarine Antonius

Profile: Same as Iron Priest

 

Special Rules: Bolster Defenses, Master Uplink (Units arriving via deep strike and outflank may re-roll their rolls to scatter or determine which board edge they arrive on).

 

Special gear: Servo-harness

 

Cost: +75 points

 

 

Veteran Sergeant Kent

(Upgrade for Wolf Guard/Veterans)

Profile: Same as Wolf Guard with +1 WS.

 

Special Rules: Stubborn, Saga of Warrior Born. Must be part of a Wolf Guard/Veteran Squad.

 

Special gear: power fist, wolftooth necklace.

 

Cost: +60 points

 

 

And there we go! A pretty exhaustive list, I think. Hopefully none of them are too crazy... :)