Njal

[Azza007]

So, is he? I have been considering getting him for a while now and wanted to know what people's feelings are towards him. I currently have around 2000pts of Space Wolves, is he worth the points at this level? Not only that but in smaller games I was thinking of using him as a generic Rune Priest, maybe a younger Njal before he fully mastered his powers. What you think?

[TiguriusX]

It depends on what you want/need him for

 

Basic psyker protectionin low point games...he isn't worth it. You can get 2 separate RPs and cast a spell twice (once per RP) and still have points remaining. You could even play around with allied codexes and get better and cheaper combos for psyker negation

 

At higher point games where you want to use your HQ FOC slots for other stuff...Njal is awesome. He gives access to all powers

 

One final point about Njal is that he can still pop off powers even when facing an anti-psyker force such as eldar. His lord of tempests ability does not require any casting or leadership test. It goes off automatically every round. You may not cast jaws against eldar but you will shut down their psyker game with your 3+ rune staff and have a good shot at unleashing a vengeful tornado or chain lightning before the match is over

[Wolf Lord Hallbjorn]

I agree with Tigurius about the criteria for when to use him and when not to. In my personal experience, Njal is like putting a titan down on the gameboard. The opponent usually sweats bullets and possibly even shakes with fear, but he paints a HUGE target on his forehead. This usually means that unless he's got one hell of a bodyguard, you're going to see quite a bit of points go down the proverbial toilet.

 

His Lord of Tempests effects are great, but quite a few of them have a rather short range, making it a gamble when you put an expensive non-melee specialist HQ close enough for those particular powers to affect the enemy. This is usually why people would rather take multiple regular rune priests instead of putting all those points into one model.

 

As Tigurius stated, his anti-psyker capabilities are very nice but in smaller points games you're probably going to be just fine taking a couple regular rune priests or throwing an Inquisitor Lord in there.

 

I like to use him, but I'm always conscious of how many points I just invested in one model and I try to keep him alive long enough for him to pay for himself.

[Stormbrow II]

Njal + Tarot Inquisitor + Bjorn = 1st turn madness. The only downside is that it costs a fortune and you should be confining it to 2k plus games. Njal is simply too expensive to take in smaller games and you need both of the above to get the first turn or else you can't take advantage of some of his abilities (because it doesn't work if he goes second...).

 

In anything smaller it's best to just run with a single RP. He's typically more than half as cheap and you only really lose a slight bonus in stopping enemy psychic powers.

[SpaceWolf13C]

well the force i've been toying with involves njal and bjorn in the same list at 2000 pts. they take up a huge chunk of my points but i felt that bjorn would draw some heat off of njal and they have a bit of synergy with the whole going first thing.

 

while bjorn has never died in a game, njal never makes it to see 4th turn. i'm still experimenting and playtesting to get him to live longer. but all of my games have been against dark eldar so they can just pop out of the webway and assault him the same turn. i think against a "conventional" army he would do a lot better. of course njal wouldn't have such a bright neon bullseye on his head if he hadn't been so effective in wiping out the xenos. tempests wrath is the bane of any army that only has skimmers, jetbikes, and deepstrikes. of course thats just a regular psychic power that any RP could take but its often overlooked for LL or JOTW or even MH. njals real handiness is that he always has the right tool for the job. in a friendly environment where your opponents don't mind you tailoring your list then any old RP will do. in a tourney setting where you aren't sure of what you will be facing njal becomes much nicer.

[SpaceWolf13C]

well the force i've been toying with involves njal and bjorn in the same list at 2000 pts. they take up a huge chunk of my points but i felt that bjorn would draw some heat off of njal and they have a bit of synergy with the whole going first thing.

 

while bjorn has never died in a game, njal never makes it to see 4th turn. i'm still experimenting and playtesting to get him to live longer. but all of my games have been against dark eldar so they can just pop out of the webway and assault him the same turn. i think against a "conventional" army he would do a lot better. of course njal wouldn't have such a bright neon bullseye on his head if he hadn't been so effective in wiping out the xenos. tempests wrath is the bane of any army that only has skimmers, jetbikes, and deepstrikes. of course thats just a regular psychic power that any RP could take but its often overlooked for LL or JOTW or even MH. njals real handiness is that he always has the right tool for the job. in a friendly environment where your opponents don't mind you tailoring your list then any old RP will do. in a tourney setting where you aren't sure of what you will be facing njal becomes much nicer.

[SpaceWolf13C]

well the force i've been toying with involves njal and bjorn in the same list at 2000 pts. they take up a huge chunk of my points but i felt that bjorn would draw some heat off of njal and they have a bit of synergy with the whole going first thing.

 

while bjorn has never died in a game, njal never makes it to see 4th turn. i'm still experimenting and playtesting to get him to live longer. but all of my games have been against dark eldar so they can just pop out of the webway and assault him the same turn. i think against a "conventional" army he would do a lot better. of course njal wouldn't have such a bright neon bullseye on his head if he hadn't been so effective in wiping out the xenos. tempests wrath is the bane of any army that only has skimmers, jetbikes, and deepstrikes. of course thats just a regular psychic power that any RP could take but its often overlooked for LL or JOTW or even MH. njals real handiness is that he always has the right tool for the job. in a friendly environment where your opponents don't mind you tailoring your list then any old RP will do. in a tourney setting where you aren't sure of what you will be facing njal becomes much nicer.

[SpaceWolf13C]

well the force i've been toying with involves njal and bjorn in the same list at 2000 pts. they take up a huge chunk of my points but i felt that bjorn would draw some heat off of njal and they have a bit of synergy with the whole going first thing.

 

while bjorn has never died in a game, njal never makes it to see 4th turn. i'm still experimenting and playtesting to get him to live longer. but all of my games have been against dark eldar so they can just pop out of the webway and assault him the same turn. i think against a "conventional" army he would do a lot better. of course njal wouldn't have such a bright neon bullseye on his head if he hadn't been so effective in wiping out the xenos. tempests wrath is the bane of any army that only has skimmers, jetbikes, and deepstrikes. of course thats just a regular psychic power that any RP could take but its often overlooked for LL or JOTW or even MH. njals real handiness is that he always has the right tool for the job. in a friendly environment where your opponents don't mind you tailoring your list then any old RP will do. in a tourney setting where you aren't sure of what you will be facing njal becomes much nicer.

 

um so sorry about that my comp froze and then bam 4 messages

[Hfran Morkai]

I like to use him, but I'm always conscious of how many points I just invested in one model and I try to keep him alive long enough for him to pay for himself.

 

This, I lost him to two bolt pistols in a 2500 match the other day, admittedly his TDA unit had been targetted with a plasma cannon and lots of other firepower but I was a little upset.

[Emperor's Scourge]

I dislike Space Wolf armies that use Inq allies. Not just because its a gimp move in general to use Inq allies with a 5th edition codex, but because the Inq and SW don't really like each other. Not very fluffy.

[Wispy]

Depends on how many psykers you have to deal with.

 

I got tired of Blood Angle 5 Librarian lists, so I started taking Njal. Lists started normalizing after that.

 

When there's 350 points of enemy psykers on the board, he pays for himself. Doubly so if Mephiston is around, as Sanguinius-reborn is a much less reliable choice when his powers don't go off - Helps that Njal is a way better Psyker.

[Stormbrow II]

I dislike Space Wolf armies that use Inq allies. Not just because its a gimp move in general to use Inq allies with a 5th edition codex, but because the Inq and SW don't really like each other. Not very fluffy.

Some Inq and SW work with each other according to 'fluff'. Besides, fluff is irrelevant. Anything can be justified by putting a good spin on it.

[Wolf Lord Hallbjorn]

I dislike Space Wolf armies that use Inq allies. Not just because its a gimp move in general to use Inq allies with a 5th edition codex, but because the Inq and SW don't really like each other. Not very fluffy.

Some Inq and SW work with each other according to 'fluff'. Besides, fluff is irrelevant. Anything can be justified by putting a good spin on it.

 

I agree with Stormbrow. It doesn't take much spinning at all for the Grey Knights (I have a Grey Knights force, hence the example) to be involved in a battle with the Space Wolves. If there's even a hint that an enemy commander may be possessed by a daemon, the Knights will come in force and they won't care who is already there fighting. It would probably work out in much the same way as my Dark Angel friends like to say it when we team up against xenos or heretics: "You can fight over there and I'm going to fight over here and you can think that we're working together."

[Dragoth Night Haunter]

I find Njals effectivness to vary very much on how you plan to use him, his Storm callery thing (runs of to find brothers codex for name of storm thing) Lord of the Tempest rule can come in very handy, but this just makes youre oppoment angry (Im usially the oppoment :huh: ) But why take him for anything else when you can grab two Rune Priests for the same cost double :P but like I said it depends on how your gone to use him, and what sort of player you are.

[Vlk]

I dislike Space Wolf armies that use Inq allies. Not just because its a gimp move in general to use Inq allies with a 5th edition codex, but because the Inq and SW don't really like each other. Not very fluffy.

Some Inq and SW work with each other according to 'fluff'. Besides, fluff is irrelevant. Anything can be justified by putting a good spin on it.

 

What about Bellisarius navigators?

[Stormbrow II]

What about Bellisarius navigators?

They're not the Inquisition. Unless you're criticising the point about the use of allies in general?

[Wolf Lord Hallbjorn]

My Imperial Guard army is going to be a House Bellisarius army, and I use Grey Knights allies quite often. The first Armageddon War proves that Space Wolves can and do work with allied Inquisition. The Great Wolf himself called upon the Grey Knights to help banish Angron and his horde back to the warp.

[Azza007]

I was thinking of either using him to help my gunline, or putting him alongside my WG and WL, though that makes for a hell of an expensive unit. Another possibility, though this is if I get a regular RP, is to go with my scouts and play havoc behind enemy lines.

[Vlk]

What about Bellisarius navigators?

They're not the Inquisition. Unless you're criticising the point about the use of allies in general?

 

Of course. What I meant was that you could take some allied Inquisitors (the anti-deepstrike combo of an Inquisitor with two Mystics) and just call them Bellisarius navigators to avoid fluff violation.

[Stormbrow II]

fluff violation.

If it's in the codex then it's fair game. I'm not bothered about something as subjective as fluff.

[Brother_Kaelgrim]

Besides, from what I understand, the only beef the Space Wolves have is with the High Lords of Terra and the elements of the Inquisition that forced sterilization upon the people of Armageddon. Surely that does not prevent them from working with such a pure and holy group as the Grey Knights, or with Inquisitors that they find to be fair and reasonable.

 

Remember, there is no such thing as the Inquisition. There are only Inquisitors.

[Race Bannon]

No :D

 

Seriously.

 

I'd only use him against players that need a little humility. Otherwise, the army should work for you, not one model.

[Brother_Kaelgrim]

I know I'm working him into my 1850 army since I have an awesome conversion I am doing with a GKT brother captain and a libby/staff

[winternight]

In my opinion, no, he isn't worth it.

 

Compare him to 2 Rune Priests and then decide if you still think he is worthwhile.

 

Njal is 245 points. 2 Rune Priests are 200 points.

 

Njal can fire off 2 powers every turn, but 5 out of 7 are psychic shooting powers so really you get Storm Caller and one other.

 

2 Runepriests can fire off 2 powers every turn. Even 2 psychic shooting powers. If you spend an extra 50 points to give one Master of Runes and now you get 2 powers + Storm Caller for 5 points more than Njal.

 

Njal negates powers on a 3+, 2 Rune Priests negate on a 4+ but have twice the coverage (still only get to roll once, but your anti psyker defence is twice as big).

 

Njal gets his Lord of Tempests, however half of the powers do nothing if you go second and they are the powers that will occur most often.

 

Njal is much better in close combat.

 

Njal is very annoying for your opponent if you go first. However 2 Jaws of the World Wolfs a turn is always annoying.

[Emperor's Scourge]

You guys are using one battle and one special Navigator House to justify ALWAYS having these elements in your army?

 

You don't have to defend yourselves unless you feel guilty about it personally. Its just my opinion. You're perfectly within your rights exploiting a loophole in older codici to shoehorn old/broken wargear/abilities into a 5th edition army list. Just like I'm within my rights to think you guys are gimps. :drool:

 

5th Edition books don't include the allies rule...older books do. Seems to me that GW doesn't want the ally rules around anymore or they'd be in our shiny new codex. You want to play mix armies then play Apocalypse.

 

Still, they haven't put a notice on their website telling people they can't exploit the rules so exploit away. Just don't try to tell me its for fluff reasons.