The Rune Priests Thread

[Valerian]

Rune Priests

 

Rune Priests are selected from those Space Wolves who show traces of psychic power. They are carefully screened to make sure their souls are untainted by the dark powers, then their spirits are strengthened by many tests, hardships and rituals. They must be utterly strong, secure enough in their faith to resist the whispered temptations of Chaos that all psykers must face. If they come through all the tests then they are deemed worthy of becoming a Rune Priest and are taught how to wield their awesome psychic energies for the good of their battle-brothers. If they fail, they die.

 

The Rune Priests have the gift of the Sight granted to the Emperor's chosen. By their gift of divination they chart the Chapter's future, and by their knowledge of the sagas they fix the Chapter's past. The Space Wolves keep no written history; their records are committed to the memories of the Rune Priests who learn all the sagas of the old days. These are recited on the Chapter's feast days and during the Festival of the Wolf Time that commemorates the Chapter's founding. This is held every twelve Great Years.

 

The Cult of Russ is old, dating back to the time of the first founding and predating the establishment of the Adeptus Terra. To outsiders, its rituals seem primitive and almost heretical. They stress the power of Russ almost as much as the divinity of the Emperor. At the core of the faith are many prophecies concerning the Space Wolves and the natives of Fenris. Central to its tenants is the belief that the forces of evil will gather and return under the leadership of a resurrected Horus to destroy mankind. It is the duty of the Space Wolves to prepare for this last day, to be ready for the final battle. The Cult Of Russ teaches that the spirit of every warrior who dies bravely in battle joins the Emperor and strengthens him to fight this final battle. This is a grim, savage religion with the power to stir warriors to feats of great heroism.

 

A Rune Priest begins as a Skald. He is expected to learn the tale of a company's history, starting from its earliest days to the present. Every Great Year he will be assigned to a new Company to learn its sagas. Once he has learned the tale of each company he will be sent to whichever Rune Priest needs an apprentice and his training in the deeper mysteries begins. He learns to carve runes from the fangs of a wolf and is taught how to cast the Runes of Divination. His armour is covered in runes of power which help focus his energies and allow the Rune Priest to focus his psychic powers in combat. As he progresses, he learns the sagas that tell the tales of the Chapter's Wolf Lords and heroes right back to the time of the First Founding. He will grow in strength and power until eventually he may replace an old and failing Rune Priest. At every Wolf Time festival, great contests of saga-telling and psychic dueling are held to determine if a new High Rune Priest will be chosen. He is the leader of the Chapter's Rune Priests and advisor to the Great Wolf.

 

Many Rune Priests are psyber-linked to ravens. These creatures are known as the Choosers of the Slain by the Space Wolves, after their distant cousins seen circling over the battlefields of Fenris. The link allows the Rune Priest to see with the animal's eyes and control their actions. The ravens are freed to gather information from far and wide, and can also be used as messengers. The ravens are also used to observe the aspirants as they wander the land of Asaheim during the Blooding.

 

A full Rune Priest is an awesome sight. They are giant, weatherbeaten men, about whom hangs an aura of mystical power. Their armour is covered in ancient runes first carved by Russ himself, and when their powers are used these runes glow with balefire, focusing the Rune Priest's psychic energy. They are often cowled with the hides of a great white wolf and lean on the mighty oak runestaves that are seen as their badge of office. These staffs are made from wood taken from trees raised in the soil of ancient Terra back in the days when trees still grew wild upon that planet. They are highly prized treasures which gradually absorb the psychic imprint of their owner, becoming ever more closely tailored to his mind. It is said that if the Rune Priest lives to a great age his staff becomes a living part of him, and after his death the staff lives on, preserving something of his thoughts and

powers.

 

This thread is dedicated to the revered Rune Priests of the Space Wolves Chapter.   Members of The Fang are encouraged to post pictures of their own Rune Priests, provide their own fan-made fluff for them, and to share their preferred Tactics, Tips, and Tricks related to using these grim heroes in games of 7th Edition Warhammer 40k.

 

[skeletoro]

may as well kick it off... here's a rune priest i've started:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v333/skeletoro/temporary-4.jpg

[CatSmasher]

^^Awesome.

 

I thought I wouldn't like the Rune priest with the rule changes, but divination is nice, and the upgrade means you have enough dice to get it off. I don't pay for armour because i leave him in a squad of Long Fangs.

[Konnavaer]

My Rune Priest with a few of his pack brothers in the background, first time posting a pic so fingers crossed it works !

 

http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a513/cfinch88/DSC00025_zps76464b98.jpg

[Rune_Priest_Rhapsody]

Here's my name sake, Runepriest Rhapsody. I wanted to play out the animosity and hatred for the 1k sons with this mini. It was then I realized my color scheme sure is close the that of the 1k sons. Ooops. Not intentional at all.

 

http://i899.photobucket.com/albums/ac194/Khyron666/40K007-6.jpg

 

Rhapsody is second in rank only to Njal himself. He is a jovial man until the fight hits and then his demeanor changes to that of stone. Emotionless and calculating he supports his brothers with the furry of Fenris!!

I have a power/runic armor version and also a terminator armored version of him which is still WiP. As with the rest of my army, this is the only time this bare head is used. It is one the TDA version as well and then not used again.

 

End of Line

[Kasper_Hawser]

Initially I named my Rune Priest, Lion Omenseer after my favourite Thundercat. Was initially going to dry brush his hair red a little but decided the look didn't look right so left his hair at white as befitting of the more elderly Rune Priests.

But with the advent of 7th edition and the loss of our wolf powers, I'm thinking of going Biomancy with my rune priest and then it hit me! Iron Arm! +3 Strength and toughness. You guys realise what this means for my rune priest?

BY THE POWER OF THE AETT! I AM ADAM GRAYSKULL!!!!

Lol, I love my 80s childhood. Basically if we roll Iron arm for Biomancy, we got huge potential to turn our rune priest into mini-He Mans. Think about it! Not to mention with FNP if cast by another rune priest!

And suddenly I'm hit by inspiration again! My Great Company will be themed Masters of the Universe!"

Somebody whack me to get my senses back, my nostalgia feelings are out of control!

I HAVE THE POWER!!!

[mactire]

Rune Priest Varmyr Wyrdtwister of the Sixth Legion on current detachment to Tra company.

Hoping to get Erik Morkai's twin brother Ernist the Wise and Erik himself done before the ETL is over, will post if when done in the relevant threads.

[Kasper_Hawser]

Lol Mactire, the glowing eyes of your Rune Priest is just a tad too big, giving him an almost comical surprised look instead of the "bursting with power" look you were obviously aiming for. Still nicely done but need to be reduced in size.

 

For some reason the huge eyes reminds me of a muppet.....

[Vash113]

Here's my Rune Priest, Mjornal Oathkeeper:

 

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m307/Vash113/Space%20Wolves/024_zps88191dd8.jpg

 

Skeletoro that Rune Priest looks sweet, I'm looking forward to seeing it finished!

[sn33r]

hello here is my RP i have had it built but not painted for over 6 months now my air compressor has gone scat it aint going to be done for another few weeks..lol

 

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv250/rugersrob/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0588.jpg

 

 

ive masked the bike and plan to paint it like the rest of my vehicles here..

 

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv250/rugersrob/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0589.jpg

 

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv250/rugersrob/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0590.jpg

 

they look alot better in the flesh lol..

[Valerian]

First off, as he is the Chief Rune Priest, is Njal Stormcaller. Another terrific model, that is heads and shoulders above his old 2e era model with the outstretched arms. Although he is a beast, I think the 5e version is a bit too expensive, so I've been using this model as a counts-as regular Rune Priest in TDA; my Chooser of the Slain is in the background just behind him. Unlike our Wolf Priests, Rune Priests don't have an option for an Invulnerable Save other than via upgrade to Terminator Armour, so this is model is my usual first-choice when including this character type in armies (which is pretty much always).

I am hopeful that our 7e Codex brings down his points cost somewhat, while improving his Mastery Level to 3, as is befitting the Chief priest of the Chapter.

Here is my second Rune Priest, Alaric the Wise. This fellow sports Runic Armour, which will now assist in some way for Deny the Witch attempts, but unfortunately provides no Invulnerable Save. In the past, he would be a good selection to augment Long Fangs, so I expect he will continue to do so in 7e.

I've had this model for Rune Skald Snorri for 20 years now. I don't really use it anymore, but am including just for completeness.

[Ulfbjorn Grimclaw]

Here is my Rune Priest. Nothing too special but I like him.

http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b632/mljphoto1/CA4F9BB1-F1F1-4872-81B7-42D7410F15B1_zpsxzqo9n44.jpg

http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b632/mljphoto1/372A9CC7-F4A5-4BC9-B74C-DFA5514C8864_zpsn6wyfb0s.jpg

[Valerian]

Well done, Ulfbjorn, and welcome to The Fang.  I'm looking forward to seeing more of your models, so please post them up in the other appropriate threads.

 

V

[Arez]

None of these guys are named so name suggestions are appreciated and will be considered

First up my first Rune Priest,was the leader of my army for the longest of times and continues to lead. I have him in all my list.something i do is when i make a Rune Priest i give him a set of powers and he exclusively uses those.This guy wields Jaws and Lightning.Most often to devastating effect.His tally includes countless orks and traitor marines(be they chaos or marines that were stupid enough to attack my company).His chooser likes to deploy on weird spots like the very tip of a ruined building or on an out cropping of rocks that are not optimal spots for a bird

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/yy55/Arez181/RP5_zps7ee38b01.jpg

I normally dont run him with a storm bolter but i wont break of the arm to put on a normal bolter since the storm bolter looks awesome

next up a RP i made for ETL I;his powers are Jaws and.....and......and uh oh i cant remember the second one well this is awkward

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/yy55/Arez181/RP2_zps35bc22fc.jpg

Mr Space Hulk here will be run as Njal in termie armor if i need to or as a generic priest with powers that i have yet to assign him

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/yy55/Arez181/RP3_zps1e319745.jpg

Mr Lazy here utilizes the spirits of the wolf and jaws or lightning cant remember

his chooser is right beside him

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/yy55/Arez181/RP4_zps7cbd2276.jpg

This feller I made for an Escalation League I took part in (I won it,was the first winner ) and gave him powers that i once again cant remember I guess i need to start playing again

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/yy55/Arez181/RP1_zps85020ec3.jpg

[logun]

Ulfric Stormcrow

(unamed as of yet but counts as Njal)

 

my two boys, njal was a cheap fail cast i pick up on ebay(notice the missing bird). 

 

i use to drop pod/rhino them with grey hunters, using murderous hurricane, jotww and living lightning. now they are buffers for my long fang packs.

[Max_Dammit]

One of my first mini's and he does a little trick

http://members.home.nl/maxdammit/40k/runepriest.jpg http://members.home.nl/maxdammit/40k/Rune-priest.gif

And I have Njal

http://members.home.nl/maxdammit/40k/Njal.jpg

And Njal

http://members.home.nl/maxdammit/40k/Njal_done.jpg

[Rune_Priest_Rhapsody]

Nice little animation there Max!! I laughed a bit, but still think its pretty rad!!
 

End of Line

[Cate]

My Rune priest,

/C

[Wolf Guard Dan]

Great thread Valerian.  This got me back into painting. The image quality isn't the best.  I had a hard time getting the model into focus.

 

Hmmm click on the image and for some reason I cannot get the rotation fixed.

[Squark]

Since this thread is also for tactics, I thought I'd get the ball rolling with an overly pretentiously-titled commentary

 

Musings on the Rune Priest in 7^th edition

The changes to Rune Priests as per the FAQ have had a pretty big effect on how we use our rune priests, so I thought I’d do some analysis on what these changes mean for the Rune Priest.

 

Why take a Rune Priest at all?

Rune Priests can take on two major roles, Divination support characters, and Biomancy powerhouses. The other disciplines (Malefic, Sanctic, and Telekenesis) are too unpredictable for us to build around. Aside from this, they provide some degree of psychic defense against Witchfires and Maledictions (Less threatening than Conjurations and Blessings, but still potentially dangerous) to their unit, as well as giving you more deny the witch dice. Finally, the Rune Priest can pay 10 points to provide a large zone in which the enemy cannot infiltrate.

 

The First Question: Should you upgrade to Mastery Level 2?

In most cases, I’d say yes. Sure, we’re 25 points more than a codex librarian, but that is ALWAYS going to be the case, and not spending points to upgrade to ML 2 simply because of this is irrational. If you believe a ML 2 Rune Priest is overpriced, well, so is the ML 1 Rune Priest. And by a percentage comparison, the ML 1 Rune Priest is worse off than the ML 2 Rune Priest (40% more expensive instead of 25% more expensive). So, the question is, Is Mastery Level 2 worth it at all? First off, let’s look at the general benefits before diving into the disciplines themselves.

 

-More warp charge: Having more warp charge is always a good thing. On average, you have 3.5+ML warp charge. Per Valerian’s calculations, you want to spend 2-3 warp charge on a warp charge 1 power, 4-5 warp charge on a warp charge 2 power, and 6-8 warp charge on a warp charge 3 power (I’m using 65% as the base acceptable level of success). A lone Mastery Level 1 Psyker has 4 warp charge dice on average, and will always have 2 warp charge dice. This means he can reliably cast a warp charge 1 power each turn, and can usually, but not always, cast a warp charge 2 power. A Mastery Level 2 psyker has 5 dice on average, and always has at least 3 dice. He can reliably cast two warp charge 1 powers, and five out of six times has enough warp charge to attempt casting a warp charge 2 power.

 

-Generate one more power, or can generate powers from two different disciplines: An in depth look at this has to wait for a look at the disciplines, but for now: Only Divination and Sanctic have a respectable primaris, which means that’s all you can count on having, since every one of the disciplines has a number of duds or situational powers that may be useless in the current situation (and both of those have issues, since Banishment is useless against non-Demons, and Divination can only be cast reliably by a lone ML 1 psyker half the time- not good odds considering all the dice rolling that comes after that). So, you definitely want the extra power. As for generating from two different disciplines, in most cases this is best left to ML 3 psykers, but you may occasionally want to try this, and Mastery Level 2 lets you do it.

 

The choice of disciplines: While you don’t generate powers until just before deployment, in practice, Biomancy and Divination both lend themselves to specific builds, meaning you want to have a pretty good idea of what powers you’ll be taking as you make your list. Telkenesis, Malefic, and Sanctic, on the other hand, are such grab bags that aside from the primaris, you have no idea what you’re going to get unless you take at least 3 Rune Priests and they all roll on that table. So, moving on to the various disciplines…

 

-Biomancy: Smite is a lackluster primaris (it’s a psuedo-plasmagun with multiple downsides in lieu of gets hot!), which leaves the randomly generated powers. One third of the powers (Iron Arm and Warp Speed) are primarily used in assault, so Biomancy Rune Priests want a 2+ armor save, and a way to get into assault (probably a bike and some thunderwolves). Enfeeble and Endurance are both useful all-purpose powers, and both are generally preferred to the Primaris (Enfeeble makes everything that shoots or assaults the targeted unit much more effective, and it doesn’t roll to hit or to wound.  It’s also longer range, just to make Smite even less attractive. The powers do work well together, though). Finally, we have two shooting attacks, Hemorrhage and Life Leech. The former is a focused witchfire, and thus, by nature, an unreliable piece of junk (Why on earth is it mastery level 2?), while the latter, being S 6, is generally preferred to the primaris (2 S6 shots are much better than 4 S4 shots). Not perhaps the most focused discipline, but far from the weakest discipline.

 

-Divination:  Prescience is a strong Primaris, although you need to be mastery level 2 to use it reliably. Forewarning and Perfect timing are the only powers that will always be useful buffs, but Foreboding  is useful if you know a unit is likely to be assaulted (granted, this is more predictable if you’re running something like a giant, allied guard blob sitting on a key objective, but it’s still useful). Precognition isn’t a bad power in a vacuum, but it behaves very differently from the rest of the discipline, making it situational in most cases. Scrier’s gaze and Misfortune are both overpriced but occasionally useful. A solid discipline thanks to a strong primaris.

 

-Telekinesis: Assail is unreliable; Strength 6 is nice, but AP – means it does a poor job of sniping things, especially since Look Out, Sir! prevents you from hitting characters. Levitation and Objuration Mechanicum are both decent, but again, you don’t know you’ll get them. Shockwave and Crush are both mediocre shooting attacks since the former doesn’t output enough shots to overcome being AP -, while Crush is so random you it can easily be S10 AP 1 when it hits a random guardsman, and S2 AP 6 when you point it at a tank. Telekine dome is a passable buff, but just feels lackluster for a Warp charge 2 power.  Finally, Psychic Maelstrom is too expensive for you to use without a couple of psychic batteries, and you don’t know if you’re going to get it. Much as in 6^th, Telekinesis remains too unreliable to build around, and that’s bad.

 

-Sanctic Daemonology: Spending two warp charge gives you a one in 6 change of triggering perils, which is, well, not horrible, but not great. Spending 3 warp charge, though? You jump to a 44.44% chance. 4 warp charge? 77.78% change. So, don’t spend more than 2 or 3 warp charge. Generally speaking, if you find yourself wanting to use Sanctic daemonology frequently, you’re better off getting some Grey knight allies, especially since they are guaranteed to have many of the powers you want. Still, if you’re one of those people who are against allies on principle, Banishment is a reasonable primaris against Demons (Remember, it’s warp charge 1- ignore the stupid cards). Gate of Infinity, Hammerhand, and Sanctuary are respectable powers, if wildly different in use. Purge soul, on the other hand, is a joke. Warp charge 2 and 3 powers are too dangerous for you to cast, so Vortex of Doom and Cleansing Flame are impractical. Passable if you need anti-demon powers, but again, Grey knight Allies. Note: A lot of Sanctic's powers synergize well with Terminators. So, if you are dead set on rolling sanctic, Take a terminator rune priest and put him in a unit of terminators.

 

-Malefic Daemonology: The Primaris and the 5^th and 6^th power are warp charge 3 powers, meaning you are almost certain to perils if you even have the warp charge dice to cast them. Cursed Earth and Sacrifice are both decent (IF you have demons already, which you probably don't), but, as always, random powers are random. The shooting attacks are nothing to write home about. Leave it at home, you heretic.

 

Njal Stormcaller

Njal is the most powerful Rune Priest we have, and he has a pricetag to match, coming in at 65 points more expensive than a Rune Priest with equivilent wargear (Granted, Rune Priests can’t take the Saga of Majesty or a Belt of Russ), although he hasn’t made any really bad choices, at least, unlike his fellow chief priest (I’m looking at you, Ulrik). To justify those points, he makes deny the witch rolls for his unit a cinch, a couple of extra attacks from his Chooser of the Slain in assault, and he has a number of useful effects from his storm, although the first two effects end with the game turn, meaning they don’t affect your opponent if you go second. Njal requires some support and luck to work, but when he does, he can be fantastic. Also, for some random reason, he keeps his bolt pistol when he puts on terminator armor. No, I don’t know why. He just does.

 

Wargear Choices

Ranged Weapons: With witchfire powers no longer preventing you from making shooting attacks during the shooting phase, the Rune priests’ ranged weapons are now actually worth considering.  For Rune Priests who don’t take terminator armor, the bolter and storm bolter are options, but I feel that the extra attack in close combat is more valuable. Plasma pistols… Look. Someday, GW is going to realize 15 points is too pricy for these things, but for now, leave them at home unless you’re really fond of the things. Rune Priests in terminator armor can choose to take combi-weapons, which are priced comparably to the combi-weapons available to Wolf Guard. A reasonable choice if the unit they’re going to join already has special weapons, and combi-flamers occasionally save the day.

 

Armor: Challenges have made improved defenses for characters very important, although not necessarily vital if you’re looking to cut costs and the character is never going to be in combat. Both terminator armor and runic armor have points in their favor; Terminator armor offers an invulnerable save, but removes the ability to make sweeping advances (relevant if your metagame is light on marines, lackluster if you mostly face other loyalist marines), while Runic armor lets you make sweeping advances, but only gives an invulnerable save against psychic powers (Not going to come up too often, but when it saves your Rune Priest from a vortex of doom, everyone is going to laugh their head off). Choose whichever suits the unit they’ll be working with.

 

Methods of Transportation: Jump packs are passable if you’re flying around with Skyclaws, but I prefer Wolf Priests for Blood Claw babysitting. Bikes are primarily used for accompanying Thunderwolves. Take one if you’re going to join them, and don’t take one if you aren’t.

 

Miscellaneous Wargear:

-Melta bombs: Cheap anti-walker and monstrous creature solution. Take them if you expect to get into combat with them frequently.

-Wolftooth necklace: A respectable choice for an assault-focused Rune Priest. If it works on enemies affected by invisibility, it’s even better.

-Wolf tail talisman: At this point, we’re not sure how on Holy Terra the wolf tail talisman interacts with Deny the witch. If it does work, take it if you face a lot of witchfire and malediction-spamming psykers.

-Chooser of the Slain: Infiltrators are not the most common, but when they do, they can really ruin your day. Metagame dependent again.

 

Sagas

-Saga of the Beastslayer: If you face a lot of monstrous creatures and other things this works on, this is a superior option to the Wolftooth necklace. Taking both is probably overkill, though.

-Saga of the Warrior Born: Rune Priests, unless they've got warp speed (which you'll only have 1 out of every 3 games if you're rolling biomancy), don't have enough attacks to get this rolling.

[Valerian]

Well done, Brother Squark.  Terrific analysis!  This is just the sort of discussion that I was aiming for in the creation of these threads, in addition to the pictures of models, and discussion of fluff, of course.  Thank you for your invaluable contribution.

 

V

[skeletoro]

Nice!

 

It's beast slayer and warrior born, by the way!

 

Also, biomancy rune priests are good enough, IMO, that they make it decidedly tempting to field swift claws instead of TWC. Bikes mixed with thunderwolves seem to interfere with turbo boost and fleet... I think?

[tjdudey]

I like Skyclaws too.

 

I try to advance them through cover until I am close enough to charge with Hammer of Wrath. I find that casualties are often lower than anticipated and the number of attacks on the charge when you factor in Hammer of Wrath is impressive.

[Dantay VI]

Changing the subject slightly

 

3 of my 5 or 6 Rune Priests, sorry the pictures are so lousy, had to get them from another site as all my older pics have mysteriously disappeared

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2011/4/16/210604-Njal%20Stormcaller%20and%20friends.jpg

 

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2011/4/16/210602-Rune%20Priest%20Gnryl.jpg

[skeletoro]

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest...