Rune Guard (or counts as Grey Knight allies)

[L30n1d4s]

For a while it was rumored that SW would get a new unit called "Rune Guard" in the new codex, which did not happen (the new book is excellent anyway).

 

That said, I think you can add an allied GK detachment which can make your force more competitive and model/fluff-wise be represented as a special "Rune Guard" detachment of Warrior Psykers from Logan Grimnar's Great Company that is assigned to protect Rune Priests and are detached out to support different Great Companies as required.

 

Here is what I am thinking:

 

HQ

-Botherhood Champion -- Counts as/modeled as "Rune Guard Champion" wearing Runic Armor, a Belt of Russ, and a carrying an ancient Runic Sword. 

**Gameplay-wise, attach him to a pack of 14 Bloodclaws/1 WG Pack Leader in a DT Stormwolf and unleash 60 S6 attacks (from Hammerhand or, let's call it a more wolfy equivelant, "Fury of Morkhai" power), all with re-rolls to Hit (from his "Herald of Titan" rule) on the charge.

 

TR

-10 Grey Knight Terminators with Brotherhood Banner and 2 Psycannons and mix of Halberds, Hammers, and Swords -- Counts as/modeled as "Rune Guard Terminators" armed with Runic Swords, Spears, and Hammers and carrying two Wolf cannons (i.e. uber Assault Cannons that stand in for Psycannons) and a Wolf Banner.

**Gameplay-wise, attach this unit to Njal in Terminator Armor and using Biomancy. Everyone gets +1A (from banner) and they can all Deep Strike together. Runic Guard Terminators give themselves and Njal +2S (from Hammerhand/"Fury of Morkhai") and provide plenty of firepower, close combat ability, and Objective Secured 2+/5++ saves. Njal helps the unit deny the witch with PML (3) and Adamantium Will and uses Biomancy to get three powers, plus Smite as the Primaris.

---> If he gets Life Leach and/or Haemmorage, he can cast multiple witchfires a turn, making this unit a potent shooting threat.

---> If he gets Iron Arm and/or Warp Speed, then he becomes a complete combat beast (with both of these powers activated, he would have 9 x S9 AP2 attacks on the charge, all striking at Initiative 7; throw in Hammerhand/"Fury of Morkhai" and his attacks all become S10).

---> If he gets Enfeeble, then he is signficantly weakening enemy units in close combat... for example, Tyranid Hive Tyrants are a lot less frightening when they are S5/T5 and you have a bunch of S10 Thunder Hammers in your squad.

---> If he gets Endurance, then he gives himself Eternal Warrior and the whole Squad gets FNP (4+), meaning that they basically double their survivability against all attacks S7 and below.

Alternately, Njal could go all out on Divination, with all the powers in that Discipline working very well in support of his "Rune Guard Terminator" bodyguards. We all know Prescience is very potent and being able to do things like make all shooting attacks against a target have Rending (great for massed SBs), give the "Rune Guard Terminators" and Njal a 4++ save, or let the whole unit have Counterattack/Overwatch at full BS are major buffs to that unit.

 

HS

-5 man Purgation Squad with 4 Incinerators and Daemonhammer on Justicar -- Counts as/modeled as "Fire Fang Pack" of an elite group of Psychic Long Fangs who always go to war armed with great Dragonwolf Flamers (i.e. counts as Incinerators). Led by a "Fire Fang Ancient" armed with a great Runic Thunder Hammer.

**Gameplay-wise, load the "Fire Fangs" into a SW Drop Pod from the Fast Attack section. Turn 1 (or later, if you want to hold them back) they drop in, disembark, and hit a nearby target (say a mob of 30 Orks or an IG Blog Squad or a mass of Hormagaunts) with 4 S6 AP4 templates, more than likely obliterating their target in a single wave of fiery destruction. Rinse and repeat as required.

 

 

Overall, this allied detachment of "Rune Guard" would be a very competitive addition to most Space Wolf Armies and would cost a little less than 700 points, leaving you plenty get Njal, a Drop Pod, Blood Claws/Stormwolf, and plenty of other SW units for your army. Perhaps even better, I think in the right hands these special "Runic Guard" units could be modeled in an amazing manner, with a different look than the rest of the SW army, but still having a very SW theme and sense to them.

 

 

Thoughts?

[Landrick]

this sounds pretty cool! i really like the solid theme. however, GK are getting a new codex this coming week, so some of your stuff may change

[Valerian]

Yeah, two things:

 

1.  new Grey Knights codex available on Friday will likely change a bit of that.  

2.  Some of those special rules are going to be applied to Grey Knights Faction only (for example, Titan's Herald), so you'd want to keep your GK HQ with whatever GK Troops you bring.

[Inquisitor Kravin]

I'm all for it. Like you I was disappointed that the Rune Warriors turned out to be false and have been contemplating a Grey Knights allied detachment to "count as" Rune Warriors. As Valerian has noted though a new Grey Knights codex is about to arrive and it's pretty certain that any special rules will be specified as "Grey Knights Faction" only so I'm waiting to learn what the new codex will bring.

[Karack Blackstone]

I like where this idea is going, and I think it's going places.

 

Rune Warriors (Allied GK):

 

- GK HQ (Will find out soon enough)

- GK Troops Choice

- GK 1 HS

- GK 1 FA

- GK 1 Elite

- Attach one Rune Priest to unit of choice

 

The above options might make a rather interesting counts as GK's force that allows for a great deal of flexibility, and the GK HQ can be a Runic Champion or so, and the attached Rune Priest would explain it more fluff wise than anything else.

 

This is still a great idea; that said, what paint scheme were you planning on giving the models?

[Wraithwing]

According to White Dwarf, there's a new Nemesis Strike detachment (think that's the name) which is one GK HQ and one Troop choice. Might fit the bill for these?