Njal in 7th edition

[callmeMrBadger]

Njal, love him or hate him, with the new codex he's had a hefty points reduction, and being a level 3 librarian with a really useful deny the witch roll (3+) and psychic hood, with him it's often easier for us to block casting than it is for our opponent to cast in the first place.

 

he's a level 3 psyker with access to a all the usual schools plus our own Tempestus discipline. Is anyone more tempted to run him in the new 7th edition games?

 

My thoughts the last couple of days, our own powers are really lacking any punch. They seem to mostly have an 18" range and are very shooting orientated (6 our of 7 I believe), whilst the only one not shooting related gives shrouded, this for an army that seems now to be being brought into close combat, the powers don't buff combat at all.

 

But, with the champions of Fenris, there are enough rules in there to buff all wolf guard in power armour, the old Loganwing seems to be not possible now he's a LoW, but the detachment being able to take loads of HQ's and elites and no need for troops, makes a Wolf Guard list seem fun, also added with the Deep striking terminators now we seem to have found the user manual for the teleportarium.

 

So, anyone tried Njal with all powers stuck into biomancy? could also join him to the Void Claws to get a guaranteed turn 1 arrival and with a +2 strength AP4 beat stick, the biomancy skill crucial would be iron arm. as remember, all attacks would be at AP2 not just the smash attack. this would mean Njal hitting at strength 9, AP2 at initiative and being T7, you could also hope for warp Speed and some form of cover / feel no pain power what ever that one is called.

 

he's lost some of crazy fun we used to have with our old powers, we all knoew JotWW was never going to survive like it used to,  but biomancy could make him an absolute beast in combat these days. (providing we get ironarm). 3 powers in Biomancy would also give the school speciality, plus force (instant death S:9 ap:2 - take that Mr Wraithknight).

[Squark]

Let's see... Price-wise, Njal is a ML 1 Rune Priest and a ML 2 Rune Priest mashed together. I'd say the extra goodies justify the loss of psychic hood coverage; So, running Njal in place of two Rune Priests isn't a bad idea. With regards to powers... Without the Helm of Durfast, there's just too much junk in Tempestus to justify taking it. Haemorrhage is the only bad power in Biomancy, although every third game or so you have to tough out not having Endurance or Iron Arm. Mastery Level 3 Divination means you usually have at least one of the good powers in addition to Prescience. Sanctic has enough goodies to justify itself, although once again the second half of the discipline is junk (Well, that's not true. Cleansing Flame and Vortex of Doom are both good, just only on Grey Knights). Malefic is... functional on ML 3 psykers with 3 wounds, but still a bad idea. Most of Telekinesis is decent.

 

So, yeah. Njal is respectable. Just dont take Tempestus or Malefic.

[MeatGrinder]

I think Njal is really good value, for 180 points we get a lot of cool stuff, a ML3, 3wound, bs5 runepriest with a psychic hood, runic armour, psychic hood and two decent relics. However, the main reason Im not taking him is because I still don't want to pay 180pts on a runepriest who only has a 6++ or 5++. And Id really want him in runic armour.

[Wolf Guard Dan]

I haven't tried him yet myself or a game with the new codex yet.  On paper he looks much improved and Biomancy probably would be the way to run him.  Tempest powers would be good if your strategy involved getting close pretty quickly.  Like with pods or something.  He does give us really good anti-psyker defense.  And his price is probably in the right range too.  Ulrik is still favored for my lists I believe.

 

Does that re-roll a failed DtW attempt mean just powers that target him and his unit or does it mean any power?

[Frater Cornelius]

I think he is worse than before, despite the price drop. Tempestas is all shades of average and he lost his old passives.

[Nova_chron]

I dot know what others results with tempestus has been but I love it my army always has a level 2 tempestus priest with the helm I've yet to have him not do beautiful things... Jaws sniped out 3 zoanthropes and two venomthropes last game and living lightning is just awesome for putting wounds into units... Mileage varies I know.

[MeatGrinder]

I haven't tried him yet myself or a game with the new codex yet.  On paper he looks much improved and Biomancy probably would be the way to run him.  Tempest powers would be good if your strategy involved getting close pretty quickly.  Like with pods or something.  He does give us really good anti-psyker defense.  And his price is probably in the right range too.  Ulrik is still favored for my lists I believe.

 

Does that re-roll a failed DtW attempt mean just powers that target him and his unit or does it mean any power?

 

DTW is now any power. You just get bonuses if its targetting him.

[Valor]

I dot know what others results with tempestus has been but I love it my army always has a level 2 tempestus priest with the helm I've yet to have him not do beautiful things... Jaws sniped out 3 zoanthropes and two venomthropes last game and living lightning is just awesome for putting wounds into units... Mileage varies I know.

I would love to hear how Jaws killed those models for you. At best you would have 7 turns of using it, and they should have passed a couple of initiative tests. I'd be very happy to hear if jaws is still working well vs some opponents!

[MeatGrinder]

I dot know what others results with tempestus has been but I love it my army always has a level 2 tempestus priest with the helm I've yet to have him not do beautiful things... Jaws sniped out 3 zoanthropes and two venomthropes last game and living lightning is just awesome for putting wounds into units... Mileage varies I know.

 

5 models? One a turn? Jaws only hits a single model now.

[Inquisitor Kravin]

I bought the Njal model because I liked it but in the old codex he was too expensive. Now he can compete with a similarly equipped generic Rune Priest so for me he's in. I'm tempted to go Biomancy and deepstrike him with my WolfGuard.

[Nova_chron]

Went to seven turns and his dice liked rolling high for iniative tests

An I was mistaken jaws got venoms and one zoanthrope the other two went down to living lightning

Jaws for me is all about picking the right target

[Frater Cornelius]

Very situational though. MC pass automatically now and the majority of armies have fairly decent initiative. In fact, the only reliable targets I can think of (outside of some nid models) are necron characters. And even there I am not sure if they can reanimate after that.

[Nova_chron]

I believe they cannot unless there is a special rule allowing it because jaws removes from play they are not a casualty... But I would have to read te necron book

[Squark]

The original errata for Jaws indicated that "removed from play" does allow reanimation protocols to work. Granted, that may have changed, but still, for the time being, that's our best bet.

[Spacefrisian]

Dont see what he could do better than 2 seperate lvl 2 runepriests. To each there own i guess.

[Squark]

Mastery Level 3 and re-roll deny the witch make him the best psychic defense in the game. He also has better equipment than those Rune Priests would. Also, being garunteed Saga of Majesty is a nice perk.

[Nova_chron]

I've yet to use saga of majesty in a game yet I typically stay close enought to my banner that I'm not terribly worried about LD tests.

[Guest Drunk Guardian]

Dont see what he could do better than 2 seperate lvl 2 runepriests. To each there own i guess.

 

I would imagine it depends entirely on how you're using the Rune Priest. Njal would really stand out as your army's warlord with Biomancy powers in a unit of TH/SS WGT. That is a hard unit that has covered psychic defense weakness AND Njal can win challenges as long as he ends up with Iron Arm. There are units that will do this better, but at a higher premium... you get what you pay for.

 

If you're just trying to add modest psychic protection, a basic Rune Priest would serve. If you're trying to buff with specific powers, an ML2 does that well.

 

Each has their strengths and belong in different situations.

[Spacefrisian]

Mastery Level 3 and re-roll deny the witch make him the best psychic defense in the game. 

Now i laugh a bit at you for not knowing that there are better psychic defense characters, i bet you heard of Khârn. 

 

But best psychic defense character goes to Lady Malys of the Dark Eldar, she is simply immune to psychic powers, as is anything she is with. Njall wont be beating that if he has to roll for it.

 

Now you know and knowing is half the battle.. Joooo Joe

[Squark]

 

Mastery Level 3 and re-roll deny the witch make him the best psychic defense in the game. 

Now i laugh a bit at you for not knowing that there are better psychic defense characters, i bet you heard of Khârn. 

 

But best psychic defense character goes to Lady Malys of the Dark Eldar, she is simply immune to psychic powers, as is anything she is with. Njall wont be beating that if he has to roll for it.

 

Now you know and knowing is half the battle.. Joooo Joe

 

Malys also prevents her unit from benefitting from blessings (And Dark Eldar rely a fair bit on their craftworld cousins at the moment), although you're right, I did forget about non-psykers with their own forms of defense. Still, those characters are not psykers themselves; which means Njal can be force multiplying when they aren't.

[Brother Amarel]

Dont see what he could do better than 2 seperate lvl 2 runepriests. To each there own i guess.

 

If you want to spread out Unit Buffers, then 2 Lvl 2's are probably a good call (although they're going to cost more than Njal as soon as you apply any upgrades). If you don't need that additional presence, however, I think Njal represents a decent upgrade - a Lvl 2 with the same basic equipment is 120, so you're paying 60pts for an extra psychic level, +1BS, W & A, an okay 'gun' and the Staff of the Stormcaller.  However, the caveat to that is the removal of choice (140 for a Lvl 2 with the Armour of Russ, a Power Axe and a Combi-Melta is likely to get more done offensively).

[BitsHammer]

 

Mastery Level 3 and re-roll deny the witch make him the best psychic defense in the game. 

Now i laugh a bit at you for not knowing that there are better psychic defense characters, i bet you heard of Khârn. 

 

But best psychic defense character goes to Lady Malys of the Dark Eldar, she is simply immune to psychic powers, as is anything she is with. Njall wont be beating that if he has to roll for it.

 

Now you know and knowing is half the battle.. Joooo Joe

 

Ordos Hereticus Inquisitors with Null Rods. 50 points well spent and more spammable to boot.

 

Culexus Assassins from their new digital mini-dex are pretty good too (Psykers in 12" don't generate -any- Warp Charges).

[Baulder]

So back on to the topic of Njal in the 7th. I've been considering building a list with Njal (PA, new psychic discipline) am trying to figure how this would work. First off the new psychic powers really favour an up-close and personal approach. So my first thought was that he may work well in a pod with some BC or GH. But if you're going to take 1 pod it would be better to take 3. So maybe drop him with some GH (flamer) in a pod with deathwind launchers and then add in another pod of GH (from the total 3) also with flamers/deathwind. This would make a pretty effective horde clearing duo. However, it does pose substantial risk to Njal if he is your warlord (5 turns in the enemy deployment zone is a long time).

 

My other thought was to run him in either a stormwolf or a LR, the downside to this though is you're ending up with at least 2 turns of him not casting powers or earning is money back. The third option would be a rhino (indeed if you got infiltrate as a warlord trait this could be quite hand for getting into 18" range on asap but it is very fragile. So the question is, if you were building a list to support Njal to be played as a fun in your face psyker, how would you go about it? 

[callmeMrBadger]

Turns out he's really good when the opponent has Writhknights and is used to them steam rolling things.

 

In short he arrived via deepstrike turn one with Void Claws, cast Endurance, iron arm and force, ran to spread out and limit star cannon abuse. opponent then charged his wraithknoght HQ at him, one round of combat later, Njal takes a wound, wraithknight is lying on the floor (Njal hitting at S9 AP2 instant death). Turn two he chased down the other wraithknight and did a job on that to (think my opponent might have been not concentrating after the demise of the first and not moved it far enough away / put it down to Njal being lucky).

 

either way - he earnt his points in 2 turns the game lasted.

 

I've put a more detailed list and description of events in the Space Wolves Army list page.

[Baulder]

niceone sounds like he did a great job. Looking at running him with the new powers myself. To see ow well he does with them, since he has abilities to make them more reliable to cast.

 

Any thoughts on running a PA Njal and how to support him as a shooty psyker?