For a 3 wounds character with S5 and T5, Karanak is a reasonably entertaining and well priced choice for the blood god's devotees. From the outset, let me say that the major (and I mean MAJOR) drawback for the hound is that he doesn't have any special weapons or upgrade options to make him better. Without a power weapon (or rule that give him the equivalent) his is much less useful than he might at first appear.
With that caveat in place, his other built-in abilities are good. Firstly, he forces nearby psykers to fail perils of the warp on any roll of a double. This could be deadly in the right location.
He also gets to re-roll die against a nominated enemy character from the outset of the game. The "quarry" need not be an HQ choice, but could be instead a squad leader. No doubt an HQ choice might be better, but its worth considering a key squad based character instead in the case the the squad of Khorne's dogs that Karanak runs around with can't do serious damage in a short amount of time to.
And that brings me to the last point. Like all flesh hounds, Karanak is pretty quick. Being a scout, this beast character can cover vast distances pretty niftily. And therein is the real strength. Even if he is not with a unit of fleshhounds, he could certainly be with a "delivery" unit of bloodcrushers (or similar) and break off when near the quarry to take them on rapidly. In game, he's going to be used with a squad of Khorne daemons, but they'd better also be quick! I think he's got a place in the game in the context of being one of up to four herald type HQ's selected, and in low points value games. But we're probably looking for a stronger HQ (like a bloodthirster) for a Khorne army.
With that caveat in place, his other built-in abilities are good. Firstly, he forces nearby psykers to fail perils of the warp on any roll of a double. This could be deadly in the right location.
He also gets to re-roll die against a nominated enemy character from the outset of the game. The "quarry" need not be an HQ choice, but could be instead a squad leader. No doubt an HQ choice might be better, but its worth considering a key squad based character instead in the case the the squad of Khorne's dogs that Karanak runs around with can't do serious damage in a short amount of time to.
And that brings me to the last point. Like all flesh hounds, Karanak is pretty quick. Being a scout, this beast character can cover vast distances pretty niftily. And therein is the real strength. Even if he is not with a unit of fleshhounds, he could certainly be with a "delivery" unit of bloodcrushers (or similar) and break off when near the quarry to take them on rapidly. In game, he's going to be used with a squad of Khorne daemons, but they'd better also be quick! I think he's got a place in the game in the context of being one of up to four herald type HQ's selected, and in low points value games. But we're probably looking for a stronger HQ (like a bloodthirster) for a Khorne army.
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