BackgroundMaun is a very well noted and respected strike commander of the Raven Guard, having seen extensive action on the Isstvan killing fields and personally piloting a Thunderhawk to rescue Corax from the Urgall depression.
He is described as being second only to Corax in terms of his tactical planning and ability to coordinate a drop pod style strike. Overall, his rules largely match up to this personality, but we must regard him as an upgraded praetor or centurion in all other ways.
Strengths
There are two special rules associated with this character that give him the proverbial edge. The first one is The Bleeding Edge. This rule means that Maun he doesn't need to roll reserve rolls to come on to play if he is in a deep striking vehicle. He comes on automatically on the first turn. This circumvents other rules that might be in play that can mess with reserve rolls (we're looking at you, Alpha legion, with this comment). On the other hand, if he is actually on the board from the start, you don't lose out either as you can re-roll seize the initiative. This can ruin an Alpha Legion player's day even further, of course.
He also gets the Nightfall pattern Strato-Vox. This is an upgraded Vox in essence. It means deep striking units don't scatter within a certain radius of him. It means vehicles gain the counter-attack rule on the turn they deep strike in. Further, any barrage weapons can draw a line of sight to him. This is really strong and begs to be used in a drop pod style assault army.
Other than that, he has some "basic" equipment for a praetor or centurion rank character like a 2+ save from artificer armour and a power sword. He is also a master of the legion and can therefore give rites of war to the army. As a warlord, he can further ruin enemy player's plans by re-rolling failed reserve rolls for flyers and drop pods in his army.
Weaknesses
Maun does not have many weaknesses to be fair. Considering that he is a lower points level character, his utility is very high and I can certainly see him being used in all manner of armies, if nothing else than for his ability to mess around with the reserve rolls and for spear-heading drop pod style assaults. Sure, he has a few less pips in WS, I and A compared to others, but that should not be putting the Raven Guard player off from using him. He's the guy that the World Eaters should have had if they weren't so lobotomised. I'm sure the Alpha Legion and others would have loved to have had him as well. But he's Raven Guard. He's a loyalist.
Tactics
In terms of an "ingredient list" for tactics here, Maun should be used as part of a Drop Pod assault style army. This means that the controlling player should be opting for the Raven Guard's own rite of war, or the generic Orbital Assault rite instead.
To be clear, he's not the best close combat protagonist. He needs back up. So, make sure that the army is built around his tactics, and not around him as a duellist. He is the guy that brings the special rules and the army wide buffs - he is not Kharn, or any other equivalent marine that specialises in close combat. He is going to win battles by having a wealth of backup and a variety of other units around him.
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