Monday, August 8, 2016

Horus Heresy Review: Kheron Ophion of the Kyroptera

Background.
Something of an aberration amongst the Night Lords, Ophion was not much given to practicality and the gruesome subtleness of his parent legion. Frankly, he sounds more like an Ultramarine, or a hero of the Emperor's Children or Dark Angels.

It was his unexpected bravery that meant that the Night Lords were not entire annihilated at the culmination of the Thramas Crusade as he entered it with his cruiser, the Shroud of Eventide.

Strengths.
Ophion has several things going for him. His Bloody Aegis grants him a truly amazing 3+ invulnerable save in close combat. Plus it reduces (potentially) his opponent's WS by a factor of 2 if they roll a natural 1 to hit. He is therefore going to be very strong in challenges and in combat in general. This calls for him to be taking the fight to the enemy as soon as possible.

The arguably not ironically titled rule The Coward means that he gains Feel no Pain as he loses wounds. (And it gets better when he's down to his last rule). I particularly like this rule!

Finally his warlord trait is nicely titled Aberrant Bravery. When possessing less VPs than the enemy, he creates a bubble of stubbornness around him that is really cool. Recall that in 30k, stubborn is at a premium and therefore this is an amazing boon overall. More than this, he can re-roll and game ending die rolls (or his opponent) if he wants the game to go on (or cease!).

Weaknesses.
As a Master of the Legion, he is not highly decked out in state of the art arms. Take his armour for instance, it is merely a 3+ save. The power axe is nice though, but the volkite serpenta could be better.

Overall. 
A very reasonably priced HQ selection for the Night Lords that is also very fluffy. I think armies could very well be designed around him: take in a bubble of terminators and wrap in a land raider and take something like pride of the legion and it has the makings of a devastating force potentially.

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