Thursday, August 4, 2016

Horus Heresy Review: Tybalt Marr

Background.
Featuring in the early Horus Heresy novel series from the Black Library, Tybalt Marr's name (also known as "The Either") will be familiar to many readers. It is therefore very good to see him in Forge World's publications too, with rules!

Post Isstvan, he was charged with hunting down loyalist survivors. He thought he had Meduson dead. He was wrong and was subsequently charged with being a lone wolf to slaughter the Shattered Legions once and for all by Horus.

Strengths.
Marr is something of an enigma to play. His warlord trait seems to be one of denial. Any enemy deployed within 24 inches of him suffers a pinning test. To be fair, this could be very strong, but without any modification to leadership, most units will pass on approximately a "9" or less on 2d6 I would think. Therefore the temptation to deploy close to the enemy if one has infiltrate or scouts is still present and not hindered by Marr's presence. Of course, one could try to give Marr scouts himself somehow (don't ask me how) to improve the number of enemy units taking such tests, but that's about the extent of it that I can see.

His equipment is okay for a praetor. A decent close combat weapon with artificer armour and an iron halo make him a reasonable threat all round. Banestrike ammunition combined with preferred enemy: loyalists is very neat as well. He's therefore a sound replacement praetor for a fluffy choice to obtain Master of the Legion.

Weaknesses.
As discussed above, the pinning test is not all that strong and not much of a deterrent or threat to the enemy at large. I wouldn't be so bothered, for instance, if playing loyalist Alpha Legion to not infiltrate close to him. Take the gamble that I will pass the pinning test and get going with my tactics regardless.

Overall.
Marr is probably worth the points value -- just! I simply don't think his unique warlord trait is all that good though -- it is very tough to make use of, and he's still going to get ambushed by Raven Guard, Alpha Legion and others who will gamble against passing a pinning test. His weapons don't have terrific AP, they're there for the bane strike and for the instant death rule overall. Perhaps team up with veteran squads or terminator squads (or Justaerin) for the preferred enemy rule from Marr?

In other words: play for the fluff, and act accordingly. 

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Love all the stories of Horus Heresy! My favourite primarch is Roboute!!
http://theminiaturepaintingservice.co.uk/portfolio/roboute-guilliman-primarca-los-ultramarines/

:D

Unknown said...

What about putting him in a squad of seekers? Their shred/rending scorpius rounds would benefit a lot from preferred enemy.

If the squad happens to be joined by a vigilator, Marr and the rest of the unit would get scout and shrouded. Not even the Alpha Legion kit out a unit better fit for assasination.

"By the Hunter's moon" indeed.

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