4.5/5 stars. Rounded down. A super tough Primarch as you would expect!
Background.
Of all of the Emperor's sons, Mortarion had arguably the toughest upbringing of the lot. Cast on Barbarus, he lurched from being adopted by a necromantic giant, through to escaping and forging an army to take on the darkness out of the brave souls that were preyed upon by the dark overlords of that world. He failed. The Emperor had to save him and slay his would be adoptive parent. The darkness never really left him, and Horus persuaded him that the Emperor was really just another tyrant to bring to justice. Mortarion and his own sons paid an exceptionally high price for their heresy.
Strengths.
T=7 (as well as S, W, and WS) is excellent on the stat line here and immediately puts him on par with Vulkan.
His weapon, Silence, is a massive scythe that gives reaping blows at an impressive 3 and a critical hit. But with AP=2 and 2 damage at S+1, he is already hitting tremendously hard and can readily take down entire squads of regular marines solo if he put his mind to it. His side arm, The Lantern, is no slouch either with armour bane at S=8, AP=2 and 3 damage - very impressive for a side arm really! You could take out a terminator with this.
With Shadow of the Reaper, you can pretend his movement is 10 for setting up rushes or charges. This is great. But even better is Preternatural Resilience which limits critical hits against him to 6+.
As sire of the Death Guard, you get primes for troops when filled with regular tactical squads, and in the first turn your troops gain pinning if they have a fire group of 11 or more. This is actually superbly strong and I almost gave 5/5 stars here. But he's not Vulkan or Horus, or others, so tough.
Don't forget he also comes with Phosphex Bombs (easy to overlook).
Weaknesses.
Not many realistically. He is slower than his brothers in terms of pure initiative and the modifier that the Silence gives him, but you won't care too much as you tank many wounds against you.
Overall.
For the points cost, Mortarion is a real gem. I would contend his is actually under costed (at least in my opinion). Can't go too wrong quite frankly as he will certainly do justice (sic) for your forces.
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