Sunday, December 20, 2015

Horus Heresy Review: Anakatis Kul Blade-Slaves

Background.
The blade slaves were created by Zardu Layak of the Word Bearers Legion. In effect, he provided weak-willed individuals with the Anakatis Blades. Unable to keep out the sinister whispers and effectively master what can only be described as chaos weapons (in the traditional Realm of Chaos hardback book style, that is), the wielders of these blades became bound to their will. And in turn, bound to Layak himself.

Strengths.
With 3 wounds each, a pair of Blade-Slaves forming a unit with Layak is truly powerful. To be clear, their rules mark them out to be close combat exponents and really good ones too. Sure, they're no Sigismund, but they're good regardless.

They're helped along the way with rules like daemons, rage, it will not die. With the Anakatis Kul Blades, they gain access to a severing cut that can (one-third of the time with to-wound rolls) result in AP2 and two wounds caused (that have to be saved separately). But given they're already at AP3, this might not always be needed but could be essential if they get caught up with terminators. But two wound terminators need to look out for these guys. The plasma pistol is just the icing on the proverbial cake really.

Weaknesses.
These guys need to get in to close combat. And fast. Therefore they, and Layak, need a transport option.

Sadly, their armour is only standard marine fare. This is fluffy given that the blades are given to "typical" fellows, but the lack of artificer armour (or better) is a drawback here, even with the daemon rule in play.

Worse, they will become "mindless killers" if Layak is removed from play. They will just head toward the nearest infantry or monster that they can and try to hack at it. Friend or Foe. Equally, by the time this happens in a game, there's probably going to be plenty of enemy choice around them I would imagine.

Summary.
Take in a transport with Layak.
Keep Layak alive.
Kill stuff.
Simple really. Have fun!

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