4.5/5 stars. Rounded down. Not quite as powerful as he should be in my personal opinion. But very, VERY close.
Background.
Landing on a planet in the Ultramar sector, he was quickly sold into slavery and unfortunately had the Butcher's Nails hammered into his skull. Perhaps he could have been a warrior empath in another life. Sadly, he became a monster. Yet in the early days, he showed signs of coherence such as organizing the slave revolt from the gladiatorial pits. He didn't like meeting his Father, nor particularly liked his brothers. Or his sons for that matter either. Except Kharn eventually. All he cared about soon was the blood lust driven onward by the Nails. He carved a bloody path with Horus to Terra and later ascended to Khorne's daemon prince.
Strengths.
WS=8 will give him the edge that he desperately needs in many combats. This can and should be enough to get him through things.
He uses his chain axes, gore father and gore child, in unison to get A+1 at AP=2 and 2 damage with critical hits and shred. These help immensely to get through the enemies in close combat that he needs to.
His side arm is the Spite Furnace which allegedly he hardly uses. It is, however, really rather nice with S=7 at AP=2 and 2 damage. And 2 shots. Use it.
Lord of the Red Sands allows Angron to pivot from one challenge to the next, and the next in a single turn. This is unique in the game and allows him to slaughter his way through entire units worth of characters if he needs to. You just stack the combat resolution points until you run out of enemy characters.
Sire of the World Eaters give the prime bonus if 4 slots are filled with despoilers or assault troops. This is good.
Additionally, everyone in the army gets Fast (2) for the first turn if you are infantry or paragons. This'll help you get to where you need to be at.
Worth mentioning at this point as well that he has Impact for Strength. This means you get S+1 if you successfully charged. So for goodness sake, get the charge in. Finally, you must remember that he is also a World Eater so he will also get A+1 fairly reliably (and very reliably under the traitor trait).
Weaknesses.
I have to be honest here - the stat line isn't as good as it otherwise could be. T=6 is not going to keep him alive too long versus some opponents. Against Alpharius (who remember, has phage with his weapon and has higher native initiative) he can lose -- as I proved in a game several weeks ago where phage was a major factor along with Alpharius' gambit. Hence, for all his fluff about being the master of the gladiatorial pits, his abilities in game don't always quite stack up. But when you get that charge in, he is appropriately deadly with A=8 (melee weapon bonus and World Eater trait) and S=7.
Overall.
He's still a primarch. He will still slaughter entire squads given half the chance. He will go from one character to the next - short of his own brothers and select major other characters - and destroy each of them in sequence. But he isn't quite as good as he should be in my opinion. Just another pip in S would tilt it if you ask me. I'd even drop a pip in Cool or Intelligence for that. This said, it is important to try to remember the Impact rule (easy to overlook). Fundamentally he is worth the points, but just remember to watch out for some of his brothers and their own special rules.
No comments:
Post a Comment