by Spaguatyrine
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| Is it me? |
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| Is it me? |
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| "I do!" Shouts Logan Grimnar |
As I continue to explore my Space Wolves Codex and get even better with it, I have begun my research and am going to start playing Njal. As I read him this is what jumps out at me with blinking lights:
- He is expensive! At 270 points in terminator armor and 245 in Runic Armor which is hard to swallow but he does have a 4+ invol save in the Runic Terminator Armor and a 2+ regular save in Plain Runic Armor that gives a 5+ invol save against all wounds caused by a psychic power. Nice!
- In his runic armor he doesn't have an invol except against psychic powers but has the ability to run around in Rhino's and do lot's of damage. Hmm.... I am really liking this option more!!!
- Staff of the Stormcaller. His ability to cancel any enemy psychic power with his runic weapon ...not on a 4+ like other rune priests, but ...wait for it...... a freaking 3+!!!! OMG! This is amazing. Eldrad eat your heart out! Who has any better psychic protection? Oh yeah! and hitting daemons on a 3+ and wounding on a 2+ is always awesome!
- Master Psyker. He uses 2 psychic powers per turn. So I can use Storm Caller, or Tempest Wrath each turn.... A 5+ cover save emitting from my Rhino or Landraider everyturn, or anti flying 24" bubble. Can be very useful.
- He knows every psychic power. I love this as I feel there are 3 top powers that can be beneficial to use at different times. Murderous Hurrincane, Living Lightning, and Jaws of the World Wolf. All of these require line of sight and therefore my issue with the Terminator Armor model unless I want to footslog him, and well, Not interested in that at this time.
- Saga of Majesty. This allows any units within 6" to re-roll failed morale tests. Can be very useful.
- Nightwing. This is pretty cool. Nightwing counts as a chooser of the slain. What does that do? I can deploy this model anywhere on the board before deployment and my opponent cannot infiltrate within 18" of the chooser. This would also stop the stupid Alpha scout move strike since the scouting unit must stay more than 12" from the enemy. In addition, Nightwing flies into close combat to assist Njal and does D3 Str 3 hits at Initiative 5. Pretty nice little pet I would say!!
- 5 attacks on the charge or counter charge! :) He also has a wolftooth necklace so always hits on a 3+
- And the best of all!! LORD OF TEMPESTS!! Ok, so this happens every turn and cannot be blocked or stopped by anyone unless Njal is dead of course. I roll at the beginning of each turn a D3 and add the Turn to the die for Njal and get these special abilities or effects. On a 2 nothing happens. On a 3 enemy models within 24" get -1 ballistic skill. On a 4 enemy infantry within 24" move as if in difficult terrain. On a 5 at the end of the assault phase all unengaged units within 18" must pass a morale test of fall back. On a 6 at the end of the shooting phase a model takes D3 Str 9 hits; vehicles get hit on side armor. On a 7+ at the end of the shooting phase unengaged models within 12" take D6 Str 8 AP5 hits. Really? Really? This is amazing. Can you imagine guard or orks on turn 1 and 2 having 1 less ballistic skill until I get close to them and make them run off the table with a morale test or hitting them with the 7+ which I have named chain lightning? This used correctly has some nice strategic potential.
With these options I am just dreaming of many ways to use him to bolster my lines and my thunderwolves. I will leave those tactics for another day, but I do like one idea of giving all my thunderwolves 5+ cover saves. Hmm.. Kind of makes them like bloodcrushers....ONLY BETTER!!!!
What are your thoughts?
Njal is one tough customer. I have faced off with him a couple times and didn't come out on top. Its the storm that does it. Every stinking turn he turns into this new threat that you have to deal with. So, if protected, he can be a giant pain in the rump.
ReplyDeleteAnother way that you may think about deploying him is throw him in a drop pod. Its one thing to see this walking slot machine come across the board at you but its something compltely different if he just drops in turn 1 on your least prepared flank wearing his Terminator sunday finest.
Any way that you choose to play him you will find that he is two things: 1) fun and 2) a bullet magnet! Expect everything and the emperor to be thrown at him as soon as he touches the board. That too can be used to your advantage if you play your cards right. Good luck!
No, I do!
ReplyDeleteIn both sense.
Tyranids: Zoanthropes.
Cause does your psyker have a S10, AP1 lance?
or a back up S5, AP3 small blast?
And blood angels?
Mephiston, lord of Death.
"LORD OF DEATH"!!! enough said.
But seriously, I've had to face against njal, he is one tough customer for sure. I see his storm being like chaos lash, some times good, mostly annoying.
Can your lance strike or small blast get off when I null it on a 3+? Don't think so. Nullifying Mephiston 66% of the time also works. He is by not means a close combat monster but
ReplyDeleteEldrad is better in the context of the Eldar list. There's a 24 inch range on that runic staff, runes of warding means you suffer a perils of the warp result something like 40% of the time regardless of position. That fear can stop psychic activity all together.
ReplyDeleteFortune and Guide are what makes the Eldar still be competitive these days.
Plus it says "LOVE" in the lightning above the Farseer's pic :D
@karona.
ReplyDeleteYes I need to be 24" away to cancel your powers but is pretty easy if I am in a Rhino or Landraider. Secondly, the runic armor has a 5+ invol saves from perils and if in terminator armor a 4+ invol save. Good points, but I have seen my rune priest shut down fortune and guide successfully. If I had an even better % chance wouldn't it be easier?
You have to reroll successful Invul saves made against Perils. A 5+/4+ is rarely going to help you.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it's a huge stretch to even suggest you'd get the Runic Armor save against Perils. Runic Armor's Invul only works against "wounds caused by psychic powers," which doesn't really apply to Perils. Perils isn't a Psychic Power, it's what happens when you mess up a Psychic Power.
ReplyDeleteI often run a pair of regular Rune Priests in my wolf lists - I've found them to be a perfectly satisfactory set of choices for HQs, especially when the Runic Weapons stack with each other for the purposes of shutting down enemy psychers - I had one guy keep Eldrad shut down basically all game once, during a 3 way combat.
ReplyDelete@Dodger3. Is the wound not caused by my own psychic power? What type of wound is it then?
ReplyDeleteNo, the wound is caused by Perils. It doesn't have to be any "type" of wound. The Psychic Power itself is separate--there's no way to suggest Perils of the Warp is a Psychic Power, and that's what Runic Armor protects you from.
ReplyDeleteIt's the same kind of cause and effect black hole people fall into with Kharn's blanket immunity to Psychic Powers. If a Zoanthrope shoots Warp Lance at Kharn's Land Raider and blows it up, that's affecting Kharn, so let's make his Land Raider immune to Psychic Powers too! etc etc.
The Psychic Power is the Psychic Power, Perils is Perils.
I see a disagreement here, but that is for another day.
ReplyDelete@watchwood
I normally run 1 or 2 as well. I want to try 1 or 2 and Njal to see how well they work together. I normally run Thunderwolf Lords. Have you used this type of setup with Njal and another rune priest or two?
Eldrad is good but too passive to be competitive with the current mix of psychers. Being able to cast three of the Eldar powers is all well and good but he's all support and therefore more difficult to use and not worth the points. The new round of psychic monsters are much more aggressive and Njal seems like the top for now. He creates a bubble of horror that will encompass most of the actual field in use and can single handedly steer the course of the game.
ReplyDeleteZoanthropes are nice but come on, really? I think they're more than outclassed by most of what is out there now.
I love Mephiston and use him most of the time but he is barely even a psycher. He's more of a vampire lord with additional abilities that he has to test for. He doesn't work with or improve your army so much as just go out there and kill everything himself.
The only saving grace that my BA's would have against Njal is that most of his powers say that they only work against unengaged models and after the first turn I don't really have many of those.
@Luke. Very nice post. I will play test him over the next few months to see if he is viable for the assault armies I play.
ReplyDeleteThe deal with Mechdar is that they don't really want to fight. Yeah you can easily stomp Eldrad's face in, but the Eldar generally want to stay mobile and not concede kill points.
ReplyDeleteEldrad makes that viable. An upgraded Falcon with fortune can just dance away from your ranged fire the whole game, and even if you managed to catch it in assault it's 6s to even hit.
Njal is fine, but he's not a lynchpin. The Wolves rock a ton without him. Without Eldrad the Eldar don't really have many options for competitive builds. He's great value and really makes them work.
I'm going to have to go with Eldrad on this one. He is WAY worth his points and three Eldar powers a turn is very very good for his army. Most psykers are very good at killing stuff or changing the field of play, but all around point for point I gotta go with Eldrad.
ReplyDeleteIt should also be pointed out that Eldrad is still in competition, while still being several years older then the new Njal. Seems pretty good to me regardless.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Eldrad is good for what he does. Problem as I see it is you have to use him in an all skimmer list to be competitive in a tournament environment. That or a seer council on jetbikes. It seems like Njal could be used in almost any situation.
ReplyDelete