Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Have you seen this unit? part 14

The Man-Mountain, The Anvil of Fenris, Grimnar's Champ....Arjac Rockfist

Before he was Logan Grimnar's personal champion Arac Rockfist (or the Space Wolf Thor) was a blacksmith of the Bear Claw tribe, and was always renowned as a giant of a man who possessed incredible strength. It is said he misses his life at the furnace and hopes one day to return to his Iron Priest brethren. How did he become Grimnar’s champion? Well he was the last survivor of a Fenrisian kraken spawning.  These creatures attacked his little Iron priest refuge and he fought them off. Well he was the last one still fighting them off when Grimnar and his cronies arrived.  Grimnar was impressed by the actions of Arjac and made him his champion.
Arjac looks to be no slouch. He is an upgraded Wolf Guard and has some great rules and gear. However, he does come at a hefty cost. He is a base Wolf Guard and then another 170 points on top of that. Yeah, he is that expensive. His stats, gear and rules are what drive his cost so high.
He comes with Terminator armor, wolf tooth necklace, Foehammer and the Anvil Shield. He also has the Saga of the Bear, the rule Stubborn and is Grimnar’s Champion. His stat line is also different than his other Wolf Guard. He has WS 5, BS 5, strength 5, toughness and initiative 4, 2 wounds, 3 attacks, leadership 9 and a 2+/5++ save.  His points and gear basically make him an HQ-esqe unit in the elite slot. He is a Wolf Guard and can be attached to units as they can and will make any unit he joins damn scary.

Foehammer- is a thunder hammer with a twist.  It can be thrown/ shot. Yeah it is an Uru hammer. It has a 6” range, is S 10, AP 1 and Assault 1. That is a nice little ranged attack, with BS 5 to boot.
Anvil Shield- is a storm shield that gives Arjac an extra attack in his first round of combat. This is another nice piece of wargear, since storm shields never give you bonus attack.
Grimnar’s Champion- lets Arjac re-roll missed hits in close combat verses Independent Characters and Monstrous Creatures.
He also has the Stubborn rule, so any squad he joins will never test below leadership 9. The Saga of the Bear gives him Eternal Warrior which we all know is awesome. The wolf tooth necklace lets him always hit on 3+ in combat no matter the WS. Well with all this stuff why is this guy not in lists everywhere? He is a close combat monster and one would think he would be popular with the assault happy Space Wolves.
I’m guessing the main reason is price. One can take a nice sized Grey Hunter squad with upgrades, or Arjac. Heck you could take almost any unit or multiple units...or Arjac. He is very expensive, like fully tricked out HQ expensive and that scares a lot of players, me included.
Then there is the Terminator armor issue. He is a Wolf Guard, but his ability to be assigned is a bit limited due to his armor. He can’t go with the Rhino and Razorback set, that everyone who uses this army loves. He has to be thrown in a Land Raider, Drop Pod or will have to walk. 
I could see him in a Grimnar Terminator list as they will all be podding in or in Land Raiders.  However, it doesn’t look like he even shows up in these army lists. I’m not sure how to get this guy on the table outside of pulling gear or rules to drop his points.

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