Who has two thumbs and kicks butt? This guy! (Garran Crowe points to himself)

Ah the first HQ character review for the Grey Knight codex. I figured I'd start here based on the last unit review I did.



 Garran Crowe is Castellan Champion of the Grey Knight's  Purifier order and the bearer of the Blade of Antwyr. This is a crazy demon sword that causes crazy demon stuff to happen when wielded. Well when wielded by lesser men than Crowe. Oh yeah it also cannot be destroyed. So it was given to Castellan Crowe since he is the purest of the pure and most incorruptible of the Purifiers. He now wields this weapon, but will not call upon its powers. He also has to deal with the sword's talking, visions and shenanigans and the fact everything and everyone is drawn to the sword. This is on top of being a Brother Champion and all the stuff that entails.



Crowe is a HQ choice for the Grey Knights. He has a slew of rules and abilties. He also has all the usual Grey Knight stuff. He has a boosted stat line due to his awesomeness. He brings a WS 8, BS 4, strength and toughness 4, initiative 6, 2 wounds , * attacks, leadership 10, and a 2+/4++ save. He is geared as per normal with the added Iron Halo (4++), Artificer Armor (2+) and the Blade of Antwyr. He also has the psy powers Hammerhand, Cleansing Flame, and  Heroic Sacrifice. He has the special rules: Fearless, Keeper of Anarch, Master Swordsman, and all  the Brotherhood Champion stuff, except the Anointed Blade ( Brotherhood Champion rules here). He is also a one man unit so he can't get any safety from a squad. However, he is a cheap HQ coming in at the number of degrees in the quincunx astrological aspect explored by Johannes Kepler (thank you internet for this reference) in points.

Keeper of Anarch- allows for Purifiers to be troops when Crowe is in the army. We should all know how popular this is with the Grey Knight community by now.

Master Swordsman- is on reason this guy is a badass. This is just a close combat weapon since he is too goody goody to activate the demon powers. However, he will rend on any wound roll of 4+. Stop and think about it....yup that is pretty awesome. Since he is strength 4 he is usually needing a 4+ to wound (Marines being the basis and most common). Everything he hits and wounds is rending. How awesome is that. However, against toughness 3 opponents he wounds on a 3+, so those lucky fools get their armor save. He is a master against everything that is tough or tougher than him. All the milk toast enemies get their armor save.Weird?

Blade of Antwyr- causes quite a stir on the battlefield. It will give anyone in the first round of assault versus Crowe Furious Charge and they re-roll failed to hit rolls. Well that is fun, it buffs Crowe and his enemies. I make it a point to never intentionally help my opponent. My dice usually do enough for them.

Since most people think he is a must have then we must like him. I am not a fan of Garran Crowe. Yes he has the potential to cut apart anything he attacks, however, he has the horrible Brotherhood Champion rules. I hate those rules! Yes it makes them different than the typical two wound HQ's out there, but they just vex me. I do like the idea of more Purifirers, but using them as elites would be fine for me. I wouldn't want them as troops, I want them fighting and having some other unit holding the objectives.

He also suffers  one-man-gang syndrome. I know some of these aren't bad, but they usually have buffed stats, Eternal Warrior or some other silliness. Crowe has a descent armor and invulnerable save and can help. However, with all the missile launchers and melta on the table these days he shouldn't be that hard to remove. That or the ever popular weight of fire can bring him down. This can be a bit tougher on the other one-man-gangers out there, but not so much on Crowe. He just seems like a tough and squishy choice. Especially if he isn't in re-roll all your saves battle stance.

Yes Crowe is pretty badass! Yes Purifiers are pretty badass! Yet, Crowe as my HQ, no thanks, I'll go with someone else. Sorry Garran you get to stay home and argue with your talking sword.