Chaos review #29

When a Astartes hero falls from grace most just seem to fail. Sure they start out rough and tough, then they get rolled by a few random Marines, or the Inquisition shows up to shut them down. However, there is one traitor who just won't stay down, although with the damage he has taken one would think he would be long dead. He is ugly, mostly machine, has various nicknames, a creepy pet and is either a tactical genius or completely nuts. I'm talking about The Tyrant of Badab, Black Heart, the Blood Reaver or Lugft Huron.

Huron comes with a pretty standard HQ statline: WS 6, BS 5, strength and toughness 4, attacks and wounds of 3, initiative 5, leadership 10 and a 3+/4++ save. He is armed with A power axe, the two popular grenades, sigil of corruption (4++ save), the Tyrants Claw and a pet Hymandra. He is an independent character, is fearless, the vets o’ war deal, and a champion of chaos. He also has the warlord trait the Master of Deception. Huron rolls in at the same amount of  points as Kharn the Betrayer.

Master of Deception- allows for D3 units to gain the Infiltrate rule prior to the game starting.

Tyrants Claw- is basically Huron’s left arm. It is a lightning claw that grants +2 strength, is a specialist weapon, has shred, armorbane and a has a built in heavy flamer.

Hymandra- is Huron's own little lizard/dog monster. It makes Huron a level 1 psyker. It also grants him some psychic abilities, but they are random.
Every turn roll a D3 to see what school of magic is being used:

1. Biomancy
2. Pyromancy
3. Divination

Then of course roll again to see what power is obtained. This power lasts for the current turn. The power rolled cannot be swapped for the primary power from that school. Sorry, it has to be random, this is Chaos remember. Then you roll again the next round and repeat until dead or the game ends.

Huron doesn't seem to special now does he? Well I disagree. First he is a great model. He is full of detail and makes the older and even some newer Chaos models look like pure crap. Right off the bat he has that going for him. He also has a good warlord trait. Allowing 1-3 units to move into a better position or to come in off aboard edge is great. It gives you some deployment options that other players usually do not possess. Then you have his S+1 AP2 power axe or his S+2 AP3 power claw. This gives him a bit of close combat versatility. He can strike early with enhanced strength and re-rolls to wound, or he can hit last with a bit lower strength, but ignores all the personal armor in the game. You also add in the heavy flamer has is carrying. Crack that off pre-charge to thin the ranks and also use it to burn those about to charge him. Then, he comes with a respectable 4++ save. Finally, he is fearless and that rocks again! Huron is a bit of a multi-combat tool kit all on his own. I think he is a great addition to a Chaos army.

The only issues I have is his random psyker power bit. I could care less and would probably forget to use it 87% of the time. Sure, I might roll and get a super cool power. I might also roll and get a two warp charge power and not be able to use it. Another bit of too much randomness for me with the Hymandra rule.