Goatboy’s 40k: Judging the Armiger Warglaive
Goatboy here to talk about the brand new Armiger Warglavie and what to expect on the tabletop.
Goatboy here again and at the ever lovely BOLS studios we got a hold of the new Forgebane boxed set. It’s a hell of a deal if you want to play Necrons or Ad Mech but we are not here to shout out the praises on a slightly less drained wallet. Instead I want to look at the one of the new “models” to hit the table top and how you might be able to use him. The Armiger Warglaive is a new “mini” knight to help fill out the Questor faction for I am sure an upcoming Imperial Knight Codex. From the way it goes together to its rules it really comes across as a “toddler” Knight but I do think it might have some uses. Especially if the rules change a bit or the addition of Households and Questor Allegiances add on some much needed rules.
Armiger Warglaive Basics
First – lets break down what he is. Overall he is a cheaper (almost half) Lord of War with half the wounds, same amount of attacks, and missing the Stomp ability it probably needs. It is equipped with either a Heavy Stubber (Chubber as I like to call it) or a Meltagun, a decent chainsword/glaive/etc (Str X 2, -3 AP, 3 Damage), and an annoying main gun – the Thermal Lance. The Lance’s stats are fine beyond the dreaded d3 shot profile. I don’t know about you – but when I see a d3 I just know I will roll that 1 or 2 almost the entire game. Thankfully it is an assault weapon so this guy can move, advance, and still get a chance to be disappointed by d3 shots. I would really hope GW changes it to a flat 3 shots in the upcoming Knight Codex but we’ll see. In fact – I think they should just dump any d3 shot option all together. Just make it 3 as most of the time it is saddled on a 3+ without rerolls hit profile or listed as a heavy weapon so the bearer usually has to have a -1 to even shoot the thing. I just really find it to always be lackluster. But hey it is the same for me when I have 2d6 shots at something. I am really good at getting that hot 4 hits whenever I get behind the dice so I could just be a big whiner.
The real treat of this guy is the fact that you can take up to 3 in one LoW slot. It does have the vehicle squadron rule so while they set up in a block they can move away from each other. At a cheap price they can easily fill out the other Lord of War slots and create a nice 3 Command Point battery to utilize if you wanted. Plus – again if the book gives some very interesting Househould and Questor abilities – having a LoW detachment activate something interesting could be very powerful. In fact that is the biggest thing left on these guys – the question of what Households and Questor Allegiances mean in the future codex.
This is the first time we have seen two factions in quotation marks on a unit. It makes me wonder what they will do and if they will allow the Questor Allegiance to mean they can reside in LoW slots for Supreme commands and not kill the Faction bonuses. Or maybe there is something else that goes there – like lets say Renegade or some kind of Chaos option on there? Who really knows and until we see a new book (I am sure pretty soon after the Dark Eldar) we are left wondering what could be.
I personally see these guys as a way to get a cheap LoW detachment for an army. Basically if you wanted a Knight and didn’t want your Supreme command to lose their benefits/abilities/etc for being more then one Faction then this is the way to look at it. I bet there is a pretty decent – all big guy army out there that utilized the always loved “Dawneagle” 5 Pack, some of these guys and maybe some AM or Blood Angels to help fill out the much needed “body” quota. The sprue that comes in Forgebane is not an easy build sprue so I do expect other weapon profiles to come out for this guy in the future. I think it could have done really well with some kind of massed shot super Heavy Bolter like thing or some other multiple Barrel option. I am just not a fan of d3 shots – no matter that the gun is “free” for the model and still assault. I just think it needs more dakka to help deal with the hordes of bodies will see on the table top.
Armiger List Time
Let’s look at an initial list utilizing a Lord of War Detachment and some other bits to help get this army together. As the Knights don’t have a ton of Stratagems to use right now – all more so based on if Ad Mech is attached to them – it becomes hard to really use the Command Points. This makes me think you just use them as a 3 point bucket to pull extra relics on the other friendly guys in the army. But enough of that – let’s look at a list.
Supreme Command – Custodes Bully Jerkfaces
HQ: Shield Captain on Dawneagle Biker, Stabby Stick, Hurricane Bolters
HQ: Shield Captain on Dawneagle Biker, Stabby Stick, Hurricane Bolters
HQ: Shield Captain on Dawneagle Biker, Stabby Stick, Hurricane Bolters
HQ: Shield Captain on Dawneagle Biker, Stabby Stick, Hurricane Bolters
HQ: Shield Captain on Dawneagle Biker, Stabby Stick, Hurricane Bolters
Super Heavy Detachment – Household Butt Punch
LoW: Armiger Warglaiver, Thermal Lance, Heavy Stubber
LoW: Armiger Warglaiver, Thermal Lance, Heavy Stubber
LoW: Knight Crusader, Rapid Fire Battle Cannon, Heavy Stubber X 2, Heavy Flamer X 1, Avenger Gatling Cannon
AM – Command Point Battery Battalion
HQ: Commander – Warlord (Grand Strategist)
HQ: Commander – Aquilla
Troops: Platoon Squad X 10
Troops: Platoon Squad X 10
Troops: Platoon Squad X 10
Command Points sit at 10
Starting out and you will most likely give 2 3++ saves to two of the Dawn Captains. Call them Jerkface 1 and Turdmonger the Revenger. Then you will just push forward with all your models, do as much damage as you can, and make all the pew pew sounds to your hearts content as you wreck face with robots and golden bikers. Is the list any good? Enh – not sure as again when a Knight Codex comes out with some sweet Strats, relics, and other fun rules we could see a “Renaissance” of Knights and other fun things. I just hope we see some real thought on the Household traits. I mean as much as the idea of a -1 to hit Household sounds good – I just hope there are some other neat ones.
~What do you think of the Armiger?
