I've asked myself many a time, "in which form will I contribute here on the blog?" It so happens that Adam who most of you guys know has left us a pretty hefty legacy, and i intend to follow up on that. In other words I will try not to bore you guys to a slow and agonizing death while i update some of the content on this page for 6th edition.
To begin with i wanted to make things easy for myself, so i thought why not do an article on the "Rune Priest" ! I mean, he is one of our most favored HQ selections, and with good reason that is!
The Rune Priest
Now, to get on with it, let's take a look at the Rune Priest, which I would say is probably the best and easiest choice when it comes to the HQ's. The reason I like to field Rune Priests is because they are cheap; they have 24 inches of psychic protection ( runic weapons: A force weapon that negates all effects of psychic abilities on a 4+, and also wounds all Daemons on a 2+ in close combat).
He also has access to great psychic powers be it from the codex or WH40K rulebook.
His starting wargear is composed of power armour, runic weapon, bolt pistol, frags and kraks.
What sort of wargear do I equip him with? Let's take a look at your options shall we!
Master of Runes: Up to mastery level 2, 50Pts.- expensive, but could be useful.
Boltgun: cost is free- Can't say I ever tried this, as I use his psychic powers instead.
Plasma Pistol: for 15 pts, I dont like it. Waste of points since you will be somewhere out of range most of the time.
Storm Bolter: 3Pts. - Well, can't say it's a bad thing, but let's try to keep him cheap.
Runic Armour: 20 Pts. - As artificier armor, just gives 5+ invulnerable save against psychic power effects. If he is your warlord, take it.
Terminator armour: 20 Pts.- well, it's quite a good price, but you can't go into a transport unless it's a Land Raider or a Drop Pod. It could be a good option if it fits with your army.
Jump Pack/Space marine bikes: Why on earth would you choose these things? leave it for the Ultramarines and Blood Angels.
Meltabombs: 5 Pts.- If you will get close to MC's or vehicles it's a nice thing to have.
Wolftooth Necklace: 10 Pts. - You always hit on a 3+ in close combat. Nice enough, though I tend to leave it at home to keep the pts low. Note that this guy is not a CC monster and is better suited for other things.
Wolftail Talisman: 5pts. - Nullifies enemy psychic powers if the model or unit the model is with is affected by it. Nice for psychic protection if the caster is outside 24 inches. I usually leave it at home.
Chooser Of the Slain: 10 Pts. - Grants +1 to BS to the Rune Priest if the enemy unit can draw line of sight to the chooser. Enemy units may not infiltrate within 18 inches of the chooser of the slain. It is placed before the deployment phase starts. Take it if you plan to put him on a Quadgun/Icarus Lascannon.
Saga of the Beastslayer: 10 Pts. - You may re-roll failed "To Hit" rolls against walkers, MC's and all models with T5 or higher. This saga could be very good depending on your local meta.
Saga of the Warriorborn: 35 Pts. - Grants you a bonus to attacks, equal to the number of models the character killed in the previous assualt phase. It's too darn expensive, and the Rune Priest will have a hard time getting any use for this. Leave the saga in the bookshelf where it may gather some dust until someone finds a use for it.
So that's it for the Rune Priest's wargear... I'll present some of the options i've run with before.
Rune Priest 1: 130 Pts.
Wargear: runic armour, runic reapon, bolt pistol, frags and krak grenades and chooser of the slain.
Place him on a gun emplacement in a fortification and enjoy shooting down fliers with BS5!
2+ Armour save for survivability since he might happen to be your warlord. Exchange psychic powers for divination and keep your long fangs close so you can buff them. Think of it as a twin-linked Devastator squad!
If you feel like it, you could always exchange the Runic Armor for Terminator Armor so you have a 5+ Invulnerable save, the cost is the same, but it's harder to find a suitable transport for him if shit hits the fan and you need to get away from there quickly. It's all a matter of what you prefer i'd say.
Rune Priest 2: 180 Pts.
Wargear: runic rrmour, runic weapon, bolt pistol, frags and krak grenades, chooser of the slain and master of runes.
This one is the most costly version I can think of ever using. It's mostly the same as Rune priest 1, but if you run two units of Long Fangs camped behind an Aegis Defence line, you can use two powers to twin-link them. Pretty Sweet, but still costly.
Rune Priest 3: 135 Pts.
Wargear: runic armour, runic weapon, bolt pistol, frags and krak grenades, melta mombs and saga of the beastslayer.
This works great if you want him somewhere else than your backline. With melta bombs you can get some lucky results against walkers and MC's. Stick him in a squad of Grey hunters and go where you are needed.
As for psychic powers, I think that you should look to your local meta for the choices, I like to have jaws of the world wolf, living lightning or tempests wrath on this setup.
Rune Priest 4: 100 Pts.
Wargear: runic armour, runic weapon, bolt pistol, frags and krak grenades.
Yup, your eyes are not decieving you. It's straight of the bat, nothing fancy at all. Just his psychic powers and nothing more. Use him for anything, usually attached to a squad of Grey Hunters or Long Fangs.
As you can see, without any of the fancy upgrades compared to Rune Priest 2, you could almost afford a second Rune Priest. Also, you need to keep in mind that Space wolves HQ's cannot have the same combination of wargear, and the Rune Priests can't have the same combination of psychic powers as well.
That's that for for this time, now it is my turn to ask a few questions! Muahahahah!
What is your most used option for the Rune Priest? I am quite curious as to how other people kit out their units.
