Imperial Fist Special Characters

Darnath Lysander is the Imperial Fists’ 1^stCompany Captain, and he certainly is up to the task. He’s got the statline of a Chapter Master minus one attack (which his master-crafted hammer makes up for), along with Eternal Warrior. Combine that with Terminator armor and a storm shield, and Lysander is extremely durable against any foe. With a S10 thunder hammer, he also can deal with most enemies in assault, though he specializes in monstrous creatures and vehicles. He’s particularly great at killing Daemon Princes as he can double out their T5. He increased 30 points in cost compared to last edition, but he’s still worth his points.

If Lysander is your Warlord, all friendly Imperial Fists within 12” re-roll failed Morale and Pinning tests, making your marines more reliable and potentially saving you some points in Veteran Sergeant upgrades. He also comes with a Warlord Trait that earns D3 extra victory points if he slays the enemy Warlord in a challenge. This could win a close-fought battle, but it will be pretty easy for the enemy Warlord to avoid.

Lysander is a wrecking ball, pure and simple. Get him in combat with the toughest enemy you can find, and he’ll probably come out on top. He can be used in a variety of ways, with the most straightforward being to put him in a Land Raider with some Assault Terminators and fling him at the enemy. He’s durable enough to advance in front of a unit and tank shots so that they can walk across the table. In the case of Assault Terminators, it just means they’ll be slower to reach assault but you’ll save points on a Land Raider. He can also stand in front of a shooty squad and absorb fire for them, while acting as a great assault deterrent. Grav-cannon Centurions seem particularly appropriate here since their short range means that they’ll have to advance on the enemy and Lysander will have a chance to get stuck in.

Pedor Kantor is the Chapter Master of the Crimson Fists, and comes with the standard statline and rules. He’s very underarmed for a Chapter Master, with only power armor, an iron halo, a power fist, and a special storm bolter that fires twice as many shots with slightly better AP than usual.

Kantor gives the entire army Preferred Enemy (Orks), which would make a massive difference when fighting Orks. He also gives every model within 12” +1 attack, which is more useful in most circumstances. Finally, he makes all Sternguard Veterans in the detachment Scoring. This is really why you include Kantor in your army.

I continually hear various 40K personalities talk about how great a character Kantor is, but I must be missing something. His biggest addition to an army is to make Sternguard scoring, which is great, but Sternguard tend to die in my armies. They’re pretty short-ranged units and they will bear the brunt of enemy attention. His +1 attack aura is also great in theory, but most Space Marine units won’t be doing much in assault. He’ll make the most difference if he’s near Assault Terminators or Honor Guard but supporting them will likely mean that Kantor will end up in assault.

Assault is really Kantor’s biggest weakness. His 4 attacks with a power fist, he does decent if not impressive damage. However, with only a 3+/4++ save and no Eternal Warrior, he’s not very durable. I’ve lost Kantor to standard Librarians, Grey Knights, and even Sergeants with power fists. Anything that will double out a T4 model will reliably kill him.

Kantor is something of a schizophrenic character. He has rules that help assault units, but he dies quickly in assault. Because he’s not Relentless, he can’t use his orbital bombardment as he advances on the enemy. On the other hand, he has decent firepower between orbital bombardment and his fancy storm bolter, and he does make Sternguard, an excellent shooting unit, scoring. However, staying back with shooting units won’t make much use of his strong statline. Even so, I think that’s the best use for him. He can provide a bit of firepower and counter-charge any threats to your firebase. Getting him close to any real assault unit will not end well.