Old 2nd and 3rd Special Characters Reimagined

[LSWSjr]

G’day folks, I been looking over all the old Codices and between the nostalgia and dust mites I came across the idea of updating some of the more characterful Special Characters who are no longer in use anymore. So after a couple of hours I came up with these the other day... presented for your mockery are redo's of Makari, Nazdreg, Zodgrod, Xavier, Cypher and Doomrider, but note that these have not yet been playtested.


Makari, Da Luckiest Grot Eva (and Ghazghull's former Banner Waver)
+75 pts, Codex Orks: May be taken as an option for Ghazghull, Nazdreg or an 'on-foot' Warboss
WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
3 4 3 2 - 3 2 6 3+
Wargear: Choppa, Slugga, Stikkbombz, 'Uge Waaagh! Banner
Special Rules: Banner Waver, Da Luckiest Grot, Eternal Warrior, Waaagh!
#Banner Waver - Makari must remain in 2" of the owning model, if said model is removed from play Makari is also removed from play
#Da Luckiest Grot - Makari may always take his 3+ Save on any wound he suffers on 2D6, if he fails a Save he is removed from play
#'Uge Waaagh! Banner - All friendly Ork units in 6" gain +2 WS, does not stack with the effects of a Waaagh! Banner

Note: Makari was no Wounds, however he can still be targeted and have wounds allocated to him as normal.

Ideas behind the Statblock: I've always wanted Makari back on the field since the 3rd edition Codex Orks came out without him and I was so crushed when I read he had died in the current Codex Orks (stupid Ghazghull), what I remember of him in 2nd edition and the Chapter Approved article for 3rd was him being really annoying and hard to kill, so that's where I went with his design. I also wanted him to be useful to some degree as well, so his stats are a bit higher than normal for a Gretchin, most obvious being the Str3, but I just write that off as him having to carry that Banner all the time. Points wise he's probably reasonably priced, I mean any normal Ork would be able to knock him dead if it wasn't for his special rules, although I'm sure a similar points value worth of Grots would get rid of him far more easily.


Nazdreg Ug Urdgrub, Bad Moon Warboss
250 pts, Codex Orks: HQ Choice
WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
5 2 5 5 4 4 5 9 2+
Wargear: Bosspole, Cybork Body, Gitfinda, Mega-armour, Stikkbombz, Twin-linked Kustom Mega Blasta
Special Rules: Da Rich Git, Furious Charge, Independent Character, Kunnin' Plans, Mob Rule, Waaagh!
#Da Rich Git - Nazdreg allows the army to take an additional Heavy Support Choice
#Kunnin' Plans - Nazdreg can reroll any dice when determining whether a Deep Striking or Reserves unit arrives, including those of his enemies

Ideas behind the Statblock: Someone who got dropped from the latest Codex Orks, but honestly he was kind of a lesser Ghazghull, but with that in mind I've decided to make him a bit different, they may have similar Statblocks, but as far as rules go he's just as unique and useful. First I avoided Da Big Boss rule that all Warbosses (including Ghazghull) have and instead gave him a special rule similar to his 3rd edition rule. Secondly whilst I originally considered reusing his old Kunnin' Plan special rule I was worried about the effectiveness of it so I added a 'S' to Plan and gave him a hell of a lot of tactical power, which in the end I decided made him more expensive than Ghazghull overall. Lastly much like his Statblock, Nazdreg's wargear mirrors Ghazghull's, except replacing the Adamantium Skull for a less useful Gitfinda (which still has its uses however) and the Twin-linked Big Shoota with a Twin-linked Kustom Mega Blasta, I originally gave him a Twin-Linked Meltagun instead but changed it after I added the Kunnin' Plans special rule to balance him out better.


Zodgrod Wortsnagga, Snakebite Runtherd
+65 pts, Codex Orks: One Runtherd may be upgraded to Zodgrod Wortsnagga
WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
4 2 4 4 2 3 2 8 4+
Wargear: 'Eavy Armour, Grabba Stikk, Grot-Prod, Slugga
Special Rules: Furious Charge, Grot Mob Rule, Well Trained Runts
#Grot Mob Rule - All Gretchin and Runtherds in the army gain a variation of the Mob Rule which only works with other Gretchin and Runtherds
#Well Trained Runts - All Gretchin in the same unit as Zodgrod replace their It's a Grot's Life special rule with the Furious Charge special rule

Ideas behind the Statblock: Another Ork who last appeared in that early 3rd edition Chapter Approved article, of all the Special Characters who disappeared in the 3rd edition Codex Orks I actually expected this guy to make a return, like the good ol' Flash Git Kaptain, sadly that didn't happen. Basically this guy is here to make Grots tougher through making them more like Orks. I thought it was silly that Gretchin didn't have a Mob Rule, so that was the first thing to add, this'll basically make all Gretchin mobs over 11 models Fearless, although considering you suffer additional wounds if you're Fearless and don't retreat, well it'll probably result in further casualties anyway for the Grots. In the second case, one of the things about Zodgrod was that he loves his little pet Gretchin and Snotlings and tried where possible for them not to be thrown in the nearest Shokk Attack Gun or Squiggoth mouth, so with that in mind I firstly didn't give him a pet Squig (so it couldn't eat his precious Grots) and I replaced their suicidal mine clearing rule with one that better represented the effort he had put into them. Overall he's pretty characterful and hopefully not overpowered, that is until someone gets the idea of making a swarm army of Fearless Gretchin.


Chaplain Xavier, Salamanders Hero
200 pts, Codex Space Marines: HQ Choice
WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
5 4 4 4 2 4 2 10 3+
Wargear: Bolt Pistol, Crozius Arcanum, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Power Armour, Rosarius, Salamanders Mantle, Vulcan's Sigil
Special Rules: And They Shall Know No Fear, Combat Tactics, Honour of the Chapter, Independent Character, Liturgies of Hate, Servant of the Forgefather
#Salamanders Mantle - Flamer weapons (including Hand Flamers, Heavy Flamers, etc) cannot wound Chaplain Xavier
#Servant of the Forgefather - If the army also includes Vulcan He'stan, Chaplain Xavier does not take up a HQ Choice, but still counts as a HQ unit
#Vulcan's Sigil - This is a Master-crafted Thunderhammer and grants all Salamanders Space Marines units in 12" the Stubborn special rule

Ideas behind the Statblock: This guy came to me because out of all the different Space Marine Special Characters who aren't Smurfs this is one of the cooler models I've seen, however he's since been replaced by a Company Master of his Chapter, but I thought he could have another go on the battlefield somewhere. This was actually the hardest model to do, just because I didn't want him to be more powerful than Vulkan He'stan, but at the same time I still wanted to make him a viable choice. First of all I thought of the rule to making him not count as a HQ Choice when in the same army as Vulkan He'stan which would make him a tempting choice. Secondly I wanted him to have a Mantle like the model and like in Codex Armageddon, but I again didn't want it to be too similar or more powerful than Vulkan He'stan's so I actually based it on the concept that the Salamanders are all resistant to heat and flame, so why not have his Mantle have those properties, making it still meaningful and not generally overpowered. Lastly I wanted to do something with Vulcan's Sigil, it's such an important piece of the model and yet it's apparently not even used in combat, so doing away with the old version I've made it an alternate weapon choice, giving him the choice of two weapons or one stronger one and then adding a rule to it to relay some of its importance to the Chapter which inspires the men to keep fighting. Again this was a very characterful model and it needed an appropriate Statblock, so hopefully I didn't do it too much of an injustice.


Cypher the Fallen Angel
175 pts, Codex Chaos Space Marines: HQ Choice
WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
6 8 4 4 3 6 3 10 3+
Wargear: Bolt Pistol, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Power Armour, Plasma Pistol, Power Weapon
Special Rules: Divine Protection, Eternal Warrior, Fallen Angels, Fearless, Gun Fighter, Hunted, Independent Character, Infiltrate
#Divine Protection - If reduced to 0 wounds Cypher is not worth any Kill Points and does not negatively effect combat results on a roll of 4+ on 3D6
#Fallen Angels - Chosen Space Marines squads may be taken as Troops Choices, called Fallen Angels, which gain Cypher's Hunted special rule
#Gun Fighter - Cypher may shoot at a target once each with both his Bolt Pistol and Plasma Pistol during his Shooting Phase
#Hunted - All Dark Angels Space Marines units with a WS count as having the Preferred Enemy special rule when rolling To Hit in assault against this model

Ideas behind the Statblock: Another characterful model and a guy with some good back-story behind him to boot, I wanted to simplify him and also allow him to have a characterful relationship with Dark Angels armies who have since gotten rid of the rule that related to him. Firstly with his Statblock I swapped his Initiative for his BS on his old profile, somehow I could never imagine a Space Marine really outmanoeuvring the best of the (Dark) Eldar and with the new rules for BS over 5, having an even higher BS gives him a decent reroll. Secondly with his equipment it stayed basically the same, however I got rid of the Master-crafted quality from both his pistols, just so it wouldn't clash with his new BS (or his old BS either to be honest), it does make him less likely to hit on the reroll, but I couldn't reduce his BS to 5 because it just didn't seem right. Thirdly I kept a lot of his special abilities, especially Divine Protection and Gun Fighter, with very few alterations, merely updating them for the current rules. Lastly came the rules relating to the Fallen Angels and the Dark Angels, first of all instead of giving him just a squad of Fallen Angels, I've given the ability to have up to six total, which helps if you want to make a Fallen Angels' army and rather than making a new unit for them I just made it an alternative option for an existing Elites Choice to become a slightly different Troops Choice; and on the subject of dealing with the Dark Angels I gave Cypher and all of these Fallen Angels squads a drawback of sorts which overall makes them more characterful and balances them out a bit better (especially considering no one else is doing the Dark Angels any favours at the moment).


Doomrider, Daemon Prince of Slaanesh
225 pts, Codex Chaos Space Marines: HQ Choice
WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
7 5 5 (6) 3 6 4 10 3+
Wargear: Chaos Space Marine Bike*, Daemon Weapon, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Power Armour, Mark of Slaanesh*
Special Rules: 5+ Invulnerable Save, Daemonic Ride, Eternal Warrior, Fearless, Independent Character
#Daemonic Ride - Doomrider's Chaos Space Marine Bike follows all the rules for Eldar Jetbikes and replaces its Twin-linked Bolters for Twin-linked Meltaguns
#Summond - Doomrider must be summond using the rules for summoning Lesser Daemons as described in Codex Chaos Space Marines
*Modifiers already incorporated in the Statblock

Ideas behind the Statblock: I was originally against posting this Statblock, because out of all of them it's the least inventive conversion I've done, all I did was simply take a Daemon Prince and put him on a bike. Okay to be more accurate I replaced his Monstrous Creature type with the (Jet)Bike type and replaced his Bolt Pistol, Plasma Pistol and Power Sword with a Daemon Weapon and Mark of Slaanesh. His unique special abilities merely got an update to the current rules more or less, however I did change his Bike from being some weird Bike/Jump Pack combination to being an Eldar Jetbike, just to make him a bit more interesting. Points wise he's about what you'd expect for a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh, but with a Bike, Meltagun and Daemon Weapon, so I'm not worried about him being overpowered points wise.


Well there they are, any criticism is welcome...


Cheers
Rowan/LSWSjr

[Gu Long: Ancient Dragon]

Woooo! Ed 2 Characters

Love it mate, really good and I cant see anything that would make me go

Tbh my only problem is I think Xavier is too expensive 200pts for a 2W model bit steep IMHO

Gu

[LSWSjr]

Originally Posted by Gu Long: Ancient Dragon

Tbh my only problem is I think Xavier is too expensive 200pts for a 2W model bit steep IMHO

Well just remember he's a Chaplain with an additional MC Thunderhammer which gives units Stubborn and a cloak which makes him immune to Flamer weapons. Plus if you purchase Vulkan He'stan then he doesn't take up a HQ Choice.

Not to bad when you take those things into account...


Cheers
Rowan/LSWSjr

[Daemonslave]

Bad news mate, Makari's dead. His luck finally ran out when Ghazghul sat on him.

EDIT: Never mind you already know.

Now, doing the Daemon Princes, such as Doombreed, etc might be cool.

[AndrewGPaul]

I always liked Makari - they killed him off? swines. I don't think he should have better stats than a grot, personally; that's not the point. He's basically an invulnerable banner. If I played 40K more often, I'd take a go at some of the 2nd edition Space Wolf characters.

[LSWSjr]

Originally Posted by AndrewGPaul

I always liked Makari - they killed him off? swines. I don't think he should have better stats than a grot, personally; that's not the point. He's basically an invulnerable banner. If I played 40K more often, I'd take a go at some of the 2nd edition Space Wolf characters.

Giving him higher stats is merely to make him more useful to the player, personally I've never seen the point to the Chapter Approved Banner Waver that the added at one point, it was basically a useless accessory model which carried your banner.

Remember Makari is a Special Character, which means not only does be have to be special in regards of abilities, but he also needs to be characterful, and having the same old weak Gretchin statline isn't going to cut it.

Cheers
Rowan/LSWSjr

[AndrewGPaul]

Oh, I don't know; I quite like the idea that Makari is just as weedy as all his mates, yet just keeps on surviving. His function is really to wave that banner, anything else is really just gravy.

Also, why does he have "-" Wounds? Why not just give him 1? And why up his save from 2+ on 1D6 to 3+ on 2D6?

Not criticizing those choices, just wondering why they were made like that.

[Kalec]

Originally Posted by LSWSjr

Well just remember he's a Chaplain with an additional MC Thunderhammer which gives units Stubborn and a cloak which makes him immune to Flamer weapons. Plus if you purchase Vulkan He'stan then he doesn't take up a HQ Choice.

Not to bad when you take those things into account...

Yes, he is. Chaplains on foot are terrible. Not even Cassius gets used. Plus, his thunder hammer makes him lose an attack with his crozius. A significant points cut is in order.

[LSWSjr]

Originally Posted by AndrewGPaul

Also, why does he have "-" Wounds? Why not just give him 1? And why up his save from 2+ on 1D6 to 3+ on 2D6?

Because it doesn't matter how many Wounds he has, if he fails a Save he's removed from play, if his owner is removed from play then so automatically is he. If he had a Wound some might argue that he could stick around after his owner dies.

As for the 3+ on 2D6, considering his Toughness of 2, just about every weapon in the game can wound him on a 3+ or better. The chance of rolling a 1 on a D6 is a hell of a lot higher than two 1's on 2D6, and honestly considering his price you wouldn't want to make him any more easier to get rid of would you?

I mean he is Da Luckiest Grot after all!!!

Cheers
Rowan/LSWSjr

[LSWSjr]

Originally Posted by Kalec

Yes, he is. Chaplains on foot are terrible. Not even Cassius gets used. Plus, his thunder hammer makes him lose an attack with his crozius. A significant points cut is in order.

Actually the Thunderhammer doesn't as he still has a Bolt Pistol and Crozius Arcanum to use together instead. As for your other comment, the majority of Special Characters are on foot and personally I think it works well for Chaplains because they work best when supporting a squad of on foot infantry.

Cheers
Rowan/LSWSjr