Primarchs - Mortarion

Yes, I've finally stopped pissing about trying to convince the internet that competitive gaming can be fun (just for a bit anyway) and am about to short-circuit my own argument by creating rules for another Primarch that would be impossible to use outside of an Apocalypse game.....Surely my hypocrisy knows no limitations, lol.

Anyway,

Mortarion's 'Incubator' landed on the planet of Barbarus who's atmosphere ranged from completely poisonous to only almost completely poisonous and was ruled by an (as yet) undefined race of superhuman Warlords with undead for servants.*

*Yes your right. It appears that Barbarus wasn't entirely sure what gaming system it should be in and was apparently pencilled in for a Vampire Counts supplement and got put in the 40K pile by accident, lol.

Mortarion was discovered by one of these Vampire Counts Warlords and raised as the son he never had. Just as a precaution though the Vampire Warlord moved his Gothic Castle fortress to higher in the atmosphere than Mortarion could breathe. After fighting alongside these Zombies and Ghouls generic undead and daemonic creatures for a while Mortarion decided to have a closer look at the people at the bottom of the social heap and realised he had far more in common with them than the Vampires Warlords he'd been hanging with up to this point.

Understandably the Humans were a bit suspicious of the poison drinking ten foot tall god that had decided to settle with them but after a quick session of Vampire Warlord slaying they excepted him as one of them. Having the instinctive knowledge of warfare seemingly encoded into all the Primarchs (with the possible exception of Lorgar) combined with the training he'd received from Dracula/Von Carstein the most powerful Warlord enabled him to begin to turn the tide against their oppressors. He taught the blacksmiths how to make primitive (but increasingly sophisticated) breathing apparatus in order to bring the fight direct to the Vampires Warlords Gothic Castles Fortresses until only Dracula/Von Carstein  the most powerful Warlord remained. Round about then the Emperor turned up and in in his usual style made Mortarion feel inadequate killed his enemy for him and generally sowed the seed for betrayal from day one**.

** The Imperium would be a much nicer place to live in the 40th millennium if only the Emperor had employed at least one advisor who had the balls to say "What the fuck are you doing it that way for..." once in a while.

Now onto the bits of background that mean something when working out our stat-line and equipment,

Well he was tall and thin but due to the fact that he ate and drank poison we'll presume that it doesn't effect his toughness level in a detrimental way, so above (Primarch) average toughness seems like a good idea and it also would seem to show that weapons with the 'Poison' rule wouldn't have anywhere near as much of an effect on him as people would hope. He wore a collar around his neck that constantly emitted wisps of poisonous air so we can extrapolate from that that standing right next to him wasn't particularly comfortable either. He also carried Censers that contained atmosphere from his Home-world of Barbarus that I'm thinking would make interesting grenades. He had the expected ornate armour that will have the same rules as all the other Primarchs armour so far and was also most typically armed with two very distinctive weapons. The first was an energy pistol called the Lantern and the Signature Deathguard weapon known as Manreapers which are to all intents and purposes Power Scythes (Till they start messing around with Daemons that is). The stats for the Manreaper are fairly easy to calculate but I can't find any reference to his actually firing 'Lantern' so I'll just make that up completely ;-)

I'm also going to have to include stats for his pair of bodyguards as the background clearly states that they're never more than 49 paces away from him. They also carry Manreapers (though presumably of a lesser scale) and have ornate (Artificer, probably) Armour. These guys were going to have a compulsory points cost as though I stated that Primarchs were really only designed to be used against others and therefore wouldn't have a points cost giving Mortarions player the equivalent of two Space Marine Captains for free seemed a little unfair, however on further thought I decided that Mortarion has less of the flashy special rules than other Primarchs I've done so he gets them for free anyway.

The 'Feel no Pain' Debate.
I'm not giving the non-daemonic version of Mortarion the Feel no Pain special rule as I'll save it for the Daemonic version I'll do in the future. I just don't think it's particularly appropriate is all...If you disagree feel free to add it...it's your game after all. Also as Mortarion wasn't elevated to the rank of Daemon Prince until after the siege of Terra but his Legion was turned into 'Plague marines' before then, it's entirely viable to use this version of Mortarion with 'normal' Marines or Death Guard depending on when your battle is set.

Okay then,

Mortarion, Primarch of the Death Guard.

WS 7, BS 6, S 6 (8), T 7, W 6, I 5, A 5, Ld. 10, Save 1+/3+inv.

Composition : 1 (Unique)
Unit Type : Infantry

Wargear:
Censers of Barbarus*, Lantern**, Manreaper***, Primarch Armour.


* Censers of Barbarus - These Globes of Brass are carried by Mortarion at all times and contain the most deadly of the toxins and poisons from Mortarions homeworld of Barbarus - Mortarion counts as having both Defensive and Assault Grenades.

** Lantern - A huge, hand crafted Energy Pistol of Shenlongi design - The Lantern is a Pistol with the following stats. Range 18", Strength 7, AP 1, Assault 1.

*** Manreaper - A Giant Scythe crafted to be balanced perfectly for it's chosen wielder - Counts as a Master Crafted Relic Blade (Strength increase already included in Mortarions Profile).


Special Rules:
Acute Senses, And They Shall Know No Fear, Eternal Warrior, Immunity to Poison*, Independent Character, Master of Infantry Tactics**, Might of the Primarch, Relentless, The 'Deathshroud'***, Will of the Primarch.

* Immunity to Poison - Mortarion has lived with toxins in his lungs and poisons in his bloodstream since his earliest years on Barbarus. The mundane toxins of other races mean little to him and his enhanced physiology - Any weapon used against Mortarion with the 'Poison' special rule lowers it's effectiveness by two. For example - A Poisoned weapon that wounded on 4's would require 6's to wound Mortarion, a poison weapon that wounded on 3's would be reduced to 5's and so on. Therefore a poisoned weapon that requires a 5 or more to wound has absolutely no effect on the Death Guard Primarch at all.....

** Mastery of Infantry Tactics - Mortarion and by extension his Legion scorn the use of Armour preferring to close with the enemy in waves of unstoppable infantry - All Death Guard Troops (regardless of the codex you are using to represent them) gain the Relentless Special rule. Death Guard selected from any other Force Organisation chart slot however do not.

*** The 'Deathshroud' - These pair of Bodyguards are declared 'Killed in Action' and wear masks at all times so that only Mortarion himself knows their true identities. They wear ornate armour of the highest quality and carry Manreapers of the same style as their lord and master. By ancient tradition they are never more than 49 paces away from their master.

The Deathshroud.

WS 6, BS 5, S 4 (6), T 4, W 3, I 5, A 4, Ld. 10, Save 2+/4+inv.

Wargear : Artificer Armour, Manreaper, Frag and Krak grenades.

Special Rules : 49 Paces*, Chosen of Mortarion**, Fearless, Independent Character, Invulnerable Save (4+).

* 49 Paces - For reasons lost to antiquity the two members of the Deathshroud may never be more than 49 paces from their Lord - The Deathshroud must always be in the same unit as Mortarion but otherwise have all the normal usual rules that apply to Independent Characters. Any event, special rule or psychic power that would force the Deathshroud to leave Mortarions unit are completely ignored.....Only in death does a member of the Deathshroud leave their master...

** Chosen of Mortarion - The Deathshroud share their Lords 'Immunity to Poison' Special rule.


Strategic Assets:
Mortarions's controlling player gains one of each of the following Strategic assets though they may ONLY be used by Mortarion or Death Guard units.

Tactical Assets - Careful Planning, Flank March, Recon.
Front Line Assets - Supreme Headquarters.
Support Assets - Anti-Plant Barrage, Blind Barrage.

Not sure how well this one will be received but as usual thoughts and comments are most welcome.