We know that he was an expert in the manufacture, preparation and utilisation of defensive structures and planned extensively before committing himself to any action. As expected for a Primarch with his particular area of expertise he was also apparently a military genius. He also had the unfortunate habit of telling the truth at all times which on occasion was known to piss off his brother Primarchs and was primarily responsible for exasperating his feud with Perturabo of the Iron Warriors, lol.
As for his combat abilities we know that he was slower than Konrad Curze as indicated by the fact that Curze kicked the shit out of him without taking as much as a scratch in return but some of that can be attributed to the fact that he was caught by surprise, I suppose. His weapon of choice was a Sword which is somewhat amusing considering that the only artefact to bear his name (The Fist of Dorn) is a Thunder-hammer. It is also mentioned that the sacred weapon of the Soul Drinkers Chapter, namely the Soulspear was personally wielded by Dorn but there's no mention of that in his background either. I'm therefore going to arm him with a Power Sword of some description (probably a Relic Blade) and the usual 'Primarch' armour I've given the others. If for some reason you want to use the 'Fist of Dorn' currently wielded by Lysander instead then that's up to you but personally I wouldn't.
I've also been a bit lax in giving the Primarchs range weapons as they're so rarely mentioned using them. However there are a few more traditionally minded Primarchs who'd be likely to have them and I'd presume that Dorn would be one of them. I'm guessing they'd be a bit more heavy duty than a standard Marine one though.
I'm going to bias the majority of his special abilities towards defence rather than offence as I need to save some ideas for when I finally get around to Perturabo, lol. Also as these Primarchs are only going to be realistically used in Apocalypse games I'm going to give the Primarchs player some Strategic Assets for free and I'm (in the interests of fairness) going to add some retrospectively to the other Primarchs when I get around to it. If for some reason your using these guys in a 'normal' game then ignore that section.
With that lot as a starting point then,
Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Imperial Fists.
WS 7, BS 6, S 6 (8), T 6, W 5, I 6, A 6, Ld. 10, Save 1+/3+inv.
Composition : 1 (Unique)
Unit Type : Infantry
Wargear:
Master Crafted Relic Blade (Strength bonus already included in profile), Primarch Armour, Primarch Bolter*, Frag and Krak Grenades.
* Primarch Bolter - A Primarchs weapons all utilise the most advanced technologies available - Range 36", Strength 5, AP 4, Rapid Fire, Master Crafted.
Special Rules:
Acute Senses, And They Shall Know No Fear, Eternal Warrior, Independent Character, Might of the Primarch, Relentless, Rites of Battle**, Siege Master***, Will of the Primarch.
**Rites of Battle - The Imperial Fists endurance is legendary throughout the Imperium and beyond - All Imperial Fists can use their Primarchs Leadership score for morale and pinning tests and gain the 'Stubborn' special rule.
***Siege Master - There is no method of fortification that the Master of the Imperial Fists is unfamiliar with for both it's defence and it's destruction. - At deployment Dorn may choose to increase the Cover Save of any building or terrain feature in his deployment zone (containing at least one Imperial Fist) unit by one. Therefore a 4+ cover save would become 3+ and so on. This benefit stacks with any existing benefits a unit already possesses such as Camo Cloaks or the like. Additionally a single building can be designated as Dorns 'Command Centre'. This building has a 2+ save that cannot be reduced in any way and counts as Armour 14 for the purposes of any attempt to destroy it (regardless of the buildings outward appearance).
Centuries of warfare have given Dorn an uncanny knack for detecting weakness in the defences of his enemies. Any Imperial Fist unit within 12" of Rogal Dorn may reduce the Cover save (if any) of a target unit by one. If Dorn himself is part of the unit then it can reduce the enemies Cover Save by two.
Strategic Assets:
Rogal Dorns controlling player gains one of each of the following Strategic assets though they may ONLY be used by Dorn or Imperial Fist units.
Battlefield Assets - Bunkers, Minefields, Obstacles.
Front Line Assets - Supreme Headquarters (this must be centred on the building allocated as Dorns 'Command Centre' as specified in the 'Siege Master' special rule.
Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.
i like it, now have to have an apoc game where i cna use him
ReplyDelete@ Mike - I had to bias his abilities towards fortification rather than destruction of fortifications or he'd have basically been a 'not-evil' Perturabo.
ReplyDelete*cough* dorn's arrow *cough* (mainly cos mikes model hasn't got one :p
ReplyDelete@ Mark - Dorn seems to have a lot of stuff with his name on it that he's never mentioned actually using in his background.
ReplyDeleteI like it. Siege Master is cool and flavorful, and gives a very different approach to an upgrade then is normal in this game (all offense, all the time!). The reduction of enemy cover values is also pretty cool. I like the idea of him cocking his head to the side, nudging one of his troops, and saying "Hey, is that guy trying to hide behind a bush?"
ReplyDelete