Rating: Average

Back from the dead - much like any dreadnought, people were ecstatic to hear Bjorn was back in the Space Wolves Codex, however most found his rules to be lack-lustre and sorely missing in several options. To an extent I agree. When used properly, Bjorn can be good, however most of the time he's simply average at best. Particularly at the cost of more than a Land Raider. I was unsure what 'rating' Bjorn deserves most, sometimes he's a barrel of awesome-ness, other times he can cost you the game. generally however, I will say he's more good than he is bad.

Own Capability

I'd argue this to be Bjorn's best aspect, however it wouldn't justify Bjorn's point's by itself. With a Front Armour of 13 and the Venerable and Ward of the Primarch rules, Bjorn is generally very tough and will shrug off the vast majority of firepower directed at him. However, like most vehicles Bjorn is at his most vulnerable in assault and from melta's, as striking his rear armour and melta's will stand the most chance of destroying Bjorn, however these can still be shrugged off by his special rules. On the other hand, whilst vulnerable in assault, Bjorn is also most deadly in assault; with a WS6 (and wolf-tooth necklace) and striking at strength 10 (or 7) with 4 attacks, Bjorn can really dish out the hurt in assault, mashing apart almost anything, be it characters, vehicles, elites or monstrous creatures, although, like most walkers, he can potentially be 'tar-pitted' by cheap infantry, although his numerous attacks and Heavy Flamer can make up for this. However, Bjorn's assault potential is limited as he cannot arrive [close to the enemy] via drop pod and could easily be out-manoeuvred by most enemies. Your best chance to get Bjorn into assault is to walk him up the board, firing or running as he goes and using your other units to slow/immobilise/trap the enemy's to enable Bjorn to get his [Fell] hand's on em'.

Bjorn, although quite deadly at range, is nothing amazing in terms of firepower. I would recommend using the Plasma Cannon as it's arguably the deadliest of his options and works well with his flamer (and makes the most of his BS6), whilst the assault cannon is also a good option. However I would thoroughly advise against the TL lascannon; it makes him more expensive, won't do too much damage and with a BS6 he doesn't really need it twin linked.

Special Rules

I'd say Bjorn has a mixed bag of special rules, a couple of good rules with a commonly poor rule. As I said, combine Venerable with his Av13 and Bjorn can be very hard to take down, however this can be a mixed blessing as without the option of extra armour, whilst he won't be getting destroyed, he stands a large chance of spending a lot of his time stunned or shaken. The Ward of The Primarch special rule also adds to Bjorn's survivability and can be very effective should any nasty results get through the venerable rule. While both these rules make Bjorn extra-tough, this can be further increased through a near-by Iron Priest who will further protect Bjorn, who, being a dreadnought, 270pts and potentially an objective/multiple kill points, will attract A LOT OF ENEMY FIRE, however, as I said, he should be able to ignore most of this incoming fire.

A rather nice, although often underwhelming rule is his Ancient Tactician (a nod to last codex's venerable dreadnoughts) rule which enables you to re-roll the dice for who deploys first - often linking to who gets the 1st turn - a rule that can be most effective if you're using an Alpha-Strike army or one that possesses lots of stationary firepower (Long Fangs for example) as it will enable you to optimise your lines of fire. Often however this rule can be a bit gimmicky and not actually do too much.

Bjorn also has a Saga of Majesty, which alongside the Living Relic Special Rule, emphasises a need to keep him at the centre of your army; to make the most of his leadership boosting capability and incase anything goes wrong (he dies.) aswell as increasing his chances to engage with the enemy. Although under-rated, you'll likely find Saga of Majesty to be very effective, combating the Space Wolves generally low leadership.

Finally, the Living Relic rule is the most controversial and potentially weakest rule that Bjorn has, the Living Relic rule is very much a mixed blessing, if a blessing at all. I'll cover the good stuff first, for this rule to come into effect, Bjorn will need to be destroyed - something unlikely to happen due to his toughness and wealth of defensive special rules. However, should Bjorn be destroyed, all Space Wolves become fearless, Happy Days, although, this can occasionally be a problem to due wound allocation/combat. Finally (for the good part), Bjorn will now count as an objective which is often good as it is likely you - rather than the enemy - who will have most models nearby, a major boost in most missions. However, as I have said, being Fearless isn't always good and whilst becoming an objective can help you, should the enemy take it, then well... Finally, in kill point missions, Bjorn could potentially sacrifice you D3 kill points unless YOU (not even if the enemy has) have a model in contact with Bjorn, as you can imagine this can be a game destroyer, along with his potential to be an objective. As I said, this rule can potentially be great, however it can also be very, very bad. Then again, Space Wolves are all about risks, right?

Potential Uses

- As I said, due to Bjorn's Living Relic, Saga of Majesty, tendency to attract fire and that he needs help to reach the enemy, Bjorn is best kept at the centre of your army (like most characters). Above all though, make sure you have one unit (I'd recommend Grey Hunters) to watch over him in case he's destroyed and being (now) fearless this unit should be hard to shift.

- Generally, try your hardest to get Bjorn into close combat, this is where he really excels; being more than capable of taking on almost any enemy and more. However, getting him into close combat isn't as easy as it could be so you'll want to use other units to assist Bjorn in this by slowing down/trapping enemies until Bjorn gets there. On the other hand, if destroyed in combat then Bjorn will likely be surrounded by enemies and therefore likely to provide them with an objective/kill points - Bjorn truly is a mixed blessing, it is a trend you may have noticed throughout Bjorn's section

- If you locate Bjorn near other ranged vehicles (other dreadnoughts or predators), a squad or 2 of Grey Hunters in Razorbacks and an Iron Priest then you can form a very effective and durable fire-base. All these units can pack serious fire power whilst Bjorn deals with anything that gets too close. The Iron Priest can then repair Bjorn and any vehicles that need it, the Grey Hunters secure any objectives (including Bjorn himself) whilst Bjorn, Predators, Dreadnoughts and Razorbacks provide significant supporting fire.

- Feel free to use Bjorn as a fire-magnet. Whilst he is very expensive for such a role, he is very good at it, arguably being the toughest non-apocalypse vehicle in 40K.

- At 270pts Bjorn is very expensive and therefore best reserved for games of higher points, however, unlike many special characters Bjorn doesn't really require a retinue and can therefore, in essence, cost less points as he doesn't require a support unit. None-the-less, Bjorn is expensive and potentially very powerful or even game-destroying (not necessarily in a good way).

Clthomps wrote:He's fun as long as you avoid RAW douchebags. They will always pull the "you can't use his invuln since its only for wounds" crap.