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Saw this posted elsewhere and I'm interested in opinions here. If I give my runelord the master rune of steel (lowers everything to S5) then almost every attack against the anvil, which is now a T10 warmachine, will need a 6 to wound?

Well not in CC, as you use the crews profile at that point.

Against shooting you only get to use the best armour, ward etc, you are still attacking the machine and not the runelord. You dont even wound the rune lord randomly any more but in a strict order (him last if memory serves) so I dont see how you would use his rune when rolling against the warmachine.

Considering you are rolling to wound vs. the War Machine, I would guess that is a no-go Rune for the Rune Lord.

Rune of Steel "Attacks against the bearer of this rune with a strength greater than 5 are treated at Strength 5."

Anvil of Doom (FAQ) "Is a War Machine that cannot be moved. The anvil receives two attacks for the runelord ---. Use the best armour and ward saving throw available to any member of the creew against all wounds that are suffered by the Anvil."

Shooting at a War Machine pg109. "When shooting at a war machine, resolve the attack as normal, using the toughness value of the war machine - the crew are doubtless cowering being their war machine, using its iron and timber hide to preserve their altogether more fragile ones. The crews armor save is still used to prevent any wounds inflicted, as it is they the attack is attempting to slay."

The Crew pg 108. "As the crew arent really a combat unit per say, we ignore them for most gaming purposes.... The crew cannot be sharged, attacked, or otherwise affected separately from their war machine..."

I'll say no, you cant use that rune.

If the best armor is the rune armor, why would it not apply?

It would probably apply only when you are resolving the attacks against the Runelord, as the wounds are applied and resolved in a strict order. The better question is "is it worth taking or are there better options."

Shooting attacks: the rune is not on the anvil, the rune is on the character. If you want to get particular, the wording suggests the anvil is a "warmachine" so a armor rune cannot be applied to it. As shooting is resolved against the warmachine, your hitting as normal against its T10 now, resolving any armor saves as reviewed in the FAQ

Combat attacks: the rune is on the character, it is not on the crew. Wounds are distributed in a very clear matter. So resolve each attack seperately. When your down to just the character, and the wounds are distrubuted onto him, yes it would likely apply but not until the crew are dead.

That being said, as I mentioned, there may be better options for protecting your Anvil. Instead of the price of the rune which would likely not apply that much, how about a big ass unit of slayers sitting right in front of them protected by the 5+ ward banner from another unit?

I still don't see your point. You never attack the runelord/crew separately as they are all wound markers for the anvil. The anvil has the best armor save available for all wounds. In this case it is the rune armor that is best so it would use the effect for all attacks.

Except you are only told that you can use the best armour save, you are not given any capability to use any runes that may be on the armour.

In addition the rune requires that you are attacking the runelord, which when you are shooting the warmachine you are categorically NOT doing.

So in other words no permission to use it, you arent even fulfilling the requirements for the rune to actvate, so you cannot use it.

Nosf has it correct.
The magic rune is a rune attached to the armor, it has nothing to do with the save. The rule indicates "use the best possible save."

Attacking the model by shooting, resolves against the Toughness of the Warmachine. Again, the Character is not involved in resolving that attack.

Attacking the model in HtH, does not involved attacking the character UNTIL he is by himself. Thus, the first series of attacks are resolved against the Anvil Guard (the crew) utilizing their toughness and armor saves. Then when they are dead and gone, if the Runelord is by himself, anything affecting him would resolve.

You also omitting a key piece: i'm pretty sure that rune indicates the words "when attacking the character." RAW means no, the rune will not apply as the shooting is against the warmachine and in combat initial attacks against the crew.

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