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Hi All

I'm taking part in a tournament at my FLGS, it's called the tale of many gamers. Every two weeks we get set challenges in addition to the increasing our army size by 250 point.

The challenges are on the whole worth more points than actually winning the game, so it important that I do well in them.

The challenges up to this point have been modelling, converting ad writing fluff which I haven't had much trouble with but for the last week we have to design a model, build it and design special rules it for the game.

I thought the easiest thing would be a special character (like a priest or tech priest) but I’ve never made up my on character so I’m worried about getting it balanced. With out going in to too much detail the character idea for the character is based on stuff from my regiments fluff, basically they have an obcession with recording their deeds due to large parts of their past being a mystery.

So here goes:

Archivist. 0-3
80 points

WS 3
BS 3
S 3
T 3
W 1
I 3
A 2
Ld 8
SV 4+

War Gear.
Hot-shot Laspistol, Frag & Krak Grenades, Close Combat Weapon, Carapace Armor.

Special Rules
Independent Character, For the Annals of History, Ma I’m on TV, Lost Past

For the Annals of History
The knowledge that any failure or misdeed will be recorded for posterity is a powerful motivator. The fear of going down in history as a failure will push men past their normal levels of endurance. Any unit with 6” of the Archivist will receive the Feel No Pain Universal Special rule.

Ma I’m on TV
Men and Women will often attempt to impress the archivist with their actions in hope that their deeds will earn them special notice and that they will become famous back home.
At the start of the game, before deployment, role a single D6 and compare the result to the chart below. The characteristic on the chart will be granted to any unit that the archivist attaches to.

1-2 – Leadership 10
2-4 – Twin linked
4-6 – Furious Charge

Lost Past
The fear of your deeds going unrecorded, that you will perish in obscurity with no one knowing name can torment and twist a mans soul.

If the archivist is killed all units with 6” must take a Leadership test, if the test is failed the unit gains the rage universal special rule for the next turn. If the test is passed the units continues as normal.


So what do you think, i'm a little unsure about the rules I wanted to design a character who was a buff to units around him rather than being hard himself. The lost past Idea is partly fluffy but also i wanted their to be a consiquence for his death to justify the boosts he gives.


All critique is welcome as I'm not sure what i'm doing.

SpankHammer III wrote:


Archivist. 0-3
80 points
independent character
WS 3
BS 3
S 3
T 3
W 1
I 3
A 2
Ld 8
SV 4+

War Gear.
Hot-shot Laspistol, Frag & Krak Grenades, Close Combat Weapon, Carapace Armor.
All cool

Special Rules
Independent Character, For the Annals of History, Ma I’m on TV, Lost Past

For the Annals of History
The knowledge that any failure or misdeed will be recorded for posterity is a powerful motivator. The fear of going down in history as a failure will push men past their normal levels of endurance. Any unit with 6” of the Archivist will receive the Feel No Pain Universal Special rule.
Oh hell no, FNP power blob.. crazy, lets test it thursday

Ma I’m on TV
Men and Women will often attempt to impress the archivist with their actions in hope that their deeds will earn them special notice and that they will become famous back home.
At the start of the game, before deployment, role a single D6 and compare the result to the chart below. The characteristic on the chart will be granted to any unit that the archivist attaches to.

1-2 – Leadership 10 (kinda op with Commie)
2-4 – Twin linked (only the unit Scrive is attached to, FNP Twin linked first rank fire second rank fire.. )
4-6 – Furious Charge (like it)

Lost Past
The fear of your deeds going unrecorded, that you will perish in obscurity with no one knowing name can torment and twist a mans soul.

If the archivist is killed all units with 6” must take a Leadership test, if the test is failed the unit gains the rage universal special rule for the next turn. If the test is passed the units continues as normal. (Funny if the Commie shoots him)


So what do you think, i'm a little unsure about the rules I wanted to design a character who was a buff to units around him rather than being hard himself. The lost past Idea is partly fluffy but also i wanted their to be a consiquence for his death to justify the boosts he gives.


All critique is welcome as I'm not sure what i'm doing.

I have one major issue with it, and that is simply that his ability is a "within 6 inches ability" which due to the nature of IG and their blobs is ridiculous. I would like to point out, for example, how amazingly good this is for a blob army such as Ailaros. Essentially, for 80 points you can double the resiliency of 60 to 80 guardsmen. In addition, he gives one blob (likely a bigger one) one of 3 very powerful abilities. As was pointed out, TL FRFSRF is amazingly good. FC on a Powerblob is also pretty amazing.
The drawback is bad, but can easily be mitigated by proper placment/protection.

I am of the opinion you should remove the FNP bubble and reduce the cost by about 40. You end up with an attachable IC which gives a significant buff to a blob for 40 points. Hes also not terrible for an IG model, with 3 attacks and carapace armour, plus a HS las weapon.

I can see what you mean about the 6"

I kind of wanted to keep the feel no pain though. I'd be happier editing the other rules and dropping the 6", or may be whacking the price up.

DKK have a quarter master HQ option that gives any unit with in 2" of the quarter master or any of his three servitors FNP for only 60 points, the only draw back being you have to roll to see if the servitors mind lock.

How about dropping the 6" and making it so that the FNP doesn't work if the Archivist is in base contact with an enemy unit?

Or making the Ma I'm on tv and leadership test each turn?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ok now amended, i've dropped the additional special rules and reduced his equipment and handicapped his FNP a little. As a result I've dropped the points cost. I thought about may be adding the Furious charge or twin linked as 20 point upgrade, and order to use it you have to take a leadership, maybe with a negative effect should you fail. What do you think?

archivist. 0-3
60 points

WS 3
BS 3
S 3
T 3
W 1
I 3
A 2
Ld 8
SV 5+

War Gear.
Laspistol, Frag & Krak Grenades, Close Combat Weapon, Flak Armor.

Special Rules
Independent Character, For the Annals of History, Lost Past

For the Annals of History
The knowledge that any failure or misdeed will be recorded for posterity is a powerful motivator. The fear of going down in history as a failure will push men past their normal levels of endurance. Any the Archivist is attached to = will receive the Feel No Pain Universal Special rule. This ability may not be used if the archivist is in base contact with an enemy model.

Lost Past
The fear of your deeds going unrecorded, that you will perish in obscurity with no one knowing name can torment and twist a mans soul.

If the archivist is killed all units with 6” must take a Leadership test, if the test is failed the unit gains the rage universal special rule for the next turn. If the test is passed the units continues as normal.

Perhaps just FNP to units the Archivist is attached to? I really like this and might play it in my next friendly game...

@CrashUSAR

Hi do you mean keep him as is (as in first post) just drop the 6"? if you do play test it please let me know how it goes

Is feel no pain really neccessary? if someone was watching and recording my actions i'd try harder in the first place to not get shot. Maybe something like adding plus one to combat resoloution if part of the squad, or even within 12 inches? Granting rage to a squad if the character is killed i understand, but does every soldier fight for glory or for duty? Maybe a sense of wanting things to be recorded, or recovering records already taken over wanting to be made famous? Just my fluff take, but stat wise and points cost nice. Is there a model for this yet?

SpankHammer III wrote:

For the Annals of History
The knowledge that any failure or misdeed will be recorded for posterity is a powerful motivator. The fear of going down in history as a failure will push men past their normal levels of endurance. Any unit with 6” of the Archivist will receive the Feel No Pain Universal Special rule.

All critique is welcome as I'm not sure what i'm doing.

I don't know about FNP. I think Fearless might be better, but that's stepping on Commissars toes. "Doing Better", just seems to make more sense. Feel no pain lets you keep going even though you've had an arm blown off. I just don't see that level of motivation, from a single guy, affecting 100+ men.

How about:
Each turn the unit that he is attached to may choose one:
1) Re-roll 1 to hit roll (1 per squad should squads be combined)
2) Re-roll all failed ARMOR saves. (worse than FNP, but still decent)
3) Re-roll all failed leadership test. (because running away is cowardly)

I'd ditch the area of effect. IG can be too numerous for it to be balanced, or for it to make sense. Put 1 adviser in a field with 200 men, odds are good 3/4's of those guys are going to think they aren't being watched. At most, have it affect a single platoon, with models within 12"; and attach him to the platoon command.

-Matt

i just had a thought ol'spanky, ditch FNP and have him give Prefured enemy for the first turn o combat. This represents the meatshi... um guardmans determination to be remembered quite nicely without creating a super awesomo blob o death(TM), Lets put it this way dude.. would you want my Orks having this FNP bubble?

first thanks for responding everyone most appreciated.

@Hereticdave - my god you didn't actually read my fluff did you No model as yet, but i'm working on it.

or recovering records already taken over wanting to be made famous?

this is kind of what i was going for. The fluff for the character is really basic, I wanted to get the character and his rules right before I put too much time into the fluff as it probably change based on the rules I end up with.

Is feel no pain really necessary?

no probably not, but i quite like the idea of adding feel no pain to a blob. Also I can see someone fighting on longer than they would normally because they are being monitored, fear of failure especially in the eyes of other and the emperor can be a powerful motivator. Plus if its the commissariat watching the film you don't want to be seen slacking.

Maybe something like adding plus one to combat resolution if part of the squad, or even within 12 inches?

no offense but that a little weak in my book, i'm guard I lose combats, my commissar keep my men in order long enough to grind the other side down. This would just make him a slightly better standard.

@HawaiiMatt

not a fan of fearless, stubborn is better and thats already easy enough to get in a guard force.

I'd ditch the area of effect. IG can be too numerous for it to be balanced, or for it to make sense. Put 1 adviser in a field with 200 men, odds are good 3/4's of those guys are going to think they aren't being watched. At most, have it affect a single platoon, with models within 12"; and attach him to the platoon command.

already done

1) Re-roll 1 to hit roll (1 per squad should squads be combined)
2) Re-roll all failed ARMOR saves. (worse than FNP, but still decent)
3) Re-roll all failed leadership test. (because running away is cowardly)

point 1 seems a little poor, 1 reroll doesn't seem worth taking. 2 is interesting, 3 commissar already has this covered.

@Formosa

Hey man how goes it, i'm having real issues with this character.

Prefured enemy for the first turn o combat

Priest already does this.


Ok let me go through my thinking for this character. I wanted a straken type character, but without being a HQ. I wanted something that give the guard an actual boost in combat without being hard in combat himself. Whether it be shooting or assualt, I want something that is a buff to units/unit, I don't want a commissar/priest/tech priest by another name

I understand what you are all saying about the 6" FNP bubble, it could be a but load of models, so have dropped it but I think that FNP isn't that unreasonable if you take into account the Death Korps of Krieg Quarter master. I'm we're talking guardsmen here any s6 weapon is going to negate it.

If you look at Strakens codex entry for his points you get a fearless CCS with senior officer with a power weapon for an arm that can punch through a tank who has a marine armor save, giving everyone in 12" counter charge or furious charge. If you don't take into account the CCS points for just straken's points your still getting 3 universal special rules, two of which have a 12" range on top of a rock hard character.

I really like the idea behind this guy. Maybe make him an addition to the CCs like an advisor? Instead of being an IC.

Hey purplefood

The problem I have with adding him as an advisor is that the CCS can already get FNP with a medic, the ccs isn't short of ways to beef itself up straken, creed, bodyguards and so on.

I'm doing some amendments tonight and will post the updates but the main points are i'm dropping the number of them yopu can take to 1, uping the point and adding back the Ma i'm on tv rules as a buyable upgrade, i've modified it slightly in an attempt to even it out more.

Fair enough. Look forward to it.

I look forward to any comments you have, I only get the points if the character is reasonable


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ok folks here is the new rules, let me know what you think. I've yet to finish the fluff for it so idea for verbiage are welcome.

Archivist. 0-1
80 points

WS BS S T W I A LD SV
3 3 3 3 1 3 2 8 4+

War Gear.
Laspistol, Frag & Krak Grenades, Close Combat Weapon, Carapace Armour.

Special Rules
Independent Character, For the Annals of History, Lost Past

For the Annals of History
The knowledge that all of ones action are not only being watched but recorded can be a powerful motivator. However the knowledge that all the footage gathered is studied in great detail by the archivists guild and all finding past onto the Inquisition or Commissariat is an even more powerful motivator. The Jalvene live with the constant overshadowing presence of the shame, the thought of bringing down additional dishonour upon ones family or regiment is so appalling that they will often fight on past the limts on normal men.
Any unit the Archivist is attached to will receive the Feel No Pain Universal Special rule. This rule does not apply to the archivist himself. This ability may not be used if the archivist is in base contact with an enemy unit or if he has been removed as a casualty.

Lost Past
The Archivist can not be summarily executed by a commissar of any type.

If the archivist is killed all units with 6” must take a Leadership test, if the test is failed the unit gains the rage universal special rule for the next turn. If the test is passed the units continues as normal.

Servo Skull
For an additional 20 points a servo skull can be added to the archivist. The Servo Skull adds 1w to archivist and the following additional rules. Should the archivist take a wound it must firs t be allocated to the servo skull. If the Servo skull is destroyed the following rules may not be used.


For the Front Page
At the beginning of each turn the archivist may choose to take a leadership test, using his own unaltered leadership. If the test is past then role a single D6 and compare the result to the chart below, the characteristic on the chart will be granted to any unit that the archivist is attached to at the start of the turn. The abillity granted will be lost if the archivist leaves the unit.

1-2 – Leadership 10
2-4 – Twin linked
4-6 – Furious Charge
However if the test is failed then the “Bad Press” rule applies

Bad Press
If the archivist fails his leadership test “for the front page” the squad he is attached to suffers D6 S4 wounds. The Feel no pain granted by “for the annals of history” cannot be used to against any wounds suffered, however normal armor or invulnerable saves can still be taken in the normal manner.

I forgot to ask tonight how he did old chap, so... how he do? btw cool priest model

Do you mean the archivist? because he's not finished yet and he's for the last game.

The priest did really well, righteous zeal with 5 power weapons ate those Tau, it made a nice change to fight a side where I didn't need to get at least 4's and 5's. The priest personally ripped a Hammerhead apart and survived the explosion.

I had to forfeit start of my turn 5 though. Nick (my ally) had been totally wiped out, they had about 5 gaunts and 8 assault marines in the objective, a lone path finder wandering around and 7 genestealers eating their way through the powerblob. I couldn't win and it was getting late. In hindsight I should have used marbo better but like I said to you last night my tale of many gamers army is far from competetive.

Ok this is a bit of a shamless bump (for which I apologise) but I haven't had any comments since I amended the rules.

What do you guys and girls think?

Apologies again for the bump

sorry, but could your store have a more obvious money-making scheme? "To take part in this uber-fun event, you need to buy 250 points of models every 2 weeks".
seems good to me. Was thinking that 80 points is a bit steep, looks more like 45-then I saw the SR's, and 80 seems good. Maybe +1W.

Hey Shrike

Yeah its a total money making scheme especially as they are doing it for all three systems. I missed the fantasy and i'm not taking part in the war of the rings though. Luckily I had a lot of guard already which were waiting to be painted/built so didn't cost as much as it could of. I do wish that they'd not done it around christmas. I have enjoyed it though as someone who is still relatively new to the hobby its been good especially as i'm winning and now have my models in the display case.

I've ameded him a little after talking to some guys in store, i've also written a lot of the surrounding fluff. He basically now has three wounds but his death is more of an issue than before. The death bit links into the fluff quite nicely and was our black shirts idea.

BATTLEFIELD ARCHIVIST
Archivist. 0-1
80 points

The Archivist guild was established in M35 in an attempt by the Jalvene people to find answers to the exact nature of the shame, a dark period in Jalvene history of which little is known except for the continuing guilt. The hope was that by finding the exact nature of their failure the Jalvenes would be able to atone for their sins and, finally remove the shadow that hangs over their society.

In M36 after the horrific invasion of the Jalvene system by an Ork Waaaagh the nature of the guilds worked changed. The chaos that followed the Ork invasion resulted in the total destruction of many irreplaceable records and documents, including the total loss of the all records gathered by the guild. The guilds loss was twofold as the vast majority of its members were killed during the invasion, even though they were in a secure compound. It was during the aftermath of the invasion that the guild was forged anew by Lord Commissar Fleischer. They would no longer be an association of scribes and scholars sifting through centuries old archives looking for the answers of the past. The past was providence of the dead and whatever answer it held were best left undisturbed. They would be a force of well trained and capable individuals whose goal was to gather information on the present so that future generation would learn by their example and that the mistakes of the present would not become the shames of the future.

To this end candidates from the guard, commissariat and Inquisition were recruited and trained in the ways of the Battlefield archivist. They were then attached to Jalvene regiments to monitor and record their actions.

WS BS S T W I A LD SV
4 4 3 3 1 3 2 8 4+

War Gear.
Hot Shot Laspistol, Frag & Krak Grenades, Close Combat Weapon, Carapace Armour.

Special Rules
Independent Character, For the Annals of History, Lost Past, The Right Connections, Servo Skull

For the Annals of History
The knowledge that all of ones actions are not only being watched but recorded can be a powerful motivator. However the knowledge that all the footage gathered is studied in great detail by the archivist guild and all finding past onto the Inquisition or Commissariat is an even more powerful motivator. The Jalvene live with the constant overshadowing presence of the shame, the thought of bringing down additional dishonour upon ones family or regiment is so appalling that they will often fight on past the limits on normal men.

Any unit the Archivist is attached to will receive the Feel No Pain Universal Special rule. This ability may not be used by the archivist himself or if the archivist is in base contact with an enemy unit or he has been removed as a casualty.

Lost Past
Gaps in the Jalvenes past are a bitter reminder of their failings and although most Jalvene have accepted that they will never know the truth about their past they are loathed to let any such gaps reoccur.

If the archivist is killed all units with 12” must take a Leadership test, if the test is failed the unit gains the rage universal special rule for the next turn as the troops become enraged that another part of their history has been lost. If the test is passed the units continues as normal.

When the archivist dies do not remove his model as he becomes an additional objective in any objective based game. In a kill point based game should his body be lost to enemy the guard player loses 1 KP

The Right Connections
Although not officially part of the commissariat or the Inquisition enclave on Jalvene, the Archivist guild has strong links to both. Their members are drawn from candidates chosen by both bodies and all their finding are submitted to them for analysis.

As such the Archivist can not be summarily executed by a commissar of any type as he is considered too much of a valuable tool.

Servo Skull
The archivist tools of the trade include servo skulls in order to better record the sound and images of the battlefield. As standard the archivist comes with 2 servo skulls.

Each Servo Skull adds 1 wound to archivist. Should the archivist take a wound it must first be allocated to the servo skulls, as they can not function without the guidance of the archivist. For the purposes of wound allocations and Instant death the archivist and each servo skull counts as a separate models. Servo Skulls do not benefit from the Feel no Pain granted by for the annals of history.

In addition the servo Skull adds the following additional rules. If the Servo skull is destroyed the following rules may not be used.

For the Front Page
The records and picts an archivist takes are not just for the analysis of the commissariat or the Inquisition. Particular acts of courage of heroism are often released to the public as a source of inspiration and to encourage enlistment into the guard.

Always looking for a good pict or story to inspire the folks back home the archivist at the beginning of each turn may choose to take a leadership test, using his own unaltered leadership. If the test is past then role a single D6 and compare the result to the chart below, the characteristic on the chart will be granted to any unit that the archivist is attached to at the start of the turn to represent the archivist spurring the men on. The ability granted will be lost if the archivist leaves the unit or is destroyed.

1-2 – Leadership 10
3-4 – Twin linked
5-6 – Furious Charge

Bad Press
Occasionally in his eagerness to get a good pict the archivist will spur troopers on to acts of foolishness rather than bravery.

If the archivist fails his leadership test “for the front page” the squad he is attached to suffer D6 S3 hits to represent the archivist mistake in judgement. The Feel no pain granted by “for the annals of history” cannot be used to against any wounds suffered, however normal armour or invulnerable saves can still be taken.

all good except the servo skull, give it the look out arrggh rule to keep it simple. hope that helped =)

Yo dude, the 'archivist' idea has already been done in a 2005 white dwarf chapter approved article. He is an advisor to a 'High commander', i could dig up the rules for you if you wish. IIRC the archivist does a similar thing but less powerful.

Really? Yeah if you have the rules it would be cool to see them.

Magister187 wrote:I have one major issue with it, and that is simply that his ability is a "within 6 inches ability" which due to the nature of IG and their blobs is ridiculous. I would like to point out, for example, how amazingly good this is for a blob army such as Ailaros. Essentially, for 80 points you can double the resiliency of 60 to 80 guardsmen. In addition, he gives one blob (likely a bigger one) one of 3 very powerful abilities. As was pointed out, TL FRFSRF is amazingly good. FC on a Powerblob is also pretty amazing.
The drawback is bad, but can easily be mitigated by proper placment/protection.

I am of the opinion you should remove the FNP bubble and reduce the cost by about 40. You end up with an attachable IC which gives a significant buff to a blob for 40 points. Hes also not terrible for an IG model, with 3 attacks and carapace armour, plus a HS las weapon.

I agree with magister on this one blobs will be way to stronge with all these rules for such a tiny cost unit. I was thinking that you could possible make him a veteran choice only like harker and his abilities are added to the join squad only.

FNP, furious charge (maybe) IG blob? too OP. make it a added guy (like a commissar) for a vet. squad or CCS.

Thanks for the post guys

@ eyebone: the rules have been amended since magisters quoted post (3 posts before your one). The 6" FNP bubble was the first thing I got rid of.

@ shrike: I disagree, firstly the furious charge isn't guranteed and if attempted and failed causes wounds to the squad, you lose the ability to even try for furious charge if you lose both servo skulls. I also felt that the Lost Past rule is harsh enough that the FNP isn't OP especially given that neither he or the servo skulls have FNP.

As I previously mentioned the FNP blob is nothing new see DKK. It's not even that hard considering that the S6 weapons will negate it. Adding him to a CCS does nothing the role is already covered by straken and a medic.

I think the draw back I written in more than make up for the possitives. Yeah he make a blob hard but if he's singled out he won't last long and then everything in 12" potentially suffers and you drop an additional KP/objective on top of the the one the opponent gets for capping an IC.