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Well, I have some old PAGK justicars. They are now the Grey Knight Brotherhood Champions and I certainly have no need for more than one of them (if even one at all) so, I'm going to use them as regular Justicars. They're spares as well so I thought I'd load them out with Warding Staves just in case I ever have the need to use some Purifiers with Warding staves. And I'm hoping to get some feed back from the Dakka community as to what the pros and cons are of using it. Here's some stuff to start with:

Pro: 2+ invul save in CC
Pro: 2+ invul save against Perils Of The Warp on the Justicar/Knight of the flame
Pro: Wound allocation

Con: 25 points
Con: It replaces a hammer or halberd

Any other tips/tricks you can think of for them? Any other reasons to avoid them like the plague? Also, would you be able to allocate wounds from Initiative 1 weapons like Power Klaws or can you only allocate wounds in CC against same value initiative weapons? And can a IC/sergeant/nob etc types single out a Justicar or knight of the flame as you can with say, one IC to another if they are both in CC?

You can allocate wounds against the Warding Staff from any Initiative value, that's why I take one for Terminator units, to protect them from the hidden Power Fist that you usually come up against. For simple Strike Knights, I would leave it behind as it quickly adds up points-wise, but for the more expensive, more valueble units, I would definitely take one.

Could you allocate a wound to a warding stave model from a Power fist type if you've already allocated a wound to him from an attack that occurred earlier in the combat as a higher I value? And I agree with the points thing - 25 points on a PAGK is really expensive but I want to experiment with it. Admittedly in a competitive game, i probably wouldn't take one.

At every Initiative step you may allocate another wound to him. Slannesh DP, 1 wound, charging berzerker another wound, CSM wound, Nurgle marine wound, powerfist wound.

I agree with the poster several posts above. Terminators are really the units that get the most out of warding staves, especially ten man units of them. I usually give one to my libby too, just to increase his longevity on the board.

So say you have 4 regular GK and 1 with a warding stave, do you not have to allocate 4 wounds to the 4 regular GK (as they are the largest wound group) before you are allowed to allocate 1 wound to the warding stave? Tell me I've got that wrong...

Shooting and close combat wound allocation are the same, so the rules for both are on page 25.

You can allocate wounds in any order (the "largest wound group" thing was 4th edition, not a rule any more) with the one restriction that

"The player must allocate one wound to each model in the target unit before he can allocate a second wound to the same model."

The same goes for the second wound--every model has to be allocated a second wound before any model can be allocated a third wound, and so on if there are fourth and fifth wounds.

That's the only restriction, and it starts fresh at every initiative step, so any kind of allocation you can think of within that restriction is legal.

He stated the warding stave gives a 2+ ward save in close combat? Does it give the 2+ save for shooting as well?

No, it's only in CC.

ColdSadHungry wrote:No, it's only in CC.

wow... totally got cheated than multiple times from trying to instant kill terminators/paladins with high strength weapons and them taking a 2+ invul save every time.

Yes you did, the only real way to get a hi invul against shooting is to take Draigo with his storm shield 3++ and stick him in a unit to eat hi str shooting.

Why does it gives you a 2+ versus perils? Does it say that in the entry?
Also, it doesn't give you any wound allocation benefits you didn't have before. You can always allocate wounds to a justicar since he has different stats afaik.

It doesn't give you 2+ vs perils, although that would be amazing.

Well, you get invulnerable saves against perils. And since you'd be casting hammerhand or cleansing flame which you do after assault moves have taken place and the stave works in CC, then you can use the invul save it gives if you get perils.

ColdSadHungry wrote:Well, you get invulnerable saves against perils. And since you'd be casting hammerhand or cleansing flame which you do after assault moves have taken place and the stave works in CC, then you can use the invul save it gives if you get perils.

Good point, I will keep that in mind.