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I'm going to be running a warpsmith as my lone HQ for my Iron Warriors CSM and I wondering how others have equipped him. I haven't used one yet so am a little unsure. He will be getting the Mark of Khorne and going in a Spartan Assault Tank along with 20 Berzerkers. Beside the MoK, VotLW (I'm playing black legion), and Aura of Dark Glory for a 5+ invul, I'm not sure what else he needs, if anything at all.

Nope. All he really wants to take is 5++ and a Mark

Mark him Nurgle and get the 5++. That's about it.
He's also one of the characters that doesn't lose melee power equipping the Brand as he gets two bonus attacks from his arms, AKA still 4 attacks.

If only he could get a Bike...

Simple enough, thanks for the quick response!

I personally run mine as-is. He already has most everything he'll need to be good. The Mark and Aura does dramatically improve his survivability but if he's being shot at there's something wrong with my battleplan, so he only gets them if I have the points to spare.

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
I personally run mine as-is. He already has most everything he'll need to be good. The Mark and Aura does dramatically improve his survivability but if he's being shot at there's something wrong with my battleplan, so he only gets them if I have the points to spare.

He's going to be shot at if you don't have that equipment because that can be a quick Slay the Warlord or a quick removal of 110 points.

Anyone ever give him any artifacts? I'm think Ave of Blind Fury or maybe the Skull that grants EW and AW. The legacy of ruin my Spartan has gives the Berserker unit, and thus the warpsmith (right?), FnP from their Icon.

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
I personally run mine as-is. He already has most everything he'll need to be good. The Mark and Aura does dramatically improve his survivability but if he's being shot at there's something wrong with my battleplan, so he only gets them if I have the points to spare.

He's going to be shot at if you don't have that equipment because that can be a quick Slay the Warlord or a quick removal of 110 points.

Personally I never run him as my warlord; someone else with a bigger squad and more durable defenses (like a Tzeentch Lord with Sigil of Corruption and Terminator Armor) would be. That said, I usually hide him behind vehicles at all times. If I left him in the open then, once again, something has gone horribly wrong and him dying is the least of my problems.

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
I personally run mine as-is. He already has most everything he'll need to be good. The Mark and Aura does dramatically improve his survivability but if he's being shot at there's something wrong with my battleplan, so he only gets them if I have the points to spare.

He's going to be shot at if you don't have that equipment because that can be a quick Slay the Warlord or a quick removal of 110 points.

Personally I never run him as my warlord; someone else with a bigger squad and more durable defenses (like a Tzeentch Lord with Sigil of Corruption and Terminator Armor) would be. That said, I usually hide him behind vehicles at all times. If I left him in the open then, once again, something has gone horribly wrong and him dying is the least of my problems.

I've found when you have a single HQ in the army, if you nominate a squad leader as warlord people kind of forget the squad leader is the warlord and focus on the HQ instead. Being in a 20 man zerker squad I suppose this warpsmith is going to see quite a bit of action, so perhaps someone a little more back line might do a better job of warlording?

Best equipment for a warpsmith is a dust cover so he doesn't deteriorate too much before we get a new codex.

Haha, although running the warpsmith + 2 puppies formation looks fun. In such a case I would leave him naked. The reason being he isn't going to win any serious challenges and a 5+ wont make him magically able to go toe to toe with a thunderhammer captain or any competent melee character. He is better to have a seargent chump challenge and let the warpsmith tank a wound and swing his axe at I1. He doesn't need a 5++ or anything for that.

Even for something like the brand it just seems like you will overkill so completely anyway with that berserker squad, why kill a bunch first and risk failing the charge.

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
I personally run mine as-is. He already has most everything he'll need to be good. The Mark and Aura does dramatically improve his survivability but if he's being shot at there's something wrong with my battleplan, so he only gets them if I have the points to spare.

He's going to be shot at if you don't have that equipment because that can be a quick Slay the Warlord or a quick removal of 110 points.

Personally I never run him as my warlord; someone else with a bigger squad and more durable defenses (like a Tzeentch Lord with Sigil of Corruption and Terminator Armor) would be. That said, I usually hide him behind vehicles at all times. If I left him in the open then, once again, something has gone horribly wrong and him dying is the least of my problems.

And then he gets targeted because it is the easiest 110 points to remove...

I usually throw a Combi Melta on him as well since he is allowed to fire the harness in addition to his weapons if he so chooses. (Plus a bolter is always nice to have due to the limited range of the melta/pistol/flamer.)

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
I personally run mine as-is. He already has most everything he'll need to be good. The Mark and Aura does dramatically improve his survivability but if he's being shot at there's something wrong with my battleplan, so he only gets them if I have the points to spare.

He's going to be shot at if you don't have that equipment because that can be a quick Slay the Warlord or a quick removal of 110 points.

Personally I never run him as my warlord; someone else with a bigger squad and more durable defenses (like a Tzeentch Lord with Sigil of Corruption and Terminator Armor) would be. That said, I usually hide him behind vehicles at all times. If I left him in the open then, once again, something has gone horribly wrong and him dying is the least of my problems.

And then he gets targeted because it is the easiest 110 points to remove...

Yes so I'd rather not tack on another 30 points that would also get removed along with him.