Wednesday 6 April 2016

Horus Heresy Review: Emperor's Children - Saul Tarvitz

Good afternoon you heretical bunch,



Today, as with Rylanor, we have a brave loyal soul to the Emperor, caught up in the treachery of his own legion. Saul Tarvitz was the man responsible for protracting the Isstvan III atrocity as his warning allowed many loyalist forces of the traitor legion to take shelter from the viral bombardment that followed. A super cool dude. 

Stats

                                    WS  BS  S  T  W  I  A  LD  Sv
Saul Tarvitz                  6     4    4   4   3  5  3   10    2+


Equipment

Saul Tarvitz comes equipped with a modified bolter which counts as a sniper rifle, a bolt pistol, artificer armour, a refractor field for a 5++, and frag and krak grenades. Additionally he has a Charnarbal Broadsword with the following profile:


Charnarbal Broadsword - S+1, AP5, Two-Handed, Rending, Duellists Edge.

Duellists Edge - when fighting in a challenge the user gains +1 initiative


Special Rules

As an independent character Saul Tarvitz can mooch between squads as he pleases, he also (obviously) comes with the Legiones Astartes (Emperor's Children) special rules - so +1 initiative on the charge - so I7 in the first round of a challenge if he charged!

He also comes with Master of the Legion and Preferred Enemy (Emperor's Children) BUT only if you are using him in a loyalist legion force.


Overview

On the face of it Saul Tarvitz really isn't anything special, he has a very decent statline all things considered which is nicely augmented by his Legion rules as well as the challenge rules of the Charnarbal, However you really can't rely on that to produce AP2 in any regularity which makes the prospect of him facing an AP2 S8 power fist wielding, artificer armour wearing sergeant a little bit unsettling!

However! Saul Tarvitz comes in at 135 points. Now that instantly makes him a much tastier prospect, for the simple fact that he comes with Master of the Legion. A cheap and easy access to Rites of War that also has a few little things up his sleeve.

I like Saul Tarvitz, but I would only ever use him as a characterful HQ in either a small points EC army OR as a way to bring a flavoured allied detachment of loyalist EC. If he had a better melee weapon with AP3 at least, I would recommend you take him in spades. But sadly, not there as you can see.

Next up later in the week, maybe the weekend, is Eidolon!


Peace out,

Rob

5 comments:

  1. Look forward to it ! Tarvitz was my favorite of the loyalist EC.

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  2. He's actually I8 because he gets +1 I in a challenge XD.

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  3. Nice succinct review rob, good work. Does he have a model? Saul was/is one of my favourite characters in the books. Know what you mean thou, seems like he really could benefit from some form of power sword!

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