I decided to come out of hiding for a little chat. Probably everyone has seen the new rules for Imperial(s), and I would like to take a moment to share my two pennies worth of deliberations on our custom warlords. This is not meant to be an exhaustive essay on all warlords, but I would encourage everyone to share their findings, so we can all make our opponents cry. I’ll be focusing on two base warlord types, the Blood Beret and ISF, who have recently been reworked (YES!).

Now, for the longest time Blood Berets have been my go-to warlord template. Good stats, good special rules, cheap, and cost effective. The best use I found for them is the Close Combat role. A free Plasma Carbine let’s them shoot when applicable while selecting a free Heavy Chain Ripper is always accompanied by the sounds of a marching band and a free Impenetrable Armour (13). All this for a mere 70 points before even considering any upgrades available for custom warlords, makes them insanely cost efficient. Simple, fun and effective.

Now, I’ll get a bit theoretical in this section, mainly because I’ve almost always fielded Beret warlords and because there is so much to say here. ISF don’t come with the fantastic base stats of the more elite Blood Berets, and their entry cost of 90 points may come across as rather steep. This cost, however, reflects their versatility and the eye watering discounts available to them. Depending on their type, warlords will get a stat boost worth 25 points GRATIS (well, 10 points + 15 special skill in the case of Ranged), before you even consider upgrading their stats. Secondly, two of my favorite specializations, which I tend to purchase for each warlord are Veteran and Heavy Armour. Veteran grants a boost of +2 CON, +2 WP and +3 LD, for a hilarious 3 points. For 35 points of upgrades, upgrades that would not normally be available to any one warlord, and certainly not in these numbers! Heavy Armour grants an Impenetrable Armour of (13), again for a measly 3 points. For the third specialization, and the one required to be taken in accordance with their warlord type is pretty much up to ones individual tastes. Typically this will be IR Goggles for Ranged and Running with the Wolves for CC. I somehow consider this mandatory specialization secondary in importance to the two I listed above, but that’s just me.

To round up the ISF, I would like to pay special attention to the Tech warlord option. At +1 CC, +1 RS and +2 Armour, they don’t exactly lend themselves to be combat monsters. However, I have noticed an interesting option available to them. Buy a Charger HMG, then select the Gyro-Stabilizers specialization, finish off with the Crackshot Special skill. Expensive, yes, I find these guys tend to cost me around 171 points once I get all the bells and whistles. BUT, and this is important, read the following:

Gyro-Stabilizers (15 points per Charger HMG): If the model with the Charger HMG makes an Aim Action, all RoF receive the aim bonus.

In effect, you’re getting a burst at +4 RS to each shot and +2 St for each of those shots. Without any warlord upgrades, that’s still 3 (4 T2B) shots at an effective RS of 17 and ST 15.

As a final note, ever feel your ranged warlord can’t kill a fly in melee? Drop 20 points on a Gallagher Claymore and laugh.

So, there you have it, my musings from the lunatic fringe. Any thoughts, suggestions or objections you would like to share?

I use a Blood Beret for a CC warlord and an ISF for a Tech warlord.

I've been tinkering with a Grey Ghost for Ranged, but I'm just not satisfied with the results enough to field her.

My Blood Beret CC warlord has the standard Plasma Carbine, but I have jacked up his Heavy Chain Ripper to a R1, ST +4, ROA 5, AVV 4 weapon. I have always given him Duelist, Camoflage and an Early Warning System. +2 to his ST and CC stats and an additional Wound all for 170 points.

The ISF Tech warlord is my favorite. Like yours, I also give him a Charger HMG (I have a Big Bob Watts on order for conversion), but I boosted the Str of it by 1 for a total of 25 points and a R24, ST 14, ROF 3, AVV 1 with Concentrated Fire. I have not used Gyro Stabilizers and I like the idea, but I cant fit it in, as you will see below. I give him +1 to CC, RS and ST. I also give him a Heavy Chain Ripper for 15, but I like your idea of using the Gallagher Claymore for 20. If I have 5 points to play with I will certainly be upgrading for the extra 1 inch of CCWR.

I also take Heavy Armor and Veteran. Instead of Gyro Stabilizers, I take Mastiff Master for 14 points and gain a Sentry dog that gives me Target Identifier, is Dispersible for when he gets seperated due to Slide Pack movement, and has a nasty bite. With Early Warning System, Gunslinger and Relentless on the Warlord, I can send the two off by themselves in a pinch to take and hold objectives until the calvary arrives.

Without Veteran, ISF warlords would be much less effective due to their low CON, WP and LD.

Originally, I had planned on basing my ISF on Shamrocks, but have switched to Dunsirn Hunters.

190 points of kick ass, story-driven goodness.

I tend to have serveral versions of one Warlord, each increasing in cost, adjusted to different game sizes. My Beret CC warlord has St 12 for st 16 in melee, I find that more isn't terribly useful. You'll be killing most squishy targets while most heavy infantry/warlords will have around 15/16 with Impenetrable Armour, so more St isn't worth it. Then I slap a 4th wound on him plus a chemical resuscitator, maybe even a U-boost shot if I'm feeling cruel. As for Grey Ghosts...yeah, I can't make them work, a high powered sniper rifle can reach st 18/19 with the aim bonus, but it's still ONE shot per turn.

Also note that the Gallagher Claymore grants Impenetrable Armour (14) in melee. Just for fun.

But I agree with you, ISF tech look really fun at the moment, and I can't wait to try them out.

Nice. I'll definitely be using it.

Scrounging 5 points shouldn't be too hard.

I'm still unsure if Gas Masks are free for Blood Beret and ISF warlords. Or MOW warlords in general like Timothy who is a Golden Lion.

You cannot go over 16 ST according to the fine print in HotSS anyway.

Well, you can't and you can. HotSS says the base ST stat of a model cannot be increased above 17 BUT, I was talking about the model's ST plus the bonus granted by the model's CC weapon. In this case ST 12 + 4 from a Heavy Chain Ripper = 16 in melee. Drop an extra 20 points to upgrade the Heavy Chain Ripper with +2 ST and you'll get that ST 18 in melee.

As I understand it, everything with a listed MOW type has gas masks.

Skitter is correct. PAge 9 lists all MOW as carrying gas masks.

Gas Masks: excellent. Thanks. The word "squads" threw me off.

HotSS: see page 10, 7th line down under Modify the Close Combat Weapon:

"Combined Strength of the warlord and his close combat weapon cannot be increased above 16 AVV cannot be increased beyond 10."

Th lack of a comma or period after 16 doesn't help and it is hidden in the italics and probably could be bulleted or highlighted.

Huh, my bad. Guess they don't want people hitting too hard in cc. Lucky me I haven't inadvertantly cheated because of this.