Warhammer 40K: Huron Blackheart & Masters of the Maelstrom – How Good Are They?
GW just released the data sheets for Huron and the Masters of the Maelstrom. But just how good are the lords of the Red Corsairs?
The Masters of the Maelstrom really sound like some kind of off-brand heavy metal band from your hometown that plays at the beer garden. They play mostly covers, but everyone once in a while will bust out some song like “The Emperor Lies” and “Hellhounds on Parade”. Let’s take a look at their sheets to see if they might actually be good fr you to terrorize the tabletop.
Huron Blackheart
We’ll start with Huron at the top as he feels like a pretty beefy Chaos Lord. He has a 5+ FNP, 3+ Armor save, 4+ Invulnerable save, a very powerful flat 3 damage attack, and some interesting rules. He gives out an aura of +1 OC to Heretic Astartes infantry (but not Damned) and even has a fun reactive move if you get too close to him. The reactive move is locked into a d3+3″ move, which is most likely what we will see in the future for any other units’ reactive move. All of this is pretty good, and the icing on the cake with Huron is that he can join a crap ton of models from Legionaries, Chosen, Terminators, Masters of the Maelstrom, and the future Red Corsairs Raiders.
All of this is pretty good, and I think he will show up to armies just due to giving CSM a lot of things the UM are known for.
Masters of the Maelstrom
The next spicy thing in this release is the Masters of the Maelstrom. This is where we are getting a very interesting unit for CSM. It is another mixed unit like the Ultramarines got, but this time with a Chaos update. This unit is bringing you 18 wounds, a pile of attacks, and some fun little bonus rules. Let’s break it down a bit to give you an idea of how cool this unit is.
Garreon the Corpsemaster
Garreon the Corpsemaster is the chaos Apothecary that gives you two interesting rules. You have the ability to bring a non-character back to life, or you can gain a CP if there is a unit nearby (within 3″) that is below starting strength. The ability to gain more CP is very powerful indee,d with an army that wants to have more CP available. Also, bringing back a character – or a dead Chosen will be a very powerful ability to have you in your pocket. He also has a damage 2 pistol and an AP-2 melee attack.
Katar Garrix
The next interesting character is Katar Garrix, who seems to be some kind of souped-up Master of Execution. He has the keyword of anti-character 2+ and precision, which shows he is going to do a ton of damage to any character he gets his hands on. I am glad he doesn’t have Devastating wounds as it would probably make him a bit much. Or maybe I would love him to have it. He seems pretty brutal to deal with and helps push this unit up into the butt-kicking department.
Garlon Souleater
The psychic bro is Garlon Souleater, who gives you a precision psychic attack that is damage d6+1, which is pretty mean. He is going to help tenderize up any character that gets too close and then let Katar take their head off. His force stave is also a flat damage 2 at AP -2, which is a cool thing. I am glad they didn’t go d3 damage for it, as that can be such a let down at times, especially if it is sitting at AP -1.
Enforcer & Captain Sargotta
The last two friends in this unit are the Enforcer and Captain Sargotta, who are both interesting. The Enforcer gives you a “bomb squig” like ability as well as a decent damage 2 power fist attack. The Captain gives you a powerful redeploy option as well, which when combo’d with some of the other new things coming will be an interesting thing. Both of these guys are nice, decent things to have, and add another 6 wounds to this unit.
The Verdict
All of this is great and the unit can join Chosen, Red Corsair Raiders, and Legionaries. I think Chosen will be a good place for this unit to join up, as it gives them the ability to Advance/Charge/Fallback/Shoot, which seems like a powerful set of rules. They also give this unit another 30 wounds to deal with if you add all 10. Huron can still join this unit, too, and you create this big ole monster unit of nonsense. If you leave them at five Chosen, you can even put all of these guys in a Rhino if you want to, which isn’t a bad idea. This unit would be able to bust out of the Rhino, charge in, and cause all kinds of damage if needed to.
Overall, I like this option for CSM. The other things coming really start to push this army into the raider/reaver/pirate mentality, and I can’t wait to talk about it. I am pretty excited to play these guys and feel like they add a lot of interesting things to what CSM can do.
I am excited to try out Huron and his Posse as I contemplate going hard with EC or going back to CSM.
