Vorenus Altruen, The Everliving.

[juggulator]

Bloodangels codex entry Furioso Dreadnought. +1 frontal armour.

HQ choice.

Vorenus Alruen, "The Everliving" - 275 points

Vorenus Altruen, captain of the blood angels 6th company was renowned for his combat skills, but more so for his tactics and skill on the battlefield. Vorenus was the supporter of the dreadnaught siege line whereby a host of dreadnoughts would descend on the enemy crushing all foes beneath their steel hooves. Alas, his command was cut short when his Thunderhawks were shot down and he was stranded upon a world, bent for destruction by the hordes of chaos during the great heresy war. So sacred was his battered form, when it was recovered, it was transferred to a great dreadnaught sarcophagus, whereby his leadership skills would never be wasted and he would be able to reap his furious vengeance.

Wargear:

• Blood Talons with built in Melta gun
  
• Blood Talons with built in storm bolter
  
• Venerable Drop pod
  

Special Rules:

• Red Thirst
  
• Rapid Assault
  
• The Iron Horde

Rapid Assault: Famed for His drop pod legions Altruen always deploys by Drop pod and may assault the turn he arrives.

Venerable Drop Pod: Both Altruen's drop pod and Altruen are treated with the venerable rule, outlined on pg. 65 in the Space Marine codex. The droppod is equipped with the deathwind missile launcher upgrade.

The Iron Horde: If your army includes Vorenus Altruen, 1 Dreadnought in your army may count as a scoring unit.

Any thoughts or ideas? Also he Can be used by anybody for the writing phase of the contest.

[TheComedian]

Aww man as a Blood Angels drop pod- dready (sometimes) army i wish this was a real guy. Nice story and all the points cost is good for him as well and really encourages DoA lists which i think are the funest.

[Polaria]

230 points for AV14 Dreadnought that has 5 attacks with double Blood Talons, a flamestorm cannon, a free drop pod that is venerable and immune to shaken and stunned results like him, has Furious Charge AND turns all your dreadnoughts (I assume it means himself, too) into scoring units.

Tell me this is April's Fool, 'cause he is so overpowered even 330 points would be undercosted. Its really worth noting that if you could take Bjorn in Space Wolf codex with a drop pod he would be over 300 points and he would still be much weaker that Vorenus Altruen is. What you need to do is either tone him down or put out a price tag in excess of 400 points on him.

My suggestions on balancing him are:

Point Value: 250
Furioso Dreadnought with +1 Frontal Armour (drop the extra attacks, with double Blood Talons that produce more attacks ad infinitum, getting 5 attacks is really too much)
The Iron Horde: If your army includes Vorenus Altruen, at the start of the game you can select D3 Dreadnoughts to count as scoring units. (this would balance it out while still retaining the basic idea)
Venerable Drop Pod: Both Altruen's drop pod and Altruen are treated with the venerable rule, outlined on pg. 65 in the Space Marine codex. The droppod is equipped with the deathwind missile launcher upgrade. (drop the immunity to shaken and stunned, combined with everything else he already has it would be seriously game-breaking)

[juggulator]

Yeah I kinda made him into a mary sue character, mostly because I just wanted to see how bad-ass he could be without much in the way of balancing. I'll make changes.

[Polaria]

Yeah I kinda made him into a mary sue character, mostly because I just wanted to see how bad-ass he could be without much in the way of balancing.

If that was your intention, then I must congratulate you on job well done.

[Intrepid]

He's still a scoring Venerable Land Raider with a turn 1 charge. Also, you're exceeding the limit of 3 specials. (Replacing Red Thirst with Furious Charge, the upgraded flamer and granting venerable to the Pod all count.)

He doesn't fit his fluff, either. For a guy noted for leadership skills, he's outdoing DC Tycho. You could revise him to flamestorm cannon, Venerable and a leadership bonus of some sort. That would be enough. Let his player buy an ordinary Pod if desired; this frees him up to ride in a Storm Raven or something.

Alternatively, just give him the Storm Raven's ceramite armor rule. That'll make the melta-spammers have to work at killing him without the need for Venerable, buffed AV and early charging.

[Guthbrand]

If he can make a dreadnought scoring I would also say that it would have to be a non Death Company Dreadnought, but then maybe his leadership is that great that even their rage can be controlled by him.

[juggulator]

Dude was a captain during the Hersey wars, the guy has gotta be something serious on the battlefield, plus he's rocking some of the most serious Dreadnought armour ever constructed. Super flamer is gone but the tactics remain. Basically his tactics, that of being able to assault first turn, being able to score or make another dread score are some tactics that have long since departed from the current space marines army standards. But at 275? yeah he's going to have to be something fearsome at what he does, namely assaulting dudes and wrecking them; granted what he charges in the first turn is probably gonna a drop, but at 275 i would never even consider a special character unless I knew he could deliver at least some of his points back.

[Polaria]

The version I see now looks pretty soldi for 275 points. Basically a Venerable Furious Dreadnought with AV14 frontal. Thats not too bad and ability to make one Dreadnought scoring is good and well. Even his Venerable Drop Pod is okay, seeing as it is limited by the fact that he MUST use it... Even against Strike-spam Grey Knights where it is a guaranteed mishap.

[Intrepid]

AV14 and Venerable make this guy unkillable in close combat except by Monstrous Creatures. Also, turn 1 charges are a major, major, major deal. Here, you might as well have a rule that reads "At the start of the game, replace one enemy unit with this unkillable murder machine". I would put the cost of this guy around 600 points. He can win games by himself if the enemy has few meltaguns or high-initiative MCs.

Admittedly, the character I made also has a Turn 1 charge, but I was careful to add several drawbacks as well. There's no drawback here.