A new Rare Unit choice for The Nauticans - Fortunis

I have been mulling over a new rare choice ever since my friend suggested a War Shrine type of unit.

A suggestion for a throne (Poseidon's throne to be precise) was also made in the Battle Reporter forum.

Some sort of talismanic unit that could be used to bolster the Nautican's strengths or maybe exploit their enemies weaknesses appealed to me.

I wanted to create something completely different and, I guess, a bit 'fishy' :D

So, I'm opting for a very experimental idea. It's quite a departure from the usual type of Warhammer unit. So far only my regular gaming buddy is aware of the idea which received an interested if somewhat lukewarm response (although I've changed my idea a bit since then).

I'm trying to build on the Nautican's unique theme and to make them a tactician's army that requires more planning and thought than some others.

So without further ado, here goes...


Fortunis - The Infinity Turtle
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A timeless ever presence in the seas of the Warhammer World. This giant ethereal beast endlessly swims the deep oceans occupying a space between reality and the netherworlds.

The great turtle has survived for countless millenia, first in it's living form, now in it's translucent ghost like presence. Many of the greatest Nautican minds have spent a lifetime pondering the creature's existence and it's purpose. The fact remains that no one can answer any of the many questions.

At times, the Turtle has appeared in the Nauticans darkest hours and in their direst of needs. Whether this be a time or war, famine or disease the appearance of the turtle seems to preceed a change for the better in Nautican fortunes.

Points/model: 250 pts

	M	Ws	Bs	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
Fortunis	12	1	0	5	6	6	1	0	10

Special Rules: Creature of the Deep, Righteous Destiny, Unwavering, Invulnerable, Unbreakable


Invulnerable
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It is impossible to kill or otherwise deflect the Turtle from it's course. The best that an enemy can hope for is to banish the Turtle from the surface world back to it's Ocean realm.

The Turtle has the ethereal rule meaning that it can only be harmed by magic attacks, magic missiles and spells. In addition, the Turtle is not affected by any magic effects whatsoever other than those which cause wounds.

As soon as Fortunis is reduced to zero wounds it instantly disappears from the battlefield. At the end of every phase in which Fortunis suffers unsaved wounds it must test against it's leadership, a failed roll results in Fortunis instantly vanishing from the battlefield.


Unwavering
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Fortunis moves across the battlefield at a steady pace in a dead straight line. The ethereal turtle never veers to either the left or the right and never slows, passing through any objects in it's path whether they be animate or inanimate or even if they are attacking it with magical weapons.

As a result, while Fortunis exists on the surface world he cannot be stopped by any means other than being 'slain' and thus dispatched back to his magical underwater world. The Giant Turtle can be engaged in close combat by those in base contact but is not subject to the normal combat resolution and does not provide any benefit for the Nautican army in multiple unit combats . The turtle will continue on it's path irrespective of the attacks against it unless it is "destroyed" (reduced to 0 wounds).

Fortunis begins the battle at the table edge within the Nauticans deployment zone. The Nautican player places a marker anywhere along the table edge within the enemy's deployment area. Fortunis moves 12" at the very beginning of each Nautican movement phase directly towards it's destination marker.


Righteous Destiny
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The Turtle is ever the bearer of good fortune for the Nauticans and it's presence seems to greatly enhance the "luck" of nearby Nautican forces while their enemies see the Turtle as a portent of their coming doom.

Any Nautican unit including associated characters that are partly or wholly within 9" of Fortunis benefit from the following :-

All leadership tests
dice rolls of 6 may be re-rolled

Close combat
Nautican "to hit", "to wound" - dice rolls of 1 can be re-rolled

Missile fire
Nautican "to hit" - dice rolls of 1 can be re-rolled

All Armour Saves (but not regen or ward saves)

dice rolls of 1 can be re-rolled

Magic
Spell casting - dice rolls of 1 can be re-rolled

The presence of Fortunis benefits the army as a whole as it draws in the waves of magic to protect the Nautican forces. The very first unsaved wound caused during the battle against the Nautican army is always ignored as though it had been prevented by a ward save (Ed. work out why that's useful !)

* don't forget, you can never roll a re-roll ! The above re-rolls are only applicable if a re-roll has not already been taken.

The King of the Seas, Weresharks and Octobipods wreak carnage upon the Saurus ranks leaving the dead and dying sprawled across the battlefield.

In this 3000 point Fantasy Battle the dice gods did truly smile upon The Nauticans and laugh at the plans of the Slann Ancients.

From Nautican_Arwork_Only

It was certainly a game of two halves (I've always wanted to say that !). The Nauticans were firmly on the back flipper for the first three turns. They took numerous coral hunter and crest rider casualties and lost a Tripoon battery, which had not inflicted a single casualty, to a unit of Cold One Riders.

My dice luck was bad in the first three turns but once the dice gods had turned their attention to the battle things improved dramatically for the Nauticans and the Lizardmen might as well have been rolling number 1 weighted dice.

The Nauticans had held back for the first 3 turns but after disposing of almost all of the skink skirmishers and chameleons they began to advance.

The skinks had, as usual, inflicted numerous casualties but only against the weaker, expendable Nautican units. I have begun to realise that this will be the normal course of things for a Nautican army. At 3 points for a coral hunter and 6 for a crest rider it didn't bother me too much. They had been an excellent missile shield and even if the chameleons had taken out about 150 points, they were much depleted and of little threat to my real battle winning units.

My battle buddy "J" was getting ever more optimistic and, I think, he was sensing a big victory but it was not to be. Muhahahaha.... :D

When the Nauticans began moving forward, little could stand in their way (thank you dice gods !)

The 3 weresharks including a Tiger Wereshark champion had 10 attacks and used them to great effect cutting down many Saurus Warriors and routing a unit of 20 in their second combat phase after, if I remember correctly, the Saurus had made an insane courage roll. I believe the Weresharks (accompanied by a unit of Wavebreakers) did not take a single wound.

The Octobipods and flanking King of the Seas did almost aswell against the Temple Guard.

It was quickly turning into a rout !

The Lizards brought in a unit of Cold Ones that had lost one of their own to, incredibly, a sandganger. They charged the Weresharks but were quickly destroyed.

It was utter slaughter and a nice result for the Weresharks who have twice fled the field without causing any casualties in previous games. The Octobipods also showed their worth having achieved little in the past.

The King of the Seas did not dish out a lot of hurt. I think he killed about 5 Saurus but he was rock steady and held up one unit of Saurus with an Oldblood all on his own.

The Lizardmen did have some success late on with their Oldblood mounted Carnosaur and second Cold One unit. They managed to rout a unit of 15 Trident Guard and had got around my flank. Unfortunately, I forgot that the Trident Guard were bearing the Bullshark Banner making them permanently frenzied (I think they lost 6 or 7 str5 attacks because of my error which may have been enough for them to hold their ground against the Cold One's charge).

We ran out of time in turn 5 but had it gone on I was confident of a solid victory. I had lost 2 tripoons, 40 coral hunters, 20 crest riders, most of the sandgangers and 15 Temple Guard which accounted for about 750 points which left 2250 pts standing and nearly all my best combat troops in tact.

My enemy had lost a lot of quite expensive combat troops and were about to lose another unit of 17 Saurus who were being held up by the King of the Seas and were about to be charged in the rear by 3 angry Weresharks.

His army was in a pretty bad position and he would really be relying on his Oldblood Carnosaur and remaining 5 Cold Ones to do a lot of damage.

I just don't think he had the troops left to win the day especially given that he would have to break down a unit of 24 trident guard carrying the Millenial Fathom (95pts banner - unbreakable). They have 10 str5 armour piercing, Ws4 attacks and they are -1 to hit (due to scalemail) and have a 4+ armour save and 5+ regen.

At the end of the day we agreed to a draw, I didn't think it wise to further upset "J" my regular gaming buddy by making my case for a victory. He was already fuming at my ludicrous luck and his total loss of fortune. If I hadn't kept rolling 5s and 6s and he hadn't kept failing his saves then I think it would have been much more even in combat.

In any case, even though I think I probably would have gone on to win, the Lizardmen did still have both of their Oldbloods (one on a Carnosaur), 5 Cold Ones and quite a few Saurus (I mean shark meat) left so I simply hadn't made enough inroads to claim a certain victory.

"J" was clearly shaken (but not stirred) and was kind enough to remind me at the end of the battle that he is still 4 wins up on me !

I'm now worried about our next encounter, it could be brutal - "J" even started talking about Dark Elves - my new "most hated". I hope he doesn't bring them !

It's time to return to the birthing pools to raise some more Weresharks. Oh hold on, I don't need to, my others are all still alive and errr.... very well fed ;)

Strong tidal currents prevent the Nauticans from making landfall.

Apologies to anyone waiting for the next Nautican Army list update.

Immense deep water pressures and strong opposing currents in the Warhammer oceans at the weekend robbed me of most of the free time I thought I would have.

There are no further changes to the planned updates I just haven't had the opportunity to write them up yet :(