This year’s Black Library Celebration sees the release of two stunning new Character miniatures – Dominion Zephon of the Blood Angels and Fafnir Rann of the Imperial Fists. Today we’re taking a look at the latter, the Lord Seneschal, the Captain of the First Assault Cadre of the VII Legion, and his massive axes.
Fafnir Rann made his Black Library debut in Templar, where he took part in the Battle of Pluto.* He was still stationed on the edge of the Solar System, part of the first sphere defences, when Horus arrived and The Solar War began.
As the Siege of Terra reached the walls of the Imperial Palace, Dorn put Fafnir Rann in charge of the Lion’s Gate Spaceport – you can read about the bitter fighting for this crucial port in The First Wall. Though he was injured in the fighting, Rann was still holding the Iron Warriors at bay in Saturnine, which is available in paperback for the first time this weekend.
Clearly, such a legendary warrior deserves an equally incredible miniature.
He not only looks good, but he’s also devastating on the tabletop. In games of The Horus Heresy, Fafnir can chop his way through Traitors with his twin AP2 axes – the Headsman and the Hunter.**
He also increases the Weapon Skill of any Legion Breacher Siege Squads and Phalanx Warder Squads when they charge. What’s more, he has a special rule called Executioner’s Tax, which forces enemy units to suffer automatic hits whenever they are foolish enough to charge him.***
Download the rules for using Fafnir Rann in games of The Horus Heresy now.
Fafnir isn’t the only Imperial Fists hero in the spotlight this weekend – Sigismund is the star of Sigismund: The Eternal Crusader. The third book in the Horus Heresy Character Series, after Valdor: Birth of the Imperium and Luthor: First of the Fallen, finds the First Captain reminiscing about becoming a Space Marine and fighting in the Great Crusade.
If you want a copy of this stunning limited edition book, act fast – it’s strictly limited to 2,500 copies.
The Fafnir Rann miniature, Saturnine, and Sigismund: The Eternal Crusader are all available to pre-order this weekend as part of the Black Library Celebration. In the meantime, you can read about Sigismund fighting alongside Rann in The First Wall.
* Fight out the Battle of Pluto on the tabletop with these free rules.
** With that beard, if he hadn’t become a Space Marine, we could well imagine Fafnir brewing his own craft IPAs using these same names.
*** Surely it should be called Axe Tax!