Fyreslayers: Auric Flamekeeper

Never Interrupt A Funerary Priest At Work

Ever since some Idoneth Deepkin rudely interrupted a Fyreslayer funerary rite in the Fury of the Deep boxset, the Auric Flamekeeper has been unleashing his vengeance wherever he sees fit. While his downtime is spent guiding the souls of fellow Fyreslayers to the stone-sleep, that doesn’t mean he’s a slouch on the battlefield. He uses his mighty Brazier Axe to carve down foes while imbuing other Fyreslayers with the might of Grimnir, channelling the power of the fallen’s ur-gold to drive their battle brothers on to greater glory.

Preparing For Battle

As with many Fyreslayers, this isn’t a complicated model to build. It comes in just 10 pieces with a 32mm round base and you’ll have it put together in no time. It is mono pose and with a model of this style it’s not the simplest thing to kit-bash, but anything is possible and it’s certainly easy to swap out the weapons if you wanted to mix things up.

You’ll see from my picture that I’ve gone for a very traditional Fyreslayer scheme, but even then there is opportunity to make the model pop. There are ur-gold runes dotted all over that are nice to highlight, plus the salamander-skin cloak can look really impressive. Of course, if you’d prefer to go for something more adventurous there are some great Fyreslayer themes out there. I’m especially fond of the ones based around ice slayers, or even Fyreslayer that dwell in Shyish, the realm of death.

Blazing Bright

So is he just a lot of chanting and not much smiting? How dare you, he’s a Fyreslayer, and an angry one at that (aren’t they all?). Like many Fyreslayer heroes he’s pretty mid-range when it comes to stats, slow with a 4″ move, an average 5 wounds, a decent 8 bravery and a respectable 4+ save. That said, this isn’t a model you want hanging around on his own, his desire is to be with his fellow Fyreslayers and that’s where he should be. Although his Brazier Axe can do its fair share of damage in combat, 4 attacks that hit and wound on 3+ with -1 rend doing 2 damage. That’s going to carve through some slightly more stubborn opponents without issue.

Surrounded by large units of Vulkite Berzerkers is where he really comes into his own with his unique abilities however. Each time a Fyreslayer is slain within 12″ of him, he gains power (a dice beside him increases, starting from 1). When that power dice has reached 6, once per turn at the start of the combat phase, you can channel the power into a nearby unit of Hearthguard or Vulkites and give them one of four abilities for that phase. The power dice then resets, but with your Vulkites wanting to get stuck in and die as much as possible, it won’t be long before it’s charged up again.

So what are these abilities:

Gritnnir’s Grit: 6+ ward save to the unit – Slight but always handy.

Grimnir’s Wrath: Models that die and haven’t fought can still fight – You just can’t keep a good Fyreslayer down.

Grimnir’s Resolve: Essentially lets you charge nearby units, but crucially in the combat phase, sneakily avoiding the enemy being able to use the Unleash Hell command ability.

Grimnir’s Vengeance: Adds 1 to melee weapon damage for the unit – Very handy for a variety of opponents.

Aftermath

Let’s be clear here, this isn’t the hero to end all heroes. He’s not Gotrek. But he does what a lot of other Fyreslayer heroes do and supports his fellow Fyreslayers. On his own he’s decent, but paired with a couple of big units of Vulkites (especially in a Vostarg lodge), his buffs can really make a difference. It’s worth noting that there is no rule saying that a single model dying can’t buff the power on more than one Auric Flamekeeper, so if you want to add support for multiple units in close proximity, or add different buffs to the same unit, consider running 2 of these guys. If your Vulkites are getting as much action as they tend to do in the games I play, these guys’ ur-gold batteries are going to be constantly topped off.

Plus the whole idea of a funerary priest taking to the battlefield to channel spirits and carve through enemies is brilliant to start with.