The Storms of Fenris are the storm-magic of the Rune Priests — a single discipline of ice, lightning, beast-spirit and the old Fenrisian hatred of sorcery. Where a Librarian lectures the warp into obedience, the Rune Priest calls the tempest of his home world and looses the spectral wolves, and where a witch would blast he answers with lightning and the killing cold. Six workings pass through the discipline: the leaping storm-bolt, the sheltering gale, the murderous ice-wind, the ground-swallowing jaws, the fury of the wolf-spirits, and the runic ward that turns an enemy's own sorcery against him. Each is a Wyrd power, and each courts the warp's price for the one who calls it. At creation a Rune Priest with access picks or rolls its power from the table below, and adds to it the universal witch-blast of Smite.
Signatures5
Combat Doctrines. The disciplined heart of the Astartes way of war, and the mechanic that sets a Chapter apart from any warhost that merely brings guns to a fight. At the start of each round the controlling player declares the strike force's stance, which may shift one step along the ladder from Devastator to Tactical to Assault. Under the Devastator stance the gang fires with lethal precision, adding to its ranged Hit rolls or re-rolling misses. Under the Tactical stance the brethren move with purpose, gaining ground and seizing objectives. Under the Assault stance they close for the kill, striking harder on the charge and running down a fleeing foe. A Chapter cannot hold every advantage at once; it flows through the phases of battle as its commanders read the field, and each brotherhood leans toward the end of the ladder that suits its character.
Finest Hour. Once in a battle, a commander seizes the moment the whole war seems to turn upon and drives his brethren to their greatest effort. Once per battle a Captain or Lieutenant may call upon it. Until the start of the next round the commander himself gains an additional Attack, and every friendly fighter within 6" re-rolls failed Wound rolls, the strike force striking as one at the instant it matters most. It is a single, decisive surge rather than a lasting boon — spent in the crisis of the fight, it does not come again. A wise commander holds it for the stroke that breaks the enemy rather than the one that merely bloodies him.
The Curse of the Wulfen is the beast in the blood made mechanical — a frenzy that cuts both ways. A Wulfen is Unwavering: it auto-passes Nerve tests and can never be Pinned or Broken. While it is within 6" of any enemy, it gains +1 Attack, the curse rising as prey draws near. But the Wulfen is never fully commanded — at the start of its activation, if any enemy is in sight, it must pass a Cool check or charge the nearest enemy, willed or not.
The Curse also plays out across a campaign, feeding on the pack's own wounded. When a Space Wolf is taken Seriously Injured within 6" of an enemy, a Curse roll in the post-battle sequence may see that brother rise as a Wulfen, the dark half of the saga growing battle by battle. The controlling player who embraces it gains a frenzied, unbreakable killer for each brother the enemy fells too close; the price is a fighter that hunts to its own logic, dragging the plan toward the nearest throat.
The Pack Hunts lays a coherency overlay across the gang's Combat Doctrines: the wild sons of Fenris fight harder the closer they run. The controlling player declares and shifts one Doctrine each round as normal. While a Space Wolf is within 3" of two or more friendly pack-mates — Marines or Fenrisian Wolves — it gains Counter-Charge: when an enemy charges it, or charges a pack-mate within 3", it may make a free Reaction attack against that enemy.
The pack biases toward Assault. On the round the gang reaches the Assault stance, every friendly wolf-kin beast gains +1" Move, and the whole body surges into contact together. There is nothing to spend and nothing to track — the rule simply reads the pack's spacing on the field. This rewards the player who keeps the warriors and their beasts tight and advancing as one; it punishes the player who lets a wolf stray, because a Space Wolf alone is only a single fighter, and the bonus dies the moment the pack breaks apart.