Mounted Kislev Boyar

The Boyars are the middle-rank nobility of Kislev, the nobles who hold real power. They are all Gospodars, and the rank is universally hereditary. Across most of Kislev, the boyars are the most powerful individuals. They are close enough and have enough followers to tell atamans what to do, and any higher authorities are a very long way away. Most boyars allow atamans a great deal of independence, provided that taxes are paid in full and on time because they have more interesting things to do than deal with the petty disputes of a bunch of peasants.

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I am going to a Kings of War tournament this weekend, so I got an excuse to get off my ass (or more realistically to learn how to multi-task and entertain a baby while I am painting) and finish up a playable army to the 1600pts limit. I have had the Boyar himself done for a long time, but I was seriously burned out on doing horses after my mad batch painting and conversion of horses for my army. It turned out that when you just do one, it isn´t really that bad =)

The Boyar is originally the “White Wolf Grand Master” miniature from the golden age of GW Empire. I gave him a greenstuff Kislev helmet, matching the ones used by the Winged Lancers and dual back banners denoting his stature and valour. The Boyar is apparently a very devout follower of Ursun, having several “U”s engraved on his armour and weapon. Anyone hit with that hammer will leave the world with a big tribute to Ursun on their forehead.

He will serve as a mounted Baron in my army, providing very inspiring and a nice 4 attacks hitting on 3+ with crushing strength 1. I view him as a superior alternative to the battle standard, costing just 20pts more than the 1 attack standard, he seems to bring a lot more utility to the field, being able to go disrupt shooters, hunt war machines or even join in a headlong charge, lending his hammer where it is needed. He also has superior 5+ defense compared to the 4+ of the standard. For me, it seem the battle standard should only be used in a League of Rhordia list if you are desperate for those 20pts. The Boyar will get the Sparkstone in this list, allowing him to annoy fliers and war machines on his way up the field. Not sure it is a great item, but I had 15pts left over in my list, and it seemed that if the Sparkstone could save my Winged Lancers from a volley of artillery or breath weaponry just once or twice in the tourney, that would be 10pts well spent.