Arena Of Death - Castellan Crowe vs Duke Sliscus

That's "Duke" Sliscus, savvy?

Time to return to the Arena Of Death, to pit these two 150 point characters against each other...

Pre-fight: Rather than rolling three times for The Duke's Combat Drugs, I'm going to do it just the once and apply to all rounds. A 5 and a 3 give him the choice of +1S or +1A. Since he wounds on 2s anyway, I'll go with Adrenalight; +1 attack.

Round 1 - Crowe on the Charge

Garran snapped off two shots from his Storm Bolter as he charged at Sliscus. One hit but it failed to wound as Crowe prepared his Rapier Strike. A 3 on the D3 gave him 4 I10 attacks. Two hit and a rending wound was caused. However, The Serpent's Shadow Field was equal to it. Despite having 5 attacks, Sliscus failed to hit Crowe. The Brotherhood Champion of the Purifier Order again dropped into the Rapier Strike stance.With just two attacks this time, he still managed to hit twice. Again, thanks to his skill as a Master Swordsman the hit was a rending one and Sliscus's Shadow Field couldn't save him this time. Wounded and without his protective shield, The Duke struck back. However, three hits and two wounds just bounced straight off Crowe's Artificer Armour. Still in the Rapier Strike stance, Crowe scored three hits. These translated into two wounds, one of which was rending. Only Sliscus's Ghostplate Armour could save him now... The regular wound was saved but needing a 6 on the invulnerable, could only manage a 3, putting The Serpent down.

Round 2 - Sliscus on the Charge

Slowly, deliberately, The Duke pulled his Blast Pistol from the holster. His aim was true and Castellan Crowe's Iron Halo wasn't up to the task of saving him. The Serpent had just claimed the record for fastest kill in the Arena of Death.

Round 3 - No Charge Bonus

Dropping into his favoured Rapier Strike stance, Crowe struck first. Two attacks, two rending hits. Both saved by the Shadow Field. From three hits back, The Duke could only wound once but it got past Crowe's armour. The pain was clearly getting to Garran as he failed to wound with either of his two hits. The Duke managed two further wounds and again, Crowe's Artificer Armour let him down. With the last of his strength, he attempted an Heroic Sacrifice. He passed the Leadership test with ease and then, needing just a 3, rolled a 5 to give us the first ever draw in the Arena of Death 

A draw? How about that? Some incredible dice rolls in round 3 there, including thee 1s out of four rolls at one point. Maybe Mick is right about these C&F dice being cursed (I knew that we shouldn't have made them out of albatross bone) Round 2 was also a bit of a damp squib as we didn't get to see effects of The Blade of Antwyr. From what I've seen though, neither of these characters are out and out combat monsters. With Crowe, you'd need to get him into a decent sized squad in order to maximise attacks with Sword Storm for him to really do anything and them you just run the rick of him being dragged down by weight of numbers. It seems like he really is just a tax so that you can take Purifiers as troops. Sliscus on the other hand is pretty survivable with his 2++ save and he could tip a combat with his numerous poisoned attacks. However, he is going to need back-up. Much like Crowe, he's more about what he brings to the rest of the army; you can build a pretty good list around his Combat Drug bonus and having free Deep Strike options on your vehicles. Plus, he's a pirate and pirates are cool.

Crowe? The Serpent? Come and sit by the hearth-side and tell us tales of derring-do where you've used either of these characters...