Fellblades?

[Xurré]

I’ve recently been pointed to some unofficial (as in, released by Games Workshop but not recognised as official) rules for a dark elf warband for Mordheim (http://www.specialist-games.com/assets/Lustria3.pdf) (starting page 17). It looks to be a spin-off set in Lustria, but the interesting thing for WAR is that it lists a class I hadn’t heard of before, called the Fellblade:

0-2 Fellblades
40 Gold Crowns to hire
The Fellblades are elite warriors of the Dark Elf armies and are often linked to the household of a particular Noble family. Fellblades live a life of strict martial training, each specialises in a particular weapon and fighting style. Killing is a way of life for these warriors. Enemies can expect no mercy from them. Fellblades accompany raiding parties to Lustria as paid guards or to further hone their killing skills.

Profile
M 5
WS 5
BS 4
S 3
T 3
W 1
I 6
A 1
Ld 8

Weapons/Armour: Fellblades may be armed with weapons and armour chosen from the Dark Elf Equipment list.

SPECIAL RULES
Melee Specialists: Fellblades live by a strict code of close quarter fighting. Fellblades may not use missile weapons of any sort.
Now, my question is this. Is this in any way a potential class (a serious contender at least) for WAR?

From the description given there (and that’s all I could really find) they sound ultimately uninteresting to me (but Khaine knows we don’t all see eye-to-eye on such things, hence why I’m asking ;)). It’s very generic (“strict martial training” being true for most dark elves, as well as “killing is a way of life” and “no mercy”), making them sound little more than a generic warrior who chooses to specialize in a particular weapon (and fighting style).

If anyone has any more details on them I’d love to know. And I’d love to hear your thoughts on them (do you find them interesting, uninteresting, etc). Otherwise I think I’ll just discount them altogether as a potential class (heck, I think even Corsairs sound more interesting and that’s saying something :p ).

Just curious. :)


- Xurré

[Estebar]

I might be wrong, but I think Fellblade was also the name for an Executioner Captain in the tabletop rules. It would make sense, considering the falling blade is the guillotine-like symbol of the Executioner.

EDIT: My mistake. An Executioner Captain is a "Draich-Master" apparently.

A "Fellblade" could potentially be an Executioner/Black Guard hybrid, suitable for a Tank class.

[Nathar]

To me they sound trully boring. There's no originality to them (to my knowledge) and there's little dark elf culture being represented!

[Selendor]

Sounds like Executioners to me, except for the nobility part.

[Blaze]

When I played Mordheim the player who played as Dark Elves used Executioner models to represent his Fellblades if they used two-handed weapons, and converted Warrior models if they dual wielded.

They are basically just a customisable Dark Elf hero unit with really great starting weapon skill. I suppose they were closest to beeing Executioners, exept that Killing Blow would have been an absurdly overpowered ability in Mordheim, so they don't have it.

But they can get Dark Elf Blades, special weapons that add +1 on critical hit tables and treat 2-4 as stunned on the d6 after taking down an opponent (normally it's 1-2 knocked down, 3-4 stunned, 5-6 killed). Thats very powerful so they can get a sort of killing blow ability :p


Technically if Witch Elves are out (although I hope they are in) Fellblades could be a class that sort of mixes what Executioners are exept with more weapon options.