Gifts of the Gorgon

Hello everyone, today I'm taking a look at all the artefacts/relics avalibale to Iron Hands Clan Raukaan, called Gifts of the gorgon and sharing my thoughts on them.

first of is the Mindforge stave
now, this replaces the librarians (the only ones who can take this) force weapon for 15 points.
And it's basically a power fist! With concussive and Force added to them. so a Force Fist...
unfortunately this means its unwieldy. It has its ups and downs, first off the librarian will now hit at strength 8, instant-deathing toughness 4 models and ignoring armour because of ap2. But since Force lets you (for a Psychic test) get Instant-death attacks anyway it's pretty mute. Good if you expect to be hitting vehicles I suppose.

Next up is the Axe of Medusa. Now this one I like a lot more. it's basically your average power axe, but with +2 strenght instead of +1, master-crafted and the real kicker is that to hit rolls of 6 are +4 instead of +2
as a none specialist weapon, carrying a pistol will net the wearer an extra attack as well, so it's best used on a chapter master or captain. 25 points so it's the same cost as a power fist, and will sometimes hit at the same strength, personally I think it wins out because of the master-crafted and an additional attack.

The Ironstone us a neat item that has a 6" boost to vehicles and walkers IWND rolls, allowing them to pass on a 4+. 6's repair weapon destroyed or immobilised as well. 30 pts is a little steep so you better keep quite a few tanks/walkers in range of it to be worth it. Obviously best on a master of the forge sitting in a vehicle in the centre of your army. Sitting him in a Landraider could be quite nasty as he can also repair it on your turn before the IWND rolls.

Betrayer's bane is a weapon I think many mistook for just a combi-meltagun with mastercrafted.
This is not quite the case! It is more of a bolter with a normal meltagun attached. It can be fired as either as many times as you can get the chance. Since it's a master crafted meltagun it might also be a good idea to give whomever you equip this with Digital weapons, allowing a re-roll on its to wound roll as well.
This makes it highly likely to pen a vehicle, and we all know what happens to vehicles who get pen'd by a melta... It is 25 points though, so it might be a bit steep. But with digital weapons it could be quite worth it!


The Gorgon's Chain. I've already covered this in a previous post. Take it on a chapter master/captain if you intend to tank wounds and win challenges! 45 points and I'd argue its way cheesier than the Shield Eternal. And cooler as it at least gets worse when you do lose wounds. (and then it gets better again if you pass your IWND).

The Tempered helm is mainly for buffing ranged damage dealers. at 35 points I think it's a bit expensive for what it does. it has a 24" bubble that lets units use the wielders Ls on morale and pinning tests, it's not super useful because space marines aren't really lacking in good Ls. the other ability is probably the main reason to get this helmet. on each friendly shooting phase the wielder can nominate a unit within 12" to reroll all 1´s on their to hit rolls. Might be nice on a master of the forge with a conversion beamer sitting in a devestator squad, altough that's a lot of points. can also be effective with a character supporting a unit of sternguards, as you really want these guys to hit home with their special ammo, also it should save them from gets hot with their vengeance rounds.

All in all I'd say the Gorgon's chain is easily the most powerful item from the gifts of the gorgon, but I really like the Axe of medusa and I think you can have some fun with the Betrayer's bane and Tempered helmet as well.