Moritat

The one-man army, guns akimbo, brotherfucker supreme.

"Gun plus gun equals more gun! That's the key to victory."

– General Ironicus, Retsupurae

"The life of a Reaper man is always intense."

– Starcraft 2 Reapers, which they share a lot odd similarities with...

Absolute badass dudes that go guns akimbo with style. The Moritat were the badass and nigh-suicidal one-man armies of the Legiones Astartes during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. Marines who joined the ranks of the Moritat were often suffering from some kind of psychological disorder and abandoned any sense of self-preservation just to get to the enemy and murder them in the most violence-fuelled ways imaginable. Always attacking with a determination that no other warriors in Imperial history had, Moritat Marines were the epitome of "one-man army".

Overview

Moritats were originally exclusive to the Raven Guard. These warriors were veterans, who succumbed to a mental condition called the Ash Blind or the Sable Blind that caused them to fight with suicidal fervour and determination, as well as with an urge to murder the closest enemy. Most of these warriors died, yet those who survived were recovered and nursed back for later use. Corax organized these berserker madlads into Shadow Killers, who made highly effective shock troopers and assassins. In fact, the Ash Blind proved to be so good at their job of anal annihilation that during simulated battles, the Ultramarines suffered three defeats when they sparred with the sons of Corax in simulation battles when the latter deployed those suicidal maniacs.

Robbie, being the tactical analyst he was, looked at the Ash Blind and pulled the same stunt he did when he created Fulmentarus Terminators after seeing Perturabo and his Tyrant Siege Terminators. He declared the Ash Blind worthy of refining and thus created the Moritat. Unlike the Fulmentarus, the Moritat did find its way into every Legion.

The Ash Blind mutation makes more sense than what two other Legions with genetic defects did to Astartes (and way cooler than turning into Furries or being used as cannon fodder). As it could be seen as a gene flaw that only comes out when a Raven Guard has a flash of PTSD. Instead of flipping out to Rip and Tear he loses his shit and decides to shoot or assassinate anything that isn't an ally.

Armed with dual Volkite Serpentas or Plasma Pistols linked to their jump pack's power source via armored feed cables, the Moritats proved to be very nasty warriors who could jump in, unleash a never-ending hailstorm of Volkite/Plasma fire and jump out to look for more prey. Volkite and Bolters are options when waiting for their handguns to cool down from the intense volleys. They wear absolute sick-ass looking Maximus-pattern armour that has been modified with extra plating on the chest and an augmented eye-piece to better accommodate their insane fighting style.

Crunch

That was the fluff, now here's the sad truth.

HH 1.0

The crunch is rather less forgiving to Moritats. They've been heavily nerfed since their inception, making them a rather expensive, limited, one-trick pony, only able to be joined by Destroyer Squads who are also somewhat of a one-trick pony. Which is a pity because the models are baller. The best way to use them is kit them out with all the upgrades. Take a Plasma and Volkite Pistol, a Volkite Charger so he can overwatch without losing shots, and a jump pack to get out of dodge. The pack also synergizes well with Destroyer Squads, who can also have jump packs so they don't have to take what they dish out.

HH 2.0

The Moritat is the Consul of choice for a Destroyer-focused army, as he can actually join a squad of the war-crimes department thanks to Bitter Duty. He also gains Scout and Counter-attack, but can no longer be the Warlord and lacks any ability to pick up bikes. He still gets the fun dual-wielding shenanigans of old. He comes stock with dual bolt pistols and rad bombs, with the option to buy Volkite Serpentas, Plasma pistols, or Disintegrator pistols. An Iron Hands Moritat can take dual grav pistols instead, which lets him spray Haywire around like nobody's business. His Chain Fire rule now strictly limits him to firing both pistols up to six times at the same target, but you can't use this with hand flamers. Any 1s to hit with any weapons with Gets Hot or Armourbane (Melta) will immediately end the sequence for that pistol, though you can still shoot with the second pistol. Of course, if you trade in the chainsword for a third pistol, you can take that out after the other one pops. This does come at the cost of any melee power, as firing this much bars him from reactions and charging on the same turn.

His whole "edgy lone killer" shtick has been utterly screwed up by Reactions, because if the Moritat is alone, even a basic Tactical Squad of 10 has a chance of destroying him with Return Fire. For the same reason, arriving from Deep Strike or Outflanking is pretty much a death sentence, unless you give your enemy a Distraction Carnifex fat enough to overlook the Moritat. So he's only worth taking when attached to a Destroyer Squad. Who will benefit from the extra firepower and leadership increase he provides.

Gallery

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