INTO the EYE An investigation into the deepest and darkest nooks of the GW Universe By Mike Brandon [February 2007]  Welcome to the tenth volume of ‘Into the Eye’, a look into the finer parts of the GW  hobby.   Run Awaaaaay!!! or the Value of Leadership Perhaps one of the most underestimated things in 40k is Leadership, or what is more of the case, the threat of the break test. This probably on account of Space Marines having shaken, Necrons and Tyranids being typically immune to psychology, Eldar and dark Eldar infantry having LD values of 8 or 9 and for Imperial Guard, failing a break test often saves a unit from certain death from more fire. However there are a couple of armies for which Leadership is a critical issue, Orks and Chaos. The purpose of this article is to look at Leadership and how it works for these armies, and then begin thinking of how LD is drastically underused in games of 40k. Firstly, Orks. Ork Leadership is typically low, with 9 being the highest value available on account of a Warboss, and with so many squads an Ork army can be sent packing very quickly without a good command network. Roll in Nobs and Bigbosses, which bump up the Orks to LD 8, Gretchin too can be inspired by Runtherds, and what's more, Nobs and Runthders don't take up valuable hero slots. These boosts are what stops an Ork army from crumbling, and the value of that one extra point of Leadership makes a huge difference, turning a 2 in 5 chance of failure in a 1 in 3 one. What is really seen is the use of actually breaking an Ork line, although it is partly to do with the Kult of Speed armies we are used to seeing, an Ork army that relies on Boyz muscle can easilly become a herd of marathon runners. As a side note we are currently working on Klan specific bannerz to give more of an emphasis to having an Ork standard bearer. One of the most common statements I seem to come across is that Chaos are simply Space Marines with extra rules. Aside from the vast range of weapons and targeters that the Imperial Marines have access to, one thing any Chaos player must surely be envious of is the Shaken rule. It is all to easy, especially with irregular squad sizes, for Chaos troops to run away, in fact without the influence of a champion or leader nearby, every three break tests will be failed by a Chaos army on average. With Orks it is forgiveable to lose some squads to fleeing in this way, but for Chaos it is nigh on disastrous, with squads typically weighing in at around a tenth of the armies points allowance, a Chaos army can be pulled to pieces by careful target selection. With our own implementation of a restriction on the number of characters, this becomes of up- most strategic importance, and certainly separates Chaos troops aside from their Imperial counter-parts. I know I always have a standard bearer, which can easily gobble up an extra 100 points worth of your total allowance. What is missing in 40k really is the widespread sue of the LD valley, and it seems a shame that given the nature of high LD values, that it is only a significant enough factor to care about in a few armies. Failing a break test is effectively ducking down, collecting bearings, collating orders etc, and is the 2nd edition version of 'pinning' a squad, coupled with the dynamic pinning caused by over-watch and a lot of players do not seem to capture this narrative, thinking it is rather the squads running for their lives. There is potential debate for bringing LD more into the game, for example allowing different levels of being broken and new formates of forcing LD tests, something that could be discussed alter. For now though I only intended to get people thinking more about Leadership and how it can really be the difference between winning and losing a game. Strange Visions Raziel Following on from last month, we have Kain's adversary come ally, the once vampire slayer, then vampire and finally soul reaving abomination, Raziel. Although independent in nature, he would be suitable as a netural monster and potential ally from none-human races as he scours the battlefield in pursuit of either Kain, or the origins of the Elder God. Troop Type M WS BS S T W  I  A LD Save Points Raziel 6 9 7 5 5 5 9 4 10 4+ 400 Weapons – Soul Reaver [ethereal form] – No armour saves may be taken from hits from the Soul Reaver, in addition hits from this Soul Reaver cause D3 wounds and have the killing blow ability. For every 3 kills Raziel makes with this Soul Reaver, he may restore a single lost wound. This Soul Reaver may also be fired, should Raziel remains still, with a 24” range causing a Strength 6 hit causing D3 wounds. Armour – Etheral Nature (4+ ward save) Special – Undead. Raziel causes terror. Ethereal. Level 2 Wizard with knowledge of the Lore of Shadow. Raziel may use his battered wings to 'leap' gaps of up to 2” wide with no roll needed for success. Raziel incurs the rules for Hatred against Kain (unless they become allies).  film image from Monty Python & the Holy Grail (Python Group 1963) Raziel is from the Legacy of Kain series published by Eidos (1996-2004)