Phanta Claws

He's got a Melta-Bomb with your name on it.

Twas the fight before Fistmas, For the great Van Saar house. No ganger was stirring, Not even “The Mouse.”

The juves were unconscious,The gangers were dead, And the beastly old Phanta Claws, Stuck blades in their head.

The gangers had walked, Into his sly trap, And now they lay down, For an aeon long nap.

The fighters had fled, But they were too slow. They had not spotted,That which lay below.

More rapid than eagles, He slew those that came, And as he tore them apart, He called them by name.

“Die Modan! Die Crendell! Die Sardon and Tricksen! Die Big-Bones! Die Mudelm! Die Hectus and Kit-sen!

To the dark of the tunnels, To the base of the wall, Run away! Run away! Run away all!”

His claws dripped with blood, And on his head sat, An oddly disturbing, Red and white hat.

His smile was murderous,Yet filled with mad glee, And all those who saw him,Turned tail to flee.

Once all foes were beaten, He tore them apart, And admired his work, As though it were art.

And I heard him exclaim, As he stalked out of sight,“Happy Fistmas to all! And to all a good night!”

History

Phanta Claws was one of those rules introduced during Games Workshops slightly humorous period in the 90s, clearly intended as a Christmas Joke which we don't really see any more in GW publications. Originally found in Fanatic Magazine as an optional rule for the Necromunda ruleset, it is adapted here as an optional rule for games of Warhammer 40,000 without interrupting gameplay too much or unbalancing one player over another unnecessarily.

Legend

According to the original article, Phanta Claws was left on Necromunda by Rogal Dorn during the early years of the Imperium.

Tasked once a year with dispensing gifts (taking the form of simple baubles or rare and powerful devices) to those who have been good over the course of that year and punishing those who have not. This occasion has been referred to (on Necromunda at least) as FISTMAS.

Though it is not explicitly stated whether Phanta Claws is a Space Marine, a mutant, or perhaps some archeotech/cybernetic creature. All that is known that is that he has extremely dangerous claws and is occasionally accompanied by stunted craftsmen who must contribute to his stockpile of archeotech somehow.

Nor is it explained how exactly Phanta Claws determines who is Naughty or Nice; perhaps he just figures everyone in the Imperium is bad and hoards all of the loot himself, while deciding that what people really need is the removal of their skin and/or blades in their faces.

For all we know, Phanta Claws could be the warp-spawned ghost of Konrad Curze wearing a funny hat; it would certainly explain the claws and the judging people.

Rules

• Deployment:
  • Phanta Claws is not controlled by either player, nor is he deployed at the beginning of battle. Instead, he is placed on the battlefield on a result of Sabotaged on the mysterious objectives table instead of the traditional result: the opposing player must place the Phanta Claws model within 12" of the objective marker, in cover if possible and perform his actions immediately.
  • Note: further results of "Sabotaged" on the Mysterious Objectives table will perform as normal unless you have more models to represent Phanta Claws. This can imply that there is more than one Phanta Claws (sorry kids), but how else did you expect him to dispense justice to all the naughty and nice citizens of the Imperium in one night?.

• Actions:
  • Phanta Claws is not controlled directly by either player, and will move towards towards the nearest visible unit and will attempt to charge it if possible and directing his close combat attacks at the nearest target; to-hit, to-wound and sweeping advance rolls taken by the opposing player.
  • With the exception of the turn of his arrival, Phanta Claws will act at the beginning of each player turn.

	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv	Unit Type
Phanta Claws	6	0	4	4	2	5	2	8	-	Infantry

Special Rules:

• Killer Reputation: Phanta Claws causes Fear, and fear tests against Phanta Claws are taken at -1 leadership. Furthermore, successful overwatch hits against Phanta Claws must be re-rolled due to the shock of his arrival.
• Monstrosity: Phanta has the Fearless and Rending special rules, and is also immune to the effects of the Blind special rule.