Nârik Dreygur
"How many times has Dreygur's Legion betrayed him, disavowed him, cast him aside? How long before a man like that has had enough?"
- – Alpha Legionnaire Augustus Marcheur to Legate Autilon Skorr, prior to the Battle of Mezoa.
"Brothers, once more an oath to us stands broken. The Alpha Legion has abandoned us once again. Now we shall show that we do not renege on our vows. The dead of Stranivar and Mezoa both call for vengeance, and we shall grant it to them."
- – Consul-Praevian Nârik Dreygur, having had enough
Consul-Praevian Nârik Dreygur, also known as the Gravewalker, was a high-ranking officer of the Iron Warriors Legion during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. He originally went along with the Legion when it turned against the Imperium, but after the Alpha Legion repeatedly used him and his troops as cannon fodder, he eventually switched sides again during the Battle of Mezoa.
Biography[edit]
Great Crusade[edit]
Dreygur was a Strategos-Minor of the IV Legion and an honored veteran of the Great Crusade. Like most Iron Warrior officers after Perturabo's rediscovery, he was constantly striving not to fail his primarch, knowing the fate that awaited anyone who displeased the Lord of Iron. He managed to walk this tightrope for at least nine decades prior to the Heresy.
Horus Heresy[edit]
Dreygur initially pledged to the traitor cause, and fought at Istvaan V. During the battle, he was severely wounded by a Raven Guard Moritat, which cost him Perturabo's favor. The primarch tossed Dreygur aside, just as he'd done with Barabas Dantioch. This might have spelled the end for Dreygur, but fortunately for him he was noticed by the Apolakron, an obscure warrior society of the IV Legion. They gave Dreygur a complete augmetic rebuild, grafting a cortex controller into his nervous system and inducting him into their order. This resurrection earned him the epithet of "Gravewalker". He thereafter became a Praevian, one of the Legion consuls who led maniples of battle-automata into war, and he eventually came to prefer the company of his automata to that of his Astartes brethren, many of whom followed Perturabo's example and shunned him. Despite this, he remained loyal to the IV Legion.
Along with the 114th Grand Battalion, he was deployed to Epsilon-Stranivar IX with elements of the Alpha Legion and the Death Guard. There, the Alpha Legionnaires repeatedly hung the Iron Warriors out to dry, and the grand battalion sustained heavy casualties; of six thousand Iron Warriors who made landfall on Stranivar, less than a third were alive by the end of the campaign. Dreygur was the senior surviving officer, and so was forced to take command. He vowed that he would avenge his fallen brothers, one way or another.
He later led the 114th in the Battle of Mezoa, where they once again were fighting alongside the Alpha Legion under Legate Autilon Skorr. Upon landing, the Iron Warriors were informed that any retreat would be met by orbital bombardment from the Alpha Legion fleet. Skorr proceeded to use the Iron Warriors as cannon fodder, hurling them at the loyalist forces wherever they were strongest while driving his auxiliary troops into the breaches. As Skorr was trying to end the battle quickly so he could proceed to Terra for the upcoming siege, he eventually ordered the battered 114th to launch a frontal assault against the strongest loyalist bastion on the planet, despite Dreygur's protests. The Iron Warriors made headway at first, but were eventually brought to a halt by a massive loyalist counterattack. The Alpha Legion once again left them twisting in the wind, sending in Headhunter teams to conduct surgical strikes behind enemy lines while the Iron Warriors were ground into the mud. At this point, the Salamanders Dreadnought Cassian Dracos approached Dreygur's position and offered him a chance at redemption, pointing out that the Alpha Legion had left him to die. Dreygur and the rest of the 114th didn't need any more convincing to turn on their erstwhile allies, and with their numbers added to the loyalists, the tide of the battle quickly swung against the Alpha Legion. Skorr was forced into a hasty retreat, losing an arm in the process. Dreygur became Dracos' confidant and second in command, and was a constant presence at the Iron Dragon's side throughout the remainder of the Heresy.
Tabletop[edit]
| WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld | Sv | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nârik Dreygur | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 2+/5++ |
Horus Heresy 1.0[edit]
Dreygur is more or less a bog-standard Praevian with a few extra toys. His statline and points cost (135 points) puts him in line with the likes of his nemesis Autilon Skorr and Saul Tarvitz. He comes kitted with artificer armor, a master-crafted bolt pistol, power fist, frag and krak grenades, a refractor field, and a cortex controller and designator, and +1W. He can take a squad of Castellax or Vorax-class battle automata, and grants them either the Iron Warriors Legiones Astartes rules or Furious Charge, Tank Hunters, or Scout (they don't benefit much from the LA rules, so you're better off giving them one of the other three). They also gain Preferred Enemy against anything that Dreygur successfully pots with his bolt pistol, even if the resulting wound is saved, for the rest of the turn. Since he's a Praevian, he can't be used to fill compulsory HQ slots, and he's not an Independent Character either, since he has to hit the field with his robot buddies and can't ever leave them. By himself he's nothing to write home about, but you're not taking Dreygur because he's a combat monster, you're taking him because he lets you field big stompy robots with lots of killy toys. So, is he worth taking over a normal Praevian? Debatable. He's a relatively cheap HQ, and the artificer armor and refractor field make him a little more survivable than your standard consul. His weapon loadout isn't great, but at least his bolt pistol is MC and he has a power fist to smack bitches up if they get too close. If you're just building an Iron Warriors list, you're probably better off just taking a normal Praevian and spending the points you save elsewhere. On the other hand, if you're looking to build a fluffy Shattered Legions list around Cassian Dracos, Dreygur's worth having because he gains Zealot and Rage while he's within 12" of the Iron Dragon, Dracos' Cybertheurgy rules go well with his battle-automata, and he lets you bring Iron Warriors Veterans without using up a force org slot (though they can't fill any compulsory slots and everyone except Cassian and Xiaphas Jurr treats them as Desperate Allies).
Horus Heresy 2.0[edit]
Dreygur hasn't changed all that much with the advent of the new edition, but he does have a new toy; his power fist has been turned into a graviton gauntlet, making it a Specialist Weapon with Haywire. He also has new rules for working with Cassian Dracos; instead of Zealot and Rage, he now gains Stubborn and +1 attack, and his Iron Warriors veterans are no longer treated as Desperate Allies.