So I have been play testing a list, checking it twice,
trying to find out if its naughty or nice.
Among the articles I have written here in the last year or so has been
some focus on melee oriented armies. After
all it became an unorthodox way to play as 6E took flight. It deserved
attention for the sake of those people who had always kind of “dug” close
combat armies and now were feeling like their army had a 5th wheel
on the car.
7th Edition is much more forgiving to melee
armies, but it is still a shooting man’s game.
It takes creativity and often the use of units that don’t see the light
of day as often as they should. Such
units are under valued at times because they come with a “tax” character, or
because the unit has a built-in tax that players maybe don’t like. Sometimes the units are looked at in
comparison at doing a part of their job while not valuing the versatility they
bring to other parts.
First, the army itself:
Combined Arms
Detachment 1
5 Wracks (Liquifier)
Raider (Disintegrator Cannon, Enhanced Aethersails, Torment
Grenade Launchers)
5 Wracks (Liquifier)
Raider (Disintegrator Cannon, Enhanced Aethersails, Torment
Grenade Launchers)
5 Kabalite Trueborn (3 Blasters, 2 Splinter Cannons, Haywire
Grenades)
Venom (Night Shields, Flicker Field, Additional Splinter
Cannon)
5 Kabalite Trueborn (3 Blasters, 2 Splinter Cannons, Haywire
Grenades)
Venom (Night Shields, Flicker Field, Additional Splinter
Cannon)
4 Grotesques (Liquifier Gun, Aberration has Venom Blade,
Master Haemonculus upgrade)
Raider (Disintegrator Cannon, Enhanced Aethersails, Torment
Grenade Launchers)
Archon (Plasma Grenades, Phantasm Grenade Launcher,
Huskblade + Blaster Pistol, Ghost Plate Armor, Shadow Field, Soul Trap, Combat
Drugs)
Urien Rakarth (Casket of Flensing, Ichor Gauntlet+Close
Combat Weapon, Clone Field)
Court of the Archon (3 Sslyth, 4 Ur-Ghul, 2 Medusae, 1
Lhamaean)
Raider (Disintegrator Cannon, Enhanced Aethersails, Torment
Grenade launchers)
BeastMasters (5 Beast Masters with 1x Power Axe, 4 Clawed
Fiends, 2 Razorwing Flocks)
Combined Arms
Detachment 2
3 Wracks
3 Wracks
Haemonculus (Venom Blade, Liquifier gun, Crucible of
Malediction)
What is the plan
here?
Now this is the third incarnation of this particular list. Like most of my lists, I kind of mutate the
list as I go, but try to keep the fundamental building blocks unchanged. The original version had a Razorwing
Jetfighter, and I REALLY like that model as I like the VoidRaven Bomber. Both are fantastic. But Dark Elder can suffer horrendously from
their lack of Psykers and they have but one item that can handle Psykers. It is the Crucible of Malediction. This nefarious item forces a LD test on all
Psykers within its range, once per game.
In conjunction with Torment Grenade Launchers (anyone within 6” of the
Raider takes -1 to LD) the Crucible can be the most accurate Sniper shot you’ll
ever get at a super Psyker army. So the
jetfighter had to go and in its place is a second Combined Arms Detachment
carrying the Crucible.
This force contains three hammers.
One hammer, the Grotesques, is sheer brute force trauma to the brain pan.
They charge at STR 7 and have multiple wounds, multiple attacks and high
toughness, Feel No Pain and of course, are accompanied by the dark Overlord of
pain, Urien Rakarth whose incredibly annoying ability to tank is well
documented. He can keep a strike force
of Grotesques upright and fighting Fearlessly for a while in close combat. Fair to say, the Grotesques provide immense
punch and we deliver them through the use of the Raiders Aethersails, quite
literally to the front door in round one.
The Aethersail also allows the craft to move an average of 7” further
than normal, so if going second, it can hide a little easier at a safer distance
than it could without the Sail before it does this. Not as reliable as the Night Shield but
then, reliable enough to deliver us to the point of attack. The plan is to Jink when shot at and allow
the Raider to die at the very gates of the enemy.
To protect the unit should the Raider hull not hold up for
as LONG as we hope, we will be bringing the Archon with the unit. First, the Shadowfield makes him a valuable
shield for shots that aren’t STR 6+.
Second, he carries the Phantasm Grenade Launcher.
However the goal with him is to get him into position and defend the
Grotesques for a round BUT… In the
following round he is to join a different unit right before the charge. In this way I can bolster the other unit
(Beast Masters or the Court) depending on which one needs the help most. Fittingly, the Archon does not slow the
Beastmasters down much when charging and gives them a real boost on leadership. Alternatively, the Court of the Archon may
need his help. Since Grotesques are
there as anti-tank above other duties, they won’t always NEED the Launcher, so
taking it out and joining the other two units makes sense. They are far more likely to attack peoples than Grotesques.
The 2nd hammer is the BeastPack. It’s very fast and able to keep up with the
suicide Raiders, charging in round 2. The
BeastPack is built not only for anti-personnel, but as a secondary unit for
anti-tank charges. They begin the game
as majority toughness 3 so arranging them in the right order is important. 4 Skyboarders need to lead and take
casualties. Then you’ll want the
Razorwing flocks because they now become majority Toughness 5 (technically) with 5 wounds
(Because the Clawed Fiends are now in the majority once the 4 Skyboarders die). In doing it this way you are ensuring the
unit is as tough as it can be. After it
swarms over its first victim, the Skyboarder provides FnP to the unit. So if you wanted some insurance, place 3
skyboarders and one Razorwing flock up front and two skyboarders In the back to
protect the eventual FnP token.
Regardless of how you do it, the idea is the same: Get to toughness 5 as Quickly as possible. Because of the Clawed fiend rules, you
definitely want to take a wound or two on them so make sure as you move to try
and put one in danger a little bit just to up its attacks. Each wound they take is another attack added
to their profile! Generally you want
them on the side that has some cover for them to utilize on the approach. As the Raiders are incredibly fast, it truly
doesn’t matter that they BE on the sides at all; but it IS advisable to make sure
their first movement takes them out of LOS or into cover to the extent
possible. As such, deploying them first
makes sense. Their placement kind of
determines the other units placement; because you want the Archon close enough
to join either the Beasts or the Court.
Placing the Beasts first makes it easier to plan out that strategy.
The Court is a hybrid unit.
It actually shoots frighteningly well at short range and just also happens to be good at melee! It’s also very
much like the beastpack in the way you place models in an attempt to eventually
become Tough 5. Same rules apply: Lhamaean, and Ur-Ghuls in the front, Sslyth
and Medusae in the back until ready to strike.
Medusae have to come to the front eventually to drop their EXCELLENT template
weapons but not until then. Despite how
fragile the unit can be, it is deadly on the charge. As it is the most susceptible to damage of
the three hammers, you must carefully consider who their first targets will be. When deploying them, give thought to
this. An isolated target they can slam
into turn two, finish in turn 3, and charge again is ideal. Think three moves ahead when using them. Having said that they are astonishingly
brutal, in particular once they have Power From Pain going on. They can kill an entire Space marine unit in
a round with little difficulty, though they generally are hoping JUST enough
survive so they can nestle in combat for the enemies shooting phase. First with two STR D6+1 and AP D6 templates,
then with 9 poisoned shots from Carbines and and then with 31 STR 5 attacks
(without a pain token) plus their other less impressive members attacks. It’s really impressive to see. I’ve drowned several units with wounds from
it. I’ll be the first to tell you they are a finesse unit, a Scalpel
that is for surgical kills and preferably the kind that don’t leave them
totally exposed afterwards. So like the
other units in the force you have to map out where you REALLY want them to be
at the end of each phase before committing them.
So the hammers are explained and their usage and nuances
clear, preferred targets made manifest and weaknesses exposed. Okay fine.
Now what?
Well we literally shove them all into the enemies face round
one. Not much shooting going on. Not much need. We’re daring the enemy to come out of their
coffins or to limit their fire. Their choice. We go in knowing the Raiders are forfeit so
not a lot of Wargear needed.
The fourth Hammer is a haemonculus. He carries the Crucible to the front in a
unit of 5 Wracks and unleashes it, trying to kill every Psyker there is within
range. He won’t succeed in killing them
all but the proximity of the Torment Grenade launchers should give us two
things: first, hopefully some Psyker
kills. Second: it will cause the enemy if he is Psyker
heavy, to chase the Haemonculus instead of the hammers. And let’s be honest: that can only benefit me even if they succeed. The force has actually functioned without the
added threat of it and so with it, it becomes THAT much harder on the enemy
because what do they shoot first? Can
they shoot their high percentage stuff at the Crucible at the expense of
stopping no hammers? What if they whiff
on one or two? Can they give up on it
then? At what price?
All the while, there are other units operating. The Trueborn are skulking and taking aim,
trying to pop the cans of the enemy open and force the squishy innards into the
charge distance of my hammers. But they
ALSO move up aggressively, because they carry haywire Grenades and of course if
all else fails, slapping sticky bombs on the side of Land Raiders works. They yet provide another problem for the
enemy because when the Trueborn are left in place, they and their venom can
spew 24 Poisoned shots and 3 Blaster shots a round. It really is a lot.
The added Wracks are just there for objectives. Though small and weak as units, they can
reserve and hide and generally make enemies commit things they’d rather not to the task of the Wracks demise. Another distraction so the enemy will see
the hand but not the knife as I like to say.
The Wracks in Raiders are also Objective Secured and they
are at least passable in melee. More menacing though is the support they can give the assaulter with their Liquifiers. An AP D6 flamer is nothing to sneeze at. Poisoned attacks can also prove useful
against things like riptides and less combat effective enemy groups.
So there it is. Some have already contributed to the mutation of the list. Your thoughts?
