Hel Rising Pt 3

Welcome back to the final part of my three part look at the new (well not so much now but hair splitting much?) Helbrute dataslate. In the first part we looked at the rather versatile Helcult and the potentially devastating Mayhem Pack came in the second part which leaves this part to be dedicated to the Helfist Murderpack. Let's just ignore the name, it's not great but the formation is pretty funky as we'll see.

The first thing to notice with the Murderpack is that the formation gains a leader. Apparently a bunch of twisted, warped and psychotic half-dead guys trapped in a massive hunk of metal for all eternity turn into Space Marines when there's 5 of them (that's how many Helbrutes are in this formation by the way). Well ok they don't quite go that far but I digress. One of the Helbrutes in the formation gains the (Character) unit type, the Aura of Dark Glory upgrade (5++ save) and the other Helbrutes can make Look Out, Sir! Rolls to save their leader if they are within 6". Hard to imagine a Helbrute taking a bullet for another but apparently it happens.

Now let's just get over the shock of Helbrutes with thinking abilities and move on. I've probably done this backwards but Helbrutes that think was just shocking. The basics of the formation are that it consists of five Helbrutes with whatever weapons you like on any of them (they don't all have the be equipped the same way), they are a vehicle squadron and as far as I can tell they don't have to stay in any kind of unit coherency (I may be wrong though as I don't use all that many vehicles). Now back to the Leader as it is really this aspect that gives this formation it's kick. While the leader is alive any Helbrute with a Crazed marker doesn't roll on the table but instead the controlling player can choose the result!! The only downside is that one result applies to all Helbrutes with Crazed markers so you do need to be able to balance your tactics on the fly to compensate for any lost firepower you might have.

Now I want you to imagine the scene... Your Helbrute Champion is locked in battle with an enemy champion. They're trading blows that would crack the bones of a Titan, cracking off the odd shot when the opportunity presents itself and general fighting an epic battle to the death. Picture there in your head? Good. Now imagine that enemy managing to get lucky and strike the Helbrute with a killing blow. In your mind what would you expect the others to do, considering that they're insanely homicidal wrecks that have been driven even more insane and homicidal by being stuck in a box inside a machine for several millennia. That's right, they'd get pissed and that's exactly what happens; they gain the Rage rule once the leader bites the dust. Now I'm not saying that Rage isn't a good rule because it is but I personally think I prefer being able to choose which Crazed result you get. My advice here would be to make the leader an extreme ranged attacker so there's less chance of losing him. Add in a couple of mid-range weapons and a couple of assault specialists and you'll have a very well rounded formation that can bring a lot of hurt in a lot of ways. Also there's the fact that this formation gives you not one but five very dangerous units that, when used well, can really mess up an enemy army by presenting a lot of dangers at the same time. 

The main downside of this formation is that it will cost a fortune both in terms of points and pounds/dollars/euros/whatever currency you work in. Helbrutes are over £30 a pop so 5 will set you back over £150!! That's dedication to the Helbrute right there. They're also 100 points standard and then they'll need upgrading to be effective. Even in a 2000 point game you're looking at over 25% of your total points on 5 models... Now I can't say they're easy to kill as I don't know how the new vehicle damage rules will work but for the next week at least they can be glanced to death so you just have to balance the risk with the benefits and your playing style. For me this isn't a formation I'm likely to use as I'm not a huge vehicle user; I'm more infantry and psychic powers but for those that do like vehicle formations this could be a good one.