Tactical Analysis: Flamers of Tzeentch

Flamers of Tzeentch

Originally the Flamers were considered the ultimate in anti-infantry power; even the might of the Terminators fell before a single unit of Flamers and many competitive lists relied on this purely for their massive amount of power. With the update however the Flamers lost a fair amount of their power and the community was in uproar about the fact that they now cannot win a battle with one unit and personally I think this is a good thing. What is the point of having such a wide and diverse range of miniatures that are the most detailed that GW has ever produced (to date anyway) if we only ever use one or two of them? So that's my rant over and back to tactics. Contrary to widespread belief  the Flamers haven't become useless but have simply become balanced. They can still dish out a world of hurt in the right situation but they now can't own the field by themselves.

Tactical Analysis: Bloodcrushers

Bloodcrushers of Khorne

In the list of Khorne units that really personify what the Blood God is all about, those that are mounted on a Juggernaut come in a very close second in terms of the sheer amount of violence they can do. First things first though, they have a pretty good stat line with a WS, BS and S value of 5, T and I of 4, Ld 7 and W and A of 3. They are also a Cavalry unit which means that they move 12" in the movement phase, aren't slowed down by Difficult Terrain (but still test for Dangerous Terrain), can fall back 3D6" (though I'm not 100% sure if Daemons ever can fall back, maybe someone could comment and let me know?) and have the Fleet and Hammer of Wrath special rules, as well as the Daemon of Khorne rule which grants Furious Charge. Fleet allows for the re-rolling of one or more dice for a Charge or Run and Furious Charge grants +1 Strength when the unit charges but the most interesting extra rule for the Bloodcrushers is that they have Hammer of Wrath attacks which makes them unique amongst the Elite choices. This grants the Bloodcrushers an attack (on top of the extra one for making the charge) that automatically hits, is resolved at Initiative step 10 with the Strength of the unit and no AP value. The Bloodcrushers already gain an extra attack whenever they charge and go up to a Strength value of 6 but with Hammer of Wrath they gain another attack per model which gives a basic 3 Crusher unit 15 s6 attacks and for each additional model added to the unit they gain another 5 s6 attacks. 

Tactical Analysis: Nurglings

Nurglings

Nurglings; teeny tiny bits of grossness that are much beloved by the Greater Daemons that spawn them. Also the only unit in the entire Codex that has the Infiltrate special rule (more on that later). I know I've taken to discussing profiles and costs towards the end of a post but there really isn't much to discuss in terms of equipment and upgrades for these little rotting imps because they have no upgrades apart from being able to add extra bases to the unit. For 45 points you get three swarms of Nurglings which for what you get isn't too bad and to add an additional swarm costs 15 points (you can add 6 additional bases for a total of 9 per unit). Now you might be wondering why you'd want Nurglings considering they have no upgrades, you don't get as many bases to the unit as you do with the other four troop choices and, if I'm totally honest, they're a bit of a bitch to paint up. The reason is that they have pretty decent stats for a troops choice. What we're talking about here is a WS, BS, S, T and I value of 3 each, Ld 7 (pretty standard for the Troops choices) but what really sets them apart is the fact that they have 4 attacks and 4 wounds PER BASE. So for a basic unit of three swarms you've got a cheap unit with 12 attacks and wounds and for each base you just add on another 4 to each so when there's 9 swarms in one unit that's 36 attacks and wounds from a single unit for 180 points. This makes them up to be the same cost as a maxed out but not upgraded unit of either Horrors, Plaguebearers or Daemonettes and cheaper than Bloodletters but with more attacks (apart from the Daemonettes) and wounds. Now the trade off here is that they're not as strong or tough as the other troop choices but I guess if they were then they'd be ridiculously overpowered for what they are.

It Starts With One

After a VERY long time I've finally managed to finish one of my Plague Drones. While a pretty decent achievement it does highlight the fact that I take far too long in painting a single model but in my defence Nurgle models contain an extraordinary amount of detail and I refuse to miss any of it. Plus I have to make up for the terrible job I did of the Herald of Nurgle (I still can't figure out how to fix him though yet). Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, I give you the Plaguebringer!!

Tactical Analysis: Daemonettes

Daemonettes of Slaanesh

Daemonettes are the the Blitzkrieg troops; fast and deadly. They are designed to move fast and (in true Slaanesh style) take the enemy by surprise from behind as much as possible. The Daemon of Slaanesh rule achieves this by granting the Rending rule, the Fleet rule and also amends how a Run move is calculated which makes them incredibly fast. Rending makes all the Daemonettes attacks (of which there are many) wound automatically on a roll of 6 and AP rolls of 6 add a further D3 roll to be added to the result which can come in very handy when trying to wipe out a tough vehicle before it destroys anything of value. You might be wondering how a simple troop choice can stand any chance against a vehicle with high armour values and it's a valid thought but I'll address it later when we talk profiles. The next special rule is Fleet which allows for the unit to re-roll one or more of the dice used when calculating Run moves or Charge ranges. This is especially useful when combined with the fact that the Daemon of Slaanesh special rule grants +3" to a Run movement so that the minimum distance a unit of Daemonettes will Run is 4" and the maximum they can run is 9" which, when added to their usual movement of 6", means that the unit can move 10" if it chooses to run. It should be noted however that a unit that Runs in the shooting phase can't then Charge in the assault phase. I guess it's to stop units from running across the board and slaughtering an entire unit in the first turn which the Daemonettes would be quite capable of doing.

Tactical Analysis: Plaguebearers

 Plaguebearers of Nurgle

 Plaguebearers are the foxhole troops of a Daemonic legion, by which I mean their primary role is defensive. The Foxhole is a military tactic where troops dig in and defend an area as opposed to taking an offensive stance and the special rules of the Plaguebearers make them pretty good for this. Their first special rule is that they are Shrouded which grants them a +2 bonus to their cover save so in open ground they have a 5+ cover save which is the same as their invulnerable save. They also have the Slow and Purposeful special rule which means that they can't Run, make Sweeping Advances or fire Overwatch but they count as being stationary even when the unit has moved. The part about no firing Overwatch really doesn't affect them because they don't have any ranged weapons and not being able to make Sweeping Advances is good because it means that they won't move from their position once they're in place but the lack of running could prove to be an issue if they scatter too much when Deep Striking or if deployed normally so they're having to foot slog across terrain. They also count as having Defensive Grenades which has two effects depending on whether the unit is being shot at or assaulted. If the Plaguebearers are being shot at then they gain the Stealth special rule so long as the firing unit is within 8" and the Plaguebearers have not Gone to Ground. Stealth gives a +1 bonus to cover saves and stacks with Shrouded so in that situation the Plaguebearers would gain a 4+ Cover Save in open ground. It's worth noting that these rules can only stack to give a maximum of a 2+ Cover Save which is still pretty handy. When the unit is being assaulted the Defensive Grenade takes away the bonus attacks that a unit gets for charging which doesn't seem like much on the surface but when you think that big units can effectively double their attacks (see my post on the Bloodletters who do exactly that) it really takes away a lot of attacks and therefore reduces their chances of wiping out the unit.

Tactical Analysis: Pink Horrors

Pink Horrors

The Pink Horrors of Tzeentch fill the role of long ranged attackers of the Daemon army. It is very important to note that they are physically the weakest of the troop choices; even the Nurglings are tougher than these guys in a fight but all this means is that they're not meant to be in a fight. They have a WS, BS, S, T and I of 3, 1 wound, 1 attack and Ld 7 so they really don't have a great stat line for a basic cost of 90 points and at first glance they're not even that well suited to being a psychic shooting unit as they're meant to be. Looking at those stats you'd be forgiven for thinking that they're just generally a rubbish unit but the Changer of Ways is not known for deception for nothing and it's their combination of special rules that take them from lame to pretty good at what they do. The first of these rules is the rule that really defines them and that's the Daemon of Tzeentch rule which grants two effects; firstly that the Horrors are able to re-roll any saving throws of 1 and the second is that for the purposes of Psychic tests all Daemons of Tzeentch gain +3 to their Leadership value so they effectively have Ld 10. Again this is only for psychic tests but if all goes to plan that should be the only reason they roll for Leadership anyway.

Lightning Round

Just a quick update to say that I've taken inspiration from the Faeit212 blog and decided to include a Blogroll on my site. I'm hoping that I can use it to increase my online presence and get myself more involved in the community so if you have a blog and you want me to add it to my blog roll (which in the spirit of my blog I've named The Dishonour Roll) then drop me a message. If my email address isn't on here then just leave a comment and I'll get back to you. Of course my blog isn't as big as Bell of Lost Souls, Faeit212 or the other big names in the GW world but I'm hoping that I can get there and I'm hoping to generate some traffic for everyone else on the way.

Tactical Analysis: Bloodletters

Bloodletters

The Daemonic legions of the Blood God are traditionally shock and awe troops; drop them in and decimate the enemy to either reduce their effectiveness as to render them non-threatening or to completely eliminate them before they are able to do any damage. Shock and awe as a military tactic can be dated as far back as Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" and it's possible that it goes back further than that. This is the basis of all of Khorne's units and in this area they do a pretty damn good job. 

... To Your Ear

The Dark Apostle is almost finished! In fact the man himself is done I just need to paint the books at his belt and feet and then his base.

From His Mouth...

Inspiration finally hit! After having them sat on my shelf since just after the Dark Vengeance release I actually had an idea for a Word Bearers Dark Apostle (it seemed the most appropriate Legion from a fluff perspective).