Preparing units for combat

On August 13th my local warhammer store started a Tempest of War, incursion sized (though the first 2 weeks are combat patrol), escalation league. This league was supposed to be a competitive league with Nephilim rules but, as we know, you can't find that book anywhere so for this league we're ignoring it. This makes these games slightly less relevant in today's overall CP drought meta and games unpredictable but I'm hoping showcases some generals’ adaptability and ingenuity. I saw some great, close games this weekend (as well as some total blowouts). The league will span across six weeks with 2 weeks at 500pts, 750pts and 1000pts each.

I really enjoy Tempest of War as usually games this small are not balanced but with this mission deck the random nature seems to level the field in a sort of way. It shores up some factions that don't have access to good secondaries and allows them to still play the mission and score even if they are losing the battle overall. It makes for some incredibly close and entertaining games. I've seen it lead to bloodbaths in the midboard where a squad of Paragon Warsuits hold against waves of destroyers to keep their sisters safe and hilarious games of cat and mouse chasing that last jump pack model around while they score points and are impossible to catch.

Overall it's not the most outright competitive but still lets players have some skill expression with their armies and is just a lot of fun. What's the point of playing if you're not having fun?

Scoring for the escalation league will be done on overall points with battleforge points being assigned at the end (this is done to not punish people purchasing models for the league specifically, allowing them time to finish any new models.)

I’ll post my lists here as the weeks progress and talk about why I brought what and what hopes I have going into each tier of games.

WEEKS 1 & 2

500 points

Patrol Detachment [28 PL, 1CP, 500pts]

Legion Choice: Alpha Legion

[HQ]

Master of Possession [6 PL, -1CP, 105pts]: 4. Master of Diversion, Aspiring Lord, Chaos Undivided, Mutated Invigoration, Pact of Flesh

[Troops]

Legionaries [7 PL, -1CP, 135pts]: Chaos Icon, Mark of Tzeentch

Aspiring Champion: Astartes chainsword, Black Rune of Damnation, Boltgun, Trophies of the Long War

Marine w/ balefire tome: Prescience

2x Marine w/ boltgun: 2x Bolt pistol, 2x Boltgun, 2x Frag & Krak grenades

Marine w/ special weapon: Flamer

[Elites]

Master of Executions [4 PL, 65pts]: 1. Flames of Spite, Chaos Undivided, Ul'o'cca, the Black, Warlord

[Fast Attack]

Venomcrawler [6 PL, 105pts]

[Heavy Support]

Obliterator [5 PL, 90pts] Fleshmetal Guns

Here the plan is very simple. Buff the Legionaries with spells to make them a tanky midfield objective secured unit and run the Venomcrawler around to harass and put on early pressure. In Turn 3 the Master of Executions pops out from where ever he’s been creeping and does murder, which he’s VERY good at. All the while the Obliterator stays in reserve until he’s needed to break their lines, assassinate a character from an unforeseen angle or just drop in controlled territory to do actions. It’s a solid number of units to have available without any one this being too expensive or taking up a large percentage of the list. This is important as it keeps everything valued approximately the same so the loss of any one thing won’t hurt too much. It also means that against most opponents, unless they specifically build cheap minimum squads in horde armies, it keeps the number of drops during deployment about even. Which won’t matter much anyway because with the redeploy warlord trait on the Master of Possession it allows me to react and, hopefully, set the pace of the game.

The big scary relic for troops here is the Black Rune of Damnation, which gives the bearer’s unit -1 to be wounded and has an anti-psyker debuff that almost never comes up (all doubles are perils instead of just double 1s and double 6s). Pair this with the Master of Possession’s spell Mutated Invigoration and you get a pretty darn tanky unit. Buffed up to toughness 5 with -1 to wound means that you are at WORST getting wounded on 3s from anything. Now usually you’d see this stacked onto Chaos Terminators or Possessed, but at this battle size those are a bit on the expensive side if you want any appreciable number of units to actually DO anything with during the missions. In my first list I opted to put it on a min squad of Tzeentch marked Legionaries. I have heard that Slaanesh mark is a better pair for the Black Rune, and I would normally agree, but without a native invulnerable save the spell Skains of Fate, the ability to ignore the first damage taken and a stratagem for casting a second power Tzeentch seemed like the safe way to start. In larger games I will certainly have Slaanesh marked Chaos Terminators with this relic to really maximize the synergistic value of everything that goes into keeping them alive.

Now I like herohammer, a lot. I really enjoy having a character that isn’t just around to buff other units and sort of build a loose narrative as they participate in games. As such I of course took a Master of Executions and really tooled him up for the role, making him my warlord and slapping Flames of Spite on him letting him wield the Daemon Weapon Ul’o’cca the Black.

For those that either don’t know, haven’t heard or would just like to know more, a Master of Executions is an Elite choice character with 6 attacks, hitting on 2+. He wields an Axe of Dismemberment, a +3 str, -3 ap, 2 damage ax that on unmodified hit rolls of 6 do 2 mortal wounds then that attack sequence ends. Now that means on turns 1 and 2 you should expect (though you should never rely on rolling 6s) to roll 1 six in an attack then have 4 more attacks to roll wounds for. At +3 str, making him str7, you wound most heavy infantry, generally toughness 4 or 5, on 3+ meaning you should get 3 wounds through. The -3 ap means that, depending on the model in question’s armor (if they’re power armored, have modifiers, Armor of Contempt, etc) , are saving on 4+ or 5+. This leaves 1 or 2 wounds to go through, leaving you having done 4-6 damage. Not terrible, especially against characters, which often only have 4-6 wounds, as he natively gets to reroll his wounds against character models which should push another wound through that they have to save. Starting on turn 3 an unmodified 6 to hit also generates you an additional hit, meaning you will on average push through yet another wound, bumping you up to the 6 damage threshold more reliably.

Now for the fun part. With the warlord trait Flames of Spite and the Daemon weapon Ul’o’cca the Black you can really pump up those damage numbers. No more rookies here. Flames of Spite has 2 parts to it. First off it lets you reroll wounds, which sounds redundant but doesn’t have a limitation on targeting characters so he can go nuts against troops, monsters and vehicles too. Secondly it makes unmodified wounds of 6 also do a mortal wound in addition to other damage. So now we’re up to 6 damage and an average of 3 mortal wounds.

But wait, there’s more! There’s this Daemon called Ul’o’cca the Black. He only allies with champions of Chaos Undivided, so you get the “discount” of not having to buy a mark with him. The bonus it gives is simple, every successful wound also causes a mortal wound in addition. So now you have a 65 point character with 6 attacks, hitting on 2+, unmodified 6 causing additional hits, strength 7, -3 ap and 2 damage. With perfect averages you get 5 hits, after rerolls causing 4 wounds, of which 2 should go through. That’s 4 damage and then, assuming perfect distribution including a single 6 to hit and a single 6 to wound while wounding on 3+, another 7 mortal wounds. 11 wounds from just this cheap character. This kills most MSU size squads of infantry, most light vehicles (the distribution will be slightly different but rerolls are VERY strong) and all characters that can benefit from Look out Sir! It can be a bit situational and in Nephilim games expensive on CP, but in Tempest of War having this as your warlord and then paying to pick up a legion warlord trait or one of the better relics (Liber Hereticus comes to mind) then having this monster of a beatstick around seems like a great investment.

WEEKS 3 & 4

750 points

Patrol Detachment (Chaos - Chaos Space Marines) [38 PL, 4CP, 750pts]

Legion: Alpha Legion

[HQ]

Master of Possession [6 PL, -1CP, 105pts]: 4. Master of Diversion, Aspiring Lord, Chaos Undivided, Mutated Invigoration, Pact of Flesh

Sorcerer in Terminator Armor [7 PL, 135pts]: Chaos Familiar, Combi-melta, Diabolic Strength, Force sword, Mark of Slaanesh, Prescience

[Troops]

Cultists Mob [2 PL, 55pts]

8x Chaos Cultist w/ cultist firearm

Chaos Cultist w/ cultist grenade launcher

Cultist Champion w/ autopistol and brutal assault weapon

[Elites]

Chaos Terminator Squad [10 PL, -1CP, 210pts]: Mark of Slaanesh

Chaos Terminator: Accursed weapon, Combi-bolter

2x Chaos Terminator: Combi-bolter, Power fist

Chaos Terminator: Combi-melta, Power fist

Terminator Champion: Black Rune of Damnation, Chainfist, Combi-melta, Trophies of the Long War

Master of Executions [4 PL, 65pts]: 1. Flames of Spite, Chaos Undivided, Ul'o'cca, the Black, Warlord

[Fast Attack]

Chaos Spawn [3 PL, 75pts]

3x Chaos Spawn: 3x Hideous mutations

Venomcrawler [6 PL, 105pts]

This list shows off more of that REALLY tough immortal infantry block of Terminators. Going with Slaanesh for the spell Delightful Agonies, giving them a 5+ feel no pain (5+++), and a Terminator Sorcerer, to cast Delightful Agonies, so that if need be I can deep strike them in together someplace and have kept them safe on turn 1. If this were 2000 points I’d have bumped it up to the big 10-man unit but as I still want to be able to have a number of units to actually do things at this point level only a 5-man squad fits. Replacing the Legionaries temporarily with the Terminator Sorcerer as he gets character protection and allows for a bit more synergy as I mentioned. Dropping to a Cultist Mob here to save points as the Legionaries, while very good, are a bit weak without a mark imo. Instead I was able to add some Chaos Spawn! One of my absolute favorite units as they’re super tough and super cheap and, boy oh boy, did they get a glow-up.

These models can be taken in units of 1-5 which would be great if you could use a single one to do actions but, alas, they’re a bit too mindless for that (but various other faction’s dogs can. No I’m not jealous, you’re jealous!). They’ve still got an incredible stat line however. They get a random buff off a d3 table every time they fight, strength 5, toughness 5, a 7” movement, 4 wounds and 2d3, -2ap, damage 2 attacks per model. However, they’ve got a new ability that is just a bit rude. Now they have to be killed by a single shooting attack or fight or a wounded model just heals to full. Hit it with a lascannon and put through 3 wounds? Cute, the monster regenerates. And the kicker to all of this? They’re also only 25 points! That’s insanely cheap for how tanky they can be. Now while they only have a 5+ armor save, they’re beasts and can get cover AND get Armor of Contempt, so even with their “squishy” bodies you still have to be hitting them with plasma weapons to get them to only have a t-shirt save, or melta weapons to outright kill them. Utterly ridiculous.

The Masters and the Venomcrawler return as they are just staples of pretty much any list I build. I just think they’re too much fun to leave at home.

Having the new, even harder to shift, block of Terminators should hopefully draw a bunch of fire over the course of the matches and allow the characters to do their work. This list relies pretty heavily on the characters surviving and hitting up above their weight with mortal wound output. Admittedly this is much better going into some armies than others such as Tau or Admech than it is into Custodes or Sororitas for instance. Perhaps that’s not a smart bet but we will see how it matches up to my next opponents. Should be fun either way.

WEEKS 5 & 6

1000 points

Battalion Detachment (Chaos - Chaos Space Marines) [54 PL, 4CP, 1,000pts]

Legion: Alpha Legion

[HQ]

Master of Possession [6 PL, -1CP, 105pts]: 4. Master of Diversion, Aspiring Lord, Chaos Undivided, Mutated Invigoration, Pact of Flesh

Sorcerer in Terminator Armour [7 PL, 130pts]: Combi-melta, Diabolic Strength, Force sword, Mark of Nurgle, Prescience

[Troops]

Cultists Mob [2 PL, 50pts]

9x Chaos Cultist w/ cultist firearm: 9x Cultist firearm, 9x Frag & Krak grenades

Cultist Champion

.Autopistol and brutal assault weapon

Legionaries [7 PL, 110pts]: Chaos Icon, Mark of Nurgle

Aspiring Champion: Astartes chainsword, Bolt pistol

4x Marine w/ astartes chainsword: 4x Astartes chainsword, 4x Bolt pistol, 4x Frag & Krak grenades

Legionaries [7 PL, 140pts]: Chaos Icon, Mark of Tzeentch

Aspiring Champion: Astartes chainsword, Boltgun

Marine w/ balefire tome: Balefire tome, Prescience

2x Marine w/ boltgun: 2x Bolt pistol, 2x Boltgun, 2x Frag & Krak grenades

Marine w/ special weapon: Plasma gun

[Elites]

Chosen [8 PL, -1CP, 165pts]: Chaos Icon, Mark of Khorne

Chosen: Bolt pistol, Boltgun

Chosen: Accursed weapon, Bolt pistol

Chosen: Bolt pistol, Combi-melta

Chosen w/ power fist: Bolt pistol

Chosen Champion: Black Rune of Damnation, Bolt pistol, Combi-melta, Trophies of the Long War

Helbrute [7 PL, 130pts]: Combi-bolter, Helbrute fist, Mark of Tzeentch, Multi-melta

Master of Executions [4 PL, 65pts]: 1. Flames of Spite, Chaos Undivided, Ul'o'cca, the Black, Warlord

[Fast Attack]

Venomcrawler [6 PL, 105pts]

So I did it. I dropped the Terminator brick (even if it was a small one) in favor of a unit of Khorne marked Chosen. Once I start playing larger points games I will probably run both (and perhaps even run larger squads of them) since they’re both strong units and serve different roles. So here the Chosen will inherit the Black Rune of Damnation to boost their survivability a bit. Chosen are fun and with Khorne, boy oh boy, do they rip and tear!

I must admit that I did not get as much practice with this list as I would have liked, so I’m going in nearly blind. Here the idea is that each character has a unit to bodyguard it, buff the Chosen to the warp and back and let 'em loose. I expect that this list will do well as an alpha strike list on the longer board edge deployments and suffer if they have to take a longer walk. I was on the fence between bringing the Helbrute for a hard target, a Daemon Prince for another fast threat or just a bunch more infantry and Spawn for board control. In the end I opted to go for the Helbrute because it’s tanky with a solid enough offensive profile that demands attention, and with Tzeentch mark and a matching psyker can get the 4+ invulnerable save, which shores up its defensive weakness. Guess we’ll see I should have brought that Daemon Prince instead.