I couldn't resist purchasing the model any longer (especially with the price increase due later in the year) -- I've got a Soul Grinder in progress. Here's one of the front legs / claws glued together and awaiting the rest of the body. I'm impressed by the level of detail in the relatively newer plastics range. This model is also going to be rather tall by the looks of things. Exciting!
I'll post more on the Soul Grinder's progress as and when I get some free time to create and paint more of it. In terms of army building, I feel I'm going to have to get a second one of these to maximize effectiveness ... and give at least two targets for opponent's multi-melta's (or equivalent) to look at. Running just one is probably not a good idea. So far with my daemon armies, I've been focusing on daemon princes as my heavy support options, so my purchase of a soul grinder represents a departure from this paradigm. I'll have to see which I feel more comfortable playing with, and how they perform in different builds. More on the soul grinder in future posts. That's it from me for this weekend though.
The Grinders are utterly nasty in CC, you'll find. Outside of a Dreadnought or Ork Warboss, not a lot stands up to them in melee. It takes either a LOT of wounds, or something like hammer/shield terminators to slow them down.
ReplyDeleteSoul Grinders are also capable of sorting out enemy armor, which is a major bons for the Daemon codex. Several S10 slaps ought to be enough to kill most armor, including the Land Raider.
At 135, a Grinder's a melee powerhouse, though I've managed to immobilize them enough times to get leery of that. Still, at 160 with Phlegm, they can threaten vehicles and they're not bad at hurting infantry. Cover is a bit of a pain, though.
Tongue is very hit-or-miss; I've lost a Land RAider on turn one to it, and then several more volleys didn't do a blessed thing.
In terms of vulnerability, I think you'll find two big things set them apart from the Daemon Princes.
First, the Soul Grinder has a chance of immobilizing itself on the drop if it hits terain.
Second, Soul Grinders react much differently to melta weapons and/or mixed squads. A tac squad with a meltagun has a decent chance of torrenting down a Daemon Prince with wounds. A Meltagun to a Daemon Prince means an invulnerable save. A meltagun to the Soul Grinder means it might die. Up close it gets the 2d6+8 vs 13 (which averages a pen) and a 50/50 shot of nailing the Grinder to the wall.
They are, though, quite fun to use and the sculpt IS awesome.
Hi mate - thanks for your detailed thoughts on soul grinders! much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteNo problem. I've run 'em a fair amount, and they're nasty boggarst to deal with. There just REALLY isn't much that can sort them out in melee, and there isn't much they CAN'T sort with a good helping of S10 whacks.
ReplyDeleteHowever, watch out for Ghazkull. He kind of eats Soul Grinders, but when you have a 2+ invulnerable on the charge, hit at S10, and ignore Instant Death with WS5-6 and cranks about 7 attacks on the charge.
Definitely agree with the 'take multiples' of 'em, though. It's the law of armor, followed by a codex that can't take a lot of large targets. Best luck I had with 'em was taking a couple Grinders, a couple Greater Daemons (Soul Grinders) and a Nurgle Winged DP. Drop all that in on round one, and then there are several 'mini-MC' units of 2-3 Blood Crushers, and Horrors as troops.