Hands up. Who's ran Chaos Spawn in their chaos marine armies? Or faced them from the other side of the board? I don't mean turning enemy combatants in to a chaos spawn through a psychic power and toughness tests, but actually running chaos spawn as a part of their original army list.As you can see from some of my historic army lists, I'm certainly not above such a tactic (especially since I purposely try to not play uber-kill-all-comers army lists in order to give some obvious concessions).
Many of the more experienced players that I face tend to treat the chaos spawn with a little surprise, but know how to handle it. It's not really too much of a significant threat and can be an easy (ish) kill point in annihilation missions given its lack of armour saving throw. Otherwise, in a non-annihilation mission, such experienced opponents tend to mostly ignore the chaos spawn until it comes too close and merits a little rapid fire.
But with some of my less experienced opponents, it generates a different kind of surprise. They tend to treat it as a bit of a fire magnet. Much in the same way that my daemon prince tends to attract a lot of unwanted (but well deserved!) attention. I confess to being a little fascinated by this latter reaction. Perhaps it is because spawn are large miniatures and look kind of intimidating and (therefore) bullet-worthy? Or maybe something else.
One thing that I've long wanted to try is running a whole load of spawn (i.e. go overboard with the number of spawn ... perhaps just like that crazy apocalypse formation). But then, I'm not sure its worth the financial investment versus how often I'll use them! So it'll remain just a crazy idea.
I have run anywhere from 4 to 10 Spawn, and must say that they are a hoot to run in numbers. With some good dice rolls they can be extremely fast!
ReplyDeleteYou are right they are a liability in a KP mission. I tend to try and keep them behind my Rhino screen as long as I can in those missions.
It's a shame that the rules stink because the models are brilliant!
-Jim
I've only tried spawn in pairs, but looking at the entry in the codex, they seem a little overpointed for there stats, ok so they can fleet and charge 12"
ReplyDeleteI'm not turned on by them stats wise, I'll agree with big Jim the models are cool and it gives you an excuse to paint very strange colours ;)
I agree with both of you -- the models are very very appealing (and provide good bits for conversions), but are somewhat let down by the rules behind them.
ReplyDeleteGreat spawn model in that picture.
ReplyDeleteI've used mine once (2 of them) in an Apoc game. They were forced to charge the nearest target, being a GK Land Raider, failed to hurt it and got squashed by the GK on the next turn.
I'd recommend any Chaos player to buy the spawn box though, as a source of bitz it's a great kit.
Killersquid over at 40K Online frequently uses a bunch, with some success.
ReplyDeleteexample battlereport:
http://www.40konline.com/community/index.php?topic=198468.msg2434541#msg2434541
The spawn are incredibly overcosted, cheifly because they have absolutely no save. With no control over their movement it is hard to get them a cover save too.
ReplyDeleteNear the end of 4th edtition I ran one army for a few games that hat about 6 spawn, and double lash to help indirectly control their movement and get them into assault. It was fun to run them but it really won't work against modern mech armies.
I love the hapless marine entagled in the gribbliness!