One of the more interesting options in the new codex is the Ichor Blood upgrade. Harking back to the old Realms of Chaos rewards, the Ichor Blood strikes back against any unit that is good enough to mistreat a Chaos Lord.
Ichor Blood is very situational. Basically, it strikes back against a unit with a S3 AP4 hit. Let's imagine that this is directed against a standard space marine and compare it to (for the sake of argument) a combi-bolter (i.e. a twin-linked bolter) which costs only fractionally less on a marine lord (slightly more on a terminator lord).
S3 hits automatically and wounds on 5+. The unit gets a 3+ save (hypothetically), so each wound from ichor blood stands a 0.111 chance of causing a wound. Compare that to a combi-bolter. It hits on a 3+ (re-rolling missed hits). Wounds on a 4+ and the unfortunate hypothetical marine survives on a 3+. That makes a 0.148 chance of an unsaved wound. Hence, I think that the offensive option (combi-bolter) outweighs the defensive option (ichor blood). But then again, if the chaos lord is a close combat orientated chap, then how much use will the lord get out of the combi-bolter in comparison to the ichor blood is questionable. But equally, ichor blood also relies on a wound being caused on the lord himself. Shouldn't the lord be winning against opponents if constructed well? :)
So to conclude, I'm torn on Ichor Blood. I want to take it if I think I'm going to get the lord in to melee and take an odd unsaved wound from another character that we've challenged. Mayhaps I'll save the points for something offensive to be fair: better to cause problems than react to them?
I'd only bother investing it Ichor Blood if your character has a lot of wounds he could potentially lose, like say a Nurgle Lord on a Pallanquin. It might not be bad on Daemon Princes either, were they good, of course.
ReplyDeleteIt's very similar to Warpstone Armor available for Skaven. In all the time I've played Skaven I think I've only scored 1 wound on an opponent as a result of Warpstone Armor.
ReplyDeleteHi Tim: Yes, a palanquin would be a great idea for this one!
ReplyDeleteHi Mike: I hadn't thought about the Skaven analogue, but you're spot on!