Wargames Gallery: Ork Crunch

Before anyone points it out: I know that the only painted element of this picture are my plastic horrors of Tzeentch. But I like the artistic merit of this shot -- the colour of my horrors really juxtaposes well against the otherwise bland background.
The orks are, frankly, crunching my Tzeentch horrors who were happily hanging out in a crater and (almost) minding their own business... it's not going well for me in this game.

Reaper Autocannons: Much maligned but still used?

The reaper autocannon is the chaos space marine terminator's equivalent of the assault cannon.

The press that the reaper autocannon gets seems to be moderately negative.  It isn't hard to see why when a quick comparison is made.  For 25 points, the reaper autocannon gives the chaos player 2 twin linked AP4, S7 shots.  In comparison, the assault cannon costs 30 points and gives 4 S6, AP4 rending shots.  The main differences are the amount of shots (double for the imperials), the accuracy of the shots (twin linked for chaos), the range of the shots (12 inches further for chaos) and the rending (for the imperials).  For 5 points more, I think I'd be tempted to ditch the twin linked and the range in favour of the rending and sheer amount of shots. 

Even still, the reaper autocannon can still be an excellent choice for the chaos terminator player.  With its increased range and twin linked statistic, it can readily pose a threat for almost any light tank sat on the board from a reasonably back position.  If taken in a combi-termicide melta squad, it can readily back up the melta shots with a pair of its own that are much more likely to hit.  Although the tank may not get as much chance of being blown to smithereens in comparison the melta hits, it is probably still worthwhile overall.  Indeed, I've been toying around with the addition of a reaper autocannon in a squad of 3 other combi-melta termicide squad and have had reasonable success with it.  The other benefit is the amount of attention that the reaper autocannon gets -- it tends to be a real fire magnet for opposition forces to try to take out.

The image above is of a chaos reaper autocannon terminator that I plan to paint up in Sons of Malice colours.  The head is a swap for a plastic chaos warriors skull helmet, but otherwise no conversion work has taken place.  The base has had multiple bits from the warhammer 40k basing kit applied to give it an urban wreck feel.

Masque of Slaanesh Evaluation

We turn today to the Masque of Slaanesh. She (He?) has a moderate points value and can shoot her pavane of Slaanesh up to three times (at different targets) every turn. Is she worth while though?

Evaluation.
My personal opinion is that she is let down by the lack of the independent character special rule. This means that she will be out in the open and on her own. Or at best, cowering behind a squad of daemonettes for a cover save. She's as fragile as regular daemonettes (in toughness terms) and will die very quickly to massed bolter fire. Her bonuses (Musk, Instrument, and Aura) and not really worth while to make her truly noteworthy. Aura of acquiescence comes as standard on daemonettes. Instruments of chaos are not worthwhile equipped on daemonettes (see here). And the soporific musk (hit and run) is solid for her, but not brilliant.

My opinion is similar to the Blue Scribes: a well built Chariot of Slaanesh will be better the majority of the time. A Slaaneshi chariot with unholy might and soporific musk is cheaper than the Masque and much more survivable (toughness = 4; plus 5 wounds!). Take the Masque for fluffy reasons, but don't take her to serious tournament play methinks.  Build a chariot and go hunting select targets instead.

Blue Scribes Evaluation

To be fair, I haven't seen many people play the Blue Scribes. I've only ever fielded him once myself. And that was only to see how he worked, rather than to present any cool conversion I had. Granted that the official miniature for the Blue Scribes doesn't exist yet, fielding him in a tournament will require conversion work not too dissimilar to how I created my Tzeentch herald on a disk. That's a reasonably non-negligible amount of work to put in! So are the Blue Scribes worth while?

Evaluation.
For a comparatively low points cost, the daemons player gets most of the good spells in the codex mounted on a multiple wound jump infantry model coupled with Master of Sorcery (can use one additional ranged weapon) and We Are Legion (can fire different weapons at multiple targets) at the price of the "Watch This!" special rule. Half the time, the second ranged weapon will be the same as the first due to the scribes' squabbles. The other half of the time, the player gets to decide.

In low points games (say under 1000 points), the Blue Scribes can be a fluffy and terrific choice. However, I think for tournaments and higher points games (certainly up to 2000 points), I would personally be looking at building my own herald of Tzeentch on a chariot. A Bolt of Tzeentch chariot platform only costs 95 points. Even a chariot with Bolt of Tzeentch, Breath of Chaos and Master of Sorcery costs 130 points. And they're plenty more reliable to be honest. So my opinion and advice is usually to forget about the Blue Scribes and take a well built Chariot of Tzeentch instead.

Skulltaker Evaluation

Skulltaker is a bloodletter's bloodletter. He's the great guy in the Khorne Army that all the lesser daemons look up to. They just want to be like him and be with him.
Uses.
Like all bloodletters, Skulltaker is excellent at taking down power armoured marines with his hellblade. I like to use him in a squad of bloodletters to deliver him to the heart of the enemy wherein I use his large volley of attacks to cut the heart out of the opposition. He really is great at character killing. And not too shabby at taking down monstrous creatures either.

Options.
He can purchase a chariot or juggernaut (unlike other named heralds) as optional upgrades. The juggernaut is probably not quite worth the price tag unless you want him in a large mob of bloodcrushers. And then, a regular herald might be just as good depending on the points value of the game. The chariot seems the far better option. Of course, Skulltaker loses his independent character status by taking it.

Instant death by rending.
The beauty of Skulltaker is his ability to inflict instant death (and rending) on a 4+ roll to wound via the "Skulls for the skull throne!" special rule. This rule is what really makes skulltaker worth while. Place him on a chariot or juggernaut for increased potency. Head toward your favourite offending multi-wound opposing model and it's going to be taken care of in all likelihood. Perhaps apart from some lightning quick eldar or dark eldar. But that is why he has multiple wounds and a fair toughness for, coupled with both armour and invulnerable saves. Call in the Grey Knights -- they'll be needed sooner or later!

Evaluation.
I tend to use Skulltaker in lower points games. Specifically, I've found him to be terrific in up to 1000 or 1250 points. Once 1500 points is hit, a mono-Khorne army would probably want to think about investing in a bloodthirster to be fair. But in a full pantheon army, he ca still be quite viable and dangerous. The planetstrike rules make him just awesome (along with the rest of the army!).

Epidemius Evaluation

Let's be honest: if we're taking Epidemius in an army list, we want to be playing a lot of Nurgle daemons to the exclusion of almost all others. Unless I'm involved in some Apocalypse madness, Epidemius will only be used in a mono-Nurgle army list. Frankly, he doesn't belong in many other places. That said, let's have a think about how we might use him.

The Tally.
Clearly one of his major advantages is the Tally. We want to get that up to high numbers as quickly as possible. And we want Epidemius to survive during this process. These two wants are in slight opposition to each other. To get the Tally up effectively, we should aim to have Epidemius on the table on turn 1. That may not always happen and sometimes the Tally will get stuffed because he doesn't arrive (or doesn't arrive until turn 4+!).

On the other hand, we don't want Epidemius to demise before his time. And that's a problem because he's going to get targeted. Frequently. And did we mention he's not very fast on his feet (or palanquin)?

Tactics.
Perhaps the best option is to place Epidemius in a moderately large squad of plaguebearers or nurglings. If the game in hand is an objective based one, then just sit Epidemius in cover (hiding) with his squad next to the objective and (preferably) leave him there. The enemy then has to come to you to finish off the squad and target Epidemius himself. And a large squad of plaguebearers is hard enough for any miniature in the game to handle in a single turn, short of a vortex grenade.

Of course, you could always go on the offensive with Epidemius. He is afterall, reasonably good against most infantry in the game. But you'll want to back him up with other Nurgle squads so that if his own squad gets whittled down, he can attach himself to a different (fresher) squad.

Evaluation.
Use in Mono-Nurgle lists or apocalypse ... and planetstrike. He's okay, but an army list needs to be built around him and his powers, whilst simultaneously begin able to cope without him. This means daemon princes with wings and the mark of Nurgle at the very least. A Great Unclean One wouldn't be a bad idea either, alongside a metric ton of plaguebearers, coupled with some beasts of Nurgle and Nurglings to taste. Nurglings especially can be amazing once pumped up by the tally.

I don't use him outside of mono-Nurgle builds though. Unless I'm playing a fluffy game, or a humongous apocalypse game.