40k Friday - World Eaters 2024

 

I've been working on these guys a lot this year after slowly building up a force for years and learning some lessons along the way. I've had a lot of parts sitting around, some of them painted, but it didn't feel like a cohesive army. After their line update last edition I had to think through how I wanted to handle some things and if I wanted to reallocate or replace anything. Thoughts below:

• The Lord of Skulls is painted and it's still a current and useful model so yes, I'm keeping it in my Khorne force and not moving it to the Iron Warriors - my "normal" chaos army for 40K
• The Maulerfiend is still current and still has a place - now I just need to finish him. I may add a second one too as things like this I like to take in pairs, at least, as it means you might actually get to use them in a fight.
• The Defilers - I have two of these in a scorpion configuration that was a popular option a few years back. I like them, I think they help build out the "daemon engine" options for the army and I think two is enough. I know the model is old at this point but it's one of those things that helped build up the "legend" that is chaos in 40K - especially when this almost goofy/kinda creepy spider-walker-thing showed up in Dawn of War. I like them whether they're "meta" or not so I will keep them and try to finish painting them.
• Heldrake - I have one, it's painted in Khorne colors and while it could use a bit more finishing I love the way the things look. I'm keeping it, even if flyers seem like a forgotten unit in this edition of the game. I've thought about getting a second or even a third at times over the years but I haven't yet. For now it can look good in the display case.
• Helbrutes - Another unit that seems out of favor with the competitive types these day and another case where I don't care. The idea of a chaos marine army without dreadnoughts is just dumb to me so my 3 painted helbrutes from various editions and with various levels of conversion will remain a well-loved part of this army.
• Rhinos - I built and base coated 3 of them years ago as I started putting this force together and now I may finally have time and the motivation to finish them. I bought extra bits and some special bling for them and everything. They are still useful and still the same model so yes, 3 rhinos - another thing defining feature of a chaos marine army.
• Land Raiders - I picked up two of these a year or two back when I saw a bargain deal. They are mostly built and mostly painted but it's not all good work and they have some damage so they need some TLC before I will be happy with them. The big tanks are still useful though, and they can haul any of the infantry in the army and with two of them I am in the sweet spot of "enough" but not "too many or too few" for most battles. 

• Juggerlords - I have a few from old school Rogue Trader versions to the 2E metal ones with the plasma pistol rider to the newer plastic ones - though not the latest Lord Invocatus version. Right now I'm thinking of using the painted plastic one as him and finishing some of the metal ones to use as generic juggerlords.
• Kharn the Betrayer - I have the old metal model built and primed and that's probably what I'm going to use for now. He's a mixed blessing at times, occasionally killing his own troops, but the World Eaters don't get many characters in these newer editions so I feel like he has to be an option. Plus he's been around forever so he's kind of a legend. So yes he will probably be leading the berserker squad that gets left out of having a master of executions.
• Master of Executions - These guys are one of the newer "power" units in the army. Everybody takes at least one and you could take up to three. Considering they  are a solid melee character that grants their unit Fights First ... well, I have 3 of them. I just need to get them finished.
• Daemon Princes - well they split them into "flying" and "not flying" now and while the flying one adds speed and hitting power it doesn't do much else. The walking prince is also mean in combat and adds an invulnerable save aura to buff nearby units which is a fairly big deal - so I built a new ground-pounder for this army and will be painting it shortly to add to the collection of 2-3 flying princes I already had. Daemon princes are fun - I liked the old metal kit (not the original one - that was awful - but the 3rd edition one), I liked the previous plastic kit a lot, and I like the newer plastic kit too. The good thing is that they're all close enough in scale you can use them in the same army and it's no big deal.
• Angron - I have him, he's built and primed but not painted. He's actually the first - and for now only - primarch I own. He will definitely see both the painting and the playing tables.

• Chaos Spawn - I have a few uncommitted models sitting around. I will probably dedicate a pair to the force as they do have some utility as objective-achievers in the later versions of the game.
• Jakhals - don't have any of the new kit and have had a long-standing policy of "I don't play chaos marine armies to run normal human cultists" but I can see some utility here considering they are ridiculously cheap points-wise. I am leaning towards converting some AoS Blades of Khorne troops I've had sitting around for years to build a couple of squads as they look suitably barbaric and are already in-hand. 
• Eightbound - this was the hot new unit they introduced for 9th and there are two versions - Eightbound and Exalted Eightbound - which are way too similar looks-wise and game stats-wise to get really excited about as separate miniatures but they do look suitably gnarly and they are definitely "meta" for this edition so I have two boxes I will probably be building as Exalted. I have not even started this yet.
• Terminators - the other Elite type squad for the World Eaters they are in a weird place. The other two god-specific armies have special terminators but the world eaters do not. I don't know if they will stay that way, or if special termies will be coming along later, or if the eightbound are supposed to fill that role entirely. Much like the helbrute situation I don't like the idea of a chaos marine army with no terminators so I'm going to build some, probably 10, and then I suppose they will potentially become Iron Warrior auxiliaries if we get some special Khornate terminator squad later in 10th or in 11th. 
• Finally - Berserkers! - The heart of the army! The most melee of melee marine options ... if you're running a World Eaters force without berserkers you're doing it wrong! This month I finally finished 30 of them that I had been working on this year. I am using the old berserker kit because I have a bunch of them so I decided to rework them to remove the power fists  - no longer an option - and add on some 3rd party eviscerators that I liked since that's the new heavy melee option. I had to rejigger the number of plasma pistols in a squad too since that changed. Hopefully, since GW has locked in on making squad options tied directly to the kit options, this mean I should be good for at least a few years.
  
  The new kit looks fine but I already had these so I did not want to replace them all. Besides the 30 I finally finished, I have about 20 more of the old ones and then one more squad of converted loyalists, mostly space wolf parts, that should make for a good squad too. That takes me to 60 total once I finish them and that's the most you can take in the latest editions of the game so I am done after that. 

Things in the army that I do not have yet:

• Predators - I have some spare predator tanks on the shelf so I've been thinking about adding one to the force. I don't know how long they will remain a part of the army rules-wise but it's not always about the current edition and more guns would be handy.
• Forgefiends - I do not have one for this army and I am not really sold on adding any. I think the maulerfiend is a better fit here but you never know. 

The shelf is filling up

The other consideration here, one I have been paying more attention to lately, is that I don't care that much about rules for the current edition. Editions come and go but I keep my armies so as I build or rebuild them I am trying to keep them usable in pretty much every edition. base sizes may change here and there but if that's the biggest issue it's really not that much of a problem. If a unit disappears from the codex I'm not going to toss it - I may play 5th edition again someday and it will be waiting on the shelf when I do. It's just something to think about if you plan to make something a "lifetime" army. 

40K Friday - A Complete Lack of Focus

 Besides the Orks that I mentioned last time a few other armies have crept on the painting table. Fortunately I have two! One of them is covered with Orks (still) while the other is a bit of a grab bag right now with Blood Angels, Tyranids, Crimson Fists, and World Eaters piling up in various stages of "painted" as I try to get a unit here and a unit there done regardless of army. 

The whole 'Nid army is still a work in progress. It's supposed to be my Official New Army for 10th Edition and I've made decent progress but it is not complete. Most of it is Leviathan set stuff + some big monsters + genestealers and I have spent most of my efforts on building and basecoating the big monsters part but the 'stealers are pretty much there as well. Playable, certainly, but not "finished" at all. Work will continue for a while but "finished in 2024" is still possible.

The Crimson Fists are a perpetual project and as long as new marine stuff is being made they will never be completed. I realized I never actually built intercessors for them so getting more Primaris units into the mix for my core marine army has been another effort this year. This is very much a unit here, unit there, kind of effort not a mass upgrade or rebuild.

The Blood Angels ... it's not that I deliberately start a big upgrade program with them but sometimes I run across a painted unit that would fit my army well so i kind of have to get it. Then it goes into the rebasing queue to make it match the rest of the force and, well, it does add to the backlog somewhat. I have been holding to a new standard though - avoid the "almost done" state. If something comes in and all it needs is for me to touch it up, redo the base, and clearcoat it, then it moves to the front of the line. So after the bikes earlier this year there are now some assault squads and a redemptor making their way through the process. These will be off the painting table and in the cabinet soon - and hopefully on the game table sometime soon after that.

The World Eaters have been a work in progress for some time now. I have managed to paint a lot of them - talking about berzerkers here - but they are not quite finished so they are still lingering around the table. I need to take a weekend and focus in on them to push them over the finish line but it hasn't happened yet. Soon!

So that's where things stand for now. In addition to these the Custodes codex came out but I managed to resist adding anything new. The Tau codex came out as well and ... I did not. More on that later.

BatRep of the Week: Imperium vs. Khorne

This one is from Tabletop Tactics and it looks like they are having a ton of fun in this one. Also: comically bad dice rolls!

Khorne Campaigns: World Eaters vs More Eldar!

After the last encounter with the eldar one of my main conclusions was that I needed more firepower. I considered havocs and predators and all the usual sources but I wanted to try something different - so I basically upgraded the rhinos to land raiders.


++ Battalion Detachment +3CP (Chaos - Chaos Space Marines) [47 PL, 848pts] ++

+ Flyer [10 PL, 185pts] +

Heldrake [10 PL, 185pts]: Baleflamer [30pts], Heldrake claws [17pts], Mark of Khorne

+ No Force Org Slot +

Legion: World Eaters

+ HQ [10 PL, 165pts] +

Dark Apostle [5 PL, 83pts]: Mark of Khorne, Plasma pistol [7pts], Power maul [4pts], The Black Mace

Exalted Champion [5 PL, 82pts]: Brass Collar of Borghaster, Mark of Khorne, Plasma pistol [7pts], Power axe [5pts]

+ Troops [27 PL, 498pts] +

Khorne Berzerkers [9 PL, 166pts]
. Berzerker Champion [35pts]: Plasma pistol [7pts], Power fist [12pts]
. 5x Chainsword and Chainaxe [85pts]: 5x Chainaxe [5pts]
. Chainsword and plasma pistol [23pts]: Chainsword, Plasma pistol [7pts]
. Chainsword and plasma pistol [23pts]: Chainsword, Plasma pistol [7pts]

Khorne Berzerkers [9 PL, 166pts]
. Berzerker Champion [35pts]: Plasma pistol [7pts], Power fist [12pts]
. 5x Chainsword and Chainaxe [85pts]: 5x Chainaxe [5pts]
. Chainsword and plasma pistol [23pts]: Chainsword, Plasma pistol [7pts]
. Chainsword and plasma pistol [23pts]: Chainsword, Plasma pistol [7pts]

Khorne Berzerkers [9 PL, 166pts]
. Berzerker Champion [35pts]: Plasma pistol [7pts], Power fist [12pts]
. 5x Chainsword and Chainaxe [85pts]: 5x Chainaxe [5pts]
. Chainsword and plasma pistol [23pts]: Chainsword, Plasma pistol [7pts]
. Chainsword and plasma pistol [23pts]: Chainsword, Plasma pistol [7pts]

++ Spearhead Detachment +1CP (Chaos - Chaos Space Marines) [62 PL, 1152pts] ++

+ No Force Org Slot +

Legion: World Eaters

+ Heavy Support [57 PL, 1074pts] +

Chaos Land Raider [19 PL, 358pts]: Combi-bolter [2pts], Mark of Khorne, Twin heavy bolter [17pts], 2x Twin lascannon [100pts]

Chaos Land Raider [19 PL, 358pts]: Combi-bolter [2pts], Mark of Khorne, Twin heavy bolter [17pts], 2x Twin lascannon [100pts]

Chaos Land Raider [19 PL, 358pts]: Combi-bolter [2pts], Mark of Khorne, Twin heavy bolter [17pts], 2x Twin lascannon [100pts]

+ HQ [5 PL, 78pts] +

Warpsmith [5 PL, 78pts]: Combi-bolter [2pts], Flamer [9pts], Mark of Khorne, Meltagun [17pts], Power axe [5pts]

++ Total: [109 PL, 2000pts] ++

So - no juggerlord, no daemon prince, no helbrutes but I do have firepower! I kept the Heldrake around for a second chance too.

Blaster took his usual force which you can see here and we played the same mission as well - "Dominate and Destroy" - involving objective-holding and kill points.

I started with 4 things on the table - 3 land raiders and a heldrake ... if only we were still using that fewest-drops-equals-first-turn rule. I still won first turn. My big tanks rolled up the table and started blasting away, while the heldrake did his usual thing too ...

... and you can see how it goes. He flies up, flame-breaths a guardian unit, then charges it, and the few survivors end up fleeing due to morale - awesome! Except that now he's in range of every gun in the eldar army and he's going to pay.

On the Eldar turn they kill the Heldrake, put some hurt on the big tanks, and drop these guys in behind me. The other thing I was concerned about from my last battle was the lack of objective holders. I knew I was doubling-down on offense with this army list, but it really hurt me here.

This shot above is actually from Turn 2 where I have managed to tear up the wraithguard and some of his other troops but it's not going to be enough.

By turn 3 two of the land raiders are gone, the berzerkers are exposed and my chances of winning are just about gone. Over on that left side I did manage to kill his wraithlord but he had killed enough zerks that it was going to be tough to get through his guardians and his jetbikes and the farseer and the spiritseer that were all sitting on that objective.

Then on turn 4 his Fire Prism and brightlance-armed Wave Serpent and his Dark Reapers managed to kill the third Land Raider and I conceded. The first 2 squads were mostly gone and there was nothing in charge range of the intact but now on foot 3rd squad. I was going to spend Turn 5 eating scatter laser and bright lace fire and there was no need to go through that exercise again.

So why are we failing here?

• The board configuration is the toughest one for an assault army fighting a shooting army as the traditional setup has a 12" backfield while this one has 24". That means it takes me an extra turn to get to him (at least). That's a killer. With the Land Raider moving 10" instead of the Rhino's 12" I'm trading some speed for firepower and this setup only makes it worse. Advancing means I'm giving up 12 lascannon shots and 18 heavy bolter shots so that doesn't seem like a good idea. 
• Only 4 maneuver units for probably half the game means I have limited board control. I can't hold objectives until the marines jump out and even that assumes the tanks are still in some kind of fighting shape. Even if things are dying a squad of cultists could have been racking up points in the backfield in those first couple of turns. 
• The Heldrake is 185 points of one-turn-glory and then it dies, and I don't think it's soaking up enough firepower to really help my tanks (or my Rhinos) survive. The board wasn't helping here either as even with a 30" flying move, an 18" breath weapon, and a 2d6 charge range, there was really only one unit he could get to on Turn 1. If he could hit a Dark Reaper squad he would make a much bigger difference, but on this type of board I think a helbrute would have contributed more.
• Tactics - I spread out across the whole board and I probably should have concentrated on one side to cut down on the number of units that could shoot at me. Eldar heavy weapons all have a 36" range or more but it might have cut out some of the shuriken weapons and their annoying bladestorm effect at least. 
• Lack of speed is a problem, aside from everything else. What if I had dropped in a terminator squad somewhere near the Heldrake? Maybe some Obliterators? I need to create some threats on his end of the board, more than just a single unit.

So while I like the Land Raiders taking 3 of them leaves me no real flexibility. One or two of them might work and would free up enough points to add in some deep strikers and some other fire support. 

Logically it would make more sense to take the fire support elements from my Iron Warriors. they're better at shooting, already painted, and this would also open up the option of some psyker support too. There are quite a few places where Warptime would make this army better.

My other inclination is to go Maximum Khorne and get a Lord of Skulls. He's big, he has big guns, and he leaves room for some other things - like juggerlords - as well. 

We'll see how it goes.

40K Friday: Building the World Eaters

Last year I had been building up and playing with my Iron Warriors and I realized that while I had some khorne berzerkers I really didn't want to make them a focus of my IW army. It was the "tank" army and also my "one of everything" army for chaos marines and so while I might add a squad or two I really wanted to make a separate force to focus on them. Besides, it's not like I can;t ally the two together.  That's how I came to build my second (after the Iron Warriors), er, third (after my Death Guard) chaos marine army.

I knew I wanted the core of the whole thing to be 3 squads of berzerkers, in rhinos, led by a Dark Apostle (for re-rolls to hit) and an Exalted Champion (for re-rolls to wound). I already knew I was going to go whole-hog and make them World Eaters and with zerks becoming troop choices for the WE's in the Codex it made for a nice little Battalion and came out to 900- 1000 points depending on how I load them out. So, about half of a normal army.

For the berzerker squads I made them identical: 8 guys (Khorne's sacred number), 5 with chainsword and chain axe, two with chainsword and plasma pistol, and the champion with powerfist and plasma pistol. I know some people prefer full melee and skipping the 21 points of plasma I have here but I just find it to be useful enough that I want that capability in my squads. It's not like they're going to be up close! Three plasma shots can often inflict a wound or two on the way in and that can really help against tougher targets. Does it matter against a dire avenger squad? No. But against the wave serpent that brought them to the fight, it's a nice boost.

The HQ's are mainly there to buff the squads and yes I do try to keep at least two squads within the buff radius when they debark, all three if possible. It ramps up the carnage to an unbelievable level when it all comes together like that. They also can contribute nicely themselves when I give them plasma pistols too, and/or as relic caddies - the Apostle gets the Black Mace pretty much every time and the Exalted Champ gets the Axe of Blind Fury sometimes, the Brass Collar other times.

So what about the other half of the army? I want to add either extreme speed, as in "causing hurt on turn 1" or I need some good long range firepower. Like lascannons.

Well, I like Helbrutes so I've been working those in, usually accompanied by a Khorne Lord on a Juggernaut. They all move 8 so they make a nice block of hurt moving up faster than normal infantry though slower than the rhinos. It hasn't worked out as well as I have hoped though I think some of that is on how I have used them more than the units themselves. It can be tricky to fit 3 rhinos into a small space so sometimes the third rhino is away from the other two. I think working this up as a group with the brutes and the juggerlord has a lot of potential so I need to try it out. Beyond that I will always try to find a way to fit in a helbrute or two in any chaos marine force.

On the Juggerlord - Juggernauts are just cool. I have always liked them but have never had a 40K era army that could use them outside of Epic - until now! I like the old metal ones. I like the newer plastic conversions people do. I really hope GW comes out wit ha new one at some point so they don't get squatted in the next edition - but that's a worry for another day!

I took two of them in my fight against the necrons and they did really well but it was almost overkill as they are redundant with the Apostle once the fighting starts (re-roll everything vs. re-roll ones) so from one point of view one is probably enough. They add neither speed nor firepower so they're really an extra helping of Turn 2-3 melee like the zerks themselves.

From another point of view though, 3 of them would fit nicely in a supreme command detachment and would give each rhino and squad a solid "buddy" to accompany them. I haven't done this yet but don't think I won't be considering it in the next fight or two. The biggest problem here is that there is only one Axe of Blind Fury! So the other two have to settle for power axes and get all sullen about it.

I tried a defiler and had mixed feelings about the whole thing. he makes for a nice big centerpiece model but is hurt by the split firepower/melee capabilities. What's fun on a 120-150 point Helbrute - a big fit and a big gun - becomes annoying to demoralizing on a 180-200 point crab scorpion monster. I'm trying to look at it as he adds some decent ranged firepower while still being a true melee monster like the rest of the army - I'm just not sure it's decent enough for the 177 points he cost me in the last battle.  Of course, here again the answer might be "take two or three instead of just one" but that's going to get expensive fast. I have to say though that the idea of sending one downfield alongside each rhino does have an impact. I'll have to see if I can work out the points.

Ah the Heldrake, hated scourge of early 6th Edition, almost forgotten chaos flyer of 8th. I wanted something that could get across the field fast and hurt some things - something that would present enough of a threat that it would divert some firepower away from my rhino's on turn 1 and maybe turn 2.

So I took one.

He did a few wounds and then died in my opponent's first shooting phase.

I took one in the next battle. he did manage to eliminate an entire squad this time, then he died in the opponent's first shooting phase. Again.

They are really cool - the model is amazing, and no other army has anything like them. I want to use mine but the obvious strategy is to zoom upfield, roast something, then execute a turn one charge and hurt something up close. he soaks up firepower for sure, but since he's right up on the enemy force a lot of it is short-ranged firepower that wouldn't be coming at my rhinos anyway. He's soaking a bright lance or two but he's also soaking a whole bunch of wraithweaver and shuriken fire.   I'm just not sure a single drake is an effective use of points. Once again I am thinking that either zero or two of them may be more effective than one.  Another thing to try out next fight.

 Things on the list that I haven't tried yet but am thinking about:

• Obliterators: deep strike, fairly tough, lots of shooting - really need to try them out but at 195 points, well, ouch!
• Terminators: I bought a box of chaos terminators for the army with what I thought was a good plan but ... they are still in the box as it doesn't seem so good now. Deep strike is a powerful thing but if it's mainly to shoot stuff I think the obliterators may do it better and without a psyker to cast Warptime on them (Khorne!) a 9" charge is pretty iffy, even with the Icon of Wrath added in for a re-roll. Still haven't given up but they will probably come in after the obliterator test. 
• Cultists - no. I can take berzerkers as troops! This is a non-cultist army!
• Bikers - maybe someday but not right now. Faster, yes, some firepoer yes but not really threatening enough to draw fire from the rhinos and not long ranged enough to really hurt something
• Raptors - probably not. Not enough melee ability and not really enough firepower either though the deep strike option is nice. 
• Warp Talons - yes, these will be getting a test. Melee only but can deep strike and can remove overwatch and are not too expensive - lots of potential here for a squad. 
• Havocs - I actually did take missile havocs in one fight and I have to say it does feel nice to have a solid long ranged blasting unit in the backfield. It's not super-thematic but it's about as much as a Helbrute and can hurt things from Turn 1 while holding an objective. They may make a return at some point. 

So there's some thinking behind the army. Blaster and I are actually in the middle of another fight so I'll have an update on that next week!

Khorne Campaigns: World Eaters vs. Saim-Hann Eldar

After one game with the angry red marines I was feeling pretty good about the army but the second battalion with minimal CSM squads and cultists just felt kind of boring. So I reorganized for more fun stuff and took on Blaster's Eldar Flying Circus:

++ Battalion Detachment +3CP (Chaos - Chaos Space Marines) [59 PL, 1086pts] ++

+ Flyer +

Heldrake [10 PL, 185pts]: Baleflamer, Heldrake claws, Mark of Khorne

Legion: World Eaters

+ Dedicated Transport +

Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 74pts]: Combi-bolter, Combi-bolter, Mark of Khorne

Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 74pts]: Combi-bolter, Combi-bolter, Mark of Khorne

Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 74pts]: Combi-bolter, Combi-bolter, Mark of Khorne

+ HQ +

Dark Apostle [5 PL, 76pts]: Bolt pistol, Mark of Khorne, Power maul, The Black Mace

Exalted Champion [5 PL, 75pts]: Bolt pistol, Mark of Khorne, Power axe

+ Troops +

Khorne Berzerkers [9 PL, 176pts]: Icon of Wrath
. Berzerker Champion: Plasma pistol, Power fist
. 5x Chainsword and Chainaxe: 5x Chainaxe
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol

Khorne Berzerkers [9 PL, 176pts]: Icon of Wrath
. Berzerker Champion: Plasma pistol, Power fist
. 5x Chainsword and Chainaxe: 5x Chainaxe
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol

Khorne Berzerkers [9 PL, 176pts]: Icon of Wrath
. Berzerker Champion: Plasma pistol, Power fist
. 5x Chainsword and Chainaxe: 5x Chainaxe
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol

++ Vanguard Detachment +1CP (Chaos - Chaos Space Marines) [48 PL, 914pts] ++

Legion: World Eaters

+ Heavy Support +

Defiler [11 PL, 189pts]: Mark of Khorne, Reaper autocannon, Twin heavy flamer

+ HQ +

Chaos Lord on Juggernaut of Khorne [7 PL, 147pts]: Axe of Blind Fury, Bladed horn on Juggernaut of Khorne, Plasma pistol, Power axe

Daemon Prince with Wings [9 PL, 180pts]: Daemonic axe, Khorne

+ Elites +

Helbrute [7 PL, 142pts]: Helbrute fist, Helbrute plasma cannon, Mark of Khorne

Helbrute [7 PL, 126pts]: Mark of Khorne
. Helbrute fist: Combi-bolter
. Helbrute fist: Combi-bolter

Helbrute [7 PL, 130pts]: Mark of Khorne, Power scourge, Reaper autocannon

++ Total: [107 PL, 2000pts] ++

The core is the same but I wanted something to get in the enemy's face Turn 1 to distract them from the Rhinos - so I brought in a Heldrake. The Helbrutes and Defiler all have the same movement rate as the Juggerlord so I thought that would make a fun battlegroup to send up the board as a compliment to the zerks.

Blaster's List was:

• The usual two squads of scatterbikes + jetbike farseer + jetbike warlock 
• 3 squads of guardians + a bright lance platform for each
• A wave serpent full of wraithguard
• A squad of dark reapers
• A wraithlord
• A squad of warp spiders
• A squad of swooping hawks
• A fire prism

We tried out the new Chapter Approved mission "Dominate and Destroy" - I really like it on paper. 

• Place six objectives. At the end of each players turn control of each objective is worth 1 VP
• Kill points: 1 VP for each enemy unit destroyed 
• Also: Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker, First Blood

Right there you cover all the basic elements of various 40K missions without weirdly specific rules or fiddling with cards. That said, my army was not really built with a mission like this in mind.

 He got to pick deployment type and deployment zone but I managed to win first turn. Objectives were one in each woods, one in that square of ruins near the top of the picture, and one by the fallen stompa. 

My army is on the left, his is on the right.

World Eaters Turn 1

Now my army's basic operating principle is "Rush forward". Specifically the rhinos move + advance + pop smoke and prepare to unload and charge on Turn Two, The Heldrake is there to make a turn 1 charge, and I always envisioned the helbrutes and defiler charging up with the Juggerlord and the daemon prince helping out as needed. I quickly realized this was going to be bad as that meant I had nothing to hold objectives. With one in my backfield and three in the midfield I had no great unit to sit on them. 

Wishing I had decided to go with the 11 point 48" range havoc launcher instead of the 34 point 8" range twin heavy flamer I decided to keep the defiler back on my home objective. The battle canon and reaper cannon had the range to hurt things and he as nasty enough up close any deep-striking eldar would be in for a lot of pain.  The daemon prince stayed back too just in case I needed to deal with two threats - Blaster had a warp spider squad and a swooping hawk squad in reserve so this was a possibility. I burned 3 CP's on the defiler's shooting and did about 3 wounds to the fire prism. Underwhelmed.

The heldrake shot forward, flamed the jetbike squad, then charged into the guardians and the wave serpent - which was his real target. This is where his limitations became apparent. He's plenty tough, especially for a flying type thing, and while 4 attacks is pretty good, he's only WS 4+. That means only 2 of those are going to hit and considering he's unlikely to have character re-roll support that's not really super-impressive. He does get a +1 to hit flyers and considering how many of those the Eldar have it is a nice benefit but is it enough? The jury is still out.

The biggest issues I found as I wrapped up turn 1 was that a) while I was on 4 objectives I wasn't sure how I was going to hold them and b) I hadn't killed anything. Losing the long range tac squads and the missile havoc squad meant I had very little long range shooting.

Eldar Turn 1

• Everything close to it opened up on the heldrake and obliterated it. This is going to make further evaluation of his offensive capabilities very difficult.
• The fire prism and one guardian bright lance detonated the plasma helbrute - literally, as he exploded and did mortal wounds to the autocannon helbrute and 3 more to the juggerlord.
• He managed to kill one rhino too but I only lost one marine on the bailout.
• Lesosn 1 - Dark Reapers and their always-hit-on-3's do not care about your smoke launchers
• Lesson 2 - Unchecked Eldar psychic phases are unpleasant for the opponent

He charged in his wraithlord and it killed a couple of zerks - then they struck back and killed it, though it did take both of their attacks to do it. The champ with the powerfist did most of the work here but it was a team effort. 

At the end of turn 1 his 2 objectives + kill points had him ahead of me.

World Eaters Turn 2

• Most of the army advanced because I was just not close enough to charge.
• I kept the autocannon brute back somewhat so he stayed in front of the juggerlord as I tried to squeeze out some more objective VPs.
• The puncher-brute was not close enough for a charge so he advanced
• The defiler didn't do much
• I reached for a Turn 2 charge with one berzerker squad and it failed. 
• The second squad got out and prepped for a counter-charge next turn
• The third squad stayed in their rhinos as I decided to sit on another objective as nothing was even close to in-range. 

So turn 2 I accomplished very little even though I did get 4 more VP's from objectives. My rhinos were being used to hold objectives instead of charging in and absorbing overwatch. I just was not killing anything and I knew that was going to be a problem on his turn as I was in range of pretty much his entire army now. Blaster made the unusual for him play of not moving up with any of his units other than the wave serpent and it left me hanging out in no-man's land waiting to get blasted by the full firepower of the Eldar. 

Eldar Turn 2

It was a massacre.

• He blew up the puncher-brute
• He gunned down the damaged zerker squad and the dark apostle
• He blew up another rhino and then killed the squad inside - scytheguard are nasty

So I conceded once that second squad died. I had a damaged helbrute and a half-dead juggerlord at one end, One full zerker squad and one almost-dead rhino at the other, and one daemon prince and one defiler in my backfield. Nothing was working and the only thing the zerks were in a position to charge on the next turn was the d-scythe wraithguard which was a suicide run. 

So what went wrong? Part of it was the army design, part of it was the mission. 

Army-wise:

•  I still like the core but even berzerkers need fire support. A BS 4+ defiler is not sufficient fire support. I have a unit of rogue trader missile havocs that was originally headed for my Death Guard army. Since the DG no longer get havocs they will probably convert to Khorne. 
• I like the defiler even though it has a split personality being sort of OK at shooting and OK at fighting. I think it's going to have more impact up close so he and the Juggerlord may become better battle brothers.
• I like Helbrutes but I think 3 is probably too many. More on them in another post. 
• The Heldrake sort of performed like I had hoped though I had hoped he might survive to Turn 2. I am wondering if using two might make a big difference, especially in keeping fire off of my rhinos and helping one or both of them live to see a second turn. The problem with running them up on a gunline is that the long ranged guns can still shoot my rhinos because he had a thousand 12" range shuriken catapult shots to pour into them. Have to think about this one. 
• Juggerlord vs. Daemon Prince - I like both and I think both have a role even if I did not use them very effectively this battle. Just for enemy target priority obfuscation it might make more sense to take two of one instead of one of each. Again, need to think on it more/

Mission-wise:

• We mostly play Maelstrom missions here. Objectives are a thing with those missions, but there are a bunch of other things in there too and it's fairly rare that you will be asked to spend multiple turns sitting on an objective. This army is fairly mobile, but it's not really meant to sit in one place for long. 
• Kill points are a little rough here. Sending an assault army into the teeth of a gunline is pretty much guaranteed to put you behind on kill points fast. Ideally you make it up late in the game but if you never get there...
• I was thinking Maelstrom when I built this list and I should have stuck with that instead of changing it up right before we played. Realizing I needed to sit on objectives really threw off my game plan to the point I had melee units like the daemon prince hiding in the back. 

The Future

I already have another list figured out for a rematch with Blaster but I am wondering if 3 squads/rhinos is enough? Maybe I should go to 4? I could just double up that first battalion and go with 6 squads and 4 leaders. That would leave about 200 points, enough to keep the defiler or the heldrake in the force. I think a line of 3 rhinos, a defiler, and 3 more rhinos would look pretty good. Sure, there's no fire support there but it's an awful lot of stuff to have to kill before it crashes into your lines. 

Anyway I will be posting another report after our next fight. Blood for the Blood God!

Khorne Campaigns: World Eaters vs. Necrons

I decided to work on a World Eaters army because I've had berzerkers for years and never had a ton of success with them. People have been talking them up in 8th though so I decided to get an army of them together and try it out. My first victim was Apprentice Red's Necron army.

The list:

++ Battalion Detachment +3CP (Chaos - Chaos Space Marines) [56 PL, 1071pts] ++

Legion: World Eaters

+ Dedicated Transport +

Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 83pts]: Combi-bolter, Combi-flamer, Mark of Khorne

Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 83pts]: Combi-bolter, Combi-flamer, Mark of Khorne

Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 83pts]: Combi-bolter, Combi-flamer, Mark of Khorne

+ HQ +

Chaos Lord on Juggernaut of Khorne [7 PL, 143pts]: Bladed horn on Juggernaut of Khorne, Chainaxe, Plasma pistol

Dark Apostle [5 PL, 76pts]: Bolt pistol, Mark of Khorne, Power maul, The Black Mace

Exalted Champion [5 PL, 75pts]: Axe of Blind Fury, Bolt pistol, Mark of Khorne, Power axe

+ Troops +

Khorne Berzerkers [9 PL, 176pts]: Icon of Wrath
. Berzerker Champion: Plasma pistol, Power fist
. 5x Chainsword and Chainaxe: 5x Chainaxe
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol

Khorne Berzerkers [9 PL, 176pts]: Icon of Wrath
. Berzerker Champion: Plasma pistol, Power fist
. 5x Chainsword and Chainaxe: 5x Chainaxe
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol

Khorne Berzerkers [9 PL, 176pts]: Icon of Wrath
. Berzerker Champion: Plasma pistol, Power fist
. 5x Chainsword and Chainaxe: 5x Chainaxe
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol

++ Battalion Detachment +3CP (Chaos - Chaos Space Marines) [47 PL, 928pts] ++

+ No Force Org Slot +

Legion: World Eaters

+ Heavy Support +

Havocs [10 PL, 207pts]: Mark of Khorne
. Aspiring Champion: Chainaxe, Combi-bolter
. 3x Havoc w/ boltgun
. Havoc w/ heavy weapon: Missile launcher
. Havoc w/ heavy weapon: Missile launcher
. Havoc w/ heavy weapon: Missile launcher
. Havoc w/ heavy weapon: Missile launcher

+ HQ +

Chaos Lord on Juggernaut of Khorne [7 PL, 143pts]: Bladed horn on Juggernaut of Khorne, Chainaxe, Plasma pistol

Daemon Prince with Wings [9 PL, 183pts]: Daemonic axe, Khorne, Warp bolter

Kharn the Betrayer [8 PL, 160pts]

+ Troops +

Chaos Cultists [3 PL, 49pts]: Mark of Khorne
. 8x Chaos Cultist w/ autopistol and brutal assault weapon
. Chaos Cultist w/ special weapon: Flamer
. Cultist Champion: Brutal assault weapon and Autopistol

Chaos Space Marines [5 PL, 93pts]: Mark of Khorne
. Aspiring Champion: Chainaxe, Combi-bolter
. 3x Marine w/ Boltgun
. Marine w/ heavy weapon: Lascannon

Chaos Space Marines [5 PL, 93pts]: Mark of Khorne
. Aspiring Champion: Chainaxe, Combi-bolter
. 3x Marine w/ Boltgun
. Marine w/ heavy weapon: Lascannon

++ Total: [103 PL, 1999pts] ++

The theory here is that half the army is 3 rhinos full of berzerkers (including Kharn, two juggerlords, and some buff characters) rushing towards you while some guys with missile launchers sit in the back and take shots. It's not a complicated army, and I don;t have a complicated strategy for using them - that's pretty much it.

Red had a bunch of warriors, a monolith, two annihilation barges, a unit of lychguard, all led by the Stormlord. It was a lot of Necron bodies and some nasty guns.

Here's the start of the fight. We needed more sight-blocking terrain so I broke out the old Mighty Fortress and we decided we were fighting in an old ruined fortress. We declared the battlements and towers to be cover regardless of facing so my missile squads set up in ruins and woods and were pretty happy with the situation. The rhinos were as far up the board on the starting line as I could put them. I got first turn and it was off to the races. The rhinos moved, advanced, and popped smoke - now to endure the first wave of firing.

Over on the left side of the board Red dropped in his monolith and blew up my rhino. It's bound to happen which is why I take 3 of them but in this case his big pyramid tank thing wasn't all that far away from my berzerkers once they bailed out. So ... we charged! As did the Khorne Juggerlord and the daemon prince! With a few krak missile shots to start things off we managed to blow up the monolith in one turn! This had the snowball effect of stranding a 20-man warrior squad he had waiting in the webway or whatever the Necrons call their version of it. They can only emerge from the monolith or one of the flyers and he had only taken the one monolith!

On the other side I advanced up the board and finally got Kharn and the boys into charge range of some skelebots.

The rhinos took a beating as I used them to absorb overwatch and generally get in the way of the robot forces. The berzerks performed as advertised, mulching the opposition pretty handily with attacking twice, re-rolling misses, and re-rolling wounds thanks to the dark apostle and the exalted champion. Those lychguard are really tough but they fell one by one and I eventually brought down Imotekh the Stormlord himself. He conceded after that. I think we made it to turn 4 and it was a really fun game.

The game also convinced me I had a sound core for the army but I was less sure of the shooty half. They contributed for sure, but in the later turns they were somewhat out of range (as we were playing long ways on the table)  and most of the potential targets were engaged in melee and so could not be targeted.

I was also unsure of Kharn - yes he's a melee hurricane but he does nothing to buff the rest of the force and killed a couple of his own men during the fight too. At 160 points I'm thinking I could find a better option. The second juggerlord is 143, does a lot of damage too, and can also buff a squad if they stray out of range of the other two characters. A foot lord in the third rhino might be an alternative as well.

Overall though I was very happy with this battle - now to try them against a different opponent!