Chaos Daemons Review: Soul Grinder

The soul grinder now comes with a larger variety of upgrades compared to the previous codex.  The first upgrade is that it now must be upgraded to serving one of the four major powers. Khorne will help thanks to furious charge.  Tzeentch is not so good: re-rolling saves of 1 is not so hot.  Nurgle is excellent for shrouded.  And Slaanesh is nice due to rending (but you have an iron claw any way for x2S and AP2).

The other options are similar to the previous edition: phlegm gives a good pie plate attack, whilst warp gaze gives a much needed S10 attack option.  That said, we must bear in mind that this is at BS3.  And finally: don't bother with warpsword.  Really: don't.

It is also worth noting that the harvester has sky fire -- a much needed factor in a pure deamons army.  But equally, given allies, I suspect that some heldrakes will be flying alongside daemons anyhow!

My favourite build would therefore be:
Soul Grinder, daemon of Nurgle, Phlegm Bombardment (180 points)
This one has the flexibility of keeping him in the back lines to take advantage of shrouded, or get up close and personal with the ironclaw.

Chapterhouse Studios verdict

The verdict from the Chapterhouse case has now been made public.  BoLS has done an excellent job summarizing it here: http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2013/06/legalwatch-games-workshop-vs_14.html

The interesting points for me (I've been watching this case for a long time) seem to be:
(1) GW seems to be the same as any other company for after-production parts made by other companies, and can be advertized as such by other companies as fitting GW parts.
(2) The innovative (character) models sold are GW IP alone.

Hence other companies simply cannot make models of Horus Lupercal, Abaddon the Despoiler, etc.  But they can make and sell shoulder pads that fit GW space marine models.  CAVEAT: I'm not lawyer and I don't understand the full implications.  Hence this is just MY interpretation that could be right or wrong and you should not base any decisions on MY opinion at all.

But: this is just a verdict.  There will be appeals, etc., yet.
Interesting times!

World Eater Librarians

In "Betrayer", we learn that the World Eater Librarians were made extinct though two methods.  Firstly, those that accepted the Butcher's Nails went insane and their powers became uncontrollable.  They were forced to volunteer for removal of the Nails, but that resulted in their deaths.  Secondly, those that (for whatever reason) did not accept the nails died of ... natural attrition and their colleagues...

Yet, it was not always the case.  Going back to Realms of Chaos (Slaves to Darkness), a different history is recorded.  Specifically that the World Eater Librarians were forced to give up their psychic powers in the service of Khorne.  Although they did have powers, they renounced them and became tally masters for the number of skulls taken and deeds done in the name of the blood god.

I'm not quite sure which I prefer.  I guess I like both of the alternatives at some level!  The newer version feels a lots more fleshed out (naturally) even if it is a ret-con to an old timer like me.

Chaos Daemons Review: Hellflayer of Slaanesh

First appearing in the supplemental white dwarf pull out section, the hellflayer is still an oddity to me.  Sure: its the Slaanesh chariot.  But,with only 2 hull points, and AV11 (AV10 on the rear), it really, really is not going to last long.  The only way it is going to last is to have multiple hellflayers on the battlefield to provide a target rich environment.  But then, we're wasting a valuable fast attack slot which in this codex seems to also be a rich environment.  Seekers of Slaanesh might be a more prudent points investment to be honest.

As for the hellflayer itself: it does have its uses.  The special rules mean that when it hammers into another vehicle, it gets a tonne of attacks that rend.  Effectively, with a good die roll, one can glance most low AV vehicles to death quite readily.  This has to be weighed against the fact that there are many other units in this codex that can do similar.  So there's nothing too appealing here.  The alluress is nothing special either to be honest.  Some extra attacks related to how well the hammer of wrath goes against other units really isn't too special.

So overall, my advice is probably to give this chariot a skip and take seekers of Slaanesh instead (which  are the same points value, base).

Apocalypse Version 2. Not Reloaded!

Forget about the eldar codex.  Sure- its got Eldrad in and a bunch of other exciting things.  But I can't see traditional eldar lists changing much - they'll still have firedragons in if they did before.  The real news for me today was the second version of Apocalypse.

I'm super-excited about it.  I've always been a fan of "play everything you own" and "throw in some super heavy unusual kits" and "crazy rules" plus big blast templates.  There's little not to like.  The images that are now around the internet about the new version are exciting.  They depict a Khorne Lord of Battle updated for modern 40k.  As an old time player, I remember playing these guys in warhammer  40k Epic scale.  They were exciting as Khorne always got all the tech to make up for the lack of magic.  Afterall, he does not care from whence the blood flows (or indeed: how) - technology is simply an efficient way of letting it flow...

And then there are the new necron versions of the monoliths.  Not sure they're going to be kits (great if they are), but at first glance they look like one-off conversions.  So fingers crossed there's some exciting new kits coming out soon.

Time to dust off the Shadowsword...