Chaos Daemons Review: Screamers of Tzeentch

It had to happen: the screamers of Tzeentch foresaw the battering that they'd get by asking Kairos.  Instead of all their attacks being at AP2, they may now swap all available attacks for a singular AP2 attack in close combat.  But you know: that really isn't so bad.  Such an attack in a reasonably sized shoal of screamers will still cause headaches for terminators.

They are more readily shot down and generally dealt with by enemy armies as well now -- a S8 hit will kill them outright due instant death.  A bit more like what they were when daemons came our really (with armourbane).  Since I have been using them before they got good, this sits well with me.  But the real strength comes from the fly-overs that they can do.  Their slashing attack can cause certain armies quite a headache for little effort.  Combine with other flying units and the screamers will still, no doubt, have a strong place in daemon armies.

Fundamentally, they're still jetbikes as well.  Two wound jetbikes as well.  And they're a reasonable price.  Expect to see them execute late game swoops on to objectives to contest them (or claim them if playing that mission!).  I'd be tempted to field them in squads of about 5 or so -- enough to prevent them all dropping dead in one turn (unless they get really concentrated and sustained incoming firepower - in which case they've probably soaked enough wounds to allow other army elements to move in to place) and significant to cause headaches where required.

Rise of the Screamers

Brent's article on BoLS got me thinking more about Screamers of Tzeentch and their rising role in daemons armies.  Since the new rules debuted in White Dwarf, I think its fair to say that all us daemons players have been gushing over the flamers and screamers once more.  Where they were once limited, I think both of these daemons are coming back with a vengeance.

For the Screamers of Tzeentch, the changes mean that they are much more survivable than they were before.  The extra wound means that we will no longer be losing some (most? / all!) of a squad due to exploding vehicles (yess... that's happened to me).  But perhaps the biggest change is the replacement of warp jaws with Lamprey's Bite.  Against vehicles, that means that they probably aren't as good as they used to be (pen = 8+2d6 in the old version, vs 5 + 2d6 in the new version).  That said, they do gain more attacks (1 in the old version, vs. 3 in the new version).  Hence, they can still readily tackle light tanks, but the probability of penetrating an AV=14 tank has gone from 83.33% to 16.66% per attack. At AV=10, the probability has changed from 97.22% to 72.22%.  Given the 3 attacks, light tanks are probably in even more danger from screamers than they used to be.  But gone are the days of Land Raider hunting methinks.  I'll leave that to the monstrous creatures now.

Lets have a look against infantry.  To kill a marine, the screamers now hit on 4+, and wound (with no save) on 3+.  That compares to 4+, 4+ followed by a save previously.  And this is where the price increase is at, I think.  Screamer of Tzeentch can really put a whole lot of pain on all armies.  Striking at I=4, they should devastate the typical tactical squad in exchange for minimal damage in return.  For 100 points, 4 screamers on the charge will typically inflict 5.33 unsavable wounds on a marine squad.  That really hurts and is up there with the damage potential of a 5th edition bloodletter.  But more significantly, they can also rob terminators of their 2+ armour save, forcing them to use their invulnerable save.  At 25 points each, I contend that Screamers are going to become a mainstay of daemons forces for the immediate future.  I'll save talking about flamers to another time.....

Statistics: How Many Screamers of Tzeentch?

Screamers of Tzeentch are rightly thought of as flying melta bombs.  Hence the role that I have for screamers in my daemons army is to target enemy tanks, zoom quickly toward them and blow them in to scrap metal.  I don't intend for the screamers to survive this attempt in general for two reasons: they readily die to small arms fire, and even if they get to complete their task successfully, my experience is that they get caught up in the subsequent explosion of the tank they've just busted!  Hence they're something of a glass hammer in the same way that the flamers of Tzeentch are.

Tank Busting.

Let's suppose that they fly in to contact with a target vehicle.  They then use their warp jaws to plant a melta bomb.  In the case of a stationary vehicle, each screamer will plant one melta each.  For a moving vehicle, 2 screamers will be needed to statistically guarantee one melta bomb being planted.  And for a flat out vehicle, six will be needed.

For many vehicles, even a single melta bomb means a lot of trouble.  This is especially true for rear armour = 10 or 11 tanks like rhinos and similar.  I typically need about three successful meltas being planted to ensure a reasonably good chance of wrecking vehicles like rhinos (or better).  Hence, that's 3 screamers for stationary vehicles, or six for moving vehicles.  I won't even bother thinking about flat out vehicles from here on in as I reckon that would be a desperation move to try to target them with screamers.

Now let's add in a bit of jeopardy.  Consider 10 standard bolter shots coming in at the screamers, fired by BS=4 troops (i.e. space marines).  Of them, 6.67 hit, and 3.33 wound.  Half will be saved, resulting in 1.67 unsaved wounds.  Hence if the screamers are going to be taking incoming fire, we need to add and extra one or two to the squad to compensate.

Overall, I'd therefore suggest about 5 screamers for targeting stationary rhino-like vehicles, and about 7 or 8 for moving rhino-like vehicles.  Land raiders and necron monoliths are a different matter entirely!  I'd probably suggest up to doubling the number of recommended screamers for taking down land raiders.  But with the price for each screamer being somewhat above the average ork, I think the daemons player should think about alternative methods to down land raiders (e.g. through Heralds of Tzeentch, soul grinders, or greater daemons).

In the unlikely scenario the screamers survive, I will then use them to swoop in on objectives (depending on the game) to contest them.  Clearly this is a late turn gambit as they will readily fall to moderate close combat squads.  I recall a game against some Guard in a tournament some two years ago where Ogryns shot them up and ripped them to bits in the mid-game.  It wasn't pretty!

Warpstone Flux Anniversary

Today is another Warpstone Flux anniversary!

To celebrate, I decided to make a posed photograph of a collection of my best painted, prize winning, and favourite models.
Foreground:
Screamers of Tzeentch, Flamers of Tzeentch and Horrors of Tzeentch.

Background (Imperial Ruins):
Death Guard Plague Marines (I; II; III), Daemon Prince, Dreadnought, Spawn (Plague Ogryn)

Tzeentch Daemons Kill Team

Since I'm too polite to enter my own Army List contest, I thought I'd post a series of four articles on what I might think about for a daemons kill team: one for each main chaos deity. Today, I'll start with what I consider the easy one: Tzeentch.

There are only a few options here. For 200 points, we get to choose between flamers, pink horrors, and screamers of Tzeentch.

Firstly, flamers are expensive and only have 1 wound. They do wonders in larger point value games, but tend to be a bit of a glass hammer in lower points games (i.e. if they survive long enough to do their job well, then they will get destroyed soon after no doubt). However, the real problem is that we have to purchase a minimum of three of them (at 105 points). That, coupled with the large points value for the bolt of Tzeentch upgrade that might be needed for long range anti-tank duties turns me off using them in a 200 point game. Then again, I do like the idea of lots of breath of chaos attack and them zipping around the board at high speed, so I'm not totally against using them...

The pink horrors of Tzeentch are where it is at for me. They're fabulous in a low points value game simply due to their rate of fire. Assault 3 is just amazing in a 200 points game. Sure, they've only got a toughness of 3, but they do get a 4+ invulnerable save. I would also add to that a bolt of Tzeentch upgrade to one model and I would certainly think about taking the Changeling upgrade. Both the instrument and the icon are not worth it here.

Screamers make for an interesting dilemma. They don't do much, apart from occasionally kill tanks and zoom around fast. They're not ideal in close combat, but with an unholy might upgrade, perhaps it could be fun. And they're not as expensive as flamers.

So, here are three Tzeentch daemons list:

List 1:
3 screamers, unholy might upgrade (53 points)
8 pink horrors, The Changeling (141 points)

List 2:
11 pink horrors, Bolt of Tzeentch (197 points)

List 3:
3 Flamers of Tzeentch (105 points)
5 pink horrors, with bolt of Tzeentch (95 points)

This last list might be good enough to take on some of the lists posted in this month's Army List Challenge as well.

Let me say again: assault 3, AP4 warpfire is just awesome in a 200 point kill team game.
Universal special rules ... probably tank hunting on the bolt; feel no pain on the changeling... not sure about the third choice.

WFB: Nautican Army List

Available for download from Sigmar's Nautica blog: The WFB Nautican Army List.I'm excited about this release for a number of reasons, not least because it uses some of my own painting (imaged above) to illustrate Stingrays (a core unit) with. If you regularly play Warhammer Fantasy, then why not head over to the Nautican blog and check out these new rules and provide some feedback (on the battle reporter forum)!

Although I don't play WFB regularly these days, the scope and level of detail of this project is highly impressive. The diversity in the types and number of units are superb and are well backed up by the gaming rules behind them. The "Lobstrosites" in particular are well worth checking out :)

Chariot of Tzeentch, Part III -- Painted

Chariot of Tzeentch, Part I -- Assembling the Base

Over the next few posts, I'll be writing up my scratch-built Herald of Tzeentch on a chariot that I built a while back and took to a recent tournament with me. For the chariot of Tzeentch, I wanted to build a convincing looking pink horror being pulled along on a disk by a pair of screamers. To this end, I started to build a base for the herald from scratch.
For the base, I simply used a thick rectangular cut of black plasticard and added a layer of textured (white) plasticard on top. From therein, it was a case of thinking about how the chariot might be constructed. I knew that I wanted to have two screamers on the base, so I thought about some ruins. My previous work with the Hirst Arts range came in handy here: I cast several pillars from their range and added them to three corners of the build. On one of these pillars, I wanted to rest a screamer. On the rear pair (as pictured above), I wanted to (somehow!) rest the disk and herald.

The second screamer was going to be a problem though. In the end, I elected simply to drill in to the plasticard base and insert a flying base stand for the second screamer to rest upon. That way, I could take the screamer off for transport and also use it on a different flying base as an individual screamer as required.

For the rest of the base, I scattered around a large number of debris items and fine, small grit to be suggestive of some ancient temple ruins.
The second picture shows how the screamers fit in with the base in the grand scheme of things. They rest toward the front of the rectangular base, with one balancing on the intact pillar.

In the next part, I'll detail the herald itself and how I solved where it would fit in to the scenic base I'd built. If I'd have been thinking more clearly about this, I might have build the herald FIRST, rather than the scenic base...

Forest Screamer of Tzeentch

This screamer of Tzeentch has been painted in a "forest" camo colour set. Although variant from the lava like screamer and the water screamers that have come before, it, the forest screamer can still be picked out from a crowd of screamers (if required).

The narrative premise for the this screamer is that it gated in to real space and formed itself out of local woodland bits and pieces. The horns of the screamer are particularly pleasing: a blend of reds and yellows that could almost be mistaken for some warped fruit. The tail segment horns should probably have been completed in the same colours and technique, but the result is still acceptable.

The greens, creams and subtle blues in the recesses of the screamer's skin are intended to be suggestive of this screamer floating along a shaded woodland floor; the canopy of the upper trees shielding its movement from preying eyes above. A neat addition to the growing shoal, and perhaps highly timely as well with all the Imperial Guard tank-busting that they may need to accomplish soon.

Shoal of Screamers

Continuing with a bit of a Tzeentch theme this week, here is the finished squad of screamers that I've been working on for the past few months. Phew! That was a hard slog to get them finished.

The third screamer was painted in a similar style to the other screamer in the surf. Overall, I'm pleased with the way these models have turned out. I still have a couple of items left to complete with these screamers that include doing something about the pure black "tusks" and properly basing the miniatures, but I'm leaving those tasks for a rainy day.

Tactics.
Let's be honest, with the "warp jaws" special rule, these daemons are flying melta-bombs. Therefore their primary purpose in a daemon-filled battlefield is to take out opposing armour. Their secondary purpose, should they survive that long, is to contest objectives at the last minute (jet-bike fashion).

The unholy might option is probably not such a good idea unless you have an odd 5 points left over to spend. That extra point of strength is only ever going to do some good against non-armour, and that is not a situation that the screamers should be getting in to. The only real question is how many to field, and in what quantities. Three is fine. Five could well be about optimal to ensure that some survive to blow up a pesky predator. Multiple units might well be better if facing off against land raiders and necron monoliths in the absence of other units capable of handling them.

A Screamer made from Magma and Lava

Screamers of Tzeentch can be painted in multiple styles and present an appealing look. The typical style and paint scheme is orientated toward a manta-ray. As usual, I wanted something a bit different. This screamer was therefore chosen to be painted in a lava or magma style and will complement the previous water-like one.

Aims and Model.
Why bother painting a screamer in this style? I had a couple of reasons including (1) wanting a screamer that stands out from the crowd so that within a game I can assign it a strength bonus (unholy might) and I don't have to look carefully to figure out which screamer has the bonus; (2) exploring different painting approaches on large "blank canvas" areas of miniatures; (3) I simply thought it'd look cool if I could pull it off. As with other deamons, the rationale behind such a manifestation might be that the screamer made itself from lava (perhaps the only abundant nearby form of matter?) when breaking through to the material plane. Or it could be as simple a reason as Tzeentch being fickle and changing its creations for the hell of it. I guess that is the beauty of working with Tzeentch miniatures: almost any paint scheme, and oftentimes conversion work, can be justified in that manner.

The model is a standard screamer of Tzeentch with only one item of conversion work applied: I turned it upside-down! This may seem completely superfluous. I did this to give the miniature a different flowing shape since screamers are only produced in a few different poses. This simple change makes it look like there are more sculpts in use than there really are. On an assembly note, I personally found the tail a little fiddly to glue into place and I had to work around the seam with a little milliput (green stuff) as a consequence.

Painting.

Here, I wasn't sure which way to go: black undercoat or white undercoat? I have a maxim that is something along the lines of: if in doubt, work the colours of a miniature up from darker shades to lighter shades. Sometimes this isn't always appropriate (e.g. the burnt-out Herald of Tzeentch), but I could come up with no good reason to start from a white undercoat in this instance.

The basecoat for the miniature was a solid red. I reasoned that if I started from a "central" colour, I could work lighter in some regions and go darker in others. At least that was the plan that I used and sticked to. Looking at a blank canvas (the "wings" of the screamer) I got a little stuck for what to do next. In the end, I choose a bright, livid orange colour and started to gently outline small, irregular circles on the wings. This was to prove the decisive move! With the circular features sketched in place, it was much easier to identify where other colours must necessarily follow and what shades to use. In areas away from the sketched lines, darker colours were applied and blended: orange through red, and down to black. The lines themselves were thickened up and yellows & whites were added to the mixture to create local hot-spots. Only some of the sketched outlines were heated up in this manner since I wanted an irregular pattern on the surface suggestive of molten rocks.

With the magma effect looking good, I finished the model off by applying some highlights to the raised portions of the body. The raised areas toward the front were painted in cream with a dark centre to attempt to resemble condensing and cooling rocks on its surface. The tusks and spikes along the body were painted in solid black given that they stand out from the screamer's main body and logically might have cooled off quicker.

Evaluation.
Positives: I am very pleased with the outcome here! I wasn't certain that the idea could work, but I think the paint scheme is enough to convey the idea I had in mind at the outset.
Negatives: The miniature took a comparatively long time to paint. I was repeatedly touching up small portions of the wings to get the look as I'd intended it. I'm also thinking that pure black for the tusks and spikes might not have been the best option, but they do stand out from the miniature without detracting from the main scene: the body.

I still need to get the third screamer finished so I can place it alongside this one and the previous one to see how they look in a pack / shoal.

Screamer in the Surf

A screamer that looks like it might be just below the surface of a body of water, ready to emerge? This is the first of a set screamers to be painted up for use in a daemons army.

Aims and Model.
When visiting a swimming pool, or looking at a lake, the ripples on the surface of the water interact in a complex interference pattern. Screamers of Tzeentch possess strong similarities to oceanic creatures like rays and therefore present an opportunity to try out painting an interference pattern on their surface.

The model is a standard screamer of Tzeentch assembled in the usual manner with superglue and a touch of green stuff to disguise the joining of the tail segment to the main body. Looking at the model from afar, it is apparent that any ripples from water would be most prominent on the flatter portions of the "wings" of the screamer where there are no protrusions to break them up. That's not to say that the protrusions should not also have some patterns around them, just that it'll be more obvious on the flatter areas of the sculpt.

Painting.
I was torn between a white and black undercoat here. In the end, I opted for black following the maxim of working darker to lighter in the absence of a good reason. Whilst not all bodies of water are blue by any stretch of the imagination, most people think of lakes and oceans as being blue in colour. The reality is often more murky, in a perhaps very literal sense, as any observation will show. Yet, we still hold the almost childish adage that water is blue! Therefore, the choice for the basecoat colour had precious little alternative!

An inking of deep blue was applied to the mid-blue basecoat and allowed to fully dry before tackling the intricate water-like details. These details were painted on free-hand in a dabbing, almost pointillist style. The colours started out at a dark blue level, working up through lighter shades of blue to white highlights. The shapes that were dabbed on were semi-random, based on empirical observation of swimming pools: boxy, elliptical and circular shapes in the main part. These shapes were criss-crossed and interconnected to suggest the distinctive interference pattern observed on bodies of water. Since the "wings" of the screamer are pointing downward, I figure that the patters should also be bunched up closer together toward the wing tips; more spread out on the horizontal plane. Each lighter shade was applied to only fewer and fewer locations of this interference pattern. The final details included painting the tusks jet black and various surface features in a cream / stone colour.

Evaluation.
Positives: I like the look of this miniature. From a distance, I feel it gives the strong suggestion of water-like ripples on its surface -- that child-like reaction of "water is blue" really pays off.
Negatives: I wasn't certain what to do with the ripple patters that were close to the tusks. In the end, they got highlighted toward lighter colours, which contrasts nicely with, and offsets, the solid black of the tusks. Whether the tusks should have been solid black or not, I'm not too certain but can live with. The surface features in the solid stone colour were not that imaginative either, but again contrast with the deep blue inking of the surrounding recessed areas.