Updates and New 1850 Army List

It has been a bit tough lately for me to get content up - I have completed a lot of painting, basing and created a display board in the meantime.  This was all for Da Boyz GT, which left me a bit behind on my other obligations when it ended.

Naturally, those obligations include this blog, battle reports, and household projects.  The last two weeks have been very productive on the household project front - which means I am finally going to have a chance to do a little blogging.  I want to discuss today some thoughts on an 1850 hybrid Daemons list and go from there.

The above should be a small hint that I am moving again towards including some Juggurnauts in my Daemons list.  The reason, which I will elaborate on in a later post, is that I found myself running out of gas near the tail end of games with the 2x Fiends list I was playing at Da Boyz

Fiends are outstanding, but they are just fragile enough to be whittled down by massed small arms or even return attacks.  I loved their speed - they are even faster than last edition with their ignore cover, Move Through Cover and fleet - but they need an anvil to back them up.

 

For Daemons I think that anvil is a unit of Bloodcrushers.  I was also underwhelmed with what Fateweaver brought to the table in the list.  She really needs 3+/4+ save models to be effective and I had just enough poor luck for her to cost me a few games (in one exciting game she actually took 2 wounds, one from a stray scatter and then ran away).  I also fell victim to some very terrible reserve rolls and I am looking for a way to avoid that in the future.

By cutting Fateweaver I freed up over 300 points from the army plus the cost of the unit that the Crushers replaced.  In spite of loving what the Fiends bring to the battlefield, I had to cut one squad to keep the list balanced - Flamers are just too good at this point to drop.  I also needed an HQ unit and debated a Khorne Herald or a Tzeetch Herald.  My decision was ultimately made based on the Flamers - they have not been as good without the Tzeetch Herald there.  No real questions on the Screamers which were all stars the entire time.  My list so far includes:

HQ
Khorne Herald on Juggurnaut w/ Fury of Khorne

Elites
6x Blood Crushers
6x Fiends
6x Flamers

Fast Attack
9x Screamers


I liked the extra shooting provided by Horrors, but I also found that I did not like the way the Plaguebearers played.  They were too slow to be effective in many cases and lacked the real hitting power I wanted.  The Horrors were also ill suited for frontline deployments where they could be assaulted and I really missed having the Daemonettes to deal with high toughness baddies.  My new mix of troops for this army includes:

Troops
5x Horrors w/ Bolt
5x Horrors w/ Bolt
12x Daemonettes

The Heavy Slot also worked well - I only lost two Soul Grinders over 7 games at the GT.  They are durable with 4 Hull Points, AV 13 makes them immune to Kraks, and the 5++ adds an extra something to them.  On top of that, their Battle Cannon really encourages opponents to spread out  (along with the Flamers) which helps my other troops survive.

Heavy Support
Soul Grinder w/ Phlegm
Soul Grinder w/ Phlegm

Adding up the points so far is a bit short of 1850.  I want to address two issues with the last two units - backfield scoring and reserves.  The latter is solved by adding a fortification to my list - in this case an Aegis Defense Line with a Comms relay.

Fortification
Aegis Defense Line w/ Comms Relay

The other advantage of this is it does not punish me for overloading my reserves with assault troops that might come down pieceeal and be picked off.  I need someone to man the Aegis line - and to hold a backfield objective - which is where I think Allies shine. The natural ally for me are Chaos Space Marines since they are Battle Brothers, I own the codex and I love the new models.

I considered a Dark Apostle at first, but for this small of a contingent his rules are largely wasted.  Instead I opted for a model I have been wanting to use - a CSM Sorcerer.

HQ
CSM Sorcerer w/ Mastery Level 3, Spell Familiar

I plan to roll on Telepathy with this guy for Invisibility - al the powers are useful though from Telepathy in this army.  Dominate is probably the worst - but situationally useful.  Further, with 3 rolls on Telepathy the chance to score Invisibility is about 60%.  The Spell Familiar is there to avoid Perils of the Warp on boxcars and keep my Psyker going all game.

The Sorcerer naturally needs some troops to lead and to sit behind the Aegis line which means adding a unit of cultists.

These guys are there to sit on a Comms Relay and step in front of bullets for my otherwise naked Sorcerer.  With the number of Assaulty Daemons nearby, I have found it is rare an opponent makes it into my backfield so these guys should be relatively safe.  With the Sorcerer Ld 10 to use and a chance to grab Mental Fortitude on Telepathy they should stick around to hold that back objective.

Troops
18x Cultists

I plan to test this list out - my first foray into Fortifications and psychic powers - this weekend after Thanksgiving.