Objective Secured

I thought it might be time to actually build a heresy list to share with you – and there is nothing better than using a project that I am about to embark on. I mentioned in a previous post that the Shadow Crusade of the Word Bearers and World Eaters was one of my favourite stories. Because of this – I have amassed a fair chunk of World Eaters but like most people in this hobby, they got assembled, a few got painted then I got distracted and started a different project. What it means is that my World Eaters are a mish mash of units rather than a proper army. That’s about to change…

Word Bearers – The Battle of Calth & the Shadow Crusade

So how do the Word Bearers fit into this? Firstly, I will be taking units that have been built for the World Eaters and repurposing them to the 17^th. Why? Theme. My World Eaters have tactical marines with bolters for starters and they really don’t belong. Running close combat tacticals is cheaper and much more in theme with the 12^th. I can turn my World Eaters into an armoured spearhead style force with rhinos, land raiders, terminators and specialist assault forces. This appeals to me as it sounds very much World Eatery. What this does as well is allows me to focus the Word Bearers into a force that complements the 12^th as both a primary and allied detachment while allowing me to explore different styles of army.

So what will I build? I know the 12^th will be armoured rush – with assault troops in transports. Pretty straight forward. The 17^th arm always described in infantry terms with them marching relentlessly along with armoured support – especially on Calth. With that said, an infantry horde is more Death Guard in my mind so I need another angle. I can go orbital assault with drop pods which could be very cool – but also limiting in it format. One of the cool things about the heresy setting is all the unusual vehicles and units – most of which become ineligible if you go with pods. Another option is a flyer heavy force with storm eagles, fire raptors and assault rams – again, kinda cool but also limiting. If you go with the Rite of war to allow the storm eagle as a dedicated transport again you limit yourself in selections as anything that can’t fly is out – so no dreadnaughts or tanks just for starters.

With all that said – I can always just run a list thank mimics the traits of a Rite of war but without any of the limits/benefits. Decisions, decisions…

Here is the sample 2000 point list I have at present… it’s still subject to change but I think this is where I want to go with it… or at least I thought I did until I worked through the process of putting the list together…

Age of Darkness Detachment

HQ – Zardu Layak (175) (warlord), Master of the Legion – Angels Wrath

HQ – Centurion, Chaplain Consul, Artificer Armour, Burning Lore, Melta Bombs, Refractor Field (140)

The HQs both form specific roles within the force. The Chaplain is required for al Word Bearers and he brings a fair bit to the list in the form of Zealot for a single unit. Burning Lore adds to the psychic pressure that can be applied as several of the telepathy and biomancy powers can be very nasty. His load out is rounded out with melta bombs for tank hunting, artificer armour and refractor field for durability as well as his free power weapon from his upgrade – in my case, a Power Maul for some nice high strength attacks. Zardu on the other hand is an entirely different beast. While his stats are basically the same as the chaplain, he brings a variety of extra rules to the table. The once per game heavy flamer he packs can be a very nasty surprise for the enemy and the +1 modifier to combat resolution and sweeping advance can be game changing – especially as it has a range of 12”.  He is a Zealot as well so that gives me a another very reliable unit on the table. Top that off by being a daemon, a level 2 psyker and allows units in the army to benefit from dark channelling with a +1 to the chart. On top of all of that, he allows you to take an allied detachment of Chaos Daemons AND allows the ashen circle units to be troops! I have not elected to take his 2 blade slaves in this list as I feel that his rules (especially zealot) are better used when he can join bigger units. In larger games I would consider taking them though.

Troops – Tactical Squad (9 Marines plus Sergeant). Bolters, Bolt Pistols, Close Combat Weapons, Legion Vexilla, Dark Channelling, Sergeant – artificer armour, melta bombs, combi melta, dedicated Transport – Storm Eagle Gunship, 2 Twin linked las cannon, twin linked multi melta (470)

Troops – Tactical Squad (9 Marines plus Sergeant). Bolters, Bolt Pistols, Close Combat Weapons, Legion Vexilla, Dark Channelling, Sergeant – artificer armour, melta bombs, combi melta, dedicated Transport – Storm Eagle Gunship, 2 Twin linked las cannon, twin linked multi melta (470)

The 2 core units of the list. Both 10 strong as that’s the max I can take and still be allowed the dedicated transport despite the capacity the vehicles have. It gives me a reasonably solid core in the list though. One is joined by the chaplain, the other by Zardu though this is optional if either unit gets zealot from dark channelling. They have a good volume of attacks both at range and on combat and can engage armour if desperation calls for it. The storm eagles are very durable and bring a large volume of fire power to the table while also being able to deploy the squads where they will do the most good.

Elite – Apothecarion Detachment – 2 Apothecaries (90)

Elite – Gal Vorbak Squad (4 Dark Brethren plus Dark Martyr). Dark Martyr – Artificer armour, power fist (225)

The apothecaries each join a tactical squad. Very straight forward in their case. Their role is to keep the ‘smaller than I would like’ tactical squads on the table longer by providing feel no pain. The Gal Vorbak are the hammer unit. In front of just 5 of them is a very dangerous place to be – with a multitude of special rules, multiple wounds and stats that most heroes have (the dark martyr has a better stat line then my HQ choices!) these guys can reliably cut through core legion units with little effort. I just need to buy them a ride for this list…

Heavy Support – Caestus Assault Ram, 2 Missile Launchers (315)

The Gal Vorbaks ride. The Ram will allow me to get into the heart of the enemy and punch it hard. The large blast melta cannon lets it hunt blobs of troops or tanks while the wing missile launchers allow it to engage air targets if need be. It can also ram things which is great late game to move units from objectives. Av13 and 4 hull points makes it even tougher to crack than just about any other flyer in the game to date.

This brings the legion to 1885 points… and its here I realise I have nothing starting on the table. That’s a problem! We need to look to allies to resolve this. Ideally, I would love to add a landing pad to start one of the storm eagles on the board but I don’t have nearly enough points for that… which means I need to go Daemons or Cultists…

Enter the Imperial Militia!

This will get me some much needed bodies on the table using the cult rules on the Inducted Levy Squads. Running a couple of units of 30ish bodies or 1 big unit of 5 with zealot to keep them on the board as well as a rogue psyker or 2 should let me have enough board presence before the aircraft arrive.

So that’s it! 2k Word Bearers with the knife brothers on the board before the legion descends. I have a couple of storm ravens I can put on the table to try out the list in the short term but the caestus will see me ordering from forge world again shortly!

One other way of going with the force is to remove the caestus, move one of the storm eagles to fast attack (for the Gal Vorbak) and then giving the Chaplain a jump pack. From there – dropping the 2^nd of the tactical squads and 1 apothecary followed by buying as many assault marines as possible with the 300ish points that are free from this swap. I am not convinced that this is a good exchange though it does give me more early game board presence. By removing the rite of war, then moving the storm eagles to fast attack, I can lose the caestus from the list (the Gal Vorbak and deep strike anyway) and then I can bulk out the tactical squads with the extra points. I can then also deploy them on the table if need be – something the rite of war does not allow. I could also at that stage take the skyshield landing pad and start one of the storm eagles on the board.

That lists looks like…

HQ – Zardu Layak (175) (warlord), Master of the Legion – Angels Wrath

HQ – Centurion, Chaplain Consul, Artificer Armour, Burning Lore, Melta Bombs, Refractor Field (140)

Troops – Tactical Squad (14 Marines plus Sergeant). Bolters, Bolt Pistols, Close Combat Weapons, Legion Vexilla, Dark Channelling, Sergeant – artificer armour, melta bombs, combi melta (265)

Troops – Tactical Squad (14 Marines plus Sergeant). Bolters, Bolt Pistols, Close Combat Weapons, Legion Vexilla, Dark Channelling, Sergeant – artificer armour, melta bombs, combi melta (265)

Elite – Apothecarion Detachment – 2 Apothecaries (90)

Elite – Gal Vorbak Squad (4 Dark Brethren plus Dark Martyr). Dark Martyr – Artificer armour, power fist (225)

Fast Attack – Storm Eagle Gunship, 2 Twin linked las cannon, twin linked multi melta (265)

Fast Attack – Storm Eagle Gunship, 2 Twin linked las cannon, twin linked multi melta (265)

1690 points

 

The Apothecaries still join the Tactical Squads along with the Chaplain and Zardu respectively but now these units are very solid and dangerous. I have about 200 points to spend at this stage after the Cultists or I can wind back the cultists in favour of more legion. I need some heavy support here to engage enemy early game – Adding 3 Quad mortars could be very effective as could a couple of Legion Predators. Even adding Jet Bikes, Bikes or Land Speeders could work very well. I could even splurge on a second unit of Gal Vorbak and run them both in the Storm Eagles!

The last option would be to lose both Storm Eagles in favour of a single Fire Raptor to give air support and then bulk out the ground forces…

HQ – Zardu Layak (175) (warlord), Master of the Legion – Angels Wrath

HQ – Centurion, Chaplain Consul, Artificer Armour, Burning Lore, Melta Bombs, Refractor Field (140)

Troops – Tactical Squad (14 Marines plus Sergeant). Bolters, Bolt Pistols, Close Combat Weapons, Legion Vexilla, Dark Channelling, Sergeant – artificer armour, melta bombs, combi melta (265)

Troops – Tactical Squad (14 Marines plus Sergeant). Bolters, Bolt Pistols, Close Combat Weapons, Legion Vexilla, Dark Channelling, Sergeant – artificer armour, melta bombs, combi melta (265)

Elite – Apothecarion Detachment – 2 Apothecaries (90)

Elite – Gal Vorbak Squad (4 Dark Brethren plus Dark Martyr). Dark Martyr – Artificer armour, power fist (225)

Heavy Support – Fire Raptor Gunship, Reaper Auto cannon Batteries (210)

1370 points

At this stage, the list is really open to whatever I want to add. It needs ranged support – but that could be legion tanks, dreadnaughts or infantry support squads. With over 500 points to play with I can get at least 2 units in the force along with the cultists.

What this process does highlight is what I want to include in the force and want to do so without compromise. Gal Vorbak, Largeish Tactical Squads, chaplain, Zandu Layak and at least 1 flyer – be it a storm eagle, fire raptor, caestus or anything else with 2 wings and a bunch of guns!

So that’s how I write lists – it’s an evolutionary process and one that tends to happen quite organically as I begin to see how the list looks in my head. The next step is to get some proxy models, put them onto a 6×4 table and see how much board space they take up and potentially control. This is a great indicator of if the list is not right in its feel – I tend to do this a lot.

The good thing with the above list is that I own a bucket load (literally!) of cultists who need paint jobs as well as the Gal Vorbak, the 2 apothecaries and 20ish tactical marines already. Picking up another 10 marines plus the characters and a fire raptor gives me an easy 1500ish point force I can play with straight away. Sounds like a plan to me! Now if you will excuse me… Forge World Calls!