27 May 2015

Blog Wars 9 - the6thdegree's Iron Warrior list

Hi guys - its that time of year again when I actually get involved in the gaming side of 40K and enter a tournament. This will be my ninth Blog Wars - so I am still at 100% attendance, although this time I will be joined by GreyLamb and fellow Weeman LordH.

Blog Wars is constantly evolving with the changing state of 40k and whilst Forgeworld units still aren't allowed (maybe next time Alex???), with the addition of Knights in the mainstream, some other super-heavy Lord of War's are now legal.

I really wanted to do something different for this Blog Wars - I've been lucky enough to win the painting competition (both army and character) quite a few times, so don't feel like I could enter again without changing things up. The state of the CSM codex means that unless I want to move away from my fluffy Iron Warriors (for example to a Nurgle-themed list) I don't really have that many options for what I can take (you could argue I have the entire codex to choose from, but with only 2 core Troops and a few super-expensive characters that will actually stand a chance in-game, I think I am pretty limited).

As such, I present to you....quite possibly the most dangerous tournament list ever! I say dangerous - that's because if you can't deal with the one main threat, I will probably break some face - but if you can deal with it...the remainder my army is pretty useless.

HQ:
Abaddon 265pts

Troops:
16 Cultists (Autopistols & CCWs) - in Hellcult formation 74pts
16 Cultists (Autopistols & CCWs) - in Hellcult formation 74pts

Elites:
Helbrute (Multimelta & Power Fist) - in Hellcult formation 100pts
3 Terminators (2 x Power Axes & 1 x Power Sword) 95pts

Heavy:
3 Obliterators (Mark of Nurgle) 228pts

Lord of War:
Lord of Skulls (Daemongore Cannon & Skullhurler) 1013pts (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Total: 1849pts

So - more than half my points in a single model - but it is a beast! For the uninitiated, the Lord of Skulls is a super-heavy walker, Daemon (so 5++), 9HPs, Thunderblitz, It Will Not Die, Fleet, 4 attacks basic, Rage (+2 attacks on the charge) and a nifty rule that gives an extra attack for each HP lost - which you keep even if you regen the HPs (this thing potentially has up to 14 attacks). It is armed with a Helstorm weapon (16.5inch flamer) that is S9 AP3 Primary & Instant Death, a 10inch blast weapon that is S9 AP3 Primary with Gnaw (re-roll successful saves) and a D-weapon in combat. I have had several games now where this thing has caused 20+ HPs of damage in a single round of combat! Anything that doesn't have a 2+ save or decent invun, should be afraid indeed.

There are downsides - it's a super heavy walker, so can be tarpitted...and whilst I3 is enough to ease any worries about Thunderhammer Terminators, going up against an I4 Knight with a D weapon can cause some buttock clenching moments during dice rolls (there is roughly a 10% chance a Knight will be able to kill me outright in combat before I can swing back). There is also the worry of Grav and Haywire weapons, but they can be mitigated against a little (reserving, meat shields etc).

The rest of the army is pretty inconsequential; the Hellcult formation gives me Fearless cultists for objective grabbing and meat shielding, the Obliterators are ALWAYS the most resilient unit of any game I have ever played (to the point I did actually toy with the idea of running a Black Legion list to take four units of them...) and Abaddon is the only choice of CSM character that is worth taking to a tournament IMO (although I would have much preferred a tooled-up Warpsmith for fluffy and repair reasons).

I've had a few games with the list now and whilst they were against very similar Knight-based lists, I have managed to come out on top - so what do you guys think - it would be great to get your thoughts on how you would tackle it and what I should be afraid of.

Wish us luck!



7 comments:

  1. Erm.... That causes some problems. I've emailed you Chris.

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  2. Scary. That's what I think! Scary! I've not really got a firm way of dealing with it straight up :( you'll pound my space marines if we play each other!

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  3. Clearly I would have to munch it early.

    How does 11 S8 lances, 4 S6 Melta lances and 4 haywire blasters sound?

    Still, even with all that firepower it's a pretty scary proposition!

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  4. Shame I'm away, again!!

    All your eggs in one basket 6thdegree?? Risky. As Nick says, you'll have your a$$ handed to you by some armies, but the prospect should be scary - you have invested 5x Terminator Squads worth of points in one model... 5x Terminator Squads would be scary too, and harder to wipe out - cue D-Weapon Knight hitting first!

    Or tarpit it with cheap troops, taking out over half your army effectiveness, you'll struggle with Objective games, 2 squads of troops that die easy...

    I wouldn't have a problem facing this list, it'll be a fun challenge. I enjoyed facing the 'beast' in the mega battle we had!

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  5. Cheers guys - Nick, I would be worries about all that firepower, but that's the sort of thing you need to bring now I guess with all these superheavies running around (my backup list was literally full of high S low AP stuff).

    Siph - big words there from you - when you are back on dry land feel free to give it a shot!

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  6. um.. that's not how formations work..

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  7. Hi Chris - yeah realise that now - I'll just be running them as is instead of Hellcult.

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For the Emperor! (and other Xenos welcome...)

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