CC Henchmen, whats your setup?

[TheDarkOne]

There are probably other threads about this, but I'm just curious, whats the best setup/delivery method for close combat henchmen that you've used?

 

I've been having good success so far with: 6x Death Cult, 2x Crusader, 1x Arco-Flagellant, Techmarine w grenades and warding stave, Librarian with shrouding, sanctuary, might of titan and warp rift all flying in a stormraven.

 

If the raven lives past turn 1, I can typically kill anything with an assassination charge, that is a big if however as any player with half a brain will try to shoot the raven down.

 

I find that the arco flagellant is invaluable and I'm thinking about dropping 1 death cult assassin to ad a second Arco.

 

The feel no pain adds so much survivability, especially when the unit is in cover, with shrouding thats a 3+ cover save (2+ if they're in the techmarine's reinforced ruin) followed by a FNP roll for the arco... more arco = more FNP!

 

I haven't considered Banishers with Eviscerators, as they cost double what another cc henchmen does, and with might of titan the eviscerator isn't as necessary, DCAs with double hammerhand and might are 4 attacks I6 S7 monstrous creature vs vehicles... deadly!

 

I've also considered putting warrior acolytes with flamers in the unit, but I haven't hit a situation where I've said to myself, man I wish I could sacrifice cc effectiveness for a flamer template... have you?

 

How do you run a cc henchmen squad?

[The Holy Heretic]

Grenades - that includes Rad, I guess - 2 Hammerhands and 1 Might of Titan? What are you fighting; Godzilla? :P

 

Considering that I can usually kill all I need with Coteaz, 6 DCAs, 2 Crusaders and a Mystic driving a Rhino, your unit seems like a solid waste (300 pts vs. ≈650). Basically, you could dump the 'raven, and give the two characters each their own death cult and be able to hit two enemy units just as hard, as you hit one now. Or if you want the 'raven, just dump one of the characters ;)

[RolandTHTG]

I run like Heritic mentioned -

1 rhino - 4DCA, 4 Crusader, 2 melta warriors, Banisher w/eviscerator, techmarine w/ fun grenades

1 chimera - 5 DCA, 4 Crusader, mystic, librarian.

they sulk forward behind a couple of razorbacks, then jump out and bam! sushi!

[spartan249]

I'm running with Inq, Tech, Libby, and 10 DCAs in a Crusader. I prefer the unit I charge being dead the moment they realize that something smells funny.

[Chengar Qordath]

I run like Heritic mentioned -

1 rhino - 4DCA, 4 Crusader, 2 melta warriors, Banisher w/eviscerator, techmarine w/ fun grenades

1 chimera - 5 DCA, 4 Crusader, mystic, librarian.

they sulk forward behind a couple of razorbacks, then jump out and bam! sushi!

Doesn't that work out to 12 guys in a rhino? That's problematic.

[The Holy Heretic]

I wonder, why I keep seeing eviscerators. I really see no reason to bring an anti-tank weapon into close combat, especially we've got psyflemen and psycannons to crack armour at a distance. I use my death cults as a dedicated anti-infantry squad, S5 power weapons are perfected for that. If you really feel that you need the stuff, then use your characters:

 

The Libby can cast Might of Titan - that oughta do it.

 

The techmarine has a couple of servo arms.

 

Coteaz has his hammer.

 

And I'd never bring a 'normal' inquisitor.

 

Sure everything but the libby aint exactly golden vs. armour, but its not as a single eviscerator brings enough attacks or WS to be truly reliable. And as said, we've got plenty of other options to deal with armour ;)

[RolandTHTG]

I run like Heritic mentioned -

1 rhino - 4DCA, 4 Crusader, 2 melta warriors, Banisher w/eviscerator, techmarine w/ fun grenades

1 chimera - 5 DCA, 4 Crusader, mystic, librarian.

they sulk forward behind a couple of razorbacks, then jump out and bam! sushi!

Doesn't that work out to 12 guys in a rhino? That's problematic.

 

Whoops, thats what I get for trying to go from memory instead of digging up a list.

the rhino has 4 DCA, 3 crusader, 2 melta and the Techmarine.

Banisher used to be part of the chimera squad, but was dropped for another DCA.

 

I had included it b/c I was building a no GK-squad army, so I was lacking a little in the Anti-tank department. But like you said, the 30 paints for 1 attack was just not good enough

[Chengar Qordath]

I wonder, why I keep seeing eviscerators. I really see no reason to bring an anti-tank weapon into close combat, especially we've got psyflemen and psycannons to crack armour at a distance. I use my death cults as a dedicated anti-infantry squad, S5 power weapons are perfected for that. If you really feel that you need the stuff, then use your characters:

 

The Libby can cast Might of Titan - that oughta do it.

 

The techmarine has a couple of servo arms.

 

Coteaz has his hammer.

 

And I'd never bring a 'normal' inquisitor.

 

Sure everything but the libby aint exactly golden vs. armour, but its not as a single eviscerator brings enough attacks or WS to be truly reliable. And as said, we've got plenty of other options to deal with armour :lol:

I think the general line of thought is that an Eviscerator is to provide a cheap defense against getting tarpitted in close combat by a walker; Librarians/techmarines/Coteaz are all a lot more expensive.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

5 x Death-Cult, 5 x Crusaders

(150 points)

 

I find that to work pretty well. Crusaders eat bullets if you get de-meched early or you have to run to get into a new combat (after blenderising your initial target). I've tried more Death-Cult but they just don't have the same durability, and frankly more than 5 cultists is overkill usually.

 

Don't listen to others, Banisher's are overpriced garbage. Coteaz or a Librarian should be in your Henchmen army anyway, so there is no reason not to attach them to your assault squad. Stormraven is the preferred delivery system, but a Chimera can work if you're short on points.

 

The simple answer to 'what happens if you get in combat with a walker or tank' is don't get in combat with one. 40k isn't chess, you're not forced into any matchups you don't want (usually). And in any case, Coteaz's 'Hammerhand' + hammer or the Librarian's 'Might+Hammerhand' combo should be enough to slap down such things.

[Raider]

I just won a small tourney with Coteaz + 6DCA + 2Plasmacannonservitors in a Rhino. I used them as a countercharge unit. The Rhino stayed in cover behind Razorbacks and the Servitors shot out of the hatch. Once the enemy came close the unit killed anything I wanted to.

 

The Servitors added little in the matchups I had, so I might instead add 3 Crusaders next time.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

I'd still take plasma cannon servitors (they brutalise infantry in a way traditional Knight firepower often struggles to), but I'd split them into a seperate unit. 3 x plasma servitors+2 x Jokaero+Chimera is my preferred method, attaching Coteaz so they can reactive fire Outflankers or Deepstrikers nearby and also to prevent Mindlock (the reason you never see servitors anywhere else).

 

Plasma cannon servitors do struggle against units in cover, and of course being small blast, the scatter dice can screw you over at times (especially if you play smart opponents who disperse correctly to make blast weaponry marginal). That said, they still wound 90% of things on 2's with no armour or FNP allowed, which is a rarity in our army (psycannons have to Rend to do the same). My micro-unit in its Chimera is pretty cheap and tends to maul most things reliably.