Corbulo

[Morticon]

The Far-Seeing Eye

You're in the middle of a tournament game and you're doing okay.
You and your opponent have been battling it out tooth and nail, but you've managed to get the upper hand in the last turn of that awful Capture & Control game which almost always ends in a draw for you.
You're contesting his objective and claiming yours.

In a last ditch effort, the opponent focuses every last remaining bit of firepower he has on an assault squad led by a librarian that you have camping on an objective.
He doesn't wipe them out, but causes 2 casualties - enough for a Ld10 break check.

Simple enough...

But you fail it.
Your models fall back off the objective and he snatches a draw from the jaws of defeat.

Forget about it.
It happens.

How about this then, rather:
You're playing your local guard adversary.
Your attack bikers have just penetrated his Leman Russ Executioner tank and thank goodness because, unfortunately for you, if it were able to survive, your poor DC/RAS/Termies/Sang Guard etc etc would be blasted to kingdom come next turn.
You roll for the damage result - not sweating...counting on AP1 to ensure that 5 of 6 results rolled will garner a desired effect.

You roll a 3.
It's "Immobilised" only.
The next turn you feel it's angry plasma death.

Forget about it.
It happens.


So, Blood Angels....
They're great with DoA, yeah? Only a d6" scatter! What wonderful news!

So, you place a big 10man RAS, attached priest and attached librarian what you "think" is 6" away from the enemy (or at least knowing that the chances of scattering in a "bad" direction fully in that direction are soooooo small and unlikely)
But, you scatter and find out...nope..nope...it wasn't quite 6" away....you subsequently roll a 2 and then have that whole squad lost in the warp.


Forget about it.
It happens.


These are all hypotheticals.
All "what ifs".
But....
all these situations or situations very similar to these are events that are very, very likely to occur in our gaming experiences if they haven't already.

Strategies and tactics surrounding Warhammer 40k can be said to be about essentially knowing the odds, playing to the odds and working around that. However, you know just as well as I, that sometimes those odds don't go in your favour or according to what is thought to be probable.
Sometimes you have some crazy rolls that just defy probability. This is how the game goes.

And there is nothing 40k players can do to change that....

Except us Blood Angels players.

With that in mind, I have only one question:

Why wouldn't we want an ability to re-roll any dice roll of our choice in the game?

Enter Corbulo

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/e/e3/Brother_Corbulo.jpg

For 105 points we have access to the Sanguinary High Priest Brother Corbulo.

Before I even start talking about his stat-line and applications in the game I want to focus on what I do believe is his biggest selling point: the above mentioned re-roll.

I challenge BA players, especially players that do not use Corbulo to take a small piece of paper with them to their next game or tournament and title that paper "Rolls I duffed that Greatly Influenced the Game". Essentially note where you fail an LD check, where important models of an exploded vehicle gets pinned or has to run, where you fail to penetrate a Rhino with a lascannon, where you fail a DT check to charge into close combat, where you scatter poorly into danger, where your opponent force-weapons Mephiston - rolls a 2 on his hood check- and you roll a 1 !!

Anything like this.
Note it.
Write it down.
Remember it.

Now understand that you don't have to be bound to the same restrictions as everyone else and understand that BA are blessed with an ability that allows us to greatly turn the tides of battle.

Corbulo's reroll is incredible and is one of the most overlooked boons that we have.

There are very few reasons to not grant yourself this boon in a competitive environment.

APPLICATION (aka: When should I use it)

While I do not attest to have a sure-fire system of when to use and when not to use Corbulo's roll there are a couple of considerations you may wish to look at:

1. Don't be too hasty: Games with opponents of high caliber are usually tight affairs that go down to the final moves/shots. Don't waste the re-roll on something in the first turn or two that you can potentially work around in other ways. Exception: The exception to this "rule" is if a pivotal unit is instrumental in your armies synergy - eg: a storm raven with heavily laden cargo Immobing itself leaving DT in turn one.


2. Don't risk long shots: Using Corb's for things like 5+ or even 6+ saves or to-wound/pen rolls is less than ideal. You are not doing well to hedge the bets and mitigate the dice in a way that will stack the odds in your favour. Rather go for the dice rolls that will garner a higher percentage chance of success from the outset. eg: Failed 2+ armour saves, failed Dangerous checks on vehicles, Failed Ld10 checks, DT checks of 3"+, psychic hood checks where your opponent rolls low etc. Essentially, you want to know that your reroll is much more likely to succeed that it is to fail.
Exception: If you are hopelessly outgunned, the terrain is awful and your opponent has the alpha strike army from hell - then yes - your only hope may be to go for that long shot and try steal. But, if its not your only, only, only chance rather work around it.

3. Ask yourself will this change the game now: Ask yourself if you rerolling the dice will change the game "here and now". If the dice roll you failed does not immediately impact the game, then you need to really consider hard if you want to use the re-roll. Eg: If mephy takes his 1st wound from failing his 2+ armour in turn 2, you may not want to use Corbs right away. You may want to save it for that next turn where he needs to cast Sword to fight the Paladins nearby etc.
Exception: If you can reasonably be expected to know the outcome of the next few steps and know that even though there is no immediate impact, the repercussions of failing will be apparent or far reaching. eg: in the Mephy example above, say he is about to be charged by a squad of 10 Stealers- While him losing that one wound now may not make any difference, its possible that when he is charged that one wound can make the difference between him staying alive and him dying to rending hits.

Beyond the Re-roll

Enough about the re-roll.
Let's take a look at Corbulo the character.


NOTEWORTHY POINTS:


1: "He has Feel No Pain on a what...?!"
The most noteworthy plus is not on his statline per se.
It's the fact that Corbulo has the best standard save in the game.
He has a 3+ followed by a 2+ Feel No Pain.
This means one thing - every single non-AP2+, non-S8+ wound should be finding it's way to our priests face.
If you take a huge torrent of fire on a small squad, then stack all the wounds you can on Corbulo

The implications here are that he will save your squad size from diminishing more than anything else available to you.

This also affects the way you position him in combat. You want him in base to base with as MANY non-PW foes as humanly possible, while you use the other models to get into BTB with the PW models if there are any. (You should see Corbs tarpit a fat squad of Gaunts!!!) While other priests shy away from models in BTB- Corbs should be jumping in head first vs. standard models.

2: Statline:

WS-5, Init-5 (6on the charge!), W-2 and 5 Attacks on the charge makes for a fairly decent melee support in non-specialised roles.
Add to this his Rending S5 Chainsword and you have a very understated unit capable of surprising your opponent.

Corbulo is not a beatstick.
Do not let anyone tell you he is.
He is however a very underestimated unit. In normal circumstances he strikes at init5 with 4 attacks. The threat of rending causing grief to even marines.

I believe he makes the perfect support character because of this.

APPLICATION:

Corb's application will not work across the board irrespective of list- as awesome as he is. Different list genres/types/styles will really make a big impact on the value you get from this model.

Mixed Mech/Hybrid Lists
Corbulo is best, though not only, used in more aggressive lists or lists with a lot of combat focus. He has good combat potential, and with smart placement on your part as a general, you can avoid special weapons.
While he wont be the first to get out of his Rhino/Razor, he is usually part of the counter charge element in most of my armies.

I strongly advise using him aggressively (though not foolishly) if you play a combat heavy or combat ready list.

DoA
If you play a DoA or pure jumper list, you will struggle to fit him in, and it may not work to your style- theres nothing really to consider in this case. Don't do it. If you use a few other units I probably wouldnt pay 105 points for Corbs to babysit your Dev squad (unless maybe you were using Vanguard Veterans too)

Razor Spam Mech
Mech lists that dont rely on any combat aren't likely to really rely on him too much.
Depending on your HQ choice (if it's mephy- then I would consider making the points for Corbs) you may not even need him.
If your Mech list relies on naked priests or no priests then the same applies. Lists like these rely on redundancy to work from the outset, so a re-roll becomes somewhat passe.


Corbs is great as a support IC for a claiming unit. He makes the unit incredibly resilient to standard attacks and this means that more focus will be put on a smaller unit that is claiming an objective. I strongly recommend him for Razorback squads, claiming RAS in Rhinos and potentially claiming drop pod squads!

In Closing:

If it wasn't clear enough already, I'm a fan.
However, I'm a fan not through blind devotion and irregular anecdotal occurrences, but through consistent saves this one unit has granted me.
I had decided against taking Corbulo into tournaments on 3 occasions in the past.
All 3 occasions regretting it, and in 2 of the tournaments losing games (and doing very poorly subsequently) on literally one dice roll.

In any competitive environment I will be taking Corbulo, and I'd like to challenge and recommend to other players that do not usually do so, to give it a go if it fits the theme of their army.


I hope this tactica has been of use!! And I hope if you've not been using Corbs or been unsure about him, that this sways your mind.

Regards,

Morticon

[JamesI]

OVer the last few months, Corbulo has become a favorite of mine. I was using him in lists with 2 Vindicators, the reroll on a bad Vindicator Scatter is awesome.

 

I find room for him in pretty much every list I write, unless its pure jump pack/DoA.

[Kerrai]

Nice post. And if i ever come around to remove the jump packs and go for a rhino rush or something i will include Corbulo.

But as you point out, using him in a DoA isnt that useful sadly.

[DAwarrior43]

Awesome report Mort, thank you for the resource! I'm definitely going to have to give him a shot. I think I'm going to try him in a Stormraven with some Assault Termies and a Libby. Finding the right time to use that re-roll can definitely cause you to crush an opponent or lose all your momentum if it doesn't pan out. I definitely like the thought of being able to re-roll a failed charge through Difficult terrain.

 

-DA

[knife&fork]

I'd really like to see some more detailed examples of how to use him in a hybrid list. I don't think he's bad, just hard pressed to come up with builds where I'd not rather spend the pts on more dakka.

[Morticon]

I'd really like to see some more detailed examples of how to use him in a hybrid list. I don't think he's bad, just hard pressed to come up with builds where I'd not rather spend the pts on more dakka.

 

For me its usually easier to fit in 40 points (55 if no PW) worth of corbs than it is to fit in any substantial amount of dakka. It does depend as noted on how much fighty support you have.

 

It may be an obvious suggestion, but start with the HQ and Corbs as the first two numbers you put into the calculator- then work the rest around it.

[ArdezFurioso]

Just a few quick questions about corby.

 

When you get him do you only get his special character version? Or can you give him any of the regular priest upgrades as well if you really wanted to?

 

Also, Do you only pay 105 points for him? Or 105 in addition to the regular cost of a priest?

[Morollan]

You can't upgrade him and he's 105 points (total).

[Deschenus Maximus]

The best way to use Corbulo is to build a list around his reroll. For example, it can be very hard to include assault termies in a list due to having to either pay for a land raider or take a gamble and hope the Reserve gods are kind to you. Include Corbs instead of a regular Priest and PRESTO! 75% chance of your assault termies coming in on T2. There are many ways you can use the Corbulo Manoeuvre: bringing in a scouting baal from the sides, playing around with drop pods to ensure a unit drops in at the right time instead of all alone on T1, bringing in a suicide squadron of Speeders from Deep Strike on T2, etc.

[Sinful eyes]

I imagine the reroll would go very nicely with a unit of vanguard vets employing their heroic intervention.

[liberate_tutame]

Deschenus, that is terribad tactics. Building a list around a reroll just means it is a bad list. And I'm saying this as a droppod player that never used Corbulo. If you can ever build a list around certainty rather than dice rolls than do it. And as such, Corbulo never MAKES a list, he only ADDS to a list. The more I use Corbulo the more I agree with Morticon and see him as a vital part of any Blood Angels list. The only exception is perhaps a fully Mech Blood Angels list that doesn't need any Sanguinary Priests, or perhaps a purely DOA list that only has jump-pack marines. But seeing as the strong DOA lists have dev's and the strongest mech have some mephy anti-inf punch then I think yeah, he's well worth a look in.

 

Building a list around him though... well you're missing the point.

[Chapter Master Ignis Domus]

And there is nothing 40k players can do to change that....

 

Except us Blood Angels players.

 

Very nicely done! I probably would take him if I played Blood Angels. However, I couldn't twist pouting this out: cough cough Chronotek cough cough. :D

[JamesI]

I imagine the reroll would go very nicely with a unit of vanguard vets employing their heroic intervention.

I've done that one as well. Heroic Intervention, Vindicator Scatter, bad roll on armor pen are all great uses of the reroll.

 

But most games, its hard to say when to use it. I find some games I save it when I shouldn't have thinking I'll need it later and never do. Some games I use it too early and regret it. I try to avoid using it on unlikely rolls unless its absolutely essential (a 5+ cover save I usually won't reroll but sometimes you ahve to).

 

Sometimes its obvious (my last game I had Corbulo attached to an assault squad that gets shot up. They fail their leadership test and are about 4 inches from the board edge. Without Corbs reroll, that would have been a large part of my army run off the board)

[Morticon]

The best way to use Corbulo is to build a list around his reroll.

 

As noted by others, i'm not sure if its the best idea to "build around his reroll" however, I do get what you're saying and I agree that you should/could factor units that are greatly aided by his re-roll.

(vs. relying solely on it).

 

Stuff like that termy gambit is something im considering for a 3k tourney. Also, I used Corbs with Vanguard to great success - so I do get what you're trying to say!

[Morollan]

And there is nothing 40k players can do to change that....

 

Except us Blood Angels players.

 

Very nicely done! I probably would take him if I played Blood Angels. However, I couldn't twist pouting this out: cough cough Chronotek cough cough. :)

 

Sadly true. The Chronometron frankly craps all over Corbulo's pathetic little once-a-game single reroll. And you can have two of them in a necron army. If I was Corbulo I would make a point of finding one of them pesky Crypteks, beating the...circuitry out of him and nicking his Chronometron.

[Ushtarador]

Since he does not have a jump pack, where do you stick him in usually? I havent figured out yet where he fits best :/

[Xenith]

I'm an adamant believer that all BA special characters should have the option for a jump pack for +25pts, like everyone else.

 

If I could take one on Corby, I would take him, until then, I have to wait until I make up a hybrid army...

[knife&fork]

I'm an adamant believer that all BA special characters should have the option for a jump pack for +25pts, like everyone else.

 

If I could take one on Corby, I would take him, until then, I have to wait until I make up a hybrid army...

 

Just like Seth. A pretty good deal, but where do you fit him?

[Morticon]

And there is nothing 40k players can do to change that....

 

Except us Blood Angels players.

 

Very nicely done! I probably would take him if I played Blood Angels. However, I couldn't twist pouting this out: cough cough Chronotek cough cough. :(

 

Sadly true. The Chronometron frankly craps all over Corbulo's pathetic little once-a-game single reroll. And you can have two of them in a necron army. If I was Corbulo I would make a point of finding one of them pesky Crypteks, beating the...circuitry out of him and nicking his Chronometron.

 

Although its more often, you gotta remember that its for one squad only - Corbs affects the entire army.

[appiah4]

I'm an adamant believer that all BA special characters should have the option for a jump pack for +25pts, like everyone else.

 

If I could take one on Corby, I would take him, until then, I have to wait until I make up a hybrid army...

 

Just like Seth. A pretty good deal, but where do you fit him?

 

In your nearest Land Raider.

[Morticon]

Since he does not have a jump pack, where do you stick him in usually? I havent figured out yet where he fits best :/

 

Razorback squads with a special weapon Sarge, or Rhino squads carrying combat oriented units.

Alternatively drop pods, raiders or ravens.

all in the original post!

[Deschenus Maximus]

@Liberate_tutame: Its terribad tactics to build your list in a manner that maximises the points you spend? Really?

@Mort: "Solely relying on" is a bit more than what I intended to convey. "Have one unit that will greatly benefit from the reroll" is more accurate. Assault termies deep striking may or may not need the reroll, for instance. But when they do, you are damn glad you have it. And if you don't need it for the reserve roll, your chance of not scattering go from 33% to 55%, which is also useful. That's what I'm talking about.

[JamesI]

I'm an adamant believer that all BA special characters should have the option for a jump pack for +25pts, like everyone else.

 

If I could take one on Corby, I would take him, until then, I have to wait until I make up a hybrid army...

 

Just like Seth. A pretty good deal, but where do you fit him?

My corbulo usually rides in a Rhino with an assault squad and a librarian.

[Corbulo]

My ears have been ringing for days. Ahhh now I understand why :P Yea I'm lucky that I got the name of one of our best characters in the game. Corb is a great character and I'm just waiting for a finecast version so I can do up a pimped out one. :)

 

Corb

[ArdezFurioso]

I tried using him in a list tonight, Unfortunately he died on turn 1 before I could use his re-roll, but I still think he was worth it. He was just unlucky.

 

I had him in LR Redeemer(2k point list) with an assault squad and Chapter Master Gabriel Seth. Annhilation mode, and table halves deployment. I went first, He lined up a Meganobz squad directly in front of my Redeemer. It ended poorly for me. >.<

 

But it was in Vassal, we saved it and will finish it later. Sucks about Corb, but his stats(espec with Furious Charge) saved my butt in the first round of that assault. I lost by 4(>.<) but still got 3/4 wounds on Ghazghul thanks to that bonus. His weapon was also extremely effective in his support role.