Khornate Cultists

[Lieutenant Steel]

I've been looking at making myself a Word Bearers force recently, and have been toying with the idea of having a 'counts as' Khârn, represented by a converted Dark Apostle, leading a couple of large squads of Khornate Cultists (Kultists?).

 

I like the fact that he will give the attached squad Fearless, and his Hatred rule will give them the same kind of benefit as a D.A., but with much better equipment and rules- like being able to take on vehicles with Gorechild. Plus keeping Khârn amidst Cultists means loosing less points to the Betrayer than having him in a squad of CSM ;)

 

People have often said that they would shy away from using Marks on Cultists (myself included) due to the fact that they could get more Cultists for the points. Since money is limited for me right now, the fact that I would have less models is something of a bonus!

Looking into it though, having:

 

35 Khornate Cultists (3 Flamers) 

35 Khornate Cultists (3 Flamers) 

35 Khornate Cultists (3 Flamers) 

 

= 675pts

 

And gives you LOTS of bodies which look pretty underwhelming until they hit combat.

 

The idea would be to let 'Khârn' lead from the front, with the other two units just behind (think an inverted 'V') to get the most from his Fearless ability being passed to the unit that's taking casualties; when they get too thin he can pop out and join the second/ third unit as appropriate to make sure that his new bodyguard is now the bigger threat- taking casualties and remaining Fearless as they do it.

 

I like the idea of a 'tide' of Cultists, and really enjoy the thought of using 'Khârn'/ a counts-as for him, in the front line of a combat unit like this. The points values don't seem too bad for the potential damage and the amount of casualties you can soak up. In a 1750pt game, you would also still have around 915 points for bigger/ more intimidating threats to draw fire away from the blobs of Cultists.

What are people's thoughts on this kind of tactic/ Khornate Cultists in general?

(I know this general subject might have been discussed before but I'm hoping to get some thoughts on it other than 'Don't mark them, take more guys'... I also wanted to try and spark some new conversation as I noticed the Khorne forum's been quite quiet of late...)

 

:)
 

[Iron_Within]

I always thought that the Dark Apostle would come into his own in this format. He has zealot which gives hatred and Fearless to his squad like Khârn but also projects a 6" Ld 10 bubble. As long as you had as least 1 model within 6" from the other two squads they'd be Ld10 for break purposes, the only thing you have to worry about is sniping Barrage to remove the bubble range. You could even if you have the points, get Khârn as well  for a total of 280 points for the two, that would mean you'd have potentially 270 attacks re-rolling misses from your cultists on the charge. I would expect the opponent to focus fire on you units containing you characters, which you could jump them from unit to unit as each one is whittled down.

[Lieutenant Steel]

Indeed. I expect that the character bunker would take quite a lot of fire, so maybe it would make sense to have that first unit Unmarked, then the other 2 M.o.K, so that you'll save points (if you think you'll struggle to get the first squad into combat intact).

It's funny- I was going to say that I was thinking of Khârn because he can handle vehicles and Terminators better than a Dark Apostle, so he's more of an all-rounder, but to be honest, if the rest of your list has ways of dealing with tanks and Terminators, then you save points by taking a Dark Apostle and then get the increased Ld bubble as well.

I'm not sure about running both Khârn and an Apostle though, as I like some flexibility with my HQs; whilst one is making sure the infantry make it to combat (and get re-rolls when they get there) I'd like the other to be 'problem solving' for me.

 

With that in mind I was planning on either a Daemon Prince (Tzeentch) with Wings, Armour and Black Mace or a Juggerlord with Axe of Blinding Fury and 4++, but thinking about it logically, the Cultists and Khârn/ Apostle should be able to handle most enemy infantry problems, so I don't know how redundant the Juggerlord would be. The Daemon Prince option sounds better as he can Smash vehicles and wreck face with the Black Mace, ignoring saves against Terminators. Might be tempted to look at Huron as the second HQ/ main Warlord depending on the rest of the army though...

 

It's also funny, bu I don't think I have ever heard of anyone trying out a Dark Apostle in this kind of force. Maybe it's because getting together enough Cultist models would be quite expensive? Or maybe people just dismissed him without trying him in an area he seems like he'd excel in...

[spafe]

If you take huron, can you give infil to Khârn/apo then have them take a unit of cultists infil with them? Not always best as he's then seperate from other blobs, but if you roll 2 or 3 units. 2 blobs, one with Khârn in sound like a good shout to infil, the other can jsut run a lot to catch up.