How do you spread the Word?

[Ravenfeld]

Hey guys,

 

So ADB recently got my mind all aflutter with ideas of doing my own sub-chapter of the Word Bearers. Which surprised me as they have never held much appeal for me in the past. Religious zealotry (above and beyond the standard marine) has always seemed, well, too much. BUT after reading our Friend, Mr. Bowden's long spiel about life in the Eye, along with his awesome 'made-on-the-pot' title of the Black Maw, I was convinced, nay, forced! To attempt to make this chapter a reality. My creative muse demands it be so!

 

Currently I am less concerned with the over-arching conceptual ideas as I delve into the Word Bearers in more detail to glean a deeper understanding. What I would like from you guys is a foundation for a fluffy list of Word Bearers, ideally one that won't get stomped into mulch. Also, Forge World is an acceptable option if you have any goodies from that arena you'd like to put forth.

 

So, what do you guys think? I would have roughly 1500 - 1999+1 points to work with here, so any and all insight is welcome!

 

Thanks,

Raven

[Xenith]

A WB vanguard force would likely be Primary daemons with CSM allies, to represent the WB summoning daemons for cannon fodder.

 

Later stage armies would still likely feature daemons, cultists or both.

 

The Dark Apostle is a nice model, but I would probably use him as a lord with the black mace.

 

TBH, asking for army ideas on here will likely generate attention from the army fine tuners, and thus will end up looking like all the other suggested armies. 

 

Word Bearers are characterised by their fanatical devotion, pacts with daemons, and reserves of cultists. Allying with daemons (for killy) or guard (for numbers) would be nice, thematic options.

 

Other than that, 2x10 man CSM units, because the colour scheme is awesome. Bikes are effective and cool looking. Probably some havocs. Possessed would be fluffy. Terminators are always welcome.

 

So probably:

 

Lord/apostle to taste.

2X 10 CSM, 2xplasma

2x 10 cultists, autoguns

1x20 cultists, ap+ccw

3terms, axes, 3 melta

drake if you like.

havocs, 4xAC

 

Bikes are good if you take a bike lord, in which case drop the 20 man cultist blob. Lots of points left over for some daemonic allies.

[Ravenfeld]

Thanks Xenith,

 

That's a solid jumping off point! I've come to expect the arrival of the fine tuners in the Chaos forums and thats fine. I am okay with some fine tuning here and there! Haha! I am torn between daemon allies or cultist blobs personally, as I don't know what kind of daemonic force I'd be geared towards. Since the WB are undivided it will be hard to justify a mono-god allied army, yet (to my understanding) multi-god armies have more problems with the storm of chaos table?

 

I would definitely prefer daemons over imp guard though, got enough Imp Guard floating around in my head as it is! Any thoughts on a solid daemon ally compliment? I could also do the reverse and have daemons primary with CSM allies to get the ball rolling, either way its a time and money investment, and I wouldn't likely use a mixed daemonic force on its own anyway.. dang that's a tough pickle.

[Wolf Guard Dan]

I like the idea of a daemons compliment. Everything in the demons codex is viable for allies. It really just depends on what role you want your allies to fill.

 

I agree with cultists in your list as well.

 

In the end, it is your narrative to forge.

[menzer1013]

I would add Demon Engines as well.  My WB army has a full assortment.  

 

Also, being a founding legion, dreadnoughts are fluffy (or Helbrutes if you have to).  

 

Most marines are not cult or marked, since the Bearers worship the pantheon as a whole.  

 

Though, a stand in for Abbadon would work since he is marked equally, if you have enough points to make him worth while (he is a huge point sink).  

 

But as above, if you are making a faction, you can always say they have deviated from the mainline WB's and kit them however you like.

[Ravenfeld]

I like the idea of a daemons compliment. Everything in the demons codex is viable for allies. It really just depends on what role you want your allies to fill.

 

I agree with cultists in your list as well.

 

In the end, it is your narrative to forge.

 

Thanks Dan,

 

You're right about the narrative being mine and I definitely attempt to add my own flavor to every army I touch (usually involves a few pages of fluff and lore, that's how I roll). Yet I always like to make sure my concepts tie in with the 40k lore as a whole. No super rainbow pony centaur marines for me.

 

I would add Demon Engines as well.  My WB army has a full assortment.  

 

Also, being a founding legion, dreadnoughts are fluffy (or Helbrutes if you have to).  

 

Most marines are not cult or marked, since the Bearers worship the pantheon as a whole.  

 

Though, a stand in for Abbadon would work since he is marked equally, if you have enough points to make him worth while (he is a huge point sink).  

 

But as above, if you are making a faction, you can always say they have deviated from the mainline WB's and kit them however you like.

 

Demon Engines, good call. I was looking at the Decimator from FW, I love that model and would love an excuse to put one (or two) on the table. Hellbrutes is one thing, but I think I would prefer a Word Bearer Contemptor down the road, if they ever release one. The Brutes don't do anything for me, neither does the FW WB Dread. Might have to pass there. As for Abaddon, well I think I want to make my own HQ for this force, I already make use of tons of special characters in other armies, might be nice to just rely on my own dudes for a change.

 

Thanks!

[Xenith]

Thanks Xenith, am torn between daemon allies or cultist blobs personally, as I don't know what kind of daemonic force I'd be geared towards. Since the WB are undivided it will be hard to justify a mono-god allied army, yet (to my understanding) multi-god armies have more problems with the storm of chaos table?

 

I .

 

Most marines are not cult or marked, since the Bearers worship the pantheon as a whole.  

 

As with anything, the WB worship chaos, in general, but turn to specific gods when/if they need something specific, like how the Romans/Greeks prayed to poseidon before a boat journey, Ares when going to war, the harvest one when they grew crops etc.

 

If the WB want to hack someone up in CC, then they could most definitely summon a pure Khorne Daemon army, if they were fighting Eldar, they may summon a pure Slaanesh horde to gain the favour of She Who Thirsts. Slaanesh/Khorne may in turn, mark the WB with their favour. Maybe your Dark Apostle's soul is claimed by Nurgle himself, and Nurgle refuses to let him die by another's hand, so sends his daemonic legions to keep him alive.

 

Remember the opinion of some (many?) Dark Apostles is that daemons are nothing but tools, and they are the ones the gods love, so take what you like from the book, you are the general, after all!

 

A-D-B's fluff post says more than I possibly could, but build your army up one unit at a time. Pick units you like and work out how to win with them.

[Jarulek]

If you want to go mono-god then you can take the route of The Sanctified. They were Word Bearers once, but split after the Horus Heresy to continue the crusade against the empire.They still have the Word Bearer aestetics (purity seals, religious texts on their armour, daemonancy) but no longer operate from Ghalmek or Sicarus. They take after the Word Beares like the Black Templar take after the Imperial Fists.

Like stated by previous posts: Use regular marines, cultists and the basic stuff (Land Raiders,Terminators, Havocs, Predators etc. etc.) with some daemon engines. Possessed are really fluffy but not a great choice I'm afraid. Too bad, because I really like the models

EDIT: And Daemon allies obviously. To make your list more competetive you might want to make Daemons your primary force like Xenith suggested.

EDIT2: Scrap that, I thought Xenith was talking about cult troops.

[hummus]

where is this ADB post?

[Kol Saresk]

Search for "Misconceptions About CSM" It's on the fourth page or so

[Hyaenidae]

Personally, I'm taking the "disciplined" route for my upcoming Word Bearers. I feel that the Word Bearers are one of the last of the Traitor Legions who still have a modicum of discipline in their ranks, so I am going to use the Horus Heresy Legion rules to create a disciplined army of straight Terminators. Some Mechanicum rules will be used, acting as counts-as hell-engines, but for the most part, this will be a wall of blood-red, terminator plated sons of Lorgar.

[Noctus Cornix]

Personally, I'm taking the "disciplined" route for my upcoming Word Bearers. I feel that the Word Bearers are one of the last of the Traitor Legions who still have a modicum of discipline in their ranks, so I am going to use the Horus Heresy Legion rules to create a disciplined army of straight Terminators. Some Mechanicum rules will be used, acting as counts-as hell-engines, but for the most part, this will be a wall of blood-red, terminator plated sons of Lorgar.

Don't forget, you march because your king wills it, my dearest Lucan. ;) Never forget your covenant.

 

Now, I know there's going to be a bit of shameless advertisement here, but I'm sorry I can't help it! :P I also recently started my Word Bearers army, the Chapter of the Ruined King (you can find a link to my WIP log in my signature) and at first I sort of faced the same question as you. But really, I've said it before across countless threads and I'll say it again, you can really use just about whatever you want man. Word Bearers are just about one of the most flexible armies, fluff wise and second only to the Black Legion, so you can really take any unit and it will still work awesome.

 

When it comes to demons, though, I'm sort of in the same boat as you really. I have a small contingent of daemons. (20 blood letters, a Blood Thirster, 3 blood crushers, and a couple soul grinders) while they worked fairly meh as a force of their own on a game I tested not too long ago, think they could really work well as allies for a chaos marine force that tries to focus a bit more on the fire power. I'll try to do some play testing soon, let you know how it goes and if I come to any conclusion about using them as allies.

 

Once again, sorry for the shameless advertisement. I promise it won't happen again :P

[totgeboren]

Shooty CSM with close combat deamons is probably a fairly potent combination, as deamons really benefit from the shooting support, and CSM have a hard time in close combat because of the 'always challenge' penalty, while they can pack a serious punch range-wise which daemons lack. CSM with 2 special weapons, havocs, vehicles, Chosen with 5 plasmaguns, backed up by hounds, a greater daemons and whatever daemon pack you may fancy.

[Bearingtheword]

*snip*

 

 

 Demon Engines, good call. I was looking at the Decimator from FW, I love that model and would love an excuse to put one (or two) on the table. Hellbrutes is one thing, but I think I would prefer a Word Bearer Contemptor down the road, if they ever release one. The Brutes don't do anything for me, neither does the FW WB Dread. Might have to pass there. As for Abaddon, well I think I want to make my own HQ for this force, I already make use of tons of special characters in other armies, might be nice to just rely on my own dudes for a change.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

Food for thought.... The Blood Angels Furioso dreads are a great conversion starting point for Word Bearer dreds/hellbrutes. That's the cool thing about Chaos and the Word Bearers, you can convert so much cool stuff.... The hard part is getting everything you want on the table and having it be effective and fun. I tend to use cultists and daemons (or one or the other) depending on my mood at the time as the "fodder" for my Host... Have fun with them and keep us all posted as to what you do and how it's going....Welcome to the Word, brother!

 

~BtW

[HJL]

my list shares a lot in common with Xenith's:

 

Sorcerer, sigil

Dark Apostle, mot

 

Hellbrute

Hellbrute

 

Cultists x30

Cultists x30

CSM x10, 2x melta, power fist

CSM x10, 2x plasma, power fist

 

helldrake

raptors x10, 2x flamers, lightning claws

 

Havocs x10, 4x plasma

 

 

I dont use rhino at all or any vehicle except the Hellbrutes. My reasoning is that using a rhino is safer than walking on foot, being safer suggests that you dont have absolute confidence in the protection of the Dark Gods. Having doubts in your faith is not nearly heretical enough! Thats why we keep cultists anyway. They are there to absorb any wayward shooting.