[HH1.0] Word Bearer's Tactics

[Dhar'Neth]

My friends play SoH, WE, DG and Salamanders and ALL of them love to take units of their legion specific (2-wound) Terminators. In small point-games we usually play (bellow 2000) I can't really fight them with LOW or Primarch. The only idea I got was to tie them with Dreads but they chomp them to bits with Hammers and Chainfists. Obvously I lose every single time. Any ideas how to beat those close combat monsters? I'm literally out of ideas and need some advice.

 

P.s. My army usually consists of Delegatus (ROW: Chosen Duty), Chaplain, two Contemptor Dreads, 2 10-man Sniper Veterans in Rhinos, 1 Weaponmasters (sword) in LR Phobos with characters and lascannon sponson Sicaran. Any help would be grearly welcome.

[Jimm]

Ouch that's a nasty place to be but not uncommon for a wb player in a lowish points environment.

You bring lorgar(buffed version) in the new row where primarchs are an hq (primarchs chosen or something, can't remember) lorgar with a good selection of powers of immense in combat and pairs well with gal vorbak as he tanks hits so well.

 

Another option is just volume of fire to get past the 2+. Vets in pride of the legion using marksman perk are pretty good for this with 2 hb. Contemptors with dual kheres is also good for volume of fire.

 

Leviathan dread with choppy and grav. Expensive as hell and you'd be falling back on the 4++ save alot but extremely good at killing anything.

 

Allied daemons and flood them with daemonetts, your loose lots but they are cheap fast and do more damage than people expect.

 

Unlimate cheese and last resort take be'lakor aka the destroyer of friendships.

 

Overall I'd say your struggle to out elite them so go with numbers, either in troops or volume of attacks

[Flint13]

^No one deserves any 40k saturday morning cartoons in their 30k no matter how grim the tidings.

 

So Dhar'neth, a couple of things to look at.

 

- Word Bearers are in a unique position in their strength with the Psychic phase. It's a tool that you're not taking advantage of, currently. Both of those Centurions can take Burning Lore to give you an edge up on those Terminators and a few extra tools in the toolbox. Two ways you can go with that, Biomancy or Telepathy. Biomancy would give you a solid chance at a few super useful combat buffs. Endurance or Enfeeble would go a very long way to evening out those combats you're having trouble with. In the other direction, Telepathy would let you just Psy-scream all those annoying terminators to death as soon as you get them out of their metal box.

 

- What are those contemptor dreads armed with? Weight of fire against 2+ saves is a good option, since Cataphractii ignore 50% of your AP2 wounds anyway. That's typically the direction I go with Terminator removal too, since that entirely removes those chainfists, thunderhammers and whatever else from the equation. 

 

- What sort of equipment do you have on the Weaponmaster vets in the Phobos? 

[Dhar'Neth]

My duo of Contemptors used to be fist+chainfist and two plasma blasters but I plan to switch them to double Kheres Contemptors

 

Weaponmasters had power swords (4-7 depending on points) under the old book (furious charge).

[Terminus]

Ew, plasma blasters. Two overheating weapons on a 3-"wound" model with no saves is so bad.

 

Instead of the Mortis, which got zero love in the new book, try running them as Cortus Contemptors with a Kheres (or TL lascannon if you prefer).

[Teun135]

I've noticed that not many people like the Mhara Gal Tainted Dreadnought.... I was pretty darned impressed with it when I proxied it today in my game... AV 13 front armor with a 5++ Daemon save is a nice start. With the 2 fists, that thing is a beat-stick in melee, quite capable of smacking around multi-wound models or 2+ save units. Need that Praetor dead? Instagib him. Don't like that psyker? Set him on fire with the Mhara Gal's aura. Who needs doors? Go through the wall with your Mhara Gal! IWND is pretty great too... at least as good as Tyranid's regeneration that they have to pay 30 points for.

 

I have seen some arguments that say "why not just get a Knight for a few more points?" But the point is that you are essentially getting a mini-knight that goes in your elite slot with the Mhara Gal. So in smaller games, where LOW spaces are not available, I found it did just fine as long as you used it for its intended purpose.

[Charlo]

I've noticed that not many people like the Mhara Gal Tainted Dreadnought.... I was pretty darned impressed with it when I proxied it today in my game... AV 13 front armor with a 5++ Daemon save is a nice start. With the 2 fists, that thing is a beat-stick in melee, quite capable of smacking around multi-wound models or 2+ save units. Need that Praetor dead? Instagib him. Don't like that psyker? Set him on fire with the Mhara Gal's aura. Who needs doors? Go through the wall with your Mhara Gal! IWND is pretty great too... at least as good as Tyranid's regeneration that they have to pay 30 points for.

 

I have seen some arguments that say "why not just get a Knight for a few more points?" But the point is that you are essentially getting a mini-knight that goes in your elite slot with the Mhara Gal. So in smaller games, where LOW spaces are not available, I found it did just fine as long as you used it for its intended purpose.

 

I'm not super into word bearers but if you are playing them and finding reasons to not bring a witchy-poo possessed Contemptor (with a stunning model no less), you gotta ask yourself why you are playing Lorgar's boys in the first place!

[Flint13]

Ghost Razor is hands down the most amazing rule the Mara Ghal has access to. It makes a perfect character assassination tool.

 

Also does well at curb stomping leviathan dreads, which the Mara Ghal is sub stantially cheaper than.

[Slips]

Ghost Razor is hands down the most amazing rule the Mara Ghal has access to. It makes a perfect character assassination tool.

 

Also does well at curb stomping leviathan dreads, which the Mara Ghal is sub stantially cheaper than.

Unless the Leviathan in question is a stock model with no upgrades :p

 

Still, you'd probably still want to avoid a Leviathan with your Mara Ghal anyways since his 4++ and 4HPs are better than the MG's 5++ and 3HPs. It should also be noted that Ghost Razor only works on Wounds and not Hullpoint loss. You also don't get the -1 To-Hit Debuff to enemies since it only works on less than Av13 or T7.

 

Also, can't take an Armourbane Punchyfist which Contemptors and Leviathans can.

 

Being i5 Base does help a bunch since you still have a shot of punking them out before they swing.

[Flint13]

^Literally no one takes a bone stock leviathan. It's going to be at least as expensive as the Mhara Gal.

 

The Mhara Ghal has the same armor and number of hull points, better weapon skill & initiative. It also straight up ignores terrain. I'll concede that it probably isn't the best choice for taking out a Levi, but it has the upper hand unless the Word Bearer player is asleep at the wheel and somehow allows the leviathan to charge. Even then, it's just as fast as the Levi's boosted charge initiative. It'll survive the hammer of wrath and take a good chunk out of the Levi before it dies. Barring crap dice, of course.

 

You're right on the Ghost Razor deal though. It's interesting that the rule only forces invulns against wounds caused to be re-rolled. I wonder why.

[Jimm]

Personally I love my mhara gal dread and hes got his points back most game or at least caused enough problems to be worth taking. Predominantly making heavy weapon squads move after getting hit with plasma!

 

For the points is there better units? God yes, but do they look as cool or have the unique chaos look of the wb. No

 

He doesn't make every list but it's a great model to use both rules and modeling wise and I'd always urge people to have onein their collection.

 

Do wish he had ceramite or a 4+ inv for the points though

Edited August 23, 2016 by Jimm

[Terminus]

My issue with it is that I want to use it alongside all the demonic stuff, but his demon hate cuts both ways. So he's a great piece to use against all the stuff I want to bring with Word Bearers. :D

[Teun135]

My issue with it is that I want to use it alongside all the demonic stuff, but his demon hate cuts both ways. So he's a great piece to use against all the stuff I want to bring with Word Bearers.

 

When I played it, I put it on the very edge of my deployment zone, and stacked up all my daemonic units and psykers on the other side

 

I wish we could get this for Chaos in 40k... it absolutely stomped a Hive Tyrant in CC thanks to the psyker-hate and the AP 2. And a Carnifex. And a Haruspex. It actually was quite a murder-fest 

 

One question though... the wording for the aura was a bit vague. Is the penalty to the opponent's to-hit roll for only when an enemy is charging, or in every round of assault? We couldn't decide on which it was, so we rolled off on it, and ended up using it only when the enemy is charging, figuring either way was narrative enough.

Edited August 23, 2016 by FoxPhoenix135

[Terminus]

It says assaulting rather than charging, so I would take "assaulting" to mean "in melee with".

[FatRat]

Hey Guys,

 

i wanted to get into 30k. However as always with new systems i have trubbel deciding a Fation. Or in this Chase a Chaper. Initaly i wanted to go layal (Raven Guard or Ultra Smurfs) but after getting into the fluff i lean more twards the Traitors. The World Bearers intrest me the most sice they arethe Grey Eminence that started the hole thing... but i can not find good information how they play. I dont have the Books jet and i know only so mutch about the game.
 

i visited 1d4 chan and it told me that u can deploy demon allies. Do they have the same rules in 30k? Would be great since i wanted to by some Slaanesh for my AoS army. Can i deploy all the stuff? (demon Princes, Great Demons...)

 

What are thre Rites of War and there special Wargear? Are the Special Units worth it? (the possed Dread<3) Some good links would help alot.

 

I would also like some 1st hand stories from people who play them(played against them), since 1d4 Chan is usualy very Opinonated and Powergaming oriented. Not always a bad thing but unhelpfull if you just starting.

 

thank Guys^^

 

 

 

 

[Jimm]

Hi fatrat and welcome.

 

Firstly I'd say wb are fun to play from a rules, model, fluff and power point of view. We have some excellent options and some fairly bad ones.

 

Yes we can take chaos daemons which are currently taken from the 40k codex as they aren't in 30k as a standalone force yet.

These can be taken via numerous named hqs as your warlord or a rite of war. This is really what set us apart from other legion's

 

I'd try and borrow or look through the red book or some of the other hh fw books at your local club, your need to read the rules for the legion and characters really.

 

As for our units we have a few, layak(named hq) with his blade slaves, gal vorbak and lorgar being the best of the bunch but the mhara gal (Daemonic dreadnought) is also very cool although pretty pricy and is often focused down as people get scared of it.

Ashen circle are our unique assalt squad and look cool but unfortunately are pretty poor on the table but fun to play with.

 

Best starting point would be the betrayal at calth box set. Your get a load of marines, a few terminators, a contemptor and importantly a Chaplin model which we generally always have to take for the legion rules.

From there just start adding your fw models, lorgar, layak and gal vorbak would be my picks,they add flavor and are good units and are often the core to most people's wb lists.

[FatRat]

Zardu and the Gal Vorbak are what brouth me to the World Beraers Model wise. Also Weeeeeeeee Demonetts. Its need that they are Chaos undivided.

 

betrayal at calth + heads and we have a guy who makes shields for breachers for a good Price... Honestly i am not a big fan of jump marines so i would skip the Circel anyways. I want to focus on the Demons and Possesed. The big tanks dont realy Appel to me ether. But the small ones are cool. (scorpius in Particular)

 

Are Rhino/ Drop Pod lists are still a good idea in 30k? The Taitors can buy Drop Pods yes?

 

How dose Zardu Perform? I dont even Know his rules jet. Is he an HQ?

Same Question for the Mhara Gal.

[Jimm]

Layak is a good hq, easily our best named hq. Hes not amazing in combat or shooting but his blade slaves are nasty in combat.

 

Layak just suports them by being able to pick his psykic powers from daemonoligy. This give you two main ways to play him. With the slaves in a melee orientated unit (I often put lorgar with them in a dread claw drop pod) with cursed earth power he can buff his and the slaves inv save by 1 l.

His other slightly dirtier way is just hide him with some tac and keep summoning daemonetts or pink horrors or what ever power you pick.

 

As for pods and Rhinos. Rhinos are common place transports just like 40k. Pods are not as common and as standard only dreads can take them as dedicated transports. There are a couple of "special pods" in fast or heavy slots which are both good.

 

A few legion's do have better access to pods with wb being one of them with the last of the serrated sun rite of war. Basically any unit that can normally take a rhino instead has a pod and gal vorbak become a troop choice but must take a pod.

[Terminus]

The blade slaves mean he can't join another unit, so sadly they suck even with all their awesome stats. Too bad they aren't "wargear" so you could stick him in another unit. :P

[FatRat]

Ok but he's a save bargin in terms of rules. I just use the slaves as Gal Vorbak. 

The Mhara Gal seems Pricey... i found his rules online. Would u Play him? if so with what kind of wargear?

[Terminus]

The Gal is good but expensive and hard to work around your own demonic stuff. It's a downright beast in Zone Mortalis. Doors? What doors?

[Flint13]

There's a guy at my LGS that regularly uses Layak, two blade slaves and Lorgar in a Dreadclaw with pretty good results.

 

The Mhara Gal is hard to finance. They're really really good if you can ever get them where you want them to be (close combat against expensive, non-fearless models) but it's difficult to get them to combat before they're shot to death.

[Seahawk]

I just make it so my 1200pt death star is more scary and a bigger fire sink, allowing my Mhara Gal to do as it pleases all game.

[FatRat]

Ok thx guys i gess i am righting a list now...
 

@Seahawk: 1200P Death Star? Oooch.

[Seahawk]

Lorgar on bananas, 10 Gal Vorback, Primus Medicae, and Chaplain... :P