Dark Apostle/Cultists combo

[jumping goat]

I build warhammer armies around artwork and fluff I like.

I love the artwork of the dark apostle amongst the traitor gaurdsmen on pg 35 of the chaos codex.

 

People have told me that they like to use cultists as objective holders as the marines advance into the enemy position to continue with the battle.

 

How else do you like to use cultists and do you ever use them with a dark apostle?

 

I am thinking of using a Slaanesh dark apostle with a retinue of 20 cultists with pistols and close combat weapons with two squads of 10 cultists with auto guns to the flanks to make the most of the apostles Demagogue ability.

 

The rest of my army will include standard marines, noise marines, rhinos, hellbrute, terminators, defiler, raptors and what ever else makes its way into my collection. 

 

Sorry if this topic has already been covered.

 

[the jeske]

10 cultists

20 cultists

30 cultists

 

never and apostol , worse HQ in the whole book , with 0 utility , high cost , fewer options then other HQs and weak stats.

[Xenith]

The Chaos lord also makes the cultists fearless and for less points

Going with the Apostle for the appearance is cool, give him the daemon mace (if he can take it??), and the mark of your choice. Marking cultists is generally a waste of points.

I'm a big fan of 10 man cultist squads with autoguns, your set up is exactly how I'd run them (1x big unit wiht ccw, 2x small units with AG), but no so close together - theyre asking to get multi-charged by a combat unit and have multiple units wiped out a once.

[chillin]

If you cld give alley IG a DA and give them hatred it might be worth it (but you cant), but spending points to give cultist hatred seems a waste of pts to me.

[Redtoof]

Looking for a fighty character to go with cultists who also buffs them a bit? Try Khârn for fearless cultists with hatred (If he is your warlord). Added bonus - If Khârn kills any of them, who cares? They're cultists!

[chillin]

yeah, That might be a better idea then a DA

[bjoluemblem]

I have run the Apostle/cultists combo, and while not points effective, strategical, or min/max on your points, it IS fun. Over the course of three games in a tourney, the DA successfully made the cultists hold an objective or two while beating down any sergeant-type character in a challenge. Yes, a lord does it better. Yes, he's a terrible choice. But, he's fun. There's a sense of ridiculous that he applies to an army, and as I play for fun as opposed to sheer explosive victory (I'd play a different codex for that) I enjoy throwing him in occasionally for my cultist blobs. If you're looking for fluffy ways to play CSM, throw in an apostle. If not, throw in a lord.

[chillin]

Is a DA that bad ? How about giving hatred to a CC unit ? Looks like rerolls on 30+ attacks would be pretty good. I know he over priced because u could get a lv 2 sorc w 4+ invul for the same price. But I was thinking maybe giving hatred to a tooled up CC squad might be (somewhat) worth it ?? ( In a non-tourney game of course)

[the jeske]

we don't have a good way to get a non bike/non mauler spam melee units in to actual melee range.

 

 

 

There's a sense of ridiculous that he applies to an army, and as I play
for fun as opposed to sheer explosive victory (I'd play a different
codex for that) I enjoy throwing him in occasionally for my cultist
blobs.

 

Could you explain this more please ?

[chillin]

no we don't, not unless ur pretty good with use of rinos , timing, multiple threats at same time or already have them locked in CC w another unit. Can be done but certainly takes some doing.

[Rune_Priest_Rhapsody]

I say, it's your army play it however you want to!! But I too can't help but want to throw a DA into a HUGE blob of crooning, slathering Cultists and let them at something!! The image and idea makes me happy.

 

End of Line

[bjoluemblem]

-This is off topic, trying to answer jeske's question-

 

@thejeske, the Apostle is, in terms of fluff, the guy that keeps everybody going and pumped up on the Chaos gods, but not so great on the table. Chaos doesn't win national tourneys (in the USA, Feast of Blades, NOVA, Adepticon, etc.). It does just fine on FLGS level, and some regional tourneys, which is perfect for me. If I wanted desperately to win, I'd run a list that has held up to the international meta. The winning armies are the Screamerstar and the Seer Council, neither of which interest me, either playing them or playing against them. They look boring. 2++ rerollable? No thanks. I'll keep my fearless power-armored blobs and cultists and daemon engines, thank you. The apostle is part of the codex that I'm have access to, and I don't see a reason to not take him. He's not a game changer, he's just fun for me to use.

 

 

-This following is my opinion, a bit of flavor that I put on my rose-tinted glasses to view as I play this crazy game.

 

By purposefully picking the Dark Apostle, and knowing that he's not my star performer, I don't need to protect him to get the most impact out of him. It allows me to have fun using him in any situation that would not make sense under any normal circumstance. Charge a wraithknight? I believe in you, fella! Challenge Marneus Calgar? Eh, why not? He's won games for me that I wouldn't have if he wasn't there. Fearless+LD10 bubble kept my culstists on objectives that won me games. I could have kitted a lord to do his job, but then I wouldn't be using his awesome model. If I am aiming to win, and only to win (say in a tournament), I won't be running Chaos at that point. BUT, I do run Chaos in tourneys. It's awesome. Huron and a Dark Apostle, 2 CSM blobs, cultists, and daemon engines (one heldrake maybe). My goal is to have fun, and if I lose that, I'm not playing 40k anymore, I'm playing chess, or warmachine, or some other game that I haven't put years into to learn the rules and paint the armies. It's as simple as that. "Broken" lists can be written all day; however, those lists do NOT interest me. I can write those lists, play those lists, and win with them. But I'm not in this game to win, I'm in this game to have fun, paint and play with some awesome models, and create my own personal story, and those lists don't let me do that. I would rather lose a close game than win big. Thus, I take the Dark Apostle, and I'm considering ponying up the points to give him the Scrolls of Magnus in the next list he's in.

 

tl;dr--This game isn't about winning for me, it's about having fun with the armies I've painted.

[the jeske]

@thejeske, the Apostle is, in terms of fluff, the guy that keeps

everybody going and pumped up on the Chaos gods, but not so great on the

table. Chaos doesn't win national tourneys (in the USA, Feast of

Blades, NOVA, Adepticon, etc.). It does just fine on FLGS level, and

some regional tourneys, which is perfect for me. If I wanted desperately

to win, I'd run a list that has held up to the international meta. The

winning armies are the Screamerstar and the Seer Council, neither of

which interest me, either playing them or playing against them. They

look boring. 2++ rerollable? No thanks. I'll keep my fearless

power-armored blobs and cultists and daemon engines, thank you. The

apostle is part of the codex that I'm have access to, and I don't see a

reason to not take him. He's not a game changer, he's just fun for me to

use.

What does , he  does good in local tournaments/FLGS , mean ? It tells nothing about how he is suppose to be used properly. no one has to explain to me how a screamerstar works I know that . What I would like to know is the set up needed to get , as you call it "sense of ridiculous".

 

 

 

He's won games for me that I wouldn't have if he wasn't there.

Fearless+LD10 bubble kept my culstists on objectives that won me games. I

could have kitted a lord to do his job, but then I wouldn't be using

his awesome model. If I am aiming to win, and only to win (say in a

tournament), I won't be running Chaos at that point. BUT, I do run Chaos

in tourneys. It's awesome. Huron and a Dark Apostle, 2 CSM blobs,

cultists, and daemon engines (one heldrake maybe).

But a lord can make cultists ld 10 and fearless too and he stays longer [3W, higher A] and he costs less. And there is 0 rules that say that someone can't use a model with a power maul as lord . Only marines have rules like that and even they can go around it by self allying.

[jumping goat]

Thanks for all of your replies, I much appreciate it.

Due to the fact that most of my games are just fun games with mates I will buy and paint up an apostle and cultists and have fun fielding them as a huge mob of bloodthirsty fanatical maniacs.

In tournaments I will count the apostle as a lord or not even use him at all.

 

[oreaper84]

i have fun running an DA in a giant mob of cultists with auto guns, i personally run him with MoTz and the book o magnus, which can be real fun. squag has 3x flamers and max bodies. also works well with just the DA having Mok with pistols and ccw's hard to ignore 35 overwatch shots and 105 rerolled attacks