Be'Lakor The Dark Master

[Excessus]

Yeah, I really have so many things on my mind I could be doing with him atm.

 

...making a big blob of cultists fearless to bind up something big and expensive in melee is only one thing...

[Noctus Cornix]

Hallucination...

 

 

That's an awfully nice Terminator Squad you have there... Would be a shame if they all killed each other..

[Iron_Within]

I don't rate Hallucination, against that terminator Squad they would have storm shields (likely) and it would just be pinning them for a turn or stupifying them more likely. I personally think the stupify version is better as it completly ruins a unit for a turn, but it's random and expensive. I would only use that if I had spare warp charges from people failing morale checks.

I think he functions best in a Zilla army or generally a Daemon army inflicting -1 leadership on a units fear tests make it more reliable (and fear actually bloody useful), I mean one failed leadership test and a decent roll you would get every single Telepathy spell off Save Hallucination, Throw in Hallucination and two in one turn. That's nasty as hell. If allied with CSM or as the primary he can still be useful as there are plenty of ways to force Ld tests. I have to say I'm starting to like fear more and more when I get to use it, I just hate that Space Marines avoid it even with Terrify.

Terrify would be more viable really as forcing those morale checks means it's more likely to increase you Warp Charges.

In short. I think I'll be trying him out

A slightly modified version of my current 2k list would be as follows

Belakor

lvl 3 Sorcerer with Sigil and Spell Familiar

2 units of 10 Cultists

2 units of 10 Chaos Space Marines with 2 plasma Guns, Votlw, Rhino, combi weapon and Melta Bombs

1 unit of 9 Chaos Space Marines with 1 plasma Guns, Votlw, Rhino, combi weapon and Melta Bombs

1 unit of 3 Nurgle Spawn

2 BaleDrakes

2 Maulerfiends with Melta Cutters (I find the Lasher Tendrils not as useful in my local meta)

2 Obliterators with MoN

The idea would be just spamming Telepathy into my units, using it on the Rhino's (annoying Easy Kills after all) at first and Spawn and rolling up in 24" ready to hopefully unleash two lots of Puppet Master and Psychic Scream with the Spawn and Fiends as Tarpit/Distraction units and the Drakes coming in for the Coup de Grace (though in the last 4 games one drake has consistently failed to turn up before turn 4 ). Against Tau it would be funny (we use lots of Terrain BTW) as their Riptides would be turned on themselves, it would struggle more against MechDar (as being in 24" at the start of movement is hard and I don't have a hell of a lot of Anti armour at range (up close I'm laughing). Go for Be'lakors Warlord Trait against those that aren't SM.

[the jeske]

Marines ? meh .

 

CSM main. BL ally .

 

Belfegor

sorc familar vets upgrade

4x10 cultists units

1x4 unit of Mon spawn

4mauler fiends

2 helldrakes

[Dammeron]

Whatever you want him to do, he's going to do it exceptionally: he's one of the best buffing and nerfing psykers in the game, not too shabby offensively in that regard either, highly mobile, evil in close combat, survivable: he is the jack of all trades AND the master all rolled into one. What do you need him to do in your army? Put him to it; he'll do it. The only problem I foresee is he has so much potential, you may have trouble focussing on what he needs to do as opposed to what you'd like him to do. Personally, for my Severed Angels Slaaneshi force, he'd serve in the role of buffing and nerfing primarily, before charging in to wreck face in the latter stages of the game.

[Sception]

Please note that Be'lakor's bonus warp charges only trigger if the opponent failed a moral test in the 'previous turn'. Since it isn't specified whether this means 'game turn' or 'player turn', the rulebook says it defaults to 'player turn'. That means you won't get bonus charges off of terrify, or anything else that you might cause on your own turn. It's actually rather difficult to fail morale tests in your own turn, it pretty much only happens from ongoing combats, so the ability is basically little more than thematic, as it isn't going to trigger often, and you don't get to provoke it yourself very easily.

 

Be'lakor's decent without it, anyway, just something to be aware of before people get carried away, here.

[Iron Skull Mask]

Doesn't previous turn mean, both previous player turns?

[Iron_Within]

I'm with Iron Skull Mask on this one, it sounds like an oversight rather than an attempt to limit his ability, it's quite clear that it's game turn rather than player turn. 

Yes yes Waah wah wah RAW whatever, in local games common sense can be applied.

[Sception]

Why is that clear at all, other than that we would want it to be so? Where in belakor's rules does it mention gaining the ability off of morale checks caused in your own turn, that you could make any claim what-so-ever regarding intent? Maybe if it were impossible to fail morale tests in your own turn, which would rennder the ability unusable, but that's not the case. The ability still does something, just not as much as you would like.

 

To the contrary, its the game turn that wouldnt make much sense. Imagine if you went at the bottom of the turn, and your opponent failed a morale test from an ongoing combat in their turn two. Then you wouldnt get the ability in your turntwo, since the failed morale test was in 'this [game] turn' instead of the previous [game] turn, and thats far more ridiculous than the player turn interpretation. What, failed morale tests two player turns ago count, but failures in the previos player turn don't? Do you really think that was the intent?

 

Or if you did allow the bonus in that instance, then belakor could get the bonus twice from the same failed morale test, since in your next turn, the opponent's failed morale test would still be in the previous [game] turn? Again that seems more ridiculous than the proposition that the rule writers meant 'player turn' just as the core rules say they did, which doesn't result in any weird rules malarky, just a weaker ability than we might have wanted it to be.

 

Dont 'wah wah' me just because you don't like the rules. I didn't write them.

[Iron_Within]

No I'm wah wah'ing your statements (not directly you, just the attitude that you are putting across) because they are so commonly espoused on the internet. I'm right this is the RAW you cannot argue because I'm right. Maybe excercise a bit of common sense among local gaming groups. To me, 'the previous turn' would include each players turn, so morale tests from shooting, terrify etc. in your turn, and combat in their turn. That to me makes sense. And that is what I would set out and make clear to the person I am to play should there be any confusion, which is generally what we do with each unit so we know what's going on if we come across something familiar.

[bjoluemblem]

A psyker regenerates warp charges at the beginning of your/its turn, so I think (not going to touch the RAW v RAI here as it's a messy subject on good days) that any morale tests failed by the enemy in your half of the previous turn (from shooting or assault or whatever) would cause the warp charge generation. So:

 

In the top of turn one, Belakor has his warp charges. Due to shooting from a forgefiend or something, a Tau fire warrior squad loses >25% of its squad, and fail their morale check. In turn two, as the fire warriors had failed a morale check, Belakor now gets his bonus warp charges. That's how I see this rule, and, honestly, that's how I'm going to play it.

[Sception]

I wish I could just see rules as better than they were written, and have my group go along with it, particularly on models that are already quite powerful, even under a more conservative rules interpretation.

 

The way it's written, it means player turn, because player turn is the default for 'turn'. But more then that, game turn is an absolutely absurd assumption, as soon as you remember that it's possible for Be'lakor to be running at the bottom of the turn, instead of the top of the turn, so I'm not twisting or lawyering anything here, I'm insisting on the interpretation that both functions as written and makes any sense at all.

 

 

What you guys are talking about is not the previous 'game turn' or the previous 'player turn', but rather something along the lines of 'since the start of the last chaos turn', which is a completely different wording entirely, used in some abilities in the game but notably not this one.

[Iron_Within]

Fair enough, sounds like your argueing from the POV of your experiences of your local meta, which I get that, I've had people argue the toss over stupid things (helldrake firearc before it was FAQ'd)

[Dammeron]

Either way, he's still an absolute beast: being able to cast whatever power he wants from the telepathy pool with a mastery level of 3 means he'll likely be able to do whatever he's needed to anyway. He is the 40K uber-character: he excellent in almost every role and regard, as befits the first mortal elevated to daemonhood.

 

I'd be particularly interested in what Mal thinks of the baxkground concerning Be'lakor's relationship to The Despoiler.

[Vesper]

 

I'd be particularly interested in what Mal thinks of the baxkground concerning Be'lakor's relationship to The Despoiler.

Wait, what ? That kind of fluff exists ?

I know Be'Lakor is an ally of Abaddon, but there's more ?

TELL ME.

[caboosebe]

 

 

I'd be particularly interested in what Mal thinks of the baxkground concerning Be'lakor's relationship to The Despoiler.

Wait, what ? That kind of fluff exists ?

I know Be'Lakor is an ally of Abaddon, but there's more ?

TELL ME.

He's to Abaddon like a remote controller is to us.

Always handy to have, but when you can't find it, it's almost as if he did it on purpose to make us feel bad.

[Sception]

He's basically deliberately trying to subvert the thirteenth crusade from within Abaddons ranks, betraying and murdering warlords serving the despoiler both to undermine the black legion and to create openings allowing him to work his way closer to Abaddon's inner circle. He does this out of bitterness and jealousy - holding an eternal resentment of those champions the dark gods have raised in his place after abandoning him. As the first daemin prince, he presented himself to abaddondoing his usual 'herald of the gods favor to the everchosen' thing, and in that role has been accepted into the black legion, but the Be'lakor supplement makes it clear Abaddon doesn't trust him.

 

Be'lakor doesn't have the power to outright challenge the Despoiler, so he serves him openly while subverting him behind the scenes and trying to make himself essential to Abaddon's plans so he'll be in a position to betray the Despoiler to his doom when the time is right.

 

This has been Be'lakor's roll since his fall from grace, trying to spite each of the chaos gods, but never sure whether his hatred was his own or whether he was still just a thrall of the gods, serving to subvert each others' plans instead of advancing their own. Though its not ecplicitly stated as such within the new fluff, this also gives some insight into just how important destroying Abaddon and undermining the thirteenth crusade is to Be'lakor. This is the first time since the Horus Heresy that all four gods are working together, bent on a single goal and in support of a single champion. By opposing Abaddon, spiting all four gods at once, Be'lakor would prove once and for all that his hatred was his own.

 

But until he moves openly he can't be sure. The forces he leads openly against the despoiler's enemies to try and work his way into Abaddon's favor, those actions obviously serve the warmaster and the chaos powers. And even his behind the scenes manipulations leading to the deaths of some of Abaddon's followers might in the end only serve to cull the weak from the herd, making the Black Legion stronger in the long run.

 

Until he finally stands at Abaddon's exposed back, Be'lakor cannot know for certain whether he has the independent will necessary to plunge the dagger in, and with Abaddon already suspicious, he may never get the chance to find out.

 

 

All in all, I like the new fluff, as it makes Be'lakor as broad a character as possible. He works fighting for or against daemons, leading the Black Legion against the enemies of chaos, orleading other chaos forces against the Black Legion. He'lldefinitely find his way into my own Black Legion army,which already has a 'renegade daemons seeking to undermine the gods' theme going, though I haven'tdecided yet whether it will be as a counts-as figure (using his rules to represent Zalera or Famfrit, or maybe shemhazai, zeromus, or kaos), or find a way to work him in as himself. I'll probably pass on his actual model either way, I don't buy finecast, especially not sight unseen. Maybe I'll pick up the creature's kai Zalera, or the master creatures Diabolos? Wouldn't be GW playable, but...

[A D-B]

 

But until he moves openly he can't be sure. The forces he leads openly against the despoiler's to try and work his way into Abaddon's favor, those actions obviously serve the warmaster and the chaos powers. And even his behind the scenes manipulations leading to the deaths of some of Abaddon's followers might in the end only serve to cull the weak from the herd, making the Black Legion stronger in the long run.

 

And the closest members of Abaddon's inner circle - the founders of the Black Legion - have lived in Hell for an eternity, so they're not particularly threatened by a single daemon prince. It's a cool dynamic: to Be'lakor, he's engineering all of these galaxy-changing events around Abaddon. To the Warmaster and the Ezekarion, who deal with stuff like that all the time, it's just Tuesday.

 

I really like Be'lakor's new lore. It could've been a plain and simple insert, but the ambiguity and depth of his personal quest is a really rich slice of story.

[bogjob]

And lets not forget that he's not Unique. 'How many would you like in you army sir'

[Vesper]

To the Warmaster and the Ezekarion, who deal with stuff like that all the time, it's just Tuesday.

 

Street Fighter, the movie.

Aww, that sentence was the coolest part of that horror :).

[Sception]

Against the despoilers enemies. The forces he leads openly against the despoilers enemies to try and work his way into abadon's favor obviously serve the aims of the chaos powers. I really need to stop posting from mobile...

 

Anyway, Be'lakor's a bit more than just any daemon prince, being the first of his kind, and the first chosen lord of chaos ascendant, sharing the favor off all the gods. Be'lakor was Abaddon before Abaddon, Horus before Horus. At his height, Be'lakor was what Horus would have been had he won, and even after his fall is not a being to be trifled with, even by the likes of Abaddon.

[Vesper]

I would say the Despoiler is far from naive about the jealousy of say most of the inhabitants of the Eye. Bel'akor is unique, in a way, but he's also walking the path of many Daemon Princes and Chaos Lords before him who tried to make the Black Legion kneel before them. What I get from the Black Legion supplement is that Abaddon seems pretty obsessed by the future and the fate of his legion. After all, he is holding what might very well be the most powerful and vicious united fighting force in the whole Galaxy.

It's hard to estimate Bel'akor's forces and ressources, but one thing is sure, whatever he wants to achieve isn't gonna be an easy task.

[A D-B]

Against the despoilers enemies. The forces he leads openly against the despoilers enemies to try and work his way into abadon's favor obviously serve the aims of the chaos powers. I really need to stop posting from mobile...

 

Anyway, Be'lakor's a bit more than just any daemon prince, being the first of his kind, and the first chosen lord of chaos ascendant, sharing the favor off all the gods. Be'lakor was Abaddon before Abaddon, Horus before Horus. At his height, Be'lakor was what Horus would have been had he won, and even after his fall is not a being to be trifled with, even by the likes of Abaddon.

 

Sorta-kinda. Even Horus wasn't Abaddon. Horus was duped by the Chaos Gods, and never had the Mark of Chaos Ascendant. And whereas Abaddon's the setting's narrative Antichrist, Be'lakor is effectively a failure, a proto-Chosen One, who - from his very beginning - never had any hope of triumph because the very first thing he did was become a daemon prince, thereby losing any hope of influencing material reality with any lasting purpose.

 

So I'm not saying he can be trifled with. But similarly, he's not a grave concern, either. He's just one of many issues with living in Hell.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Sooooo....is he going to have any cameos in the Abaddon novels we're all so impatiently craving?

[Slayer le Boucher]

I'm glad to see that Chaos fluff is a bit more fleshed out, since the RoC era books, there wasn't anything really new or exciting.

 

Black Legion supp and Belakor did a good job to raise the bar, at least in the fluff.