Choose my Meatshield

[Frater Cornelius]

Hey lads.

 

Recently, I played with the idea of allying my SW with BA. The synergies are obvious. Sanguinary Priest gives Furious Charge and FnP to the already formidable melee capabilities of SW. The Wolf Standard works well here since it also allows you to reroll 1s of FnP. Dante giving Skyclaws Hit and Run, thus benefiting giving them more opportunity to benefit from rage. Pack in a Librarian or Priest for Prescience and you get a lot of murder. Librarians can give you hidden power axes/fists +d3 attacks.

Magna Grapple is awesome and blood talons are very good tarpit annihilators. The list goes on and on and on. Loads of benefits and stinky cheese.

Even got some fluff. The S.Priests are the death speakers of the chapter, invoking the vengeful spirits of heroes of times gone by and summoning them (death company). Battle Brothers know that their ancestors are watching them and fight with increased vigour. The equivalent to Mephiston would be the boss of said death speakers. It fits perfectly with the ancestor veneration going on here and a lot of potential with those units the BA codex brings.

 

But here is the point. I have no desire to play the BA codex as a separate army. Only as allied detachment to my wolves, maybe even primary detachment (but that is pushing it). I only want to focus on two armies. The second one is already Tau, or Mechanicus rather, which also has the option to play with wolves.

 

Is it worth adding the BA codex to my chapter to get potentially awesome and devastating combos at the price of said allied detachment being unused in lower point games or when the allies are not an option, thus gathering dust on the shelve? Or is the opportunity cost (money and effort spend converting and writing fluff) and danger of a new BA codex changing things to high and you would forgo those (potentially temporary) benefits?

 

Your opinions now :)

[Karack Blackstone]

New book will change the points; DC and the SP's are likely to be at least similar enough to not require a full list rewrite, although once the new books are all out, there's the issue of how the new synergy will work.

 

My advice: mental dry runs, followed by actual games later once you think you have the right build for your list.

 

Guessing here.

 

SW:

 

1 RP

 

2 GH

 

BA:

 

Sang P

 

1 DC Squad

 

1 Stormtalon (maybe)

 

---

 

With the above guess as a basis, fiddle with anything and everything and figure out what you want to play that's the most fun for you.  Once that's done, just playtest and tweak.

[Oz of the North]

Your idea sounds fun, but unfortunately the sang. priest's ability only works on models from codex blood angels, so if you attached him to sw squad the sw would get no benefit. It is in the blood angels faq that says that.

[Quixus]

An allied detachment needs an HQ and one troop. The Sanguinary Priest is an Elites choice. Also the Sanguinary priest has been errataed to only help units from Codex Blood Angels. DC already have all the benefits (FC, FNP) they could get from the SP. Lastly I'm not aware that the Stormtalon is available to Blood Angels. They only get the flying brick (Stormraven) AFAIK.

[Frater Cornelius]

Good thing spotting the errata. I have not touched it just yet. Gotta check it out to get more complete info. Thanks for the hint.

[Russ Brother 92]

Also unless we're Blood Brothers then other character's special rules and abilities (like Dante giving H&R or Wolf Standards re-rolling 1s) won't affect your ally - even then I believe there are other things (like the SP's FNP) that don't affect allies even if Blood Brothers.

[Grey Mage]

Why not just paintem up as 13nth company?

[Quixus]

DC as 13th Company? Heresy!

 

More seriously, that sounds like an interesting idea, especially since 6th edition made the DC controllable.

 

A Wolf priest (Reclusiarch) and a bunch of frothing madmen (DC) could work. Too bad the 13th has no reason to have drop pods AFAIK.

[Grey Mage]

Thats why you model it up as a magical portal, ala stargate or some vortex. Stormbolter? Oh, thats the lightning shooting out of it.

[Frater Cornelius]

BA and SW are actually BB if I am not mistaken, thus capable of spreading around a USR and psychic goodness... apart from the errata'd stuff.

 

As for the 13th Company. Yes, that is a good idea, IF I would be playing SW. However, I only use the codex and I am also guilty to use similair aesthetics and concepts. But the Chapter is home made. I my eyes basically what I wanted SW to be more. More old viking legends and mystery and less wolfing. While I am still working on the concept of my wulfen equivalent, I am certain that I prefer the DC to be my fallen heroes. I just like the image of a few warriors charging into battle (knowing full well that this might very well be their last with being wrongly accused and made renegades) and their battle cries, courage and honour till the end wakes the vengeful spirits of their battle brother for some epic awesomeness.

In fact, this sounds so cool that I might base an entire detachment of BA on that idea. Tales of the those who died, sword in hand, in times gone by... if BA were BB with Tau and I wasn't turned of by the idea of a third army. I mean even if SP don't give benefits to wolves, there's plenty that do.

[Quixus]

Can't one of the Grey Knight characters summon ghosts of GKs?

[Grey Mage]

Can't one of the Grey Knight characters summon ghosts of GKs?

You purchase friends for him, but yes. Hes not an IC though, and youd need a strike squad of troops....

 

But its not a bad idea at all.

 

 

@Immersturm: And hey, if the 13nth co doesnt work for you, Im sure you could figure something else out along those lines but fitting your more closely historical norse fluff.

[Frater Cornelius]

I am sure I will be. The real question now is, whether it is worth it effort-wise and crunch-wise. I mean, does the codex BA enhance the army strongly enough to justify the monetary expense? I like the look of my miniatures but I hate to see them gathering dust. Maybe there is another option like codex SM, that could bring some interesting options. You see, unused elements of my army make me sad, thus I will only choose to add this detachment (possibly third army), if it can be justified one way or another ;)

[Oz of the North]

BA are a fun army to play, and I would recommend them to ally with if you want to use death company as wulfen, but other than that they aren't the greatest use of ally detachment.

[Grey Mage]

Id consider them for an assault unit and flyer- deathcompany, reclusiarch, and a stormraven. Comes in at about 500pts, but does an excellent job.

If youre not looking to invest so much into an ally though, they dont bring alot thats special at lower values IMHO, so Id look elsewhere.

[Frater Cornelius]

Well, aren't SW notoriously the army that does not need an ally? The flyer of BA is interesting, but I feel that Misslesides will do a better job killing fliers. As for the other benefits? I will need to playtest some of them to determine if it is as good in game as it sounds on paper.

[Oz of the North]

Thing to remember about the storm raven, is it has the ability to shoot down 2 flyers a turn with its power of the machine speeder

[Grey Mage]

Well, aren't SW notoriously the army that does not need an ally? The flyer of BA is interesting, but I feel that Misslesides will do a better job killing fliers. As for the other benefits? I will need to playtest some of them to determine if it is as good in game as it sounds on paper.

We are, and were often allied in. If we do take allies they tend to be for weight of numbers- IG- or for anti air duty- tau.

[Frater Cornelius]

Another interesting thought was codex SM. Ultramarines are nice with all their special chars. Tigurius is amazing for his points and helps tau as sw. The drawback is that the chapter tactics only benefit them. Another alternative is Clan Raukaan. They have plenty of effects that enhance both of my armies, like rerolling 1s while shooting, creating ld10 bubble for all friendly units, bolstering cover and creating defacto 2+ save sergeants with tech marines. The disadvantage would be that I am more of a infantry guy with apcs, cavalry support and main army of angry dudes, thus the IWND rue for vehicles would go to waste. These two are in my opinion the only Chapter Tactics that would help me, the rest does nothing that the SW couldn't do better or do not support BB enough.

[Karack Blackstone]

Your idea sounds fun, but unfortunately the sang. priest's ability only works on models from codex blood angels, so if you attached him to sw squad the sw would get no benefit. It is in the blood angels faq that says that.

 

I will remember my mistake and choose to correct it.

 

In that regard, going with C:BA units, what HQ choices would fit the unit and allow the army to take the field?

 

Also, C:SM?  That's a rather inventive change up.

[Quixus]

In that regard, going with C:BA units, what HQ choices would fit the unit and allow the army to take the field?

For the DC? Reclusiarch. Liturgies of Blood is nothing to scoff at (rerolls on to-hit and to-wound on the turn they assault) and the IC himself can also bring the pain, too bad he has to run around with a power maul.

 

If you cannot field enough Land Raiders, BA can take them as dedicated transports. We can even deep strike them - just watch out for the little pointy gretchin noses that can make them disintegrate.

[Oz of the North]

You could possibly add in a BA librarian with biomancy to give them FnP, but that is still a possible roll and blood lance is always fun. Then again by that same token you can bring a rune priest. C:Sm is always fun, but I have never played it so cant give much advice.

[Frater Cornelius]

Rolling endurance is never guaranteed. My prime contender would be one in the BA codex... forgot its name. It gives any model +d3 attacks. Cast it on the hidden power weapon in GH or BC squad and enjoy the tears.