Can Possessed work?

[Forté]

Being that everyone writes them off (and the fact that I have a large unit from when the minis were released). Is there any way to run possessed short of throwing them into an expensive Landraider with a target painted on?

[Disciple of Fulgrim]

You are a brave indeed Brother, to ask such a question in this forum of eternal bitterness and dismay.

 

Be prepared for such an outpouring of spite and vile regarding the Possessed, that it could drown the accursed False Emperor on his so-called "Golden Throne" a thousand times over.  

[Forté]

Well...this is the sub forum for excess and trying new experiences ;)

 

Should have mentioned too that I'm not one for tournaments and don't like cookie cutter armies as no thought goes into them once the meta is established and I may as well play chess.

[Dammeron]

Yes, they can; it depends on what you want them to do and how they work in synergy with the rest of your army. My primary opponent is a Thousand Sons player (gasp! Horror!) who primarily plays a mix of Thousand and Tzeentchian daemons. He uses his Possessed in a manner contrary to how the interwebz might purport: to plug certain gaps and deficiencies in his core troops: they act as escorts and bodyguards for his Thousand Sons squads and cultists, all of whom are generally used to take objectives etc. The Possessed and daemons serve to deter or block those attempting to assault his Thousand Sons or range ahead and deal with long range threats. It's surprisingly effective, as they will wreck almost anything they get into close combat with; the trick is getting them there. With daemonic escorts (Heralds in blobs of Horrors), you can ensure they do by casting buffing and protective spells upon them, or simply hug terrain. Aternatively, you can stick them in rhinos or landraiders with Dirge Casters and transport them up the battlefield that way. My opponent tends to consolidate his positions with them; allowing his daemons to deep strike in and provide distractions and nuisances closer to my battle lines whilst his Thousand Sons, Possessed and cultists solidify his end of the board.

[Disciple of Fulgrim]

"Well...this is the sub forum for ... trying new experiences" you say -
and therein lays your mistake, my dear Brother.

 

During the Age of Terra, a tyrant once known as Napoleron also had his
Chosen - they were styled as his "Olde Guarde" but came to be known
as "Grognards." Long serving, loyal, experienced and lethal - they
were all of these things and more, but what they became known for, for all
eternity, was their incessant complaining - which is what Grognards
means, as far as we know now, in the olde Francish language of Napoleron. (The
soundest Gothic translation of "Grognard" one can now find is
"grumbler.")

 

Just as on those battlefields of long ago, this particular forum is now
dominated by Grognards - men (and perhaps some Ladies) of long service,
experience, wisdom and lethality. Persons to be listened to (on the rare
occasions when they are not grumbling) because of their puissance upon the
Tabletop of Eternal War, their faultless logic as regards RAW, their skills at
the holy art of Mathhammer (to rival that of the great Eisenstein!) and their
many, many victories in the service of the Ruinous Powers.

 

The Grognards (our blessed version of the False Emperor's so called
"Inquisition") have spoken - Possessed are worthless. Do not
seek to question their judgment, for it is final. Forevermore (or until our
next Codex comes out) one is only to speak of the Possessed in terms of spite
and hate - for that is our fate, as Champions of Chaos.

 

P.S. Hate to say it, but I think Possessed have been craptastic since
forever - I use their bitz to chaosify my other dudes, and am rather happy with
that. I'm not a tournie player, but I just can't bring myself to field these
guys, even on a casual table - I have to agree with the Grogs, they're a hot
mess!

 

P.P.S. So why did I even bother to write a reply which at first seems to defy
"conventional wisdom?" Because I don't think the Ruinous Powers,
or the Interwebz, are all that concerned with kowtowing to
"conventional wisdom."

Happy Holidays and Death to the False Emperor - DoF

[Sception]

For me? No, they've done nothing, and have been nothing but disappointment. A melee unit without delivery method, special weapons, tools against 2+ armor or vehicles, reliability even agajnst other 3+ save units, grenades, etc, which cost near as much as terminators while dying to small arms fire like 13 point chaos marines. And that's not just theory hammer,mI'm a Black Legion player, I've got my own unit as well, and really like the models, I've tried to make them work.

 

But if you already have the unit, then try them out for yourself, maybe you'll figure something out I didn't.

[the jeske]

as they will wreck almost anything they get into close combat with;

Define most , because all the melee units used nowadays either stomp them hard or have hit and run , or stomp them hard and have hit and run . They don't even need to fight a death start a normal 10 man squad of ultragrit marines or squad of bikers stops them .

[Dar'kir]

Wouldn't they work well given the mark of tzeentch or maybe even nurgle. It work be highly dependent on who youare facing. With either the 4+ invuln or T5 they should be able to hold up against most standard line squads. Again, it would be rather situational...

[Forté]

Sadly I can see people's point which is sad because the idea behind them, fluff wise, has always appealed to me.

 

@Disciples of Fulgrim. Your post is a nightmare to read on the mobile version. Pink on White is a tough combo ;)

 

I may just have to jump into the fire and try them. Most likely behind a blob of cultists or Daemonettes. And try to hug cover.

[Chaeron]

I really like the models... but I wouldn't use them, I don't think.

[the jeske]

they have some awesome fluff linked to BL and WB that is true. Worse of it the models aren't half bad either .

[chillin]

problem isn't really the possessed (altho they are far from stellar ) , it's lack of a delivery system to get them into hth.. And they have no guns, sooo...

Darkir , you could give them MoN or MoTz to try and keep more of them alive long enough to get them into combat , but then you are talking about 30+ points a model, that makes them cost as much as spawn and  10 pts more per model then bikes.

[the jeske]

or terminators . power weapon and combi bolter . shoting , melee , +2sv vs random possessed . both units lack frag.

[Fibonacci]

There is no better judge than experience.  If you have the models, put them on the table for 4 or 5 games.  See how they play.  Assess their strengths and weaknesses.  Look for what worked and do more of that.  Watch where they fail and see what can be done to remedy that. 

 

When thinking about their build, keep in mind there are only 2 icons that do anything for possessed.  Khorne's icon gives Furious charge and Slaanesch's gives FNP.  Any mark ramps up the cost of an already point heavy model while icons are one time investment so they become relatively cheaper with more models.  In my attempts I have found the MoK (+1A) with the icon of wrath (furious charge) to be marginally better than other options since it gives a better chance of making it into combat.

 

And good luck because in 6 games of trying they have never caused a wound for me.  I have even assaulted a weakened unit of ork boyz and lost them all without a chance to swing.

 

In the shooty-centric meta of the current rules any melee only unit is going to be behind the 8 ball from the start.  At 26 points per model it is hard to justify them even for "I think their cool and fluffy" reasons.   A 8 man squad is an outrageous point cost while a 5 man minimal squad can loose 40% strength to normal over watch shooting.

 

For what it's worth, I still get good use from the codex playing fluffy lists but I have come to look at CSM as the ranged portion and use daemon allies for any close quarter battle support.  It works; they have guns and throw the replenish-able fodder into the assaults.  But this build philosophy means possessed don't fit and the helbrute takes the "it's a cool model" position at a substantially lower point cost.

 

Honestly, I wish I had better news.  I have tried.  They don't work for me at all.  Maybe you will have better luck.

[Forté]

Will have to see. Must admit to not liking Icons with the Precision Shots being able to target better.

[Trevak Dal]

Regarding Icons man, think of it this way:  If you played Red Scorpions SMs with the ability to upgrade every sargent to a Apothecary (FNP), you are opening yourself up to losing your power/combi weapon AND your apothecary.

 

In CSMs, you can spread that around.  And Precison shots haven't come up very much in my experience...and often people will forget about it.  And you will ALWAYS have whatever the Mark does, so there's that.

[Forté]

Fair point. The 30pts for a 5+ feel no pain just doesn't grab me (sorry, I'm a Slaanesh fan). We'll see.

[nurglez]

The only thing possessed have going for them over terminators, is being a daemon and non bulky. Being a daemon means they can benefit from some things from the daemon codex, though considering you could just take a better daemon unit instead that isn't saying much.

 

The only other way I can see them working is if you infiltrate them, but then they still die like marines to small arms fire.

[the jeske]

But terminators can infiltrate too .

[crucial]

Yes but can terminators infiltrate with a 2++ save via the grimore & MoT ?

 

Answer: Nope.

But are terminators even bothered? Nope.

[Slayer le Boucher]

If they had acces to options like Chosen, then they would be nice, not awesome, but still nice.

 

But with virtually no options, poor random powers( since the last 2 editions) and no nades, they are rarely worth the points.

[Sception]

Yes but can terminators infiltrate with a 2++ save via the grimore & MoT ?

Neither can possessed.  The mark of tzeentch turns off if the model would have a save better than 3++.

 

And if you're taking the grimoire, then you have access to much, much better assault specialists to use it on.

[the jeske]

What mali said . + unlike most demons and all possessed terminators don't have 1 turn down time [shoting works turn 1 just fine] , don't have to worry about servo skulls as much[Combi bolters have an ok  30" treat range] and with mot added I can buy combi plas for my terminators for the same points and then we have a class higher unit .

 

Deployment wise , if I take huron and roll a 1-2 and have another unit I want to infiltrate[deathstar for exampl , oblits etc] then possessed have to be that one most important unit in my army , not support , not an ok unit that does melee. No other unit can be more important , because if there is one , then possessed are stuck in my deployement walking . Terminators can walk and shot or can deep strike .

[crucial]

Aw heck. Possessed suck then.

 

I dont understand GW mentality/stupidity sometimes.

[Forté]

Aw heck. Possessed suck then.

 

I dont understand GW mentality/stupidity sometimes.

It's called the finance department