Sevatar, Sacrificial Offering & Outflank

[Caillum]

Whilst looking at the Army of Dark Compliance, I started searching through Special Character Warlord Traits to use on Militia Units. As it turns out, I came across Sevatar's version of 'Master of Ambush', where all Outflanking units gain Acute Senses. While this has never done much for the AoDC (or anything for that matter), it is very interesting with the Rite of War "Sacrificial Offering".

 

RULES

 

Effects:

Circling the Trap: All models in the Primary Detachment gain the Outflank special rule and must begin the game held in Reserve.

Faith Misplaced: The army’s Allied Detachment gains the Stubborn special rule while in its own deployment zone.

Beneath Contempt: The units in the Allied Detachment never yield Victory Points for being destroyed.

 

Limitations

- The army must include an Allied Detachment drawn from the Imperialis Militia and Warp Cults army list, and this must begin the game deployed. The army must include a Fortifications Detachment.

- All Primary Detachment units must begin in Reserve. The Primary Detachment may not include any units with the Immobile or the Slow and Purposeful special rules.

- The army may not include any models that deploy using the Deep Strike special rule.

- This Rite of War may only be used in a Traitor army.

 

 

The pro & cons for Sevatar's Night Lords are:

- Everything has to start in Reserve, but gains Outflank AND Acute Senses.

- Given you need to take a Fortification, a Comms Relay is a very good upgrade.

- Deep Strike is not allowed, so no Drop Pods of any kind. Also, no taking advantage of 'Master of the Atramentar' or Terminator teleport transponders.

 

So, here you get the ability to accurately Outflank literally anything! Veterans/Terminators (and their Dedicated Transports), Dreadnoughts, Attack Bikes, Jetbikes, Flyers, Tanks, Super-heavies... all of these Outflanking with an 88% accuracy rate (2/3 of the time you get them where you want, and you can re-roll this). Units that naturally have Outflank (Marksmen Veterans, Javelins & Outriders) don't gain anything extra out of this, but that doesn't mean writing them off. And as I mentioned previously, you have to take a Fortification, so you'd be mad not to take one with a Comms Relay for Reserves re-rolls.

 

The pros & cons for the Militia are:

- Everything gains Stubborn in their deployment zone, making things like discipline collars less necessary.

- Nothing yields VPs for dying, which helps with a few missions.

- Night Lords and IM&WC are 'Distrusted Allies', so you have no scoring Allied Troops choices.

- Limited to the Allied Detachment Force Org Chart, so there's not a lot of slots.

- Must begin the game deployed, so no Thunderbolts, Arvus Lighters or Outflanking Sentinels (though they can still Scout).

 

IMHO, the biggest problem here is the single HQ choice. Not being able to take Discipline Masters (they're Support Officers) is very annoying, given how Morale is always an issue with IM&WC. A Command Cadre with a Platoon Standard (ie: 24" Stubborn bubble) is useless for this force, so you're going to take a Force Commander for the Provenance(s):

- Warrior Elite gives you a helpful Ld buff. Not much more to say here.

- Gene-crafted is very pricey, but good for a combat army. However, having Allies with MEQ-like stats is a bit pointless when working side-by-side with a Legion.

- Cyber-augmetics is one of my favourites. 6++ on everything? Sweet. +1 on all existing invulnerable saves? Works wonders for Ogryns with boarding shields. I always wanted to represent this with 40k Skitarii Ruststalker models.

- When you already get free Stubborn in the deployment zone, Alchem-jackers looks like it's only half useful. But the Pinning benefit is very useful for holding ground (especially with Artillery or behind an Aegis Line). 'Frenzon' is a very fluffy option too!

- Survivors of the Dark Age is my other favourite. Power armour for everyone! Again, Ogryns gain a lot out of this. Rhinos and Land Raiders are cool options, but you already have these in the Night Lords. My favourite bit is the 'Advanced Weapons' option - 10 Grenadiers in a Rhino with laslocks (18" S5 Assault 1) or 20 behind an Aegis line with lasrifles (30" S4 Rapid Fire)? Nice.

- Feral Warriors is an interesting one. Bringing Levies up to WS3 makes them less hopeless against elite units, and WS4 Grenadiers are rather versatile. 'Blade and Fury' is strictly better than 'Frenzon' too.

- Abhuman Helots is the 'old guard' dream. Squats, Beastmen, you name it. Very strong option tactically, and makes even more sense with Night Lords, given the Allies Matrix doesn't actually get any worse for them.

- Despite negating the RoW's Stubborn bonus, Cult Horde does remove the morale issue completely. You have to rely on Vehicles for any shooting, but it's still a strong, safe option.

- Tainted Flesh is the the classic pairing with Cult Horde, but it feels a bit too Witchy-poo for Night Lords. Definitely not a bad option though.

 

So what do people think? Is it a complete waste of time, or could it be worth a look? Are there any players who have used Horus or 'The Head of the Gorgon' to Outflank a lot of units?

 

Edit: list is here! http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/329934-night-lords-sacrificial-offering-3k-with-sevatar/

[Charlo]

Definitely onto something userful here!