Axe of Blind Fury vs. The Black Mace

[Khornestar]

At least the AoBF doesn't care about the juggerlord not benefitting from his own aura. I think it's the only weapon with that somewhat dubious distinction.

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

A Sorcerer can take the Murdersword? Cause it replaces a "energy-sword", not a "Forcesword" (?)

I replace his ranged weapon with a Power Sword, then swap. He still retains his Force Stave.

[OnboardG1]

If the Black Mace slays a model with an exploding six mortal wound do you roll again for the mortal wound? 

[Panzer]

That's a good question actually. RAI is pretty likely 'no' or else they would be no need for it to be at the end of the phase.

[OnboardG1]

That's a good question actually. RAI is pretty likely 'no' or else they would be no need for it to be at the end of the phase.

That's what I thought, but it isn't strictly clear. I'd guess this will be errata'd shortly.

[Gothical]

After a little more thinking about it, I'm really taken with the Axe of Blind Fury on an Exalted Champion. My reasoning is that the Champ has a re-roll Wounds aura and only re-rolls Hits against Character models, therefore is less hampered by the Axe's drawbacks than a Lord would be whilst still hitting on 2s in melee (and his rule is still relevant when he comes up against rare characters with -1 To Hit effects on them). I'm going to have him accompanying Khorne Berzerkers as an extra Plasma Pistol and bonus AP caddy, and also because should I position badly and get a Berzerker on a 1, well, Khorne cares not from where the blood flows.

 

I generally prefer the Mace and Axe to a Power Fist purely for avoiding the -1 To Hit (especially with the way modifiers and re-rolls work). I would still take the Power Fist if I had a character in need of a high-strength weapon and I don't have space for the (extra) Artifact(s), but to my mind I view them as more upgrades to Power Mauls/Axes than PF replacements.

 

I find it really difficult to calculate an "appropriate" place for the Mace - the most obvious is the Dark Apostle but he's a comparatively weak combat fighter, and Exalted Champions don't get any mobility boosts (though Rhinos/Land Raiders do exist), and whilst the fixed D2 is great against multi-wound infantry the AP-2 lets it down against Terminator-class models. It's a great Primaris-killer though, and anything else with W2 Sv3+ or worse (unfortunately most mid-level targets like Warriors, Wraithguard and Crisis Suits have W3).

 

I'm wondering if there is some sort of Sorcerer build between Smite, Infernal Gaze/Gift of Chaos, Daemon Shell stratagem, The Black Mace and Flames of Spite warlord trait for (randomised) spamming of Mortal Wounds.

 

As for other Artifact builds, right now I'm contemplating a Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour with The Murder Sword and Chainfist - depending on warlord traits I can either use him to anchor my lines and ward away a specific character or Deepstrike in after his chosen target. Has the Chainfist against multi-wound non-chosen models that the Sword can't really deal with.

[Sception]

Rerolls ate before modifiers. Rerolling misses on the exalted champ won't let you reroll a two, even if you are taking a hit penalty.

 

It will help if you fight something that changes your weapon skill, like an imperial assassin.

[Gothical]

Rerolls ate before modifiers. Rerolling misses on the exalted champ won't let you reroll a two, even if you are taking a hit penalty.

 

It will help if you fight something that changes your weapon skill, like an imperial assassin.

 

That's true, but at least the Champ is benefiting from re-rolling Wounds (unlike a Lord who gains no benefit for the above reason) - hence why I think the Black Mace beats the Power Fist on Lords, and on any of the other WS3+ characters.

 

Side-note, thanks to the way modifiers work, when re-rolls are available it seems reducing the WS of a model is a worse ability than inflicting a to-hit modifier, which seems weird to me.

[Commissar K.]

Well I think it might not be intended to completely beat it either way, as it is also cheaper. However I think the difference in general isn't too huge. I personally really like the Axe of Blind Fury and the Black Mace just a little less so. In general though both seem cool. In addition, while unlikely, the Axe can cause casualties on your side aswell to me this smallish downside is likely why the Axe has a small advantage over the Mace.

Now I am also very interested what people like about the Murder Sword, as I personally think that tool is very unique and could give some form of board control aswell while certainly being a more niche choice.

[micahwc]

Upcoming tournament and I couldn't decide. So I will spend a command point and take both. The mace on a Dark Apostle, the Axe on an Exalted Champion. They will be accompanied with 40 Khorne marked World Eater melee cultists. Each character is above strength 5 with the axe/mace, and both will generally do more than 1 damage per attack. They get 9 attacks on the charge between them, and both buff the cultists.

[the jeske]

May your tables be full of dense terrain that blocks LoS.

[micahwc]

Anything shooting at the giant cultist blob isn't shooting at my 4 havoc squads or three earthshaker batteries. :)

[Vorenus]

Did you get to use them in a tournament? How did it go? Any lessons learned?