Soulforged Pack advice request

[Furnace Lord]

The Soulforged Pack is one of the Vigilus formations that most interests me. I'm curious what more experienced 8th edition players think of it since I've never used a Specialist fomation. What do you think are good unit picks for it? Mostly I'm looking at Venomcrawlers and Maulerfiends since the formation seems to encourage aggression, as well as Lords Discordant to keep up with it. I admit I'm hesitant to field a Lord Discordant without the half damage warlord trait, however.

 

Also, I'm aware of some kind of Forgeworld character called a Hellwright. I don't know much about them but it seems as if they have all the keywords to be the mini-Warlord for this formation. Also, does one even need a character to take a specialist detachment, or can I just pop it on a few Daemon Engines just to fire off the stratagems?

[Lord Asvaldir]

Soulforged pack definetly seems solid for venomcrawlers/maulerfiends, potentially heldrakes as well though I don't think heldrakes are all that competitive these days compared to what they use to be like in previous editions. Forgefiends also don't benefit a whole lot from soulforged pack, it's really focused on boosting melee daemon engines. 

 

So keeping in mind venomcrawlers/maulerfiends are what you want to take for this formation, I think it's pretty solid. Both of the stratagems are very useful for those daemon engines. Advancing and charging helps them get in melee earlier, and the other stratagem helps get a little more punch out of your wounded deamon engines. The warlord trait also seems pretty good on the lord discordant given he can dish out a serious amount of damage just based on how big his base is. That being said, I am also hesitant to actually field a lord discordant. While his buff for deamon engines is great, he's going to be a serious bullet magnet, and may require substantial buffs just to keep him alive. Now I haven't actually used one of course but that's just my thinking, and I think it may be better to load up on just quantity of cheaper deamon engines. 

 

I don't think you need a character to run the formation, but warpsmiths are relatively cheap so I may run one anyway.  

 

What I really want to try out most is venomcrawlers. They aren't all that much weaker than maulerfiends in melee, and their guns are reasonably decent given it has two of them, and can be buffed to s9 by greater possessed which is pretty handy in certain situations. I'm still holding out on getting a second one though, don't necessarily want 2 of the models from shadowspear. 

[Furnace Lord]

I had thought to advance a Greater Possessed with the group to hopefully keep up and buff the guns on the Venomcrawlers, as well as maybe a supreme command detachment with a matching Herald to do the same. I don't know if the Herald is overkill, though.

[Cheex]

Blood Slaughterers also really benefit from the warlord trait and Advance + Charge strat, since they have an automatic 6" advance. 18" move on T1 with a 2D6" charge range (or more, if you take the Impaler Harpoon and charge a vehicle/monster) gives them a reasonable chance for a quick charge.

 

Decimators and Lords Discordant go well together, with or without this formation. 4D6 shots that hit on a 2+ and cause a mortal wound per hit? Hell yes.

 

Also, I'm aware of some kind of Forgeworld character called a Hellwright. I don't know much about them but it seems as if they have all the keywords to be the mini-Warlord for this formation. Also, does one even need a character to take a specialist detachment, or can I just pop it on a few Daemon Engines just to fire off the stratagems?

 

Hellwright on Dark Abeyant is good, in that he's reasonably fast (8" move base) and has few enough wounds to take advantage of the Character rules. Other than that, he's essentially just a tougher Warpsmith with different weapons.

 

No, you don't need a character to take the specialist detachment. I see little reason not to take a character, though, even if it's just so you can spend another CP for the Field Commander stratagem - the trait is just too good to pass up, especially on a Lord Discordant. If you're worried about him being vulnerable to shooting, bring a Dark Apostle to help protect him.

[Furnace Lord]

I'm still trying to get a sense of how Venomcrawlers stack up compared to Maulerfiends. I've heard of the fiends doing some horrifying things even without the bonus to hit, less data on the crawler, of course. I do like that it's guns get stronger with strength buffs.

[Tallarn Commander]

Since I already love to run armies with Defilers, Maulerfiends, and Blood Slaughterers the Soulforged Pack has no downside for me. It gives my Daemon Engines the 12" extra movement that they had back in 7th Edition as well as some other goodies.

[anarchistscourge]

I would run a master of possession as well. He has a power giving +1 invuln in 6”. Perfect detachment is lord discordant, MoP, greater possesses and then 3 daemon engines. With the 3 it should take the pressure of the lord discordant somewhat

[Tallarn Commander]

I'll probably run a Master of Possession for the Daemon Engine buffs and a regular sorcerer for Warptime. The Lord Discordant will have to wait til I finish painting all my models (Only 81 to go).

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I'm not so sure about the Master of Possession - its unlikely he can keep up with the engines, as he is forced to make his way on foot - he can't take a jump pack or steed like the codex/index Sorcerer.

[Mekhitar]

If you advance the MoP he can readily stay in range of your engines for t1 and t2. By t3 the engines are not moving far (already engaging the enemy) so he can catch up the last few inches then.

 

Also, as infantry, the MoP can move right through ruins your engines have to go around - allowing him to move a “shorter distance” and make up for his smaller move characteristic.

 

Greater possessed are nice, but if you are using the sx2 engines already (defilers at s16 for example) the extra +1 doesn’t do a lot of good. He does help out venomcrawlers, but beware: if he is close enough to buff them, they are close enough to explode all over him on a 5+!.

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

For the Lord Discordant, there are many ways to protect him for the first turn that aren't all that onerous if you go second (Dark Apostle, Iron Without/Iron Within, Prepared Positions, etc.). Don't forget multiple threats to absorb damage or the possibility of a Devastation Battery as another detachment so you can use Punishing Volley to remove some obvious big guns before they can fire during the opponent's turn. After that, a 14 inch move, plus things like Warp Time or the Infernal Engines strat will get him into combat where he is much more difficult to kill. It also might be worth it to take two....given that he's not just a character, he's also a Daemon Engine that hits pretty hard and benefits substantially from the detachment.

[Tallarn Commander]

Plus, even if they do kill the Lord Discordant with Turn 1 shooting, then it means the odds are good that more of my Daemon Engines will survive long enough to hit the enemy lines.

 

In my experience, against tough armies such as Knights or IG I lose 1 Daemon Engine a turn trying to cross the board. If I go second and lose my Lord Discordant on Turn 1 and Deffy the Defiler on Turn 2 then it still means that Mary the Maulerfiend and BloodLady the Blood Slaughterer hit the enemy lines on Turn 2.

[Dumah]

If you advance the MoP he can readily stay in range of your engines for t1 and t2. By t3 the engines are not moving far (already engaging the enemy) so he can catch up the last few inches then.

 

Also, as infantry, the MoP can move right through ruins your engines have to go around - allowing him to move a “shorter distance” and make up for his smaller move characteristic.

 

Greater possessed are nice, but if you are using the sx2 engines already (defilers at s16 for example) the extra +1 doesn’t do a lot of good. He does help out venomcrawlers, but beware: if he is close enough to buff them, they are close enough to explode all over him on a 5+!.

 

And if  you should  happen to go Brazen Beasts, you can give the MoP the relic armour (granting 1" extra movement).

[Danny Cyanide]

My plan currently includes 2 Lord Discordants with 5 additional Daemon Engines (2 blood Slaughteres, 2 venomcrawlers and one Maulerfiend) in my Soulforged Pack. I'm going to back this up with 15 possessed, 1 greater posessed a dark apostle and a MOP in a Daemonkin ritualist detatchment, buffeded up by 3 Poxbringers in a surpreme command.

 

I'm hoping that between the 7 Daemon engines and nasty -2 to hit possessed unit that it'll be difficult for my opponent to pick their target.

[Mekhitar]

I don’t know how much terrain you usually play with, but be careful that you’ll have enough space to get that all in a lien. Otherwise, unfortunately, the enemy can really slow you down by crippling (but not killing) the vehicle(s) in front, who then block the one behind from moving!

 

It’s very annoying...

[Danny Cyanide]

Good point on making sure I have clear lanes to move through. I'm not a very competitive player and an much more narrative driven, and to me this is the Word Bearers army I've always had in my mind! Maybe I should drop a Daemon engine or two and add some troops to the Daemon detatchment.