The Geist Lords (CrimsonSlaughter+NightLords)

[Doom Herald]

Though I can't honestly say I'm thrilled with the Crimson Slaughter Trait, I am happy I have some rules for them. Prior to this I had been using Night Lord rules to emulate how they worked in 7th. This lead me to make my own warband that would be a combination of elements from The Crimson Slaughter and Night Lords, thus the Geist Lords were born. Having rules for both does give me some new options and I am excited to try synergising these two.

 

First, the Crimson Slaughter tactic basicly gives a terrain feature an aura that gives enemies a -1 to hit. In Midnight Clad, the Night Lords strategem gives a unit of yours -1 to be hit. Effectively, in the right conditions, this adds to a -2 to be hit on a Night Lords unit. This would be good for screen units, which of course means Cultists. Now, add a dark apostle to it for Benediction of Darkness and you have -3 on your Night Lords Cultists to be hit. Make them Nurgle and keep a Sorcerer near by for Miasma of Pestilence and we have a potential of -4 to be hit on your cultists. This means only BS: 2+ or autohits can hit.

 

How do we ensure we have a Crimson Slaughter unit within range for strats? We use deepstrikers, I was thinking a Host Raptorial or Terminators. Perhaps even characters with deep strike rules to make use of the cultist screen.

 

Also, I like the idea of trying to blend Night Lord and Raptor debuffs to Ld with the debuff the CS Warlord trait offers. -3 from Terror Tactics, another -1 from Raptors, -1 Nurgle Icon, -2 CS warlord, and possibly a further -1 for Host Raptorial. This comes to -8 Ld, that's pretty brutal.

 

Does anyone have any thoughts on other ways I might use these two together or what units might best fit?

[Doom Herald]

It's a fair point that other units can benefit from this and not just cultists. Nigh indestructible screens were just the first thing to come to mind.

 

I'm really looking for thoughts on how I can run away with working these two factions together. There seems to be definite potential.

[Panzer]

Why do you want to make cultists so hard to hit? Unless there's something to force your opponent to shoot at them or if you have characters hiding behind them the enemy can just ignore them and shoot at your other units.

Screens only really work for characters or against melee units, not against shooting.

 

I like the idea of combining these two though. Could make for a fun army to play with even if it's probably not the strongest kind of list CSM have to offer.

 

 

 

Also just out of curiousity, what does "Gheist" mean? If you wanted to use the german word for ghost then it would be Geist (singular) or Geister (plural). ^^

[Doom Herald]

Why do you want to make cultists so hard to hit? Unless there's something to force your opponent to shoot at them or if you have characters hiding behind them the enemy can just ignore them and shoot at your other units.

Screens only really work for characters or against melee units, not against shooting.

 

I like the idea of combining these two though. Could make for a fun army to play with even if it's probably not the strongest kind of list CSM have to offer.

 

 

 

Also just out of curiousity, what does "Gheist" mean? If you wanted to use the german word for ghost then it would be Geist (singular) or Geister (plural). ^^

The "gheist" portion is a reference to the ghosts that haunt the Crimson Slaughter and the phenomena that accompanies them which fluff texts often call poltergeist phenomena. Thank you for letting me know I've been spelling it wrong. I've usually seen it with an h, although I'm not sure why. "H" will be removed.

 

As for cultists, an immovable large wall behind which the rest of your army advance was the idea. Objective holding as well, especially near terrain. Oblits and havocs are definitely worth applying this to as well.

 

What are people's thoughts on the Sword of the Relentless? It basicly is a power sword that gains auto-wound. Worth a relic?

[Brother Aiwass]

"Gheist" doens't have to mean anything. GW uses it without any shame to name stuff.

"Voltagheist Fields are a type of energy field used by Adeptus Mechanicus Electro-Priests. Nimbuses of pure energy surround all Electro-Priests, crackling from their bare skin to coalesce into sparking pockets of electromagnetism that hover like will-o-the-wisps above a drowned corpse. When incoming projectiles or energy beams threaten an Electro-Priest these tiny voltaic ghosts will often intercede, shattering or dissipating the threats in puffs of burning ozone. When the wearer of the field charges the foe, those same voltagheists ground upon nearby enemies in bursts of electric force."

[Doom Herald]

What about using the same idea with a Chosen unit, utilising Thunderhammers and maximum combi-bolters and bolters with Bolter Discipline? Hold a line, or move forward with bolter shots protected from most ranged attacks and bring those Thunderhammers to bear at close range.

[Panzer]

I really wouldn't advice a -1 to-hit weapon on models with WS3+ (or worse) and only 2 attacks. It's fine on the champion but not that great on the regular Chosen imo.

[Sgt. Blank]

Instead of a deep striking unit, you might consider Crimson Slaughter bikers as a delivery mechanism for the strategem. This was you could use it Turn 1 and shift it closer turn 2 if needed, while being more maneuverable than terminators, tougher than raptors and less points than both.

[Brother Aiwass]

Instead of a deep striking unit, you might consider Crimson Slaughter bikers as a delivery mechanism for the strategem. This was you could use it Turn 1 and shift it closer turn 2 if needed, while being more maneuverable than terminators, tougher than raptors and less points than both.

Or a flyer unit, specially one that has already an inbuilt -1 to hit, like a xyphon or helblade.

[Doom Herald]

I like those ideas. I got used to strategems for <LEGION> having the INFANTRY requirement. I've been wanting to try out bikers, using Crimson Slaughter vehicles and bikers might be something I try.

[Doom Herald]

I'm thinking I'm going to try running 15 NURGLE NIGHT LORDS Possessed with a Dark Apostle, Greater Possessed, and a NURGLE CRIMSON SLAUGHTER Sorcerer. -3 to be hit on a Possessed blob is something I want to try. The CS Sorcerer for the CS strat if need be.

 

Then I'm going to use a KHORNE CRIMSON SLAUGHTER Lord on bike with the Blade of the Relentless (auto-wound power sword after the first kill) and Maelstrom of Torment warlord trait along with a Slaanesh Biker squad. Both as CRIMSON SLAUGHTER. The high speed will let me move them into positions to provide the Terifying Phenomena strat. The Lord as KHORNE for the option (probably unused option) of attacking twice and the Bikers as Slaanesh for the option of shooting twice.

 

For range, I was going to use 2 SLAANESH Obliterators, 1 squad. NIGHT LORDS seems the way to go since I will be able to use In Midnight Clad and Veterans of the Long War. A small part of me feels I might get more versatility with them as CRIMSON SLAUGHTER though. I will be able to deepstrike them to add protection to other units with the Terifying Phenomena strat and possibly gain command points with the CS trait.

 

I know this will all be CP heavy so I will be taking lots of cultists for CP generation. I think I will take 2 Armigers for heavy support. I'm also considering giving a Venom Crawler a try with another GP and maybe a MoP but I'm not sold on the idea.