Uses for the "Inner Circle" Stratagem?

[Berzul]

Hey everyone.

 

So, I had a fight yesterday against Black Legion, and something happened in it that made me wonder about ways to improve the effectiveness of my Smash Master.

 

See, in this battle (spoilers!), I had a Company Master in Jump Pack with a Thunder Hammer, supported by a Lieutenant in Jump Pack with a Heavenfall Blade, charging in against a Lord Discordant. In the ensuing melee, I was NOT able to knock off enough wounds off of the beast, to take it down on the first go. Which then forced me to have to spend 3 CP for Honor the Chapter to fight again, and take it out.

 

I have been going around in circles inside my head on how I could have improved my chances for this fight. Hitting with the -1 of the Thunder Hammer, and only rerolling 1s to hit, certainly caused be trouble. Because I rolled a LOT of 2s on the attacks. landing only 6 out of a total of 10 attacks, which is NOT good all statistical analysis considered.

 

Suddenly I thought... Well, how CAN you get more hits out of the character?

 

One way would be using Never Forgive, Never Forget, for exploding attacks, but with the -1 of the Thunder Hammer it is wasted. But, then again, if you spent one CP to make the character Deathwing through Inner Circle (a stratagem I have never, ever, ever used, and actually forget it even exists most of the time), then you could use Fury of the First on the Company Master, right? That would negate the -1 to hit, making you hit once again on 2+ (with rerolls of 1) and would give you exploding 6s on the attacks with Never Forgive, Never Forget. This would also unlock Stand Firm, for a +1T for the Company Master, which is a nice bonus.

 

Would this stratagem be worth it, in this circumstance?

 

[Fierce Bear]

I think it's just the opportunity cost of the CP Vs the target you are taking out right? Vs the 3cp to just... Fight again... Would the 4(?) Missed hits have done the job or would you need to fight again anyway to be sure?

[Berzul]

Well, if you fail to kill it once, you can always fight again for 3 CP, or fight again upon death for 2 CP.

But, then again, better to kill the beast outright on the first go, than to go about spending extra CP to try a second time, right?

[Angel of Solitude]

So sadly, both Fury of the First and Stand Firm are for Terminators only. However, using Inner Circle would give you access to the Key of Achrabael relic, which grants +1 A and +1 S, and you could also Master Craft your Thunderhammer too for +1D.

 

If instead of a Lt you brought along a Interrogator-Chaplain with jump pack, then you could chant Exhortation of Rage to give exploding unmodified 6's to both the master and IC, and also give them The Eye of the Unseen to force characters within 3" to fight last. 

 

All options, but potentially you're starting to over-engineer things a bit. If it was a statistically bad set of rolls, then that's what your 3CP were mitigating, and so is essentially your fall back plan.

[Berzul]

Oh, I thought they were for any DEATHWING model. I had not noticed it was only Deathwing TERMINATORS.

 

Also, can you give the Key and a MC weapon to a character at the same time?

 

Thanks for the heads up, in any case.

 

Seems like the stratagem IS indeed somewhat useless....

 

Now, spending 1CP to give the Company Master the Deathwing Keyword, so he can take the Key of Achrabael, and then taking Fury of the Lion, means he would be hitting 6 times with S12 no the charge with his Thunder Hammer. Not many things I find that T6 is not as prevalent around the game, as say T5 or T7, so S10 might be enough for wounding most things on a 2+, and S14 would be needed for most other things.

 

But still.... Its 6 attacks! at S12!

Edited September 9, 2020 by Berzul

[Angel of Solitude]

Hmmm, looks like you can only give a single relic to a character, so it's either the Key or MC :(

[Berzul]

well, 6 hits at S12 with D3 is still better than 5 hits at S10 with D4, I guess... the key becomes better than a MC thunder hammer

[G8Keeper]

If you're looking at support characters you can't go far wrong with a Righteous Repugnance Librarian,tool that Master up and reroll failed hit and wound rolls.

[Berzul]

I actually LOVE that, and use it for mi Deathwing. But, for my greenwing, i just don't have more jump pack models, sadly :(

I went with narrative over convenience, when building the army. and gave the master a lieutenant as a support character, and then spent all my models in other ways.

I do hjave a veterans kit that, with enough decorations, COULD be used to make a Chaplain and a Libby with jump packs, though....

[aura_enchanted]

or rhino primaris rhino primaris is actually amazing, 72pts of hot razroback lovin with +1 bs and ws to a single model or unit at your discretion

[Berzul]

Ok, I went to the book, and checked. Indeed, Stand Firm is a no go, but... Combined Assault is for just a DEATHWING unit, not a TERMINATOR unit.

 

So, using Inner Circle on the Jump Character could make ir elegible for combined assault. Thus, dropping outside of 6" of the enemy.

 

Now, a jump pack gives a 12 inch move, so getting into position for a charge is not that big a deal, but it COULD be useful against an army with lots of snipers, like Raven Guard.

[G8Keeper]

I'm afraid I'm 90% sure that combined assault is for teleporting units only though

[Berzul]

I might have assumed it as just "deep striking", per the old, old, OLD rules of 7th Ed.

 

Wow, this stratagem really IS absolute garbage, isn't it?

:/

Edited September 10, 2020 by Berzul

[WrathOfTheLion]

Combined Assault says a deathwing unit set up to use teleport strike.

 

Yeah, I think the strategem is complete garbage. I would like to see it go away and there be some other mechanism for venerable dreadnoughts, etc. to be deathwing. Masters should just have the keyword.

Edited September 10, 2020 by WrathOfTheLion

[Berzul]

Agreed.

 

I think EVERY master, regardless of wargear or armor, should have the Keyword. Same with Venerable Dreadnoughts.

 

So far, then, the only use I can find for this stratagem is for getting my Jump Pack Company Master the Key or Achrabael (which, to be honest, is still quite a good relic, if only a bit expensive at minimum 1 CP.... 2 CP, since my Jump Pack Lieutenant also has a Heavenfall Blade, and I'd need the Relic of the Rock stratagem to bring both)

[Angel of Solitude]

The only other potential use for the Inner Circle strategem is to allow Dreadnoughts to benefit from DEATHWING keyword buffs. One mad idea I had was for a smash Relic Contemptor Dreadnought, accompanied by a Deathwing Ancient, giving it 6 S14 attacks on the charge, or S16 if you have a Warlord nearby with Fury of the Lion. In 8th, my delivery choice was a Storm Raven, but I guess strategic reserves would work well for 9th.

 

Hey, I said it was mad, not good!