Case for Soulwarden?

[Malphas]

So, I'm building out lists and I'm all about thematic, fluffy stuff. So, I wanted to put a formation together for my new Chapter Master kitbash. I want to drop him in with 2 squads of SG and 1 squad of VV, and I'm wondering about WLT. We've got Artisan for the added damage on his relic blade and the shield eternal. I was thinking the added survivability on the SG with Soulwarden would be a good play, but then I'm wondering about battle role. It seems that spending the points for the chapter master puts him solidly in more of a support role, so it might make sense to sacrifice some killing power by forgoing CoH or IS. Or maybe you dump Artisan for one of those and keep Soulwarden. Or maybe Soulwarden doesn't matter at all. I've thought about a HB + SW combo too. The more I think about it, the more lost I get. Thoughts?

[BloodyB]

Soulwarden is fairly useful against a good number of armies, Thousand Sons and Grey Knight armies both pump out a staggering number if you lack psyker defence, and Necrons can be a mortal wound happy too. Certainly, a chapter master with SW and a decent master crafted melee weapon is an excellent blend of support and character killer in small games. The shield eternal wouldn't add much to SW though, as I don't think they stack.

 

For my choice, a master crafted relic blade, a storm shield, obviates the requirement for CoH, as you'll be hitting and wounding most things on 2s anyway with BA tactics.

 

Of course, if you take a Chapter master, the special WT that they can take deserves a look in, it is incredibly powerful for those who use stratagems a lot. Probably not what you're looking for, but if you start spamming those CPs then it might be handy.

 

What are the VV armed with? I like mine a little different, with chains words and handflamers, makes here mullering very easy. I also love the hammer option, but LC for me always look so Raven Guard-y.

[Malphas]

I used a number of bits from the dawnbreaker cohort, so they're all armed with spears that I count as lightning claws and storm shields. I have another group of them armed with th/ss, but I like the look of the spears better.

 

This is really awesome, I like your load out a lot. My brother plays 1k Sons, so that's what turned me on to Soulwarden to begin with, but I think I'll take a look at some of these other options as well.

[BloodyB]

Ooh, those spears are very nice, and an unusual rules choice really sells their lethality and ancient pedigree. I may have to look into something similar. I run my own custom chapter master, made for rule of cool not effectiveness on the field, as a dark imperium gravis dude, using a pointing powerfist bit and a guardian spear instead of sword, he has that GSC nexos holomap for some flavour.

 

Running your flying doom detachment sounds really nice. Dropping from on high and delivering Imperial justice to the alien/mutant/heretic leaders is very in keeping with BA tradition, starting way back with Sanguinius and continuing to this day. Brings a righteous tear to the eye.

 

On consideration, maybe adding one of the buffing relics could be useful? The Reliquary of Gathalmor is insanely useful, but requires Primaris. Maybe converting a cool Chaplain from some Inceptors and counting as a Primaris Bike Chaplain? Combined with the WT increasing buff range could make for a cool master of sanctified? I'm glad I'm already writing this down, that sounds cool.