Helbrecht + Bladeguard Veterans

[L30n1d4s]

I think Helbrecht and a Bladeguard (*ahem "Sword Brethren") bodyguard make a pretty devastating combo.

 

 

Consider this combo:

 

-Helbrecht

-Primaris Chaplain on Bike (Master of Sanctity, Tanhauser's Bone's Relic)

-Primaris Apothecary (Chief Apothecary upgrade and Selfless Healer WL Trait)

-4 Bladeguard Veterans (Sergeant has Champion of the Feast, Sword of Judgement, and Icon of Heinmann)

-Impulsor with Multi-Melta

 

 

The Impulsor gives everyone a 14" move, plus protection with 11W at T7 and 3+/5++. One unloaded, Helbrecht and the Bladeguard can charge in quite reliably once they are buffed by Chaplain (5+++ and +1A cast on the Bladeguard). Along with Helbrecht's buffs (re-roll 1s to Hit and +1S auras), this means that Helbrecht and the Bladeguard are charging with 15 x WS3+ S6 AP-3 Dmg2 attacks and 14 x WS2+ S8 AP-3 Dmg3 attacks.

 

In terms of durability, the Bladeguard Sergeant has 4W and a 2+/4++/5+++, all with the ability to ignore AP-1/-2... if he is wounded, heal him back to 4W automatically from the Apothecary or, if he dies, bring him back for free with the Apothecary next turn. The Apothecary can also simultaneously heal Helbrecht or the Chaplain with +3W, keeping them in the fight.

 

Finally, against tough foes, you can always pop Transhuman and/or use the new "For the Emperor's Honour" Strat to force tough enemy characters to fight the Biker Chaplain (with his ability to reduce all attacks to Dmg1). Add in the ability to make the Bladeguard Objective Secured when you need them to be (i.e. the new "Strength of Conviction" Strat) and you have a very dangerous, well-rounded little battle group that can independently "secure" a portion of the Tabletop without any outside support.

 

 

 

 

[Tiger9gamer]

I was toying around with this as well, and at risk of spending too much on characters I may even suggest put a judicar in there as well. stop time on one big squad to make them fight last, and between and then hopefully you don't need to worry about them swinging back

[SkimaskMohawk]

Idk, it looks like normal elements of a templar list, just all jammed together in an Impulsor. 

Mechanically, there's a pretty big problem to this 'combo', and its that chapter master buff, and both prayers need to be used in the command phase.

 

And while you can kill most key infantry units and tank a decent amount of stuff, ultimately it's still just a trade unit. You're tossing in 9-12 points of assassinate to make a unit that's just as good as other buffed up dedicated melee units.

[9x19 Parabellum]

Yeah I agree with Skimask. It's not that this stuff isn't good (it generally is), it's just that you have committed 700 pts. to this bag of tricks.

 

As he also said, all that stuff goes off in the command phase, which means, among other things, you either can't use it in round 2, or you can, but only after you already disembarked everyone after the Impulsor's turn 1 move, meaning they are vulnerable to getting shot up or charged or both.  You're assigning 3 characters to buffing 4 models.

[Tiger9gamer]

Wouldn’t the chaplain at least be able to cast litany of hate and have that be effective? It is an aura ability, so even if it is not directly cast on the bladeguard it would still be able to take effect provided he charges with them. Maybe he tosses divine protection on himself so he could charge in and engage a melee hero with a stratagem. Worst comes to worst, he could always use commanding oratory (which will be 1 cp if he takes the wise orator trait)  after forgoing a command phase litany to cast something on the blade guard, who would also benefit from helbretch’s rerolling 1’s in combat.

 

plus, it seems to me that helbretch is a beast onto himself, and even if he doesn’t get chapter master benefit on the turn he walks out on he is still a close combat machine that can hit almost anything really. And even if the squad takes damage, as the OP said the apothecary would at least allow one to stand back up.

Personally I would replace the apothecary with a justicar, if only to stop counter assaults from breaking them down by making anything near them fight last. Divine protection would be good to put on the vets with the after command phase litany, and the rest of the synergy would go from there. 
 

I would say go for it to at least try. The chaplain isn’t even tied down to the squad either, as he can go anywhere he needs to to spread his divine wisdom

[SirJyo]

The chaplain can drop a litany at any point using the commanding oratory strat.

 

Also what are you using to allow the templars to charge after disembarking?

Unless you mean waiting a whole turn.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

There’s also a new Templar strat to pop a litany.

[CrystalSeer]

There’s also a new Templar strat to pop a litany.

Works in command phase sadly

[Tiger9gamer]

The chaplain can drop a litany at any point using the commanding oratory strat.

 

Also what are you using to allow the templars to charge after disembarking?

Unless you mean waiting a whole turn.

actually I had a question on that.  does it only work if the chaplain didn't pray in the command phase?

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

 

There’s also a new Templar strat to pop a litany.

Works in command phase sadly

 

thats why we have the other strat.

[Danosborne]

“Without any support”. Except this combo is “all the support” Helbrecht, Biker chaplain and Apothecary are the main support characters. So while this nugget is happily over killing one objective the rest of the army will just have to look after itself on the rest of the board.