Mass Engines of Redemption viable?

[Emicus]

Can I get away with spamming pain engines and mortifiers and still win games?

[ThePenitentOne]

I'm not sure, but it's something I'm itching to try too.

 

I have Vahl and Karamazov, plus 3 Paragons, 6 mortifiers to be built, 3 classic penitent engives painted and ready to go plus an extra plastic PE from the promo box.

[Plague _Lord]

I'm not sure, but it's something I'm itching to try too.

 

I have Vahl and Karamazov, plus 3 Paragons, 6 mortifiers to be built, 3 classic penitent engives painted and ready to go plus an extra plastic PE from the promo box.

 

Somewhat fitting for someone called "The Penitent One" :)

 

Gotta say I love the idea of this army - fill it out with arco flagellants and you have a whole lot of crazy.

[ThePenitentOne]

In the Witch Hunter dex, I used to run 2 armies that were 1500 rather than one at 3K. The trick was they could combine when you wanted to.

 

One army was the Penitent Legion... My namesake.

 

The other was the holy choir.

 

This is easier now than it was in the past due to the flexibility of the detachment systems and new models which expand the potential for a Penitent Legion- the Dogmata and Mortifiers fit the bill perfectly, and Pious Vorne in her new generic Preacher suit matches up nicely too. 

 

So far this year, my painting output is better than it's been since 2007-08. I think 2010 was a good year too.

 

If I can sustain the momentum, I'd love to hit my Mortifiers and Karamazov by the end of the year.

[sitnam]

Karamazov is such a classic mini, I'd love to see all the old WH/DH era characters get a redo.

 

I can't speak for winning games, as I'm a KT player, but it should be fun atleast? Maybe you'll get lucky one editions and Engines will be broken for an edition lol

[Emicus]

Listened to the Sister Act 40k podcast episode 'Rampaging Penitence' twice now. It interviews one AshC with a 12 penitent, 3 mortifiers list. Very interesting stuff.

 

Putting a non-affiliated link for people's convenience.

 

https://pca.st/episode/096503de-d524-4a71-91cc-d6c5f5054b82

[ThePenitentOne]

I listened to the first 20 minutes of the podcast, but that was about as far as I could get. The competitive build, number-crunching probability matrix is a bit alien to me.

 

So lets talk about the design parameters of a Penitent Legion from fluffville.

 

I have always perceived a separation between the Sisters and the forces they support- be those Ecclesiarchy or Inquisition: they Sisters are the ones who perform miracles on the battlefield- they are the ones who are touched by the Emperor's grace. You won't find even a high Cardinal who can take the Pepsi challenge of holiness against even a basic sister. And if your holy warriors are to maintain that spiritual purity, they must separate themselves from those who have been deemed unworthy.

 

In a game of detachments, this is easy to play- and if you're avoiding matched play (which I do religiously) you can ignore their ridiculous prohibitions against mixed Order forces, should you choose to do so.

 

Repentia and Mortifiers ARE sororitas units; while Penitent, and therefore dangerous to the spiritual fortitude of their holier sisters. Mortifiers can benefit from abilities that affect Sisters and Repentia go a step further by actually maintaining <Order> keywords. This means they NEED a Sororitas HQ in charge of their detachment. A cool and rare thing is that most characters can step up and be warlords, not just those that we typically think of as leader types. So sure, you COULD drop a Cannoness or a Palatine in  to command this detachment of Mortifiers and Repentia... But nominally, she's still holy and pure, even if she is a Bloody Rose frother who revels in feeding heretics to Benificence.

 

So what I like to do is use a Repentia Superior.

 

And sure, she's Holy too, but she's got very specific training that allows her to fortify her soul against sympathy for the wayward and unworthy. And in Crusade, she can become a viable commander with enough battle honours and such. So this detachment is just a repentia superior, a few units of Repentia and a few units of Mortifiers. About that: I really, really like mortifiers. In a true Penitent Legion, they are the only real long range fire you're getting. Because you've got a Sister HQ, however, if you do decide to drop in a unit of BSS to avoid paying the CP cost for BOTH of your detachments, this is the one that gets the Sister tax.

 

Then you've got the non-Sister penitent- this is your Arcoflagellants and Penitent Engines. None of these are connected to the actual Sisterhood- they are common criminals or even heretics. Personally, I think Karamazov, in his role as a judge, is literally perfect to command such a force... But because GW still hasn't quite managed to get the Inquisition 100% right, he can't actually do that. He can join as an Imperial Agent... But then the detachment still needs an actual ministorum HQ. 

 

And you know what? Pious Vorne would be the absolute PERFECT model for that job... But SORRY, she's a preacher, not a missionary so no such luck!

 

So you need a missionary to lead the detachment, and you take Karamazov as an Agent. Truth be told, Karamazov isn't exactly a perfect fit- this is a Crusade force, and as a named character, Karamazov isn't going to grow. But if you want to push the walker theme, you've gotta bring him... And again, he's got that Judgement thing going on, so it's totally fluffy for him to command a Penitent Legion even if GW's keywords say otherwise.

 

I always bring Vorne too- even though she can't be the HQ, she has capacity to buff, so you might as well- she certainly fits the theme. And then you load up with PE's and Arcos. The idea is that this detachment is designed to pull hate. If they are shooting your Penitent Engines and Arcos, they aren't shooting your Repentia or Morties. So you have to make THIS detachment LOOK like the threat by getting it in the enemy's face.

 

Is it going to win any tournaments? 

 

Probably not.

 

But it's fluffy and ugly and gritty- built with zero consideration for anything but the rule of cool.

[Rasp]

Rule of cool trumps all (except both parties having a fun game). So go for it! I’ve always loved penitent engines and always wanted to make a list like this. Sounds awesome

[jarms48]

Go all in, take 12 Penitents and 12 Mortifiers. That's like 1400 points. Would be awesome. Not sure if it's competitive though. Lol.

[Danosborne]

A guy at our club took a mostly engines list to a tournament last year I think it was, before the new codex. It had Gulliman in too and it was a hell of a thing to deal with. I don’t think he did very well with it at the tournament but he smashed his way through the club members with it while practicing!