Characters

[Rogue]

How do we get the best out of our characters?

 

I've seen various lists by this point - mostly variations on 20-neophytes with seismic cannons, acolytes with demo charges and aberrants, with a sprinkling of other bits and pieces.

 

But the army lists usually just have the characters en masse at the top, without any indication of the units they're attached to. So what are the combinations that are working well?

 

- Do we put our Primus with the neophytes to maximise them, or with the acolytes for a massive swing when they drop in?

- Likewise the Nexos?

- Who gets the enhancements?

- If fighting first is so valuable, why isn't anyone finding space for a Locus?

 

So, how can we get the most bang for our buck?

[Zoatibix]

This is theory-craftng after a couple of games so take with a pinch of salt.

 

Some of the units just seem like a no-brainer in terms of their attachable character: Abominant + Aberrants, Jackals + Alphus

 

Others seem a bit less attactive - Biophagus helps Acolyte Hybrids offset the low Strength of the ones not carrying heavy mining tools...but I'm not sure it's worth the points.  You could get another Iconward or a Clamavus, which arguably have a greater effect on the game.

 

Primus -  Metamorphs and Acolytes have 3+ for their 'main' WS stat (with Acolytes getting re-rolls of hit/wounds of 1) often have Hand Flamers that just hit.  On the other hand, Neophytes are usually big squads that are only hitting on a 4+.  That feels like I'm potentially re-rolling a lot of dice.

 

Being in a bigger squad maybe keep the Primus alive longer, too.  

 

Iconward I've found works well in Neophyte squads where FNP combined with returning models makes a big unit chewier. I haven't tried one in an Acolyte or Metamorph squad but I think they could be useful to help a unit survive long enough (or force the enemy to commit more than they originally intended) into wiping such a unit out.

 

Locus is a puzzle. I ordered one as I want to run him in my Acolyte or Metamorph squads - fights first seems like a good way to lessen the impact of an enemy melee unit* a HMW unit of Acolytes with him and an Iconward in seems like it should do some work.

 

Maybe the lack of Locus...(Loci?)..is people assuming that ten man, T4, Sv 5+ units will get destroyed before they can take on another target? Or just that a fresh five man squad of either is 75 or 80 points.  More bodies...another Blip token...we probably get the unit back anyway, so why bother.

 

I'd put my Clamavus into my Neophyte squads to protect my firebase or rear from deep-strikes but I'm wondering about popping him into an Acolyte squad.  He's likely to be more 'upfront' so his bubble can protect our blips a bit (folks can't try to DS near them).  Also, if he's near the action there's more chance of his Battle-shock shenanigans working, and I think that could pair well with the potential damage output of such a unit. But that might be a bit of a one way trip for him...

 

Kelermorphs I just love so will take one pretty much whenever I can.

 

Magus - not sure her anti-pskyer ability is helpful unless you face a lot of psychic armies but her debuff on shooting could be useful.

 

Nexos - his ability to move Blips hardly needs mentioning, but I think his ability to get his unit picked up for free by Return to the Shadows is great.  A number of our buffs trigger on a unit having just Deep Struck, so he can reset that while adding to the army's overall mobility.

 

Patriarch seems a necessity for any Purestrain unit that you want to kill hard targets with...but I'm less an less inclined to try head-to-head melee with Marine melee units these days.  They seem very tough, and much punchier.

 

Reductus has a surprising amount of stuff to throw, detonate, etc even if only for a single round of glory.  I found her effective protecting e.g. my Deep Striking Genestealers - when an enemy tried to move up to shoot them the Reductus can have a pop at them. I think these are better 'assassins' than the Sanctus.

 

Sanctus - melee seems redundant given the amount of melee we have already. I want to love the sniper but only have Devastating Wounds against a single, pre-chosen unit is poor compared to what a Death Jester offers, for example.

 

Apologies for the wall of text but it's a good question and I'd like to see some discussion on it, even if it's just folks explaining why I'm wrong.

 

*However, the First Rule of Miniature Warfare is: bite the shooty ones; shoot the bitey ones.

[Captain Durante]

Zoatibix has a good breakdown there.

 

Since 10th hit. I’ve mainly been doing 1000 point games and now started a crusade starting at 1000 points. So still need to get into the bigger games to bring in more Characters. But here what’s been working for me.

 

Obviously Abominant/Aberrant but that was known and only choice.

 

I prefer the Primus with a Neophyte squad. Seems to have more survivability for sure and my Neophytes have been benefiting far more from stratagems in 10th than my Acolytes but maybe that’s just me. So the stratagems plus Primus boost can help a lot to support the aberrant and acolyte assaults. Keeping him as a mobile back line

 

Nexos- I put him into the neophytes as well again for survivability. My acolytes usually disappear and reappear too quickly to hold a leader. 
 

Reductus Saboteur - I know he is a lone operative but have to say he’s been getting a lot more you than I ever expected. Lots of damage potential. But I found it better to use him aggressively(Don’t hold back) 

 

Locus - I agree with the idea of him in an acolyte squad. But when I tried it I found it to be a little lackluster. I try out more combos for him in larger matches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 26, 2023 by Captain Durante

[Rogue]

Now, I'm aware that characters don't respawn with their units, so the latest index updates might not make any real difference, but...

 

Neophytes are slightly worse off, given that large units will have to deploy as a bit of a blob, and they no longer have the utility of reaching across the board to tag objectives. Conversely, acolytes benefit from the new wording of Ambush, as being a new unit means they relaid their demo charges every time.

 

Does that mean that we're likely to see even more acolytes with charges, and thus more Primuses attached to them for that alpha strike impact?

 

Edited July 26, 2023 by Rogue
Autocorrect fail

[Zoatibix]

At the time of writing, a Primus is 70pts and Acolytes are 75pts. 
 

Five measly points buys me two more Demo Charges and three Hand Flamers. 

If the enemy kills them, they’ve just reloaded the DC. Also another blip we can put down.

 

I wouldn’t bother with the Primus.

[Rogue]

Sort of. 

 

In absolute terms, 6 demo charges hitting on 5s lands less hits than 4 demo charges hitting on 5s with rerolls - 13 hits versus 14.4 hits. True, you get more hand-flamers, and the Primus doesn't affect them, so more is better; but they tend to be a secondary weapon compared to the demo charges.

 

We also get more out of demo charge acolytes when we use Tunnel Crawlers to appear within range of the charges. If we take a second unit, they can't use the same trick at the same time, so the extra demo charges might be wasted anyway.

[Zoatibix]

I was thinking of things over the length of the game, but for the one turn the Primus works that’s a definite positive against a ‘must die’ target.

 

A big knight or Desolators…yeah…I see where you’re going with that. 

[Rogue]

Shameless self-promotion, but here's a link to my blog - specifically, to a new bit looking at acolytes versus armour. The main conclusions are:

• neither version (mining tools or demo charges) can reliably one-shot anything from a rhino upwards  
• the Primus doesn;t really help mining tools, but does help demo charges a lot
• you can pretty much kill whatever you like with properly supported demo charges

Here's the link: https://redbrotherhood.wixsite.com/cult/post/acolytes-vs-armour

 

Given what we've been talking about, I'd agree that we're better off with more mining tool acolytes rather than a Primus, but I'll stick to my view that he's worth it with demo charges.