Annatar’s Black Legion

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Greetings, 

So I attended a local event last week, perfect opportunity to get back into a hobby I’ve sadly drifted away from lately. 

 

I’ve asked some questions here on B&C to help me along the way, and I thought I’d share my army-building journey and some thoughts on the units I ended up choosing. 

 

It was a 1,500 points event, and my initial idea was to base my list around the contents of Shadowspear with some addons based on what I had painted (or at least started to paint!) 

 

The final list I ended up using looked like this:

 

Black Legion (1490 Points)

 

Chaos Space Marines

Slaves to Darkness

Strike Force (2000 Points)

 

CHARACTERS

 

Exalted Champion (70 Points)

    • Mark of Chaos: Chaos Undivided

    • 1x Bolt Pistol

      1x Combi-weapon

      1x Exalted weapon

 

Heretic Astartes Daemon Prince with Wings (215 Points)

    • Warlord

    • Mark of Chaos: Khorne

    • 1x Hellforged weapons

      1x Infernal cannon

    • Enhancements: Talisman of Burning Blood

 

BATTLELINE

 

Cultist Mob (55 Points)

    • Mark of Chaos: Nurgle

    • 1x Cultist Champion

        • 1x Autopistol

          1x Brutal assault weapon

    • 9x Chaos Cultist

        • 5x Autopistol

          5x Brutal assault weapon

          3x Close combat weapon

          1x Close combat weapon

          3x Cultist firearm

          1x Flamer

 

Legionaries (180 Points)

    • Mark of Chaos: Chaos Undivided

    • 1x Aspiring Champion

        • 1x Accursed weapon

          1x Close combat weapon

          1x Plasma pistol

    • 9x Legionary

        • 1x Astartes chainsword

          9x Bolt pistol

          6x Boltgun

          1x Chaos Icon

          9x Close combat weapon

          1x Havoc autocannon

          1x Plasma gun

 

Legionaries (180 Points)

    • Mark of Chaos: Chaos Undivided

    • 1x Aspiring Champion

        • 1x Accursed weapon

          1x Chaos Icon

          1x Close combat weapon

          1x Plasma pistol

    • 9x Legionary

        • 4x Astartes chainsword

          9x Bolt pistol

          3x Boltgun

          9x Close combat weapon

          1x Plasma gun

          1x Reaper chaincannon

 

OTHER DATASHEETS

 

Forgefiend (200 Points)

    • Mark of Chaos: Nurgle

    • 1x Armoured limbs

      2x Ectoplasma cannon

      1x Ectoplasma cannon

 

Havocs (135 Points)

    • Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch

    • 1x Havoc Champion

        • 1x Accursed weapon

          1x Plasma gun

    • 4x Havoc

        • 4x Close combat weapon

          2x Havoc autocannon

          2x Havoc lascannon

 

Maulerfiend (155 Points)

    • Mark of Chaos: Slaanesh

    • 1x Lasher tendrils

      1x Maulerfiend fists

 

Obliterators (180 Points)

    • Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch

    • 2x Obliterator

        • 2x Crushing fists

          2x Fleshmetal guns

 

Venomcrawler (120 Points)

    • Mark of Chaos: Chaos Undivided

    • 2x Excruciator cannon

      1x Soulflayer tendrils and claws

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Fiends! 
originally, my list featured few (if any) vehicles but I intended to build a Forgefiend for future use. 
 

I soon realized that what I really 

needed was a Maulerfiend with its massive fists, to crack open armor. Soon thereafter it was pointed out to me that one vehicle is quicker to paint than ten detailed infantry models, and so I swiftly assembled a Forgefiend too! 
 

In my limited experience, I’ve never had much luck with my Venomcrawler, likely because I’ve fielded it alone. As a buddy monster for a Fiend or two however, it did great! Long range and tons of dice, something tends to slip through despite the medium strength, and occasionally it even managed to finish off a wounded Knight! 
 

With the Mauler, I had a hard time choosing secondary armament, eventually opting for tentacles as they made for a better looking model

imho. Tank shocking with this beast nearly brought Angron to his knees, and the following flurry of fists nearly brought him down in a single round of combat! I did however manage to lose it without doing much at all too, so I need to learn to play it aggressively - suicide charge and kill something expensive is better than holding it back ending up doing nothing. 
 

Triple plasma Forgefiend works just as well as advertised! Point and delete, great against any target!

 

 

Edited March 29 by Annatar Giftbringer

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Marks of Chaos for the Daemon Engines were chosen to supplement them in their roles. 
 

Having access to advance and charge felt useful for the Maulerfiend (despite me failing to make use of it) but especially 5+ Sustained Hits. 
 

Same with the Forgefiend. Never got around to use a stratagem on it (something I need to get better at in general!) but sustained hits on 5+ turned many shots into even more, and there was much rejoicing! (Except song opponents, for some odd reason…) 

 

The Venomcrawler was a late addition to the list, so I didn’t really have a pla for it. Rerolling 1’s felt Like a good bonus though, especially since I expected it to be active in both shooting and melee (which it was) 

[terminator ultra]

I'm not qualified to comment on the list but your painting looks top notch maybe the bases need a little extra something? I have used baseball sand on pva and it works wonder on it's own. who led the charge in the battle, the prince or the lord?

Edited March 29 by terminator ultra

[Tallarn Commander]

Thanks for the analysis. My Maulerfiend also does good work when it isn't blown away.

 

I always forget the Tank Shock strat. Since it did so much damage to Angron I'll definitely remember now. Thanks!

[abaumann]

Love this list. I appreciate anyone who can get daemon princes to work. I have a couple of them and can’t get them to work well in most situations, but they look so cool. What are your targets for your daemon prince usually?

 

I’m also surprised at how fast Maulerfiends are. They actually have a huge threat range with the rerolls.

 

edit: question, how did the legionaries with no rhino work out for you? Were you able to hide them behind terrain effectively? 

Edited March 29 by abaumann

[Annatar Giftbringer]

The bases… will need some more love yes… Let’s just say I ran out of time there, and had to choose my battles, haha! 
 

I intend to go through the entire list, commenting on the units, their usage and share some pics. 
 

Very happy with how the paint job turned out overall. Was t worth focusing on over rules and tactics? Eh, maybe? 
 

Tank Shock and Maulerfiend is an insane combo! It’s capped at 6 MW per usage, but you will have 16 (!) dice available, so it. Will. Hurt. 
 

It’s almost like it was made for the Maulerfiend 

 

if I hadn’t been so focused upon Tank Shock I may have remembered the Nurgle strat which could have helped the Forgefiend survive for another round in the final battle…. Crap. 

[Annatar Giftbringer]

1 minute ago, abaumann said:

I’m also surprised at how fast Maulerfiends are. They actually have a huge threat range with the rerolls.

Add in the Slaanesh stratagem and they can reach just about anything. Just don’t hold them back for a round because you’re scared of the counter-charge next round (ended up getting it shot off the table before it could kill a War Dog or two!) 

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Daemon Prince

Playing Chaos has done me good, given that I’m by nature a slow and reacting player. To challenge myself, I wanted a fast and aggressive list, and what better model to include than a Demon Prince? Plus they’re awesome. Plus I had one fully painted. 
 

He’s gone through several changes. Originally devoted to Slaanesh for speed and stylish lethality, he was to get the Elixir so FnP could help my Warlord stay alive. 
 

At this point of army building I needed more anti-tank. Looking at the prince’s profile, even the strike attack would struggle against high toughness opponents. Khorne boosts strength, and the Talisman of Burning Blood even more so. 
 

Turned out that was a good call. The wings make him fast, so he can choose his battles. Daemonic Destruction gives him a Tank Shock-like extra attack, and when Dark Pacting with the Talisman he wounds most targets on 3+ or better. Basically he could charge just about anything and make a serious dent in it. 
 

I basically used him as a nuke missile, alongside the Mauler. Biggest, meanest target I could find.
 

In hindsight and the future, I believe Deep Strike might be worth considering. Keeps him safe during deployment and unlucky first rounds and allows him to appear anywhere to strike once the opponent has revealed their plans. 
 

Perhaps a bit reckless to use my Warlord as a disposable missile, but fun! 
 

Here he is, posing alongside the Obliterators:

 

And from the rear

 

Edited March 29 by Annatar Giftbringer

[Annatar Giftbringer]

1 hour ago, abaumann said:

edit: question, how did the legionaries with no rhino work out for you? Were you able to hide them behind terrain effectively? 

I’ll cover them in more detail soon, but in short they did not disappoint!

[abaumann]

Looks great! Especially with the flesh wash tone, and green touches work well with Black Legion. Cool models for sure.

[Annatar Giftbringer]

15 hours ago, abaumann said:

Looks great! Especially with the flesh wash tone, and green touches work well with Black Legion. Cool models for sure.

Thanks!

I honestly wasn’t a fan of fleshy daemonflesh and fleshmetal at first. Then I saw a tutorial vid by GW and found it went pretty well with the warm gold and red tones, plus it’s easy and fun to paint!
 

The green on the other hand contrasts very well against the warm

tones, and gives them sort of a connection to Sons of Horus

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Obliterate!

Apologies for the daemonic butts pose above, unintended oopsie!

 

I’ve always loved Obliterators. Their concept, idea, their whole chaotic twisted being… and the ‘new’ models are simply grotesquely gorgeous! 
 

Their 10th edition statline does the models justice imho, they’re suitably chonky and in typical Chaos fashion even this supposedly ranged combat unit packs a surprisingly fearsome punch in melee! 
 

Their shooting profiles have changed yet again, and personally I like this iteration.
 

They’re expensive pointswise and we can no longer split them up in solitary units, but on the other hand they are the perfect recipient of Skinshift, especially with the Mark of Tzeentch! As long as one of them is left standing with a single wound remaining, you can get them both back in the fight for just 1 CP (though mine either died together or not at all, typical!)

 

I kept them in reserve to Deep Strike them down in every game, teleporting behind enemy lines to distract and disrupt a World Waters advance just as it was gaining momentum, or stealing an objective from my opponent out in No Man’s Land. 
 

I mostly went with the Tzeentch-boosted lethal hits Dark Pact, despite occasionally yearning for more Focused Malice shots.  
 

Focused malice became my go to profile, and the fixed (high!) damage value meant that they rarely disappointed (unlike stupid lascannons and their stupid random damage, but more on them later)
 

Teleporting them unto the battlefield helped me in all three games. No risk of them getting blown off

the board before accomplishing anything for starters, and when I faced World Eaters the intent was primarily to use them as a distraction, yet they started by wiping a Defiler off the table and stealing an objective, and then provided potent fire support from behind for the rest of the game! 
 

In another game they once again stole an objective, and then nearly

one-shotted a large and expensive tank. If their stubby little legs had only been able to move them within melta range, it would have sufficed. 

 

They may be expensive and less flexible than before, but solid statlines, guns and even melee weapons make them an auto-include for me! A gun for every occasion, and imho both the model and rules design perfectly capture Chaos. 
 

TL:DR version: I love Obliterators both thematically and on the battlefield.