I'm also an unrepentant 'theme' list player. I take squads of 'cult' troops in their sacred numbers ONLY (8 for Khorne, 9 for Tzeentch, 6 for Slaanesh, 7 for Nurgle) just because it seems cool. Part of the challenge of building themed lists is also building those lists to be viable competitive lists. Not like I'm a great competitive player, playing that way seems a little boring to me. To each their own.
I'm also looking to do something different. Black Legion has been my overall army theme for a while, and while it looks nice, black and gold is getting a little boring to paint at this point. My army has always been very mechanized, with a lot of transports and tanks included in every list. I love my tri-las Predator, but with a new edition and new codex things have changed. Vehicles can be glanced to irrelevancy with alarming frequency, so what to do? Well, why not an INFANTRY LIST? Who needs tanks when you have guys who can rip apart armor with claws and magic? Also, with meatshields, uh, I mean cultists, I have cheap disposable infantry options now.
So maybe I was a bit too stoked about reading the FFG Black Crusade supplement devoted to Tzeentch, or I just really like the idea of nearly everything in an army having an invulnerable save! At any rate, I set out to do a list for a lesser known renegade army, the Oracles of Change.
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That's right, they're RED Tzeentch marines. Image created with the CSM Painter over at Bolter and Chainsword.
Sorceror Kul Xasian
‘Esteemed Magus of the Fatebringer’ - Mark of Tzeentch
Terminator Armor - Force Weapon – Combi-Bolter
Mastery Level 2 – Dimensional Key
‘The Peerless’
Chaos Terminators x 3 - Mark of Tzeentch
Champion Del Rakur - Gift of Mutation
Combi-Flamer x 2
‘Children of Ku’zanath’ Possessed x 5 Champion Rulguth - Gift of Mutation | ‘Progeny of Tel’Occu’ Possessed x 5 Champion Urzen - Gift of Mutation |
‘Hunters of the Abyss’ Warp Talons x 5 Champion Nar’guzath Gift of Mutation | ‘Predators of the Empyreal’ Warp Talons x 5 Champion Sav’ohk Gift of Mutation |
‘Harbingers of Change’ Chaos Space Marines x 10 Mark of Tzeentch – Icon of Flame Aspiring Champion Traxis - Power Sword, Plasma Pistol - Plasma Gun x 2 Rhino – Daemonic Possession | ‘Deliverers of Fate’ Chaos Space Marines x 10 Mark of Tzeentch – Icon of Flame Aspiring Champion Erasmus - Power Fist Melta Gun x 2 Rhino – Daemonic Possession |
Cultists x 20 Champion Jareth Heavy Stubber, Flamer | Cultists x 20 Champion Tyrell Heavy Stubber, Flamer |
THE DAEMONIC HOST
Tzen’toroth the Duplicitous
Herald of Tzeentch
We Are Legion
‘The Everchanging’ Pink Horrors x 5 – Bolt of Change | ‘The Formless’ Pink Horrors x 5 – Bolt of Change |
It winds up to be about 2000 points (1995 to be exact, but I'll double check - add some melta bombs!) So here's my thinking on this army. Include as few vehicles as possible. I've given the Chaos Marine squads Rhinos, to increase their mobility - they're going to be used as objective holders and fire support. Giving a squad Mark of Tzeentch gives them an invulnerable save. Giving a unit with 'Daemon' increases the invulnerable save...to 4+. More on that later.
I also went with the Icon of Flame on squads. What does this do, exactly? It makes bolters, and anything that fires bolter ammo (bolts, I guess) BETTER. All bolter weapons have the Soul Blaze special rule - which effectively gives a 50% chance with hits inflicting additional hits and wounds. Might be a bit of a record-keeping nightmare though!
Cultists were taken in big hordes of 20. I want these guys to die, either from shooting target denial or by getting into tarpit assaults, giving me time to deploy my ambushers (possessed) and jump troops (warp talons). The problem is that they might die too quickly!
The Possessed and Warp Talons are going along with the theme of 'change'. Possessed are better - fleet is standard, and you now have d3 options, which improve the unit. Add gift of mutation, and you have a fragile but punchy unit. Add Mark of Tzeentch, and gift of mutation, and make sure you use these guys in conjunction with other units.
The HQ is of course a Sorcerer, with some nifty powers. But the most important thing is the Dimensional Key. Warp Talons are a very lackluster unit - at first glance. Give them Mark of Tzeentch, and activate the 'key' - you can drop jump infantry with lightning claws ANYWHERE YOU WANT. That's right, they can deep strike without scattering. REMEMBER - Dimensional key activates when you kill an enemy model in the Fight subphase, so you have to have you HQ in assault early for the whole deep striking strategy to work right. Tricky maybe, but it seems like it's worth a try! Especially with the limited assault vehicle choices (Land Raiders) and their cost.
The Terminators can either be used as a body guard or swapped for combi-melta suicide squads. With vehicles less survivable anyways, I'm going to use them as a body guard for my Sorcerer.
And finally, I'm using Daemon allies. Tzeentchian of course. Pink Horrors are arguably one of the best choices to squeeze in some Bolts of Change, and to keep it cheap I took a Herald.
The drawbacks: small units of elite troops can spell trouble. No cheap vehicle mounted guns either. This list relies on deployment, smart use of cover, and smart use of sacrificial troops - as well as some luck and some invulnerable saves. Will it work? Maybe. I'm willing to try it out just to do something a little different. If any of you tournament meta-gamer types can give me some feedback on how this list could work, or why it is absolutely terrible, please let me know in the comments section!