Diabolical Playthings and Haemonculus Equipment

Just curious as to people's thoughts on the different Diabolical Playthings?

Which ones do you like best?

Do you think some are better suited to particular Formations?

Also, somewhat related - how much are you willing to spend on a Haemonculus? Do you buy multiple Diabolical Playthings (or other gear), or do you keep them as cheap as possible?

Are there any Diabolical Playthings, or other wargear, that you never leave home without?

Orbs of Despair-Worthless
Syndriq's Sump-I'd take it on a haemmy in a Grotesquerie. That way if they get fleet he can keep up.
Khadesi Haemovores-Nice, not great. If you've got ten points to blow, it'd make good icing.
Vexator Mask-Pretty nice, especially on a Haemmy. I think if your meta requires it or your build works with it, it could be quite useful.
Panacea Perverted-Nice, but pricey. If you NEED your haemmy to stay alive, I'd use it.
Nightmare Doll-Best of the lot. (And most expensive. Go figure.) A Scarlet Epicurean or Dark Artisan Haemmy gets the most out of it, with a 3+ FNP (essentially).

Other than the orbs, nothing too terrible.

Jimsolo wrote:

Orbs of Despair-Worthless
Syndriq's Sump-I'd take it on a haemmy in a Grotesquerie.  That way if they get fleet he can keep up.
Khadesi Haemovores-Nice, not great.  If you've got ten points to blow, it'd make good icing.
Vexator Mask-Pretty nice, especially on a Haemmy.  I think if your meta requires it or your build works with it, it could be quite useful.
Panacea Perverted-Nice, but pricey.  If you NEED your haemmy to stay alive, I'd use it.
Nightmare Doll-Best of the lot.  (And most expensive.  Go figure.) A Scarlet Epicurean or Dark Artisan Haemmy gets the most out of it, with a 3+ FNP (essentially).

Other than the orbs, nothing too terrible.

Interesting.

I have to say, I think this book has one of my favourite selections of artefacts.

Though, what is with Orbs of Despair? Were they misprinted? It seems like they're missing Poison or Fleshbane or, you know, a strength value.

Jimsolo wrote:

Orbs of Despair-Worthless
Syndriq's Sump-I'd take it on a haemmy in a Grotesquerie.  That way if they get fleet he can keep up.
Khadesi Haemovores-Nice, not great.  If you've got ten points to blow, it'd make good icing.
Vexator Mask-Pretty nice, especially on a Haemmy.  I think if your meta requires it or your build works with it, it could be quite useful.
Panacea Perverted-Nice, but pricey.  If you NEED your haemmy to stay alive, I'd use it.
Nightmare Doll-Best of the lot.  (And most expensive.  Go figure.) A Scarlet Epicurean or Dark Artisan Haemmy gets the most out of it, with a 3+ FNP (essentially).

Other than the orbs, nothing too terrible.

I essentially agree with JimSolo.  I usually take Haemovores and the Vexator, but I have to admit that I they have yet to do anything for me - mostly through lack of opportunity, though.

The Sgredder wrote:

..... Though, what is with Orbs of Despair? Were they misprinted? It seems like they're missing Poison or Fleshbane or, you know, a strength value. scratch

Yeah, we're hoping that our FAQ request will fix that.

Do you think it's a good idea to take multiple artefacts on a single Haemonculus? e.g. I'm thinking about taking both the Panacea Perverted and Nightmare Doll on a Dark Artisan (Warlord) Haemonculus, but I'm wondering if that's too many points in a single model?


Or, have I just been playing too much IG lately (where spending anything on character upgrades is pretty pointless)?

Multiple artifacts are fine, depending on the cost. But I have never used my supplement haemies as warlords, either. Thus, I have never taken either of the Panacea or the Doll. I might take the Panacea at some point, but on a non-warlord Haemie I can't justify the Doll, and certainly not both.

I try to keep my DA Haemie out of harm's way, and if they crack the outer shell and get to him, well he's probably going down anyway after a turn or two.

Gobsmakked wrote:

Multiple artifacts are fine, depending on the cost.  But I have never used my supplement haemies as warlords, either.

Who or what do you use as your warlord?

I steadfastly refuse based on fluff reasons, but many people who ally CWE are making the Craftworlders their primary detachment, and thus their warlord a CWE.

The Shredder wrote:

Gobsmakked wrote:

Multiple artifacts are fine, depending on the cost.  But I have never used my supplement haemies as warlords, either.

Who or what do you use as your warlord?

Succubus, with a mob o' Grots.

Syndriq and Vexator are the only ywo artifacts I found good.
Syndriq get Fleet at your Hamey, so you can join it in other DE units likes Incubi, Wyches, Beastmasters ect..
Vexator mask is good for challenge the enemy char, get him -5 I, and crush him with the Haemy-unit (works well with Dark Artisan).

I don't like Nightmare Doll or others, cause Haem is not a powerfull HQ so why I need to protect him? These artifacts are too much expensive for what the give, and my Haem is not an Abaddon, MasterChapter or else..stick him in a good unit, and that's all.

Imho

Jimsolo wrote:

I steadfastly refuse based on fluff reasons, but many people who ally CWE are making the Craftworlders their primary detachment, and thus their warlord a CWE.

Ugh.

Well, I'm not doing that - I detest allies at the best of times.

Gobsmakked wrote:

Succubus, with a mob o' Grots.

I've never liked the idea of a succubus as my warlord - they always seem too fragile for my tastes.

Though, I imagine the Grots would help in that regard.

I think Mandrake's Champion is the best general for us. You can hide him well :p

With strategic traits. Always. I don't know why I need to roll on DE chart with reroll, when any Strategic Trait is better than all DE traits.
I prefer one single roll on Strategics, about one twin-liked roll on DE Traits.

Cerve wrote:

I think Mandrake's Champion is the best general for us. You can hide him well :p

Indeed. I'm sure even the canniest of opponents wouldn't think to look for him on my shelf.

Cerve wrote:

With strategic traits. Always. I don't know why I need to roll on DE chart with reroll, when any Strategic Trait is better than all DE traits.
I prefer one single roll on Strategics, about one twin-liked roll on DE Traits.

In terms of the Warlord traits in the DE codex... yeah I'd always go for strategic. I will just have to live without Fear or +1WS.

Saying that, I quite like the Warlord Traits in the Coven book. They're still probably not as good as many Strategic ones, but they're at least good enough that I'd be willing to roll on them for flavour reasons.

Can we choose the haemoncolus from the dark artisan formation as warlord when the other detachment is realspace raiders? Because the formation would have to be your primary detachment in that case, is that possible? I think the rerolls of fnp is pretty solid

Yeah, I prefer the Coven traits. There's pretty much nothing useless there; strategic can't say that.

One thing not mentioned: the Vex mask is actually pretty sweet. If you have to charge into cover, it can prevent an enemy character from hitting you before you get a chance to swing. (One way or another.)

Yes you can take a formation as your primary detachment