Dark Artisan Haemy loadout

I know this has been discussed before, but I've only started using it effectively recently, so I thought I'd revisit.

Basically, my Haemy is always fitted with an Agoniser to speed up dealing with MEQ squads and to almost guarantee Challenge wins against anything that isn't 2+ armour. I also always take Syndriq's Sump to add in a couple more attacks (Rampage), this just boosts the same plan.

The tricky part for me now is whether to include The Panacea Perverted and/or The Nightmare Doll to try and absorb some of the shooting that the unit obviously attracts when it WWP's in. Anyone got some clever mathhammer to determine if either (or both) of these are points efficient? They seem pricey, especially as the Haemy would only be on a 3+ FNP (doesn't get the re-roll 1's as he's not a Talos).

Experience, suggestions, maths (preferably)?

I would say no. They are both super expensive.

I generally handle challenges by fitting him with a Mask and then letting the Talos/Cronos overflow wounds into the challenger before the Haemmy gets hit.

I can see the agonizer for the reasons that you listed, but I tend to keep him good and cheap with a scisorhand. The Cronos and Talos do so much damn work that I don't usually miss the AP3 of the agonizer and I tend to send them after units that don't have legit close combat characters. If the formation does get charged by units with legit characters I feel like they're still doing their job by leaving the rest of my army alone for a bit.

Thank you, I forgot the Scissorhand.

Denying the challenge and then LOS!ing any wounds to the MCs is always an option too, I believe.

If taking the Scissorhand, I feel I basically HAVE to decline pretty much any challenge, unless it's just a particularly weak Sargent of some sort. The agoniser makes him useful in pretty much every fight I decide to go for. The Talos and Cronos don't put out that many attacks, giving the Haemy an AP weapon almost doubles the amount of models this unit kills per turn. If that can help me get into a second or third combat before the end of the game, then I think the extra 15 points (on top of a Scissorhand) is WELL worth it for a 400 point unit ......

Back on track. Jimsolo thinks, no, too expensive. This is where I've been so far too.

My Haem is also usually my Warlord so I'm likely to keep him out of any challenges and I prefer to keep him cheap, so Scissorhand only for me.

I'll throw in my two cents here. My DA Haemie is also my Warlord so I usually take the Nightmare Doll, Vexator Mask, and Sump, to give him added survivability and prevent giving up Slay the Warlord. If I have points, I also throw in the Panacea. Yes, this makes him quite expensive, but I'm willing to spend the points to increase his resiliency, since one of the reasons I like the DA is that it can literally shake off an entire army's worth of shooting if the dice don't totally abandon you.

Here's a question for the group. Has anyone tried running multiple DAs? If so, what were the results? The reason I ask is because I've amassed 10 Talos/Cronos and want to field them all in my next game. I'm looking at running a CtC and DA and am undecided on whether to run another DA.

My Taloi/Cronos are interchangeable, and I have eight, but so far have never run more than one DA.

Though I think liquifiers are generally terrible, I've found that my Dark Artisan spends all its time assaulting or being assaulted, so I gave the Haemonculus one. I've never regretted it.

I keep my haemonculus cheap, only vexator mask is added for just incase moments and have the pain engine and chronos wreck face. Most of the time the wounds spill into the challenge. I may start taking a flesh gauntlet or scissor hands in the future though.

Where do you guys take out the points for these expensive upgrades? For me the decision for upgrades on haemy means taking out for instance a blaster on a warrior squad, lances on raiders, a body in grots/sslyth etc.... That tradeoff to me has never been in favor of an already powerful DA haemy so he gets nothing from me

For me, I run gun boats with 10 warriors and splinter racks. If I need a few points I'll start removing warriors. I've learned that a boat with 8 warriors rerolling misses is still pretty effective. I do this anytime I need points, not just DA

For me, the upgrades are worth it to prevent giving up Slay the Warlord AND to make the DA even more of a bullet sponge than it already is. Other than buffing my CtC, that's where I find the DA to be most valuable. It can take a ridiculous amount of punishment and keep coming.

In 10 games, against various opposition, I've only lost my entire DA once. The difference is that by adding these items, I'd be able to put the Haemy out in front to spread the wounds about a bit better and not lose the Talos or the Cronos first. Still not sure if it's worth the points.

I like to keep my DA warlord cheap, so its just the scissorhand for me and I'm happy with him.

If I ever did feel the need to buff him with more wargear i'd go for something to make him more survivable rather than more killy in CC.

sweetbacon wrote:

Here's a question for the group.  Has anyone tried running multiple DAs?  If so, what were the results?  The reason I ask is because I've amassed 10 Talos/Cronos and want to field them all in my next game.  I'm looking at running a CtC and DA and am undecided on whether to run another DA.  

Don't run multiple DAs, the extra Cronos do nothing if they are close to one another and you lose out on the damage potential of another Talos.  I ran two squads of two Talos flanking my DA (DA Haemie was my warlord) and drank the tears of my opponents after they spent two rounds of shooting to only kill one Talos.  >:]

Honestly, I didn't spend any points on my DA Haemie as he was just there to ensure I had models on the board until my two squads of 9 Grots + Haemie + Shadowseers came in. And these guys are beefy, I had my DA tank an invisible squad of Thunderhammer Termies for 4 rounds of combat until a failed psychic phase on my opponents behalf.