Kamikaze archon

So my last post was on triple dissie ravagers and are they worth it (as triple dark lances fail for me too often). I love them now. So my next idea I will try when I get another squad of grots is to run a grotesquerie. Add in an archon with armour of misery, archangel of pain in a raider with night shields, aether sails and a phantasm grenade launcher. Turn 1, turbo boost into enemy lines (tau gun line preferably), let the archangel of pain go (is this legal, it says instead of firing a weapon in the shooting phase, so mixed with turbo boosting possibly not, otherwise turn 2) at minus 5 leadership. Then the grenade launcher at minus 3 leadership. Sounds a bit brutal on paper, albeit a bit expensive. Thoughts? Criticism? Any one already tried this?

I know it won't work for fearless or space marines.

This is not legal, because you cant take both Armor of Misery and Archangel of Pain. But otherwise very valid tactic, atacking flang of the enemy with Grots and Archon. Archon is better served with Shadowfield and Agoniser.

Just dont feel very suicide with it, this unit can still die. Better to do some damage with it.

Umm, why can't you take both armour of misery and archangel of pain?

Because of rules for Artifacts of Cruelty. One per model.

Azdrubael speaks true.

The listing for Artefacts of Cruelty does indeed say: "A model may take one of the following:"

You'd have to take two archons for both those relics.

And what your referring to is the leadership bomb or freakshow list. If your going to do it go full hog.

Grotequire, armour of misery on one, archangel of pain on another, throw in a shadowseer with mask of secrets (-2ld)

If you play RAW, if you can fit in a dark artisan as another detachment you'll get another -1 for freakish spectical within 12"

Add a hemlock for flavour with another -2

Here you go, amigo.

http://www.thedarkcity.net/t12080-freakshow-tactica-part-1

I love the Leadership shenanigans! Personal opinion? Ditch the PGL. It accomplishes very little, since almost everyone ignores it. If you're including Allies, then a psyker will do far more damage than the Archangel will (which suffers the same problems against over half the armies out there). Virtually no one is immune to Psychic Shriek.

Cool thanks jimsolo. I would prefer harlequins. But I have to sink too many points into stuff I don't want to be able to bring their shadow seers. So I think I'll be corny and ally eldar with a hemlock, Farseer and warlocks.

I was trying to see if a pure DE list would be able to do it, I guess not.

Well, it isn't cheap, you're right there.

However, the Death Jester seems like a solid entry with any leadership shenanigans, and the Harlequin unit itself can have some seriously lethal gear* so the formation isn't quite as much of a tax as it first appears.

*AP2 fleshbane pistols and/or pseudo-rending in close combat, so they become flimsy, but painful combat units - they can completely eat Wraithknights in one turn when coupled with Psychic Shriek on your Shadowseer.

Pure DE can do it.

We can get -2 from Armor of Misery, -1 from each Coven detachment you run, and we can attack LD with Torment Launchers on Dissie Raiders, Archangel of Pain, and FW's Reaper has a Large Blast with Pinning that you can take advantage of (that last one being the only thing that'll affect Marines).

If you're not playing Marines, you can use it to good effect. I'd run a Succubus too, just because she benefits more from Armor of Misery than an Archon does (who can just roll with his 2++ anyway while carrying the Archangel).

Thanks for the replies guys. I am running a campaign at the moment where you know who your opponent is before hand so I was thinking of having a ld shenanigan list to go against tau and orks.

The problem is that Soulfright weapons (including the archangel) are statistically a bad choice for aTAAC list.

If you know you'll be facing an army without Fearless or ATSKNF, then the Archangel is okay (although the PGL and TGL are still very expensive).

If you are looking for Harlequins, the Heroes Path formation is awesome. All three characters are powerful, and 2/3 of them can take advantage of (and add to) your leadership reducing effects.