Haemonculus wargear options and thoughts

I'm having a bit of a fun doubles game tomorrow. I'm teaming up with BA and we are vs GK and Marines - 4k battle.

So I'm running Sliscus and 2 Haemies in the HQ slots and I'm wanting to try out some of the wargear options but also want to make it work somehow. The Haemie's will be riding with 2 Wych squads.

So I've thought about taking the Crucible and turbo-boosting my Raiders (with TGL) to within 6" of enemy Psykers, open the Crucible so that enemy Psykers within 6" of Raiders (with TGL) will suffer -1 Ld when they have to test. It sounds kind of Kamikaze like and not really too keen to try it coz getting to within 6" puts me in all sorts of dangerous situations ie: Psycannon then charge range.......unless I can time it right so that I end my movement phase within 6" of Psykers AND my guys can get out and assault.........hmmmmmm sounds like too reliant on too many things happening to make it happen


Aniums Vitae may be OK, coupled with an Agoniser......and within 6" of Grisly's

Hexrifle looks good but is only 1 shot, with a 66% hit rate......but would be effective against special tough characters that have 2 wounds......

Would like to hear of others how they have used (if at all) any of the Arcane Wargear

I like the liquifier gun, that and a venom blade to give him a little bite in combat. Keeps the point cost down and he stays fairly effective,

Yeah I guess that's going to be most people's thoughts - keep him cheap. I completely agree, 6+ with no invul and hitting as slow as a marine....... you don't want to put too much on this guy

But I'm trying the gear out and I guess the point of the thread is to see if anyone else has any thoughts or ideas on the uses of this wargear

IMHO worthwile upgrades can be counted on fingers of one hand (even if You happen to be Genestealer).

Venom Blade - it's "overall good" for it points. Hell, if You happen to fight high T monsters/bikers, it's gold.

PW - it's PW. Not bad alternative to Agoniser that cost double and work only a little better.

Liquifier - basically it will melt through Marine Armours 1/2 times. Note Haemi don't have fleet, so he probably WILL use it.



Not counting WWP, since it change how Your army works in unmeasurable way. It's tool, not weapon so take it or not.


Basically I would avoid Hex Rifle unless for some reason that guy sits in backfield. It's better to pick Liquifier and Venom Blade for those points.

Also probably none of one shoot goodies is worth mentioning. Maybe Shattershard, IF You face dumb enemy or Nids (both are unlikely). And no, CoM does not work, at all. Go in CC with psykers or shoot crap out of them.

Take this with a grain of salt, as I'm not an experienced DE player, but I am an old hand at 40k. (ahh, 3 sustained fire dice for assault cannons)

Archangel: Good for softening up elite troops before smashing into them with wyches, just remember that most troops with a good WS also have a spiffy Ld too, so you can't count on it working.

Animus Vitae: Against GEQ hordes, awesome, against MEQ, not so much, remember you can't use PW or Poison, as this is a special ccw.

Casket: Do ya feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya? The completely random nature of it makes me leery, I played a DA librarian for years trying to get hellfire to work, but it seemed that when I rolled high S, I would roll AP6, and vice versa. I demand dependability in my single use items.

Crucible. Good against a seer council, and honestly not much else. Yes, if Eldrad or Tigurius fail their 10Ld roll they are gone. congrats, that will happen in 1 out of every 12 times you catch them with it. You can hedge your bets with TGL on a vehicle, but I don't see it as worthwhile.

Dark Gate: Yes, yes, OMG yes. A pocket, assault Vindicator cannon! Ok, so it hasn't got AP, but it's still S10! [censored] you, Nob Biker wound cheeze! [censored] you, O'Shova and 30546329924534 Bodyguards! a mere handful of points for something that can tear the heart out of quite a few things? Yes Plz. (Note, with scatter and good armor, this becomes slightly less impressive, but it's still a potent psychological weapon.)

Flesh Gauntlet: I like it, it's a poisoned weapon, and it murdalizes ICs and (Unless they have EternalWarrior and I don't remember) Tyranid MC. Remind the people that a 6T is not a defense against us!!!

Hexrifle: 6 shots, 3 hits, 1.5 wounds, .5-.25 wounds after saves, THEN a W test or die? I need better Odds than that, thank you, I'll stick to the...

Liquifier Gun: This has the same restriction I mentioned for the casket of Flensing, true, but you can also use it many times a game, put it on infantry models, and it doesn't cost a point more.This I'll take!

Orb of Despair: Remember what I said about the Dark Gate? Much the same opinion, except that you trade the ability to Instant kill Models for the ability to laugh at armor saves like they were lolcatz. Helpful for slapping the hurt on Termies and other MEQs that have clustered up too much.

Scissorhand: Not as likely to wound as a venom blade, but the extra attack more than makes up for it. This is a solid choice.

Shattershard: Hoo-ah. This I like, this I very like. It can't be wound allocated off an IC, even good old Marneus "point-sink" Calgar dies on a 5+. If somethings going to be undependable, It had better have a BANG to it.This does. .... No save of any kind... dangthat's harsh.

Stinger pistol. Yeah you'll wound on most every hit, but shouldn't you be shooting a liquifier gun instead?

There you go, My impromptu miniguide to Arcane Wargear. Fenris's Top picks? Liquifier Gun, Scissor hands. the LG doesn't replace that pistol, so you still have 5-6 attacks on the charge. Snazzy.I'd still drag out the Gate, Orb, and Shard for special occasions, though.

Local_Ork wrote:

IMHO worthwile upgrades can be counted on fingers of one hand (even if You happen to be Genestealer).

Your mind goes to weird places sometimes.

Pretty much you want to keep them cheap as possible, they shouldnt be in assault anyway

Venom blade- cheap and turns them into a decent combatant if they get into combat. I normally include one just in case (because I know sooner or later they will be)

Liquifer- probably their best weapon for its points. watch the flame templetes drop!!!

Power Weapon- I would only buy this if they are in a squad of wracks or grots (or have another haemie around) That way they are at S4 and I5 when they charge, if not, I wouldnt waste the points

Shattershard- Now if I have extra points, this is where I would put them. Upgrading that liquifer to a shattershard is a very good idea. For less than a marine you get to avoid alot of those wound allocation shenanigans.

While I dont use them, the Dark Gate can be useful, and the scissorhand is a glorified venom blade. They are ok, but always can use points elsewhere (like shock prows... man do I love them when I can fit them in)

Raneth wrote:

Local_Ork wrote:

IMHO worthwile upgrades can be counted on fingers of one hand (even if You happen to be Genestealer).

Your mind goes to weird places sometimes.

I'm from Poland, isn't that weiiiiiird ?
But that would explain having A-grade from Heuristic subject. I'm 100% smart and 100% stupid (or, 200% crazy-crazy-weeeeee!).

But I actually would like to change my opinion a bit, ShatterShard is good. Situational, but good. Call it number 4, first loser without medal. Or Rending Claw.
It's decent (better Liquifier) but also more expensive and... most time not too different from Liqifier.
Similar with Scissorhand (totally forgot Haemi can pick that), it's "Venom Blade - tier 2".

fenrisnorth wrote:

Animus Vitae: Against GEQ hordes, awesome, against MEQ, not so much, remember you can't use PW or Poison, as this is a special ccw.

But the Animus doesn't have a weapons profile - so how does it get used in battle? My interpretation is that you take it with you, along side say a PW or poisoned weapon, and when you score a kill, you roll Ld at the end of the phase.

It says specifically that it's a special close combat weapon. That means it can't be used alongside another special close combat weapon. Its only effect is that it gives you extra pain tokens.

This was even used as example in the DE FAQ:

DE FAQ p.3 wrote:

For example a Haemonculus has a
huskblade and an animus vitae. If he chooses to use his
huskblade, he will not be able to attempt to gain a
pain token from his animus vitae.

By the way, close combat weapons don't have weapon profiles, in general. Just special rules, like denies armour saves (power weapons) or always hit on a given number (poison weapons) or even allow to gain a pain token (animus vitae).

Ahhhh right. Cheers guys for the clarification

grey knights are all pyskers...crudible of malediction might work. btw dont put haemies with wyches. they will slow down the girls because the haemy doesn't have fleet

Except it (may) affect one guy from unit with "psychic brotherhood" and don't work vs. vehicles.

It does:

DE_FAQ p.3 wrote:

Q: Does every psyker in a unit of psykers, which are in
range of the Crucible of Malediction when it is opened,
have to take a Leadership test? (p60)
A: Yes. The notable exceptions to this are units with the
Brotherhood of Psykers special rule. These units just
take a single test, and will loose a single model if
failed.

This was added with the 1.1 update.
So it can't eradicate whole squads, but it could eliminate a lot of squad leaders.