Void Scorpions

Cavash wrote:

Bah, real life stuff is dull!

I like the red teeth painted onto the Reavers and awesome Wyches.

I shall wait eagrely await future installments!

Thanks!

Let's keep it simple: if I paint some 'Nomad Legion', I will just throw them here, just to keep up with a split personality

EDIT: I just had an excellent idea fluff wise!

So I run a wych cult with only average political support, out on a private campaign. Yet I decided just now that I do want 2 units of warriors to anchor my lines and just give the enemy some more headaches, bring my total army from 1000 to 1200 points and 30 to 50 infantry models (try to top that for 1200 points!). Yet as I have little to none Kabal support, I am not going to take regular warriors but xenos (human) mercenaries with Commorragh armour and weaponry - just swap heads and do some painting tricks and they should be a wired-reflexes-upgraded band of elite mercenary thugs, loyal to the succubus and out for riches!

It gets me enthusiastic so lets do this!

Nomad Legion project log on: http://www.thedarkcity.net/t3254-project-log-the-nomad-legion-necromundan-ig-army#34640

Niiiice!! Well they're 152 points but they look awesome. Imagine how 2000 will look like!! So don't stop here please!

Eldur wrote:

Niiiice!! Well they're 152 points but they look awesome. Imagine how 2000 will look like!! So don't stop here please!

196 points - but no, I am not stopping! However, july will bring me the 6th edition rulebook, meaning I can only buy a Raider or something like that in august at the earliest...

Gotta balance the budget!

In any case, little chance I will be confusing my IG for my DE, as the yellow in my figurine cupboard really draws the attention

OK let's try a comparison of 1200 points IG-DE, with a question: who do you put your money on? All IG troops have flak armour and frag grenades standard. Note that both lists are fluff-oriented (as that's just the way my heart ticks...)!

For the same amount of points I can replace the standard Leman Russ with a LR Exterminator, so perhaps the same question applies whether that is more effective against DE. Likewise for the placement of the commissars - I could just as well add both infantry squads together and give them each a commissar, it costs me nothing extra, yet I understand it adds to effectiveness.

Forgive me, it has been ages since I actually played 40K...

Quote :

NOMAD LEGION, NECROMUNDAN IMPERIAL GUARD ARMY, 1200 POINTS

COMPANY HQ

- captain with power weapon and refractor field (60)
- commissar with boltpistol and power fist (50)
- company medic (30)
- 3 veterans (0)

INFANTRY PLATOON

- lieutenant with power weapon (40)
- 2 plasma gunners (30)
- 2 meltagunners (20)

- sergeant, flamer, 8 troopers (55)
- sergeant, flamer, 8 troopers (55)
- mortar team (60)

'LUCKY' VETERAN INFANTRY SQUAD

- veteran sergeant, veteran flamer, 8 veterans (75)
- in a chimera with heavy bolter (55)

ASH WASTE NOMAD INFANTRY PLATOON

- Lord of Ashes (Al'Rahem, outflanking infantry platoon) (100)
- Cardinal of Ashes (priest with eviscerator) (60)
- commissar with plasma pistol (45)
- ash waste vox caster with laspistol and spear (5)
- 3 ash waste nomads with laspistol and spear (0)

- ash waste boss with 9 nomads with lasguns (50)
- ash waste boss with 9 nomads with lasguns (50)

ASH WASTE NOMAD VETERAN SQUAD

- veteran ash waste boss, 3 veteran ash waste snipers, 1 veteran ash waste vox caster, 5 veteran nomads, all with snare mines and camo cloaks (making them stealthy) (120)

FIRE SUPPORT SCOUT SENTINEL SQUADRON

- 2 multilaser scout sentinels (70)

LEMAN RUSS MAIN BATTLE TANK

- Leman Russ MBT with battle cannon and three heavy bolters (170)

Quote :

VOID SCORPIONS, DARK ELDAR WYCH STRIKE FORCE, 1203 points

- succubus with hydra gauntlets, with 9 standard bloodbrides in a raider with dark lance and flickerfield (257)

- wych with hydra gauntlets, with 9 standard wyches, in a raider with dark lance and flickerfield (180)
- wych with hydra gauntlets, with 9 standard wyches, in a raider with dark lance and flickerfield (180)
- mercenary warrior with splinter cannon, with 9 standard mercenary warriors (100)
- mercenary warrior with splinter cannon, with 9 standard mercenary warriors (100)

- reaver with heatlance, with 2 standard reavers (78)
- reaver with heatlance, with 2 standard reavers (78)

- ravager with 3 dark lances and flickerfield (115)
- ravager with 3 dark lances and flickerfield (115)

And some more fluff...

PROCURING MERCENARIES

The first action of succubus Chaeril was a critical intervention on Ariadne, a fringe world nominally belonging to the Imperium, which, because of its isolated position, had a free hand in piracy while 'forgetting' to pay its tithes. After years of lawlessness, the Imperium finally intervened and sent in a regiment of pirate hunters to clear away this threat.

As the planet was almost overrun by the Imperial troops, Chaeril made a deal with its leadership, to regularily pay a smaller tithe of able-bodied men and women to fight for her instead, in exchange for protection and the continued independence of the planet.

As the Ariadne troops dug in for a last stand, the eager Imperial troops advanced. But they were caught in the rear unaware by Chaeril's wych cult, cutting down its command structure first, and forcing the survivors to surrender.

After this limited campaign, Chaeril offered the prisoners to a coven which desperately needed more bodies to experiment on. The deal: a steady supply of slaves, and no questions asked, in exchange for the 'improvement' of the Ariadne conscripts for her growing army. Implanting wired reflexes, replacing the eyes by cybernetic augmentations, adapting the skeleton so as to fit in kabalite armour, and last but not least, messing with the centres of the brain responsible for loyality, rebellion and free will, in order to bind the xenos troops to Chaeril's command without question (a sheer impossibility if she had procured the help of a Kabal instead, for no archon ever does anything without wanting something in return Chaeril would not be willing to give).

Next, to gain access to Kabalite weaponry. A bitter gang warfare between a kabal and a hellion gang had been going on endlessly. As the kabal was loyal to Vect, and the hellion leader difficult to control in any case, a plot was concocted: Chaeril would use the attack of the hellion gang on kabalite warriors defending weapon manufacturies to seize control of the necessary armour and splinter rifles to outfit her new xenos warriors. For this, she convinced an ambitious rival hellion gang to strike at a factory and disappear with its contents after killing all slaves and personnel there. The blame would be put squarely on the first hellion gang, as Vect and his cronies would undoubtedly retaliate after the factory was dismantled. The loot would be split equally between the second hellion gang and Chaeril's cult, and after both the loyalist Kabal and the indifferent first hellion gang were taken a peg down, both Chaeril and the second hellions would profit for little loss - better still, without anyone knowing. .

And so it happened... The strike was a complete success, and the street levels engulfed in hellion and kabalite blood both during the following crackdown. After the first hellion gang was completely butchered, the second gang seized on the power vaccuum and took its hunting grounds for its own.

On the asteroid belts in the Ariadne system, Chaeril built a training center for her new troops with the help of a banished Dark Eldar corsair prince. In no time, her close combat oriented gladiator cult was augmented by a growing cadre of xenos mercenaries almost equalling Kabalite warriors in marksmanship. Better yet, nobody asked any questions, least of all the xenos themselves: their blank, now neon-green cybernetic eyes betrayed no other ambition than to fight, kill and die for the Void Scorpions...

OK, it's been quite some time since I actually expanded my Void Scorpions. A few hours ago I bought the new rulebook. I need to reconsider how to expand my army, perhaps I could indeed choose some Eldar to complement my wyches.

However, don't worry, they won't be 'true Eldar'. If I would indeed choose to expand my army with - for instance - Guardians, then those will be banished Dark Eldar corsairs, NOT craftworlders. It will be Dark Eldar forever even if I would convert Eldar models to do so (as in my interpretation, the Eldar HATE the Dark Eldar until the end of times, even if the rulebook says otherwise).

Speed and numbers will remain essential, perhaps - yes - with some kind of farseer as a joker.

As I am suffering from migraine today and need to move houses tuesday, it will take some time to read and analyse the new rules, and consider the (corrupted) Eldar army list...

(EDIT: I would very much like such a Wasp! http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Eldar/ELDAR-WASP-ASSAULT-WALKER.html )

Like I said, I am reconsidering my tactica.

IDEAS

- NUMBERS: the lowest amount of upgrades on each squad or model to mass the amount of models I can skim across the table, if only to drive the wits out of the opponent and make him or her forget the plan and just respond mindlessly to 'ghost enemies'.
- SPEED: everything needs to be as fast as possible, with the noted exception of possible troops I leave to anchor my lines (xenos mercenary Warriors or renegade Eldar corsair allies, in my book) - these units will chose numbers above speed (but have my lowest priority)
- PSYCHOLOGY: the new rulebook has angered me somewhat. I want to counteract that feeling to reduce the arrogance of the opponent (by means of his or her leadership value) as close to zero as possible and send their army fleeing as soon as possible. Torment Grenade Launchers (5 points) and Shock Prows (5 points) will become standard on my Raiders as a consequence (-1 leadership morale check).

IMPLICATION

- I am changing my tank-hunting doctrine on my Reavers. I will cheapen them somewhat by making them anti-infantry, pinning units with grav talons, the more pinned enemy units the better. It must be a mass of decapitated heads as bladevanes pass over and squads dive for cover.
- the same with the Raiders: the Torment Grenade Launchers will reduce the enemy leadership value, and as I just crash them straight into the enemy with the Shock Prow (again as many as possible) I hope to get many of them to fall back. So after the Reavers pin down the enemy, the Raiders will hopefully weaken their resolve even more and get them to abandon their positions.
- the wyches will shoot if possible and be used to close down escape routes, attack left, right and center, tarpit essential units and win as many (-1 leadership) battles as possible. As they remain fragile, the (suicidal) Raiders will be used as mobile (glass) cover within 6 inches, even ward against counter charges (-1 leadership morale checks before any assault).

Variations on this rule are not clear yet. Perhaps allies can be the sort that even more so seep enemy morale. I need and want my enemy to be scared to death, their commander (player) unable to rely on how they act on the battlefield. I don't know whether this is the way for success, but if I can make him or her genuinely scared or in despair, psychological victory at least is mine (their own fault for even considering choosing tin can space marines)

Any ideas are welcome, but as always, keep solutions CHEAP

Rebuilt my target army list to 1499 points, as such:

HQ (267 points)

- Succubus Chaeril with hydra gauntlets (70 points)
- with 9 standard bloodbrides (117 points)
- in a raider with flickerfield, night shield, dark lance, (80 points)

ASSAULT TROOPS (410 points)

- wych with hydra gauntlets and 9 standard wyches, with haywire grenades (130 points)
- in a raider with flickerfield, disintegrator, shock prow (75 points)

- wych with hydra gauntlets and 9 standard wyches, with haywire grenades (130 points)
- in a raider with flickerfield, disintegrator, shock prow (75 points)

FIRE SUPPORT TROOPS (200 points)

- mercenary warrior with splinter cannon, and 9 standard mercenary warriors (100 points)
- mercenary warrior with splinter cannon, and 9 standard mercenary warriors (100 points)

FAST ATTACK (392 points)

- grav talon reaver and 2 standard reavers (76 points)
- grav talon reaver and 2 standard reavers (76 points)
- 15 standard hellions (240 points)

HEAVY SUPPORT (230 points)

- ravager with 3 dark lances and flickerfield (115 points)
- ravager with 3 dark lances and flickerfield (115 points)

MOTIVATION

The hardest thing for me in using DE, in comparison with my goblin, Empire or Imperial Guard armies, is the high cost of all models. Hard to put down an army which is sufficiently large so as to incorporate losses. I guess I just want to play differently... More like a speed cult, I gather. But whatever...

I have added a good bunch of hellions, again very basic in outfit. These will be used to put some punch wherever needed. I would rather have split them in two as a unit, but sadly I only have 3 fast attack options, so no go, as I want both reaver squads fast, fluid and pinning.

The ravagers are basic AT support, in the back.

The troops and HQ work in concert, skimming straight into the enemy at all out speed. I am going to use disintegrators to support the wyches (the reavers will do exactly the same thing). The two wych squads are also AT, the bloodbrides and succubus are all out anti-infantry-elite. The bloodbrides will aim to the center, the wych squads will fan out, two raiders will support the wyches or go on a tank shock trip, the HQ raider wants to stay alive and to deliver the embarked bloodbrides safely with its added nightshields (which I will incorporate in the painting somehow). It has a dark lance, if its passengers are disembarked it will gain more range to help the ravagers. In contrast, both the wych squads and their raiders are suicidal (if only when needed to).

In the end, the 2 units of warriors with splinter weapons are used to strengthen the lines and offer AI support. They are on foot but are solely needed to take and hold objectives.

All in all, this army boils down to 50 infantry, 15 hellions, 6 reavers and 5 raiders/ravagers. Not too bad concerning weight of numbers, not too spectacular either.

I have never used it, as I don't own it yet - any ideas? Useful, as I don't want to expand this army beyond 1500 points at this moment.

YELLOW is the amount of troops I have already - sad but true...

And the first step (first purchase in august, finish in september), bringing this list to a usable 400 point army.

TROOPS

- hekatrix with venom blade and 7 standard wyches, all with haywire grenades (111 points)
- in a raider with dark lance, flickerfield and shock prow (75 points)

FAST ATTACK

- grav talon reaver and 2 standard reavers (76 points)
- helliarch with venom blade and 7 standard hellions (138 points)

MOTIVATION

OK, I capitulate: I am going to give each squad the leadership of a helliarch or hekatrix after all (that extra leadership point just feels right) and step down from that stubborn wish to only field 10 strong squads. As I believe venom blades are both cool and cheap, the hydra gauntlets will fade into the realm of wishful thinking... At least in this fashion I can field 16 infantry and all the mobility I can dream of.

Ever continuing my 'army list purification', I hope to finally complete my 1500 point army with 8-strong squads across the board. 32 wyches and bloodbrides should do the trick! Which should conclude my endless 'point budgetting'...

HQ (246 points)

- Succubus Chaeril with venom blade (70 points)
- with 7 standard bloodbrides (91 points)
- in a raider with flickerfield, night shield, dark lance, shock prow (85 points)

Aimed straight at the enemy command group and infantry elites, Chaeril's raider has an added nightshield to drive her bloodbrides home.

ASSAULT TROOPS (558 points)

- hekatrix with venom blade and 7 standard wyches, with haywire grenades (111 points)
- in a raider with flickerfield, disintegrator, shock prow (75 points)

- hekatrix with venom blade and 7 standard wyches, with haywire grenades (111 points)
- in a raider with flickerfield, disintegrator, shock prow (75 points)

- hekatrix with venom blade and 7 standard wyches, with haywire grenades (111 points)
- in a raider with flickerfield, disintegrator, shock prow (75 points)

Favourites in the Commorragh arena's, these three squads of wyches get into contact with the enemy at lightning speed, to hone their skills with venom and knife. Even tanks are not safe against their charge.

FIRE SUPPORT TROOPS (174 points)

- sybarite with venom blade, and 7 standard mercenary warriors (87 points)
- sybarite with venom blade, and 7 standard mercenary warriors (87 points)

Augmented with wired reflexes, mind control chips and targeting systems, these 16 xenos mercenaries give much needed fire support to Chaeril's wyches.

FAST ATTACK (290 points)

- grav talon reaver and 2 standard reavers (76 points)
- grav talon reaver and 2 standard reavers (76 points)
- helliarch with venom blade, with 7 standard hellions (138 points)

Zooming across the battlefield at breakneck speeds, these 6 reavers delight in slashing the heads off enemy infantry and making them dive for cover. Meanwhile, 8 hellions charge home wherever needed.

HEAVY SUPPORT (230 points)

- ravager with 3 dark lances and flickerfield (115 points)
- ravager with 3 dark lances and flickerfield (115 points)

No True Kin raiding force leaves home without some reliable anti-tank support, the Void Scorpions are no exception.

ARMY LIST TOTAL

- 32 wyches / bloodbrides / succubus
- 16 warriors
- 8 hellions
- 6 reavers
- 4 raiders
- 2 ravagers

Sorry for not replying sooner, I didn't realise that more hhad been posted.

Looks like a good army list, very nice and Cult themed. I am looking forward to more!

Cavash wrote:

Sorry for not replying sooner, I didn't realise that more hhad been posted.

Looks like a good army list, very nice and Cult themed. I am looking forward to more!

Do you really think it might work? Will take quite some time to realize...

In terms of modelling the list looks quite reasonable. And it's nicely themed.
BUT:
I would recommend magnetizing raiders and ravagers so that you can take either DLs or dissie cannons - they're hell better against terminators (or any infantry with 2+ sv).

I'n gaming terms (and also a bit in modelling) I'm not sure about:
shock prows on raiders (what the hell for anyway?)
nighshield on hq raider (won't make a difference, once you get close to the enemy, and this should happen in... 1st round).
I'd add a flickerfield on raiders.

Bare wych (hekatrix) squads - why don't you take wych special weapons? shardnet & impaler really makes a difference in CC

bare warrior squads - what's their role? shooting (as stated in the heading), or CC? if shooting - then why give venom blade to sybarite? better take splinter cannon or DL if they are supposed to defend objectives. I'd drop one of these squads and use the points to give a raider (with splinter racks!) to the second squad and some upgrades to the rest of the army.
for fire support they are too weak (no heavy/assault weapons) and for any other role they lack mobility.

reavers will do better as a single squad: they are less vulnerable to morale check due to 25% losses, and actually 3 jetbikes rarely can do anything significant.

And I'd definitely give the helliarch this item that allows dragging enemy indep with hit'n'run (forgot the name)

Good thinking! Especially such a gunboat might be handy...

I used bare squads because I always tend towards 'as many boots as possible on the ground' (I have a 1500 points goblin army of 178 models of which 40 are cavalry...). I just find a 6+ save 10 strong squad of wyches for 150+ points way too fragile and too expensive... These are 111 point squads. They might not be the most awesome thing out there in this fashion, but at least there are 4 squads. Perhaps I'll cut down to 3.

The Sybarite was a matter of the extra LD. Venom blade, more fluffwise than anything else, since he/she can't carry the heavy weapons? But yes, perhaps I can drop my symmetry-neurosis and take a splintercannon heavy instead. And no transport for the warriors was because I could put down an extra warrior squad for the points of the raider. I don't think many DE players will use 50+ infantry for 1500 points?

Finally: even if the idea was good, if I am 'point budgetting', perhaps no shock prows then... And I definely need to consider venoms I guess...

I agree - not many players use that much DE infantry. But this should be actually a food for thought - We don't do it for some reason you know

Venoms are awesome. With two SC. Statistically 4 wounds per turn from a Venom on ANY non-vehicle unit. It's awesome.

I'd still say that taking bare squads is not a great idea, especially because a wych with S&I is more effective in CC than 2 wyches with SP + CCW in the long run. (It's a really great idea to reduce enemy attack number in CC - I can post the maths behind it if you wish).

wilku wrote:

I'd still say that taking bare squads is not a great idea, especially because a wych with S&I is more effective in CC than 2 wyches with SP + CCW in the long run. (It's a really great idea to reduce enemy attack number in CC - I can post the maths behind it if you wish).

OK try me - you're in luck that I like the S&I models

OK, this could be a long post, but thankfully we're not talking abou all special wych weapons.
So let's say you,ve got
A) squad of 10 wyches with hekatrix (bare) and no special weapons
and
B) squad of 9 wyches with hekatrix (bare) and shardnet & impaler.

And you charge a squad of 10 Tactical SM.
So statistically:
A) gets 31 attacks = 15,5 hits = 5,166~ wounds = 1,5 unsaved wounds (dead SM)
This leaves 8,5 SM to strike back (9,5 Attacks)
Meanwhile:
B) gets 28 attacks = 14 hits = 4,66 W = 1,39999 unsaved wounds
This leaves 8,6 SM to strike back, but, due to S&I they have 1 attack less ( provided you put shardnet in b2b with the sergeant) = 8,6 attack striking back

This is a small difference here, but S&I gets more effective against models with more than 1 attack (e.g. Assault SM, SPace Wolves, Orks, or monstrous cratures)

Hmmm... Not totally convincing. That -1 attack just doesn't cut the ten extra points for me somehow.

About your food for thought, you convinced me on gunboats, the stunclaw, the splinter rifle sybarite (made a mistake there) and the 6 strong reaver squad, but not on why other people run low infantry armies, or why that should be better in the end. Could it be a question of preference?

Anyway I will rebuild my list, more news to come.

Well, it sure depends on preference - I guess maybe because of the 6th ed flyer hype. And this is another thing I'd suggest (and I consider it myself) - at least one flyer would be handy.

Concerning the -1A: I tend to play with smaller squads and for less points (1000) - there giving an S&I to a venom mounted 5 wych squad is a must. But maybe on a larger scale this is not so important.

However - last thing to consider - if you have a squad of 10 wyches in a Raider, you can't add 11th. And this is where a S&I comes in handy (anyway it's the most effective of all special weapons).

I'd like to see your list - maybe I'll reconsider mine somehow.

OK, here it is - better?

Lost me 8 wyches, gained me a raider...

All squads now have LD9, plus the HQ has haywires too.

And yes a flyer would be nice, but for crying out loud, I am just trying to aim for a standard list here...

HQ (260 points)

- Succubus Chaeril with venom blade and haywire grenades (75 points)
- with shardnet bloodbride and 6 standard bloodbrides with haywire grenades (115 points)
- in a raider with flickerfield and dark lance or disintegrator (70 points)

ASSAULT TROOPS (382 points)

- hekatrix with venom blade, shardnet wych and 6 standard wyches, with haywire grenades (121 points)
- in a raider with flickerfield and dark lance or disintegrator (70 points)

- hekatrix with venom blade, shardnet wych and 6 standard wyches, with haywire grenades (121 points)
- in a raider with flickerfield and dark lance or disintegrator (70 points)

FIRE SUPPORT TROOPS (324 points)

- sybarite and 7 standard mercenary warriors (87 points)
- in a raider with flickerfield and splinter racks and dark lance or disintegrator (80 points)

- sybarite and 7 standard mercenary warriors (87 points)
- in a raider with flickerfield and splinter racks and dark lance or disintegrator (80 points)

FAST ATTACK (305 points)

- arena champion, 2 grav talon reavers and 3 standard reavers (162 points)
- helliarch with stun claw, with 7 standard hellions (143 points)

HEAVY SUPPORT (230 points)

- ravager with flickerfield and 3 dark lances or disintegrators (115 points)
- ravager with flickerfield and 3 dark lances or disintegrators (115 points)

ah, that's what I personally like - no feet on the ground
suits much more my style of play.
what I'd still consider is razorwing jetfighter - it seems it's inevitable in the near future... (I don't have one myself, so I can't say much about it)

wilku wrote:

ah, that's what I personally like - no feet on the ground

Hehe, my 'boots on the ground' remark was figurative

But yeah, let's see how this zipping around will work!

Remind me to build MASSIVE AMOUNTS of scenery

(at least I protected my overly neurotic symmetry )

Chaeril wrote:

Remind me to build MASSIVE AMOUNTS of scenery

Now you see why I am building a tower? and there will be more pieces like that, more generic, not only made of car junk

wilku wrote:

Chaeril wrote:

Remind me to build MASSIVE AMOUNTS of scenery

Now you see why I am building a tower? and there will be more pieces like that, more generic, not only made of car junk

I see :-)

In any case, I will concentrate on Necromunda scenery, useable both in Necromunda battles and as basic 40K IG ash waste junk. Your tower is beautiful but somewhat too high tech for me to build