Cult Status: Part 2

Well, not quite later in the week, but I think we’re all used to my abysmal timekeeping on this score, aren’t we?  Anyway, I’ve already said that I’m flinging in some Guard with my Chaos cult.  On one level, this would be a perfect mix, as the Guard are the other army that can match Cultists in numbers and low quality indivduals.  Apart from ‘Nids.  Not going there, although if I were to proxy up, the Shadow in the Warp would be a very good substitute for Khorne’s hatred of Psykers.  It’s annoyed me immensely that Khornate armies and characters (with the exception of Kharn and Karnak) do not have any anti-psyker toys, and that would be a good justification for roping the nids in I guess.  However, it’s not legal, so say goodbye to that idea!  Would probably have been a lot of work anyway.

Anyway, back to the Guard.  As I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself, IG seem like a good match for Chaos due to the horde capacity.  However, they appear to lack the assault ability for Khorne followers.  The Guard can do a great many things, and have a great many guns, but are not exactly renowned for their close combat capabilities.  Nevertheless, quantity has a quality all its own.  A decent blob squad can hide a number of decent close combat attacks in the form of the sergeants.  Due to the low strength of the Guard, power weapons are nice and cheap for them, packing in at only 10 points apiece.  Combine that with the fact that you have a ton of regular guys you don’t care about, means that they will nearly always get their hits in, even if the enemy are going first..  I’ve decided that power axes are the best way forward here.  Because, against most opponents, Initiative 3 is going to strike last anyway there doesn’t seem to be too great a disadvantage in the Unwieldy trait and the boost to strength and an AP of 2 will really allow these guys to punch above their weight.

I’ve gone for a similar tactic with the Lord Commissar I’m putting in there.  I’m giving him a power fist for a couple of reasons.  The first is that I quite like the look of IG power fists.  Don’t know why, they just look nicely different to the more common Marine variants and I appreciate that.  Also, if and when he get his hits in, he has a respectable WS of 5 and can disable most tanks on a few decent rolls at S6.  He can’t even really be challenge sniped, as most of the time, I will have another character who can step into the breach and take the punch instead of him.

The next assault option I’m going for is one that I don’t see often.  All the guardsmen in the unit now have krak grenades.  This plays two very important roles.  The grenades massively boost the squad’s competence versus tank and also versus Monstrous Creatures, seeing as grenades can now be planted on them relatively easily.  They can even put a sizable dent in a Wraithknight with 30-odd krak grenades going off.  The tweaks to grenade combat allow the squad to better deal with most walkers as well, as it’s now a straight WS test as opposed to 6s only.  Again, it’s going to be the quantity of ‘just enough’ that’ll see put to them.  Regular tanks are going to be child’s play once I get in there.  Also, as the squad’s quite large, I’ll be able to pull of multi-assaults with little-to-no loss of combat effectiveness.  I’d only get one grenade per guardsman in a turn anyway.  No worries about losing the bonus attack.

And finally, to enhance the feel and (possibly) effectiveness of the unit, I’m going for a priest.  A quick retooling to an Acolyte of Khorne or something similar would be fairly easy and really make the unit feel a bit more bloodthirsty.  Plus, the reroll to hit on the charge will seriously help out in getting those grenades planted.  An additional strength of the guy is the eviscerator.  Striking last (not a big deal), but at S6 with Armourbane, he’s going to be my answer to AV13+ and I’m fairly confident that I can keep him sheltered from the attention of the enemy long enough to weigh in.  So that’s the rough idea behind my Khornate Guardsmen.  I haven’t them much yet, but I’m confident they will get their turn at being really cool. I’m quite confident that a lot of opponents mid-battle will forget that the entire squad are kraked out and that’s when I’ll strike!

Finger’s crossed…