Spotlight: Helldiver; part 2

Continuing this article, I'd like to talk a little bit more about the Helldiver. When I look at my statistics there's no caster I've lost more games with, than I have with Mortenebra, and in the words of Roosevelt "You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face". This means I'll be trying for more games with Mortenebra, and that means more thinking.

In every game with Mortenebra, the Helldivers have been instrumental to my success, and when I've lost it's been by no fault of theirs. The Helldivers are three points worth of pure gold, with a mind-boggling amount of game applications. I talked a bit about this in the last article, but I'd like to expand a little on the possibilities that a Helldiver brings to the table, particularly slamming.

Slamming. In every game there are models you would just love to slam. This could be a model you need moved, knocked down, or slammed into another model in order to get that second model on the ground. The main problems associated with this move is the resource investment in Models, Actions, and Focus (M.A.F), as well as the problem of angles because the slam is limited to moving directly towards the target. A Terminal Velocity Helldiver solves every problem in that equation.

• Resources: The Helldiver is only three points, and often requires no investment of Focus to perform. This means the Slam is incredibly cheap in M.A.F, and allows you to apply your M.A.F to a kill instead.
• Emerge: When the Helldiver emerges, you may position it as you please in any legal position, which means that if there's room for it, you will get the perfect angle and range for the Slam. Slamming anyone at an angle you choose, makes for some very interesting possibilities.
• Range: The Helldiver can hit a living target within fifteen inches of the burrow marker. This is a range just rivaled by the Ghordson Basher, does not require a Jack Marshall, and is extremely hard to prevent.
• To hit: Will be boosted against living targets, but against DEF 11+ non-living targets it will probably require a Focus. This can be supplied by the Warwitch Sirens, if you really need Mortenebras Focus elsewhere, or if the Helldiver is outside Focus allocation range. If this is happening during Mortenebras feat turn, you can assume that anything without DEF 15+ is going down hard.

Since the Helldivers can strike where they like, and at any angle they like, you can keep an eye out for Warjacks on the edge of your opponents control area, and slam them out of it. This will probably hurt your Helldiver, but even heavies will have problems wrecking the Helldiver without Focus, and will have to spend an action getting up in the first place. In a kill-box scenario you also have the option of chain slamming a caster outside the box (as Rick has noted in a comment, chain slamming only works against casters immune to knockdown), in case you have issues taking him down with raw damage, which will probably result in heavy objects being thrown at your face in real life.

Slamming is such a versatile tool, that having multiple slams in a round with a very low M.A.F cost, becomes a massive force multiplier. Whether you need Mulg out of the equation, a caster on the ground, or room for your assassination piece by his caster, a Terminal Velocity Helldiver will solve your problem.

A special mention should go to Head-butting as well. This is much the same as slamming, but only works against medium bases with a Helldiver. This is a nice option if there's no room for picking up speed to slam, or free strikes would become a problem. Head-butt is fun, since it requires no movement at all, so if there's room for the Helldiver, that caster is going down.

Terror. It's not on the card, but Helldivers cause terror, though not as a game mechanic, but against players. These little homing missiles are coming at him, and there's not a damn thing he can do about it, so either he denies them a charge or he takes his chances on the dice. The most effective way seems to be building a castle, but this dictates how the entire game unfolds, and a predictable opponent is a dead opponent. At some point the Helldivers will get an opening anyway, or just slam multiple models on the caster, and you can send in something else to kill the pile of knocked down models.

Defense. Though I rarely get to use them like this, the Helldivers are excellent defensive models. Most opponents seem to forget that you get to choose the facing when the Helldiver emerges, so you can hit anything within 13-15" in any direction. The two Manhunters I took down for the price of one Focus (had to buy an extra attack) was probably the best hit I've made, but the owner of the Totem Hunter (in a forest, behind my army) made the most memorable face.

Objectives. There's no stopping the Helldiver, and we've already established the merits of slamming. Three Helldivers will clear an objective rather effectively, if your opponent relies on tough single models to contest it. Since most scenarios are simply disguised caster kills, a lot of opponents tend to forget that you can actually win on objectives, and if you keep that in mind it will happen (exactly why I lost a game this Saturday... sigh...). With the great slam angles, you can even use the larger models to clear out a few contesting infantry while you're at it, or just load up the Helldivers with a bit of Focus and have them end up in a position to chomp the last couple of guys.

Threat.  I was playing a game of Warhammer 40.000 a while back, and I had a couple of Grot Missiles. For those of you that are unfamiliar with these, they're cruise missiles with a suicide pilot. They have a massive blast, and are deadly to packed infantry. I'd brought six of them, and I'd launched five, doing a massive amount of damage to my opponent, but I never fired the last missile. A friend who watched the game asked me about the remaining missile, and why I didn't just fire it and kill of some more infantry. I explained to him that "as long as I have one left, I dictate how his army moves". He could never bunch up, he could never effectively charge a vehicle (that requires bunching up), and he always had to think about cover, which would slow him down.

Helldivers are like that, because as long as one of them lives, your opponent has to take that threat into account, and then you control his army. When your last Helldiver dies, that threat is gone for good, so before you throw the last one away to kill some random solo, you should think about how that will allow your opponent to play from there on. No, strike that... unless it's a game winning move, you should never throw away your last Helldiver.
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Spotlight: Darragh Wrathe.

I was asked this over on the Privateer Press forum, but I might as well answer here. "What does Wrathe really give eGaspy?  Sure, he has the spell that gives everyone +1" movement.  Is that worth 4 points?  4 points is a lot, especially since he can't be brought back by eGaspy mounted.  -2 Str for living models is good, but eGaspy wants to play that tradeoff game."

Darragh Wrathe is an incredibly powerful addition to almost any list at, or above, 35 points... why... because he's a force multiplier with near limitless potential. So what can this man do for us, or as the question refers to... what can he do for a caster.

• He's on a large base, and incredibly hard to kill. This means that if Eiryss got to your caster, or clouds/stealth won't work, you still have a place to hide. This might not seem like much, but it's a very nice backup plan when something hits the fan. Darragh can also shield other important models.
• When combined with Tartarus, he increases the Bane Thrall threat range to 11.5", which is the critical inch where they suddenly have a longer threat range than the classic speed six model with reach. This is so incredibly powerful and has won me several games.
• When you mess up positioning, Darragh Wrathe saves the day. Suddenly you realize that Tartarus is stuck behind the Bane Knights, out of range of the target, and if you activate the Knights to move out of the way, you can't charge with them once Tartarus has cursed... No worries, Darragh Wrathe will solve it: Death Ride the Knights out of the way, so Tartarus can go do his job and they can follow up with the charge at MAT8 and increased range.
• Didn't kill the Target you charged? ... and now your own models are blocking access to it for you last couple of units/models... Darragh Wrathe will solve it, and shuffle a few guys around, allowing you to charge the target with another couple of models to finish the job.
• Annoying solo giving you a hard time... Darragh has 18" threat on his Hellfire, and can move 5" away after the deed is done. He can also charge one if it got close, with 13" threat mind you, then Hellfire another one with Battle Wizard, then return to shield something. Incorporeal models or not, Darragh Wrathe will solve your issue with non-stealth solo annoyances.
• Beyond Death... it's great with casters like Venethrax and Terminus, but it can actually save a lot of lives if used offensively, though that will cost Darragh his life. Park him up front, and opposing models will have to gun him down first.
• Assassination: When eGaspy pops his feat, you can add an inch to their range as well, and spread them out a bit to gain some better vectors on the charges. This has caught a couple of players unaware.

I was interrupted in my post, but I think I got it all down now... Darragh Wrathe really is one of the most amazing models in the game, and incredibly durable at that. I've only ever used him once where I didn't feel I got my points worth, and that was because I boxed him in with Death Ride moves so he couldn't run away afterward (sigh).

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Spotlight: Helldivers... Part 1.

Since I now have three Helldivers in my army (until I change my mind like I always do), I got to thinking about it. It's actually a pretty survivable little machine at three points. With DEF14/ARM15 and 22 health boxes, it's a lot tougher to take out than your average three point solo, can boost it's attack and damage, and benefit from Battlegroup buffs. Add to that the ability to burrow and the Helldiver strikes where it likes, and has a pretty good chance of surviving it.

So why is this wondrous machine just three points... There have been epic discussions about this on the privateer press forums, and some of it actually made sense:

• Focus: Operating at the front or behind enemy lines, makes it hard to keep the thing within control range so you can assign Focus. This drawback is made less annoying with Terminal Velocity, as Mortenebra can move up and fire her pulse, to allow the Helldiver to be 20" away from her at the beginning of the round. There's also Deryliss, but having him so far up the front is asking for trouble.

• Movement: The Helldiver is slow and tops out at just above ten inches per round, with burrowing, which is faster than running. It does so without using any Focus, but the main issue is, that the Helldiver works best when it's out in front of the army, pushing back ranged units or making the opponent jump through hoops to avoid a burrow charge through his lines. Cryx is a faction of SPD6-7 models, and being left behind means the Helldiver will do nothing for the entire game. With Mortenebra there's a slight offset in the T4 bonus, that increases the deployment zone by two inches, but this really isn't enough. The thing I see here is, that I'll have to slow the rest of my army down in order to maximize the three Helldivers, and that could be an issue in scenario play.

• Offensive capabilities: It's only MAT6 & PS13. While this is true, when running it with Mortenebra it becomes able to charge for free and roll 3d6+6 to hit with Terminal Velocity, making it able to pull of a fully boosted charge without spending any Focus at all. Giving it two Focus allows it two fully boosted attacks, which will take down a lot of the weaker casters, and if Mortenebra burns her feat on it, something is going down hard. The Helldiver also has the option of a boosted slam for no cost, as Terminal Velocity allows free power attacks and slams. This can set a caster up for some real world hurt, if they get slammed through their own troops and into the arms of a FULLY OPERATIONAL DEATHSTAR... or Slayer/Harrower. There's also the added little thing, that a Terminal Velocity Helldiver is amazingly fast on the charge: 3" Unburrow + 1.57" base +10.5" charge = 15.07 inches... not a lot of jacks that can do that.
  

• No Arc Node: Typically the only bonejacks that see play in Cryx are Arc Nodes, and the Helldiver doesn't have one. The argument is, that for one more point it could be a Nightwretch or Deathripper, and this makes the Helldiver bad. Guess what, Mortenebra doesn't need a node.

So why am I bringing three? Well the main concern when facing a Helldiver is the astounding number of angles it can attack from, and as Aduro from the Privateer Press forum says: having one coming at you, with pretty much Nothing you can do about it until it attacks, has a Very distinct psychological effect on most opponents. (...) really messes with your opponent's head and plans.

This means that with three Helldivers coming at him, not only will it be next to impossible to stop them all from coming through, but it will mess up everything from deployment to assassination attempts, since he constantly has to worry about three little diggers turning his day into a nightmare of Terminal Velocity boosted charges. Fielding Helldivers is not about averages, it's about potential, and the potential for three free charges/slams at almost any angle is exceptional.

I've been thinking about letting my opponent go first in scenario play. Edit: This turned out to be an amazingly bad idea, and has been removed from the post!

Part two of this article is now up.

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Scavengers...

Just ordered two Scavengers. I know they get a lot of heat on the various forums, and to be honest i think they're really expensive for what I get, except with Mortenebra. I probably can't get them in time for a play test, so I'll have to bring them to the qualifiers without any experience running them *gulp*.

The plan is to run them on the flanks, depending on where my opponent deploys his flanking solos, and then hopefully go to town on them. With Terminal Velocity they can assault 12.5" and if they kill their target they can retreat 7" afterward. This will either allow me to take out most solos and retreat to safety, or require my opposition to bunch up in the hopes of getting at my Scavengers with either free strikes or just making sure they're still in range after the Sprint move. This can be exploited by working the Scavengers as a team, or by keeping my Warwitches close by to spray the bunched up models.

The thing is, that even against an undamaged target the Scavenger under Terminal Velocity is rolling 3d6+7 to hit and 3d6+11 damage on a charge, which should take out most normal 5 health solos, and it's doing it without spending any Focus (will probably give it a Focus to make sure I can kill something and get away though, but that's what Warwitch Sirens are for, and they're running on the flanks anyway). If it's something a bit more resilient, I could always shoot it with my Harrower and if it's damaged the Scavenger is rolling 4d6+11 and will take out Dragoons if I give it a Focus to buy another attack.

I had planned for those 8 points to be used for a Leviathan, but after doing a lot of encounters in my head, I ended up with the annoying result, that the things I need to kill either have Stealth or really High DEF, which means that I'd have to dedicate 3+ Focus to a Leviathan in order to get that kill I need (assuming they don't have Stealth and just ignore me). With the Scavengers I can get that kill for no Focus at all, as long as I can get TV up, and I'm probably doing that every round anyway.
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Headaches...

Borrowed my dads sports car last night in order to celebrate spring and take my woman out for a spin. Now this is the first time I've ever borrowed it, and it wasn't really a success. Sure it was fun racing around, but that car was designed for midgets (which is okay, since my dad is a head shorter than me)! After half an hour I had cramps in my neck and back, and when I awoke this morning I had a splitting headache. So, accepting I'll get little to no work done today, I decided to take a look at the Leviathan I found in my mail when I got to work.

This of course leads me to a second, if rather more pleasant, headache... I would really like to include a Leviathan in my 50 point army (though finding room for it is proving very difficult). The Leviathan is a weird Helljack, and as such I've been having trouble making myself "see" the potential, but it gives me something a Mortenebra army badly needs: A reason for the opposition to stay back or come forward.

Staying back: With Overrun from Deryliss on something else I can get the Leviathan 5" forward (or 10" if I walk when I activate it, but then there's no aiming bonus), then you can assign it a Focus with a Warwitch Siren, move up Mortenebra, Feat, and because of her Interface rule the Leviathan can aim and spend 8 Focus that round. This is three completely boosted shots, with re-rolls, at POW 13-15, which should hurt: 3d6+7 RAT, 3d6+13-15 DAM

There are many casters that will die from it, and so they'll have incentive to stay back. The thing is, that last Mondays game taught me that even with re-rolls the dice will screw you over, and this Leviathan assassination will leave me high and dry if it fails, which is something I really don't like. In addition to that, the damage it can do is really pathetic for 8 Focus. Now for three Focus I can get two boosted damage shots, which sounds a lot better to me, but won't assassinate anyone. That's 10 damage inflicted on a ARM 20 jack, with 5+ to hit, and most likely outside of charge range.

Coming forward: The Leviathan can also force a confrontation against melee armies, in case I get outwitted and end up against a melee heavy army, since play testing clearly showed that being aggressive against such an army is pure folly.

Conclusion: So what do I really need the Leviathan for? ... support and solo hunting. I hate having to commit a jack to charge in and kill them, because that will leave me bad choices every round. Do I sacrifice this jack or allow that support to live another round and screw me over. With the Leviathan I can get some of them while staying safe(ish), and Overrun can also be used to juggle the Leviathan if needed: Walk, shoot, trigger Overrun, walk back to safety, if 13" range isn't enough to keep the Levi out of harms way.

That being said... I'm still not sold. This thing hogs so much Focus it's making me dizzy, and will need two or more Focus every round in order to do anything, much less live up to it's potential. Since I have one Focus in surplus on an average round, something has to change or I have to leave my Levi at home, and just bring more Slayers to sacrifice in order to take out annoying solos.

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Spotlight: Blood Witches & Hag.

The crucial thing to remember, when running Blood Witches is, that Blood Witches allow you to purchase one of the most awesome "solos" in the game. When you can make that mental distinction you're well on you way to getting the most out of them. You should never ever field the Blood Witches without the Hag, since they're a piss poor unit without her.

Blood Witches: Are normally used to run up and tie down units without magical assistance or weapons, and they do this very well. Turn one you run up in range and try not to get to many models killed by shooting, and turn two you feat and charge/run in. This means that your opponent has a lot of Incorporeal models blocking lanes and/or swinging at him, and even if you don't get your gang bonus with free strikes later, you can easily kill most shooting units on free strikes.

On occasion the Blood Witches will be able to charge, and at MAT8 and with two attacks each at PS12/10 they will kill most medium infantry, and with the special abilities you could easily create havoc. (Cloud walls, or extra casualties against very low ARM units like Assassins). Don't ever count on your witches killing anything though: if they stop a unit from a round of shooting they were worth it! If they do kill things, all the better.

Blood Hag: The real power behind the unit, she features Stealth, a mini-feat, Entropic Force, and even a backup dispel if needed. The Blood Hag is slower, but you still need her to get the unit swinging, so she should be within nine inches of the witches, but make damn sure you're no further up the field than absolutely needed, and if you have something to protect her with that would be great as well. She's rather hard to get rid of with Incorporeal and Stealth, but she needs help.

Now the Hag is really a defensive model, so after her witches die horribly she should probably retreat to safety. Against some armies she never leaves it at all, and I keep the Witches as defense for my caster as well, but make very sure your opponent doesn't have anything that gets increased power from killing living models, because eMadrak or the likes will laugh and kill you, if you protect your caster with living models.

The Hag is there to shut down Tough, and oh dear god this makes some units and casters cry. Originally I purchased the unit after running into pIrusk and his 4+ Tough, Immune to Knockdown, Fearless band of merry men, but there are many models that will mess up your game by rolling those Tough checks, so here's what the Blood Hag does.

a) One shot, move up and negate Tough: This will most likely get her killed, but the expressions when Trolls just die is worth it. Having a caster roll a Tough check usually spells disaster, so getting her in there to prevent it can save you games. Remember she also prevents healing, so Harbinger will loose her paladins, and several defensive feats will be negated.

b) Dispel. Withershadow Combine dead or busy?, then go stab your Warcaster/Unit/Warjack. It's a POW10 and you don't need to damage anything to remove the effect, so 1-2 damage on a Warcaster or Light Jack, probably nothing on a Heavy Jack, and one model missing from a unit could easily be worth it, when it means getting rid of Crippling Grasp or the likes.

c) Mini-feat. Now I've already talked about the uses for this ability, but pay special attention to the fact that you can do this while running, and that it takes effect when the activation ENDS. This means you can charge with the Witches, feat and then default to run with the Hag so she can keep up, hit with the witches, and when it's all over they fade to incorporeal. This is really really no holds barred annoying for an opponent to deal with, since Incorporeal usually works the other way around, so you get to hit them when they hit you.

You should note, that the Hag's ability has been hit by an errata, so it does NOT block transfers on Horde Warlocks, but it does prevent healing so Harbinger will be crying, and so will a lot of the units that sacrifice themselves for each other. If you play competitively, you should pay notice to the units that sacrifice themselves in order to "heal" a comrade, because he WILL sacrifice himself, and the heal will be prevented, getting you two kills for the price of one.

Update: 21.07.2011
Since I wrote this I've discovered a few more tricks I'd like to share. The one bad thing to say about Blood Witches is, that a lot of their better tricks rely on the mini-feat, so timing that is crucial.

• Sweepers: Blood Witches are pretty good at saving other units. If you have a unit bogged down by enemies, and you need them free, Blood Witches can do it. If you walk/charge in to kill them, you would normally just end up blocking your own unit just as well. Since Blood Witches can go Incorporeal after they attack, you can simply engage to free up the unit, and then go Incorporeal to allow the unit to pass unhindered.
• Assault: Sometimes a juicy target will be protected by a line of skirmishers, with the intent of blocking access to them. Blood Witches can feat, then clear that line, and go Incorporeal to allow other units access to the second line behind it. This will often be worth the sacrifice.
• Cover: Amongst the Blood Witches we find a time tested tradition, of stabbing each other in the back. This happens, because the special attacks on their melee weapons do not specify "enemy" models. If you have something living you don't really need, do feel free to get yourself a nice cloud cover instead.

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The Stalker...

I've been thinking about the Stalker a lot lately. Now in most armies the Stalker is crap, but in a Mortenebra army I think it could be just what the doctor ordered. It's fast, it has stealth, and it's really hard to hit with DEF16, so with 35 tons of steel and necrotite bearing down on his army, I think most opponents will tend to ignore the Stalker until it's to late.

The thing I look for in an assassination attempt is mostly: "what happens when I fail". This has saved my bacon a lot of times already, and I see people loosing every game night, when the "sure thing" blows up in their face. This means that attempts that will allow my caster to remain safe is right there at the top of the list, and the Stalker comes close.

Mortenebra assigns the Stalker three Focus, activates Terminal Velocity, Feats, and moves up to within 15" of the opposing caster, assuming that everything else is deemed possible of course.
- Deryliss casts Spectral Steel on the Stalker, so it can ignore free strikes and pass through impassible terrain if needed.
- If you need a lane cleared, you could try using the Harrower to clear it.
- Deathjack can charge for free with TV up, so it spends it's two Focus casting Overrun on itself. This needs to work and it doesn't matter if you kill anything of value, so go for a sure kill. If you can kill something while allowing yourself a measure of safety in case the assassination fails, do so.

- Now when Overrun procs on the Deathjack, you move the Stalker up seven inches, while making sure you have a direct charge lane to the caster. Remember that impassible terrain and free strikes are taken care of, but you still need to be able to see the caster, and Ghostly does not allow you to charge through models.
- When charging remember to stay inside Mortenebras control area, or this entire plan falls apart. Mortenebra is 15 inches back, so with the size of your Stalkers base, and ½ inch melee range, this should be no problem at all.

This now gives you three fully boosted MAT7 & POW12 attacks, with re-rolls to both attack and damage. In addition they ignore Focus camping, Tough, Transfers, and spell effects that add to DEF/ARM. This will absolutely slaughter anything with less than ARM16 (remember to account for non-spell effects that add to DEF/ARM).

I'll be testing it out tonight, but I think I found a winner here.
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