In the spirit of new codex tradition, Crazy and I have been talking. His first mention of the proper use of conscripts got me wondering just how effective such a tactic could be. After a bit of testing I'm happy to say that it's.... well... it's hilarious.
So we did a bit of fiddling around and basically 'The Blob' (capitals neccessary here) looks like this:
50x conscripts
1x Priest
1x Level 2 Primaris with Divination
1x Level 1 Ordo Xenos Inquisitor with Hammerhand, power armour, and Rad grenades
This is as stripped down this thing can be and still be effective. All the above comes in at just 328 points. Straight away you're given 53 fearless wounds with a 5+ armour that can benefit from all the fancy new AM orders, while passing leadership tests at Ld10, with hatred, striking at s4 in close combat, and if it charges an enemy non-vehicle the enemy takes a -1 debuff to their toughness.
In the combat phase they then have the opportunity to re-roll all wounds, or re-roll unsuccessful armour and invulnerable saves. Alright, so they're only WS and BS2, but SO MANY re-rolls tend to make that a negligable issue.
Add to that the possibility of the Primaris rolling up a 4++ on the Divination table and you're left giggling at the prospect of how immovable 'The Blob' is.
Sure, I hear you say, good luck rolling that up with only 2 rolls on the Divination table. Well my answer to you, dear reader, is in the logistics of fielding such a monster. Ideally you'd have two of these things, costing only 656 points. Add to that an additional Primaris and another Priest just for good measure and you have the versitility to adapt if you fail to get your 4++ off 6 rolls on the table. Undoubtedly 'The Blob' works most effectively WITH the invul, but 50 fearless models marching up as one giant tar-pit forces most generals to allocate resources to deal with it, whether it has the invul or not.
It must be noted however that conscripts cannot be taken alone. If you wish to take a squad you must spend the points on your Platoon prerequisites first. That will cost you 130 points, however considering ALL of the models you will be purchasing will be scoring I doubt anyone choosing to run this tactic will complain. Two objectives 24" apart? Ok, send in 'The Blob'!
Considering that two blobs with associate platoons is still going to cost you less than 1000 points, even after adding specials for the platoon, that's pretty damn impressive. That's 150 scoring models.
I also understand that this formation has its limits and its vulnerabilities. There's not much it can do against high toughness or armour value greater than 10, however if you're steering your expensive model into the blob to be tied down for 4 turns then that's fine with me. Precision shots are of course a worry, as is barrage, but with all the characters being Independent you're looking at a lot of easy 2+ LOS before you have to worry about them taking wounds.
Last night Crazy, Ruby, 3 Colours and I played a 2k points doubles game. 'The Blob' ended up eating more than double its points worth of Orks, all of the above outcomes were tested and 'The Blob' soaked up 3 turns worth of concentrated firepower without wilting. In the end, I'd say it was a pretty successful result. If a way can be found to apply this efficiently to a tournament environment I think it would be utterly, hilariously, obscene.
I look forward to the day that happens.
Make good choices,
Spicerack
So we did a bit of fiddling around and basically 'The Blob' (capitals neccessary here) looks like this:
50x conscripts
1x Priest
1x Level 2 Primaris with Divination
1x Level 1 Ordo Xenos Inquisitor with Hammerhand, power armour, and Rad grenades
This is as stripped down this thing can be and still be effective. All the above comes in at just 328 points. Straight away you're given 53 fearless wounds with a 5+ armour that can benefit from all the fancy new AM orders, while passing leadership tests at Ld10, with hatred, striking at s4 in close combat, and if it charges an enemy non-vehicle the enemy takes a -1 debuff to their toughness.
In the combat phase they then have the opportunity to re-roll all wounds, or re-roll unsuccessful armour and invulnerable saves. Alright, so they're only WS and BS2, but SO MANY re-rolls tend to make that a negligable issue.
Add to that the possibility of the Primaris rolling up a 4++ on the Divination table and you're left giggling at the prospect of how immovable 'The Blob' is.
Sure, I hear you say, good luck rolling that up with only 2 rolls on the Divination table. Well my answer to you, dear reader, is in the logistics of fielding such a monster. Ideally you'd have two of these things, costing only 656 points. Add to that an additional Primaris and another Priest just for good measure and you have the versitility to adapt if you fail to get your 4++ off 6 rolls on the table. Undoubtedly 'The Blob' works most effectively WITH the invul, but 50 fearless models marching up as one giant tar-pit forces most generals to allocate resources to deal with it, whether it has the invul or not.
It must be noted however that conscripts cannot be taken alone. If you wish to take a squad you must spend the points on your Platoon prerequisites first. That will cost you 130 points, however considering ALL of the models you will be purchasing will be scoring I doubt anyone choosing to run this tactic will complain. Two objectives 24" apart? Ok, send in 'The Blob'!
Considering that two blobs with associate platoons is still going to cost you less than 1000 points, even after adding specials for the platoon, that's pretty damn impressive. That's 150 scoring models.
I also understand that this formation has its limits and its vulnerabilities. There's not much it can do against high toughness or armour value greater than 10, however if you're steering your expensive model into the blob to be tied down for 4 turns then that's fine with me. Precision shots are of course a worry, as is barrage, but with all the characters being Independent you're looking at a lot of easy 2+ LOS before you have to worry about them taking wounds.
Last night Crazy, Ruby, 3 Colours and I played a 2k points doubles game. 'The Blob' ended up eating more than double its points worth of Orks, all of the above outcomes were tested and 'The Blob' soaked up 3 turns worth of concentrated firepower without wilting. In the end, I'd say it was a pretty successful result. If a way can be found to apply this efficiently to a tournament environment I think it would be utterly, hilariously, obscene.
I look forward to the day that happens.
Make good choices,
Spicerack
the Horror of a fully fledged Blob. indeed it would be quite amusing to see tournament Blobs :) cheers for posting up a useful tactic
ReplyDeleteThe best thing about the blob is: You can bubble-wrap all your vulnerable units with it, providing them a 5+ cover save and keeping Meltaguns away from them.
ReplyDeleteThe worst thing about the blob: Precision shots (or barrage weapons) will snipe out your priest – and when your blob isn't fearless any more, melee units will cut through it like a hot knife through butter.
A huge advantage of blob tactics is area control. I lately defeated Eldar jetbikes by simply letting no space left on the table where they could boost to without getting caught in melee.
"Two objectives 24" apart? Ok, send in 'The Blob'!"
Keep in mind that every unit can only hold one objective, even if it stands on two of them. So maybe it's better to play more blobs, but with less units in each. Fielding conscripts, you have to take an infantry platoon, too – that could be your second blob.
Precision shots and barrage are a problem, but it is at least negated by the priests bring IC's. 2+ LOS is great, but you only need to fail that one to make it bad!
Deletepretty nice blog, following :)
ReplyDelete