Dark Legion - Undead Horde - Part 2

In a recent post I mentioned that I was planning an undead horde for my Dark Legion...

...the response was...mixed...

Necromutants!!!...No, Legionnaires!!!...Necromutants!!!...No, Legionnaires!!!...

My plan was to have a large number of cheap units throwing as much fire-power as possible out using an old philosophy of mine from back when list building for 40K was actually fun whereby if you throw enough shots into an enemy unit it's going to die...eventually...with this supported by a bit more quality fire-power with which to pick off threats that need immediate attention..

I believe the actual quote goes "Quantity has a quality all of it's own.." Though the quote originally came from Joseph Stalin I don't think we can hold that against the quote. He also said "One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic." Which is probably on a plaque over Algeroth's office door.....

In my second of my battle reports (which can be found here) I used exactly such a list as mentioned and it did rather well. I also discovered that I was slightly under-pointed...

The revised list is going to go something like the following...we'll look at the reasons as we go along...

Warlord - Golgotha   (175 Points)

Golgotha has several abilities that are exceptionally useful in this build type.

Her Passive Ability 'Aura of Dark Symmetry' gives friendly models starting their activation within 12" of her a +1 to their Movement Value which combined with the +1 from their Necromutant Squad Commander ups a Undead Legionnaires Movement from four to six which given their inability to run is a significant improvement. In addition to this benefit she has another Passive Ability called 'Repugnant Actuality' which gives all friendly models on small or medium bases within 12" of Golgotha a +1 bonus to Armour which ups our Legionnaires from 12 to 13 and our Razides to 15 from 14 which is also helpful.

Her third Passive Ability is 'Dark Symmetry' which enables her to take up to one Algeroth Dark Symmetry Power. Given her role (in my force at least) as a support Warlord I'd most likely give her Bringer of Dark Tools, Transmorphication or Infernal Shield which give the target unit bonuses to weapon strength, armour or Willpower respectively. All of those are 15 points though Transmorphication is currently the one I'm edging towards as it potentially gives me Armour 17 on a unit of Razides.

She's adequate in a fight though she rely's on quantity of attacks rather than quality combined with a de-buff from 'Mistress of Pain' and to be fair if she's in combat then something's going wrong..or some sneaky individual's used Rapid Deployment to ambush me, lol.

Troops - Undead Legionnaires (172 Points)

Now I've found a few extra points I'll be using maximum sized units of these numbering twelve Legionnaires (one of which will be upgraded to a Necromutant Squad Commander) with the maximum possible upgraded to have special weapons. My personal preference is for four HMG's in each squad and though I can see the usefulness in certain situations of the Plaguedealer I'm sticking with the HMG's for now.

A full unit gives me 12, 18" range St 13 shots and 7, 24" range shots at St 12 with a RS of 12 with a further 2, 24" range St 13 shots at RS 13. Effectively what this means is I get a lot of very average shots at mid-range and hopefully enough get through so my target fails an armour save or two. I can 'Turn to Burn' a Resource card to give the unit 'Black Bullets' which stop the target from making 'Heal' rolls...very useful against forces with medics or if you just don't want that small chance of enemy survival to ruin all your hard work.

In melee they're also distinctly average...except...

Mutant Chronicles is in many ways less about unit selection (nothings terrible) but rather in the correct use of the units you have. When used appropriately Undead Legionnaires aren't actually that bad in a scrap. Their weapons prevent the use of healing effects, if they have a Necromutant Leader they have access to the 'Swarm'* Special Squad Action and it's also possible to turn certain models you kill into additional Undead Legionnaires in certain circumstances (It only works on Small or Medium Based models and they have to be removed by the Necromutant Squad Leader) but a free model is a free model, lol.

I used 'Swarm' several times in my last battle and it's an excellent way of removing high value single models.

As is to be expected in a 'Horde' list, I'll be taking four units of these.

Support - Razides (75 Points each)

I can now afford four of these rather than three though whether I'll take one as a unit on it's own or split them into two units of two or some other configuration will require some thought...

In my first game I left them in their normal configuration with the 3 shot 18" Range gun (the Plaguedealer HMG) and in my second I swapped them for the 2 shot, 30" version (the Nazgaroth) as they were going to stay at the back as a bodyguard for Golgotha. Next game I'm going to try a mix of both to give me some varying threat ranges. My current thinking is that I'll have a unit of two protecting Golgotha with the Nazgaroth upgrade and I'll take two in single model units that will move forward giving more close range support.

Razides are the 'Quality' part of the equation in this list. Their shots ignore any negative modifiers to range and any claims for cover, have a decent RS of 13 (once in position they'll be aiming rather than moving so their RS will effectively be 15 and the St of the attack will become 17...for the first shot at least) and also have some options in Close Combat situations which improve if you don't mind using a Resource Card.

Monster - Praetorian Behemoth (320 Points)

I like it and it's cool.....but I suppose that doesn't really count as a tactical analysis.....

Having used up my troop choices I'm left with a couple of Lord slots, my remaining Support slots without Razides in them and one Light Vehicle/Monster slot. I have no need of Lords particularly and I'm not sure that Praetorian Stalkers particularly compliment the list. What it really lacks is a heavily armoured bullet magnet as well as an immediate 'I need to deal with that now' threat that I can use to force my opponent to commit resources where I wish him to rather than where he (or she) wants to...this role is tailor made for the Behemoth...

He has a powerful ranged attack which has a Blast option as well as grenades that reduce an enemies armour and neutralise their 'Heal' Ability. It's close combat attacks are incredibly powerful and it has little trouble in tearing apart vehicles or multiple Wound models. If you don't mind spending a Resource Card you can do my personal favourite 'Throw building at unit' attack and it's 'Unstoppable Mass' attack allows it to make a Special 'Charge' Action that travels 12", Auto-hitting everything in it's path and hurling any survivors away.

Of course invariably it will be prevented from doing this a 2nd time as your opponent generally moves it up the priority list pretty much immediately afterwards, lol.

This makes the list for my next game the following...

Dark Legion - Undead Horde

Golgotha (175), Transmorphication (15)   (190)

Undead Legionnaires x12 (120), Necromutant Squad Commander (+20), HMG x4 (+32)   (172)
Undead Legionnaires x12 (120), Necromutant Squad Commander (+20), HMG x4 (+32)   (172)
Undead Legionnaires x12 (120), Necromutant Squad Commander (+20), HMG x4 (+32)   (172)
Undead Legionnaires x12 (120), Necromutant Squad Commander (+20), HMG x4 (+32)   (172)

Razides x2   (150), Nazgaroth Upgrade (+0)   (150)
Razides x1   (75)
Razides x1   (75)

Praetorian Behemoth (320)

Total   (1498)

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.