Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Khorne Campaigns: World Eaters vs. Necrons



I decided to work on a World Eaters army because I've had berzerkers for years and never had a ton of success with them. People have been talking them up in 8th though so I decided to get an army of them together and try it out. My first victim was Apprentice Red's Necron army.

The list:

++ Battalion Detachment +3CP (Chaos - Chaos Space Marines) [56 PL, 1071pts] ++

Legion: World Eaters

+ Dedicated Transport +

Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 83pts]: Combi-bolter, Combi-flamer, Mark of Khorne

Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 83pts]: Combi-bolter, Combi-flamer, Mark of Khorne

Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 83pts]: Combi-bolter, Combi-flamer, Mark of Khorne

+ HQ +

Chaos Lord on Juggernaut of Khorne [7 PL, 143pts]: Bladed horn on Juggernaut of Khorne, Chainaxe, Plasma pistol

Dark Apostle [5 PL, 76pts]: Bolt pistol, Mark of Khorne, Power maul, The Black Mace

Exalted Champion [5 PL, 75pts]: Axe of Blind Fury, Bolt pistol, Mark of Khorne, Power axe

+ Troops +

Khorne Berzerkers [9 PL, 176pts]: Icon of Wrath
. Berzerker Champion: Plasma pistol, Power fist
. 5x Chainsword and Chainaxe: 5x Chainaxe
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol

Khorne Berzerkers [9 PL, 176pts]: Icon of Wrath
. Berzerker Champion: Plasma pistol, Power fist
. 5x Chainsword and Chainaxe: 5x Chainaxe
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol

Khorne Berzerkers [9 PL, 176pts]: Icon of Wrath
. Berzerker Champion: Plasma pistol, Power fist
. 5x Chainsword and Chainaxe: 5x Chainaxe
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol
. Chainsword and plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol

++ Battalion Detachment +3CP (Chaos - Chaos Space Marines) [47 PL, 928pts] ++

+ No Force Org Slot +

Legion: World Eaters

+ Heavy Support +

Havocs [10 PL, 207pts]: Mark of Khorne
. Aspiring Champion: Chainaxe, Combi-bolter
. 3x Havoc w/ boltgun
. Havoc w/ heavy weapon: Missile launcher
. Havoc w/ heavy weapon: Missile launcher
. Havoc w/ heavy weapon: Missile launcher
. Havoc w/ heavy weapon: Missile launcher

+ HQ +

Chaos Lord on Juggernaut of Khorne [7 PL, 143pts]: Bladed horn on Juggernaut of Khorne, Chainaxe, Plasma pistol

Daemon Prince with Wings [9 PL, 183pts]: Daemonic axe, Khorne, Warp bolter

Kharn the Betrayer [8 PL, 160pts]

+ Troops +

Chaos Cultists [3 PL, 49pts]: Mark of Khorne
. 8x Chaos Cultist w/ autopistol and brutal assault weapon
. Chaos Cultist w/ special weapon: Flamer
. Cultist Champion: Brutal assault weapon and Autopistol

Chaos Space Marines [5 PL, 93pts]: Mark of Khorne
. Aspiring Champion: Chainaxe, Combi-bolter
. 3x Marine w/ Boltgun
. Marine w/ heavy weapon: Lascannon

Chaos Space Marines [5 PL, 93pts]: Mark of Khorne
. Aspiring Champion: Chainaxe, Combi-bolter
. 3x Marine w/ Boltgun
. Marine w/ heavy weapon: Lascannon

++ Total: [103 PL, 1999pts] ++

The theory here is that half the army is 3 rhinos full of berzerkers (including Kharn, two juggerlords, and some buff characters) rushing towards you while some guys with missile launchers sit in the back and take shots. It's not a complicated army, and I don;t have a complicated strategy for using them - that's pretty much it.


Red had a bunch of warriors, a monolith, two annihilation barges, a unit of lychguard, all led by the Stormlord. It was a lot of Necron bodies and some nasty guns.



Here's the start of the fight. We needed more sight-blocking terrain so I broke out the old Mighty Fortress and we decided we were fighting in an old ruined fortress. We declared the battlements and towers to be cover regardless of facing so my missile squads set up in ruins and woods and were pretty happy with the situation. The rhinos were as far up the board on the starting line as I could put them. I got first turn and it was off to the races. The rhinos moved, advanced, and popped smoke - now to endure the first wave of firing.



Over on the left side of the board Red dropped in his monolith and blew up my rhino. It's bound to happen which is why I take 3 of them but in this case his big pyramid tank thing wasn't all that far away from my berzerkers once they bailed out. So ... we charged! As did the Khorne Juggerlord and the daemon prince! With a few krak missile shots to start things off we managed to blow up the monolith in one turn! This had the snowball effect of stranding a 20-man warrior squad he had waiting in the webway or whatever the Necrons call their version of it. They can only emerge from the monolith or one of the flyers and he had only taken the one monolith!

On the other side I advanced up the board and finally got Kharn and the boys into charge range of some skelebots.


The rhinos took a beating as I used them to absorb overwatch and generally get in the way of the robot forces. The berzerks performed as advertised, mulching the opposition pretty handily with attacking twice, re-rolling misses, and re-rolling wounds thanks to the dark apostle and the exalted champion. Those lychguard are really tough but they fell one by one and I eventually brought down Imotekh the Stormlord himself. He conceded after that. I think we made it to turn 4 and it was a really fun game.

The game also convinced me I had a sound core for the army but I was less sure of the shooty half. They contributed for sure, but in the later turns they were somewhat out of range (as we were playing long ways on the table)  and most of the potential targets were engaged in melee and so could not be targeted.

I was also unsure of Kharn - yes he's a melee hurricane but he does nothing to buff the rest of the force and killed a couple of his own men during the fight too. At 160 points I'm thinking I could find a better option. The second juggerlord is 143, does a lot of damage too, and can also buff a squad if they stray out of range of the other two characters. A foot lord in the third rhino might be an alternative as well.

Overall though I was very happy with this battle - now to try them against a different opponent!

2 comments:

thekelvingreen said...

Yeah, I think Kharn is the 40K8 equivalent of the night goblin fanatic; he's good, unpredictable fun, but maybe not the actual best option.

If you have any tips for necrons, I'd love to know. My friend plays them and he's lamenting their poor performance. He thinks its his army selection but I have no experience of them at all so I can't give him any advice.

Blacksteel said...

I agree on Kharn!

Necrons I am not sure about - they have plenty of shooting and one or two nasty melee units so they should be solid. If I can get in some more games with Red I'll see what we can come up with.