TACTICA: Lash of Submission (Part 2)
My last article dealt with using Lash of Submission, so I wanted to spend some time talking about the other side of the table. How do you deal with Lash of Submission as a target. It’s easy to become intimidated by Lash (it is an awesome power), but it has it’s limitations.
Let me say right off the bad, I’m not writing a tactica for every army. This article is just some guidelines to get you thinking about how to deal with Lash with your own army. If you have any questions or are struggling in your games, send me a email or leave a comment and I’ll work up something for you. Of course some armies (like Necrons) will have a harder time than others, but understanding how Lash works is the key to defeating it.
After all of the tips and tricks I discussed in my previous article, I’m sure you are hoping for some quick and dirty tricks to water it down. I’ll save you some searching: the only way to quickly stop Lash army is getting the first turn with your own Lash army.
HOW TO COUNTER LASHAs I said earlier, the first step to beating anything is understanding it. In this section I’ll break apart the power, piece by piece, and give you some ideas on countering it.
1. It’s a psychic power: Things that mess up psychic powers are the lowest hanging fruit. First and foremost is the humble Psychic Hood. I predict that every tournament army that can buy one, will buy one in 2008. This also goes for abilities like Runes of Warding and Shadows of the Warp. But don’t forget Shield of Faith (Sisters of Battle), Aegis (Grey Knights) and wargear like Null Rods (Inquisitors). Black Templar’s vow Abhor the Witch, Destroy the Witch is fantastic. You’ll also be seeing my favorite Assassin, the Culexus, more in Imperial armies.
Note: This also means that Librarians are going to be much, much more common in tournament armies. So you’ll be dealing with more psychic powers in general, so a Psychic Hood is going to be an excellent addition to any army. Just keep that in mind when you build your tournament army.
2. The Sorcerer must pass a psychic test: Besides abilities like Runes of Warding and Shadows, a few armies have some units and wargear designed to make psychic tests tougher to pass. Take advantage of this. Lowering Leadership is an easy way for armies that don’t have Psychic Hoods to counter Lash. The Culexus and Pariah units have Soulless and Tyranid Psychic Scream armies can make psychic tests tough (especially when combined with Shadows of the Warp).
Note: Also consider wargear and items that allow you to go after the psyker directly. The Dark Eldar’s Crucible of Malediction and the Witch Hunter psychic powers Hammer of the Witches and Purgatus are both very effective. Purgatus has the added benefit of having a 24″ range so few Sorcerers are going to risk getting close enough to use Lash of Submission.
3. It only works on non-vehicle units: This is going to make mechanized armies more effective, especially the thrice-damned Mech Eldar armies. Lash is just the justification they need for 3 Falcon lists. I can hear it now, “but I have to take 3 Falcons because it’s the only thing I have to counter Lash of Submission!” Ugh.
So keep your units in transports and make sure you have enough vehicle based shooting to keep the pressure on the Lash army. Use empty transports to block line of sight (forcing the Chaos player to move to a place of your choosing to use his Sorcerer) and to create firing lanes so your Shooting is more effective.
The Blood Angels, Dark Angels and Chaos Space Marine codices have reduced the base price of a Rhino to 35 points. This makes them a bargain even if you don’t plan on using it as a transport. For 35 points, they earn their points as mobile terrain or blocking LoS. Since they are immune to Lash, empty dedicated transports are great tools for making it tough for the Sorcerers to see your non-vehicle units. Every squad that can buy a Rhino, should buy one.
Note: In our test game (against Death Guard), the game ended in a draw thanks solely to the lowly Rhino. Bigred used his Rhinos to block my line of fire. When I destroyed them they became permanent terrain features and made it very tough for me to get a bead on his vulnerable non-vehicle units.
4. The unit has to be visible: Controlling your opponent’s line of sight is critical when facing a Lash Army. Using line of sight to your advantage is a real skill and one that should be cultivated. Use your vehicles (including empty transports) and terrain to restrict your opponent’s line of sight is a great tool against Lash.
Also keep in mind that close combats block line of sight to the height of the tallest model. Take advantage of units like Grey Knights and Harlequins are tough to see thanks to special abilities. Also units that can take out of sequence movements (like jetpacks and Eldar jetbikes) are good choices against Lash armies. If you can’t prevent him from using Lash, don’t give him many targets.
5. The range is 24″: If the power has an Achilles’ Heel, this is it. By closing to 24″ to use the power, the Sorcerer is exposing himself to a lot of return fire (and potentially assault). Put units vulnerable to Lash further back and your vehicles forward. This forces the Sorcerer to move close to your vehicles and gives you a chance of getting close enough to him to target him.
Another great tip is to use his short range against him is to deploy your units near each other. Force him to come to your strength to use Lash. Sure he’ll move one of your units, but the rest will still be in range to shoot back. Don’t spread out because that will allow a fast-moving Sorcerer to pick off your units piecemeal. This has the beneficial side effect of forcing his template weapons to move, making them less accurate (in the case of the Defiler and Vindicator) or not an option to fire (e.g., the “single frequency” Blastmaster).
Note: The most common Lash tactic is to use a Sorcerer on a Bike with Lash and a screening unit of Bikes that turboboost to stay between your army and the Sorcerer. This allows the Sorcerer to benefit from the Independent Character targeting restriction and puts a hard to kill unit in front of them (T5 with a 3+ Invulnerable save). I’ll give you some tips for countering this combination below.
6. Your unit is moved 2d6″: That’s an average of 7″ and it’s not affected by difficult terrain. Generally your opponent is going to bunch them up (for his template weapons) or he’s going to move them closer to assault them. Know which ability is most likely to use on which unit and setup your unit appropriately.
Example 1: If you have an 8-man Devastator or Havoc squad in cover, your opponent is most likely going to move them out of the terrain and bunch them together. If you deploy your models 5″ into cover and 2″ apart in a long horizontal line, your opponent is going to have a hard time getting them out of the cover or bunched up if he rolls low. Don’t do his job for him — use a ruler and make sure your units are 2″ apart when you deploy them.
Example 2: If your opponent is using Daemon Princes with Lash or infiltrating Chosen, he’s probably going to move your advance units forward to make his assault easier. With some luck (or two Lash Princes), he can pull off a first turn assault. To counter this, don’t put your non-vehicle units on the front edge of your deployment zone and put vehicles (even empty transports) on your flanks to keep his infiltrators away.
7. Dead sorcerers can’t use psychic powers: It sounds obvious, but his Sorcerers (or Lash Princes) are the key to his entire army. Your opponent doesn’t have a back-up plan, so if you get rid of them quickly your opponent is going to have a tough time recovering. So no matter how much of your army you have to dedicate to it, kill those Sorcerers. Kill their screening units and then kill them.
Chaos Sorcerers don’t have Psychic Hoods so they are vulnerable to abilities like Mind War, Mind Worm, Vortex of Doom, and Gift of Chaos. The Sorcerer isn’t immune to Instant Death, so once you kill his screening unit he’s toast. Make sure that your opponent knows that getting too close to you is suicide. A strong show of shooting force may be enough to keep the Sorcerer out of Lash range, especially if you kill off his screening units.
Note: Daemon Princes with Lash will be less common because Monstrous Creatures don’t benefit from the Independent Character targeting protection. But if he takes a Daemon Prince, pour all of your firepower into him. The second he pokes his nose out, target him with everything.
RECOMMENDED UNITS
Here are a few ideas for Imperial players that don’t have Librarians. Any Imperial Player can add these units to their army (these are great options for IG players). But don’t go crazy, you only need one of them. A serious risk of Lash-hype is going overboard countering Lash and making your army too weak.
1. The Imperial One-Two Punch (Daemonhunters Inquisitor Lord + Culexus Assassin): I recommend this unit for Imperial Guard and Inquisitorial armies. This can also be a very effective unit for Space Marine armies without LD10 Librarians (such as Dark Angels and Blood Angels). I find it strange that an Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Lord is more effective against Lash of Submission than the Ordo Hereticus Lord.
Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Lord (Psychic Hood, Emperor’s Tarot, Psycannon); 152 pts.
Retinue: 3 Veteran Guardsmen, 2 MysticsCulexus Assassin; 105pts
So for 257pts (and a HQ and Elite slot) you can pretty much shut down a standard Lash army. The Psycannon prevents your opponent from turboboosting his bikes to protect his Sorcerer (it completely ignores their saves, including their armor save thanks to the poor wording of turboboosting). The Emperor’s Tarot gives you a better chance of choosing who goes first (a critical choice when facing Lash armies). And the Culexus is just really, really nasty against Sorcerers.
The goal here isn’t to build the most efficient Inquisitorial retinue, but to give you an option to counter Lash without completely changing your army.
Note: I don’t recommend Sanctioned Pskyers or Deathwatch Librarians to counter Lash. They are nice units, but you really need a LD10 Psychic Hood. So go with an Inquisitor Lord instead.
2. Grey Knights: This is a great option when you don’t have a lot of points. For 81 points, you can get a Grey Knights Brother-Captain with a Psychic Hood (for 30 more points, you can give him a Psycannon). I love this option for Dark Angels as well (he can join a Deathwing Assault unit and gives them an option for a Ld10 Psychic Hood).
The squad joined by the Grey Knights character also benefits from The Shrouding which offers some protection from Lash by making the unit tough to see.
Note: The Grey Knight Grandmaster is pretty tempting too, if you don’t mind the points. Sacred Incense counters the Mark of Slaanesh, so he’ll go simultaneously with the Sorcerer (or Daemon Prince) and has a good chance of taking them out with the force weapon power of his Nemesis force weapon.
3. Special Characters: You shouldn’t feel any guilt about resorting to special characters to counter Lash of Submission, especially if you are using an army that has a tough time against Sorcerers. Characters like Kharn, Ahriman, Mephiston, Tigirius, and Eldrad can make short work of Lash armies.
CONCLUSION
I hope you leave this tactica with a better understanding of Lash of Submission and with some ideas on how to use the strengths of your army to conter it. Yes, it’s a very versatile and dangerous psychic power, but it’s not impossible to beat.
If you have any questions or thoughts, post them and I’ll answer. If you face Lash, please take the time and post a comment to tell us know how it went!
