40K: To Vect or Not to Vect? – That is the Question
Who is the baddest fighter in all of Commorragh? Asdrubael Vect is the leader of Commorragh and one of the nastiest units in the Dark Eldar codex. Let’s talk about the possibilities of taking Vect in your list and what he brings to the table.
This article isn’t going to be about fluff reasons or anything else besides list building and pure point break down in a competitive format. But then again, it’s me – did you really expect any different?
The Horror
How nasty is Vect? Well he has 7 WS:8 I:8 attacks on the charge which should be normally hitting on 3’s with a reroll and has a poisoned power weapon that wounds on a 3+. That means a majority of times, he should kill 4 models with a standard deviation of 1 against units that do not have invulnerable saves. That gives him an added bonus to go after after high cost heavy infantry units. Vect additionally has some decent shooting that he can do every round with a small blast template that is Str 10 vs. LD while being AP3. It’s not bad and also heals any wounds he has on him at the time and can be used every turn. Obviously you want him to get into close combat ASAP because that is where he excels at but popping two or three guys a turn with the orb isn’t a bad trade off either.
How Special is He?
Now for Special Rules of Vect – This is where we go into more detail. The big one is he seizes initiative on a 4+. It seems like it’s great on paper and it certainly plays mind games with your opponent. I would not put too much faith in this in using this rule all the time. The main reason is because if you are playing in a 7 game format you are going to fail the role when you need it and you’re going to get blasted off the table. Personally, I have only used the role against Marines or opponents who are not able to bring down a majority of your forces on first turn. The best thing you could hope for is give your opponent first turn and force him to reserve which isn’t going to happen against a good player. You get all of this above for 240 points which is a steal once you break down the standard Archon or you start considering running two Archons in your list.
Apples to Oranges
Now lets compare Vect to a lone Archon (which can come to at an effective build around 145 points instead of 240). The lone Archon will still hit majority of times on a 3+ but will wound on a 5+ or if you go with an Agonizer it will be a 4+. It breaks down that you’re going to kill two or three models on the average which is half of what Vect would do. On top of that you have limited shooting capabilities with either purchasing a blaster, blast pistol or a pistol which is situational isn’t going to happen often in a game. The Archon is points efficient but he is not a hand to hand monster in any respect like Vect.
My Conclusions
I say it comes down to what you are looking for in your HQs. If you are looking at taking two Archons in a higher costed list like say 1850-2000 it might be a better idea to grab Vect instead because for the cost of two Archon’s he will do the same amount of damage if not more, and leave you an extra FOC slot. Otherwise for your lower pointed games around 1500-1850 I would suggest leaving Vect in the high towers of Commorragh and go with a lesser Archon build and spending those precious extra points elsewhere to round out your list.
So what’s your take on the biggest badass of High Commorragh my pretties…
