Goatboy’s 40k: Dumb Lists that Might Just Work!
Goatboy here with some 40K list writeups of some crazy ideas I’ve had from seeing ATC and brainstorming with tourney ringers.
Goatboy here again with a quick list write up on some dumb ideas I have. Some of these are from seeing lists from the ATC and others are just nonsense buddies talked about and I ended up putting to paper/notepad/army building software. Again these ideas are sitting within the ITC format as that is something I normally play and enjoy playing. This leads me to limiting some of the choices but I find the army building dance to be enjoyable and fighting within the constraints of a format to be a fun part of the game. With that in mind – will start with my new favorite “pet” formation I want to use and abuse.
The Psykana Division is something I initially saw, thought was cute, and moved on. I have never been a fan of the IG… er um I mean AM faction. It was an army that always gave me issues because I ended up paying against it to much due to the dreaded Leaf Blower and other players loving to bring out a ton of army men. This meant I had a decent record against it but still never enjoyed throwing down with them. The old Psykers from the IG time of things was one of the more “broken” options from that old era of one force org to rule them all. After seeing the unit in action in a few armies and talking with those generals my thoughts I have grown fond of these mad little maniacs.
Of course it does help that this unit is one of the easiest count as/build as groups you have out there. Dark Mechanicus guys, weirdboy groups for Orks, Renegades, Cultists, etc all make for a cool unit of crazy psykers. Especially when you use them for evil by summoning an enemy into their midst. It also gives a lot of armies a “summoning” option to help let them score maelstrom, progressive, and other mission parameters. I would also rather have these guys summon then the supposed good guys of the game – the Marines and their librarian conclaves. But enough of that – lets look at the formation and then some lits that can work around it.
Formation – Psykana Division – AM formation from one of the Tau Campaign books – whichever one had the Cadians in it.
Made up of
1 Primarius Psyker
1-3 Commissars (you need 3)
3 Units of Wyrdvanes
You get some cool rules – like the Primarius gets to know all the Wyrdvane Powers, gets +1 Mastery Level per Wyrdvane unit within 12″, the Wyrdvanes cast on a 2+ as long as their commissar is alive, and if they perils (which if they are making daemons they will) you just remove one model as the Commissar shoots them before they get all cray cray. Basically this is your troop creating battery to allow some of these dumb armies to actually work.
First army I saw at ATC that used this heavily is the 3 Knight plus this formation army. The idea is to use the Knights as you “heavy” lifters in the form of a Baronial Court or regular Household detachment to allow you to have some Objective Secured options. Both would be good but I think the power of a Baronial court and the protection it offers each Knight is worth losing Objective secured.
Initial Thought list using “Knights” as protection.
Imperial Knights/Summoning 4 Life!
Psykana Division
Primarius Psyker, Force Axe, Lvl 2
Commissars X 3
Wyrdvane Psykers X 5
Wyrdvane Psykers X 5
Wyrdvane Psykers X 5
Baronial Court
Knight Warden, Sanctuary – Baron
Knight Warden
Knight Warden
Knight Warden
Basically you have 4 Knights your can throw at your opponent mixed with a some guys to make some Daemons/Things/Etc to keep your backfield alive enough. An Incursion means you are golden and you got enough Screamers to throw out into the world and cause problems. Heck you could even get lucky and make a Lord of Change if one of the Psykers decides to sacrifice themselves for the “greater good”. It feels like it might have enough gas to get the job done as we all know how a Knight can just win a game.
I don’t think I would want to fly with this as its a ton of big models to carry around. Still for something local that is kinda tough this isn’t a bad choice. After this I saw a really strong Trip Lance build from my buddy Kelsey. He loves to bring new Knights and I think his little combo was pretty interesting. It still doesn’t have enough rolls on spells to make it completely bonkers – but that is more due to the limitations of point totals.
Trip Lance/Heralds of the Great Wolf/Ultramarine Librarian Conclave
Tripartite Lance
Knight Crusader, Battle Cannon
Knight Gallant, Stormspear Rocket
Knight Warden, Stormspear Rocket
Heralds of the Great Wolf
Rune Priest, Runic Armor, Lvl 2
Iron Priest
Wolf Priest
Ultramarine Librarian Conclave
Tiggie Smalls
Librarian, Lvl 2
Librarian, Lvl 2
The idea here is to power up the Lance, cause some issues, and have a really tough unit to try and remove. You can easily place the Librarians that are still ICs towards the front with a Herald within range for a Look Out Sir. Each one of them can Ignore the first failed save of the phase – which each one of them having an Invulnerable save means you can ignore a good deal of firepower. It might be worth it to take off the big Missiles on the Knights to try and get some Terminator armor but I think the extra weapons work out better. The power you are looking for is Phase Form – and even with the “ITC” nerf in effect it is still a brutal spell you can throw out on a unit. Of course Invisibility is always nice but this is a gun battle style army. You can even throw a summoning spell in there to try and get an Incursion to go get something that can get across the field.
I’ve been trying to think of a way to do Grey Knights. Right now they are just not where they need to be – but the rumored Death Watch stuff might have some room to try and fit some Grey Knight Librarians, Dreadknights, and single Strike Squad. I don’t know the Death Watch’s full rules but the idea here is to use and abuse the Sanctic set of powers to try and get some powerful little death squads as needed. But this list is based on what I have access to now – so check out how terrible it is.
GK Nonsense – Aka Terminators RAARGH!!!
Nemesis Strike Force
Librarian, Lvl 3, Force Staff, The GK Book
Librarian, Lvl 3, Force Staff
Terminator Squad X 5, Psycannon X 1, Daemon Hammer X 1, Halberd X 1
Nemesis Dreadknight, Personal Teleporter, Heavy Psycannon
Nemesis Strike Force
Librarian, Lvl 3, Force Staff
Librarian, Lvl 3, Force Staff
Terminator Squad X 5, Psycannon X 1, Daemon Hammer X 1, Halberd X 1
Nemesis Dreadknight, Personal Teleporter, Heavy Psycannon
Librarian Conclave
Librarian, Terminator Armor, Lvl 2, Force Axe
Librarian, Terminator Armor, Lvl 2, Force Axe
Librarian, Terminator Armor, Lvl 2, Force Axe
Librarian, Terminator Armor, Lvl 2, Force Axe
WC – 24 not to shabby.
This list looks like an old 5th edition list as it just has a ton of bodies. There might be a need to drop some weapons and get a Teleport Homer or two. Will see. But you drop in with 2 units of Terminators with 4 Librarians in each. The hope is you get some Vortex of Dooms, Gates, and other options. The Dreadknights have more shooting weapons but it might just be better to do the Heavy Flamer option. This army is also shooting for some Cleansing Flames to try and kill things as needed.
Roll all the GK Librarians first – trying for Sanctuary, Gate, Cleansing Flame, Vortex. From there the Librarians are looking for things like Veil of Time, Invisibility, Endurance and other goofy things. You will have to be smart with the other Librarians if you want to keep them from getting their powers sucked up but this list just looks goofy as heck. I loved how much I could hurt people with Cleansing flame and the only way I could get them to work well is to ignore the poor Purifiers. If they had access to deep striking or some other form of cheaper transportation I could still get it to work.
Finally on the dumb list thought is a really simple idea of trying to have only cool models on the table top. A few buddies have started chatting on trying to use 2 units of the Assassin formation. You know the one – it gives you all 4 as a big pile of superheroes out to kill the enemy Warlord. It is so tempting to try and get it to work and while it probably won’t win – it could very well spoil some games for people. I went with the initial thought for one as it is a small amount of units, can be cool as hell looking on the table top, and it doesn’t take too many things to get working.
My Army Looks Cooler (And Loses Cooler too!)
Assassinorum Execution Force
Callidus
Culexus
Eversor
Vindicare
Assassinorum Execution Force
Callidus
Culexus
Eversor
Vindicare
Oathsworn Detachment
Knight Gallant, Ironstorm Missile Pod
Knight Gallant, Ironstorm Missile Pod
Basically you infiltrate all over the table, get to use Assassin combos to help kill stuff (2 Vindicares will murder those pesky Azraels, Apocatheries, Librarians, etc), double Callidus could do wonders to your opponents reserves, and even 2 Culexus’s are a big pain in the butt. 2 Eversors are an annoying tax but every kill they do will be awesome as they run around the table, spitting out foam, and demanding deaths for the emperor.
Right now I am working on some Incursion/Daemon testing to prepare for War-games Con. It is a 2000 point dance and that gives me a little bit of room to make some of my Tetrads build a little to top heavy. Will see if I find something I like out of my initial testing. I got one idea that seems to be good – but you know me – I like to throw caution to the wind and play with something random that I thought about a few days before.
~What crazy list do you think can go the distance?
