Stupid 40K Tricks: The Morty Swap

Taking Mortarion up to 11.

Everyone loves Mortarion. Every since he came out in 8th Edtion The Death Lord has been making a splash. Not only does he have one of the bonkers amazing models in the game but he got a powerful set of rules to back it up. Of course the Patriarch of Plagues is not without weakness. He is in general a short ranged model, wanting to get as close to the enemy as possible. Even with a solid 12″ move it will take him time to close, giving the enemy a key turn or two to shoot him down. But what if he could get to the enemy faster? What if he could avoid getting shot? Lets take a lot at how people get Morty across the board and the stupid trick that really makes him crazy.

The Fix

Every hero needs a sidekick. 

It took players all of a about 2 minutes look at Codex: Death Guard to figure out that what the Primarch of Pestilence really needed was access to Warptime. If one move isn’t enough to get old Morty across the table, then two should do it. Of course Warptime isn’t on the Contagion discipline that Morty gets access too. However, even if he can’t take it there is a simple fix, and simply take a Chaos Sorcerer from an “allied” CSM detachment and have him cast it on Morty. Or better yet, take Magnus, and have the brothers pal around.

While powerful this fix does have its own weakness. The main one is that Warptime only has a 3″ inch range. While its pretty easy to be in the range one turn one, its much harder to be within 3″ in later turns when Morty has buzzed-fluttered off on his attack run. In addition it forces your to clump your army up. Lastly some people might feel that spending 100+ points just to Warptime Mortarion is a little much. So is there was a better way to do it?

The Morty Swap

Well folks, I’m here today to tell you that there is in fact a better way!

You see it’s all thanks to a little CSM stratagem called Chaos Familiar. Chaos Familiar as you can see lets you swap out some psychic powers.

Now you can use this stratagem to improve you army in just 3 easy steps:

1. Take a Chaos Space Marines Detachment in your army. This can be a simple patrol with two units, or a nice force of allied Alpha Legion Noise Marines/Cultists. This will give you access to the CSM Stratagems.
2. At the start of your first Psychic phase use Chaos Familiar. As you can see below the Sultan of Slime has both the required Heretic Astartes and Pysker key words meaning you can target him with the familiar. 
3. Since Chaos Familiar specifically lets you swap a power for one form the Dark Herecticus discipline Morty can drop any of his powers and learn Warptime.
4. Profit.

Evil Morty

This seems like a good time for a drink and a cold calculated speech with sinister overtones. 

Armed with his newly gained power Mortarion is now unshackled. No longer does he need a Rick, I mean Magnus, to hold his hand and propel him forward. The Papa of Pus can fly off as his own engine of destruction, totally self sufficient. No longer is he simply Morty, but know at his his full potential he has become a new, and Evil, Morty. Each turn he can double move, putting him and his Host of Plagues right where you want them. In addition if you wanted to, you could in subsequent use Chaos Familiar again to swap out other powers, maybe giving him the ability to cast Diabolic Strength on himself. Between Chaos Familiar and Chaos Familiar of Nurgle Morty has accesses to 13 powers at will, making him extremity versatile.

Final Thoughts

Just Ricks Killing Mortys

Letting Morty take Warptime may not be the most broken thing in the game. The army had accesses to it before by using Chaos Sorcerers. However the use of Chaos familiar to cut out the middle man does make Morty better. Access to a ton of power and the ability to Warptime himself only make the Fly Lord more powerful. Morty is already one of the apex predators of the current meta and really doesn’t need the help. At the rate we are going we will pretty soon see Mortys killing Mortys at the top tables. Anyway, for better or worse, there you have it, the perfect way to take a regular Morty and turn him into an Evil Morty with a simple Morty Swap.

Let us know what you think about “the Morty Swap” down in the comments! 

Author: Abe Apfel

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.