Goatboy’s 40k Thoughts: Kicking the CP Habit
Goatboy here again for another lovely bit of 40k chatter. Let’s look at some thoughts on the idea of fielding an army that doesn’t care about Command points beyond a reroll every now and again. Sometimes you just have to go counter the meta.
Why No Command Points?
I started to playtest armies that normally fielded 6 or less Command Points, burned 1 or two before the game started (mostly for relics or deep striking), and then played the game like the good old days of yore when rerolls were limited to broken abilities, and death stars were king.
I happened to play versus a lot of the current CP battery army – Astra Militarum. Sure I had games where they rolled a crap ton of 5+ whenever they yelled for Cadia, but I noticed if I never needed to burn any they usually ran out, and their burning desire to kill my heretics were weakened enough for me to pull out a win. Mix this with a few other armies and combinations that seemed to rely on the hunger and broken nature of stratagems, and you start to see how not having to use Command Points to win the game might be a decent strategy. It also helps the new Dark Eldar “counterspell” stratagem will be showing up as an answer to some of the “pox farms,” dance fight shooting, and the ever-flowing tide of traitors.
How to Do It
So how do we go about activating this strategy? Find things in your army that don’t feel like they need the chance for a reroll/stratagem to work. I currently utilize a good deal of flamers mixed with units that hit on a 2+. Lucky for me Chaos has a plethora of good stuff that brings an aura of rerolling 1’s to hit. Of course, there are other options too with armies having a ton of auto-hit options (Ork Skorchas on Big TraKks are legit… go look them up).
Let’s look at my current go-to list. I am still thinking about going Alpha Legion over Iron Warriors – but having another 2+ save Daemon Prince who makes my bubble wrap fearless feels pretty good. Plus I can say my army is mostly Iron Warriors even though it is full of Giant incased Heretics in robot suits. But again – yeah Iron Warriors!
IRON WITHIN IRON WITHOUT – Cough, Cough…
Iron Warriors Vanguard Detachment (Elite Detachment)
HQ: Daemon Prince, Wings, Mark of Slaanesh, Malefic Talons, Warp Bolter, Fleshmetal ExoSkeleton – Warlord (Fearless Warlord Trait)
Troops: 30 Cultists with Autoguns, 1 Flamer, Mark of Slaanesh
Elite: Helforged Contemptor Dreadnought, Hellforged Chainclaw X 2, Soul Burner X 2
Elite: Helforged Contemptor Dreadnought, Hellforged Chainclaw X 2, Soul Burner X 2
Elite: Helforged Contemptor Dreadnought, Hellforged Chainclaw X 2, Soul Burner X 2
Elite: Helforged Contemptor Dreadnought, Hellforged Chainclaw X 2, Soul Burner X 2 ~We’ll swap these out post FAQ, I’ve got more flamey ideas…
Elite: Helforged Contemptor Dreadnought, Hellforged Chainclaw X 2, Soul Burner X 2 ~We’ll swap these out post FAQ, I’ve got more flamey ideas…
Death Guard Spearhead Detachment (Heavy Detachment)
HQ: Daemon Prince, Wings, Malefic Talon – Relic: The Plate (-1CP)
Heavy: Plagueburst Crawler, Plaguespitters X 2
Heavy: Plagueburst Crawler, Plaguespitters X 2
Heavy: Plagueburst Crawler, Plaguespitters X 2
How Does It Play?
This usually comes in with 4 Command points and usually doesn’t burn one beyond maybe a Tide of Traitors to save the cultists from getting killed for an ITC mission point. Almost the entire army hits on a 2+ or doesn’t roll to hit when shooting their weapons. Most shots either don’t need to roll to wound (Soul Burners – read em they are amazing, 1d3 hits per one, every hit causes a mortal wound, and it doesn’t remove your close combat weapon) or have a reroll 1’s to wound of some type. The entire army can just keep moving, keep hitting and keep being useful throughout the game.
The army doesn’t need a gimmick to work as it has a chance to hurt anything. Sure it suffers to horde armies, and I do wonder if a tweak to having more Plague Burst Crawlers and some Nurgle Tree options might be good – but it should scare the poop out of any elite or semi-elite army out there. It just burns through wounds, and I dread any “big” model army out there. I haven’t had a chance to play versus any of the Daemon Primarchs due to the nature of the Meta and how things can go from amazeballs to just pooptastic. Each Contemptor throws out a 33″ inch “targeted” smite. 2-6 mortal wounds hitting on a 2+ is nothing to sneeze at – especially if you use the Plaguebursts to help clear things out.
Speaking of Plagueburst Crawlers – I have come around to them over the flying bugs. The tank sits at toughness 8, two extra wounds, stays stronger longer and almost moves as fast as the stinky mechanical flies. I like using them to lock a unit up as it takes forever for someone to dig through their army. I played a lovey game where they charged a Dawneagle, took the damage, then watched as he backed up and I continued to rush forward like some kind of stalker asking for an autograph. Any hit from the big cannon or mini heavy bolter like gun was just icing on the cake. It did help when I needed to go after hidden units that kept Characters safe from the soul burner gaze of a Contemptor Dreadnought.
Post FAQ Tweaks…
I am tempted to move towards Thousand Sons as well for my main army instead of Iron Warriors, as Ahriman is one of the best characters in the game right now (it doesn’t help I just finished mine last night). I have been testing iterations of the list and even had a buddy switch to it for an upcoming local event to see who does better with it. Is it the best army out there? Heck, now but there is no way you won’t get to turn 5 with this unless it is the other player’s fault.
~ Is it worth it to look at armies that try to just play the basic game and don’t rely on tricks and good dice rolls? Would you go “FULL CPs” or “NO CPs”?
