Goatboy’s 40K: What To Do With Triple Lord of Skulls
There is nothing like buying three expensive models for an army, a pandemic happening, and then a new edition. Now what?
Of course that person is me (and I am sure a slew of others) so while sad – it at least gave a bunch of sad models sitting on store shelves a brand new home. The new edition comes out, Command Points are shifted, and old armies are left to adapt. As you can tell this article/army list is all about figuring out how I can use 3 Lord of Skulls now that I loved 6 Command points to bring 3 and they went up by 35 points or so each. Their other options also went cheaper too so it isn’t a complete wash.
Why Lord of Skulls
First – let’s look at why the Lord of Skulls. They have a ton of wounds, get all the bonuses for being Daemons/Chaos Space Marines, and they are one of the few things in the game without a base and thus can reach just about anyone on a building. They also have a ton of Stratagems that work out well for them and other weird combos if you so desire. With that in mind – let’s see what we can do to make a list.
Tough Legion Choices
Picking a Legion is very important and there are 3 different legions that lend some interesting bits as you look at them.
We have the combo legion with the Iron Warriors. They can get extra hits, some neat relics, and even let a Lord of Skulls get Feel No Pain for a bit. They don’t have any option to gain more CP and most likely you will start with 3-4 by the time you get set up. Though the protection options are very powerful.
Next we have Alpha Legion and while they don’ have the weird protection stuff like Iron Warriors they do have some really powerful Stratagems that could be very good in this game. We’ve lost the ability to make the Lord Discordant a -2 to hit so it is less exciting. I think I just really want to try and use the Blow Up vehicle stratagem as well as the shoot at a unit that comes in from deep strike or the push back by 12″ aura. The issue with all of that is again – we start with 6 CP and even though we gain 1 a turn it isn’t nearly as ideal.
The final one I think might be interesting is using the Red Corsairs to push us back to 9 CP with some Chaos Space Marines. They also have the ability to advance and charge for the Lord Disco which could be really handy to get some solid extra punch. We can also upgrade our Daemon Prince a bit as well if needed. We could also look at some things like adding in a Patrol of Khorne Daemons to try and get a Character Combo piece as well – but we lose out on some CP and other options if we go Red Corsairs. I think the push would be to always have points for Daemon Forge which again can be really good to get that much needed Reroll everything all the time.
Let’s Get Building
Let’s start with the biggest point sink and see which one might be the best.
Super Heavy Detachment (-6CP)
-LoW-
Khorne Lord of Skulls – Hades Gatling Cannon, Ichor Cannon – 465pts
Khorne Lord of Skulls – Hades Gatling Cannon, Ichor Cannon – 465pts
Khorne Lord of Skulls – Hades Gatling Cannon, Ichor Cannon – 465pts
PTS: 1395
Chaos Space Marine Battalion
-HQ-
Lord Discordant – Mark of Slaanesh, Baleflamer – 200pts
Master of Possession – Mark of Tzeentch – 95pts
Sorcerer with Jump Pack – Mark of Slaanesh – 115pts
-Troops-
CSM X 5 – 70pts
CSM X 5 – 70pts
Cultists X 10 – 50pts
PTS: 600
Initial Prototype List Thoughts
This sits aright at 1995 pts and most likely 6 CP starting before adding any other goodies if you want. I keep thinking as a sheer beat down list we need to look at just going Iron Warriors. We get a few strats to heal and get FNP, plus a few others for things like Reroll wounds versus vehicles (can do 2 as we also can use Daemon Forge), and of course the Warlord Trait Daemonsmith to let the Lord of Skulls cause extra hits on unmodified 6’s.
Here is the final list with all the choices and spells. I went with Mark of Tzeentch on the Master of Possession to allow myself to cast another power if needed. Chaos has one of the more interesting Strats that allow for swapping powers and having Mark of Tzeentch means you can spend that 1 CP to throw out a much needed spell. The Sorcerer is there to grab Delightful Agonies and Warptime. The Master of Possession is shooting for the 4+ aura and reroll power that is Infernal Power. I went with Mark of Slaanesh on the Lord Disco so he can pull Feel No Pain and hopefully survive a bit longer.
The Final Polished List
Here is the list – rewritten with Warlord traits and relics.
Super Heavy Detachment (-6CP)
Legion: Iron Warriors
-LoW-
Khorne Lord of Skulls – Hades Gatling Cannon, Ichor Cannon – 465pts
Khorne Lord of Skulls – Hades Gatling Cannon, Ichor Cannon – 465pts
Khorne Lord of Skulls – Hades Gatling Cannon, Ichor Cannon – 465pts
PTS: 1395
Chaos Space Marine Battalion
Legion Iron Warriors
-HQ-
Lord Discordant – Mark of Slaanesh, Autocannon, Warlord – Daemonsmith, Relic – Insidium – 195pts
Master of Possession – Mark of Tzeentch – Cursed Earth, Infernal Power – 95pts
Sorcerer with Jump Pack – Mark of Slaanesh – Delightful Agonies, Warptime – 115pts
-Troops-
CSM X 5 – 70pts
CSM X 5 – 70pts
Cultists X 10 – 50pts
PTS: 600 – 6CP
This still doesn’t have the bodies that you need to control the objectives but it might do ok as they push forward. They are crazy rough in Close Combat and while you won’t be able to shoot the Ichor cannon the gatling will pump a ton of firepower into whoever is stuck with the monster. I know you only have 6 CP – but you should be using them to protect Lord of Skulls, gain some wounds back as needed, and throw out a Feel No Pain when get thrown a ton of wounds.
~Do you think this list can win, or is is too close to an all Knight list?
