Warhammer 40K: This Week’s Meta Hotness – Grotesques
Let’s take a look a look at a unit that’s your enemy, but you really can’t bear to look at, Drukhari Grotesques.
In the ever-shifting meta of 40K, armies rise and fall. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about armies that are hot or not, but a lot less time looking at units that are running the show. Today let’s take a look at one of the hottest units currently running around the tabletop.
The Unit
Grotesques are an elite Drukhair/Haemonculus Coven unit made up of heavily modified and mutated warriors. Pumped full of elixirs and other dark sciences they rampage around the battlefield. On the tabletop they fill the role of heavy assault infantry, and can be modified to have minor ranged capabilities.
Why They Are Good
It’s not really hard to see why these guys are good. One look shows they boast an impressive stat line. S and T 5, and 4 wounds and attacks make them both great offensively and just a pain to take down. They don’t have a lot of defense, but T5, or six with the right buff makes them hard for small arms to hurt. A 6+/6++/5+++ means they will shrug off an annoying amount of damage. In combat, they throw out a ton of D2 attacks, 5 normally, and can chew through MEQ and light vehicles. Top that off with decent speed and this is a unit that hits hard and keeps on going. It might not have a ton of tricks about it, but it’s cheap and effective at what it does.
A Sample List
Saying a unit is hot is all well and good, but let’s look at how players are using it. One list that highlights Mandrakes is the list that Richard Siegler ran to take 1st place at both the recent GW Austin GT.
Patrol
Obsession – “Custom Coven” – Artists of the Flesh (All Consuming)
-HQ-
Haemonculus – Warlord – Master Regenerist, The Animus Vitae – 70pts
-Troops-
Wracks X 17 – Electrocorrosive Whip, Ossefactor, Wrack Blade X 16 – 154pts
Wracks X 5 – 40pts
Wracks X 5 – 40pts
-Elites-
Grotesque w/Master Cleaver X 4 – 140pts
Grotesque w/Master Cleaver X 4 – 140pts
-Heavy-
Talos X 2 – Heat Lances X 2, Talos Gauntlet, Talos Icho Injector – 210pts
Talos X 2 – Heat Lances X 2, Talos Gauntlet, Talos Icho Injector – 210pts
Patrol
Obsession – “Custom Coven” – Dark Technomancer
-HQ-
Succubus – Hypex, Quicksilver Fighter, Relic – Triptych Whip, Tolerated Ambition, Show Stealer – 95pts
-Troops-
Wracks X 4 – 40pts
-Heavy-
Cronos X 3 – Sprit Probe X 1 – 260pts
Cronos X 3 – Sprit Probe X 1 – 260pts
Patrol
Obsession – Kabal of the Black Heart: Thirst for Power
-HQ-
Archon – Ancient Evil, Djin Blade, Splinter Pistol, Huskblade, Tolerated Ambition, Splinter Genius
-No Force Org-
Court of the Arcon – Sslyth X 4, Ur-Ghul X 4 – 136pts
-Troops-
Wracks X 5 – 40pts
-Elites-
Mandrakes X 5 – 75pts
Pts: 2000 CP: +8CP
Using the Unit
Siegler’s list makes use of two large 4 model units of Grotesques. They will be a middle-weight role between the lighter units of Wracks and the heavier Talos and Cronos units. Buffed with Artists of the Flesh the unit takes a -1 to D, making it extra hard to bring them down. With this, they make a mockery of the D2 weapons that should be good against them. These tough 16-wound units, that can be healed, act as yet another big, fast, hard to kill block the enemy has to deal with. They still don’t have a lot of tricks, or ranged weapons. But rolling forwarded and used aggressively they are hard to deal with.
Let us know what units you think are hot right now, down in the comments!
