Power from Paint: The Point of Command

Is it time to raid once again my fellow Archons? I feel it must be so! I have had a game scheduled against Paul's Sisters of Battle and have been thinking about how to change my army list since last month's multi player game. In particular I've been wanting to move my force from a Patrol Detachment to a Battalion. And that means an extra compulsory HQ choice to go along side my Archon and 3 Troop choices.

Must be 40K: Skulls.

Why the desire to change Detachment type? In previous editions I tended to run minimal HQ choices in my forces, preferring to spend my points on troops and tanks but there are a couple of really good reasons to run more than 1 HQ and take an 8th ed Battalion:

Firstly HQ models will typically provide friendly models near them with some of of bonus or buff.

Arguably more importantly is the Battalion unlocks a bunch of bonus Command Points.  From the couple of 8th ed games I've played and spectated, and from conversations with fellow players the Command Points are a really important tool for a player, as they can be spent on "stratagems" (think special abilities) at key points in the game.  The most common uses are:

• Re-roll a D6 
• Automatically pass a morale test
• Fight earlier than normally allowed in the Fight phase.

There may be other stratagems available depending on your army or the mission being played, but the 3 noted above are all really good. The D6 re-roll is good for when you've missed with a key shot, failed a save on an important model, failed a charge; you get the idea. They add a level of reliability to your army (or at least gives you a second chance to woo Lady Luck).

So which HQ choice to take? I've been running an Archon (who is cheap, comes with a nice couple of bits of gear but is otherwise a bit meh to be honest (I haven't found his Leadership buff to be useful so far)). For the second HQ I decided to run a Succubus who provides a decent combat buff to nearby Wych Cult units.

I've got a Succubus model armed with an Agoniser, but I was somewhat surprised to see the Succubus comes stock with an "Archite Glaive" which can't be swapped out. New model required then! I didn't fancy spending a lot of money on a new HQ model so a quick dive into the Bitz Box produced a shiny new leader: 

Leaping into action!

En Garde!

 The majority of the bitz are from a Wych model found in the Venom kit. The model hangs onto the side of the skimmer and so has this really unusual positioning of the legs; they make for a dynamic model when used "on the ground" as it were. A small piece of I-Bar rod provides a convenient step.  

The Glaive itself is left over from a Hellion, and overall I quite like the look of the model.

I found a second pair of the Wych legs in the Bitz Box and whilst looking through the army index noticed Lelith Hesperax is a pretty decent HQ choice as well (probably for higher point games). Lelith is basically an extremely killy Succubus with two stabby knives, so another model was promptly stuck together:

You'll have someone's eyes out with those!

Don't trip! That will hurt!

 Again, a very simple conversion but one I am quite pleased with. Looking forward to using Lilly in a game soon.

As well as building the gladiators above I've also completed another squad of the Scourges; this time armed with Blasters.

Blaster Birds 

More Blaster Birds

Bullet Catcher, sorry Solarite!

No pictures from the game I'm afraid, as I was very "into" playing it, but the final result was a resounding win for the Dark Eldar!  Some takeaway points from the game:

• The Command Points did come in very useful, and by the same token I was very glad when Paul finally ran out of his. They add an interesting dynamic to the game which was missing in the previous edition.
• I didn't get the chance to see the Succubus in action; I was too scared to commit the Wyches to a fight with an Immolator running around burning stuff up, so the Wyches and Succubus ended up being relegated to objective camping in my back field. 
• Venoms are still the work horse; the two splinter cannons are really good (especially when your opponent's armour dice are cold).
• Shining Spears are strong. Nice mix of offensive and defensive power.
• I still don't have enough AT in the list. Both Paul's tanks were still running around (albeit on reduced wounds) at the end of the game. I need to figure out how to fit more Dark Light in! 

So that's it for this time. Next up is the Konor Campaign week one so I'll see where that leads me; thanks for reading once again!