Today's we are going to look at the Helbrute. Now I have talked about the Helbrute before in my Heretic Astartes codex review, but that was a long time ago and we have had some changes since then.
One of the recent FAQs has given the Heretic Astartes Helbrute the ability to take 2 fists at a reduced cost, and the ability to swap BOTH of those fists for power scourges. If you are unfamiliar with what a power scourge is, let me educate you. It is a S+2, AP-2, D2 melee weapon that grants the model an additional 3 attacks. So lets do some math, the Helbrute comes with a base A4, plus 3 attacks from power scourge number 1, plus 3 more attacks from power scourge number 2, and plus 1 more attack from Battering Onslaught...six...carry the one...that makes 11 attacks! All this comes at the low low price of 158 points.
Some of you might think that the Sx2 of the fist is better, but S12 does not get you much more killing power, only making a difference in units with a T of 5 or 6. Once you get into most monsters and vehicles both are wounding on 3's. Looking at the numbers, the scourges are better at taking out infantry with 2W or less (scourges killing 4 vs 3 models), once you get into models with 3W and T5-6 the fist edges out the scourges (fists killing 3 vs 1.5), but things come back into balance at T7 (6W each), before skewing slightly to the fists at T8 (fists dealing 6W vs 5).
With this in mind, let's take a look at a couple supporting options this version of the Helbrute can take to give you the maximum bang for your buck. The Alpha Legion trait will help keep him alive for the first couple turns of the game, but since you are going to be running headlong into the enemies lines you will likely only get it for those first few turns. The Emperor's Children Legion trait will help allowing you to go first on those subsequent turns. It does have it's drawback though, because if you have another detachment of non-EC units in combat, your Helbrute will have to go first, then your opponent can use the "Interrupt" stratagem to attack in the fight phase, perhaps killing something you would have preferred to attack first. The Night Lords legion trait is ok if you are in combat with units of tough and durable models that come in decent numbers, reducing their Ld and getting additional kills from morale. World Eaters get an extra attack when they charge, which is pretty good. However I think it might be the Renegade legion traits that take the cake here, being able to advance and still charge is a huge deal with a M8 monster and Warptime in the bank.
Screw all the possibilities, here is the optimal situation for maximum damage. World Eaters Helbrute, 2 power scourges, with Prescience and Diabolic Strength next to a Lord/Apostle and a Exalted Champion. That's 13 attacks at S10 hitting on 2+ re-rolling failed hit and wound rolls which results in 8 dead Marines, Primaris or otherwise, 6 dead Terminators, 3-4 dead Wraithguard, 3 dead Custodes, a dead Rhino, Leman Russ, or a third of a dead Knight/Wratihknight(these number do not take into account DttFE against Imperial units). That is pretty damn impressive for a 153 point model, and if your opponent doesn't read this Blog then he won't see it coming until it's too late. Good luck.
Until next time, keep them dice rollin.
Do you hate spam (in the context of Warhammer 40K and not this advertisement)? Do you love one of everything? Well look no further because the guys at 40BelowGaming are bringing you a Highlander Tournament.
For those of you with no clue as to what a Highlander Tournament is, it's basically a restriction to building a list that limits each unit to 1, with the exception of units that are in the Troops battlefield role. For a full rundown of the even details you can check out this link to their Facebook event....and if you are interested in buying tickets you can go here.
No comments:
Post a Comment