Terminators not being able to sweeping advance is the only thing that really stops them from being the most kick-ass unit around. Bikes do indeed follow up, a masive 3d6"! A Lord (or sorcerer) on bike is an entertaining option to say the least, and yes, if you using bikes make them the theme/lynchpin of the army.

I just started playing Death Guard, and in fact 40K in general, and I have really been wanting to field a bike army. I have been reading here about how taboo they are, as well as how expensive they can be. It is nice to know that others are of the same mind as I am.

ok mab so i have been thinking about the idea of adding a unit of bikes to my army when i have painted up what i have and i have a question or two

my thinking is to take two melta guns as the special weapons to kill tanks:

how many bikes would you have in the unit? (not including the lord) strawberry bitch thinking ten

would you go for the aspiring champ? and if yes would that be with a fist and melta bombs?

according to the codex you can equip a lord with a pair of light claws, combi or twin linked bolter and a bike. is this right? doesnt that mean he would be driving with his legs as he swipes at people with his claws? strawberry bitch guessing to model that you would have to attatch the bolter to the back of the lightning claw? (is there a model already with that on??!!!!?? lol)

i am thinking of lightning claws rather than a fist because with the melta guns and bombs i should have enough to deal with tanks and any more seems over kill...i know your a fan of lightning claw lords unmounted.....do you think its a good idea in the unit i am suggesting? (i could always give him a combi melta and bolter)

ahhhh. just realised, bikes have twin linked bolters so why am i buying him a bolter? sigh. i do get there in the end, just takes me a little bit longer than it should

thanks for being my guru

phill

Should work.



If you've got that many then go for it! I reckon that less than five isn't worth it (with an IoN anyway)



Yes, yes and yes.



One of the little foibles of the codex, yes you can combine all that, but it should be WYSIWYG, which can lead to some weird/amusing conversions



Whichever way you go the Lord should kick ass. The reason I think powerfists and bikes work well is because of the Initiative 1 that fists strike at. Ordinarily, one might be a little concerned at a lord striking last after everyone else (he might get squished), but the Toughness 6 from the bike and mark of Nurgle make it a moot point. You should be able to survive most stuff and then 'bring the pain' in true Mr. T style (you might even pity some fools).

sweet, thanks mabs thats really helped me out

phill

What about two small groups of 4 Bikes each. I have been working on a list containing 2 Vindicators and 3 Squads of PMs with some bikes in there for flavor. I am having a hell of a time wrapping my head around how I would do this in a 1500 point list. I am still new at forming a list around a set of tactics so any suggestions are very welcome before I go on a Model Buying spree.

Well, everything in this tactica/rant is written from the point of view that you'll be using the Icon of Nurgle on everything that isn't a Plaguemarine...so, two units of 'nurgle' bikes would be very pricey indeed!

Bikes aren't to everyone's taste and most Nurglings will shun them, but in 1500 point list they are doable. You should be able to fit a Lord on bike, a 'retinue' of 6 bikes (making 7) at least three PM squads and two vindictors into a list.

As for buying advice, collect things because you like them and you want to play with them, not because I or anyone else says "this rules!" Do be sure to have a solid amount of models to use as Plaguemarines though

Well said Mab, and thank you for the advice! By the by, this Tactica is great. It has helped me so much already with building up my small Nurgle army.

well said indeed, the spirit of the game

yep yep

Nurgle Sorcerers

The Sorcerer is an interesting HQ choice. At first look he appears to be an inferior Lord, therefore not as good in combat, and perhaps a poor choice. But the ability of a Force Weapon, and the customisability afforded by choice of Psychic Power(s), means that the Sorcerer is something of an unknown quantity, with a great deal of potential.

The Sorcerer will always be equipped with a Force Weapon, which is a power weapon with a funky psychic power built in. The ability to turn a single unsaved wound into ‘instant death’ is pretty scary, and to a certain extent suggests that your Sorcerer should be hunting character and Monstrous Creatures.

However the use of the psychic power obviously precludes the use of any others that turn so you have to gamble and hope that you hit and wound your target (oh, and hope they don’t make an invulnerable save) and your WS5 means a lot of your attacks will be hitting on 4s – most multi wound stuff has above average weapon skill.

Regardless of what else you want to equip your Sorcerer with you’re going to have to have a psychic power:

Doombolt is a nice cheap power; its AP of 3 makes it very attractive even if it is only Str 4. With a sensible range a Doombolt equipped Sorcerer becomes a nice multi-role support unit.

Warptime is almost always found in the hands (or claws or tentacles) of a Daemon Prince to capitalize on their combat prowess. Those re-rolls are just as valuable to our Sorcerer, if not more so given his average stat line. With Warptime you may have a hard choice when considering the use of the Force weapon’s power – do you go for re-rolls and potentially more wounding hits, or do you count on that one that becomes ‘instant death’?

Perhaps the most overlooked, and indeed my favourite power, Gift of Chaos is expensive, hard to make use of, and in some cases can give away kill points. It is however hilarious when it works, and it always works on a 6 regardless of toughness. Turning a Wraithlord into a spawn is joyous. Creating Spawn in combat can be a massive help and a great way to tie up swarm units for a turn or two. No one would use Gift of Chaos in a tournament setting, and it’s unlikely to be used often at your local club/GW. However once you’ve used it successfully you may find it irresistible.

Wind of Chaos – the super vomit flamer of death! Flamers are great and one that has a 50% chance of wounding anything, with no save allowed, has got to be a good thing. Well, it is! Plus it’ a great set up to an assault, especially if your Sorcerer is accompanying a suitable close combat unit.

Nurgle’s Rot, the signature power, is cheap and dirty. You really need to stuck in the middle of a hoard for it to cause serious damage. It can also be an anti deadlock power should you find yourself locked in combat. A truly fluffy power, but to be honest not an amazing one, the rot is not something you can rely upon to be devastating.

Taking a Familiar gives you the ability to choose a second power (well, third really considering the force weapon). Is it worth it? Perhaps, but certainly not in a tournament environment. Very quickly your Sorcerer becomes an expensive piece and not necessarily a more powerful one. You need to know how each power works and how you like to use them before you go buying two at a time.

Oh and you should never think that Typhus mitigates the use of a two power Sorcerer - they are very different units!

Good combinations in my opinion are ‘short and long’ or ‘vague and focused’:
Warptime + Doombolt, Rot + Doombolt, Gift of Chaos + Wind of Chaos etc…

Like the Chaos Lord the Sorcerer has the option to wear Terminator armour or have a jump pack/bike/palanquin.

In general the Jump pack or bike will allow you to quickly get stuck in or go for ‘drive bys’ and as such Wind of Chaos and Nurgle’s Rot make good choices here, whereas the Palanquin and Terminator armour give you the resilience to endure combat and perhaps rely on Warptime and/or your Force Weapon.

I think that overall a Sorcerer is a supporting unit that helps your army in certain tricky situations. It’s not a Combat monster like a tooled up Lord or Daemon Prince and is very unlikely to go tearing a massive hole in your opponent’s force, but he will make a difference when attached to a unit of Terminators or bolstering a unit of Plaguemarines defending an objective.

If you don’t feel the need for Combat heavy HQs I’d even go so far as to say that Sorcerers work best in pairs, and are the ultimate in multi purpose über unit champions.

[quote="Mabrothrax"]Nurgle Sorcerers




i thought a lot about using a sorcerer in my army during its planning phase and decided against it (although i bought the FW model cos it rocks) simply because i couldnt see him doing anything better than what i already have.
as you say its not a lord or DP in combat.....you can get better guns than the ranged powers on offer AND if you use one of these ranged powers you lose out on its main threat of being able to instant kill a model that turn.

i see your point about them being good in pairs, and great as uber unit champs but in an army thats already so expensive dont you run the risk of having to few models on the board?
it seems to me that you really have to choose your hq carefully for what you need because they soak up so many points and the sorcerer always seems to come out last in the choices we have.

Sorcerers are odd like that.

Generally people will chose an army by selescting core troops, an HQ of death, their fav unit and then extra stuff. The Sorcerer usually falls under 'extra stuff' which means he may be shunned in favour of a Dreadnought, a unit of Raptors or a Vindicator... etc.

Most of these extra units do one thing and one thing reasonably well (the possible exception being a multi-tasked mad dread) and as such a Sorcerer, being a 'jack of all trades' with a bias towards combat loses out.

But of course you could do away with the regular 'HQ of death' and bolster the versatility of your Plaguemarines (and Terminators) with an equally universal character.

i guess,from the point of view of someone like me (who lacks either your experiance or stelios mathhammer skills) this is the kinda thing that you just have to field and see how it works in my army fighting in my style.

thanks as ever Mabs for a thought provoking and interesting post

phill

(Is that a subtle hint for me to hit sorcerers with the Hammer of Maths? I might spread my tentacles in that direction over the weekend if I've got the time.)