1750 - Mordrak and Death Cults - 500+ points in HQ

[Lemt]

HQ
Inquisitor Coteaz
Grand Master Mordrak
*5 Ghosts w/ Halberds, Brotherhood Banner

ELITES
Vindicare Assassin

TROOPS
6 Death-Cult Assassins, 5 Warriors w/ Melta Bombs, 3 have Meltaguns, Psyker, Chimera
6 Death-Cult Assassins, 5 Warriors w/ Melta Bombs, 3 have Meltaguns, Chimera
6 Death-Cult Assassins, 5 Warriors w/ Melta Bombs, 3 have Meltaguns, Chimera

HS
Nemesis Dreadknight w/ Personal Teleporter
Nemesis Dreadknight w/ Personal Teleporter

The list is pretty simple. Coteaz enables the list, as he makes Henchmen Troops. But my choice of Henchmen may need some explaining. DCAs are clear enough, but why the Warriors, and why spend so many points on Meltabombs? Why not take a Banisher with an Eviscerator? The answer a bit complicated, so let me elaborate. If you don't care about the mathhammer section, just skip the quote.

If I assault, the Eviscerator will, on average, deal 0.5 wounds to an MC. If I'm not assaulting, that's 0.25 wounds instead. So it's clear that dealing with MCs is no reason to play an Eviscerator. Let's check how well the Eviscerator deals VS Dreads and Vehicles, and do the same with Melta Bombs. Let's see the chances of hitting at least once with an Eviscerator and Warriors with Melta Bombs.

EVISCERATOR
vs Dread (assaulting)-------75%
vs Dread (not assaulting)--50%
vs Vehicle (4+)--------------75%
vs Vehicle (6+)--------------30.56%

3 WARRIORS w/ Melta Bombs
vs Dread---------------------42.13%
vs Vehicle (4+)--------------87.50%
vs Vehicle (6+)--------------42.13%

4 WARRIORS w/ Melta Bombs
vs Dread---------------------51.77%
vs Vehicle (4+)--------------93.75%
vs Vehicle (6+)--------------51.77%

5 WARRIORS w/ Melta Bombs
vs Dread---------------------59.81%
vs Vehicle (4+)--------------96.88%
vs Vehicle (6+)--------------59.81%

As we see, the Eviscerator is always better vs Dreads if assaulting, and better than 3 Warriors with Meltabombs, or at least better at hitting. 2D6+6 has a 72.22% chance of at least glancing AV12, and 2D6+8 has a 91.67% chance of doing the same. If assaulting, the Eviscerator has a 54.165% chance of doing something against an AV 12 dread, 36.11% if not assaulting. 3 Warriors with Meltabombs have a 38.62% chance of doing anything, 47.457% if there are 4, 54.827% if there are 5.

You don't have to pay the entry price for 3 of the warriors, since you want them with meltaguns anyhow. So let's compare points costs. The Eviscerator costs as much as 6 Meltabombs (I can't post the actual costs, of course). For the cost of an Eviscerator and a Servoskull, you can give the 3 Warriors Meltabombs, and get 2 more Warriors with Meltabombs. This is at least as good vs Dreads (hint: it's better), and MUCH better vs vehicles.

Mordrak serves as a Deathstar that's very hard to deal with, specially considering you have 1 turn to do so before he assaults, thanks to the First to the Fray rule. He can also make the Knights scoring, the DCAs outflank, or any number of disgusting tricks. The Brotherhood Banner is useful here, as you'll get 16 I6 S4 and 6 S8 I1 attacks on the charge, make it S5 and S10 if using the Hammerhand power. I prefer Mordrak's Ghosts better than a unit of normal Terminators with Justicar Thawn for a few reasons. One is that to have a reliable delivery system for Thawn woudl add another KP to the army, plus any transport would be vulnerable to getting shot up. And Mordrak gives the Grand Strategy rule, something that's a great force multiplier.

So what are everyone's thoughts on the list? What would you change, or what don't you like?

[SonicPara]

I'm a fan of Mordrak just from a cinematic standpoint and the Grand Strategy rule is really fantastic but I just wanted to point out one mistake. Grand Strategy cannot be applied to Independent Characters, Henchmen Warbands, or Mordrak's unit. It says this on page 22 in the Grand Master's entry.

Since you can't make Mordrak scoring and you are splurging for teleporting Dreadknights, I say you look to give the Dreadknights scout and get a turn 1 assault. With a D3 you will get to grant the special ability to 2 units 50% of the time so I say chose scout and give it to both Dreadknights. The pressure they apply early can also give Mordrak and his Knights a better chance of surviving for turn one so that they can assault on turn 2.

[Lemt]

I'm a fan of Mordrak just from a cinematic standpoint and the Grand Strategy rule is really fantastic but I just wanted to point out one mistake. Grand Strategy cannot be applied to Independent Characters, Henchmen Warbands, or Mordrak's unit. It says this on page 22 in the Grand Master's entry.

Since you can't make Mordrak scoring and you are splurging for teleporting Dreadknights, I say you look to give the Dreadknights scout and get a turn 1 assault. With a D3 you will get to grant the special ability to 2 units 50% of the time so I say chose scout and give it to both Dreadknights. The pressure they apply early can also give Mordrak and his Knights a better chance of surviving for turn one so that they can assault on turn 2.

I never said I planned to make Henchmen, Ghosts or ICs scoring. The targets for scoring units are Dreadknights and the Vindicare Assassin. The "Knights" I refer to are Dreadknights.

[DarkLink]

Unless you can put the Dreadknights in place turn 1, then trying to drop Mordrack in their face is doing them a favor. If their whole army can't kill 5 Terminators and Mordrack in one turn when he's right in their face doing nothing, they deserve to get assaulted.

[Lemt]

Unless you can put the Dreadknights in place turn 1, then trying to drop Mordrack in their face is doing them a favor. If their whole army can't kill 5 Terminators and Mordrack in one turn when he's right in their face doing nothing, they deserve to get assaulted.

Why do I get the feeling people are replying without even reading the list, or without having ever seen the GK codex?

Dreadknights have TPs, OF COURSE they get there turn 1. And Mordrak and his Ghosts are 5-8 T4 2+/5++ and 4 T4 2+/4++ wounds that can benefit from cover, harder to take care of than it may seem.