The Archon's dilemma: Huskblade, Agonizer or Venom Blade ?

What is the most efficient way for my Archon to kill his foes?

What is the cheapest way to do it?

Those are the questions that are bothering me lately and so I finally decided to find out. Let's play a round of MathHammer!

THE BAD GUY

Uhm that must be the Archon I guess...

You may known the guy, very good Weapon Skill, low Strength and Resistance, awesome Initiative

I'm going to check out how statistically good he is against the, uhm, other guys, using the following weapons with or without Furious Charge:

• a plain Power Sword
• the Venom Blade
• an Agonizer
• the Huskblade
• the Huskblade with an active Soul Trap

THE OTHER GUYS

I will testing out the various Archon configurations against the following stereotypes:

MEQ: your standard Space Marine TEQ: a Terminator (no Storm Shield) ORK: Greenskins! GEQ: an Imperial Guardsmen ELD: the good ones

WS T As Inv Sv MEQ 4 4 3+ TEQ 4 4 2+ 5+ ORK 4 4 6+ GEQ 3 3 5+ ELD 4 3 4+

THE CHARGE OF THE ARCHON!

In this first scenario our Archon is charging his enemies without Furious Charge

With a whopping 6 attacks he SHOULD inflict the following unsaved wounds. I'm listing the weapons from the cheapest to the most expensive one

	MEQ	TEQ	ORK	GEQ	ELD
Venom Blade	1.11	0.56	2.78	2.59	1.94
Power Sword	1.33	0.22	1.33	2.00	2.00
Agonizer	2.00	0.33	2.00	2.00	2.00
Huskblade	1.33	0.89	1.33	2.00	2.00
Huskblade + Soul Trap	3.33	2.22	3.33	3.33	3.33

I highlighted the best result against each enemy type, keeping the Huskblade / Soul Trap combo aside as this will probably be always the best performing one but we could not take the activation of the Soul Trap for granted

Against MEQ all the special weapons perform adequately: the 50/50 chance of wounding of the Agonizer out-perform the low strength of the Huskblade and the cheap Venom Blade is not too far behind the Power Sword or Huskblade

TEQ are a a hard nut to crack as expected and the awesome AP of the Huskblade give the best results here but the cheaper Venom Blade is a close second

A low armour save foe is the ideal playmate of the Venom  Blade and the higher his Toughness, the better the results. The Agonizer is doing well to against T4

Against your standard Eldar the Power Sword look like the best compromise between wounds and points

WHAT ABOUT FURIOUS CHARGE?

With two Pain Tokens under his belt, the Archon get a nice boost:

	MEQ	TEQ	ORK	GEQ	ELD
Venom Blade	1.30	0.65	3.24	2.59	1.94
Power Sword	2.00	0.33	2.00	2.67	2.67
Agonizer	2.00	0.33	2.00	2.00	2.00
Huskblade	2.00	1.33	2.00	2.67	2.67
Huskblade + Soul Trap	3.33	2.22	3.33	3.33	3.33

The nice surprise here is the Power Sword that perform mostly as good as the more expensive Huskblade, TEQ being the only exception. But charging TEQ is not a good strategy in my opinion anyway...

If you plan to field your Archon with an Haemonculi and some big, ugly Grotesques and points are tight, you could take a Power Sword and the much needed Phantasm Grenade Launcher for around the same points of the Huskblade

Against high Toughness / low Save enemies the Venom Blade is still the best choice

THE DRUG LORD

Combat Drugs are one of the upgrades available to the Archon. They are not that expensive but I wonder if they are needed at all!

1) HYPEX

A boost to the Run move that will not help much our Archon for the following reasons:

• our Archon will probably ride in a Venom or a Rider most of the time
• if he Run, he can no longer charge thanks to the changes to Fleet in 6th edition
• his damage output is not modified in any way

2) SERPENTIN

+1 WS: the standard Archon is already hit back on a 5+ by WS3 enemies and this bonus is not enough to gave him the same benefit while fighting WS4 units so still not much help here

His damage output is not changed

3) GRAVE LOTUS

+1 S: we start to see some improvements but Agonizers are not effected

without Furious Charge	MEQ	TEQ	ORK	GEQ	ELD
Venom Blade	1.30	0.65	3.24	2.59	1.94
Power Sword	2.00	0.33	2.00	2.67	2.67
Agonizer	2.00	0.33	2.00	2.00	2.00
Huskblade	2.00	1.33	2.00	2.67	2.67
Huskblade + Soul Trap	3.33	2.22	3.33	3.33	3.33

with Furious Charge	MEQ	TEQ	ORK	GEQ	ELD
Venom Blade	1.30	0.65	3.24	2.59	1.94
Power Sword	2.67	0.44	2.67	3.33	3.33
Agonizer	2.00	0.33	2.00	2.00	2.00
Huskblade	2.67	1.78	2.67	3.33	3.33
Huskblade + Soul Trap	3.33	2.22	3.33	3.33	3.33

4) PAINBRINGER

Re-roll failed to-wound rolls: this is always a good thing especially when our Archon must relay only on his base strength to wound his enemies. Not so much if you fight with a Venom Blade

without Furious Charge	MEQ	TEQ	ORK	GEQ	ELD
Venom Blade	1.30	0.65	3.24	2.59	1.94
Power Sword	2.22	0.37	2.22	3.00	3.00
Agonizer	3.00	0.50	3.00	3.00	3.00
Huskblade	2.22	1.48	2.22	3.00	3.00
Huskblade + Soul Trap	3.89	2.59	3.89	3.89	3.89

with Furious Charge	MEQ	TEQ	ORK	GEQ	ELD
Venom Blade	1.30	0.65	3.24	2.59	1.94
Power Sword	3.00	0.50	3.00	3.56	3.56
Agonizer	3.00	0.50	3.00	3.00	3.00
Huskblade	3.00	2.00	3.00	3.56	3.56
Huskblade + Soul Trap	3.89	2.59	3.89	3.89	3.89

5) ADRENALIGHT

+1 A: a bonus attack is always welcome!

without Furious Charge	MEQ	TEQ	ORK	GEQ	ELD
Venom Blade	1.30	0.65	3.24	3.02	2.27
Power Sword	1.56	0.26	1.56	2.33	2.33
Agonizer	2.33	0.39	2.33	2.33	2.33
Huskblade	1.56	1.04	1.56	2.33	2.33
Huskblade + Soul Trap	3.89	2.59	3.89	3.89	3.89

with Furious Charge	MEQ	TEQ	ORK	GEQ	ELD
Venom Blade	1.51	0.76	3.78	3.02	2.27
Power Sword	2.33	0.39	2.33	3.11	3.11
Agonizer	2.33	0.39	2.33	2.33	2.33
Huskblade	2.33	1.56	2.33	3.11	3.11
Huskblade + Soul Trap	3.89	2.59	3.89	3.89	3.89

6) SPLINTERMIND

A free Pain Token: an improvement of the defence capabilities for the Archon and his units (Fell No Pain) that could also help to gain Furious Charge faster if there is a Pain Token already in the unit (Haemonculi and/or Grotesques)

SO, ARE COMBAT DRUGS NEEDED?

Of the six drugs only three increase the damage output of the Archon and a forth could do that too in some particular unit configurations. The remaining two drugs are totally wasted on him however

In the end, I think I would take Combat Drugs only if I have some points to spare after I have secured all the other units in the army list or if I will ever field Grotesques with my Archon

WHAT IS THE DEADLIEST OF THEM ALL?

There is no overall winner: it all came down on the role you want your Archon to perform.

You want to go hunt Terminators? I won't do that but if you so wish than take the Huskblade and Combat Drugs

MEQ Killer? Power Sword or Agonizer. The Venom Blade is not much worse if points are tight

Hordes anyone? Venom Blade

Are you a Kin slayer? Then a Power Sword or a Venom Blade are your tools


And now it's up to you! What do you guys think on the various special weapons and how do you field your Archon?

Games Workshop CEO steps down after 5 years on the job

An unexpected news today: it looks like that Mark Wells, CEO of Games Workshop for the past 5 years, has decided to step down from his position in the company. Tom Kirby, current Chairman of GW, is taking up the role of Acting-CEO in his place

Apparently the decision was made after coming to the conclusion that Wells and Kirby where doing basically the same job during the last few years

What does this mean for the hobby? I fear that only time will tell us...

A new exciting Kickstarter: James Wappel painting (and more!) DVDs - UPDATE!

I got a very good news today! James Wappel's painting DVDs project has gone live on Kickstarter!

If you have read my previous post you could understand how excited I'm, I really look forward to see this great painter in action, his technique has always fascinated me so I could not wait to learn it to may be able, some day, to paint miniatures like this one:

painted by James Wappel (wappellious)

Or this one:

painted by James Wappel
(wappellious)

Or this one too!

painted by James Wappel (wappellious)

I could go on and on ... just check out his blog for more stunning miniatures!

If you are interested you could help the project by making your pledge on the project page at Kickstarter.com like I just done :)

Also, check out Mr. Wappel post about the project going live!

EDIT

The project has gone live less than 24 hours ago and it is already founded! Congratulations to Mr. Wappel and all the pledgers around the world! Now we just waiting for the other goals to be revealed :)

Hobby vows - January 2013

I started this blog as a way to keep me focused on my projects and the hobby and so far I'm having good results. As a next step in this direction I'm going to start to give me a set of goals, or vows, for each months dividing them in three categories:

• Primary vows: what I want to complete within the current month
• Secondary vows: what I should work on but do not have the same priority as a as primary vows
• Bonus vows: what I'd like to work on if I have the time

Primary vows should be the main focus of the month and should not be slowed down by the other two categories. Nothing bad will happen if I can not meet the deadlines but I still like to have them in place to keep things organised

That said, let's move on this month vows!

PRIMARY VOWS

1. Complete building and pre-paint steps of two Dark Eldar Ravagers
2. Complete building and pre-paint steps of two Dark Eldar Raiders

SECONDARY VOWS

1. Define a paint scheme for the vehicles of my Dark Eldar kabal 

BONUS VOWS

1. Build the Chaos Space Marines Terminator Lord for my Khorne / World Eaters collection

It's a bunch of stuff for me. Let's see what I could do by the end of the month!

Refined army list for my Dark Eldar Kabal

In the last few days I was thinking about my Dark Eldar army list and something was bothering me

The current 1500 points list I'm working on, building models and testing out colour schemes, is this one:


- Archon, Huskblade, Soul Trap, Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Shadow Field @160pt
- 4x Incubi, Venom, 2x Splinter Cannons @153

- 10x Kabalite Warriors, Splinter Cannon, Raider, Dark Lance, Splinter Racks @170

- 10x Kabalite Warriors, Splinter Cannon, Raider, Dark Lance, Splinter Racks @170

- 5x Wyches, Haywire grenades, Venom, 2x Splinter Cannons @125

- 5x Wyches, Haywire grenades, Venom, 2x Splinter Cannons @125

- 8x Reavers Jetbikes, 2x Heat Lances, Arena Champion @210

- Ravager, 3x Dark Lances, Night Shields @115

- Ravager, 3x Dark Lances, Night Shields @115

- Razorwing Jetfighter, 2x Dark Lances, 4x Monoscythe missiles, Splinter Rifle, Flickerfield @155

== 1498 points

The anti-tank (AT) section consist in:

• 10 Dark Lances
• 2 Heat Lances
• 10 Haywire grenades

In the anti-infantry (AI) section I have:

• 8 Splinter Cannons
• 15 Splinter Rifles
• 4 Monoscythe missiles
• 8/24 Bladevanes attacks
• various Splinter Pistols

For close-combat (CC) the Archon/Incubi pack:

• 8/12 S4 AP2 attacks
• 5/6 S3 AP2 Istant-death attacks that could be improved to S6

The Wyches and Reavers units could also help the Archon and his unit if necessity arise

The things that do not convince me are two:

1. I'm not sure if the Huskblade / Soul Trap combo is worth the points, starting at S3 and in a unit full of AP2 power weapons
2. I added the Arena Champion to the Reavers to boost their LD value, but I think that a 9th members and an extra Heat Lance would improve the list

I came up with this revised list (changes in italic):

- Archon, Venom Blade, Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Shadow Field @120pt

- 4x Incubi, Venom, 2x Splinter Cannons, Grisly Trophies @158

- 10x Kabalite Warriors, Splinter Cannon, Raider, Dark Lance, Splinter Racks @170

- 10x Kabalite Warriors, Splinter Cannon, Raider, Dark Lance, Splinter Racks @170

- 5x Wyches, Haywire grenades, Venom, 2x Splinter Cannons, Grisly Trophies @130

- 5x Wyches, Haywire grenades, Venom, 2x Splinter Cannons, Grisly Trophies @130

- 9x Reavers Jetbikes, 3x Heat Lances @234

- Ravager, 3x Dark Lances, Night Shields @115

- Ravager, 3x Dark Lances, Night Shields @115

- Razorwing Jetfighter, 2x Dark Lances, 4x Monoscythe missiles, Splinter Rifle, Flickerfield @155

== 1497 points

The split-up is roughly the same:

AT:

• 10 Dark Lances
• 3 Heat Lances
• 10 Haywire grenades

AI:

• 8 Splinter Cannons
• 15 Splinter Rifles
• 4 Monoscythe missiles
• 9/27 Bladevanes attacks
• various Splinter Pistols

For close-combat (CC) the Archon/Incubi pack:

• 8/12 S4 AP2 attacks
• 5/6 AP6 attacks that always wounds on a 2+

I swapped out the Huskblade / Soul Trap for a very cheap Venom Blade that overcome the S3 problem. I lose the AP2 but gain more raw wounds

The Reavers are now at full strenght with 9 jet-bikers and 3 Heat Lances.

I used the left over points to add Grisly Trophies to the Venoms: this could potentially help Reavers, Wyches and the Archon unit in case of a bad LD test roll.

I'm also wondering if converting one of the Ravagers to Disintegrators Cannons could help in my meta-game. I play against Marines (Ultra, Wolves, Blood Angels), Necrons, Orks and Tyranids. I don't want to put them on the Razorwing because I need it's Lances for dealing with (or trying to deal with) other flyers

EDIT:

Maybe I should replace the Razorwing with a Voidraven Bomber with Flickerfield but without missiles (same points cost) to get more anti-flyer punch. And what about an Agonizer for the Archon instead of the Venom Blade (and the Grisly Trophies on the three Venoms) ?

What you guys think about this new list?