My Tactics for the Storm of Chaos
Alright, last week you may have read the bit of fiction I wrote about my Storm of Chaos army, led by the Twins. Here, as promised, is the approximate army composition and plan of attack.
Riders of the Storm
2x Exalted Champion, each w/ Barded Steed and Berserker Sword and Shield and Mark of Slaanesh 100+16+40+2+20=178pts (356pts together)
Chosen Knights of Chaos 6xKnights, Musician, Standard Bearer, Champion, Hand Weapon and Shield, Hvy Armor, Barded Steed 270+10+20+20=320pts
Knights of Chaos 5xKnights of Chaos, Musician, Standard Bearer, Champion, Hand Weapon and Shield, Hvy Armor, Barded Steed 165+10+20+20=215pts
Knights of Chaos 5xKnights of Chaos, Musician, Standard Bearer, Champion, Hand Weapon and Shield, Hvy Armor, Barded Steed 165+10+20+20=215pts
1106pts in 18models. Definitely an Elite force!
Point Saving Options
I do have some point saving possibilities. Some of these would work just fine, others would make the force follow my background a little less, or just be a little less interesting to me.
Musicians, up to 30pts. With really good leadership all 'round, and characters that are Immune to Psychology joining a couple of units, not having a reroll isn't that huge a deal.
Great Weapons as opposed to Berserker Blades, 36pts each. This would give my Exalted S7, though they would go last except on the charge. This probably makes the most sense, since they are likely to mostly keep charging. Although this would reduce their number of attacks, particularly when surrounded by the enemy, I'm not likely to move them out of my units to get surrounded, so I likely wouldn't be losing much if anything.
No Chosen, 72pts. I don't like this one as much, since it gives me a really tough unit that doesn't need a character to help it out and has incredible armor saves so it'll definitely stick around.
Single Champion instead of the Twins, 178pts. While this would save a significant number of points, one of the most interesting parts of the list is the idea of the Twins and the modeling opportunities they'll give me. Without them, it's just another bunch of Chaos Knights. It wouldn't totally ruin the army, but it just wouldn't be the same.
Strengths
Among the strengths of this army are the following:
Mobility for every unit.
Mobility is vital in Fantasy, and having all my units able to move swiftly will help me concentrate them on a single portion of the enemy army and ignore the rest of the enemy army with impunity.
Heavy Hitting Power.
This is important, as it will let me smash through enemy units quickly. If my units bog down, I lose my mobility and my units can be whittled down bit by bit. Smashing the enemy in a single charge means never having to say you're sorry.
Solid Leadership. Since all the units have high leadership, I can expect them to do what I want them to do when I want them to do it. This is very important in Fantasy as well, as Leadership plays a much larger part than it does in 40k.
Small Footprint. The small size of the army doesn't just mean that I don't have to paint as many models. It also means that I can deploy in a smaller area and more easily consolidate my force against a larger one. I can also more easily hide my force behind terrain to keep from taking too many casualties on the way to battle.
Weaknesses
Low model count.
Every loss hurts, a lot! Just any old Chaos Knight costs a minimum of 33pts, about the same price as 5-7 Orc Boyz. The command models, not to mention the Twins, are much more expensive, but can still die to an unlucky die roll.
Low unit count.
This is one that people don't normally think of. With fewer selections, in scenarios that involve alternating placement for deployment, most people will be able to watch me deploy, then place about 60-80 percent of their army in reaction to my deployment. In addition, having large numbers of enemy units increases my chance of getting caught or tied up by an enemy unit.
No Magic.
With only the basic dispel dice available to me, this army could be in serious trouble against a magic-heavy army. Hopefully my speed and armor saves will see me through.
Now, I've got 3 very powerful units, that will cause quite a few casualties on the charge. As an example, if my Chosen Knights charge a unit of Orc Boyz, they should kill about 5 Orcs on average, likely leaving none to strike back at them.
Rules Explanation: If you are familiar with Fantasy, you may carry on into the next paragraph, otherwise, hang about and I'll go over a few things that will be vital to know for the upcoming discussion. The way that combats (assaults) are done is that the charging unit goes first. After the first round, attacks are resolved in initiative order. After figuring out casualties caused by each side, add them to any bonuses the unit has. The unit gets a bonus of 1 for having a standard. Large units will also get a rank bonus (ranks are the guys standing behind the front row of fighters.) For every full rank they have beyond 2, they get +1, up to a plus 3 maximum. The unit that has the highest total won the combat. For every point that they won the combat by, the enemy unit gets a -1 to their roll on leadership to see if they break. Now back to our regularly scheduled tactics discussion.
Following the previous example, let's say the unit of Orc Boyz had 25 Boyz initially and was spread 5 across. The 5 in the front row bite the dust, dropping the unit to 20. They will still get +3 for 3 ranks beyond the first row. On the other hand, they just lost 5 Boyz, so that's +5 for my Knights. Both units should still have their standards, so that cancels out. Finally, they still outnumber my Knights, so they get +1 for that, leaving them with a total of 4 to my Chosen Knights' 5, giving me the win and them the 1pt difference to subtract from their leadership check.
Here's the danger. Since I don't have any rank bonus, I'll be down by 3 before I even start killing anybody, as the above example shows. While I expect to vastly outgun most enemy units with mine, that's a pretty big hole to start from. In addition, I don't want to just win the combat, I want to make sure they have huge penalties to their test, so they are almost guaranteed to run away with their proverbial tails between their legs. All this means that I need my units to cooperate. If two of these units hit a single enemy unit, they will cause a lot more damage and make them much more likely to rout. An even better option would be to have one unit charge them in the flank or rear. Not only does this cause massive damage as before, but it takes away their bonus for ranks, AND it gives me a bonus for catching them from an unexpected direction! Now there's something I like! How do I get more of that action? Read on.
Same situation, same Orc unit, only this time one of the other units (joined by one of the Twins) charges the Orcs in a flank. Now I've got about 10 Dead Orcs laying on the ground and no likely return casualties. Now the Orcs don't get any bonus for ranks, and they no longer outnumber me, since cavalry models count double for unit strength. They still get their standard, but I also get mine, +1 for a flank charge, +1 for outnumbering, +10 for dead Orcs. I win the combat by 12, which will make passing their leadership check rather difficult, I'm afraid.
Heavy Cavalry Tactics
Tactical Slash or Feint: The idea of positioning a unit so it looks like it will be doing a flank charge or something, getting the target unit to change facing to it, then hitting that unit in the flank with something else, or simply moving around it to whatever else you want to do, leaving the turned unit out of position to help the rest of the enemy army. As a side note, what else can you do, since you've now most likely moved behind the enemy front line? Well, you can set up rear charges on other units. You can also run down any fleeing enemy units, destroying them. You can attack any Warmachine Crews or enemy Spellcasters hidden behind the lines as well. You can also stop some or all of his units from marching (moving at double speed when not near an enemy, very important for effective maneuver in Fantasy, I'd like to see it in 40k.)
Drawing the charge: Particularly useful against enemy cavalry and really nasty charging combinations. The idea is to move a unit, preferably the Chosen Knights with their 1+ save, just inside charge range of an enemy unit. If the enemy takes the bait and charges with their nasty unit or two, the Chosen unit must try to survive the charge. Once the enemy unit/s have separated from their lines, they will be more easily flank charged and broken by my other units. This can be a very dangerous tactic, but it'll be especially helpful for those enemy armies that have only one or two really nasty mobile units. If I can eliminate them quickly, then I can outmaneuver the rest of the army.
The Flying Stitch: Here, all my units are working together to create a series of flank charges in a chain reaction down the enemy line. This one is hard to describe, but I'll do my best. Initially, one of the regular Knight squadrons with one of the Twins charges the end unit of the enemy line. The Chosen move up to engage or threaten the enemy unit next to them. Finally, the other regular Knight squadron with the other twin charges the first enemy unit in the flank. With their combined damage and the flank charge modifiers, they should kill or break most units right away. The overruns should take one unit behind the enemy battle line and the other one right into the flank of the unit charged or threatened by the Chosen. This flank charge should break the next unit, leading the Chosen to overrun behind the enemy lines and the regular Knight squadron to continue into the flank of the next unit. Meanwhile, the first regular Knight squadron has maneuvered for a rear charge against the same unit. This cycle of combined flank charges and setups should carry quite a ways.
If I decide to adjust this army, there's a few things that I'm sure that I'd add. I'd want some light, fast units, like Marauders or warhounds or something that would give me some relatively inexpensive numbers and let me keep or increase my mobility. I would also add a sorceror or two or make the twins sorcerors, so they would have some defense against enemy magic and might even be able to help themselves out with some spells. A chariot or two would also not be a bad investment. More units in general would be helpful, though for story reasons I'd definitely want to stick with highly mobile ones. I might even consider adding a pack or two of fast demons, as gifts from Slaanesh for the Twins.
So, there's my master plan for my Riders of the Storm. I realize that this army has some pretty big weaknesses, but it also has some good strengths and I'm excited about it, and the great modeling opportunities it will give me, and enjoyment is really the whole point after all.
If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know