Orange Ben and @rightangle79 (Declan) are both off to the Facehammer Grand Tournament this weekend (11th & 12th September 2021). I thought it would be a great time to interview them about their tournament lists and their past glories…..
Ok. So you’ve both been to tournaments before, what do you enjoy the most about them?
Ben: For me it’s mainly seeing friends and looking at cool armies. But mainly this:
Declan: Seeing friends, having a beer and chatting about Warhammer. It also means I have a deadline for painting toys… which I almost always need. For most tournaments I include something new to paint.
So which armies are you taking to Facehammer this year? Care to share your lists?
Ben’s Kharadron Overlords (Ghostlords)
Declan’s List
Loonboss – Clammy Hand
Fungoid Cave Shaman – Hand of Gork
Madcap Shaman – Hand of Gork & Moonface Mommet
Webspinner on Arachnarok Spider – Curse of da Spider God & Amulet of Destiny
60 Shootas
20 Shootas
40 Stabbas
2 x 20 Stabbas
2 x Sneaky Snufflers
Rippa’s Snarlfangs
Scuttletide
Scrapskuttle’s Arachacauldron
Emerald Lifeswarm
2120 points; 214 wounds; Warlord; Hunters of the Heartlands; Vanguard
This is my favourite at the moment. Other option is full squigs.
Do you have battle plans or tactics in mind for when you make it to the tournaments?
Ben: To a certain extent, you know you need to claim objectives so you need units that can do that.
Declan: Gloomspite outside Troggs can struggle to kill things so I need to play like Gargants – get on objectives early and start scoring. Hand of Gork (movement spell) is critical in the list as it means people can’t leave objectives unguarded. I have the Spider to get Monstrous Takeover early and get the option of broken ranks with him. Although I need to protect him or lose him on my turn to prevent him giving 1 point away. 2nd turn is normally Ferocious Advance with Loonboss and both Fungoids (who spend most of their time hiding behind the Loonshrine). Finally I don’t mind losing units because I want as many opportunities as possible to get them back – hence Clammy Hand (Roll twice for reinforcements from Loonshrine).
Ben’s Ghostrek
Ben, I notice you have the dreaded Gotrek! Facehammer have slightly adjusted rules for him now, how do you think he’ll do?
Ben: He is still super smashy, he is there to kill gargants!
Declan, Sounds like a thorough plan. I love the Arachnarok unit, I’ve seen people include more than one, you weren’t tempted to do this?
Declan: I want to try a horde army because its my normal playstyle and is against the meta with reinforcement points and no horde discount. Unfortunately points are too high normally, but with an extra 150 it’s worth a go. I also want GW to see that people will take armies which are rubbish if they get small boosts. GG effectively have c8% reaction in points at facehammer which is what they need before the book. Unfortunately 60 Grots went from 360 to 450 which is criminal for a low power level book.
Have you ever crossed swords with each other in a tournament, if so how did that go?
Declan: I think we played Ogor v GG didn’t we? On the way in people were complaining about your list being too good and I said it was fine… then gummed you up with Grots?
Ben: Yeah it was the cows Throwing snowball list, I told everybody it was rubbish but no one believed me and then I got grotted!
Declan: Ah yes… you forgot the Stonehorns!! I did have 180 Grots in your defense.
Ben: 2+ I do six mortal wounds, cool, there are 54 left.
Declan: Yeah… no where near enough damage.
Whats your most memorable moment at a tournament?
Ben: Played a chap called Laurie who Declan will know, with a shooty stormcast list, and turn one took off his archaon off turn one, was crazy good.
Declan: I was playing GG with allied Gitmob grots at Sheffield Slaughter against Nurgle with their first book. It was against a GW employee who I won’t name as they get enough grief! His Great Unclean One had a -1 to hit within 12″ bubble. My shaman cast a spell on 60 Gitmob archers, who walked into the 12″ range, fired at the GUO and took it off! He was a little shocked but took it very well!
Ben’s Ghostlords Army
For someone looking to go to their first tournament, what advice would you give?
Declan: Definitely take the plunge. Let the TO and your opponents know it’s your first tournament. Take an army you know (don’t go for LRL net-list). Limit your warscrolls where possible. If you can bring 6 or fewer it gives you a chance of remembering the rules. Play the objectives!
Ben: Agreed
Looking at each others list, how would you try and defeat them?
Ben: You can’t ask us that we might play each other! But the short answer is throw Gotrek at him and shoot him a lot.
Declan: I think I probably have the advantage due to numbers here. If I can get on the objectives early it’s difficult to get me off them. Especially as Ben’s units flying in the boats don’t count as on the objective. I also just played Will with his KO and the grots can actually damage the units with shooting, and in combat. That said no doubt we’ll play now and Ben will rightly beat me!
Following Dave and I reviewing the Sisters of Battle Codex on our YouTube channel earlier this year, I decided that with the release of the Sisters Combat Patrol box, I thought it may be an idea to go through whats in the box and then select some units to expand the force to 1,000 points.
The combat patrol box is packed with goodies and like the other factions they’re a fantastic way to start a new army as they often give you a wide range of units.
The Sisters of Battle Combat Patrol Contents
In the Sisters Combat Patrol box you’re given;
Canoness
10x Battle Sisters
5x Seraphim
4x Sisters Repentia
Repentia Superior
Penitent Engine
3x Arco-flagellents
Rhino
All of that for £85, which is bought separately would cost roughly £170.
On top of this we’ll add the following units;
Palatine £21
Preacher £10
Castigator £52.50
Dominion Squad £35 (this will also buy you a unit of Celestians)
Retributor Squad £32.50
This will cost you an additional £151, alongside the cost of the Codex for £30 the entire army will set you back £266!
However! If you sign up for SCN Hobbies mailing list you’ll receive 25% off Games Workshops recommended retail price and 15% off web only miniatures. Meaning including postage the army and codex would cost £200.50! That’s a saving of £66!
To sign up to the SCN Hobbies mailing list, email Sarah on scnhobbyworld@outlook.com.
The list above brings us with upgrades to 1,000 points and the list will be as follows;
Vanguard Detachment (3CP) Order Convictions: Order of the Bloody Rose
For your Canoness I would make her the Warlord and make the whole detachment part of the Order of the Bloody Rose. This allows you add 1 to the attack characteristics of models with this conviction when they Charge, are charged or make a heroic intervention. Extra attacks are always nice! So let’s lean in to this slightly and give the canoness the Blessed Blade and the Wrath of the Emperor Relic.
The Blessed Blade gives the Canoness a +2 strength, -3 AP Damage 2 close combat weapon, while the Wrath of the Emperor replaces her Bolt Pistol with an 18” range pistol able to fire 4 shots per round with strength 5, -1 AP and 2 damage. That packs quite the punch, especially considering the Canoness can now make 5 attacks instead of 4 when they’ve charged or have been charged.
Don’t forget that CORE units within 6” of the Canoness will be allowed to re-roll 1’s on their to hit rolls when making attacks as well. This means she’ll be handy next to your Arco-Flagellants when they make it into combat.
I would also give the Canoness the Warlord Trait Righteous Rage, which will allow her to re-roll hit rolls and wound rolls when in melee.
We’ll also give her Blessing as her Divine Deliverance, this negates one enemy units aura ability that is within 6” of the Canoness, however this is only done if after rolling 3D6 and the resulting roll being equal to or higher than the enemies Leadership characteristic.
PALATINE
Palatine
This lovely woman is the ying to your Canoness’s yang, allowing CORE units within 6” to re-roll wound rolls of 1. Having her with the Canoness next to a unit dishing out a lot of attacks is always a good move. Having a bubble of our Canoness, palatine and Arco-Flagellants will make an opponent think twice. Once you look to expand beyond 1,000 points my next thought would be adding more models to your Arco-Flagellants.
Take her as is.
PREACHER
Son of a Preacher Man!
Having one of these guys in your list allows nearby units to benefit from his War Hymns, which grants them another attack. Which when combined with the conviction of the Order of the Bloody Rose will allow some of your units with the CORE keyword to make two additional attacks on top of what they would normally make (looking at you Arco-Flagellants). As well as this, he also has access to the Battle Hymns. Very squishy though so make sure you keep him towards the back of you Flagellant bubble.
BATTLE SISTERS
Battle Sisters
Battle Sisters I’m inclined to leave as Bolter only and split into two units of five sisters each. These can then be used as objective cappers, they’ll have the ability to deal with the small unimportant elements of your opponent’s army but their primary use should be holding objectives or vital points of the battlefield. If the enemy shoots and focuses on these units then that frees up your heavy hitters and close combat specialists for the counter punch.
ARCO-FLAGELLANTS
Arco-Flagellants
I would leave these as standard with their Arco-Flails, and try and make sure that they’re within 6” of the Canoness when they make it into combat so that they can re-roll 1’s for there to hit rolls.
There’s only three of these so the enemies fire will need to be drawn elsewhere for them to be effective, perhaps having some mean looking Castigator on the field may do the trick?
REPENTIA SUPERIOR AND SISTERS REPENTIA
Sisters Repentia
I would also leave these as the basic set up. Again, like with the Arco-Flagellants you do not have many of these so try and entice your opponent into shooting some other more sturdy unit that can take the punishment until these lovely women make it into combat. Both these and the Arco-Flagellants are a great counter punch to enemy CC and also make great objective clearers which can be followed up by the Battle Sisters, who can lend some light fire support to these units.
SERAPHIM
Seraphim
These are your true fast attack and are great even equipped with the hand flamers. These are perfect for dealing hit and run attacks on larger horde units such as Ork Boyz, Imperial Guard Infantry and the like. Keep them in cover and make sure they get to their intended target to deal their damage. I would equip two Seraphim carrying two hand flamers each kicking out D6 shots which automatically hit their targets. That gives you on average 12 hits from flamers with on average 6 of those causing wounds on toughness 4 targets.
PENITENT ENGINE
Penitent Engines
Although classed as heavy support this unit is ideal for taking on units in close support with its twin buzz blades and double Heavy flamers. With five wounds and toughness five it’ll also take some punishment before it falls down. Plus, with the Penitent Engine, Sisters Repentia and Arco-Flagellants you have redundancy in your close combat and your opponent won’t be certain what to choose first, meaning at least one of them will reach enemy lines.
CASTIGATOR
Castigator Battle Tank
It’s a predator tank, its got good armour and packs a punch from long range for an army which severely lacks in this area. Don’t expect it to last long though, your opponent is likely to target it from the get go, and that’s okay. Because if they’re focusing on the predator they’re not focusing on your combat heavy units closing in on them.
Make sure while it is on the table that it focuses on trying to remove the high armour targets that your other units will sill struggle with.
DOMINION SQUAD
Dominions
These, alongside your Retributors can almost be considered a secret weapon for the sisters. With their Holy Vanguard rule you can pop these in your rhino and they can make a free normal move before the first turn taking them closer towards the enemy. Why do you want to do this? Because you only have five Dominions in the Rhino, means you can fill out the rest of the transport capacity with Retributors with Heavy Flamers or Multi-Meltas to take out those pesky heavy armour targets or large horde mobs.
Equipping the Dominions with Storm Bolters will mean that they’re kicking out 10 shots a turn as well and can lay down some nice fire on the enemy’s units. Hopefully your opponent will ignore the rhino long enough for them to get close and pop that particularly nasty looking tank or flame that large group of Ork boyz….. Please shoot at my Castigator.
RETRIBUTOR SQUAD
Retributor Squad
As mentioned, pop these in the Rhino and arm them with Multi-Meltas and they’ll pretty much turn anything they shoot into liquid metal once they open up. They may be a one use only unit once your opponent sees what they can do so try and hit them where it hurts on the first time of use.
RHINO
Rhino
You want this to remain alive as long as you have your Dominions and Retributors inside, otherwise it could be used to transport your battle sisters up to objectives further up the field. Use it as the workhorse of the army. Many players will use these as a transport for a single unit, but don’t forget to double back pick up others units and rush them over to other parts of the battlefield.
WHERE NEXT?
As I mentioned earlier, my next steps would be to look at expanding the Arco-Flagellants into possibly a ten strong unit. Beefing up the close combat element of the army is always a good shout, and you know a second Castigator would always be a nice distraction for your opponent.
I would also seriously consider taking some Celestian Sacresants, as with these you’ll find that they make perfect bodyguards for your characters as enemy units are unable to target them. They also come with a 4+ invulnerable save.
I hope you enjoyed this, please let me know in the comments below how you would build a 1,000 point list from the Combat Patrol Box and why not also let me know what you think to my list. There may well be aspects of the codex or units that I have not included that you think should be, so why not let us know in the comments below.
