As the weekend approaches, the lamp lighters are lighting - it is Christmas Eve for certain...Wait! No it's not! Damn Muppet's Christmas Carol!
Away with you!
Let's try again - As the weekend approaches, it normally means a very busy time for me, however this weekend I have a more or less free Saturday so I've elected to roll out the Spiderfang and get stuck in to the might of the Death army!
I'm playing against a new opponent, Feri. Feri came down to my FLGS to play in the Kill Team event with his Dark Angels force. I didn't actually play against him during the campaign and I am looking forward to getting stuck in and playing him at the weekend.
Feri's Death Army isn't something I've seen before but I do know that he has started with the Flesh Eater Courts start collection box and has expanded from there.
Now, we are going to be playing 2000 points and I think you'll know my list by know - Boss, Arachnaroks, Spiders (I'll go into it in more detail later) but I am looking at what could be taken in Feri's Flesh Eaters list.
There have been a fair few competitive Flesh Eater Court lists recently and I do think that they are a book which is yet to be fully unlocked in their potential.
As a gross generalisation, 2000 point list often includes Ghoul King on Terrorgheist, Varghulfs, A unit or two of Crypt Horrors and a ton of Crypt Horrors! Other variants of this list also include Vargheists, Zombie Dragons and Terrorgheists on their own.
I must make a confession - I don't own the Flesh Eater Court Battletome but by the time I get to Saturday I will have had it and digested some of the Batallion rules and additional rules I don't cover here.
Let's have a quick look at some potential problems that I could run in to when facing the ghouls!
Terrorgheist
*Fanged Maw -2 rend and D6 attacks. This is also a 3" range, so it's something which is deadly if I've got models or units in close proximity.
* Heals a wound each turn or D3 if it's been in combat and killed some Spiders... so, healing D3 wounds every turn!
*D3 mortal wounds dished out when it dies!
*Death Shriek. Although it has a range of 10", the first few turns will be a killer unless I can get his wound count down very quickly!
I'm not too bothered about the 'Feast on Flesh' ability which he can use for his command, allowing one unit within 18" to run and charge, as I should already be in his face in order to try and nullify the attack. Likewise, if he uses the Summon Royal Guard ability, having to pay the points for the summoned units doesn't bother me too much either.
Abhorrant Ghoul King on Zombie Dragon
*Feeding Frenzy cast on a 6 giving all Flesh-Eater Courts units within 10" re-rolls to wound - deadly!
*Zombie's pestilential breath can wound on a 2+ and with Rend -3 and D6 damage that can hurt!
*Heals D3 wounds each of FEC hero phase!
*All combat attacks rend, negating the armour of spiders. The Maw attack does D6 wounds.
Again, not really bothered about the Summon Courtier ability as if he uses it, he has to pay the points and it would be useless summoning them on the first turn or so.
What I worry about with a Zombie Dragon is the Pestilential Breath ability which will always roll less than the number of models in a unit (assuming he's attacking the big units of spiders).
Certainly a model to target first in order to nullify the army's ability!
Crypt Ghouls
*2 attacks each with 25mm bases means a bucket ton of attacks. If there is a Abhorrant Ghoul King in the army, they can hit and wound on 3s if he uses his comand ability! Plus, the AGK's spell which gives them an additional attack... ... ...
Crypt Horrors
*Reroll failed hit rolls if within 15" of a AGK.
*Heal 1 wound each turn. Although not a massive deal on the face of it, fine margins will define a game like this so it's the difference between having a set of attacks and not!
*3 attacks with damage 2 is huge - the no rend is not really a problem against the spiders and they will just remove models. Additionally, rolling 6s will result in 3 damage... could be a problem!
I think putting down a unit of 3 would be easy for a unit of 20 spider riders. It's when it comes to a unit of 6 that problems will start.
Varghulf Courtier
*Rend on both attacks, nufflifying the save of the spiders (in most cases).
*Heals D3 wounds at the end of each combat phase if it slew any enemy models.
*To the King! ability enables units to replenish models back (even if it is just one)!
*If a FEC Wizard casts a spell within 18" it can re-roll all failed hits!
The ability that the Varghulf has to increase its attacks shouldn't really come in to play in this battle as the size of the spiders will often dictate that 10 won't be within 3" range.
Crypt Flayers
*Mortal wounds dished out in the form of a shooting attack which targets bravery.
* -1 rend on talons and claws attack.
*Like the spiders, rolling a 6 on their attack atuomatically dishes out a mortal wound!
Now, I haven't looked fully into formations but that will be something I will do in more detail later on when I research them more. I know Ghoul Patrol is a dominant battalion and the ability to come on within 6" of a table edge and 9" away from the enemy could cause potential problems if they get in to hold up my army while the big beasts arrive from behind. The Drawn to Battle ability letting the replenish models does add a bit of spice to the proceedings too! Need to take out a unit at a time!
Initially, I think it's going to be tough to take down the Terrogiests or Zombie Dragons without focusing on them, however the amount of shots that the spiders pump out, plus the mortal wound output should be able to take one a turn (assuming that he has more than one).
My list?
Well,
Boss on Gigantic Spider (Command Trait: Ravager) (Artefact: Collar of Domination)
20 Spider Riders
20 Spider Riders
20 Spider Riders
10 Spider Riders
Araknarok with Shaman
Araknarok with Shaman
Which leaves me with 40 points left over!
I must admit, I am quite excited to play against Feri and the Death list! It will be a very interesting challenge to see how I get on against something which can dish out a lot of attacks and, in tandem, the abilities of the characters make them a real force to be reckoned with!
The strategy is simple - kill the characters but you can easily make a meat shield in order to protect them.
Well, it's only 2 days away!
I'll keep you updated!
Thanks for reading,
I'll see you soon!
@geekphotoguy
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