Underused Units in 40k

[Garlicson2]

Good day everyone,

For a while I have seen a lot of units in 40k many people don't take in their army list. Not all of them are bad, but some either have a couple of problems, compete with other units, too expensive for their role, and/or are simply outclassed. Of course there are plenty to cover, and there may be a unit that you think is underused in general, so feel free to leave a reply on the unit you have in mind in why do you think it doesn't get used. I'm not talking about units that are broken (Like the Burning Chariot) or are useless (Pyrovores), just the ones that does a role decently but are overshadowed by others that do a better job or are maybe under-appreciated. For today's unit, I would like to cover Khorne's Calvary unit that has seen a nerf in the 6th edition Daemon codex that almost never gets used: Bloodcrushers of Khorne.

What is their role?
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Bloodcrushers are one of the three Calvary units along side of Seekers and Plaguedrones. Whats unique about Bloodcrushers is they don't take a Fast Attack slot, which is full of great units like Flesh Hounds and Seekers. Instead, they occupy an Elite slot that is considered to be the weakest in the codex. This means they don't take up a valuable FA choice and nothing in the Elite section competes with Bloodcrushers for their role. Much like Seekers, Bloodcrushers can be tooled to either go infantry hunting, act as "Homing Beacons" with Icons to have Troops Deep Strike in safely, or hunt down Monsterous Creatures. For their gifts (Or loadout), each Bloodletter not only ride on a Juggernaut, but also haves Hellblades, which are ap3 power swords. One can be upgraded to a Bloodhunter and take an ap2, strike-at-initiative sword, -With either Master Crafted or Instant Death on a roll of 6 for only 15 pts (the total cost for the upgrades). Given how they all carry an equivalent of a power weapon, combine with Furious Charge and also having a Herald in the unit to either grant Rage or Hatred, this makes them a very scary unit that will attract a lot of fire. That right there however, is where the problem begins to show, especially with their expensive price tag, at 45 pts each!

Before I go into details, here's a brief history lesson: Bloodcrushers from 5th edition were commonly used, they were great for their point cost at 40 pts, had power swords that ignored armour for their time, had Eternal Warrior like every Daemon model, and had a nice 3+ save. Fast forward to today, they no longer have Warp Forged Armour, which ironically the fluff states they have very thick armour to shrug off small arms fire, -Instead having a 6+ save like Orks. Wait, hold up now! Are you saying that Juggernauts haves armour plates just as good as space marines, but instead give them t-shirts to protect themselves getting shot to death!? I just had to laugh as this is clearly one of the thousand GW's fluff errors translated on the tabletop. Understandably this was done to balance the other two Calvary units they compete with, despite taking an Elite choice, -Which can break the balance if they kept their Warp Forged Armour, but why did they have to increase the point cost by 5 pts? It don't sound like much, but given how Plaguedrones are 3 pts cheaper, and Seekers being extremely cheaper at 12 pts, Bloodcrusher are the most expensive unit that're prone to instant death with T4 and the removal of Eternal Warrior.

How much do they cost?
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As I have said, each Bloodcrusher goes for 45 pts. I also already cover the upgrades recommended to them, although you can also take the Banner of Blood for an extra 10 pts. This isn't necessary because they have Fleet, but it can be useful if you're running a big unit with a Herald so they can guarantee a successful charge. I find 3 different ways to kit them out that makes them effective for their role:

Icon Users:
Bloodcrushers x3 (Bloodhunter w/Etherblade, Icon of Chaos)
160 pts.

Skulltaker escort:
Bloodcrushers x4 (Bloodhunter w/Etherblade)
Skulltaker on Juggernaut
340 pts.

Infantry/Monsterous Creature hunting:
Bloodcrushers x5 (Bloodhunter w/ Axe of Khorne)
Herald on Juggernaut w/ Etherblade, or Karanak (Optional)
240/360 pts.

The Icon role is the cheapest out of the three, their job is to get your Troops from reserve to come on the board safely, only rolling a d6 for scatter, while Bloodletters come in without scattering. You need to make them less of a threat, so running them with other "Shoot me" friendlies like the Nurgle Soulgrinder, Bloodthirster and even Infiltrating Nurglings can help having less guns pointing at your Icon Bearers. Using cover can also work, but given how Ignore Cover weapons are becoming more available to armies and even through allies can makes this tactic pointless. However, once they have done their job and got all the reserved Daemons Deep Strike safely, you can then use them freely as a flanking unit or a mop up crew to finish off any objective holders and giving your allies a helping hand.

The escort service for Skulltaker helps keep him safe from small arms fire and getting him into a challenge with non-Terminator armoured characters. Be careful not to get charged by the wrong enemy, they can make a challenge and Skulltaker MUST accept it, although he does have Eternal Warrior and gains an extra Wound from riding a Juggernaut. Speaking of which, you can take advantage of that by letting him take couple of missle shots like a champ, but be wise as having two wounds instead of one in a challenge can make a difference, not to mention you can get unlucky dice rolls!

The last is obviously expensive, going 10 pts less than a Land Raider without an HQ. It's pretty straight forward, go find the target of your choice and chop em' to pieces. Notice the Bloodhunter haves an Axe of Khorne, this is because you should be challenging sergeants or kill off Monsterous Creatures quickly as possible, hoping you'll roll for 6s to wound. Of course, they are fragile with only a 5++ save, so it's a near mandatory you have a bearer that holds the Grimore of True Names to grant them a 3++ save (Perhaps this is why they removed their armour save, but who knows). If you want to, adding a Herald with a Locus to grant Rage or Hatred makes them even more deadly, and even Karanak can do this, but giving your Bloodcrushers Scout and Rerolls to hit and wound from Karanak's special rule against a selected enemy model or unit. Do keep in mind this will make them VERY expensive, and a good chance to receive many heavy weapon fire in hopes to instant kill a model or two in each salvo.

Comparing this to Seekers, they can do the same Icon and unit hunting for a much cheaper price, and they don't care about instant death as they each have 1 T3 wounds, while Plaguedrones are so much more durable, and can use stingers to inflict instant death, and this can come from each model. Seekers are also very fast that they can get away from getting shot at, plus they get Rending attacks right out the box. So while Bloodcrushers can work if you kit them out properly and use them right, the steep cost and the chance to suffer instant death makes them a less attractive choice overall.

Why are they underused?
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Aside from having to pay through the nose and requiring attention from Heralds and the Grimore of True Names, the simple fact they have been nerfed and are outclassed in almost every way means they are best reserved in a fluffy Khorne Daemon list or if your Fast Attack slot is full and you require an Icon user for your Deep Strikers. In truth they aren't a bad unit, and in my opinion doesn't deserve the hate they're getting, but nevertheless, Bloodcrushers are very costly for the roles they fulfill and/or are overlooked when you put them next to the other two Calvary Daemons. It's a shame, because having a Daemon riding on an Armoured Rhino is freaking cool in my opinion, and money wise they're cheaper than the other two. My hopes for fixing this unit is to either give us back the 3+ save, even if it means to bump their price up a bit, or to make them cheaper at 35 pts. As it is, the reason why you don't see them too much is because they require the player's attention to keep them safe until they reach into combat, while the other two can handle themselves in a way.

Thanks for reading, if you have any suggestions on a unit that you think is underused but are overlooked for whatever reason, let me know about it! The next unit I will cover is the greenskins fast moving carts carrying a mounted gun: Warbuggies.

Johnny

[hapotte]

Hi,

I don't want to be the bad guy but I'm pretty sure you can't list point cost of any GW games. I agree with what you've written though.

[Garlicson2]

Really? Strange, I know that you can't post stats on the units, but never would I thought telling the total point cost is also a violation. Well for now I'll leave the post as is and edit it later on tonight. Thanks for pointing that out.

Johnny

[hapotte]

You're probably right, I thought that all stats and points were a no-no with GW.

[Garlicson2]

No worries, it's all good, and thanks for your comment!

Johnny

[kturock]

I don't know about here, but total point costs and points per unit, I've seen posted inn FB GW groups.

[MagickalMemories]

Hi,

I don't want to be the bad guy but I'm pretty sure you can't list point cost of any GW games. I agree with what you've written though.

Nope.
It's fine.
He's not giving away anything you can't get elsewhere for free.
GW can stuff it. : )

Eric

[Bahamut_Dragonlord]

GW can stuff it. : )

Eric

Somebody sig that...

[kturock]

GW can stuff it. : )

Eric

Somebody sig that...

Everybody sig it.

[Garlicson2]

Okay boyz,

Now it's time we look at the Warbuggies, a squadron of go carts that delivers dakka on the move. They were common during the old days of 4th edition, but with each edition they began to decline more in many Ork lists. Being a dirt cheap flanking buggy, along having twin-linked goodness on some weapons, why don't Ork players ever bring Warbuggies? Let's find out.

What is the unit's role?
---------------------------------

Warbuggies serves a role in moving into position quickly to blow up enemy transports and tanks (With the exception of Land Raiders due to AV14) from their rear armour. They can also take out entrench troops on objectives or add more dakka in a Speed Freak list. Out of the three, the former is the most useful given how Orks tend to have many anti-infantry units, but only a few to deal with tanks. They are very fragile, but they make this up by being very fast and having more than one in a unit. Still, with 6th edition nerfing vehicles of all sorts, having the Hull Point system and glancing hits strips of one HP each, people tend to not take many tanks as Mech lists aren't so competitive like in 5th.

While this is good news for the Greenskins, this also applies to their already fragile Trukks and, as you may have guess, -Warbuggies. Each one haves AV10 all around, is open topped, and worse, only 2 HP! But wait, these guys are cheap and fast, so this isn't much of a problem, right? Sadly, that's not the case, with armies switching their Missle Launchers for Plasma Guns and Meltaguns, the latter being readily available in a lot of armies, -You can guarantee they will blow your buggy right up into the sky, and chances are this will grant your opponent First Blood. Even bolters can glance them to death in volume of fire, making them a very tricky glass cannon to use effectively.

To top it off, with the buff to bike units of all sorts, the Warbuggie competes with another unit in the Fast Attack slot: Deffkoptas. For a little extra points, Deffkoptas can also do this role, but much more effectively thanks to making them T5 rather than T4(5), and two wounds to improve their survivability. Unlike Warbuggies, a Deffkopta can take a hit from a Meltagun and still survive, while the Buggy explodes on a 3+! For only an extra 5 pts, 9/10 player take Deffkoptas for this sole reason, not to mention that the old Buggy still doesn't have an updated model!

How much do they cost?
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For a go cart with a Twin-linked Big Shoota, you can have this shinny 1992 go cart model with a six turn payment plan for only 5 pts per a turn! Corny car commercial jokes aside, 30 pts is very cheap, and you can replace the gun with Twin-linked Rokkit Launchas for an additional 5 pts, bringing it to the same cost as a Deffkopta. Skorchas is another alternative choice for 10 pts, however I'm personally not a fan of this as using a Heavy Flamer on a vehicle durable as a tin can isn't a good idea. Still, it haves its' uses, so some may run Warbuggies for the fact, that Deffkoptas can't take Skorchas. The only upgrade that I would honestly take if I had to would be Red Paint Job. Armour Plates makes a cheap unit into an overcosted unit, and Grot Riggers only works in the shooting phase, so if the buggy does gets Immobilize, you may as well just remove it, because theres a good chance it won't survive the next salvo of bolter fire. But you don't need to paint them red, they are best served with a weapon of your choice and nothing else.

The last upgrade is they can become Wartrakks, which is basically Reinforced Ram in disguise. Depending on the player's taste, taking it and not get slowed down or even get immobilize from terrain is useful, and with how 6th edition having a mass majority of terrain, this can be invaluable. With that in mind, these are the two common ways to run Warbuggies:

Warbuggies x2 (TL Rokkit Launchas)
70 pts

Wartrakks x2 (TL Rokkit Launchas)
80 pts

Generally the two are very similar, but the Wartrakks allows them to move through terrain with no problem whatsoever. In my opinion, going with Warbuggies is the better choice because they're 10 pts less than having two Deffkoptas with the same loadout. Did I mention that for Deffkoptas also gets Scout and Outflank? So in short, keep them cheap as possible if you want to have some sort of advantage over Deffkoptas.

Why are they underused?
--------------------------------

In all honesty, Warbuggies are actually a decent unit, the problem is they have to compete with Deffkoptas in terms of value. Keep in mind, the Orks have an old Codex at the moment, and GW is planing on updating them, so I wanted to put this out to show one of the problems they need to fix. Because of Deffkoptas being only a few extra points and haves a better survivability, the Buggy get's outclassed for their role, with their only saving grace is being slightly cheaper and can take a Skorcha. I know there are a few people that runs them, and I can see why players run Buggies over Koptas. Their model is also out of date, and they look ugly compared to the current miniatures we have today, so that can be another reason you don't see them often unless it's from a third party company like Kromlech.

You can also argue allies are another reason Warbuggies get ignored, like taking Chaos Marines as your allies for Chosen Marines equipped with 5 Meltaguns inside a Rhino. Aside from the fact it gives GW an excuse so you can buy more models, taking an army that can deal with tanks and flyers helps the Orks out, filling in the gaps. That's not saying they need allies, but it's an option to consider when you build your list. Aside from that, the proper way to make Buggies usable is to either increase Deffkopta's point cost, give Buggies the ability to Scout, or give them Twin-linked Rokkit Launchas for free and Skorchas cost 5 pts.

If you have another solution to make Warbuggies viable, let me know, it could be better than mine! Next time I'm going to look into the an aircraft that was made exclusively to the Unforgiven chapter: Nephilim Jetfighter.

Johnny

[NuWishA]

Helbrutes/Chaos Dreadnoughts - A terrible choice in a terrible book.

I have almost a dozen of the little bastards, and they never fail to get nothing useful done... ever..

But they are like little mentally damaged puppies. goooood times.

[Garlicson2]

Helbrutes/Chaos Dreadnoughts - A terrible choice in a terrible book.

I have almost a dozen of the little bastards, and they never fail to get nothing useful done... ever..

But they are like little mentally damaged puppies. goooood times.

I have to agree they aren't great, although I find the Chaos Marine book to be fine IMO. Even with the price drop from the FAQ, the Helbrute still get's overshadowed by Obliterators for what they can bring, and even a small Terminater squad with combi-meltas does the job at a better price because they're able to deep strike.

On the plus side, they now have their own kit with ALOT of attachment choices, and it looks cool! But in the end, it's a mediocre choice in small point games.

Johnny

[tazbeast]

Why no love for Rough Riders. A unit of 10 on the charge is likely to kill 10 marines, and at almost 50% of the cost!

[MagickalMemories]

No good player is going to let you get the charge off, first.
Second, any player worth his salt is going to shoot you to ribbons before you get a chance to charge, if he HAS to get within charge range.
Third, they are a glass hammer. They have to hit, then wound, to do anything on the first turn of assault. After that, they're just swinging pointed sticks.

Eric

[Garlicson2]

Up next is the Dark Angel's Nephilim Jetfighter, which was suppose to be their answer against other aircrafts and Flying Monsterous Creatures. Sadly, while the fluff tries hard to make it sound like a great flyer, the crunch just don't do it with justice. Note that I left the Dark Talon out because it haves more use than the Jetfighter, despite it being limited, which I'll cover later. Now what does the Nephilim Jetfighter do for it's cost?

What is the unit's role?
--------------------------------

Much like the fluff states, the Jetfighter is suppose to engage against opposing enemy flyers of any sort. With a Twin-linked Lascannon and Heavy Bolter, along with six single use Blacksword missles, this may seem like a decent loadout on paper. However, if you look at the Blacksword Missles, they aren't as good as one would hope. S6 and AP4 at 36' ain't much special, even tho you get six, you can only fire one missle per a turn. Now the Twin-linked Lascannon is not bad, but with only one shot, even with rerolls to hit, isn't going to be enough to destroy a flyer. And the Twin-linked Heavy Bolter? Well they suck, even against ground troops thanks to the amount of cover in 6th edition and how MEQs easily shrug the shots off. It does have some special rules to make it a little better, like treating Weapon Destroyed as Immobilize instead. Could come in handy, but it's not as good as it was before now that vehicles have HP. Speaking of which, the Nephilim haves Armour 11 all around with 3 HP, so it's not bad in terms of durability.

It can also swap out the Lascannon for an Avenger Mega Bolter, which shoots 5 S6 AP4 bolts. This in a way, is like an upgraded Heavy Bolter, and if you combine to two, it actually becomes a anti-infantry flyer... Which is something the Dark Angels don't need. Well you may be wondering why I'm bashing on this aircraft so hard, and the reason for that is simple: It's an over costed flyer.

How much do they cost?
----------------------------------
I have a question for you: How much would you charge for a flyer like this? Well for our codex author, he priced the Nephilim at 180 pts. Yup, 10 pts more than the infamous Helturkey the Chaos Marines possess. And what's sad is the Dark Talon is able to fulfill the ground attack role for a cheaper price, although it's not much great either. But what makes the Storm Talon- I mean Dark Talon (Too many Talons, it's so confusing) more usable is the Stasis Bomb. While it's a one use only large blast with S3 AP-, it haves a neat ability to reduce the unit's WS and I by 3. If you combine this with Space Wolve's Jaw of the World Wolf, you can easily gain First Blood and/or Slay the Warlord from that! The Jetfighter however, is just too expensive to be an aircraft fighter and haves a mediocre loadout to do it's job. This is why Dark Angels still have trouble with Anti-Air units, because their flyers just aren't great against others for its cost. I honestly don't understand why the codex author thought 180 pts was the appropriate price, has he not seen the cost of the Storm Talon, Dakkajets, or even Valkeries before he wrote the book? Well I'm not the guy who gave the Dark Angels an update, nor do I have the same mind set, so it will be a mystery.

Why is it underused?
---------------------------------

To be fair, the Nephilim Jetfighter is not bad for what it's suppose to do. It can do good damage on light aircraft when given the Avenger Mega Bolter, but they aren't worth using for how much you pay. Plus the fact you can run allies to help the Unforgiven taking care of aircraft units makes it even more pointless to use. Heck for 20 more points, you can get yourself a Storm Raven and it does a better job when given the Multi-Melta and Twin-linked Assault Cannon, so why would anybody settle with the Jetfighter? Not only would a price drop help with both the flyers the Dark Angel carries, but changing the profile on the missles, like making them strength 8 ap4 or have Haywire, -Would make it a real Jetfighter to rule the skies.


Now I'm aware we are now in 7th edition, so many things have changed, but I don't have the rulebook at the moment. My life had been very busy, so I apologise for the delay. Now that I'm free, I've returned in full motion. For now I'll bring this series to a halt until I can familiar myself to the new rules. By then I will next cover a unit from the Tyranid codex, that seems to be similar to Shrikes, but lacks the same rules for the same price- Ravener Brood. Until then, let me know what units that either got better or worst in the new edition, I'm interested in hearing what you have to say about them.

Johnny