Thursday, October 9, 2014

Blightkings - On a Knife Edge

So this Saturday sees the new Nurgle End Times unit "Putrid Blightkings" unveiled in White Dwarf.


These are WS6 S4 T5 W3 I5 A3 with the Mark of Nurgle -1 to Hit costed at 40 points per model. They come in units of 5+.

However there is one real kicker. Although they are on 40mm bases - normally the preserve of Monstrous Infantry - they are listed as Infantry.

And this is where the real debate starts. As Infantry they:

  • Have no Stomp Attack
  • Can be Stomped or Thunderstomped
  • Are susceptible to Killing Blow
  • Are required to be 5 wide to get a rank
  • Can't stop a cannonball (?)
In fact the only real advantage they have is if they "infest" a building - ten rather than three can fight. 

As Infantry they are very very fully priced. As Monstrous Infantry they are in the "Warlock" value aisle. 

I personally don't think it is a typo. Instead I think that they will be the preserve of fluffers or the basis of conversions. 


Thoughts?

9 comments:

  1. Nurgle chaos ogres they will make, Hmmm...
    and Heros/champions, even for DoC. But a pricey conversion option
    if the intention was for them to be monstrous infantry I would agree they would be masive value.

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  2. If they are infantry you will not see them used in serious lists for all the reasons you have mentioned above. Why would you pay monstrous infantry point costs and get smacked around by the same things that kill infantry? All I can think off is - best target of Dreaded 13th ever.

    I think the lord choice SC, if remaining as infantry, could be a good spend of points if you were focusing on a foot based list. LD10, high S attacks, lots of wounds. Would be odd though, as he would somehow receive a LoS though have to deploy on the corner of the unit.

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  3. Would have been good if you could have deployed them in a unit a-la-kroxigor. The only real use I would see would be for the lord character with warriors, or Chosen at a push points-wise

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  4. interesting, you'd have to think if they were Monstrous Infantry they would be severely undercosted at 3 points less than an Irongut. 3 higher WS, 1 higher T, Mark of Nurgle... and I5. So we are looking at a new base size for infantry on a 40mm so if you so see them it would be a unit of 5..but I'm not sure they fill a role as infantry.

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  5. I think they will have their uses.

    What opponents would be getting by being able to stomp them, they lose by needing 5+ to hit.
    A unit of 5 + FC for 230pts will be useful for countering any inf unit (except WLs), and most cav. They can bunker down with a 3+ save and a shield parry, or bring out S6 GWs.

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  6. I think they are still a fantastic unit as long as you can foot slog them into combat. Getting Thuderstomped is not ideal but I mean they would be unkillable in a watchtower. For 230 points you get 15 wounds, 15 attacks, 4+ or 3+ Save, T5, -1 to hit, WS6. I mean apart from the dreaded 13th (which is likely to get changed with the new book soonish) what is going to blitz these guys apart from something like a K'daai or a deathstar? How many monster mash armies with thunderstomp do you see at the top tables currently? I mean you could shoot them... but then again, 36 Repeater Crossbow HITS later and you have killed 1 model...

    Point for Point Hammerers/Swordmasters/White lions/Executioners are probably the hardest hitting infantry units in the game and these guys knock them out of the park.

    For 230 points we shouldn't be talking about just '5 models' but '15 wounds worth of models' + FC. 15 Hammerers with FC is 240 points...

    Just my 2 cents,
    McCrae

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    Replies
    1. Remember very few WOC armies have five warmachines. Monsters might be more of a problem than they are for Dwarfs

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    2. also with only 5 they are 3 W's away from not being steadfast versus a flank charge from say a DE peg bsb and we never see those..

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    3. Yeah good points. I didn't really consider steadfast as it seemed unlikely that they would lose combat much.

      Bear in mind that DE bsb will be hitting on 5's (re-rolling) then wounding on 3+ (albeit re-rolling 1's too with a lance) with only 3 attacks. 6 might be the go-to number so that they have 6 wounds to remain steadfast just in case.

      I wish they would have just changed in to a "Ancestor Golem" and given it to Dwarfs instead :) It would have been awesome!

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