Litanies of the Faithful

With the current extra free time I’ve found lately I’ve decided to post more, which will be a joy for the bots that stumble across my blog while gathering data, and my friends who I force to read this trash.

In the past 48 hours I’ve come to the conclusion that Final Day is the MOST enjoyable GSC detachment to play and so I’ve set about constructing that is the ultimate list, FOR MYSELF, to play.

I would like the list to fulfil 3 criteria

• Be fun to play
• Lead to different games every time
• Flexible strategy

Let me explain, because those points are quite vague.

‘Be fun to play’ – Unfortunately, this list does not feature the ‘funniest’ combo that can be played in Warhammer 40k 10th edition, which is, crazy 5’s. However, by be fun to play I’m generally taking the stance of a Timmy combined with Johnny. For those that don’t know, these definitions come from Magic the Gathering:

• Timmy/Tammy – Timmy is characterized by their tendency to use big creatures and cast big spells. Large, exciting plays motivate them. Timmies are most associated with playing for fun. Timmy wants to experience something. Timmy plays Magic because he enjoys the feeling he gets when he plays. What the feeling is will vary from Timmy to Timmy, but what all Timmies have in common is that they enjoy the visceral experience of playing.
• Johnny/Jenny – Johnny is characterized by their tendency to build complex and creative decks. Johnny is most commonly known as a ‘combo player’, and they sometimes choose for elaborate but inefficient win conditions. They like to find interesting combinations of cards that can win the game or give them an advantage. Johnny may be a player who seeks niche cards, or cards widely reputed as bad, and tries to “break” them, exploiting them in ways to give abnormal power and win the game. Johnny is the creative gamer to whom Magic is a form of self-expression. Johnny likes to win, but he wants to win with style. It’s very important to Johnny that he win on his own terms. As such, it’s important to Johnny that he’s using his own deck. Playing Magic is an opportunity for Johnny to show off his creativity.

There are other player types, if you want to read more, read about them here: Timmy, Johnny, and Spike | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

After writing this out, I think I’m more of a Johnny than a Timmy, but I’d like my list to ‘be fun to play’ and by this, I mean fun combinations, but also rewarding to win games with.

‘Lead to different games every time’ – Warhammer is a dice game, so the games will be different every time, duh. What I mean by this is that, for example, when playing the Space Wolf list ‘wolf jail’, your gameplan remains almost exactly the same every game. What happens in each game may be different, but the overall plan remains, i.e. move blocking your opponent, tying them up in combat, etc. While the list I want to build could still utilize these strategies, as they are incredibly effective, I want room for flexible strategies in how I use my units to win games. This can, but is not limited to, flexible character attachments, flexibility with units I Deep strike, and flexibility with which units embark in transports. I’m not sure how much I will utilize these in a Final Day list, but the Xenocreed Detachment is awesome for flexibility in character attachments.

‘Flexible strategy‘ – This sort of leads on from my previous point but emphasises the different uses each unit in my list can have depending on mission/match up. I understand this is a common trope in 40k, but just as a Reductus Saboteur can control space with the ‘Planted Explosives’ ability, they also have decent shooting and free use of the grenade Stratagem, they also serve as a 32mm deep striker, forcing your opponent to screen honestly. I’d like my approach to the game to be adaptable to changing circumstances depending on my match up and have this reflected in the list.

So how do I start?

Let’s look at the Final Day detachment:

• I can include up to 1000 points of Tyranids Vanguard Invader units, however, no Tyranids models can be the warlord.
• At the end of my movement phase, Tyranid models can succ a GSC unit (excluding Patriarch and PSG’s) to deal D3+1 mortals, and heal D3+1 mortals, also giving the Tyranid unit +1 to hit.
• Finally Tyranids units from my army have the following ability:
  • Catalyst (aura): While an enemy unit is within 6″ of this unit, each time a friendly GSC unit makes an attack that targets that enemy unit, add 1 to the hit roll.

In essence what this detachment does is give all my GSC units +1 to hit, pretty good innit.

Enhancements:

Synaptic Auger (15 points): Each time a Tyranids model would regain a would, it regains twice that number of lost wounds instead (Bad).

Enraptured Damnation (10 points): Enemy units can use the Fire Overwatch Strategem to shoot at the bearer’s unit (Excellent).

Vanguard Tyrant (25 points): Improve the Strength and AP characteristics of melee weapons equipped by the bearer by 1 (Unironically good, just the unit it goes on is bad).

Inhuman Integration (20 points): GSC model only. Sustained hits 1 while targeting an enemy unit within 6″ of a Tyranids unit (Solid).

Stratagems:

Hyperferocity: Fight phase – GSC unit that has not been selected to fight – Re-roll wound rolls of 1, if a Tyranids unit is within 6″ of that enemy unit, re-roll all wound rolls (GAS).

Psi Surge: Start of any phase – One Tyranids unit – Extend Catalyst ability by 3″ until start of your next command phase (Unreal).

Avenge the Star Children: Your opponent’s shooting, or the fight phase, just after an enemy unit activates – One Tyranids character unit that was destroyed – +1 to hit and wound for GSC units against that enemy unit until the end of the battle (Ok).

Divine Imperative: Your charge phase – GSC unit that has not declared a charge yet – One enemy unit within engagement range of a Tyranids unit from your army – GSC unit gets +1 to charge, and re-roll charges (Eh)

Darting attacks: Your shooting or charge phase – Tyranids unit – Until end of phase, eligible to shoot/declare a charge (Poo).

Resistance Tunnels: End of opponent’s fight phase – One GSC or Tyranids unit that is not within engagement range – Remove unit from the battlefield and play into strategic reserves (Godly).

In my mind, this entire detachment is +1 to hit and uppy downy, no one can tell me otherwise. With the detachment rule, enhancements, stratagems, and list objectives/criteria in mind, we can get started writing a list.

What I want to take advantage of in my list is:

• +1 to hit you get from having Tyranids units nearby
• uppy downy
• re-roll wounds in combat

A good start to list building is to identify combinations of units that can synergy with the detachment rules/stratagems. A better start is to include units that synergy well within your own army and are efficient points wise. The BEST start is to include cool shit.

I have a confession to make. I have an addiction to the Benefictus, and in Final Day she gets even better.

Uppy downy Las cannons, hitting on 2’s, have her lead a unit of Acolytes with hand flamers and now you’re re-rolling 1’s to wound or full re-rolls if the unit is on an objective. Very cool. So why not 3? Now, the Benefictus does have hazardous rule on their weapon, and you’re always going to hazardous for the extra shot, which is the second benefit of the Acolyte unit, throw one demolition charge in that bad boy and you’re Bene is now fully protected to unleash their brain blast. Then in your command phase, the cult icon brings back the demolition charge bro and you go again.

List so far:

3x Benefictus

3×5 Acolytes with hand flamers (one demolition charge, one cult icon)

Next up something more reasonable, I have all these awesome Stratagems that I want to use, so I’ll need CP? How do GSC get extra CP? Acolytes with autopistols, just one unit on my home objective should do. I also like infiltrating, it helps to control space, score early secondaries, deny the opponents infiltrations, and most importantly keeps my Benefictus units from being charged. Two units of 5-man Purestrain Genestealers and a Reductus Saboteur do that job nicely. They also fit into my list.

List so far:

3x Benefictus

Reductus Saboteur

3×5 Acolytes with hand flamers (one demolition charge, one cult icon)

2×5 Purestrain Genestealers

Evaluating what I have so far, I have the Benefictus brain lasers with the profile 12, -3, D6+1 – Ignores cover, Hazardous, Psychic; a few hand-flamers, some infiltrating PSG’s with some chaff clearing melee and a Saboteur for board control and free grenades. What do these units synergise with, and what could amplify the effectiveness of these units?

Achilles Ridgerunners.

They benefit immensely from the +1 to hit with their Heavy mining lasers (as with spotters they have a BS or 3) and can apply extra AP to a target for the rest of the turn, helping my units in melee. I’m feeling like taking two units of two with mining lasers for damage, and one unit of one with a Heavy mortar & Survey Augur for spotting. This lets me shoot indirectly with the mortar applying -1 ap and ignores cover to an enemy unit, buffing my other RR’s giving them -4 AP ignores cover lasers, an important break point against a lot of tanks.

As the Benefictus have ignore cover base on their psychic attack, the RR with spotters can potentially use their Stubbers – if they aren’t busy clearing trash – to tag units the Bene’s want to shoot for extra ap, putting them at baseline -4, ignores cover too. Through hitting on 2’s, re-rolling 1’s or wounds entirely this presents a lot of heavy damage to the opponent with a high % of going through. One downside to this shooting is it isn’t very wide. With the Bene’s only having two attacks each and each RR being D3. This is semi-overcome by the Stubbers but also the Heavy mining lasers have blast, giving them 2D3+4 shots into a 10man unit, and by having them hit on 2’s, I think this is enough.

The last addition I think this list needs is a decent melee threat. You can easily run 10 PSG’s and a Patriarch in this detachment, as the re-roll wound stratagem allows you to have 40 attacks that hit on 2’s with devastating wounds. They also move 8″ and have advance and charge which is ridiculous. Unfortunately, I find that this unit is just too expensive to get value out of it, and you don’t really want to bring back 10 PSG’s without the Patriarch because they lose the devastating wounds. By already hitting on 2’s they don’t benefit from the detachment ability. Being T4, 2W, with a 5+ invuln means the unit is basically dead on the turn it reveals itself too. I’ve essentially decided on an Abominant leading Aberrants for the melee threat in this list. I think that with the potential for +1 to hit, and re-roll all wounds the Aberrants pose an incredible threat, also by being -1 to wound if strength>toughness, a 5+ FNP and fight on death makes them a lot harder to play around. It also helps that I can project uppy downy 8″ charge with a re-roll out of Deepstrike. It’s not a play that I would ever reasonably go for, but it is there if I need it. They are quite slow, but they are more than fast enough to be Rapid Ingress’d in and charge something in the following turn.

List so far: 1355 points

3x Benefictus

Reductus Saboteur

Abominant

3×5 Acolytes with hand flamers (one demolition charge, one cult icon)

2×5 Purestrain Genestealers

2×2 RR with Heavy mining lasers & Spotters

1×1 RR with Mortar and Survey Augur

1×5 Aberrants

I think this forms a solid core to the list. As I’m playing Final Day, I’ll need to include some Tyranids to ensure I’m getting my detachment buff where I need it.

I think Lictors are the most obvious choice, they’re infantry so they can move through walls, have lone operative & stealth so are safe from long range shooting, and have fights first so generally won’t die to skirmishing units. Next up, obviously, is a winged hive tyrant with the enhancement. Is it the best unit? No. But it’s cool as hell, and in my opinion one of the best reasons to play this detachment. GSC have a serious problem of not having cool, big centrepiece models. This is rectified by having awesome little infantry bro characters, but every now and then you have to scratch that big monster itch. The Paroxysm ability can also throw people off, it’s very cute to have, especially when my list is pseudo psychic with the bene’s. Lastly, a Parasite of Mortrex is an addition I think is worth looking at. It has the character keyword for activating Avenge the Star Children. It has fly and a 12″ move meaning I can get the buff to where I need it fast, and it has lone operative. You can make an argument for the Deathleaper (4+ invuln, 3+ save, 7 wounds etc.), but I don’t have one. So maybe next time.

I understand that gargoyles are excellent in final day, but they don’t itch the Johnny or Timmy inside me, so I leave them at home.

This does warp my list slightly, as I can’t use the Tyranids unit for any scoring really, they need to be protected until I feel like I need the buffs which can make trading awkward. I don’t really want to sacrifice an entire Lictor to get the buff on one unit that RR could probably kill by themselves without the buff, so I’ll need to be flexible in how I use them but also reserved. It does mean that I’ll need to add more scoring units to my list. Usually, I use Acolytes with hand flamers for this roll, but they are busy boosting the Bene’s output.

List so far: 1840 points

3x Benefictus

Reductus Saboteur

Abominant

3×5 Acolytes with hand flamers (one demolition charge, one cult icon)

2×5 Purestrain Genestealers

2×2 RR with Heavy mining lasers & Spotters

1×1 RR with Mortar and Survey Augur

1×5 Aberrants

Tyranids:

3×1 Lictor

Parasite of Mortrex

Winged Hive Tyrant: Vanguard Tyrant

Solid, this list is looking good, and now I have 160 points left to play with. I’ve identified the roles that the units could be filling. But if I were to sort them into categories, I think it would look something like this:

Damage: Bene’s + Acolytes, RR w/ Heavy mining lasers, Abom + Aberrants.

Utility (detachment rule): Pretty much all the Tyranids units, I can use them to score safe secondaries in my side of the board, or uppy downy for free (winged hive tyrant ability) to score in my opponent’s deployment zone. Sabo + PSG’s

Scoring: Sabo + PSG’s

Obviously, this is not always straight forward, and these rolls could change. For example, I would have the Aberrants deep strike and complete Sabotage if I really needed to. I think I’m ‘ok’ on the damage front, with uppy downy RR – even though they have strategic reserves – I can really load up a flank with like 4D3+blast, +6 las cannon shots worth of damage if I needed to which is epic.

Firstly, I’d like to consider the GSC army rule and think about what units I would recur. The units that would work best without a character for damage are the Aberrants, I don’t think I would consider anything else. PSG’s are fast and match up dependent while the Acolyte units are best at scoring later in the game (sometimes they’re good for damage, but they only pack 3 hand flamers in this list).

I would commit to 5 Aberrants for 5 of my resurgence points, a 5-man PSG unit for 3 points and a 5-man Acolyte unit for 2 points, making an even 10.

My current consideration for the additional points is 2×5 Atalan Jackals. They have scouts 9″ so I can get them to where I want them fast, and because if this they also function as move blockers. They have a free mini grenade through the Demolition Run ability, and have the grenades keyword meaning I can reliably get 5 mortals onto a target they move within 6″ of. They can screen a lot of space due to their base sizes and coherency and they’re annoying to get rid of with stealth and 4 wounds on the Wolfquad (they also look cool). However, as they are a forward unit that is sacrificed/used for screening/scoring they won’t really benefit from the +1 to hit and as such aren’t reliable damage dealers. This makes me very light on melee presence.

The second consideration that fits into the 160 points is a Biophagus leading 5 Hybrid Metamorphs. This would also allow me to throw the sustained hits enhancement on the Abominant and no overwatch on the Biophagus. I have no access to crazy 5’s so I have to Lethals/Sustained the old fashion way, but this lets me have two melee threats on the table, and two potential targets for re-roll wounds if I’m in combat with both units simultaneously. As I’m not running any transports, I would be needing to rapid ingress both units in turn 2, or 3, and as they only move 6″ they’re easily avoidable. The lack of Goliath truck/Rockgrinder makes this far less desirable in this list specifically.

The last consideration which I think could be good is another Abominant/Aberrants unit through sacrificing one of the PSG units. This would give me an awesome second melee threat and allow me to apply a lot of pressure to my opponent through move blocking and deep striking forward. The fight on death & Abominant’s standing back on a 2+ is very annoying, however, without the +1 to hit buff from the Tyranids the damage output from these units drops off a lot.

I think I’d be too light on damage + too heavy on chaff with two units of bikes, but I’ll test all three iterations of the lists and see what ‘feels’ best. I think a list where I fill the 160 points with a second Reductus Saboteur + Goliath Truck could be good, but I like having the Aberrants in deep strike and I’m pretty heavy on the board already for a GSC army, it does help I have uppy downy though.

Hopefully I will be able to setup some games with these lists soon and be back to write up a few battle reports.

Until then, cya nerds.

List 1: Atalan Jackals

3x Benefictus

Reductus Saboteur

Abominant

3×5 Acolytes with hand flamers (one demolition charge, one cult icon)

2×5 Purestrain Genestealers

2×2 RR with Heavy mining lasers & Spotters

1×1 RR with Mortar and Survey Augur

1×5 Aberrants

2×5 Atalan Jackals with Atalan incinerator

Tyranids:

3×1 Lictor

Parasite of Mortrex

Winged Hive Tyrant: Vanguard Tyrant

List 2: Biophagus + Metamorphs

3x Benefictus

Reductus Saboteur

Abominant – Inhuman Integration

Biophagus – Enraptured Damnation

3×5 Acolytes with hand flamers (one demolition charge, one cult icon)

2×5 Purestrain Genestealers

2×2 RR with Heavy mining lasers & Spotters

1×1 RR with Mortar and Survey Augur

1×5 Aberrants

5x Hybrid Metamorphs

Tyranids:

3×1 Lictor

Parasite of Mortrex

Winged Hive Tyrant: Vanguard Tyrant

List 3: Aberrants

3x Benefictus

Reductus Saboteur

2×1 Abominant

3×5 Acolytes with hand flamers (one demolition charge, one cult icon)

1×5 Purestrain Genestealers

2×2 RR with Heavy mining lasers & Spotters

1×1 RR with Mortar and Survey Augur

2×5 Aberrants

Tyranids:

3×1 Lictor

Parasite of Mortrex

Winged Hive Tyrant: Vanguard Tyrant