Post by professor on Jul 11, 2012 9:26:41 GMT -5
It may be me, but it looks like Pavane of Slaanesh is really awesome now. With the plethora of changes in 6th, I think my all Slaanesh army is competitive again. For those who do not know what Pavane does - it is a shooting power (non psychic) that enables you to move one unit d6" on a hit. The units that can take Pavane are:
Keeper of Secrets
Herald of Slaanesh
The Masque
Daemon Princess w/ Mark of Slaanesh
Why do I think it is so good now?
-Move models to the front you want to kill in shooting
This one is pretty obvious, you can get those plasma guns taking saves up front or the flamers and pile on the hurt. Even more flexible is to move those units into or out of cover so you can focus fire on only those models you really want to kill. Plasmas and a Power Fist hanging out in back? Throw them into some 5+ cover and blast away at that group.
It also helps get around the shenanigans that are bound to happen with...
-Move characters playing Look Out Sir! tricks
The new wound allocation for most units (Paladins and Nobs aside) is to Look Out Sir! with an Independent Character in a multi wound unit to move the wounds around to all the other models on a 2+. Fiends actually benefit from this with a Herald of Slaanesh and Bloodcrushers even more so with a Herald of Khorne on a Juggurnaut. This eliminates that by pushing a different model to the front of the unit.
-Spread out models that you do not want to deal with so that you can clear the combat zone at high Init
The 'who can fight' rules and 6" 'defenders react' really crippled high Initiative units in 5th edition. With a 3" pile in only occurring at initiative and the requirement that casualties be removed closest to furthest - it is possible to snipe out models in assault or clear a combat zone. Spreading the unit way out means a lot of the models will not get a chance to swing and ideally you can kill off 5-6 models while preventing the enemy from ever swinging back - which makes up for those Overwatch losses.
-Replace Fleet in the movement phase to extend you charge range another d6 - and avoid terrain
Avoiding Terrain was the old use of Pavane, and extending an assault range worked in some cases - but only the Daemon Princess did not have Fleet. Pavane can act as a pseudo run in the shooting phase to really push up those maximum assault distances.
For example, a unit of Fiends with attached Slaanesh Herald on a Seeker mount can move 12", Pavane 6" and Assault 12" for a 30" threat range. The chance of this happening is only 4% - but occasionally an opponents is going to be very very surprised. The chance of pullling of slightly lower values of 26-28" is actually quite high.
Even better than Pavane is to throw in a Lash Sorcerer as well as an ally - but with Chaos Space Marines coming out in August that will probably partially disappear.
So am I missing anything at this point? The major downsides I see are Slaanesh Heralds get BS 3, a Keeper is BS 4 - but clocks in at 220 points and the Daemon Princes come in at 150 points w/o Wings (which you probably want). The Masque - however - seems to have gotten a huge bump overall in her ability to manipulate shooting and close combat. Survivability for her is still not great, but is it worth 100 points for the utility she brings with 3 Pavane shots. I used her regularly before, so I definitely think the answer is yes.
Keeper of Secrets
Herald of Slaanesh
The Masque
Daemon Princess w/ Mark of Slaanesh
Why do I think it is so good now?
-Move models to the front you want to kill in shooting
This one is pretty obvious, you can get those plasma guns taking saves up front or the flamers and pile on the hurt. Even more flexible is to move those units into or out of cover so you can focus fire on only those models you really want to kill. Plasmas and a Power Fist hanging out in back? Throw them into some 5+ cover and blast away at that group.
It also helps get around the shenanigans that are bound to happen with...
-Move characters playing Look Out Sir! tricks
The new wound allocation for most units (Paladins and Nobs aside) is to Look Out Sir! with an Independent Character in a multi wound unit to move the wounds around to all the other models on a 2+. Fiends actually benefit from this with a Herald of Slaanesh and Bloodcrushers even more so with a Herald of Khorne on a Juggurnaut. This eliminates that by pushing a different model to the front of the unit.
-Spread out models that you do not want to deal with so that you can clear the combat zone at high Init
The 'who can fight' rules and 6" 'defenders react' really crippled high Initiative units in 5th edition. With a 3" pile in only occurring at initiative and the requirement that casualties be removed closest to furthest - it is possible to snipe out models in assault or clear a combat zone. Spreading the unit way out means a lot of the models will not get a chance to swing and ideally you can kill off 5-6 models while preventing the enemy from ever swinging back - which makes up for those Overwatch losses.
-Replace Fleet in the movement phase to extend you charge range another d6 - and avoid terrain
Avoiding Terrain was the old use of Pavane, and extending an assault range worked in some cases - but only the Daemon Princess did not have Fleet. Pavane can act as a pseudo run in the shooting phase to really push up those maximum assault distances.
For example, a unit of Fiends with attached Slaanesh Herald on a Seeker mount can move 12", Pavane 6" and Assault 12" for a 30" threat range. The chance of this happening is only 4% - but occasionally an opponents is going to be very very surprised. The chance of pullling of slightly lower values of 26-28" is actually quite high.
Even better than Pavane is to throw in a Lash Sorcerer as well as an ally - but with Chaos Space Marines coming out in August that will probably partially disappear.
So am I missing anything at this point? The major downsides I see are Slaanesh Heralds get BS 3, a Keeper is BS 4 - but clocks in at 220 points and the Daemon Princes come in at 150 points w/o Wings (which you probably want). The Masque - however - seems to have gotten a huge bump overall in her ability to manipulate shooting and close combat. Survivability for her is still not great, but is it worth 100 points for the utility she brings with 3 Pavane shots. I used her regularly before, so I definitely think the answer is yes.
