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Decimator Load Out and Perhaps TS Contemptor


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So I have a Decimator model I haven’t put the arms on yet or painted. I have no idea which of my Chais forces he will be dedicated to but right now I’m leaning towards Thousand Sons over Black Legion because the Thousand Sons have some pretty deplorable mobile shooting which I need.

 

I ordered this guy literally a week before they jacked up the Soulburner Petard cost. Right now I have 2 Soulburner arms and one claw arm.

 

The Thousand Sons Contemptor I have has only one arm ( claw arm) because I have no idea what to give the shooty arm.

 

So are the Soul Burners worth using at this time? The costs are so high I wonder if it’s just good enough to use one and keep him a CC threat as well ?

 

Is the Contemptor a very usable chaos unit? I haven’t really used one since 7 th.

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Note that hellforged vehicles, including contemptors, do d3 damage to nearby units when they explode, except psykers, who take d6 wounds. This can make contemptors and so on a bit precarious to use when you play as Thousand Sons.

I have a few Osiron dreads, but ended up converting them to daemon princes, since they weren't seeing much use, I'm afraid. They aren't terrible, just underwhelming. Worse than the loyalist ones, and not very competitively costed.

A friend of mine plays Black legion, and uses a decimator or two quite often, accompanying Abaddon for the rerolls. They seem quite efficient and put out a lot of mortal wounds.

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So the Contemptor is more or less just not worth it? (what a goofy anti-chaos rule for the Hellforged units. Seriously. I thought they stopped doing that stuff 3-4 years ago to chaos.)

 

 

And your friend's Black Legion Decimators... are they running dual Soul Burners? I can make one of those, or take the cheaper option and do Soul Burned + CC claw.

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So the Contemptor is more or less just not worth it? (what a goofy anti-chaos rule for the Hellforged units. Seriously. I thought they stopped doing that stuff 3-4 years ago to chaos.)

 

 

And your friend's Black Legion Decimators... are they running dual Soul Burners? I can make one of those, or take the cheaper option and do Soul Burned + CC claw.

Contemptors are absolute beasts for their point cost. 9 inch move and insane close combat ability without losing too much firepower. Properly armed, they can advance and still fire everything. Then next turn they shred people in combat and get wounds back. If needed, you can save Gaze of Fate to reroll a regen.

 

Granted, they don't have the same synergy with TS magic as Decimators, but they still hit super hard, can have a 3++ in CC with Weaver of Fates and burn through hit penalties with Prescience and a native 2+ WS/BS.

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Good points. I don’t know what I’ll do with that Contemptor just yet, but I was tired of being indecisive about the Decimator and I just used this thread as motivation to put my glue where my mouth is....er that could have been worded better... I just glued both Soul burner arms in. To heck with it. Like Blood Raven said at the very least it will be a huge fire magnet with all those potential mortal wounds!
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My regular opponent often runs decimators and contemptors.

 

Dual soul burners are frightening. They probably need to have a lord nearby and/or receive prescience to get the most out of them. They are also quite fast and reasonably easy to hide behind LoS blocking terrain. One soul burner and a claw is also a valid option if you want more melee punch. Presumably it’s not the only big target in the list so pick the one that gives you more of what you need.

 

The contemptor is solid as well. I think the best build is dual melee weapons with in built mini-soul burners. That’s 2d3 mortal wounds on the way in, hitting on a 2+, then loads of high strength attacks, hitting on a 2+. In melee the helforged ability to regenerate wounds really shines.

 

We do not play top tier competitive games but we do tend to build relatively strong lists. My opponent frequently runs 3 decimators with some combination of soul burners, claws and storm lasers if that helps. I occasionally rock a couple of contemptors with multi meltas and claws, which I do not recommend for obvious reasons - they do like mark of tzeentch though as giving them +1 invulnerable save is handy.

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My regular opponent often runs decimators and contemptors.

 

Dual soul burners are frightening. They probably need to have a lord nearby and/or receive prescience to get the most out of them. They are also quite fast and reasonably easy to hide behind LoS blocking terrain. One soul burner and a claw is also a valid option if you want more melee punch. Presumably it’s not the only big target in the list so pick the one that gives you more of what you need.

 

The contemptor is solid as well. I think the best build is dual melee weapons with in built mini-soul burners. That’s 2d3 mortal wounds on the way in, hitting on a 2+, then loads of high strength attacks, hitting on a 2+. In melee the helforged ability to regenerate wounds really shines.

 

We do not play top tier competitive games but we do tend to build relatively strong lists. My opponent frequently runs 3 decimators with some combination of soul burners, claws and storm lasers if that helps. I occasionally rock a couple of contemptors with multi meltas and claws, which I do not recommend for obvious reasons - they do like mark of tzeentch though as giving them +1 invulnerable save is handy.

 

I have to check out the arm accessories for the Contemptor. I am liking the idea of mini Soul Burners. I was just thinking of a dual autocannon or something more traditional  but that sounds much better. I may have to place an order soon. :)

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Is there a model for a soul burner? The only one I’ve seen is the petard. I didn’t realize I could put soul burners *and* dread claws on a contemptor, but there it is.

 

Exactly. Me neither. I imagine you have to simply tell your opponent what you paid for on the arm as there is no mini-soul burner attachment that I could find. I'm planning on trying dual fists/soul burner Contemptor tomorrow along side 2 of the Decimator builds.  I will run Thousand Sons with it for now and see how it works compared to my previous Armiger experiments.

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Is there a model for a soul burner? The only one I’ve seen is the petard. I didn’t realize I could put soul burners *and* dread claws on a contemptor, but there it is.

I thought the Sould Burner for a Contemptor was an upgrade for the Combi-bolter in the claw. Did they change it?!

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There's different size Soulburners.

Yeah, and there's no model for the small one. I would just take the Plasma Blaster bit and glue gargoyle heads onto the barrels. Or same with the Combi-Bolter (shaved down first) if you're using the plastic one. Then tell your opponent what it is. EDIT: Volkite Blaster would be good too.

 

Even when Advancing, those things will hit on 3+ and each hit is a Mortal. Also, use paired Chainclaws, NOT the regular Deathclaws. Why? The first Deathclaw is cheaper than the first Chainclaw, but in Chapter Approved, Chainclaws were changed to 45/55 for Single/Pair. Deathclaws didn't get the change, so you have to pay full price for both. Same with the Decimator Siege Claw. Probably an oversight.

 

Renegade Contemptors are hilarious.....Advance 9+D6, Warptime, fire Soulburners, Charge. Your opponent can kiss a big chunk of his front line goodbye unless they run like hell and concentrate fire....in which case, your other stuff gets to do its job.

 

TS Contemptors can't charge in that situation, but they can just not Advance and then reroll charge if they happen to be next to their Friendly Neighborhood Vortex Beast. :smile.:

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I have a quick question for you guys.... I’m planning a game and I’ve used Armigers with my Chaos in the past but am unsure of the Decimators.

 

So 8 don’t want to hammer my opponent and want to do a reality check. Would you say 4 Armigers (2 Helverins and 2 Warglaives) are more or less potent then 2 dual Soulburner Decimators and a single, dual claw, dual Soulburner Contemptor?

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I have a quick question for you guys.... I’m planning a game and I’ve used Armigers with my Chaos in the past but am unsure of the Decimators.

So 8 don’t want to hammer my opponent and want to do a reality check. Would you say 4 Armigers (2 Helverins and 2 Warglaives) are more or less potent then 2 dual Soulburner Decimators and a single, dual claw, dual Soulburner Contemptor?

I’d say the armigers would be less killy and more survivable. Depending on targets of course.

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Armigers/Helverins are much more TAC IMO.

 

If you've got a lot of +++ or hero hammer in your area I would roll with the MW engines as they're tremendously useful when they bypass their first tier of defense.

 

Mini-knights are good against anything, and their mobility makes them very dangerous.

 

Personally, if you've got low mobility or board presence I'd go with mini-knights. Otherwise, in most other circumstances, I'd roll with the engines.

 

There is a dude on YouTube who does a lot of 1kS battle reports out of New York state and he uses double Decimator and a Contemptor quite effectively.

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To date I’ve only run decimators with dual butcher cannons and petard/siege claw. The petard is always taken out first. The dual butcher cannons are underwhelming.

 

I’ve played with three mini knights the past three games and find them superior in terms of damage dealt, durability, range, and board control.

 

While the triple soul burner decimators sounds cool, I doubt I could build an army around them.

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Burners work well at clearing out screens MSU or small screens, or placing those final wounds on a target, but they don't solve the big issues with 1kS in mobility or shot volume. I honestly think those burners, in a 1kS list, are best suited against transports, assault based characters/monsterd, or other dreads.

 

To make a better assessment would you mind posting what your list would look like?

 

I've seen Xiphon, Contemptor, and Decimator play out of that channel a fair amount. While the Decimators do compete well (8 hits on 3+ RR 1's = roughly 6MW on average from the Decimator) I see them as great fire magnets, which you see keeps his Magnus alive through Turn 1/2 nearly every game.

 

It's hard to say which option is best overall, especially without seeing the comp of the army, but I'd consider a C Beam on the Contemptor. 1 shot isn't a lot but the fact it's multipurpose is a huge asset, and if you have two mobile Decimators advancing every turn you'll like keep the Contemptor in the back. 2+ RR 1's on the C Beam +2d6 S6 hits on hordes, or S6/S8/S10 at 72"/48"/24" -3AP D3 isn't too bad.

 

Eithet way, they're great models and can do a hell of a job. I'm just sour that 1kS are a 24"/assault army. Nurgle are the tanks, Slaanesh are the shooty, Khorne are the assault, and Tzeentch has changed his mind far too much.

 

I wanted Tzeentch/1kS to be Tau or Eldar for Chaos, except more mind bullets.

 

Edit: It sounds like I'm complaining but you've got exactly what I've been considering purchasing so I hope you see I'm actuaply just super pumped and being critical!

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Burners work well at clearing out screens MSU or small screens, or placing those final wounds on a target, but they don't solve the big issues with 1kS in mobility or shot volume. I honestly think those burners, in a 1kS list, are best suited against transports, assault based characters/monsterd, or other dreads.

 

To make a better assessment would you mind posting what your list would look like?

 

 

 

Okay so let me be honest here.... I've spent over a month on and off painting a new Ahriman to replace the one I sold. He's 99% done, and I really miss the feel and look of the Thousand Sons. But I know before what happened is from 7th to 8th I didn't like Codex Tzaangor and got burned out. This time the plan was to just use minimum Tzaangors (troops) and be more creative... use stuff like Armigers OR Decimators and Contemptors and create a different look.

 

As you mentioned ironically, my idea was Decimators shooting Soulburners (to me these are my mind bullets...psyker charged bullets).

 

Then I saw an opportunity to make a real attempt at Black Legion since my number one complaint was the model line.

 

Regardless my lists are very mediocre. I don't want to rick roll this player. He's not near as seasoned as I am and he's a fine player but I don't want to go hardcore so I made a list made up of some goofy stuff, but to try the concept of Decimators.

 

Black Legion was basically:

Abe

35 +10 + 10 Slannesh Cultists

DP: To put FnP on cultists?

Champion (to help cultist rush)

Apostle (see above)

 

 

3 Slaanesh Oblits

5-6 Zerkers in a Rhino

Baledrake (hey it's painted!)

3 Chaos bikes (painted)

 

2  dual Soulburner Decimators.

 

 

Thousand Sons:

Ahriman on Disk!

DP

Termie Sorc with Familiar

15 Goats

10 Cultsts

10 Rubrics w/4 Flamers in a Rhino

5 Scarab Occult Termies

 

4 Spawn (I love these guys for fun with the Thousand Sons Strat... plus they're painted)

 

2 dual Soulburner Decimators

1 Hellforged Contemptor dual Fists, dual mini-soulburners.

 

 

I've seen Xiphon, Contemptor, and Decimator play out of that channel a fair amount. While the Decimators do compete well (8 hits on 3+ RR 1's = roughly 6MW on average from the Decimator) I see them as great fire magnets, which you see keeps his Magnus alive through Turn 1/2 nearly every game.

 

 

 

I watch his batreps a lot. I love how consistent he is with his army. But i this case I didn't want to use Magnus (I have to rebuy him too) so that also means all my IC's are safe from targeting, and that guy's Decimators are all single Burner/Claw.  In my list I have the '3' towers of these guys, and the Contemptor could make one heck of a mess if left untouched. I'm tempted to give him Warp Time and set him loose. :)

 

Anyway the original idea was to be more creative with my Thousand Sons. I also love those Xiphon Interceptors but I don't own any.

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Burners work well at clearing out screens MSU or small screens, or placing those final wounds on a target, but they don't solve the big issues with 1kS in mobility or shot volume. I honestly think those burners, in a 1kS list, are best suited against transports, assault based characters/monsterd, or other dreads.

 

To make a better assessment would you mind posting what your list would look like?

 

 

 

Okay so let me be honest here.... I've spent over a month on and off painting a new Ahriman to replace the one I sold. He's 99% done, and I really miss the feel and look of the Thousand Sons. But I know before what happened is from 7th to 8th I didn't like Codex Tzaangor and got burned out. This time the plan was to just use minimum Tzaangors (troops) and be more creative... use stuff like Armigers OR Decimators and Contemptors and create a different look.

 

As you mentioned ironically, my idea was Decimators shooting Soulburners (to me these are my mind bullets...psyker charged bullets).

 

Then I saw an opportunity to make a real attempt at Black Legion since my number one complaint was the model line.

 

Regardless my lists are very mediocre. I don't want to rick roll this player. He's not near as seasoned as I am and he's a fine player but I don't want to go hardcore so I made a list made up of some goofy stuff, but to try the concept of Decimators.

 

Black Legion was basically:

Abe

35 +10 + 10 Slannesh Cultists

DP: To put FnP on cultists?

Champion (to help cultist rush)

Apostle (see above)

 

 

3 Slaanesh Oblits

5-6 Zerkers in a Rhino

Baledrake (hey it's painted!)

3 Chaos bikes (painted)

 

2  dual Soulburner Decimators.

 

 

Thousand Sons:

Ahriman on Disk!

DP

Termie Sorc with Familiar

15 Goats

10 Cultsts

10 Rubrics w/4 Flamers in a Rhino

5 Scarab Occult Termies

 

4 Spawn (I love these guys for fun with the Thousand Sons Strat... plus they're painted)

 

2 dual Soulburner Decimators

1 Hellforged Contemptor dual Fists, dual mini-soulburners.

 

 

I've seen Xiphon, Contemptor, and Decimator play out of that channel a fair amount. While the Decimators do compete well (8 hits on 3+ RR 1's = roughly 6MW on average from the Decimator) I see them as great fire magnets, which you see keeps his Magnus alive through Turn 1/2 nearly every game.

 

 

 

I watch his batreps a lot. I love how consistent he is with his army. But i this case I didn't want to use Magnus (I have to rebuy him too) so that also means all my IC's are safe from targeting, and that guy's Decimators are all single Burner/Claw.  In my list I have the '3' towers of these guys, and the Contemptor could make one heck of a mess if left untouched. I'm tempted to give him Warp Time and set him loose. :smile.:

 

Anyway the original idea was to be more creative with my Thousand Sons. I also love those Xiphon Interceptors but I don't own any.

 

Bonus points if you buy Xiphons and Heldrakes together and mix the parts as a nod to the transformation of the TSons' fighter force. :smile.:

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I was working around with a similar list concept involving Abe, Oblits, one big blob of Goats, and Magnus.

 

You've got a good amount of bodies and can control the middle very reasonably with that Cultist blob. Screens to cover enemy screens or blobs, some more mobile options to cover objectives, Drake can jump on whatever threat there is to your Slaaneshi Oblits, and you can drop in your Terminators to latch onto that same target before the Decimators get in range.

 

 

Based on the fact the list has such a big foot print, and screens will road block, your Decimators will be in range of nearly all targets throughout the game after advancing. In your build I do think Burners make sense, without really changing your list those Burners will allow you to take out whatever targets are the biggest threats of pushing off all that chaff from objectives.

 

Endless Cacophony and VotLW are going to really do the heavy lifting I feel, but those Decimators will help nail the coffins shut on whatever the target. That blob of cultists will be deceiving in both durability and damage. Tide will let you bring it back, which is nice.

 

 

Really mobile lists with fly (ie. Eldar) or shots (Orks/T'au/Knights) will be a problem. I'd say that Heldrake needs to jump on those mobile threats, maybe even use two of them, to give the Decimators time and not get wiped as they're the biggest threat. One thing I would recommend would still be to bring the Dark Matter Crystal if for only repositioning the Terminators or Rubrics if you're coming up against someone fast, or to snag an objective.

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