The Master of Executions. What have you Executed?

[Prot]

Hey folks,

 

I just wanted to start a thread on this often skipped character. I don't hear a lot about him, and I don't see him very much in games, but he's interesting. Unfortunately I wish he was an elite choice as he competes with HQ slots and the HQ's typically provide valuable psychics and/or auras.

 

Recently I took an experimental list that was massively tilted towards close combat and included some CC Knights, and a Black Legion army with Possessed and for the first time I took a Master of Executions!

 

Although the experiment was a massive failure, this guy took down two dreads. Unfortunately the both exploded and he died as a result! However, it's worth noting that he did this with only the help of a 5 man marine squad with close combat weapons (which means he virtually had zero help). I thought this was cool, and perhaps some of you have had much more exalted kills added to your tally. So what's your experience? Let's hear about your Executions.

[Sonoftherubric21]

Sounds like he made his points back, I have found that he is a "fire and forget" missile that can put opponents into a difficult position when used correctly. 

If he bases any multi-wound unit along with any of your other very solid units in melee (Possibly possessed, Zerkers for sure, perhaps talons, raptors, or terminators now due to Hateful Assault) then your opponent is forced to debate the loss of a character or several valuable squad members (or in your opponents case a bloody dreadnought!) VS potentially another target being torn apart in another engagement on the table. 

That and the cost of 2 CP for the interrupt, of course.  I have found that for his (more or less) reasonable points cost he tends to swing outside his weight class. If that target happens to be a character? They won't walk away without a life-long limp. Have had mine kill chapter masters due to proper placement, and even tear chunks out of an Imperial Knight (that just so happened to have the "character" keyword  ) 

 

I have also found that Greater Possessed vie for position with him in a list both due to the HQ slot issue, but also due to the fully identical point cost.

[SanguinaryGuardsman]

Exalted Champ + Murder Sword > Master of Executions.

 

That being said, I have "Murdered"

 

3 swarmlords

1 Bob G

2 Celestines, double "murdered" her once

at least 10 captains/chaos lords

maybe around 10 company commanders

1 pask

1 Skarbrand

[Khornestar]

Hey folks,

 

Unfortunately I wish he was an elite choice as he competes with HQ slots and the HQ's typically provide valuable psychics and/or auras.

 

Sorry I don't have any personal experiences with the unit yet, but I think this is a well-made point. Him being shifted to elites would change his role to potentially something worth supporting and take advantage of the buffs our army relies on.

Edited August 18, 2019 by Juggernut

[Doom Herald]

Hes a general murder machine with Flames of Spite and the apostle prayer and/or vets of the long war. I run him in world eater dettachments in low point games. +2 mortal wounds on a 4+/5+ wound roll is nothing to scoff at, especially with the extra World Eaters attack, Khorne strat for a second set of attacks, and the assault rules on astartes.

 

I've kind of lost track of what he killed. People tend to think he's worthless and focus more on other units, which probably helps him hit his marks.

 

Edit:

I haven't used him in higher point games since he takes an HQ slot and lacks synergy and Invuln saves.

Edited August 18, 2019 by Doom Herald

[Kythnos]

Today he murdered... nothing. 5 saves, 4 1s in overwatch - one dead murder machine :(

[RolandTHTG]

After seeing a write up of how he's actually really good at squad killing, especially as a EC character because mortal wounds overflow and combine well with the EC stratagem. I took him to a tournament. Ran him with a Thunderhammer Exalted champion and close combat noise marines. 

In 5 tournament games and 2 practice games, He killed

1 custodes jetbike squad

10+ ork boys on the charge, twice

2 Sentinels and a guardsman squad

Watch captain & parts of two Deathwatch squads (before being ignominiously melta'd in overwatch by a librarian) 

2 guardsman squads, a command squad, and a company commander. 

[Marshal Loss]

My MoE's only notable kill so far was when he took on a Custodes Shield Captain with a 3++ and demolished him from full health in a single phase. I was grinning like a Cheshire cat for the rest of the game.

[techsoldaten]

Everyone is hitting it right on the nose. The MoE is hard to fit into lists and would be better as an elite, but he's also very ignoreable. He's this infantry model that comes out of nowhere to drop mortal wounds.

 

The thing is the Heroic Intervention. That 6" bubble feels so much larger than what it is.

 

Some of the trophies mine has collected:

 

- A Warboss

- 2 Archons

- A Chapter Master

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

I would also note that for certain factions, he makes a decent, super-cheap Warlord at 70 points WITH gear. Depends on available Relics/Warlord Traits, but I imagine he'd be really nice in Brazen Beasts, for example, with the Daemonflesh Plate and, say Flames of Spite. Iron Warriors with Fleshmetal Exoskeleton and Cold/Bitter lurking in the center of your infantry horde.....to remove the morale protection they gotta go get him and it's not an enviable prospect. He can also use a transport to hide from snipers (in it for some armies, BEHIND it for IW). 

 

I hear he can get rather bananas in Flawless Host with the right setup, but haven't seen it in action.

Edited August 23, 2019 by GreaterChickenofTzeentch

[RolandTHTG]

Flawless Host with their relic Cloak has him generating 3 attacks for every 6 rolled on the initial attacks (+1 from DTTFE vs Imperium foes). 

 

Here's a link discussing the Emperor's Children version, which uses a 1 CP strategem to generate additional attacks from kills. 

https://donhooson.wordpress.com/2019/04/05/why-everyone-should-beware-the-emperors-children-master-of-execution/

[Prot]

Well this is the story of how my MoE got in over his head...

 

Last night...the opponent is Genestealer Cult. I’m holding my own fairly well and my latest experiment is the MoE in a Rhino playing the counter charge role with a basic 5 man Black Legion squad in the same Rhino.

 

Well I waited for the right opportunity and thought I found it when a cultist squad that was holding a Maelstrom objective was to be the target of an aberrant squad and their leader ( the big aberrant dude with the hammer) assault charge.

 

They both failed and this set up the perfect counter play... the Cultists rushed in first, then the CSM also made the charge and then the MoE also made it into the big guy.

 

Well the Cultists actually manger a wound or two. The CSM did not and were promptly pounded to dust by the muscle beach squad ( I did shoot up muscle beach squad first so the only had three models left).

 

Then the big show... shock assault plus the charge and wammo the MoE managed a grand total of 3 unsaved wounds on the thick necked simpleton. And of course all damage was halved and after feel no pain rolls I did a grand total of 1 wound to the guy.

 

In return the Abominant picked up his stop sign and proceeded to ‘gong’ the MoE’s head clean off his shoulders resulting in the most embarrassing example of overkill that I’ve seen in a long time!

 

The MoE might be headed for the naughty box for a time out for a while in exchange for the Exalted champ with The Black Legion relic Chainsword.

Edited August 28, 2019 by Prot

[Khornestar]

That anecdote brings up a good point. The MoE is similar to the Exalted Champion (with the crucial distinction of lacking a good buff aura): dead on arrival for its given purpose due to the lack of an invuln save. Even a lord's/apostle's 4++ is barely good enough to go toe-to-toe with close-combat opponents. He absolutely has to strike first. Anyway, nothing groundbreaking or original here, just tacking on another thought.

[Vel'Cona]

Nothing thus far but once he has a coat of paint I'm hoping the MoE I tossed together will rack up a serious loyalist kill tally! 

[Leonite]

Used him in Kill Team, he took down 4 Primaris and a Terminator despite being constantly ganged up on. He had the best kill tally of the game.