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I've started thinking lately that the broodlord may not be as useful as he once was.
Without Fleet if he infiltrates he will be unable to get into CC the first turn, and anyone in their right minds will blow him and his retinue away.

If he outflanks he will suffer from much the same issue, but i suppose he'd be showing up later in the game and on a flank so he wouldn't be the center of attention anymore.

I was just wondering what the general consensus was on using him.

The army I'd be using him in is made up of 4 Genestealer broods, a Hive Tyrant w/ 2 twinlinked devourers and wings, and 2 carnifexes with venom cannons and barbed stranglers. If I didn't put the broodlord and retinue in the list I'd probably put in another genestealer brood and potentially zoanthropes, or just the genestealers with scuttle upgrades.

Tell me what you think

The Broodlord can become a liability in some games as his pack cannot FoF.
I'd take another brood of Genestealers instead of the Broodlord. It eventually serves the same purpose.

The Broodlord is the poster child for the Rending nerf. His Rending Claws actually have no ingame effect with the lone exception of half the armor penetration ability of 4th edition.

From a tactical stand point the broodlord is almost never worth it. Not only is he only slightly better than the genestealers that could be bought for his points but he actually makes his retinue less effective. Because he strips his squad of Fleet of Claw he turns into a first turn distraction for your opponent at best.

Ahh, but he is a retinue, which means he can't be picked out, he is like a super vet sarge. I run mine in a retinue of S5 stealers with tendrils and he rerolls his power weapon attacks at S6 I8 WS6 (I think, form memory) from behind protection of the squad. I have insta killed many T3 HQs and taken down entire squads of terminators this way.

It has to be played defensively though, I haven't had much luck outflanking or infiltrating it.

It's also hive mind, which helps. Its a great back up unit for carnifexes of any type as they all advance at the same speed.

I think he's pretty good.

Hes terribad. Like others said, hes more of a liability. Also, you can't fleet his squad. Hive tyrants are 10x better, more versatile, and a lot harder to kill overall

I completely agree with Augustus for the reasons he has posted. The BL is a beast incarnate.

G

it depends how you use it in game, make sure your opponent has plenty to shoot at that is more dangerous/scary looking than he is and you should get him into combat just fine.

The Broodlord also stands out as being one of the worst Infiltrators in the game, as he has neither Stealth, Fleet, nor a decent armor save. In an army filled entirely with footsloggers. You know how usually most players are bored while they take long-range potshots at you on your way across the table for those first 2-4 turns? The Broodlord gives them something to fire ALL OF THEIR GUNS AT in the meantime.

Oh, wait, you'd like to outflank him? Most players know how to stay 19" away from the edges (thanks to Genestealers). Staying 13" away from the edge actually comes as a bit of a relief to them. Plus it means the Broodlord will be even MORE isolated and vulnerable (unless you outflank directly into cover).

He's expensive, slow, fragile, and also in FOC slot competition with the best unit in the whole army (Hive Tyrants). He's a CC focused "hero" that doesn't even have the decency to come equipped with grenades by default. Unless you dump at least 80 points into him, he'll get annihilated by heavy bolter rounds without so much as a save. Oh, and he's the only Genestealer that can't take Implant Attack and Feeder Tendrils at the same time. Awesome.

Speaking of Genestealers, his retinue not only is slowed down by him (because they all lose Fleet) but also are the only Genestealers in the game that aren't scoring, in an army of non-scoring Troop choices. In fact, Genestealers are the only scoring unit in the entire codex (short of a Ld5 test or using 2 units at once). Are you going to spend points on Genestealers that will actually fulfill mission objectives, or are you going to spend points on Genestealers who who can't actually do their job and are chained to an anvil whose model looks like he's singing Celine Dion?

He's horrible. He's terrible. Don't do this to yourself. He's not good.

Let's hope the supposed new codex fixes some of this so he becomes the leader of the nastiest possible stealer unit - fluffwise that's surely what he should be.

Yeah I've decided to dump him in favor of some more non-deadweight stealers. Now I am wondering what I should be putting on those stealers. I generally like to have the carapace as a given but what do you think. I'm sure the feeder tendrils will come in handy, but nids have that tendancy of becoming rediculously expensive quick so I was wondering what upgrades the rest of you never leave home without.

I've actually been using the Broodlord in our tournaments. I'm having better than average success with him. My really bad games have been failed outflank rolls. I also think that my success is coming from the fact we're using 4' x 4' tables. We've had so many players turning up that it was decided to have smaller tables than turn players away. I of course was all for it.

My list; 1250 points:

Broodlord - Carapace, Toxin, Implant and 5 stealer retinue
10 Genestealers - Scuttle, Talons, Tendrils (x4)
Lictor

If I lose initiative and my opponent chooses to set up and go first I put everyone into 'outflank'. Lictor lets me re-roll the reserves roll so I can try and keep everyone showing up at the same time. It also denies my opponent 2 turns of shooting at me. Of course in an Annihilation game, I usually deploy regularly, since they would just pile up in the middle of the board and let me run into their bullets. With two of the game types being objective based though, the opponent has to try and hustle and putting objs near the sides of the board is handy.

As I said, not 'sure-fire' but my tactics aren't always spot-on either. But it's fluffy and that makes me happy!!