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Evening, folks!
Starting this thread up as a place to discuss the new toys the Black Legion supplement has delivered to us.
Recently picked up the book, and took a read through. Thought about setting up some lists to use the new rules but am having trouble justifying the artefacts where I'd really want to be using them. That said, I haven't actually used 'em yet so I can't properly judge.

Hand of Darkness is expensive, and drops you to one (albeit rather smashing) attack that misses at best 33% of the time. Bleh. Garbage on a DP. Possibly worse than the murder sword?
Skull of Ker'ngar is something we've needed for ages. Useful on an already pricy DP, but is it justifiable elsewhere? That's a lot of points to put on a 3-wound lord to get EW. The worst part; those loyalist turds get the same buffs AND A 3++ FOR ONLY 10 EXTRA POINTS.
Eye of Night. EXPENSIVE. Worth the price just to put down 1 vehicle/fortification? Maybe with the escalation supplement out, but even then it can't blow anything up so that's kind of like urinating into the wind. I'll maybe pull it out just to mess with my Guard-playing friend who hides barrage tanks behind the fortress of redemption.
Last Memory of the Yuranthos - this one I actually think will see use. Again on DPs, or MAYBE DSing Termie-sorc. Think it could be viable with Sorc-lord bike delivery system?
Crucible of Lies. Junk. ONLY helpful on a Tzeentch-marked HQ. Taking more wounds but being able to save more wounds sounds like a dumb thing to actually pay points for.
Spineshiver blade. Ok, this is actually good and priced at a point where it'll see use. Nice to finally see a Daemon weapon that isn't Khorne-specific or AP4.

So the Skull of Ker'ngar, the Last Memory, and the Spineshiver blade are decent IMO. While the others will likely never taste the glory of battle.

Discuss.

Are there any uses or hidden benefits to these things that I'm missing? Please let me know if you think I'm on the ball with my opinions, or tell me where your opinion differs.

I'd love to hear any experiences with any of these artefacts derived from personal use!!!

The Eye is a Orbital barrage kinda thing.

A large blast that inflicts D3 PENETRATING hits on vehicles and buildings, it is something bloody mighty.

If your opponent parks his stuff near each other, and you don't make a bad scatter dice, you can hit at least 3 targets, with each 3 chances to blow them up or badly cripple them..., its not something punnie.

The shiverblade is nice, my only beef is that it isn't an AP2 weapon, i mean for the price and the fact that its a Deamon Weapon, only been an AP3is quite a shame, but hey+1Init is allready something nice.

Yeah I get that it's orbital, and does a lot of damage to whatever it hits. But the issue is for that many points you're almost looking at a whole tank, you know? And the superheavies you'd initially want to use it against can't be exploded or take weapon destroyed from what I remember, so it's suddenly less useful.

If you want AP2 you've got the Axe of Blind Fury from CSM. Now we've got the option of AP2 with the WS penalty, AP3 for a few points cheaper and + Init, or AP4 and toughness death-splooge. Pretty solid options. Yeah you can't field 'em all in the same list but I've never seen anyone even field both the Black Mace AND AoBF.

Debatably legal, but I run a MoT CL with a Sigil of Corruption, melta bombs, jump pack, the Skull, the Crucible, and the Blade. 3+ invulnerable save that rerolls 1s with EW makes up for the loss of toughness. He shrugs off most damage and eats infantry, I usually run him right up the middle of the board and go to town.

I sometimes also take a Sorcerer with the Eye. It's usually worth it to be able to severely damage / explode a vehicle in the first turn from anywhere on the board. I used it once against a Baneblade and did 7 hull points of damage.

I was pretty sad that my Terminator Chaos Lord often did not live up to expectations when used in my non-competitive local meta. MC Smash and TH/SS Terminators killing him with one unsaved hit felt pretty bad.

Now, with the Skull of Ker'ngar, he can no longer die to a single attack and is more resistant to psychic powers. To be honest, I love this artefact.

But if you're only worried about S8 death, why not Nurgle for 15pts? Granted if you're playing a slaaneshi army I get it, and I know that doesn't solve the MC Smash issue (which you should just avoid lol).

The Loyalist SoE also gives Adamantiuim will

yeah but its a way daemon princes can finally get EW.

Truth! And in that respect it will definitely be used.
Though at the same time I find I'm mostly writing lists with Be'lakor instead of regular DPs, and he's already death-proof.

Personally, I like the Hand of Darkness. I know a lot of people who consider it terrible compared to the black mace and the likes; however, a Power fist at initiative with armourbane, fleshbane, and ID can be very mean against a number of enemies.

The Eye of Night can be very effective; especially with some of the benefits that Stronghold Assault provides to specific fortifications like the Imperial Bunker and Vengeance Weapon Batteries.

The others are ok but not as stand out as those two in my opinion. Are they better than the codex's artifacts? It's debatable and depends on your play style.

Have you used those two in a game, Unholyllama?
Yep it's seriously mean, I just can't get past that the Hand drops you to 1 attack. You've got a 33% chance to do nothing at all if you miss your to hit roll, and that isn't worth 50pts.

Eye of Night I haven't totally written off, but I'm close.

As for comparing them to the codex, they're just different. One of the pertinent questions is, are the worth the VotLW "tax"?

My 2 cents:

Spineshiver Blade: twice as much as a power sword for (usually) extra attacks and a +1 to initiative. Not bad. Best part is as worded, it says "bearer of the Spineshiver Blade has +1 iniative in close combat" so if you had another iniative weapon you'd rather use for some reason (power maul backup weapon would have it's uses against vehicles and against Eldar/Tau), you'd still gain that +I bump.

Crucible of Lies: THIS ARTEFACT IS AMAZING. "But," you say, "it drops my toughness by 1!" Solution: throw the unit onto a Juggernaut of Khorne, a Disc of Tzeentch or just a bike. A friend of mine runs a Tzeentch Sorcerer with a Force Axe on a Disc of Tzeentch, and it's brutal. If he gets Iron Arms, he chomps all of my multi-wound models to bits, even MCs.

Last Memories of Yuranthos: This artefact is silly. First, you know what power you're getting and that's always fun. Second, homebrew level 4 psyker ftw. It's only 5 more points than buying an extra mastery level would be. You're pretty much forced to bring a spell familiar on the guy who takes it so he doesn't kill himself but as I always run one anyway, not a big deal. Useful on daemon princes or sorcerers on bikes/jetbikes.

Eye of Night: Pricey but I've seen it make it's points back more often than not. Best utilized on a Terminator Lord, I find. Pretty much obliterates anyone who brings vehicles, or completely eradicates non MEQ army troops (basically ignores cover heavy bolter hits on entire troops). It's spendy but I feel like if you know your list is going to be weak against a lot of AV, it's often more effective than just "bringing another tank" would be as your chaos lord in termy armor should be more difficult to take out than, say, a predator or vindicator. Keep in mind it's simply a Heavy 1 weapon so the ballistics skill of the unit firing it reduces the scatter distance like normal so it's actually a fair bit more reliable than an orbital bombardment.

Skull of Ker'ngar: Overpriced considering that one shield in Codex Marines is only 10 points more but also confers at 3++ save, and all you have to do for that is give up bonus attacks from multiple CCWs. Still, it's hard to argue against eternal warrior on your Warlord, and adamantium will is also pretty useful. Combine it with the Last Memories and laugh as enemy psykers are useless against you.

Hand of Darkness: This one seems the most controversial. So here, let me point out the best part of it: It's NOT a weapon and therefore doesn't replace a weapon. It grants you the ability to make a special attack.

The way I see using it the most effectively would be running it either on, or on an HQ alongside, a Dark Apostle. Lord + Dark Apostle + 4 terminators/8 Berzerkers/Noise Marines/Plague Marines billowing out of a land raider equipped with a Dirge Caster is already a fairly brutal thing to do against a lot of the armies Chaos struggle against (Tau/Eldar). Not sure this 50 point artefact would make it any more viable, but it does give you an extra toy to attempt to insta-gib enemy warlords.

TL;DR I think they are all awesome and unlike several in the default book, there's a way to get solid use out of each one of them.

Yup the Eye goes well on a Termi Lord, seeing that its a Heavy weapon, you can move and shoot with it.

SRSFACE you've convinced me to try Tzeentch Lord or Sorc on Disc with 4/6 of those artefacts.

Still don't think the Hand of Darkness is worthwhile, when a 5pt Meltabomb works as well in the one situation I'd consider actually using it. But you've convinced me to the point I'm willing to test 'em out.