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The battalion:
Cost 120 Pts.
1 Tzeentch Mortal Hero
9 Tzeentch Mortal Units
All units can cast arcane Bolt as if they were wizards; wizards can even cast it twice.
All weapons with rend - get rend -1 instead.
All units that start with 9, 18, 27 or 36 models get an additional 6++ save.

1) Now if I understand this right, in matched play I can only cast any spell once per round, which means I would have at least 10 units that could, but only one unit can use the bolt.

2) Again if I understand it right, I can use any mortal units as long as they have the tzeentch and mortal keywords. So I could use cheap units like chariots (I love chariots!), marauders or even heroes, as long as I slap the mark of tzeentch on them.

3) I could theoretically buy 10 warriors or 20 marauders, but only place 9 / 18 to get the 6++. I have to pay full price for 10 / 20 though.

As I have yet to play my first game (I am still in the build/paint-phase of my little blue viking-army), I would really like to know if it's still worth it. The battalion still gives me some freedom in list building, as "mortal tzeentch units" fits almost all of my armies models, and if I use chariots with flails / knights with swords / warriors with halberds or swords I could get rend on basically EVERY model for free (ok 120 pts). Still sounds pretty good to me

1. Yep only 1 bolt attempt per turn, not even cast if it fails it's used up. But it can come from anywhere

2. I believe so.

3. Yep you don't have to place up to the full amount of models you pay for, which is weird but you're buying them in chunks and its for the people who want to really use 9 of something but don't have that 10th model.

T hanks for the reply. So is rend -1 on everything in this battalion worth it?

I'm not sure because I don't play and haven't ever played against slaves to darkness but hopefully someone will be along soonish with a better answer.

Just realized what could count, actually yeah it would do very well, multiple Knight attacks now rending would help quite a bit.

All of your points are correct and yes, it is absolutely still worth it. As others have mentioned, Chaos Knights become particularly brutal since their 5 no-rend attacks apiece become -1. Slaves to Darkness in general has a lot of options which have a good number of attacks with solid hit/wound values but no rend. I would recommend using Marauder Horsemen with javelins as battleline, since their ranged attacks suddenly become rather potent.

Yeah. I guess I lack experience, as I just have to play my first game yet :-). Didnt play since 6th or so...

I think I will propably try that battalion out then. I bought the heldraths deathtide box, and I also found some old chaos folks lying around (I owned a chaos warriors army years ago).

Right now I own a Lord on manticore, Tzeentch Lord on Disc, 2x 10 Warriors, 2 Chariots, 10 Marauder Horsemen, 20 (!) Knights (15 of em are the old metal knights) & a warshrine. That should work well for the first few test games ;D