Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So one of the new formations for C:SM is the Cult of Destruction, which is a combination of Warpsmiths, Obliterators and Mutilators. If within 8" the Warpsmiths can allow the Obliterators to fire a second weapon in the shooting phase or the Mutilators another full set of attacks.

I just picked up two Warpsmiths and six Obliterators and am excited to try it out.

Has anyone tried running this formation yet, and if so how did it work for you? What are its strengths and weaknesses? What's the best way to set up this formation for success?

First off, disclaimer-I have not run this. I do not own any Warpsmiths or Obliterators. So this is purely theory. But, with that out of the way, let me give my two cents.

Warpsmiths are the bad point. They're overpriced-compare them to a Techmarine, and they're nearly double the cost for basically the same thing. You're paying a lot of points for a model that just isn't worth that many.

With that said, while you're likely to get facerolled in a competitive meta or tournament, it should be fine in a casual meta. Hope you have fun with them!

I used it twice... You have to really plan out your shooting... You can't fire the same weapon that you just fired or the turn before.. You find yourself lacking options for the range you need if you keep firing the same squad twice.
I had 2 squads near a Warpsmith and would alternate between the 2 squads shooting twice.

The other time I used it to give some firepower to a plague zombie list. I started with one on board that shot twice and deepstriked in 4 solo Oblits with MoN. Warpsmith hung out near that first oblit in a squad of plague marines with Typhus.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
While Warpsmiths are overpriced- they're not as bad as everyone makes them out to be. They have more base attacks than any other HQ stock. They can also curse enemy vehicles with gets hot, can shoot 2 weapons, can permanently lower cover save of terrain in your opponents deployment zone... And of course- repair your vehicles.

One thing I'm wondering, is whether you could a Cult of Destruction with Cypher (and a few Sorcerers). Give them Mark of Nurgle and keep to cover, and use them as the Chaos equivalent of a Centstar.
- You don't get Gate of Infinity but you do get Hit & Run & Shrouded, and unlike the normal Centstar, your Oblits are not useless in melee.
-You don't get the Omniscope so you can't split-fire versus MSU armies, but you have enough Psykers/Warp Charge (and you get WC 3/Spell Familiars) to fry the odd tiny unit with Psychic Shriek.
-You don't get Grav, but you do get to do some combos like Assault Cannon/Plasma, or TL Flamer/Heavy Flamer (add a Fuel Tank to taste).
-Your guys get an in-built Invulnerable Save that can be buffed with Cursed Earth/Sanctuary as well. You're armored enough that you don't particularly care about Dangerous Terrain checks either.

The issue with that is Obliterators get a max of 3 dudes. That's it.

Oblits themselves are not bad. But the main question is how to treat the warpsmith. He's relatively expensive and is primarily melee. At the same time, oblits would like to hang out ~24" away from the opponent. So, you end up wasting 110 pts on a mostly melee character or risking wasting your oblits coming too close to the opponent. Also, oblits are fine but not amazingly shooty even with shooting twice. It's just how the game is now. And they are really afraid of grav - especially in larger squads where this shooting doesn't go to waste.

I think it'd be good for casual games though. Warpsmiths do lack options but they could hang around oblits preventing mid-strength cc units from tying them down. Or he could stay in a spawnstar nearby and provide some needed melee ap2.

I wouldn't trust that Spawnstar idea, as you'd have to keep him close no matter what. That star wants to move forward after all.

Would it almost be worth bringing Assault Claws? They bring a LOT of S6 shooting (well, kinda), and you'd be able to drop a lot of them at once. Probably not a good idea but a fun one.

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
I wouldn't trust that Spawnstar idea, as you'd have to keep him close no matter what. That star wants to move forward after all.

Would it almost be worth bringing Assault Claws? They bring a LOT of S6 shooting (well, kinda), and you'd be able to drop a lot of them at once. Probably not a good idea but a fun one.

I really want to get that model so bad, but even for fun I can't justify it. That many points for a vehicle with 12 armour just isn't worth it imho. The melta ram is useless too. Plus you want to put an expensive unit in it. Even terminators or possessed make sense since it has frag launchers, so you can even give possessed grenades. By then you're paying upwards of 600 points between the unit and claw. That's not even counting adding a sorcerer or smith to stop it from nomming the contents. And it can't be taken as a dedicated unit either so you can't easily use it with formations. The launchers also tend to not work quite as well ingame as they do on paper. And the heat blast only really works vs horde armies that don't use vehicles. It could do nasty things to a tau gunline if it wasn't for interceptor and unless you're facing a green tide, orks will be safe in their trukks since you blast in the movement phase.

For the roughly the same points, a spartan is more durable and both can expect a charge on turn two. Only the spartan could potentially pull of a turn one charge, however unlikely. Plus if the claw dies, your unit is either instantly dead due to being surrounded and not being able to disembark or it's in the middle of the enemy army, in range of every rapid fire or template weapon they have. At least with the spartan the unit won't be quite THAT exposed.
And if you wanted it as a gunboat for some reason, taking a fire raptor with the auloth legacy is cheaper and has more dakka with better AP and strength, so is more likely to actually pin a unit. Nevermind being BS 5 for ground units vs BS 3. And it gives fnp to units around it as well.