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Made in gb
Dakka Veteran




Corpus Brethren



Fierce alien hunters prized by the Deathwatch and famed in song across the Imperium's outermost planets, the ivory-armoured Sentinels once roamed the borders of human space. The Chapter maintained no homeworld, but swept through space aboard a trio of Battle Barges, taking recruits from those savages stout enough to endure their victory feasts. Trophies taken from exotic alien species were prized among battle-brothers, and decorated the armour of elite warriors. When the Warp Storm Dionys engulfed dozens of star systems, only sheer bad luck saw the nomadic Chapter caught in its chaotic wake. At first, the Sentinels outright ignored the call to be judged for mutation – it took overt threats from the infamously purist and equally mobile Red Scorpions to bring the Chapter to heel. This insolence would reflect poorly on the Sentinels when gene-seed inspection revealed a hyperactive omophagea – leaving them no choice but to accept a doomed, penitent invasion of the Eye of Terror.

Masters of the spaceborne hunt, the Sentinels easily evaded the heretic fleets that scattered the Abyssal Crusade to make planetfall on the daemon world of Oliensis. Initial auspex scans revealed the planet's organic crust, and soon they had fully mapped its true form – a morbidly obese humanoid, curled into a foetal ball. Undaunted and proud, the Sentinels elected to begin the hunt regardless. The goat-headed hedonists who inhabited Oliensis were no match for the Chapter's swift assault and deadly ambush. Nor were the gaudily-painted Noise Marines who came to their aid, adding the screech of sonic weaponry to the mad bleats of Slaaneshi revelry. The hunt raged between tree-trunk bristles, across rivers of drool, and into cave-like pores, and with each conquest the Sentinels feasted anew. As supplies ran low, these celebrations were supplemented by the meat of flesh-cultists and horned tumour-spawn, growing louder and fiercer and crueler without end.

By the time the Sentinels claimed victory over Oliensis, the horned pagans who had survived their hunt worshipped the Astartes as hungry gods. Chaplain Cuhullin, whose milk-white armour now twitched with thin red veins, welcomed all to the final feast. At his words, the planet itself stirred. The ground split and broke into a canyon maw beneath the Chapter, swallowing every warrior and vehicle whole. It took weeks for the survivors to gnaw their way free with chainsword and fang, but those who had tasted the daemon world's gory mantle found it an ambrosia beyond any victory they had ever known. Reborn and renamed, the Corpus Brethren retain their old aptitude for lightning assaults and desire for exotic trophies. What drives them now is hunger, an insatiable gluttony that has seen them butcher a Tyranid bio-titan, rampage across multiple systems in pursuit of a shipment of ajidamal spice, and round up the noble class of an entire Hive World into pens for slaughter. Accompanied by Chaos Spawn hunting hounds, horn-headed cultists, and trumpeting Noise Marines, the Corpus Brethren inspire primal dread in the very worlds they once kept safe.

Renegade Trait
Insatiable Hunters
The slavering brethren of Oliensis move in for the kill with frightening speed, surrounding those who thought themselves safe and butchering them piece by piece.

Add 1 to the Move characteristic of a model with this trait, and add 1 to the distance it can move when it Advances, piles in, or consolidates (POSSESSED models can move an extra 2" instead). In addition, SLAANESH units with this trait can still charge in a turn in which they Fell Back. CORPUS BRETHREN BEASTS in a Detachment that includes units with this trait also gain this trait.


Warlord Trait
First to Feast
The leaders of the Corpus Brethren take pride in their palate, and dart through lines of fire with animal speed to sample the choicest cuts.

Enemy units cannot fire overwatch at your Warlord.


Stratagem
Stalk the Prey (2 CP)
The Sentinels chased monstrous aliens from the borders of Imperial space, and hunger has only honed their skill at corralling prey.

Use this Stratagem when an enemy unit Falls Back from a SLAANESH CORPUS BRETHREN unit from your army, before the enemy unit moves. Your unit can attack the enemy unit that Fell Back as if it were the Fight phase.


Artefact Of Chaos
Bolg Spear
Once a proud trophy of hard-fought victories, this carved alien tusk now drools with desire, its flexing fang-barbs devouring living flesh in a symbiotic feast.

CORPUS BRETHREN model with a power maul or accursed crozius only. The Bolg Spear replaces the bearer’s power maul or accursed crozius and has the following profile:
Bolg Spear (Melee) Range: Melee, Type: Melee, Strength +2, AP -1, Damage D3
Bolg Spear (Thrown) Range: 12", Type: Assault 1, Strength +2, AP -1, Damage D3
Abilities Each time this weapon kills a model, the bearer regains 1 lost wound.


*********

Slight tweaks to the backstory of the Corpus Brethren – again, trying to give them a bit more agency in their fall, and emphasizing the hunger/consumption aspect to give them a unique gimmick. In mechanical terms, I eschewed actually representing that consumption stuff for lack of space; Feeder Tendrils or Hyper-Evolution would have been fun, but I needed to get across the speed and savage hunting skill of the Corpus Brethren. I also wanted to actually encourage the Corpus Brethren to be Slaaneshi, which isn't something found in the "monogod" Renegades of Vigilus – and pretty difficult when the primary benefit of being Slaaneshi is a boost against Imperial armies (yay?) and extra Shooting (not really appropriate).

The Renegade Trait is more-or-less a clone of the White Scars, but with a Slaanesh restriction on falling-back-and-charging, and an Evil Sunz-style split between Movement boost and Advancement/Charge boost for greater flexibility. It also gives a slight bump to consolidating and piling-in, to help prevent falling back – Possessed models get a greater boost (like Speed Freeks in an Evil Sunz army) because god knows they need something.

The Warlord Trait is a straightforward Raven Guard-style no-Overwatch, allowing you to rush your Chaos Lord or Daemon Prince into combat and have your hungry hordes follow behind unimpeded.

The Stratagem is the inverse of a Harlequins Stratagem (Cegorach's Jest), allowing you to punish enemies who attempt to fall back. Honestly, I feel like this ought to be a standard rule for Falling Back, albeit with an Overwatch-style "hit on 6s" limit. In the mean time, this means that when you get into close combat, it's painful for the enemy to get out. Originally it just let you charge them again, but I feel like this lets your opponent actually get what they want (falling back) with a penalty, rather than just denying them the opportunity to flee. I was tempted to add something about applying Death to the False Emperor to that unit for the rest of the battle, to encourage Slaaneshi marks before the brute-force method in the Trait, but that feels like I'd be edging into a higher CP cost.

Finally, the Artefact of Chaos supports that lone wolf no-Overwatch charge your Warlord is good for, by letting him heal himself with kills. It's broadly balanced against the Parasite's Kiss (+1 attack, +2AP, +1D, vs 1 shot on the charge and D3 damage) and is available to Dark Apostles (always a nice gesture).

This message was edited 6 times. Last update was at 2019/07/21 09:47:02


 
   
Made in se
Ferocious Black Templar Castellan






Sweden

This seems entirely reasonable. My only question is whether it is The Hungry Spear or the Bolg Spear.

For thirteen years I had a dog with fur the darkest black. For thirteen years he was my friend, oh how I want him back. 
   
Made in gb
Dakka Veteran




 AlmightyWalrus wrote:
This seems entirely reasonable. My only question is whether it is The Hungry Spear or the Bolg Spear.
Can't it be both?

Good catch. It was originally the Hungry Spear, but that felt a little too on the nose, so I borrowed the name from Gae Bolg, a legendary spined spear carved from the bones of a deep-sea monster.
   
Made in gb
Tunneling Trygon






Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland

I love your fluff. Not just that your writing is good, but what you said about giving them agency in their fall. I remember reading about the Corpus Brethren years ago and thinking it was stupid (the planet was a dude the whole time and he ate them! Lol!), but you made it really cool. I especially like how you expanded their identity; the eating of alien flesh as Loyalists, eating their tainted enemies, and then finally eating the flesh of the planet itself before becoming what they are now.


Sieg Zeon!

Selling TGG2! 
   
Made in us
Focused Fire Warrior




NY

Seems ok conceptually, the stratagem should be either on 6s or one attack per model within 1" imo. Taking a whole pseudo phase is a lot. It is good synergy because otherwise they wouldn't often have the opportunity to use the fall back trait.

Personally i'd prefer a less wordy trait and it feels like all that bonus movement could stack too much. +2 for pile in and consolidate is nice combined with fall back+charge. Like tough hormagaunts. Bonuses to charge get strong fast, also slaanesh daemons (like possessed) can charge and advance so they'd be double dipping near a daemon HQ.
   
Made in ca
Pestilent Plague Marine with Blight Grenade





The Frozen North

I think you would generally refer to the ranged profile of the Bolg Spear as the (shooting) profile - like the Craftworld Singing Spear. One can assume it's being thrown.

I would rephrase Stalk the Prey, using Dark Eldar Wyches as a basis for templating:

Stalk the Prey (1 CP):
Use this stratagem when an enemy unit within 1" of any CORPUS BRETHREN UNITS wishes to Fall Back.

And then the effect. Which I might suggest be just some amount of mortal wounds, rather than a whole mini-Fight phase. Complex, and slows the game down a bit for my tastes. Say, roll a d6 for each CORPUS BRETHREN model within 1" of the enemy unit. Roll 3d6 instead for each CORPUS BRETHREN BEAST. For each roll of a 4+, the enemy unit suffers a mortal wound. Subtract 2 from the result of each roll if the enemy unit is a VEHICLE.

Looks cool, though! Love what you did with the fluff.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/05/05 08:22:34


Triggerbaby wrote:In summary, here's your lunch and ask Miss Creaver if she has aloe lotion because I have taken you to school and you have been burned.

Abadabadoobaddon wrote:I too can prove pretty much any assertion I please if I don't count all the evidence that contradicts it.
 
   
Made in ca
Junior Officer with Laspistol





London, Ontario

I LOVE the fluff. I’m not familiar with this legion outside of what I’ve just read, but it is beautifully 40k.

The Trait is too powerful, compared to the White Scars trait. The bonus “base” movement *and* charge movement is too much, I’d say. Possessed representing the “especially mutated” members is good, but anything more than +2” base movement is really going overboard, I’d say.

The warlord trait is perfect as is. In fact, probably the best representation of fluff to function I’ve ever seen. Ignoring over watch is not what I’d call “powerful”, but lets you do exactly what you said. Make lone wolf charges without hesitation, just like you’d expect in the fluff, without worry about a random Lascannon blowing you away before you attack.

I’d say the stratagem should be on a per-unit basis, and should probably be a 2 cp strat. A free activation, particularly outside of your own turn, is *very* powerful, potentially. As a Guard player, I’ll tell you that in previous editions I hoped for my units to fail morale, even if it destroyed them, so that I could shoot the assaulters. 8th made that a Guarantee on top of eliminating the opportunity cost.

Against chaff, this strat has relatively low value, but against a primary target, like a Russ, it is very valuable. Worth more than 2 CP, in my opinion, so I think 2 CP is a good balance between the extremes. You can elect to use it inefficiently, but if you are able to create the opportunity, it can be great value, and I like strats that put that onus on the player.

Also, this Strat specifically counters some other armies gimmicks, like Ultramarines and White Scars fall back and *effect* Traits. I think 1 CP is just too low of a cost for the effect.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2019/05/05 12:49:19


 
   
Made in gb
Dakka Veteran




 greatbigtree wrote:
I LOVE the fluff. I’m not familiar with this legion outside of what I’ve just read, but it is beautifully 40k.
I'm glad you enjoyed it! The main additions are the backstory of the Sentinels, and the precise details of their fall; the broad strokes of Oliensis were already there.

 greatbigtree wrote:
The Trait is too powerful, compared to the White Scars trait. The bonus “base” movement *and* charge movement is too much, I’d say. Possessed representing the “especially mutated” members is good, but anything more than +2” base movement is really going overboard, I’d say.
I ended up stealing from Evil Sunz rather than White Scars, because the White Scars feel somewhat like an early, less well-thought-out attempt at the same concept. Evil Sunz get +1" when moving, which becomes +2" when advancing or charging. White Scars get +2" when advancing, only, which they can't do on a turn they charge or shoot. Yet they have no options for advance-and-charge, and limited options for assault weapons (particularly on bikes, supposedly their signature).

I added pile in and consolidate to the list because Fall Back is a serious problem in this edition, and the Stratagem is at least partly redundant with avoiding Fall Back through encirclement. Possessed are mostly just... still quite bad, even with their recent buff, in a Faction that a) is meant to be close combat focused, b) loses its two best combat infantry if it goes full Slaanesh, c) I wanted to see using Slaanesh. So I moved the Speed Freek +2" advance/charge to Possessed, a change that feels pretty conservative by comparison.

If I were rewriting White Scars, I'd definitely have it be +1" move, and +1" advance/charge with +2" on BIKES (and Land Speeders, but they don't get Tactics). I appreciate that probably doesn't make White Scars feel much better about the here-and-now, though...

 greatbigtree wrote:
I’d say the stratagem should be on a per-unit basis, and should probably be a 2 cp strat. A free activation, particularly outside of your own turn, is *very* powerful, potentially. As a Guard player, I’ll tell you that in previous editions I hoped for my units to fail morale, even if it destroyed them, so that I could shoot the assaulters. 8th made that a Guarantee on top of eliminating the opportunity cost.

Against chaff, this strat has relatively low value, but against a primary target, like a Russ, it is very valuable. Worth more than 2 CP, in my opinion, so I think 2 CP is a good balance between the extremes. You can elect to use it inefficiently, but if you are able to create the opportunity, it can be great value, and I like strats that put that onus on the player.

Also, this Strat specifically counters some other armies gimmicks, like Ultramarines and White Scars fall back and *effect* Traits. I think 1 CP is just too low of a cost for the effect.


I'll take a look, but this is actually a direct copy of a similar Harlequins Stratagem:
CEGORACH’S JEST
The Dance of Cegorach’s Jest sees enemy units harried mercilessly unto their absolute destruction.

Use this Stratagem when an enemy unit Falls Back from a HARLEQUINS unit from your army, after the enemy unit has finished moving. Provided no other enemy units are within 1" of your unit, it can shoot the enemy unit that Fell Back as if it were the Shooting phase.

Also note that this Strat requires Slaanesh, which means you're disqualified from the "general" Fight twice Stratagem available to Chaos. If your opponent doesn't fall back, you're boned, so it's only good for chasing down weak prey.
   
Made in ca
Junior Officer with Laspistol





London, Ontario

If I'm not mistaken, aren't Harlequins equipped with pistols? I'm not really familiar with them.

Taking it at face value, it's a strong stratagem.
   
Made in gb
Dakka Veteran




 greatbigtree wrote:
If I'm not mistaken, aren't Harlequins equipped with pistols? I'm not really familiar with them.

Taking it at face value, it's a strong stratagem.
Hm, true. But that's 1 S4 Rending attack per model as opposed to 1 S4 attack per model in most cases... the main use would be for Possessed or Noise Marines, who can get up to 3 attacks per model, which is definitely worth looking at. Hm.
   
Made in ca
Junior Officer with Laspistol





London, Ontario

Plus, presumably, some degree of power weapon / smashy weapon on the champion / terminators / Possessed?

I imagine that Harlies can also get upgraded pistols and the like, but I expect that there are hard-hitting Chaos Units that are moving fast, hitting hard, then hitting again before the target can withdraw.

Assuming you survive the subsequent shooting, you're pretty much guaranteed to have eliminated any screen in the way.
   
 
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