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I'm having trouble with this guy, as I really like the model but gaming wise he's very disappointing (as basically all Dreadnoughts are), and very rarely has it been a worthwile or even semi-competitive choice. Mine is modelled with Reaper Autocannons and I usually take a Heavy Flamer as well meaning it's 120pts. It's slow, looses out to Monstrous Creatures and generally there's always a power fist or melta bombs around, meaning there's not many good choices of things to assault with it. Also, I feel the Maulerfiend is much better, although that takes a HS slot.

I've tried a Helcult formation from dataslate Helbrutes which made it better since it was less prone to be taken out by shooting and keeps cultists on the board. But then they are not allowed to go to ground to improve cover, which they really need so they are still easily taken out.

The Mayhem Pack looks pretty good but I don't have 3 brutes (have 1 more dread which can be converted), and taking 3 to make them worthwile is a lot of points.

How do you play it?

Mayhem pack. Deepstriking 3 av12 dreads in the back line is awesome, and it fixes the problem with delivery. As for not having a 3rd dread, DV helbrutes are under $10usd on the ebay market, so they're not pricy at all (I have like 6 of them haha)

Helcult is awesome not only for sitting back but also for pushing the line and hanging around the midfield. Fearless cultists are priceless when it comes to holding off an IK for a couple of turns. Or tarpit something like wraiths for even more. A helbrute itself is just a handy addition that can even operate separately from cultists thrown somewhere on the flank or camping backfield objectives - depending on the loadout.

I'm not sure about mayhem pack as all the guyz have 1/3 chance to just stand there shooting when they really need to get stuck in mellee.

The 5-strong helbrute squadron is cool. No, really. They're not nearly as durable as corpsethieft claw but they've got an ability to choose crazed results. Means, you can leave out one of them immobilized if you want to. Or get free Rage. And character dread with 5++ is awesome.

I've run Helcult with 2x35 Cultists and a vanilla Dreadnought. It's absolutely beastly. I often try to get my Dread killed, so that my CCW MoS Cultists start re-rolling. I've overrun Khorne Berzerkers, Nurgle Bikers, killed Typhus, Chaos Terminators etc. They're awesome. You really don't want to get charged by 105 attacks (or so) with re-rolling missed To Hit rolls at Initiative 4 and 3 flamers.

I've got a Mayphem pack, but I still need to paint and play them.

 ChazSexington wrote:
I've run Helcult with 2x35 Cultists and a vanilla Dreadnought. It's absolutely beastly. I often try to get my Dread killed, so that my CCW MoS Cultists start re-rolling. I've overrun Khorne Berzerkers, Nurgle Bikers, killed Typhus, Chaos Terminators etc. They're awesome. You really don't want to get charged by 105 attacks (or so) with re-rolling missed To Hit rolls at Initiative 4 and 3 flamers.

I've got a Mayphem pack, but I still need to paint and play them.

MoS, eh. That's interesting. Do they have nades?

 koooaei wrote:

 ChazSexington wrote:
I've run Helcult with 2x35 Cultists and a vanilla Dreadnought. It's absolutely beastly. I often try to get my Dread killed, so that my CCW MoS Cultists start re-rolling. I've overrun Khorne Berzerkers, Nurgle Bikers, killed Typhus, Chaos Terminators etc. They're awesome. You really don't want to get charged by 105 attacks (or so) with re-rolling missed To Hit rolls at Initiative 4 and 3 flamers.

I've got a Mayphem pack, but I still need to paint and play them.

MoS, eh. That's interesting. Do they have nades?

Nope, but point/attacks it's better than MoK in almost all cases (not that many I5 out there). If I go at the same time, or before, I'm gonna get way more attacks per point than MoK. Guardsmen go after, same as SMs. The whole point of Cultists is cheap tar pits, and the MoS makes them more resilient.

I think the formations are the way to go if you want Hellbrutes. Having the deepstriking ones come down just as Chaos Spawn, a Flying Daemon Prince and maybe a Maulerfiend hit their lines is a sure way to make the enemy panic. Large points games only obviously.

 tikhunt wrote:
I think the formations are the way to go if you want Hellbrutes. Having the deepstriking ones come down just as Chaos Spawn, a Flying Daemon Prince and maybe a Maulerfiend hit their lines is a sure way to make the enemy panic. Large points games only obviously.

That's my plan. Gonna run them with a mix of Spawn, Flying DP, Dreadclaw Drop Pod with Possessed and/or CSMs, 10 Deep Striking Termies, Infiltrating 2x35 Cultists, Cypher (and friends) in some sort of unholy alliance.

The formations are the way to go. The Helcult makes him a very durable walker with a cover mob and the the Murder Pack gives you a ton of Helbrutes with one that can challenge.

The formations are good, but to be honest I dont see any use of the hellbrute, that isn't done better by another unit.

I can come up with some niche examples
They are a reasonably cheap unit to stick a legacy on, and when in a hellcult are pretty survivable.
So maybe the one that boosts summoning, and chill with some horrors to poop out new backfield units cheaply and efficiently.
Or the one that boosts khorne daemons invulnerable save, and march up with stuff like blood slaughterers and soul grinders.

Ok, so formations seems to be the general recommendation. Either Mayhem Pack which is around 300-400pts for 3 Brutes or Helcult which is 200-400 pts.
How many cultists do you run in your meatshield unit and your second unit in a Helcult? I've used my second unit as a Fearless backfield objective holder.

Any ways of using a single brute? Legacies of Ruin was a nice idea by Captyn_Bob. I'm also holding some hopes it will prove more useful in Cities of Death setting, as the amount of cover will generally mean it's easier to get into combat, and its Heavy Flamer is more useful.

 westiebestie wrote:
Ok, so formations seems to be the general recommendation. Either Mayhem Pack which is around 300-400pts for 3 Brutes or Helcult which is 200-400 pts.
How many cultists do you run in your meatshield unit and your second unit in a Helcult? I've used my second unit as a Fearless backfield objective holder.

Any ways of using a single brute? Legacies of Ruin was a nice idea by Captyn_Bob. I'm also holding some hopes it will prove more useful in Cities of Death setting, as the amount of cover will generally mean it's easier to get into combat, and its Heavy Flamer is more useful.

You could use some of the IA13 dread stuff, you can get a free daemon prince out of one of them haha, as well as the Sonic Dread which looks pretty cool.

 westiebestie wrote:
Ok, so formations seems to be the general recommendation. Either Mayhem Pack which is around 300-400pts for 3 Brutes or Helcult which is 200-400 pts.
How many cultists do you run in your meatshield unit and your second unit in a Helcult? I've used my second unit as a Fearless backfield objective holder.

Any ways of using a single brute? Legacies of Ruin was a nice idea by Captyn_Bob. I'm also holding some hopes it will prove more useful in Cities of Death setting, as the amount of cover will generally mean it's easier to get into combat, and its Heavy Flamer is more useful.

Ferrum Infernus Dreadnought with some Legacies is making that Helbrute quite expensive. I think the problem with the Dreadnought is it's been made almost obsolete by the meta.