Defilers, Maulerfiends, and Soul Grinders...Oh My!

A friend who was leaving the hobby invited me over to his place to look through some CSM models to see if there was anything I would be interested in. I already had my early 2013 GT list set for the most part, but figured it was worth a gander. There was some good looking stuff, including conversions that would fit with my army, but I really didn't have the cash to afford models I don't need. Then I saw it...the Forgeworld Nurgle Plague Hulk.

The pictures on the Forgeworld site don't do it justice (partially the bland coloring used on the rotting flesh), this model is superb. My friend also posed it well and modified it so that it would fit on an oval base, making the model sturdier.

So I bought it. The price was low enough that I felt I could fit this monstrosity into my budget. The question was, what would it be used as? I saw three options; a defiler, a maulerfiend, or a soul grinder.

Defiler

I have always liked the ascetic of the defiler, probably for some of the same reasons I thought Wild Wild West was a great movie, because mechanical spiders are awesome looking. The question is how good are they on the table? I had never really pondered that question until I faced an opponent who had two of them each behind an aegis. That is AV12, with 4+ cover, a 5+ invo save, and it will not die. Needless to say I decided to target other things to get more utility out of my ranged shooting rather than wasting it on these machines.

Behind all of that metal though, is the fire output worth it? Honestly, I would say no. There is a battle cannon, a reaper autocannon, a twin-linked heavy flamer, and two power fists. I have never liked autocannons (with the exception of the psybolt version which is worlds improved). Because of its slow speed, it will only use its combat tools and flamer when countercharging (fleet is nice here), which against a good opponent will mean the defiler has been neutralized in some way so as to not be a threat. The battle cannon certainly isn’t bad, especially with the 6^th edition change to ordinance, but I can get a better large blast gun for cheaper out of the vindicator (though shorter range).

Speaking of price, the defiler is just shy of, and with minimal upgrades would be, more expensive than a full flamer of tzeentch unit. That is out of my point range.

Maulerfiend

This is one of the Chaos book’s new units, and where the defiler is too expensive, this guy is quite reasonable at a cost that is comparable to an upgraded dreadnaught. The other advantage is that he is wicket fast, always moving 12”, laughing at terrain. This, coupled with fleet means it is very reasonable to get a turn two charge. The problem I see here is two-fold though. Even though it will get into combat, it only has two attacks base. Now its second powerfist gives a third, and nearly always getting the charge means a fourth, but at WS3 I really don’t think that is enough attacks to ever do anything but die after marines use ATSKNF to regroup and melta you. Yes the melta cutters give you an extra attack (there is only 6.25% chance of getting the second additional attack on the charge) but this still doesn’t really cut it considering the maulerfiend has no guns and is meant to above all else kill in close combat.

In my experience the real nail in the coffin though is the three hull points, whenever I put it on the table this thing just fell apart from shooting. I am still not set on non-AV13+ vehicles in 6^th, and my experiences with this guy only further than.

Soul Grinder

This brings me to the final option, one which I had never seen with my own eyes, the soul grinder. This guy is the only vehicle in the Chaos Daemon codex, and is 13/13/11 with a 5+ invulnerable save, and has four hull points. That is the kind of durability I look for. The only thing missing is ‘it will not die’.

Weapon wise it comes with two power fists, a six shot storm bolter, and a heavy flamer. For a reasonable price you can have either (or both for 50) a 24” S10 AP1 shot or a 36” S8 AP3 large blast. I lean toward the blast as it makes the BS3 of the model essentially meaningless. This guy deep strikes in just like a daemon and has fleet to top it all off (which is visually confusing considering my model is a nurgle plague hulk as opposed to a sleek slaanesh daemonengine. The great thing is that he only costs five more points than a havoc squad after the gun upgrade, meaning I can easily fit him into my army.

I have used him in three games;

1)      I didn’t get my preferred wave and on turn two I deep struck him on top of the relic. I was facing hybrid elder, and since I took out the fire dragons early my opponent couldn’t deal with him, easily controlling the game for me.

2)      While playing against another CSM/Daemon list I deep stuck him on my opponent’s side of the table, forcing my foe to not be able to play aggressively with his daemons as he needed to deal with the grinder. I then used the soul grinder to charge his last scoring unit and double out his warlord in combat.

3)      Against the new dark angels I was facing a fast ravenwing build. I deep struck him behind their advancing lines. He killed the salvo 2/4 banner from a command squad, four bikes from another squad, ate most of a black knight unit, and crushed a librarian in close combat.

As you can see, in every game, even when not killing things, he was instrumental in the flow of the game. Plus, on top of that, he killed a top. I wouldn’t leave home without this guy. Here is my updated list;

Typhus

25 Cultists

10 Cultists

10 Cultists

10 Cultists

Heldrake (Baleflamer)

Heldrake (Baleflamer)

6 Havocs (4 Lascannon)

The Masque

9 Flamers of Tzeentch

5 Horrors of Tzeentch

9 Screamers of Tzeentch

Soul Grinder (Phlegm)

Aegis Defense Line (Comms Relay)