As discussed previously I’ve not painted anything for a
while, though I am keen on completing the list of jobs I constructed before
Christmas, the last remaining item being a minimum unit of Exemplar
Errants. These will finish off my two 50
point Prime and Epic Severius tournament lists.
Since writing the two 50 point lists Steamroller 2012
(downloadable from here) has been released and as I discussed in the Maelstrom
Doubles entries a new game-play dimension in the way of reinforcements has been
added. For 35 point games the Exemplar
Vengers fit the bill, given they are exactly 7 points, however at 50 points I
have 10 points available and aren’t sure what to add for this points level; I
am contemplating an 8 point jack and min Choir, or just adding a 3point solo to
the Vengers – eEiryss I hear you say!
I had a dabble with the Holy Zealots in place of the Temple
Flameguard the other day in my pSevvy 50 point list and was really happy with
the way they performed. I am certainly
going to get them painted after the Errants after seeing them in
action.
 |
| Holy Zealots unit (taken from the PP website) |
So what do I like about them?
Well they’re cheap for a start, being 4 points for a minimum
unit and 6 points for a full, the UA being a standard 2 points. They’ve got pretty mediocre stats, MAT
and RAT being quite low and DEF/ARM nothing
to shout about. They’ve got a poor melee
weapon and a very short ranged weapon which has an OK POW and a 3” AoE. Besides the melee and ranged weapons the unit
leader can recite one of two prayers which I will elaborate on below.
The key to this unit being elevated from the mediocre stats
and abilities I described are in the command models.
The Monolith Bearer (UA) grants the unit fearless which is useful given their low CMD and lack of banner,
but also grants the unit a +4 ARM bonus when
one of the unit members is slain by an enemy attack increasing their
survivability dramatically. These
abilities are granted, so savvy
opponents will likely attempt to snipe the Monolith Bearer out and reduce the
units defences. The Monolith Bearer also
has a very nice mini-feat which is half of the reason I like the unit as a
whole; once per game the unit can become invulnerable to all damage except
spells and feats and the former can be protected against with one of the units’
prayers. This allows the unit to ‘jam
up’ an enemy unit or two and be virtually immune to retaliation, possibly hold
an objective or generally get into a particular place with invulnerability for
a turn. It could also be used as an
extraction tool avoiding free strikes if they themselves end up getting locked up
in melee for example.
 |
| Holy Zealots unit attachment: Monolith Bearer (taken from the PP website) |
Along with the UA’s unique abilities, raising this unit from
the mediocre bench lines is the unit leaders prayers touched on above, the
leader can recite one of two prayers Warding,
where the unit becomes un-targetable by spells for a round or Fervor which gives the unit +2 on attack
and damage rolls. The former is
obviously a defensive mechanism against spells and magic attacks; whereas the
latter effectively raises their MAT and RAT
to 6. With increased RAT and POW on the fire
bombs the Holy Zealots really start to shine, even the blast damage is modified
by Fervor getting to a respectable
POW 8. Given the maximum scatter for
these grenades is 3” (half of the maximum range of the weapon) the 3” AoE is
likely to hit numerous infantry models.
This unit could specialise in killing high DEF, low ARM
troops given the high blast damage potential or can reliably hit light warjacks
and beasts which have a lowish DEF and ARM
with a view to wrecking them with enough shots.
Against Shieldwall or high ARM
troops, their DEF is probably low and hitting isn’t the problem, but rather the
armour; the direct hit will probably cause a casualty, though the blast
probably not do anything. A lucky critical hit however will help as all
models under the AoE will suffer the continuous fire effect and stand a good
chance of dying to the POW 12 + 2D6 roll they’ll suffer without the Shieldwall
bonus during their next Maintenance Phase.
Not a tactic to bank on, but certainly worth a pop if there aren’t any
other viable targets.
Closing comments
So I’ve made my case for including them in any list, however
the point of this discussion was to include them in my 50 point Prime Severius
list, as a replacement for the Temple
Flameguard. The obvious reason is the Eye of Menoth spell which increases
their RAT to 7, possibly 9 with an aiming bonus and POW of 15 on a direct hit,
with POW 9 blasts, just the extra +1 on top of the +2 from the Fervor prayer just tips them to being
deadly, well maybe!
I like the Temple Flameguard,
but they’re really in there for late game mop up and to protect the weak
support solos/units as well as protect my vulnerable pSevvy. Every game is situational, but I’m keen on
painting these guys and seeing how they fair up on future engagements – so
watch out for more crazy religious nutters hurling fire bombs!!
