Holy Zealots

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!!