Hobby: Difsta's Road To Arc - Emperor's Children Rapture Battalion

So for those unaware of Difsta's Road To Arc, an Arc40k hobby initiative, you can check out a bit of a glimpse of where this started on my Difsta's Road to Arc Moves to VMG. But in essence I am keeping track of the thematic construction of my army list, followed by the actual construction of my army list (from both a list development and a model devleopment).

So with all the cool new stuff in Traitor Legions a CSM Codex Supplement made available for us Veterans of the Long War, what does this mean for my army list for Arc40k 2k17? Well for those that want a quick review of what Emperor's Children (EC) players should be expecting from the new Codex Supplement, head on over to my review on the Emperors Children, or just see some of the repeat cliff notes in my list ideas

What do I get for being an Emperor's Children Detachment?

There are a couple of percs and a couple of costs for running an EC detachment, I will only focus on the ones overly relevant to my potential lists (as you can look at the Review post from the other day in detail if you want to):

Percs: I get Veterans of the Long War (VotLW) for FREE

• Those units gain Fearless and Feel No Pain 6+ (or 4+ on a unit with an Icon of Excess).
• They also get some cool strike before they die rule that is just a bit of flavour, but not overly relevant.

Cons: I have to pay for Mark of Slaanesh on every model that can purchase it.

• This is going to add a lot of points to my army. Now some of that is made up for because I was purchasing VotLW which now I get for free, but it is still fairly steep.

Using the Emperor's Children Rapture Battalion

The Rapture Battalion is the Emperor's Children Formation Based Detachment (FBD). So for those who don't know what an FBD is, you may have heard of it referred to as a Decurion Style Detachment, as the Necron Decurion Detachment was the first of its kind. But now everyone gets them, and there are actually quite a few available to the Chaos Space Marine players these days.

What do I get for running this Detachment over say a CAD?

Well there is only really 2 key things that the EC get from this detachment that they wouldn't get from just taking a CAD:

1. The Combat Drugs Command Benefit: Which basically gives units a random bonus to their WS, BS, I, S, T or A.
2. The Kakophani Formation:
• This formation gives Split Fire to Noise Marines
• Shred to Sonic weaponry
• And if I take 6 units of Noise Marines then all the Sonic weaponry also fain +1S

Now the Combat Drugs are cool, but they are hardly crucial to the list, and for me to get any real benefit from the Kakophani formation I need 6 units of Noise Marines, which is super expensive (albeit super in line with Lord Eidolon's cannon).

What do I lose for running this Detachment?

Well for there are 2 key things I lose for running the EC detachment, and that is:

1. Objective Secured: Now I can run a Chaos Warband (arguably the best Core choice for EC), and I may even end up doing this, but I am pretty sure the Kakophani formation is my only access to Noise Marines, which I am 100% having in my army list.
2. Flexibility: There are a couple of units I would rally like to take that I end up being unable to take in this Detachment, eg. a single Helbrute (unless I take the Chaos Warband...)

Both of the downsides to the EC Detachment can be rectified by taking a Chaos Warband, but if I do that then I am better off taking a Black Crusade Detachment (still as an EC Detachment) as I then get access to Noise Marines (albeit losing the 2 main buffs for the EC Detachment specifically).

What to do... what to do...

Taking a look at a potential list...

Well lets start by looking at using the crazy new EC Detachment, trying to get the most benefits out of the Kakophani formation, I mean Lord Eidolon is known for having the largest and most disciplines forces of Emperor's Children since their shattering in the Eye of Terror Slave Wars, and it mostly consists of Noise Marines, so this is pretty fitting. If you want to know a bit more about Lord Eidolon, head on over to the 40k Legends: Lord Commander Eidolon of the Emperor's Children article.

CORE: The Kakophani - 834 Points

• Lord Eidolon (115 Points): Chaos Lord, Mark of Slaanesh, VotLW, Bolt Pistol, Power Maul and the Shriekwave Chaos Artefact
• 3 units of Noise Marines:
• Unit 1: 12 Noise Marines (331 Points)
• Noise Champion with Boltgun and Boltpistol
• 9 x Noise Marines with Sonic Blasters
• 2 x Noise Marines with Blast Masters
• Icon of Excess
• Unit 2: 6 Noise Marines in a Rhino (194 Points)
• Noise Champion with Boltgun and Boltpistol
• 4 x Noise Marines with Sonic Blasters
• 1 x Noise Marine with a Blast Master
• Rhino with Dozer Blades (I never leave home without Dozer Blades)
• Unit 3: 6 Noise Marines in a Rhino (194 Points)
• Noise Champion with Boltgun and Boltpistol
• 4 x Noise Marines with Sonic Blasters
• 1 x Noise Marine with a Blast Master
• Rhino with Dozer Blades (I never leave home without Dozer Blades)

AUXILIARY: 516 points to spend

I am struggling to work out what to choose for my Auxiliary choice...

Ancient Sarancos: For those following my previous articles (or previous Facebook page) I was really hoping to run Ancient Sarancos, who was a part of Lord Commander Eidolon's Traitor command. But if I want to take the Rapture Battalion and Noise Marines, I need to take the Kakophani which is a huge points sink, and I don't really have an option of putting in a single Helbrute. I would need to take something like the Helforged Warpack, but that would require a Warp Smith and a minimum of 3 AV12 walkers, and I really don't want that many in my list at 1350. I may go down this path in tournaments of larger points, but for Arc40k it is just too much.

Note: The pic above is just one I put together with photo editing tool, I have not yet assembled, let alone actually started painting this bad boy.

Havocs: I was keen to run Havocs in my list using the forgeworld Kakophani models, most likely with lascannons as a solid anti Heavy Armour from range kind of unit. But outside of a Chaos Warband I cannot get these in a Rapture Battalion, and with the cost of both the Chaos Warband and the Kakophani, and still needing to find the points for an Auxiliary, I really am left stranded here.

Note: These actually are my models that I have assembled so far (still yet to paint).

So where does this leave me?

Well I really just don't feel like I can write the kind of Emperor's Children list that I was thinking of running, tying in a number of old school characters with the Emperor's Children specific detachment, which seems odd, but that's where it lands.

So I can either look at running a traditional Combined Arms Detachment (CAD) or alternatively I can run a Black Crusade Detachment from the Traitor's Hate book, or finally I can look at playing around with new ideas for an army list, and I think that is where I am sitting.

Trying something different than expected...

Well there was a unit that I really didn't think I wanted to run at first glance in my EC army, but after going over my possible Auxiliary choices for the Rapture Battalion, I have been reconsidering it...

Obliterators as "Super Noise Marines"

Now I have to work out a better title for that unit, but hear me out... I take units of Obliterators in the Cult of Destruction Auxiliary choice, but model them kind of like giant Noise Marines. What might that look like I hear you ask... Well I have been doing a quick google search to see if I could get some inspiration, and I came across something beyond what I had imagined from a french blogger called David De Abreu over at Blog de Kouzes. He did an article on how he made Emperor's Children Obliterators (article is in French) using a unit of Space Marine Centurions and a Helbrute kit.

So I am going to have a look at how much effort would be involved in making something similar, and then re-evaluate. I wont take Obliterators in my army if I am simply using the standard CSM Obliterator, as the model just doesn't feel very Emperor's Children.

Stay tuned, for updates on what my army list might end up looking like and how I go trying to come up with my own version of an EC Obliterator