Cron Deathmarks & Despair-tek

[XxD3Sm0nDxX]

Well fellow Bols users we are looking at:
5 Deathmarks - Synaptic Disintegrator
1 cryptek - Harbinger of Despair W/ Abyssal Staff, Veil Of darkness

Currently i have used this unit three times, two out of the three times i have decimated heavy weapons teams or units on objectives. With the deathmarks "Hunter from Hyperspace" Rule applying to the cryptek the flamer template happily roast anything under it. [: Today I will be adding a couple of stalkers in the mix making my deathmarks weapons twin linked. I am not considering this unit completely competitive. Tell me what you think.

[Kawauso]

Sounds good.

I think I need to pick up another Deathmark kit, just so I can field 3 x5 in a list if I want. They're neat models, and they seem to work pretty well in small squads if you take multiples.

Haven't tried with a Despair-tek yet, but I may have to.

[XxD3Sm0nDxX]

Its quite fun watching long fangs get cooked in one turn of shooting ;]
I have yet to field more than one unit of DM, so i wouldn't know how they work. how have your experiences been with them?
too bad they don't have enough huevos to be true "elite" slots , but damn do their models like badass!
Imagine if they had a melta weapon, but then again its to much oh well [:

[thecactusman17]

Despair-Tek is probably the best anti-Paladin killer in the game, if you can shove two into a unit you will almost guaranteedly kill anything you shoot at. A fun trick in these things is to nominate your target, then aim at a squishier target (or thanks to rending, perhaps a low-AV vehicle) on the opposite side of your unit. The Marks come down, fire their rapid-fire weaponsinto the rear of a Razorback, perhaps, and the Crypteks drop their flamers in the same general direction over the nominated targets in between. This also solves the issue of wound allocation shenanigans, because EVERYONE has to take an AP1 wound without tossing the easy saves on critical models.

[XxD3Sm0nDxX]

You sir just made my day, I am going to try and set this up [: I love how people immediately nominated Deathmarks as UN-playable or BAD when the codex came out.

[Kaika87]

You sir just made my day, I am going to try and set this up [: I love how people immediately nominated Deathmarks as UN-playable or BAD when the codex came out.

Well those people are dumb and wrong. Flayed Ones are the bad, unplayable unit.

Okay, joking aside, thing is that I see Deathmarks as specialized. And frequently, specialized can be just as damning to a unit as it being bad. Deathmarks are good against Monstrous Creatures and for combining with the Abyssal Staff, as you note here, but the problem with the Abyssal Staff is the mobility. Yes, you get the Veil and can teleport them around, but you're making an awfully big gamble on accurately deep striking a unit, safely and within flamer template range, without any sort of aid like Descent of Angels or teleport homers. You can stick them in a Night Scythe, but that's an AV 11 flier. Best you could do for its survivability is give it Stealth from Zahndrekh's special rule, but it's still pretty fragile.

And on top of that, you're banking on the opponent not seeing this combo coming a mile away and spreading the "marked" unit out at max coherency.

[Tynskel]

There are risks in war.
But, this unit has a solid payoff.

The real trick is to make sure this is just another unit in your army, ie, if it mishaps, you don't care.

[isotope99]

Word of warning, the FAQ doesn't reference this combo specifically so don't get too attached to it.

Personally I think it is a bit too expensive for the risk you're running (I've used daemon flamers in a similar way and its hard to make their points back). Anything that reduces the long fang impact is good though ;)

[thecactusman17]

Actually, the combo DOES mention this combo explicitly, by saying it applies to all Royal court members.

[XxD3Sm0nDxX]

like i said it wasnt a fully competitive comb. With a rule like descent of angels this unit would be intense. I agree with Tynskel, You cant rely on this unit heavily. I have been watching the FAQ as well and like Cactusman said it does mention this combo.

[isotope99]

Not disagreeing, what I meant is it doesn't refer to the abyssal staff specifically, only to royal court members in general and the staff doesn't wound in the conventional way so could later be decided to be a special case, unlikely but possible.

[thecactusman17]

The staff wounds as normal, it just rolls against a different stat. Wounds are caused on a 2+. There is no disparity.