original post: 40K Daemons
This series seems particularly apropos since
it just won Adepticon. By most accounts I’ve read, the tournament was an
unspoken dud with everyone who went outwardly claiming to have enjoyed it, but
when you peel back the onion, there were a lot of complaints about the comp
ruling, the kill point heavy missions and the very open terrain that was
befuddling to many. The comp rules encouraged bringing death star lists and the
missions rewarded doing so. Well hell.
Ah well, I wasn’t there. Fortunately, the Circus is a good answer to many death stars.
In the first two installments for playing the flying circus, we talked about keeping your flying baddies alive uber alles, and trying to make sure the objectives are spread out so that the other guy can’t squat in one high-value location.
The next piece of the puzzle is using your powers correctly. You will probably roll Biomancy most of the time. Everyone knows Iron Arm on a lash Prince is good, but with Be’lakor, there isn’t much need to take telepathy. Be’lakor gets you invisibility on your Grimoire Prince. This is great because the Grimoire Prince can take a shooting power and actually be in the fight. If your other Princes get Endurance, it helps you keep Be’lakor alive.
Here are the typical flying circus candidates besides Fatey and Be’lakor and the powers they should roll most of the time:
Slaanesh Prince – Biomancy x3
Nurgle Prince – Biomancy x3 (Telekinesis x3 against Imperial Knights)
Lord of Change – Divination x3 (Occasionally 1x or 2x Change if you need to shoot.)
Tzeentch Prince – Biomancy x3 (Change if you get Endurance early or need to shoot.)
The Tzeentch dudes are the tricky ones because some armies you’d prefer to keep your distance against like Nids. You don’t want to be within 12” of shadows most of the time, nor do you want to get grounded and charged by Gants. Flickering fire is great against Gants and Crones. Gateway and Bolt are useful against vehicles. It’s nice to have a shooting power on the Tzeentch Prince so he can vector strike and also shoot in the same turn
Okay, so let’s say you have the Grimoire, Be’lakor, Fateweaver and a Lash Prince with Endurance and Iron Arm. You need to plan every move so that your MC’s finish with LOS and within 24” of each other so they can buff up at the beginning of the next turn. Say you flew your Grimoire Prince off on Turn 2. On Turn 3, he needs to arrive in area terrain and within range and LOS of Be’lakor.
Your order of operations is based around Fateweaver’s reroll. There is a lot of debate about the order of things that happen at the start of the turn, but the FAQ says that events that occur simultaneously allow you to choose the order. The Grimoire can be used at any point during the movement phase, and the beginning of the movement phase is a point in the movement phase, so it can be used before psychic powers.
So, in this scenario, the Grimoire Prince flies on first taking care to finish his move within 24” of both Be’lakor and Fateweaver. Next, you need to prioritize powers in the order of importance for what you need to get done this turn. In most cases, the first thing you do is use the Grimoire on Fateweaver. Assuming you didn’t need the reroll for that, next you cast Iron Arm on the Lash Prince since he needs a 9 to get it off. If you got through that without needing the reroll, things are looking good. Invisibility on the Grimoire Prince is next, then Endurance on Be’lakor.
At this point, Be’lakor has one warp charge left. Is it more useful to cast Terrify, Dominate or Psychic Shriek this turn? You figure it out.
Once your powers are cast, make your moves such that you take no unnecessary risks, kill as much as possible, but also finish in positions to do exactly the same thing next turn. That’s the finesse piece of playing the circus that makes it work.
Ah well, I wasn’t there. Fortunately, the Circus is a good answer to many death stars.
In the first two installments for playing the flying circus, we talked about keeping your flying baddies alive uber alles, and trying to make sure the objectives are spread out so that the other guy can’t squat in one high-value location.
The next piece of the puzzle is using your powers correctly. You will probably roll Biomancy most of the time. Everyone knows Iron Arm on a lash Prince is good, but with Be’lakor, there isn’t much need to take telepathy. Be’lakor gets you invisibility on your Grimoire Prince. This is great because the Grimoire Prince can take a shooting power and actually be in the fight. If your other Princes get Endurance, it helps you keep Be’lakor alive.
Here are the typical flying circus candidates besides Fatey and Be’lakor and the powers they should roll most of the time:
Slaanesh Prince – Biomancy x3
Nurgle Prince – Biomancy x3 (Telekinesis x3 against Imperial Knights)
Lord of Change – Divination x3 (Occasionally 1x or 2x Change if you need to shoot.)
Tzeentch Prince – Biomancy x3 (Change if you get Endurance early or need to shoot.)
The Tzeentch dudes are the tricky ones because some armies you’d prefer to keep your distance against like Nids. You don’t want to be within 12” of shadows most of the time, nor do you want to get grounded and charged by Gants. Flickering fire is great against Gants and Crones. Gateway and Bolt are useful against vehicles. It’s nice to have a shooting power on the Tzeentch Prince so he can vector strike and also shoot in the same turn
Okay, so let’s say you have the Grimoire, Be’lakor, Fateweaver and a Lash Prince with Endurance and Iron Arm. You need to plan every move so that your MC’s finish with LOS and within 24” of each other so they can buff up at the beginning of the next turn. Say you flew your Grimoire Prince off on Turn 2. On Turn 3, he needs to arrive in area terrain and within range and LOS of Be’lakor.
Your order of operations is based around Fateweaver’s reroll. There is a lot of debate about the order of things that happen at the start of the turn, but the FAQ says that events that occur simultaneously allow you to choose the order. The Grimoire can be used at any point during the movement phase, and the beginning of the movement phase is a point in the movement phase, so it can be used before psychic powers.
So, in this scenario, the Grimoire Prince flies on first taking care to finish his move within 24” of both Be’lakor and Fateweaver. Next, you need to prioritize powers in the order of importance for what you need to get done this turn. In most cases, the first thing you do is use the Grimoire on Fateweaver. Assuming you didn’t need the reroll for that, next you cast Iron Arm on the Lash Prince since he needs a 9 to get it off. If you got through that without needing the reroll, things are looking good. Invisibility on the Grimoire Prince is next, then Endurance on Be’lakor.
At this point, Be’lakor has one warp charge left. Is it more useful to cast Terrify, Dominate or Psychic Shriek this turn? You figure it out.
Once your powers are cast, make your moves such that you take no unnecessary risks, kill as much as possible, but also finish in positions to do exactly the same thing next turn. That’s the finesse piece of playing the circus that makes it work.
