The Maelstrom of Gore formation comes in at 485 points minimum for 4 units of 5 Bezerkers and a Chaos Lord with a Free MoK. Alternatively, you can swap out the Lord for Kharn for the appropriate costs making the formation 580 points minimum. Most expensive so far for the least bodies, I can see where this is leading already.
The Maelstrom of Gore also comes with two bolted on rules atop of the Free VotLW, they are fearless already, Hatred (Imperial things), good for combat which is where they want to be and free boons would possibly go up their street, most likely on the Lord or Kharn, but do note that there is no 2nd saving roll, so spawn is spawn. Perhaps the champions instead then.
The first rule they get is Blood-Crazed, which gives them Fleet and adds 3" to their charge range. This is pretty good, free fleet means you don't have to bother forking out for Icons of Wrath and a Fleet charge +3" is pretty stellar giving a 15" charge range. Good.
The second special rule 'Red Rain' plays more into their combat power as Khorne Bezerkers, being the gladiator fighters bounce often than not. Red Rain allows all Bezerkers, including Kharn or the lord, which is locked in combat at the start of your turn to pile in and freely attack again without your opponent being able to strike back, it also doesn't stop these units from fighting normally in the Assault Phase on the same turns. This can be done once per game. Now this initially sounds very painful, either Kharn or a Khorne Lord with AoBF hammer swinging effectively twice in a single round of combat is painful, along with the Bezereker units. Unfortunately, if you pull your head, like I did today, out of the "Wow, this is awesome" cloud you will notice a distinct problem.
The wording is specifically "at the start of YOUR Movement phase" that is the important bit. YOUR Movement, meaning you have already charged in, hit them with Hatred attacks and with Kharns furious charge, he's bludgeoned 7 wounds out of some poor bugger (or high amount) the champion and the 8 other bezerkers have swung in and probably done one of two things:
A) Massacred the poor ass unit off the board before they could even strike back.
B) Bounce.
In the first instance, you aren't going to be pulling off Red Rain because your power houses are not in combat and they will most likely get shot by your opponent.
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| "Not another pissing shooting phase!" last vox cast of Champion Kronier |
In the second instance you are all dead.
For the Red Rain to come into effect, the Bezerker units need to:
A) Be in combat for 2 previous combats (if you charge)
B) Be charged by your enemy. (1 Combat round)
Again, with scenario A, 2 rounds of combat, with possible Kharn or Khorne Lord tooled to shit isn't going to go to round 3, either they will kill what charged them, or they will kill you. Same with a Bezerker unit without a character in there.
Scenario B needs your opponent to charge you with something that won't kill you and you won't kill it... so most likely something else from the Chaos Space Marine Codex. I kid, but that would be a massive mistake on your opponents behalf because they shouldn't be really charging Bezerkers if they know they can't get rid of them and Red Rain can still be turned on.
There is also Hit and Run... Your opponent can just leave before Red Rain happens. That sucks.
There is also getting them into combat, which can be a pain. They can take Rhino's but that is going for a turn 2/3 charge in flimsy boxes with no Ob Sec. Alternatively (we are jumping into a future formation here) They can take 4 Land raiders from Fist of the Gods, this will give them chance at a turn 1 charge: 6" move, 6" deploy, 2D6+3 Charge with fleet. Not bad. However, 4 Landraiders is 880 points+ 110 for the compulsory Warpsmith. 4 Raiders 4 Bezerker squads Kharn and a Smithy, hello 1850 points!
You could take less Landraiders and purchase some cheap fire support Predators and Vindicators to fill out the Fist of the God formation and make some Zerkers run on foot or in their rhinos, but then you you have the problem of getting all the Bezerkers into combat at the same/right time to utilise Red Rain.
America might have some more luck with the Dread Claw options, but isn't there a fist of Khorne formation that can get the turn 1 charge out of their drop pods for cheaper points and less hassle?
Unfortunately, like most Khorne Bezerker things this is fluffier than winter socks on the Emperor on new years day. Its awesome to look at and think up in your mind how it's going to smash stuff with attacking for free, but in scenario circumstances (what the entire game is based around) you will struggle to even pull off Red Rain.
A Round up of all 3 Core choices comes in as:
1st Place to Lost and the Damned: Cheap, cheerful and does exactly what in needs to do in competitive games and can be used for fun.
2nd place to Chaos Warband: There are some tactical builds in this formation, most versatile, but quiet a bit more cost and points taxes to consider.
3rd place to Maelstrom of Gore: Pricey to be useful, needs help to get it's job done, will struggle to actually pull off it's main formation bonus
Next I will be doing the Auxiliary formations, there are 13 to pick from so I might just dive in randomly! Thanks for reading and hopefully your Khorne souls have not been broken so much.
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