Unit Analysis: Hellblasters

 Hellblasters are a unit that are near and dear to we First Legion players. Weapons Of The Dark Age was a stratagem that let us spike the damage on plasma weapons in a way that was the envy of players of other, lesser legions. Sadly, WotDA didn't make it into the 10th edition Index, but the legacy of 2 editions with WotDA as one of our key strats is that we have an abundance of plasma-toting warriors in our collections. Hence, we're going to see what we can get out of our plasma incinerator toting boys.

Hellblasters have the standard Primaris Marine statline - 6" move, T4, W2, 3+ save, OC 1. The draw to using them is their main weapon, the plasma incinerator. They have a 24" range, 2 shots, the Assault and Heavy keywords, S7 AP-2 D1 when firing on normal mode, and S8 AP-3 D2 with Hazardous on supercharged mode. This alone means a unit of 10 Hellblasters can potentially do 40 damage in one Shooting Phase. But wait, there's more! They also have the For The Emperor! rule, triggering whenever one dies, which on a 3+ roll allows them to shoot one last time before being removed from the table. This can allow out-of-sequence shooting, and it also triggers when a Hellblaster dies from the Hazardous rule. Also note there are no restrictions on what the dying Hellblaster is allowed to shoot at. There isn't even a restriction preventing it from triggering when the unit is Engaged, but in those circumstances I'm assuming they can only fire pistols at a unit they are Engaged with - they do all carry bolt pistols, so don't sleep on this option for some chip damage.

Speaking of assault, Hellblasters are nothing to write home about, but they're not terrible either. They do have 3 close combat attacks each, so while I wouldn't expect them to pick up Angron by themselves, they'd probably be able to pick up a chaff unit, and with some overlapping character benefits they may even surprise you.

The damage output and longevity of Hellblasters can be enhanced by attaching characters to them. As this is a blog entry about playing Dark Angels, I'm going to start with the elephant in the room - Azrael. It's not going to take long for anyone playing Dark Angels in 10th edition to realize Azrael and Hellblasters go together like chocolate and peanut butter in a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Azrael grants his unit both Sustained Hits 1 and a unit-wide 4++ save, not to mention an additional CP in our Command Phases and his not-inconsiderable melee potential. Heck, his shooting profile is even identical to a an overcharged plasma incinerator, just without the Hazardous rule and hitting on 2's. All that for only 100 points? Yes, please! 

It's also worth noting that Azrael confers Sustained Hits regardless of which detachment we play. It's possible to get Sustained Hits for the plasma incinerators a little cheaper on another character, but that requires one to play a Gladius and buy the Fire Discipline upgrade. If we want to give Sustained Hits to Hellblasters outside of the Gladius, it's pretty much Azrael or nothing. 

After Azrael, the best character to attach to Hellblasters is (in my opinion) a Lieutenant. The Lieutenant confers 2 important abilities on the Hellblasters. First, he brings Lethal Hits to the table. Wounding automatically on critical hits makes the damage output more reliable. Second, he makes his attached unit eligible to shoot and charge after falling back. Opponents are going to be looking to tie up the Hellblasters in melee if they can't kill them outright, and this keeps the Hellblasters free to act. Very useful in any detachment, but particularly so if we don't happen to be playing a Gladius. Plus we can kit up the Lieutenant with some good close combat weapons, making the overall package more of a threat in assault.

Apothecaries seem to be a popular character to attach to a Hellblasters squad, and I can definitely see why. The idea of being able to bring back dead squad members is very appealing, especially as we're likely to lose members of the squad to the Hazardous rule. Realistically though, if they're on the table and an opponent really wants to make them go away, they're going to go away in 1 turn, so I'm not bullish on the prospect of any members of the squad being left by our Command phase when the Apothecary can revive one. Plus, attaching an Apothecary to the squad comes at the opportunity cost of not being able to attach a Lieutenant, and the Apothecary doesn't add much to the overall damage of the unit, either in shooting or assault.

If for some reason we don't want to use Azrael, we can attach a Captain to our Hellblasters. A Captain is just kind of a worse version of Azrael. He lets us use 1 stratagem a battle round for free, which is great, but it's limited to Battle Tactic strats, whereas the CP Azrael grants every round can be used on anything. The Captain is objectively worse than Azrael in both shooting and assault (barring possibly the turn in which his Finest Hour ability is triggered), and he doesn't do anything to enhance the longevity of his attached squad. He also doesn't do anything to enhance the damage output of the squad, unless we buy Fire Discipline for him, and then he costs more than Azrael.

A budget option for enhancing the durability of Hellblasters is a Librarian. Like Azrael, he confers a 4++ on the squad he joins, and a strong argument can be made that his shooting output is better than Azrael. However, he's objectively worse in assault, he's a lot less durable when he's on his own, he doesn't generate CP, and doesn't enhance the squad's damage output unless you buy the Fire Discipline upgrade for him, in which case you might as well just pay 5 points more and buy Azrael, unless you're really concerned about protecting your squad from psychic attacks.

I'm going to lump the remaining characters that can join Hellblasters, Chaplains and Ancients, under the Also Ran category. We can attach them to Hellblasters, but they don't really do much for them, so I don't see why we would.

Hellblasters being a high damage output unit, they're going to be a high priority target for opponents to get rid of, which is a bit of a problem, because even with a 4++, they're still only T4 W2 models - not that hard to pick up. That means we have to put some thought into how we're going to get them onto target.

The first delivery option is simply having them run into position. This does have some advantages. We're not spending any extra points on the delivery system, for one. Plasma incinerators do have the Assault keyword, so we can advance and shoot with Hellblasters, which makes running them into position a bit more viable. The downside is they are potentially exposed to your opponent's shooting from Turn 1. If we're using them on foot, we have to try and keep them out of line of sight until we can get them close enough to the targets we want to engage with them, and they're exposed to whatever indirect fire our opponents have. I played against an opponent using Azrael+Hellblasters on foot with a list packing 3 Whirlwinds. Even with Azrael conferring his 4++ to the squad, the Hellblasters did not last past the 1rst turn.

Another option is to put the unit in Strategic Reserve. This also doesn't cost any extra points, it keeps them safe from opponent's shooting, and they can be further up the table when we bring them out of Reserve. The downsides are terrain and deployment maps. Terrain will have an obvious impact on what we can draw LOS on from the table edges, and 10th edition tables tend to have a lot of LOS blocking terrain on them. Also, some maps are better for popping units out of Strategic Reserve on the table edges than others. Crucilble of Battle, Hammer and Anvil, and Sweeping Engagement give us the long table edges to come in from, so absent LOS blocking terrain we can bring Hellblasters in from Strategic Reserve and have their plasma incinerators reach almost all the way across the table. Dawn of War and Sweeping Engagement, on the other hand, are not as useful, with the neutral -  table edges being the short ones, so enemy units are a lot more likely to be out of reach of their guns. We can wait till the 3rd turn to pop them out of any table edge, but we're still restricted from bringing them in within 9" of an enemy unit, which may prevent us from optimal placement. Finally, there's the opportunity cost of putting 350+ points in Strategic Reserve - we won't be able to place much else in Strategic Reserve. Inceptors in SR are a valuable resource for scoring objective points, but Azrael+10 Hellblasters in SR doesn't leave a lot of points for the Inceptors.

We can use drop pods as a delivery vehicle for Hellblasters. Pods have the advantage of being able to set up anywhere on the table with the usual restriction zones, but being super-close is less important when the unit's threat range is 24". This ensures that at least one round of shooting will take place with favorable angles, and opponents will not be likely to be able to do significant damage to the Hellblasters before they can light up their target. Drop pods even have an OC value, so if you can plop one on an objective, you manufacture a problem for your opponent. The downsides of drop pods is they are a little pricey, they are immobile once they arrive, and they can only carry 10 models. So, if we want a character to join our Hellblasters, we have to leave at least 1 out of the squad to accommodate the boss, but we're still paying for that lonely 10th Hellblaster who is riding the pine that game. Mind you, it might be worth benching a Hellblaster to include a Lieutenant with Fire Discipline in a pod with the squad.

I'm going to briefly touch on the Stormraven. The Stormraven has a 12-model transport capacity. However, the Aircraft rules state "Only units that are themselves placed into Reserves can start the battle embarked within Aircraft Transport models that are in Reserves." In a Strike Force mission, we are limited to a maximum of 500 points in Reserves. The Stormraven is 240 points all by itself. A full unit of 10 Hellblasters is 250 points. We can put a 10-man unit of Hellblasters in a Stormraven, but that maxes the capacity of Strategic Reserve. We can't also include any support characters to buff their damage output or survivability. The Stormraven does have a Hover mode, so we could have it start on the table with the full loadout of Hellblasters+characters, but then we're basically gambling on going first, because a T10 3+ save vehicle we can't hide full of Hellblasters is going to be our opponent's primary target.

That leaves us with ground vehicles. The options are Impulsors, Repulsor Executioners,, Repulsors, and Land Raiders. Impulsors are a nice little option for 5-man squads of Hellblasters because the whole squad can shoot from inside the vehicle. With a 12" move it's fairly fast, and we can put a nice assortment of guns on the thing for spritzing chaff or getting chip damage on bigger targets. It even has room for a character to ride with the squad. The only downside to them is they can't fit a 10-man squad. 

Repulsor Executioners are a gun tank with a modest transport capacity. One would probably prefer to prioritize their shooting rather than their transport ability. That said, a case can be made for a small squad of Hellblasters in an Executioner in a Firestorm Assault Force to exploit the Burning Vengeance strat for out-of-sequence disembarkation and shooting.

The Repulsor is one of the few transports that can take a full squad of 10 Hellblasters and attached characters. There are a lot of advantages to a Repulsor. It has a pretty respectable suite of guns, it's one of the toughest vehicles in our codex, and you can use its Emergency Combat Embarkation rule to deny opponents charges on the Hellblasters. I honestly went into this post thinking Land Raiders were a superior option for transporting Hellblasters, but the ECE rule has me rethinking that opinion. Repulsors are also a little cheaper than Land Raiders, with their sub-200 points value.

Finally, there are Land Raiders. I'm pleased that, after 6 editions and about 20 years of Land Raiders being overpriced trash, they're finally a legitimate competitive choice. All the variants have the capacity to carry a full squad of 10 Hellblasters and 2 attached characters. Land Raiders are also one of the toughest things native to our army we can field, possibly only surpassed by Lion El'Jonson himself. Opponents will really have to work to crack a Land Raider to get at the Hellblasters inside, and the Land Raiders themselves have potent offense in their own right. Finally, there's the Assault Ramp rule, making a unit that disembarked from the Land Raider after it moved eligible to charge. That's not so exciting for the Hellblasters themselves, but the characters we attach to them may appreciate the opportunity to get stuck in on their terms. Conventional wisdom holds that Redeemers are the best choice, and with the Overwatch potential of a pair of Flamestorm Cannons it's easy to see why. Still, it's hard to go too far wrong with the standard Land Raider's 4 lascannon shots, and the Crusader can put out a ferocious amount of crowd-clearing shots.

I want to take a moment to talk about Detachments. A case can be made for any of the Detachments we  can use. Some are definitely better than others. Since I've been comprehensive about this analysis thus far, I'm going to give each Detachment a litttle attention in turn. What I am going to do is limit my comments to just what is relevant to using Hellblasters.

Let's start with our native Detachment, the Unforgiven Strike Force. Objectively, the Unforgiven Strike Force is the worst detachment we have available to us. BUT, if we can contrive to make the Unforgiven Fury strat trigger, we can really spike Hellblasters' damage output, particularly if they have a character giving them Sustained Hits attached. However, it should be noted that it's hard to rely on having a Battle Shocked unit on the table to let us trigger Unforgiven Fury. We might also use small squads of Hellblasters and fish for Hazardous casualties so we can contrive to make our own units Battle Shocked to trigger Unforgiven Fury on a different unit - say a big brick of Deathwing Knights.

Next, let me touch on the Gladius Task Force. The Gladius is the best detachment to use if we're playing an all-arounder force, and there are advantages to putting our Hellblasters in one. If, for some reason, we don't want to use Azrael, we can give the Fire Discipline strat to a character. The one upside to using Fire Discipline on a generic character instead of using Azrael is that in Devastator Doctrine Sustained Hits procs on 5+. That honestly might be enough of a reason to use, say a Fire Discipline Librarian instead of Azrael. Absent that particular combo, Storm of Fire and Squad Tactics have definite applications for moving our Hellblasters into position and making their shooting hit home, and Adaptive Strategy can be used to put them in the Combat Doctrine we most want them to be in, and Combat Doctrines grant a lot of flexibility.

I think perhaps THE most obvious Detachment to put Hellblasters (particularly if you are meching them up) in is a Firestorm Assault Force. The Detachment's Close Range Eradication rule is of obvious benefit to a unit with mid-strength shooting like Hellblasters, and using various strats, we can add +1 to hit, +1 to wound, out-of-sequence disembarkation and shooting, and out-of-sequence embarkation. There isn't an Enhancement that screams Hellblasters per se, but Champions of Humanity and Forged In Battle have obvious applications. My Hellblasters are in a Firestorm, riding in style in a Land Raider.

There's potentially some play in the Anvil Siege Force. If we can contrive to have a round of shooting with the Hellblasters without having to move them first, the Shield of the Imperium rule will grant +1 to wound rolls. The Architect of War enhancement granting Ignores Cover is an obvious value add, and Stoic Defender can make the squad a little harder to pick up. For Strats, Rigid Discipline can let us make an out-of-sequence Fall Back move if our unit is wthin 6" of an Objective our our Deployment Zone, No Threat Too Great grants rerolls on To Wound rolls vs Monsters and Vehicles, Battle Drill Recall can grant Sustained Hits if we're not using Azrael (and make then proc on 5+ if the unit Remained Stationary the turn it's used), and Hail of Vengeance can allow out-of-sequence shooting. A lot of the advantages of the Anvil Siege Force are conditional on not moving units, so it's not my cup of tea, but there is some potential there.

One wouldn't think there's much play for Hellblasters in the Ironstorm Spearhead, but surprisingly there is. For starters, the Armored Wrath detachment rule benefits any unit in the army, not just Vehicle units. We can also stick small units of Hellblasters in Impulsors and use their Firing Deck rule to have their shooting count as coming from the Impulsor, which can then be buffed by the Detachment's various Enhancements and Strats as appropriate. I'm not saying it's the best way to use Hellblasters, or even a good way, just that it's an option.

The Stormlance Task Force is not a very good Detachment for enhancing Hellblasters. The Detachemnt rule is only of very marginal benefit to Hellblasters. However, if for some reason you want to have Hellblasters in a Stormlance, the Feinting Withdrawal enhancement grants shooting after a Fall Back move, Blitzing Fusillade will grant Hellblasters Sustained Hits 1, and Wind Swift Evasion can be used to grant some movement shenanigans.

The Vanguard Spearhead isn't the best Detachment for Hellblasters, but it's not the worst either. The Detachment Rule Shadow Masters is a straight up durability buff to all units in the army. The Enhancement The Blade Driven Deep allows us to potentially Infiltrate with a unit of Hellblasters (though I can think of better units for that Enhancement), and Strike From The Shadows can be used to buff their shooting. 

In a case of saving the worst for last, about the last Detachment we want to put Hellblasters in is the 1rst Company Task Force. All of the Stratagems (except Armor of Contempt) are keyworded to Terminators, Bladeguard, Sternguard, and/or Vanguard Vets, and none of the Enhancements really do much for them either. About the best can be said about this Detachment is that the Detachment rule benefits the whole army on the turn it's triggered.

If I had to rate the Detachments based on how much benefit Hellblasters can get out of them, I'd put the Firestorm on top. My 2nd place choice is the Gladius. From there, it's a little less clear to me. Probably the Vanguard is the next best choice, though cases can be made for the Ironstorm and the Anvil Siege Force. I'll just lump those three together as contenders for 3rd place. My second-to-last pick is the Unforgiven Task Force, because the Detachment rule is weak and the Strats are too contingent on having Battleshocked units. Dead last, the 1rst Company Task Force, which by design is of not much benefit to non-veteran units.

If you've made it this far, thank you for getting all the way through this analysis. It wound up being much more work than I thought it would be, but I can honestly say I did the best job I could. I hope you find it of some benefit in your list-building efforts.