Brutal Attrition: A Fellhammer Shi…. Siege Host Tournament Report

Let’s be honest: Fellhammer and I have had a rocky relationship. It was a love/hate relationship without any love. I hated the detachment on my first read. I hated it when I played my 1 test game with it. I hated it when I did my first writeup of each detachment at Warphammer. I hated it when I went back to do an article on how my initial CSM codex takes had aged, when I looked at the data and saw it had a genuinely “impressive” 29% winrate.

But we’ve all seen those shitty romcoms where the girl takes off her glasses, shakes her hair, and the dumb guy sees her beauty and falls in love with her, right? Maybe Fellhammer was my girl who would take off her glasses and become more beautiful than I had ever imagined.

We’ve all been at a point in life where we just needed someone to take a chance on us. Someone saw something in us that we didn’t see in ourselves. They gave us an opportunity, and we took it.

It was my time to take a chance on Fellhammer, like other people had taken a chance on me.

That’s the story of how I ended up taking the Fellhammer Siege Host to an RTT after publicly calling it the worst CSM detachment I had ever seen.

Spoiler alert: I didn’t fall in love, but I fell in… not hate? I fell in less contempt? I fell into a lower level of anger than the seething rage I felt previously at this detachment’s existence? We’ll figure it out together as this article goes on.

My Fellhammer Siege Host List

My Therapist: “Plague Marines with a 5+++ Feel-No-Pain in 10th Edition Aren’t Real”

The Plague Marines with a 5+++ Feel-No-Pain in 10th Edition:

• Cypher
• Terminator Sorcerer with Warp Tracer
• 10 Cultists
• 2x Rhinos
• 2×10 Plague Marines
• 10 Warp Talons
• 3x Predator Destructors with Lascannon Sponsons
• Khorne Lord of Skulls, with the 2d6 3 damage gun and the 18″ d6 damage guns. Don’t expect me to look up the names of these similar sounding guns, you know which ones I’m talking about.
• 3 Nurglings

This list fits my philosophy on playing underpowered armies: Find what they did uniquely well, lean into that, and then bring generically good stuff to fill out the rest of the list.

Plague Marines and Rubric Marines Are Synergy Monsters in Fellhammer

The two best units in Fellhammer are the Cult Marines, specifically Plague Marines and Rubric Marines. You want to run 2 big bricks in any list. I went with Plague Marines because of points, but I think Rubric Marines are the best unit in Fellhammer. Plague Marines are just budget Rubric Marines, so I’ll talk about Rubric Marines even though I brought Plague Marines.

The stratagem to make a unit’s guns Pistols is extremely strong on Rubric Marines, since a big part of the counterplay to them is consolidating into them with other units to turn off their shooting. They are difficult to kill in shooting with a 5++ invuln and a 5+++ FNP strat and often -1 to wound, difficult to kill in melee because they have brutal overwatch, and difficult to turn off their shooting by tagging.

Most of those benefits are unique to Fellhammer, and why Rubric Marines are a top tier unit in Fellhammer.

Oh, and the other weakness of Rubric Marines? A lack of melee damage? That can also be covered up in Fellhammer because of Brutal Attrition! Charge them into multiple units and watch them take the equivalent of the Grenades stratagem over and over.

Warp Talons Are Still Really Good

Warp Talons are still very powerful in any detachment that supports them. I consider Fellhammer to be one of those detachments.

Fellhammer giving extra protection for Warp Talons versus shooting is very valuable. Chip indirect fire becomes nearly useless with -1 to wound, and you can pop an emergency 5+++ FNP if facing an army with 3″ deepstrike that can show up and shoot while you try to stage them. They can even use Brutal Attrition to finish something off if they whiff, although keep in mind you would still need a kill to jump around.

Warp Talons are still game warping in many matchups. Even if they don’t go down at all in the upcoming MFM, they’re still a very real unit and worth considering in your lists.

Reason for the Lord of Skulls

Part of my thinking was finding the largest pool of tough wounds I could bring to put the 5+++ FNP on. The Lord of Skulls ended up being the biggest disappointment in the list. He’s just too hard to move around tables, and his damage is just way too swingy. I shot him into a Rhino and did literally 0 wounds. I shot him into a Mutalith and did literally 0 wounds. I shot him into Bjorn and one-shotted him! I’m joking, of course. I did literally 0 wounds when I shot Bjorn too. I’m no longer capable of being disappointed by a Lord of Skulls, because I expect literally nothing from it.

If you have a Lord of Skulls you want to shoot, run him in Renegade Raiders, Soulforged, or World Eaters. He is a very real competitive unit in those armies. Fellhammer or anywhere else? Not so much. He might be interesting in Deceptors as something to provide real beef behind your wall of infiltrating Cultists, and he can do vicious damage in Veterans or if you bring Abaddon, but he’s too clunky to be worth the squeeze outside of those initial few armies I listed.

And even in Fellhammer, the “durable” detachment? He’s still pretty squishy! Having no defense versus melee is criminal, and you rarely get the -1 to wound.

Conceptually, big brick units like bricks of 10 Plague Marines or a Khorne Lord of Skulls that can do damage in melee are also effective in Fellhammer. They can take a punch in melee, and then survive to pop Persistent Assailants. This lets them swing back with full rerolls to Hit (or even full rerolls to Wound if they are below Half-Strength). This logic turned out to be correct, it was just that the Lord of Skulls wasn’t the right unit for this task. I never once got the chance to use Persistent Assailants on him.

If I had to do this list over again, the main change I would make is dropping the Lord of Skulls for 2 Vindicators and upgrading the Plague Marines to Rubric Marines. That means I retain access to S14 damage, I have something very durable to use the 5+++ FNP stratagem on, and I have less of my eggs in one basket.

Brutal Attrition is the Best Part of Fellhammer

Brutal Attrition is an S Tier stratagem, and the single best reason to run the detachment. If you’re not using this 2 or 3 times every game, you’re leaving a lot of value on the table.

You have be a bit careful when using it if you’re trying to tag units, so just keep that in mind. If you tag a unit to tie it up and only are in engagement range of one model, you could give them a chance to pull that model when using Brutal Attrition. Don’t autopilot when using it is all I’m saying, but I guess that applies to almost every tool in the entire game.

Round 1: Trae’s Veterans of the Long War

Trae’s List: A point-for-point rip of Liam VSL’s LGT Winning CSM List

Trae is a local legend and we always have really fun games. I (and other friends) gave him a ton of crap for always ripping other tournament winning units and lists, but that’s just part of tournaments. People are going to gravitate towards copying what worked. It’s not the way I like to play (Warphammer fans know I always beeline straight to weird stuff, not good stuff), but it’s also not fair to expect that of other people. Trae and I had a great game, and it was cool to see this VOtLW list in action.

This game made the issues with the KLOS very apparent. We were playing Tipping Point on GW Layout 1. I deployed it literally as far forward as I could. It still took two turns to reach the center objective and 3 to touch the terrain piece on his side. I could barely move up turn 1 because there was a 2″ ruin partially in the way that I couldn’t end my move on top of, so I could only use a few inches of movement and end just behind it.

Even so, despite all that, this was still winnable. The big issue was when I had a Warp Talon charge lined up on Huron’s unit with was isolated, the Warp Talons ended within 9″ of Fabius Bile’s Chosen squad. Trae used both reactive moves to move the 2 units together so the Chosen could Heroically Intervene and kill the Warp Talons after they killed Huron’s squad.

My understanding was you can only use one “Just After…” triggered rule in response to something happening because “just after” has to be immediate and the window has passed after resolving the first rule. As a result, I didn’t think of what happens if both squads move closer together, because I thought you could only ever use 1 reactive move at a time because they both have “Just After…” triggers. I didn’t think it was fair to ask for a takeback on ending within 9″ of Fabius Bile’s squad after Trae had “revealed his trap” so I didn’t, for the record.

Trae is super open with his rules, I take 100% responsibility for not checking beforehand if our area had ruled that you could use 2 “just after” triggers at the same time. Maybe I got it confused with a WTC ruling? Does anyone know what I’m talking about or did I just make up the idea of 2 “Just After…” triggers not working in response to 1 trigger?

Regardless, it was a good game that I think was actually very winnable for Fellhammer if I check ahead of time if the double reactive move is possile and don’t let the double reactive move happen. Well played by Trae, and the combination of double reactive moves is very strong and he played it well.

It was very clear to me how much more insipid Fellhammer was compared to Veterans, for the record. And I’m far from a big fan of Veterans myself.

Round 2: Nick’s Thousand Sons (W, 67-65)

Nick’s List: Ahriman, Exalted Sorcerer with Umbralefic Crystal, Infernal Master with Arcane Vortex, Magnus, Daemon Prince with Wings, 10 Rubric Marines, 2×5 Rubric Marines, 10 Tzaangors, 2×5 Scarab Terminators

Nick was a lovely opponent. He mentioned he was newer to tournaments, but he had a good innate feel for the game. Nick can definitely do well at tournaments if he puts his mind to it. Even though it was a tournament, I just love talking about Thousand Sons and showed Nick a lot of tricks they can do. For example, at some point, a few surviving Warp Talons were engaged with a unit of Scarab Terminators. Nick went to fall them back. I asked if he knew he can Doombolt into combat. He said no. I told him he has enough Cabal to Doombolt the Warp Talons dead and then Temporal Surge the Terminators, basically giving them a janky version of Fall Back and Shoot/Charge.

Fellhammer has a lot of issues playing into Thousand Sons. I think this is a completely unplayable matchup. The fact we can’t use our 5+++ FNP strat versus Doombolts and all their shooting is low/medium strength with +1 to wound and/or wound rerolls means we basically have no defensive buffs versus Thousand Sons. Thousand Sons are not the army you want to slowly walk in front of and try to tank for 5 wounds, especially when your defensive buffs don’t work. I had possibly the single worst go-turn I’ve ever had (KLOS, Predators, 2 Rubric Marine squads in melta range all shoot a Mutalith and did 3 wounds total, and then I failed 5, 5, and 6 inch charges) which was really funny, but we were able to execute our 40K fundamentals and hold on.

There was a really funny ending to this game. Nick drew Engage/Behind Enemy Lines. He was in a position that with a 6″ advance and Temporal Surge, he could get a Rubric unit wholly within my deployment zone quarter. On anything besides a 6 on his advance, the unit would not be wholly within and he would lose. He could CP reroll that advance, giving him 2 chances to roll a 6. So basically, the game came down to Nick rolling 2 dice and winning if either one is a 6, and losing if anything else happens.

I stopped him before he rolled his advance. I told him we’re both Tzeentch players, and Tzeentch would want both of us to help enact his plans. It’s boring if Nick just rolls the advance roll twice. It’s much more fun if we each roll one of Nick’s dice simultaneously, and see at the same time if either dice is a 6. Nick was there to have fun, and was totally down with that plan.

We each grab one of his blue dice, give them a good shake, agree to roll, I ask Tzeentch to give this man a 6, and….

We both rolled exactly 1’s that landed right next to each other.

You’re probably thinking Tzeentch screwed Nick over, right? WRONG! Your tiny, faithless brain is just not smart enough to comprehend the full scale of Tzeentch’s plans.

Because Nick lost this game, he got a good matchup round 3 and got the win. I also got the win round 3. If Nick wins, its possible that he loses round 3 and I lose round 3. Once Nick and I both lost round 1 and got paired round 2, the maximum number of wins the two of us could collectively has is 3 wins. Nick losing resulted us in both winning round 3, which got the Tzeentch players in the room 3 wins, which is the maximum number of wins possible from that point in the tournament.

Tzeentch didn’t betray Nick, he was just watching out for his own plans and trying to get the most wins for the Tzeentch fans there instead of one specific Tzeentch player. That’s why he made us roll exactly double 1’s. He was sending us a message that he’s watching, and would take care of both of us next round.

Tzeentch works in mysterious ways.

On a related note, I can’t imagine playing a non-Chaos army and not being able to make up fun narratives for your games like this. Chaos players just have more fun.

Round 3: Tim’s Champions of Russ (W, 100-45)

Tim’s List: Bjorn, Lieutenant, Murderfang, Ragnar Blackmane, Techmarine, 2x Wolf Guard Battle Leader on Thunderwolf, Wolf Lord of Thunderwolf (Black Death), Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf (Wolf Tail Talisman), 5 Assault Intercessors, 5 Intercessors, 3x Aggressors, 3x Bladeguard, 3x Bladeguard, 2×3 Inceptors, 5 Hellblasters, 2x Thunderwolf Cavalry

Tim is a very nice guy, and we had a relaxed game. The funniest part of this game was Tim’s dice absolutely loved me and hated him. There was a funny point where he gave me 6 saves to take, I just grabbed his dice in the tray to save time, and rolled 6/6 5+s. Tim, if you want to find those dice a new home, I’ll happily buy them off of you!

The most interesting thing I want to talk about from a competitive perspective was dealing with units that make “bloodsurge” moves when shot, including moving into engagment range. This is one of the trickiest part about dealing with units of Thunderwolves led by a Wolfyman on Wolfywolf. You have to be careful of them bloodsurging into a non-Monster/Vehicle unit and not being eligible to be shot anymore, or bloodsurging into melee units to fight befoer you. Basically, to deal with units with “bloodsurge” moves like these Thunderwolves, Accursed Cultists, Berzerkers, etc, I have a gameplan that abuses the fact they can only bloodsurge into engagement range of the closest enemy unit.

I line up a unit to shoot them from far away (call it Shooter 1), I line up a shooting unit that can shoot into combat X inches away from the Thunderwolves (call it Shooter 2), and a melee unit X.1 inches away from the Thunderwolves (call this Melee 1). The plan is to activate Shooter 1 first, damaging them before they bloodsurge into Shooter 2. Shooter 2 can shoot into melee, so they do some more damage. Melee 1 then charges in, fights first, and finishes them off. You don’t have to worry about back models in their unit bloodsurging into Melee 1 when shot by Shooter 2 because the “closest enemy unit” checks are always on a unit basis, not a model basis. Because their unit is 1″ or less away from Shooter 2 and by definition >1″ away from Melee 1, your melee unit is protected by a rules forcefield from their bloodsurge and you retain the ability to charge and fight before them.

Be aware that they can counter this strat by pulling models when your first shooting activates in a way that changes who the closest unit is, potentially letting them bloodsurge into a different unit and ruining your plan. This is a very big issue if Shooter 2 and Melee 1 are approaching their unit from different sides. I’ve thought about this and have a few ways to counter the high level counter.

If there is a character model on the outside of the unit, position Shooter 2 and Melee 1 so that the Character model is the closest model. They can never pull the Character model so “closest enemy unit” eligibility will never change. The other option is to set up so that only 1 model in their unit is within 7″ of Melee 1, and that model is closer to Shooter 2. Even if they pull the closest model, they won’t be within 7″ of your melee unit. The third option is to set up a situation where Melee 1 is behind a gun barrel of Shooter 2 or something so that Melee 1 is further from every model in their unit than Shooter 2, but that’s a lot more situational.

And lastly, the single most important part about dealing with bloodsurge units: Do not shoot them with chip damage. I had my KLOS’s Skullhurler aimed at a unit of Thunderwolves turn 1. I didn’t take the shot because there was a high chance I got scammed without rerolls and their 4++ invulns and I didn’t want to give them up to 6″ extra movement when I had placed a few units 0.1″ outside of their threat range.

Coaching and Patreon

Quick plug time! I had to put up with playing Fellhammer, so you have to put up with this. Please give it a read before you leave.

Last article, I mentioned resetting the Warphammer Patreon and coaching process to restart with much better organization. That’s going off to a great start! I feel really good about things. I did quality lists and writeups for the 2 people who signed up at the $10/$20 tiers since last time, I’ve added 1 Daemons coaching client, and I’m in talks with one more person. I’ll cut off access in the future if it ever gets overwhelming again, but I’ve really enjoyed getting to help people 1-on-1 again and would love to add a few more people.

If you’re interested in a monthly list (including a writeup on how to play it) while supporting Warphammer, hop on over to the Warphammer Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/Warphammer) and sign up at the $10/$20 tiers and then message me on discord or shoot me an email so I can talk to you and find out what you’re looking for. If you just want to show your support of Warphammer because you find it neat, there are some low tiers available and those are still greatly appreciated. And just a reminder, the Warphammer discord is always going to be free, and my favorite 40K community I’ve ever found. Feel free to join today: https://discord.gg/2fZ9UMeM

If you’re interested in greatly accelerating your game with Daemons or CSM and are interested in personalized 1-on-1 coaching, feel free to reach out to me on Discord at Mike_All_in or email at WarphammerOfficial@gmail.com. The coaching I do is focused on improving your decision making and making you more confident navigating tough situations, not just telling you what to do and giving you copy-paste advice, so you grow as a player in both the short term and long term.

Final Thoughts

I feel extremely strong with Daemons and my normal Chaos Space Marines in Pariah Nexus, but it was really fun to try a new wait to play CSM as we wait for the MFM. No matter how mediocre the detachment itself is, waging the Long War is always fun.

As always, have fun, stay safe, and may the Dark Gods bless your rolls!