Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Emperor's Nightmares

Why Play Emperor's Nightmares

Do you like the idea of playing Sleep Disorder Marines? Balls-out Drop Pod assaults mixed with stealthy elements capable of penetrating the enemy's weak points for massive damage? How about unleashing dozens of insomniac maniacs onto your unsuspecting foe? Do you have a fetish for Dreadnoughts, being able to field them in literally every slot?

Ca/tg/irls and Elegan/tg/entlemen, I give you The Emperor's Nightmares. A /tg/ homebrew chapter, they have managed to escape Ward's Taint by the virtue of /tg/ getting shit done. Their Companies are split between Dawn, focusing on blistering assaults and balls-out firepower, and Dusk, which excels at infiltration and stealth. The split between the two makes the Nightmares a fascinating army, winding up something between Black Templars and the Raven Guard. Straddling the line between Dusk and Dawn are the Dreadnoughts, ranging from typical Dreads to Ironclad, Hellfire, and Apothecary Dreads. For the days when you only feel like running at shit, unleash the Sleepless, maniacal warriors driven to insanity by their lack of sleep.

Unit Analysis

This obviously isn't finished yet, but if you want to jump in and start editing, go right ahead. Get some shit done.

HQ

• Isidore Demeter

The Adjustant of the Dawn, Isidore is a jump pack commander for those who really like getting stuck in. He makes Assault Marines troops slots, has a Chapter Tactics rule granting Furious Charge, has four wounds, and strikes at S6. Costs almost as much as a Land Raider, but worth it if you have a fetish for Assault Marines. He also lets you take an Honor Guard, which is better with Isidore because they're in Terminator Armor, more suited to the Dawn's brute-force tactics. However, Isidore has a jump pack, meaning they'll slow him down, but they can act as ablative wounds. And since he can't leave them, this is a pretty big drawback.

• Eloyes Galen

Isidore's opposite, the Keeper of Dusk, a good choice for you sneaky motherfuckers. He makes Nightkin troops choices, grants Scout instead of combat tactics, and has a poisoned 3+ Darkfire(negates effects of night fighting) heavy 3/rapid fire sniper rifle that's AP2. Try saying that all in one go. He lets you take an Honor Guard, but since he's more typically an infiltrator and Honor Guards are typically CC, why the fuck would you want a dedicated shooting leader attacking in close quarters? Well, maybe if you want Scouting Terminators.

• Thureos, the 46th Terminator

Holy shit, this guy is badass. WS7, four wounds, Eternal Warrior, strikes with his chainfist(!) at initiative EIGHT(!), he penalises leadership by -1 if within 6", and by -2 if he's in base to base contact. The catch? At 350 Euros he costs more than a Land Raider or a small squad of Terminators. Also, his allies have a chance of shooting him if they're within a foot. Whoops. He can also gain free attacks by killing your dudes but what the fuck would you do that for?

• Taheton Hector

Captain of the Second Company, Taheton has a teleport homer and allows drop-podding troops within 6" of him to shoot twice. Not bad. If he dies, a pie plate gets dropped on his position and HAS to scatter, making him a double-edged sword. He also does some rerollable shit with reserves once a game. Good for a turn-2 alphastrike.

• Leander Nyseos

The second-cheapest special character, Leander is butthurt about Sleepless and won't let them attend his parties. How rude. However, he makes any weapons he uses Pinning if attacking at night or outside of 12". Not bad. He also PERMITS(!) you to trade Combat Tactics for Infiltrate. Note that it says "May", not "Must."

• Supreme Dreamwalker Theodore Dymas

NOW we're talking! Casting three psychic powers per turn, he may/should give up one of these powers to grant the unit he has joined an invulnerable save equal to their cover or armor save. Bolter Bitches and Stormshields, you no longer have a monopoly on 3++. He also grants his unit Preferred Enemy, and grenades the guy who took his last wound, if in close combat. Sensing a trend?

• Honoured Brother Tibalt

This guy's a little like a Wraithlord. Has a pair of psychic powers, can ignore Stealth and Night Shields, never has to roll for night-fighting, and has preferred enemy against ICs and MCs. Unless he rolls a 1, in which case his new name is Hated Brother Derpy. Good if you have a Dread fetish.

• Chief Apothecary Eidelan

A two-wound granter of Feel No Pain, he can force a dangerous terrain check to remove the Sleepless' rage for a turn. He also inflicts a leadership penalty on those charged by sleepless. Cheapest HQ at 120 teef, he's good for a Sleepless army.

• The Wings of Rain

A unique Predator, has a couple modes of fire, and is pretty killy with all of them. Costs more than a Land Raider, but makes an interesting choice.

• Honor Guard

It's...an honor guard of Terminators, usable with either Adjutant. Usual options of heavy flamer, cyclone missile launcher, or assault cannon. Five guys max, plus a champion with a power sword. Stick 'em in a drop pod and aim them at enemy lines.

• Captain

A typical Space Marine Captain with a handful of exceptions. First being Signs of the Sleepless: Good for a beatstick, don't take it with a powerfist. He can take hellfire rounds and a sniper rifle, and can use hellfire rounds with his sniper rifle. Hitting on a 2+ and wounding on a 2+ is fine, except for the fact that it's one shot per round. Whoop de fucking do, right? Until you take the Secundus upgrade. Gets Stealth, Infiltrate, Darkfire(flare) rounds, and the sniper rifle becomes heavy 2 AP 3. Popping MEQ and Monstrous Critters at a distance is now easy, and he can bring a relic blade in case of close combat. Alternately, take Terminator armor and a heavy flamer or assault cannon, in case you don't have enough mid-range firepower. TL;DR, standard Captain who has the option to take special weapons.

• Company Command Squad

It's a bog-standard command squad. They get two demo charges if you take Nyseos or the Secundus upgrade, and they can take sniper rifles. Not really worth it, since these bad boys aren't AP3.

• Librarian

A Librarian with any two powers, and can take a unique cover-improving power, or can take a unique mindfuck power. Aside from that, not much different, but taking the Secundus upgrade gives him stealth and requires him to take Blackest Night. Stacking Stealth and Blackest Night gives either a 4+ in the open, or an effective improvement of 2. Use a Techmarine and Librarian with Stealth to give the Librarian's unit a 2+ cover save from a 5+.

• August Dreamwalker in Iron

Dreadnought-psykers are the best way to take Dreads in every slot. They pick powers as normal, and can use two per turn. Beware, as these guys are a high-priority target.

• Chaplain

Not much has changed these guys, except for the fact that they can't join Secundus units, seeing as sneaking up on the Emprah's foes is for pussies. Give him Signs of the Sleepless, because he's Fearless and thus cares not about Leadership tests and extra attacks/init are good. Surprisingly cheap and very effective.

• Terminator Command Squad

It's a Command Squad in Terminator armor. PLOT TWIST! Since they max out at 6 guys including the leader, you can use the Among Equals special rule to split them into fireteams of 3, effectively letting you fire the leader's assault cannon and cyclone missile launcher(you took them, right?) AND the Terminator's missile launcher at different targets.

• Master of the Forge

The only distinction is that it can be upgraded to always hit Dreadnought-equivalents on a 4+ and to grant its unit Tank Hunters against some of the enemy's vehicles. Also a good way for dreadnought saturation: Each Master of the Forge or Techmarine lets you field an Icelus as troops, and lets Dreadnoughts be taken in the Heavy Support slot. If Monstrous Creatures can capture objectives, an Icelus with no heavy weapons can easily assault 18 inches into cover, shred the enemies on the objective, and claim it next turn.

Elites

• Primus Terminator Squad

These guys max out at 5 Terminators, but Among Equals means that they can split and rejoin other Terminator squads. Or at least, could if you could take more than one Primus Terminator squad. It can work with a Terminator Command Squad or Honor Guard.

• Night Owl Bulwark Squad

These guys are the Sternguards of the Nightmares. They get two heavy weapons regardless of squad size, but with Special Ammunition, it's a bit of a trade-off. Combi-weapons are best here, preferably anti-tank weapons as Dragonfire rounds ignore cover and thus make Flamers less attractive. Notably, a Darkfire Flare Rifle, if it hits the target, will let the rest of the squad re-roll missed hits. This is significant.

• Secundus Nightkin

A touch expensive at 20 schmuckers a pop, these guys infiltrate and use sniper rifles exclusively. At BS5, they'll almost always hit, so a darkfire flare rifle isn't as useful. One special or heavy weapon per five-man team, and two can have demo-charges. Significantly, they can take hellfire rounds for 30 points per model, making them hit and wound on a 2+. What's the catch, you might ask? It's an AP6 weapon. Not precisely inspiring. Lastly, they have special snowflake stances making them either A: Slow and Purposeful, B: Have defensive grenades, C: Move Through Cover, or D: Immediately go to ground, yet retain the ability to shoot, albeit at BS3. This is where a darkfire flare rifle comes in handy, a 50/50 shot of rerolling your 50/50 other shots? Not terrible. Note that Galen makes these guys Troops, which is pretty cool.

• Dreadnoughts

A typical Dreadnought, until you upgrade it to Veteran. A Primus Dread gets resilience against stuns/shaking and fleet, Secundus gets Stealth and a Darkfire Flare Rifle, Night Owls gain Tank Hunter and +6" range. If you take this, USE THE DAMN MELTA RULE. Last but not least, an Apothecary dread gives a unit within 3" Feel No Pain. This is pretty cool.

• Ironclad Dreadnought

It's a bog-standard Ironclad dread. Move along, citizen.

• Walking Dead Dreadnought

It's a Dreadnought that went insane from lack of sleep. Considering I'm awake at 2 AM writing this, I can sympathise. Immune to stun, can take a heavy flamer, fleet, furious charge, and can take lightning claws. Drop pod it into enemy lines and declare with utter solemnity that forsooth, the Rape Train Got No Brakes.

• Techmarine

For some reason, you can upgrade Techmarines to non-HQ-slot Masters of the Forge. Why this was a good idea is beyond me, but you can do it. It's about the same as a regular Master of the Forge, including the ability to take one Icelus Dreadnought as troops per Techmarine. They CAN take Servitors, but why you would do so is beyond me.

Troops

• Tactical Squad

It's still a fucking tactical squad. They take objectives, don't take more than two, tops, because everything else is frankly better. A Secundus character will have stealth, and therefore can grant stealth to these guys, giving them better survivability. Take a ten-man squad with a plasma gun, a lascannon, and a Techmarine with a plasma gun and Prophetic Schematics. Sit in the back field and hunt tanks.

• Scout Squad

The only real change is the ability to upgrade them to Secundus Operatives, giving them WS/BS4 and a 3+ save. May or may not be worth it.

• Sleepless

They Rage, they're Fearless, they charge furiously, and every last one of them can use a thunder hammer. That's right, no limit to special weapons. At 20 bits each, though, you really don't want to do that. They can have Jump Packs, but this shit gets expensive like a bitchy girlfriend. If they don't have a character with them, they can go nuts. This is rather bad. Often accompanied by...

• Phobetor Dreadnought

First off, dreadnoughts as troops? Fuck yeah. Second off, they grant a single unit within 3" FNP. If possible, it has to be sleepless. He gives +1 LD to Sleepless if near them, also, and has to stay within coherence of them even though he's not in their unit, or else move to join them. (WTF mate.) Can get pissy if his charges get killed.

Fast Attack

• Icelus Dreadnought

The Icelus is the iconic dreadnought for the Emperor's Nightmares, it can kill just about any sort of target. With the default loadout, it can plink with a sniper rifle, then wade in with six attacks on the charge that reroll wounds. Also, since it counts as a monstrous creature and has Furious Charge by default, it will have an average penetration roll of 13. It can take a variety of heavier weapons in order to lose its Nimble rules, a tradeoff acceptable for some. A Relic Blade or Thunder Hammer/Stormshield can be quite effective, spelling near-instant death for characters and tanks alike. Notably, for each Techmarine you take, one Icelus Dreadnought counts as troops. Typically, an Icelus can move 11" a turn, possibly charging 18", seeing as it can reroll the Fleet dice. Considering you can infiltrate 12" away, this puts you in easy charge range, even with cover. To add to the rapetrain nature of the Iceluses, taking 2 Masters of the Forge and 3 Techmarines can mean that you can have a grand total of 8 Icelus Dreadnoughts. This is an incredibly potent alphastrike, the downside being that the T4(6)[Fuck that noise, 6e means it's T6 straight] nature of an Icelus means they're walking missile/powerfist bait. TL;DR, Icelus Dreads are useful for nearly everything.