Brilliant idea, or retarded gimmick? Psychic tricks for IG

So, with my memory being spotty these days, this blog might help me keep track of my genius moments when I figure out something that seems really cool.

So, Im really enamored with the new IG Psyker Battle Squads. Cool conversion possibilities, and a ordanance blast attack were what caught me at first. Then I started thinkin about Weaken Resolve- and alone its just, meh. But, in combo with other stuff...its pretty uber.

My first thoughts of it- were direct IG related stuff. Snipper and barrage pinning. Lets face it- with a Ld of 2 a squad is probly gonna piss its pants off a single pinning casualty. Might make a unit or two of cheap mortars worth taking- still better than ratlings.

But, pinning isnt good enough for lil ole me. So I carried it over to the joys of Tank Shocking- which can be useful for breakin squads, or making them move into lil bunches for template stuff. But, that wont work- WR its used in the shooting phase, and thats after the Movement Phase. Bummer really.

So, I had an epiphany, and a pretty good one. Callidus assassin. This is a good unit as is, Word in your ear to shuffle an opponents unit out of cover at the game start, Phase sword to ignore pesky Invulnerable saves. But, its the Neural Shredder and Polymorphine Im lookin at. the NS treats the enemy models LD as their toughness, and its S8 vs that. So, Hittin the unit with Weaken Resolve, dropping their Ld to 4 or less, means you have an AP1 flamer, wounding on a 2+ and instant killing anything it wounds. With polymorphine letting the assassin pop up anywhere without deviating- its a very surgical sort of strike- that could be devastating against things like Nob bikers, plague marines, or a Hive Tyrant with a full unit of guard. Any non fearless unit (like the Nobs) will likely take more than 50% casualties and flee off the table unless they have something that might rally them once the WR wears off.

Now, to take an assassin, you gotta take an Inquisitor. No biggie, an =][= with mystic side kicks is common fare. But takin a cheap Inq and an assassin wont work using WH allies, so its gotta be an Inq Lord as an HQ slot- which actually is better. Heres why:

A reg Inq has a Ld of 8, so is pretty useless with a psychic hood. An Inq Lord can take Purgatus- and has a good shot at reducing any opponents IC psykers Ld by3 pts for the rest of the game. Which means any other psyker is probly gonna be neutered totally by the Inq psychic hood.

The next trick is a second psychic power that was pretty lame in 4th ed. Divine Pronouncement. Heres where the PBS tag team comes into play. Say hi to the new Lash for the Imperium. DP makes the target squad roll a Ld check as though they just took 25% casualties. Further- for every pt if Ld the target unit is lower than the Inq, that diffference is a penalty to their roll. So, even if your PBS has taken some losses from Warp perils, just droppin a target units ld to 6 will have them needing a 2(auto success anyway) vs a Ld 10 Divine Pronouncement. It doesnt work on fearless units though. But, could still be useful for runnin off squads that cant rally off objectives, and using it on the last turn to break a squad for an extra KP (fleeing units count as destroyed correct?)

And my last bit of insight. I got this idea lookin at some Ard Boyz battle reps. An IG player lost the tourney because of a drawn game because of being one objective short. A squad of CSMs with double flamers had cleaned his infantry off an objective. Only thing near it was 2 armored Las cannon senitnels, with 2 turns left he sat there and shot at the CSMs with it. 7 CSMs,in 4+ cover, 4 lascanon shots. Not gonna happen. He had a PBS with LOS to this 7 CSM squad, a soulstorm shot wouldnt be likely to kill all 7 with scatter & cover. So he shot at something else. I see a different option- and yes, one of desperation- but hey ya never know. I think he should have hit them with WR, woulda dropped them to 2 Ld. And, charge the sentinels. The CSMs without a p-fist cant hurt them, really, krak grenades vs walkers isnt reliable. But, jsut a single CSM casualty would have most likely had that squad breaking with a 2 Ld. 2 turns left is 4 assault phases, so 4 attacks on the charge, then 6 more from 3 subsequent phases- math hammer is 5 hits, and 3 or 4 wounds- one casualty is likely. Better odds than 4 LC shots(if only he had plasma or H-flamers on these! ), of which half miss, and the half that wound get soaked up by cover. So, ya, WR for Assault support of walkers-sorta last ditch, but it could have one the guy the game. If he had broke that scoring unit. I suppose this would work for any assualt- but short of a 30 man infantry blob (with commisars and priests lol)charging with Creed giving them 'For Cadia' its not likely that we'll see IG winning an assault.