Seth and his Flesh Tearers

One of the new Special Characters in the Blood Angels Codex is Chapter Master Seth. He's CM of the Flesh Tearers.. a rather savage and bloodthirsty successor Chapter of the Blood Angels that's dying from Black Rage.

Ingame, Seth is pretty interesting. He has the same statline as a SM Captain (3+/4++) but he has 4 attacks and a S8 Rending 2h Chainsword. It counts as a normal weapon and thus is not a power weapon (boohoo). If you look it closely though, you'll notice that S8 Rending is actually pretty dangerous. In Fantasy, there's a thing called Killing Blow that basically kills you outright if you roll a 6 to wound unless you have a ward save. In 40K, there's a thing called Instant Death.. which is pretty much the same thing. Anything that's double your toughness can kill you instantly and S8 is right at that sweetspot for instant killing MEQ. With 4 attacks, 5 on the charge, 6 if you take him with Honor Guard and a Chapter Banner, he basically wounds any MEQ on a 2+ and any failed armor saves means the target dies (unless he has Eternal Warrior). Any multi-wound models traveling in 3+ gear should be wary of such a thing.. making Artificer Armor so much more important. To make matters worse.. if he rends with his S8 Chainsword, this truly becomes something worthy of Killing Blow. When that happens, you tell your opponent to make that 4+ invul or die. Just imagine a huge Chainsword ripping through your opponent's power armor, spilling his guts and flinging them all over the battlefield. And mind you it's just a Chainsword.. so it might take a few tries for it to completely cut through - quite awesome if you ask me. Oh, and the S8 Rending also auto-pens a Land Raider if he rolls a 6. At 160 points, he might be worth considering.. especially if you want to run a Flesh Tearers army.


Alright, enough of the S8 Rending Chainsword of awesomeness, let's talk about his other abilities. He has Whirlwind of Gore which allows him to auto-hit any model in BtB with him his chainsword instead of his regular attacks. That's right, every model in BtB gets auto-hit, kinda like Destroyer of Eternies from Fantasy's Tomb Kings. This gives him the potential to snipe that Fist before he swings or get more attacks than he normally would because he's surrounded. In addition, Seth has a neat little counter-attack ability that allows him to hit someone back at S4 if they roll a 1 to hit him. S4 is a little meh.. S8 Rending would have been a hell of a lot better.

Now that we have Seth laid out before you, how can we make him work? I will actually construct a list on the fly so I can write down some of my thought patterns so I can reflect upon them later.

To take advantage of Seth's ability to wound things with S8 while providing other attacks that ignore armor saves, I think Honor Guard fits this role the best. They come with a Priest that provides a 6" bubble of Furious Charge and Feel No Pain, have the ability to take Power Weapons (something that Seth lacks), and a Chapter Banner that increases the attack of the entire unit by 1 (among other things). At the same time, they can only be 5 dudes so Seth + them in a Razorback would be perfect.

HQ:
Seth = 160
5x Honor Guard (RB TLHB, 2x PW, Chapter Standard) = 225

Now whenever I think Flesh Tearers, I think about hardcore assaults. When I think about hardcore assaults, I immediately think about Death Company. Unfortunately, they cannot be controlled and their cost makes them a liability more so than a competitive choice. Even though Seth might fail as the competitive gamer's HQ of choice, I'm still going to try for a solid list. With that in mind, I'm going to default to something I know will preform on the battlefield. That unit is the 10x ASM w/ a Fist and 2x Meltaguns in a Rhino.

TROOP:
10x ASM (Rhino, PF, 2x Meltagun) = 250
10x ASM (Rhino, PF, 2x Meltagun) = 250
10x ASM (Rhino, PF, 2x Meltagun) = 250
5x ASM (RB TLHB, PW, Meltagun) = 145

The 5-man ASM squad is there mainly because I want an additional 6" bubble of FNP/FC. The Priest fits comfortably in the front seat of that squad and increases our total rape radius to 12".

ELITE:
Sanguinary Priest (PW) = 65
Furioso Dreadnought (DP, EA) = 175

Since I need some more threats on the table, I really want to incorporate a Furioso in a Drop Pod. The fact that he can come down on turn 1 really puts pressure on my opponent. I mean, what would you do if a AV13 Ws6 4 attacks on the charge with S10 DCCW and a Meltagun drops on your flank? Do you concentrate fire on it and ignore the speedy Rhinos? Do you let it slide and take your chances with it next turn? Or do you look across the table and see 3x scouting, fast Predators and rethink your life? and that's why I add my bread and butter.. the 3x Baals.

FA:
Baal Predator (TLAC/HB) = 145
Baal Predator (TLAC/HB) = 145
Baal Predator (TLAC/HB) = 145

You know.. I find these useful in every list with Blood Angels, no matter what Chapter or list I plan to bring. Each Pred can position itself perfectly to shoot all its weapons (4x TL Assault Cannon shots, 6x Heavy Bolter shots each) on your first turn no matter what. Being a fast vehicle, you can move and shoot all your weapons at 6", or boost 12" and shoot that Assault Cannon. I mean man, you have options with these babies.

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This puts the list looking like this:

1955

HQ:
Seth = 160
5x Honor Guard (RB TLHB, 2x PW, Chapter Standard) = 225

TROOP:
10x ASM (Rhino, PF, 2x Meltagun) = 250
10x ASM (Rhino, PF, 2x Meltagun) = 250
10x ASM (Rhino, PF, 2x Meltagun) = 250
5x ASM (RB TLHB, PW, Meltagun) = 145

ELITE:
Sanguinary Priest (PW) = 65
Furioso Dreadnought (DP, EA) = 175

FA:
Baal Predator (TLAC/HB) = 145
Baal Predator (TLAC/HB) = 145
Baal Predator (TLAC/HB) = 145

You might be able to kindly ask your opponent to sneak in 5 more points so you can upgrade the Furioso to a Librarian Furioso, giving you that Ld.10 hood and a flying Dreadnought.. or you can drop the 3rd 10x ASM squad for another 5-man unit of ASM and grab a regular Librarian. Or.. since you're playing Flesh Tearers and you say hell with competitive play and take a big squad of Death Company in a Rhino instead of the third ASM squad + that 45 points. Hmm.. let's see what 295 points can buy you.

I would say that's a 5x Death Company squad (with a Power Sword and Fist) in a Razorback with a Chaplain. Or you can say the hell with the Priest, since the crazies have FNP, FC, Fleet..yata yata already and just spend some more points getting Death Company. You might even switch out the Furioso for a DC Dread with Blood Talons!

All of these are something to consider and they'll pay off at the end. My favorite aspect of this hobby is army design. I can design my own army, play the models that I want and use my generalship to win the day. When building lists, I try to fit a theme, then make it as competitive as I can while maintaining that certain theme.

Here's a more fluffy list with Death Company:

2000

HQ:
Seth = 160
5x Honor Guard (RB TLHB, 2x PW, Chapter Standard) = 225
Reclusiarch = 130

TROOP:
10x ASM (Rhino, PF, 2x Meltagun) = 250
10x ASM (Rhino, PF, 2x Meltagun) = 250
5x ASM (RB TLHB, PW, Meltagun) = 145
7x Death Company (Rhino, 2x PW, Fist) = 245
DC Dreadnought (DP, Blood Talons) = 160

FA:
Baal Predator (TLAC/HB) = 145
Baal Predator (TLAC/HB) = 145
Baal Predator (TLAC/HB) = 145