Continuing our analysis of all the units of the Leagues of Votann 10th edition index, today we've come to the Cthonian Beserks.
And so we come at last to my least favorite unit in the Leagues of Votann line, and a candidate for my least favorite unit in 40k altogether. With all the technology of the Leagues at your disposal, why oh why would anyone go to war wearing... nothing?
In fantasy, slayers didn't wear armor because they wanted to die for their shame. These cyber-slayers don't really have that excuse. They're supposed to be miners I guess, at least from what it seems Cthonian guilds do in the lore, but their weapons don't scream miners to me. Also, why would you mine without wearing anything? With the exception of mole grenades, mole grenades do seem like something miners might use, and at least they are cool. I like the idea of mole grenades.
And what's with the name? They're not berserks, but... beserks? Okay, according to wictionary it is an accepted alternative spelling to berserk, so I guess I have to let that pass.
Still, these guys seem like nothing more than a gimmick to cater to fans of the slayers of old fantasy.
Ooookay, so the old squat range had berserkers, at least in epic. So as someone who still dreams of Land Trains and Overlord Airships, I should appreciate that a unit was brought back. I still don't like them. Also, the old berserkers (in epic at least) had the same armor as regular squats and wielded pistols, so there.
Sigh. Lets look at the rules. And a picture of old epic berserkers.
Profile and abilities
The Cthonian Beserks have 5" movement, T5, Sv 6+, 2 wounds, Ld 7+, OC 1 and a 5+++ feel no pain. They also have a 50/50 chance of fighting on death if killed within melee range. The biggest problem here is the total lack of ways to get into combat and comparative fragility. A 5+++ is good, but even with that they can't take much punishment. And at movement 5 in an army without assault ramps, they seem limited to being a countercharge unit. Of course, a good countercharge unit isn't bad to have, but at 135 points... I don't know. I could see myself including one or maybe two units, for one single reason... and we haven't mentioned it yet.
Weapons
The berserks can take a single Mole Grenade Launcher which gives that model +1 attacks and +1 wounds. That's already good for a free upgrade, and you also get an indirect blast shooting attack with a 24" range. This attack isn't super-strong, but it has a 50/50 chance of making a non-monster/vehicle unit that was hit shaken. A shaken unit takes a 2" penalty to movement, as well as a -2 penalty to advance AND charge rolls. This can create big problems for an enemy trying to score, or get into combat with you. The only reason I'm not entirely sold is that the chance of it working is less than 50% (as you have to hit first), so you need two units shooting the same target for it to be in any way reliable, and then the points are adding up...
This weapon is the reason I might take some Beserks. If terrain allows, they can become a pain to your enemy's maneuverability while remaining safe behind terrain, and also deter the enemy from coming to close to you, as if they can get in, they're pretty good at fighting.
Lets look at what the weapons do:
Note that the mole grenade launcher doesn't do a lot of damage, this table assumes you are not firing indirectly and doesn't take cover into account, so in reality you'll do even less. As for the melee weapons - the Heavy Plasma Axe is good against light infantry, up to and including marines. Starting with terminator equivalents, you are better off taking the Concussion Maul. This is mostly because of the single damage of the plasma axe, I suspect its strike profile will do pretty well into things like Hearthkyn or Necron immortals, but when the enemy starts having multiple wounds (and higher toughness) you want the mauls.
One guy can have Twin Concussion Gauntlets. Their twin linked attribute means they are the best choice against the toughest targets, and they punch well into other infantry as well. I'm a bit uncertain if I like them, they do give you an edge against some targets, but it's not a big one. I think to keep the game flowing faster you're actually better off just taking mauls on your entire unit.
What about tokens? Lets assume 2 of them:
Conclusions
I haven't really tested this unit in the field (only played with them once), and I'm not entirely sure about my conclusions... But to me it looks like you want the Concussion Mauls to be able to punch into tougher targets, skip the Gauntlets to save time and mental capacity by having everyone punch with the same target, and of course take the mole grenade launcher as it is free and don't require you to trade anything away. Even makes one of your guys more durable and better at fighting. Also, the larger base of a mole grenade launcher-equipped beserk makes it easier to get the rest of the squad into combat from the "second rank" as they could all be touching his base and only he needs to be base-to-base with the enemy.
Or you know... you can avoid the cyber-slayers until they come up with a proper lore-reason they're fighitng bare-chested.
Woe is me
My beserks (that I only own because they put them into every box) happen to be armed with axes and gauntlets, and I spent time magnetizing the mole grenade guy to be able to play him without the grenade launcher. That's what I get, building models right before a new edition is released.
In all seriousness, though. In that one game I used them in, they got charged by Howling banshees. The banshees only managed to cut one of them down. Then they cut down all of the banshees. That surprised me a bit, had expected them to get wiped. I guess I should probably give them more chances. On the other hand, banshees are a lot cheaper.
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