Devourer Army Analysis

Faction Overview - by Mikes

Overview of the Devourers:

Advantages

• Great defence on every model, great resilience on most models, good initiative on most models
• Most models excel in most stats
• Great racial features: born killer on the wolfen and ambidextrous on the half-elves
• All Wolfen cause decent fear, and the half-elves have good courage ratings
• Wolfen are large, and thus almost always cause charging penalties and can sometimes avoid receiving charging penalties
• Wolfen and half-elves both have great movement
• The Huntsman is the best shooter in the game, or close to it
• Outstanding themes
• Some of the most iconic Confrontation sculpts

Weaknesses

• Average strength across most models for such a large creature-based army
• Limited range of troop choices – slightly larger than Cynwall and just smaller than Drunes
• Elite points for elite models - Devourer forces are often outnumbers, with an average of 6 to 8 miniatures for a 400 point list
• Army lists often have few models but large number of cards, so they don’t have many passes available
• Mostly average characters
• Sub-par magic and faithful
• Low discipline, few leadership options, and no native Authority in the army

Thematic Army Packs - by Mikes

The Revelations of the Beast
Armageddon This Revelation gives some measure of control of activations with +1 to DIS rolls and gives one authority counter – not bad, but nothing crazy. The best ability is the Solo/Lord of the Apocalypse, which gives +X STR to all models within a character’s leadership range, where X is his rank. This can really help make up for the average strength of the Devourers, but ideally you’d have a rank 2 character with leadership – which means either Meyleen or Rhangor, neither of which are too common. Since this is a theme, though, you can re-name Rhangor, which would really be the most worth it with this Revelation.
Blasphemy This Revelation gives you a counter for every incomplete 250 AP you have, so you’ll get two counters for most games. They can use these counters throughout the game to re-roll any friendly or enemy characteristics roll – pretty cool for those critical moments in the game, but pretty limited since you’ll only benefit from them twice per game. The Idol Killer solo is decent -- +1 STR for every aura of faith you’re in, whether it is a friend’s or enemy’s. Unfortunately, you can’t really depend on your opponent having a faithful, and Nemetis, as I said, is not one of the better characters. Still, it’s worth taking if you’re using Nemetis in this list.
Carnage This Revelation isn’t too bad. Everyone gets +1 COU/FEAR, which can make a tyrant FEAR 8 which is pretty good, and most of your basic troops become COU/FEAR 6, which should make them pass almost always. The Fury solo makes Masters of Carnage much more useful – they can distribute fury points from 15 cm now, instead of base-to-base! That’s a huge improvement and removes a big limitation from our warrior-mages. Finally, Thirst for Blood gives Implacable/1, or +1 if they already have it – a nice solo for guys like the Tyrant and characters.
Ecstacy This Revelation is the one that most people claim is the best, or at least the most used. The Revelation ability gives everyone Possessed, which I love, or +1 STR if they already have it (like Tyrants and Flesh-eaters). Possessed allows your troops hitting hard and accurate later in the game. The solo “Escape of the Flesh” gives Brutish Charge to a model, which allows 4 combat dice for wolfen when charging – and with their movement, they usually do get charges off. The final solo gives Consciousness, which can be good for some models, but I would normally only take with any left-over points and if everyone already had Escape of the Flesh.
The Eclipse This Revelation is a great one if you’re only planning on taking the Revelation ability. It allows you to target one type of enemy fighter every turn, and your whole army gains bane against that model. So if you’re going to be in frays with certain models, target them, and your whole army will be hitting harder. The other solos aren’t that great – one gives leap to RES7 or less fighters, which is alright, and the other gives Eclipsantes Scout, which is actually pretty good if you’re using them. It lets them avoid most missile fire at the least, and if you have slashers, you can form a pretty formidable scouting party.
The Horde of Dun-Scaith
The Impure This is a very fun theme, but still very effective. The Revelation reduces the cost of all non-Wolfen Devourers by 4 AP, but wolfen fighters may only be half (in numbers) of your force. So Warriors of Blood drop to 21 AP, Slashers go to 33, and Half-Elf Masters of Carnage go to 38, etc – everyone becomes a pretty good buy. Conveniently, many of the solos are priced at 4 AP, and can give the abilities concentration/1 (INI/ATT/DEF), which is good for your ambidextrous elves, toxic/1, which is good for slashers who can often eliminate fighters with a toxic assassin strike, and regeneration/4-6, depending on their rank, which is good to keep just about all of your fighters going. Unfortunately, they have to choose one of the solos – but I still think they are some great choices. The only thing limiting this theme right now it the very limited number of Half-Elves.
The Rebellion This Revelation gives you +1 ATT and +1 STR if you’re in range of an enemy leader’s leadership, or, if they don’t have one, if you’re in range of your own leader’s leadership. This can be pretty good against many forces (Griffins, Dwarves, Lions, etc – lots of models with leadership in those armies), but useless against some. The solo “Subversive” allows you to give a model with leadership/10 or better the ability to give all enemy models in his leadership -2 COU/DIS, but he stops giving friendly models the benefit of his leadership. This is pretty cool – it negates enemy war-staff bonuses, and can really limit the enemy’s basic troops from charging into frays with your big guys. The next solo gives a model Disengagement/6, which, with the high initiative of Devourers, can often let you line-up 1-on-1 fights by disengaging, which is what you’re looking for. Finally, my favorite part of this Revelation – you can bring any Mercenay, Pariah, or Guild of Blades that isn’t a construct or living-dead into your army for 3 AP. This means things like Seneschals of Hod, Howling Predators, Kelt Mercenaries, etc. can be brought into your army. This is pretty nifty – it allows for a ton of variety.