Slight Confusion About Blue/Brimstone Horrors

[Gauche]

Hello,

I've seen a lot of Tzeentch Players talk about how awesome Pink Horrors are for Matched Play because they split into Blue Horrors and then Blue Horrors into Brimstone. But when I read the Warscrolls it seems like they abide by the normal Matched Play Rules: if my opponent has no Reinforcement Points they can't form a new Unit and they can only add to a new Unit that's missing models. So if you kill all the Pink Horrors before touching any Blue Horrors, the Tzeentch Player gets nothing. Am I wrong?

I'm not sure if I'm missing something or the threads I've been looking at are missing something.

[Lucio]

You don't have to add them to a unit that's missing models and are allowed to create a new unit with them. Apart from that, yeah it's not ideal especially as RAW you have to spend a full unit's worth of points to add what is likely only going to be a couple of models

[RoloMcFury]

22 minutes ago, Gauche said:

Hello,

I've seen a lot of Tzeentch Players talk about how awesome Pink Horrors are for Matched Play because they split into Blue Horrors and then Blue Horrors into Brimstone. But when I read the Warscrolls it seems like they abide by the normal Matched Play Rules: if my opponent has no Reinforcement Points they can't form a new Unit and they can only add to a new Unit that's missing models. So if you kill all the Pink Horrors before touching any Blue Horrors, the Tzeentch Player gets nothing. Am I wrong?

I'm not sure if I'm missing something or the threads I've been looking at are missing something.

You're exactly right. However, there are a few important factors here:

-The Blue/Brimstone Horrors aren't generated until the end of the phase. If you're using these units to block for the rest of your army, chances are a full squad will be dead by the end of any opponent combat phase, allowing you to setup at least 10 models (just need 5 Pinks or 10 Blues to bite the dust).  In effect, it will take at least two turns for an opponent to get around a squad of 10 Pinks, because they can only finish off one squad (Pink+Blue+Brimstone) per phase (assuming no Hero Phase shenanigans, which could cut it down to one turn).

-There's no restriction on how close they can be to the opponent when created. This means you can pretty much set up a new squad of chaff right where the previous one was, stopping your opponent from getting to the more important elements of your army. On the flip side, you can place them 6 inches from where their parent unit died. The placement flexibility here is just great.

-It only take 90 reinforcement points to generate 10 Blues, which then generate 10 Brimstones. In terms of close combat, it's not a big deal if you only get like 6 Brimstone Horrors instead of 10. They still stand in the way and would probably be wiped out at either size.

As to whether or not the effect is option, that's been debated quite a bit. Obviously, if one lone Pink Horror dies during a phase (unlikely), I would choose not to generate the two blue horrors. Similarly, I wouldn't want 12 to be generated if 6 die. It needs to be FAQ'd for sure.

You can also use those reinforcement point to summon a unit instead, offering some serious tactical flexibility. You'll obviously have no shortage of casters playing Tzeentch...

[Gauche]

I'm actually approaching this from playing against Tzeentch but it's all the same. :]

So it seems like the Tzeentch Player either needs to have enough Reinforcements to generate Blues from the Pinks, and then have enough points to further pay for Brimstones off the Blues OR have all the Units in play and manufacture a way for them to take Wounds prior to the Pinks getting hit so the Tzeentch Player has something to overflow to. Obviously a mixture of the two will suffice as well.

I'm guessing most Players opt to save some Reinforcements just because of how much shooting there is right now and how easy Pinks are to remove with guns, very hard to guarantee overflow.

I can see the potency against melee armies though, extremely strong and reliable screens for your other Units. It's not like Horrors don't do work either, thanks a lot for the answer!