Slann
NIGHTBRINGER
Second Spawning
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What's in a name?
People often ask where the name Hortennse comes from and it is a funny little story. The Hortennse moniker was created in response to a member of the Chamber of the Everchosen forum with the same name. It happened soon after the release of the 8th edition WoC army book, when the character build was first being introduced and discussed. At the time, the build did not have a name, so when people wished to refer to it, they would write something along the lines of "the Chaos Lord with a 1+ armour save, 3+ ward save re-rolling 1's". A build name was clearly needed. Simultaneously, a member of the forum named Hortennse started a huge rant against the build, calling it unfair and broken. The rant turned into a heated massive back-and-forth thread. Eventually somebody suggested that the build be called Hortennse and the name stuck; essentially killing two birds with one stone. Not only did the name become the established norm on the forum, but it soon spread to other warhammer forums as well.
The original 14 page rant can be found HERE
The key specifics of the build
The foundation of the Hortennse build is comprised of the following:
What you end up with is a Chaos Lord/Hero with a 1+ armour save, 3+ rr1's ward save and the ability to heal itself on a roll of '6' for each unsaved wound it causes in CC. It is likely the single most defensive character in the game. The "unkillable" Chaos Lord/Hero.
Additional build options
After building the Hortennse foundation described above, the player will have leftover points to spend on additional magic items, Chaos Mutations & Powers, as well as mount options. This is where the build is tweaked to meet personal preferences and needs. The player can choose to make the build more maneuverable, offensive, stubborn or even more defensive. I'll discuss a couple of popular options.
Mount Options
Chaos Mutations & Powers
Additional Considerations
People often ask where the name Hortennse comes from and it is a funny little story. The Hortennse moniker was created in response to a member of the Chamber of the Everchosen forum with the same name. It happened soon after the release of the 8th edition WoC army book, when the character build was first being introduced and discussed. At the time, the build did not have a name, so when people wished to refer to it, they would write something along the lines of "the Chaos Lord with a 1+ armour save, 3+ ward save re-rolling 1's". A build name was clearly needed. Simultaneously, a member of the forum named Hortennse started a huge rant against the build, calling it unfair and broken. The rant turned into a heated massive back-and-forth thread. Eventually somebody suggested that the build be called Hortennse and the name stuck; essentially killing two birds with one stone. Not only did the name become the established norm on the forum, but it soon spread to other warhammer forums as well.
The original 14 page rant can be found HERE
The key specifics of the build
The foundation of the Hortennse build is comprised of the following:
- Chaos Lord or Exalted Hero
- 3+ ward save (Talisman of Preservation + Mark of Tzeentch)
- ability to re-roll ward saves of '1' (Third Eye of Tzeentch)
- ability to self heal (Soul Feeder)
- 1+ armour save (a combination of Chaos armour, magic items, mount and/or Scaled Skin)
What you end up with is a Chaos Lord/Hero with a 1+ armour save, 3+ rr1's ward save and the ability to heal itself on a roll of '6' for each unsaved wound it causes in CC. It is likely the single most defensive character in the game. The "unkillable" Chaos Lord/Hero.
Additional build options
After building the Hortennse foundation described above, the player will have leftover points to spend on additional magic items, Chaos Mutations & Powers, as well as mount options. This is where the build is tweaked to meet personal preferences and needs. The player can choose to make the build more maneuverable, offensive, stubborn or even more defensive. I'll discuss a couple of popular options.
Mount Options
- Disc of Tzeentch ➨probably the most popular choice for the Lord variant of Hortennse. Gives you an additional 3 S4 magical attacks, the Fear special rule and most importantly the Fly special rule. With the ability to fly you can get your character into all kinds of advantageous positions. Not as defensive as the build mentioned below, but in my opinion the immense range and freedom of movement make this the best choice for a Hortennse Chaos Lord.
- Daemonic Mount ➨ probably the most popular choice for the Exalted Hero variant of Hortennse. Gives you an additional 2 S5 magical attacks, movement 8, the Fear special rule, the option for barding and grants Hortennse the Monstrous Cavalry unit type. The Monstrous Cavalry unit type is important for three reasons: it gives you a S5 stomp, immunity to Killing Blow and most importantly gives your hero 3 wounds instead of 2. With three wounds you effectively have a mini Chaos Lord for the fraction of the cost. A very attractive option for a WoC BSB.
- Unmounted (on foot) ➨ For those that want to save some points and/or benefit from a Look out sir roll when placed in a unit.
- Chaos Dragon ➨ okay in a fun list, but not nearly as competitive as the Disc of Tzeentch or Daemonic Mount since the Dragon can be targeted separately and be killed out from under you. It also makes the build prohibitively expensive.
- Manticore ➨ the weakest of all the choices. Suffers from the same problems as the Dragon, but much worse since the Manticore is rubbish. I've never seen anyone use this option for a Hortennse build.
Chaos Mutations & Powers
- Flaming Breath ➨ a S4 breath weapon with the Flaming Attacks special rule. A very useful and popular option
- a magic weapon ➨ There are many to choose from here. Extra attacks for a more anti-unit build, greater strength for a anti- armour/toughness build or the Sword of Anti-Heroes for any anti-character build. I usually opt for a mundane Great Weapon, but there are good alternatives to be found here
- Dragonhelm or Dragonbane Gem ➨ completely neuters anything with the Flaming Attacks special rule (like Searing Doom or cannons with flaming attacks, SSC, etc.) as you now have a 2+ ward save re-rolling 1's!
- Trickster's Helm ➨great when creating a pure tank build.
- Charmed Shield ➨ extremely cheap and further dissuades cannons from targeting you
- Dawnstone ➨ (paired with the Armour of Destiny). Another tank build. Create a Hortennse with a re-rollable 1+ armour save and a 3+ ward save re-rolling 1's!
- ASF (Helm of Many Eyes or Sword of Swift Slaying) - negates Elven' ASF (or gives you the ability to re-roll misses against most things).
- Crown of Command ➨ the best choice for a solo flying disc lord if you have any plans on engaging ranked units. This gives you the ability to safely tie up very dangerous units.
- The Other Trickster's Shard ➨ help negate the enemies' ward save. Remember that the OTS does not affect its bearer
Additional Considerations
- the Hortennse lord is expensive, so in most small-average sized games, if you take him you won't be able to do so alongside a level 4 wizard. This opens up a difficult decision between choosing a Chaos Hortennse Lord, Chaos Sorcerer Lord of the ever popular Daemon Prince. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.
- The hero version of the Hortennse build (usually the army's BSB) does still fit in nicely (points-wise) with a level 4 or DP.
- you can only have one true Hortennse build in an army. The Third Eye of Tzeentch and Soul Feeder gifts are one per army. You could still feasibly have two characters with a 3+ ward save (or three characters in a gigantic game with Archaon), but you can't have more than one true Hortennse.
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