New Triumvurate Tactica?

[Waaaghpower]

I'm looking for ideas here on how to use the new Triumvurate models. The old triumvurate all had fairly obvious roles (Celestine was a tank for fast units, Greyfax was a Hereticus inqusitor with some extra tricks, Cawl was a tank buffer for Imperials,) but I'm struggling to figure out a clear role for the new guys.

Cypher hasn't really changed, but his role is still confused. He provides a defensive buff against shooting, but that's really the only clear benefit I can see, and it's absolutely not worth 190 points. His shooting output isn't significantly better than two Space Marines (one of whom is armed with a Plasma Gun,) and his durability - Even with Eternal Warrior - Is not very good. He can't fight against competent enemies in H2H, since he only gets 2-3 AP2 attacks, even if those attacks are at a very high Initiative.
Worse, his 'Fallen' are simply terrible - 20ppm for a squad of veterans with slightly different weapon choices, and you have to take them in a formation to just get ATSKNF. When you can get Deathwatch Veterans for only 2ppm more, and they get re-rolls on 1s and a bunch of special issue ammo and better wargear choices, it's a no-brainer choice.

Voldus is a bit better, though he's also expensive. Rolling on Librarius powers seems like the ideal here, since with Might of Heroes he can get a buncha high-initiative S10 AP2 attacks, and T6 to help deal with his lack of Eternal Warrior. However, he's not quite good enough as a close combat beatstick for his cost without getting MoH, and if you just need a ML3 psyker and don't care about his CC prowess, then you're better off just taking Tigurius, or just a ML3 Grey Knights Librarian. He's tough and and strong, but he is still just a footslogger, and cost-prohibitive. (Though you can take him in an Inquisitorial Representative detachment to get his Warlord Trait if you want, since he can join any detachment.)

Lastly... Girlyman. He's big, expensive, and... Not exactly slow, since he has move through cover and +1" to his run and charge, but he's not fast either. The best I can see for him is to just use him as an objective denial bubble - He can't chase anyone down, but he can certainly scare units off. (Nobody is going to want to get into a fight with him, after all, and he's tough enough to tank a pretty significant amount of fire.) However, he's awfully expensive, and while he buffs up your army some, he's not going to be as cost effective if you're not playing Ultramarines.



Thoughts? Ideas? Opinions?

[Mabbz]

Well I haven't got any experience with Voldus, and the other two have always been against me, so my advice may not be the most useful. Still, here's what I've found.

First, Cypher. While he probably is overcosted, he has proven annoying to play against. My opponent had him infiltrating into terrain with a squad of plasma gunners, making a hard to shift roadblock that no heavy infantry (like the custody another player was using) wanted to be anywhere near. Ludicrously expensive for what it did, but considering we were doing 2500 points on a fairly small table, it worked quite well (even Gullyman went around). That said, the Cypher player outright said that he knew how inefficient it was and that he only did it for laughs.

Then there's Rowboat Goolimon. I've had a few games against him now. First time, he killed half my Guard gun line and would have killed the rest if the game hadn't ended. The most recent time, my Tau kited him to the point that he never reached combat, although his gun did kill some of my guys. Having said that, all my shooting did was know maybe two wounds off. In short, it's just like you said; he's a fantastic distraction, a good area denial unit, and too slow to be anything else. Is there any way to give him a transport?

Also, never get him in combat with the avatar. Hilariously, Rawbutt can't hurt it due to having soul blaze.

[Waaaghpower]

The only way to transport him is to use Psychic powers. Soulswitch and Worldwrithe (I can't remember the loyalist name...) both let you teleport him across the board rather effectively, but that requires you to first bring a Psyker who knows the power, can succesfully manifest, and is well positioned to do so.