Saturday, December 11, 2010

Putting teeth in your list


We've been talking about death star units and I thought we can talk about teeth units. I'm talking about units that are in your lists that aren't death stars but aren't push overs either. These are the in between units that you can depend on for killing when needed but do not necessarily leave a swath of death and destruction in their wake the way thunder wolves do.


I recently designed a pretty casual list that has a 'death star'-ish unit in it but otherwise pretty soft. Its a fun list to use that I've beaten good players with it through masterly executed strategy and planning instead jamming power down their throats but its time to give it some teeth.

The beta list:

vulkan
5 Thammer/ss termies
Redeemer with extra armor and multi-melta

3x
10 man tac squad in drop pod with multi-melta and meltagun powerfist sergeants

10 assault marines, 2 flamers, thunder hammer

1 land speeder multimelta and heavy flamer

5 stern guard 2 heavy flamers 3 combi-meltas in drop pod


This list is good but definitely not great. I went heavy on theme really trying hard to be fluffy. Admittedly, the land speeder and assault marines are rare according to salamander back ground (due to their planets heavy gravity) but I had that salamanders land speeder I posted earlier this summer and I love assault marines so they had to be in the list.

My favored play style with codex marines is harassing weak points since over all, they're pretty weak in close combat and units that are decent in close combat are really over priced. Consider a squad of 6 blood crushers versus a squad of 5 hammer termies. Might lose a few crushers but I I imagine the termies would lose. Since assault marines are one of these close combat units that are actually pretty weak in close combat, my use of the assault marines is to catch long fangs, heavy weapons squads, broad sides, hive guard, ect. Basically, any thing that has no business being in combat. Same goes for the land speeder. Its a harassment unit as well. Turbo boosting and jumping cover to get close enough to pop a tank, its still weak enough to get shot down with a heavy bolter.

Lastly the stern guard are a mixed bag of anti-infantry and anti-tank which is something I usually don't do when building a list. I build to have a single identifiable purpose to each unit; anti-tank OR anti-infantry. I feel like if I drop them next to a tank I've wasted points on heavy flamers and if I drop near infantry I wasted points on combi-melta. Flexible units are nice, but if your strategy is sound and your whole list well built, everyone should have a job and everyone should do their job.

I consider this list pretty soft because it has this huge over priced unit (like 600ish points) and then nothing. After the death star is neutralized, its not hard to pick it apart and every time I pull a terminator my heart drops a little. So the list needs more teeth.

v1.2

vulkan
5 Thammer/ss termies
Redeemer with extra armor and multi-melta

3x
10 man tac squad in drop pod with multi-melta and meltagun powerfist sergeants

Ironclad 2HK, melta gun/storm bolter in a drop pod

10 stern guard 2 heavy flamers 8 combi-meltas in drop pod

The only problem I'm seeing immediately with this list is that unless I get first turn, I'm starting the board with only one target. Given its a land raider but I can't afford to put my death star in reserve so it'll have to weather 1850 points shooting at it. At best, I can deep strike the termies in attaching vulkan to a tac marine pod. I'll just have to consider what I'm playing against and if I feel like they can pop my land raider.

The sternguard can now be broken into combat squads and pop two tanks or a tank and infantry.

An ironclad in a drop pod is all kinds of fun. I originally reworked the list for 3 and then remembered that terminators are elites, opps! Extra armor, any combination of heavy flamer, meltagun, storm bolter, hunter killer missles, two CCW (one that is ap1) and AV13 makes this guy just awesome at dropping on top of their lines are wreaking face. He's going to drop in a bust a tank and then still be around to be have to be dealt with; you can't ignore him. He's like a death company dread that is just as terrible to have in your lines but without the rage.

So there are my new teeth. We'll see how the revision works out.

What do you guys do for teeth? How much does a list need? Do you guys out there have any surprise units you use for your teeth? Do you prefer the death star or the toothy list? Let me know what you guys think!

1 comment:

  1. I don't use a deathstar in my current nid list and instead have given it teeth in true nid fashion: EVERYWHERE! Seriously though, I have genestealers for assasin work and AT if needed, Tervigon for mass scoring breeder potential and FNP boostage. Gaunts because they unlock the tervigon, but when buffed make a mockery of Space Marines. Trygons because they pop tanks, move quick, have a little shooting and rape infantry when they gang up. My hive guard pop tanks and transports all game, but also enjoy DT'ing Nobs and Battle Suits. And finally, the tyrant makes all the reserve action possible while taking the enemies teeth away with paroxysm.

    Not all armies can stuff their list full of teeth like mine, but thems the brakes. It is important to note that while teeth units aren't push overs most of the time, they do require support. No single element of my army can roll up an opponents army without help in terms of buffs or ganging up ... well except maybe the gaunts, they're my MVPs! 6+ FTW!

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