Fighting Company Devjon: September 2011

Sep 29, 2011

This Weekend

While I would normally have a Blog Post tomorrow or Saturday, I will be busy this weekend with one of my classes. Thus, this is a place-holder to remind anyone who reads this that I will be unable to make any replies for a few days (mostly affecting those on Implausible Nature).

Yup, that's it. I may still get a few comments out before I leave, but don't expect any.

Sep 25, 2011

Fighting Company Devjon. Fluff Outline.

Characters:

Einen, Castellan.
Devjon, Sergeant.
Genrik, Company Champion.
Valus, Initiate.
Rakmar, Initiate.
Heidal, Initiate.
Jaeron, Techmarine.

The Njesta Crusade. Mission: A Warp Beacon is allowing the Traitor Forces to teleport units around the city, making it impossible to take advantage of any weak points. Drop into the city, find the Beacon, ‘improve’ it to kill those it teleports.

The Squad Drops into the City and escorts Jaeron to the Warp Beacon through sporadic traitor resistance.
The Warp Beacon is found but, while Jaeron is making changes, traitors attack the squad and Einen is slain defending the Techmarine. Devjon takes command and makes plans to wait for the rest of the Templars to breach the wall.
Heidal and Rakmar refuse to accept Devjon’s plan and head off to fight the traitors.
The wall is breached, Devjon’s Squad joins with the rest of the Templar Forces and, after two more days of city fighting, the siege is finally won.
During the rest of the Njesta Crusade, Devjon distinguishes himself and is promoted to replace his Castellan. Valus is also promoted to the status of Reclusiarch to maintain the zeal in Devjon’s new Company. Heidal and Rakmar are never found and reported Missing in Action.
Following the end of the Crusade, the Inquisition begins its examinations of the members of the Crusade due to their apparent failure at training a loyal Chapter for the Emperor. For security measures, certain Companies are separated from the main body of Initiates to better watch the whole. Fighting Company Devjon is one of those Companies and Inquisitor Krimelve is placed to watch over it.

The Second Garon Crusade, more commonly named the Unknown Crusade due to it never being officially reported. Cause: Fighting Company Devjon travels to the Sisters of Battle Conclave on the planet Glakus in the Garon Nebula only to find it under siege from a newly formed Daemon presence. Mission: Under the orders of Inquisitor Krimelve, the Company must defend the Sisters and eradicate the Daemon threat; he also forces the entire Company to take a strict Vow of Silence until the Battle is ended.

On the eve of attack, Genrik receives a vision from the Emperor portraying his death defending a one-armed Sister of Battle. Upon bringing this up with Reclusiarch Valus, he is proclaimed the Emperor’s Champion for the Crusade.
The entire Company drops down from orbit to identify target areas to be bombarded from space and to secure the safety of the Sisters.
Intense fighting ensues at close quarters with Daemons and, since no communication can be made due to the Vow of Silence, all organization breaks down. Due to their zeal to prove their loyalty to Krimelve, each Battle Brother attaches themselves to a Battle Sister to protect until the fighting is over; notably Genrik is protecting a Sister that lost her right arm earlier and is now unable to defend herself.
Devjon, Genrik, and Valus, with their charges find themselves fighting against Heidal and Rakmar, both of whom have given over to Chaos. During the early moments of the fight, the two traitors are blessed by the unholy powers they serve and ascend to become Daemon Princes.
Valus and Devjon distract Heidal while Genrik fights Rakmar. The Daemon throws Genrik to the ground and, laughing, grabs him up to tear him in half. At that moment, Genrik’s charge lifts up the Black Sword and feebly swings it into the Daemon’s side, causing him to drop Genrik and turn to her. He snatches her from the ground, roaring in anger. She drops the Black Sword and Genrik, fearing for her life, picks it up and stabs it into Rakmar’s chest. With a scream of agony and frustration, Rakmar, still clutching the one-armed Battle Sister, backs away as Heidal is finished off and the three Templars advance.
Meanwhile, Jaeron targets the source of the Warp’s influence and sends the co-ordinates to the ship, Dorn's Mercy, which in turn fires upon that spot and cleanses it. With their temporary link to the Warp broken, all of the Daemons that are left are sucked back through the crack in reality as it closes. Heidal’s body goes and is quickly followed by Rakmar, who still clutches the Battle Sister in his claw.
The Battle is finished and communications are re-implemented. The Company re-groups with what is left of the Sisters, who are now a shadow of their former numbers, only a few more in number than the Templars. Inquisitor Krimelve’s body is found torn in four pieces with a fully-loaded Bolter beside him and other dead Templars around him. The Conclave’s Prioress had been mortally wounded during the battle but was able to survive long enough to personally charge Devjon with overseeing the aftermath and the promotion of a new Prioress.
Devjon calls a meeting with all of the senior Templars and Sisters of the two groups. The Conclave’s building is in ruins and the Sister that would have been the next Prioress fell during the battle. He puts the question for those at the meeting to discuss and decide. Should the Company continue its mission to protect the Conclave, or give them small aid and then be off? After discussing for several hours, a decision is reached.
Devjon gives the decision that what remains of the sisters’ Conclave will be initiated into the Fighting Company until the end of the Crusade, but if even a single member out of them all is opposed to it, then they will find another solution.

Afterwards and Now.

Fighting Company Devjon travels around the Garon Nebula, dispensing the Emperor’s Justice and Mercy as needed, continuing the Second Garon Crusade until the source of the Warp-Rift is found and eliminated.
Genrik believes that he has failed in his duty to defend the One-armed Sister to the last by his own incapability and will not give up his Vow of Silence until he has found her and rescued her. He retains the belief that she yet lives and keeps an eye out for her wherever Warp presence is suspected.
The last two remaining Apothecaries for the Company have found a way to graft most of the implants into females, allowing not only those Sisters who fought in the Second Garon Crusade to join the ranks but also for the Company to recruit females, widening the number of possible Neophytes in the scarce population of the Garon Nebula.
In the spirit of their original intention, both newer and original Templar Sisters are placed in important positions only, such as heavy weapons duties. Few of the Sisters are deemed worthy of the augmentation and training, but the rest work in the background to maintain the armory and the ship.
No word of what has happened ever reaches higher authorities and, to their knowledge, Inquisitor Krimelve, who was secretive in nature, is still watching over the Company and keeping them in the area. This belief is greatly due to the efforts of Jaeron, the Company Techmarine, who hacked into Krimelve’s personal files and has replicated his routine reports perfectly.
Since their first encounter with the Warp-Spawn, Devjon's Fighting Company has found many clues of something ancient and hidden among the many worlds in the Nebula. Fragments of Black Power Armor, destroyed fortresses, and long hidden scars of warfare. These are things which cannot be explained by the histories kept by either the Black Templars or the Imperium in general.

EDIT: Whoops, forgot to mention. This is going to be my fluff for my Fighting Company for a while. Eventually I'll get around to writing it up in a novel format (yes, really) but that won't be for a long while. As you can probably guess what this will translate into is using SoB figures for things like my MM Initiates in my squads as well as random Bolter Initiates and maybe a few Plasma Gun Initiates. Beyond that, I have a couple of ideas, but nothing solid.

Sep 17, 2011

List Building Part 3: Best shot at a Foot List for Black Templar.

Okay, another in the list building series and this time it’s about that Foot list I’ve been wanting to attempt.

Alright, every list needs Anti-Tank, Anti-Infantry, Mobility, Flexibility, Scoring units, Survivability, and finally Control. Meching up gives Mobility and usually Flexibility, so we’ll need to find other ways of achieving that. Scoring Units should be easy enough to get, we’ll be packing quite a few guns so both Anti-Tank and Anti-Infantry should be okay so long as we make sure to get more than enough Anti-Tank, and Survivability will come from both number of bodies and from screening units. Control is something I’ve not really mentioned before on here, but Disruption is a good example of some Control; it’s controlling your opponent’s movement, or when and where they can engage you, or what are their prime targets. Mech lists get control quite easily with cheap, mobile transports but for this foot list I will have some trouble, so we’ll have to see how it goes.

Now, you could claim that Righteous Zeal helps with Mobility but only a couple of units at a time, you can’t choose which units nor when they get the extra movement, and only in one direction. So no, RZ does not help there. It can be a nice benefit, but I’m more concerned about failing a test and falling back, which technically reduces my mobility.

Last thing before we begin, one of my goals is to not take any vehicles. Dreadnoughts may have feet, but they’re still vehicles and will thus be ignored.

First off, we’ll need a Marshal. Ld10 is going to be what let’s us ignore certain rules (RZ, Kill them All, Tank Shocking) to a certain degree. Give him a Combi-PlasmaGun and a Storm Shield for now, so that he can hurt things and take a beating. 110 points.

Now let’s decide which Vow we’ll take. Accept Any Challenge sounds enticing due to the sheer number of bodies that will be using it, and it gives something of Control in making us poor targets for Close Combat. On the other hand, Abhor the Witch saves us almost two Initiates and is our only defense against Psykers, more so because of how much of the board we’ll be covering (probably). For now we’ll take Abhor because of the lower price and the fact that this is going to be a shooting army, rather than an assaulting one. 110 points.

We need Anti-Tank, and we need more than in other lists. We have no choices from Heavy Support, and we can’t take Land Speeders. Assault Marines are terrible except in specific roles where they’re just bad. But Bikes are available. Maximum size with 3 Plasma Guns and a Multi-Melta Attack Bike is pricey (243 points) but is our best choice for now between its mobility and tank-popping ability. We probably won’t be able to afford three in the long run, but we’ll start with three of them. We could drop two of the Bikes without losing any of the special weapons, but that would make them juicy and vulnerable, so we’ll keep them if we can. 729 points.

Even with our Bikers, we need more Anti-Tank. While we’re at it, we might as well tap another good source of foot-based firepower, Terminators. Standard Terminator Squad with CMLs and Tank Hunters is 265; a Command Terminator Squad with one less Terminator to attach to the Marshal is only 225, so we’ll grab one of those. We can afford the Command and two regular ones. 755 points.

296 points left and we still need troops. Okay, a simple Las/Plas Crusader Squad is 101 points, so take two of those. 202 points.

94 points will give us four Initiates and three Neophytes to boost our weak Troops, but that really isn’t quite enough. Okay, drop a single Biker Initiate for another 32 points and get another Las/Plas Squad. 25 points left.

No, back to the drawing board; I can’t sit with only three minimum Crusader Squads. From the beginning, take six Missle/Plas Crusader Squads. 576 points.

Three CML Terminator Squads with Tank Hunters. 795 points.

Emperor’s Champion with Abhor and a Marshal with Storm Bolter and Storm Shield. 210 points.

Three pairs of Attack Bikes with Multi-Meltas. 390 points.

Change a Terminator Squad to a Terminator Command Squad, change three of the Missile Launchers to Lascannons, give those three Crusader Squads another Initiate, change the Marshal’s Storm Bolter to a regular Bolter and buy a Neophyte. 29 points.

2,000 points total.

But, how do we send squads over to claim objectives, move them and sacrifice firepower? No, drop those three extra Initiates, switch back to Missile Launchers, drop the Neophyte, and drop two Crusader Squads. That gives us 265 points for two more mobile Crusader Squads to claim objectives. Actually, drop the Marshal as well. He’s nice, but we just can’t afford him. So 321 points, or 160 points each.

80 are lost with the basic five guys. I’m tempted to make them into Close Combat squads, but I don’t think that will go over well enough. Give them Meltaguns and five Neophytes- no, four Neophytes and Frag Grenades. 159 points each.

Actually, drop a Neophyte from each squad and upgrade the Missile Launchers to Lascannons. 0 points.

Here’s the list:

Emperor’s Champion: Vow (Abhor); -110

Terminator Squad (5): CMLs, Tank Hunters; -265

Crusader Squad (5/3): Bolters, Shotguns, Meltagun, Frags; -148

Crusader Squad (5): Bolters, Lascannon, Plasma Gun; -101

Attack Bike Squadron (2): 2 Multi-Meltas; -130

1,995 Points.

DMS:-28.4

DMCC:-28.45

DRPG:-68.88

DLRPG:-22.25

I could drop a few Neophytes to give the two Melta Squads Powerfists, but I don’t think that the Powerfists would give enough punch to be worth it and we don’t really have excess bodies to drop. Maybe if a few of the Lascannons were changed back to Missile Launchers, but not as is and we can’t afford to make that change.

Alright, 15 Terminators, 37 Infantry, and 6 Attack Bikes. Does that compete with a dozen vehicles and 31 Infantry? No, not really. While I think this list could work if someone had some experience with it, maybe even make a try at a tournament, it is a far cry from what Black Templars can bring, and with Ld8 and RZ, I can’t keep my squads too close to the edge of the board or else I could easily lose them. Plus I can’t really hope to win Capture and Control missions, nor will I do well in Dawn of War. So I’m hurt straight off the bat more than half the time, that’s bad.

So there you go, my best shot at a Foot-List for Black Templars. Not really amazing, except for being an almost competitive foot list, but there it is. Any thoughts or suggestions? I’d love to hear them.

Sep 11, 2011

Competitive vs. Optimized

Alright, rather than a list or a unit to talk about, I’m going to try something different.

If a list is good, should we suggest fundamental changes to it even if those changes would improve the list? Now, this is something I’ve struggled with from time to time, especially with Gunlines. I know that the best Gunline begins with three Typhoons and three Autolas Predators, has two CML Terminator Squads or three shooty Dreadnoughts, and has at least four Crusader Squads with either Lascannons or Multi-Meltas, and a Marshal if points allow. But how should I give advice on a forum? In the past I’ve made some long posts and advised changes that would drastically alter the list but make it virtually the Gunline I just described, mostly because I thought (and to a great extent still think) that the standard Gunline, if the correct choices are made, is the best list (excluding Drop Pod lists for the most part since they are very different and hard to compare) and why would I ever give advise other than the best?

If someone puts up a Black Tide list, you shouldn’t specify changes until it’s a Gunline, but at what point is it not too far to suggest changes? This depends on what the list writer wants. Does he want ways to improve his list or does he simply want opinions? Did he write the list attempting to make something (such as a particular unit) work or did he have a starting point and is trying to optimize the list?

And that’s the key word. Optimize. At a certain point, you are no longer improving the list, you are optimizing it. There is nothing wrong with optimization, but it does away with excess, it overrules certain basic builds, units and upgrades because they are simply bad. But you have to be careful and show discretion when you give advice as to whether the list writer wants an ‘optimized’ list, or just a good list.

A good example is a list I’m going to be writing soon, a Foot-Gunline. The idea is simple; maximize shooting output without taking any vehicles. Now, what if some random stranger comes on and says to drop a few things and put my guys in transports, maybe even buy a few Predators? Even though that is good advice, it changes the list. Rather than being almost unique, I will end up with a regular Gunline. Improved? Yes. Best advice? Not in this case.

So what is the point where a list starts to turn from simply ‘Competitive’ to ‘Optimized’? More importantly, in which cases do you need to give advice towards which one? Hypothetically (though probably not realistically) you could make a Competitive Black Tide list. When should you give ‘Optimizing’ advice and when should you just congratulate the author on making Black Tide almost work? That is subjective and I don’t have the answer, but I can at least help to keep it in the minds of anyone who reads this.

Now, remember that this is meant to be an exercise for myself (see first large paragraph) and is not directed at anybody except maybe the hypothetical stranger from the last paragraph. Marshal Learoth’s Comments on the last post sparked this idea, but it has been brewing for a little while now.

++++++

Alright, that’s enough for now. I’m not completely sure what I’ll do next, probably either that Foot list or a Battle Report (against myself) on Vassal with one of my lists (well, two of them, but one from here).

Sep 5, 2011

List Building, Part 2.

So I had the thought just now about a list. Now, for Anti-tank you need reliable weapons; you need to hit and penetrate and ideally be AP1 for that +1 on the damage roll. The key there is that for killing vehicles you need reliable shots, as opposed to number of shots which is for suppression fire. So I thought, ‘why not make a list that uses only TL Lascannons for killing tanks, and Heavy Bolters/Assault Cannons for suppressing them if needed?’ That is what I am going to try to do here.

Now, I won’t be focusing on getting Heavy Bolters/Assault Cannons but instead I will be taking them for extra Firepower if I can’t get enough TL-Lascannons for that. Of course, Bolters will be allowed as will Plasma Guns.

Okay, first we need to make a list of the most efficient units for taking TL-Lascannons. Those units are: Dreadnoughts at 125, Razorbacks at 90, Predator Annihilators at 120, and Land Raiders at 125 (they have two).

The problem with this is that each unit needs certain things for it, which changes the units. So everything needs Smoke Launchers; Razorbacks come with 5-man squads with Heavy Bolters and Plasma Guns (184); Dreadnoughts need Extra Armor (133); Predators don’t actually need Smoke Launchers, but we’ll have them just in case (123); and Land Raiders need Extra Armor (129).

So first we need Predators, we’ll take three. Next we’ll get three Dreadnoughts with Heavy Flamers (since we have no slots for Land Raiders), three of those as well. Take the Emperor’s Champion with Abhor the Witch and take as many Razorbacks as we can and then we’ll see where we’re at.

Emperor’s Champion: Vow (Abhor), -110

3x Dreadnought: TL-Lascannon, DCCW, Heavy Flamer, Extra Armor, Smoke, -429

5x Crusader Squad (5): Bolters, Heavy Bolter, Plasma Gun; Razorback: TL-Lascannon, Smoke; -920

3x Predator: TL-Lascannon, Smoke; -369

And we are 12 points short of a sixth Razorback. While I would like to go for the full entourage of Troops, instead we can spend those points making what we already have better. Heavy Bolter Sponsons and PotMS on all of our Predators cost 120, 52 left. 4 Neophytes with Shotguns fills our transports and cuts us off 12 points short of our maximum, and we just happen to have 11 vehicles primed for Searchlights, so we’ll take those.

Our list now looks like this:

Emperor’s Champion: Vow (Abhor), -110

Dreadnought: TL-Lascannon, DCCW, Heavy Flamer, Extra Armor, Smoke, Searchlight; -144

Crusader Squad (5): Bolters, Heavy Bolter, Plasma Gun; Razorback: TL-Lascannon, Smoke, Searchlight; -185

Crusader Squad (5/1): Bolters, Heavy Bolter, Plasma Gun; Razorback: TL-Lascannon, Smoke, Searchlight; -195

Predator: TL-Lascannon, Heavy Bolter Sponsons, PotMS, Smoke, Searchlight; -164

Total: 1,999

We’ve got 11 TL-Lascannons, 11 Heavy Bolters, 3 Heavy Flamers, 5 Plasma Guns, 25 Bolters, 4 Shotguns, and a Bolt Pistol. Our numbers are (drum roll):

DMS: 25.99

DMCC: 10.8

DRPG: 43.66

DLRPG: 8.14

So we need some changes, more Anti-Tank in general, even if it is at the cost of a little Anti-Infantry. So drop the Neophytes and Smoke Launchers on the Predators to upgrade the Plasma Guns to Meltaguns and make one Dreadnought Venerable and Tank Hunting New numbers are:

DMS: 22.6

DMCC: 10.12

DRPG: 49.44

DLRPG: 18.68

So we could still use some light anti-tank, but with all the Heavy Bolters we should be okay, though the Meltaguns don’t sit well with me due to their short range. Technically, I could get by with forgoing them in favor of a Missile Launcher on the Venerable Dreadnought and just have difficulty with Heavy Armor, but that still wouldn’t fix the problem completely and I’d have more trouble with the light anti-tank.

So there we go! Another addition of the List Building Series, not a great list but workable with mobility and armor saturation. Just for any wanted reference, here is the final list:

Emperor’s Champion: Vow (Abhor), -110

Dreadnought: TL-Lascannon, DCCW, Heavy Flamer, Venerable, Tank Hunting, Extra Armor, Smoke, Searchlight; -174

Dreadnought: TL-Lascannon, DCCW, Heavy Flamer, Extra Armor, Smoke, Searchlight; -144

Crusader Squad (5): Bolters, Heavy Bolter, Meltagun; Razorback: TL-Lascannon, Smoke, Searchlight; -189

Predator: TL-Lascannon, Heavy Bolter Sponsons, PotMS, Smoke, Searchlight; -164

Total:-2,000

Sep 3, 2011

Best of List.

Remember when I had first posted about Information from the Numbers? I had put up a list which was technically Illegal (three Venerable Dreadnoughts) and so I took it down.

Well I really, really liked that list as it had just about everything I could want (except for strong Infantry based Firepower). So I went back to the drawing board and tried a few adjustments. I tried putting in Terminators instead of Dreadnoughts, but I had less redundancy, less scoring, no 4+2, and it didn’t get as good of numbers.

But then I had a thought, what about Dreadnoughts in Drop Pods? So I tried it out to see if it would fit and after some fiddling this is what I came up with:

Emperor’s Champion: Vow (Accept), -140

Dreadnought: Multi-Melta, DCCW, Heavy Flamer, Extra Armor; Drop Pod; -160

Crusader Squad (5): Bolters, Multi-Melta, Meltagun; Rhino: Extra Armor, Smoke; -158

Crusader Squad (5): Bolters, Lascannon, Plasma Gun; Rhino: Smoke; -154

Crusader Squad (5): Bolters, Lascanonn, Plasma Gun; Rhino: Smoke, Searchlight; -155

Land Speeder: TML, Heavy Bolter; -70

Predator: Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons, Smoke, Searchlight; -129

EDIT: I decided that Meltaguns would be beneficial in the Multi-Melta Squads so that they can act as Suicide Melta (yet another list aspect I have gotten in), so I dropped a couple of Searchlights and changed two Lascannons to Missile Launchers. However I was too lazy to edit the post any further, so just keep these changes in mind as you read. I have also changed the Missile Launchers to Lascannons.

So we’ve got scoring, the 4+2 (actually, 3+2), the 1+1, MSU (both from general lack of expensive units as well as a nearly maxed FOC), Disruption, saturation, mobility, flexibility, enough reliable weapons for me to fear neither Rhino nor Land Raider, and Preferred Enemy.

Scoring means that we won’t suffer in Objective-Based Games. 3+2 means a good balance of what goes forward and what sits back in our troops. MSU means plenty of sacrificial units (all of them) as well as 19-22 Individual threats to my opponent (depending on if you count the Drop Pods which are generally more of a passive threat) and lots of special/heavy weapons. Disruption means that my opponent has something more to worry about than just what is across the table from him. Saturation means a very low chance that my opponent will be able to neutralize a significant portion of my army unless he outplays me (something which cannot be countered in a list). Mobility means that I have means of either chasing my opponent down or staying away from them (whichever is needed). Flexibility means few bad matchups and the ability to counter my opponent’s plans. Reliable weapons further reduce the chance of bad matchups. Preferred Enemy is there to give me some greater threat in Close Combat (especially for my Dreadnoughts) though I could exchange it for Abhor and the Psychic Defense without much loss (and hey, some Neophytes or make on of my Dreadnoughts Venerable + Tank Hunting).

One apparent flaw that struck me but quickly died is having Drop Pods in a mech list. Now, the question is obvious: “Why not forgo the Drop Pods in favor of a long-range setup and Rhinos for the Las/Plas Squads? You get more vehicle saturation from the outset (beginning at 14 fronts at AV 10-13) as well as the fire from the Dreadnoughts every turn without the risk of coming down late.” The thing about that is I would lose out on Disruption which, thanks to the Drop Pods and MM/HF Dreadnoughts, I have almost in excess (but not so much as to endanger my list).

Now, should the Drop Pods come down early (such as all of them by turn 3) then I get their firepower early to kill my opponent and block movement lanes/LoS. Should I get them all late (such as not until at least turn 4) then they make excellent units for clearing objectives or at least contesting them. Should I get them gradually as the game goes along then I get some of the benefit of early killing power, plus some of the advantages of getting them late game. Technically, the most likely outcome is that they all land in the first couple of turns which, while able to kill key units that my opponent has, is the least effective. I can already kill things pretty well (relatively speaking, of course) and my opponent no longer has to worry about things coming in to ruin any plans he has aside from what has already come down; so basically if they arrive early they become a focus for buying myself time early game and killing things as opposed to arriving later and having more of a psychological impact along with objective contesting/finishing off hiding, weakened units that are trying to deny me Kill Points. In short: no, I do not see how it is disadvantageous to have these units come in Drop Pods.

I don’t have absolute knowledge of how this list will perform on the table, but I can predict (from Nikephoros’s Metric System) that I can shoot Infantry pretty well and I can deal with Heavy Armor. I could use more ability to handle light Vehicles and not always being in Melta Range will hurt but I still have enough. Aside from that? I have a general idea of how it is supposed to go but that change depending on my opponent and his list. However, here’s what I suspect to happen 9/10 times. At first I drive forward and Pop Smoke with my MM Bunkers, spreading them out some so that they threaten a large portion of the board while still being able to cross fire (multiples shooting at one thing if needed). The Las/Plas Squads sit, disembarked, in a piece of terrain, preferably on an objective and with good firing lanes; the Predators similarly positioned as to see a good chunk of the board if possible. Land Speeders can move around but try to retain cover either from Rhinos or Terrain and act as Suppression fire more than anything. Dreadnoughts eventually come down as described above and either block movement/firing lanes, assassinate key vehicles/infantry groups, or land to support wherever they are needed (unless they come late, when they act as above). At the end of the game, if all goes well, I should be holding one-to-two objectives to my opponent’s zero-to-one, sometimes better, sometimes worse.

I hope that this has been informative/interesting to someone, particularly since if I were not running a Drop Pod list then this is more than likely what I would go for instead. For Dorn and the Emperor.

Sep 1, 2011

List Building, Part 1.

Alright, this is a while in coming, but here it is: an attempt at a Black Templar Close Combat list with good numbers.

We are actually going to try something new; I am going to walk through the steps as I make the list (which actually isn’t made by the time I’m writing this intro).

First off, rather than beginning with the two Troops and the Emperor’s Champion I like to start with standard things we need and then use what's left over on other things; so first thing we need is a basis of fire-power. Three Typhoons and three Auto/Las Predators are a fine start and there aren’t really better options from those slots (there are good, but not better). So we have a fire-base, as long as we improve upon this in later selections we should be fine.

While it may be tempting to grab some Assault Terminators, we shouldn’t. High cost, require a transport, and don’t really add to our fire-support. No, but we can take some Dreadnoughts. Three basic ones (not even Heavy Flamers) with nothing but Extra Armor, Smoke Launchers, and make one Venerable. I am actually torn between getting Tank Hunters (better shooting) and Furious Charge (better Initiative), however I can’t count on assaulting and I don’t really need that extra point. So Tank Hunters it is.

Now we need Independent Character support for our Crusader Squads (who I intend to do the greatest pull of combat). The Emperor’s Champion with Accept Any Challenge (of course), but do we take Castellans or Marshals? I’m going to go with Castellans armed with Frags, Power Weapons, and Storm Shields for now. They are less vulnerable to Instant Death and cheaper, both of which are is important since we’re taking two. If we have the points we can upgrade, but I want to be sure to have a strong Crusader base.

And finally, we get to the troops. We’ve got three options, take massive units (in Land Raider Crusaders), take regular units (in Rhinos), or take small units (in Razorbacks). Just for fun, let’s see how massive units would work out. We have…just let me do some calculations…705 points (assuming Smoke Launchers on the Predators). Okay, a 10/4 Crusader Squad with a Powerfist, Meltagun, and Frags in a Land Raider Crusader with Smoke Launchers costs…507 points. So we can get one of those and another squad to sit on our home objective with a Lascannon and Razorback; or not. How about regular sized squads? Standard setup (with room for the Castellans) costs 224 points so we can get three of them and have 33 points left over.

33 points? Upgrade to Marshals and slap some Searchlights on those Dreadnoughts! What about another 20 points to make those Power Weapons into Lightning Claws? Well, knock off those Searchlights again and drop a single Initiate. Viola, 20 points!

-Disclaimer-After adding up the list, I found that I was 30 points short. So replace the missing Initiate and…give the Marshals each Meltabombs, and put the Searchlights back on the Dreadnoughts. -/Disclaimer-

Now our list looks like this:

Emperor’s Champion: Vow (Accept) -140

Marshal: Lightning Claw, Storm Shield, Frags, Meltabombs -116

Dreadnought: Assault Cannon, DCCW, Storm Bolter, Venerable, Tank Hunter, Extra Armor, Smoke, Searchlight -134

Dreadnought: Assault Cannon, DCCW, Storm Bolter, Extra Armor, Smoke, Searchlight -114

Crusader Squad (7/2) BP/CS, Powerfist, Meltagun, Frags; Rhino: Extra Armor, Smoke -224

Land Speeder: TML, Heavy Bolter -70

Predator: Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons, Smoke -128

Total:-2,000

There we go! Now let’s look at how it measures up on the metric system:

DMS: 17.84

DMCC: 25.58

DRPG: 48.06

DLRPG: 12.11

So what does this tell us? It tells us that we can’t rely on shooting to kill infantry, our Close Combat is limited and insufficient, we will have a good deal of trouble killing light vehicles unless we can count on melee, and we can barely handle heavy mech. So at best, we have an aggressive list which uses a combination of shooting and close combat to deal with the enemy, and at worst we have a bad list. You decide.

I know, I know. I haven't tried Terminators. Well I will some other time, but I was trying to do it without Terminators for some reason. Personally, I don't think it will be great, but we'll see. Though I'm still undecided for what to do next.

Sep 29, 2011

Sep 25, 2011

Sep 17, 2011

Sep 11, 2011

Sep 5, 2011

Sep 3, 2011

Sep 1, 2011

Recent Pageviews