Librarian; w/ Blood Lance, Shield of Sanguinius, Infernus pistol - 115
Two of these guys - notice how flexible and ubiquitous they are...although the lists will look similar, functionally they are so different, and yet the exact same HQ is the obvious choice. Enough bragging about how great I am to use them, moving swiftly on!
Elites. This is where we are planning to get the real punch for the list (2k, fyi) and so we need some right beefcakes to hit hard when they arrive. Bear in mind there's no way to balance this list. We're looking for a tabling, or a mauling at the very least, enough that the game will be a dawdle for our scanty Troops to win. KPs will suit this army down to a tee, although I never go in for such nonsense theories as writing a list in order to minimise the KPs it can give away - I prefer to think in terms of how many can be scored by the army per turn, when I pay them any heed at all. This is a WAR game - the minimum you should be able to expect from each unit is a measure of killiness, and so we should be able to ignore Kill Points entirely at the List Writing stage, and work instead on the basis of the 2/3 of missions that use Objectives to determine Victory. We are looking for a couple Land Raiders to drop in - but it's more important to get something nice to fit in them...and this shows the genius of the Codex's 'anti-cheese' mechanisms, for those of you who insist on adhering to such crackpot theories and definitions...
Assault Terminators.
Yep, that's right. Now, in the SM book, these are clearly better, because they don't pay points for the TH/SS combo that is so feared, reviled, and loved by the Community. BA pay a small premium for the opportunity to take 2/3 of Meltagun hits, making them a nice shift without becoming too much weaker that they are literally inconceivable. That said, it stacks up, so we aren't going to be giving them to everyone. Some guys will inevitably be left carrying LCs, partly to strike at I order, partly for extra A...mostly to save some points. Now, we want 2 squads of these guys, no? The Libbies need to be aboard, so we want the maximum capacity we can stretch to, which is afforded by Crusaders. Okay, so then we can afford to take a unit of 7, and the Libby, and potentially another guy. In a unit of 7, I think a 4/3 split of TH/LC is appropriate, no?
Terminator Assault Squad; w/2 extra Terminators, 4x TH/SS, LRC [Multi-Melta, Extra Armour] - 575
Ouch. 575 points for that squad...it's pretty beefy, so maybe that's okay? Well, we'll take two of those (OUCH! Right in the wallet...) and call it good. So, as it stands we're packing 2HQ, 2 Elites, and using up well over half our points (690 in each Raider!!!!) at 1380. We still need a way to get those expensive bastards in accurately, too. :(
Well, let's look at the rest of Elites, briefly. Sang Priest, they're a must, surely? Well, FnP Terminators are just Pure Win, and it helps distinguish us from other Chapters...oh, and look at that! There's enough room for a Power Armour Marine in each Raider...wow. Almost like I planned it or somesuch. ;)
Sanguinary Priest; w/ Infernus Pistol - 65
Screw the Melta Bombs, TH are more effective, and reliable. Now, taking 2 of these guys makes us use up 1510 of our points and...hang on...THERE'S a way to get them in accurately! Sternguard, Drop Pod, Locator Beacon = WIN!! All we have to do is squeeze out another 2 Termies, Combat Squad, and we can take another, non-Dedicated LRC...Oh. We can't. The option isn't there...way to write balanced rulesets GW!!!! (No, seriously, well done.) Okay, we need another way to get the requisite anti-tank Alpha Strike into the list. It has to be Pods, to clear a LZ for the Raiders, and to Beacon them down.
So, what can we get...Dreadnoughts? Maybe...we'll come back to you. Devastators? No way, hose...too expensive, too fragile, too shit. We're out of Elites and HQ (except Honour Guard, but, really, expensive much? Crap...maybe it'll have to be them.)
Let's look at Troops, while we still have points. There aren't any FA choices can have a Pod, after all. (Scout Bikes do have the option for a Locator Beacon...but, let's not go there)
For 105 points, we can have a DC unit in a Pod with Beacon. Sadly, we can only take one, can't afford AstroBoy, and they'd have ZERO chance of lasting a turn. Tac Marines? Well, the fact that Heavies can't shoot, and that you take Tac Marines for the Heavy Weapon (Just like ever!) pretty much excludes them. Scouts? Can't have a Pod, pieces of shit. DC Dread? Need DC, lameass. Still...145 for 5 DC in a LB Pod, and 170 for a DC Dread in LB Pod. Better than nothing, but it doesn't do a lot of anti-tank, and let you get in amongst the foe properly. Okay, Assault Marines. Again.
Assault Squad; w/ Meltagun, Infernus Pistol, Drop Pod [Locator Beacon] - 125
Cheaper than the DC, provides anti-tank...Scores, excellent! Okay, two of those, call it good. Takes our running total to (1510+250) 1760. Ooooh. At 1750, this army would be very okay - just drop a Pistol somewhere other than the Pod Sergs, or 1 TH/SS per squad. Actually, leave the pistol in, either way. Alright, onwards and upwards. 240 remains. PROBLEM!!! What? What is it brain? You trying to tell me something? Oh, right - we have an even number of Pods. Well spotted. Okay, we need another Pod somewhere. Honour Guard? Fuck yeah.
Honour Guard; w/ 5 Meltaguns, 5 Flamers, Drop Pod [Locator Beacon] - 235
What? How do they get Flamers and Meltas? Do I have ten guys there? I fucking wish, then I'd Combat Squad like a shitting genius kettle! Um...what I mean is, they can replace their Bolt Pistol/Boltgun with one option (Meltagun) and then their Chainsword with another option (Flamer) to give them insane utility, and incredibiletastic conversion opportunitities. (<
They become stupidly costly, but can kill virtually anything on turn one, and yet leave you enough security in the Pod to get the 'bulk' of the army into play. Is it great? Hell no, far from it. 5 Squads at 2k? No thanks! But it IS unique. At 2500, I figure you add more Troops, namely, another 2 identikit Assault Squads.
Opinions?
PS - I know, I know, 48 minutes, not half an hour. So sue me.*
* - Please don't sue me...
15 comments:
This is the kind of post I love from you, King. I'm not sure I dig the list completely, in the sense that it doesn't fit me, but I love reading your thoughts on HOW you came up with it.
I'm going to try my hand at building a BA pretty soon - but I'm not the list jockey you are, so swing by SA and give me some advice in the next few days.
Good post - Brent
Yeah, love to see you doing your mental gymnastics there. No homo.
That said, that list is hella goofy lol. Could surprise some folks, but it's not too hard to pop 2 open-topped AV12 Pods.
True - but It's A Gimmick is kinda the theme...I'm hoping people get too caught up in 'You're going to do WHAT with your Land Raiders?!' to realise I need the Beacons to pull it off.
I'll surely pop by Brent - but keep your eyes peeled fro my upcoming FootDar Fail! (Yeah, really, going to try my hand at making FootDar more palatable. Let's see what I can achieve...)
I see you are taking infernus pistols on your librarians in both your lists. Do you think they are worth the 15 points on a BS4 model? I can see it on the jump pack list as your trying to get as many as possibly in the list, but would you use it as well in a general mech army?
At the minute, I don't know Kris. I'm going to crunch some numbers, and do a Mechanised Army later in the week, so I'll have an answer for you then - but, at the moment, yes. It's a lot better than a Bolt pistol, and, while Blood Lance provides neat anti-tank, sometimes the double dice would be more useful...mmm. Maybe they will actually end up with Hand Flamers actually...
Interesting. I think I shall do that list on Wednesday. :)
Possibly Tuesday afternoon, now...I have stuff to do around the house, and ideally some painting - but if I can do it at around 5pm tomorrow, I will (that's in 14 hours for me) - now you've got me thinking about it I'm not going to sleep! lol
haha sorry about that. I've been trying to work a list with the models I have at the moment which doesnt include any jump packers so i'm stuck with a mech list and i've just been throwing so many things back and forth that I cant decide what I want to use.
If you want to email me what you have I can fit that into the post, or do a separate one, depending on time. :)
Mindwar_ftw@hotmail.com
Just don't expect magic, and remember it's highly subjective, I haven't playtested the Codex at all yet. :D
Thanks. My main issue is debating over little things like assault terminators vs death co., baal preds vs typhoons and the like. I dont have a lot of play time these days so playtesting all the options isnt really in the cards for me.
I'm not sold on the necessity of Assault Termies in BA armies, especially when you get the nastiness that is Troop assault squads with FC and FNP.
I like mech BA staying mobile, cranking out tons of firepower, and mopping up with their Troops. I think vanilla do the dual Raider rock better just because they do it so efficiently.
Interesting article. A couple points:
1) 7 Termies sounds like overkill. 5 of either loadout will probably crush anything they run into, especially if you are giving them Sanguinary Priest support.
2) A 5 point premium on TH/SS doesn't sound that bad, and obviously 2+/3+ FnP is rock hard. But you also have to compare that to LC termies with FC/FnP is like Black Templars on steroids.
Overall, if you only do 5 models per unit I don't think splitting the loadout is a good idea though.
3) Support for the 2 raiders seems really light.
I agree Warren - but the 7 Termies has several functions:
1) Allows them to compete better with other Assault Termis in direct combat
2) Allows them to split weapons, as you say
3) Allows Wound Allocation, due to above.
4) Pure psychological pressure. lol
Support in the list really is poor, I concur - but I don't think the list can, frankly, do much...It's nice, as a ListBuilding exercise - but it's such a fundamentally flawed concept that it struggles from the get-go. Bear in mind also, that BA struggle for meaningful support in most of their lists. :)
Well, first of all, you don't have to justify Assault terminators to me. FC on assault marines is all well and good, but when most people run units of 5, you have no preferred enemy and no power weapons, you're unlikely to drop too many marines or their pointy-eared foe.
Assault termies - and I mean the proper ones with claws - on the other hand are the kryptonite of pretty much any unit going. This is where FC really comes into it's own as I'm sure you know. I5 power weapons at S5 and re-rolls to wound are almost as good as orks/footdar.
I would say one thing, I think you're being a bit mean on the claws. My BT run 4 claws, 2 hammers. I think for a unit of 7 4 claws/3 hammers would be better. How many AP2 shots/power weapon attacks are going to be coming their way? Well except when they face banshees?? Really??
I like the list, I think deep-striking LRCs is huge! But why the EA? You have PotMS, just make sure you face the correct direction on landing. I don't have to pay for mine, but I'm not sure it's really required??
14 termies will have a huge psychological effect. Especially if they rock-up on the same turn!
EA is in case the enemy is Eldar and they try to drive away. This way, if they drive away they can't possibly shoot, too.
Or Nids, and I want to drive backwards. :)
Backwards? Heresy!
Post a Comment