My first battle using Daemonhunters

[nathan-san]

Hi guys - second post here on B&C (I have formerly been an ork player, and spent most of my time on The Waaagh)

 

I've just had my first game with Daemonhunters, and would like to share some of my experiences.

 

The game was 1500 points, vs a Tyranid close combat army, on a Cityfight board (this is the only way we ever play - Warhammer 40k just feels wrong if its not played in a cluttered and ruined city). We started I guess about 4 feet from each other

 

(Bear in mind I'm not very experienced. I've probably only played around 15 games all up)

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1) Psycannons

A lot of people have preached the value of Psycannons - I, however, did not take them

When looking at the points in a FAGK squad we noted that for the cost of a single gun, we could buy another Grey Knight. Granted, its Str 5, but a buying an extra Knight meant 2 extra shots and 2 extra attacks in close combat, as well as an additional wound. To top it off, adding a psycannon to the squad would mean one of the Knights wouldn't have str 6 in close combat

 

Finally, 36 range isn't that crash hot when the whole board is blocked up by terrain - I could see perhaps the value of this in a big open board where you can make use of the extra 12 inches the psycannon offers

 

 

2) Incinerators (in my FAGK squads)

A lot of people seem to dislike these things, so I was originally going to avoid them (until my friend saw them and exclaimed "heavy flamers that ignore invulnerable saves for HOW many points?!")

I added 1 incinerator to each of my 2 deep striking Grey Knight squads, and have mixed feelings about the weapon. Being a city fight board there was plenty of cover, and fighting gaunts, these burners had the opportunity to cook a lot of bugs (bad dice luck aside - I rolled terribly to wound). They were easy to use, had a longer range than I thought, and had a good effect

 

The downside was that in order to use them, I deep struck probably closer than I should have. After a fail round of ,burning the rest of the Tyranids that were nearby turned around and assaulted my poor Knights and butchered them.

 

Incinerators > Psycannons because:

- Ignores cover. Psycannons don't

- Don't have to roll to hit.

- Can potentially wound a LOT more targets than the psycannon

- Doesn't cost the same as another Knight

 

Incinerators < Psycannons because:

- Encouraged me to jump right into assault range, when I should have spent more turns shooting from afar

- Only scores 1 hit per target, meaning its no good vs a monstrous creature or tank (you'd prefer the 3 possible hits a psycannon would cause, than the 1 hit a flamer will give you)

 

I think if I use these again, I won't try to do it off a deep strike. I'll make sure it is more of a last resort, rather than an opening tactic

 

 

3) Terminators

A Grand Master and his 3 Terminator retinue (with no upgrades except Holocaust)

I had a lot of fun with these guys, and they did quite well for me. The only things I wish I had done differently was give them psycannons and take away holocaust

I deep struck them well out of assault range, insome cover, and tried to keep them at range for as long as possible

Psycannons would definitely help here, since it establishes the terminators as a real ranged threat. I feel better about giving them to terminators, since unlike with PAGK, the psycannon doesn't cost the same as another model

 

Holocaust never actually came up for me since in each assault they fought in they killed almost everything in hand to hand, won combat, and watched the remaining survivors die because of Fearless (causing them to take extra wounds)

 

 

4) Grand Master vs Brother Captain

Grand Master has better BS, I and Attacks, plus THREE wounds. Brother Captain only has one wound

As far as I'm concerned, the Grand Master is like three Brother Captains, for the price of 2 (points wise). It seemed worth it to me

 

 

5) Orbital Strike

I didn't take this because so many people strongly advise against it, and oh my god I wish I did!

Perhaps on a board, sparcely covered with terrain, this would see limited usage, but on a city fight board with some BIG pieces of terrain (that are packed to the brim with squishy bugs) this thing would have caused horrendous devastation! For the first 3 turns (granted, only 2 turns of potential bombardment) the main building in the centre of the board was chockers full of gaunts and a hive tyrant, and surrounded with waves of warriors and a carnifex.

 

I understand that an orbital bombardment shouldn't try to make its points back - that the best usage of it is to force a change in the opponents battle plans, and to disrupt their usage of the terrain, but seriously this would have easily made its points back on this board.

 

I eagerly await my next game so that I can use this. I'll probably take the Melta Torpedo so that I can wander around in side the flames with my terminators, if I feel so inclined

 

 

I've got a few more things I was going to share, but this post feels like its long enough for now

 

Feel free to comment or add to what I've said

 

 

 

 

ps

Just so you know what I was playing with, heres a rough overview of my army (1500 points). I didn't bother with psychic powers, wargear or many options. I wanted to keep it basic to get a general feel for the army since its my first time playing it

 

HQ

Grand Master

3 x Terminator Retinue

 

Troops

3 x Stormtroopers squad (8 men/squad, 2 plasma guns, veteran with plasma pistol)

3 x Chimera (Turret Multilaser, heavy bolter)

 

Fast

2 x FAGK (6 knights, brother captain, and 1 incinerator/squad)

 

Heavy

2 x Dreadnought (with Assault cannon, extra armor, but everything else standard)

[Uncle Mel]

i read your post and am glad to welcome you in the ordo malleus! i'm happy you put tought in your unit choices instead of going with the masses (as far as that is possible with daemonhunters). i did however mis one thing: did you win?

[nathan-san]

Hahaha - I did forget to say that didn't I

 

 

The game was a draw - we both had roughly equal points left over, and we both also claimed 1 objective. If the game had gone another round I would have probably been wiped out

 

 

To be honest, this was a fantastic result for me - the friend I play against regularly wins his tournaments. He's been playing for years and is an excellent player. Usually I don't stand a chance

[nathan-san]

6) Dreadnoughts

These big clankers caused a bit of mayhem, but mostly just drew attacks from the hive tyrant and assault carnifex

I was originally planning to give them TL lascannon and Missile Launcher, but my friend convinced me to take an assault cannon and leave the dred close combat weapon on

 

I have 2 thoughts for this configuration:

- The assault cannon the dreadnought was very cheap (much cheaper than with TL lascannon and missiles).

- Keeping the dred close combat weapon on meant that when they inevitably did get charged by the monstrous creatures, they were at least able to cause some wounds. It also meant that they tarpitted by weaker enemies

 

And two thoughts against:

- Perhaps the only reason I got stuck into close combat in the first place was because the Assault Cannon's range was a lot shorter than I expected it to be

- Although there were no tanks, he did have a carnifex with 7 toughness. I really missed the Str 9 and 8 of the lascannon and missile launchers since the assault cannon tended to ping harmlessly off the beast. I also missed the range - all my dread did for the first turn or so was march forwards

 

 

I am also somewhat interested in replacing the stormbolter with a flamer or incinerator- the storm bolter ended up being useless most of the time (regardless of who he was shooting at)

 

I think next time I will take a Lascannon/Missile dred, and either another in the same configuration, or a more close combat dread (with a incinerator and maybe another assault cannon)

[number6]

i read your post and am glad to welcome you in the ordo malleus! i'm happy you put tought in your unit choices instead of going with the masses (as far as that is possible with daemonhunters).

Well, Cities of Death games are considerably different from standard 40K games. :mellow: Some unit builds, some wargear (etc.) is going to be either less or more useful in CoD games than in standard missions on larger, less densely terrained boards. For example, Orbital Strikes are much more useful, and incinerators are worth serious consideration even on footslogging units. Neither option is very efficient in normal games.

 

Welcome to the DH, Brother! I hope you enjoy your stay here.