Vindicator upgrades

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Greetings,

I recently purchased a Vindicator for my Blood Raven force and I started thinking about which upgrades (if any) I should buy (and thus model) for it. Since the model looks much better with the huge dozer blade attached I assume it would be prudent to buy dozerblade and/or siege shield. Can the blade on the model reasonably represent both? Is it a good idea to buy both, or is only one needed, and if so, which one?

 

Weapons-wise, is it good idea to upgrade it with a second storm bolter and/or HK missile? This would make it a reasonably effective weapons platform even when the demo cannon gets destroyed, but is it worth it? Extra armour?

 

I should mention that these are the other armoured assets of my list so far: Rhino, Razorback, Land Speeder Typhoon, Dreadnought. So it can be assumed that the Vindi will draw lots of fire and attention, which isn't neccesarily a bad thing, since it helps get the rest of the army into position...

 

So, um, help please? :)

[kaiserstole20]

I use the same blade to represent both and I suggest you take one or the other, preferably the Siege Shield. Get the Vindicator right into cover and get the save.

 

You mentioned you have a dreadnought - what weapons does it have? Dreadnoughts can make great bodyguards for Vindicators. You know your opponent is going to try to knock it out of the game. If you are getting the cover save then you have to watch out for outflanking and/or CC units as the next primary threat.

 

Personally, I like pairing an Assault Cannon/Plasma Cannon and DCCW dread with a vindicator.

[minigun762]

Because Loyalists don't have PotMS anymore, I think the best thing to do is keep your Vindicator cheap. The built in Storm Bolter is more useful as a means to hold off "weapon destroyed" results becoming "immobilized" results which could lead to you getting blown up. In essence it gives you a slight boost to your survivability.

I think either of the Dozer Blades work just fine. The one is cheaper but has a tiny (3%?) chance of failure while the other is more expensive but always works.

Kaiserstole 20's point here

Get the Vindicator right into cover and get the save.

Is very good. Park a Vindicator in cover with a good firing lane and just bombard anything that gets close. If they're firing at its front armor, AV13 and a 4+ save is pretty resilient.

 

Be aware that the weakest part of a Vindicator is its sides and rear and smart players will try to flank you using jump pack infantry, bikers or deepstrikers to get close and stick a Melta up your bum. Screening it with Rhinos or a Dreadnought can help this.

[Annatar Giftbringer]

I use the same blade to represent both and I suggest you take one or the other, preferably the Siege Shield. Get the Vindicator right into cover and get the save.

 

You mentioned you have a dreadnought - what weapons does it have? Dreadnoughts can make great bodyguards for Vindicators. You know your opponent is going to try to knock it out of the game. If you are getting the cover save then you have to watch out for outflanking and/or CC units as the next primary threat.

 

Personally, I like pairing an Assault Cannon/Plasma Cannon and DCCW dread with a vindicator.

 

I just re-read the section in the rulebook concerning vehicles and difficult terrain, I (wrongly) remembered that the two blades were used for different tests, but no, they do the same, just that the siege shield does it better.

 

The dread is from AoBR, so he's carrying a MM and SB, but I have an assault cannon arm lying that I might glue on someday instead.

 

I had never thought about pairing the vindi with a dread, nor using the shield to park it within cover, it's brilliant! But, if I park the vindi within a ruin or a forest, won't I grant every target a cover save? or should I just park it just at the border of the terrain? How does area terrain stack with vehicles needing to be 50% covered?

 

Also, is a HK missile and/or extra armour a waste of points? The missile could give the vindi an oppurtunity to fire in the first round, and extra armour lets me reverse out of danger.

[Koremu]

The one is cheaper but has a tiny (3%?) chance of failure while the other is more expensive but always works.

Kaiserstole 20's point here

Get the Vindicator right into cover and get the save.

Is very good. Park a Vindicator in cover with a good firing lane and just bombard anything that gets close. If they're firing at its front armor, AV13 and a 4+ save is pretty resilient.

 

The Dozer Blade has a failure chance per turn. It concatenates into something like 13% chance to be immobilised over the course of a 5 turn game, if you are in cover every turn (which you should be).

 

Personally, I don't like parking the Vindicator, as it makes it way too tempting a target for Krak Grenades. Given that you lose nothing for moving up to 6" per turn (can't fire Defensive and Ordanance Weapons simultaneously), taking a Siege Shield and keeping mobile (even if you just reverse 6") is better than parking up, IMO.

 

Also, because of the way the cover rules and vehicles work, you are probably going to find that if you park up, someone will come around your cover and blow you away.

 

Also, the best way to keep a Vindicator alive in an attack is to accompany it with Tactical Marines.

[chapter master 454]

Siege shield is standard issue IMO. I have played only 1 game with a new formation and did very well (dispite it beaking up in turn 4 and 5 for tactical purposes) which is to put two razorbacks on it's flanks filled with tactical squads and by flanks I mean they are rubbing shoulders completely meaning no side armour shots on the vindicator (razorbacks providing extra firepower and long range support with TLLC and TLHB) while the marines will ether claim and objective from inside the razorbacks or become the infantry support for the tanks to prevent suicide runs at it with meltas. generally if the block is gonna be unable to fire at anything but get fired at next turn (eg an enemy tank rolls out and pops a shot) I crack off smoke on the vindicator but not the razorbacks in an attempt to use killhammers 'how quickly can I kill it' part, IE AV 13 with 4+ cover or an AV 11 with no cover. It's all about getting that str 10 shot off in return! (always remember, vindy first, razor second)