Astorath The Grim with 3x10 Squads of DC

[foster]

I was thinking of building an army theme with 30 death company modals as the main Core of my army. I have 10 previous addition jump pack DC and two newer boxsets of DC with another tactical squad boxset to convert them all into 20 blood thirsty marines. I have a couple of Reclusiarch modals and even an older Lemartes modal which I can use to spread "Liturgies of Blood" to every DC squad.

 

I'm just wondering if others have had much success with DC army themes like these. Do you guys prefer DC all in Rhino's, with jump packs or a little of both?

[Morticon]

Cant speak from any experience but with regards to DC with packs, you're paying an incredibly high premium on the models that cant have their rage controlled in any way.

 

Also, depends what army points value you play.

 

Bare bones in rhinos for 3x9 DC with 2 Elite Chaplains, 1 Reclusiarch and Astorath youre looking at 1240 points. Wargear will bring that up some.

 

Then you need a jumpy squad to escort Astorath.

 

So you need to be playing a 1850+ points level for this. Then you can start doing some funky things like adding storm ravens, or raiders etc. And making sure you have at least some troops.

 

Those are my theory hammer thoughts!

[TrentL]

Check out Murph's blog he was doing an all DC army for awhile until life changes stopped updates.

 

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=255006

[Bishoujo]

It really depends on what your goals are. If you are aiming to be competitive against other decent lists - then I wouldn't go this route. If you're wanting to have a fun themed army that can stand up against other themed armies, or if you are just about having fun and can find enjoyment in killing some of your enemy's units while losing the scenario - then go for it!

 

As for the jump pack vs transport thing... that's a tough one. The transport gives them some protection, lets them move faster and gives you the only form of mitigation to Rage that you can get. Also, a rhino is WAY cheaper than 15 points per jump pack. Once you disembark, you are moving towards the nearest enemy due to Rage. If someone is smart they can kite you with a faster unit. Having jump packs makes you harder to kite as you can move twice as far outside of your transport.

 

All in all, my vote is for the transport option. You can get the rhino for 5 points more than the cost of 3 jump packs. A 10 man DC squad in a rhino is 100 points cheaper than a 10 man DC squad with jump packs. That's another 5 DC you could get in another squad, or some power weapons/fists.

[Burningblood]

Here's what I've learned playing several flavors of all DC armies

10-15 man squads fit very nicely in a tight deepstrike circle. If you have 2-3 squads of these, drop them RIGHT NEXT to something important to your opponent, like Vindicators/landraiders, etc, and try to blow them to hell. If you are in your opponent's battle line, you may be too close for him to risk templating you to death, or maybe not. If you have the good fortune to get multiple squads in at once, you will loose quite a few models during his turn but will be so close as to not have to worry about the kiting thing. Then you can crush him.

The thing to remember is that you will be playing solely to table your opponent- and he/she will know that.

Depending on your play style and points level all dc lists are lots of fun but very hard to win with against solid and experienced players.

[foster]

Here's what I've learned playing several flavors of all DC armies

10-15 man squads fit very nicely in a tight deepstrike circle. If you have 2-3 squads of these, drop them RIGHT NEXT to something important to your opponent, like Vindicators/landraiders, etc, and try to blow them to hell. If you are in your opponent's battle line, you may be too close for him to risk templating you to death, or maybe not. If you have the good fortune to get multiple squads in at once, you will loose quite a few models during his turn but will be so close as to not have to worry about the kiting thing. Then you can crush him.

The thing to remember is that you will be playing solely to table your opponent- and he/she will know that.

Depending on your play style and points level all dc lists are lots of fun but very hard to win with against solid and experienced players.

 

I think if I want to have something to play the role of deep striking into enemy territory to cause mayhem I would have a couple of drop-pod heavy dreadnoughts. I've used them before to deep strike to either side of tanks and walkers in the first turn. Then in the next player turn while my opponent turns most of his vehicles to counter the dreads a couple of Baals will have a clear view at their side armour. Having DC do that may be overkill and expensive to play, denying me points I can use for the rest of my force, like extra Baals and Dreads.

 

I prefer to use Rhino's instead of jump packs to transport small 8 man units of DC with equipped boltguns. It'll be cheaper with fewer men so I can spend extra points to equip them with power weapons and fists. Two or three of these squads can be used to make a very powerful gun line that can pursue multiple targets or a few death star units. Being able to move, rapid fire and assault is a huge advantage in core units, making it ideal for being flexible.

 

I can think of lots of units to support the mechanised DC. But what units would you guys use to support them?

[wookielips]

if you are dropping in a few DC dreads, be sure to buy empty pods to up the # that come in on turn 1.

 

if you have 3 dreads, cool. cant change that. but if you have 2xDC and 4 dreads, buy a 5th pod so 3xDC dread drop turn 1. very tough to pop all those in a turn, which means 1-2 charge turn 2, while your DC advance.

 

also consider a dread heavy list. its pricey, but if you put the DC in transports rather than JP (and put JP on VV to tie up shooting against your DP/ds...) you save a ton of points on DC jp and can get quite a few DC/furi/furi libbie/heavy dreads for the points and then cause all manner of mayhem.

 

2x11 DC in SR w EA

astorath

lemartes

 

thats 1225. add 4xDC dread, 2 in pods, 2 on SR: 1795

 

furi w EA + furi libby w EA w 2xDP (maybe put libbie on SR, for moving cover bubble....): 2185

 

MM/DCCW dread w pod: 2315

 

use the rest of the points (i mostly play and plan 2500pt) for a 3rd furi w DP, or gear for the DC.

 

thats 2 huge chunks of DC crossing, 4 dreads turn 1, 3 dreads turn 2.

 

is it going to win objective games? probably not.

 

is it freakin awesome to witness and play? heck yeah.

[foster]

I was planning on dropping 3 Dreadnoughts, 2 with Multi-melta Heavy Dreadnoughts that can land in the enemy's deployment zone first turn. I find it's a good way to occupy enemy tanks and walkers. The third dread will be a Furioso Dreadnought when I get around to buying one. The only reason I don't take DC Dreads is that I like to be in control of my Dreads, it's just the way I like to play. I would also like to use 3 Baal Predators to help support the Dreadnoughts by pinning down infantry at a distance, hopefully failing their leadership tests and running them off the board.

 

I think that 3x8 Death Company, 3 Deepstriking Dreadnoughts and 3 Baals can work well together. Now all there's left to do is think of what works well with Astorath The Grim.

[Sanguinarian]

Can someone explain how you can buy an extra empty Drop Pod? I understand buying 1 Drop Pod for 1 Dreadnought, but how do you buy 4 DPs for 3 Dreads? Is this legal or is it cheating the Drop Pod Assault Rule that states half must enter 1st Turn? With this logic it sounds as if I could buy 2 different dedicated transports for any 1 of my units. Doesn't seem legal.

[BladeEncarmine]

You're buying the pod for something else (probably the DC in these lists) then having it come down on its own. Just like any dedicated transport, you don't HAVE to embark its unit on the pod.

 

Now, personally, I find taking the multiple DC army a bit of a waste of some of Astorath's potential. I like having the 50% Thirst chance on units I can control, rather than on 30 raging psychopaths. As much as I miss having the DC in my armies, they're a bit too much of a liability sometimes.

[Spagunk]

*Posts deleted*. Was ninja'd by BladeEncarmine.

[Isryion]

Now, personally, I find taking the multiple DC army a bit of a waste of some of Astorath's potential. I like having the 50% Thirst chance on units I can control, rather than on 30 raging psychopaths. As much as I miss having the DC in my armies, they're a bit too much of a liability sometimes.

 

I completely agree with this. If you're building and all DC army you need him, obviously, but I think that it's a far more cost effective to go with few DC in this case.