Wanna do a Mech-Army

[norngahl]

Hi dudes!

 

I mainly played lists with lots and lots of bodies and lowest "mech" possible (TFC and Drop Pods..) and got great success with them.

 

But one of the SM Models I love most are Dreadnoughts. And Godhammer-Pattern Land Raiders <_< As you can see, they could never made it into my usual lists, as they cost a lot and bring less if taken as single choices because of beeing the only AV-Vehicles that tank hunters could go for.

 

Now I want to do the other way round and build a mech force around Dreadnoughts and a Land Raider Godhammer.

 

I don´t want to field a master of the forge, this has several reasons. First, we play at 1500points at usual, and a termi/SS libby is always my first buy as anyone and his mother has anything psyking in their army. So a second HQ ist too expensive for such low point games. Second, I always have only 1 heavy support choice left, cause 2 Thunderfire Cannons are my second buy. And as I´m going to field a Land Raider from now, there is no reason for a MotF.

 

I thought about 1 Termi Libby, 3 Dreads, 2 tactical squads (5+10) in IA2 TL-MM razorbacks, 2 TFC and a LR Godhammer. Tactical Squad would combat squad to have a scoring LR and at least 3 scoring vehicles.

 

But how to equipp those dreads? The TFC will take care of any hordes (doesn´t matter if in cover or not), with 2 TL-lascannons and 2 TL-Multimeltas I have a nice AT.. But maybe some TL-lascannons on the dreads?

 

My first thought was- anyone gets a DCCW with Heavy Flamer. That way the do some damage in combat, can hurt mobs and put sure wounds on enemies and are still able to take on IC, MCs or vehicles. Maybe two of them with with TL-Lascannons and one with Plasmacannon? So I´d get some real AT boost at longe range but could kill MCs on range as well, and a single plasmacannon to hurt crack opened marines or killing light vehicles.

 

I thought about Ironclads, but they are so short ranged they will be melta´d to death, without any guarantee to survive the deepstrike for 2 turns. This would also force me to rely on Drop Pods again, and at least this is what I don´t want to do with this army. Venerables are quite nice, but 60 points of upgrades, well I´m not sure about that.. Maybe if he stays at longe range he will be more survivable, but much more expensive, and at 1500p points are short. Then I thought about the Rifleman dread. Actually he has a pretty decent damage output against light vehicles, but struggles against AV13+. Also I have the TFC against hordes and they can crack up AV11 as well. Against AV12 the Rifleman is better, but If I have TFC wouldn´t be a simple lascannon dread better as he is able to take out light, medium AND heavy vehicles? Sure he is a bit more expensive, but he also has the heavy flamer and CC ability. Not sure about which one would be better.

 

Instead of the 2 TFC (which I really love) i could take 3x MM/HF speeders instead, taken as a single choice. Don´t now if they work better than the TFC in a mech army, but in my lists TFC always prevailed. But speeders are more flexible at putting damage on different types of targets, on the other hand they have to get really close while the rest of the army mainly stays at some range and then counters. They don´t have those special ammo to slow enemies down as well, nor will they ever to so much damage onto infantry as TFC do, but they have those multimeltas. Is a MM in such a force really worth decreasing the Anti-Infantry damage output? Because long range Anti-Infantry is what would be missing, dreads with HF would do this job too.

 

For the LR I thought about taking Chronus (hes the only SC I´d play as he is rather an over expensive seargent..). Sure he is expensive, but if I stay at range I guess he can make that LR a darn hard enemy, exspecially at longe range where meltas don´t cut.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

 

greetings

norngahl

[DerekLee688]

I suggest giving the combat squad in the rhino a plasma cannon. It's dirt cheap and is effective against all infantry deepstrikers, especally terminators without storm shields.

 

Otherwise a lascannon in a tac squad is cheap too and a PC on a dread is a mobile platform.

 

The price you pay for the land raider and Dreads are bodies. Dreads will make up the loss in firepower, but the land raider only has those lascannons. TFC seem to be absoluty vital in killing infantry as half of your troops will be too small to make a difference.

 

All vehicles except Land Raiders and monoliths can be taken down by side armor shots with lascannons and autocannons you may have to rely on this instead of melta.

[DarkGuard]

I'd give your Tactical Squads melta weapons, possibly give the Sergeant of the 5 man one a combi-melta at least, this helps you deal with the big tanks and lets you field rifleman Dreads. While lascannons do let you threaten a larger range of vehicles, they are only really effective against light vehicles, and rifleman Dreads do this better. And remember, your Land Raider has two TL-LCs which can fire at different targets.

 

If you're worried about combat then consider Assault Terminators with TH/SS to fill in this gap.

 

I'd go for a Rhino with the 10 man squad (never combat squad, Marines aren't made for 5 man squads), and a Razorback for the 5 man squad with either standard heavy bolter or consider getting an upgrade. I'm thinking of playing about with the assault cannon myself, but if you're still worried about lascannons you should be able to get a TL-lascannon on the Razorback with the points you save by taking rifleman Dreads.

[Ryjak]

It sounds like a you're trying to build a semi-Mechanized semi-Gunline Army, using an Earth style of play. So, for starters, I suggest these links:

 

The Gun-line Army

 

The Mechanized Army

 

The Way of the Earth Warrior

 

 

With that in mind, let's look at the units you want to focus on: Dreadnoughts and Land Raiders. Both can be taken in Elite and Heavy Slots, so you have a lot of options on how you get them. Dreads can be equiped to fulfill a variety of rolls, while the Godhammer Landraider has one default roll: blast away with Lascannons. Lascannons are great for hurting Monstrous Creatures and popping AV10-12 at range, but they kinda suck for big armored targets. While slapping a Multi-melta on the LR is a good start, you'll probably want something else to tackle enemy armor.

 

Dreads have a lot of ways to do this. A DCCW can rip holes in just about any vehicle, and they can carry Multi-meltas, and sometimes meltaguns. However, this is a sub-par roll for a Dread, since they usually don't have the mobility necessary to use these close-range weapons until late in the game. Landspeeders, Attack Bikes, and even Marines in a Rhino can usually hunt big armor much more effectively.

 

So, what I suggest is you equip your Dreads to handle the stuff a Godhammer Landraider should never even think of engaging: Infantry. Sure it has a Heavy Bolter, but who fields a Landraider to get a heavy bolter? With a Plasma Cannon, Heavy Bolter, TL Autocannon, or Assault Cannon paired with a ML or a TL Autocannon, you can smack infantry around. If you're feeling froggy, you could get three Dreadnoughts with Plasma and ML, and lay down 6 templates a turn while stomping around the battlefield. Could be fun, but the TFCs do that kind of thing much more effectively, and we're looking for something new for you. Maybe an Assault Cannon and a TL Autcannon would be more interesting, as that gives the Dread 6 shots to put down-range.

 

Or maybe you don't want to go crazy... just field the standard Dread with a DCCW/Heavy Flamer & Assault Cannon. Hard to go wrong there.

 

In any case, I'm sure you'll enjoy the change of pace. Both are great models to build and paint.

[norngahl]

Hi there!

 

Playtestet some of the mentioned combos and I mainly found out Ryjak was right with his intention to tool dreadnoughts for anti infantry purposes in a mech army.

 

Plasmacannons on the tacicals in Rhinos work great, but personally I try to minimize unarmored bodies so no 10 man troops-> no plasmacannon, and neither elite bodies in form of sternguard or termis :ph34r:

 

 

With a TL lascannon/DCCW+HF they were kinda expensive, and sucked at longe range due to only 1 shot ability while wasting their CC power, even if someone came close it wouldn´t have been an enemy I couldn´t have handeled with just MORE firepower rather than an extra CC-Upgrade.

 

One point I came to was to this Dreadnought type:

 

Dread, twin linkend machine cannons, plasmacannon, extra armor. It´s only 140 points and nearly eaqual to the rifle dread, with the exception that it loses 1 shot against mech but gains +300% more effective against infantry, exspecially against those with good saves. (I have to say that my army is mainly tooled around melta weapons, I mainly lack anti-heavy infatry and light ranged AT-weapons to take on mech hoards)

 

I´m going to give this combo a lot of playtests, what´s your experience with them?

[Praesul]

I was thinking of trying the TLAC + Plas or TLAC + Assault Cannon Dread. Both seem pretty promising as long as you don't want them to only shoot down Rhino's/Chimera.

[norngahl]

I was thinking of trying the TLAC + Plas or TLAC + Assault Cannon Dread. Both seem pretty promising as long as you don't want them to only shoot down Rhino's/Chimera.

 

oops sorry, meant the tl-autocannon with the "machinecannon". Lost in translation^^

 

Personally I think the assaultcannon is better against light vehicles (and of course heavy vehicles), but less strong against infantry, exspecially heavy armored troops or hoards. The plasmacannon instead is worser against armor. I think its the question, how you equip the rest of the army.

 

I guess if you

a) equip your army with lots of AT stuff the plasmacannon is the better choice while if

:ph34r: you equip your army with rather anti-infantry stuff the assaultcannon is more handsome

 

Any other ideas?

 

greetings

[McFisty]

I like your list and the ideas you are exploring. I recommend you put the Librarian in the Godhammer LR with 5 TH & SS Terminators. Have two full ten man Tactical squads in Rhinos with flamers, Missile Launchers and Powerfists. Then have two tl-Autocannon Rifleman Dreadnoughts and two Thunderfire cannons. This should put you right at or near 1500 points. Happy hunting.

 

For The Emperor,

 

McFisty