DOA Vs. Tyranid death star

[Jorre]

As has been mentioned several times honor guard with plasmas are very usefull. I would use them to lead away a bug death star. A nid player will see this unit as a big threat. With a little careful placement you can lead that death star away from objectives and important scoring units. I would try avoid moving into rapid fire range tho as it means you will most likely be charged next turn.

[breng77]

The problem is that if you move out of Rapid fire range you are then out of range, as jump infantry are not relentless. I still think it is better to focus on the rest of the army first. If you focus too much attention on killing the deathstar then the other 2/3 to 3/4 of your opponents army is going to cause problems for you.

[BOBMAKENZIE]

im loath to really discuss this because of the Big Warrior lash unit Im running in my new nid list but here goes anyway.

 

Things to remember:

-Box yourself in with Pfists in the front. You only need to be within 2" to fight and Lash Whips only work on models in B2B.

-In a kill point game this unit is still worth 3 kill points.

-Dont be afraid to pick the prime out just becareful because he is still T5 with a 3+

-With all the big bases floating about a Vindicator can do a decent amount of damage if you use one. Alternatively meltaguns and similar are just as nasty as they always are. You're looking at a lot of wounds but they still dont have invuls so think about what kills your terminators and you'll probably find an answer to how to kill them.

-A 6-7 vanguard with 3-4 SS and then 3-4 Pfists should do just alright with ailttle fire support. Bring the Fists down in front. Engage the models and assault in such away that you cant get the rest in B2B. The storm Shields should keep you mostly alive while the Fists can mop up the Squad.

-Multi assault into a squad of Termagaunts is never a terrible idea as has been mentioned before.

 

Pondering it now I wonder how well the sanguinor might do at just holding something like this up for a while...On second thought perhaps he wouldnt be all that good.

[breng77]

@BOBMAKENZIE,

 

I think the vanguard squad you mentioned would likely work. However, unless we are tailoring a list, I don't see many all comers list running a Vanguard squad with 4 power-fists. I mean if you want to make a squad to defeat it. 10 Vanguard with SS and THs should do well. You could also DS a priest or Honor Guard neary by for FNP and FC. You will be fighting with a DS unit about equal points to your opponent but will likely win the fight due to FNP and a 3++ save. Also if the fight goes past round 1 now the Nids will be I 1 just like you.

[TheMouth]

I really dont see how a plasma equipped honour guard would work...unless they never moved and had several turns to shoot the nids...to be in rapid fire range is to be in charge range, so unless you do a lot of wounds not very effective.

[DV8]

Firstly, the Tyranid FAQ states that Shadow in the Warp does not affect Psykers casting powers out of vehicles. A Rune Priest casting Jaws or Murderous Hurricane out of a Rhino is unaffected by Shadows, even if within 12". If I was using Space Wolves and came up against this in a tournament, I'd focus on the objectives and kill the rest of the army that matters (the Troops). If dealing with the Death Star was unavoidable, I would just hammer it with Jaws and Murderous Hurricane. The former to hope I get lucky (that they'll roll a 6), and the latter to slow them down and force Dangerous Terrain rolls on the unit. It won't be enough to kill it, but it will put wounds on it.

 

 

If you're using actual DoA (not mech/hybrid), you have frightfully little that can straight up fight this unit. Most of the heavy hitters a DoA army could bring to combat this unit are either:

 

• Characters that must get into Base to Base to fight, thereby suffering Lash Whips and being dropped to Initiative 1. Our normal heavy hitters like Mephiston wouldn't stand a chance against this.
  
• Expensive units that are pretty much tailored to kill this unit, and thus not something you'd include in an all-comers list
  

 

Thus your best bet is truly to just ignore it. Focus on the objectives and destroy the rest of the army that matters (the Troops).

 

Never forget that while Annihilation can be an objective, it need not necessarily always be the objective.

 

 

DV8

[BOBMAKENZIE]

@BOBMAKENZIE,

 

I think the vanguard squad you mentioned would likely work. However, unless we are tailoring a list, I don't see many all comers list running a Vanguard squad with 4 power-fists. I mean if you want to make a squad to defeat it. 10 Vanguard with SS and THs should do well. You could also DS a priest or Honor Guard neary by for FNP and FC. You will be fighting with a DS unit about equal points to your opponent but will likely win the fight due to FNP and a 3++ save. Also if the fight goes past round 1 now the Nids will be I 1 just like you.

 

if theres anything I've proven by running a 700 pt Death Company with Dante its that just because an expensive unit isnt good doesnt make it bad.

 

 

Good point on the thunder hammers though. You could perhaps get away with plain Stormshields in the front, and then Pweps in the back. Thats just relying more on luck though. Which I do all the time with my orks ^_^ So I guess its hypocritical to say Im loath to do....

 

The thunderhammers are an excellent point. Very True Dat.

 

Alternatively against nids since you dont need as much in the anti tank departement it might also be potentially good to combat squad the RAS with 2 meltas in one half. Dropping the melts down to bombard the Death Star in wave after wave (I sent wave after wave of my own men at them until they reached their preprogrammed kill limit and deactivated!) While the other squads can be used to deal with little guys.

[breng77]

I was not saying that it was necessarily a bad unit, just that most people in an all comers environment are not taking vanguard with 4 power fists, because manytimes they are overkill.

[David A.]

Nid player here. I'll tell you have people have killed my deathstar.

 

It is true that the deathstar is slow. Stay away from it and make it get out of cover. Then shoot it with krak missiles. Hive Tyrants do not have invul saves, and Swarmlords have invul saves only in melee so the missiles go right through the 3+ armor. Plasma is also great for killing MCs, but the range is very short.

 

If there is a Venomthrope nearby granting a cover save, kill it.

 

If there is a Tervigon casting FNP on it, kill it.

 

If you want to beat it in hand to hand don't let it charge you, because the Nid is going to cast Paroxysm on you and reduce your WS to 1.

 

A smart Nid will put a gaunt screen in front of the Deathstar to provide cover and make it so you cant charge him. Use the screen against him. Shoot the screen and attempt to open a hole. Then multi-charge the screen and the deathstar. Kill as many gants as possible and make the deathstar take a ton of fearless saves.

 

This is assuming you don't have something like power weapons or thunder hammers. I'd focus those on the T6 bugs.

 

Best way to kill a deathstar in CC is to drive a land raider full of thunder hammer terminators into it and assault.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

This is the best advice I've seen so far. Nid armies running lots of big bugs/ deathstars screened by gaunts is a tough matchup for DoA armies. You have to play very well versus a good Nid player to win. If it's a killpoint mission you should be okay as you should be able to choose what you want to kill. Objective based missions are harder though, the big bugs/deathstars are typically screened by gaunts/genestealers. If you simply assault the bubble wrap then the big bugs/deathstar can counter attack... Ouch. As stated in the last post the best option is to punch a hole through the screen multi charging both the gaunts and big bugs/deathstar. I run a Stormraven in my current list with a Furioso (Blood Talons) onboard. Run an alpha strike on the deathstar with the Bloodstrike missiles first to soften up the deathstar. They can allocate wounds but at least you're taking them down a notch. If you can get the dread into the multi assault versus the gaunts he will rack up a lot of wounds which in turn will trigger lots of armor saves for the deathstar due to No Retreat. This alone can devastate the deathstar.

 

G :D

[David A.]

Can the troops in a Landraider disembark and charge after a tank shock?

 

Another idea is to tank shock the screen with a rhino.

 

It can be tricky shooting the screen because you want to kill enough to open a hole, but not enough to wipe out the unit.

[BOBMAKENZIE]

You have to remember that you are probably losing a squad to the Big boys though BO. That makes it vital that the dread finishes them. (Though its got a pretty good chance.)

 

Your other option would be to use say...a priest. To Pin the Hive Tyrant in Place. And then Charge the guard with the dread. The Dread will eat the squad for breakfast (Wheres you're retinue rule now eh!) and the Priest will be eaten by the hive tyrant then you win by KO anyway.

 

 

You can disembark and charge after a tank shock so long as you would be able to do so after the move normally.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I try to multi charge as such - Priest goes in base with gaunts along with the dread to link assaults. My HG has SS and ccw that ignore armor saves - they go into base with Tyrant and Prime locking them down. Dread should kill the entire brood of gaunts -> multiple armor saves due to NR should finish off the deathstar.

 

G :D