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Can the Death Company be controlled in 5E?


ExoduS_BA

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Hi all,

I've been out of the game for quite a while. Last game I played was using 4th Ed rules and the White Dwarf Codex...

 

Recently had a flick through the new codex and rulebook and I'm a little alarmed by something: Death Company Black Rage.

 

DeathCompany and Lemartes Suffer from black rage, which AFAICT is simply "frenzy"

 

Now in all of the previous version of the BA codex, the Deathcompany's frenzy was kept in check by chaplains.

I.E. instead of being an uncontrollable unit that just rushes straigth for the closest enemy, chaplains enabled you to move from cover to cover, flank and head for juicy units where the DC could do the most damage... it also meant that you wouldn't be led ona wild goose chase round and round a piece of terrain by an equally agile enemy unit...

 

BUT... I can find no mentioning of chaplains removing the "Rage" special rule from the DC.

 

In the rulebook "Rage" is not marked with an asterisk, which means that the rule remains even if an IC without the rule joins the unit...

 

 

So does that mean we can't control our best unit anymore? That it's just a gibbering bunch of random loons that head straight across the table getting shot to hell because they have no cover?

 

Or did I (hopefully) miss something and Chaplains do still exert control over the Death Company?

Hi all,

I've been out of the game for quite a while. Last game I played was using 4th Ed rules and the White Dwarf Codex...

 

Recently had a flick through the new codex and rulebook and I'm a little alarmed by something: Death Company Black Rage.

 

DeathCompany and Lemartes Suffer from black rage, which AFAICT is simply "frenzy"

 

Now in all of the previous version of the BA codex, the Deathcompany's frenzy was kept in check by chaplains.

I.E. instead of being an uncontrollable unit that just rushes straigth for the closest enemy, chaplains enabled you to move from cover to cover, flank and head for juicy units where the DC could do the most damage... it also meant that you wouldn't be led ona wild goose chase round and round a piece of terrain by an equally agile enemy unit...

 

BUT... I can find no mentioning of chaplains removing the "Rage" special rule from the DC.

 

In the rulebook "Rage" is not marked with an asterisk, which means that the rule remains even if an IC without the rule joins the unit...

 

 

So does that mean we can't control our best unit anymore? That it's just a gibbering bunch of random loons that head straight across the table getting shot to hell because they have no cover?

 

Or did I (hopefully) miss something and Chaplains do still exert control over the Death Company?

 

actualy controll them with a chappy, no.

 

best unit is debatable.

Short answer is no, you can't control them any more.

 

Put them in a transport, limit their vision with your tanks, drop them right into the enemy lines, that's what you can do to keep them in check.

 

Also, they have to move towards the nearest enemy, but they don't have to run in the same direction and they don't have to charge that unit, or any unit for that matter, either.

Rage makes them less attractive to a lot, I know. You can get cover though; as long as you're moving closer to the target, it doesn't have to be a straight line. Move into cover. Use said cover to block line of sight for a bit until you can get your bearings.

Hmmm... upon further review, it seems you can recreate the key bonuses of the Death Company (+1 A, Furious CHarge, Feel no Pain & a smattering of Power weapons) by adding Honour Guards for your HQ Choices, thanks to the Sanguinary initiate & his Blood Chalice.

 

So I removed an 8Man Deathcompany with Jump packs and Lemartes... picked up a 5 man honour guard for my HQ unit, gave them 2 power weapons and jump packs. I had enough points left over to get a Reclusiarch for my second HQ, Give him a Jump Pack and give him another Honour guard with the same equipment and still had a few points left to spare.

 

So my net gain is 2 extra marines with jump packs, 2A, FNP, FC, 2 extra power weapons, an extra attack & wound on the chaplain and 3 melta bombs.

 

Oh, and as an added bonus my first HQ unit now gains FNP & FC as well.

 

It seems a bit strange that Games Workshop would make the primary flavour unit completely irrelevant for one of their oldest Spacemarine chapters... oh well.

DC's rage made them less atrractive than in 4th ed, that's for sure. But not irrelevant. DC is a very useful unit, and in right hands it's a deadly unit.

My mate recently played his BA against BT. The field had plenty of cover (looked like ruined city), so he had a lot of objects to block LoS for DC. He had 7 DC (1xTH, 1xPF, 2xPW, 1xChainsword and 2xBloters). That squad ate up 2 BT marines squads (don't remember how they're called) and 1 assault termies squad without taking a single casualty :) . I know it's his luck with dice rolls, but I was not surprised that DC was capable of such a thing - it's what they are good at.

So proper use of cover and moving them in transport is a good way to avoid 'rage' and deliver DC where they belong.

or my all time fav...jump packs. Even a barebones 5 man squad seems to terrify my opponents...though you dont get the awesome DC Dread unless you run 5 DC...but either way its a fun unit that always seems to get its points back. If you play them aggressive you dont need to worry about " being dragged" around by things.

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