Librarian Drop Podding with Pew-Pew Mad Men

[appiah4]

One unit I'm thinking of fielding in my 1,500 pts shooty-mech BA army is:

 

Librarian

7 Death Company with Boltguns

2 Death Company with Boltguns, Power Fists

Drop Pod

 

This is a beefy Turn 1 diversion unit aimed at making a big mess in the enemy's backlines, hopefully shooting and beating up its long range support units to pulp.

 

First, what do you think about this unit?

 

Second, what powers would you pick for the Librarian?

 

I'm stuck at choosing between the following:

 

Fear of the Darkness: Useful for manipulating the Rage rule, driving back the nearest unit if need be.

Might of Heroes: +D3 Power Fist attacks, yes please

Shackle Soul: Can be very useful for catching up to a unit, or avoid getting charged

Smite: Great synergy with bolters, 4 S4 AP2 shots, yes please.

Blood Lance: We all need to pop armor from distance at times, and with an average of 14" this one is better than a Multi-Melta.

Shield of Sanguinus: 5+ cover save can really help with Rage shenanigans.. 3+ save, 5+ cover, 4+ FNP, yes please.

Unleash Rage: Preferred enemy, possibly during both rounds of combat. Nice.

 

I'm leaning towards Shield and Lance or Shield and Unleash.. Your suggestions?

[shatter]

shield and smite/bboil. You want the drop (no assault) to kill the stuff bolters can hurt and absorb a fair amount of fire. BBoil while it requires some luck, can get a particular heavy weapon model or powerfist out of the game. Urage is good, but better on a unit capable of assaulting in the turn it's deployed by pod... which doesn't exist. I doubt too many people will assault your DC willingly in that first turn.

 

Fear (& shackle) is good too but requires too much luck for a unit that will probably only exist for a turn or two.

[Red Fury]

It's a suicide squad, so personally I wouldn't put a libby in there at all. But if you are determined, I'd go with shield and smite. BB is ok too, but I trust 4 ap2 shots more.

 

Fear of the Darkness: Useful for manipulating the Rage rule, driving back the nearest unit if need be.

Might of Heroes: +D3 Power Fist attacks, yes please you already have 2 fists for 4 attacks, and you don't seem to plan on charging

Shackle Soul: Can be very useful for catching up to a unit, or avoid getting charged

Smite: Great synergy with bolters, 4 S4 AP2 shots, yes please.

Blood Lance: We all need to pop armor from distance at times, and with an average of 14" this one is better than a Multi-Melta. What? A MM gets 2d6 ap within 12", S8 lance is nowhere as good as that, plus the squad is all bolters so won't be best shooting at armor anyway

Shield of Sanguinus: 5+ cover save can really help with Rage shenanigans.. 3+ save, 5+ cover, 4+ FNP, yes please. You only get a armor save or cover save, then the FnP save, just to clarify

Unleash Rage: Preferred enemy, possibly during both rounds of combat. Nice. Yeah, but they can't assault when they show up and already hit on a 3+ most of the time with the WS5

I'd pick something you don't have to wait to use, like BB or Lance or Smite.

[appiah4]

Thanks for the comments, Shield and Smite it is.

 

As for the comments, just a quick reply: Of course I plan to assault with this unit, eventually. Maybe not on Turn 1, that's all. I don't see this unit dying off quickly at 1,500 pts..

[JMac]

This is a great idea, but to keep them alive to charge in sequential rounds you'll need to take the pressure off them. Consider a second DP with a furioso or I hear these Fragnoughts (furioso w/ frag cannon & heavy flamer) work very well but I haven't tried it.

 

As for your librarians powers, keep it tuned with the squad he is rolling with. Therefore, I like the idea of blood lance/shield or smite/shield. Bboil can still be useful even if he is attached to a squad who won't be firing at armor because its a lance and can go right through people and you don't even have to target a unit, the rule states, "Extend a straight line, 4D6" long in any direction, this is the path taken by the Blood Lance." (I may be wrong with how this works, but that is how I interpret it, please correct me if so.) With some skillful deployment out of the drop pod can wreck havoc on not only the unit the DC fires upon but any vehicle or MC behind.