Lysander + sternguard + Droppod = Hard First Hit?

[Brother Anvilus]

Hi everyone,

 

I've got a tournament upcoming and special chars are allowed.This got me thinking about going nasty.I ended up with 1 popular character choice and 1 popular Elite choice.Lysander and Sternguard.

 

Now, I know lysander is a CC beast, but that doesn't use his Bolter Drill ability like I would like to.Shove him in a Assault Terminator squad and no bolters are present ( in any form).Stick him in a Tactical Terminator squad and he's the only one dedicated to CC.

 

Thus I looked for the most obvious choice that benefits from the bolter drill ability; Sternguards.Bolter Drill + their Special Ammo = Dead targets.

 

Next I looked for a good transport for them.Sternguards can only use Rhinos,Razorbacks or Pods.Since lysander is in TDA, only the Pod remains ( Nowhere is it stated a termi can't use the pod ).This looked like a reliable way of delivering Lysander + Sternguard into the heart of the enemy.After the inital volley Lysander can detach and run amok in the opponent's deployment zone.The sternguard then just do the same, only in a little different way.

 

Tis is of course supported by the rest of the army ( LR + Assault termies spearing in, long range fire by preds keeping the opponent busy ).

 

Now, Is this viable and usable?Comments and criticism welcome!

[Koremu]

Stick him in a Tactical Terminator squad and he's the only one dedicated to CC.

2+/5++ and all armed with Power Fists (bar the one guy with a Power Weapon) is hardly weak in CC

[Brother Anvilus]

I didn't say weak in CC, i said dedicated to CC.

 

A squad of assault terminators ( let's take the popular 2xLC,3xTH+SS combo) will wipe out more then a squad of tactical Termies in CC.

 

I know that a squad of tactical termies isn't the weakest CC unit ( hardly, they can easily kick CC specialists rear ends ) but I was more interested in the combo of bolter drill + special ammo ;)

[ShinyRhino]

It's usable, but you're going to have to take some combimeltas. Face an IG parking lot, and those special ammo rounds do all of nothing til you crack some shells.

If it's the only pod in your army, it's forced to come in Turn One. There are some armies that will drool all over the idea of Sternguard popping in their lines early. Anything that's both mechanized and able to beat faces, or anything with massed bodies, particularly.

Then you have the null-deployment forces that won't be on the board to shoot at all, so the pod becomes useless. Sure, youc an deploy Lysander and his pals on the baord, and have the pod drop alone, but then you're wasting Lysander by camping out.

 

The combo sounds great on paper, but without a very solid supporting cast, you'll find your Sternguard killing one unit, and then evaporating under retaliatory fire or melee. One battlecannon shot from a properly bubblewrapped Vindicator or Russ tank will turn the whole unit, minus Lysander, into red mist.

[Mysticaria]

A squad of assault terminators ( let's take the popular 2xLC,3xTH+SS combo) will wipe out more then a squad of tactical Termies in CC.

Not True.

 

If you put your troops in the worst situation imaginable, and let the opponent put their troops in the best situation imaginable... then sure, but the game doesn't work that way. This example fails to ignore the shooting that tactical terminators will have, all the other units in the army, and also the fact that the assault terminators need to have a land raider to arrive with even half their number intact. Please don't forget that even against that one potential enemy threat, the tactical termies still have a lot of value, dfinately more than the sternguard, and against any other unit in the game they'll be hard as nails. They'll certainly do better than the sternguard will. And finally, please don't foget that tactical termies get to shoot first (and second and third if you use movement correctly) and can take more guys instead of the required land raider. Anyway... I adressed this issue fairly comprehensibly in this article:

Tactica: Tactical Terminators

 

Back to your original question... sternguard and lysander are ok together. If the bolter drill woked on combi-meltas it would be better. For this reason, sternguard drop is usually seen in Vulkan lists since it makes all their super cheap 5-point combimeltas twin-linked. If you're dropping Lysander you are doing it for one turn of bolter drill and then hoping to have a target that he can run up against on his own. Really only getting 1 turn of twinlinking, and not even on the combis. I'd rate the three options in this order:

 

1- Lysander with 10 tactical termies with missile launchers (walking unit of doom, throws missiles/twinlinked bolters each turn, Lysander eats lascanons then beats face)

2- Vulkan army with combimelta/heavyflamer sternguard in pods (combat squad on arrival, slag transport, flame the rest)

3- Lysander with sternguard in pod (decent first turn shooting at units already dismounted, decent close combat against non-specialists, generally inefficient)

 

-Myst