Assault unit idea

[worloch]

So here is an idea I've been working with for a unit I think would work well for taking the fight to the enemy, and I'm looking for feedback.

 

 

Ordo Malleus Inq w/ Terminator Armor + Psycannon

Librarian w/ Warding Stave + Might of Titan, Quicksilver, Shrouding, Sanctuary

 

Henchmen unit w/ 8 Death Cult Assassins in Chimera (I like mine w/ Twin-Linked Bolter Turret but whatever suits)

 

 

Join the Inq and Lib and put them in the Chimmy w/ the DCA. Move towards enemy and pop smoke, use Shrouding for a 3+ Cover save on the Chimmy. Pop Sanctuary if needed because enemy is range to assault. Get out and move, shoot and charge enemy unit of your choice.

 

Hammerhand and Might of Titan on the DCA make them pretty scary, with St 6 PW's, 2 At each, 2d6 AP and pretty good initiative. Alternatively, save a Psychic Power for Force Weapon if facing a nasty w/ your Lib and/or for Quicksilver if facing an opponent with a Higher In than your DCA have. Inq has a DaemonHammer, so HH + MoT there is very threatening to vehicles.

 

Warding Stave makes directing attacks at your Lib discouraging, keeping him around to buff the DCA.

 

Psycannon can be fired from the Chimmy's top hatch as required, and w/ relentless from the Terminator Armor, can be fired before assaulting in the Heavy 4 config.

 

I know Purifiers + Lib in a Stormraven would probably be roughly equivalent and better in some ways (assault ramp), but this unit is cheaper.

 

 

Comments, ideas, etc?

[spartan249]

I use an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor with Psycho & Rad grenades and Hammerhand, and a Librarian with the same powers you listed combined with 12 DCA in a LRC, and it works very well.

 

The one issue I had with the Chimera when considering it for use was the lack of assault grenades, which meant that the DCA were effectively screwed if the target was in cover. The LRC is the only transport that provides the capacity and the assault grenades.

[Brother Karr]

Well with the new rules in the base rule book FAQ about psychic power stacking I am thinking of a unit like this. OM Inq in PA with a Daemonblade, Psyker and Hammerhands, Libby with might, Shroud, Summon, (Hammmerhands), and maybe quickening, Tech marine with Rads (5pts cheaper then then characters) 8 DCA, 4 Crusaders in a LRC. Sure an expensive unit but fun and the techmarine has HH in addition to reconstruction.

 

So if you can get them all off INQ cast HH, (+1Str), Libby HH, and Might (+1st), Tech marine, HH (+1STR), Rad grenades -1Tough = DCA @ STR 8 instant gibbing marines w/32 attacks on the charge, STR 8 Libby, Inq, Tech at I 4, 8 STR 7 I 3 Crusaders. Kind of sick... Now I know thats maxed out and not failing a single psych test/Nullified and if you dont kill every thing on the first turn of combat your going to loose some DCA or Crusaders.

 

Its costly but man... Now if you did 12DAC, with the OX Inq with the rads and the libby you can still fit a tech marine as its still PA.

 

Just my view on the unit.

[Chengar Qordath]

Karr's unit seems like overkill to me; since rad grenades bump down the Instant Death Threshold, there's really no need for anything past strength 6. Then again, having a bit of redundancy in case a couple of the hammerhands get hooded/fail/etc. might be handy.

[worloch]

Part of my idea is to have an effective but affordable unit. Chimera is much cheaper than a LRC or SR, even those would be better to assault from. Do I really need 12 DCA?

 

8 DCA still get 24 attacks on the charge, which when combined with a MoT and/or Hammerhand should be enough to put a significant dent in anything they attack.

 

12" + Smoke and Shrouding should keep you safe first turn. Next turn you can disembark, move 6" and assault 6", giving you an effective 24" from your starting position on the first turn - reasonably fast to the fight.

 

 

What I think I would like to try is running up a purifier squad in a psyback beside them (maybe 2). Shrouding should be able to hit them all, so you'd have good cover saves on the first turn move, and reasonable coverage on the second.

 

Adding a Techmarine by removing 1 DCA is an idea to consider. Rad grenades and the ability to fix the chimera if it gets immobilized or something could be good.

 

Just makes me wish Brotherhood Champion was an Elite instead of an HQ - I would add him to the unit for re-rolling goodness.

[Brother Karr]

I kind of wish the same thing about the brotherhood champion. or an HQ that you can take with out a slot (emperors champion) and assign in place of the normal justicar champion.

 

I like the chimera alternative also for a lower point list.

[Doomaflatchi]

Nice idea, but I would change the Inquisitor. Psycannon shots on the move from Terminator Armor are great, but with DCA's, I would never willingly give up my ability to Sweeping Advance.

[spartan249]

Correction: 8 DCA get 32 attacks on the charge. They get 24 when they don't charge.

 

Alright, run it your way. It is your unit and your army list after all. I'm merely telling you how I use mine. The Chimera is cheaper because it is less effective then the LRC in durability, offensive capability, and assault facilitation, hence why I go for the LRC. A chimera may be able to get a 3+ cover save like the LRC, but it is also much less armored, forcing you to take a lot more 3+ saves.

 

I include 12 because I don't want to put a dent in what I charge, I want to annihilate what I charge. Believe me or not, there are units that have survived a charge from 12 DCA, and it did not turn out pretty when things survived. However, it looks like you're thinking of using this unit to strike proactively. In this case, less would actually mean more, as if you let some models live, you aren't getting shot in your opponent's turn. For that purpose though, 8 DCA throw out too much power. If you want to use them for attack, I suggest you think about putting some crusaders in the units as well so they can soak wounds and keep you in the fight longer while reducing your overall attack power so you don't wipe units out on the charge.

[DevianID]

As was said, the only place for a DCA deathstar is in a land raider with frag launchers. You dont want to lose your init6, and every opponent I know would stick to cover. Even guardsmen would give your DCA trouble... the Libby swings with 3 attacks, hits 2 times, kills 2. 8 remaining guard have 7 regular guys and one 3 attack sarge, for 10 swings, 5 hits, 2.5 wounds. If they roll a bit above average, you will start allocating to your DCA, and losing a few DCA to guardsmen every time you assault is no fun.

 

Most people like their DCA in chimera to be the non-deathstar variety. For this, I like 5 DCA and 5 Daemonhosts, with no attached characters, in a chimera. These guys go on the flanks of your libby DCA deathstar so they also benefit from shrouding. If the 5 daemonhosts roll a shooting power, you can shoot from the top hatch with all 5 daemonhosts. But more importantly, the 5 daemonhosts bring your majority toughness to 4, so when slogging into cover you not only have 5 ablaitive wounds before your DCA get hurt, but with toughness 4 you will take less wounds in the first place. Plus there is a small chance your daemonhosts roll a useful power... very small chance.

[worloch]

Nice idea, but I would change the Inquisitor. Psycannon shots on the move from Terminator Armor are great, but with DCA's, I would never willingly give up my ability to Sweeping Advance.

 

Yeah but if you are attaching the Librarian, that option is already out the window, as the Librarian comes in Terminator armor with no other options.

[worloch]

Correction: 8 DCA get 32 attacks on the charge. They get 24 when they don't charge.

 

Alright, run it your way. It is your unit and your army list after all. I'm merely telling you how I use mine. The Chimera is cheaper because it is less effective then the LRC in durability, offensive capability, and assault facilitation, hence why I go for the LRC. A chimera may be able to get a 3+ cover save like the LRC, but it is also much less armored, forcing you to take a lot more 3+ saves.

 

I include 12 because I don't want to put a dent in what I charge, I want to annihilate what I charge. Believe me or not, there are units that have survived a charge from 12 DCA, and it did not turn out pretty when things survived. However, it looks like you're thinking of using this unit to strike proactively. In this case, less would actually mean more, as if you let some models live, you aren't getting shot in your opponent's turn. For that purpose though, 8 DCA throw out too much power. If you want to use them for attack, I suggest you think about putting some crusaders in the units as well so they can soak wounds and keep you in the fight longer while reducing your overall attack power so you don't wipe units out on the charge.

 

You are correct, I was forgetting the 2 At base +1 for 2x PW's.

 

And I wasn't disagreeing that a LRC is certainly a good way to use a DCA unit, I was just pointing out why I was specifically looking at the Chimera option and how that could work. A LRC is going to attract all the best Anti-Tank from the enemy, while I'm usually running a Psyback list with this, so my opponent has to pick and choose which to target carefully. Finally, I also tend to face a DE opponent w/ a lot of Lance weapons, so Armor 14 isn't as attractive to me. I do wish I had an assault ramp and assault launchers, but I think maybe a Stormraven would be better in that regard.

 

 

I was running Crusaders in the unit before, but I took them out in favor of more offense. Maybe I should put a few back in?

[worloch]

As was said, the only place for a DCA deathstar is in a land raider with frag launchers. You dont want to lose your init6, and every opponent I know would stick to cover. Even guardsmen would give your DCA trouble... the Libby swings with 3 attacks, hits 2 times, kills 2. 8 remaining guard have 7 regular guys and one 3 attack sarge, for 10 swings, 5 hits, 2.5 wounds. If they roll a bit above average, you will start allocating to your DCA, and losing a few DCA to guardsmen every time you assault is no fun.

 

Most people like their DCA in chimera to be the non-deathstar variety. For this, I like 5 DCA and 5 Daemonhosts, with no attached characters, in a chimera. These guys go on the flanks of your libby DCA deathstar so they also benefit from shrouding. If the 5 daemonhosts roll a shooting power, you can shoot from the top hatch with all 5 daemonhosts. But more importantly, the 5 daemonhosts bring your majority toughness to 4, so when slogging into cover you not only have 5 ablaitive wounds before your DCA get hurt, but with toughness 4 you will take less wounds in the first place. Plus there is a small chance your daemonhosts roll a useful power... very small chance.

 

 

Hmmm. I wasn't considering this unit a "Deathstar" unit. The idea was to have a fairly flexible assault unit that wasn't too expensive. In my army, they would be accompanied by a unit of Purifiers in a Psyback. Taking advantage of the Chimera's ability to transport Terminators, and the Librarian boosts DCA quite well and you have to take an Inq to get DCA, so I kind of put those things together to form what I think is a fairly solid unit. Not perfect of course, and I'm open to suggestions :rolleyes:

 

 

Interesting idea w/ the Daemonhosts .. could be fun to try.