IC with Sternguard

[Montuhotep]

Both have bonuses in my eyes - the pair of them enhance the units close combat ability (through Liturgies, Honour and a Crozius or just Terminator Armour, Shield and a damn great beatstick) and whilst Lysander enhances their shooting with his Bolter Drill, Cassius also has Inferno rounds, making for uniformity in the squad.

 

Planning on having a ten man squad with 4 combi-meltas in a drop pod for objective denial and general head messing duties. Downside is that for all his worth, Lysander is 75 points more than Cassius, which seeing as I run tight on points anyway means he may be somewhat redundant. On the other hand, people might think again about using close combat to clear the squad away with him around.

 

Or are there other cons that I have not yet found with either of them?

[Olis]

I'd personally go for Cassius, really. It makes for less confusion down the line and Lysander is far more useful utilised with a strike unit. :)

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I echo Olisredan's sentiment, and point out that with a five man unit, you're not getting a lot out of Bolter Drill. Cassius is a better deal, and still provides staying power and a measure of combat effectiveness to the squad.

[Hemal]

Kantor - he's cheaper than Lysander, makes the unit scoring buffs their attacks and is PA so can fit in smaller transports if required.

[Brother_Fatiswon]

how about cassius or lysander with a 5-9 man Vanguard squad with storm shields and bolt pistols (for bolter drill)

[Hemal]

the cost of such a unit is nigh on ridiculous, and you lose the special ammo. Imagine bolter drill with that!

[Iron Father Ferrum]

how about cassius or lysander with a 5-9 man Vanguard squad with storm shields and bolt pistols (for bolter drill)

 

Neither. Storm shields are usable against shooting attacks, sure, but they are designed to increase survivability in close combat. Equipping a unit with pistols and shields is simply schizophrenic; if you want a unit full of shields, just take Hammernators -- you'll get more bang for your buck.

[Guest Drunk Guardian]

how about cassius or lysander with a 5-9 man Vanguard squad with storm shields and bolt pistols (for bolter drill)

 

Neither. Storm shields are usable against shooting attacks, sure, but they are designed to increase survivability in close combat. Equipping a unit with pistols and shields is simply schizophrenic; if you want a unit full of shields, just take Hammernators -- you'll get more bang for your buck.

 

I personally like using Lysander with 10 Sternguard and a Godhammer. Being that C:SM allows the extra 2 "units" as transportation, you can take the full squad and drop out and use them to full effect as either a shooty or assault squad depending on what the situation warrants. Since Sternguard have Frag Grenades they don't suffer from the lack of Frag Assault Launchers either. Also, for such an expensive and hard hitting unit its the best way to protect them. The fact that the Godhammer is the rangiest Land Raider also benefits the Sternguard since you may want to keep them at arms length and in a transport early on.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

how about cassius or lysander with a 5-9 man Vanguard squad with storm shields and bolt pistols (for bolter drill)

 

Neither. Storm shields are usable against shooting attacks, sure, but they are designed to increase survivability in close combat. Equipping a unit with pistols and shields is simply schizophrenic; if you want a unit full of shields, just take Hammernators -- you'll get more bang for your buck.

 

I personally like using Lysander with 10 Sternguard and a Godhammer. Being that C:SM allows the extra 2 "units" as transportation, you can take the full squad and drop out and use them to full effect as either a shooty or assault squad depending on what the situation warrants. Since Sternguard have Frag Grenades they don't suffer from the lack of Frag Assault Launchers either. Also, for such an expensive and hard hitting unit its the best way to protect them. The fact that the Godhammer is the rangiest Land Raider also benefits the Sternguard since you may want to keep them at arms length and in a transport early on.

 

 

So you've got a 200 point beast who is extremely hard to kill sitting inside a 250 point beast that is fairly hard to kill, doing absolutely nothing.....

[Guest Drunk Guardian]

how about cassius or lysander with a 5-9 man Vanguard squad with storm shields and bolt pistols (for bolter drill)

 

Neither. Storm shields are usable against shooting attacks, sure, but they are designed to increase survivability in close combat. Equipping a unit with pistols and shields is simply schizophrenic; if you want a unit full of shields, just take Hammernators -- you'll get more bang for your buck.

 

I personally like using Lysander with 10 Sternguard and a Godhammer. Being that C:SM allows the extra 2 "units" as transportation, you can take the full squad and drop out and use them to full effect as either a shooty or assault squad depending on what the situation warrants. Since Sternguard have Frag Grenades they don't suffer from the lack of Frag Assault Launchers either. Also, for such an expensive and hard hitting unit its the best way to protect them. The fact that the Godhammer is the rangiest Land Raider also benefits the Sternguard since you may want to keep them at arms length and in a transport early on.

 

 

So you've got a 200 point beast who is extremely hard to kill sitting inside a 250 point beast that is fairly hard to kill, doing absolutely nothing.....

 

Not really. In the event that I want to get Lysander up the field, the Land Raider provides a mobility advantage he doesn't otherwise have. And ultimately, if I do keep my cargo embarked its to protect the Sternguard who ARE easy to kill.

[ak-73]

What if the enemy parks a Landspeeder right before your LR? The enemy will gain time to dismantle your outnumbered and outclassed support units because you have focussed your points in one small spot on the board and not spread out across the army.

 

Or you get melta'd and the contents eat a Demolisher cannon round. You're placing most of your eggs in one basket.

 

Armies that spread their points in many cheap and effective units are more difficult to tackle. Sure you kill a Pred and blow a Rhino. You just demolished 120 pts. So what? Where they came from there is more.

 

Alex

[Schultzhoffen]

I prefer a naked Librarian with Null Zone and Avenger with SG in a rhino.

 

If I had to pick one of your options I'd go Cassius because you can give them a rhino/razorback and he's cheaper.

 

Units win games not HQs.

[MagicMan]

I find Cassius a pretty sweet leader for the Sternguard. He gives them some extra oomph in close combat with his power weapon attacks/re-rolls, his combi-flamer/hellfire rounds mesh well with the squad, and he makes them fearless. Nothing worse than your expensive unit being run down because of a poor leadership roll. And hes cheap.

[DarkGuard]

I find Cassius a pretty sweet leader for the Sternguard. He gives them some extra oomph in close combat with his power weapon attacks/re-rolls, his combi-flamer/hellfire rounds mesh well with the squad, and he makes them fearless. Nothing worse than your expensive unit being run down because of a poor leadership roll. And hes cheap.

 

Plus, if you're playing fluffy UM you can easily convert the Sternguard to look like Tyrannic War Vets :lol:.

[Gen. Confusion]

I know vulcan has been done to death, but vulcan leading a unit of sternguard with combimeltas/combi-flamers is just nasty. Out of a pod, rhino, razorback or landraider, they will melt some ones face off.

[MagicMan]

I find Cassius a pretty sweet leader for the Sternguard. He gives them some extra oomph in close combat with his power weapon attacks/re-rolls, his combi-flamer/hellfire rounds mesh well with the squad, and he makes them fearless. Nothing worse than your expensive unit being run down because of a poor leadership roll. And hes cheap.

 

Plus, if you're playing fluffy UM you can easily convert the Sternguard to look like Tyrannic War Vets :D.

 

 

 

Haha, i was going to add exactly that, but figured i'd better stick to the tactical reasons.

[DarkGuard]

I find Cassius a pretty sweet leader for the Sternguard. He gives them some extra oomph in close combat with his power weapon attacks/re-rolls, his combi-flamer/hellfire rounds mesh well with the squad, and he makes them fearless. Nothing worse than your expensive unit being run down because of a poor leadership roll. And hes cheap.

 

Plus, if you're playing fluffy UM you can easily convert the Sternguard to look like Tyrannic War Vets :).

 

 

 

Haha, i was going to add exactly that, but figured i'd better stick to the tactical reasons.

 

That's fair enough, but I figured I'd add that on here anyway. Even though this is Tactica Astartes a lot of gamers will act with fluff constraints, and so while Tactica Astartes can look at how to get the best out of an unconstrained Codex it should also look at how to get the best of a Codex operating under constraints, so I feel pointing out the fluff parts of a selection or use aren't so bad ;).