How do these units work for BA's?

[Demoulius]

Hello all.

 

Im trying to decide what i will be painting for the LPC (if anything) and want to give some units a try. thing is though that im not sure if they would really work for me or if the units themselves work at all :blink:

 

first of all how does a drop podded unit ofo sternguard with a priest work? is a priest pretty much mandatory or could they go without with enough target saturation?

 

next up, a podded furioso librarian (to go with the sternguards) in a pod. from what little experience I have with these guys they always either get immobilized or wrecked on turn 1, even with smokes :P the pod would just mean hes standing in their DZ most likely when it happens...

 

Captain Tycho. Is his point cost worth his LD 10 bubble throughout the army? He has a power weapon and a combi melta. arty armour is nice but most things targetting him will disallow an armour save anyway so it most likely not help him :D (in combat anyway...)

 

and lastly close combat termies. ive proxied them once in a 2500 pts game (one of the rare games that i play of that size) and they wrecked house! in smaller games i cant see myself finding the points for them though as i want to include a transport as well ^_^ how do these generally work in a list? as good as in a codex chapter? better? worse?

 

Cheers in advance guys -_-

[JamesI]

Tycho has Sternguard ammo. Works great in a Sternguard squad. The leadership bubble is really helpful for units like Attack bikes which are only leadership 8 base.

 

Sternguard are pretty good, take some combi-meltas and they can kill tanks and their special ammo is good for killing pretty much any kind of infantry.

[Midnightmare]

If its a choice for a nice LPC I'd go Sternies/Tycho/Drop Pod. A nasty unit you don't see often for BA that drops on turn one, maybe 2-4 combi meltas? Tycho will fit in really well here, as James says his leadership is excellent if you run a lot of attack bikes and don't forget he brings another combi-melta. Maybe bung a priest in for fun as they always help and fills the pod! The unit would of course be target number 1 for your opponent, but should give you more time for the rest of your army to get into position.

[Warbringer]

I recently used Tycho with some Sternguard in a recent game with the loadout below and they did pretty good holding an objective for me tycho is like a MC too gaining an extra D6 against armour veichles.

 

Tycho

7 Sternguard

2 Combi Melta

1 Heavy Flamer

1 Powerfist

Rhino

 

Blood Angel Assault Terminators are IMO the best out there when supported correctly.

 

Give them a Librarian and a Priest and you have a serious unit think of these Buffs - Unleash Rage FNP, Furious Charge

 

I run 3 LC 2 TH/SS so they all get re-rolls to hit and the Claws re-roll to wound with I5 S5 their going first or at the same time as som good units so you can do some damage and then you have TH to reduce I next round and do some major damage with clever pile in you can reduce the non I1 units in their squad to I1 allowing you to do more damage first.

 

In short i think their great!

[Demoulius]

Would all of the mentioned units in 1 army be overkill? :)

 

as in, tycho for hq. few priests as elite.

assault termies as elite (with or without raider)

sternguards in a pod (priest and tycho go here)

furioso liby with pod

 

overkill or a start of a viable list? :woot:

[JamesI]

well, you have 4 elites, so that's bad.

[Demoulius]

er.... i knew that...

 

...

 

;)

 

could the termies and veterans work without FnP support? otherwise the termies have to go I think. most likely not enough points to include them anyway :sweat:

[JamesI]

I really would not want to run assault terminators without a priest, and sternguard really appreciate the priest too (well a minimal sternguard squad could get away without one).

[Black_Sky]

I don't see why dropping Tycho and the sternguard in the opponents backfield/within easy reach distance on turn one can be an effective tactic. You're placing a unit best used as aggresive fire support/harrassment and an independent character with an army wide buff on the doorstep of your opponents forces. Almost guaranteeing a charge on his following turn.

 

As have been said assault terminators work great with support from other units, but by themselves they're not much better than ordinary terminators. I use the 3LC/2Hammers + Libby + Priest + Raven delivery in my standard army. Tend to scare the crap out of most opponents.

[Deschenus Maximus]

Dropping Sternies is a bad tactic that will net you a bunch of dead veterans. That is not to say that Sternguard don't work or are bad, but using them in that way is just not a very good tactic.

 

Tycho is pretty bad, regardless of his Ld boost. He just costs way too much.

 

Podding furiosos is the best way to make sure they die before they get to do anything, as you seem to have discovered on your own. If you want to use them, give them the Wings power and have them follow behind your Rhinos/Razors instead.

 

Assault termies are pretty good when you look at them in isolation, but within the context of a full army, they suffer from the fact that they really need either a Raider or a Raven to be any kind of effective. Given that everything in the BA codex is expensive, it then becomes difficult to properly support your 500+ pts investment.

 

Out of your four options, I'd go with Sternguards.

[Morollan]

Dropping Sternies is a bad tactic that will net you a bunch of dead veterans. That is not to say that Sternguard don't work or are bad, but using them in that way is just not a very good tactic.

 

I once dropped a 10-man Sternguard squad with combi-meltas right in front of a parking lot including 2 land raiders. Split into combat squads, nuked both land raiders and then survived two turns of pretty much the entire army firing at them.

 

I wouldn't recommend this though as it did involve a fair bit of luck!

[Son of Rawl]

Dropping Sternies is a bad tactic that will net you a bunch of dead veterans. That is not to say that Sternguard don't work or are bad, but using them in that way is just not a very good tactic.

 

I once dropped a 10-man Sternguard squad with combi-meltas right in front of a parking lot including 2 land raiders. Split into combat squads, nuked both land raiders and then survived two turns of pretty much the entire army firing at them.

 

I wouldn't recommend this though as it did involve a fair bit of luck!

 

The Dice Gods smiled upon you that day my friend.

[Demoulius]

im not looking to sending units off to die on their own here guys...

 

a list with 2 asssault squads, liby furioso in a pod and sternguards and tycho podded sounds like a fun list to me ;) risky yes but nothing ventured nothing gained eh? my local meta here has a few grey knights, few necrons, 1 or 2 guard tourney lists and a fairly big group of my friends who just run whatever they feel like.

 

since i play mostly my friends anyway im not overly worried with facing tourney lists. with necrons im also not to worried with combat but long range firepower will hurt them a fair bit... having a priest nearby goes a long way in those cases. if id pod the furioso id just pop its smoke launchers first turn and hope for the best. if he does get immobilized hes in a better posistion to do anything then when hes in my deployment zone ;)

[pararanger]

I always include Sternguard in anything 1000 pts or higher. In my opinion they more than pay for themselves. I often play against a friend who is in love with his Thousand Sons and their AP3 Bolters. My answer to that is Sternguard, firing Hell Fire rounds.

[Warbringer]

I would suggest you never run your terminators without the priest may as well be ultramarine terminators then :D

[SevenExxes]

I would suggest you never run your terminators without the priest may as well be ultramarine terminators then :mellow:

 

That's like saying not to run any unit without Sanguinary Priests otherwise they will just be normal, boring, vanilla marines. Unless they are Blood Angels unique units such as Sanguinary Guard.

 

I wouldn't overlook Astorath and his Shadow of the Primarch rule.

[I am Legion]

Terminators are fine on their own. They always have been. If you happen to have a priest nearby then they're better, but dont waste him there when you can have the priest moving with 2 10 man squads instead. They'll need him more. Putting a SP with Sternguard is the right choice. these buggers are major targets in every game i've seen them used. Sternguard with tycho need to arrive via landraider or Raven. But you need to make sure the rest of your army can get to the opponent while he wastes all his firepower trying to deal with them.

[Warbringer]

I would suggest you never run your terminators without the priest may as well be ultramarine terminators then :)

 

That's like saying not to run any unit without Sanguinary Priests otherwise they will just be normal, boring, vanilla marines. Unless they are Blood Angels unique units such as Sanguinary Guard.

 

I wouldn't overlook Astorath and his Shadow of the Primarch rule.

 

Not really as other units gain Special rules for instance the Assault Marines and Jump Pack Models Gain Descent of Angels so aren't the same as vanilla marines

 

The Terminators only get the Red Thirst 1 in 6 chance of the Specials Rules without the priest.

[SevenExxes]

I would suggest you never run your terminators without the priest may as well be ultramarine terminators then :)

 

That's like saying not to run any unit without Sanguinary Priests otherwise they will just be normal, boring, vanilla marines. Unless they are Blood Angels unique units such as Sanguinary Guard.

 

I wouldn't overlook Astorath and his Shadow of the Primarch rule.

 

Not really as other units gain Special rules for instance the Assault Marines and Jump Pack Models Gain Descent of Angels so aren't the same as vanilla marines

 

The Terminators only get the Red Thirst 1 in 6 chance of the Specials Rules without the priest.

 

Hence why I said I wouldn't overlook Astorath and his Shadow of the Primarch rule.