Paladins

[spartan249]

Everyone's favorite Draigowing. While I think the unit and idea was a little subpar in 5th edition, I think 6th edition has given them the improvements needed to make the list perform even against lists that are not hard-countered by the rock.

 

Now that I've had a few chances to play with this army, I have a few hypotheses about how it works. Draigowing works basically as a big boogieman that freaks opponents out and forces them to throw their entire army at them or face being destroyed. Thanks to Draigo, the new properties of Feel No Pain, and how Look Out Sir works, the unit has grown to be very durable to both small arms and anything short of demolisher cannons/railguns. Judicious use of terrain to create situations of local superiority pushes the effectiveness of Draigowing to the peak, as an equal amount of points of anything can have a pretty tough time engaging and effectively disabling the unit promptly.

 

Before anything else, we need to identify what the Draigorock is most vulnerable to. I think their weaknesses are two-fold: First is their inability to handle flanking attacks. Second is their inability to engage multiple targets effectively.

 

In a Draigowing army, the rest of the forces are necessarily relegated to a support role because of the high amount of resources invested into the single squad. The question boils down to how exactly the forces support the Draigowing.

 

IMO, Draigowing requires 2 main things from it's supporting forces. First, it requires flank support so that the OPFOR can not maneuver around to the side and bypass the DraigoShield. Second, it requires units with the ability to engage/clean up targets that Draigowing engages and does not kill/can not afford to shoot at.

 

For the sake of the argument, I'll use my Draigowing configuration as the baseline to build on.

 

Draigo

Paladin Squad: 10 'Dins, 4 Psycannons, Apothecary, Banner (all Dhammers)

OM Inquisitor: TDA, Psycannon, ML 1

 

This costs 1115 points in total, but has turned out to be sufficient in my games thus far.

 

An example army that I think would work is as follows.

 

2000 pts "DraigoLolz"

HQ

Draigo: 275 pts

OM Inquisitor: TDA, Psycannon, ML 1 - 110 pts

Troops

Paladin Squad: 10 'Dins, 4 Psycannons, Apo, Banner - 730 pts

Strike Squad: 10 Knights, 2 Psycannons, Psybolts - 240 pts

Strike Squad: 10 Knights, 2 Psycannons, Psybolts - 240 pts

Strike Squad: 10 Knights, 2 Psycannons, Psybolts - 240 pts

Heavy Support

Dreadknight: HI - 160 pts

 

The DraigoBlob provides the big distraction and bullet sponge. The Strike Knights provide physical deterrence to the flanks, extra firepower, and Warp Quake to stop deep strike from reaching the flanks/rear easily. The Dreadknight deep strikes onto a flank to flame vulnerable units and draw fire from Draigowing so that they can reach engagement range with less casualties.

 

Due to the arrangement of the DraigoBlob, the rest of the elements in the list can go into deep strike reserves and drop in to corral enemy forces into reach of the DraigoBlob should they not be necessary to guard the flanks.

 

Of course, this is just an example, and I'm sure that many other configurations that fulfill the same requirements work just fine.

[Vash]

Agree on everything.

But do you really need Draigo him self for the example list you made?

I dont know how it goes around your local gaming community, but for me 3 units of scoring has been sufficient enough to claim victories.

 

With draigo gone, you lock up 275 pts, thats another NDK with PT and HI, and there is still an additional 40 pts to spare.

Or you could go for a forth Strike squad, adding more bodies and regaining the 4th scoring unit.

 

Sure, Draigo can save and soak some wounds, but is it worth it for 275 pts?

 

I am just asking, as I am atm thinking of making an army that includes a Paladin blob.

[spartan249]

I think Draigo is essential to making Paladins work. The reasons are three-fold.

 

#1: Draigo makes the Paladins Scoring. If the Paladins were not scoring, the opponent doesn't have to feel as pressured to kill them immediately because they will fail to make as much of an impact in most of the missions. However, you throw scoring into the mix, and they are suddenly priority number 1. Not only will they kill whatever they reach, they will take whatever objective the OPFOR left to survive, making them draw even more attention. With Draigowing, it's all about the aggro IMO, and Scoring status is a piece of the puzzle.

 

#2: Draigo is a tanking beast. Eternal Warrior, T5, and a Storm Shield in conjunction with FnP makes him able to soak up an ungodly amount of wounds that would otherwise obliterate regular Paladins, and that time bought is all important in making sure that the paladins can reach their target in some semblance of solidarity. The only one who can provide something like this would be Karazamov, and he has no Invul + no Eternal Warrior.

 

#3: The Grand Strategy is an important force multiplier that makes sure that you are getting the maximum damage from each unit every turn. Prescience makes sure that my Daemonhammers/Psycannons are hitting every turn, and the 1s that show up are usually the only roll on which my to wound rolls fail. With such a small number of units/shots, getting the maximum efficiency out of every shot is a given.

[sirk]

(long post, be aware of it ^^)

 

I was thinking about writing a topic on Draigowing strategy myself, but since you opened it, I will post my conclusions here.

I agree with most of your premises and with the conclusion that now the list is much more competitive than it was in 5th. But my focus on the following analysis will be different.

I think that most of the discussions around the new rules of 6th are missing a very important change on the rules, that is “how a game is won”. The secondary objectives are probably the greatest change in all the rulebook, even if it doesn’t seem at a first read. So my analysis will not be centered on “how to deal with the opponent” but on “how to win the game”. I know that this sounds obvious but it’s not, let me explain what I mean.

 

My analysis is based on a couple of convictions.

The first one is: at the end of the game the Draigowing unit will be still on the field (sometimes it will also be around 50% models). This was true in 5th and, as you said, the new rules about fnp, look out sir and power weapons make it even more true now. At this point someone could say “but it will only take one objective, how could this make you win?”. Let’s go on.

The second conviction is: if built correctly and played accordingly, a Draigowing army can score more victory points with the secondary objectives pretty much all the times. We shall check them one at a time.

1. Linebreaker. Having a model in the opponent’s deploy zone? You can do it :wacko: Since your terrific mobility, you can’t deny your opponent from doing the same. Draw.

2. Kill the Warlord. Can you have your warlord survive? If you put another IC among paladins (Ordo Malleus or Coteaz are the best choices here) this is autodone. Beware, if you only have Draigo you are at a risk here, since he has to soak up all the instadeath shots. For the reasons above, you have really a hard time killing his warlord too. Draw again.

3. Which leaves us with First Blood. Well, the Draigowing unit won’t be the first blood for sure ^_^ So, if you plan to make this objective, you should build the rest of the list without giving easy targets (no vehicles, no small units, etc..). Let’s remember that, most of the times, the Draigowing will make a kill at least for the 2nd or 3rd turn.

 

So, we have a list that can have a scoring unit on the field and is built to win the secondary objectives tiebreaker. Let’s see how this can affect the six missions.

 

Kill points and Relic are the easiest missions to analyze. Draigowing list is a beast in both of them and those are for sure your strongest missions. No need to bother for secondary tiebreaker in them either.

Two bases is also a quite easy pick, since you play by occupying his base with everything even neglecting yours (must do with his base and not yours in order to tie the Linebreaker objective).

So far we have clear strategies for three of the six missions. We are left with the multiple objectives missions. The easy part is that they are very similar one to the other and we can plan the same strategy for all the three.

As for bases, the plan here is very simple: aim for the draw. And let your first blood win the game.

With 3 objectives the plan is very simple and you can do it with the Draigowing alone: create a 2 objectives zone on field (2 objectives set at the 12” minimum distance) and go for that. The goal is to take one of them and deny the other next to it (with firepower, assault or just mere presence of the Draigowing).

The games with 4, 5 or 6 objectives are the most difficult with this list, and need some more insight.

First of all, ALWAYS put all the objectives you are placing in order to form only two scoring zones on the field (two 12” lines in case of four objective, a 12” line and a 12” side triangle in case of five or two triangles with six). Even if the opponent is placing the last one, he can’t deny you from creating at least one of those concentration of objectives. Go for that zone with everything, then either concentrate fire on his troops or his most dangerous units accordingly to the list and the game. But again, aim for a draw on primaries.

 

Delicate as it seems, I’ve played the "go for the draw on primaries and win the secondary tiebreaker" strategy in several games now and it worked amazingly.

 

There is only one point left. Taking into account this army building and on-field strategy, what are the best complementary units? Let’s summarize. It should be resilient enough not to give an easy first blood. Capable of aiming well for a particular zone of the fields, deep-strike comes to mind. Scoring and even better if able to scare away opponent's scoring units.

^^

Yes, another paladins full squad :D

There are also some additional bonuses. First you can move Draigo and Coteaz to the second unit if the first is badly damaged. Second, it is very likely that, if the first unit hasn’t made a first blood yet, the second will make it the turn it deepstrikes in play. Third, you can split them up as they enter play if you really need one more scoring unit. Lastly, they will ofter benefit from GS, and we know nothing will make a better use of GS than a paladins’ full unit. It won’t be by far as resilient as the Draigo one, but it stays in play a couple of turns less and that almost makes for it.

 

At 1850 my list is:

275 Draigo

100 Coteaz

730 10 Paladins, 4 psycannons, apothecary and banner

745 10 Paladins, 4 psycannons (3 mc), apothecary and banner

 

There is a consideration on this list that doesn’t immediately jump to the eye, but it is clear after playing several games with it in 6th edition. Since you are hitting your enemy only in the 24” range, there are for sure lists made for long-range firepower that could eventually shot you down and win the game. It is that they just don’t have enough time to do it. As the rules stand now, there are really no competitive lists that can shot down 20 paladins with Draigo in five to seven turns. And the more close-combat units your opponent has in his list, the better for you, since those will be points that most of the times can do nothing at all in the whole game.

This particular list works best at 1850 because it’s incredible how quickly a paladins’ squad efficiency decreases as you start putting out models or gear (fnp first of all, but also the 3rd and 4th psycannons). I am trying a similar approach at 1500 with a Fortress of Redemption and some henchmen stuff instead, you can see it in the lists’ section.

 

Of course, as for all strategies, it doesn’t work so simply everytime and there will be times when flexibility is needed. Neither I am saying it is unbeatable, of course it is not. But it works, especially if you know exactly what you are aiming for since the objective placement and, even more important, if your opponent does not know it until it’s too late.

 

A final disclaimer: I didn’t say this strategy is particularly funny. Well, to speak frankly, it isn’t. Most of the games you scout your first unit, move and fire for a couple of turns and then sit down on your objectives with the second unit deepstriking near to the first one and sitting down next to it. Then you wait for the game to end neglecting everything else is happening on the battlefield and watch the enemy circle around you beyond your charge range. Ok, I have to admit it: it's really boring. But it rocks! ;)

 

Is someone else is so extreme to try it, let me know how it is going. Else (to the few who are still reading ^^) thanks for following me in my delirium of paladins’ grandeur ;)

 

Have a good game.

[Bartali]

The problem of course with a second Paladin squad is that you don't have Draigo for instant death wounds, making them much easier to take apart.

[Vash]

Interesting points brought up there.

Never really looked into Draigo that much, as he is so common on the web lists. But since I am looking to do do 6 "standard" 2000 pts lists for my GK, I need to go places I havent gone before :D

 

I think I'll go for one squad of Paladins, then vary the units as much as I can. Thanks again.

[nurglez]

I've been using "pure" Draigowing for quite awhile now, and while my 6th experience is lacking a bit (mainly due to wanting to play fun games with my friends and not curb stomping them) I thought I would add my opinion.

 

Draigo and 10 paladins is a rather powerful deathstar, that is without a doubt. I rarely combat squaded and when I did it didn't go well. A unit of 5 paladins is not anywhere near as tough as mentioned above, but using anything else was not an option to me, and while they do often die, if 95% of my army dies so 5% can win me the game, I'm happy with that.

 

Surprisingly, I use a Nurglez Draigowing army (Draigo, 15 pallies and a dk or 2), I was using this back in 5th to a fair amount of success, so my opinions will be based on this sort of list.

 

At the start of each game, I would try and identify a goal I could achieve to help me win. In scoring games I try and reduce the enemies scoring units to as few as possible, knowing that my Paladin's can handle most of the other units.

 

I've had games where I've lost 7-10 paladins in the first turn and still managed to win or draw thanks to this method, and my heavy incinerator DK has really helped (he excels at damaging normal scoring units and causing a distraction).

 

I have never lost a kill point game (though I did come close once), as that is really all about killing enough enemy unit's so the enemy has to table you.

 

Multiple objective games (4+) can be difficult, especially if they are spread out. Making the DK's scoring can help here.

 

I agree that the secondary objective's in 6th can be very worthwhile, first blood should be easy to get, linebreaker and warlord can be achieved by both side's and as long as you draw in primaries, you will win via secondaries.

 

I have a few tournament's coming up in October, so I will need to start inflicting my Draigowing on my friends to get some practice. I hope they can forgive me.