Best Use of Deathwing Assault?

[Sanguineus]

HELP!

 

Very new to 40k and have just finished playing 2 practice games at 750 points. In each game I brought one unit of Deathwing kitted out exactly like in Dark Vengeance and kept them in reserves to Deathwing Assault.

 

In game 1 I chose to drop them down near a Rhino with a 5 man CSM squad near an objective hoping that on turn 2 I could assault and remove them from the objective. However, I scattered 6" towards a Daemon Prince who proceeded to fly over, assault and kill the entire unit with his AP 2 attacks.

 

In game 2 I chose to drop the unit down behind some ruins behind my opponents lines. I had firing angles to the rear of a rhino and did two glancing hits. The rhino then turned around and apparently the unit had 2 guys with plasma weapons and rapid fired down 3 of my terminators. I then assaulted and exploded the rhino with my remaining two but the unit hopped out and gunned the remaining 2 down in the following turn.

 

So the question is - how do you use deathwing assault to the greatest advantage? I felt like in both games I would have been better off with the unit deploying normally and slogging up the field. I would assume in both games I could have chosen a better location to Deathwing Assault to, but the fact remains that my units were rendered nearly useless and for a 250 point unit that's not good.

 

How do you use Deathwing Assault, what should my priority targets be? How do I know which units of my opponent to stay away from?

[lhg033]

aside from AP2 you want to stear clear of high volume attacks/shots. getting some thunder hammers/storm shields in there helps mitigate the AP2/daemon prince issue (always put these guys to the front of the squad facing the threats)

 

in terms of improving DWA, support them! - bikes have teleport homers to stop you scattering. a squad of 3 with meltas, get these in place, teleport int eh DW. RW shoot the transport to open it up, DW shoot the unit that gets out. possibly assault whats left 'if' you can wipe them out or you are safer in combat (stops you being shot up by nearby plasma guns etc). you may be better off receiving a charge than making one as you get overwatch shots to whitle down the enemy.

 

priority targets will depend on the rest of your army/what the opponent is running. typically enemy heavy weapons/tanks/emplacements are favorites.

 

also - target saturation helps. 2+ units arriving via DWA forces your opponent to focus on one or split fire.

[Sanguineus]

in terms of improving DWA, support them! - bikes have teleport homers to stop you scattering. a squad of 3 with meltas, get these in place, teleport int eh DW. RW shoot the transport to open it up, DW shoot the unit that gets out. possibly assault whats left 'if' you can wipe them out or you are safer in combat (stops you being shot up by nearby plasma guns etc). you may be better off receiving a charge than making one as you get overwatch shots to whitle down the enemy.

 

Do you mean the bikes assault? DW can't assault on the turn they arrive from Deep Strike correct? Also - Bikers can move up to 12" with their scout and allow for Deep strike anywhere within 6" IIRC, so I could DW Assault 18" forward from my lines potentially?

[Gillyfish]

As lhg033 said, it's about timing and making sure they aren't unsupported (hard to do in a 750 point game).

 

Deathwing Assault is at its best when you use it to apply additional pressure to an opponent. That means supporting the terminators and using them as a planned part of an attack rather than dropping them down and hoping they can fend for themselves. So, for example, I found them to be great when used with Ravenwing and a Rhino full of marines to attack a small part of an enemy line. The Deathwing and tactical squad cleared out a tactical squad between them, allowing the Ravenwing to charge and tie up a unit of Devastators in close combat. The next turn the Deathwing advanced and finished off the Devastators.

 

So use them to overwhelm the enemy, but equally use other units to protect them. If you do drop them in alone, make sure it's against a unit that they stand a good chance again. For example, I played a game against Tau where the crisis suits were jumping in and out of cover, causing me all sorts of problems. I then brought down the Deathwing behind their cover (ranged load out) and took them all out. That move nearly won me that particular game.

 

So think about what you're using them against and what positioning them there will gain you. In the example battles you gave, think about where else you might have put them and how they might have supported other units or vice-versa. Just because you can put them close to the enemy doesn't mean you have to - would they have been better landing behind a tactical squad and shooting up a unit that might have charged the tacticals, for example?

[EPK]

in terms of improving DWA, support them! - bikes have teleport homers to stop you scattering. a squad of 3 with meltas, get these in place, teleport int eh DW. RW shoot the transport to open it up, DW shoot the unit that gets out. possibly assault whats left 'if' you can wipe them out or you are safer in combat (stops you being shot up by nearby plasma guns etc). you may be better off receiving a charge than making one as you get overwatch shots to whitle down the enemy.

 

Do you mean the bikes assault? DW can't assault on the turn they arrive from Deep Strike correct?

 

That is correct and I assume that's what he meant. The RW are still able to charge the unit inside if they popped the transport. And if another supporting unit of RW didn't already shoot at the transport (and failed to pop it) or something else, they could also charge.

[lhg033]

sorry - yes. thanks for the catch there EPK.

 

with t5 and hammer of wrath, bikes assaulting are a bit more viable for finishing the job on decimated units. alternatively, twin linked bolters on overwatch are a pretty good deterent from being charged.

 

if we are talking transports as the target of choice then plasma guns plus a mm attack bike squad are pretty good at this and a bit more versatile at MEQ hunting but still able to go for AV14. attack bikes give you the option of screening these witht eh bikes or using the attack bikes 2 wounds to 'tank' for the unit by keeping this out front (at least while it keeps two wounds, if it drops to one, switch positioning)

[Brother Immolator]

Deathwing assault IMHO is not for the stormbolter/assault cannon terminators. Those are to be foot slogged and either advance, by taking the risks or get behind some cover and act as a fire-support and counter charge unit.

You need assault troops for deathwing assault and that means a majority of CC kitted troops. IMHO the best unit for this is Belial and his command squad with stormshields, as the apothecary in there will save most likely the odd wound and once on the assault the banner will make things even nastier.

[Sanguineus]

Ya - it's beginning to sound like a Terminator assault box is in my future purchases. Likely to build a few Hammer/Shield to soak up nasty plasma fire/CC attacks from big baddies.

 

Do the Space Marine Terminator Squad boxes come with any Dark Angel iconography for the right shoulder pad? Wondering if in order to get Dark Angel motif I would need to go to forge world?

[EPK]

Do the Space Marine Terminator Squad boxes come with any Dark Angel iconography for the right shoulder pad? Wondering if in order to get Dark Angel motif I would need to go to forge world?

 

No such option in the generic box - though we are all very hopeful for a DA box with the new codex. I doubt you want to wait though - your options are FW as you stated and the DA upgrade sprue. It has a handful of DA terminator bits.

 

DW related items from FW -

Deathwing Terminator shoulder pads

 

Dark Angel Transfer Sheet

[Cactus]

I echo the earlier comments about not deep striking a unit without supporting it somehow. I've tried to use a single Deathwing squad in this way to take or contest objectives that my army otherwise lacks the mobility to reach and it's never paid off.

 

When deploying think carefully about whether that first turn deep strike will actually put you in a better position by turn two compared with walking. It isn't always worth it and a squad without storm shields might benefit from using cover, which is difficult to pull off if you deep strike without a teleport homer.

 

As for the shoulder pads, I was a little disappointed with the ones from Forge World. Maybe it's my inability to highlight red, maybe it's the lack of space between the feathers, but I find the detail of the Deathwing badge isn't as crisp as I would like. The extra bits and bobs look the business though. Here's an example of what I mean:

 

http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb440/Cactus-/20120316_021352.jpg