DC in a low-points game

[carnosaur93]

hey there, iam probably going to start a BA army once i return from the US, and figured i might aswell spend the time planning abit in advance

 

the idea of going BA in the first place is that i love themed armies, and i love the theme of assault marines, so ill be using pretty much exclusively jump-infantry

 

so far my idea of my startup 1000pts armylist is a jumping epistolary, 3 squads of kitted out assault marines (for combat squadding into an assault component, and a dual special weapon one), and lastly, i managed to squeeze in a 7-man scout squad with cloaks for sniping things.

 

so on to the question:

 

i would love to have a unit of DC, or even better yet, such a unit and one of thoose delicious dual-claw crazy dreads that they unlock. but does it seem usefull/worth it? switching out say an assault squad and the scouts for some jumping DC and a dread.

it feels like it would increase my anti-infantry capabilities greatly, but at the cost of a backfield camper and 2 scoring combat squads

 

furthermore, what loudout and size would be best for some DC action? i would prefer them to be jumping, but it seems a really expensive option compared to just slogging/running or even podding

[BAHERSH]

I think 4 troop selections (DC are pretty much elite) will fail you in a 1000 point game, especially since you don't have a Sang Priest to make them a little more durable. While they are still the backbone of your Army, AM's will struggle in CC against a lot of units and require Elite/ Fast Attack/ Heavy Support units to support them. RIght now, your Epistolary (I would advise dropping this upgrade) is the only threatening model in your army.

 

So to answer your question, YES, I think you could trade out some units for Death Company. I think you should look at some other options as well - your opponent will make it their goal to annihilate a unit of DC before they're in CC range, and they're quite expensive with Jump Packs, which I think you will need, unless you intend to drop pod them (not really recommended).

 

I'd run something like this

 

HQ: Librarian, JP, Force Axe 125

Elites: Sang Priest, JP, Power Axe 90

Troops: 10x AMs, 2 Meltaguns, P Sword, M Bombs 230

Troops: 10x AMs, 2 Meltaguns, P Sword, M Bombs 230 

Troops: 5x Scouts, Camo Cloaks 90

Troops: 6 x DC, JPs, 1 P Fist 235

 

The only thing is DC are really not any more durable than your basic AM's - if supported by the Sang Priest, which they should be. Something that supports your ground forces would be a better use of points imo (i.e. some land speeders/ attack bikes, a Stormraven, Dev squads, Baal Predators, etc.). 

 

If you really want to use DC, I would build a list around them. Give them a Reclusiarch instead of your Librarian and sacrifice the SP and Scouts for more DC units. 

 

They can also function in a heavy drop pod army - but at 1,000 points, it will be difficult to create such a list.

[Sanguis militis]

Bahersh has exactly the right idea and I would've given you the same advice, but he did such a nice job!

 

Anyway,

 

30 man death company with a reclusiarch at the helm is way, way too much fun to field and play with. You probably won't win many games unless you table your opponent (again not likely if they have any clue what they are doing) but you should totally try it sometime.

 

I troll my tyranid friend with this huge as blob of Black Death sometimes when we play small games :) again don't use this if you actually plan on playing super competitively

[carnosaur93]

no plan on being super competitive what so ever, just want to 'not suck' while actually sticking to my chosen theme... where i play, super strong and optimized powerplay is very much frowned opun, so no big deal... also, transports and vehicles in general is not that common, so anti-tank takes a supportive rather than dominant role (for the purposes of deciding to go melta or not on assault marines, but it seems like a very good call in this case)

 

iam not entirely sure why iam actually explaining all that, but i guess its just something to take into account xD

 

either way, thank you guys very much, some of the best warhammer advice ive had in a long while, i would love to hear more usefull stuff though

 

oh! and just remembered, i do kinda wanna keep away from the use of sang-priests as much as possible, they are one of those "frowned opun" things i was talking about, but i guess if going DC-heavy (as you mentioned, building a list around them) sang priests are not really needed at all