Dante - still kicking

[BrotherTim]

So I have seen quite a few posts regarding Dante and his inherent flaws.   I would have to disagree; I love Dante and have been using him more and more often as of late.  Last weekend I actually built and played with my first ever Sanguinary Guard list and won a local 1850 tournament with I believe 26 players. 

 

My list:

Dante  

Mephestion  

Sanguinary Guard (2 IP, PF) 

Sanguinary Guard (1 IP) 

Sanguinary Guard (2 IP) 

Sanguinary guard (2 IP, PF)

Assault Squad (10 men, 2 IP, 2 MG, MB) 

Fortress of Redemption w/ Krackstorm Missiles

 

My strategy was to set the fortress up about 10" in front of my deployment zone.  I would then deploy all of the Sanguinary Guard and Mepeheston behind the fortress blocking line of sight (even if the fortress is destroyed it remains impassable terrain and the model is not removed).  The first turn would see two of my Sanguinary Guard squads jump up onto the fortress' battlements.  In my shooting phase they would run into the bottom of the bunkers occupying the building and then the krackstorm and twin lascannon were free to fire; at BS 2 mind you.  My remaining Guard and Mepheston advanced to just behind the bunker while Dante and the Assault squad waited in reserve.  When my opponents made an aggressive move toward the fortress (2 out of 3 did) the embarked guard walked up to the battlements while the rear guard and Meph jumped over the fortress entirely.  Dante and his squad dropped on turn two each game and nuked a high priority target with 5 melta shots.  Then all four guard squads and Meph would assault turn two.  I'm not sure this gimmick would work again, but I won all three matches by tabling my opponents.  BTW Dante shot down three flyers with his inferno pistol.  That man is a BEAST! 

My opponents were Orks, and two very different MECHdar lists. 

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[BAHERSH]

Well done sir. Perhaps you have blessed luck with Dante - I know I would never get three 6's to hit those flyers with that melta pistol haha.

 

I can see that list working (2+ armor spam), but 1 opponent with abundant AP 2 weapons and you're going to be in a world of hurt. I played against 2 Vindicators last game and they ruined my day (given I missed all 8 Multi Melta Bike shots on them). 

[BrotherTim]

Well Dante can nuke a high priority target like a vindicator easily and between the 6 other meltas, the twin las cannon, and the krackstorm missiles I had no problem with armor. The second list I played had 10 wraith guard, two fire prisms, and two wave serpents with star cannons. The use of the fortress and cover was pivotal in my victory.

[Theredknight]

So Dante was in a 6" range of 3 fliers in 3 different turns? And in a squad of someone I take it?

Your opponent is truly an mentalist... 1 for flying so close, and 2, for taking 3 fliers..overkill!!

[BrotherTim]

Dante did it over two games, sorry for the misunderstanding. He was able to jump directly under the flyers one since from their base and I got lucky. My opponents were trying to target the assault squad the only unit with a 3+ save. They were far from mental.

[JamesI]

My Dante has never shot down a flier.  He did kill a Vendetta with his axe last game after it went into hover mode... The sergeant of Dante's squad did kill a flyer with a thrown krak grenade once.

 

I have been considering the 2+ armor spam list, but I really like keeping some assault marines and attack bikes in my lists.

[Demoulius]

Im confused here, how did you get 4 melta weapons into 1 assault squad? You can take 2 IP OR 2 meltaguns.

 

Only number of 3+ save squads that we have that can take that much melta are HG (4 melta/IP) or Vanguards (IP)

 

Am I overlooking something?

[Baba Lem]

Sarge had two Inferno pistols.

[Demoulius]

Ooooo I see :) guess I was overlooking something! Dident realize they were both on the sarge ^_^

 

Very good, forget I said something :D

[Zynk Kaladin]

Hmm... 5 melta precision drop. Now that's pretty cool albiet overkill to the max. I personally would get an honor guard squad with 4 meltas and 2 flamers. You gain a sang priest for your sang guard with proper positioning.

[Morticon]

Grats on the tourney dude.  Would love to see a brief overview of the missions and opponents.

 

No need to do full on batreps, but just a small overview of the lists played and stuff would be really, really great. 

 

Did you not miss any priests in this list? And how was the list against flyers?

[BrotherTim]

Game 1 - Footslogging Orks

Custom Mission - 6 objectives

Opponent had Gazgull, 2 squads of boyz, 2 squads of nobs, 15 lootas, and two dakka jets.  Im sure I'm missing something, but that's all I can remember. 

In this game, Dante shot down the two flyers

Outcome 21-0, I tabled my opponent

 

Game 2 - Heavy Mech Eldar

Killpoints (winner received 5 VP + secondary objectives)

This list had farseer, 2 10man dire avengers in wave serpents (star cannons), 8 fire dragons in wave serpent (scatter laser), 2 fire prisms, 10 wraith guard with spirit seer, and wraith lord with BL.

Outcome 8-0, I tabled my opponent

 

Game 3 - Mech Eldar

The Relic

Opponent had Eldrad, 2 dire avenger squads in wave serpents w/ BL, 6 Fire dragons in Falcon, 2 new flyers (one 2 BL, one BS5 w/ 2 Starcannons), a very scary sniper squad, and Dark Reapers.

Outcome 5-0 (I missed slay the warlord in this game)

Dante shot down the flyer exarch in this match.

 

All in all the lack of priests in my list was a little unnerving but the armor saturation over the increased durability was definitely worth it.  As for flyers I thought it was funny that my only AA gun didn't down a single flyer in the whole tourney.  Praise be to Dante and his 1100+ years of experience,  he didn't miss his target once all tourney and he never became a casualty.