Plasma Cannon vs Missle Launcher

[Barzyn]

Which one would you take in 2 squads of 6 tact Marines, 2 plasma cannons, 2 missle launchers or plasma cannon and missle launcher? My club starting escalation league, on saturday on the 24th. 500 pts, then escalates each week after that for 13 weeks total. I'm not good at making lists so i figured i'd ask the experts on here what to do. so far the list is as follows 1 Interrogator Chaplain in terminator Armour with mace of redemption. 2 tact squads. 6 marines in each (stuck on the heavy/specialist wpn to use). and a regular dreadnought with assault cannon, power fist, heavy flamer. its a mixture of all armies tho, few chaos players, few loyalist players, one sister player, one ork player, one dark eldar player, one imperial guard player. not sure on necrons there's a few tau players as well. i kinda want to keep it balanced for all types of armies so either one the plasma cannon or missle launcher would work, just depends on risk vs reward i guess though.

[twopounder]

Which one would you take in 2 squads of 6 tact Marines, 2 plasma cannons, 2 missle launchers or plasma cannon and missle launcher? My club starting escalation league, on saturday on the 24th. 500 pts, then escalates each week after that for 13 weeks total. I'm not good at making lists so i figured i'd ask the experts on here what to do. so far the list is as follows 1 Interrogator Chaplain in terminator Armour with mace of redemption. 2 tact squads. 6 marines in each (stuck on the heavy/specialist wpn to use). and a regular dreadnought with assault cannon, power fist, heavy flamer. its a mixture of all armies tho, few chaos players, few loyalist players, one sister player, one ork player, one dark eldar player, one imperial guard player. not sure on necrons there's a few tau players as well. i kinda want to keep it balanced for all types of armies so either one the plasma cannon or missle launcher would work, just depends on risk vs reward i guess though.

 

That doesn't work in a vacuum. What's the rest of your army? If you have a bunch of lascannons, then take plasma cannons. If you have heavy bolters, then take missile launchers. Each unit supports the other, so you're looking for synergy.

[Biggabertha]

Barzyn said it was an escalation type match/league, Interrogator Chaplain with Mace of Redemption's 140 points, two teams of half a dozen Tactical Squad's 168 points and a Heavy Flamer Dreadnought for 110 points for 418 points.

 

I think Plasma Cannon and a Missile Launcher would work out better as an all comers list because yeah, as you already know, you can take on a lot this way. At 500 points, you're really not likely to see any Land Raiders etc. and even then, you have the option of giving someone a Melta Bomb etc.

 

Personally, if you aren't restricted to two troop choices, I would drop the sixth marine in both squads and add a third Tactical Squad with a special/heavy weapon. Then I would have a Flamer in one squad and two Plasma Cannons in the other. This brings you up to 495 points so you can give someone Melta Bombs, Storm Bolter, an Auspex etc. to round yourself off. You could even switch one of the Plasma Cannons to a Lascannon to deal with any enemy armour or take a Meltagun (or Power Fist if your group allows you to go a "little" over).

 

This gives you some better options and as an all-comers list (having to foght against such a variety of armies...), I think it gives you a very good base to get started on.

 

 

(In my experience, Missile Launcher's ability to take on AV13+ is almost always unsuccessful but my Plasma Cannons have been able to damage and even destroy (by glance) AV12/AV13s (same probability, I know)).

 

The scatter on the Plasma Cannons have usually worked in my favour when opponents keep other units close to each other while a Krak just bounces off. (Of course, Plasma Cannon can scatter back in YOUR direction so yeah... be wary of that when firing less than 8ish inches away from your target!)

 

(I'm not entirely sure on your wording but I do hope that you aren't taking a combination of four special/heavy weapons split amongst two six-man Tactical Squads...)

[Barzyn]

Well my Interrogator Chaplain is in terminator armour with mace of redemption so its 170 pts, i can drop the terminator armour and the other 2 marines, to add in another tact squad, i think my tact squads round out at 99 pts with 6 marines and 2 heavy wpns. so i will do that as you suggested, drop out the terminator armour and add in another tact squad. You can use anything in the codex's (or imperial armour books but have to ask bout imperial armour books before hand). so i can use whatever i want as long as i do not go over 500 pts. You can be less than 500 pts, you just can not go over the 500 pt limit, i will re configure my list and see what i come up with. I'm not gonna see alot of vehicles i don't think, other than the dark eldar player (cuz he uses the boats and skimmers). i will see alot of horde armies like chaos, with the cultists and a nid player and an ork player

[Isiah]

Plasma cannon or missile launcher in two squads? One of each. But For looks alone go for two plasma cannons :yes:.

[Barzyn]

yeah right now my list is Company Master with power sword,bolt pistol, power armour and melta bombs, think he's like 110pts. 5 tactical marines (4 bolt guns, bolt pistols) 1 plasma cannon, another 5 tact marines (4 bolt guns , bolt pistols) 1 plasma cannon, the last 5 tact marines with (bolt guns, bolt pistols 4), 1 las cannon. then my dreadnought with assault cannon, heavy flamer, power fist. the total pts is 500 exactly

[Biggabertha]

Oops yeah... Forgot about the Terminator Armour...

 

Hmm... According to my calculations, you still have 20 points left to spend...

 

Company Master's 110, three Tactical Squads with those heavy weapons are 260 and the Dreadnought's 110 makes 480... Or did you give your Company Master some Articifer armour..?

[Barzyn]

actually on Army Builder my dreadnought is 130 pts, its not venerable, but the assault cannon is 20 pts, the heavy flamer is 10 pts, and the dreadnought is 100, thats why its 500 total, i'm not sure if army builder is miscalculating the dreadnought or not, i will double check it though, if i have an extra 20 pts, i'm gonna put artificer armour on my company master then or give him a plasma pistol

[Biggabertha]

Ohhhhhhhhh... my bad - yeah, an Assault Cannon is indeed 20 points - I thought it was the standard loadout for Dreadnoughts for some reason... maybe an earlier edition or something..? lol

 

Then yeah, that to me, sounds like a really strong list - your main source of anti-infantry is primarily in your Dreadnought so be careful with that. (That said... I forget about the Plasma Cannons too... gah, I'm just super paranoid about Dreadnoughts blowing up before I even get a turn if I field them by themselves... >.<!)