Blob Squad with Storm Shields (sort of ;) )

[L30n1d4s]

This is a bit of an unsusual strategy, but for a AM player using a "gun-line" style approach with a blob squad, it could work:

 

-40 man Blob Squad with max heavy weapons/special weapons (i.e. 4 Autocannons and 4 Plasmas) and 4 Sgts with Power Axes

-AM Priest

-Allied Brother-Captain Stern

-Skyshield Landing Pad

 

 

Attach Stern and Priest to Blob Squad, then deploy the entire unit on the Skyshield. Hopefully you go first, have Stern use his guaranteed Sanctuary power to add +1 to the Squad Invul save, so stacking with the Skyshield, you have a 3++ for everyone from enemy shooting. From there, shoot with you heavy weapons and plasma to your hearts content, whiel absorbing return fire on your 3++ and 50 cheap AM troopers.

 

In the event that you are about to be charged, use Stern's Hammerhand to give +2S (so Power Axe Sgts would be S6 AP2) and use the Priest's Zeaot and War Hymns to buff your fighting power even further.... if you  have a 40 man blob with 4 Sgts and they are charged, they have 12 attacks... with re-rolls from Zealot, about 75% of the attacks should hit, giving you 9 S6 AP2 hits, all potentially with Shred (from Priest War Hymns), so that could be 9 dead Marines or 6 dead Terminators, etc. just in close combat.

 

 

 

 

[Warhead01]

so what's the rest of your army look like then?

[CoffeeGrunt]

Vulnerable to artillery, especially from other Guard, but an interesting if very expensive combo.

 

Its greatest weakness is the fact it can only hold one point though.

[Warhead01]

I keep thinking Destroyer weapon.. any of them with the huge blast marker.

On the other hand I think it's all about putting wounds down. Even with so may models. How many saves can they make. which makes that an interesting fire magnet. 

[L30n1d4s]

I believe the Blob Squad should still gets its 4++ (or 3++, with Sanctuary on) save even against artillery using Barrage weapons... unlike the Aegis line, if they are hit by indirect fire, the Skyshield should still protect them.... as per the Skyshield rules wording, when using the "Shielded" rule, all units on top of the Skyshield have a 4+ Invul to shooting.... nothing about which direction the shooting comes from or where it originates, just flat out they get a 4++ against shooting... that may or may not be RAI, but I believe by RAW there is no room for debate on this.

[Kilofix]

Follow me on this.

 

Over the weekend I saw a game of Orks vs SM. The Ork had a Stompa full of Meks for Repair. It could not die. The SM only had light Infantry and Transports.

 

The SM still won because he controlled 4 out of 5 objectives.

 

The Blob+Skyshield is like the Stompa - but even less mobile. Very tough but large cost, it ties you down and may not win you an Objective game.

[L30n1d4s]

@uberwolve,

 

I think you are right, and having your opponent "waste" his Destroyer large blasts trying to kill 5 point guardsmen is a great way to keep him from using that weapon against more important targets, like Leman Russ Squadrons, Company Command Squads, Ogryn, or even allied GK Terminators, etc.

 

Since the squad has a Priest, they are fearless and will be able to absorb enormous casualties without running.... even if the Priest is killed (say sniped by barrage weapons), you still have Stern giving the Squad Ld 10 and ATSKNF, meaning they are very unlikely to run.

[Warhead01]

Yes, I'm not saying that their's no ++ save. I don't "care" which INV save it it.  Either is fine. But it's still all about putting wounds down to be saved. the missing component seems to be FnP. to further save those guardsmen. The real weakness, aside from not moving, is they still have to shoot the same target as a blob and are vulnerable to assault once there numbers are reduced. 40 3++ in hand to hand will still have a lot of losses shoul one or two mobs of boys get in there. Just the volume of attacks and the blob only being able to overwatch one of the two mobs. 3 or 4 mobs ...I would expect a green victory. 

 

regarding your new post, you just beat men... 

Keeping those characters alive will be key to keep this unit from being extra trounced. 

The other key factor will be deploying it so that it cannot be directly avoided. regardless of the end outcome.

It is wise to keep in mind how quickly large bast markers can ruin a guardsmens day.

[L30n1d4s]

You make some very solid points and I appreciate your input on this, uberwolve.

 

Regarding the threat of large blasts, I think you may be overwestimating the danger they pose to Guardsmen on the Skyshield.

 

Take for example a battery of 2 Wyverns.... together, they put out 8 x S4 AP6 Small Blasts with the Shred USR.... say each blast, on average, gets 3 hits (being a little generous here, but that is alright, since the Blob Squad would likely be pretty tightly packed).... that's 24 hits, wounding on re-rollable 3+s, gives you an average of 21 wounds.... now, using the 3++ save from Skyshield + Sanctuary and you take 7 unsaved wounds, so 7 dead Guardsmen.... that's 35 points, the price of a Rhino, for an entire round of shooting by a Wyvern battery that itself costs well over a 100 points and usually would decimate any AM formation it shoots at.

[WarriorFish]

Sounds like a lot of points, it'd be durable and hit hard but that's a lot of points to focus singularly. Probably so durable that a savvy opponent will probably just ignore it and go for the rest of your army and win on objectives etc as Coffee said. As I've said before tricks like this always have a limit and some way to be undermined, so why not do it on the cheap?

 

The skyshield is pretty good without all the buffs, you could sit a far cheaper squad on it for a similar result without breaking the bank. It's not always about how much something can do, but rather how much it can do for the points. The Wyvern is a good example - it has solid rules, nothing amazing but factor in the points cost and it starts looking very nice.

[Warhead01]

Just more food for though. What would it actually take to either Kill every one of them, or kill enough to make the possibly flee?

And how do we do this with the least amount of points.

I think these are some of the questions you might consider. What is the worst possible case this kind of ,for lack of a better description, unit to face?

And then what is the best possible use of such a unit? what's it for.

And I guess lastly looking at the rest of the list, how will it function and will using such a blob be a detriment you the rest of your force?

If it were me and if I had the points the last part of the blog would be 4 chimera or taurox transports and a platoon or company command close by to squeeze more work out of you Blob. the transports could very well be Objective Secure helping you to iron out any scoring problems you might be setting your self up for. As well as more mobile fire power.   

 

I don't find myself pro or against it. I don't play that sort of way. I am still wondering why the landing pad doesn't have an AV and Hull points.

[CoffeeGrunt]

I can tell you from experience that a single Wyvern is likely to get 20 hits on its own. A blob of 40 dudes is going to be very tightly packed, especially with HWT bases in there.

 

You can have all the buffs in the world on these guys, they're still only T3 though. There's so much in the game that would be able to chew through this squad for pretty cheap, and it's still only going to be firing at one target, so the damage output is fairly mediocre. Sure, the opponent might try and close to melee, but more likely they just shell the position until there's an inconsequential amount of guys left. Especially with flanking to start chewing away at the chaff at the back and start killing the ICs and HWT bases.

 

It's a good trick, but relies on Psychic to function, and that can be an unreliable mistress at the best of times. Hell, a Culexis could just smoke a fag nearby and completely render the Psykers irrelevant, while support tears the squad to ribbons.

[BassWave]

Running unbound and taking Azrael instead of the landing pad would be more way more mobile. With unbound, you don't pay a troop tax for Stern and Azrael. And since you aren't stuck in one spot, you can spread out to mitigate template fire.

 

Even better would be to replace stern for a ml3 librarian and shoot for invisibility. Then you won't even have to worry about templates, and if you do get hit, they have a 4++. Good luck in finding a game after pulling that off though :p

[Warhead01]

Ah, yes the troop tax. Commissar! Find this man an air lock! we've run out of party peanuts. So. Voluntary suicide it is!

He must go so the rest of us might live, and eat peanuts you see... That brave an noble soul.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7Rmcyso6iKY/VDFEqCjVeUI/AAAAAAAAFE0/lhDKVJL6ww0/s1600/images%2B(9).jpg

Really. A troop tax. Just really.

Even better would be to replace stern for a ml3 librarian and shoot for invisibility. Then you won't even have to worry about templates, and if you do get hit, they have a 4++. Good luck in finding a game after pulling that off though

And just before I posted I read the rest...

So..That was sarcasm then...

We might still have one or two bags of party peanuts around after all...

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FMsOjdN8OYk/VDFEqBZQlyI/AAAAAAAAFEw/ye2YUTYJ4zE/s1600/images%2B(10).jpg

I'll send some one to look...