Are Aegis Defense Lines good in DA Armies?

[Berzul]

I've always hear/read that DA is a ranged army. We are supposed to dominate the field with ranged fire, and tactical mobility. Now, if this is true, it would make sense to include fortifications like the Aegis Defense Line to the army, wouldn't it? Yet, I have never seen an army list that includes them.

 

I was thowing ideas for a greenwing army list, and it wasn't until a friend pointed them out that I realized that I had never even thought of using them.

 

What do you guys think of the use of the ADL? Is the sacrifice of mobility not worth it? Or do they have their place in our tactics? 

 

What is the reason behind the ADLs being so absent from general DA armies?

 

 

[SnakeChisler]

Marine armies don't need an adl, putting one down announces your deployment anyway so counter deployment is a piece of cake.

 

If your considering anything the bastion can be useful for putting devs in or if your into 2000 point games then serious fortifications

[aura_enchanted]

the only reason id bring an ADL is if you dont own (or plan on buying) a contempor mortis, and you wanted anti air (because then u could buy some devestators and a squad gun or get coteaz on the gun)

 

the ADL would also be useful if you plan on bringing scouts or devestators and know cover will be at a premium on the board well in advance and dont want to bog your army down too much

 

if you want to bring a piece of terrain move up the list to a bastion or a fortress of redemption, or even the landing pad. the ADL is only good in armies that can make a gunline work naturally well like imperial guard or tau.

[shandwen]

I would consider a wall of martyrs bunker over the ageis. Having embarked devs fire where they cant be flamed is better than a coversave that is worse than our armor, and a quad can be thrown on the roof and used as needed by scouts or the like.

[Prot]

I have used one to great success in many a game. So you know my deployment? Come and get me. It'll cost ya. The reality is against many opponents I know where their models are going... when Tau cower it doesn't surprise me, when Nids rush me, it doesn't shock me.... Astra love to hug corners. I don't think it detracts from the game at all.

I prefer the Bastion in 7th though. Keep in mind I play Maelstrom exclusively. (I find the non-objective games kinda boring now.)

On the Bastion, with troops on one floor, often Lascannon Devs on the Quad, it's impossible to get into unless someone takes it down. Out of the 20 or so times I've taken it, I think it got totally blown up once. It has taken structure damage but only fell once. Otherwise, no one is getting into it.

Why does this work for me?

- With a Ravenwing list, it's the perfect unit to hang back for objectives while the rest of the list flies forward. The Bastion unit does not need babysitting.

- In my Az-Zeke Pod lists it was a simlar concept. I have the aggressive units podding in, a fire line may draw my opponent to a really poor flank. The Bastion is usually alone. Opponents really hate going after it. It's boring... it's a building. The Aegis is similar in concept but easily breachable.

- Consider combining the Aegis with a Darkshroud. This can help you reinvent a nasty gunline. It's a really fun option to consider.

- Flyer support. I don't wish to cause a side debate, so let me preface this by saying this is my opinion only! Our flyers are overpriced, underpowered, and unfocused. But to have no air support against multiple flyer heavy army types (think Necron Croissant wing, or Nid FMC lists) then the quad can come in very handy. Interceptor still means something to me.

So there you have it... an alternate look. It may not be for everyone. Admittedly it does take practice, and it will have games with mixed results dependent on the opponent, however it is very rare that in Maelstrom game I don't plop it near an objective (or 2) and end up owning those (if not one) objective.

I've proxied the Firestorm, and intend to buy one because I think it screams Dark Angels. (I'd like to do up all the fixings that could represent a chapter keep).

Give it a shot. It's not like we have a few flyers that are 'go to' units and make the decision difficult. I truly believe it's a perfectly valid option.

[SnakeChisler]

I agree about the Bastion we also play exclusively Maelstrom and the other fortifications will add more flavor to our larger games and we've been looking for a while how to expand the points but keep it not too wham bang.

 

Just as a note we play that vertical distance has no effect so if your on top of the bastion you measure across to the objective, however if your inside you can't measure so have to disembark to claim it.

The vertical distance thing we took from a couple of comp packs we saw, this seems to have been introduced to combat those armies with jetpack, jetbikes skimmers etc. putting objectives in high up terrain that even infantry would take 3/4 turns getting too.

The 2nd part of the rule is a house 1 based on we dunno where the guys are in the building so if they want the objective point they can get thier lazy butt out to claim it.

 

I still disagree about the ADL for marines I think its just a negative distraction and the quad gun is overpriced now its skyfire only and snap shots at ground targets 

[shabbadoo]

I've always hear/read that DA is a ranged army. We are supposed to dominate the field with ranged fire, and tactical mobility. Now, if this is true, it would make sense to include fortifications like the Aegis Defense Line to the army, wouldn't it? Yet, I have never seen an army list that includes them.

 

I was thowing ideas for a greenwing army list, and it wasn't until a friend pointed them out that I realized that I had never even thought of using them.

 

What do you guys think of the use of the ADL? Is the sacrifice of mobility not worth it? Or do they have their place in our tactics? 

 

What is the reason behind the ADLs being so absent from general DA armies?

The Aegis Defense Line works well, but you would be better served to add a Wall of Martyrs Imperial Bunker (holds one unit up to 20 models, has 4 hull points, and is AV 14!) instead, if you want to do a stand-and-shoot army.

 

Also, Dark Angels are not THE ranged army.   Vanilla marines better them in that regard due to the more varied array of untis available to them.  Neither are Dark Angels the Assault army; multiple other codexes beat them there.   Neither are they the ultimate mobile force, as White Scars outdo them there in both capability and cost per model (Khan = army-wide buffs to all bikes, equivocating to literally hundreds of bonus points worth of abilities for free in a bike army).  What the Dark Angels are is a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none army; with a few unique tricks here and there.

 

All that said, I got to stick it to an opposing force made up of 4 Imperial Knights and 19 White Scars bikes (which included the Khan of course) this last weekend.  And I used an Imperial Bunker.  Just one, but it kept all but one member of my quad lascannon Devastor Squad and a Librian protected for most of the game, and provided cover for Razorback as well.  The Imperial Bunker is a nice add-in for the point cost, and you can add options from the Buildings, Obstacles and Battlements & Battlefield lists, which includes barricades and gun emplacements.  For very little investment, the Imperial Bunker It is a great strongpoint to drop down in your deployment zone.

[Isiah]

shabbadoo did you use it because you knew you were facing that particular set up? 

 

Cheers

I

[Prot]

 

The Aegis Defense Line works well, but you would be better served to add a Wall of Martyrs Imperial Bunker (holds one unit up to 20 models, has 4 hull points, and is AV 14!) instead, if you want to do a stand-and-shoot army.

 

  What the Dark Agnels are is a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none army; with a few unique tricks here and there.

 

 The Imperial Bunker is a nice add-in for the point cost, and you can add options from the Buildings, Obstacles and Battlements & Battlefield lists, which includes barricades and gun emplacements.  For very little investment, the Imperial Bunker It is a great strongpoint to drop down in your deployment zone.

 

 

I agree with this. At the end of the day it's a multi unit army, that's good at a few role specific things. Playing against a vanilla marine 'shooty' army is always eye opening.

 

How does the bunker compare with the Firestorm Redoubt? I've never used the bunker but enjoyed the Redoubt's bunker slit for Devsqauds.

[shabbadoo]

shabbadoo did you use it because you knew you were facing that particular set up?

Cheers

I

Very much so. I knew I needed at least one safer place to put a unit. We have quite a bit of terrain available, but others were playing as well and they took most of it for their table. I didn't expect that. What I was left with was a mostly open table with only one bit of terrain in my deployment zone that blocked LOS...completely. As such, that terrain piece was useless to me. It was mostly area terrain every where else. Good thing I included the bunker (even if I forgot to note down its rules and played it as AV 13).

How does the bunker compare with the Firestorm Redoubt? I've never used the bunker but enjoyed the Redoubt's bunker slit for Devsqauds.

I haven't used the Firestorm Redoubt, but based on what it comes with and its cost, I would rather tailor make a firebase using an Imperial Bunker, some barricades, and whatever gun emplacements I wish (or none at all), rather than have to take the package deal. Note that the quad Icarus lascannons cannot be manually fired, meaning they are BS 2 (BS 1 if firing at ground targets). Gun emplacements bought separately *can* be manually fired, and so use the BS of the operator (Dev Sgt. : "Hey squad member with bolter! Go man that gun emplacemnt, and here's a BS 5 signum buff for you too!" ).

[Crazy Jay]

I love my ADL for two reasons. 1 it's cheap and fairly effective and I kitted mine out with extra DA bits and painted it as such. Also it's not an expensive model to purchase nor a difficult one to paint soi think it's an easy addition.

[Pyro X]

as a person that uses fort a lot with greenwing, they are really good. The down side for use is it makes our units stubborn (and grim resolve gives us this already). I agree that the bunkers or firestorm would be better because you can throw a character with an PFG inside and its now nih unkillable.