Will phosphex Medusas make a comeback?

[depthcharge12]

So I was thinking about the resurgence of rapier batteries in there various forms across lists and how one would deal with them in an expedient fashion.

 

I based my premises that there would likely be two to three gun carriages in each battery and that they'd be using cover or LoS blocking terrain if they were thudd guns.

 

Now I tried to think of several methods to deal with them due to a revolving meta/game theory and came up with a variety of factors that need to be considered when dealing with them:

 

1.) The weapon needs to have enough shots to deal with 8-12 high toughness wounds (two or three carriages respectively)

 

2.) this weapon needs to have at least AP3 to prevent armor saves

 

3.) said weapon likely needs to ignore cover and have barrage if possible

 

The contenders I drew up were Thanatar siege automatas, phosphex medusas, and Scorpii.

 

Now the Thanatar would be great, but then you have to take an HQ + Troop tax from the AdMech list to get one. On top of that, the Thanatar is points heavy.

 

The Scorpius would be great, but it lacks ignores cover and has a variable amount of shots.

 

So I thought to myself, why not phosphex medusas? Though you have to take a siege breaker tax, the phosphex rounds would be best at taking down rapier batteries. They have poison (3+), AP2, large blast, and ignores cover.

 

Taking two might be overkill, but a good insurance policy for killing off a full battery. In a hotly contested heavy slot, it is good that you can take multiple Medusas.

 

Not to be overlooked are the effects of phosphex. If you scatter, it would be an average of 7", however, with BS4 and the additional 2" of Creeping Death, you're looking at only an inch of scatter and a higher likelihood of hitting more models. Another thing should be noted as well, phosphex rounds cause the area to remain as difficult and dangerous terrain, forcing more saves on the artillery unit that stays in their original deployment.

 

So what are your thoughts on countering the rapier firing squads that seem to be proliferating in current lists?

[Hesh Kadesh]

Jump Infantry and DropPods. Bikers or jetbikers in a pinch. Infiltrators, Sniper Vets. Melee equipped Recon Squad.

 

It depends on the weapon as well. Thudd Guns? Eh. These can net a few kills over the course of the game. They aren't the most damaging use of rapier. Laser Destroyers and Grav Cannons have the chance to pop transports, and the latter are one of the few hard counters from Spartan Steamroller.

 

Quad Bolters, applaud and thank your opponent for wasting their elite slots.

 

Quad Multilasers are a different beast entirely, though. BS3? 75% accuracy, 6 Shots, wounding on 2's can put out just so many wounds that it's quite scary. The problem with Quad Multilasers is that Blast Chargers do similar damage and are available cheaper.

 

As for Shooting counter? It's a ~75pt none scoring model that in its most damaging weapon type will have already done its job. If it is such a problem, then take two, or take none. Find other ways of getting your dudes on point, anvillus/kharybdis, caestus, storm eagles, deep striking warlords like Dynat, Skorr, Abaddon, or Polux. Simple way to avoid metas is not to play the game.

[depthcharge12]

Jump Infantry and DropPods. Bikers or jetbikers in a pinch. Infiltrators, Sniper Vets. Melee equipped Recon Squad.

It depends on the weapon as well. Thudd Guns? Eh. These can net a few kills over the course of the game. They aren't the most damaging use of rapier. Laser Destroyers and Grav Cannons have the chance to pop transports, and the latter are one of the few hard counters from Spartan Steamroller.

Quad Bolters, applaud and thank your opponent for wasting their elite slots.

Quad Multilasers are a different beast entirely, though. BS3? 75% accuracy, 6 Shots, wounding on 2's can put out just so many wounds that it's quite scary. The problem with Quad Multilasers is that Blast Chargers do similar damage and are available cheaper.

As for Shooting counter? It's a ~75pt none scoring model that in its most damaging weapon type will have already done its job. If it is such a problem, then take two, or take none. Find other ways of getting your dudes on point, anvillus/kharybdis, caestus, storm eagles, deep striking warlords like Dynat, Skorr, Abaddon, or Polux. Simple way to avoid metas is not to play the game.

I was more worried about the quad mortar battery with the sunder shells and the grav rapiers for killing Spartans.

 

Maybe an alpha strike regular dreadnought in a pod with the AP3 flamer, but then it just gets really points heavy.

[defl0]

I use gravs. They are murderous for what I need them to do. Quad mortars can be brutal if you are playing a stay at home list...

 

I agree with hesh. The cheapest way to deal with them is actually not to kill them but to tie them up.  

 

All that said, all i need is one turn usually to accomplish my goal. So really the only true counter is something drop pods or infiltrators with something like 10 plasma guns maybe. 

 

If it's quad mortars you care about, I guess fast units like jumpers, bikes etc or hth based infiltrators can be useful

[jeremy1391]

Phosphex medusas don't have ignore cover....