BA Army - tactical squad backbone

[marvmoogy]

Hi all, 

 

I am currently building up a BA force to complement my ever-expanding Imperial army.

 

The backbone of the force will be 2 10 man tactical squads, mounted in Rhinos.  They will be supported by 3 dreads (fragioso, DC & Libby) the Deathstorm minis, 10 extra DC, a Baal Predator and the Sanguinor with some Sanguinary Guard.

 

My question is loadout.  How would you arm the sergeant, special and heavy weapons guys in these squads and why?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Xenith]

Think about what you want them to achieve.

 

Currently, your army has little i nthe way of ranged AP2 or anti tank.

 

I'd consider meltagun, combi melta, multi melta. Although assault squads are arguably better at drop pod melting things. 

 

A firm favourite of mine is plasma gun, plasma cannon, combi plasma. Never leave home without it.

[marine7312000]

Do one of each like Xenith said. If you have the ability, do magnets on each of these guys so that you can swap between loadouts once you find which you prefer.

[Silverson]

I'm still having a lot of joy out of my melta,heavy flamer and combi melta on the Sargent load out. I either combat squad then inside a drop pod or use them as 2 separate units inside razor backs. I find them a lot of fun

[Lt. Johnsson]

Take a look at defenders of calitherum(spelling?) from shield of baal exterminatus book. It is a Great formation with some good benefitts. I have nerver lost with it on the board and games around 1500p

[evildrcheese]

Take a look at defenders of calitherum(spelling?) from shield of baal exterminatus book. It is a Great formation with some good benefitts. I have nerver lost with it on the board and games around 1500p

I like that formation too, although I'm confused about what Termies you're meant to use, as the picture has assault but the required states Terminator Squad (as oppose to Terminator Assault Squad, which is the dataslate entry for CC terminators). I play it RAW with shooty terminators, how do you play it?

 

On topic, I usually ignore the Heavy weapon unless the unit is in a Razorback, in which case I combat squad and leave a Lascannon in back field with the other half in a las/plas Razor with Plas and Combiplas. In a rhino I do plas/combi plas and everyone else has bolters.

 

D

[Charlo]

 

Take a look at defenders of calitherum(spelling?) from shield of baal exterminatus book. It is a Great formation with some good benefitts. I have nerver lost with it on the board and games around 1500p

I like that formation too, although I'm confused about what Termies you're meant to use, as the picture has assault but the required states Terminator Squad (as oppose to Terminator Assault Squad, which is the dataslate entry for CC terminators). I play it RAW with shooty terminators, how do you play it?

 

On topic, I usually ignore the Heavy weapon unless the unit is in a Razorback, in which case I combat squad and leave a Lascannon in back field with the other half in a las/plas Razor with Plas and Combiplas. In a rhino I do plas/combi plas and everyone else has bolters.

 

D

 

 

Lascannon backfield, to me at least, is a waste of effectiveness. In smaller games it's not so bad as that little dude may make the combat squads points back in one shot, but those bolters are going to waste, also the grenade! If you are using Razors, obviously it's a pretty viable tactic and gives you some flexibility, but' i'd never do it with Rhinos. I'm just a firm believer of having marines be more than ablative wounds for a heavy weapon, we aren't guardsmen, we are strong and versatile shock troops.

 

Depends how much of a stickler your opponent is for RAW vs common sense/ fun with the Terminators, obviously Counter Attack is pretty strong on Assault Terminators against an assault based army, but against shooters situational at best.

 

I'm also intrigued by defenders formation, it's sort of like a demi company for us by with an aggresive/ defensive combo twist that is very blood angely. I'd always go for Rhinos and Pods with this, putting the Veteran upgrade on the sarge and adding a combi weapon and power weapon.

 

Assault marines become the gunners with two specials, perhaps even using meltacide and I'd even Consider Bolter DC if they are getting Counter Attack, just to lay down the noise when they show up.

[TheMightyGabriel]

Hi there!
I find combi-melta + heavy flamer + meltagun pretty effective and versatile on my tactical squads. Indeed, they can still take advantage of the furious charge rule, as situational as that may be, and with our fast rhinos/razorbacks can easily get into rapidfire + flamer + melta special rule range. Plasmas are quite reliable, yet every shot has 1/18th chance of killing the marine --> A marine armed with a plasma gun, firing twice per turn (rapidfire), has a 50% probabilitty of dying by the end of the 6th turn.

With a Baal + 10DC, you probably won't have any problem fighting vs mass but rather have trouble vs 2+ armor saves and tough vehicles.

My take on it would therefore be to equip your tactical squads with meltas or plasmas excusively.

[Xenith]

Plasmas are quite reliable, yet every shot has 1/18th chance of killing the marine --> A marine armed with a plasma gun, firing twice per turn (rapidfire), has a 50% probabilitty of dying by the end of the 6th turn.

 

If my plasma gunner gets to shoot every turn, then it stands to reason that he has killed 6 or more MEQ, which is a fair trade for his life,I think!

[knife&fork]

Grav is superior in most ways to plasma, for the times when plasma outperforms grav you can do almost as well with just a grenade or bolter shot.

 

Since assault squads can do cheap specials (dual plasma or melta) I'd go with heavy flamer/flamer or heavy flamer/grav on tacticals. 

 

Sergeant is the big question, so many ways to go with that. Can't really go wrong with a 5 pt melta bomb but beyond that it's very meta dependent.